Grayson's Second Birthday Party

I started planning Gray's second birthday party by telling myself that I was not going to do as much this year as I did in the previous year.  Well, aside from not serving 40 people dinner, I didn't keep my promise.  About a month and a half out, I started planning his airplane themed birthday party.  Grayson has called airplanes "bigbigs" for quite a while, and he points out every.single.one. that he sees.  (Did I mention that we live really close to an airport??)  I am pretty happy with how the party turned out, although I wish that the main table had looked a little more full.  I always forget how large my in-laws' table is!

We named the airline 'Jet Gray'

 

I cut out every single one of those airplanes - I'm glad I did it over a two week period because otherwise my wrist would have fallen off.  Note to self - don't cut out small objects for next year's party!

These are chocolate airplanes that I made two days before the party with some airplane molds that I bought online.  Although few were eaten, I thought they added a cute touch to the table.  For the clouds, I just hot glued some quilt bunting to floral Styrofoam blocks.

Marshmallow propellers that I made the night before the party.  It took me about 2 hours to make about 35 - not too bad.  These also added a really cute element to the table.

I made this popcorn for Grayson's first birthday as well.  It is a great way to integrate the birthday colors into food.  This year I made blue and orange popcorn.

Grayson had a great time at his party.  He played with all of the kids that came, enjoyed his cake this time around, and had a blast opening his gifts.  He seemed a little confused this year regarding his gifts.  When I told him to thank the gift-giver, he took the gift to them and handed it to them.  Haha, oh well.  He'll get it soon enough.

Whew.  Long post!  Thanks for sticking around!

Grayson is Two!

Gray's last day as a 1 year old

Grayson turned 2 on a Friday, so we blew up balloons the night before his birthday and then took them into his room and threw them in his crib while we sang happy birthday Friday morning.  We enjoy this little family tradition and hope to continue doing it every year (Grayson loves it, too!). 

Gray is changing every day it seems!  His words get clearer, his sentences get longer, and he understands more and more.  He is starting to have more temper tantrums as well.  He has started to have real opinions about things, and doesn't have a problem expressing them if we don't do what he wants.  A big tantrum starter these days revolves around sitting in the driver's seat of my car after we get home from work.  He wants to sit there every day when we get home, and even when I let him, he is still upset when I tell him we're going inside.    

Grayson's two year check up stats are as follows:
Height: 35 1/2 inches - 75%
Weight: 31 lb, 3 oz - 85%
This was our first visit with a new Doctor and Grayson was excellent with her.  He "chatted" with her and totally impressed her during his appointment.  She said that she didn't see any problems with his 2 year questionnaire that we filled out, so he seems to be on track developmentally as well.

Grayson seemed to understand "birthday" more this year.  I think he must have celebrated a lot of kid's birthdays at school recently, because anytime I would talk about party planning leading up to his birthday, he would say, "Ha pa tew," and then we would have to sing the happy birthday song.  

My baby is growing up!

He even started giving "real kisses" yesterday.  I noticed when I picked him up from school and asked for a kiss that he didn't immediately open his mouth and lean in.  He puckered his lips!!  It kind of makes me a little bit sad.  I love those slobbery open mouth kisses.  I guess that is just one more reminder that he isn't going to be a baby forever.  Happy 18 Months baby boy!

17 Months

At 17 (1/21-2/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 18-24 or 18 month onesies and shirts
-wearing 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 4 diapers    
-sleeping 10-13 hours a night depending on the night.  This month we really tried to get bedtime festivities started by 7 so that Gray would be asleep by 7:30.  Some nights were a little better than others, but we are getting better.  This month P put Grayson down most nights and toward the end of the month we (he) started putting Grayson in his crib and then sitting in the recliner while Gray fell asleep.  It was met with a lot of crying at first, but P is a champ (notice I don't say that I am) and Grayson is going to sleep better on his own.  We know that this is something he needs to learn, and we're trying to help him acquire this skill.
-walking & running
-drinking whole milk. 
-drinking 3 sippy cups of milk a day.  He is a little camel with water - he will drink it whenever you offer it.  He LOVES ice water.
-For dinner, we still struggle getting Grayson to eat any sort of meat.  In order to get him to eat meat, we still give him some Stage 3 Gerber meals (very occasionally at this point).
 -teething- Gray got his last 2 bottom teeth this month.  They broke through the gums early this month, but at the end of this month, he has been putting his hands in his mouth quite a bit and a little more slobbery. I can't figure out what is going on here - I THINK he has all of his teeth before the 2 year molars come in.
-blowing kisses on command - he has added a "mmmwah" sound to them lately and it is so cute!
-taking afternoon naps that are anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hours long.
-much better at drop-off in the morning.  He has really started to understand our morning schedule.  After The Hubs brushes Gray's teeth and hands him off to me, Gray starts waving at P because he knows it is time to go.  He gives P a kiss and starts blowing kisses and waving until we are out the door.  In the latter part of the month, he has just walked right into the classroom and after a millisecond of shyness, he gets picked up by a teacher and is waving goodbye to Mommy, too. 

Word Count:
-This month he added a lot of words!  For a while it seemed like we were hearing a new word every day.  He uses the following words appropriately: "mama, dada, apple, cheese, cracker, shoes, baby, wash"  He added these words to "uh oh, ball, hot" from last month.
-will sign: more, all done, his own version of please, hungry/food, milk, water 

Other notables:
-Travel this month - None!
-Grayson started doing the hand signs to the Itsy Bitsy Spider when his dog Scout would sing it and the first time my Mom and I saw it, we were shocked.  Apparently it was a favorite song of another kid in Gray's class, so they sang it often.  He still starts doing the spider sign out of the blue when he wants us to sing it.
-Another surprise from daycare was when Grayson said 'apple' out of nowhere.  I was so surprised when he said it because it just isn't a word we use all of the time.  His teacher said that it is in a lot of the books that they read, but I still find it crazy that he has that word.
-Grayson started saying 'wash' every time I would wash my hands or he would hear water running.  He loves to play in the water and have us put soap on his hands.  I think this word also came from daycare - it is so cute!
-Gray can identify his nose, ear, eye, mouth, and now tongue and belly button! 
-We have a climber. He now climbs on the ottoman next to one of the couches in order to climb onto the couch. 
-Brooklyn came for a visit and Grayson gave her sweet kisses.
-No real sickness this month!!
-Pointing to everything and inquiring what it is.
-Grayson understands so much of what we are saying to him these days.  He understands commands and is able to put things in the trash, put shoes in a basket, or get up and down when we ask.  (umm...he also sits when we are telling Jack so sit...but its hilarious).
-Grayson helps me with chores:  He stands in front of the dryer and I hand him clothes from the washing machine for him to put in the dryer.  He also helps me unload the dishwasher.  He hands me our utensils one at a time and I put them in the drawer.  It is so neat to see that if we channel his energy, he is great at helping out. He is such a sweet sweet boy.    

16 Months

 At 16 (12/21-1/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 18-24 or 18 month onesies and shirts
-wearing 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 4 diapers    
-sleeping 10-13 hours a night depending on the night.  He still ends up in our bed often.
-walking & running
-drinking whole milk. 
-drinking 3 sippy cups of milk a day.  He is a little camel with water - he will drink it whenever you offer it.  He LOVES ice water.
-For dinner, we still struggle getting Grayson to eat any sort of meat.  In order to get him to eat meat, we still give him some Stage 3 Gerber meals.  We were also very excited this month that Grayson added eggs and peanut butter to things that he will eat!  He even ate breakfast burritos with sausage in them when we were at Grandma's house!  We are very happy to add that protein to his diet.
-teething-NO TEETH this month (officially) - He was working on the last two though, and slept like he was teething for a majority of the month.
-blowing kisses on command - well - when he feels like doing it.  He understands what we mean when we tell him to blow a kiss, though.
-sleeping poorly.  I think Gray ended up in bed with us almost every night of this month somewhere between the 2am-5am part of the night.
-taking afternoon naps that are anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hours long.
-pretty bad at daycare drop-off.  He does calm down pretty easily for his teachers, but ever since his favorite teacher left (she is back, but not at 7am much these days), he has thrown a fit when we leave him.

Word Count:
-"uh oh, ball, hot" appropriately and some mama & dada
-sometimes we think we hear words like "Jack", "dog","bye-bye"
-will sign: more, all done, his own version of please, and hungry/food

Other notables:
-At Gray's 15 month appointment, he was diagnosed with another ear infection.  When we got home from Dallas after the holidays, we took him to the Dr. again and he had double ear infections again.  We are not sure if this was the same one from his prior appointment, or if they were new.
-Travel this month - Dallas for Christmas/New Years Eve
-Santa brought Grayson a tricycle for Christmas and he loves it!  When it has been too cold outside, Grayson is happy to just sit in the tricycle while we push him around the house.  He would let us push him for hours I believe!
-Gray can identify his nose, ear, eye, mouth (most of the time) 
-The temper tantrums are coming.  He lets out a big wail when we stop him from doing something he wants or doesn't get his way.  Luckily we can distract him out of it pretty easily right now.
-Grayson loves our Ipad apps that have animal sounds.  He sits still for quite a while to look at the pictures and hear the sounds, although, he has started to realize that there is button at the bottom of the Ipad, and he likes to push it.  Of course, that means that it takes us out of whatever app we are looking at - even his animal sounds app.
-Gray is dancing like a mad man.  His current fave is Justin Bieber, but most songs with a beat will get him going!
-We have a climber.  He is starting to climb on things, but I am sure this is just the beginning...
-Grayson is starting to build up a little attention span.  He will sit still for a little while with us on a couch or in the bed (we're talking like 10 minutes max)
-Grayson has always been comforted when we walk outside.  P figured out early on that we could get Gray to calm down by taking him outside.  He wants to be outside whenever possible these days.  He is happy to stand in our driveway or explore the neighbor's lawn.  We don't have to take any toys outside with us for him to be a happy baby.
-We spent Grayson's 16 monthday at Kemah with my parents.  He had a great time walking on the boardwalk and stopping to dance to the music that they pump through the area. 

15 Months

At 15 (11/21-12/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 18-24 or 18 month onesies and shirts
-wearing 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 4 diapers    
-sleeping 10-13 hours a night depending on the night.  He still ends up in our bed often.
-walking & running
-drinking whole milk. 
-drinking 3 sippy cups of milk a day.  He is a little camel with water - he will drink it whenever you offer it.  He LOVES ice water.
-having solids at every meal.  He has gotten a lot better at eating the school lunches - which shocks us because there is no way he would eat half of the stuff at home.  For dinner, we still struggle getting Grayson to eat any sort of meat.  We had a few days where he ate some chicken nuggets, but he has since started refusing them again.  In order to get him to eat meat, we still give him some Stage 3 Gerber meals.  We don't have any trouble getting him to eat dairy or fruits.  (same as last month)      
-teething-NO TEETH this month!
-Grayson changed classrooms at school when we got back from Thanksgiving.  His new class only does one nap a day, so we have pretty much dropped the morning nap on the weekends as well.  His naps are anywhere from 1 1/2-3 hours long.  
-32 1/2 inches tall
-27 lb 15 oz

Other notables:
-At Gray's 15 month appointment, he was diagnosed with another ear infection and put on another round of antibiotics. 
-We talked with Grayson's Pediatrician about his lack of words - because the milestone is 3 words at 15 months.  She is not too worried about it at the moment, but did wonder if his ear infections might be limiting his hearing some.  We don't really think that is the case, and we are hopeful that he will start talking soon.
-We hired our babysitter to watch Gray on a weeknight so that we could attend P's work Christmas dinner.  We have only used her a couple of times (the work dinner last year and our anniversary), so she was shocked to see how big he is now. 
-It started to get tough shopping with Gray this month.  He doesn't like to sit in the carts very long (this has been a thing for quite a while), but he now just wants to get down even when we hold him.  That alone might not be too bad if he would stay near us, but he likes to run off to see something else when we let him down.  Christmas shopping was a real bear this year - I'll tell you that.  We were very thankful to get a lot of our shopping done online this time around.
-We took Grayson to see Zoo Lights at the Houston Zoo this year.  It was so cool!  We all had a great time, and even thought it was HOT, it put us in the holiday spirit.
-Travel this month - Dallas for Thanksgiving
-Grayson sat with the family at Thanksgiving and even had some of the feast that we were eating.  We unsuccessfully tried to get him to try the ham (unless it was covered in something else), but he enjoyed some mashed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, and pistachio salad.
-Met Santa again this year, but it did not go well.  He would not let P put him in Santa's lap, so P made an unexpected appearance in Grayson's Santa picture this year.

14 Months!

At 14 (10/21-11/20) months old, Grayson is:
-wearing 12-18 month onesies
-wearing 9-12 month shorts and 12 month and some 18 month pants
-wearing 18 month footie pjs
-in size 4 diapers - we switched right at the end of the month.    
-having a rough go at sleeping through the night this month!  I think he ended up in our bed around 2 or 3 most nights this month.  We hope it is due to the teething and NOT becoming a habit.
-walking better and better.  He trots around the house and can basically run these days.
-drinking whole milk. 
-drinking exclusively from sippy cups!  Grayson didn't give us any backlash about removing bottles from his daily routine, which was very nice.  Gray has three sippy cups of milk a day - 1 when he wakes up, 1 around 2 in the afternoon, and 1 before bed.
-having solids at every meal.  He has gotten a lot better at eating the school lunches - which shocks us because there is no way he would eat half of the stuff at home.  For dinner, we still struggle getting Grayson to eat any sort of meat.  We had a few days where he ate some chicken nuggets, but he has since started refusing them again.  In order to get him to eat meat, we still give him some Stage 3 Gerber meals.  We don't have any trouble getting him to eat dairy or fruits.        
-teething - He got FOUR teeth this month - his top two incisors and two more bottom teeth (the ones next to his front two bottom ones).  He is up to 14 teeth now - how many does one little mouth need??  We all need a break from this teething thing!!
-still taking 2 naps a day at school  

 

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.  This was from last month, but it is still very true this month.  He now brings every book in sight to us.  He listens to the first page or two, and then grabs another book for us to read.
-Gray got a shape sorter for his birthday that is shaped like a toolkit.  He grabs it and brings it to us to play as well.  He likes to sit and either watch me or help me put the shape in the correct hole.  Then, I tell him to shove it in the rest of the way and he loves that part.  He is always so proud of himself when it drops in.
-He likes to pull things out of baskets, bags, my purse, ANYTHING.
-Grayson did his first "more" sign this month.  He does it so much now - it is the cutest thing!
-Grayson started waving bye-bye - FINALLY!  I thought he would never figure it out ;)
-We started a new nighttime routine with him this month.  I was very nervous to take the final bottle away and nix the 5-10 minutes of drinking in the dark to calm him down before bed, but it has gone pretty well.  We give him a sippy cup with milk and read some stories and then we brush his teeth.  Next it is lights out and I sing to him either on the rocker or while he is in his crib.  Then I pat his back until he is asleep - this has taken up to an hour one night - but it is something that we needed to do.
-Grayson blabbers constantly and uses his hands to talk.  SO.DARN.CUTE. (no actual words yet)
-I started introducing a fork to Grayson for the foods that he uses his hands for.  I put it in his hand and then help him spear the food.  He has the coordination to get the fork to his mouth, but the spearing still gives him trouble.  He really likes that he uses a fork though.  He also tries to grab the spoon when we're feeding him his yogurt or purees.
-Grayson has had a few fits when told 'no' this month or when we take things away.
-Grayson had a double ear infection this month and then had an allergic reaction to the medicine that he was prescribed.
-Lots of travel this month - BU Homecoming in Waco and Wurstfest in New Braunfels. 

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.

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.  

Grayson's Party

Grayson's first birthday party was in Dallas where most of our family lives.  He was celebrated with about 40 of our closest friends and family, and the amount of gifts he received was overwhelming.  Our sweet boy is so loved, and we are reminded of it over and over again.  His party was a baseball theme, and I used many ideas that we found on Pinterest. 

The beautiful cake, mini corn dogs, cotton candy, pretzels & peanuts

Popcorn varieties

Grayson's smash cake

Tasty Margaritas!

Cute banner

Banner of each month's picture

Close up

Fun with Auntie Jessie

Playing with Auntie Pavi's phone

Ready for birthday cake

P had to coax him into trying it - we have a picky eater

We tried to get Gray to sit and open gifts...

but he just wanted to walk around with his new things

Lessons learned:
-Cooking dinner for that many people takes a while, and is quite hot for the men who are in charge of the grill - maybe a nice afternoon party with cake and ice cream would be better next time!
-The cake eating portion may not be as fun as you imagined - and ours ended up with a quick trip to the bathtub. 
-That many people means a LOT of presents - my goodness, I was not expecting the pile of gifts that he received!!  It takes a long time to open that many presents!
BUT, I would do it over again in a heartbeat.  We had a good time and enjoyed everyone's company.  We were thankful for all of the family that flew in from Minnesota and D.C.!  Grayson seemed to love every minute of it.