Gavin - 4 months, Devin - 3 years

My how the time flies. Gavin is four months old now and such a love. He continues to have such a mild temperment. He just goes with the flow all the time. The only time he fusses is when he is tired. And then, you just put him in the crib, turn on his music, rub his head three times, and watch his eyelids fall shut. Amazing!

He is really getting closer to rolling over, but not quite yet. And he can sit up pretty well, but leans far forward. His head is perfectly steady. And when you lean him back on a pillow, he tries to do a mini sit-up.

He has a smile and belly laugh that is adorable. Devin can now act silly in front of Gavin and Gavin will just laugh...and laugh...and laugh. It is really just now that the boys are interacting with eachother. And Gavin loves to be in his chair in the bathtub with his brother. And Devin asked for Gavin the other day which was sweet.

We haven't seen any new teeth on Gavin yet. He was really chewing a lot last month but that seems to have eased up. He will drool more times than others, but isn't completely requiring bibs all the time like his older brother did.

Gavin has been up quite a bit at night lately. I swear he quit sleeping the night the week I went back to work. And he gets up every 2 to 3 hours right now. This makes for a tired mommy! I have been working on keeping him in his crib all night and helping him cuddle his lovie to get back to sleep if it hasn't been at least four hours. There are times I wish he took a pacifier. He will eat all night long if I let him, so I'm trying to stretch him out. I look back at my blog postings for Devin at this time and he was doing about the same thing. So I'm not terribly surprised. The good news though is that we are not swaddling Gavin anymore and he's doing ok without it. And I'm having success stretching out his sleep times. He will fuss and then move into a new position on his own and fall back asleep. So we are getting there slowly but surely. I hope to report back more sleep on our posting next month. And it is hard to get too upset because he always wakes up happy! I put a pacifier is his mouth and he is smiling behind it!

Devin on the other hand has turned out to be such a big boy! He is three years old now and can carry on a conversation like the best of them. He loves garbage trucks, tractors, street sweepers, etc. He thinks they are all great. He also has a passion for pencils and clipboards (like at school). He's getting really good with identifying numbers. He wants to write so badly. He also loves his books. Bedtime stories are a staple of his day!

We had Devin's parent/teacher conference yesterday and he received really good marks. He has really recovered well from the false fire alarms that happened at his school. Apparently, the fire alarm malfunctioned two days in a row and it really started him. He was so distraught over going to school that we almost pulled him out. But once we realized what was upsetting him, we were able to discuss how the alarm has been fixed and get past it. Now, he is doing great at school drop-offs. He gives me lots of hugs, and kisses, and then blows me a final kiss as he walks out to the playground. It is wonderful. We have really turned the corner thankfully. We trimmed back to three days a week (instead of five) due to all the chaos, but hopefully we'll get back to more days a week in the future. I think back to my maternity leave and how consumed I was with Devin's school. I wish now I could go back on maternity and enjoy the actual time away from work!

Devin is right at 40 pounds. I am not sure of his height. He goes to the doctor next Friday so I'll report back his stats then. He is in 5T shirts and 5T pants. My mom has to hem his pant about 3 inches though. He has the waist of a five year old but the length of a typical three year old. Even his teacher comments on how tall he is and that she forgets he has recently just turned three.

Since Rich and I both have been back at work, it has been very busy. I can't imagine how single parents juggle it all. I am thankful that Rich is a very active dad. :-)