Boys Boys Boys

Grady is building the roster for a great soccer/football/baseball/swim/whatever team.  We spent part of our weekend with Hudson (2), Wyatt (6 months), and Benedict (2 months).  Boys seems to be prevalent among our friends and I have no doubt that we'll be cleaning up lots of grass stained pants and skinned knees in a matter of years.  

Love these cute boys together. 

I FINALLY met Benedict.  I told Artesia that I had to meet him while Pope Benedict was still the Pope and at least I made that happen (barely).  This little guy is a ball of love.  He behaved himself so well at lunch just sitting in his little seat smiling up at us.  Meanwhile, Grady tried to pull every napkin, fork, plate, and water-glass within his reach off the table while squawking in a not so restaurant appropriate voice as I power shoveled my pasta looking like I hadn't eaten in days. I'd told Artesia that I could just leave Grady at home so that I could actually carry on a conversation, but she said it was OK if we were "those people" and insisted that I bring him.   At the end of lunch she sweetly remarked, "maybe it is a boy thing because our girls were never really like that."  She said it so nicely and it totally validated that Grady really is not the easiest of babies!  I don't know if it is a boy thing or just a Grady thing, but our kid is into everything and won't sit still for the life of him. He refuses to sit politely in our laps and instead insists on standing and marching to the beat of his own drum (quite literally) and he has been like this since he was just about two months old.  We've come to realize that we're going to have our hands really full with this one!  But our hands will be full with love as we chase our boy around who is so full with life.  I just hope he is not that kid in Kindergarden who needs a seatbelt on his chair at school, but if he is, we'll love him just the same :) 

Baby Swap!

Pulling on the Heart Strings

My friend Emily Braden cleverly remarked about the picture above that Grady is "pulling on the heartstrings."  She couldn't be more right. Grady has been pulling on the heartstrings big time lately.  He is becoming a little boy right before our eyes: interested in the world around him, deliberately choosing toys and screaming when the one he wants is out of reach, being mesmerized by balloons, greeting us with giggles when we get home, loving silly games, and sitting at the dinner table with us like a big boy. I love love love having a table for three now. He is just a love bug (a non-cuddly love bug, but a lovebug nonetheless), and we cannot get enough of him.  

  

You know who else has been pulling on my heart strings lately?  My huz.  My huz has been doing more than his fair share this month by predominately taking care of Grady both mornings and evenings, by shuffling Grady to his check-up, by making trips to the store, by taking care of our Valentine's dinner, by giving the best and most thoughtful Valentine's gift, and by just generally taking care of our family business and putting up with a stressed out wife. I married an amazing man and he proves it every day by the way he takes care of our family. Thank you for being so good to me and Grady, we are both beyond lucky to have you. 

Here are some pictures of what we've been enjoying lately.

A visit from Aunt E and Uncle D!

I see the family resemblance with Elizabeth here. 

Blueberries!

 Almost gave dad a nervous breakdown with the mess, but he loved em'!

New and interesting bathtub positions. 

Visits to the office.

Grady's first Valentine's Day.

Playing Peek-a-Boo with daddy. 

Looking big in his 2T (really REI?) vest. 

Spending Saturday morning with me while Chris got his fix on the river.

Life is busy, but we are soaking in every minute our time with our buddy boy. 

24 Hour Refresh

Alright alright, so I am a little behind on blogging.  The merger mommy lifestyle is not really working to my advantage these days. After a busy week at work, we snuck up to McCall for a 24 hour refresh.  Chris skied and I stayed behind with G buddy, did some work, and caught up on some much needed mommy time.  24 hours later we came back home, having refreshed ourselves by soaking in the crisp mountain air and sunshine.

Grady enjoyed another "ride" in the sled.  He seems to really enjoy being pulled around by Grandpa and watching the dogs frolic around him.  He even managed to stay awake this time! 

After a freezing and pretty cloud-covered January, we enjoyed a little time outside soaking up the rays.  It was soooooo nice.

Grady also enjoyed some indoor sledding as well, laundry basket style.

These pictures are my absolute favorite of our growing boy lately.  My dad and Robin have a wall in the laundry room of their cabin where they keep track of the growth of the kids and grandkids (and granddogs apparently!).  The wall is messy with marks made in pen, pencil, marker, or whatever else was laying around at the time someone needed to be measured.  Robin absolutely refuses to allow my dad to paint over this wall and for good reason - I LOVE it too. It is always fun when a kid surpasses the height marks of an aunt (not hard to do), grandma (really not hard to do), grandpa, another cousin, etc.  I know it is not a novel idea, but I do love having one place where everyone is marked.  Here is the wall in all of its messy glory: 

It was a big and adorable moment to put the first mark up for Grady.  I love our serious guy's little face while getting measured and his hilarious look after getting his first mark on the wall (this is the face that he makes when making his favorite, "bfffffff" sound).
 

I thought that Grady might get the lowest mark on the wall, but cousin Tyler (TJE) still gets to claim that as his own, his mark was made when he was just about Grady's age.  It made me a little sad seeing these two marks next to each other knowing that these boys haven't met yet, but that is what makes this wall all the more special to me.  This wall is a place where all the cousins are together, even though we are coasts apart.  I understand more than ever why Robin refuses to paint over this messy wall.  Now I want to start a wall of our own!

 

Notice the next mark above Grady is that of his puppy sister, Bella.   Of course after seeing Bella's mark from 2010, it was decided that Shada needed to be documented as well.

 

I love our little family! 

As always, thanks for hosting us. Chris, Grady, Bella and I are so lucky to be able to get away for a bit and escape what seems to be like the increasing chaos of normal life.

It was also winter carnival in McCall, which is awesome.  If we had more time, I would have loved to participate in some of the fun activities, but instead we settled for driving past some of the ice sculptures with me sticking my head and camera out of the car on the way out of town.  Whatever works, right??



Grady: 1/2 year!

It is true, we have survived 6 months of parenthood and we have an adorable, stubborn, bashful, sweet little boy to prove it.  It scares me how fast this little guy's life is flying before my eyes.  Six months has gone by just way too fast.  This was the first milestone that I found myself a little sad.  Maybe it is because work is super busy or maybe it is because Grady has hit a point in his development that he changes every day or maybe it is because he doesn't like being rocked to sleep any more. . . .  or maybe it is just because kids grow up too fast.  Or maybe it is a little of all of the above.  All I know is that I want to squeeze my little boy harder every day and remember these sweet wonderful little baby days. Parenthood is a ride and I am grateful every day to be on the ride with my Grady boy (and of course his daddy too). 

Grady tid bits at 6 months!

• We weighed him a few days before he turned 6 months and was 15.5 pounds.
• Still bald and beautiful and 100% tooth free. 
• I love his big pouty lower lip and blue eyes.
• After a little hiatus of not liking food and batting any and every spoon that came in his direction, he is back to liking foods (phew).  Pears are his absolute favorite, but he has also sampled and likes butternut squash, sweet potatoes, bananas, carrots, and peaches.
• I know all babies are messy, but this one likes to "help" feed himself by grabbing the spoon and guiding it towards his mouth/nose/ear. This means that we always double his portions because more than half ends up on his face, bib, and in Bella's tummy. 
• He may take the prize for the worst hairpulling baby ever. 
• He still likes to show off his best rolling skills in the crib at night and not during the day.  He can roll, but just chooses not to do it much. 
• He finally has a hang of the jumparoo thing and will Jump, Jump, Jump in that thing for what seems like forever.
• He is into everything within his reach.  Restaurant dining is not so easy any more as napkins, straws, lettuce, or whatever else he can get his hands on end up on my lap or on the floor.
• In addition to his loud squawk, squeals and razzing noises, he now fills our house with this most awkward grunting sounds.
• I always wondered when we would stop "having" to rock him to sleep every night.  The time has come where he finishes a bottle, coos and goos after we rub our nose to his, and then he wants to be put in his crib awake to settle in and go to sleep on his own.  While it makes the bedtime ritual much less time consuming, I do miss watching him slowly drift off to his dreams. 
• Bathtime is still a favorite pastime. He also loves being "thrown" in the air and "walking" holding on to our hands.
• If he drops a toy now and cannot get to it, he will let you know.   If he is in his car seat and wants out, he will let you know.  On our drive home from McCall this weekend, Chris remedied the situation by rolling down his window at 50 miles per hour and 27 degrees and shocking Grady into submission.
• He has little patience and shows determination to have things done his way.  And I thought that my and Chris's stubbornness had more to do with birth order than genetics, I guess I was wrong on that.
• He is either a little shy or a little coy.  If I hold him and Chris says "hiiiiiiii Grrrrrady" he turns his head and buries his little face into my neck in the cutest way.  He turns back to Chris and repeats the process another five times. He also does it when saying hi to the little boy in the mirror.
• He has fleeting moments of sitting on his own.  It started on soft surfaces that he could sink his little buns into and has slowly moved to sitting on the floor.  He is by no means a master at it, but it is so fun to back away from him and see him sitting there on his own.  Such a big growing boy.

First time he sat long enough for me to get my camera.

Please ignore the annoying parent voices & noises, just cannot let these moments go undocumented because of our annoying voices (Grandma, you sound sweet as can be! - thanks for the video).