8 Months

While I should be posting Gray's 9 month pictures/info, I need to get his 8 month pictures up first!

So, since I was pretty bad about writing notes for the last month, I'm not sure how much I remember.  Here goes!

G's Schedule
I still take Grayson to school every day, so that means that we wake him up around 6:15 to feed him, change his diaper, and get him dressed.  We try to get Grayson in bed around 7:30-8, because he is pretty tired when he gets home from school a lot of times.  His sleep has still been pretty hit or miss when it comes to sleeping through the night.  We finished physical therapy this month because his therapist thought that he was doing well.  She said that he still had a little bit of the tilt, but that it was only occasional, and he was correcting it on his own.  We hope that he continues to work through it when he hits each new milestone. 

At 8 months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 6-9 month onesies
-wearing 6 month pants
-in size 3 diapers  
-we have heard him say mama and dada, but nothing has convinced us that he knows what he is saying
-making his presence known when we are out and about - he likes to practice his voice ;)  This has started to make going out to dinner a little more difficult. 
-crawling!  He started this toward the end of the month, but was not completely mobile.
-eating formula and having solids at dinner in his highchair.  We are still introducing a new food and waiting 4 days before giving him new foods.
-teething - this is one fact I don't quite remember, but he probably had 4 teeth by the end of this month 
-still putting everything in his mouth.
-still sleeping in our room.
-takes 2 naps a day and is napping well at home and school.  His naps are still better at home, but he gets at least 2 hours of sleep while he is at school
-21.5 pounds (we went to the Doctor because of lingering cough)  

Doctor Hamster Jams

While we were unpacking more boxes this weekend we found a Doctor Hamster that P had while we were in College Station.  (I have no idea where it came from).  I thought Grayson might think he was funny, so I turned him on for him.  Here's what happened:

He has the same reaction every.single.time.  It makes me smile every time, too.  He just gets more and more fun.

9 Months in...9 months out

This baby boy is 9 months today!  I'll try to get his pictures taken today, but here is a small recap of the things he has been working on recently.

Eating more solids - he did NOT appreciate the smashed russet potatoes - who's kid is this?!

Slowly working on the sippy cup

Trying to walk behind the walker - right now it moves too fast for him

We have been told that he dances during music class at school, so last night I just started banging some measuring cups together, and G started jammin ;)  Now I really want to turn on some music and watch him get his groove thang on!

A Father's Day Weekend

Despite being sick this past weekend, we were able to get some quality Dad time, whether it be in person or via phone/skype.  My parents were in town Thursday through Saturday because my Dad had some business meetings down here.  We were able to take my Mom and Dad out to breakfast at one of our favorite patios on Saturday before they left town.  I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us while we were there.

We weren't quite sure how we would spend Father's Day - especially after Jackson got into a fight with the neighbor's pitbull and we spent Saturday night at the emergency pet hospital - but The Hubs woke up with a good idea.  He wanted to start a family tradition for Father's Day, and so we put our First Annual Beer, Brats, Baby and Baseball plan into action. 

Our day started out with Grayson falling asleep after his first wake up at 6:15, and sleeping until 9:30!  What a great gift to start off the day.  We went to our favorite breakfast taco restaurant for some delicious breakfast before we headed to the grocery store for our brats.

Smiles for Daddy while wearing his hat

Once we got home, Grayson was asleep in the car, so he made the transfer to his crib (love it when that happens!) and proceeded to sleep for about 2 1/2 hours!  That gave P enough time to sneak in a good nap as well.  While they were both sleeping, I made baby food for the week.  When everyone woke up, it was time for our first annual celebration, and I tried to document it all.

My griller man

His beer and brats

baseball and baby

As a side note, we don't usually eat meals in our room, but our living room TV is on the fritz (again!), so this was our only option.  We set Grayson up in his Bumbo with the tray and fed him his lunch as well.  This year he was not able to have brats (obviously), but he enjoyed some mango yogurt and cinnamon pears.
Later that afternoon, we Skyped with my in-laws and let them see everything that Grayson has been up to lately.  It is so much easier for him to pull up on things since they saw him last.  His crawling has gotten about 100% faster as well.  They were impressed - but I guess they have to be - he is their only grandkid ;)

 Happy Father's Day P!  We are so lucky to have you.  :)

The last 8 months

Grayson will be 9 months old this week, so I have put together a comparison of his first 8 months!  The changes are crazy to look at over each month.

Phone Pics

Since I don't have my camera with me, I thought I would just purge my phone of some pictures that I have not shared on here.  Some go back to Memorial Day weekend, but most are newer than that.  Enjoy!

Grayson and Mimi - G's new monkey shoes

Prepping for a beautiful Memorial Day Brunch outside

G and Auntie cuddles

Grayson standing at the coffee table and beating it with his remote

Sweetie Pie

He is so helpful!  Helping Mommy carry our Walgreens bag

Gray's Room

Well, we finally made the transition!  Grayson has been sleeping in his own room since Sunday.  We moved his crib into our room when we moved into the new house because we weren't sure if we were going to paint his room, and didn't want him sleeping with the fumes if we did.  We decided a while back that we were not going to paint (just added too much for us to do at the end of our lease) and have been waiting for the time to disassemble the crib and move it down the hall. 

So, how did he do, you ask?  Better than Mommy and Daddy, that's for sure!  The first night he slept through the night, which has sadly become a rarity at our house.  The thing that gave us fits was the dang monitor!  That thing pops, crackles, and beeps like none other.  The Hubs moved it after I had already gone to sleep and turned it down some so that it wouldn't constantly wake us up that night.  The downside was that P could barely sleep all night because he was worried that we might not hear Grayson wake up.  The second night, Gray woke up around 3:30, but other than that, I think we all got a better night's sleep that night.
And then there was last night.  I thought I was going to throw the monitor out the window.  It would suddenly start beeping (out of range alert) continuously, even though nothing had moved between the base and the receiver.  I just kept moving it until the beeping stopped long enough for me to fall asleep.  I don't know how people do it when their kids are on a different level from them, there must be better ones out there.  Our next step is to try the other channels options, after that, I'm looking for a new monitor. 

We have had Gray's room arranged for the most part for over a month, but I keep thinking that we'll get some wall decals for his room, or hang a few pictures and curtains a long with putting his name over the changing table again.

 We bought this book shelf unit from Ikea and I love it.  I have arranged it a little differently since this picture was taken, and it looks great and stores a lot of practical items.  I have a basket for diapers, a basket for wipes, one for linens, and one for his medicine and other hygiene items.  The crib is now located on the left wall of this picture.  The wine rack that you can see in this picture holds some stuffed animals and his monitor now.  I am trying to think of a good way to cover up the bottom so that it doesn't seem like we store wine in our son's room. 

Part of me wants to just forget about the wall decals since we won't be in this house long term, but I know that Gray really liked looking at the big tree in his room at our other place.  I still want his room to be stimulating to his eyes.  Just hoping that we can make some finishing touches sometime soon and feel like his room is complete! 

The Artist

It has been a while since I have shared some of Grayson's art from school.  He has art class on Mondays and Thursdays, and they must use magic paint, because it comes out of his clothes every.single.time.

He is seen painting this here

I love finding new art in Gray's basket at school.  Sometimes their art is used as class decorations for a few weeks before it is sent home.  The volcano, for example, was used as their decor for a few weeks while their weekly topics were volcanoes and islands. 
When the artist isn't painting, he enjoys playing with his toys and hanging out with his dog:

I absolutely love this picture of him!