1 Whole Year of Gavin

One year ago today I became a mommy and Blair became a daddy! The Lord blessed Blair and I with a most precious baby boy and our lives have become a little more complete. This will be a long post, please don't feel you need to read the whole thing if you don't want to. This is more for me since it's easier to type my thoughts and feelings rather than write them, and it's something I wish I would have done every day so I wouldn't forget little things. So this is me, trying to remember!
The day we found out we were pregnant we were unbelievably excited! Just knowing that there was a life growing inside of me made me thrilled and unnerved all at the same time. The day we heard the heartbeat was the day I knew our baby was the cutest little baby because his heartbeat was adorable! The first time I felt him move I laughed out loud because it tickled! The day we found out we were having a boy was unreal, and seeing him for the first time during the ultrasound made us love him even more if that was possible! The first time Blair felt him move is in my mind forever. There was such a connection between baby and daddy and from then on, Gavin's reaction to Blair's touch and voice was immediate. Blair would poke Gavin (me) and Gavin would kick Blair (me), back and forth, usually at bedtime. Silly boys!
The day I went into labor was, what I thought, the most nerve-racking day of my life. 5:30am on May 14th my water broke. I came in and told Blair who asked if I was feeling alright and if I was having contractions and when I said I was fine he rolled over and went back to sleep. I tried but couldn't knowing he was on his way. Blair and I cleaned the house top to bottom as my contractions got steadily closer and closer together. We went to a movie (Thor) during which my contractions were coming about every 10 minutes. Very, very long movie! Afterwards, about 4:30pm we went home and about an hour later contractions were about every 7 minutes. So we packed our bag, went to the hospital, visited our brand new nephew Nathan, and then went up one more floor to have our baby. I was dilating slowly but they let us stay. I lasted about an hour or so before I asked for the epidural. The epidural has to have been THE weirdest sensation of my life, as in no sensation at all I guess, but still...So after they hooked me up to pitocin I rapidly started to dilate, so quickly in fact that my epidural wore off. I was on my own from about a 5 to an 8, ouch, until the doctor could come in and give me another dose. Yeah, the button you push to give yourself more medicine, doesn't work. After that I was able to calm down a little but wasn't sure I could keep going. That's when the nurse came in and said, "okay, lets push!"
25 minutes later, on May 15th, 2011 1:18am, this is who we saw

Our perfect baby, Gavin Michael Gibb
7 lbs 9 oz 19 1/2 inches long. Blair and I made guesses for his weight about a week before he was born and my guess was exactly right! He had just a touch of jaundice and they were watching his blood sugar levels closely, as they always do when a mother has gestational. He went low once but other than that he was perfect! We loved having visitors while we were in the hospital, it was so great! And we absolutely loved that we got to be there with my brother Kevin, his wife Jen and their new baby Nathan!
As I said, what I thought was the scariest day of my life (going into labor) was nothing compared to the fear we felt the day we brought our new baby home.

The first night home he had a major blowout and wouldn't sleep. Or eat. His first two weeks of life were the hardest of my life. He would not nurse so he was just hungry. He wouldn't sleep at night and I was absolutely, completely exhausted. His first week turned out to be one of Blair's busiest work weeks which was hard for him and me. Without my mothers and my sisters I can guarantee we would be done having children. The help we received was unbelievable and we can't thank everyone enough. At 9 days old we decided to switch to a bottle and things did improve. Here he is, 11 days old

In his first month of life he had his first bath

Had lots of visitors

Spent quality time with cousins

And just looked cute!

This day, the end of May, when I took this picture...

...was the very first day that Blair went to work in the morning and I didn't have a mother or sister rush over so I wouldn't be alone with our baby. I bathed and changed him, fed him, got him dressed and put him to sleep ALL BY MYSELF. I was so very proud and so so grateful to know that yes, I can take care of a baby! We were able to fall into a routine, which is very important to me, Gavin was (and is) an angel. Each night he slept a little bit longer and we regained a little bit of our sanity back. I have new respect for each and every mother, it is so very hard functioning on no sleep. On July 29th, 2011 Gavin slept for a full 8 hours! When he began to fuss Blair and I woke up and saw daylight and we looked at the clock in amazement, he had slept through the night! We were so refreshed, Blair jumped right out of bed ready for the day! It was great! Since then he's been a fantastic sleeper, only waking up in the middle of the night every now and then. The onesie in this picture was one of our favorites, which of course meant that Gavin would have a huge blowout and ruin it. Isn't this the saddest 2 month old you've ever seen??

Compared with the happiest 3 month old ever!

He really began to smile at 3 months and it was THE cutest thing ever, until he started laughing! No one makes him laugh like his Daddy, it's one of my most favorite things! He also rolled from his back to his belly for the first time. Here he is with daddy at 4 months ready to watch some BYU football

5 months old - I was washing dishes and he was playing, when I looked over and saw he was fast asleep

He got his very first tooth at 5 months, cutest thing ever! And he only had one until about 7 months :-) He also started trying to sit up. He would lean all the way forward to steady himself and then, out of excitement for sitting up, throw himself backwards. Good thing we were there to catch him! At 6 months...

...he was doing better but we still didn't trust to sit by himself because he would throw himself backwards, he did however, absolutely love this Bumbo! Thanks to Steve and Keri for letting us borrow it, it is the greatest thing! At 7 months he was sitting up great, only needing a pillow behind him in case he fell backwards

7 months was also his very first Christmas! It was such a wonderful day spent with family!

He began to really enjoy eating, this is when his squash fetish began

Silly boy!

8 months! Check out the chub!

8 months was also the very first time he got sick. I'm pretty sure it was all due to teething because he had a few more once he was better. Poor guy!
9 months began his "push-up" stage.
He went from just sitting up to rolling everywhere in like a day, and then immediately began to do his little push-ups.

These helped him get to wherever he wanted to go, backwards. He would roll and scoot, roll and scoot all over the place! He began scooting himself onto his knees, rocking back and forth. This all lasted about a month, and then at 10 1/2 months, he started crawling!
Our 10 month old

All the pictures of him crawling are fuzzy. He. Is. Fast! We'll put up a video soon though. The very first time he pulled himself up to standing he was 11 months and 1 day old and it happened at my sister Crystal's house. He pulled himself up on the window sill and he was SO PROUD of himself! He stood there just giggling and laughing, so happy! I'm so sad we didn't have our camera with us, but believe me, it was so adorable! The next morning, April 17th, this is what we found

He began pulling himself up on anything and getting into everything! Which he still does by the way. We better prepare ourselves for the minute he begins to walk. I'm not sure we'll be able to keep up!
I cannot believe how much our once tiny baby boy, has grown! We absolutely love his personality! Mornings usually begin with about an hour of talking and playing in his crib before he starts to fuss. He is becoming an explorer! He loves when we're in a different place with new things to investigate. He is the happiest when he's outside looking over the cul-de-sac, talking, at the top of his lungs. He gets loud!

He also loves to be in the bathroom pulling everything out of the cupboard, or standing by the edge of bathtub talking, loudly. His talking is one of my most favorite things. He's a babbler! He babbles all day long experimenting with new sounds. He'll very clearly say "ma ma and da da" but I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean us. One of my favorite noises that he makes is his "la dl la dl la dl" sound, it's the cutest! He's a big helper with the laundry; I pull something out of the dryer and put it in the basket, he pulls it out of the basket and puts in on the floor. He loves the dryer, he races to get there every time it's open. He loves cheerios! He snacks on them every morning while Blair has breakfast. He's getting sneaky! When he's done eating, he takes his food and very very slowly (hoping we don't see) puts it under his bum. He's so silly! He's never been big on snuggling but he's actually getting better! Before naps and bedtime we are privileged to get about a 30 second snuggle...can't complain! His favorite games are being chased around the house, sneaking up on daddy, and he gets the biggest kick out of The Itsy Bitsy Spider! He loves to read books, sing songs, be tickled, and he is fascinated with pictures and videos of himself...he must know how cute he is!
My 2 silly boys!

I cannot begin to describe how much I love my family. Gavin has brought so much joy and light into our lives, we can't imagine not having him in our family. His smiles are almost always accompanied by a laugh and they light up the room! He gets so many comments on his little wisps of hair that stand straight up, and on how incredibly blue his eyes are. He is the most handsome boy (except for Blair of course!) I've ever seen! Gavin has taught me so much; he sees the world so differently. He stops and studies the tiniest things, he laughs ALL the time, he wants to learn and interact with everyone. He amazes me! We love you so much Gavin! Happy Birthday!