Jeff and I share a car and since he works many weekends, I drop him off at work and pick him up at the end of the day so Gavin and I can keep the car on most Saturdays and Sundays. This weekend, however, only one week away from my due date, we decided it wasn't a good idea to strand Jeff at work without a mode of transportation since he needs to be able to drive me to the hospital when I go into labor! So, Gavin and I are the stranded ones until Baby Brother is born.

Gmummy rescued us from a boring day at home on Saturday by taking us out in the morning. First, we went to Rhyme Time, an excellent way to wear Gavin out so he takes a long afternoon nap allowing Mommy to rest!

The highlight is always Shake Your Sillies...

Clap your crazies out...

Jump your jiggles out...

and yawn your sleepies out!

We also went to the grocery store for our weekly stocking up. Yes, I actually took pictures of my son in a grocery store. Perhaps this photography thing has passed the point of obsession.

Whenever he goes to the store with Gmummy, they play the "shopping cart game" (Gmummy is really creative when naming her games) where she pushes the cart away down an empty aisle and Gavin yells, "Wheeeeeeee!" One of these days, they're going to get thrown out of Harris Teeter for causing a ruckus!

While I'm really looking forward to having the energy to take Gavin out and about in our car again after this baby is born, our bank account appreciates the temporary break in weekly REI visits to pick up Jeff. I just can't resist toddler gear like these sunglasses and Life is Good monkey hat that I couldn't leave the store without when we picked him up last weekend!

It only took us more than two years, but Gavin finally has a completely decorated room of his own! He's had his own bedroom since we moved into this house almost a year ago but decorating it was a lower priority than completing upgrades elsewhere in the house. He simply didn't spend much time in his room but that's beginning to change now that he's getting older and will soon have to share his play room (the living room) with his brother.

We hung the wall decorations last night so it's finally time to reveal Gavin's finished room! I didn't take any "before" pictures for comparison, but it was completely a blank slate - standard "builder white" walls in a tiny square bedroom. It was quite depressing! We all love his room now! The view from the door seems to be the best place to start...

Choosing a color for the walls was the most difficult decision in the decorating process. Gavin's room only has one small north-facing window so his room was always very dark, even at noon with white walls. I wanted to paint the room a bold color but didn't want to make the room appear any darker than it already is. This shade of orangey-yellow that Sherwin-Williams calls "Sundance" was the perfect choice. His room is always so light now and is such a happy place to be. :)

The book shelf is home to Gavin's books and several bins of toys. He inherited the iHome and Brenda, my old iPod (named for the character in Billy Joel's Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, of course!). Brenda plays Baroque music while Gavin naps and sleeps.

Daddy made the bookshelf last summer. It's perfect for storing toys and books all with Gavin's reach.

The books are Gavin's favorite part of the room, of course.

We hung a picture cable with random snapshots of family members so he can see the ones who live far away every day and remember good times with those who are close. We'll add new recent pictures often and also hang more of Gavin's artwork.

The picture cable is the perfect decorating solution for the large empty space on the wall above Gavin's bed. I wasn't comfortable hanging heavy glass picture frames on the wall above the place where he sleeps so this accomplished the same goal in a much safer way.

Gavin has a great view of the woods outside his window. Daddy added white trim moulding around the window and removed the horizontal blinds. These curtains are much easier for Gavin to open and close, and keep out sunlight when he naps during the day.

Daddy also made this easel for drawing. Mostly, Gavin asks us to draw trucks and other vehicles. Obviously, Mommy and Daddy are quite pitiful as artists!

Gavin's closet had bi-fold doors which are such a pain to open and close. We removed the doors and hung navy blue canvas drapery panels (the same material as his window curtains) to cover the opening instead. Since the room is so small, we bought a couple hanging shelves to store his shorts, pants, pajamas, socks, diapers, and other clothing items rather than purchase a dresser which would have occupied valuable play space in the room.

And we've completed our circle around the room back to the door where we started...

GGma gave this cross-stitch piece to Gavin literally days after he was born. We added the cradle cross that he received at his baptism.

Gavin loves his room! Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Gavin is such a good helper. Say the word "help" and he's by your side in two seconds ready to lend a hand. Here's a summary of his latest projects.

He washed the dishes....

He helped Daddy hammer on new window moulding (with safety glasses, of course)...

I'm not sure a monkey wrench is the best tool for this job, but won't question Gavin's innate carpentry sense!

He painted the bathroom, listening carefully to Daddy's instructions first...

Yeah, whatever, Dad. I know how to paint. Just give me a brush...

Gavin is painting while wearing only a diaper for a good reason...

He's rather liberal with the paint...

See what I mean? drip, drip, drip

These painting pictures are the first snapshots taken with my new camera. Nothing like a toddler in a diaper painting the wall to break in a new camera, eh?

Gavin shows me why Daddy insisted he paint without any clothes on...

Gavin also helped assemble his old crib in our bedroom for his baby brother...

It's ready and waiting for you, Little One! Please forgive all of your brother's bite marks. I'm sure you'll understand in about eight months.

Of all the ways Gavin helps out, he's best at cuddling and making me smile at the end of the day when I'm exhausted and crash on the couch...

On Saturday, Gmummy and I took Gavin to Rhyme Time at the library and finally shot some video of Gavin shaking his sillies! This video montage begins with a little Wheels on the Bus Rap followed by Skinamarink where Gavin tries very hard to match Miss Melissa's complicate arm movements. He gets the "I love you" hug right, at least! Then, it's time for an old favorite, The Grand Old Duke of York, until finally he spots the Shake Your Sillies screen on the monitor. Notice that he looks back at me as soon as he recognizes the screen - he knows Shake Your Sillies is up next! Gavin enjoys all of the songs and stories at Rhyme Time but would be perfectly content if he could just shake his sillies for the entire half hour!

View the Video

Just playing around with Photo Booth several weeks ago... Gavin liked the blue color tone visual effect best!

Continuing yesterday's blog entry about memories of my grandparents, I have many more stories to share about my maternal grandparents since we have lived in the same town for over 20 years, except for the recent two-year gap when they escaped Florida to North Carolina before us! Again, I write this to Gavin...

GGma and GGpa in 2005

Gmummy's mom is Marian. I know you'll have many of your own memories of her - I always say she's going to live to be a hundred! She's 84 years old but still very active with an incredibly sharp mind. She really hasn't changed much over the past twenty years. The Gma I began to know very well when we moved to Florida in 1988 is pretty much the same Gma I know today! She was always "Grandma" to your Aunt Kristen and me until we moved to Florida and saw our maternal grandparents so often. It didn't take us long to give them the shorter nicknames Gma and Gpa so that's why they're GGma and GGpa to you!

GGma is an only child, born in Princeton, New Jersey just like your Gmummy and Mommy. Her parents (Herb and Clara Rorer) owned Rorer's Hardware Store in Hopewell, New Jersey and her paternal grandfather (F.C.W. Rorer) was a funeral director so she always has interesting stories related to family businesses.

Young GGma in grade school

GGma is an excellent cook and baker. Her mashed potatoes and gravy are practically their own food group. When we all lived in Florida, she always had a tin of classic homemade Toll House chocolate chip cookies waiting on the table when we visited and, during orange season, she usually had an orange cake on hand. I have both of those recipes so you'll be able to experience them yourself (you already love Toll House cookies!), but I just don't have the Gma magic to even come close to her potatoes and gravy!

Your mama definitely got her yearning for traveling from GGma. GGma has traveled the world extensively and has visited all fifty states. She always traveled with tour groups during the 1980s and 1990s after she retired, usually taking at least one trip overseas each year while homebody GGpa stayed in Florida. She brought us back souvenirs from places like Norway, Morocco, Peru, Egypt, Denmark, ... too many places to even remember!

You and GGma - June, 2008

GGma is very competitive and loves to play games. For years in Florida, she played bridge almost every day with groups of friends. Our visits frequently involve sitting around the table chatting while playing a game. Even today at 84 years old, GGma quickly learns (and wins!) new games the first time she plays them. Our current favorites are Quiddler and Bananagrams. Her mind is as sharp as a tack and she never forgets anything!

GGma is a master cross-stitcher. We have several of her projects on the walls of our house and she stitched one for you when you were born. She used to crochet prolifically as well. I always had a blankie when I was young and she made them all. When one was too ragged, she'd crochet me another. I'm not ashamed to say I slept with GGma-made blankets until I married your father so you won't be reprimanded by me if you choose to sleep with your lovey well into your twenties! GGma gave me the last blanket just a few years ago and, not needing it at the time, I stored it away to use if I ever had children. We now tuck you into bed every night beneath that blanket.

GGpa in high school

GGpa's name is Gerald Matthews and that's what his sisters still call him, Gerald, although his friends and your GGma call him Gerry. He's the reason your middle name is Matthew. GGpa grew up on a farm in the rural south-central Pennsylvania town of Walnut Bottom where he was the oldest child in the family with three sisters. He was of military age during World War II but avoided the draft because of his responsibilities on the farm. I've always loved hearing his stories about growing up on the farm and wish he'd tell more, but those times aren't the fondest in his memory and he's more proud of the fact that he left farm life to became a successful business owner.

In his early twenties, GGpa left Pennsylvania for New Jersey where he found a job working for Walker-Gordon, a milk processing plant in Plainsboro. He tells many stories about working the rotolactor (a large carousel that milked dozens of cows at once) and can tell you more about milk pasteurization and homogenization than you'd ever care to know!

You and Mommy admiring a painting of the Matthews farm at the GG's home

While in his late twenties, he met your GGma and after they married, GGpa became manager and ultimately the owner of his father-in-law's hardware store. Together, they managed the store until the year I was born. The store was liquidated and the building has not been used to sell hardware since. Your Gmummy worked at the store for years and GGpa often tells stories about "the store." In fact, everyone likes to mention the story of how GGpa fired his own daughter just a week before Gmummy gave birth to me!

When I was one month old, your great-grandparents retired and moved to southwest Florida. Only in their fifties, they lived an idyllic retired golfing life for over twenty years. They lived in a house on the golf course and, despite moving to several other homes and condos since then, that house on SE 7th Avenue in Cape Coral, Florida will always hold the most memories for me and will always be "their house." While still living in New Jersey, we vacationed at their home every Easter and had fun times swimming in their pool, walking on the golf course cart paths in the evening, and sampling GGma's delicious cooking.

Your great-grandparents golfed almost every day and GGpa often took a lead role planning golf groups and tournaments. While your GGma is a social butterfly, GGpa is the source of introvertedness in the family so working behind-the-scenes suited him just fine! The GGs had several large orange trees in their back yard and it seemed like GGpa was picking oranges every day! He still climbed the trees to pick the hard-to-reach oranges well into his 70s. We always had fresh orange juice during orange season when we lived in Florida.

GGma and GGpa on their wedding day - November 9, 1952

It was great having grandparents close by while your Aunt Kristen and I were growing up in Florida. The GGs came to all of our piano recitals and we sat with them in church every Sunday morning. I feel lucky to have known my grandparents so well, spend so much quality time with them, and have so many memories.

GGpa's mobility has declined sharply in recent years. He's always walked steady but a little slow for as long as I can remember, but he mainly uses a wheelchair now. He is quite healthy, though, so much so that when he broke his ankle five years ago, the hospital staff simply didn't believe GGma when they asked what medications he was on and she told them he took none! Aside from once taking glaucoma medication, he doesn't take anything now when most men his age are on all sorts of blood pressure, heart, and other medications. He may be physically slow now, but that's not a reflection on his internal health.

You and GGpa - Christmas 2008

With GGpa's physical health suffering and having tired of the active hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 when we hunkered down for a half dozen storms, GGma and GGpa moved to North Carolina in 2006 several years after Aunt Kristen started the family migration (your grandparents moved in 2007 and then we did one year later). We try to visit them several times a month but you're such a wild and active little guy that it's hard to visit for long! They love seeing you, though, and GGma comments every time how your looks have changed and you've grown since she last saw you. You're the first boy in the family since your great-uncle Roy (GGma and GGpa's son, and Gmummy's brother) and she always comments on similaries between the two of you. You are loved very much by your great grandparents!

I'm lucky to have personal memories of all four of my grandparents. Only two are still alive today so Gavin will never know them all and there are so many stories I want him to hear. I want to make sure that he knows them as I've known them. So, inspired by Gmummy's blog about writing stories from one's family history, Genwriting, I write this recollection of my memories of Gavin's great-grandparents.

My sweet Gavin, I write this first of two blog entries to you so you will know the personalities of the people you will only see in pictures or never know as vibrantly as I have. I'll begin with my paternal grandparents, your grandpa's parents...

Louis Joseph Ziller, Sr., your grandpa's dad, was called Pap Pap by his grandchildren. Of my four grandparents, I have the fewest memories of him since he died when I was only eight years old.

Pap Pap's family are your most recent American immigrants on my side of the family. While the families of my other three grandparents settled in New England and mid-Atlantic colonies before the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Zillers immigrated from Tyrol around the turn on the twentieth century. Today, it is the Trentino region in the Italian Alps, but for centuries before World War II and when the Zillers lived there, it was part of Austria-Hungary. The Zillers apparently disliked being mistaken for Italians and were proud of their Austrian heritage. In fact, there's a Zillertal Valley in the area that's fairly well-known!

Pap Pap with his parents (your great-great-grandparents!), Emma and Victor Ziller, who immigrated to the United States as children

Pap Pap served in the Navy aboard a submarine runner as a boatswain's mate during World War II (oh, boy, do I wish he was still around to tell stories from the war!) and returned home to his family in the Hazleton area of eastern Pennsylvania. Your grandpa is the oldest of Pap Pap's six children. In the 1950s, the family moved to Neshanic, New Jersey where Pap Pap worked as a coal miner and Grandpa spent his school years. They later moved back to Hazleton and most of your grandpa's family still live there today.

While living in New Jersey in the 1980s, we occasionally visited Hazleton, usually for Thanksgiving. I recall visiting Pap Pap several times in his apartment but my memories are very limited since I was so young. I remember him being a big (though not overweight) man who didn't smile much. The large, multi-story brick apartment building where he lived was interesting to me, though, since I hadn't seen anything like that in suburban New Jersey with all its single-family homes!

This picture of Nana and your Grandpa was sent to Pap Pap while he was overseas during the war.

Hazel was Grandpa's mom and we all called her Nana. I thought it was funny that Hazel lived in Hazleton! I always remember Nana as fashionably-dressed, wearing many bracelets and accessories. I always remember Nana's voice and Pennsylvania accent - somewhat of a cross between New York and Canadian accents. I smile right now thinking about the way she said certain words like "don't" (dohn't) and Grandpa's sister Sandy's name (Sahndy).

Nana never hid her desire for her grandchildren to have their own children. So, I'm sure she would be thrilled to know you, Gavin! Like your great-grandma Sally on your dad's side, Nana collected stuff animals and lined them up on the top of her living room sofa. They were everywhere in her apartment. I know you would have loved visiting her!

Aunt Kristen and me with Nana in 2000

Nana visited us in Florida several times and enjoyed sitting at the table on our lanai chatting up a storm. During our annual summer trips along the eastern seaboard, we usually stopped by Hazleton for a day so we saw her at least once every year or two. We also spoke to Nana on the phone when Grandpa called every month. I never really knew her too well so I usually didn't know what to say, but Nana always told us she loved us. She was always full of love. Nana passed away in 2003 not long after I met your father.

I have lots of stories about your GGma and GGpa to share next...

... or not! This photo CRACKS. ME. UP! It was actually taken on Saturday while we were at Gmummy's awaiting the delivery of her iPad and to decorate Easter cupcakes (why decorate eggs when you can decorate cupcakes?!). I'd been sitting beside Gavin while showing him how to dunk the mini cupcakes in bowls of colored sugar and asked Gmummy to take my seat and continue with the instruction while I snapped a few photos. Well, Gavin didn't like our little game of musical chairs and let his thoughts on the matter known!

Of course, we also spent most of the day on Friday with Gmummy but he wanted nothing to do with his mommy! Gavin seems to have a "one caregiver a day" rule. He'll go to the same person all day for comfort, books to be read, and arms to hold him while dismissing attempts by others to perform those caregiving tasks. On Friday, his caregiver of choice was Gmummy and on Saturday it was me. We have no idea why.

Gavin wasn't really interested in decorating cupcakes anyway. He enjoyed eating them, though...

This is one of the few pictures I took on Easter. I'm large and uncomfortable and just didn't feel like taking pictures all day! Jeff added the leaf to Gmummy's dining table so Gavin got right down on the floor with him and wanted to help. He really loves mimicking these days!

And since this blog entry really isn't about Easter at all, I'll add this random photo as well:

Last week, Jeff painted the walls in Gavin's room. It's a great, bold shade of orangey yellow that Sherwin-Williams calls "Sundance." We're still decorating so a full blog entry about the transformation of Gavin's room is yet to come, but they looked so cute reading in bed after Gavin's nap this afternoon that I couldn't resist snapping the first photo in the yellow room.

Less than a month ago, we were still running the heat in the house. Now, it's officially t-shirt and shorts season. Spring comes quickly in North Carolina! I dug out Gavin's clothes from last spring and most still fit him! Our 27-month-old is currently wearing size 12-18 month shirts and shorts. I put a pair of 18-24 month shorts on him today and they literally fell down even with the extra padding of a cloth diaper! Looks like the 2Ts I bought several weeks ago in anticipation of spring will have to be packed away for next year. He'd been wearing all 18-24 month winter clothes along with a few 2Ts, but I guess he doesn't need larger sizes for spring and summer!

Door knobs are no barrier for Gavin. He can usually open any door with knob now. He mastered handled doors many months ago.

Gavin is a construction vehicle expert. He can correctly identify a dump truck, excavator, backhoe, bulldozer, and wheel loader. Several road projects have recently started in our area so he's thrilled to be able to see construction vehicles and mounds of dirt from his carseat every time we leave the house!

Gavin is getting quite good at drinking from of a cup. For a while, he has been drinking chocolate milk from a cup, but it was the only beverage he would attempt in a topless cup. He still mostly uses a sippy cup but we're trying to use a regular cup more often.

Gavin's two-year molars are finally poking through. He's had some pain lately and made a sad face while pointing to his teeth while sitting in the bathtub last night. He wasn't able to communicate nearly as well the last time he was teething so it was very sad to watch! He just needs to make it through these four teeth and then he won't have to worry about new teeth for several more years.

Words are coming slowly but surely. Gavin will say "yeah" for "yes" but we're still working on "no." At least he has the respective head shakes down. Gmummy taught him "go" and he yells "CA!" at the cats when they're being naughty (walking on his train table or window sill) after hearing me and Jeff yell "CAT!!!" whenever we hear scratching on the stairs.