Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun and busy memorial day weekend and got to see lots of family.  We ended up taking off Friday afternoon and headed up to Osceola to see my parents, sister and grandparents.  After dinner we headed to West Lake to take Gavin out for his first boat ride.  My dad has a little fishing boat and Gavin thought it was pretty cool.  At first he was a little nervous because I think he thought we were actually getting in the water because he kept asking if it was deep but once he was in the boat and we were out on the water he thought it was pretty fun.

Saturday morning we got in the car and headed up to Minneapolis.  Overall the car ride up went pretty well.  Wyatt did especially well and Gavin not too bad.  We made it all the way to Albert Lee for our first stop and had lunch.  Unfortunately while we were eating the storms rolled in and it was a huge downpour when it was time for us to leave so we all got a little shower running to the car.  Luckily about an hour out from Minneapolis both boys feel asleep so Ryan and I got some quiet time.  We weren’t able to check into the hotel right away so we headed to Ryan’s aunt/uncles house to visit and let the boys play for a little bit and then once we got to the hotel they have a huge indoor park attached that we took the boys and Will to for a few hours to blow off some steam before heading to dinner.  I didn't get any pictures of Gavin he was too busy climbing up the huge tower of slides but here are a few of Wyatt from the park.

On Sunday we got to celebrate Addy’s third birthday with a tea party.  Jenny did such a cute job with all of the decorations and all of the kids had so much fun.  That afternoon after the party we headed over to centennial lakes for a little walk to get the kids out of the house.  It was so pretty and Gavin had a blast playing with his cousins. 





The boys having a tea party.  They played longer than the girls! 

Gavin had a little bit of a melt-down that evening when we were heading back to the hotel.  I’m sure it was lack of naps and not sleeping the greatest because he just kept saying that he wanted to go home so Ryan and I honestly contemplated just packing everything up and driving straight to Osceola that night so the boys would just sleep the entire way but then the storms rolled in again and we didn’t want to drive through severe weather so we decided to try and get up a little early instead.  We got on the road around 7 and made it to Mason City before we stopped for breakfast.  Wyatt fell back asleep and Gavin was pretty content watching his movie so all was well.  After breakfast Gavin did not want to get back in the car but after letting him run around for a few minutes he was ok and on we went.  Our plan was to drive straight to Osceola but we ended up having to stop outside of Ames because Wyatt was having a meltdown and his crying/screaming was then frustrating Gavin (not fun times J).  We changed the boys out of their jammies and let them run around this open field for about 30 minutes before getting back into the car.  Thankfully my parents had lunch ready for us when we got there and had a little pool up on their deck that we let the boys swim in for a couple of hours to wear them out.  Both boys loved the pool and luckily it did the trick because we hadn’t been on the road more than 10 minutes and they were both out and slept the entire 2 hours home! 





Didn't even get through his bag of popcorn before passing out :).

More pictures posted on the picasa link!

More water play!

The boys had fun today with the water table and we even got out the sprinkler.  We are so ready for the pool to open next weekend!

Terrible Three's!

Wow, we have hit a brick wall with Gavin. I know it’s the age but oh my this past week has been difficult. He refuses to listen, has horrible manners at the table, talks back and refuses to go to bed. Morning and bedtime are definitely the most difficult and a constant battle. Most mornings we have to force him out of bed, force him to go potty and force him to get dressed. Not a fun way to start the day. At night he throws a fit when it’s time to brush teeth and go potty and usually refuses to go to bed. The last two nights have resulted in us just putting him to bed and closing the door with no stories since he refused to do anything we asked. He is the sweetest boy ever by my goodness is he stubborn and definitely helping us work on our patience :).  I'm praying this phase is short lived!

On the bright side Gavin did play in his first soccer game on Wednesday.  I really wished I had gotten it on video because it was quite hilarious.  It took quite a bit of convincing on our part to finally get him out there to play.  After a little bribing and promising a delicious ice cream cone for trying he got the courage to take off running towards the field and he looked SO cute.  Then about two seconds later him and another boy tripped over each other, knocked heads and fell down.  Tears ensued and our boy came running out of the game about as fast as he went in.  Of course that just had to happen since it took SO long to get him in there lol.  We did manage to get him talked into going in one more time and he ran in, kicked the ball and then came running out shouting ok now can I get my ice cream cone.  I swear all that boy cares about is treats.  I definitely think Wyatt is going to be the ball player of the family.

Funny video

Love this! Gavin is acting like Wyatt and cracking him up.

Aquarium

We finally made it to the aquarium on Saturday. Both boys loved it. Wyatt loved looking at and pointing to all the fish and Gavin loved the sharks, crawling through the kids cave and digging for dinosaur bones.

All ready to go in

Afterwards we went to Fritz’s for lunch. Gavin wasn’t that into it which was weird (I think he was tired) but Wyatt loved the trains and got so excited each time it went by.

Placing our order!

Soccer

Gavin started soccer this week and really seems to enjoy it!  He goes Monday and Wednesday from 6-7 for a couple of weeks and luckily the field is right by our house.  So far they've only done practice so it's going to be interesting if they actually try to have a game.  He has fun but it's definitely hard to keep that age on task for an entire hour.  I think Wednesday we even left a little early because he was pretty much over it but he did get his own ball and has had fun practicing at home since then.  Ryan and I switch off and take turns helping Gavin with his drills and keeping Wyatt in one place because of couse he wants to be everywhere and into everything :).

Popsicles after practice.  Wyatt's first, he loved it!

15 months

  

We had Wyatt’s 15 month checkup yesterday and he is a growing boy! In the 90+% for height (33 inches) and 75% in weight (26 ½ lbs). Overall the appointment went well minus getting him weighted/measured and the shots. He hated having to lay down on that paper and gave the nurse a death stare after I picked him up from his shots. So funny how expressive he is! He tries to walk all the time and is getting better but still pretty wobbly with lots of tumbles. He’s been talking more and more and will try to repeat a lot of words you say to him. Some of his common words are bye bye, dada, uh oh, more, choo choo, dog, whoa, dat (for that) and has just recently started saying no and shaking his head back and forth. He also really loves playing with balls and cars and loves dogs.

Wyatt just adores Gavin and of course wants to do everything he’s doing and is already mimicking EVERYTHING Gavin does (Good - already knows to roar when he picks up a dino just like Gavin, Bad - Gavin pushes Wyatt, Wyatt pushes right back, Gavin throws a toy, Wyatt throws a toy). Sometimes this is a good thing and they play together really well and other times it turns into Gavin trying to build a tower or set up his train track and Wyatt coming over and tearing it apart since his type of playing right now is to take everything and throw it behind him. We’re trying to help Gavin see the positive in these situations in that he gets to now build a bigger and better tower. Sometimes that works and other times they just need to be separated and have some alone time. Gavin has also really started showing affection towards Wyatt and being protective which is so cute but we’re also trying to teach him to be gentle because a lot of times his harmless hugs turn into a body slam or he tries to give him a loving pat/belly rub that ends up pushing Wyatt over.

Wyatt is still into everything! I think it’s probably harder because we didn’t have so much stuff around when Gavin was this age for him to get into but he loves climbing on everything and playing in water. If we aren’t careful he will quickly sneak away and climb up Gavin’s stool in the bathroom to try and reach into the sink or play in the dog’s bowl of water. I’ve also caught him playing in the toilet once which Gavin has never attempted to do! He is definitely a little stinker and knows what items he’s not supposed to play with and will crawl/walk over to them wait for us to look and say no and then touch/grab it and bust out laughing.. we may be in trouble with this one :). He still has lots of curls in the back but his hair is pretty straight on top so it’s hard to tell if his curls will stay or be gone after his next haircut. I’m hoping they stay!!

He is still a huge mama's boy which I love but it's definitely hard at times when i'm trying to get ready in the morning and he wants to be attached to my side.  I'm thinking that once he really starts walking this might lighten up some because he will have more independence to follow me around if he wants and not necessarily need/want to be carried.  Overall he brings so much joy to our lives and every day is an adventure.