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