The McLain Family Blog

Family Pictures

2008-02-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Too many pictures to post about individually, but I needed to get them onto the site.

Thanks to Erika Loveland Photography. This was easily the most fun we've had as a family taking pictures. Erika is very skilled, very patient with the craziness of photographing small children, and very easy going overall....thank goodness. It was really a terrific experience.

We would have spent the same amount of money going to a studio (like Kiddie Kandids) and not had nearly as much fun (to say the least) and not come away with nearly as many photos. I cannot recommend her enough.

Anyway - on to the picks - taken in November of 2007.

Family Pictures - All Together

2008-02-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures - Marci and Me

2008-02-06T10:35:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures - More of The Kids

2008-02-06T10:33:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures - The Kids

2008-02-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures - Sabrina

2008-02-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Family Pictures - More Gavin

2008-02-06T10:24:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures - Gavin

2008-02-06T10:21:00.001-07:00

Family Pictures - Caleb

2008-02-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

Amahl and the Night Visitors

2007-12-13T11:58:00.001-07:00

I recently got to perform in an opera "Amahl and the Night Visitors" (more detailed info on the opera here). It is a Christmas opera and I played one of the three kings: Balthazar.

The best part of the whole thing for me came after our final performance. An older woman (probably in her late 70s or early 80s) came up to me and thanked me for the performance. She said that her husband used to perform my role years ago and loved performing the opera every Christmas. She said my performance reminded her of her husband who had died 3 years ago and She thanked me for bringing back the memories of her late husband.

I have never been so touched or honored by any performance I have ever been a part of. It made all the work and effort (and makeup) worthwhile.

As for the makeup comment......

As we are about to come on stage Amahl says (sings) this line:

"There are three kings outside....and one of them is black!"

I'll let you guess which king I was. And just as proof of how lousy a "black king" I make, here are some pictures.

Sabrina's 1yr pictures

2007-03-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, they're exactly what you'd expect from her. Radiant smile, cute clothes, fountain hair....That's one cute kid.

The summer outfits

2007-03-14T15:06:00.000-07:00

It begins.

Now that it's regularly hitting the 90's in AZ, Marci finally gets to start dressing Sabrina in all the cute outfits she's been hoarding all winter.

Heaven help us all.

Is she part dog?

2007-03-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Sabrina has taken to putting a sock in her mouth and crawling around with it. It seems we always see her with a sock in her mouth - it's like she can't crawl around without it.

Very bizarre.

New Toys

2007-03-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

Seems that both Sabrina and Gavin like to play with the new doll Sabrina got for her birthday.

Sabrina's 1st B-day

2007-03-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Sabrina's recently celebrated 1st birthday.

The swing? Oh, yes...we like it a LOT!

We're not too sure about cupcakes though....

Hmmm...seems that we like it after all...

Yes...we definitely like it.

Pebbles

2007-03-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is Sabrina's new hairdo courtesy of Marci. Ain't it just fun?

Sabrina has asthma

2007-03-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yep, just like Gavin, Sabrina has asthma. Poor kid. Isn't this the saddest picture of her you've ever seen?

Picture size

2007-01-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry - I've been posting some pictures in the 4 most recent posts using a new method, I didn't resize the photos so, if you click on them, they are abnormally large.

Again - apologies. I may re-post them at a later time.

Jared

Sabrina's pink trench coat

2007-01-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

There is absolutely no reason to post these pictures other than my desire to show you Sabrina's unbelievably cute pink trench coat that Marci bought for her.

Seriously - these pictures don't do it justice.

Gavin likes chocolate

2007-01-22T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is Gavin working on one of the BIG Hershey's chocolate bars. He snuck it and we didn't know he was munching on it till we caught him in the act. Fortunately I had the camera with me - and yes, this is exactly the face he makes whenever he knows he's in trouble and tries to use his cute smile to get out of actually being punished.

Sabrina is cute

2007-01-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

No, really - she is. Here are some random shots taken around the holidays this year.

Seeing the Christmas Lights

2007-01-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Christmas lights on a couple of different nights - on this particular night it was probably the coldest night of the year (up to that point) so Marci made sure that our kids were dressed "warmly" - I'd say she went a little overboard with Sabrina.

Halloween - 2006

2007-01-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

These are obviously a little late in coming, but I've been a little negligent in my blogging duties recently.

Anyway, I thought I would share these pictures of Gavin and Sabrina in their costumes. Caleb was Batman (again - he wore the same outfit as last year, so look in the archives to see pictures of Caleb as a rather, um...un-heroic...Batman

Family Pictures

2006-11-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

We went and got our family pictures taken for Christmas. The picture taking experience itself was not a good one, but the results are okay.

Family pictures

2006-07-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Marci realized that we don't have any pictures of Sabrina up around our house. The only really good picture we have of her is her baby announcement. So, we went down to the mall to get some pictures done. What follows is the result (click on the image for a larger version)

We actually like the picture above because Gavin has that "mischevious" look to him. A common look on his face.

Overall, a pretty successful session I'd say.

We have some freaking cute kids.

Gavin joins the fun

2006-07-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

We shared Caleb's new "spikey" style, well, Gavin wanted to join in as well.

Here is the evidence.

Fang-boy

2006-05-26T11:09:00.002-07:00

Gavin is just as nutty as always. I thought this was a cute picture, and one that shows off that major chip he took out of his teeth to give him that popular "fang" look.

Caleb's new style

2006-05-26T11:09:00.001-07:00

Caleb has been bugging us for weeks to "make his hair spikey" - so we finally went to Traci and had her do him up right.

He really, REALLY enjoys the new do. He hardly looks like the same boy anymore.

Sigh.

Did I mention she likes to smile?

2006-05-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well, she does. She smiles a LOT - which is just fine by us.

Butterflies!

2006-05-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Desert Botanical Garden has a fun exhibit every spring. They put up a small pavilion and fill it with butterflies - about 1000 are in the pavilion at any given time. It's pretty spectacular. Not only do you get to see one of the finest desert spring flower displays anywhere in the world, but then you also get to go and play with the butterflies.

Overall, it was a fun day.

Caleb appreciated the whole experience more than the other kids (for obvious reasons).

Like I said - there is nothing quite like the desert in bloom.

Right near the entrance, an arms reach away from the main path, was this mother dove tending her nest. She was quite used to humans passing by and didn't seem to mind in the least that we were looking at her and taking pictures. Normally a nesting mother gets very skittish around people - she just didn't mind. Caleb was quite fascinated by it.

Finally, we arrived at the main event. Caleb was completely enthralled and could barely handle the excitement. Sabrina could have cared less, and Gavin didn't quite know what to do with the whole scene and was a little frightened by the butterflies. He wanted to look - just so long as they stayed a good distance away from him.

Here is a sample of some of the butterflies we saw:

Like I said - Caleb could have sat there all day and watched the butterflies. Quite frankly, Marci and I would have loved to join him - it was very cool. Unfortunately, Gavin and Sabrina foced us to make a retreat from the confines of the butterfly pavilion after only being there for maybe 10 minutes.

Oh, well. There's always next year.

Smile!

2006-04-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

We're doing this more and more these days. Especially after we're done eating.

She's getting so big. I had a bunch of other pictures of her, but I can't post them now cause they don't look like her any more. She's is filling out more and getting chubby just like her brother Gavin.

Where does the time go?

Just to make all the parents out there a little jealous - Sabrina is already sleeping through the night. All of our kids slept through the night at about 5 or 6 weeks. Sabrina was no exception.

She's just a good little baby.

Cousin time!

2006-04-18T19:10:00.001-07:00

Sabrina and her just-slightly-older cousin McKenna.

You just know that these two are going to cause havoc together in the very near future; they're both the youngest, both the only girl and both completely in control of their siblings/parents.

Good times.

Sabrina with her grandpa!

2006-04-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

My dad was in town for Easter and he got to see her finally. She loved sitting with him. She held her head up like that for several minutes - it was the longest she's ever done that. She was absolutely fascinated by him.

2006-04-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Gavin - just to show how much he's grown.

Oh - he knows that he's going to do something.

Yep - he's going to show off.

And he definitely knows when he's being cute.
The thing is - he's VERY engaging. You can't take your eyes off of him, not because he's demanding attention, you just can't help it. He knows he's cute and he uses it to every advantage.

Heaven help us all.

Little league - T-ball action!

2006-04-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

Caleb is now in baseball - well, T-ball to be specific. I don't have much time for a full description now - but here are some pictures that are pretty self-explanatory as to the amusement level that T-ball provides.

Dig that throwing form!

Lookin; good!

Good action shot.

On base - and lookin' fine!

The catcher-monster!
They don't actually catch the ball - just sort of try and stop it by getting in the way. But they have a catcher nevertheless.

How does this work again?
Yep - even Gavin is getting in on the action.

A few pictures of Sabrina

2006-04-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Big" brother with Sabrina.
He loves her a lot - but doesn't quite know how to help yet. We mostly just try to keep him from sitting on her head and poking her eye out.

Those PJs are a little big.

Just sitting around.

Sabrina is following the pattern of her siblings. They all slept - in the same "touchdown" position. According to Marci I do the same thing.

Sabrina is here!

2006-02-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yep - she's finally here, and we finally named her.

Things progressed sort of slowly and she got an epidural at around 10:30. Dr. Beck finally came in at 12:40 and broke her water, and things went very quickly after that. 30 minutes later she was dialated to a 10 and she was ready to push. It didn't take long.

Sabrina entered the world at 1:28 PM - she weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 oz. and came in at just shy of 20 inches in length. And she has a pair of lungs on her too. We found that out in a hurry - which was probably the one and only time we'll be really happy to hear her cry.

Everyone is healthy and happy and doing just fine.

Some pictures from day one (click on the images for a larger version):

Here is Marci just before we went to the hospital. Maximum belly extension!

The happy mother - this is about 2 minutes after the birth.

The proud daddy - about 10 minutes after birth.

All cleaned up! (I won't show you any of the shots of her before she got all cleaned off.)

Marci finally holds Sabrina after she's been all cleaned up.

Caleb is clearly happy to have his baby sister here.

Gavin couldn't wait to see his sister. He climbed right up onto the cart to get a look.

Look at those feet!

There are eyes in there - she actually had them open quite a bit, I just didn't get a good picture of her.

Sabrina is clearly tired after the move.

When she fell asleep - she really fell asleep. Nothing we could do would wake her up. But that's a good thing, both mommy and baby could use a good sleep.

More later.

My latest adventure

2005-11-16T07:54:00.000-07:00

Head over to my other blog where I posted some pictures from my latest hike.

10+ miles over the length of the Superstition Mountain Ridgeline.

FANTASTIC hike. Go forth and view.

Family pictures

2005-11-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

We got our family pictures taken. We're still waiting for the whole family picture to arrive, but I thought I'd post the other pictures now.

Them's some good looking kids.

Smile!

2005-11-16T07:35:00.002-07:00

This is Caleb's school picture.

And yes, he smiles like that when you tell him to smile.

We're working on it.

Climb on in!

2005-11-16T07:35:00.001-07:00

Gavin has discovered that he can climb. He gets into/onto anything he can reach. His favorite things to climb into are the dryer and the dish washer. He would try the oven too if we weren't watching.

Strangely enough, it hasn't occured to him to climb out of his crib yet.

Thank goodness for small favors.

Haloween

2005-11-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

We had a good Haloween holiday. For handing out candy I got 2 of my neighbors together and we brought my grill around, set up a TV to watch the football game (we tapped into my neighbors cable) and then grilled steaks and watched football while handing out candy. Every dad that came by was visibly impressed/jealous. It was great.

Anyway, here are the pics of the kids.

Caleb was very excited to carve pumpkins. He designed each pumpkin and tried to help in the actual carving. Naturally, I did most of the work.

The final product.

Caleb wanted to be Batman this year (he was Spiderman last year).

Gavin wore Caleb's Pinochio outfit (a gift from his Aunt and Uncle ) - he wasn't too fond of it though. We had about 5, maybe 10 minutes of him in it, and then he started to rip it off.

Overall though, everyone had a great time, and we're still working through the candy Caleb collected.

Cousin's, or twins?

2005-11-16T07:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously, take a gander at the similarities in the profile between these two. They may be more than a year appart in age - but they could easily be twins.

Gavin: rat, or boy?

2005-11-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

Seriously, what the heck is he trying to do?

Look at all that drool on the screen!

He's actually completely destroyed our screen door. He loves pounding on it and has run into it a few times - the screen has ripped off of the door frame. And the Beaver-boy act isn't new - he does that all the time.

Weird.

All I want for Christmas...

2005-11-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

...is my four front teeth!

Learning to tie....

2005-09-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

Caleb has decided that he needs to be able to tie his own shoes. We're still practicing, but this picture is from the Sunday when he came to me and asked me, totally out of the blue, to help him learn to tie his shoes.

Gavin walks....destruction is upon us!

2005-09-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

At just past 9 months Gavin decided that he would start walking. By the end of that week he was waling like a champ.

Marci's kind of ticked. She didn't want him walking so soon. And with good reason...he's totally destroyed our house in a very systematic and efficient manner.

1st day of Kindergarden

2005-09-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally sent Caleb off to the "Big Boy School" as Caleb refers it. His first day at 1/2 day K. We saw a couple of parents who were crying - however, we were more of the opinion that this was the greatest thing ever.

Caleb got a new Batman backpack just for the occasion.

He insisted on walking even though it was like 110 outside.

After it was over, we couldn't wait to tell mommy how cool it was.

He's still excited every day to go to school. He loves it. He'll learn soon enough...

4th of July

2005-09-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

Okay...so...fine, this is a little behind. Oh, well. This will help provide a little context for how quickly Gavin is growing up.

Anyway, we went on Saturday night to watch a fireworks display at a mortuary near our house (yes, a mortuary - don't ask, we don't know - but it's a good party anyway). Here are some shots from that night.

The mortuary sponsors a pretty good party, and they come around just after the sun sets to hand out popsicles to everyone there. This was Gavin's first "cold treat" experience, and needless to say, he was pleased.

Gavin actually had a ball - just watching people and having everyone entertain him.

Just wait till you see the pictures in the next post - you won't believe it.

Gavin really enjoyed the show - he was smiling and having a great time.

Caleb, being the pyro that all young boys are, of course had a marvelous time.

And it was quite the show.

I wish I had brought a tripod for this shot - I couldn't see where I was aiming, but it turned out okay.

So, that was our 4th of July celebration this year. Good times.

A plethora of photos...

2005-06-24T15:08:00.005-07:00

Just a few cute photos taken recently - in no particular order:

Gavin eatin on the LoveSac - the only place where he'll stay still long enough to get a few decent sips out of his bottle.

Gavin's first time swimming - he enjoyed it as long as he wasn't getting splashed. In fact he enjoyed it so much....

...that he fell asleep in his float.

Dude will be walking before you know it.

Caleb certainly loves his little brother...

...they play together quite a bit, but Caleb wants Gavin to be big NOW, so that they can wrestle and stuff.

Maybe if Caleb learned to smile....

Grandpa and the boys

2005-06-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Just a little picture from the last time grandpa was in town.

Kentucky Derby

2005-05-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Marci and I have a semi tradition of watching the Kentucky Derby every year. We could care less about horse racing in general, but, it's true what they say, the Kentucky Derby is the most exciting 2 minutes in sports.

This year we had a party and invited some friends over. Since the Derby is all about big, ugly hats for the ladies, the rule was that the women had to wear hats of some sort.

Here were the results:

Gavin got into the act as well:

It was a really fun day. Homemade hamburgers, good conversations and the kids even had their own horse race with stick ponies after the real race was over.

Rock climbing Caleb

2005-05-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

We had a stake activity called "Family Fun Day" - basically a small fair type thing at our stake president's farm. They had a small climbing wall there that Caleb REALLY wanted to climb. He did okay - this picture is essentially as high as he got before getting scared.

Marci did it too and got all the way to the top.

Bathing the boy

2005-05-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

Gavin really likes having a bath. It's great fun (apparently) to splash around and (again, apparently) chew on the washcloth.

He's just stinkin' cute is all I have to say.

Gavin is fully mobile now.

2005-04-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

Indeed, as this sequence of pictures shows, he's not only mobile, but he's bound and determined to get whatever it is he thinks he can reach. He's a very determined young man.

Not quite the "eye-of-the-tiger" yet - but you can definitely see that he has desire in those eyes.

Heaven help us all.

Gavin eats...or tries to anyway...

2005-03-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

We took the plunge. Gavin was getting too big to survive on mommy and formula alone, so it was time to give him the messy stuff.

Caleb, after an early, messy stage, has turned into a nearly obsessive compulsive clean eater. I'm not sure what to hope for with Gavin. On the one hand, clean is good, on the other, Caleb freaks out when it's not clean, so...whatever.

Anyway, here is the record of Gavin's first bites.

Like any good child we REALLY want to get our hands on whatever is being waved in front of us.

So, let's solve the problem...

We have a spoon in our hands now - so it's all good.

The biggest problem is that it just won't stay in there. Of course, the fact that he sticks his tongue out isn't helping any, but still...

The trick is to open your mouth. Caleb really enjoys helping feed baby brother - it's oh, so much fun. He really wants to be the one to wield the spoon, but that just ain't gonna happen.

It's all just a little overwhelming the first time - isn't it?

This was a week ago or so and he's doing much better. He is actually opening his mouth now and eating well. His weight has reached a plateau and he's down from his heaviest of just over 20 lbs. to just over 19 lbs. Still a healthy boy by any definition, but not quite as chunky as he has been.

Spring hike with the boys

2005-03-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went on a little hike. That morning I took a friend of mine up to the top of Superstition Mountain (for trip reports on those hikes, look here and here). Anyway, the mountain was just so loveley clothed in her spring flowers, that I had to take Marci and the boys to see it.

It was well worth the double trip.

This was Gavin's first experience with the backpack - but he really didn't seem to mind.

In fact, he really dug sitting back there and having me be his beast of burden (a great deal if you can get it, as long as you get to be the "burden" part).

It was late afternoon, so the sun was out, but the temperature was a perfect 75 degrees. The mountain was, of course, spectacular.

We brought along some friends so Caleb would have someone to hike with his own age, but he had a lot of fun anyway. I just wish, when he posed for the camera, that he would learn how to smile.

The base of the mountain was simply awash in little gold flowers (from the brittle bush in bloom).

Which also provided some majestic views.

With the gorgeous weather, the absolutely crystal clear sky (just look at the blue in some of those photos) it was the perfect day.

We ended up going a total distance of just over 1.5 miles, and even after that, Gavin was still just as fascinated as ever with all the color and the fun of riding in the backpack.

We'll go on another hike in the mountains as things warm up in the desert (82 degrees today - yuck). But Saturday was a great day, and we all had a lot of fun.

Be afraid - be very afraid....

2005-03-21T13:34:00.000-07:00

We went to an airshow at Luke AFB on Saturday. They had a number of planes and helicopters available for visitors to climb around in. Caleb was VERY excited to climb inside this Marine Blackhawk helicopter and play with their gatling gun.

I would say a little too excited - except for the fact that it was so freaking cool!

Good times.

Just a cute picture

2005-03-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Gavin was in a good mood, so I snapped a couple of pictures of him, and this one was just too cute not to post.

This is what he's like most of the time. He's been pretty sick recently with a fever and a nasty cough, but all he really wants to be is happy. It's kind of funny to watch, but he gets this look on his face that says "I know something hurts" but then he sees you looking at him and immediately brightens up so that you see this totally bizarre war of "I want to be happy" and "It hurts" going on. Usually the "I want to be happy" wins out.

He's an excellent little baby.

Playing in the snow

2005-02-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Arizona has had an exceptionally wet winter this year, and a part of that has been a bit of snow in the mountains. Now, some of you that live in snowy areas may not think this is all that neat - but for us desert dwellers, we look forward to at least once a year going up to the mountains to play in the snow.

President's day was that day for us. Caleb has been bugging us to go and play in the snow for months now, so we finally found an opportunity and went to Flagstaff to get our yearly fix.

As you can see, we were well prepared for the cold:

Marci looks like she's pregnant with a 20+ lb. kid.

Caleb had an absolute ball. He made snow angels:

And made a snowman with his friends:

And had fun playing with his daddy:

Good times all around.

The other children in the pictures are the children belonging to a good friend of mine from high school that I hadn't seen in over 10 years (some of you may remember Kim Green...she is now Kimberly Troksa). She happens to live in Flagstaff - how convenient!

Holy Crap!

2005-01-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Gavin just got back from the doctor for his 4 month check-up; dude thundered in at 18 lbs., 26.5 inches long. That puts him in the 90th percentile for both.

He's a growing boy.

Baseball - or something similar

2005-01-27T10:50:00.003-07:00

Again, it's the form that counts.

Dig the form

2005-01-27T10:50:00.002-07:00

Not that you're supposed to when you're putting - but look at the form for that swing.

Kid's a minature golf monster.

Get that ball!

2005-01-27T10:50:00.001-07:00

I've been publishing lots of pics of Gavin lately, so I thought I'd include a few of Caleb and what he's been up to recently.

Soccer is over, but during the season we managed to score 3 goals. One was even for our team. Go Mighty Monsters!

Blessing Gavin

2005-01-27T10:50:00.000-07:00

We recently blessed Gavin. We did it right after Christmas, mainly because all of the family was here for both mine and Marci's family.

We had so many people that we eventually decided to just have myself and the two grandfathers in the prayer circle. It was really nice to have everyone in the same place at the same time. We then went over to Kathy's (Marci's mom) house for dinner and dessert.

Back at ya' buddy!

2005-01-27T10:35:00.000-07:00

Currently we're slightly past the "Look! I've discovered my tongue!" stage - but not by much. Now Gavin is sort of in the I'm-figuring-out-how-to-roll-over-but-then-I-get-stuck-and-don't-like-it stage. Good times.

Lookit...the chubbiness!

2004-12-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is one chunky little dude. We can barely get his pants on over those chubby thighs. The doctor put him in the 95th percentile in weight (15 lbs. at 8 weeks).

You gotta love cubby babies.

Grandpa with the the latest McLain

2004-12-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Indeed, the proud grandfather sitting with his latest grandson, knowing that there are two now to carry on the family name.

He couldn't have been happier or more proud.

Family pictures

2004-11-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

What can I say - I have a beautiful wife and two handsome boys. I take no credit for any of it. All credit for good looking kids goes to the aforementioned wife. I just get to hook my thumbs in my suspenders and say "Them's my boys!"

I'm just lucky I guess.

Just the boys

2004-11-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Again, what more can be said? Goofy, half-talking smile on my face notwithstanding, there be some cute little boys hanging out with daddy.

Life is definitely good.

Dig that smile!

2004-11-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is what Gavin looks like when he's happy. He usually achieves this particular state of Nirvana after he has eaten, burped loud enough to wake the neighbors, dropped a load in his diapers or peed on mommy or daddy.

In other words - fairly often.

Yes, he's sleeping...your point?

2004-10-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, indeed. Babies sleep a LOT. Gavin likes to sleep in the "touchdown" position (originally made famous by Caleb). He also snores. Poor little dude is already afflicted with the McLain sinuses. He's doomed.

Honestly - will the McLain children ever be free of the horrifying curse of snoring like a congested moose? Their future wives can only hope.

Smile, dang you...

2004-10-13T10:10:00.000-07:00

This is the latest in my attempts to get a shot of Gavins charming, crooked smile. Like I said - he'll smile for Marci all the time, but as soon as I show my ugly mug around he clams right up.

Isn't it a little early for him to be a surly teen?

Repose of the content

2004-10-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Gavin is a fairly content little dude. He especially enjoys laying on my chest. Who knows, maybe it's the warmth, maybe it's the slow heartbeat and breathing, but he usually calms right down and goes to sleep whenever he is laying on my chest. Sometimes it's the only thing that will calm him down. Go figure.

I still think he likes Marci better though. He'll smile for her all the time - but never for me. I figure it's just cause she's better to look at (which is obviously true), and the fact that she's his meal ticket. Hhe's only interested in me as a relaxation matress.

They grow so fast...

2004-10-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

We took Gavin to the doctor on Friday to see how things were going. This was after Marci took him to a lab for a PKU (a series of tests run to see if an infant has any of 9 different genetic diseases - at least that's how many they test for in Arizona).

I don't do the PKU test - they have to prick the baby's heel to get a blood smear. I can't handle seeing the little dude pricked like that. I went for Caleb's test and it was really hard for me to watch. So I opted out of this one. I'm not squeamish about the blood - I'm more affected by the baby freaking out.

Anyway, at the doctor's office we discovered that Gavin is already at 8 lbs. 4 oz. When we left the hospital a week and a half ago he was at 7 lbs. 4 oz.

Dude gained a pound in a little over 1 week. Pig.

He's doing quite well at this point. He's a pretty calm baby for the most part, but he's had some problems with gas. It happens on average every other night. Last night for example I only got about 2 hours of sleep, and Marci probably only got 1 hour. It was not a good night. It's so sad for Gavin - he's obviously in pain, but you know that he just doesn't understand what the problem is; and it's just no fun listening to the little guy cry (heck - it's no fun listening to any infant cry - it's just so sad!).

Most of the rest of the time he stays on a 3 hour schedule - awake most of the day and sleeping between feedings at night.

He's still the cutest baby around. And Marci and I aren't in the slightest bit biased at all.

Curious big brother pt. 2

2004-09-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Did we mention that Caleb is seriously curious about baby brother? He can't leave him alone. Anytime he's near him he has to touch/kiss/hug Gavin.

Recovering with aplomb

2004-09-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Although generally Gavin didn't really enjoy his first bath, he recovered quickly to be just as cute as ever.

The first bath

2004-09-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

How about this schnazzy getup? Much better than just ploping them in the .sink or using a bunch of towels and a bowl on the kitchen table.

He wasn't too pleased with the proceedings by the way.

Just plain cute

2004-09-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

They are small, and they are helpless - and that's why you love them so much.

All gussied up...

2004-09-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Marci put Gavin in his best duds for the baby shots the hospital provides (for a small fee). He looks like he's swimming in that outfit. He went home in this same outfit (minus the jacket) and his little feet had disappeared inside the legs of the outfit.

You do forget how small they are when they're first born.

Obligatory shot #3

2004-09-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the obligatory shot of just me and the little boy.

I know...it's horrible to look at. Sorry.

Seriously curious...

2004-09-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

It's pretty amazing actually. Caleb sat there at the edge of Marci's bed and just stared at Gavin. He'd reach across every 20 seconds or so and just touch his cheek or head, and then he started poking him, then he started to play "spiders" - anything to just touch baby brother.

Gavin had better get used to it quickly - I have a feeling Caleb is going to be very interested in "helping" raise baby brother.

The curious "big" brother

2004-09-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

"Big" in this case being a relative term. When we went over today to see Marci it had been about 24 hours since she had seen Caleb. Her comment was "Wow. Caleb is HUGE! I didn't realize how big he was." This not more than one day after we got to hold Gavin and said "Wow. You forget how small they are."

I guess pregnancy has made Marci's memory REALLY short.

Sleeping like a....

2004-09-28T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well...like a baby...I guess. Dude stays awake for 3 or 4 hours at a stretch, but that just means that when he crashes - he's out for the count. You cannot wake him up. Even Caleb was unsuccessful - which is quite a statement in and of itself.

Obligatory shot #2

2004-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

We let Caleb hold his little brother for a few minutes - and he really enjoyed it. The look on his face was absolutely incredible.

Poor little dude has no idea how much his life will change in the next little while.

Obligatory shot

2004-09-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

Marci was very happy about how well things went, and she is really proud of Gavin. You really need to see the look on her face. And if you've never had the opportunity to see the look on a mother's face when she finally gets a to look at her child in those first few moments of life - well, you're missing out on one of the most beautiful moments life has to offer.

Posing with the boys

2004-09-26T20:01:00.001-07:00

Hey, why not. If I get to pose with the two boys - Marci gets to as well.

Caleb meets Gavin

2004-09-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Right in the middle of Gavin's first feeding Grandma McLain, Great-Grandma Miller and Caleb came by to meet him. Caleb was VERY excited about this. He's been talking about it for weeks and keept asking when baby brother was going to come out.

He wanted nothing more than to hold him. I was only too happy to oblige - I really wanted to see that smile when he got to hold him for the first time.

I was not disappointed.

Check out those peepers!

2004-09-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

Right before he got handed over to Marci to try and breast-feed for the first time he got checked out once again to make sure he was still doing okay. He wasn't too happy with the cold stethescope probing him a little - and it sure woke him up. This was the first really good look we got of his eyes. However, it certainly wasn't the last. Gavin really likes to look around and see what's going on. He stayed awake for 4 hours straight just looking around.

Starting to wake up

2004-09-26T19:59:00.000-07:00

After a little while it was time to wake the boy up and get him to try and feed a little bit. He was NOT happy about being disturbed from his sleep.

All cleaned up

2004-09-26T19:58:00.000-07:00

I went to breakfast with Sherl and Kathy while Gavin was being monitored, and then went home for a quick nap. We were hoping that Marci would get a chance to get a little rest without everyone there. She ended up getting a qick power-nap, but that was about it.

Anyway, when I got back to the hospital they were done monitoring Gavin and let me take him back to the room - peaceful and quiet and all cleaned up. He slept very soundly for a few hours.

5 minutes old

2004-09-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

I'll spare you the pictures of Gavin when he was just out of the womb - some people would probably think that was gross. Instead, here he is with Marci after he's had a little cleaning up, but before he was taken away to be monitored.

Gavin Thomas McLain

2004-09-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

Gavin Thomas officially joined our family at 6:45 am this morning.

Weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.
Length: 20.5 in.

Everyone is healthy and happy.

Marci was scheduled to be induced at 5:00 this morning, but at around 2:15 am she woke up with contractions. By the time we got to the hospital at 5:15 the contractions were quite hard and right on top of each other. When we got up into the delivery room the nursing staff had to hustle to get an epidural in her; everything was moving along very quickly.

Dr. Beck arrived at about 6:30, Marci pushed a total of 4 times, and out popped Gavin - screaming away just like his brother did when he was born. Dude already has a set of lungs on him. The total time of labor once we got to the hospital was 1 hour and 15 minutes.

While they were cleaning up they noticed that Gavin was grunting more than crying, which could mean that there is some fluid in his lungs, so they took him to the nursery for closer observation. I saw him again about 30 minuts later and he was doing much better, crying away like a madman, which in this case is what we want to happen. The one and only time in his life where we're encouraging him to cry.

We're trying to enjoy it while we can.

Ah, the vigor of youth...

2004-09-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

It's just fun to watch how the kids just run around with gusto; completely ovlivious to nearly every rule except one: kick the ball.

If you havn't been to a 4-5 yr old soccer league game yet - you're seriously missing out. The entertainment value of those babies is off the charts.

Preparing for battle...

2004-09-25T14:56:00.000-07:00

Here's another fun shot of the players waiting with thier coach for the other team to be ready.

Once again, let me emphasize the impressive nature of this truly dominating lineup.

Gladiators indeed.

Forth the gladiators...

2004-09-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure exactly why, but this picture just kills me.

In Caleb's league they only play 3 on 3 in a shortened field. That way every boy/girl will have a really good chance of at least kicking the ball once or twice.

Let me tell you - that is one intimidating line-up.

Awesome.

The first amature competition

2004-09-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Caleb had his very first soccer game the Saturday before Gavin was born.

So we took pictures of the little ham.

Dig that uniform.