Gavin's 3rd Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, fun, energetic, and loving big boy, Gavin.  We celebrated Gavin's 3rd birthday, in the kingdom, with a day filled with everything he wanted to do.  Brooks had to work so I made sure that Gavin felt extra special on his birthday.

We started the morning off by going to the local DHL office to pick up several packages I had shipped weeks before we left that were filled with birthday presents from family members for Gavin.  I surprised him when we got home and told him the boxes were all for him!!  He was beyond excited!!

 (Yes, Miles was trying to help his big brother find all the presents in the boxes)

Aunt Steph came over for breakfast, which we had homemade donuts-- a request from Gavin the moment he got out of bed.. and yes, he couldn't wait to get to the table and eat them.  Stephanie brought over a gift for Gavin that she made.  She quilted a blanket covered in transportation vehicles, which is what his room is decorated in!  I LOVED IT!  I almost cried when she pulled it out.  So grateful that we get to enjoy this for years to come!

Gavin and I spent most of his birthday playing with all his new toys and relaxed throughout the day. I didn't make him take a nap either, mainly to help with jet lag, but he did pretty good throughout the day and was busy with all his new stuff... it was no big deal!

Gavin also told me he wanted cookies for his birthday a few days before, but then on his actual birthday, he wanted a cake.  Convincing him that he would get a cake for his birthday party wasn't enough.. therefore, he and I made a cookie cake to have when daddy got home from work.  I taught Gavin the Happy Birthday so that it wouldn't scare him when we sang it to him that evening.  He sang it all day!!  After dinner we pulled out the cake, set up a candle and let him blow it out.  He asked that we keep singing to him over and over again by relighting his candle.  He loved it!

 

Gavin loved his cake!  Apparently, he loved it so much he wanted to figure out a way to eat it as fast as he could.  So he asked me to eat it like him-- hey, it was his birthday, I was doing whatever he wanted that day!

 

As you can see, we kept singing Happy Birthday to him, even after we cut the cake and ate some!

I think Gavin had a fun day and enjoyed celebrating his 3rd birthday.  We're planning a choo-choo train party for next week with friends once everyone makes it back to Saudi.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!  We love you so much!!

Summer 2011: Saudi Style

As much fun as we had in the states during our summer vacation, Brooks had just as much fun here in the Kingdom.  Okay, so that pretty much isn't true at all, but he kept busy for the entire 5 weeks we were gone.  If I remember correctly, he enjoyed his "freedom" the first week- coming home form work, chillin, fixing dinner, watching tv, reading, vegging (is that even a word?), but then that got old after a while.

So, Brooks started on a project that wasn't intended to take as long as it did, but it kept him busy every night when he got home from work and helped pass the time by while we were apart.  Before we left for the states, Brooks and I went and picked out paint colors and bought gallons and gallons of paint and I asked him to have the maintenance guys from our compound come and paint the house.  Since I'm pregnant, we didn't want me to be around when the house was getting painted, not to mention with Gavin and Miles and paint cans all around-- not gonna work.  

My precious husband, having a small OCD complex when it comes to paint and trims and the need for straight lines decided he wanted to cut in all the rooms himself to guarantee the trims and baseboards wouldn't get paint on them. After cutting in the rooms, he just decided to start rolling them in himself.  Four weeks later our house was painted and looked great!!  Check out the before pics here and here.  When I came back, I truly, truly felt like I came back to a new home.  It's amazing how much a little color can do to let you feel like a place is really yours.  Although, our houses look just like everyone else's so individual paint colors really, really do help.  I still walk into our house and think, wow- I love these rooms!

 

 

I think Gavin's room color was my favorite.  It worked perfectly and his trucks, trains, & planes theme all looks precious together!  Brooks' paint job isn't done yet though... sometime next year (maybe in October), we're planning on moving Miles and Gavin into the same room and letting Brooklyn have the nursery room to herself (which may end up being Gavin's old room). Also, we didn't know during the summer if we were having a boy or a girl, so we just left the nursery room as it was.  My craft room wasn't painted either.  I just have no clue what I want to do with it, yet.  We'll see though how things will work out.

Thank you Brooks Lee for spending your bachelor days painting our house and making it a home for all of us.  I appreciate you so much and am grateful for your hard work and willingness to give up your free time to do something for us.  We love you! 

A Birthday in Heaven

August 20th, I went to Houston to be with my friends Susie and Darrell as they celebrated what would have been their little boy, Cade's fifth birthday.  I planned my trip in the states so that I could be a part of this day, and, as sad as it was, I'm glad I was there.  All their immediate family and close friends met at the cemetery where we said a prayer for Cade, told him how we all missed him, and then sent him balloons to Heaven.  It was one of the most emotional days of my life in the past few months, next to the morning when we got the phone call about Cade, and the day that I visited his grave site for the first time upon returning to the states in July.  

However, it was also so good to be with our friends during this time.  I stand amazed and in awe of Susie and Darrell and how they are doing during this time.  I honestly ask them all the time how they are making it through when I feel like an emotional wreck.  They are trusting in the Lord and accepting his love, grace, and peace every moment of everyday.  I'm heartbroken for our friends, and it was really hard going back and seeing that Cade wasn't there, but I do believe that God is greater then any pain we can feel.  

There was some joy celebrating Cade's life that day.  We all remembered him for the vibrant, outgoing, loving, fun kid that he was!!  We will always miss him, but have lots of memories to hold onto!   

We love you and miss you Cade.

Summer 2011: Lake Charles

I'm going to do my best to update our blog with all the fun stuff we did this summer.  There is so much I could write about and there were tons of activities we did and people we saw that I don't have pictures of, but just know that we enjoyed all the things we got to do and all the people we were with.

I love this picture!  (Sorry mom, I know you're in your pajamas) This was the night we flew in and my mom came into my room and just loved on my boys while I unpacked all our suitcases and got everything in its place.  I think she was pretty excited to have us home.   

We spent a majority of our time in the big LC (Lake Charles) with my family. The first few days were spent recovering from jet lag, as I mentioned in my previous post, and then the next few days after that, we were all sick.  It took us probably a week to recover from colds, infections, and even bronchitis.  Miles had to get breathing treatments and Gavin was on multiple antibiotics.  Once we all got over the sicknesses, we went around town to get as many experiences as we could.  

I brought Gavin to my favorite pizza place, Mr. Gatti's, and he got to play with all the games and rides.  A new yogurt shop opened up near LC and it's where you fix your own yogurt and toppings and then you pay based on how much you put in your bowl.  Gavin loved picking out all of his toppings and his favorite part was mixing it all together like a pancake mix.  We also went and ate Hibachi- you know where they cook on your table.  I thought that would be fun for Gavin.  his favorite part was when the chef set our stove on fire.  He kept asking for him to do it again and again.  

I took Gavin to see the movie Cars 2 since we don't have movie theaters over here.  He LOVED it.  We went to Target the day before and got him a Cars t-shirt to wear to the movie.  We talked about Mater and Lighting McQueen for days before so he was super excited when we arrived and he saw them on the big screen.  I picked him up lunch at Subway and snuck it in my purse to the theater.  We also got popcorn and a HUGE Sprite.  Gavin pretty much ate the ENTIRE movie, but I didn't mind.  He sat still, watched the screen, and enjoyed the show.  

I got to enjoy seeing a movie of my preference, too.  My mom and I spent one afternoon and went and saw The Help.  It was sooooo good!  I read the book back in May with our Book Club over here and got so excited when I saw that they were making it into a film and better yet, it was coming out while I was in the states.  I love a movie that stays so close to the actual story from the book, but I love even more a book/film where you're laughing one minute, then crying the next OR you're happy watching what's happening then you get mad because of something a character does.  It was sooo good!

I also got to be apart of my best friend, since preschool, Megan, welcome her first child into the world.  Banks Asher Hartman was born, July 28th.  I kinda planned my vacation around when she was having Banks.  I could have gone to her baby shower or be there for the birth... I chose the birth.  Megan did awesome during her C-Section and looked BEAUTIFUL after giving birth.  I'm so glad it worked out for me to be there.  Megan is going to be an awesome mom!!

One of my favorite parts of being in LC was getting to spend time with family.  We made lots of memories and shared lots of laughs.  Audrey and Miles were pretty interested in one another.  I spent some time with my grandparents, but only have a picture with one set of them.  My other grandmother passed down some Christmas ornaments to me that she's had for years, I was excited to get them.  I spent a lot of time with my brothers, SILs, and nieces and nephews.  I also got to spend some time with my aunts on various occasions.  My mom and Gavin made home made ice cream several times during our trip, which meant more toppings for Gavin to put on the ice cream.  He loved it.  My dad always took Gavin on the golf cart for rides, too.  That was a daily occurrence.  We went swimming when we could and usually went mid afternoon, early evening which made it even more enjoyable!  Gavin loved jumping off the diving board and sliding down the big slides.  Miles was obsessed with the water and I'm so thankful I was able to find a baby raft so late in the summer season for him to get to be in the water floating, "alone".

  

It was a wonderful and enjoyable time getting to spend with close family and friends.  As always our time together was too short but we loved being with everyone.  I know there are a lot of other things that we did, but these were some of the highlights.  

Seven Months... the month of change

Miles turned 7 months on July 30th and this by far was the month of changes for him.  Within a 10 day period, Miles learned how to hold his bottle, sit up on his own, crawl, started eating all types of solid baby foods, got his first tooth, and even learned how to pull up and stand by furniture.    I was pretty amazed at how quickly he started doing things, but also incredibly grateful to walk into this new world of "freedom", especially since I was single-parenting-it, while Brooks was back in the KSA.  However, I was very sad to be sharing with Brooks all these new experiences for Miles via skype or through pictures  in an email.  I did everything I could to document these new changes for Brooks to experience in some way.  Miles is still our easy, laid back, relaxed kid.  I've realized he's very adaptable and is happy 99% of the time-- unless he's hungry or tired.  This kid will actually sit in your lap and chill-- something our oldest son wouldn't fathom unless he was sick.  Miles loves to smile-- he inherited my Joker type pointy smile that stretches from one end of his face to the other... he also has cheeks that can flatten out to a square shape that looks like an old grandpa!  Don't even get me started on the dimples that pop up every once in a while!  They are to die for!  He has a laugh that is beyond words contagious and is a necessity to hear on a daily basis.  

Miles pretty much likes all baby food that he has been introduced to so far.  In the beginning- he didn't blink twice when I placed something on the end of his tongue, he would just eat it.  That is, until I introduced sweet potatoes, then I guess he realized food actually tastes good... and all of a sudden green beans and peas were hesitant to go down his mouth.  And, how dare I give him carrots.  Carrots are the only food that he will physically gag at, so for the time being, I'm not worrying about them.  

  

Miles got to enjoy some time in the grass, which he always had mixed emotions about.  It was fun watching him gain new experiences.  I guess it's been so hot here, that I never really just laid Miles in the grass.   

It took Miles almost two weeks from the time he started showing an ability to sit up, until he could actually keep himself upright and stay.  From that moment on, he preferred sitting on his bottom and watching everyone.  You can even put him in front of a mirror and he'll go to town entertaining himself. He got to sit in a high chair, too, for the first time and appreciated being upright at the the table with all of us.

  

 A few more first for Miles this month were- he got to have his first sink bath.  I didn't realize I never gave Gavin one of these when he was a baby.  Miles loved it.  It was also his first bath to take sitting in an upright position... even better! Miles was sick off and on while we were in the USA and one of those times he had bronchitis.  After several antibiotics and prescriptions, we used a breathing machine to help treat him-- he's use to this from an earlier sickness when he was 4 months old, but this go around he was much more mobile and had an opinion about the mask being on his face.  Miles spent some time laying out by the pool, too.  Again, something Gavin never would have done- just hanging out to relax.

 

We love you Miles and can't believe how much you have changed over this past month.  

Summer 2011: Houston

Another part of our vacation was spent back in our old stomping grounds of Houston.  My mom came and spent the week with me and the boys while we were visiting friends and running around.   We got together with friends and I so wish I would have taken pictures of all the people we had lunch and dinner with or our friends' who had a newborn baby that we got to meet.   Ugh- next time I'll do much better.  I miss all our friends and am so grateful that we get the chance to spend some time with them when we're home.  

My teacher coworkers- the only pic I have of friends I visited

I went to our church, CCCC, to pick up some resources to bring back with us and got to see a ton of people- staff members, pastors, and volunteers I use to serve with.  It was great seeing familiar faces and hearing how many people are praying for us while we're here.  I can only hope and pray that if we end up somewhere other then the Clear Lake Area when we return from international assignment, that we can find a church just as wonderful as CCCC has been.  

I also took advantage of all the fun activities Houston offers and was focused on giving Gavin as many fun, life experiences as possible.  Therefore, one day, we went to the Houston Zoo.  My sister in law, Anna, and her two kids were going to Houston that same week and decided to come and meet up with us and play around town.  We had a blast!  

We saw lots of animals at the zoo.  I must say I was quite impressed with how many of the animals were actually out even as hot as it was.  Gavin and David ran from one pen to the next and were mesmerized with all the different animals and what they were doing!  I don't which was Gavin's favorite part of the Zoo-- the petting zoo part or the carousel.  He talked about both those activities for DAYS!!!!  

 
 

I wanted a Sprinkles cupcake and was determined to get one while we were downtown.  Mine was delicious!  Gavin... well, he wasn't as impressed.  So, I ate some of his, too.  It was delicious, too!

Another day, we drove down to Galveston and went to Moody Gardens and visited the Aquarium.  Gavin was in HEAVEN!  He loves animals, but is fascinated with those that are in water.  Not sure if it's because he's been to and seen various Aquariums that he understands what the animals are doing and which ones are which or what.  Either way, aquariums keep his attention and he's always looking for a new "fishie" that he's never seen.

My mom was a HUGE help on our trip!

checking out the penguins 

inside a shark cage

Miles kept his eyes on the sharks

After our fun morning at the Aquarium, we went and had lunch at Rain Forest Cafe and celebrated Gavin's birthday that was a week away.  Gavin and David and even Audrey and Miles were intrigued with all the sounds and commotion that kept taking place when the volcano would errupt and the dozens of gorillas that surrounded us would all of a sudden wake up and start shaking their bodies.  It was a fun lunch.  I ran into a friend from high school, Kate, who's expecting her 3rd child, too.  It was wonderful to see her and such a God thing that we ran into each other.  She is such an encourager!  Love ya, Kate.  My favorite part of the lunch was watching Gavin and Miles face when the volcano dessert came out for Gavin!  It was priceless.    

We also did some shopping while we were in Houston and ate at all my favorite restaurants.  I miss Houston a ton and enjoy getting to spend time there while we're back in the states.  We loved spending the week with my mom and having her company and her help!  It was great getting to spend some unexpected time with my SIL, niece and nephew, too.    Can't wait to go back!!