G.I.R.L. GIRL

I'm incredibly late on officially announcing our news on the blog, but we're having a girl!!  Can you believe it?  Brooks and I can't!  I think we both thought ultrasounds didn't read "It's a Girl", but they do, and we are so excited and can't wait to meet our baby girl in February.  

I realize this isn't the most gracious first picture of our sweet little girl, but I just thought it was hilarious.  This is the picture that showed us the sex of our baby.   

                                 

I had an ultrasound the week before I flew back to Saudi and asked the ultrasound technician to tell me if he could determine the baby's gender.  He said yes.  I was 15 weeks at the time.  I quickly told him I didn't want to know, but asked if he'd put the picture in a sealed envelope so that Brooks and I could open it the moment we were together from my summer trip in the USA.  

So, the night we flew into the Kingdom, after having some family time, Brooks and I went up to our room and unpacked the picture from suitcase and made the reveal.  Brooks was shocked and literally said nothing.  I was surprised... I think deep down I was expecting (and prepared myself for) another boy.  It took Brooks about a week for it to sink in.. no, he wasn't mad about the news.  I really don't think his mind grasped the concept of a girl right off the bat.  It's been 5 weeks since we found out we're having a little girl and we are both just besides ourselves.  Brooks told me last night he has a feeling this little girl is going to steal his heart away.  

I've told (and asked) both my sister in laws to help me with the clothes situation.  I like the more casual style on boys-- shorts and t-shirts, but literally have no idea how to dress a girl!  I've been asked a lot lately about my color scheme for her room, the nursery theme, etc and it literally scares me to death.  I feel a lot of pressure for some reason, but know that it will be fun getting things ready.  We're definitly going to have to work on the room situation for her in our house, but that will come in time, once we're reading to move Miles into the same room as Gavin.

We're thinking, planning, and 90% certain her name will be Brooklyn (for Brooks and Lindsey put together), but we've yet to decide on a middle name.   We've had the name Brooklyn picked out for a little girl since before Gavin was here and both my previous pregnancies, had one of our boys been a girl, her name would have been Brooklyn so it only seems natural that we'd stick to what we've always liked and wanted!  

We can't wait to meet her some day and are excited to think about the new dynamic that is going to come into our home when she's here!  I have a doctors appointment next week so we'll get some updated ultrasound pictures of her soon!   

Choo Choo! All Aboard!

We had a fun weekend celebrating Gavin's 3rd birthday.  

Friday morning, Gavin woke up to a big surprise-- his birthday present from mom and dad.  Yes, we were two weeks late on giving it to him, but our schedules have been so hectic since we got back to Saudi, that there weren't many opportunities to put it together nor give it to Gavin when we were both home in the mornings.  Gavin walked down stairs and immediately found the blanket that was hiding something.  Brooks helped him uncover it and there he saw his Choo Choos, as he put it.  He was so excited!  He actually raised his arms up in a victory sign he was so excited!  He played and played and played with the table all morning.  He looked at every single part of it, inspected it, learned every sound it makes, and was simply in awe of his table.  The main reason we got this train table for his birthday, is because his best friend Cade had one.  They always played trains together and it was a memory we will always cherish that Gavin and Cade had together.  We wanted to let that memory stay alive by having a train table in our house.  Gavin was very grateful for the present and on his own omission ran and gave me a big hug!  He kept telling Brooks and I thank you, thank you!

After spending the morning together as a family, we started getting things ready for Gavin's Birthday Party.  We threw him a train themed party filled with trains, trains, and more trains.  We actually threw Gavin two parties.  The first party was for Gavin and all his young friends.  We set up the bounce house, put together a Thomas the Train tunnel, and had train tracks put around for all to play with.  Everything went great.  The kids had a fun time and Gavin loved playing with all his friends!  I think Gavin's favorite part was singing Happy Birthday to himself.  Thankfully, he only asked to blow the candles out once.  

By the way- thanks Aunt Anna for making the train t-shirt.  It was perfect!  Every person who walked in the door Gavin said Welcome to my Birthday Cake!  Look at my choo- choo shirt!

Gavin was blessed with lots of fun gifts and he was extremely grateful for all of them!  He got puzzles and trucks, and craft activities and clothes.  He got a neat Handy Manny figurine with tools, and some great sports activities (basketball goal, dart board, etc).  My parents got Gavin a LeapPad before we left so one of our neighbors got him an App Card to download games to it.  (If you haven't heard of the LeapPad, it's an IPad for kids.  It's really cool and very durable. It's very kid friendly and was perfect for the airplane ride and traveling!)

Look- there's Gavin's friend, Peyton, from Houston!  The Acords, our small group leaders from our church, moved to Saudi back in May.  They live about 45 mnutes from us so they got to come celebrate Gavin's birthday with us.  Peyton had her 3rd birthday party last week that we got to spend time with them there, too.  We love having the Acord's here and love that Gavin and Peyton get to continue their friendship together.  Those two have known each other since they were 8 or 9 months old.   

Gavin has been asking for a scooter ever since last April when all the big kids around our compound got motorized ones.  We decided he needed to learn how to ride a bike first.  He's still been asking for a scooter and he had one in the states at my parents house and LOVED it.  So, of course, who else but Aunt Steph and Uncle Micah would get Gavin the scooter he's been wanting.  Stephanie found one here and actually got him the size up from what we originally thought he needed and Gavin did awesome riding it.  Like, literally, awesome.  He has taken that scooter everywhere this week and goes fast.  Brooks and I were pretty amazed with how fast he picked up riding a two wheeler.  

Did I mention we had two parties for Gavin on Friday?  Well, we did.  Not to spoil him, but rather to make things easier.  I really wanted a little kid party.  One where kids under the age of 5 could play together, enjoy the bounce house, and have little kid activities without the hectic and crazyness that all the million older kids, who are always around, would bring.  Living on a compound, you get close with a lot of people.  So having parties and dinners, makes it really hard to exclude people, because you are so close to so many.  We decided we'd have a little kid party in the afternoon, then invite all our friends with older kids, who we knew would want to celebrate Gavin's birthday with us, over for dinner that night.  Gavin got more presents and got to sing Happy Birthday and blow his candle out one more time.  The 2nd party went great!  Everyone was there (another plus about living on a compound)!  No one has anywhere else to be so you generally never get any no RSVP's.  Gavin had fun with all the older kids- they laughed and goofed off a lot.

 I'm pretty sure it's safe to say our little man had a very fun, filled day, all about him!  Brooks and I enjoyed watching the smile on Gavin's face and will cherish the memories we made celebrating his day! We can't believe he's already celebrated TWO birthdays here in the Kingdom.  Wow-- that's a crazy thought!

Gavin's 1st Day of Preschool

As my friend, Christa said, "I'm interrupting the summer posting series to bring you the important event of":

Gavin's First Day of Preschool

Yes, Gavin started school today.  I can NOT believe it.  Technically, he started pre-pre school, but still, it's school. A real school.  We got him a big boy backpack and lunch box (even though he doesn't eat lunch at school) and bought all the necessary school supplies he needed.  We've been preparing Gavin all week for school and making a big deal about him going to BIG BOY school.  We explained a lot to him that he was going to be staying at school and that mommy would come home with Miles.  He seemed okay with it.  We woke him up this morning, made him a good breakfast, dressed him a spiffy outfit, put his backpack on him and went off to school.  We did take the typical first day of school photo on the front porch before leaving.  I think I was so nervous and Brooks was anxious to leave on time, that we didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked.  Gavin didn't seem nervous and acted excited, until we got into the car and the realization hit him that he really was going to school.  He showed some signs of being worried, but Brooks and I did everything to keep him calm.

When we got to school, Gavin kind of took off.  Now, he was ready to be at school.  We found his classroom and tried getting settled.  When we arrived, his class was actually split into two groups, two different rooms that were connected to one another by a door, however, I didn't know that.  I couldn't find Gavin's cubby in the first room, rather, I couldn't find his name anywhere.  I started getting really nervous.  I found a teacher and she said then he must be in the other room.  We walked next door, found his name on the sheet, found the spot for his backpack, and his nametag.  I quickly realized all of Gavin's other friends from our compound were assigned the other room.  I wanted to cry.  I just kept thinking oh great, he's not going to want to stay, he's not going to know anyone, this is going to be horrible.  I tried focusing on getting Gavin ready for the day and was trying to tell him everything I could think of to make his day easy and fun.  The teacher came out in me and I quickly realized maybe I was overwhelming him.  I showed him around the room and tried getting him to be familiar with his surroundings.  He kept looking for his friend Devin, who was assigned the other class.  Eventually, Devin came over to Gavin's room and they buddied up.  Not sure how things were going to go once they were split again, but hey, it got Gavin over his nervousness and he wanted to play!  I was so thankful Brooks was there with me.  He really helped keep me calm.  Miles was with us and did awesome.  He is such a laid back, relaxed kid.

The time came when it was time to go and I swore I would not be one of those parents that stayed around.  I tried so hard to stay focused on the fact that this was going to be good for Gavin, he would love it, he'd get settled, and would be fine!  I started crying.  I tried HARD not to, but I couldn't control it.  Gavin was fine, until he saw me crying.  Then, he got worried and started fussing a little bit.  I quickly told Brooks to show Gavin where he would potty at school so he'd know, and I dried up my tears.  I hugged Gavin goodbye (okay, so there were still a few tears) told my little man bye and walked away.  He went right back to playing with all the toys!

Outside the classroom, I cried with a few other moms and sent Brooks off to work. I cried the entire way home in the car.. like, I balled like a baby.  I think my driver probably thought I was crazy, but who cares.  I can't wait to go pick him up and hear all about his day.  I'm sure he loved it.  I'm doing good now.  I'm fine really.  I've had a quiet morning so far at home with Miles and am now off to our first ladies Coffee Morning of the year.  Will let you know how things went later...

*** Update- I went and picked Gavin up and he had a good day.  He said it was fun and he got to play.  When I asked him what he did, he kept saying he told his teacher NO!  Not real sure what that means- whether it was a good or bad thing, but he said he's willing to go back tomorrow!   

Miles 8 Months

Miles turned 8 months old.  He is growing up so fast and we are loving having him around.  He's starting to show more and more of his personality to us.  He's laid back, easy going, pretty content, yet, knows what he wants.  He LOVES eating baby food- hence the semi orange noise.  I've been making all his baby food and he actually prefers homemade versus the store bought containers.  He is taking 8oz of formula and just recently decided he doesn't want his bedtime bottle.  Fine with us!!

Miles is a funny kid, too.  He's very observant and makes hilarious faces and random noises.  He LOVES playing in the dirt, gets excited for bath time, and would prefer being with Gavin all the time.  Miles LOVES to climb on things.  Anything he can stand up on and climb, he does it.
He's a fun kid to have around!!