Swim Lessons

Grayson completed his first swim lesson!  I signed him up to take Parent & Tot classes through the American Red Cross programs we offer at my aquatics facility.  They start as young as 9 months so I got him in as soon (or maybe a week before) he turned 9 months old.  All of my instructors were afraid to teach this particular class since I was in it, except for Rachel.  She has worked for me in various capacities for a number of years so she stepped up to teach the class.  Gray really loves the water so it was fun to put him in a structured environment where we could teach him how to kick and use his arms while singing songs and going through motions.  I refrained from dunking him the first week since he had that ear infection but made a habit of putting him under water the next week.  I would count to three, then dunk him and pull him right back up.  He made the funniest facial expressions!  It was comforting that he never cried once when we were in class.  Shane joined him in one class and I did all the others.  One night Aunt Cra Cra (a.k.a. Shannon) came up and took pictures of us.  

Me and little man in class

Blowing bubbles.  He doesn't know how but laughed
when I did it.  

London Bridge on his back

Swimming after the submarine

Miss Rachel getting him to swim

1...2....3....

Dunk face!

Singing "3 Little Ducks"
The girl next to him loved Grayson.  She always
held him up on the mat. It was so cute!

Learning how to hold on to the edge.

Singing the "Goodbye" song.

Giving Miss Rachel her thank you gift.  She also got a gift for Grayson.

Grayson with Miss Rachel and mommy

Playing with Miss Rachel's gift in the tub.  This is his new face.
He says "Ohhh" each time he does it, too.

I also had some photos from when Shane's family was here that I wanted to share.  Shane's parents were here for only a short period of time and I was not able to get pictures with them since I was at work a majority of their visit.  His sister, niece and grandmother stayed with us for 5 days so I was able to snap a few pictures before they left.  It was so good to see them and spend some time with them since they live so far away.  The last time they saw Gray he was only a few weeks old so this was a much more interactive experience for them.  

Rowan, Grayson and Sandee

Nanny, Rowan, Grayson and Sandee

Cousins

They took a picture similar to this the last time they came.
They are going to "re-enact" the photo each time to see
how he grows.  

9 Months

Is my baby boy really 9 months old?  The same amount of time it took me to carry him before he was born?!  I could never imagine how much I would love him each month but it just keeps getting better.  Aside from growing, there was not a whole lot of developmental changes, but here are some things we noticed about him this month:

• Weight: 20lbs, 13oz (50% percentile)
• Height: 28 1/2 inches (60% percentile)
• Gray started to crawl on his knees while we were down at the beach a few weeks ago.  He would army crawl periodically but now he has transitioned to a straight knee crawl and hasn't stopped.  That kid is all over the place now.  :)
• He has started making more combined sounds and loves to hear himself talk.  He can echo back some of the things we say (just sounds, not actual words), but definitely loves making noises.
• He smacks his lips and sort of does a fish face thing with his mouth.  It's funny to watch him play quietly on his own and just smack his lips the whole time.  
• Gray can climb up the stairs (with our assistance, of course).  We have the baby gate up, but every now and then when we go upstairs to do something, we let him climb the stairs.  
• He finished his first week of parent and tot swim lessons and absolutely loves it!  We knew he loved the water, but he giggles with excitement when you put him on his belly to "swim" out to a toy.  He will even kick his legs and splash his arms towards the toy.
• We just battled his first double ear infection.  Last week he was sort of fussy and we ruled it out as teething.  After a call from the daycare for a fever I took him to the doctor and discovered I'm a horrible parent by letting my child suffer through a double ear infection. After a day of meds, he was back to sleeping through the night.
• He is wearing size 3 diapers.
• He is wearing 9-12 month clothes.
• Still just one tooth.

He obviously continues to be the highlight of our life.  Just last night Shane and I were talking about what an amazing kid Gray is.  It's only simple things, but he already seems so smart.  We have been using the word "no" and he is starting to figure out his boundaries.  It's hard to keep a straight face when we say "no" and he laughs at us while shooting us that heart melting grin, but we stick to our guns and fight back the laughs.  We especially love watching him go for something he knows he can't touch, pause, then look back at us to smile as if he is testing us.  I believe he gets this mentality from his father.  :)

Here are some photos from this past month that I have been hanging on to.

Hanging out at home

Fish face!

At the pool for a swim!

Gray has taken over my bath tub...but he's super cute in it!

We find his schnoolie in his mouth like this all the time now.

An easy way to corral a baby

Grammie bought him a ball that he loves to chase around.

Play date with Emmas and Magpies!

First time at Bone Daddys!

Photo with Uncle Bobby before he moved to Odessa.
We will miss you Uncle Bobby!

Aspen kisses!  Gray absolutely loves Aspen now.

See how much he loves an Aspen kiss?!

Swim lessons with daddy

Shane took Gray on a walk and he fell asleep.

Gray waiting for the doctor.  I think the nurse just told
him he had to get a shot.

I told him it was only one.  :)

Here is a really short video of Gray in his swim lesson:

Galveston

We just got back from our first family vacation on Monday!  We rented a house outside of Galveston with my brother's family for 4 nights.  Shane and I love the beach so we were hoping Gray would share that love with us as he grows up.  After having him out in the sand and surf, we pretty much verified he's going to be a beach bum just like us.  :)

On our way down Thursday, we stopped at my friend Ellen's house to visit with them for a couple of hours.  She had a son, Ben, in August who is only a few months older than Gray.  She also has another son, Ty, who just turned 5 earlier this year.  We had not seen one another since early last summer when we were both pregnant so it was nice to catch up and watch our boys interact.  They even came down the next day to spend a couple of hours at the beach with us.  After we left their house we headed down to the beach house to meet my brother and his family.  The rest of the weekend was spent going to the beach, swimming in the community pool and just hanging out at the house.  Shane and I took Gray to Moody Gardens one morning to the aquarium.  We were not sure what he would see or if he would notice anything but we caught him checking out the fish, sea lions, penguins and sharks as they swam by him.  We really had a great time as a family and spending time with my brother, sister-in-law and nephews.

Southbound 45! 

Gray's new friend, Ben.  Future roommates at A&M!  :)

Gray, Me, Ellen & Ben

First time on the beach with his feet in the water

Loving some beach time with daddy

This kid loves the water!

Our set up (James Family, Bybee Family, Owens Family)

Ellen & Ben

I helped Andrew, Ty & Aaron build a sandcastle

Uncle Jay Jay, the baby whisperer

View from our balcony

Our house

Gray watching the sea lions

I feel like he looks so unsure of the fish in this picture.
It cracks me up!

Watching the penguins with mommy

It was Kristin's birthday so we had alittle party for her one night.

Aunt Kissy loves her Grayson

Bybee Family photo

James Family photo

Cousins

My little beach bum

I can't wait for us to take another family vacation!  I admit I was alittle anxious before we left.  Primarily due to the amount of things we had to take with us.  I was also concerned that Gray wouldn't be comfortable outside his usual environment.  As always, Gray proved me wrong.  He traveled really well and did such a great job in the car.  He didn't seem to get too upset being strapped in his car seat for hours at a time.  He watched a few episodes of Blue's Clues or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my iPad and played with his taggy blanket and other toys I would hand him.  He slept well at night and had fun interacting with Aaron and Andrew everyday.  Each day he continues to amaze us.

He's still out of daycare this week (getting plenty of one-on-one time with daddy) but starts back next week in a new room.  He's moving up to the room with the crawlers and walkers.  We are going to miss the teachers in his other room but they will still get to see him everyday through the door.  He also starts swim lessons next week and Shane's family is coming to visit for a few days.  I should have plenty to post about in the next couple of weeks!