Thanksgiving in Amarillo

We headed to Amarillo on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday - our longest road trip yet with Gulliver. And of course, he did beautifully!  Monarch Pass was slow going, with poor visibility, snowpacked roads, and a little snow falling. But that's par for the course around here once winter sets in. It took a little over 9 hours on the way there. Gulliver took 2 naps and we stopped twice to eat and stretch. It wasn't until we hit 8 hours that he started to get antsy. Figured he was hungry and he ended up eating his whole dinner while sitting in the car seat.

We arrived at Uncle Brent & Aunt Gail's house around 7:00 pm. We were the first to arrive, as those coming from the Dallas area hit nasty traffic and got delayed by about about an hour and a half. Traveling for Thanksgiving is always full of surprises. But it gave Gulliver some nice one-on-one time with Aunt Gail and he warmed up to her again in no time. Brad, Laurel, Lacye, and Jacob all arrived that evening and Gulliver got to spend some time with his cousins before heading to bed.

The next day, it was around 9:30 am when Gulliver finally woke up. The little guy was tuckered out. After breakfast, we went to check out Uncle Brent & Aunt Gail's new house, which is nearing completion.  What a beautiful home they are going to have! More family came over for t-day dinner... Uncle Leon and Aunt Marilyn, Allan and Stephanie and their 3 boys, Seth, Clay, and Ryan, and Duane and Roberta. Gulliver had no shortage of attention!  Throw in the 8 dogs that stayed in the house and, well... Gulliver had plenty to keep him occupied.

Late Friday morning, Mark and I ventured out for some Black Friday shopping while the Littlefield, Littlefield, and Crumpton babysitting service watched Gulliver. Then over to Aunt Marilyn's house for dinner that night.

Headed back home on Saturday morning and arrived 8 hours later in plenty of time to watch Oklahoma's victory over Oklahoma State. What a delightful Thanksgiving weekend!

Must Love Dogs

Gulliver and the girls have become quite fond of one another. The dogs maintain a healthy respect for Gulliver, which is good.  Now that he is on the move, Gulliver spends a lot of time seeking out the dogs and their beds. He also has a unique sound for the dogs... every time he sees one of them walk into the room, he lets out this long, high-pitched squeal. It's a special tone he reserves just for Cocoa and Cassie.

Videos

OK, here are a couple videos from yesterday.

Crawling...


Standing, Babbling, and Waving...

Officially Crawling

Well I wanted to post a video to show Gulliver officially crawling, but it will have to wait due to technical difficulties. But he's crawling on hands and knees all over the place. Last weekend, when we were on the web cam with Grandma, Gulliver decided to crawl from one end of the rug to the other. I was shocked! That's the farthest distance traveled on hands & knees. And he did it so naturally. He's been crawling a little more every day this week. And now he crawls more on his hands and knees than commando style. Way to go, buddy!

We just got back from town and Gulliver looks so cute all bundled up in his fleece...

Playroom

We finally finished our latest renovation project. We got rid of the garage door and replaced it with a wall / window.  WOW!  What a difference! So much more light comes in. And the whole room just feels cozier. And best of all, Gulliver got his own playroom out of the deal!

Exterior Before & After:

Interior Before & After:

Weigh-in

Saw the doctor this afternoon for Gulliver's 1-year checkup. She says he looks wonderful. He weighed-in at 20 lbs 12 ounces and 29.5 inches long!