Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving Videos

I can't upload pictures right now - so I will upload some video that we took on Thanksgiving Day.  In the first one, P is feeding Grayson sweet potato souffle, and Grayson thought it was DELICIOUS.


Grayson and Taj played with a ball with Grandaddy, too!  Grayson was acting even funnier before this video (same as the first one posted.  I hate that, but it just seems to be my luck!), but they are still cute interactions between the two boys.


Saturday, November 17, 2012

Wurstfest 2012

We went to Austin last weekend to see some family and attend the New Braunfels Wurstfest on Saturday.  This was Grayson's first trip out of Houston last year, but it was much more fun with him this year!  It is a German festival on the river with lots of polka, beer, wurst, and fun.  My dad used to go to Wurstfest when he was in college, and it is his happy place for sure.
We got out of Houston pretty late on Friday and although Grayson fell asleep on the way, he only slept for the first two hours of the drive.  He probably would have slept for more of the trip, but the car started making a weird noise, so we pulled over to check it out (turned out to be part of the car getting loose in the wheel well) and Grayson woke up.  He was pretty good on the rest of the trip, although he was kinda fussy here and there.  Once we got to our family's house, Grayson started performing and was up until close to 11!  I think everyone was surprised at how long he lasted.
We got to New Braunfels around noon on Saturday, and after purchasing drink tickets and beer, we headed to the music hall for some lunch and music.  We were pretty sure that our little dancer would LOVE the live music!  My parents took Gray out on the dance floor a few times, one time including the chicken dance.  Grayson loved it.  At one point he even walked me out on the dance floor hoping for some music while the band was taking a break. 
mmm...5 sausages on a stick!

 
 It was pretty warm in the hall, so we decided to take Grayson to the fair rides.  He and I rode the carousel and then he rode a crazier ride with P and 'cousin' Jacob. 


We went down to the river for a little bit to cool off after his rides.



silly boy


Apparently 12 year olds can fit ;)
We had such a great time, and were all so exhausted that it was an early bedtime for everyone that night.  Sunday we had a delicious breakfast casserole and then packed up the car.  I drove back so that P could work on a presentation and Grayson slept until we were exiting Kirby! 
Whew!  November has been full of traveling, and we're not quite done since Thanksgiving is coming up.  It has been very nice to be home this weekend though.  And...since I've been working on this during the Baylor game...I just have to say SIC'EM BEARS!!!!  We just beat the #1 team! 

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Homecoming

A few weeks ago, we took Grayson to Waco for his first Baylor Homecoming.  We met up with some of our besties (my college roomie, her hubby and their cutie baby) once we got to our hotel.  We decided that we'd try to keep the kids up and take them to the bonfire Friday night.  I completely forgot our camera, so Steph and Brian took some pictures of us.
A stupid mosquito got Gray square in the middle of his forehead the night before

Enjoying the jams from the live band in the background
The next morning we ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed to campus for the homecoming parade.  When we got there, one of the floats had some sort of malfunction and had stopped up the parade for a while.  We took the opportunity to get some more pictures of the kiddos in their Baylor gear.







 We had some lunch near campus and then drove around in the car for about 45 minutes hoping that the kids would take a nap.  We got two naps out of the deal, so that was a great success! 
Baylor babies can't keep their eyes off of each other ;)
I was worried about taking Grayson to the game because I wasn't sure that he would cooperate during the game.  Our seats ended up being on the top row, which would normally suck, but actually provided a 'seat back' for the kids to lean on.  Right before the halftime show, P took Grayson down to the concessions area and I stayed behind.  The band did a great show, and then they announced that there was a severe weather delay.  As I was going to head down to everyone else, they announced that a storm with potential hail and heavy rains was headed our way.  We hated to leave the game, but we knew we couldn't keep the kids in those elements (and I wasn't too keen on sitting through it either!).
Sic'em!

Linking up!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Utensils

Figuring out what to feed Grayson every night is kind of stressful for me.  I never know what he will or won't feel like eating, and making sure it is a balanced diet is close to impossible.  I started playing around with a baby fork a week ago, and this was the second or third time that I tried it.  He seems to love the newness of it as well as the independence it gives him.  I was able to get him to eat meat(!) that didn't come in a pureed form this way, so it made me happy as well. 

I have tried letting him poke the food with the fork himself, but he still has difficulty with that.  I also don't know which hand to put the fork in because he usually does things with his left hand, but will use his right hand occasionally, too.  He is just so cute, you can see the little wheels turning ALL of the time! 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

13 Months

At 13 (9/21-10/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 9-12 and 12 month onesies
-wearing 9-12 month shorts and some 12 month and some 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 3 diapers  
-sleeping through the night for a large portion of this month!
-walking better and better.  I LOVE walking with him holding my hand (a finger or two really); it is one of my favorite things.
-drinking whole milk.  We started out with a half whole milk/half formula combo, but by the end of the month he was just drinking whole milk.  I kept the formula around for our trip to DC so that I wouldn't have to worry about keeping his milk refrigerated during travel, but otherwise, he doesn't have any formula.
-drinking 2 sippy cups and 1 nighttime bottle per day
-having solids at every meal.  G's teachers still try to feed him the school lunches every day, but most days he would eat the lunch that I provided.  It was (and still is) pretty hit or miss on whether he would eat what they served him.  His teacher told us that if he was the first one served, he would not eat the school food until he saw his classmates eating it.  Gray's Pediatrician told us that he really needed to be eating more table food and less purees after his 1 year visit.  We started progressing that way with Stage 3 Gerber meals in addition to diced fruits, pancakes, cottage cheese, tortillas, cheese puffs and I'm sure there were a few more things.  We still struggle this month to get G to eat meat that isn't in a pureed form.  His favorite food is still yogurt.    
-teething - molars!  Grayson got his last two molars (bottom ones) this month...again with the help of a lot of children's Ibuprofen...
-still taking 2 naps a day at school  
-having another bout of separation anxiety at daycare drop-off.  This is kind of a hit or miss thing, too.  I know he will be okay if I leave him with one teacher (Miss Laureal) for sure, but sometimes he gets a little cranky when I leave him with the other teacher who is there that early - his first teacher at this school.  I guess he has forgotten how sweet she was to him!
 
Other notables:
-Gray has started to bring books to P or me that he would like for us to read.  His favorites right now are a Garfield book that I picked up in a Target dollar bin, and a Peekaboo book that has soft patches for him to pet and flaps for him to open. 
-He is dancing to all kinds of music these days.  One sweet example was when we were in the Miami airport waiting for our connecting flight and I let Grayson walk with me to the bathroom.  On  our way, there was a store with very loud music flooding the hallway.  G stopped in front of the store and started jamming for a minute.  I thought it was hilarious, but the busy travelers didn't seem to appreciate a toddler standing in the middle of the walkway.  A second funny dance happened while we were at Aunt Jessica's house.  A Microsoft commercial came on with music and Grayson just started flailing his arms in the air and movin!  He is just pure joy :)
-We stopped putting Grayson in his sleepsacks this month.  Since its "getting cooler" (not in Houston), we have decided to just put him in footed pj's.  I think he can move around a little more in these, but still stay warm.
-Grayson has been jibber jabbering a little more lately, and one of the cutest things he does is click his tongue before he starts talking - like he has something really important to share. 
-Grayson had a reaction to the MMR vaccine that he received at his 12 month check up.  He developed a measles-like rash all over his body.  Luckily it didn't really seem to bother him and it went away after about 72-96 hours.

Monday, November 5, 2012

12 Months


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 gotten much better 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. This schedule has not changed much in a while, and it makes me feel pretty good to see that we have some sort of schedule going on!  A lot of times I feel like we do not have much of a routine, but this makes me feel better.

At 12 months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 9-12 and 12 month onesies
-wearing 9-12 month shorts
-in size 3 diapers  
-WALKING!  I saw him take his first step with my Dad 8.20.12, but wasn't interested in trying a whole lot more for a week or so.  When we were in Dallas for Labor Day, he took a few more steps, but we really started seeing him walk a week before his birthday - 9.13.12.
-still drinking formula.  This month we wanted to slowly introduce Grayson to whole milk, but after one unfortunate night where he woke up with throw-up all over himself/bed, we decided to wait a week longer and speak with the Pediatrician before trying it again.
-drinking 3 bottles a day
-having solids at every meal.  This month we told G's teachers that they could start trying to feed him the school lunches every day.  It was (and still is) pretty hit or miss on whether he would eat what they served him.  I made sure that he had a back up lunch each day just in case.   
-teething - molars!  Grayson had his two top 1 year molars come in this month.  With the help of a lot of children's Ibuprofen...
-taking 2  naps a day at school again.  We are happy that the one nap/day went away because he still needs that second nap. 
-having another bout of separation anxiety at daycare drop-off.
-still a big boy!  At his Doctor visit on 9.20.11, he weighed in at 26.5 pounds (95th percentile) and 31 inches tall (85th percentile). 
Other notables:
-We ordered Grayson's first kid's meal this month.  He had a goose-a-dilla from the Blue Goose when we had dinner with his Grandaddy and Mimi one night.  He gobbled it right up!
-He is starting to understand more.  He will give you a kiss if you ask for it now!  (You just really have to get his attention before doing so.)
-Grayson had his first ear infection.  He had not shown any signs of one, but the Pediatrician diagnosed it at his one year check up.  He was prescribed Amoxicillin, and luckily took it all very easily.