Better late than never, huh?

On the 13th of March Gavin turned three months old. It's still so hard to believe it's been three months even though I say that e.v.e.r.y post. Everyday that passes were so thankful for but also scared for. Jayden was 3 months and 17 days when we lost him, and I know we still got 9 more months to go til were in somewhat of a 'safe zone' but to me I think the majority of the loses occur in the 3rd month. It's so hard not to think about it day in and day out but were dealing. So what's new this last month, let's see..
*head control, still not perfect but for the most part he can do it by himself
*laughing out loud
*fighting his sleep because he thinks I'll give in and nurse him to sleep if he wins..Wrong! (you should know, I raised Gracie on a very strict 'every 3 hour' schedule and I'm doing the same with him because it works best for our family)
*teething. Yes at a little under 3 months old he started teething. My earliest teether yet. Poor fella chews on his hands til theyre blood red and hurt
*became attached to Gracie. He loves his big sister more than I could ever express and she just adores (thats an understatement!) him! He smiles every time he sees her and if shes around he always wants to be touching her. She will let you know in a heartbeat that's her bubba.

He's no longer fits in the newborn hold :(

Pulled out the jump-a-roo

Head control :)

Props to me, I MADE this onesie. I made the design then put it on a iron-on transfer :)

Two peas in a pod :)

"Those look scrumptious!"

3 Months!

Had there not been that cushion right next to him he wouldve rolled over for the first time :)

For Gracie, she is still potty trained (except for occassional accidents during the night, but for the most part she wakes herself up to go) and shes getting to that point where I need to start a book called "Kids say the darnest things". Shes so funny anymore and her imagination is starting to take off. Like last night sitting at the table eating "petezees" (pizza in her language) she said "Oh no mom! Floor!" I said "oh no? Floor what?" She goes "Mud!" I said "oh no were going to sink!" Haha and we just went on about it. Also she's hitting the whiny stage. She cries/whines about e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. I dont know which is worse, terrible twos or this?

Uh-oh, watch out Commisary/BX shoppers :)

Bella<3

Also as you know we 'celebrated' Jayden's 4th birthday on March 14th. For us it's such a bittersweet day. We celebrate all that he taught us in his short 3 1/2 months of life and mourn that he's not here to celebrate with us. We released balloons with cards tied to them, lit a candle (that made our house smell so good) in his memory for the day, and bought him a gift...a nerf gun. I could just see him and Chance now having nerf gun fights. The cards where perfect too. On one it said "Youre 4" on the front with an air plane and inside it said "Wishing you a birthday thats flying high, touch the sky fun, cause new adventures are what being 4 is all about!" He sure is flying high! & the other one said "Missing you" on the front and "I dont think Ill ever get used to this" inside. Usually we would host a little birthday party/event for Shining Lights for Jayden in his honor and if you brought a gift it would be donated to a "toys for tots" or children's hospital, but being so new in Italy we didnt do it this year. So little sister Gracie got to take advantage of the new toy and she loves it!

Writing to bubba Jayden

Hope you liked your balloons and cards bubs!

We also found another house (remember we were looking for one since Gavin's room was taken hostage by mold?). Its 10 minutes from base (plus!), it's a set of 5 duplex buildings with only Americans living in them (double plus!), and it has an AMERICAN SIZED washer AND dryer (super plus!!). This is a big deal guys. The Italian washer and dryers are about ONE FOURTH the size of an American one. And just think a family of four with a baby who spits up a lot, wears cloth diapers, a potty training toddler who occassionally pees the bed, plus normal laundry?! No lie, I do laundry e.v.e.r.y day, a.l.l day. And our dryer, literally takes all day to dry one load of clothes and thats NO exaggeration. Because instead of like American dryers using heat to dry the clothes, these dryers spin the water out o f the clothes to dry them. So you have to empty a pan of water every load. See? I could go on and on about how crappy the Italians washer and dryers are and how excited I am about the American size washer and dryer! It also has city gas (where the gas runs directly to your house from the city so you dont have to worry about filling your tank or running out) instead of Gasolio (where you go buy the gas and have someone come fill your tank to heat your house and water). This is a plus because right now were experiencing the "oh crud! we didnt check the tank, now we dont have any gas." So yes, that meant no heat or hot water for us but thank the Lord for our amazing landlord who brought us 100 liters, free of charge, Sunday to hold us over til we moved or til they could come fill up the tank. Hopefully we'll be moved in this house by the end of next week.

And then of course we celebrated Mr Gavin's first St. Patrick's day. FYI, one year that were here were going to Dublin Ireland to a REAL St. Patrick's day party. One of the many plus' of living in Europe..it wont cost us an arm and leg, just a few hundred bucks!

I also made this onesie; design and all! :)

Hm, think thats all for now. Ciao!