Grady- 15 Months

 

 

Seriously, this month flew by. 

Here is a small snapshot of Grady at 15 months:

Silly.  He loves to make us laugh.  The "crayon in the mouth" pictures are very Grady. 

Playful.  Loves his toys, Layla's toys and getting out as many toys as possible.  He learned how to stack blocks this past month. 

Bold and busy.  Climbing, throwing, pounding and sometimes swatting.  A new stage in parenting begins!

Hungry.  He is a good eater, but I feel like he is finally slowing down a bit.  I think Grady's very favorite food is mac and cheese from Noodles & Company and he still loves the pureed food pouches.  I love the iron that they pack into them!

Dancer.  He loves music and dances with all his different body parts.  He loves Layla's keyboard and knows which buttons will play longer songs.  Layla likes to report dance moves to me in the car, "Grady is dancing with his head now.  Oh wait, now he is dancing with his legs!!" 

Good sport.  He goes with the flow most of the time.  Grady is a good little guy who can typically make it through most situations with a good snack.  But I do get a frazzled when he is fussy because I am not quite sure what to do with him since I have not had to deal with it too often.  I have a feeling it is all in store for me in the next few months :)  18-24 months is a coming!!!

Smiley.  He can be quite the charmer.  When he is really working it, Grady crinkles up his nose and really cracks a huge smile. 

Dance time

Grady was cracking us up here.  The life jacket was a bit restricting and he was still smiling.

Barbies at the beach...why not?!?

Silly Grady and Layla

Pets

We get asked often how the pets are doing with the new house. 

Here are the updates on the furry and the finned....

Howie.  He LOVES the patches of sun around the house throughout the day.  This house has an abundance of large windows.  Good for sunning, not so good for a little dog who thinks he heads neighborhood security.  Honestly, he has calmed tremendously with the windows since the first week.  He is still a wild little guy for the first few minutes when people come over, but he has actually adjusted pretty well overall.   

 

Blue.  He is...well, a little under the weather.  The vet has a strong hunch that he has a bowel disease but we did not do the blood work to confirm.  There is not much we can do even if it is confirmed.  He is currently on medicine and special food and seems happy and comfortable.  Blue likes the house and also hangs out in sunny spots around the house...when he is not following me around hoping to be fed :) 

   

Rocket.  Poor Rocket.  There is no picture of him.  I think the camera click would send him straight up to the ceiling.  He is on high alert and is doing A LOT of yowling.  He likes for me or Blue to be by his side at all times.  Thankfully, Blue has a bit more free time than me and can be found next to Rocket throughout the day.  The good news is that Rocket did emerge from the basement after a good few days of hiding.

 

 

Goldie.  REALLY poor Goldie.  He lasted a couple weeks in the house and then swam his last little swim.  We are not sure what happened, but I am wondering if the sunlight that would occasionally hit his bowl  kind of...cooked him?  Layla was sad and we were very close to getting another fish, but then she forgot all about it.  So we are fish-less for now.  Betas are very easy to care for so we will probably get another one in the future.  By the way, this picture was taken the day after we moved in...the boxes are out of our living room now!

And a picture of Layla and Grady too.

 

Layla working hard on a project.  She loves glitter glue.  Blue appears to like it too.

Grady!  He loves the pets but is currently learning how to pet them nicely :)

August

The last stretch of summer is here. 

We have been:

frequenting the parks (here with cousin Kelsey who starts high school TODAY!)

enjoying a backyard wedding.  Our former neighbors' son got married to his sweet new wife, Jessica. 

My favorite part of the day?  When their little boy went flying into the limo with the newly married couple.  It was such a sweet moment and he is one very loved little boy.

soaking in the beachfront in our new town with Grandma Barb. 

Okay....maybe it is just a small lake in a nearby RV park. 

I am easy to please and it really is a nice, clean place.

 becoming a climber and rider.  Well, Grady has been anyway.  His climbing makes me a nervous wreck and his dismount off of items needs some work.  His poor head!

picking raspberries and picnicking!

and catching up with friends after a crazy couple of months.

Fair 2012- Take 2

We headed back to the fair later in the week with Ryan by our sides.  Ryan loves the fair and the baked potatoes and Layla really wanted to go on the "Kerris Wheel" with him.  After two days of rain, we finally made it out for a fun day with the four of us.  Layla loved her first time on the Ferris Wheel and Grady loved his first spin on the merry-go-round (although the picture looks like he is not so happy with the idea).  Oh, and our kids do not like ice cream.  Nope, not at all...

Sweatshirts!  On Tuesday, we were sweating like crazy!  Friday...a little chilly.

A new find at the fair this year!

"I have figured out if I scream loud enough, they will give me the cone!" 

Layla loves her ice cream...can you tell? :)

Fair 2012

Layla, Grady and I spent our annual day at the fair with Ann, Joan, my mom, Cassie, Shea and Liam.  I look forward to this day each year.  And Layla is quite the super fan too.  She comes by it honestly.  Ryan and I both grew up with this fair being a highlight of our summers.  Grady was a good sport in the stroller this year but he will learn to love the animals, games and rides too. 

To give you a little taste of our fair experience this year, our day was filled with:

lemon shake-ups and cherry limeades, stroller switching, eating, sweating (or maybe we were glowing?), coin purses, spray bottles, toy horns, rides with Ann, losing items in the strollers, laughing, aggressive goats, seeking shade, a hunt for shade horses, more lemon shake-ups and cherry limeades, balloon characters, games and inheriting an unexpected pet (Mr. Oats).

Meet Mr. Oats, a "gift" from a Michigan college student :)

Thank you Ann and Joan for making another great memory with our kids. 

What a fun day we all had!

Olympic Fever

We have officially caught it.

Just wait for Olympics 2028....

we have some serious sprinters, soccer players and swimmers coming your way :)

And....a little boy who is fantastic at splashing water!

USA! USA! USA!

Grady- 14 months

Grady is...

no longer crawling.

walking exclusively on two feet.

trying to figure out the art of running.

enjoying stair lessons from Layla.  There are lots of fun stairs in this house!

getting his 12th (and very possibly 13th) tooth.

sleeping pretty well.

a good little dancer.

quite possibly going to turn into a watermelon and mac and cheese.

a dipper.  He likes his ketchup and syrup.

a thrower when he is done with his food.  He knows the sign for "all done" but I think he feels the throwing gets his point across a little faster.

so cute when he waves. His wave looks like he is milking a cow. So. Cute.


a fan of blowing kisses. 

throwing mini fits when things get taken away that he somehow manages to get his hands on (phones, screwdrivers, baseball bats...you know, the usual).

saying more words (Blue, kitty, doggy, uh oh, mom, Layla, hi....and combined "hi kitty" one time.  Poor "dad" is still emerging.  Dad is currently "ga").

always on Layla's trail.

quite the charmer out in public.  He loves to get random people's attention with big smiles.  He zeros in on certain people and works his smile until they respond.

still obsessed with his lovie.  He will not go to sleep without it.  I hope we never, ever lose that sweet bear blanket.

making sure we are on our toes with baby-proofing the new house.

into whipping things over baby gates.

working on the placement of his nose.  When we ask, Grady likes to point to his eyes and head first.  Then he sticks his fingers in his nose and claps.

starting to sit a bit better for stories.  He now pretends to read his favorite book, Peek a Hoo.  By "reading," I mean that Grady just lifts his voice up and down while turning the pages.  It is still pretty funny stuff.

loving his rocking chair these days.

Who wants a kiss?

Oh, Lay-la!  Where are you??



Mission accomplished! Jar of playdough in hand.

This is a busy stage, but I am loving it.

Minus the throwing of things into the toilet and garbage part.
We are almost positive he thinks they are basketball hoops :)