Day #1: To start this break off, we had Christmas Eve. In the morning we went for a walk at Mall of America in the morning. Yes, it's probably pretty dorky sounding, but it's just so chilly outside and this way we get to take Gavin and not freeze! It's just us and the old folks :) We then went to church and Gavin did pretty well in the VERY busy service and spent some of the time in the nursery when he was getting a little antsy in the service. Afterwards we went to our annual Christmas Eve dinner at Panera. It's been a tradition to go there with my parents for many, many years.
Day #2: Christmas Day Gavin woke up in his Christmas jammies and we took part in our own family of three's family tradition of singing Christmas carols around the piano serenaded by Tom. This is my favorite tradition, personally, and look forward to when Gavin can sing with Tom and I. My parents and brother came over about 10am and we opened a ton of presents and all got very spoiled. Some of Gavin's favorite toys were a big boy toothbrush he gnawed on for a long time, legos, stacking blocks, and Dr. Seuss flash cards. When Gavin went down for his nap, my mom and I did a lot of cooking and then ate a very delicious dinner together.
Day #3: The day after Christmas we spent a lot of time with friends. In the morning we went to Ikea for breakfast and met up with some Luther friends we hadn't seen in awhile, Nick and Michelle, and got to see their two girls as well. In the afternoon we hosted a bunch of friends at our house for a pancake dinner to celebrate two of our friends being in town, Rachel and Nathan. It was a lot of fun to catch up with them and for them to get to see Gavin too!
Day #4: This day we drove up to the Maple Grove Community Center to meet up with my coworker, Melanie, her husband, and her son who's 4 months older than Gavin. We all went swimming in their pool there which was a TON of fun. They have a kiddy wading pool there and I swear Gavin didn't stop smiling and laughing the whole time there. That child is definitely a water lover. We can't wait for next summer to be able to take him swimming more often!
Day #5: We started the morning off with Gavin's 15 month well child doctor visit. Previously Gavin had no problems or fears of going to the doctor, but the poor guy has learned to fear the doctor's office. As soon as the nurse walked in he started crying. Unfortunately we learned there that his 5 month streak of being ear infection free had ended. He also had to check 2 vaccinations which was the low of the visit. On the plus side, though, is that he's growing and developing wonderfully. Just in the last week or so he's taken off walking on his own and we love seeing it. His stats at the visit were: 31.5 inches tall: 60% (which the doctor thought might be an underestimate as he was very squirmy when he was getting measured; 27.4 lbs: 80%; head circumference: 18.3 inches, which is in the 30th %ile.
Later that day after Gavin rocked out a 3 hour and 15 min nap (those shots wear him out!), we met up my mom at Mall of America and went to Underwater Adventures. Gavin LOVED it there. He was so amazed at all the fish, especially the jellyfish and sharks and kept pointing to them and saying "ah" which is his new lingo for when he wants to touch something.
Day #6: We decided that on this day that we would take Gavin to daycare so that Tom and I could get lots of to dos done sans baby. This happened to be the first full day he spent in his new toddler room and he did so well there. We were nervous because this was the first time he slept on a cot instead of in a crib like in his previous infant room But he went to sleep super easily and slept for 2 1/2 hours-woo hoo! Meanwhile while Gavin was at daycare, Tom and I were all over doing tons of errands. We started at Mall of America where did a few exchanges for other sizes for Christmas things, etc, and then took our dog Marty to what we refer to as the "dog spa" at Petsmart to get groomed. We went out to a nice yummy lunch at Doolittles Woodfire Grill and then did a few more errands and went back home and took down our Christmas tree and cleaned the house.
Day #7: In the morning we took Gavin to the St. Paul Children's Museum and all three of us had SO MUCH FUN. So much fun that we bought a year's pass which is actually really economical as you only have to go 4 times to pay for it. Gavin really really enjoyed walking and crawling and exploring, climbing on things, and playing with all of the little exhibits. His favorites were the bubbles, stacking blocks, and playing on some drums there. We already can't wait to go back.
Day #9: New Year's Day we slept in (till 7:15-woo hoo! Sad, I know). In the afternoon we just ran a couple errands so a pretty low key day as well.
Day #10: In the morning we met up friends, Becky, Jeromy, and Linnea at Ikea for their free breakfast (FYI we just learned about the fact that they have a free breakfast for anyone on Monday mornings-amazing!). Then that afternoon I met up my friend Sarah to geek out and see the Breaking Dawn movie. Yes I read all the Twilight books and had to see the movie too--it was great!
So that was our fun-filled 10 days off and it was a blast. Super refreshing and wonderful to build so many memories with my family and friends.
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