18 Months

 It's hard to believe that Gouverneur is already 18 months. He has been such a fun baby boy. The best way to describe him is "jolly". He is so happy. He is all about his brothers and rough housing. He loves to wrestle and do anything that his older brothers are doing. He LOVES to play catch and has a pretty good arm too.

He is obsessed with his "dadda". All my boys seem  to love their dad, but Gouverneur has taken it to an all new level. I love it. He started going to nursery a few weeks ago and loves it. He is in there with Dellin, which is good for both of them.

He is very independent. He decided weeks ago that he was done being fed. He wants a spoon or fork at every meal and likes to sit up right at the table. He looks so big this way.

18 Month Stats

Height: 34 1/4 inches (95%)

Weight: 28 lbs. (80%)

Head: 19 3/4 (90%)

He still has three bottles a day and loves his bottle. (I usually indulge my boys till they turn two.) We don't usually let him run around with it, but this was just too funny.

The boys love to push each other around on their trucks. The little brother always usually does the pushing. Gouverneur doesn't seem to mind much. He and Dellin play really well together.

As far as talking goes, he is saying the same few words that he has been saying for months which include: mom, dad, dog, baba, and lots of other sounds for particular things like his binky. Gouverneur has a deep voice, it cracks me up.

He really is a jolly boy. He is living up to his name in every way. We love you Gouverneur!

New Jersey

 We had such a great time up at Jake and Tyra's house. They really are fabulous hosts. Having grandma and grandpa Hawkins there made it really special. They spent a good portion of the time holding babies. Israel loved all the attention.

I love this picture of grandpa with Israel and Mya. Mya is easily the happiest baby of all times.

Gouverneur with grandpa Hawkins.

 See what I mean? These two babies were held constantly.

 

 Jake and Ty's kids are just darling with babies.  Here's Isaac and J.J. with baby Mya and baby Israel.  There was a baby holding line at all times.

We had an early birthday celebration for cousin Leah while we were up there. This is the only picture I have of it. The kids all went crazy with the ice cream cake. It was quite delicious.

Cousin time was never ending. The boys had so much fun all day long. The kids all got along really well too.

  Dellin, Leah, Abe, and Sterling Henry.

Lounging in the hammock. 

Sterling Henry, Bryn, Dellin, and Abe.

The kids watched endless amounts of shows together... At least my boys did.

Every time we went somewhere, one of the cousins rode with us. My boys were in heaven. 

Cousin Leah pictured here.

We also loved spending so much time with Josh and Laura and their girls. We were so happy to finally meet baby Mya. She is an absolute doll. 

Josh never disappoints.

Games were played every night. The boys got really rowdy as usual. Josh is the master of Monopoly, although I'm pretty sure that Sterling won this game...

 The whole trip was amazing. We spent every minute together just talking, crafting, holding babies and playing games. My boys were in a dream land of family and fun. We're so happy to have family that lives so close. We can't wait to see ya'll again soon!

Bronx Zoo

 We went to the Bronx zoo while we were up in New Jersey. It ended up being the coldest day of the trip, but we still had a blast. We go to our zoo so much, that it's fun to see different animals for a change.

 Sterling and Dellin with the rhinos.

 Here I am with my four boys. We were all so bundled that you can't even see Israel, and only Gouverneur's nose is showing.

They had this amazing bug carrousel that was free with our tickets. The kids went on it 3 or 4 times. It as also indoors and a nice break from the cold. Here's Sterling with Little Man and Dellin all ready to go. 

Dellin was quite serious at first. 

Abby and aunt Tyra looking like rodeo queens.

 Uncle Josh being Josh.

Uncle Jake being Jake.

The boys had an absolute blast. 

Grandpa and Grandma with aunt Laura and Gouverneur. Gouverneur had a cold and was miserable in this picture. Poor little lamb. 

The zoo was awesome. They also had a 4D movie that all the kids went too. It was a full day of fun!

Israel's Baby Blessing/ One Month

 Israel's one month birthday fell on Thanksgiving. It also happened to be the day of his baby blessing. We were thrilled to have so much family take part in his baby blessing. Sterling gave Israel a beautiful baby blessing.

Here are the men who participated in the blessing.

 Uncle Jake, Scott Erickson, Dad, Grandpa Hawkins, Uncle Josh

Three Davids. Sterling David, Israel David, and Grandpa David.

Our little family of six.

 It was a bit complicated trying to get a picture of all the cousins. I really love how this one turned out.

 

 This one is pretty darn cute.

 Cousin Leah and Israel.

Israel is such a cute little baby. He looked just darling in his little blessing outfit. I made his little booties.

 

We really love this little guy. He has been such a huge blessing in our family over this last month. He is such a happy, calm baby. He has just started smiling. He is a fabulous eater and a good sleeper too.  Here are his one month stats.

Weight: 11 lbs. 10 oz. (90%)

Height: 23 inches (95%)

Head: 15 1/4 inches (75%)

He is our second biggest baby at one month. Sterling was the biggest and Dellin and Gouverneur were a lot smaller at this stage. It's fun to compare their stats and watch these cute boys grow.

Thanksgiving 2012

 We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving up in New Jersey. We were so lucky to have so much family with us. We were up at Jake and Tyra's house with my parents and Josh and Laura. The boys loved having so many cousins to play with. We all felt quite spoiled! Sterling's cousin, Scott Erickson also joined us from Princeton.

We spent the night before Thanksgiving prepping the turkey, stuffing, and pies. Luckily for us we had the pie master, my momma. My whole life growing up I have lots of memories of making pies with my mom for Thanksgiving. It was really fun to make them with her this year.

Our pies. We had sour cream lemon, pecan, pumpkin and cherry. 

 My brother Jake had a sweet hookup and got us tickets to go in and see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. We drove in and then walked to the office. It was a beautiful morning. 

Little Man with grandma and grandpa. Josh, Bryn and Laura.

 Jake, Leah and Isaac.

 When we got there, they had a really nice breakfast for us. We found seats and waited for the parade to start. It was on the third floor on sixth avenue. Perfect seats. It was nice and warm and had lots of space for the kids to run and play.

Momma with Jake, Josh, and Israel. 

Before we knew it, the balloons started coming. They were amazing up close.

Grandpa sat and held Israel for most of the time, while Jake had to be checking sales for most of it. 

 The balloons and floats were all awesome. My favorite was Hello Kitty, although Spiderman and Papa Smurf were pretty cool too. We loved trying to spot all the stars on the floats.

 The kids were pretty entertained with so much to look at, although they had no idea just how awesome these seat were.

Sterling and Leah.

 

There weren't enough tickets for all of us to go to the parade. So Sterling took a small group to go look for fossils that morning. Gouverneur went with him and was a complete angel.  He also took J.J. and Scott. They had pretty good success.

 We made it back in good time to get the rest of food prep going. Tyra stayed back with Abe, Abby and Dellin, and got the turkey going,  

Here's Tyra and Bryn cutting potatoes.

The spread.

The kid's table.

 Isaac and Leah both wanted a drumstick.

 These four had a lot of fun together although I  think more talking than eating was going on here. Bryn was outnumbered with all these rowdy boys. Cute cousins.

We ended the day with Israel's baby blessing. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. 

Thanks Jake and Tyra for setting up such a wonderful day. The food was delicious, the parade was amazing, but the company was the best part of the day. We love you and miss you already. Already looking forward to Thanksgiving 2013.