The Better to Bite You With...

That's right...teeth have been spotted...ok, so it's one tooth and it's been felt. The tooth has barely broken through the gums, but it's there! So fingers beware...

Another year...

Well, alas another year has come and gone and yet I remain 21...or at least that's what I'm saying.  A lot changes with age...I've noticed that I'll occasionally have those ouch moments when getting up from sitting on the floor or it takes a few minutes to adjust when getting up. And I've also noticed that with age comes the opportunity to no longer just have a birthDAY...but you can have an entire birthWEEK...if you plan it right...it can be a fun-filled week.  I started my birthweek by heading up to DC to have brunch and to see Mary Poppins at the Kennedy Center wtih Theresa.  It was a lovely day! Wil and Gray relaxed at home and were happy to see me upon my return and listened to me re-tell the events of my day.

Monday, was well a Monday...but I limited the amount of extra time I put in at work (really that became the mantra for the week..."No More Than 8!"...ok, so at least no more than 9 or 9 1/2...anyway, you get the point). Tuesday was my actual birthday and I arrived to drop Gray off at daycare to find out that his little friend Finn turned 1 on that very same day...I knew there was something that I liked about that kid. I then headed to work and received numerous birthday wishes including a homemade brownie from Tamara and someone even drew me a birthday cake on my whiteboard.  Unfortunately, Wil had to work a little late, but when Gray and I arrived home we were greeted by daddy with roses and a card.  Gray wasn't feeling so perky, so we weren't sure if we were going to make it out for dinner or not, but he perked up in enough time for us to still go out to Bravo for dinner. All in all, for a day I had to be at work...it was still a lovely day.

The rest of the week was more of the same, busy...but I kept my extra hours to a minimum and even left early on Friday...ok, so not as early as I had planned once I got in the middle of trying to get a few things wrapped up, but I still ended up leaving about 2 hours early. Gray and I ran some errands and then came home and relaxed with daddy for the evening. It's supposed to be a lovely weekend, so hopefully we'll be able to continue my birthweek celebration through the weekend.

Grayson 7 Month Pictures

Biggie Boy

I know I'm quite delinquent in updating the blog and much has happened since the last update...perhaps that's why I haven't updated...I've been too busy.  The month of June just seemed to fly by and was such a blur.  At the beginning of the month we were preparing for vacation which also meant that I was working extra hours to ensure that I had enough leave for vacation and then there was vacation and then of course all of the clean up and recovery from vacation. It doesn't seem as though things have really slowed down yet, but I am still going to attempt to get a couple of updates in.

I mentioned in the previous blog that Gray was eating solid foods and drinking juice.  This has continued and expanded.  Thanks to receiving the all clear from the Allergist that Gray is allergic, to well, nothing (his hivesin May he believes may have been an allergic reaction to the Strep), we decided to start introducing new foods at a more increased rate (instead of waiting the few days between trying new foods). We are also trying to get Gray on a "3 meals a day" routine with about 5 bottles scattered throughout the day as well.  The GI doctor is still not completely happy with Gray's weight, so on occasion we try to get him to take a 6th bottle...sometimes he does...sometimes he doesn't.

Gray really liked ice cream, but didn't appreciate how slow daddy was in sharing

Speaking of Gray's weight, according to our visit to the GI, Gray is now 16 lbs 11.5oz! Hard to believe that he's almost 11 lbs bigger than when he was born! (Of course I may be 11 lbs bigger just from vacation, so...) He's also 26 inches long!

With that growing in weight and height has come growth in skills for Gray.  I believe I previously mentioned Gray's "backiewards" crawling which he is doing at an even more rapid pace these days, but now he has almost accomplished a real crawl.  He's had a few of them, but they are usually quick and he has difficulty repeating. The problem may be his attempt at "crawling" with his hands and feet rather than his hands and knees. He will also try the hands and knees, but prefers to go straight to his feet and I fear that he may skip crawling entirely and go straight to walking. What this effort usually results in is a "bunny hop" forward, however, he most often forgets to move his hands forward as he jumps and thereby ends up on his nose which doesn't really make him happy. But alas, he is making great strides in the forward movement.

Along with this comes Gray's desire to stand and bounce.  We have discovered that Gray can stand on his own, but doesn't have the balance to remain standing without a little help which is another reason that we wonder about the walking.

He has also figured out how to push himself into a seated position from his belly. Most of this happened this week.  He's been doing a partial "sit-up" since vacation, but this week he got it down and regularly does it.

And as always, he's quite the talker and always got something to say.  We haven't quite figured out what he's saying yet...but he definitely seems at times to be more intent that he's trying to say something and not just make noises.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are times that he's just making noises too.

Perhaps the biggest change has also been in the past week.  Gray is now sleeping in his "big boy bed", i.e. his crib.  He was still in his bassinet (and on occasion, our bed) until Friday July 2nd. We planned for the transition over a long weekend, expecting to have several rough nights before he was able to transition. As usual, Gray surprised us.  He's done great! Over the last week, we've had a few nights where he would fuss a bit when we first put him in bed, but probably within 10 minutes was asleep and has slept through the night.  I think we've had one or two instances where we've gone in during the night to put a pacifier in, but really it's been easy...nothing like I imagined...so, yet again Gray has proved what an easy and wonderful little man he is.

Now if you think that Gray sleeping in his own room means that I am getting more sleep...you are wrong. Because I am waking up throughout the night to check the monitor and if because he moves (and has started sleeping on his belly, by his own choice...nerve-wracking) and I can't get a good view on the monitor, I am walking into his room to check on him. I'm sure just like when he was a newborn and I would wake up every 15 minutes or so to check and make sure he's still breathing, at some point I'll be able to sleep again and get comfortable with Gray being so far away and turning into such a big boy...maybe by the time he's 20...??

Gray also had his first jacuzzi bath while on vacation...as you can see...he loved it!

Vacation

This year was another trip to Disney, but this was a special trip to Disney.  We took Grandma Alice, Grandpa Paul, and Cousin Cameron with us in celebration of Grandma Alice's 60th birthday.  In addition, this was also Gray's first trip to Disney. We planned not to make this as packed of a vacation as in the past for a number of reasons.  1) It's really hot down there in June, 2) Grandpa Paul had just had a pacemaker put in a few weeks before vacation and was still not getting around so great after his hip replacement last year, 3) We weren't really sure how Gray would handle the heat and the parks.  So, instead of activities planned for every day we focused on just 5 days of activities, leaving a couple of days for relaxation.

We left for Florida much later in the evening of June 17th than we planned.  Daddy got out of work late and Mommy still had to finish packing and then have Daddy pack the car.  We got on the road about 7pm and drove to Rocky Mount, NC.  We surprisingly found a lovely hotel called the Candlewood Inn (I believe they are a chain, but had never stayed at one...for those who travel with pets...the accept dogs...even Indy-sized dogs).  We had a great night's rest and got up the next morning to get back on the road.

We arrived at Grandma Carla and Grandpa Dean's house on Friday evening (much later than we had planned).  Fortunately, we were also able to visit with Aunt Danielle on Friday night who came down to visit with us.  Aunt Katie was working, but we got to see her the next morning...especially since we stole her bed for the night. We woke up and had breakfast at IHOP and then re-loaded the car, left Indy with Grandma and Grandpa and then headed off to meet Grandma Alice and Grandpa Paul and make the trek to Orlando. 

We made pretty good time to Orlando and got checked in.  While the boys relaxed...I unpacked and got everything set up.  In all fairness, they brought everything in from the car and I unpacked inside. That evening we had reservations for the Hoop Dee Doo Review, so we all got dressed and headed that way for the 8pm meal. As we arrived, it started to rain and there was quite a bit of walking to get between places, which would've been fine except that Grandpa Paul doesn't move too fast.  Fortunately, we still made it before the downpour.  The show was great! And everyone enjoyed it, even Gray.

The next day was Father's Day and our planned day at the Magic Kingdom.  It was a fun day.  Gray's first ride was Aladdin's Magic Carpet and we discovered that no matter how everyone made fun of me before we left for vacation, my purchase of the stroller air conditioning system may have been my best purchase ever as it kept Gray quite cool in the nasty Florida heat.  I often thought of climbing in there with him.

Relaxing in the air conditioning of his stroller

In addition to rides and walking around the park, we had lunch at the Crystal Palace with Pooh and his friends.  It was quite fun! And I thought Gray would really enjoy the characters...he did...I just had no idea how much he'd love Piglet (or Pigg-a-let as we like to call him).  I'm not sure if this is indication that he likes pink...that he likes pork...or that he recognizes a good friend when he sees one...but he loved him some Piglet!

"Hey Piglet, Where do you think you're going?"

Everybody loves Piglet!

"Ice Cream is good!"

"Ok, I'm sorry...but Eeyore is just too depressing for me today."

             

While we had planned to only be at the park part of the day, we actually were able to stay most of the day with Gray's air conditioning and Grandpa's electronic wheelchair, so we spent a good part of the day at the park and Grandma and Grandpa would watch Gray to allow Mommy and Daddy to go on the "bigger kid" rides, so that was fun too.

We didn't see Cameron or Jon-Christian for much of the day or much of the trip.  We usually saw them for meals and they went off on their own at the parks.  They would leave when they wanted and go back to the pool and then come back to the park in the evening often staying until it closed and we would see them the next morning when we headed to the next park.

His very own Piglet to love

Dancing with Grandma at Disney's Summernightastic

The next day was Animal Kingdom which was definitely one of my favorites. Grandma wasn't feeling well that day so we only stayed part of the day...not sure if it was the Bug Show that scared her so much that she wasn't feeling well or what...Mommy and Daddy got everyone (except the boys) back to the room and settled and then Grandma and Grandpa watched Gray so Mommy and Daddy could go back to the park.  We had a lot of fun! It's not often that we get time at a theme park with just the two of us and we had a really great time.  We then left the park, got the car, and went to see the A Team at Downtown Disney. It was a great evening!

Sophie Crossing

"Umm...excuse me, can you scoot over, I'd like a ride."

White Rhino Crossing

Momma and Baby

Gray really enjoyed looking at the aquarium at the Rainforest Cafe

On Tuesday, we left the Disney parks to try out Sea World's Aquatica Water Park. It's quite a big park and there were lots of slides.  The boys went off to do their thing.  We rented a cabana so that Grandma and Grandpa would have someplace to relax in the shade and we could get Gray in a relatively cool and shaded area as well. We also signed up for their meal plan for the day so that everyone could eat whenever they wanted (we also signed up for the Disney Dining Plan for the Disney part of our vacation...really a great investment especially if you do things like the nicer dining locations or the character dining experiences...but in the heat when you don't feel like eating...you almost have to remind yourself to eat so that you don't waste any of them). Gray had a lot of fun playing in the pool and it was a nice relaxing day.  The park was nice, but I think I prefer the Disney water parks.

"I'm part cannibal!"

Daddy showing Gray how it's done

"Thanks for taking me on this great trip, Daddy!"

When ya gotta go...ya gotta go...

Wednesday was Disney's Hollywood Studios.  A very exciting day for many reasons...mostly because we finally met Mickey!!! But we also really enjoyed the rides and Gray enjoyed the Indiana Jones Show.  We also got to meet Handy Manny who Gray discovered on this vacation since the boys would have his show on the TV in the mornings.  We usually avoid TV with Gray at this point...sure sometimes he'll try to watch the TV when we're watching something, but we've rarely turned anything on specifically for him...so this was definitely a switch since this show was on for him. It was a long hot day, perhaps the hottest we had thus far, but we still had a good time.

"Those Mickey Fingers look awfully tasty..."

Enjoying the Indiana Jones Show

"Hey, Daddy...did you see that girl up there...she's kinda cute."

Daddy is tired

Holding Grandpa's hand

Grandpa Vader

Gangsta Baby

"Whassup?"

Just chillin with his feet up, AC on, and Mickey

Thursday was our final day at the parks and was the day we went to Epcot.  Grandma wasn't feeling well so we didn't do much and headed back to the room. 

Friday was our day of relaxation, so the boys headed to the pool and Grandma, Grandpa, Gray, and I headed to Downtown Disney for a little shopping. Since Gray's 1st birthday party is going to be Disney-themed, I decided to do a little shopping for decorations, etc and found some great things. Daddy also surprised me by buying me Mickey Mouse Pearl Drop Earrings and a Mickey Mouse Pearl Necklace. They are beautiful! We then took Gray to his first movie...Toy Story 3.  He seemed fascinated at the beginning...for oh, about 5 minutes or so and then he fell asleep...either way, it was good to know that we can take him to a movie. The boys went off to spend the day at DisneyQuest (the 5 story video game arcade) and Daddy, Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa, and Gray went for dinner at the Turf Club at Saratoga Springs Resort.  We had a nice dinner and Mommy decided that this was a good time for a glass of wine. 

Waiting for our table at the Turf Club

We got back to the room and started some packing and finished packing on Saturday morning.  We checked out of the hotel and went back to Downtown Disney to pick up something I had ordered and have lunch at Planet Hollywood. After lunch, it was time to head toward St Augustine to get the Indy dog and then head home. 

We visited with Grandma Carla, Grandpa Dean, and Aunt Kate for a little while and then loaded the Indy dog (who had been rotten for Grandma and Grandpa) and got back on the road.  We made it into South Carolina before we decided to stop for the night. The hotel in South Carolina was not as nice as the one we stayed at on the way down...but it was a bed.  We made it back to Virginia at about 5pm on Sunday. We got the car unloaded and the important things put away and then called it a night. 

While our vacation was over, Gray's wasn't quite.  Grandma Alice and Grandpa Paul stayed for another week and watched Gray so he didn't go to daycare. Sounded like they all had a great time...well, Gray had a great time except for when I was taking him to the doctor...one appointment because he has thrush, one follow-up appointment with the GI because of his reflux, and one appointment with the Allergist because of his allergic reaction in May (he really didn't like that appointment and neither did I...they did the full allergy testing...his back was covered and his left arm...Gray forgave the nurse after she stopped poking him...I'm not sure if I did).

But alas...vacation is over...and the next one seems so far away...why can't we vacation more and work less?