ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Our sweet baby (or I guess I should say toddler) boy turned ONE year old on Saturday!! I can't believe that its already been a year since he was born!

We love you little man and can't wait to spend many many more birthdays with you!!

Mother's Day 2009

My first mother's day was so fun. This year we continued our tradition of lunch in the park. We have been doing this for as long as I can remember. I think it started when my mom and Nonnie decided that they didn't want to cook and that the restaurants were always to crowded, so we get Goode Company BBQ to go and head to the park to have our mother's day picnic. The last couple years, since we have all gotten older, we would just go to the park and eat then leave. This year was different since Grant is with us now and we had someone who appreciated the swings and the slides. Grant loved it even though it was so hot (I think we are going to be in for a VERY hot summer)! Grant was so worn out after the park, he went to Nonnie and Poppy's house and took a nice long nap-greatest present of all :)

Swinging with Uncle Matt

This little boy loves his Uncle Matt

Sliding with Daddy

"Are you sure about this, dad?"

"Nope, don't think I want to do that"

"On second thought, maybe I'll do it with Uncle Matt."

Happy Birthday Oakley!

Yesterday was our first baby's birthday. Oakley turned two years old! He's finally getting out of the puppy stage and I am so excited about that. I have lost countless pairs of shoes, phone chargers, undergarments, and more to his puppy chewing habits! Grant loves his puppy dog and the way that they interact with each other is so cute! Oakley is soo good with Grant. He lets the little man crawl all over him, pull his hair, grab his nose and he doesn't budge!

about 12 weeks old and we had NO idea what we were in for! :)

about 6 months old!
this was right after we brought Grant home from the hospital-Oakley was protective of him from the start!

my two sweet boys! (Grant-7 months old)

they love each other (Grant-9 months)

Happy birthday buddy! We love you!!

***Baby bootcamp update-Grant slept through the night last night (well he woke up at 3 and cried for about 5 minutes and then went to back sleep all on his own) and slept until 8 this morning! I am soo excited and so proud of myself for not giving in those first couple nights because now its paid off! Thanks everyone for all your encouragement and advice! :)

Baby Boot Camp...

So for the last 10 months or so Grant has been sleeping with us. I know, I know roll your eyes all you want, but it is just something that worked for us. There were a few nights where Grant slept in his own bed, but only until about 2 or 3am when we would go in there and get him and put him in bed with us, but for the most part, he had been sleeping with us.

When Grant was first born, Chris was home for about 4 weeks, but then he went back to work and was working 24 hours at a time. Then his shifts changed and he went to working only at night at least 4 nights a week, so it was just me and the little man. I felt more safe with Grant in the bed next to me, and if something were to happen, he wouldn't be all alone in his room.

Well, the time has come for him to move to his own bed and he is not happy about the change. We started this on Sunday night, which makes tonight night 4. We put him in his bed and he stands there and SCREAMS at the top of his lungs. We go in there about every 20 minutes or so and calm him down and eventually he falls asleep. The first night it took him 2 hours to fall asleep and each night that time has gotten a little shorter. But, the problem is that he doesn't understand how to put himself back to sleep, so he wakes up screaming in the middle of the night for one of us to come in there and help put him back to sleep. Last night he was up at 1am, again at 3, again at 5 and he woke up for the day at 7. Chris was working last night so it was just me enforcing the rules! I want so badly to scoop him up and bring him in the bed with me when he wakes up in the middle of the night, but I know that is not going to help him learn. So, I am thinking about tonight when he wakes up not going in there and letting him figure out how to put himself back to bed. We'll see how that goes. Say a prayer for us!

So since the little man has not gotten very good sleep the past couple nights, he has been a bear during the day! Even if he naps, it is still not enough sleep for him and he has been so grumpy for the majority of the time. Hopefully he will figure this whole process out soon because we all three need some serious sleep! I feel like we are back at the newborn stage all over again-waking up every three hours!

Our very grumpy, sleepy (but still oh, so cute) baby!

Baby Einstein videos, his paci, and something in his hands always calms him down

And even though he is grumpy, we still get the occasional smile (but it can't be with out the paci-he loves that thing)

Play Day at the Park!

Today we went to the park for a little bit with some of our friends! We went with one of my girlfriends that has three little girls. Needless to say, Grant was in heaven :) He couldn't take his eyes off them and it was so funny to watch his head move back and forth while each girl was running across the park.

This little man loves to be outside. Whenever he is fussy and we take him outside, it is like we have a totally different baby. Being outside just chills him out! He certainly didn't get his love of the outdoors from me. :) It was a great day, it wasn't too sunny and it was windy so it stayed pretty cool.

Grant was hesitant about the grass at first, but as soon as he figured out it was a good thing, he was so happy. He tried to put every leaf, twig, and loose blade of grass that he could find in his mouth-but what's new? :)

Hmm-I wonder if mom will care if I eat this?

I love this face/smile. He has started to wrinkle his nose when he smiles hard and then he always giggles afterwards. I always laugh so hard when he does it.

Next, we moved onto the swing. He didn't like the swing so much. He looked a little awkward sitting in it, so I'm sure that he was uncomfortable and it made him kinda nervous. But, when I started pushing him, he lightened up a little bit.

In the second picture below, the wind is blowing his hair back and it shows just how much hair he has now. I have been putting off getting him a hair cut, because I have been really busy but I think it is time. He has definitely started to grow a mullet. Maybe we will get that done this weekend.

Umm, not so sure how I feel about this.

SO BIG! (holding on with one hand so he doesn't fall out)

Such a happy boy

After we got home, he was exhausted. He went to bed earlier tonight then he usually does and has stayed asleep. Maybe that means we will be making trips to the park more often :)

Happy Easter!

I love Easter time! We had a really nice Easter. We went to church and then went over to my mom's and had Easter brunch! Chris worked the night before, so he wasn't able to make it to church, but he came and had lunch with us and then went back home to get some more sleep because he had to work Sunday night too! Such a trooper! Aunt Ruth was in town, so she got to spend Easter with us too! Of course, the Easter bunny came to visit Grant numerous times and brought him lots of good stuff! We were going to do a little egg hunt for him, but it poured yesterday morning and the grass outside was just too wet. But I know next Easter we are going to have so much fun hiding eggs for him to find!

He would rather play with the toys he already has, than what he got from the Easter bunny! :)

Our little family on Easter!

more playtime!

Hope everyone had a great Easter!

A Weekend of Firsts!

Last weekend me and the little man headed to Florida to spend some time with the grandparents and Aunt Dee. We left on Thursday and came home Sunday night. This weekend was full of many firsts for our sweet baby boy! His first first (say that 5 times fast) was our lovely ER visit Thursday night, after only about 45 minutes at the hotel. This was probably the worst night of my life so far, but I had to hold it together for the little guy. I was bathing him in the hotel bath tub and turned around for literally 5 seconds to get a towel (NEVER will I do that again) and as I was turning back around out he comes out of the bath tub and smacks his head-it was so hard it made the loudest noise I have ever heard and even thinking about it still makes my skin crawl-on the tile floor. I called my pediatrician's office (keep in mind this was like 10:30 at night) and they transfered me to the on-call doctor and she said to go ahead and take him to the ER because it would be hard to tell if he was acting different because he was already so tired and it was way past his bed time. So Grandma Karen, Grant, and I headed to Tampa General Hospital. I was so nervous/scared/anxious/exhausted but was a little relieved when we got there and the ER staff didn't seem extremely worried about Grant's situation. The doctor came in and looked at him and said that everything looked good, and his soft spot was still open and soft, so that meant his brain wasn't swelling or anything like that. We were only there for about 20 minutes waiting for the doctor and when the doc said we were good to go, it took FOREVER to get our discharge papers to go home. 'While we were waiting for them to bring in the papers for me to sign, Grant was climbing all over the hospital bed and jumping up and down and in such a good mood. Except for the huge red spot on his forehead, you would have never known this little baby had just suffered a minor head trauma. We finally got back to the hotel about 1:00a and we were both so exhausted from the long travel day and then our ER visit. I don't think Grant moved once during the night until he woke up Friday morning at 10 o'clock. I was so happy that he slept that late, it gave us both enough time to catch up on our rest.

Our little patient

The bump was a lot worse right after it happened

(this picture was taken when we were about to leave the hospital)

His next first was a trip down to the beach. At first he was very skeptical of the sand and was kinda hesitant to touch it. But then after he sat in it for a few minutes he changed his mind and he loved it. Well, he loved it until he took a big handful and shoved it in his mouth. His face was priceless when he realized how yuck it was. But when we went back to the beach the next day, I think he learned his lesson the day before, and he didn't put any in his mouth.

1st time in the sand and not so sure about it!

Um, the sand doesn't taste so good!

Doesn't he look just like a little man with his hat on?

He loves to walk while holding onto some one's fingers. Each day he gets faster and faster! But, I am sooo not ready for him to start walking yet!

I thought this picture turned out really cool!

When you ask him, "Grant can you show me your pretty eyes?", this is the face that he gets. It's so adorable!



Grant loves drawers, doors, and cabinets. He loves to open and close them and if he opens a drawer, he loves to pull everything out of it and then try to put it all back in again. He has even gotten to the point where he knows if his fingers are to close to the inside of the cabinet door, he moves his had over so that he doesn't smash his fingers in the cabinet door when he closes it. At home, whenever I leave our bedroom door open he gets a huge smile on his face and heads for the bathroom. He loves to go in our bathroom and open the cabinet drawers and pull everything he can out of them. Needless to say, he ALWAYS keeps me on my toes.

Emptying the drawer at the hotel

You caught me, mom!

Overall we had a great vacation and it was fun to spend time with my dad, and Chris' mom and sister. But, I was sooo glad when we landed back in Houston on Sunday night. I was exhausted and excited to sleep in my own bed. I don't think I will be traveling with Grant by myself again for a little while. It was a lot of work, especially the plane ride coming home when he didn't sleep at all! Here is a picture I snapped on Sunday afternoon of the little man. He was sooo worn out after a few days at the beach!

Spring Break!

This week is my spring break, and I am loving the time off from school. It has been so nice to not have anything to do or anywhere to go. We have all just been hanging out around the house and enjoying the super nice weather that we had earlier this week. I think we are going to try and take Grant to the rodeo on Friday for his first time! I am so excited about this, but bummed that its supposed to be cold. Oh well, I know we will still have fun. This boy hates being hot anyways, so I am sure the cold weather won't bother him!

Tomorrow we are getting hardwood floors in the living room and the hallway that leads to the guestroom. I am excited because this means no more vacuuming the dog hair out of the carpet over and over again! I will post pictures after they get it finished :)

Grant loves the laundry basket. I hope this is a sign of good things to come...but probably not :) Usually its in our closet, but the other day was laundry day so I had it out (also using it as a barrier because he has figured out how to push over the gate and crawl around them). It kept him entertained for about 5 minutes, but so does everything else. But at least it was long enough for me to snap a few cute pictures!

"Here, mom-I'll help!"

He is learning to stand by himself. He is still a little unsteady and can only stand for like .5 seconds (but still its progress)! I am not ready for him to start walking yet! I know we are still a little while away from that stage, but I haven't prepared myself! :)

I love it when he's in a good mood-he's sooo much fun!

A couple days ago we moved Grant to his "big-boy" carseat! Its a little bittersweet because I know this new carseat is so much more comfortable for him and he doesn't have to lay down like he did in the infant one. He can now sit up straighter and can look out the window! So yay for no more screaming whenever we are in the car. But its also sad because again it means that he is growing up! But look how happy this makes him, so I am all for things that make his and my life easier!!

I love this little cheesy smile!