Adventures

Today Gavin and I ventured off on our own for an entire day in the city. I had a doctor's appointment in Kyle and Brandon took an overtime shift so it was just me and Gavin. I learned a new thing about multi-tasking today (laughing). We survived the doctor's appointment and headed off to Austin to visit Consort. We spent 3.5 hours there!!! Yeah I know...why? I don't know. There were a lot of people wanting to see Gavin and so it took a long time- plus feeding and things- it made for a long day. 


We didn't get our morning nap (2 hours) so he only slept the 15 min I was in the shower and 30 min to the doctor and then 20 min to Austin. Then, the afternoon nap was more like 20 min. cat nap before Enrique's phone went off and woke Gavin up...then he ate again and started to fall asleep so we left. He napped all the way home from Austin and then was up again and cranky and then napped for an hour from 6-7pm when I woke him up and he was very unhappy. That totals about 3.5 hours out of his 5 hours required.


With all this non-napping and him falling asleep at the bottle after his bath, I assumed he would be easily asleep. Well you know what they say about assuming things. After about an hour of playing the "lets see if this blanket will stay on my legs if I kick them up in the air a bunch of times" game and the   "yes I want the pacifier-then I will pull it out and throw it- then I cry because I want it back" game... we played a new game- the "Ok, here's the deal- I will keep the pacifier in my mouth but first you must fluff my blanket and roll it up so I am on my side and then I will play with my hair on the back of my head while sucking my pacifier BUT you must let me hold your hand with my free hand (or else I will rip my pacifier out and we will have to start over)." All I can think is "WHATS NEXT?!" I was able to sneak out after a few minutes but seriously...holding hands now? What is this bedtime routine coming to? 


We took the camera to the dam the other day after it rained and took some pictures... 

Here are some random pictures of Gavin after walking....(his hair is all crazy because I pulled his shirt off and it stuck that way)

I have hands! And Feet!

Recently, Gavin has discovered his hands and feet. He has totally given up his green soothie pacifier and has been taking the Nuk pacifier whenever he chooses to use one. Gavin now mostly chooses to suck his fingers- not his thumb- his fingers. He enjoys sucking on his middle and ring finger and typically puts his index finger on his cheek but sometimes you can catch him with his pinky up there too which makes it seem like he is supporting UT- Hook 'em Horns!

Yum! Fingers!

His eyes crack me up in these pictures. To explain why he is always 'shocked'- this isn't the first picture I tried to take of him and the flash kept going off because it was a little too dark for the flash to be off completely... so he was pretty much scared to death I think. haha

Gavin likes to not only stand but sit like this now so that he can touch his feet and drool all over himself and me. He has also started to nap in his crib during the day- at least once a day. He doesn't nap as long as he would if he was sleeping on me on the couch but I am trying to get him to be comfortable in his bed besides just at nighttime.

First successful nap in crib 9-15-10

Gavin holding his own bottle

Me and Gavin having some mama and baby time... like 18 hours of every day ;)

Gavin driving his jeep... his feet just touch the floor now and he pushes himself backward.

I took Gavin to his 2 month doctor's appointment on 9-7-10 (late because we were in Michigan for his 2 month marker). This was TOTALLY bad timing on my part due to the tropical storm going through the area. It was a bad day for leaving the house- taking a baby to the doctor- stopping to get gas...etc. All things that I had to do on that day. I literally was soaked like I had put my clothes on from the washer. It was quite embarrassing to sit in the chairs at the doctors office and leave wet butt prints. But the rain/wind was warm so it really could have been a lot worse. Gavin weighed in at 13.15lbs and 24.5 inches. They put him at 87% in weight and 84% in height or vice versa. I couldn't remember at this point. The doctors office was so freezing cold and I was soaking wet so I was basically trying to not freeze to death. He got 5 shots, 3 in his left leg and 1 in his right and he took one orally. He cried like he was being murdered but after he was dressed he was ok. 

Some of our tropical rain... a day after the doctors appointment. I think it was much worse the day before.

That is all I have for now... some of you can receive videos from me of Gavin's new chatter- just ask!

Home is Where the Heart is

At the end of August, our entire family traveled to Iron Mountain, MI from our home in Texas. When I say entire family...I mean, Brandon, myself, Gavin and of course, Prints. I was very skeptical to bring the dog along for the ride- very skeptical. I figured bringing a two month old baby would be bad enough to drive the nearly 1,500 miles but to bring a dog that is just as whiny sometimes and who gets car sick was a whole new ballgame. We had Prints sit in the front seat for the car ride so that he could see out of the window of the truck and that I (or sometimes Brandon) could be back with the baby to keep him calm...as best we could. The trip up to Iron Mountain felt like it took days. Well, it did...two days. We traveled to Iron Mountain to attend a beautiful wedding of Brandon's best friend to his beautiful wife. It was an exceptionally perfect ceremony with a bible verse read and a song sung by one of the bride, Vanessa's, bridesmaids.  Vanessa even had enough courage to sing Jeff, the groom, their song which was just magical.

Vanessa and Jeff tying the knot!

We spent three whole days in Iron Mountain with Jeff and Vanessa and their families and then headed downstate to visit everyone else who had not yet met Gavin. First stop was in Barton City to visit my grandpa on my dad's side. We couldn't stay long but as a family tradition we had always went to his house for the 4th of July and for two years now we have not been able to go...so I wanted to stop in to say hello. My grandpa calls me once in a while to check up on me and find out how Texas is and I always tell him it's hot. Though, after visiting my grandpa at his house, I'm pretty sure he knows what I am talking about when I say Texas is hot. It was 90 degrees in that mans house! Gavin was literally sweating and we stayed only for about an hour before we were back on the road. It was a nice visit though, short and sweet. He got to meet his great-grandson and that was all that mattered to me.

Lake Michigan

Gavin on his way to Great Grandpa's

The trip to Perry seemed a lot shorter from my grandpa's house than ever before. This probably was due to the fact we were used to driving for 15 hours at a time by then so the 2.5 hour trip was like nothing! Once we got down to my dad's place, my sister was there ready to meet Gavin. It was already almost 9pm when we arrived so it was surprising to see someone so eager to see our baby but it was a very nice gesture ;) Everyone cooed over Gavin and we finally went to bed in the sauna called my dad's house. (Seriously someone get that man an air conditioner for his window!) We spent two days visiting family who wanted to come visit and friend's I wanted to see. All-in-all it was a great trip and I am glad that we got to spend time with family and friends who took time to come visit with us. It was hard for everyone to spend enough time because we were visiting on a weekday but we managed to see everyone that we could. We even got to meet my dad's new girlfriend Kris and my mom's new "friend" Darrell.

This is my dad holding Gavin our first night

This is me (on the left) and my friend Ashley. Trenton, her son, is 5 months old. Ashley and I have been friends since we were 5 years old.

My friend Jessica holding Gavin

Uncle Kevin holding Gavin until Gavin screamed and cried...because Kevin was pinching him ;) just kidding Kevin.

The back of Aunt Jamie's head

Cousin Logan practicing holding a baby... ;)

Thank you for watching Gavin when were in Iron Mountain Pam and Darrell. It was nice to have some time to just get ready on my own time for once or just sit there without having to entertain him. Thank you to Jeff and Vanessa for inviting us to your special day. Thanks to my dad who let us stay in his bedroom while he slept on the couch. And to Ashley who let us sleep in the air conditioning on our last night in Michigan and for traveling part of the way home either behind or in front of us (on her way to KY).

Grandma Kludt babysitting Gavin in Iron Mountain

Grandpa Kludt assisting Grandma in babysitting. ha ha.

But after all that traveling and visiting everyone...we couldn't wait to get home. 

There just really is no place like home. 

[I think many people who know me will read this and ask who is this writing this because I just don't say many of these things out-loud. I spend a lot of time not talking because I think about things to say and I just never end up saying them so if I can make up for lost time by writing it down here maybe...I won't be so socially awkward.]

Welcome Home

My mother-in-law suggested I make a blog to keep everyone updated on how life is down here. So, I guess that is what I can do...when I can find time which apparently I only get after bedtime at night.

A little background information about us: We are Brandon & Samantha (and Gavin and Prints) Kludt. We are originally from the Perry area in Michigan and we moved to Austin (8/8/08) when we were only in a relationship and since then we have been engaged (8/18/08), gotten married (4/25/09), lived in 2 apartments, rescued a puppy (8/09), gotten pregnant (10/21/09), bought a house (2/10/10) and had a beautiful baby boy (6/25/10).

Now we are happily living in Canyon Lake, TX in our new home that we have worked on and are working on fixing up to make it just the way we want.

 This is us!

This is Prints when we first brought him home

This is our new home...minus that ramp

This is Gavin (at the hospital)

Brandon is a Canyon Lake Professional Fire Fighter (and paramedic). He took the job here August 2009 and commuted from Round Rock where we had our apartment. He has always had to commute so far to his place of business since his times in Michigan so when we bought our house in Canyon Lake, it was nice for him to be able to sleep in a little (well, before baby). When Gavin grows up I hope that he takes as much pride in his career that his father does and if he has just an ounce of Brandon's work ethic then I won't have to worry about him at all. Brandon truly is the best husband and father to us. He works very hard to provide for us, he is an excellent cook and he has shown that he is also apparently an electrician, a carpenter and so much more. 

Brandon also currently is the president of the local fire fighters union and takes pride in that as well. 

                                         

I am currently a stay-at-home mom. Some days it is very challenging but I am getting the hang of it. At the beginning, bringing Gavin home was the first thing I wanted to do. I felt like we were at the hospital forever and they never let me sleep. I was pushing and pushing to come home so that I could have the things I thought I needed to make everything easier on me, on us. BOY WAS I WRONG. Whether you are at the hospital or at home, being a first time mother is hard work. You can read about it and listen to people tell you horror stories all day long but until you are actually in the moment you have no idea what it is like. I try not to scare people away from having children but sometimes when I see a pregnant girl at the store I want to just shake her and tell her to run away- though that won't help her, it makes me feel better thinking about doing it. That was the first few weeks of having him home and now it's WAY better. 

This was taken the day we went into the hospital

My weekends before having Gavin (before pregnancy) used to consist of sleeping in, having a few drinks now and again, staying up late, going to the movies, going out to dinner... having fun. Now, at 2 months old, my days (I say days because weekends don't exist around here when you are home every day and your husband works 24 hour shifts and has 48 hours off-usually) are usually like this: Gavin wakes up at sometime between 3-5am for a feeding and I change him and put him back to sleep where he stays there until about 7am. When I get him up- depending on how challenging it was for me to put him to bed again in the middle of the night- I might try to cuddle with him on the couch (if he gets up before 7am) to try to get him to sleep just a little longer so I am not such a zombie. We get up at 7am typically and he gets another feeding (4 hours after his previous feeding) and I change him and we look at the dining room and the kitchen and smile. This is his new thing is that something in those rooms makes him so happy. We haven't figured that out yet. Gavin naps usually from 8:30am/9am to 11:30am and he gets fed and changed and probably dressed as well. This is just the pattern we have set. I try to live on the method of sleep, eat, wake (Baby Wise book) and it is working I guess. I try to have Gavin awake from 5pm to bedtime so that he is really tired by the time we are done with our nightly walk at 7pm and he gets a bath at 7:30pm and a bottle before bedtime. I find that sticking to this routine is what helps him sleep through the night (thanks Ashley) but I always am prepared for him to get up more often than just once. 

I try not to just pawn Gavin off on Brandon when he gets home from work in the morning but it's hard sometimes when he works for 2 days straight and I am losing my mind with all the hissy fits that Gavin has developed when he doesn't get his way or all the times I have to just hold him during the days and he's not getting any lighter!  We are trying as a family to figure out how this whole baby thing works and I know that since Brandon works a job that this is my job to be home with Gavin and teach him about Court TV, Judge Mathis, Judge Joe Brown and Maury. ;)

    

This is our growing boy...not recently but you will see in my next blog how he has changed!