Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Gray's first cupcake

 After Grayson's one year check-up, we took him to Crave to pick up his first cupcake.  We went with a classic flavor combo - vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. 
 Our sweet boy's face was a little flushed from the 5 shots that he had just received and the crying that ensued from said shots.  By the time we go to Crave though, he was in a much better mood.  Daddy had to go back to the lab, so we decided to save our cupcakes until after dinner.  (And spare Crave the mess of a one year old eating a cupcake!)
 We decided that we'd just start out with 1/4 of the cupcake to see how he did before offering him anymore.  It was also bedtime, and I wasn't too keen on the sugar high right before bed. 
He was not.interested.  Didn't poke at it, didn't want to open his mouth, and didn't want to try it.  I finally smeared a little icing on his lips, hoping that he would come around.

 We decided to let P have a go at it.  He took some of the cake part and shoved it in Gray's mouth.
 He finally started playing with the frosting...
 And then smeared it all over the side of the high chair and tray.  
 Not impressed.

We weren't able to get much of the cupcake in his mouth, but we decided that it was just too late to be trying.  We figured that since it was about bedtime and he had gotten so many shots, he was probably just exhausted.  Surely he would enjoy his smash cake at his party more...right?!...

Monday, September 24, 2012

September is...

all about birthdays in our family!  Today is my wonderful husband's birthday, he caught up to me again.

Happy 29th birthday, love!
Daddy & Gray 9.22.12
Hangin' with Daddy 8.21.12
India 2012

Thursday, September 20, 2012

And then he was one...

I was so happy this morning when I realized that my plan would actually work!  Grayson was still asleep when it was time for him to get up this morning, so P and I were able to ambush him sing happy birthday to wake him up.

ARGH!  OF COURSE BLOGGER WON'T LET ME POST VIDEO RIGHT NOW! 
I'll just have to post when it lets me do it later.

After we sang happy birthday to Gray, we started throwing all of the balloons that P and I blew up the night before into his crib.  He LOVED playing with them this morning.





The Hubs said that it was very difficult to get him to finish his bottle this morning because he kept looking over at all of the balloons in his crib.  I think we found the perfect way to wake him up on his birthday!




I really enjoyed this idea, and hope to make it a tradition in our family.  I loved blowing up balloons the night before with P (he had to tie them, because...I don't know how) and getting ready to celebrate our little boy.  We put all of the balloons in his room last night, but we obviously waited to put them in his crib until after he woke up. 
Well, at least I can post one video

I can't believe it has been a year!  Happy Birthday Buggy!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Playing outside

Since we live in Houston, Grayson has not had much exposure to the great outdoors in the last few months due to the heat.  Any time that we go outside, we can tell that he really enjoys being out, but we have not really played with him outside.  He has some playtime outside at school, and now that it is cooling off, they go to the playground more often.  A few weeks ago, The Hubs was working on a Sunday, so Grayson and I were left to find something to keep ourselves busy.  I thought about buying a baby pool, and even ended up finding one half off, but when we got home, I realized I didn't want to blow it up and decided to save it for next year.  The next best thing I could think of was to fill some big bowls with water and let Gray splash around.
 
 
Grayson had a good time splashing in the water and playing with his rubber ducky.

He started getting more interested in the leaves on the ground and then crawled into the grass a little.  Our mini splash day ended once he made the dirt into mud and had a very dirty onesie.  I decided, however, that his splash time didn't have to end.  I put him in the big tub for the first time at our house (he had big tub baths at Mimi and Grandaddy's while we were in India), and he has only bathed in the big tub ever since. 
He loves to splash around in the tub and stand in front of the faucet and jiggle the piece that turns on the shower head.  Bath time has become even more fun for Grayson, and I usually plan on it taking a bit longer than it used to.  I am totally fine with this since he enjoys it so much!!

These feet were made for walking!

I leave for four days and when I get home...he can do this!!



Blogger would not let me upload this video last week when it happened, but this is from Thursday 9.13.12.

I got home from my conference in San Antonio around 3:30 that afternoon and I got in my car and headed to Gray's school as soon as I could.  When I got there, all of the kids were in their little highchairs painting, and Grayson gave me the biggest smile when I walked in the door.  So sweet!  Once I walked in, all of the kids started crying (dang moms interrupting class!), so I let them wipe all of the green paint that they could off of his hands/face/body, and then I got him out of there as fast as I could to keep the kids from crying longer.  This meant that I didn't have time to talk with his teacher and find out anything that was going on.  So, once we got home, we were playing and all of the sudden, he just stood up and walked to me!!

When I talked to The Hubs about it, he said that he hadn't seen him walk like that while I was gone.  It was a surprise to both of us!  He has been working on it all weekend, and although he falls down quite a bit, he is doing such a good job!  One time he walked all the way from his room into the living room/TV while holding a ball.  I watched as he would stop and regain his balance before he would proceed.

Our sweet baby boy started walking exactly one week before his birthday :)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Grayson's first steps

Grayson has been working hard the last few days on his walking skills.  He had 4 grandparents, 2 parents, and 1 aunt egging him on and we were able to capture 3-4 steps taken on camera.


I tried uploading this 9.1.12, but blogger wouldn't let me
I upload this just for memory purposes, but his walking has improved a lot since this video was taken.  These were some of the first steps that Grayson took.  While in Dallas for Labor Day, he would take 3-4 (one time 7) steps, but then would give up. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

11 Months

Gray turned 11 months old August 20, but I am still just getting to this post just 11 days before his FIRST birthday!  It is crazy to me that we are already planning his first birthday party.  As cliche as it is, I just can't believe how fast the time has gone.

 

G's Schedule
I still take Grayson to school every day, so that means that P wakes him up around 6:15 to feed him, change his diaper, and get him dressed.  Grayson is pretty tired when he gets home from school and has started going to bed more like 7-7:30 every night.  We eat dinner with him most nights now, but we still occasionally put him to bed and then eat our dinner.  His sleep has still been pretty hit or miss when it comes to sleeping through the night. He still takes 2 naps a day while at daycare or at home.  On the weekends, we are usually able to get him to take a bottle when he wakes up (sometime between 5-6:30) and then go back to sleep until at least 8. (His schedule has not changed much in the last 3 months)


 
At 11 months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 9 and 9-12 month onesies
-wearing 9-12 month shorts
-in size 3 diapers  
-we are starting to think that he has a better grasp on what mama and dada mean.
-babbling quite a bit more.  
-crawling much faster and getting from room to room in our house.
-pulling up on our legs, or anything that isn't quite sturdy
-standing up without assistance - we've counted to 30 seconds or more before he has fallen.
-using a walker some.  We introduced it to him at the end of his 9th month and he would move around with it a little bit, but not much. - Not much has changed on this front. (still.)
-drinking 4 bottles a day
-having solids at every meal.  We are still introducing a new food and waiting 4 days before giving him new foods.  We still send Grayson to school with one serving of breakfast, 2 servings for lunch, and some puffs for snacks.  We feed him 2 servings of solids at dinner time as well.
-teething - no more this month - phew!
-napping a bit less at school.  Grayson moved to a new classroom August 7, and they transition the kids to one nap a day.  He comes home really tired, and while they don't deny him a nap in the morning if he really wants it, they just put him down around noon otherwise.  This is a transition for all of us.  When he is home all day, we still give him two naps a day when he seems like he needs them.
-luckily not showing many more signs of separation anxiety.  He is pretty good everyday at drop-off. 

-becoming a little more picky about the food he'll eat.  He used to eat the butternut squash that I made, but he has been pretty fussy about it with me for a while now.  He definitely prefers his sweet fruits and yogurt over the vegetables these days.   
 This was the month that P and I left Gray with my parents while we traveled to India.  We were able to Skype with Gray while we were away and we got updates and pictures from my parents while we were gone, too.  While Grayson's sleep was not great while he was at their house, they enjoyed his stay and said he was in great spirits most of the time.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Da' Boys

The Cowboys played their first game of the season this week and it was the perfect opportunity to put Grayson in his Cowboys onesie.  Well, almost perfect.  He had a fever* off and on this week, and he was being difficult in the picture taking department.  I blame it on the fever - but it could just be that he hates to sit still these days ;). 

He loves to bang on my computer when he gets a chance - which usually only lasts about 2 seconds until I make him stop.  But, I remembered the other day that I have an old laptop just sitting around that won't even turn on.  BINGO!  This should provide the kid with entertainment for hours, right?? Wrong.  I think he knows its busted.  Oh well.  I did get some cute shots of him SITTING on it though...



*just for my records - Grayson woke up with a 102.7 temperature on Tuesday.  We gave him medicine and took him to the Dr., where his temperature was COMPLETELY normal.  (Our main concern was that he had gotten bit by a mosquito in DFW - where West Nile is a real concern right now - and we wanted to make sure that the virus wasn't the cause.)  His Doc said we'd just watch him, and if he got any other symptoms, to bring him in.  His fever spiked back up the rest of the day, and then when he woke up Wednesday, it was a low 99.8.  It was normal for the rest of the day, until around 5pm when it was back up to 102.5.  I stayed home with him Tuesday and Wednesday, and P ended up having to stay home with him Thursday.  Throughout all of this week, he has not really acted sick - maybe just a bit more fussy than normal.

Labor Day Weekend

When we got to Dallas for Labor Day weekend, we went to The Blue Goose for dinner and ordered Grayson's first kid's meal.  He had a cheese goose-a-dilla and ate 1/4 of it along with one or two additional flour tortillas.


On Saturday, I gathered around some helpers and we attempted an art project that I was hoping would act as decoration for Grayson's first birthday party.  I have seen really pretty yarn balls all over the internet, and bought all of the supplies. 
We blew up the balloons in different sizes and then dipped the yarn into the glue/water mixture. 
 Then, we just wrapped the yarn around the balloon in different directions until it looked like a yarn ball.
This particular piece of yarn got all tangled up and was just a mess, but we were able to cut it off and finish it off with a different string of yarn.
The balloons and yarn had to dry over night, and I'm sad to say that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  (I guess you'll just have to wait until his party!)  After popping the balloons, I had one or two that started to deflate along with the balloon, but luckily they popped back into shape.  I think they turned out really well, and I am excited to hang them at G's party. 

That night, we went to dinner with Brian, Stephanie, and Baby Brooklyn - but I am awful at remembering to take pictures.  It was G and B's third date.  I think they were making googly eyes at each other.  We went back to their house after making a pit stop to put Grayson to sleep for the night, and ended up staying there WAY too late.  Apparently we had a momentary lapse in judgement and forgot that our kids would wake us up early.  As it turns out, when we got back 'home', Gray was awake and his Grandpa was trying to get him to go back to sleep.  Figures.

Sunday we started the day off with an Indian breakfast (yum), and then took a family nap until it was time to meet some other friends for lunch.  We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, and in the pool.  Baylor played their first game that night and we watched it with all of our families.

Although our plans changed and weren't able to be in Austin for the weekend, we had a good time with friends and family in Dallas.  We always do!