Grayson may struggle with his identity as he tries to decide what to be when he grows up.
Should he follow in the footsteps of his grandpa and be one of the most respected and experienced Police Officers in the state?
Sergeant Grayson
Or should he rebel and be the leader of one of the most hated fictional biker gangs in California?
Sons of Anarchy - Man of Mayhem!
Only time will tell!
I finished another project I had been wanting to complete since Grayson was born. It's a shadowbox of his things from the hospital. I didn't buy an actual shadowbox though. I just took a big frame, wrapped some padding and fabric around the back part then stuck his little hospital outfit, footprints, bassinet card and hospital bands on it. It's pretty basic but I like how clean it looks.
Gray's doctors appointment went great Thursday! I really like the new pediatrician's office. The staff was super friendly and the pediatrician was really nice. Here are Grayson's stats:
The doctor thought Grayson was perfectly healthy and obviously happy! Since he is sleeping so well and gaining weight, we are going to continue with exclusive breast feeding until he shows any signs of needing more nourishment (waking up at night). My goal is 6 months so we'll see if we can make it another two months. He thinks Gray might cut a tooth early. The boy is a drool machine and you can sort of feel one starting to emerge on his lower gums.
After his exam the nurse came in to administer his shots. I never know how he is going to take them. In true Grayson fashion, he took them like a champ! He let out one cry during the initial shot and went right back to smiling and flirting with the nurse within 30 seconds. Just another reason why I love this kid! His next check up will be at 6 months.
We got a HUGE surprise Thursday...my cousin Casey happened to be in the states for a wedding and was able to stay with us last night! It was so good to see him and introduce him to Grayson. We did not think we would see him again until 2014 so I was more than excited when I got his phone call. Our time together was short, but definitely valuable. Grayson really took a liking to him, too!
As promised...here are pictures from the last couple of days!
"Uncle" Casey teaching Grayson how to stick out his tongue
Chilling with Casey before he left
He is rolling over all the time now!
Playing with his hippo from Blakely
Just to show how happy he is, Grayson even smiles
while wearing Texas Tech colors! :)
30 seconds post shots...the kid is a trooper!
I'm awake mommy!
Post nap photo
Last but not least, here are a couple of videos.
Grayson is consistently rolling from back to front. He does it so quickly now that I barely had time to get the camera turned on.
Here is a sample of Grayson's belly laugh. Love this sound!
Baby Gray is growing so fast! Almost too fast if you ask me. Here are some things we have noticed about him this month:
Grayson discovered his tongue. He sticks it in and out all the time and likes to make noises with it.
Just days after his 3 month birthday, he started to roll from his tummy to his back. This was one of those moments that I knew would come; when the daycare played witness to his milestones before we did. They said he was lying on his tummy and just all of a sudden flipped over. One of the girls had turned her back and couldn't believe he had done it himself. They put him back on his tummy and he did it again. Of course it took us a couple of days to see it happen because someone did not want to "perform" for us.
Within the past few days, he started rolling from his back to his tummy! It was a slow process at first but now it is more fluid. Shane has yet to see it because he always seems to do it when he looks away. Last night Gray attempted to do it and Shane got super excited. Right before he hit his tummy, he rolled back to his back. I think this is all part of Gray's sense of humor because he knows how much it frustrates his daddy!
He reaches for things all the time now (toys, our hair, our face, etc). You can definitely see a difference in how he plays. He is always grabbing toys and tugging on them then immediately shoving them in his mouth.
He started belly laughing. This is our favorite milestone so far. He really gets going when we do superman or make certain noises. He laughs so hard it usually gives him the hiccups.
When he sleeps, he rolls to his left side. He is regularly sleeping 9 hours at night and taking pretty good naps during the day.
Aside from talking, he learned how to make this high pitch squeal we refer to as the "dolphin cry" (video below). I assume he picked this up at daycare, although he started it after staying home with my mom one day. She denies any assistance in teaching him this noise. :)
He is still very independent. We can put him on his mat and let him play while we make dinner or put him in his crib when it's nap time and let him fall asleep on his own. He just talks to himself or plays with any toys we leave for him.
He continues to be the happiest baby in the world. Almost any time you look at him, he throws you the biggest smile. All of the people at daycare tell me everyday how happy he is all the time.
He is eating 6 times a day but may be dropping to 5 times a day soon.
He is wearing 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers but we may be making a trip to return all of the size 2 diapers we have left over and moving up to size 2-3 & size 3 diapers this weekend. We even made a shopping trip this past weekend to Carters and Baby Gap to purchase a few 9 month outfits as I feel we are not far from a wardrobe change.
I think we have finally found a good routine and rhythm each day. It's weird how quickly you settle into this new lifestyle and wonder how on earth you filled your meaningless time pre-baby. Grayson has easily fit into the rockstar lifestyle Shane and I had prior to his birth. :)
As far as life goes for Shane and I, we are keeping fairly busy. Shane recently began teaching some PSAT classes at school a few days a week. The kids are really benefiting from it, too, as their scores seem to be going up on their practice tests. Because this course seems to be so popular and beneficial, he plans to put his administrative search on hold for now and focus on teaching and seeing where this PSAT course will go. *Shout out to any of Bybee's students reading the blog! You need to take the PSAT class if you aren't signed up! :)
Some of you know I recently applied for a position that opened up in our department. It was a manager's position on the Leisure Services side that oversaw our two rec centers and senior center. This is the one segment of our business I have little experience in but something I was interested in pursuing to gain more experience. I was one of the lucky few to get an interview, but unfortunately I did not get selected. They went with an external candidate from out of state. By no means am I upset. It was a "nothing to lose" situation for me. If I got the job, I would have run with it 110%, but if I didn't get the job, I still get to go to work each day doing something that I love. My director met with me and we had a great conversation about my role in our department and some potential opportunities for me in the future. I will be taking the lead on a 5K we started last spring and also be involved in the development of a dog park! I have been pushing for a dog park since I started with the city almost 10 years ago so I am super excited. Needless to say, it looks like I'll be gearing up for another summer at the pool! Only 3 months left until we open!
Grayson goes in for his 4 month check-up today so I may write a follow-up tomorrow. We are going to a new pediatrician. There was nothing wrong with our original pediatrician but we did have some issues with how the office was run. The pediatrician was great (my family has known her for years), but the front office staff were not friendly, helpful, organized or on top of things from the day Grayson first saw them when he was just a few days old. A couple of weeks ago we had a "pink eye" scare and daycare sent him home. I called to get an appointment and they were not able to work us in until the next afternoon. This would mean Gray would have to miss daycare for atleast 2 more days because he could not go back until 24 hours AFTER he started antibiotics. Normally I would just take off work but I had my interview scheduled for the next day. Thankfully my mom came up to help me out since I was in a bind. We ended up taking him to an urgent care place for kids and confirmed he did not have pink eye, just some clogged tear ducts. Mom was already in town so she decided to stay home with him anyway and get some one-on-one time with him. My manager at work suggested we go to his pediatrician's office. There are about 5 pediatricians in this office so we should always be able to get an appointment, same day. We'll see how this first appointment goes! They have it scheduled for the right day so they are already off to a better start than the other office.
Sorry I don't post as often anymore. I try to take pictures pretty frequently but feel weird just posting a couple of random photos every few days. I am regularly asked by Shane, "When are you going to update the blog?", so I will try to post more frequently. Even if it is just a couple of pictures (that's all any of you want to see anyway, right?). My phone recently started showing signs of potential demise so my loving husband took me to Sprint one night and bought me the new iPhone 5 (yes, I went to the darkside and am now one of the cult followers of Apple). We have had an iPad for over a year, but I never saw myself as the owner of an iPhone. Just felt so cliche. I am slowly starting to love it. The best part is, it has a great camera so I can take more pictures and videos of Grayson then load them directly up to my picasa and youtube accounts to be posted on the blog. No promises, but I hope to post more frequently.
Ok, I have bored you with enough text...on to the photos!
On our way to school one morning. For some reason I feel like he looks so grown up in this photo. What you can't see is the band-aid on his right pointer finger...I accidentally snipped a small chunk of his finger off when trimming his nails that morning. Kid didn't cry so I was unaware of his injury until I saw blood all over his car seat strap. Tag this up as one of my "awesome mom" moments.
He loves daddy playtime!
Daddy caught us taking a nap one Sunday.
Meltdown on the way home from dinner one night. See, he does have his moments. And yes, we are the parents that stop, take the photo, laugh at our child and then comfort him when he's crying.
Lazy Sunday afternoon
Playing with our Soffe from Miss Jessica!
Grayson fell asleep in my arms one night with his lip tucked in.
Starting to roll over to our belly!
Painting activity at school! While they do the activities, they take pictures of the kids. Love it!
Learning how to color at school.
Daycare has these mirrors and he loves them. I bought one for the house.
My two boys are becoming great friends! Aspen gives Grayson "kisses" all the time now.
Grayson has been sitting in his Bumpo seat for a couple of weeks!
I'm ready for my close up!
Watching our Tigger from Grammie dance and sing.
Going to school one morning. He is always so happy in the morning!
Here is a preview of the "dolphin cry". Warning: any animals in the current
vicinity may immediately perk up upon hearing this sound.
Grayson's future girlfriend finally made her arrival yesterday! Miss Payton Marie Betts was born at 4:02pm in Miami, Florida. She weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are happy and healthy!
We are so happy for Nikki, Robert and big sister Rylee! Nikki's birthday is also on Valentine's Day so she gets to share it with her precious baby girl each year!
Payton Marie Betts
Payton, Nikki & Rylee
I meant to share Grayson's first "gift" for me from his daycare yesterday. The ladies in his room are always working on projects with the kids. Obviously Grayson did not do much except for pose for the camera, but he did make sure to give them his best smile!
Someone started to roll from their tummy to their back! Grayson did this for the first time about 3 weeks ago but I was just now able to capture it on video this past weekend. (Ignore the crazy lady talking in the background). :)
Shane had another article published and this time it was the highlighted article on the page. I was not able to access the online version but we did get a copy of the actual article. Sorry if it is hard to read. I just thought it was neat that he was recognized in this way.
On this day last year, my life was forever changed. This was the day I went to my fertility doctor for our last and final procedure. I'm sure I had positive thoughts that it would be the one that worked, but I also had those same thoughts during all of the other procedures. I can't say things felt different that time or I had a feeling it would work, but I do remember telling myself that no matter what happened, my life would be just as God planned for it to be. I love that this was the plan he had for us!
Not a day goes by that I do not thank God for bringing Grayson into our lives. Grayson has made my life complete! Shane and I would love to have more kids, but if Grayson is all that we are blessed with, I will live out the rest of my days extremely grateful for my family of 3. Grayson has truly stolen my heart and made everyday better than the day before it.
My Amazing Family
Me and my little blessing I can't get enough of his sweet smile!
Superbaby!
This was such a cute picture of Gray laughing at my mom when we went to visit my grandparents.
