Bienvenido a la familia Charlotte!

Gavin's newest baby cousin was born this week in Atlanta. The entire Morrison family is just thrilled. Charlotte Shelleen Dalton joins Jonah in Oregon, the oldest in her generation, Gavin in Texas, and the O'Shea clan in Denver - Carolina and the triplets ( born just a few months ago.) 

Can't wait to snuggle this newest little. 

Quality Time With Friends

On Saturday we played with our friends the Risingers. Jennifer is an old friend of mine, we go way back to middle school! She is also pregnant with her second child and lives close. It was a treat to spend time with Jenn and her growing family. Thank you Will for the fantastic BBQ and pool time - these folks can cook and show the pregos a good time. 

Gavin also got a taste of what it will be like to have a younger sibling. Jennifer's daughter is almost 1.5 years and she loved Gavin and did not let him out of her sight. I wish I had snapped a few photos of the two of these littles together.

I had the much aporeciated and needed opportunity to be creative and play photographer. It's not hard to take a pretty picture when you have such great subjects!

Tiffany and Jennifer

Summer's End

It's hard to believe summer is already coming to a close. Gavin begins his last year of preschool this week. We love our Montessori home and teachers, but despite being able to keep him there through Kinder if we wanted, we are looking forward to the break on our wallets and are excited about our neighborhood elementary school. My baby boy is growing up right before my eyes. There are days when I want to freeze time and keep him home just the way he is. 

Gavin Mann - 4 years old.

Gavin Mann - 4 years old.

This kid is all sports.

Casey recently built Gavin a tree swing...

he really loves it.

MB2 is growing as well. Right on schedule. We're 16 weeks along and last week was my first double appointment with both my obstetrician and perinatologist. The high-risk doctor decided to go ahead and start me on my weekly shots of progesterone and I will be visiting her every two weeks, as opposed to once a month with the obstetrician. The progesterone service is offered by a third party provider that will meet me at home or work. Convenience can be a great thing. One less doctor appointment to schedule. My obstetrician has a referral for sciatica management if I decide I need it.  

Fifteen Weeks

Well we've reached the second trimester.

 

Notable differences between my first and second pregnancies are:

1. Morning sickness, headaches, and terrible heartburn during first trimester. I did not experience this while pregnant with Gavin.

2. Started showing much sooner with second pregnancy.

3. Once my appetite returned I noticed that my cravings and overall food preferences are not only different from my pre-pregnant self but also different than my appetite and cravings while pregnant with The G-Mann. Definitely craving more comfort food these days. Simple, uncomplicated, not too much seasoning. Cinnamon rolls are the most notable craving. The flaky kind at Starbucks with the granular sugar sprinkled on top. I believe they are called "morning bun." Very recently I have been able to venture back into some of the spicy stuff - Indian food and salsa.

4. The back and sciatica issues I had with Gavin started much sooner with MB2. I read that is common. Laying on the floor or my current couch is out if the question. We recently purchased a new sectional and recliner. I am hoping the new seating options will be more accommodating during grow-a-baby time. Thank goodness for tempurpedic beds. It could be my only salvation. Stretching helps but only relieves pain during stretch. Pain comes back as soon as stretching ends and getting up off the floor is a long painful process. This will only get worse as I grow larger.

5. Biggest difference this time around is that we have decided not to find out the sex of our baby. It will be a surprise. I have a boy name and girl name and a gender neutral name in mind. Came to me much quicker than when we were expecting Gavin. Casey is still mum on his name ideas, but open to my suggestions.

6. My overall attitude toward pregnancy two is a little different. I am less anxious about things like what kind of food I should be eating, but more fearful of the pregnancy's progression in general. Between Gavin's birth and my second pregnancy, I have known more women who had complications, miscarriages, etc. I am much more aware of how precarious life can be and what a miracle it is that healthy pregnancies and births occur at all. I think that almost five years of motherhood has made me more compassionate and I extend that compassion toward myself as well. I'm more patient and less judgemental. I am following doctors orders to take it easy, which can be hard at times, mostly during my workday. It's a different emotional experience not anticipating to find out or already knowing the sex. I am still working on how to articulate this difference.

7. We've decided to change our guest room into a nursery. I've found inspiration  in what my family enjoys the most - the outdoors. I envision a mobile made of tree  limbs and fabric birds, playful insect elements, and calming images of familiar landscapes from our family time outside. A peaceful, happy place.

Fun wall hooks and drawer knobs I recently found at World Market. Love that place.

Family Fun on the San Marcos River

Last weekend we took Gavin on his first river trip. He's been on short kayaking trips on Town Lake, the Rollingwood put-in to the Redbud Peninsula, and from the put-in to Barton Springs. The last couple of times on Town Lake he expressed boredom, because there weren't really any places he could swim. We decided he was ready to tackle an all day (3-4 hours) river trip. The San Marcos river is clean and there are several excellent swimming holes.

We met our friends the Enders early on Saturday morning, armed with river snacks and cold beverages, strapped the kayaks to the roof of our adventure mobile, and headed to Sewell Park (a favorite swimming hole) to begin our journey.

Gavin's swimming has come a long way this summer. He hasn't taken formal lessons yet, but is catching on with the help of his parents and friends. Once we were in the water Gavin immediately took to wanting to swim unassisted. Always asking about when we were stopping at the next swimming hole along the way. A river rat in the making. 

The Enders are great with the littles. Very patient, quick with the witty comebacks (necessary with the 4 year olds) and always ready to share interesting facts about our local waterways and wildlife, as well as the fun stuff like how to float on your back in the river or skip rocks. At the end of our trip Gavin was ready to stay with the Enders. 

It was a great trip and we're looking forward to more family adventures on the river. 

Gavin wanted to ride on the top of the car with the kayaks.

Peaceful place.

Casey and Gavin. 

Our paddles are still too heavy for Gavin to use, but he found a tree branch floating in the river
and decided to make his own paddle. He was very proud of himself.
We're going to start looking for his own Gavin-size paddle.

An Aeromotor windmill. 

Mr. Mark teaching Gavin his rock skipping technique.

Gavin loved that he was able to swim in the river.
He asked if he could hold on to the side of the kayak while we paddled. He had a blast.

Side note: this post was completed entirely on my iPhone, from the photography to the blogging. Kind of cool. So far I like Blogger app, but have found a couple of flaws: 1) I can't add photo captions 3) and I can't add hyper links. To do these things I need to revisit editing on a computer. Doesn't dissuade me to use Blogger app, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Conversations With My Son

While giving our goodbye kisses and hugs in the morning:

"Mama, I wish I could stay four for a long long time."

"You mean you wish you could stay four years old forever?"

"Yeah!"

"I wish you would stay four years old forever too."

"And mama, you could stay 23 forever!"

"Ok, I like it!"

If that's not a great way to start off the day, I don't know what is. 

Saying Goodbye

Our dear friends the Woods moved away about a week ago. After a year of planning and preparing, they sold their house and fulfilled their dream of moving to Durango, CO.  We are grateful for the time we had with them. We made many memories. Our friendship goes way back and has survived long distances before. There are future Rocky mountain memories to be made. God Speed Woods!

Going Away Party

Friends began gathering around 3 PM at the Woods' house. One last yard stomping before they head west to CO.

Cora's daddy is an archeologist who is currently abroad digging in the dirt. There were no shortages of other daddies who were more than happy to hold little Cora. She's a charmer.

Trevor and Casey, buddies.

Joe and Casey pulling the pork. Everyone came together to prepare fantastic food. We had three kegs of home brew, pulled pork sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw, peach cobbler, lemon-lime bars, beans, birthday cake, chips and dip, and so on...

All three kegs floated by the end of the party.

Amy, Joe, and Jessi - family photo

We have so many pictures of these three, in this yard, dating from back before they were walking. 

These three are going to miss their playdates.

There were plenty of adorable children to entertain each other. 

At one point, I think there were at least 15 kids.

Friends

CHEESE!

Girl driver.

Man of the house.

It's not a party without a man and his gee-tar.

Casey brought back some authentic East TN moonshine from our trip to TN.
The jar was passed around.

Motherhood

There were plenty of popsicles to go around.

Cora dragged her tiny chair from the other side of the patio
to sit with the ladies. It was pretty adorable. This little lady has some sass.

Ashley (Cora's mom) and Anna

Denny's birthday was the week before the party, so the going-away party doubled as a birthday party.

Denny and his pirate pinata.

At one point the pinata detached from the rope and one of the older kids got the honor of breaking it open.

Loot

Like I mentioned earlier - there were plenty of adorable children.

Gavin enjoying a cupcake with the ladies.

Birthday boy - 5 years old.

Darts and cornhole kept the teenagers entertained.

A little live music at the end of a great evening. The party lasted until midnight. Holy Moly.

Night before moving. Packing and saying goodbye.

Almost all packed

Goodbye little house. So many wonderful memories here. 

Goodbye backyard on the creek.

Empty house. Busy, busy, busy.

Friends came over to pack up the Uhaul and clean the house.
Final walkthrough and closing were the next day.

Lady friends

When all the heavy packing was done, we visited on the front porch one last time.

Sisters

Tiff and Jess 

The final play date as a trio. We basically let these three go hog wild.
They stayed up way past their bedtime, ate too many popsicles, painted their bodies with markers,
and everything else we typically don't allow.  

Goodbye hug

One last movie night.