Trouble?

Crawling

Pulling Up

Wrestling the dog

Pulling down books

Making his sister a nervous wreck

Pinching fingers in drawers....

Poor Howie.  Layla has always been extremely gentle with him.  Grady... not so much!  Don't worry, we come to his rescue.  I am shocked that Grady loves to wrestle.  How does a baby even learn that?  Why does he like it?  Oh, he is such a little boy!

Grady is pulling up now.  Layla and Howie seem to be afraid that he is going to take a tumble.  As you can see,
Grady gets a big kick out of standing.

How does a nine month old get through a safety lock?  His poor fingers!

Grady is on.the.move.  In the blink of an eye, he is into everything.  I have to wonder if he is going to be my little trouble-maker.  I have heard good babies can turn into crazy toddlers.  He has to have a little Ryan in there somewhere :)  Either way, he is our Grady and we will love him and do our best to chase him around!

Grady's 9 month update coming very soon!!!

We're Back!!

I have gotten behind on blogging again.  But I had a couple of really good excuses:

Exhibit A:  Sick Baby 1

Exhibit B: Sick Baby 2

Layla with her nurse doggie. 

Nothing serious.  Just colds, lingering coughs, stomach bug for Grady and ear infections.  They were the first ear infections for both kids.  Poor Layla had to miss her first Valentine's Day party.  She was so sad.  She may have yelled told me firmly, "Put me in the car right now, mommy!!  I need to go to pre-school right now!!"   I felt terrible for her but I had to remind myself it is only pre-school and there will be many more parties.  Thank you to Stephanie for bringing all of Layla's valentines by that afternoon.  It really made Layla's day.  She finally returned to school a week after this picture was taken.

I felt terrible for Grady as he was just miserable.  I forgot that babies can't/don't really sleep much when they are sick which makes the days a bit rougher.  But thank goodness for my wrap.  For a couple days, it was the only way to achieve a content Grady.  He is getting to be a big boy in the wrap!

Thankfully, we are all feeling better:

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 Real?

Yep, it is true.  Shea is the big F-O-U-R.  It is official, time flies when you are having fun.  What a lovely little boy Shea has grown into these past four years.  He is a sweet, funny, smart and collection-loving little guy.  I simply cannot believe that he will now be counting down the months until he is five.  Enjoy the pictures from his big Handy Manny birthday party.  His mommy outdid herself this year, everything was wonderful.  Check out Cassie's blog for even more details!!

The birthday boy waiting for his guests

The table was set....for 22 kids.  Not to mention the 5 babies that didn't need a seat.   Shea's whole playgroup was invited, it was a full house!

Construction cone cups were from Birthday Express 

Favors!

Art Project

Front Door

This was my favorite detail of the party.  My brother-in-law, Jamie, constructed a house made of an appliance box and duct tape.  Cassie put out stickers and markers and the kids went to town decorating the box.  They also loved playing in it.  It was a huge hit!

Block station!

 

Handy Manny's helper, Liam :)

Can you tell the kids used buckets for seats?  So cute! 

A photo of the four kids after Shea's kid party on Friday night.

A photo of the four kids and Eli (Liam and Shea's cousin) after the party on Saturday night. 

 Happy 4th birthday, Shea!  I hope all of your wishes come true.

A Big Week

Last week, Grady had a big week.  Well, I will let him show you...

It may look like Grady is rubbing his eyes, but this picture above is Grady doing "so big." 

I think it is so cute that he can't get his arms up further than his eyes.

Now on with the big week.  Last week....

Grady started eating a lot more on his own.  String cheese, fruits, dried peas, puffs, pancakes and macaroni and cheese are a few new foods added to his diet. 

Grady officially stopped using the Rock and Play.  Grady was still napping in it each day.  Above is a picture of Grady around a week old.  I kept trying the crib for naps and as the naps got longer in the crib the Rock and Play was slowly eliminated.  It was a long weaning process but completely painless for both of us.  He napped SO well in the Rock and Play but I am happy for him to be fully in the crib now.  He was getting a tad big for the Rock and Play.  You know he is too big when Layla is asking me, "Should we get Grady a bigger Rock and Play?" 

Joan, thank you for the wonderful gift!!  Did you think it would get 8 months of use? :)

Grady's playmat also got put away last week.  I have not had trouble putting away clothes or changing diaper sizes with Grady, but this particular item was very hard for me to put away.  Layla and Grady spent A LOT of time on this same playmat.  But it was time as Grady is moving and rolling so much now that he was never was on the playmat for more than a few seconds.

And lastly Grady is now spending so much time on his belly.  Sleeping or playing...it is almost all belly.  It is funny how you try so hard with tummy time and it is such a struggle and then once it is their choice, they are there all of the time.  Don't worry about the blanket, it gets taken away when Ryan and I go to bed.  He loves to fall asleep with it.

And so that was Grady's big week.  Cannot wait to see what is next to come!

Happy Superbowl Day!!

I do realize that the Bears are not in the Superbowl, but it is the only football team represented in our wardrobes.  Go.....Giants & Patriots!  But in all honesty, I really am just looking forward to Madonna and the commercials :)