Monday, January 2, 2012

Grady- 7 Months


Grady is now 7 months, this last month flew by.  He is laid back and a cuddly guy and is generally pretty happy.  I love having his Doc Band off.  There are many benefits to having it off but it is so nice because he can now rest his head on our shoulders again.  I also love that Grady can wear normal clothes and thick pajamas and not get overheated.  It is nice to be done with the helmet, but it really did do its job!  Now onto the stats...


Grady @ 7 Months

Weight: I haven't weighed him this month.  Last month he was 20lb 2oz.  I think he has gotten bigger.  He has cellulite on his arms, poor guy :)

Height: I haven't measured him this month.  Last month he was 26 inches. 

Clothes: Grady is in a mix of 9 month, 12 month and 6-12 month clothes.  He mostly wears one piece outfits because his waist is a bit of an issue and one piece outfits fit his body type best.  He went swimming for the first time right after Christmas.  The only swim trunks that fit his waist were 18 month trunks.  Grady is totally his momma's son.  I was a chunky monkey (bigger than Grady!) at his age.  I am thinking he will thin out as he starts moving in the coming months.

Diapers:  The cloth diapers we bought "grow" as the babies grow.  Grady is currently in the largest size that the diapers go.  I am thinking he will thin out and his body will change at that he should fit into them until potty trained (fingers crossed!).  Disposables, Grady is in a 4.

Sleep:  Grady has been a bit better with sleep this month.  He takes two naps a day, usually for a total of 3 hours.  Grady goes to sleep around 7:30 each night and is awake for the day around 8:30ish.  During those 13 hours, he is typically up 2-3 times.  Lately, wake-up times have been around 1 a.m. and 7 a.m.  This schedule has been very doable for me, I really don't mind it.  As long as Grady goes back to sleep after eating, I am a happy camper.

 
Eating:  Grady is still nursing and typically nurses around 8 times in a 24 hour period, sometimes more, sometimes less.  He has been liking his solids, but has taken more to the pureed than the finger foods.  He will eat the finger foods just fine, but he doesn't like to be bothered with picking them up himself :)  Favorite foods so far are avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots and pears.  Grady just isn't a huge fan of pureed peas so far.  Can you blame him?  I am thinking about trying dried peas with him soon.

Likes: Grady loves sitting up to play, attention from Layla or Layla-sized kids, Ryan (I think he may be more of a daddy's boy than Layla was at this age), holding a spoon while he eats, baths, being held, kicking on the diaper changer, walking in the walker (know this isn't for everyone, but Grady and Layla love(d) the walkers), chewing on his hands and grabbing everything in reach.

Dislikes: Rolling over on toys, being hungry, slow feedings of solids (he is a fan of eating quickly!), being overtired and wearing too tight of pants

New tricks: Sitting up solidly, drinking really well from the sippy cup, razzing, rolling over consistently in both directions without prompting (we have been working hard on this one!), moving (falling) from sitting to belly to get a toy and doing some pushing up on his hands during tummy time.

Updates: Grady was evaluated and qualified for physical therapy.  The weekly physical therapy will be for his neck, specifically his torticollis.  The therapist also wants Grady in tummy time as much as possible.  I have to hold him there since he rolls quickly from his belly to his back.


See his two teeth?

12 month onesie (it now fits!) and birth length golf club monthly picture

Monthly sibling picture



Happy 7 months Grady!!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2012

Happy 2012 from our family to yours!! 
Here we are from oldest to youngest...

We stayed in for New Year's Eve this year.  The kids were recovering from the stomach flu.  Unfortunately, Ryan got sick a couple hours after this picture was taken.  I wonder when it will be my turn?  I am really hoping that I am somehow immune to it!

Blue loves any type of attention so this picture was right up his alley :)

Rocket is very camera and crown shy...

  
Howie was not minding the hat

Recovering from the stomach flu

A rare appearance from Goldie the Fish

And our 2011 man!  I am sad to see his birth year go into the record books.

Happy new year everyone!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Santa Visits 2011

I am back and finally blogging!  December was extremely busy but so fun.  We celebrated lots of Christmas firsts with Grady and Layla was Christmas crazy.  Speaking of crazy, the number of Santa visits was a bit out of control this year.  Grady racked up four visits on St. Nick's lap and Layla sat with the jolly fella seven times.  Proof is in the pictures below.

#1-Classic Santa in the mall picture

#2-Met with Santa after the "Walk with Santa" in a neighboring town


#3-Family Christmas party Santa

#4-Met with Santa and Mrs. Claus at the American Legion Christmas party with Ryan's parents

#5-Layla got comfortable and chatty on Santa's lap at a mini train ride/light display in a neighboring town. 

#6-We had so much fun with the mini train ride, we had to bring Shea back the following weekend!



#7-And the last Santa visit of 2011! 
This was at another family party and Layla was somewhat of pro by this point :) 

More Christmas and catch-up posts coming soon!!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Layla's First Christmas Program

It will be the first of many.  I know we will have many, many programs, recitals, sporting events and concerts to attend, but this was our first one and it was SO cute.  Really, you put three and four years in front of a crowd and cute things are bound to happen.  My parents, Ryan's mom and Ryan, Grady and I were all in the crowd to watch Layla sing.

Layla and her buddy, Emma

 


 



Next stop...dance recital!!

Friday, December 9, 2011

Sayonara, Doc Band!

On Thursday, Grady had his picture taken for his head "after shots" and we took our last trip to Cranial Technologies.  Grady officially graduated from his Doc Band and was also given some parting gifts....his helmet and his head mold, which we lovingly refer to as head on a stick :)  The head mold was used to compare Grady's "before head" to his "in treatment head" during the appointments.  I see a very good "Show and Tell" idea for the future!


Grady wanted to see how it tasted!

And one last squeeze from our clinician, Amy. 
We are so happy to be done but honestly Grady really didn't mind the process one bit.  He actually had a rough night sleep during his first night out of the band.  It must have felt very different than what he was used to!

Craft Show

I took another try at a craft show this week.  This time around I made some appliqued shirts/onesies/bibs, bow holders, hangers, headbands and nursing covers.  I didn't really sell much but now I have lots of stock to put on Etsy or sell to friends.  Let me know if you are interested :)










And on the very bright side, someone has been benefiting from my extra stock :) 

Tis the Season!

Last weekend we had the "Walk with Santa" and four parties.  On Saturday, we celebrated our buddy Mason's 2nd birthday and Christmas with Ryan's staff.  On Sunday, we celebrated with my dad's side of the family and then my mom's side of the family.  We really kicked off December with a bang!!  Below are pictures from our Sunday parties.

Layla and Shea

Being very sweet together


Hee hee.  Layla was not thrilled with Shea for the moment :)  She bounced back quickly but I thought this picture was funny!

Santa comes to the party!

Liam not so sure...

Grady not really caring who is holding him...just happy to be held!  I am guessing that next year he will react like Liam!

Seamus...trying not to smile :)  Love this picture.

Layla is a bit nervous.  Classic hand in mouth :)

All the kiddos!  Do you like how Grady and Liam are being held up by their dads? 
And in Liam's opinion, he is still a little too close to Santa!
Next up, party at Joan's house!!

We attempted to surprise Joan with a computer and Internet. 
Unfortunately, Comcast spilled the beans with a trail of dust and cords :)

Grady, Ann, Cass & my mom

Layla and Shea played a lot in Grandma B's room during the party. 
It was very sweet and I think they may have chatted her ear off!
We cannot wait for more Christmas parties!