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

Our New Zealand photos are now all online

Our photos are now online at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dampier/sets/72057594065178369/

Thanks to my Mum, Sister, Cripsin, Bryan, Dave and Jill for their wonderful hospitality while we stayed with them. We had a truly wonderful vacation. Thank you!

Grant's rules for traveling...

Well we're back from sunny New Zealand and the last of our flights til the end of March when Grant and I travel back to Nebraska to see Gramma and Grampa again. And while Grant was an amazing little traveler he does has a few diehard travel rules that he adheres to while traveling...

1. Will refuse to nap in any airport and will get fussy unless taken out of stroller in order to entertain and smile at anyone within 10 feet.

2. Will board plane with no trouble but will refuse to sit or lie down until I've met all my neighbors on the plane and given them ample time to smile at me and tell me how cute I am.

3. Will only fall asleep when mum or dad have me in THE most uncomfortable position that is impossible to maintain for more than 10 minutes at a time.

4. No matter how many times my diaper is changed prior to trip, will have a full-on blow out upon entering the airport or in the last 15 minutes of flight no matter how long.

Yes, this means Grant has had a blow out EVERY SINGLE FLIGHT no matter how long the flight. I realize that almost every post in this blog is about poo but I type how we're finding parenting and what's going on in little Granty's life and believe you me, I, more than anyone wish there were a lot fewer blowouts.

On the poo-ing front I did discover Napi-san while in New Zealand!! The only thing that without fail has removed all traces of blow-outs with one soaking. It's the best!! It actually works!! Good God I sound like all those women in detergent and mop commercials that are a little too excited about cleaning. I've been gainfully unemployed for less than a month and I'm already woozy over cleaning crap.. I could be becoming my worst nightmare.

Oh yeah.. I'm no longer an employee of Microsoft. After 4 months with my little guy there was no way that I could think about leaving him for 8+ hours a day. There are too many milestones and smiles that I'd miss by being away from him daily.

So aside from the pooing Grant is getting SO big. Aside from his little toothy-pegs shown below he's now sitting up like a champ. He only topples over when he's lunging for something to his right or left. He's also been doing this tongue thing he sticks out his little tongue all the time. I'm not sure if it's related to his teeth or not but the two seemed to happen around the same time. It looks really cute too but I'm afraid he's going to get chapped lips. He also is getting great at grabbing things like glasses, hair - right at the root where it really hurts, clothes, toys etc. He is a master at the fake-out with the glasses though. He'll open his hand in front of you and wave it around and you think oh cute he's watching his hand and whammo! out of no-where he quickly reaches up and snatches your glasses. I think he's also now too big for his infant car seat so no more infant carrier. I'm not looking forward to that change. Just as you're getting really used to something, like transporting him around, it all changes.

I think he really misses watching the craziness of his "little people" (his cousins Luca and Arabella). He must really wonder what's going on with all the family we've visited lately. People always comment on what a happy baby he is and I'm sure it's because he knows he's well loved by all the family we've been visiting and of course, mom & dad.

Anyway, pics of New Zealand trip are posted on Flicker (or soon will be.. Pete's in charge of that so blame him when they're not up) :)

-misty

WE HAVE CHOMPERS!!

We're currently visiting Dave and Jill in Napier. (They've just had a baby 3 weeks ago! Pics of the dads will follow later). Anyway, woke up this morning and was playing around with Grant and pulled down his bottom lip only to find TWO LITTLE TEETH peeking out!!!

They're so stinking cute...

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

Grant the non-sleeper

Well its all too much for Granty-claus (as we now call him in honour of the Christmas spirit) - His latest trick is to keep awake until late at night refusing to go to bed due to all the excitement of meeting new folks. He then crashes out only to wake at 12, 2, 4, and 6am.... Next he has a nap until 8am when he wakes again causing us to decide that he is now "up" for the day - so we shower/get dressed - Only for him to crash out around 8.30am for a couple of hours while we're left up thinking - "Damn I could do with some sleep".... :)

Of course its now 11.30pm and we could have been asleep for 2+ hours along with Grant but we missed that boat again...

He is loving all the attention though! Smiles galore, he's also discovered reaching and grabbing Mum and Dad's glasses! Time to put contacts in tomorrow.... Of course the Mr Poopemheimer tendancies are still there - We need a lot of clothes each day for Mr Granty-Claus - One red suit just ain't gonna cut it.

Some friends of Misty's parents also had a spare Jumperoo so he is loving using that here in Cozad as well as the one my Mum gave him for Christmas in Seattle... Much appreciate that as it really helps keep him entertained while normal life proceeds...

Off to meet some of Misty's high school friends tomorrow night which we're looking forward to especially since Joanna and Dennis had a baby girl(Addie) this summer - It will be fun to catch up both with them and their experiences.

Signing off - 'Sleepless in Seattle-errr Cozad'

Pete.

Christmas in Cozad

We arrived in Cozad on Saturday afternoon after a 2am start to the day in Seattle. The plane trip with Grant went pretty well though its amazing how many dirty looks you get from people on a plane when a baby cries! The number of times Misty and I both wanted to shout out, "Yes we love the noise to" was limitless. :)

We spent Saturday at Chris and Audra's (Misty's brother and sister-in-law) and had a great time catching up with them and Taylor and Timmy (who have grown so much in 6 months since the baby shower this last summer).... Chris daringly offered to let me try out the ATV's that he'd bought this last fall and I survied - had much fun flying off ridges around their yard. The cold couldn't stop that much fun, even if it did take some effort to get Misty to try them out...

Its was a balmy -17c here last night with a day time high of -9c - Pretty cold but at least no additional wind chill to make things truly evil. I think Grant got quite a shock going from the car to the house etc....

Grant's Grandma and Grandpa arrived back at the house after we'd driven across to Cozad earlier on Sunday afternoon.... There was a mad rush between them both to get into the house first to see (a sleeping!) Grant...

Some photos of Grant as he gets into the Christmas spirit:

our little show-off

So I think I've figured out that Grant only likes to perform his cool new tricks in front of an audience. We've always joked around about Grant having a crush on his doctor. Everytime we go to her office he's completely whiney up until the point she enters the room. She checks him all over and he looks at her with those big eyes like "look at what a good baby I am.. I'm always like this!". The minute she leaves he starts to fuss. When I webcam with my mom and dad Grant is always doing his little tricks smiles for the camera. Today at my moms group I put Grant on the ground to show everyone his little inchworm crawling. Grant started up right away and once everyone ooo'd and ah'd he flipped from his front to his back. Everyone was well impressed and after the praise stopped he'd flipped back to his front like he'd been doing this at home all the time. He also sits on my lap during the entire group and watches all the other babies as they get fussy as if he never does himself. Little show-0ff.

We're off to Nebraska in a few hours and it's truly unbelievable how much additional crap we've had to pack. I just emailed my brother who is picking us up at the airport and asked him to maybe consider bringing 2 cars. Crazy how one little guy can require so much stuff!!

off to shower and get a teeny bit of sleep before we leave the house at 2:45am!!!!

wish us luck!!!

-misty

look ma no hands! and our faceless baby...

So last night Peter watched Grant while I ran out and finished up some last minute errands before our big trip. The problem with this is that Pete tends to think all awake time is high stimulation play time. I came home at 9:45pm only to find Pete and Grant awake and singing on the floor. This totally screwed with his sleep time and he was awake every 3 hours again last night.

The good thing is that he wanted to impress Dad during Daddy/Grant time and really worked hard on his crawling. But he is a stubborn little guy. He doesn't think he's got any real need for arms or hands at this point other than the fact that they have thumbs on the end of them. When we do tummy time he kicks and gets his little butt up in the air but leaves his arms back and at his side. I move them to the front and he moves them right back to where they were. Last night during tummy time with Pete he's figured out he can do the whole crawling thing sans arms. He looks like a little inchworm sticking his butt up in the air and pushing his face and chest forward on the carpet. He doesn't get very far but seems to be pretty happy that he's finally moving. Meanwhile I think we're going to have to invest in a boxing helmet or something to avoid carpet burns on his face- we've got Christmas pictures coming soon!

At around 1am last night he went went right into the high pitched squeals bypassing the normal "I'm hungry" whiney-type cries. So I rushed in to make sure he was ok and found his foot sticking out the slats of the crib. He does this a lot and then gets stuck so I thought that was the problem but when I grabbed his foot it was facing toes down. In my sleep deprived stupor I started to panic that he'd somehow completely broken his foot and it was now dangling the wrong way around. I panned up his little body to his face to comfort him and it was GONE. Panic had really set in as I looked at my baby who'd broken his foot and lost his face. I actually stood there completely confused for a full two seconds before I realized that his cries were coming from closer to the face side of his head which was on the mattress, and that he'd figured out how to roll over in the night and got himself stuck. I know this sounds like an exaggeration.. I can assure you it's not. Somehow with the little sleep I've been getting this all made sense at the time.

We're off on Saturday and I'm totally excited but totally nervous about the whole traveling with Grant thing. We'll see how we do... wish us luck!

-misty

Grant the Husker fan.....

Grant in his cool outfit from Mistys Mum and Dad...

More photos in the album....

Next Saturday we fly back to Cozad - Grant's first plane trip. The mind boggles at the complexities involved. Planning has begun!

Rent! the movie & doodie calls...

I took Granty to this ReelMom's movie day which was featuring Rent! I was sort of addicted to the Rent soundtrack while I was pregnant and he used to kick up a storm when I listened to it. I didn't have long to find out how he'd react. He bounced and sang along to every song for the first 45 minutes. I actually missed the beginning of the movie because I was laughing and watching him "Ooooo ooooo OOOOO oooooooeeeooooo" along every time a song came on.

His sing-a-long got him so excited that he ended up doing the mother of all blow-outs during the second half of the movie. I took him up to the changing pad in the restroom and spent the next 30 minutes and all the wipes I had left in my diaper bag getting him cleaned up. I actually considered clogging up one of the sinks and just dipping his butt in it but thought I might get some dirty looks from other theater go-ers. Also, I didn't know which parts of him I could touch without getting myself dirty. Having these blow-outs at home is one thing, having them remotely is quite another. I got him changed and into his reserve outfit and patted myself on the back for having the foresight to pack extra clothes and matching socks. As I walked out I felt a spot on my arm go warm and he'd wee'd through his diaper that I'd haphazardly threw on in my blow-out changing frenzy. Fortunately it was a small spot and he didn't seem to bothered by it until we got home that afternoon.

In other news Grant is getting more and more animated and smiley day by day. I can't wait to go home for Christmas and introduce him to everyone and see Gramma and Grampa again! Only 11 more days!!!

-misty

Its Christmas early for Grant....

Grant's Granny left him a fabulous early Christmas present before returning to New Zealand....

See Grant in all his bouncing glory!!

He also just started reaching out for objects and the toys on the front of the bouncer are of extreme interest to him!

Of course none are still as interesting as his best friend lampie.







Dad being honored with a smile normally reserved for lampie!










More photos of Grant uploaded to the Flickr photo album in the 'Grant' set - You can now order prints directly from Flickr and pick them up at Target... 10 free!

and we're mobile!... sort of..

So getting Grant transitioned from sleeping in his swing to sleeping in the crib seems to have been much easier than I imagined. The last few nights he's slept all night in the crib. He doesn't like to initially go down in the crib, but I think it's more to do with him wanting to be up socializing with the adults. If I've learned anything in my 3 months as a parent it's not to celebrate these small milestones too prematurely but it's been 3 nights out of the swing cold turkey and he's doing well so I'll do my small celebratory dance quietly in the corner. :)

Now that he's got all this wide open space I keep coming in to find him in completely different places to where I placed him. At first I thought I was losing my mind or that Pete was putting him to bed sideways in his crib for some reason. But yesterday I walked past his room to check on him and his head was on the right hand side. I went back to the kitchen to get a glass of water and heard him starting to stir. I grabbed his bottle and heated it (to his exact preferred temperature :P) and when I got back to his room he'd completely flipped around. So he's mobile.. but circularly mobile. And he's not so great at working out his path of travel. Sometimes I'll come in and his legs are both hanging out the slats in the crib. Sometimes, like tonight, his head is against the railing and he's gotten himself stuck (don't worry - he lets us know when this happens). I can't work out how he's really doing it. I know when I change him he's like a snake in reverse on his back slithering away from me. So anyway, I'm thinking he could make some decent snow angels in motion (more like snow circles) when we get back to Nebraska this winter. :)

He's starting to smile and talk a lot more and wow is it ever cute. He's also taken an interest in actually LOOKING at the person holding him. He's normally Mr. Take-Everything-In EXCEPT the person holding me and is constantly looking around the room. The last couple of days it's actually startled me to have him in front of me studying my face and staring intently at me. It's kind of silly but today it actually made me a bit teary. I was so full of love it was leakin' out my eyes. :) I can't remember what our life was like before we had him.

-misty

happy thanksgiving & mysterious flying socks!...

We had a good Thanksgiving yesterday and Grant celebrated by having blowouts all day and going through 4 different outfits in about 3 hours time. He had Thanksgiving cheer coming out the rear.

When I put Grant to sleep last night he was in a little outfit with socks on. He'd been particularly fussy and woke up a few hours later. When I went to get him I once again, found one sock flung up by his head and the other up by his arm. I have no idea how he's doing this. I know he kicks his feet a lot when he's fed up and that his legs are really strong for a baby his age. But I've never seen him do high kicks with enough force to fling a sock. And while his legs are really strong he doesn't seem to have any interest in working out his hands and arms. He does occasionally grab at my hair and shirt but if you put a rattle in his hand he just lets it fall out. I really want to put our video camera in his room to find out how this is happening. If he's juggling socks when we leave the room I'd like to capitalize on that now and book him into the nearest circus. :)

On a more serious note and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd just like to say what I'm thankful for this year. I'm thankful for our great friends and family around the world who all send their love and well wishes via email and phone calls. It's incredibly hard to be so far away from our families especially now that we have Grant. It's nice to know you're all reading to keep up with how we're doing. I'm of course incredibly grateful and thankful for being blessed with Grant and his wonderful father, Peter. Everyday Grant does something funny and I love having Pete to share all of this with. From the time I was pregnant we referred to Grant as "our little chicken" and Pete and I were the sole members of Team Chicken. Having Pete there to encourage, share, and take care of me after a rough night has made this parenting gig that much easier (Though I do wish he'd jump up and take the early morning feeding a bit more often :) ).

Hope you all had a great turkey day!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but please feel free to leave comments here or on flicker. It lets me know someone is actually reading our blog and if anything will guilt me into posting and adding photos more often. :)

-misty

Grant and Family

Grant and his Granny - My Mum is in Seattle visiting Grant - He actually smiles for her too which is better than for his Mum and Dad!














Misty, Grant and myself at Deception Pass, Whidbey Island near Seattle.










Here is Grant laughing at his favorite friend - Lampie (a lamp in our living room!)

More photos from the above sets in our photo album - link on the right of this page.

Battle of the Bottle, Round 2.....

I think we have a little Chef Gordon Ramsey on our hands. Grant is now very particular about the temperature of his milk and will make no qualms about sending his dinner back to the kitchen if it's not perfect. If he eats his meal in a leisurely fashion then by the time he gets halfway through the bottle the temperature of the milk is suddenly UNACCEPTABLE. He'll put his mouth around the nipple to gauge the temperature and then squeal and kick and put his face up in a scowl until we make the trip to the kitchen to warm it up to his liking. If he thinks I'm warming or chilling his plates when he's on solids he's going to be sorely disappointed.

He's getting on well with Granny and Brian and slowly getting used to hearing more voices in the house. We've had a few challenging bedtimes but last night he did quite well after he finally went down. Pete also wanted to note he took his first trip to the Ballard locks on Sunday. (I'm not quite so sure why this was worth noting considering he was sleeping in his stroller covered from the rain the entire time). He also did amazingly well when we all went to lunch at Ray's Boathouse and only let the entire restaurant know he was there at the end of the meal when he had to get strapped into his carseat.

We're off to do some shopping today :)

-misty

Mum and Bryan visiting

Grant met Granny for the first time this last Fri - Pics to follow!

well that was a whole lot of nuthin'...

So for the past week I've had tons of anxiety over Grant's 2 month doctor visit (where you get your 4 vaccinations at once). I actually lost precious sleep worrying about it all. So we get there and do the normal doctor Q&A bit and Grant is totally happy and smiley. He really noticed the mirror along the back of the table this time and seems to LOVE how the paper underneath of him crinkled when he kicked and moved around. Then the nurse came in with her tray of needles while I held his pacifier in his mouth. I felt so incredibly deceptive knowing he was going to get jabbed. So she jabbed him and he of course screamed and looked at me like "How could you?!". And I cried and then picked him up and gave him his bottle and that was it. He cried for maybe 30 seconds while I was getting out his bottle and then he conked out. His pediatrician said he may sleep for 4-6 hours this afternoon. I didn't expect myself to be that affected by it all. I know it's quick pain and the benefits of the vaccinations obviously outweigh the 30 seconds of pain but I guess I don't have much experience with the "I'm hurt" crying. I didn't realize how I'd become used to the I'm hungry, bored or tired cries until I heard him squeal on that table. That made me feel more like a mom in that minute than anything I could imagine. I would have done anything to make it better. So, yeah, 30 seconds of crying and the most peaceful, angelic looking nap I've seen afterwards. Not so bad.

-misty

SCREEEEEECH.. If this were a movie this is where the record would screech and then I'd eat my words.

So an hour after this original post all hell broke loose and Grant screamed that "I'm hurt" cry for 2.5 hours straight. Poor little guy. By the time Pete got home at 5pm with the Infant Tylenol we were both crying our heads off. Fortunately the Tylenol only took about 15 minutes to work and he was fine.

Oh! he's 12lbs 8oz and 24" long and really advanced in his motor skills. 2 more inches and he's outgrown his infant carseat. And this morning I came in to find him practicing his escape out of his swing. One leg was completely over the edge of the swing and the other was over the center hump and he was lying all crooked and scooched over.

Sun, what sun?

his timing and aim are impeccable...

Grant peed on me again today... twice. It's one thing to be peed on so often and quite another to get peed on and then look down to see Grant grinning from ear to ear after he did it. One of the few times he's ever smiled at us. Pete thought this was genius.

Every time I tell someone Grant's peed on me they invariably say "Don't you cover him up?!" like I'm somehow taking off his diaper and leaving him naked for hours, dipping his fingers in warm water and running water near his head and THEN he wees on me. I know I'm supposed to cover him up. The thing is he's really squirmy. First of all, I think he'd ditch his clothes all together if he had any say in the matter. The minute I start unsnapping his clothes he starts kicking his legs. I have to capture them one at a time to get them out of his jammies. When I pull down the diaper I have seconds (or less) to get him covered. Sometimes as I'm pulling it down he starts peeing and its a quick "duck and cover" job. When I do have time to cover him up he kicks his little legs back and forth and the cover falls off. Covering him is like trying to put a sweater on a worm. When I was pregnant I saw these PeePee TeePee's advertised in the back of a magazine and considered it. But the distance and force in which it comes out leave me with images of the old cartoons with Bugs Bunny sitting on top of "Old Faithful".

So I'll keep trying to cover him as quick as I can and stay out of the line of fire as much as possible. If he grins at me again afterwards I'm going to know it's not so involuntary.

-misty

I just had a look at those PeePee TeePees.. the Santa Claus ones are great!

another one bites the dust and hand-sandwich at last!...

I realized the other night that another one of the parenting resolutions we made went out the door. I was so sure I would uphold this one because seriously, how hard could it be?

#6 Don't tiptoe around the house while he's sleeping so he gets used to normal household noise.

After spending hours trying to get the little bugger off to bed I find myself tiptoeing out of his room and doing everything in slow motion careful not to make any additional noise. I've even thought of reading the microwave manual to see if I can turn off the bleeps (I've already become a pro at doing the microwave countdown and stopping it with one second left to avoid the loud triple bleep telling me my food is done). If he happens to hear there's anything going on outside of his room he wants to be out in the mix living it up with everyone. It's going to be a sad day when he realizes the party going on outside of his room is really mom emptying the dishwasher. Pete on the other hand never puts him back to bed so he's great at stomping around, clinking dishes and doing whatever it is he normally does with lots of noise. I'm sure it's quite comical to watch me whisper-screaming at him to be quiet and use his "inside voice". He doesn't get it.. or maybe it's me that doesn't get it. :)

In other news, Grant has found out he can pacify himself pretty good with a hand sandwich with a side of fingers. It seems to take a great amount of slurping and smacking to get a good enough portion of his hand in there. His slurping can be heard in our room across the hall with both doors closed. He seems to prefer the thumb all the way down to the second knuckle and a portion of his pointer finger though on occasion I have caught him with the starfish face plant (thumb in mouth, fingers open and sprawled across his face).

Other than that not too much news to report. He's getting cuter by the minute.

Grant's Halloween outfit

DSC01437
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!

DSC01353
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...