Today starts Gavin's BIRTHDAY WEEK!!
This Thursday, my little boy will turn four. I'm having a bit of a hard time believing it, to be honest! For the next four days I will be sharing something special with you from each year of his life. He's the King for this week and, as you can see, Brian knows that Gavin should get extra special attention...
It was just the three of us today. Yep - just me, Gavin and Brian! Can you believe it? I had no one here to help me and I did it all by myself! "Anonymous poster" would be so proud. Or not.
I actually have not been feeling well for the last four days. Every day I have felt nauseous and, for lack of a better description, hungover. It's all from the birth control pill I'm required to take for the IVF process. My body has been seriously revolting and every day I have felt like crap. Today was the worst - I would have loved to have stayed in bed. The boys still have runny noses, too, so we were a bit of a mess today!
Brian's speech therapist, Miss Jen, bravely kept her appointment and when she arrived this morning...Brian was a bit of a wacko. He was bouncing off the walls and then hiding under laundry.
He finally calmed down and they ended up having a good session. He's definitely saying some new words and she noticed!
Gavin did some great eating today! I recently discovered a new baby food at Wegman's. It's called "Sprout". It was developed by chef, Tyler Florence, and it's all organic. I bought several from their advanced stage selection and hoped that Gavin could handle the textures. So far, so good! Last night he had their beef lasagna...and this morning he had multi-grain cereal with fruit.
When I brought Gavin into his bedroom tonight and kissed him goodnight, I could tell that he was exhausted. But Gavin is one that has always fought sleep. I laid him down and he shocked me by instantly putting his head down. So I started to rub his back. Within two minutes he was snoring. You're going to have to take my word on this - this NEVER happens. It nearly brought me to tears to see him 'let go' and close his eyes and fall asleep right in front of me. And as I stood there over his crib watching his chest rise and fall - I started to reminisce.
Gavin's first year had a lot of challenges, but one of the big ones was getting him to sleep. It was so bad that Ed and I had to tag team. One person could rarely start and finish the job. I could literally be walking or rocking or bouncing with Gavin for two or more hours...and then Ed would take over and there were times it was just as long for him. We couldn't just lay Gavin down and leave - he was such a high risk for aspirating at the time and would often get himself so worked up that he'd vomit. Plus, a lot of the time he had a feeding tube in so if we put him in bed awake - he'd surely pull out that tube. That first year was complicated.
But that first year was filled with incredible miracles for a little boy who spent his first month in the NICU, and then a little over THREE months hospitalized and very ill. The big moment that first year - the one that stands out in my memory - was getting him off that feeding tube. When many around me, doctors included, were pushing for a surgically placed G-Tube...this Mommy said Hell No. It was a long, laborious, exhausting, and emotional journey...but Gavin slowly started to eat purees orally. If he did that forever, I'd be happy - but now he's eating beef lasagna and banana chunks and fishy crackers and macaronis. I never lost hope that first year - and I envisioned a lot for Gavin. But he has exceeded even my expectations.
If you are new to this blog, or if you've known us forever - I'd love it if you watched (or re-watched) Gavin's birthday video from that first year. If you're new - it will help give you an idea of what makes him who he is today...what he's been through...what we went through. If you've seen this before but want to walk down memory lane with me tonight, I'd love it. Out of all the videos I've made, this one will always be my favorite. It was my first - and my camera was crappy - but it tells such a story.
And that story keeps getting better and better.
I love you, Bugaboo!
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