miscellaneous

I haven't been able to post any pictures this week because I accidentally fried our battery recharger and so my camera is dead. (Who knew regular batteries couldn't go into a battery recharger? Well, according to JC, everybody.) So here are a few random pictures that I had already downloaded, more to come this weekend, hopefully.

Wearing big boy clothes, they crack me up:

Practicing his road rage at Grammy's house:

Hanging out with the Brothers' brothers (Monkee's babies):

The twins (check out how tan they are! It's their natural coloring, lucky ducks!) They're just over 2 months and soooooo scrumptious:

Graydon, once again, dwarfing the competition:

Roughhousing with his favorite uncle:

That's all I got! More posts to come when we fix the camera.

independence day

So, there hasn't been much posting lately because JC went to Mexico last weekend for his friend Dennis' wedding and left the babe and I home alone to fend for ourselves, nary a pina colada in sight. Consequently, there wasn't much time left for blogging. Also, our computer broke and we just got it fixed a few days ago. So that's why we haven't been online much.

While Jc was on vacation, improving his tan poolside while I changed multiple dirty diapers, we weren't left totally alone. Thanks to my family and JC's family for stepping up and helping me take care of the little monster while JC was gone. Although, it must be said that some helped more than others. Witness Uncle Jeff 's contributions to taking care of Graydon:

Although, to be fair, this picture was taken at about 10 am, aka the middle of the night for such a playboy bachelor like my brother. I think he may have waved a toy in Gradyon's general direction once he woke up.

As a special treat last Saturday, my cousin Teddy came over and we met his new daughter, Grace Isabelle, for the first time. Grace is 7 weeks old, and she is awesome. She and Teddy stayed for about 8 hours. During that time, Grace smiled at everyone, chilled in her bouncy seat, cooed when she was held, and basically behaved like a perfect angel. Oh, and did I mention that for 8 hours, Grace NEVER CRIED ONCE. While Graydon screamed bloody murder in the corner, Grace would just bat her eyes and smile at you. I was amazed. I didn't realize babies like this existed. Graydon has never once sat still and cooed in my lap. Sigh. Check out this picture of little, delicate Grace next to my great hulking beast of a baby:

She is soooo sweet and gorgeous and well-behaved! And Teddy proved to be a deft hand at parenting, changing diapers and giving bottles with ease:

We hope they come back soon so that Grace can give Grady some etiquette lessons.

In the meantime, JC and I have thoroughly enjoyed our holiday weekend. Can you believe that this is the very first weekend since the baby was born that we didn't have any visitors or family over to the house? We missed seeing everyone, but it was nice to experience life with just the three of us. Plus, JC got to do some new things with the baby- he fed him rice cereal for the first time, and got him to sleep (without me helping!) for the first time. Which will come in handy when I finally go back to work and JC has to take over the primary caretaker role (once or twice a week, only!). All in all, it was a good weekend and we had great fun hanging out with this little monkey:

Hope you had a fabulous Fourth of July as well!

blue light special

Today only. All babies half price.

month four

Here are some of the new developments that took place this past month, month four.

Graydon started putting everything he could get his meaty little hands on into his mouth-

Clothing (mine):

Fingers (his):

Toes (also his):

Pool water:

Toys :



Also this month, he started moving- a LOT. Besides rolling over like crazy, he also started showcasing this sweet move where he lifts his little heiny in the air, pushes with his legs, and scoots around on his head. He can get surprisingly far using this maneuver. JC calls it "the inverted wheelbarrow".

But not all of this months accomplishments were rosy. Gray showed us a glimpse of his dark side, when he started beating up family members:

He practiced his best "It wasn't me, I'm innocent" face:

And pretended to be repentant:



He started spending alot of time swimming and peeing in the baby pool, and showed a definite tendency towards becoming a nudist:

But on the bright side, he started letting me take him out in public, to friends' houses, even to restaurants. He has taken two whole car rides without screaming. He is laughing more frequently, and starts hyperventilating and windmilling his arms with excitement whenever his father or I walk into the room. He's still not sleeping, but that's ok, because he is getting exponentially cuter by the day:

Bring it, Month Five.

fat boy eating

We started little Gray on rice cereal tonight, just shy of his 5 month birthday. We had tried it once before, when he turned 4 months, but that attempt ended in a sleepless night for him (and us) plus a wastebasket full of wet, runny diapers. Sooooooo not fun. So, we waited a month, and now are trying again. The plan as it stands right now is to give him rice cereal for a month and then start him on pureed veggies. The one thing I am not looking forward to is larger, stinkier poops. I am especially apprehensive because JC (he of the allegedly weak stomach) has thus far not been fazed by Graydon's dirty diapers and has been a diaper changing champ. I am worried that once he gets a whiff of these new, malodorous diapers, he is not going to be quite as eager to help out at the changing table. And by "not quite as eager", I mean "throwing up in the corner". But we'll see how it goes. Is it too early to start potty training?

So, here's how it went down. We familiarized him with the spoon...

Then we gave him a taste...

At first, it seemed like he was enjoying it...

But that quickly turned into, "Hmmmm.... Let me think about this...."

Still thinking......this time with a slightly concerned look...

And the verdict is.....

Not a fan! After this mouthful, he pretty much spit everything else out. Oh well, he got a little bit down. Round two tomorrow night. Stinky poop, here we come!

poppa t

As I'm sure you can imagine, one of the hardest parts about having this baby was not having my mom around to help me. She always said that whenever I got pregnant, she would retire and become a full time grandmother. I know that had she lived, she would have been over every day, helping out, playing with the baby, making helpful suggestions. Unfortunately, she passed away a couple of months before we found out we were going to have a baby. And never was her absence more keenly felt than our first couple of weeks at home with the little man. We were tired, nervous, and pretty much completely clueless. But, much to our surprise, help did come, in the form of this guy:

True, he doesn't really know how to change a diaper. And, his memory of my own infancy and childhood is pretty much non-existent; a typical exchange will go something like this: "Dad, when did I start teething?" "Um, I don't remember." "Dad, did I sleep in a bassinet or was I in a crib from the start?" "Uhhhh, I'm not sure." "Dad, can you tell me ANYTHING, anything at all, that you remember from when I was a baby?" "Well, I remember that you cried alot." So, you see. Not exactly a fountain of knowledge.

But, amnesia aside, he has been fabulous with the baby. In that critical recovery period after we came home from the hospital, he came over every day for a couple weeks to help me out by playing with the baby, bringing lunch, even walking the dog. And he has continued to be a contstant presence in Graydon's life, coming over to visit on the weekends, and even leaving work early to help out when I've become overwhelmed.

And the baby looooooves him. He has always been able to make Graydon smile, and now laugh. We say it's because they're on the same wavelength, maturity wise :) We're just joking. Mostly.

Happy birthday, Poppa T! Thanks for being such a great grandfather.

his father's son

Uh-oh.