1 Year Check Up

Yesterday was Gavin's 1 year check up.  I'll just reitterate what the doctor had said, "He's perfect in every way."  And I couldn't agree more.  Gavin now weighs 22 pounds 12 ounces and is 30" tall.  He's right along in the 50th percentile for his age.  The doctor got to see Gavin's chompers, got to see him walk and even got to hear his high-pitched screams!  Yes, Gavin screamed and we didn't even get to the shots yet.  Even though I was a little embarrassed, it warmed my heart that I was the only one who could calm him down.  After talking about Gavin's developments and safety tips to be concerned about, it was time to administer the shots.  There were three.  He did well just laying on the table, playing with my cell phone then quickly the nurse shot him.  Literally, five seconds later (count it out), it hit him, "THAT HURT!"  Can we say "delayed reaction"?  The other two shots didn't even matter because Gavin was so focused on the first one.  So we left (without a lollipop) and got him a toy at Target for being such a good boy. 

This morning, I left the house in fear.  Hold on to your seats because this is a scary story.  Every morning, my cat, Ava, wants to go out on the back porch usually to just chill and to be out in nature.  So I let her out around 6:45 this morning.  I went back to bed and 30 minutes later got up and ready for work.  Gavin walked out to the living room to play with his toys.  Mema was on the back porch as well just enjoying her morning coffee.  Then she came inside to play with Gavin as Eric and I were still getting ready.  Eric packed his car and was about to grab Gavin to leave then we heard Mema yelling, "Is that a snake?!  There's a snake!  There's a snake on the back porch!"  As we ran toward the back porch, we saw it slithering around.  She got a closer look, "It's a coral snake!!!  It's poisonous!!!  Get Ava!!!"  I could tell Eric was trying to think of the rhyme "Red on yellow, kills a fellow; red on black, friend of Jack."  Ava was just laying there probably thinking how crazy we are.  So we opened the door and Eric saved my baby girl.  The rest of what happened was kinda blurry because I was so focused on Gavin not getting close to the door.  But I remember Mema running back and forth to the garage with a broom and then a shovel.  I'm laughing now because it seems like a movie.  How did it end?  Eric was able to get the snake out of the back porch with the broom.  Then he tried to kill it with the shovel but the snake got too deep into the brush that he couldn't see it anymore.  We're not sure how the snake got into the back porch, we're not sure how long it was there till we saw it, and we're not sure where it is now.  From now on, Ava is gonna have to get used to being just an indoor cat.  So when I say I left the house in fear, I literally thought that snakes were chasing me down the driveway and some were even waiting for me in my car!  Why couldn't it be a "friend of Jack"?!