Mama's Boy

Gavin is such a Mama's Boy.  He latches on to my leg as I travel from one room to the other.  He clings to me when Dada takes him to Ms. Shirley's in the mornings.  He throws himself back if I'm not giving him attention.  This is Mama's Boy even though he's a spittin' image of his Dada....
 

Holy Roller's Team

Yesterday afternoon, my Fantasy Football League (The Real Tight Ends) had their live draft for the season.  I always have fun doing this with a bunch of women because we're not as serious as the guys.  My husband gave me a few tips before entering the draft but I'm still a little leary about my picks.  Here they are:

Quaterbacks: 
Aaron Rodgers
Carson Palmer

Wide Receivers:
Andre Johnson
DeSean Jackson
Chad Ochocinco
Anthony Gonzalez

Running Backs:
Beanie Wells
LeSean McCoy
Reggie Bush
Cedric Benson

Tight Ends:
Jermichael Finley
Dustin Keller

Kicker:
Ryan Longwell

Defense:
New Orleans Saints

The first game is September 9th, next Thursday.  The anticipation begins.....

Another Fantasy

That's right....another Fantasy Football season is coming up!  I was looking forward to it but not so much any more.  Not to name any names but I was ridiculed for wanting my team name to be ILoveMyHusband.  I'm only assuming it will offend certain opponents and that's why I got the "thumbs down" text.  So now I am renaming my team as Holy Roller.  I strive to be like Jesus who is holy and that's how I roll.  :)  Other than that, not too excited about this season.  Just give me football on our new HD tv, a bag of chips, a beer in hand and I'm ready to go!

Yes, our cable is now set up.  Apparently, it took the guy 4 hours to set up the box and electrical wires.  But it was nice to have the Disney Channel back!  :)  Also, I am SO proud of my husband because he installed our new digital thermostat all by himself!  Our old one was weird.  We would set it what we thought was 78 degrees but it was actually 75.

Yesterday was Gavin's 15 month check up and that meant 2 shots.  He is SO smart.  I think he remembered Dr. Tim and what happened last time.  Once he saw the doctor, Gavin immediately tried to climb on me like a little monkey to get away. 

Gavin is adjusting very well in our new home.  Ava, on the other hand, is driving me up a freakin' wall!  At Cindy's house, she was used to going on the back porch so she could have "outside" time.  She can't do that until we fix our screen door in the back porch.  So that makes her cry all the time!

I feel like it's been a bad week with the exception of Monday.  I've been really busy at work, Gavin has been a little cranky here and there, Ava doesn't let me sleep, our house is still messy and one negative person can ruin my whole day!  One thing I can work on is the last thing mentioned.  I need to just ignore all the negativity around me and focus on my happiness (not to gloat or rub it in their faces though).  Have a great day!

Introduction

This past weekend was so much fun!  Not sure what happend exactly when but it happened.  We have officially moved and have been living in our house since Saturday!  The first night, we did not have Gavin (he spent the night at his Grandpa's house) so it was a little quiet.  Plus, it was a wreck....and still is.  But that's not the worst.  We have no cable or internet until tomorrow!  Thankfully my dad is Mr. Blockbuster and we borrowed some movies and The Office Season 2 & 3 on dvd. 

I have to confess that we skipped church Sunday morning.  Eric woke me up at 7:00 saying that we had to go back to his mom's house to clean the emptied rooms.  After pleading with him for a little bit more sleep, 30 minutes later we were out the door.  :)  For lunch, our AMAZING friends did something special for us.  Chris, Damon and Kelley took us out to lunch at Senor Locos then they took us to Home Depot across the street and bought us a gift and then some.  They are without a doubt the best friends anyone could ask for!  We left in awe of their thoughtfulness, kindness and love.  The gift?  A ceiling fan for our living room! 

Sunday night was Gavin's first night in the house.  His room was basically the same layout as his room at Cindy's house.  Here he is walking into his new room!

 

With the blinds in place

Thanks Mom for your artistic work!  You did an awesome job! :)

Then last night was Ava's first night in the house.  Let's just say that she didn't get curious until 3:30 in the morning.  She decided to check out everything as loud as she could!  So, if it's not Gavin then it's Ava waking us up in the middle of the night....kids.

Also last night, Eric and I had our anniversary dinner.  We picked Arigato's!  It was great and we ate everything in sight.  After putting Gavin to bed, we sat on the couch and read our vows to each other again.  I was more emotional saying my vow this time around because of all that has happened in the past two years.  It's been such a rollercoaster but I wouldn't have enjoyed any other ride! :)   

Change in Plans

Eric and I discussed our anniversary plans and we're nixing the Brazilian restaurant this year.  We decided to take the money we would've spent on a very expensive restaurant and purchase things we need for our house instead.  For instance, we need area rugs, ceilings fans, towels, etc.  And oddly enough, we're probably going to Chili's.  He said, "It doesn't matter where we go to eat just as long as we're together," and I couldn't agree more.  That Brazilian restaurant will hopefully still be there when we can afford it again but for now, we need to be practical with our money. 

Last night, I cleaned the bathroom....well, most of it anyway.  Who would've thought that you could take apart your toilet just to clean it?!  No joke, it looks like a brand new toilet after I got done with it.  The tub is another story.  I had Eric scrape those sticky things on the bottom (you know, those thingys that keep you from slipping).  They were nasty and disgusting.  Still have to scrub that tub down though.  So....I feel like we still have a lot to do but we'll get it all done by this weekend. 

Gavin didn't sleep well last night.  I rocked him and rocked him and rocked him.  He couldn't get comfortable and he would scream if I put him back in the crib.  So I brought him into bed with me because I was exhausted.  This kid is a tosser, turner and a kicker!  If you see bruises on my face, Eric did NOT hit me....my 15-month old son did.  He must've karate chopped my face about 6 times last night with a few good kicks to my ribs.  At least I know he's getting stronger! 

Tonight....who knows?

Good Times

Gavin and I had such a great time together last night.  Eric was busy transferring his fish tank to our house so we had a little mommy/son time.  After eating dinner, Gavin had a bath.  He knows how to wash his belly...sorta.  I give him the wash cloth and I say, "Wash your belly!"  He takes it and rubs the cloth up and down from his belly to his private parts while he smiles.  After his bath, I put lotion on him which he LOVES.  I say, "Lotion, lotion, lotion, rub, rub, rub."  Gavin rubs his hands together and then rubs his body including his feet.  He's just so darn cute!  After I got him dressed for bed, we went out into the living room to play.  He was all over the place; chasing Ava, reading books, dancing to music, and throwing balls.  Then I could tell he was tired when he grabbed his bear, hugged it really hard then sat in my lap to cuddle.  We relaxed in the recliner for awhile.  Gavin kept pulling up my shirt to see my belly button.  When I would do the same to him, he laughed hysterically.  I absolutely LOVE that laugh.  When I said "night-night", we walked to his room, rocked in his rocker and we both fell asleep (drenched in sweat of course). 

When Eric got home, I indulged myself with Jalapeno chips and Double Stuf Oreos.  Weird, I know.  Then we watched a new favorite show together.  It's called 24 Hour Restaurant Battle on the Food Network Channel.  Two teams of two compete against each other to create a restaurant in 24 hours.  Also, lately I've been a little nostalgic when it comes to tv programs.  Does anyone remember The Torkelsons?  It's about a single mom raising her 5 children (14 years and younger) in Oklahoma.  I've been watching reruns on youtube and I really miss the good, clean entertainment of a tv show.  That's why I've been watching a lot of the Disney Channel....plus there are no commercials (except their own advertisements). 

Our anniversary is coming up and we just decided where we're going to go.  First of all, I took the day off and Eric will take half the day off.  Gavin will be at Ms. Shirley's.  Secondly, we'll be in our own home by then!  So we'll probably unpack and organize a little.  Thirdly, we're going to have dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse in Tampa.  It's call Boizao and we're really excited! 

Tonight, it's major cleaning time!  We have helpers for Saturday afternoon to move us completely in and I'd like our house spotless before that happens.  My mom will continue her artwork in Gavin's room tonight as well.  I'll try to remember to bring my good camera rather than my cell phone to take pictures.  Happy Cleaning!     

15 Months

Today, our son is 15 months old!  I know I ask this all the time but HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!  Don't get me wrong, I know how it happened but I just can't believe it.  Last night, Gavin amazed me because while he was sleeping a HUGE storm came through and he didn't wake up at all!  This storm was brutal.  I mean it was as if lightning struck right outside our window.  We actually jumped out of bed TWICE because it scared us so much.  But Gavin slept right through it.

Well, I got a few things accomplished last night at the house.  I put our IKEA bed together (without instructions mind you).  All I had were the pieces of the frame, a bag of screws, bolts and nuts then I added my bloody pinky.  Oh, did I mention that I put it together all by myself?  That's right!  Here it is (minus the mattress):

After that, I tried to rearrange our couch to see if we could have it any other way.  That's a negative....

Then I wanted to clean out the bathroom.  I still have to scrub everything down but at least it's empty instead of filled with tools. 

Then I thought I should take some pictures of the rest of our progress. 

Gavin's Room

Dining Room 

Kitchen 

Wine Spot 

 

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. They were taken with my cell phone.  Tonight, I'm hoping my mom will come over and continue with Gavin's Room.  I will be cleaning the bathroom, dining room and back room.  Eric is actually moving in most of our stuff from storage....kinda forget what's in there.  It'll be like Christmas opening up all the boxes!  Anyhow, there's your update.  :)

Getting Close

We're getting so close with the progress of our house!  This past weekend, I did the trim all around except for the living room.  I painted the interior of our kitchen ceiling which looks SO much better!  We created our wine/liquor cubby (I'll have to take a picture for you to understand).  Eric cleaned and polished the bedrooms' terrazzo floors.  We moved in our bedroom furniture (still have to put the bed frame together).  We ran our dishes through the dishwasher and put them in cabinets (which I have to replace them in the cabinets I'd like them to be in).  We bought a couch from American Signature Furniture on Sunday and we're picking it up today!  What else.....

Tonight, I'm going to finish the trim in the living room and the touch ups all around.  Then I'm gonna put our bed together.  I'm really excited that we have two 6-drawer dressers!  For the past two years, I've been sharing a 3-drawer dresser with Eric and I've contained my frustrations since then.  Now, I have room for my clothes and I get to separate our socks!  That may sound weird but I am SO excited about it. :)  What else....

My mom started painting in Gavin's room.  She's making it look like we're underwater so there's seaweed in the corners as well as starfish and seashells.  It's gonna look great when it's complete. 

And speaking of Gavin, he's been dancing A LOT!  He knows how to open the doors in Mema's house and he doesn't care if you're on the toilet or not.  He also likes using the word "no" and he seems to know when to use it to.  When you ask him a question, he'll answer with a "no".  And if Ava (my cat) or Max (my dad's dog) does something they shouldn't, Gavin will point at them and say, "no."  He's definitely developing his own little personality.  Here are some pictures and videos.... 

Gavin always wants to answer the phone when it rings.

There HAS to be music!

Almost There....

So, we're not done with the house yet.  I haven't exactly been able to cross off a lot of things on my list BUT we're getting there.  Monday night, my dad went over to the house to put a 2nd coat on the back room and did a little organizing with our supplies.  Last night, I put the 1st coat on the kitchen and Eric fixed the bathroom sink (which that wasn't on the list.)  Tonight, my dad and I are hopefully going to put the 2nd coat on the kitchen and possibly both coats in the dining and living rooms.  This weekend, Eric is going to clean the terrazzo himself!  This should be interesting as we wanted professionals to restore it for us but it was a little pricey.  I think it's going to look nice and I can't wait!  We're really shooting to move in some time next week....maybe next weekend so we can get help with the furniture and boxes.  Sorry I haven't taken any progress pictures yet....my battery died in my camera and I can't find the charger.  I may have to break out the big guy (my Panasonic Lumix).

Gavin is babbling SO MUCH and I know he's telling us something but I just don't understand!  I'll have to get that on video because he cracks me up.  He's even using some facial expressions as he talks.  Gosh, I have the cutest kid ever!

One more thing....Eric and I were asked to organize a get together at our church for ALL married couples.  So I we have planned a date night on October 2nd at our church from 5:00-8:00.  I know that's an early date night but there are some families that have kids and want to end the night earlier.  Here's the info:

Who: All Married Couples; childcare will be available

What: Dinner ($10/Couple), A Friendly Couples Competition* and Guest Speakers (Kirk and Brenda Blank)

Where: Gulf Coast Fellowship

When: Saturday, October 2nd @ 5:00 p.m.

Why: To encourage all couples at different stages of their marriage.

RSVP: By September 19th.

*The Competition will be a Cornhole Tournament (aka Bean Bag Toss).  Your spouse MUST be your tournament partner.  Champions win dinner and a movie!

Everything Except...

This past weekend, I accomplished everything except the goals I made for our house.  My goal was to complete the painting...ALL of it; ceiling, living room, dining room, kitchen, back room, and trim.  My dad completed the ceilings and the first coat in the back room.  The trim is done in the bedrooms.  That's it.  We did, however, get a new front door!  Now we just need to get the frame for the new front door.  :)

Even though I did not meet my goal, it turned out to be a pretty good weekend.  I did cry when Gavin spent the night at his cousin's house.  But I later found out that he didn't sleep very well.  I bought everything I needed to at Home Depot, Target and Costco....I was SO thankful they were all close to each other!  We had a very successful baby shower at church.  It was a lot of fun and I'm glad everyone participated in my games.  AND the food was delicious!  Also, my mother-in-law is back home after vacationing for 2 1/2 weeks! 

We're hoping to get everything fixed, painted and cleaned before our 2nd Anniversary which is the 23rd.  That's a more realistic goal than painting the whole interior of a house in one weekend.  :)

Brother From Another Mother

"Still, they're cousins,

Identical cousins and you'll find,

They laugh alike, they walk alike,

At times they even talk alike --

You can lose your mind,

When cousins are two of a kind"

If you didn't recognize the lyrics, it's the Patty Duke Theme Song. I was going through recent pictures and videos of Gavin and Dylan. I can't believe how much love is exerted from both of those boys! They can't get enough of each other. Well, here are some pictures and videos of the two of a kind cousins...

All of this to say that Gavin is having his first sleepover away from us tonight.  He'll be staying at Aunt Heather's with cousin Dylan.  Am I going to cry?  Possibly. 

Wednesday's Accomplishments

Well, we were able to put one coat of paint in our bedroom as well as painting the ceilings in the bathroom and Gavin's room. We actually have friends coming over tonight to help us so it may go a little bit quicker than last night. I'm also going to do a paint change on our bedroom wall. It's probably a painting faux pas but I don't really care at this point. Our goal is to have the bedrooms painted completely so we can hire someone to polish the terrazzo floors. THEN I'll be able to put our bedroom furniture together! It's IKEA and we bought it off of craigslist. We had to take the bed apart but everything else is assembled. Here are some pictures of the paint in our room. The smaller wall with the window will be repainted with the darker blue. Thanks for looking!

Before

During

Me waving hello!

Tuesday's Accomplishments

We bought ceiling paint as well as the colors for the bathroom and our bedroom.  The only painting that got done last night was the ceiling in our bedroom.  But it looks A LOT better.  Tonight, I'm hoping to complete the painting in our room and then prep the other rooms.  That is my goal!  I'll let you know if it happens. 

Let the Fun Begin!

It feels like we have made a trip to Home Depot at least once a day since buying the house.  I've heard that Home Depot really does become your second home.  So far, we threw out the following:  bedroom carpet, fridge, stove/oven, recliners on the porch, matresses, and washing machine.  We bought a new fridge, a dining table, bedroom furniture, put in a hand-me-down stove/oven and we're looking into polishing the terrazo in the bedrooms.  Paint Night is tonight as well as every other night this week!  I know a bunch of you said you would like to help so here's your chance.  Call me, text me, email me and let me know when you're available and I'll put you to work!  I could use a painter, a cleaner, a furniture mover or a babysitter!  However, I have a babysitter for tonight....sorry. 

Let me know!

Piece of Joy

Sadly, I little piece of joy was taken from me today.  I just got home from my softball game and we lost....we lost bad.  I played horribly!  No one had a good time (except the winning team) and it was just awful.  But once I got home and saw my husband, that joy was restored because of his love for me.  Today was special and a silly softball game was not going to take that away from me.  Here are some pictures of our new house!  Remember, we have some cleaning to do....

Living Room to the left

Kitchen

Kitchen Ceiling

Second Bathroom

Backroom area

Backyard

Hallway to rooms

Our bedroom

Our closet

Gavin's Room

Dining area (front door)