Grant's Halloween outfit

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Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant the chicken!

More in the photo album

he rolled over!

Not sure if it was a fluke or not but we had Grant on his tummy this evening and he surprised us both by rolling over to his back! The way he moves his feet makes me think we're going to see him crawling early.

His conversations with "lampy" are now getting more animated and more vocal. We got the video camera out tonight and caught the tail end of it. We're going to edit them and put them online to share sometime soon. If conversing with inanimate objects is a normal thing please let me know. I've never heard of it.

Pete just finished editing the first video we have of Grant in the hospital. I can't believe it was 7 weeks ago. He's grown so much. At our last doctor visit (a little over a week ago) he was 23" long and 12lbs 8oz but Pete stood on the scale with him the other night and he was over 13 lbs. Every morning when I pick him up I swear he's gained weight over night.

-misty

these are a few of Grant's favorite things... and narcolepsy!

So we've been pretty unsuccessful at getting Grant to smile for us in order for us to take a picture but we've started noticing a pattern. He's MESMERIZED by this incredibly ugly halogen lamp we have in the family room. (So ugly I've been trying to get rid of it for 2 years but Pete won't let me). Every time he's on Pete's lap his eyes immediately go to this thing and he smiles and coos at it and his eyes get all glassy from not blinking. The other day Pete turned on the lamp for him and he was entranced for the next 10 minutes staring at this wondrous object. He does the same thing with the mural I painted on the wall behind the glider. I feed him there every day and in the middle of the night and he won't take his eyes off of it. If I move him so his back is facing the mural he simply tips his head back to stare at it some more. The funny thing is this mural is the one where Peter Rabbit is hiding out in the watering can in the shed. By following his eyes he seems to be particularly taken by the watering can. I have no idea what's going on in that little mind. :)

Grant also has had 2 instances of narcolepsy that have cracked us up. Both times he's been particularly fussy and sitting on my lap. Mid-whine he just conked out. Like someone pulled the plug on a little robot.. zhoooomp.. out... and he's off snoring. If he'd only do that at 3am it'd make my life a bit easier!

Halloween pictures will be posted on Monday.. (Pete's making me wait). I should warn you though.. you might just die of inflicted cuteness. :)

-misty

P.S. I've had a few people ask me about the cold bottle thing. There's nothing wrong with giving a baby a cold bottle. We checked with the pediatrician who said "lucky you if you can get him to take it.. it'll save you time!" Since Battle of Cold Bottle he's occasionally let a cold-ish one slip back into the routine.. but only if he's kind of distracted. :)

Just relaxin'

Like father like son!

One other new photo in the album.

Grant Passport Photo

Grant Passport Photo
Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant's Passport arrives - He is now an official international man of mystery.

add one more to the list...

The Battle of Cold Bottle was lost here tonight adding #5 to our ever-increasing list below.

Since we've been home from the hospital we've given Grant breastmilk in a bottle that had been cold from being stored in the refrigerator. Out of sheer laziness I started taking a bottle out before I headed to bed so I wouldn't have to take the extra 25 steps to the refrigerator in the middle of the night. This is now the preferred temperature of milk for Grant and cold milk is NO LONGER an option.

Pete and I read somewhere that babies are the most vulnerable of all species. They're born with no instincts to protect themselves. If thrown to the wolves they'd be forced to get by on their cute looks alone. Tonight I realized they have a back-up plan - the blood curdling scream. At this point the wolves would turn on their heels and get the hell out as they have no way of covering their ears and no food is worth battling THAT noise. The same said noise causes humans to do every stupid trick in their power to interpret the cause and stop it. No matter how insane. "Fed? Yep. Diaper changed? Yep. Tired? No, just woke up. Is it his hat? Earlier he had his hat on and wasn't screaming try the hat. No, no, definitely not the hat that's made it worse. It's the oven mitt puppet... he wants the oven mitt puppet.. quick get the oven mitt.. for the love of God.. the oven mitt... that's not it?.. I don't know...put them on his feet. Oh. that's it. He likes oven mitts on his feet... now dance and sing he's getting fussy again." Please note when something works.. don't think you've now sorted out "his thing". Babies demand that you change it up. I think they're much smarter than we give them credit for and want to see how far you'll go and what an ass of yourself you're willing to make on their behalf. All controlled by that banshee-like scream.

Whether it be the insane cuteness or that banshee-like scream I think I've discovered we're not just under new management.. we're under a new dictatorship. :)

-misty

EDIT: What Misty doesn't tell you is last night I tickeld his belly and he let out a big smile and giggle - and we both melted :)

EDIT, EDIT: But it may have just been Mr Pooperheimer appearing too...

-peter

rapidly dissolving parenting resolutions...

When I was pregnant we had loads of time to discuss things we definitely were and weren't going to do once we had our little guy. Here's a list of some of them and how quickly our hard decisions were changed:

1. No pacifier - 2 days home from the hospital. Once we realized he was using our finger as a human pacifier the decision to replace it with a plastic one wasn't far behind.

2. No sleeping in his swing. Swing is to be used so I can get things done like showering - 1 nearly completely sleepless night. He loves this thing and his pediatrician said it was fine for him to sleep occasionally in it.

3. No co-sleeping, he needs to get used to sleeping in his crib from the beginning - this took about a week. As long as all 3 of us were horizontal I didn't care what it took.

4. No buying loads of newborn clothes since he's only going to be in them for a short time - 4 days home from the hospital. This is a sickness on my part. I can't resist little cute things. Old Navy and Oshkosh are killing me with their gorgeous little things that I can't pass by. I'm not sure there's any sort of cure for this. :)

I'm sure this list will only get longer and longer as time goes by.

Oh, and the sleeping through the night thing was a complete fluke. :P The instructor in my hospital class said one day is a "happening", 2 days is a "fluke", 3 days is a "coincidence", 4 days is a "trend" and 5 days is a "habit". Totally disheartening. We're a long way off from sleeping through the night.

-misty

***Update*** Ugh.. I really do need therapy for my shopping addiction.. not even 4 hours after this post I found myself in OshKosh where they were having a huge fall sale!!! How can 70% and 60% off so many little things add up to $70 so quickly? My euphoria quickly wore off when I got home and showed Pete my fantastic finds and he wasn't nearly as excited. He clearly doesn't understand the importance of smart clothes for all of these mommy groups Grant and I have joined.

a rose by any other name...

We have someone living in our household under a few different assumed names. We change them to suit the occasion. (Though I just realized that the nicknames could also suit Pete just as easily - except the last one). :)

Here's a running list of the names so far (listed in order of popularity):

Senor Fussybutt (no idea how to add the ~ above the n)
Sir Poopsalot
Mr. Poopenheimer
The Poopsmith
Mr. Wees-his-pants

I love the pictures Pete just posted. Especially the "deer in headlights" picture and the "Curly" from the 3 Stooges picture. As you can see from the pics he's suffering from baby acne. Of course I checked with the doctor and apparently I should hold off on the Clearasil and Pro-Active and it should clear up in a week or two.

-misty

OH!!! and important bulletin!!!! Last night Granty slept for 5 hours.. woke up ate and fell immediately back to sleep for 4 hours. I feel soooo well rested!! We're so close to sleeping through the night I can taste it!

Whoa I'm growing!

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Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Grant went to the doc for a check up on Friday. He's now 11lbs and 23" long!

Some more new photos in the photo album.

sleeping on the job...

I'm realizing that I'm most tired at the 8am feeding time. I do pretty well getting up throughout the night but I think after many years of pulling college all-nighters that my body is just trained to get through the night knowing it will be compensated with sleep in the morning. But when morning comes around Grant still seems to want to eat and be taken care of.. (funny, that :)). Anyway.. I have a nice little squirmy alarm clock that grunts at me when I start to dip into sleepland. I keep snapping awake and realize I've been trying to feed him through his nostril or through the outside of his cheek. The first few weeks I kept thinking "oh weird.. he must have spit his bottle out". But I think I realized that he obviously wouldn't be grunting at me if this were the case. This new manager never lets up. :)

-misty

take two...

You would think after yesterday's "pea soup exorcism" that I'd not let that happen again any time soon. You would think. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong.

-misty

the demons have been expelled...

We were having a fairly peaceful afternoon. Grant was a little fussy but not anything out of the ordinary. I opened his diaper and simultaneously grabbed a wipe. I was quietly pleased at how good I was getting at this diapering business. Then, as I grabbed the second wipe all things that are unholy were expelled out of his bum. All over me, the glider ottoman, the glider, his pajamas, and the floor. The vomit scene in the Exorcist was a walk in the park compared to this. Clean up was a 30 wipe & steam cleaner affair. I was glad it was bath night. Though before we could bathe him I finally learned the lesson of "pointing him down". I picked him up after his nap and realized his entire pajamas, undershirt, and pants were wet. I apparently left him "pointing up" after the pea soup explosion earlier and he'd peed up out of his diaper soaking everything. Pete thought all of this was hilarious and I'm glad the camera was no where in sight or you'd all have lovely pictures to click through.

And now it's official. I'm one of those parents who talk to complete strangers about pee and poop.

-misty

Sling....

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Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

Not quite sure what Grant makes of his new sling for being carried around in....

More new photos in the photo album

Grant applied for his Passport at the Post Office on Friday - I've no idea what he made of it all but he had trouble finding the $82 for the application....

the best gift...

This morning when Grant started stirring I dragged myself in for his usual morning feeding. I always try and do a running commentary of what I'm doing because they say it's good for them developmentally. My normal "Good Morning Granty, Momma's here.. Let's get you some food!" was greeted with my very first smile. I thought it may have been gas so I kept talking to him and he smiled again and then giggled. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen and heard. I'm not sure when I'll get a repeat performance but it made me forget all the sleepless nights in an instant.

Today I went to the gym....

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Originally uploaded by Peter and Misty.

More photos in the 'Grant' photo set... Check out the photo album link on the right here...