Ella Sophia

We are so proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Ella Sophia!  She was born on September 3rd at 11:31 pm.  She was 7lbs 6oz and 20.5 inches long (one ounce heavier and one inch longer than Gavin).  It will now be easy to remember our important family dates (our anniversary is Feb 3rd, her birthday is Sept 3rd and Gavin's birthday is Dec 3rd)!  At first, we thought she looked just like Gavin when he was born.  She definitely has the dark hair and same chin, but Gavin had much more hair and their mouths look a little different.  Gavin met her the next morning and was excited but a little hesitant at first.  By that afternoon, though, he was asking to hold her and even got upset when some friends came to visit in the hospital room and held her!  He has been quite a champ and says "it's ok Ella" when she cries.  He also loves to kiss her head.  The last week has been a bit hectic as her bilirubin levels were high.  While this is fairly common in newborns and has no long term consequences if treated, it has means that we have been to the hospital every single day since she was born and admitted twice for blood draws and phototherapy ("bili lights") until yesterday when we had home health set up the bili lights at home for us.  Now she hangs out on the light all day (except for nursing) and a home health nurse comes out to do the blood draw.  She really has been great despite all this.  She's nursing well and rarely fusses, except when she's hungry.  It's been tough on us with all the back and forth and seeing her get her heels stuck so many times.  I just want to get her off the dang lights and be able to hold her whenever I want and to interact with her like a mom and newborn.  Michael gets even less cuddle time because I at least get to nurse her every few hours.  Hopefully it will resolve soon.  Here are some pictures from her first week.  Gavin's bike is a present from Ella :-)

Catching Up

Random pictures from April through June:

At Aunt Leslie and Uncle Michael's (not to be confused with her brother Michael!) engagement party in Houston in April.  Gavin had a blast dancing at the party.  I'll post a video some other time!

In May we had our first vacation week together since August of last year.  We went on a 4-day cruise and then spent the last weekend in the Keys for the wedding of Michael's residency classmate, Meredith.  Again, Gavin had a blast dancing!

Also in May, Gavin moved into his big-boy room with all new furniture.  His "baby room" is now getting ready for his baby sister.  We still need to paint his big-boy room, though.

Aunt Leslie and Uncle Michael got married 2 weekends ago and our whole family was in the wedding.  I was a bridesmaid, Michael was a groomsman and Gavin was the ring-bearer.  We were so proud of him...he turned around twice and hid his face with the pillow, but he made it all the way down the aisle in front of 200+ guests!  I can't wait to see the video and professional pictures.  We are so happy for Aunt Leslie and Uncle Michael!

Bowling

A few weeks ago, we were looking for something fun to do on a rare true day off as a family.  We decided to try bowling and had a blast!  Gavin still talks about it.  It turns out that the bowling alley has bumpers (which I'd seen before) but also this metal ramp that you put the ball on and then let Gavin push the ball down. 

Exciting news!

Gavin wanted to let everyone know that he is going to be a...

 Baby Reader #2 is due September 3rd!

Spanish

Gavin has Spanish a few days a week in school, but I think he really learned these words from Michael. In other news, we think it's time for Gavin to get a big-boy bed. Actually, Michael has thought that for a while and I think I was just delaying letting my baby leave his crib :-( Now we are searching for the perfect big-boy room, which Gavin seems excited about. He and Michael went to Atlanta a few weekends ago to visit Braylon, Sandy and Scott Tanaka and when I mentioned a big-boy bed, he said "Like Braylon's big-boy bed!"

What do Mama and Daddy do at work?

Words

Gavin has had a word explosion the last few weeks. Here is a sampling of his words:

Disee (Dixie)--this was his first word
Mama
Daddy
Nala
Hi
Woah
Boom (when he bangs things)
Uh-oh
Bayee (baby)
Bah (ball)
Hat
Bi (bib)
Bee
Foobah (football)
Wa (watch)
Moto (motorcycle)
Dow (down)
Up
Ah done (all done)
Muh (more)--although today I heard an "r" sound at the end for the first time
Wayeh (water)
Hep (help) and just today, "Wayeh hep" to help give Dixie her water
Mono (his stuffed monkey)
Bunny
Duh (duck)
Boyd (bird)
Go
No
Joo (juice)
Yo-ee (yogurt)
Mel (milk)
Breh (bread)
Sheese (cheese)
Poon (spoon)
Ni (knife)
Foyk (fork)
Appo (apple)
Nana (for banana and his Nana)
Boobewy (blueberry)
Keys (sounds similar to cheese)
Shoe
Sah (sock)
Sue (tissue)
Yeyow (yellow)
Boo (blue)
Geen (green)
Amote (remote)
Bush (brush)
Open
Pho (phone)
Dog/doggy
Fooee (smoothie)
Wing (swing)
Tree
Boke (broke)
Wun (run)
Mess
Mine

I'm definitely missing a bunch. Also, he's been repeating tons of other words, but not using them consistently so I didn't count them :-) It's amazing how toddlers are like sponges at this age--they just absorb everything. He can point to his (and other peoples') head, hair, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, elbows, ankles, knees, belly button, toes, feet, shirt, shorts and pants. He gives kisses and hugs. He also understands soooo many other things that I can't even list. At dinner tonight, Michael asked him what sound a train makes, not really expecting an answer and he said "Choo choo". So we asked him about other sounds and he knew "moo moo" for cow and "beep beep" for car (while making a motion with his hand to hit the horn).

We had a great visit from Sandy, Scott and Braylon over the 4th of July. I'll try to post a few pictures from that later.