January: Gavin perfected his walking skills.
We knew when first found out Gavin had Mosaic Down Syndrome and that he may have delays in his development. But as he was learning and growing, he development at least gross motor wise was the same as any other "typical" child. Walking did take a little bit extra practice but by the time he was 14 months old he had it down.
We also celebrated Nathans 26th birthday. We went and saw the movie Tangled with Ryan and Andrea. It wasn't Nate's first movie choice but he was a good sport about it.
February: Gavin's first sleepover.
For my birthday/ Valentines Day we left Gavin at my parents house for the first time. The plan was for Nate and I to spend the night somewhere in Salt Lake, but we ended up just going home after some shopping. None the less it was nice to have a little break from being a mom for a night.
Elder Gardner goes to the MTC (missionary training center). We were able to go with Ben, Ryan, and Andrea to drop Brandon off at the MTC.
March: Big news.
We found out Gavin would be a big brother!! I told Nate that I thought I was pregnant and even took an at-home pregnancy test, but it was either too early to tell or it was the crappy cheap pregnancy test. So a few weeks later I took another one and it was positive. We were super excited.
April: Ultrasound
Because Gavin has Mosaic Down Syndrome my doctor wanted me to have whats called a Nuchal Translucency Screening. Which basically is a test that takes a measurement on part of the fetus along with a blood sample of the mom and determines the moms risk for having a baby with down syndrome or other chromosomal defects. If the measurement on the baby is really big that's usually an early sign of a defect. This picture is of the measurement they take of the baby. Its the fluid on the back of the baby's neck.
**These are not my pictures, I got them off the Internet
My results came back really good. My risk hasn't increased at all, its the same as any other woman my age. My chances of having another child with DS are 1/10,000 and my chances of having a child with any other trisomy are 1/2,800.
May: Anniversary.
Nathan and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We went to dinner at Ruth's Cris. We each got a steak, and they were SO good. I would suggest this place to everyone.
We took Gavin to the zoo for the first time. I'm pretty sure he loved it; it's sometimes hard to tell Gavin's emotions because he doesn't always show them. He loved and still loves to be outside, that was probably his favorite part of the whole day. One of his favorite animals was a desert cat. It would run around its cage and come right next to the glass where Gavin was standing.
June: Boy-O-Boy!
We found out we were having another boy. I didn't want to find out but my surprise was ruined before it even started. The day we went for the ultrasound we told the tech that I didn't want to know the sex so before she was close to finding out to just tell me to close my eyes. I was a little suspicion because both the Nate and the tech kept calling it a "he" but whatever. Towards the end Nate couldn't contain Gavin anymore so he took him out into the hall. While Nate was out the tech asked if I wanted her to print out a picture of the sex and put it in an envelope to take home for future "proof." I said yes. She had a few more measurements to take and then she said "Okay, I'm done I just need to print off your boy picture."
She tried to fix her slip-up by saying something like she just had boy on the brain. I wanted to give her the benefit if the doubt but I could tell she felt really bad about it.
July: Fun in the Sun.
Gavin and I spent a lot of time out-side this past summer, but because we had no yard we would go to my parents house. He has a lot of fun at Grandma and Grandpa Bunderson's house.
We had a good 4th of July. We watched a parade, had a barbecue, played with cousins, and watch fireworks. Its been fun with Gavin getting older and understanding and doing big kid things.
August: Vacation.
This year we drove down to Cali for a vacation with the Gardner's. We stayed at Bass Lake. We played in the water, hiked at Yosemite, got a lot of sun, and ate a lot of yummy food. It was such a good time! You can see better, more detailed versions here and here.
September: State Fair
My sister Brittany and her little boy Drewes, my sister Breanna, Gavin, and my-self went to the sate fair. We didn't get to stay very long but we squeezed in as much fun as we could. The two boys went through the "Little hands on the Farm" maze type thing. Gavin really liked it. He probably would have stayed there the whole day. I had to keep hurrying him along because there were other kids behind us. We ate some yummy food, and saw a lot of farm animals.
October: Surprise.
We took Gavin to a pumpkin patch this year. He mostly just played in the dirt and threw and kicked the small pumpkin we picked out for him -he thought it was a ball.
Oh and SURPRISE! Our baby Jackson came 3 weeks early. I had a feeling he was going to come early, but I didn't want to get my hopes up and them have the last three weeks drag on, so I did nothing. The car seat, bassinet, everything was in our back room -untouched. I did do one load of baby cloths. I'll have to tell his birth story another time.
Jackson Otto Gardner was born on October 25th at 4:34 p.m. weighing 6 lbs 10 oz. and 21 in. long. He shares his birthday with his Grandpa Bunderson, which is super cool. He is the sweetest, most perfect little baby. We love him lots and lots.
Vivian came and stayed for a whole week after Jackson was born to help me. It was great!
We had a fun Halloween and went to a trunk-or-treat on our neighborhood. Gavin dressed up as a cow boy, I dressed up as a cowgirl, and Jackson dressed up as a candy corn. And yes I'm mother of the year for not taking one single picture of Halloween.
November: Thanks
WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! We moved into a new house in Granstville, and are loving it. We're excited to make it our own, I have a bunch of plans to decorate but don't have a lot of time with a newborn and a VERY active two year old.
We had a really good Thanksgiving Jason and Jenna got to come spend it with us. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at our old rental since it was empty. I went shopping on black Friday -it was a bad experience this year. It was SUPER crazy. I might not ever do it again.
I felt really blessed this year I have a healthy new baby, a healthy and active toddler, an awesome husband who works so hard for our family, a beautiful new house, and great family who help and support us so much.
Gavin turned 2!! We had a little birthday party for him; we invited family over for cake and ice cream.
December: Blessed
If 11 months of awesomeness wasn't enough, December brought more blessings. Nate got signed off at work, he is now an official Certified Professional Controller. From the very beginning of Nate's training, 2 and a half years ago, we've felt super lucky and blessed that, first he even got the job, and that he's been doing so well with training. Its been a huge weight off his shoulders financially to finally be done with training.
Christmas was really fun. Gavin had a blast this year opening presents. We were spoiled. Gavin got a lot of new toys, one of which was a fun tent and tunnel from his g-ma and g-pa Gardner. Jackson got a new baby swing which Nate say's was maybe the best purchase of all of Christmas.
On December 31 we gave Jackson his name and blessing. It was extra special because two of my nephews were baptised the same day. We were sad that none of Nate's family were there -it was our fault- we planned it on a day that they were all out of town.
It was a great way to end the year. 2011 treated us very well, and we are excited to start a new year.
