The Bybee Chronicles: Beckett is 1, Grayson is 3, Halloween, etc, etc

I know, I know....I am WAY behind on updating the blog. If it's any consolation, October was an insane month. With two birthday parties, a huge software upgrade at work and all of the Halloween festivities, it took everything I had to function. The day November 1 arrived, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Here I am a few weeks later finally getting the courage to get caught back up. Plus I'm tired of being nagged by my husband and mother about poor Beckett being eternally stuck at 11 months old. I will preface this post to say I will not be able to include everything that happened in the last two months. These are the highlights...

1 Year

My baby is no longer a baby. He finally turned 1 year old and I cannot believe it! Here are some things we have noticed about him:

He is genuinely happy! I think he was sick most of October and always seemed miserable and sick. We finally found the right dose of medication to treat him (after 3 trips to the doctor) and he woke up one morning a whole new person.
Beckett is running everywhere. This kid really does know how to get around. He also loves to climb on any and everything.
He has become a great eater. No more bottles or baby food! We try to let him eat table food as much as possible, except for the occasional yogurt or applesauce that we might feed him.
Whenever we ask him a question, he will respond by nodding his head. Mainly if it's a question that he can respond to as "yes". It's amazing to see him respond as we don't feel like Gray was able to do this since his ears kept him from hearing too well at this age. He is also good about pointing at things he wants which helps us decipher what he's asking for.
We were finally able to sleep train him and get him back to his crib after a couple of months in our bed. When our a/c went out in August, he slept with us in our room with a window unit. Then he got sick and it was hard for him to sleep without us. About a week ago we finally began the process and he's done really well with it.
He wears mostly 12 month clothes, but still some 9 month pants.
He is still wearing size 3 diapers but moving up to size 4 once we finish this last box.
He has a mouthful of teeth. I'm horrible for not know the exact count but when he was sick a couple of weeks ago the doctor said he had 6 teeth coming in at one time! He already had 6 teeth so let's say he has 11 teeth. ;)
Weight: 21 lbs, 12 oz (20th percentile)
Height: 30.75 inches (80th percentile)

We had a birthday brunch to celebrate his first birthday with family and friends. It was sort of a morning sunshine/pancake theme and I tried to keep the decor fairly simple (and might have reused decor from Gray's first birthday).

First Year Stat board

Pancake cookie party favors

Smash cake

The Birthday Boy!

Family Picture

Yay! He ate the cake!

And fed some to mommy!

He knows the way to my heart...with cake!

Opening gifts

Annual birthday tradition at the carousel

First carousel ride

3 Years

I am almost speechless when I think that it has been 3 years since Grayson came into our lives. He has, and continues to be, one of the biggest blessings in my life. Here are some things we love about him:

He is one of the sweetest kids I know. Always willing to give me kisses and tell me how much he loves me. My heart melts when he wraps his arms around me and genuinely wants to be with me. He is kind to others, too.
Grayson loves his brother. Those two have a love for each other that I hope never goes away. The teachers at school tell us how Beckett lights up when Grayson comes into his room to check on him. Gray cares for Beckett and always wants to be near him.
He is learning so much at school. Within the last month he moved up to the next room and has started to learn how to write. He can recognize different letters and count up to twenty. One night Shane and I overheard him counting to 10 in spanish! Each day we discover something new he has learned and we are constantly in awe.
Grayson is such a good helper and always willing to help. Anytime we are doing something in the kitchen, he moves his chair over to the counter and says, "I'm gonna help you." He helps me unload the groceries when we go to the store and put stuff away at home.
His favorite things right now are dinosaurs, gymnastics, guitar, Miles from Tomorrowland, grapes, yogurt, and applesauce.
He has a great sense of humor and says some of the funniest things when we are least expecting it. I have been keeping a note on my phone for the last few months to keep track of some things he has said that had us rolling.
Weight: 34lbs, 2 oz (75th percentile)
Height: 38.5 inches (75th percentile)

We had a dinosaur themed party for Grayson and invited a few of his friends to the house. Originally we arranged for a bounce house, but it rained for 3 days straight and had to cancel it. We scrambled and hired a guy that plays guitar at the school but the kids were fine just playing on their own.

I made dino tails for each of his friends.

Aspen was a "golden-saurus"!

Gray giving kisses to his girlfriend, Eleanor

When it rained, I quickly came up with this

dino dig. The kids dug for dinosaur skeletons.

Gray with some of the party dinos.

Love that smile!

My friend Jess made all of us matching

party dinosaur shirts.

Halloween

Halloween will be one of those holidays that we celebrate a few times throughout the month with all of the different parties. We painted pumpkins again this year.

Riley wanted to be in a photo

I took both boys to the Mother/Son Monster Mash so I made sure we had costumes that worked together. This year's theme....Where the Wild Things Are! Grayson was Max then Beckett and I were wild things. I bought Beckett's wild thing costume then made mine.

Woody is my friend Erin's son.

Isn't he cute?!

Sitting in the SWAT vehicle

Playing in the bounce house before it got busy

Our group photo

Grayson is crying. We had to wait in line for 30 minutes

and he was over wearing his costume (he had been in it for over an hour

which is about 50 minutes longer than I thought it would last).

Their school had their annual Fall Festival and we also went Trick or Treating around our neighborhood.

Cookie decorating at the fall festival

Playing games

Halloween night

Me and my wild thing!

Trick or Treat!

Gee was in town and wanted to go out

with the boys

Their mode of transportation for the night

Gray and his loot

Etc, Etc, Etc

I will finish up with some other pictures of things that occurred since mid September (eek, I just realized how far behind I really am!) Shane actually asked me today if he should take over the blog. Not that he's annoyed that it hasn't been updated, but because he knows how busy I am and what little free time I have now. He has alittle more flexibility with his days now that he's self employed (and loving it)!

We are having a low key Thanksgiving this week with my parents, grandmother and great aunt then looking forward to all of the Christmas festivities that will fill the weeks to come!