Baby rolls.

I'm thankful for baby rolls. I could chomp on them all day long. And I usually do.

Flashback (not on) Friday.

Last year at this time, actually this is early January, for the Ohio State bowl game. I'm 7 months pregnant.

And now this year. Still holding my baby boy... only this time in my arms!

Gavin was excited to witness his first (of many!) Ohio State victory over that team up north!

Kylie the Photographer.

These days, it's rare to have my camera out without Kylie asking to take pictures, too. The other day, I was taking photos of them when Kylie said that it was "her turn"... not thinking much of it, I handed her the camera and proceeded to play with Gavin a little. After a few snaps, she handed me back the camera. Thinking that I would see some pictures of the top of our heads, Gavin's feet, the floor, or Carmen, I was shocked to see these instead!!

I love them! And I love that I have a little photographer!! Check out her skills!!

Bonding over fish & bubbles.

It is not uncommon for Kylie to burst into Gavin's room at the first sound we hear over the monitor, greeting him after his naps. This morning she raced upstairs after his morning nap. I followed behind a minute or two later and found her in his crib with him... I quickly grabbed my video camera and went back inside. I found her cuddled up with him, arm around him, and they were watching his aquarium crib soother. You can't hear it on the video, but she was quietly talking to him about it... "see the bubbles, bud?"

Oh, it was so cute!

Teething bites.

We are smack dab in the middle of the teething phase. Kylie was a silent teether... her teeth just popped in without so much as a whimper... Gav, on the other hand, is a little more out-spoken regarding his chompers. Overall, he has been a trooper, but he has been a little fussy, drooly, and extra chewy lately.

At this point, he has 2 little teeth. It's a little bittersweet to see those teeth where once was only adorable little gums. Yes, I love his gums.

Here's a shot of the pearly whites:

He spends a lot of time with teethers... they have a love/hate relationship. He loves to chomp on them but I think that makes his gums a little sore so he usually ends up yelling and chewing on them even harder.

Gettin' teeth is hard work, people!

But this is one tough, little dude...

So bring it on, teeth!

Kids in chairs.

Just a couple iPhone snapshots while hanging out in Gavin's room this morning. Kylie decided that she needed her chair in there, too.

I don't remember what she did or said here, but obviously Gavin liked it!

Exersaucin' It.

The boy LOVES his exersaucer!

From the mouth of Kylie.

Because this is essentially my "journal" and I do plan to make it into an actual journal by Blurbing it at the end of the year, I've decided that I need to get better at recording some of the funny things that Kylie says. These 2 convos are the first to pop into my head, so here they are:

1. On the way into gymnastics this week, I was telling Kylie that she needs to make sure that she listens to 'Miss Nancy' and needs to be a good girl. Without skipping a beat, she said "ok mommy, and you need to be a good lady. Because that's what you are... a lady." Ugh... I don't think I want to be called a "lady"... especially by my 3 year old.

2. I was on the phone today and Kylie kept interrupting and asking to watch Little Bear. When I got off the phone, I was explaining to her that she should not interrupt me when I am on the phone, that is rude, etc. She immediately apologizes... "I'm sorry mommy... it was an accident... I thought it was a good idea." Too bad I know better than that or I almost would have bought that excuse.

Although cute, there seems to be a pattern... she always must have the last word. Hmmm, sounds like someone else I know. ;)

Oh, and one more... slightly TMI (too much information) but oh well. :)

Yesterday, Kylie told me that her "bum hurt"... it does?, I said, "yea, my bum hurts because my butthole isn't there anymore." And for one of my least favorite words ever, Kylie can make "butthole" sound pretty darn cute! We have no clue what she was trying to say or what she meant by that, but all the same it was pretty funny. Maybe only to me and Matt, but that's ok.

Here are some photos of KyKy from our little fall/family-Christmas-card-photo-that-I-was-determined-to-get-this-year photo shoot:

Funny Duck.

Gavin had a case of the giggles in the bath last night. The ducky was making some silly sounds and he thought it was HILARIOUS! Such a boy!

Sorry for the poor quality of the video, but I resorted to using our old video camera for this one since the FLIP had been prematurely retired. However, after seeing this video and complaining about the quality, Matt came to my rescue and decided to do some trouble-shooting. He figured out the FLIP issues, so it is back in working order now and hopefully I will be able to share more videos in the future!!

Leaves.

Kylie took full advantage of the 30 leaves that fell off of our weeping cherry tree this year.

Hooray for fall!

And then rode around on her 4-wheeler.

Lil Bucks.

The obsession starts early in our house..

Whenever football is on TV, Kylie chimes in with "O-H-I-O"! What a great sound coming from our 3-year-old!

GO BUCKS!!!

side note: these photos were taken before the OSU-USC game... slightly outdated.

Feeling nostalgic.

Before heading out the door today for Kylie's gymnastics class, I plopped the kids in the chair for a few snapshots.

Rather than looking at me, they immediately looked at each other with huge smiles! I didn't mind because now I have this...

which reminded me of this moment almost 7 months ago in the same chair...

Kylie laying eyes on her baby brother for the first time. I will always remember this moment. I felt so happy, yet anxious. Anxious for Kylie and how she would accept her brother. Wondering what kind of relationship/bond they would have.

Well, it didn't take long for Kylie to fall madly in love. The bond they have is so strong.

You can see it here...

A completely spontaneous moment. I was trying to get both of their attention, but Kylie couldn't stop snuggling him. She was in her own little world... not doing this for the camera, just quietly loving her brother the way she does.

Finally, I got some eye contact.

And this shot reminded me of this one... Kylie holding Gav for the first time:

Gav staring at his big sister...

as he has since the beginning...

And one of the big guy now sitting in the chair

that he once could only lay across.

And a couple more because he is so darn cute!

Trick-or-Treat!

We had so much fun trick-or-treating this year with the cutest little bumblebee and bear!

The Marra kids joined us this year, so after we all loaded up on chili, we headed out into the cold for some candy!

Syd, Ken, and Stevie:

Our adorable bumblebee... hard to believe that this is her 4th Halloween!

JJ and Gavin (aka Monkey & Bear)- and I think Otis might be back there somewhere... that's a whole lotta baby!

Gavin loves being outside and the cold Ohio weather doesn't seem to bother him. He fell asleep about halfway through the trick-or-treating.

Kylie and her friends are ready to go! SO cute!!

The Marra crew (and Gav) also ready for massive candy collection.

Showing off her loot.

I love this next photo... such a brave little thing and such a difference a year makes... last year she never would have done this all by herself!

Right after this house, she informed us that she wanted to go home because she was tired!

Getting a lift home...

This was the kids' favorite part of the night... handing out candy. Turns out that Kenny is a very strict candy-giver-outter. :)

The little guys staying inside with gram where it was nice and cozy!