I'm sure it's not just me but...

How is it that Grant is outside for 15 minutes and manages to get THREE HOURS WORTH of dirty?

-misty

Surgery over, ear tubes in and adenoids out...

Grant had his surgery today and is fairing pretty well. As much as I have complained about how ridiculously active Grant is, I really hated seeing him under the oral sedation (pre-anesthesia). Within seconds he'd lost the little sparkle in his eye and just looked SO drugged up. I cried a tiny bit as they took him down for the anesthetic, IV and surgeries. He hasn't had an ear infection in nearly 3 weeks so I kept wondering if it was all really necessary. When the surgeon came in to talk to us after the procedure he let us know that he had another ear infection starting and his adenoids were big and spongy (apparently a sign they need to come out). The surgery itself only took about 15-20 minutes and then he was in recovery for about the same amount of time. The anesthesiologist carried him back to us and he was really crying hard and that's when I lost it. I can't take seeing him in pain. He was quickly distracted when Peter offered him the juice the nurse brought for him. We weren't allowed to give him any food or drink after 1am last night so he hadn't had anything since 6pm the night before. We've never given him any sort of juice either so after his first taste he drank the entire thing really quickly. As rotten as he was feeling his raised eyebrows and we had to keep pulling the straw out so he'd take a breath. After the juice the nurse brought in a package of graham crackers which Grant quickly demolished. The rest of the time was spent trying to keep Grant from trying to walk around on his own. He was still loopy and druggy for hours after and couldn't stand up right but that didn't keep him from trying. We're having a bathroom remodeled and of course the contractor started today so Grant didn't get his normal afternoon nap in. He did remarkably well though and has managed to pick up a really weird laugh since the surgery (think a cross between a sheep and the Count on Sesame St.). I think tomorrow he'll be back on regular Tylenol. So all ended well and our ridiculously active toddler is back and everything feels right again. :)

-misty

Grant - The Kiss Machine

Grant won't kiss Daddy. He will however kiss the rug, floor, and laundry basket if you ask for a kiss. Even his plastic sponge bob will get a kiss.

To paraphrase Seinfeld: No Kiss For You!

Daddy's first weekend as Mr. Mom and Grant's first trip to ER!!

Thursday night I'd been feeling kind of lousy and ended up using a house call Dr. that Microsoft is offering as a benefit (amazing service and benefit). Turns out I had a few things going on.. a kidney infection and the start of some upper respiratory gunk. I was running a 102-103 temp for most of the weekend so Peter had to stay home Friday and the rest of the weekend to take care of Grant and me. Since I haven't been able to stomach much and I slept all weekend I was the easier of the two. Pete isn't normally around all day long to see the normal Grant-proofing that needs to be done and the magician-like distraction techniques you need to keep things sane. Peter was shocked to learn our little monkey could climb up onto the dining room if the dining room chairs aren't pushed in (duh).

So Pete made it the entire weekend until Sunday night when Pete decided to shove a piece of dried apple up Grant's nose and we had to take him to the ER. Grant has always been a "more is more" type of baby when it comes to snacks.... and why bother putting them in your mouth one by one when you can put the entire handful in? One of the tiny dried fruits I gave him missed it's intended target and ended up right inside his left nostril. We laughed about it and then I told Pete to grab it out before he snorted it up. Somehow Pete seriously misjudged the size of his finger to the size of Grant's nostril and he pushed it up further. We weren't really to stressed because he wasn't in any pain and was only annoyed by us trying to get it out. I called Ask A Nurse and they recommended taking him in to ER which Peter immediately said was RIDICULOUS. Long story short.. we took him in and they used this cool little balloon thingy to get it out (let me know if you want more details) and this HUGE chunk of apple came flying out. It went in probably the 1/4 the size of a kernel of corn.. it came out a little bit smaller than a marble. I didn't realize how much those things would expand! I'm SO glad we went it.. there was no way we could have got that out on our own. Grant didn't even cry. He was mad about being held down but that's it.

So, hopefully I'll be feeling better tomorrow, Peter survived his first weekend of being Mr. Mom and Grant had his first trip the ER. :)

it really does go SO fast...

Tonight I was packing up some of Grant's old clothes and toys and I ran across the little giraffe rattle that he used to play with all the time. He used to chew on the head and the back foot and the back feet were always flatter than the front two little feet. His little snout was still matted from Grant's slobber and his back feet were still flat. In that minute I was taken back to that time and it really made me tear up. I actually had trouble packing it away. I've never been emotional about packing up any of his little jammies or clothes but for some reason that really brought me back to his baby days. He's no longer a baby. We now have a full blown toddler. The thing is you always hear "it goes so fast" but wow.. it goes SO fast. Some things seem so so long ago like bottles and night feeding and the wobbly head stage and yet I can't seem to figure out how we got to 18 months. I'm sure in a year or so I'll be saying this again. :)

-misty

all is quiet here...

Pete left this morning for Japan and I can't believe how out of sorts it's made us and how quiet the house has been. It's not like he's loud or that he's never left on business trips before. I think it's just knowing that he'll be gone for like 10 days that makes the difference. Tonight when I was getting Grant ready for bed he seemed confused about why we were in his room doing bedtime stuff and Daddy wasn't around. Little things like running across the street to get the mail are things I'm trying to figure out how to get done. I guess I wait til Grant goes down for a nap or to bed for the evening and run out quick and hope I don't get run over by a car.

Even though I'm not employed I still look forward to the weekend. Having the extra hand for 2 days is SO helpful for just getting small things done. It's going to be interesting with Pete gone this weekend and next. With a kid like Grant you need someone to be on "Distractor Duty" so you can do things like vacuum the spare room without Grant deciding he needs to help. I also can't get into his closet if he's anywhere near. He quickly squeezes by my legs and starts tearing his clothes out and whatever else he can find like he's on some sort of treasure hunt. I'm counting down the days til Pete's back.

Oh! the pics above are a few I snapped last week or so. Grant decided he doesn't much care for mud. (Thanks to cousin Tina for the super cute jacket! :))

Hurry home Pete!

-misty

the dood's new 'do

Grant had his first haircut on Saturday and it went unbelievably well! After he recently freaked out from bubbles being in his bathwater I was SURE that it was going to be a bad experience. I took him there on Friday to have a little look around because he often takes a little while before he's comfortable with new people and places. He seemed to be OK on Friday and really liked sitting in the car like chair and all the little Happy Meal type toys they had all over. Surprisingly Saturday was a breeze! He seemed to be slightly annoyed at mom and dad constantly interrupting his playtime to take pictures. The only time he even seemed uncomfortable was when she was squirting his hair wet and using the clippers but overall it was easy peasy. He never fails to surprise me. Sharp objects and clippers coming at his head and he's fine.. but put nice, fun bubbles in his bath and he screams like it's some crazy form of torture.

I actually surprised myself by welling up as he seemed to turn from a baby into a little boy right before my very eyes.

-misty

magical disappearing pants and other updates...

sorry for the lapse in updates Grant and I have both been sick but that only covers the past week...

So I've heard that once toddlers are running around they lose a ton of weight and they're clothes start getting loose. I didn't think much of it because he seems to have a huge appetite but 3 times in the past two weeks I'll be doing something and turn around and his pants are gone. Every time I stop and think "Am I losing it? Did I not put pants on him?" Then I realize he's walked out of his pants... again. He's got such a funny little body he's got quite a tummy but wears his jeans under his belly like a grown man. It's been hard finding jeans that fit him well.

He's been learning so many signs from watching his Signing Times videos at breakfast. The other day I was washing dishes while he was watching and I turned around in time to see him signing "Please" along with a song on the video. So now he knows the word but getting him to use it in practice is quite another thing. If he wants something he wants it now and is wondering why I'm making him do this crazy sign when all he wants is THAT cookie NOW.

Last weekend Pete had to pick up more branches from the yard (from the windstorm in Dec) and we took Grant out there to let him tear around. And tear around he did. We had our first totally grass stained and muddy pair of jeans to try and clean. He's SUCH a little rough and tumble boy.

We're back to going to My Gym but I'm finding out that he really doesn't like the craziness of big crowds. He much prefers smaller groups and doing his own thing. And he still hates the 5 minutes of circle time at the beginning where he has to sit still.

He's also got ANOTHER ear infection. The doctor we saw mentioned speaking to his pediatrician at his 18 month visit about getting tubes put in his ears. Scares me but with as many ear infections as he's had I think it's inevitable.

I'm going to try and get some new pics up here in the next few days.

-misty

Bye Bye

Grant said "bye bye" with his usual wave to me this morning when I left for work :)

Boy is growing up!

home from the holidays...

wow.. I haven't posted in a long time.. here are a few bullets of things Grant has been up to.

- was allowed to break all sorts of rules while in the care of Gramma and Grampa. The minute I left the room it was like Babies Gone Wild - no bed time, sure push every button on the TV and stereo, ooo see if he like's cake, candy, pudding etc. All good fun and while he enjoyed the freedom now, he's going to LOVE future visits to Gramma and Grampa's house. :)

- The problem with the relaxation of the rules is when I come home and have to play bad cop and tell Grant to get down from standing on the coffee table he responded with a VERY defiant NO! I tried not to react so he wouldn't think it was funny but inside I was going "sweet baby jesus the terrible two's have begun"

- He decided he didn't really like touching the snow and had to walk with his hands up so they didn't touch (as in pic above).

- On Christmas morning Grant decided his favorite food was Aunt Audra's pancakes and impressed us all with eating 4 1/2 pancakes.. and then I cut him off. He was not to pleased about this.

- Once we reached my mom and dad's house he decided that walking was the thing to do and his crawling days were completely over.

- We had about a week of sleepless nights and a really clingy baby that was totally unlike Grant. This spanned over New Years Eve when we had our worst night of night wakings to date. We found that his ear infection came back in addition to him cutting almost all of his molars at the same time.

-He can now identify his nose, toes, ears, eyes, mouth, teeth, and hair.. but only if he's in the mood.

- We had a really great time and Grant loved all the attention from Gramma, Grampa, Taylor, Timmy, Chris and Audra.

We're off to Baby Loves Disco tomorrow so Grant can boogie to his bottom off. :)

-misty

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