Little Underwood, Big Harte

We made it to Calgary on Dec. 21 after a long day of traveling and just going with it. Gavin did really well although he is so fidgety now that was quite tiring for us.  We were stuck in a holding pattern on the first leg to Houston so landed a bit late but had enough time during the layover to get everything done. On the second flight we got stuck on the tarmac due to high wind and rain for over an hour. Of course that was when Gavin took his nap so then he was as wake pretty much the whole four hour flight. He made friends and we just tried to keep him distracted.  Once we arrived we got through customs quickly but that is when our luck ran out. Neither of our bags or our car seat made it on the plane. It took a long time to get it all sorted out and enchrouched on Gavin's normal bedtime. The airline loaned us a car seat and our bags made it in the morning despite promises they would come that night. Gavin got to bed at bedtime in the new time zone and then slept well! He wa...

"I'm 10 months old today!" Gavin is doing awesome and has such a great demeanor and personality. He is a "ham" and a "cheese". When he gives you that precious too big for his face smile I just love it! He is all over the place, motoring on all fours and pulling him self up on all kinds of furniture (or our legs)! He perfected climbing up stairs and G&G Harte's and is trying to climb furniture now at home. He pulls all the books off his shelf about 17 times a day and empties things out about that many times, too (his toy box, laundry baskets).  He had his last wellness check up at about 9 1/2 months when we got back from MI. The doctor said he was doing great! He was only 18.6 lb, so still not even 20 lb. He also grew 1 1/2 inches since last time. The doctor said it is normal for breast fed babies to hit a growth plateau between 6-9 months, so she wasn't concerned about the slow down. He seems healthy and happy (most of the ti...

We made it back home and Gavin did great on both flights. The kiddo has been on 12 flights for 3 different trips and except for one, which you may recall , he has been awesome. This time was even easier since Daddy accompanied us! I know I haven't posted much while I was gone. I was enjoying the time with my family and just didn't allocate time to sit down and update. We had such a wonderful visit and a great Thanksgiving. We even caught up with a few friends, but not everyone so I'm sorry if we missed you. It is so hard to get in a visit with everyone around the state mostly because I was still working. Big news, we sold our house in Colorado! It was a long time coming and along process, but in the end, it all turned out. What a big relief! Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers, woo hoo! A quick update. He is more and more interactive, loves peek-a-boo, waves (looks like he is waving to himself), open mouth kisses you and pictures of babies, lol, and can craw...

9 Months   Gavin has had some major developments this month! He can crawl all over the place like a champ and pull up on everything. He waves (can do both hands now and usually has his index finger down for some reason) and claps his hands. He's definitely an active little guy. He is eating tons of solids, meats for dinner, fruits for breakfast and veggies for lunch. He also prefers picking up finger foods like puffs, steamed bits of carrots and pieces of sandwich meat. We are still nursing and that is going well. He eats about 5-6 times a day, and we are hoping to continue nursing to skip right to milk. We will just skip talking about the crazy sleep schedules. We have had a lot going on so we will attribute all those changes to his mixed up sleeping habits. I do think after nursing his sleep may get better and me trying to calm him will be easier since he won't expect to eat. We postponed his 9 month appointment until we get back from MI but I thin...

Well we were glad to have Gma U here, although we feel terrible we were all sick the whole time she was here (and even gave her a slight cold to remember us by)! The pumpkin patch, zoo, dinners out and the shopping sprees that we were looking forward to will have to wait until next year unfortunately. I fell to the fever this weekend, so I was especially glad she was here until this afternoon to help us this weekend since Stefan is now in Japan for the first part of his business trip. Gavin faired pretty well with just the one night of a fever I posted about last week, and a little cough/sniffles lingering, but nothing the humidifier hasn't helped him sleep through. We did gets lots of quality time in the house however, and Gavin and Grandma enjoyed at least two walks every day to get some sunshine and fresh air! We also celebrated Gavin's first Halloween. He got quite the kick out of seeing all the kids come to the house to get candy. Gavin's First Halloween - a ...

The Underwood household had a rough weekend, so can we have a do over? Stefan actually stayed home sick with a fever Thursday and Friday (first time he's ever missed work from being sick). He's still got this pesky cough, which I think his asthma, that comes into play only every few years, won't let go of. He was better by Saturday but still tired and wore out. I've been dealing with a sinus issue all week and am still trying to work through that. Poor Gavin got sick for the first time this weekend, catching the fever on Saturday morning. None of us got much sleep that evening. His fever is gone now and he's left with just some fussiness and some congestion. Sick baby. Grandma U did make it here (unlucky to have to come to a sick household!) and has been helping us hold it together. Despite all that there have been some fun moments so far on her visit. We are hoping for a much better week before Stefan leaves for his work trip on Friday. Saying good...

This is just a little sample of his latest talents. He can now go about 7 or 8 crawls before he plops down on his belly to do his trademarked army crawl. We are attributing this new movement to him still popping up awake each night - we think he just wants to go and we find him sitting in his crib. Time to wrap up the baby proofing! Super excited to see Grandma Underwood in a few days!!!

8 MONTHS Here we are with an 8 month old! This is what he is up to lately.  He is still super smiley, makes friends with everyone, loves being in public and going on walks. Just recently he's been a bit whining but I think that is just coming with him being more expressive. This could also be he is starting to show some separation anxiety and prefers Mommy to be holding him (yes, my back is getting sore!). He has EIGHT teeth people! Yep, eight, and yes, I'm still nursing, and yes, that has not been fun sometimes, but in the head his super cheesy toothy grin makes us laugh! He pinches now, Mom, Dad, visitors, his nanny have all left with bruises on the inner arm from time to time. He bites and my finger as I type has a big blister/mark on it from him biting it last night when I was trying to get some food out of his mouth. He also blows raspberries on your arms or legs sometimes and it is hysterical! He can make his away around on his own! It is more of an army cra...

Dinner out with G&G We had a blast with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Ellen on their recent visit. We had fun evenings in, went out to dinner several times, they kept us company and helped out (a ton!) while Stefan was traveling for work, and we enjoyed lots of laughs and quality time. The link to their visit pics are down below. Thanks Mom and Dad for everything, we miss you already. Safe travels back home!!! Yep, check out my EIGHT teeth! Loves bath time, cute towel courtesy of Chelsea ; The best video of Gavin deep belly laughing. Will make your day! Pics from the rest of G&G H's visit>>

We were so excited excited for G&G H's arrival last Friday! We enjoyed a wonderful weekend of catching up then a normal work week with special guests. They even put Gavin to bed so Stefan and I could head out to a double header volleyball game for our beach league - yep, we were out passed 7 p.m.! Grandma and Grandpa are here! On Friday we celebrated Grandpa's birthday at the Grand Marlin. It was a perfect evening with prime seating (photos to come later, they are on Mom's camera). On Saturday Mom and I had a fun lunch just the two of us while the guys watched football. Then Stefan and I went to celebrate Thomas and Amy's wedding. Unfortunately, this is their last weekend in Pensacola as they move to DC next week. It was a beautiful ceremony despite some rainy weather.   Congrats Thomas and Amy, we will miss you in Pensacola! My handsome date. The beautiful bride, Amy Calli and Ashton and I posing with the impromptu umbrellas needed for...

Here we are with Gavin now 7 months old! What has this seven month been up to? He now has six teeth (top two just barely through the gums and bottom four are up), and he has started grinding his teeth - so let's hope that is just because the top ones are new! He isn't the worst teether but sleeping isn't too great during the times they are coming through the bone. He gets a bit fussy, too.  He is eating solids sometimes three times a day, and we are getting him lots of different fruits and veggies. He has to have prunes about every other day to keep things moving, but overall he seems to quite enjoy everything. His favorites are sweet potato and butternut squash right now. He also gets little bits of fruits/veg from Mom and Dad and isn't a huge fan of the texture, but enjoys mushing it around in his mouth.  When he doesn't have some teeth issues going on he can sleep through the night until 5:30 or 6 a.m. and most times will even go back to sleep wi...

Wow! That's all I can say. I know half the people reading this blog knew Andrew was coming to visit us for the long weekend, and I'm guessing that is because Mom told Grandma and we know the rest of the story ... but I DID NOT KNOW! I pride myself on usually having an inkling on these kinds of things, so maybe I should be questioning my intuition, but I really had no clue. Nope, not even when I talked to Mom and Dad that morning and Dad almost blew it but then starting talking about Andrew's job all of a sudden. And, definitely not when I was texting Andrew asking about his plans this weekend at the exact time he was on a layover to come see me. Nah, not even when Stefan said all week that he was so excited for the long weekend and that he didn't want to do any housework this weekend OR when he said he got to leave early on Friday. So when the time came that Stefan walked into the house around 3 p.m. on Friday and Andrew walked in right behind him, let's just say I ...

Auntie Caitlin came to visit! Although the weather didn't cooperate the whole time, she got a bit of time at the beach while Mommy worked. We enjoyed some beach volleyball, Thai take out, bath time for Gavin, movies at home after Gavin was in bed, home made dinner, sister bonding time over Italian and sushi, mini golf and a nice dinner out once Stefan got home. It was handy to having her around to help out in the evenings while Stefan was gone, too. Then we got to welcome Stefan home Saturday morning! Thanks Auntie for visiting! We'll see you at Amanda's wedding in a few months - we love you! Auntie Caitlin is here to see me! Mini golf, Gavin did awesome the whole time to let us grown ups enjoy a round. Our big boy in the outfit Auntie got him. Welcome back Daddy, we missed you! See a few more pics from Auntie's visit>>