Happy Easter

I remember Easter last year because it was the first time that I really felt noticeably pregnant.   Our yard was in full bloom and so was I.   What a difference a year makes!  The blossoming tree is gone and in its stead is a massive concrete hole and our little Grady is here and growing into his own little person. Life is good.

We had a great, low key Easter weekend.  It was in the 70s here and down right gorgeous.  We spent a lot of time outside soaking up the rays. Easter itself was filled with a great church service, an impromptu brunch as a family of three, and a dinner at my mom's house.  We utilized the church daycare for the first time and Grady did great. As a result, I sat side by side with Chris rather than in the foyer with a busy/loud little boy, which was also great!  When we picked Grady up the childcare worker exclaimed, "he sure is active, I can see why it would be hard to have him in church!" Smart lady, you got to know our son very quickly :)  

When we stopped for our impromptu brunch, we didn't have any snacks for G so he was given bits of bread and mandarin oranges from our plates.  We were not really planning on giving him real food for awhile, but to our surprise he did great and had his best restaurant behavior to date.  He topped off his Easter feast with some bits of asparagus later in the day.  The kid won't eat a banana if it killed him, but asparagus is just fine, go figure!

Easter eggs filled with puffs and a new green ball, what could be better?

Enjoying his new bits and pieces approach to eating.

And after lathering his fair skin with sunscreen all day long, I thought it was time to break out his new "big boy" bathtub.  I think Grady enjoys the fact that there is more room for his 852 bath toys.

All smiles

The kid loves his bath toys, can you tell? 

"This is the biggest duck I have ever seen!"

And here are some pictures of that big hole in the ground.  We are eagerly waiting for some tile to come.  If it doesn't come in soon, Chris may take matters into his own hands, I have never seen him so anxious  (usually that is reserved for me!).

Chris is also going to roll his eyes at the amount of blog posts this week, sorry, but we have a lot going on ;) Up next a tribute to our first child.  Happy birthday today to Miss Bella!!!  Then the arrival of Boise's newest residents, the Whitfields!  Can't wait!

Grady: 8 Months!

Grady is 8 months old!  With his two teeth in, he is looking like a little bunny just in time for Easter. I cannot say that I have always had the baby that people would call "such a happy boy", but these days Grady is definitely "such a happy boy" and showing it with a new big, nose wrinkled, snorty kind of laugh.  While this does not sound cute in writing, I promise that in person it would get a return smile from just about anybody.  I have had many people tell me that this was their favorite baby stage and I can see why, Grady is an absolute joy and cracks us up every day!

Grady tid bits at 8 months:

• Grady is weighing in on the unofficial Johnson scale at 18 pounds.
• The little hair he has appears to be the same color as his skin, very very white. 
• His new favorite thing on earth is Gerber puffs. I love hearing him crunch his food.
• He has gone from grabbing a handful of puffs and trying to shove them into his mouth hoping that one lucky morsel makes it in to being able to pick one up at a time and even taking bites. 
• Apparently it is hilarious when we tell him to "chew chew chew".  
• He now knows when he is being funny and plays it up which makes us laugh even more. 
• Being held upside down by his legs and being swung from side to side is a favorite pastime. 
• He is so close to crawling, but does not appear to be the most coordinated child.  He can get on all fours and get one arm up, but has not quite figured out the moving forward part.  It is hilarious and sad to watch at the same time because he gets so frustrated.  He'll figure it out soon enough.
• He may not crawl, but he has perfected the barrel roll and can turn himself 360 degrees scooting around on his tummy so he pretty much can get to where he wants to go.
• He is successfully sleeping at night without his swaddle!  Thank goodness he won't be asking his college roommate to wrap him up at night. 
• He is definitely the observant type.  Every morning he inspects his room and if there is a new picture, toys left out, a blanket on the floor, etc., he will inspect it from every angel as we move around his room. 
• He loves his swim lessons and is the best floater in the class, probably because he is the youngest and doesn't have the strength to fight it so he just gives in and chills out on his back.
• While not a constant babbler, we are appreciating his more frequent "buhs", "dahs" and  now that he has teeth "ssssss" and "ffffffff".  
• The best new noise (other than his snorty laugh) is when he holds his hand or a toy up to his mouth covering and uncovering his mouth quickly (think children imitating a Native American pow wow).   It cracks us up.   
• Grady thinks it is hysterical and has the best laughs when daddy rubs his head into Grady's belly.  Grady rubs Chris' hair and giggles uncontrollably.
• You want to give Grady a kiss?  He'll happily return it with a wide open mouth slobbery kiss! 
• Eating grass is a new hobby.
• If he wants our attention and is not getting it, he'll scream"Ah!" and then we scream "Ah!" back and it goes on and on. 
• He is still NOT a sit still and hang out on the lap kind of kid, in this respect he is just like he was when I was pregnant.  The kid is a busy body and we love him that way even if it means we go to bed exhausted :) 

We love you so much Grady bug! 

Swimming with daddy

 Hanging in his big boy jammies. 

A typical Grady face.

Finally warm enough to play outside - yipeeee!

"Chew chew chewing"

 Grady's serious side

Grady's fun side

Spending time with Grandma outside

Grady's open-mouth kiss!

Still working on those crawling skills

Learning to crawl is exhausting!

Of Late

We have not been up to much exciting of late, but have been enjoying time at home and the warmer spring weather.   Here are some pics of what G buddy has been up to.

We found a home for the monsters!

Showing off his two teeth (you have to look closely).

Enjoying being outside.

A boy and his dog.

 Shimmying out of his clothes and giving us a good laugh. 

My boys. 

The boy who loves to stand is learning to stand on his own, hooooray!

Meeting up with old friends. 

Realizing restaurants are cool because restaurants have ceiling fans. 

Doing lots of faceplants and prep work for crawling. 

Celebrating Saint Patty's day with all his green stuffed animals, apparently a favorite color.

Preparing for the big swim lesson number 2. 

Just being cute.