Zoo Boise

Just a quick little update to inform the world of news that I am sure they are on pins and needles waiting to hear.  We are the latest proud members of Zoo Boise and took Grady on his inaugural trip there with our new friends from swim class and their absolutely darling daughter.   For the size of our city, the zoo really is pretty awesome.  I think we'll be spending some time there this summer!

Very seriously contemplating what the zoo will be like. 

Was pretty impressed that we had three lions. 

 My favorite chewing on some bark. 

Is it bad that I relate all my zoo experiences to the Lion King?

Just hanging with a cat. 

Grady's favorite part was petting the goats.  He cried when I finally had to remove him so that we could continue our visit. 

The monkeys said goodbye by taking the monkey bars across the skyway above us. 

And then we were off to North Carolina, where we had the best weekend with my sister and her family.  I could die over cuteness in seeing the three boys together and of course have many pics to share, but those will have to wait for another day.

Mother's Day Extravaganza

I had an amazingly perfect Mother's Day. I'll soak this one up because I am sure there will be hiccups in the future ones.  The Johnsons came for the weekend and for the first time since our wedding, the Whitfields, the Junior Johnsons, and the original Johnsons were in Boise together and the city did not disappoint.  We were blessed with temperatures in the 90s, pink little baby cheeks, and lots of good time enjoying the outdoors. 

Papa loving on the G buddy.

Grady trying out Cam's birthday present. He loved it so much, we got him one of his own for his birthday. Thanks for doing the research for us, E!

Papa's inventive way of "kicking" the ball.  If the baby won't move his own legs, just move the whole baby!

Testing out his Christmas wagon.  He loved it!

We got to celebrate this adorable one turning ONE!  We love you Cam man.  You are one awesome kid.

When the dog days of summer come and the only thing you want to do is play in the dogdish, it is time to bring the bathub outside.

No luck at the pond, but it was still fun trying

These boys, I just love them together.   Grady is always looking to see what Cam is going to do next.

Sophie is SO SWEET with cousin Grady.    

Grady the drink stealer is on the loose again.

We have officially entered the "yup, a kid lives at this house" stage of life.

And after a little reminder from a dear friend (thanks Dina), I realized that I need to get in the picture more often too!  So here I am with my boys and my favorite puppy. 

When I see this:

And this:

I cannot help put picture a similar game of catch in 30 years.

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Papa, we had a blast as always!

I also got to sneak in some pedicures and a lunch with my own mom and dinner with my stepmom.  It really was a Mother's Day Extravaganza.  Watching  and learning from our moms, sisters, and our friends has truly made me a better mom.  A belated happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms that I have the privilege to be around. 

I cannot express how much this little boy has changed my life. I love being a mom and I especially love being his mom.  Thanks for making me a mama Grady.  You have made me a better person.  I love you!

Grady: 9 months

As I pull stained clothes filled with dirt, grass stains and smeared avocado off of Grady at night, I realize that gone are the little baby days and here to stay are the little boy days.  Grady is such a joyful, mischievous, and  active little dude these days.  If he is moving,  he is happy. And if he is moving, we are usually about 2 steps behind trying to avert the next disaster.  9 months old, how on earth did that happy so fast?!?!  (OK, 9.5 if you are counting, what can I say, Grady has been keeping us pretty busy!)

Grady tid bits:

• His official stats at his nine month appointment were 30 inches in height (93%), weight 19.25 lbs (40%), and 17.6 inches head circumference (40%).  Apparently his new love of cheese, it probably came from  his mother, is helping him bulk up. 
• He is still a two-tooth baby who is basically bald. 
• He adores Miss Rachel and lights up every morning when she comes to join us. (We love her too!) 
• He is starting to play "games" and we love it. He chases daddy in circles around the coffee table and follows daddy all around the house in a type of hide and seek erupting in giggles along the way. 
• He is a master crawler and couch surfer.  He still loves "walking" while holding on to our hands or any other table, couch, or ledge.
• He can pull himself up onto almost anything now and can take on a full flight of stairs with speed.
• We hear from people all the time, "oh boy, he is going to be an early walker", which means he will probably take his sweet time in learning to walk.
• He LOVES to eat and prefers to do it on his own rather than have us feed him. He has not really rejected anything, but he does have favorites. Oranges, strawberries, asparagus and cheese appear to be the latest faves.  
• He doesn't just love to eat, he loves food. When I am working in the kitchen, he loves standing and exploring the contents of the fridge.
• He won't just let us put something in his mouth, he will push whatever we have far enough away so that he can inspect it, and once approved, he will allow us to put it in. Always the little observer.
• After trying just about every sippy cup out there, we figured out that Grady likes drinking out of a straw. That seems so much more complicated than a sippy cup, but whatever works.
• We broke out his Christmas presents this week and learned that he is obsessed with his wagon and swing, Santa felt proud!
• He has never sat still long enough to make it through even the shortest of books, but I trick him now by reading books while swinging.  It is our happy time together and it makes my heart smile. 
• His favorite thing in the world is big family dinners.  He loves being around lots of people and he loves being the center of attention and usually puts on quite the show.
• He adores our niece Sophie and likes doing whatever she is doing if he can keep up.
• He greats us every morning by standing and jumping up and down in his crib with big smiles and lots of babble. 
• He has no "stranger danger" and crawls all over new people to inspect them at social gatherings.  I have to follow him around asking if the people are OK with him climbing up on them to inspect them.
• His most dreaded activity, and ours as well, is being changed.  He flips over, squirms around, screams  cries, basically throws a fit just about every time. We literally have to pin him down sometimes.  I have learned to never wish his little childhood away, but it will be so nice when getting jammies on is not such a battle.
• Being outside is his favorite thing in the world.
• He has a perfect little smile that lights up our world every day.  

When pregnant, I swore that I would never use the nickname "Grades".  I thought, "that is the dumbest nickname ever."  Well I, along with a bunch of other folks, refer to our little man as Grades often.  I guess it grew on me.  We love you so much Grades.  You fill our life with joy and laughter every day. If I could freeze time in babyland, I may choose to do it at this stage.  You are just such a fun little boy.

This is our view about 90% of the time as we chase after this little monster.

If we lose him, he has usually made his way to the bathub to examine his toys and hope that we'll let him take a bath.

I couldn't find these boys when we were getting ready to go to a party last week.  I found them like this.  Love them so much!

Somedays I wonder if he will turn into a strawberry because he eats so many of them.

This is the one and only Mrs. Rachel!  I know you all have been asking to see her for months. She takes such wonderful care of our little man.  I feel so lucky to have her in our lives every day and love that Grady has such affection for her. Aren't they cute together?

Please note the wisps of hair, we are very proud of those :)

First Swing ride ever!  Thanks for my new lid auntie Becko, love it!!!!!

I am so happy to be this little boy's mama.  I had a great mother's day, but felt the need to get his nine month post up before we hit the 10 month mark. More picks to come, but since we are on the swing subject, I cannot help but post this picture of our tuckered out little party animal.

Couldn't resist this one from last night.  Daddy chose an interesting ensemble.