Johnson Doodles: May 2014

May 26, 2014

Oregon Escape

Chris and I had the chance to take three days and go on a trip with just the two of us. Before this trip we'd only left Grady overnight once before and that was to run the Sawtooth Relay last year, which was not exactly relaxing. The trip was not exactly a babymoon, but just more of a decompression trip. We took long walks, did a lot of window shopping, ate out, enjoyed slow mornings, took drives up and down the coast, talked about our future and our family, and just soaked in a weekend together. It was amazing.

We flew in to Portland early morning and made the short drive to the coast. Thursday was supposed to be the best weather day so we were eager to get to the beach. On our drive we passed a place that Chris recognized and we made an impromptu decision to turn around and go back and eat breakfast there. The place was Camp 18, an old logging camp. The grounds were beautiful and the time to sip coffee, play table games, and start the decompression weekend the right were just perfect. We decided we'd make it a tradition to go back there each time we made our way to the coast.

We got to Cannon Beach and started our day out downtown and made our way down the beach and walked down to Haystack. Lucky for us it was low tide so there was plenty of shell searching and tidepool hopping to be done.

Christopher starfish rescuer and a picture of Chris's first sand dollar that he has ever found in a single piece, I told him it still counted event thought it is was more like a sand nickel.

We took a trip to Ecola State Park the next day. I don't remember ever visiting this park and I was so glad we did. I think it may be one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. Pictures cannot do it justice.

We took a couple of small hikes down to various viewpoints.

Ultimately we found ourselves on this beach that we had almost all to ourselves. We stripped down to t-shirts and tank tops and enjoyed the afternoon sitting on a log just talking. Such a simple joy, but so truly wonderful.

Our final day was supposed to be rainy and very "Oregon Coasty" and instead we ended up with this! We walked the beach and let the sun kiss our faces before walking back for our final dinner on the caost. We ended the trip with an amazing dinner overlooking Haystack. The only thing that could have made it better is a glass of wine!

Showing my bump in front of the big bump. 19 Weeks!

Chris's turn for a belly shot.

Love this man.

The perfect ending.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Grady got a ton of cousin time in and 5 days with Grandma who watched him all weekend and then stayed over two more days to help us out! We couldn't have made this trip without Gradma's help. Grady loved the time with her and we are forever grateful. THANK YOU KIM!

May 18, 2014

Big Bro

It is with great excitement that we officially announce that our little Grady will be a become a big brother this October! We are thrilled that we'll be a family of five, including Miss Bella of course. I feel like we are about ready to enter the "crazy" years of our life, but we couldn't be happier.

I am due October 17th so I'll fit right in among the pumpkins in the patch this fall. The slightly pinkish frame above is not meant to imply anything. We have no idea if we are expecting a little girl or a little boy, but we'll find out at the end of this month. I cannot wait to know what we are having. I'd always thought that we'd be a two boy family and was convinced the first part of my pregnancy that we were having another boy because I felt so much the same. Then I starting thinking it was a girl for a month or so. Now I am back full circle to admitting to the fact that there is a 50/50 chance of it being a boy or a girl and that I am the worst guesser when it comes to this stuff anyway so I should just stop speculating. Needless to say, May 29th cannot get here fast enough.

I've felt pretty good so far. Like when I was pregnant with Grady, I typically take an evening nap before bed. Chris has picked up a lot the slack where my tiredness has left holes. I think I have mostly emerged from the napping stage at this point. Like with Grady, I never got sick, but had some mornings where I didn't feel so hot. Like with Grady, I have no lack of an appetite. Unlike with Grady, I popped out really fast with this baby. Maybe it is because my pregnancies are fairly close or maybe it is because my body is just different, but at nineteen weeks there is no question that this mamma has a baby in there. I actually love looking pregnant rather than just looking thicker than normal.

Grady knows that there is a baby in my tummy and says hi and kisses the baby, but he doesn't really know what that all means. He also knows there is less room on my lap for him. When we rock at night he now says "scoot back" as he tries to get more room on my lap and he scoots into my belly. I then have to tell him "don't smoosh the baby Grady" to which he responds "move the baby!". Oh dear Grady, you have no idea what is about to hit you. It makes me sad and so happy at the same time that Grady will no longer be our baby. I cannot wait for him to have a sibling, playmate, and lifelong friend. At the same time, he is my first baby and I am so in love with him and still soak up every minute with him. I am in no hurry for him to grow up. I know that being a big brother means that Grady will no longer be a baby, but he'll always be my baby.

First Haircut

It is hard to tell in pictures, but Grady's hair has grown quite a bit. It is still white and whispy so it is very hard to see. Chris and I debated about whether a barber would laugh us out of the shop if we took him in to get a little trim because Grady still has such fine hair, albeit what is there was quite long. I'd finally decided that he was ready to go in and sent Chris a picture of a haircut that I thought was cute for his approval. On my drive home that night I got a series of pictures. The first was from our nanny who'd given Grady a mohawk that day for fun. The second was of a much shorter mohawk after Chris took it upon himself to give Grady his first real haircut! Chris spent the next two days refining the cut. This was not the first haircut experience nor the first haircut cuteness that I was hoping for! I guess I should be happy that Chris saved us a couple bucks. Now I'll wait another two years for his hair to grown enough to need a real haircut!

May 11, 2014

Grady 1.75

We are just about three months away from Grady's second birthday and I cannot believe how quickly this is all going by. Grady is at the best age. He is a chatty, silly, animated, articulate, perceptive, strong-willed, loving little boy.

Grady tid bits at 1.75.

Grady weighs in at 25 pounds. While we didn't have to do a Dr. apt. this time around, I'd guess he is on the taller side, but not off the charts. He still cannot keep up normal elastic wasteband sweatpants.
He is a good eater and often steals food from his cousins or friends plates when they leave the table.
While we weren't sure if we had a blondie or a strawberry blondie for the longest time, after almost two years Grady finally has enough hair that we know he is a towhead blondie just like his mommy and daddy were.
His conversational skills have just taken off on a new level. He likes to talk on the phone and has something to say about pretty much everything (he is my mother's grandchild after all). He narrates our every movement throughout the day "Mommy showering, mommy all done showering, mommy has wet hair, daddy ironing, daddy all done ironing, daddy putting on new shirt...." you get the point.
He strings long thoughts together on his own regularly like "No lambs this morning. Lambs all gone. Maybe see lambs tomorrow? Yah, see lambs tomorrow" said while looking out his window in the morning.
He is obsessed with logos on shirts, socks and pants. He examines Chris's shirt every day to see if it has an elephant on it (the Banana Republic logo). "Elephant, Yah" or "No Elephant" is usually one of the first give words out of his mouth when Chris goes in to wake him up. He also has Nike Swoosh, Under Armour, and Kitty Cat (Puma) down.
He also recognizes certain shirts, when I put on my Santa Clara sweatshirt, he'll point and say "Santa Clara" even if he hasn't seen it weeks. His ability to recall things really throws me off sometimes.
He thinks if he puts "Please!" with emphasis after any word that it means he gets what he wants.
When I am trying to get him to say something, he often thinks I am trying to get him to say please. He had a tiger hooded towel on and was roaring repeatedly at himself in the mirror and it was adorable. We went to show daddy and Grady froze so I asked him, what do you say and he stood in his tiger towel, looked up at me and said "please?". He also says please if you ask him what to say after he burps. Silly boy.
He's got jokes. We took him to Red Robin the other day and when we were getting him ready for bed we asked him where we went for dinner, he replied "Orange Robin" and Chris joked back no "Red Robin" and then Grady replied "Blue Robin" it went on and on with lots of giggles until Grady finally made his way back to Red Robin.
The most funny thing that he does is when you take his clothes off for bath and he has a soggy diaper, he stands there and shakes his hips so his diaper swings back and forth and he says "wiggle wiggle wiggle." It is not as funny in writing as I swear it is in person. Cutest thing you've ever seen.
He knows most colors with the exception of yellow. His favorite color is orange.
He can count to 10 on his own.
He thinks he can say the alphabet, but it goes like this. A..C...D...G...R...Y. The letters B and E are nonexistent and the alphabet has a funny way of melding itself into how he thinks his name is spelled.
He calls Rock-A- Bye- Baby "rocker baby", jellybeans "jellybeanahs", and fox a bad word that rhymes with muck.
He is turning into a ladies man and decided to give a little girl an unsolicited kiss on the lips at Little Gym, she obliged and I cracked up.
He is obsessed with "Miss Na-Cole" (Nicole), his teacher at Little Gym and talks about her all the time at home.
Instead of saying that he loves someone or that someone is his friend he'll say "No hit Miss Na-Cole" or "No hit Mommy" or just plain "No hit people". I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one.
Every night after dinner he asks to "watch news with Bian William" (Brian Williams), a quirky little kid like his momma already.
Some phrases which are often heard in our house that I don't love are: "Grady do it", "Hab it"(have it), "Uh-oh, happened?" (Uh-oh what happened?), and "hold you" said while clinging to our legs with tears. Although it is quite adorable how he uses the word you to mean me/I.
When we find him somewhere he is not supposed to be, he looks at us and ask us "What you doing in here?".
He still loves jumping and the water. Now that the weather is nice he gets to combine his two loves with jumping on the trampoline with a sprinkler.
He is obsessed with sound effects. He can and does emulate planes, helicopters, vacuums, sprinklers, lawn mower, lawn blower (different than lawn mower), edger, trucks, washing machine and pretty much anything that makes a noise.
There is no place he'd rather be than outside and bringing him in is areal pain sometimes.
He sleeps in a jungle. He's got a lot of friends including stuffed bears, monkeys, moose, frog, and a lamb who live in his crib. We try to nonchalantly remove an animal at a time which results in screams of "want monkey, hab it, please!" and lots of tears.
When he puts his sunglasses on he runs to the mirror and looks at himself and announces "cool dude". He is one cool dude and one cool kid. He fills our life with joy and laughter every day!