The Birthday Week has Begun

One year ago today I was preparing for the birth of my precious baby boy. We wanted to make this week special for Gavin. I know he is not going to remember much, but I will, and it is so nice when we hang out as a family. Today we took Gavin to the zoo for the first time. This week has been pretty toasty here in good ol' SA so we wanted to get an early start to beat the blazing heat. We managed to get there by 9:30. The heat wasn't too bad. I haven't been to the zoo in years. The first thing that struck me was the smell. FYI, wild animals don't smell all that great. Gavin seemed to like looking at all the kids there rather than all the animals. He enjoyed the aquarium and after an hour he fell asleep. Gabriel and I enjoyed the exhibits and found a nice air conditioned gift shop to rest in so Gavin could sleep in comfort. We then headed to the zoo train. By this time Gavin was awake and ready for the ride. After we packed up we headed over to Sam's Burger Joint to have lunch. We had a great day!

Dirty Thirty Mexican Style

Unfortunately I will be turning 30 this year. Yes, I know, you can't believe it either. I can't believe that these are the last few months of my 20's. On the brighter side, I will be ringing in my 30th year of life in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The tickets are booked and the countdown has begun. We are so excited. I haven't been on a plane in years and Gabriel and I have yet to take a vacation by ourselves. Granted we won't be entirely by ourselves. My dad, step mom, two stepsisters and their families will be there, but we will be without child which has me feeling a bit apprehensive, but excited at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I would love to take my precious baby boy with us, but who can really enjoy a vacation when you have to constantly look over someone. And when I say enjoy I mean drink pina coladas from dusk till dawn. I will be leaving Gavin with my mom so I know he will be well taken care of. Gabriel and I definitely NEED this vacation. This last year has not only been the best year of our lives, but also one of the most stressful. I am sure all will be forgotten once we cross over the border. A special thank you goes out to my wonderful dad and step mom who have made this trip possible for us. We love you! Viva Mexico!

Happy Father's Day Dada!

Nervous Breakdown Alert!

As I am writing this post tears are running down my face. I have had one of those days or should I say one of those weeks. Gavin has been fussier than usual most of the week. My little precious boy who used to go to sleep immediately after his night bottle has now decided that he needs to be rocked to sleep. I don't mind this at all, but I have to rock him for just the right amount of time or he wakes up and starts to cry and the process starts over again. He is also waking in the middle of the night so instead of going in and patting him back to sleep I have to rock him again. After a few nights of this I gave up and just brought him in bed with us. Last night he woke up at 4 am screaming. He didn't have a fever so I assumed it was his teeth. Nothing would soothe him. Finally after 20 minutes he calmed down and went back to sleep. I don't know what is wrong with our little boy. His top four and bottom four teeth are in, so I am thinking that his molars are coming in. I have also started the transition to whole milk too. I thought I would start a couple of weeks before his first birthday so that when we made the switch it wouldn't be such a shock. He is getting half and half right now, so part of me also thinks it could be that. We have him on Enfamil gentlease which is low in lactose so maybe the whole milk isn't agreeing with him. I haven't noticed any gassiness and he is still eating well. I am so confused. I just got him down for a nap after an hour of nonstop crying. I am exhausted and it is only 3 o'clock.

To make this week even worse, I am in the process of looking for a teaching job and have received nothing but bad news this week. I was originally offered a job two weeks ago. Of course I accepted and to my surprise when I went in to sign my letter of intent they had made a mistake. Apparently the campus was reduced a teacher so since I was the last one hired I had to be dropped. Talk about ultimate bummer. I went from being so excited to being so sad in the matter of 20 minutes. I have interviewed a few times this week, but have yet to be offered a position. My spirits are pretty low, but I am trying my best to keep my head up. I know that there has to be a silver lining to all of this stress. Thank goodness it is Friday. I am definitely ready for a new week.

Gavin and Dad on a Saturday Morning

There's No Place Like Home...

For Mother's Day my step dad gave my mom and I tickets to Wicked at the Majestic Theatre. I have been waiting for this show to come to San Antonio for the last year. My mom and I started out having a couple of mojitos at Acenar, then we headed to the Palm for dinner before the show. We dined on a 4lb. lobster that was absolutely delicious. We had coffee on the patio and then headed for the theatre. The show was phenomenal. I have been in love with musicals ever since I saw the Phantom of the Opera in NYC when I was 12 years old. I have seen quite a few and this one takes the cake. I think my jaw was on the floor the entire time. The songs were incredible, the cast was fabulous, the set was magnificent and the costumes were exquisite. During the intermission I ran into my uncle Peter who asked us if we would like to go backstage after the show. When the show ended we got a fabulous backstage tour. It was one of the best evenings I have had in a while. Thank you Mom, Dan and Uncle Peter for a Wicked night!

11 Months Old

Can you believe it? Gavin is 11 months old. I can't believe how fast these last 11 months have gone by. Don't get me wrong, in the beginning it seemed like each day took an eternity, but once I got this mom thing down the days have flown by. I am still mesmerized by my little boy. I can spend hours just staring at him play. He looks at the world with such amazement. It has been such a blessing to be able to stay home with him this first year. I have a wonderful husband who works extra hard so that I can be home with Gavin and for that I am extremely grateful. Gavin is almost walking and he says dada constantly. Gabriel eats that up. We seem to be on a pretty set schedule with the occasional melt down here and there. Gavin has six teeth that are fully out and two more that are breaking through. He has a slight temper and gets really mad when you take something that he likes away from him. He wants nothing to do with his toys. He would much rather play with my cell phone, keys, shoes and boxes. Not such a good combo considering these are probably the dirtiest things he can pick up. Gavin loves to be outside and go for walks. We took him on the zoo train and he loved it. One more month and our precious little baby won't be a baby anymore :(