1st Christmas

Christmas seemed to come and go so quickly, but it was an amazing Christmas for all of us here in the Dennison household. Gavin seemed to really enjoy his 1st Christmas holiday, he was quite spoiled by Santa, mommy and daddy, his grandma's and grandpa's, aunts, uncles and cousins!


When Gavin woke Christmas morning, we immediately brought him downstairs to the Christmas tree, he was very interested in all of the gifts sitting under the tree, however hesitated to go near them, he would look at the tree, then at us, I think it was because we would not let him near it pre-Christmas day. After a few minutes of staring at the tree in amazement, Gavin crawled up to the gifts and just started moving them around, and digging through them. He did not jump right in to tearing them open, in fact, we did a lot of the work when it came to opening the gifts. We made the gift opening an all day event due to the over stimulation, but he really seemed to enjoy everything he was given from Santa and his family. Some of the items Gavin will be playing with for hopefully quite a while are the leapfrog learn and groove table (I think it is his favorite), Sillytown, A Leapfrog Interactive Book, trucks, little people plane and farmhouse, penguin punching bag, scout the dog (another favorite), lion push to ride, a bowling game, and many others.

We were very fortunate to be able to have our family here for Gavin's first Christmas, except Uncle Justin and Aunt Shannon (we missed you)! See the family pics below.

Ho Ho Ho!

We just love the Christmas season, and having Gavin with us this year has made it even better! His first Christmas, it is so exciting!

Anyway, we visited the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens a couple of weekends ago, and wow, is it amazing! Thanks to the Munns who introduced us to the idea. We walked around and admired the 600,000+ Christmas lights, visited an amazing orchid conservatory, met Santa Clause, and enjoyed a great time with some great friends. Gavin was a bit scared when he met Santa, but he seemed to warm up to him quickly. For anyone who is looking for something fun to do with your children, I would definitely recommend it! Check out some of the pictures below from the gardens. Doesn't he look like he belongs in the movie "A Christmas Story?"

Here are some shots from our "Christmas Card Photo Shoot"

9 Months AND Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We are making this a 2 in 1 post, Gavin's 9 month updates and a first Thanksgiving update! His 9 month photo is in his "Baby's 1st Thanksgiving " onsie and pants, and it was after about 15 shots of trying to get him to sit still that we finally snapped a decent picture that was not blurry!

Gavin had a great first Thanksgiving! We started off the morning with the Parade downtown, it was a great time, little chilly, but fun! Gavin was very intrigued by all of the action that was going on, the bands, the cheerleaders, all the floats, etc. I think all of the excitement kept him from napping, but when we finally got him down, he took a 2 and 1/2 hour nap, and woke up just in time for his first Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great dinner with family and friends, and Gavin's favorite part of the meal was the turkey! See the pictures below.

9 month stats: Gavin had his 9 month appointment on November 23, and weighed in at 20 lbs and 13 oz, and was 29 and 1/2 inches long. This put him in the 50th-75th percentile for his weight, and the 75th-90th for his height. His head circumference was 46cms, which gives him an average size noggin. He had a little cold when we went, but no fever, just a runny nose. Everything else looked good, Gavin is doing everything he is supposed to be doing at this age.

Teething: He now has 4 teeth, and more on the way. Two on the top and two on the bottom. He has not been that bad through the teething process (knock on wood), mostly just a runny nose, tugging at the ears and a little bit of irritability, but all around he is his happy go lucky self!

Eating: Gavin does not dislike much in the food department. He is still eating baby food, but we have also introduced "adult foods" like turkey, mashed potatoes, pancakes, noodles, grapes (peeled and sliced in small pieces), cheese, and cottage cheese. We are experimenting with many different pureed fruits and veggies, like broccoli, asparagus, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, kiwi, mango, etc. As a side note: If you ever want to try and make your own baby food, I highly suggest the magic bullet, it is so easy, you can even steam the veggies in the cups!

Milestones: Gavin is really growing up, and really picking up on a lot of new things. Here we go with this months list...

GAVIN NOW:

• looks in the direction you are pointing, if you are trying to show him something.
• mimics certain things we do, for example if we do the "motorboat" with our finger on our lips, he will do it, if we clap, he will clap, if we scream, he will scream....
• understands cause and effect, for example, he has one toy that he must touch in order for it to make noise when it stops, so he will wait for it to stop, and then touch it, and continue doing so until he is finished playing with it. He demonstrates this with other things as well, such as stacking blocks and knocking them over, etc.
• plays peek a boo, and loves it
• gives kisses, now he is making the kissing noise and all after he kisses you with an open mouth!
• picks up finger foods and puts the food in his mouth (puffs, cheese, grapes)
• dances! There is a video of this in one of my previous posts
• stands on his own for about 10 seconds at a time
• tries feeding himself with the spoon (still working on that)

Stay tuned for 10 months, which happens to fall on Christmas!

Parade

Dinner

Goofy Gavin! (Yes, that is an I Love NY onsie!)

Dancing

Gavin's Bathroom

We just finished Gavin's bathroom, and we are so excited about it. Gavin is going to love it! Check it out.

The picture below is a reflection in the mirror

Road Trip

Our weekend road trip to Pittsburgh was a success!

It may have taken us (or Chris) over an hour to install the car seat in Josh and Wendy's SUV, but eventually Chris maneuvered it, and we were on the road. Google Maps clocked the trip at 7 and a half hours, so we broke it up, and drove about 4 hours Friday night, crashed at a hotel, and headed back out Saturday morning. I will tell you what this is the way to do it with a baby, he did great! He would sleep a majority of the way, then play hard in the hotel for a while, before passing out with mommy and daddy.

The trip was short, but you would have thought we were traveling for about 2 weeks. There is so much stuff to pack when you have a child with you. You need clothes, toys, first-aid, pack and play, food, sheets, blankets, etc. You have to be prepared! Josh and Wendy sure learned a lot about traveling with a baby this weekend!

Our main reason for traveling to Pittsburgh was for our friend Keith's wedding. A friend of ours from high school was so kind to share her home with us for our stay, and watch Gavin while we were at the wedding. Carrie, her husband Eric, and her three boys, Zach, Lucas and Jacob, were great hosts! I think they really enjoyed having Gavin around too! Saturday, while we were at the wedding having a great time with some great friends, the falls family had fun with Gavin! Sunday, we all hung around the house and watched the Steelers game, while enjoying some great food that they prepared for us. On top of all of that, I was sent home with two huge garbage bags of clothes for Gavin. Thanks Falls Family~

One downfall of the weekend was that Gavin had his first injury, involving blood. He has had some bumps and bruises, but never blood. It was terrible, he was standing on the floor hanging on to a bed frame that was very low to the floor when he fell down, and his his mouth on the frame. From the injury it looks as if his gums or his new tooth that was breaking through may have hit, because that's where the blood appeared to be coming from, and his gums are very swollen. It was very scary, seeing your child bleed for the first time. Yes, Chris and I somewhat panicked, and blamed each other, but I guess that is only natural. We handled it better than I thought we would. I guess what we need to realize is that this is going to happen as he grows up, it has happened to all of us, falling off bikes, falling down stairs, etc. But, you never want to see this happen to your baby. You want to protect them from everything! Gavin, we will do everything in our power to keep you out of harms way, but when you do fall down, cut your knee, or if you ever break a bone, we will be there to give you the love that will make you feel better!

Gavin is now....

Gavin is now....clapping his hands! He also waves goodbye and gives kisses!!! Yayyy Gavin! He gets so excited! Here is a video of him clapping.

Halloween 2009

Gavin had a great 1st Halloween! He was the cutest little lion I ever did see! He was to young to go trick or treating, but we had fun anyway! He was able to hang out with some of his friends like Reagan, Lily, and Eloise, yeah that's right, Gavin the LADIES MAN! Here are some pics!