Christmas

We had another great Christmas this year at the Bybee house!  I'm glad to report it was fairly low key and we were able to enjoy some time at home together.  Shane and I were both off work last week so we spent alot of time with Grayson and tried to find some time for ourselves on the two days we were able to take him to daycare.  

On Christmas Eve we started some of our new family Christmas traditions.  Gray may be alittle young for them, but we wanted to get started on the right foot and do some things that he might enjoy as he gets older.  We baked cookies for Santa and had a nice family meal together.  Then we had him open his Christmas Eve gift that included some new pajamas and a Christmas book that we read together that evening.  This year we selected a classic, "Twas the Night Before Christmas".  Then we sat down and watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the original Dr. Seuss version, of course).  

Christmas morning all of the gifts from Santa were sitting in front of the tree waiting for Grayson to open.  We were not sure how he would handle opening gifts but he did a great job.  He figured out he needed to rip the paper and work his way into the box.  Each time he saw what was beneath all the brightly colored wrapping paper, he let out a big "Ooohhhh" and his eyes got real big.  He took the time to play with each gift and we almost had to force him to go to the next gift.  Each one captured his attention so much that he didn't seem to care about the other packages that still needed to be opened.  Shane and I had to stop ourselves from trying to push another present in his face because we want him to really enjoy each gift as he opens it and not try to rush through them.  His big gift this year was a Radio Flyer Tricycle that was sitting in front of the tree with the presents.  Between opening gifts, he kept going back to the tricycle trying to get on it. From his expressions and interest in all of his gifts, I would say Santa did a great job this year.  We spent the rest of the day playing with his new toys and preparing for his surgery the next morning.

The day after Christmas we woke up early and took Gray to Cook's Children in Plano for his tubes.  I was not too nervous because I knew it would be an easy procedure but I was not all too excited about seeing Gray disoriented and confused when he woke up from the anesthesia.  After waiting for an hour, they took us back to a room where they gave Gray some silly juice to relax him and a pain reliever.  Within a couple of minutes, he was asleep in my arms.  The nurse took him from me and Shane and I were sent to the lobby for about 5 minutes before being put in a consulting room.  While the nurse was writing our name on the door, telling us the doctor would be with us shortly, he came around the corner and said he was all done.  The doctor said Grayson did great and there was alot of fluid and mucus in his ears but he was able to clear it out.  He told us Grayson was starting to wake up so we should be able to see him shortly.  We continued to sit in the room for a couple more minutes and we heard Grayson's cry.  The nurse was wheeling him by our room so she knocked on the door and we followed her.  Grayson was lying on the bed with his schnoolie just sort of looking around.  Once we got to a post-op area she picked Grayson up and handed him to me.  Not once did this kid cry.  Everyone kept telling us how their kids cried for 10-30 minutes when they woke up from anesthesia.  The nurses kept referring to him as "not normal" because he handled everything so well.  After a few last minute instructions we were free to go and headed home to give Grayson some breakfast.  The rest of the day he was laughing and running around as if nothing happened that morning.  We have to administer drops in his ears twice a day and was also told this will make him uncomfortable.  Needless to say, he isn't phased by it and just lies there.  We feel like we can already tell a difference.  It seems like he can hear better and I feel like he has been talking more and saying more since the surgery.  

Friday night we had Christmas at my brother's house with my family and then Shane's family came in on Saturday to stay the night.  Shane's sister flew down from Oregon and stayed with us until Monday so we got to spend an extra day with her.   Overall we had a great week and a memorable Christmas!

 

Bybee Christmas Card 2013

My son has an appreciation for gifts...

Just like his momma (circa 1984)

Making cookies!

And eating raw dough...oops!

Can you tell which cookie Gray decorated?

Opening his Christmas Eve gift

 

Cookies and milk are ready for Santa!

Someone got a new tricycle!
(His new thing is to pull his pant legs up and walk around.)

 

Yay!  Snack Containers!

 

Oooohhhhh!  A new swing for the porch.

Waiting to be buzzed for surgery.

Silly juice is fantastic!

Post surgery

About 30 minutes after surgery.
Fruit Loops and bananas make anyone happy.

Opening gifts at Uncle Jay Jay and Aunt Kissy's

 

Climbing the stairs with Grammie

Listening to daddy play with Uncle Jay Jay's new guitalele

Playing with the buddha
I actually think he has discovered his belly button
and likes to poke at it.  

Opening gifts from Grammie D and Granddad

 

A new train!

Shannon & Colin

Last weekend I took some pictures for my friend, Shannon, and her brother, Colin.  They wanted to get some recent photos together to give to their mom for Christmas.  We went down to Deep Ellum for the pictures since there are some different murals and neat backdrops that fit both of their personalities.  It was alittle chilly but the sun was out so it made for some great lighting and kept us from getting too cold.

Shane and I are getting ready for Christmas next week and I think our shopping is done.  Yesterday my mom and I took Grayson to see Santa.  We took him to the same Santa as last year.  He is a really great Santa so I have a feeling we will make the trek to Fairview/Allen every year.  It appeared as though Grayson was going to have a meltdown once he got up in Santa's lap, but alittle reassurance from me and a squeaky toy by the photographer made him perk up and provide us with his signature grin.  Grayson is definitely on Santa's nice list this year! 

This visit to see Santa came immediately after our visit with an ENT.  Grayson is on his 7th ear infection since April so our pediatrician thought it was time to seek further medical advice.  As soon as the ENT looked in his ears, he said they looked really bad and recommended he get tubes for both ears.  So Grayson will be getting tubes next Thursday, the day after Christmas.  Merry Christmas to Grayson!  We are hopeful they will make him feel so much better and not be living with pain anymore.  It breaks my heart to think how tolerant he has been to the pain for all this time and yet he still keeps a smile on his face and appears to be just as happy as ever.  I told Shane I can't imagine how much happier this kid could be so we may be in for happiness overload after he gets these tubes.  :)

Aside from the ear infection, Grayson has been doing really well.  Over the last couple of weeks we have noticed so many great developments in him.  The one we are most proud of is that he knows the signs for "please" and "thank you".  It means so much to us that we can raise our son to be respectful and courteous to others.  We have been trying to teach him the different signs in order to reiterate what they are teaching him at school, but we were not sure he was picking up on them.  Out of the blue we started to notice he would make the signs during dinner and realized what he was trying to say.  "Thank you" is very similar to his way of blowing kisses so it's always a tough one to catch, but either way it still makes you appreciate his effort.  

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend at the lake with my parents this weekend and then next week Shane and I will be off work together.  Monday will be filled getting some errands run and things done around the house before the holidays.  I really love this time of year and I'm excited to be able to start our own family traditions each Christmas as Grayson gets older.  

I'll end this post with a couple of pictures from the weekend we were iced in the house.  We had to find interesting ways to pass the time...

Mom builds Lego towers...

And Grayzilla tears them down.

Gotta love some playdoh!

There is an advantage and disadvantage to a large,
sloped driveway when it ices over.
Getting your car out: Disadvantage
Entertaining child with laundry basket: Advantage

Always having fun!

Aspen loves the cold weather and enjoyed lying
on the patio surveying his kingdom.

First Hair Cut

The temperature outside is currently 26 degrees, the wind chill is in the teens and the ground and roads are covered in ice and sleet.  Yep, it's cold as all get out right now.  So what do you do on a freezing cold night?  You cut your son's hair for the first time!  Gray's hair has gotten alittle out of control the last few weeks.  I have been putting it off because I kept thinking, it's not long enough to cut it yet.  I imagined snipping it and this long curl falling to the ground (I must be dreaming what it will be like when we cut our daughter's hair one day).  I also imagined I would make him some appointment at a kid's haircut establishment with all the pomp and circumstance but we are most likely going to be stranded at home all weekend so I figured I would do the honors.

Gray behaved fairly well during the whole process.  He was his usual, happy self but he did make it hard to cut straight lines with his constant head spinning and flailing.  I think his new hair cut looks really good.  Atleast he doesn't have hair hanging over his ears and the back is cleaned up.  It may not be the best haircut, but no one may see him for a couple of days so hopefully it will even itself out.  :)  My aunt always said, give it a week.

He was actually excited about the haircut,
ignore his frightened expression.

The one instance he was sitting still.

 

Yes, I had to hold his head in order to avoid gashing his face
and cutting a huge chunk out of his hair.

All done!

Our next few days may be on lock down in the house.  I'm hoping to be creative and come up with some fun things for us to do so cabin fever doesn't set in and our one year old ball of energy continues to be entertained.  Stay warm!

*Side note:  I did keep the hair we cut off for his baby book.  :)