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!