Gavin Says

Gavin: Mommy don't step on my feather cause it will break and I'll be really sad because I can't find another one.

I was watching a "mommy show"...Revenge...and there was a part where someone fell off a building onto a car. Gavin was playing and he saw it and said "this is a bad part, I want to watch a good part." He was really scared. He understands so much more than I give him credit for sometimes.

Our Boys

Our boys are growing up too fast. Here is a quick snapshot of them:

Gavin:
Age: 2 years 8 mos
Weight: 33lbs
Favorite character: Lightning McQueen
Some of my favorite things he says:

• Because why?
• To a helicopter flying overhead: "wait for me wait for me!" (ok this one is like 6 months old, but I didn't want to forget it.)
• Who is the prophet? "Thomas Monson, like Thomas the train"

He is working hard on potty training. He's had a few days with no accidents and today even made it through a trip to the park and his nap. Night training has not been attempted. He is so sweet with his little brother. He can make him laugh on command and is always worried if Holden is crying..."mommy go help him!"

Holden:
Age: 8 mos
Teeth: 5. Three in the last week, and three more on the way.
Size: 12 month clothes for the last 2 months
He's got a pretty quick army crawl down. He just started pulling himself up to a standing position. He's at a stage where he can't do everything he wants to do so he is getting a little frustrated. He eats all of his pureed fruits and vegetables pretty well, although he won't eat any of the baby cereals. He usually communicates with happy high pitched screechings and dadadadas. With the exceptions of the last week, he is the happiest baby. If only he would let us sleep a little more...

Here are way too many pictures...what can I say? They're just too cute and I'm too far behind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Rock Star

Maybe not a rock star, but Gavin does a great job in this clip.

I am a child of God,
And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.

4 Month Stats

Name: Holden Ryall Brown
Weight: 18 lb 3 oz (97th percentile)
Height: 26 3/4 in (97th percentile)
Head: 45 1/4 cm (above 97th percentile)
Cuteness: Off the charts
Eye Color: Still blue, but changing in the center
Fun Facts:

• Wears 9 month clothes
• Rolls over in both directions
• Ticklish in the armpits
• Gavin cracks him up
• Likes to talk with his fist in his mouth

He's pretty much in line with where Gavin was at the same point, although he is about half an inch taller.

Holden's Blessing

On March 20, we were able to have Holden's blessing with most of Rachel's brothers here. We missed Papa Dan and CC, as well as a lot of our siblings. Rachel missed out on most of the blessing trying to manage Gavin as he attempted to play swords with the men in the circle. She's sure it was a great blessing though and we are so blessed to have this sweet boy in our lives. He has one of the best temperaments and the best cheeks.
Family Shot

 The men who participated.

 With Grandma and Grandpa. Gavin with the infamous sword.

 Mom, Dad, and Holden.

 Daddy and Gavin.

Photo Shoot

I know I have been neglectful of my blog despite promising some good friends that I would be more diligent. Here are a few pictures from a photo shoot my sister-in-law Beth kindly took. We think she's pretty talented!

Holden Ryall Brown

That's right, he has a name. Sorry for the delay. Holden is a name we just happen to like and Ryall is the name of my (Rachel) Irish ancestors. Thanks to Jordan for doing my family history. I will recap the night Holden decided to join us. Gavin woke up from his nap at about 4pm. We let him open his birthday presents (a toolbox, a few cars from Cars, and Mack and a shake and go Lightning McQueen). He was loving his presents. Jordan ran to the store to get a few things to make the salad dressing to go with our Cafe Rio Pork imitation. I'm playing with Gavin and feel some pretty bad stomach pains so I decide to go to the bathroom. I stand up and cough and my water breaks. So I call Jordan and tell him to hurry; he's already on his way. Liz, our neighbor and best friend ever, is playing outside with her kids so I open the door and tell her my water broke. She comes in and helps get Gavin's things together while Jordan and I are getting my things together...that's right I hadn't even started packing. That's what Tuesday was for. Well the contractions are pretty hard and pretty close. Liz takes Gavin, feeds him dinner, does his birthday cake, puts him to bed, and stays with him until Jordan gets home around midnight. Meanwhile, Jordan and I arrive at the hospital, I'm getting "water" all over the floor (sorry janitor), and we head up to the second floor. We get checked in, get in my room, and the contractions start to really hurt. At this point they are a minute and a half apart. They page my doctor and he is in surgery, so they give me a shot to slow down the contractions. Doesn't work. They won't give me any pain medicine because they are waiting to get into the OR. I'm pretty desperate at this point. With a scheduled C-section, natural pain management strategies were not learned. After an hour and fifteen minutes and dilated to a 4, they wheel me into the OR where I see Dr King - not my doctor. I thought he was assisting, but turns out Dr Dozier was still in surgery. Turns out that surgery lasted 2.5 hours longer than expected. Glad we moved on. I was in so much pain I didn't care anymore. Finally the epidural came and it was heaven. A couple of minutes later, Holden was out and they started working on me. After I was all sewn up, they wheeled me to recovery, where I waited for about an hour and a half. This was new. It was 4 hours before I finally got to hold Holden. One of my bigger complaints about the experience. With Gavin, I had him within an hour, even with a C-section. Second biggest complaint: no access to a sink for the majority of my hospital stay. We now have Holden safely at home where he weighed in at 10 lb 4 oz today (2 weeks). He was 9 lb 7 oz at his 1 week checkup. Here are a few pics to go along with all of this text. And by a few, I mean a lot.

I call this one thrashing-in-pain-hair

Gavin got possessive of a few of his old things

My favorite boys

He needs a tool belt

He's found his thumb a couple of times

Brothers

Seriously he has to have a turn whenever Holden does