greetings from Queenstown!

again not much time but wanted to say a quick hello from everyone. We couldn't have been blessed with a better little traveler. Grant didn't cry at all on the long 6 hour car trip from Christchurch to Queenstown. His sleep schedule was messed up for a bit but all seems to be back in order now. I'm typing this from an Internet Cafe right now and it has a webcam so I thought I'd post a pic of Grant and how big he's getting.


Note how happy he looks after he had the biggest blow out to date. Nothing to kick you out of feeling like a trendy youngster in a cool cafe quicker than picking up your adorable baby and finding out he's blown through a onsie and a THICK canvas like overall shortset. I actually had to dip his butt in a sink in the bathroom, which ended up being a half sink the entire thing was a disaster I don't want to repeat anytime soon. Not to mention the fact that we're carting around an outfit covered in poo in the sweltering sun all day.. gross.

Greetings from New Zealand! I only have a few minutes to type so this will be quick. The international flight went beautifully! Grant slept the entire time only waking up a few times for a bottle and for the first time EVER I was actually able to get some sleep on the flight. I’m convinced it’s because since having a baby my body has gotten used to grabbing sleep when I have any opportunity. Grant had 3 straight days of sleeping through the night and then back to waking up every 3-4 hours. I’m sure he’ll get the full night thing down just as we’re about to leave and then his internal clock will screw it all up again!

The day after we arrived we went to a barbeque at Bryan's house and it was the first time Grant had really spent any time outside. He wasn’t his normal, smiley self as he had to battle HOT sun, slimey sunscreen and a hat with a bill that seemed to limit his vision. I think he was still suffering from a bit of jetlag too.

The next day we went down to Sumner Beach and Grant had his first little paddle in the water. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the cold water that kept rushing in but loved to squish his feet in the sand.

We’re off today to watch the World Busker Festival in the town center—will post some pics soon!

OH! Grant has been rolling around like crazy and scooching like a madman.. crawling is SO close!!!

we may have a superhero in our presence...

I think we may have a superhero in our presence. His superpower seems to be the ability to freeze people for a few seconds. When we were back in Nebraska, Grant and I had gone to bed a bit early and Pete came up like an hour later to go to bed. I saw Pete turn to get into bed and he froze, crouched over,leg in mid-air. In my groggy state I gave him a confused look and through his teeth he whispered "I've been caught". Grant had opened his eyes just as Pete was getting into bed and the threat of waking up made Pete freeze in his tracks.

There have been other instances where he's used his super powers to get out of naps. I'll put him down sleepy for his nap and go do something. When I walk back by to check on him I'll peek through his cracked door only to find his little eyes staring right back at me. It totally catches me off guard and freezes me every time. If I walk away he starts crying because he knows I've seen him.

Yesterday morning I put him back to sleep after feeding him and went to wash some bottles. When I walked back past his room I glanced in only to see the top of his little head and his eyes peeking over the new bumper we'd just bought him. He'd flipped over onto his stomach and pushed himself up really high and was waiting for me to walk by to use his freeze-ray eyes.

He obviously needs to hone his craft in order to fight crime because as of right now his super powers are only getting him out of naps. But I do have to say that freeze-ray eyes beat out wonderwoman's "lasso of truth" any day. I don't know if the Justice League of America even has any openings but if she got in with that lame super power I think Grant just might have a chance... oh yeah.. she had the invisible jet too. hrm. guess I don't need to shop for a super hero outfit just yet.

-misty

zombification...

I'll tell you what's not fun. Waking up every two hours with Grant's cold would have been fine but feeding him with a bunged up nose seems to take 3 times as long since he can't work out the breathing and eating thing simultaneously. So by the time I've pumped, fought with him to do the nasal aspirator, fed him and got him back to bed I'm exhausted. I climb back into bed only to be next to Peter who has developed a horrible cold that causes him to snore, grunt, hum and make some really loud strange guttural noise that could wake the dead. So by the time I finally get used to that noise and start to drift off.. Grant is hungry again!! Yay!! If one of them doesn't get better soon I'm going to start having double Nyquil martinis myself.

- misty

home from the holidays and "mommy merit badges"

Well we're back from the holiday. We had a fantastic time home seeing friends and family (see all of our holiday photos here) and showing off Grant to anyone within a 10ft radius. It felt like it was a nice lengthy vacation yet as always we still didn't get to see everyone and do everything we would have liked. It's a weird after having no sort of childcare at home to having 10,000 arms lining up to carry and play with Grant. I don't have a problem with other people holding him I just didn't want people to think I was always trying to relieve myself of my parental duties. Having said that we were allowed the luxury of getting in a few naps and going to TWO movies (2 thumbs up for Narnia and 2 so-so thumbs for KingKong).

Grant also got his first cold on Christmas Day. :( I thought it would have run through his system by the time we headed back but no such luck. Fortunately, the congestion didn't seem to affect his ears too much during the flight and he only had about 3 minutes of fussy time the whole trip. He has never been a really snugly baby. He's never liked resting his head on your shoulder. If he's up there it's just another opportunity for him to look around at stuff. You could tell he was sick and felt miserable because he had no interest in looking around. He just rested his head on my shoulder or chest as I walked him around. This trip I was also faced with my former gross-out thing and found it wasn't so bad, in fact I forgot I would have normally been grossed out. I think everyone has their gross-out thing whether it be poop, saliva, earwax, spit-up or whatever I think we all have one thing that skeeves us out. Mine is snot. I was kinda grossed out by the nasal aspirator (booger sucker) for awhile before I had Grant. After hearing his little congested breathing and hearing him all clogged up I gladly used it to try and help our little dood out. When he sneezed on the plane on the ascent I had no kleenex on me and without thinking I used my sleeve to wipe his nose. When his little head conked out on my shoulder his nose continued to run onto my shirt and I didn't think twice. I wore the two little snotty streaks on my shoulder as some sort of "mommy merit badge" and never thought about them again until I threw the shirt into the laundry that evening. Of course my concern for Grant's well being would always overshadow any sort of bodily fluid he's flung on me but I didn't expect it to be such a non-event. I didn't recoil in horror, I didn't think EWW, I just thought "oh.. poor little dude, you're really not feeling well, rest your head". Anyway... I know this is all the stuff every other parent has ever felt so it's not exactly ground breaking news. I just thought I'd share another of my "mom moments".

Took Grant into the doc today to make sure it was nothing more than a cold. He weighs 14lbs 7 oz. I thought for sure he'd be up more than that. I checked with the doc and he's in the 50th percentile. He's fluctuated between 50th and 75th since we've had him. But the doc assured me all is normal. He's back in to the doc on Thurs for his 4 month well baby check-up where he'll get his 4 other DTAP injections :(. Not looking forward to that.

Anyway, I'm off to start unpacking and start setting things aside for our New Zealand trip.

-misty