Ice Storm

Well looks like Misty and I escaped the wind storm in Seattle last week (luckily our house was only without power for ~24 hours on Thur/Fri last week while we were away) but now we're getting hit by an ice storm in Nebraska.... Lots of tree branches down all over, you hear cracking all over town... Wind stom also blowing in right now with lights flickering!!

The snow storm that just shutdown Denver airport is also headed this way - should be an interesting few days!!

Some photos:

Grant's early Christmas

Well its a very quiet house now that Granny and Brian have left Grant with only the two of us. I'm sure he misses them greatly as he had so much fun with them both.

For Grant Christmas came a little early as he got to open Granny's present early before she left for New Zealand. I had to post some of the photos above of Grant playing in his new Pirate Ship! he loves it - thanks Granny! One slight "problem" we now have hundreds (literally) of balls all over the house :)

He is also having a whale of a time with Brian's Thomas the Tank Engine gift - he loves pushing down the engine driver and watching it go.... Thanks Brian!

granny and brian visit

Sorry my updates have been a bit sparse lately we've had visitors! Pete's mum and her friend are visiting from New Zealand. We've been incredibly busy with a trip to Whistler, several trips to Costco, and Grant battling a really horrible 2 week+ long ear infection that has kept everyone up for weeks.

New skillz:

1. Grant is now pretty much walking though he still hasn't gotten to the point where he prefers it to crawling.

2. Says "Daddy" pretty clearly

3. Now gives high fives (though only when he feels like it but he definitely knows what he's supposed to do.

4. Has mastered climbing in and out of his book bin.

5. Has mastered climbing on top of the fireplace ledge/hearth thingy - large furniture has been placed in front of the ledge with small gaps on either side to prevent him from doing this - this is no longer a deterrent and he's now able to climb up with very little clearance.

6. Loves to spend times doing his little ring stacker toy

7. Says "ah-duh" when he's done with his food and milk and then starts tossing them if you're not quick to collect. Upon having really poor service today at a restaurant this doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

8. About a billion other cute things far too numerous to list.

-misty

The Grant (and Misty's new business)

I had to pull these photos out of the Flickr album - These ones really sum Grant up!!







I












Grant came in to Microsoft today to celebrate Halloween - He promptly showed us up as when people asked if he was walking yet we had to say "not quite' of course we'd then put him down on the ground to demo this 'lack of walking skill' and he'd immediately take a couple of steps - something he never does at home!!!
Also Misty recently got paid to paint this custom toy chest for an ex work colleage - Looked really cool... Grant needs one!

Happy Halloweeeeen from The King

Hope you all have a great Halloween!

Grant would like to extend a special thanks to Gramma for sewing his killer costume. Thank you.. Thankyouverymuch. :)

Here's hoping Grant gets lots of chocolate (that he can't have) in his treat bag. :)

-misty

Crazy hair...

Grant has always alternated sucking his thumbs depending on what he was doing. Recently he's found something to do with the other hand while he's sucking his thumb. He's started to rub the back of his head. Not a huge deal but he sucks his thumb and then rubs his head so the back of his head constantly has bed head. I've tried wetting it down but within the hour he's at it again. You totally see people at the grocery store smiling at his crazy cowlicks all the time. It's kind of cute unless he's just eaten and he's got chunks of who knows what stuck in there. I snapped a few pics of a normal hair day lately. There are more in the photo album at the right.

He's still not walking. Peter seems to be the only one super concerned about this. :)

-misty

bawk bawk we got the pox... :P

The doctor confirmed today what I thought was true. Grant has the chicken pox. He got them from the chicken pox vaccine at his one year check up. The good thing is that though they are cropping up all over he doesn't seem to be too bothered by them and he's not had a fever or any of the other symptoms. The downside is that I'm suffering from cabin fever after keeping him quarantined for just TWO DAYS. It's so much easier to keep him busy and happy when we're out and about and going to his little activities. It's also killing me thinking about how much money we're wasting by each missed class. :P

Will snap some pictures of our spotty baby tomorrow. :)

-misty

ain't life grand?...

No real news to report. I'm just sitting here watching Grant in his diaper hitting our screen door with a wrapping paper tube and squeal with delight. He's been doing this for 15 minutes now. It makes me wonder when we stop taking the little things like that for granted. When I see the excitement and wonder in his eyes over the simplest things it totally reminds me to slow down and enjoy the view - you should do the same. :)

1yo stats & steps

Grant had his 1yr well baby check up last week and apparently we've been doing everything right or right enough. He's growing well and there are no concerns about anything. He is now 23lbs and somehow figured out the scale had a hidden reset button and kept hitting it. The nurse said she'd not had a baby figure that out before. I ended up having to try and sit him up on that little scale so he would quit trying to roll over and push the button. He's not gotten any less wiggly. He is 30.75 inches long so he falls in 70-90 for height and around 40-50th for weight. Our growing boy. His doctor confirmed that the spill he had last week did cut his upper lip frenulum last week. Apparently this is pretty common and more and more pediatric dentists are having to snip these because uncut they can cause a gap between the front 2 teeth. I wish I'd had some sort of handout on this. The only thing that kept me from truly freaking out was the fact that another baby in our PEPS group had already done it. It was an unbelievable amount of blood though and didn't help that Pete was sitting there telling me not to overreact.

In other baby news - Grant has been sneaking in a few steps here and there. He's been motivated by a bit of brownie. On Friday I put a few tiny chunks on my leg and he walked 3-4 steps Frankenstein style and then quickly gobbled up the brownie. I think he thought my cheering was for him eating the brownie - I don't think he even realized he'd taken steps. Saturday afternoon he stood up a few feet from the book case and took 4 tiny steps over to it. We tried getting him to do it again by placing his toys all over on the couches but I think he's on to us and has reverted back to his "I'm not a circus monkey" days.

Doesn't mean we'll stop trying. :)

-misty

Happy Birthday Grant!

I can't believe its been one year since I last sat on this exact same sofa and announced our wonderful news - Master Grant had arrived safely and well!

Today is his 1st birthday and we celebrated by taking him to the Puyallup Fair! (Its great they open a fair on Grant's birthday - makes him feel very special!). We had a great time looking around - Grant was fascinated by the Chickens and the Goats. I tried to sneak him onto the big tall bumper slide that you ride down on a sack, but he had to be be 2 or older - next year Grant - A real shame as he would have loved sliding down there on my lap...

Weather turned out great too and we enjoyed some corn dogs, elephant ears and strawberry shortcake - especially Grant....

We'll add some photos tomorrow....

Happy 1st Birthday Grant. Its been truly the most amazing of years.

Love,
Dad.

I can't believe a year has passed since I first held Grant in my arms. I'd say it's been a rollercoaster ride but that would imply there were a lot of "lows" and none really compare to the unbelievable highs and absolute joy he's brought to our lives. I KNOW everyone says it goes so fast but IT GOES SO FAST! I remember looking at 6 month and 9 month clothes and thinking it was going to be AAAGES before he fit into those. These are all the clothes that have been packed away into boxes to make room for the 12-18 month clothes in his closet.

I remember when Pete and I were having trouble conceiving. After a few years you start to think maybe it's not in the stars for you to have a baby. You question whether it's fate and start to wonder what your life would be like without the pitter patter of little feet. Peter and I have a great relationship and it was what we thought was fulfilled. It wasn't until the first time we were away from him that I realized how such a little person could completely fill a house and our hearts. Last week when my parents were here Peter and I went to the movie while my mom and dad watched Grant. When the movie was over we walked out and I realized how much our lives had changed. There is nothing that could have prepared me for how much more fulfilled our lives have been since he came into the world a year ago. I've laughed more, cried more, and loved more than I ever thought possible.

I can't wait to see what the next years bring as more and more of his little personality starts to show.

Happy 1st Birthday little Grant.

Love always,
mum

what.. no love for mom? :)

Grant is having a whale of a time with Gramma and Grampa. He didn't take long to warm up to them at all. In the parking lot at the airport I gave him to Grampa while I put the stroller away and he didn't want to come back to me.

NEW WORDS!!
For quite awhile Grant has been able to say "Daddy" or "Dadda" which has been totally cute especially since I knew "Mama" wouldn't be far behind. Grant's second word was book or "buh". Totally cute! He's a reader! "Mama" would surely be next! Grant's third word was Grampa "mmpa".. fourth word was cheese. So it seems I rate below dairy products. :) It's so exciting and cute.

In other weird news Grant seems to really like The Wiggles. He clap clap claps and waves his arm along with them while he eats his cheerios in the morning. Two days in and I can't get the songs out of my head and I now know all the dances. Awesome. Anyone stuck on the moves to Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy let me know, I can hook you up.

-misty

our little pill :)

Grant has been a little pill lately. He's not been feeling well so he's been super whiney and not sleeping through the night. He was up 3 or 4 times last night which is much harder to deal with when you're out of practice. He doesn't seem to want to eat or anything.. just snuggle for a bit.. then he's really annoyed that he can't get comfortable and wants to be back in his crib. The doctor said if he doesn't want to eat to not go to him so he doesn't look fwd to the snuggly time. Which would normally be fine but he doesn't let up. He lies in his crib and whines.. for 45 minutes straight.. might fall asleep for 15 minutes and then remembers that he's mad and starts the whining again. Which means I can go in and deal with him for 15 minutes .. or lose out on 2 hours of sleep waiting for it to stop. Gramma and Grampa arrive on Saturday and I can't wait! I'm so excited for Grant to spend time with them and show them all of his new tricks. Though his room is right next to our spare room so if this night waking keeps up I might have to supply them with some ear plugs.

The pic above was from a group of photos a friend at Microsoft Studios took for me. We didn't get very many good shots because Grant was scared of the flash for the first 10 minutes and the picture above was actually him freaking out and trying to crawl under my legs. It was cute. He'd never done that before. The next 45 minutes were spent trying to get him back on the backdrop when all he wanted to do was crawl around and mess with the really expensive equipment in the room. Silly boy.

-misty

Happy Pre-Birthday to Grant!!

Today we had our PEPS (mom's group) birthday party for all of the babies. I made all of the babies an individual cake and after the first 4 courses of veggie puffs, cheerios, string cheese, and milk we set them loose to attack their cakes. Some of the babies went to town, some picked all the veggie puffs off the cake and some didn't really want any part in it. Grant fell into the "went to town" group. I actually had to cut him off because he'd eaten SO much before the cake that I was worried he'd get sick. It was kind of embarassing, he just kept eating all of his food and then looking up at all the moms feeding their kids and raising his eyebrows like "ooo that looks niiiice!" and they'd give him some. So.. his pre-birthday party was good practice in the cake eating dept. and by the look of him he's ready for his real birthday.

lots of the pics of the babies in the photo album.

-misty

big boy territory...

So I guess we're done with the bottle. For the past 3 nights I've offered Grant a bottle at bedtime and every night he's refused. I guess he's done. It seems so strange to think of him not having a bottle. Normally I'm so excited about all of his new milestones and all the "big boy" achievements. I cheer him on and push him along in all of these new feats. This self weaning really threw me for a loop and made me a little emotional. My little baby who used to fit in the crook of my arm is now charging ahead on his own, like it or not, into Toddlerville. Hang on tight.

-misty

paging dr. desructo...

So no one told me the lengths you need to go to in considering what to childproof. Then again.. no one else seems to have a Grant. :)

Grant's favorite spot to play over the last few days has been under the kitchen table. It's actually been kinda cute to hear him playing around under there while I'm cooking or doing some other work in the kitchen. I didn't pay too much attention to what he was actually doing under there. I thought it was just normal exploring. Yesterday Peter got down on the floor when we heard him rattling something. Turns out Grant found the wingnut holding one of the tables legs to the table and was working at loosening it. Peter tightened it up and we had a little laugh about how he's always trying to figure out how things work. If you give him a toy the first thing he does is turn it over to see how it works. Grant was under the table again tonight and managed to loosen the same nut Peter had just tightened. We now have to get pliers out and make sure they're all super tight.

The pictures above are Grant testing out one of his birthday presents early. He got a cool little trike from Gramma and Grampa Dishman and he LOOOVES it. I love the picture posted above because he really gets excited when we push him FAST... so fast his little hair flies up. Thanks Gramma and Grampa!

-misty

dood's got mad skills...

New pics posted in the photo album. The pictures above are from a park at the lake down the road.

So on Wednesday I'm starting to wean Grant from breastmilk and onto whole cows milk. Up until Sunday night he could not work out a straw to save his life. Fun to chew on and that's about it. He didn't seem to care for sippy cups as they didn't keep the fluids flowing and he had to constantly work at it. When I had a visit to my regular doctor she suggested putting a big of milkshake in the bottom of his cup with a straw to motivate him. Once he realized what was in the cup he was extremely mad that we weren't tipping it down his throat. I accidentally turned the cup upside down and a bit of if went out the straw and he realized how to get more really quickly. So yay! He's worked out a straw! We celebrate all Grant related milestones. :)


In other news Grant's finally found his "outside voice" and he REALLY likes to squeal. People have always commented on how quiet Grant is. He does the normal baby babble but sparingly and not really much in front of other people unless he's truly comfortable. Today something clicked and he realized he can make a really LOUD high pitched squeal. So he practiced all afternoon. When he was playing, when he was mad, when he was happy, when he was supposed to be sleeping. It was kinda funny and pretty cute the first 20 minutes. I could have done with out the angry squeal when getting him into his car seat though. :) He's definitely very good at letting you know when he's not happy.

Anyway.. learning new stuff everyday. He's also been waking up throughout the night again. :P
That's one skill I'm hoping goes by the wayside pretty quickly.

-misty

ahem...

reminder to SELF would actually imply that you CHANGE him on a regular basis... including the pooey ones.

-misty

Diapers

reminder to self: don't let Grant crawl around with no diaper.

warning: not for the faint of heart...

So Grant has had some stomach virus the last 5 days and has had the slimey green poo's. Gross. Yeah.. well be thankful you're not changing him 50 times a day like me. So as a result of all of this he's gotten a HORRIBLE diaper rash. He looks like one of the red-butted monkeys at the zoo. And if he wasn't hard enough to change already.. getting a new diaper on him is like a WWF wrestling match. So this morning I went in and fed him and changed him and his butt seemed even more red than the day before. I wanted to let him air out before I put on any diaper cream or a new diaper because that's what they say.. air them out right? While I was getting out his diaper stuff he flipped off the ottoman and crawled towards his door. He's getting really good at learning what no means and even listens pretty well. So I said "No, don't go out the door, you need to stay in here". He turned and sat on the carpeted floor of his room and looked at me. So while I sat there quite proud of him and his good listening skills I heard a gurgle and noticed he was making a familiar face. As I realized what the face was I yelled "GRANT! DON'T POOP ON THE FLOOR!". Apparently that set off his "flee" instinct and he took off leaving a mess on the carpet and then tracking it through the wood floors of the hallway into our bedroom. He's really fast. So I yelled out to Pete who was still in bed that I needed help. When Pete got to the doorway Grant was all excited to see him and Pete stood there just stunned at the mess before him. I was working frantically at containment and cleanup and Pete was just standing there going "ohmygod.. ohmygod.. oh.. ugh". Great help! Thanks Pete! In the end I decided a bath was best and Pete went to get the carpet steam cleaner. Did I mention Grant's room has WHITE carpet? Fortunately it all seems to have come out. But it's not really a great way to start your morning. The thing is you really wanna kick yourself because OF COURSE it was going to happen.

So I'll say it again (until next time)... I've learned my lesson!! (To my credit he hasn't poo'ed in his bed again!)

-misty

we may be in trouble...

Yesterday morning we woke up and found Grant had a pooing accident overnight so I handed him to Pete while I changed sheets and spent the next 10 minutes scrubbing and sanitizing his mattress. All was going well until he woke up from his first nap of the day 3 hours later. When I walked in he was standing in his crib waiting for me wearing only a very happy smile. I found his diaper over in the corner and a big wet spot on the mattress. I'm really hoping it was just some stroke of luck that he was able to get his diaper off. He hasn't done it since (hallelujah!) but I'm sure it's a matter of time. He's such a hot blooded little guy that I really don't want to put him anything else to sleep in while it's so hot.

Yesterday we had swimming which went better than last week (cried the entire time). He only cried for a bit in the beginning. I think the more he gets used to it the better he'll be. He's oddly kind of OK with the underwater bits when he's facing me. He just seems to get really mad when I'm near the edge and I don't let him get out.

Today I decided to take Grant to a Story Time class they had at his little gym. I don't know what I was thinking. Putting and extremely active child in a gym with loads of cool things for him to crawl and play around on and then trying to make him sit still in your lap while someone reads a story is a recipe for disaster. He did have a good time before and after storytime when he was studying all the 2 & 3 year olds running around and climbing the rock climbing wall. He loves going nuts in the gym there. I think we're going to have to keep him enrolled there.

Today I realized he knows the difference between different toys. I asked him to get his phone and he crawled back in his room and picked up his phone. Later on I asked him to get his book and he did the same. Call MIT!! Call Harvard!! Our child is a genius!! :)

Getting cuter and more fun day by day..

-misty

so.. stinking... HOT.. :P

We had the Microsoft Company picnic this weekend and I thought I was going to die. It has been SO hot. We shuttled from shaded area to shaded area all afternoon. I'm excited to take Grant in the next few years and watch him go nuts. They did have a toddler area but it was all in the full sun and packed. The pic above is a KidWash that they had set up that Pete ran Grant though to cool off. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it. :) That's so Grant though. Observe first and once he's comfortable then he'll decide if he likes it. Funny how their little personalities show more and more each day even at this age.

-misty

The other pics in the photo album are from our PEPS BBQ.

KEEP OFF GRASS...

We had a BBQ for my mom's group today and found the one thing that could keep Grant corralled. It was a beautiful day and we had quilts on the lawn so the kids could play outside. Grant was tearing around doing his normal rounds but we noticed when he got near the edge of the quilt he acted like he was going to fall off the end. We realized it was the grass that he was trying to avoid. So considering the loving and nurturing type of parents we are we quickly picked him up and put him on the grass. He immediately lifted up one foot and was whining to be picked up. So we put him on his stomach and he couldn't work out out to get up without using his hands. He was on his stomach with both of his feet and hands in the air and he really wasn't happy. No matter how much we tried he never got used to it and was happy just staying on the quilt. I now need to figure out how to grow a lawn indoors to keep him in one place. :)

-misty

we're on the mend!

after a horrific weekend we're all finally starting to feel better. Sunday was terrible as Peter and I were both sick. More sick than we've been in YEARS. I felt so horrible for poor Granty who just wanted to play and be social and it took every ounce of our energy to just meet his basic needs. Grant's bug hit him a day earlier so he was just coming out of his sickies when ours hit.

Above are some pics we took today. The first just captures that look of mischief we know so well. The second is bathtime, which has become so much more fun since his Waterbabies class. He seems to love it even more now and becomes more adventurous each bath. Today the big lecture was "no standing in the bath!". There are more pics in the photo album here.

-misty

Bang, Flash.

Well not only was July 4th fun but last night our PC caught fire in the living room - Never a good thing to happen!

i've been slimed...

So, Grant had his first day of daycare on July 5th while we went to a movie and had lunch. I think I broke our baby. We went to check on him between the movie and lunch and he was crying like I'd never heard him cry. So I consoled him and tried not to be offended when he only wanted to go to Daddy. The childcare people assured us that he would be fine for us to go have lunch. When we came back to pick him up he was crying again.

The weird thing was being in our house when he wasn't here. It's amazing how such a little person can fill an entire house. :) Since daycare, diaper changes have been seriously impossible. Backbends and SCREAMING CRYING. He's never been a big fan but it's much much worse since. He's also wailing every time I try to put him to bed. But the kicker is that he's picked up some bug. He woke up this morning all snotty.

This afternoon Peter had some colleagues from Sony come to our house so he could demo something for them and they could meet Grant. It all went swimmingly until Grant decided it was well past naptime. I took him to his room and gave him a bottle and then he was kind enough to give the entire contents of the bottle back via a GINOURMOUS fountain of vomit. Not cute baby spit up, the big person kind in the manner of The Exorcist. I had to call for Pete to step away from his guests and come in and assist. I had to do a complete clothing change and I now need a shower because that horrid smell is stuck in my nose. I just ended up giving Grant a full bath. Poor guy. Now I'm all worried about him getting dehydrated and stuff.

So childcare went fantastic. :P It's going to be hard to leave him there again.

-misty

working at getting us around that little finger...

So Grant really hasn't shown any signs of Separation Anxiety or Stranger Anxiety yet. He couldn't care less if we leave the room or if someone else is holding him. However taking a toy away from him is a far more serious matter that deserves a big pouty lip, and a couple of loud wails to let you know he is NOT happy. When you're around him all the time you learn how to quickly distract him with an allowed toy or moving him to another room. Pete hasn't honed the skill of distraction (or "quiet time" but that's a whole different blog post) and learned today that laughing about this new development doesn't really help a tired Grant get over the fact that you've taken his toy. I came home from a short trip to the grocery store to see them both in the driveway and Grant's tear stained face led me to believe something serious had happened. The big tears were over a camera case that Daddy wouldn't let him play with.

We're putting Grant into a daycare for the day on July 5th so we can do a date day and I'm having some anxiety about it all. I worry that the separation anxiety will finally kick in and we'll have some trust issues to work on. Ha! I say trust like he's taken the car without permission. It's just the first time he's being left with a sitter (aside from gramma and grampa) and it's a new place, new people. Oh well, I'm sure he will be fine ... it's me that will have the issues :).

In other Granters news - He's doing more sign language. I figured out the way to make him do the sign for "more". The secret is chocolate pudding. I think he would have attempted to skip across the room if he thought it would get him another spoonful of pudding. :) Although, quickly after he did the sign for "more" he made his own sign for "NOW" by banging on his high chair try and screaming. :)

that's all for now.. hope everyone has a happy 4th of july!

-misty

Dad and his shed!

So what seems like many moons ago we visited Costco to buy a shed. This was no simple task as said shed doesn't fit in any car. So we rented a truck from the "cunningly located" UHaul right next to Costco and lugged it home.

Eager to start I opened the huge boxes and sat down with the manaul - Yes I'm not that stupid and know my limitations with DIY - So I read the manual. It clearly stated that the ground must be level - showed pictures of people leveling ground with a 2x4 and level etc...

So I headed out and found a bit of level ground in our yard - looked great to me - damn level alright.

So I started assembling the shed....

Screw floor pieces together - Check
Find side - panels - Check
Put first side panel up and attach to the floor - check
Put second side panel up and attach to the floor - check
Put third side panel up and attach to the floor - check
Put fourth side panel up and attach to the floor - check errr welllll no.... errrmmmm...

It appears the manual really wasn't kidding about using levels and making sure the ground was absolutely flat. The fourth side didn't line up right due to the ground not being perfectly level.

At this point there was a bit of swearing.

So I had to unassemble the whole thing (no easy task due to the "snap" bits not "unsnapping" easily - technical shed building term)

So I had shed pieces all over our yard and 3 huge shed boxes blocking up one stall of our garage.

For weeks.

Undeterred I paid our local landscaping neighbors guy to level off a section of yard properly.

Finally last weekend I built the thing! Only actually took about 3 hours - I got it all done apart from the Windows which had to wait for the next weekend....

Now its all finally ready we had a big family shed opening ceremony...

9 month visit and Grant speaks!!

We had Grant's 9 month visit on Friday which was also my birthday. At the time I thought the best birthday present was finding out he didn't have any injections due at this visit! Our little heffalump is now 21.5 lbs and 29.5" tall. He's in the 95 percentile for height and 50th for weight. Which is what he's always been. Mr. Long and Lean. He did have to have a finger poke to test for anemia which I thought would make him cry but he only seemed to be mad that he couldn't play with the little tubes they collect the blood in.

AND THEN Grant said his first word!! I know that babies' first words are whatever you kind of hear them to be but this was the first time anything he said was really recognizable. Pete came home a bit early from work and waved at Grant and said "Hello" and Grant looked back at him and waved and said "H'lo" right back. We kind of laughed and repeated "Hello" with waving and he kept doing it! I don't think he completely understands what it means or when to do it.. but he knows that saying "Hello" goes with waving. He's stopped to wave and say "H'lo" to us at various times throughout the weekend.

So all in all a great birthday weekend and a great Father's day :)

While on the subject of Father's Day I'd just like say what a great Dad Peter is. Since we've had Grant, Pete rushes home every night to make sure he can be there to say goodnight at the end of each day. Grant completely lights up every time he sees him. When he hears Peter's voice somewhere in the house he looks to the stairwell where daddy always magically appears from every night. On the weekends when Pete's around to help out more with Grant, he's always taking him outside around the yard pointing out little leaves and bugs and things. I love watching Daddy/Grant time and seeing that special bond they've already developed. And while he'll never be happy about having to help out with icky diapers (who would) I know he's as in love with our little guy and what's better than that, really? Though, I wonder if Grant has any idea that Daddy's secretly counting down the days til he can hand over the mowing to him? Happy Fathers Day!

-misty

waterbabies and attitude

Grant starts waterbabies next week so I had an orientation and had to buy his swimming gear. Of course I rushed home to try it on him. He was just happy to be rid of most of his clothes. :)

I also tried to get a pic of him when I take too long with the bottle. Once he finally gets it he glares at me out the side of his eyes while he angrily drinks his milk. :) This isn't the really angry glare as he was torn between being mad and smiling for the camera.

-misty

mr. munchmouth

So Grant's been getting better at getting things in his mouth including veggie puffs, cheerios, and who knows what else. I keep catching him coming out of the kitchen chomping his mouth obviously snacking on something in there on the ground. When dogs do this you think.. hrm.. cool... kind of useful.. when your 9 month old does this it's not really cute. If he's gained any weight at his next Dr. visit it's going to be from his diet of dust bunnies, cheerios and random pieces of paper. I'm always pulling some sort of paper from Grant's mouth, whether it's a receipt, kleenex, sales ad (his favorite) or shopping list they all end up crammed in his mouth with little chompmarks taken out. I've been in denial that he's actually ingested any of these things. I quickly grab them away and think "whewww good thing I got to that in time" and then just kind of blatantly ignore the missing parts of the paper. Yesterday I found a piece of paper when I was changing his diaper that assured me he IS actually eating this stuff. On the flipside I realized apples were on sale at Safeway.

-misty

mini-vacation and our little monkey..

We spent memorial day weekend in Whistler B.C. (cool little ski resorty village in Canada) and had a great time. Traveling wasn't as easy as our earlier trips have been as Grant isn't sleeping as much as he did when he was a baby but he was pretty good during the long drive. I sat next to him and kept passing him toys. We've labeled the space between his carseat and the door "the land of misfit toys". When he's tired of a toy or isn't interested anymore he chucks it off the side of his car seat into this space and whines because he doesn't have any toys. Then an hour later when you go to get him out of his carseat you have an avalanche of rejected toys the minute you open the car door.

Here are some pics oot and aboot Whistler.

The condo we stayed at was a one bedroom condo was really nice and really close to the village. Because it was a one bedroom condo Grant's portable crib thing had to be placed in the bedroom we slept in. He LOVED waking up and being able to stand up and be heard immediately. He also liked being able to crawl around and investigate every non-toy in sight. We brought this huge bag of toys up that was ignored for most of the weekend. He had fun climbing up the one step they had too, though I wasn't brave enough to let him try climbing down.

He's such a little monkey. Today I had to finally ban him from playing with the canvas bin I bought to store all of his toys. He's been playing with the bin more than his toys and today he flipped it upside down and kept throwing his toys over it and then trying to crawl up over the bin to get the toys again. The bin is like a foot+ tall and he can get his entire body on top of it and then reaches over the side for his toy. A bit too scary for me.

I've got him signed up for swimming lessons starting June 20th. I can't wait. He's going to love that.

-misty

can't get no satisfaction, mothers day & cutest shoes ever...

As I've mentioned before Grant is a mover. When he could only roll he'd groan and furrow his brow because he couldn't go forward. When he worked out how to scooch fwd he'd grunt and squeak when he couldn't get where he wanted fast enough. Now that he's got crawling mastered and is pulling himself up onto things he's frustrated because UP simply isn't good enough.. he wants to be climbing. He pulls himself up and with outstretched arms he starts clawing at the couch for grip. Then he raises his legs reaching for something to give him some leverage, grunting and complaining in frustration the whole time. He's such a little monkey. In the picture above he was just trying to climb up that toy but got distracted by the camera when I took it out. He looks so big in that picture. :)

I also noticed something new he's started doing this week. We've got hardwood flooring upstairs with rugs in each room. His little play area is on a rug in the sitting room. Since he's really motoring around and he's really curious he often makes a line drive for more interesting things in the other room. I noticed as soon as he left one carpet "island" and was on hardwood he'd pop his butt up in the air and walk on his hands and feet until he got to the other carpeted area where he'd go back to crawling normally. He's either doing this because it hurts his knees or because he gets less traction on the wood floor, either way it's cute to watch and he does it now without slowing down. Crawl, crawl, crawl, monkeywalk, monkeywalk, monkeywalk, crawl, crawl, crawl.

This weekend was my first mother's day. I wish I could say I spent the day hanging out doing motherly things but I spent the morning at Urgent Care finding out that my fever, hacking cough, and general lousy feelings were Bronchitis. So Peter spent mother's day taking care of Grant while I got some much needed rest. Grant got me his own card and Pete tried tracing his hand as his signature. The result was exactly what I would have imagined would happen if you tried tracing Grant's hand with a pen.. He was very interested in what the stick wiggling his fingers around was and kept grabbing it with the other hand. The result was four kind of finger looking bumps with lots of scribbles in between and around them. It is now one of my most treasured posessions. I love being a mom.

Oh.. so here's something cool too.. so it's really hard sometimes to walk past the rows and rows of little girls cute clothes and then located the one tiny corner of boys clothes. The unfairness of it all annoys me ... and then I found THESE? Are these the cutest shoes/sandals you've EVER seen?!



-misty

oh the joys...

I can't remember if I've mentioned Grant's "naked time" before bed earlier or not. Basically, on occasion and if I'm running ahead of schedule, I strip Grant down naked and throw him in his crib with a few toys right before I give him a bath. He LOVES it and the squeals of glee always crack me up. Besides, he's got plastic sheets so if he wees then I can just change the sheets and clean up. When I've told people this I've gotten a few knowing looks from other mom's that seemed to suggest it was only a matter of time before "naked time" wasn't so cute anymore. That time came today.

In my defense, Grant for the last 3-4 months has always been a really "regular" guy. He basically goes poo once first thing in the morning and then once more mid-morning. Never in the afternoon or evening. I didn't think his mixed up sleep schedule (from being sick) would matter much.

I was running late this evening so I quickly stripped Grant down, put him in his crib and ran into the bathroom right outside his room to run his bath. This literally had to have taken MAYBE 2 minutes.. probably less. I didn't think much about not hearing Grant hopping around and laughing like he always does. When I walked back in I saw something on his mattress and tried to think what toy I threw in there that could have burst open. Was it paint? Food? As I got closer I realized with horror that it was neither. Grant had poo'd and then moved around and wanted to investigate this cool new stuff in his crib. It was everywhere and it was like a scene out of a horror movie. By some incredible stroke of luck Pete came home as I was cleaning Grant and was able to help out with the massive cleanup effort.

It's going to be a long time before the next "naked time". Mind you I was only 2 minutes from it happening in the bath. I'm not sure which would have been worse.

After all of that, there's no way I'm cooking tonight.

-misty

senor snottykins

This is normally how we find Grant everymorning (though he's normally wearing jammies). He's always super excited to see us and even at 7am has that twinkle of mischief in his eye. However, Grant is sick at the moment. I'll spare you the pic of the snotty Hitler moustache that he's been sporting the last two days. He's got the worst cold that he's had to date and he's been teething like crazy. His coughing, congestion, and teeth kept him (and me) up all night. He was up no less than 4 maybe 5 times last night.. probably more.. you lose count in that interrupted sleep haze. He didn't want to eat or do anything more than just snuggle and fall asleep on my shoulder. He's just not been himself for the past two days and I hate seeing him so miserable. Anyway, not much else going on. He's been pulling himself up on things but he gets really frustrated when he can't quite get up to higher platforms like the couch. I keep helping him up because he likes to stand but I really need to back off so he can learn to do it on his own. There are times when I'm walking into the room and I catch him standing or playing and I'm suddenly amazed at how big he is. He was 8 months old yesterday.. 4 months shy of a year!!! That is seriously so unbelievable. Oh, and he's also talking alot more but doesn't seem to do the normal ba-ba-ba, da-da-da, ma-ma-ma babbling.. he's doing "tss tss thsss sthssss" either way it's cute.

-misty

to all the "meanest parents EVER" - thank you..

I was going to wait until Mother’s Day or Father’s Day to post this and then I realized there’s no time like the present to tell people how much you appreciate them.

Last night Peter and I stood over Grant’s crib as he was sleeping and we were both overwhelmed with a sense of how fortunate we really are. As we went to bed that night we talked about how weird it was to think that we were ever that small. I was suddenly hit with the realization that 34 years ago my parents probably stood over my crib and watched me sleep just like we’ve done with Grant over the past seven months. I’ve always known my parents loved me but I don’t think I understood the depth of that love until I had a baby of my own. I know I’ve said it before but I never realized the capacity I had to love until I had Grant and then a new day comes and I love him even more. Sometimes I think there’s no truer expression of absolute love as when I’m feeding Grant at the end of the day and we’re both staring endlessly into each other’s eyes. It’s strange that I’m just now realizing that at one point I was on the other end of that gaze.

When Peter and I talked about it later we then jumped ten years ahead (or sooner) when we’re inevitably going to be told we’re “the meanest parents in the world, EVER” when we don’t give into whatever boundary he’s pushing. How does your heart not break into a million pieces when a child doesn’t understand “no” doesn’t mean I don’t love you? Yet, I thoroughly believe if you don’t hear that you’re the meanest parent ever, then you’re not doing your job. J I know I was a handful, especially during those early teen years with my parents and somehow we came out on the other end all alive and I know my parents still love me. So while I’m at risk for sounding incredibly sappy I’d just like to say “thank you” to every meanest mom and dad in the world who’s realized that you can never love a child too much. You’re making our world a better place.

-misty

our messy pup and his new tricks...

Today I needed to clean the kitchen and cook and Grant was bored with his toys in the sitting room. I knew it was a bath night so I sat Grant in his highchair and handed him a teething biscuit. He's normally a pretty clean eater. Of course, I have to wipe his face off but it's all in the mouth area (below nose above chin) and very little if any on his hands. The teething biscuits were something else. I swear I turned to load the dishwasher for 2 seconds and when I turned back around this is what I found...
He was quite happy with himself and knowing it was bath night I let him gnaw on it for a good 20 minutes. Here's a link to the other photos I snapped off him in all of his cookie goodness.

His crawling has been interesting. He's definitely more mobile but he seems to be trying out new ways of getting around. The standard crawling on his knees wasn't getting him where he wanted fast enough and if he gets too excited it's just quicker for him to launch himself fwd by falling forward over and over. Today I came around the corner and saw him up on his feet like a little monkey and walking with his feet and hands. Whatever he decides to go with he's definitely in a hurry to get SOMEWHERE quick.

He also seemed to work our the zipper on my purse in the grocery store. After 2 separate instances where I thought I was going crazy and leaving my purse unzipped I've realized that he's worked out how to unzip it and get into it.

Everyday he learns a new trick and I'm so glad I'm home all the time to catch them all, I wouldn't change it for the world. :)

-misty

we're officially mobile!!!

Grant is crawling! He was on the floor and finally started moving his hands along with his knees. I'm not quite sure he even realizes what he's doing but he's definitely doing it. We were very proud and cheering him on which only seemed to confuse him. :) Every time we got the video camera out to video it he decided that it would be quicker to drop back down to his falling forward/commando crawling. But he's doing a mix of the two. I think once he's realized the real crawling will get him places quicker the falling fwd crawling he'll permanently make the transition.

Anyway! Exciting news! Hope you all had a good Easter.

btw.. I totally burned the ham...awesome. spent 2.5 hours cooking the stoopid thing and then the next 45 minutes chiseling off all the charred bits. Fortunately it was just the outside and the inside was fine.

-misty

Happy Easter!!

We had these taken when Grant and I were back in Cozad. Grant was a little freaked out by the real bunny at first but seemed to warm up to him. :)

Grant's really becoming his own little person and testing the waters to see how his whines and cries work with us. It might be separation anxiety setting in, I'm not sure. The past few days he cries when you put him down for a nap or to go to bed, even when he's exhausted. It's the kind of crying that totally tugs at your heart and makes you feel horrible for not going in and picking him up for a big snuggle. If he wasn't completely zonked out and snoring 30 seconds later I probably would. So fortunately he seems to have developed the "easily bores" trait from his dad. The great thing with Peter is even when he's being annoying you know that he's going to get bored with it long before you're even mildly annoyed so If you just ignore him it passes pretty quickly. :) I've also had a few talks with Peter about Grant picking up on things from us. He's agreed to try and calm down about things, which is good. My big worry is Grant will grow up believing that indeed all stop lights do hate him and go red as he approaches or that every social engagement is to be dreaded. So I finally have a really good excuse to get him to work on those bad habits. :)

Hope you all have a great Easter. I'm cooking a ham... my first.. wish me luck.

-misty

helloooo!! long time no post

It's been ages since I last posted. We just got back from a 2 week visit in Nebraska visiting Gramma and Grampa. Grant is one well-loved little boy. I was worried he might be a little shy at first but he didn't seem to have any problem whatsoever. Grampa was quick with the bribes and tried putting ice cream in his mouth before we'd even been on the ground for an hour. :) It was a great trip home and good for Grant to see Uncle Chris, Aunt Aj, Taylor, Timmy and the rest of our family and friends that we got to visit. Pete on the other hand had 2 lonely weeks at home and was very glad to have us back.

Joanna, Dennis and Addie came to visit the day after we got back from NE. After the exhaustion of a 6 hour flight delay the night before we were pretty crummy hosts. :P We ended up just hanging out around the house and then taking a walk through the trails around Microsoft.

It was probably just as well as both babies ended up getting sick that evening and were both up throughout the entire night. I think Addie had the worst of it as she sounded hoarse and just looked miserable when they left Sunday morning. Granty was and is just pretty snotty and a little more grumbly than normal.

So on the moving front.. Grant is getting more and more mobile. He's not quite worked out the proper arm movements for crawling but he gets on all fours and makes himself fall forward over and over to get to where he wants to go. He's also worked out a cool maneuver where he walks his feet forward until his butt plops down behind him and he's sitting up. I thought it was an accident the first few times but he's doing this more and more regularly and with more control. He's also doing some weird thing where he is up on his feet and hands with his butt in the air and he puts his head down and likes to lift his hands up to suck his thumb or mess around with toys by his feet. I have no idea what this is about but he's doing it a lot. It's like the pic above but with one or no hands.

This morning Pete went in to get Grant and found he'd pulled himself up on his knees and was holding onto the edge of the crib. I still can't work out how he did this.. we'll have to see if he does it again.

He's definitely becoming his own little person and is showing when he's NOT AMUSED. He's had a bad cold the last couple of days and anytime a Kleenex gets anywhere near his face he growls and turns his head and squeals. Tonight he decided he wasn't tired AT ALL and totally threw a fit when I put him to bed. Fortunately, he's a lot like Pete in that he gets bored pretty quickly. So the rant only lasted about 2 minutes when he then decided he was tired and fell asleep. And don't even get me started on the diapering.. holy cow.. what is it that makes him turn on his stomach the minute his diaper is off?.. once he can really crawl I'm in trouble.

The feeding stuff has been surprising. He seems to be more of a veggie guy. Every time we gather around to feed him something sweet that we expect him to devour like apples or pears he turns up his face and just really doesn't seem to like it. He loved sweet potatoes and seemed to like avocados, corn, and green beans pretty well. When Gramma and Grampa tried to slip him some Jello, whipped cream, chocolate malt and who knows what else he made a face that said in no uncertain terms "what is that revolting crap you just put in my mouth?" and then refused to open his mouth. Totally weird. If he keeps this up Halloween and Easter are going to be disappointing holidays for him. :)

that's all for now :)

-misty

ha! hair pulling.. now i get it!

So for the past 3 months or so Pete laughs everytime he hears me yelp from Grant reaching up and grabbing a handful of hair. But Pete's turn came Monday morning when Grant reached up and grabbed a big handful of his armpit hair and wouldn't let go. He was at at a really weird angle so it was hard for him to get Grant loose. Now I get it.. it IS funny.. :)

-misty

btw my fav part about the pics below is it shows the abuse his socks get daily from his favorite "pull off the socks" game. (beside the fact that they're insanely cute :) )

Grant Photos

Grant and his favorite book....

More photos posted at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/913008/

our .5 year old :)

I just realized the other day that I haven't posted in awhile. Grant is will be 6 months old tomorrow. In some ways I feel like it was just yesterday that we drove to the hospital with nervous anticipation that chilly Sept morning and then I look at the early photos and how much he's learned and grown since then and it seems like ages. He's amazing and no matter how little sleep I have, all is forgotten when I walk in and see his little toothy smile every morning. All the world should wake up so happy or have someone be that happy to see you first thing in the morning.

He's doing new things every day and I don't regret my decision to stay home at all. In the past few weeks he's become SO mobile. He's doing a full combination of backwards crawling, the worm, rolling all over and a killer downward facing dog (a yoga pose). He gets so incredibly frustrated at his lack of control over where he's going that he grunts and squeals non-stop, but doesn't want to be picked up.. he just wants to get to where he wants to go...NOW. We're childproofing this weekend. He also started practicing tons of new weird sounds.. in the middle of the night. It's really weird to hear him babbling and howling and screeching in the next room. I've also got him on a routine now and for the most part HE'S SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Please cue the hallelujah chorus. Yesterday I started giving him rice cereal 3 x a day. He loves his "ricers" and I can't wait to start him on veggies to see what he thinks. We've got his 6 month well baby check up on the 16th and I'll get the go-ahead with our pediatrician then. I think he might be getting some more teeth in as well. He just wasn't himself today and he's been chewing on everythign in sight and had a runny nose tonight too. Hopefully they'll arrive with as little fanfare as the first 2. We haven't taken any new pictures in awhile. Tomorrow I'll try and take some snaps of his crawling moves and get them posted.

-misty

rendezvous with rice cereal and the hand hunter

So for the past 4 days Granty has been trying rice cereal. I think the texture is kind of weirding him out as he attacks the spoon with great enthusiasm and, twists up his face like he's eaten something horrible (not sure i disagree) and then is ready to attack the next spoonful. We took these pics of him that seem to say it all. He's getting better each time with scaling back on the tongue thrust thing that makes it all just dribble down his chin. He's worked out how to blow rice cereal raspberries and he seems to think it's pretty cool. I'm going through bibs like they're paper towels and the grit of rice cereal is just everywhere when we're finished but it's all really cute. The first 2 nights he had 8 hour blocks of sleep and last night he slept from 6pm til 7am only waking at 9pm for a bottle!!! I'm seriously hoping I didn't just jinx that. So it seems the rice cereal is making a difference in that area. My friend Gail came over yesterday in the middle of his rice cereal feast. I'd JUST wiped off his face and gave him one more bite and ran to get the door. Gail came in and said "Whoah!! you've got it allllll over you!!" It's amazing how such a tiiiny amount can be spread over his ENTIRE face.

He's also "discovering" his hands but unlike most babies that stare at them in wonder Grant captures one hand with the other and then stares at it with great suspicion. He seems to be glad he's caught this thing on the end of his arm with wiggly sticks coming out of it. I need to try and get a picture of it but he seems to only go "hand hunting" when he's in quiet mode.

He's also made a game of pulling off his socks EVERY TIME I put them on his feet. In fact, dressing him has become a royal pain in the butt. He pushes himself off my legs with his feet, arches his back, rolls over, twists and turns and that's just putting a onesie on him.

And speaking of moving.. he's moving all over. It takes him awhile but he's still inchworming all over. You can see and hear the frustration from not getting where he wants as fast as he wants.

Oh, and this is his little dood outfit... put it on here for no other reason than I think it's cute.


Anyway, it's been a long day so that's it for now. :)

-misty