the day my heart stopped and I died laughing all within 3 seconds

I'm sure every parent has an arsenal of "funny things my kid did" stories but this cracked me up.

Today Grant was 2 hours late going down for his nap due to a busy morning. On top of that we have a contractor in doing some work in Henry's room which is right next to Grant's room. Grant ended up talking to himself and playing around in his room for the first HOUR of his nap. The last thing I heard on the baby monitor was a small crash followed by "UH-OH". I didn't get up and rush to see what had happened as "UH-OH" is the most overused phrase in the kid's vocabulary. We've tried explaining to him numerous times that if you intentionally throw green beans on the floor that you don't say "UH-OH" as if it's an accident but the lesson hasn't sunk in yet. So fast fwd to 2 hours after the "UH-OH"and I realize his naptime is going to affect his bedtime if I don't go and wake him up. I went to his room and when I opened the door my heart stopped. He was no where to be found. He's got a baby gate on his door so I know he couldn't have gotten out but it was alarming to just not see him there. So I start saying "GRANT!" louder as I'm opening the baby gate to look for him and I hear a muffled little "mrmmph" from somewhere and then suddenly I see Grant's little head with carpet imprints on his face crawl out from under his bed. He'd obviously dropped something between his bed and wall AGAIN and went to look for it an got tired and fell asleep once he was down there. He was obviously disoriented when he woke up which made it all even funnier. Maybe NOW he'll learn not to drop things down between the bed and the wall - probably not.

-misty

Our 2 yr old...

Wow, it's been a busy summer. We've been so busy entertaining guests and trying to take advantage of the great weather that I hardly realized we hadn't updated this in months. This summer Grant got to spend loads of time with his family when my entire family came to WA at the end of July. We drove up and did the Olympic loop and had a great time. This is a picture of Grant, "Rampa", Timmy "TEEH" and Taylor "TAYY" at Marymere Falls. Grant loved being in the backpack with Grampa. It was great having everyone here and Grant loved all the attention.

A week later Granny who has now been named either "Gigi" or "Gaggy" (though we think she prefers the former, arrived with her friend Brian. They were with us for 3+ weeks and we traveled up to Victoria, B.C. Grant loved the ferry ride and overall was a really good traveler on both trips. After a long day of traveling around we stopped alongside a lake so Grant could have some fun paddling in the water and throwing rocks. Amazingly he kept mostly dry!

A week after Granny and Brian returned to New Zealand we celebrated Grant's 2nd birthday. It was fun to see him actually "get" the whole present thing. He is a very lucky little boy and received some really fun gifts that he really loves. That afternoon we went to the circus. Grant was his normal squirmy self but he really seemed to like it. I, on the other hand am not sure how I feel about the circus and found myself flinching with every whip crack near an animal. I'm not sure why that was surprising to me but I certainly didn't think much of it when I was booking the tickets. It's been a long time since I've been to a circus.

We also took Grant to the Puyallup State fair for a late birthday present. He had a great time and LOVED going down the huge slide with Peter. He's still talking about driving his own little car and going down the slide.

And he also started a little preschool program that runs for and hour and a half every tuesday and thursday. His little friend Kyle is in his class and he has really taken to it. He LOVES it. They have a big mirror in the room that's one sided glass and linked to an observation room. So while I could go and get something done in the 90 minutes he's there it's way too much fun to stay and see how he interacts when I'm not around.

Which brings us to the present milestone. Grant got his first "big boy" bed on Saturday. We decided to just put him directly into a Twin bed rather than mess with the toddler bed. We started talking to him about it during the week and telling him he was going to get a big boy bed with a big boy pillow. He seemed to be quite excited, mostly by the pillow. He was so, so excited while watching Peter put the bed together but that night he seemed a tiny big scared when we put him down for bed. He slept through the night with no problem and hasn't looked back. His bedtime routine has always been reading 2 bedtime books and then Peter lifts him into bed and we tuck him in. 3 nights with his new bed he started to walk over to Peter to be put in bed and then hesitated and turned around and walked over to crawl into bed himself.

This parenting thing is very weird. You push them along and cheer on every new milestone and when they show an inkling of independence you're suddenly struck with a bit of sadness at the fact that they don't need you anymore.

Wow, so that's inspired me enough to keep up with the blog more often. So much has happened since July, I really need to be better about updating. :)

-misty

EEGs.. cute :)

This morning I was cleaning up the sitting room while Grant was dorking around in the kitchen. He recently had a growth spurt and loves the fact that he can reach more stuff on the counter - which has been a real pain remembering to push EVERYTHING out to the back. I heard him babbling and then he walked around the corner with what I thought was a ping pong ball and was carrying it very carefully out in front of him. He was very happy and looked at me and said "EEG!". I then realized the ping pong ball wasn't round but indeed very egg-shaped. I carefully and quickly rushed over to him and grabbed the "EEG" out of his hand and noticed a Grant-sized thumb hole poked in the top. In the kitchen I found an entire carton of "EEG's" overturned on the floor. Obviously they were left within reach. He then decided he wanted to help out with the clean up effort and I had to keep distracting him by sending him off to look for his own broom. All in all I would have thought the mess would have been a lot worse than it was and it still cracks me up thinking of him proudly walking out with his little egg in his hand. :)

-misty

A Day Out With Thomas the Tank Engine

We took Grant to Snoqualmie today for a special event The Northwest Railway Museum runs called A Day out with Thomas & Friends. It's a short train ride aboard Thomas the Tank engine along with tons of other Thomas themed kid fun. We got there early and happened to see Thomas just coming back from the ride scheduled before ours. Grant was so excited he was shaking and yelling TAH-AS!!!! (his verison of Thomas). For the first time he really seemed to take notice of all the trains and pointed them out to us as we walked to the event. It was a really cute event and I think we'll book tickets again next year. Here are some pics of Grant watching Thomas pull in and some other shots from the day. The last pic is Grant holding up an 11ft log on it's side.. with his FINGERS! :)

new baby updates & fun with Grant...

So we've been discussing names ever since we found out we're having a boy. We're in a kind of a weird position with names. We are going back to New Zealand for Peter's parental leave and in order to book the new baby's ticket the airline requires you to have a name. This can be before or after the baby is born but they give first preference for seats with a bassinets to those booked early. So we've basically got to choose the name early and stick with it. Which isn't a problem because we're really happy with the name we've chosen. In November we'll welcome Henry William Dampier to the world. I loved the name Henry and Peter at first wasn't sure until he said "What about Henry William Dampier?" and that was it. It was perfect. Just to make absolutely sure we decided to try it for a week and see how we felt and every day we just became more sure of the name. The only thing is it now seems to confuse Grant when we keep referring to the baby as Henry. Today in the car he was saying "Daddy, Mommy, Grant" and we kept adding Henry! and he'd stop in confusion. We've got a few months to practice. :)

Grant's little social calendar has certainly kept us busy. We've started Waterbabies again and last week we went to Sesame Street Live with our PEPS group. Grant was his normal reserved self and had to observe everything going on before he could decide he could have a good time. He then spent the rest of the show hopping off our laps to the ground so he could dance and realizing when he was dancing he couldn't see the Sesame Street characters so back up on the laps he'd go. It was good fun though.

It's been pretty hot for the Seattle area lately. We took out Grant's baby pool the morning of the 4th of July so he could have a dip that afternoon. Since Grant goes to bed at 6pm we knew he'd be in slumberland long before any fireworks occured. We decided to take Grant to the Zoo in the morning. The biggest hit at the zoo were the Penguins or "PEENS" as Grant calls them, the butterflies and the birds. The butterfly and bird things were structures you walked through so they were right there. He stopped in the middle of the butterfly tent and laid down on the ground to observe a butterfly on the path up close. He also seemed to eat half his body weight in popcorn that morning.


Friday was really hot and I decided it was a great day for an ice cream cone. In Grant's pool he'd been putting a ball on top of a cup and walking around licking it and saying Ice Creaaaam so I thought it might be fun to give him a real one - it was bath night anyway. These pics are from Grants first Ice Cream cone. As you can see it was very much enjoyed.

My entire family is coming to visit in a few weeks. I can't wait for Grant to see them and vice versa. It's going to be a full house and SO much fun!

-misty

news! news! news!

We had our ultrasound today and were very excited to learn we're having another boy!! I thought I would be slightly disappointed but the minute I saw he was a boy (seconds before the doc announced it) I was really excited about having another little boy. I think I realized afterwards that I was hoping for a girl for all the girl stuff (mary janes, dresses, pink stuff) but I'm really excited and looking forward to all the boy stuff x2 (except the bugs - Grant has already brought me a few too many Grant handled, half dead ants). This baby also appears to be as active as Grant was in the womb. Lord help us. So bring on the pirate parties, rough and tumble little boys, and other boy type craziness - we've got stockpiles of band-aids in every size and we're as ready as we'll ever be. :)

Oh! the rest of the ultrasound covering the health issues all showed to be really good with no concerns. :)

-misty

grant's first time in a bouncy castle...

Grant and I went the the Bellevue Strawberry Festival at a park near our house this weekend. I'm not quite sure I understand the significance of the Bellevue Strawberry Festival when the strawberries at the festival were all from California.. but whatevs. In addition to the CA strawberries they had food booths, craft fair type things and small ride type things for kids. We threw Grant and his little friend in a bouncy castle to see if they'd like it. They both started out unsure but really got into it by the time they had 20 seconds left. Both cried when they realized they weren't going back in. :)

Pete's in Japan right now and Grant has been walking to his side of the bed asking where Dah-EE is. He'll be back on Wednesday when we find out the sex of the baby!!! I can't wait!

OH! and on the potty front.. Grant went poo in the potty and was ok with the celebration that ensued.. however when he turned around and caught a look at what came out of him it scared him. Funny kid.

-misty

confusing celebrations & happy news on the prego front...

I've been practicing "pottie time" with Grant every morning after breakfast for about a week now. We go in and take off his diaper and he sits on his pottie. I let him play with special toys and books that I only let him play with during pottie time. For a week my really "regular" guy has sat on the pottie and happily played for 10-15 unproductive minutes. Today I got him up from his nap and decided we'd do a second round of pottie time. We went in and did our regular stuff and suddenly he looked quite concerned and reached down between his legs to grab himself. I noticed wee in the toilet so I cheered for him and think my cheering added to the confusion. Anyway.. it's a small milestone but we'll take it!

We also finished up Grant's art class this last week. It was fun! All the messy painting and play dough you could fit in an hour and then you remove the apron and someone else deals with the mess.

I got the OK from our fertility doctor and my OB this week to stop the 2x daily injections of heparin!!!! I can't tell you what a relief it is. You would think you'd get used to it but it still hurt and my stomach is still covered in huge bruises.

We had an OB visit today and everything looks good on the baby front. I was REALLY hoping to find out the sex but it didn't happen. So now we have to wait 2 more weeks til our next ultrasound. We heard the heartbeat and everything was good. I've still been suffering from horrible morning sickness and she gave me a prescription for some anti-nausea stuff. I'm kinda iffy on taking anything but I didn't get sick today. Tomorrow will probably be a different story.

-misty

Fun in the Sun!

We've had a crazy snap of gorgeous weather this week. Grant and Kyle cooled down in Kyle's pool. I was surprised how quickly Grant was comfortable in the pool. He's normally pretty cautious about new things. I'll have Peter copy the rest of the photos over to our flicker album early next week.

-misty

New Bathroom

We finally had our downstairs ¾ bathroom/utility room remodeled into a full bathroom + utility room…

Some photos:

Exciting news!

Since we just passed the 12 week mark I thought it was an appropriate time to announce that Grant is going to be a big brother!

His new baby brother or sister will be arriving somewhere around November 19th.

We're very excited and nervous about how in the world we'll manage with 2 tornadoes! And Grant's not sure what it all means but I'm sure he's ready for the first trimester tiredness to leave (probably more than I am).

-misty

finally new pics! and grant's new skillz

We've had a bunch of pics on the camera that we've been meaning to put on our flicker page for quite awhile now and just hadn't got to them. They're finally up here but I need to go through and delete quite a few really similar pics. Above are some of my favorites.

It's amazing how much stuff Grant seems to pick up from Sesame Street or who knows what. The other day I was reading one of his books to him and when we had finished I shut the book. The book was about numbers and on the cover there were a bunch of numbers scattered around. Grant looked at the cover and immediately pointed to the number three and said "THREEE!" I thought it had to be a one-time thing so I wrote out some numbers on his easel and asked which one was a three and he pointed directly to the number three. I've been practicing his other numbers with him and he now knows 2 and 3 really well but gets a bit confused about the number one. I think it looks too much like a line for him to recognize that it's a number.

He's also doing quite well with his colors. Yellow or "yeyoww" seems to be his favorite, followed closely by purple and blue.

The other morning Grant woke up before we were ready to get up. Peter went and got him and returned to our bed and put him between us. To date, this has never worked. I don't know why we keep trying.. I suppose to buy us a few more minutes before we really HAVE to get up. I'd had a particularly rough night sleeping and was exhausted so I was whispering to Grant "Shhh.. Mommy is tired.. Mommy needs to sleep". He sat up and looked and me and immediately did the signs for "BABY" "EAT". This was done with much force to get his point across - "I don't care if mommy is tired.. BABY NEEDS TO EAT". It cracked me up. :)

-misty

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