April Recap

Whew!  This has been one hectic month!  I feel like we blinked and May is already here.  Good news for Shane since that means school is almost out, bad news for me since it means pools are almost open.  This Saturday is our big 5K that I oversee so I'm hoping I get a week to catch up on some projects before I'm fully engulfed in aquatics issues.  I won't bore you with too much talk and get straight to the photos.

 Aunt Nancy bought Gray a letter "G"

canvas for him to paint.

 Ok, so mommy may have helped alittle.

Someone gave up before it was finished.

 Spending some time with my littles.

 Remove the pacis and flash forward 10 years

to see what these two will look like as teenagers

that are fixated by anything on television.

In this case, "Wreck It Ralph".

 Gray loves Beckett, or as he likes to call him,

"my Beckett".  He wanted to go get him up from

nap time.

 Already working on puzzles together. 

A fun game of "I hide".

Yes, that is Beckett under the patterned

blanket.

Here is a funny video of Gray trying to play

"I hide" with Beckett.

Last Thursday my cousin, Casey and his son, Athan, were in town on their way back to Virginia.  They came over for a quick dinner and a mini play date.  Grayson is only 3 months older than Athan so I think they had a good time together.

After they left that night, I took Beckett to urgent care.  I could tell he was not feeling himself and did not think I could get him to the doctor the following day.  I'm glad I went.  Another double ear infection and his right ear had a bulging ear drum.  He is now on his second round of antibiotics in less than a month.  I will take him for a follow-up on Monday to see if the infection cleared up.  We might then be making a trip to our ENT.  Looks like this could be the year of ear tubes! 

Last Friday I had my night out with Courtney.  I headed over to Rockwall that afternoon (after an unexpected call from daycare to come pick up Beckett because he was fussy...luckily I have the greatest parents in the world who took great care of him) and got a massage before we met up at the hotel.  My brother is the Director of Engineering at the Hilton on Lake Ray Hubbard so he got us a good rate.  That night we went to dinner at The Fatted Calf in downtown Rockwall.  It is really good, home cookin.  There were storms in the area so we attempted to get the check and leave before the next big wave hit.  Unfortunately, we didn't time it properly and ended up driving right through the storm.  The hotel was only 3 miles away, but it took about 20 minutes with the amount of rain that was coming down.  Saturday we had breakfast, went shopping and got mani/pedis before grabbing lunch and heading back home to our little ones.  It was nice to get away and spend quality time with Courtney.  We had hoped to get better sleep but some people on our hall were pretty noisy and we were both wide awake at 7:15am.  Oh well, we will sleep again one day! A big THANK YOU to Shane for organizing the night and taking one for the team by watching both boys! 

View from our room after the storm passed. 

The boy's had their school photos taken at the end of March.  The school will actually allow the boys to get their photos taken individually and with their siblings.  The first morning they went to take pictures they lost power, so after 30 minutes Beckett wasn't interested anymore in taking his photo which meant I had to bring both boys back the next day ready to go again.  Apparently Beckett wasn't ready then either.

 Wait for it...

 And there's complete meltdown.

Look at Gray keeping his composure during

the entire photo shoot. I seriously believe he would 

have done well as a kid model.

Remember the phone Gray stashes in his pocket during the day?  Well, he had it in his pocket the morning he took his photos and busted it out while they were trying to get the power fixed.  The photographer thought it was cute and we found this photo amongst his proofs.  I know the kids are allowed to have props, but that prop wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

This morning Gray's school had a Trike-a-Thon to raise money for St. Jude.  I went up to the school and snapped some photos of him and snuck in some time with Beckett, too.

 He still hasn't figured out how to use the

pedals, but he's working on it.

 Gray and his girlfriend, Eleanor

Max, Gray and Eleanor

These 3 have been together since they were just 

a few months old.

 Beckett playing on his mat at school.

He is pretty much crawling now!

 Beckett making it super difficult for Sam

to change his diaper and clothes

After I left he did his craft for the day.

Such a sweet smile!

6 Months

Happy half birthday little Becks!  Here are some things we noticed about him this month:

• On top of talking all the time, he discovered his tongue and loves to blow raspberries and spit.  Anytime we lie him down to play or while we are changing his diaper, he finds ways to entertain us.
• He loves his toys.  He can grab them, hold them and put them in his mouth.  
• Beckett is always exploring.  We see him trying to feel different textures, examine toys as if he is wondering how they are made or reaching for objects.  I think he's going to be our little engineer and take after his Great Bob.  
• He cannot fully sit up yet, but he is trying.  We can put him in a tripod stance but he will usually fall to the side or back.  
• The biggest milestone this month is that he can almost crawl!  Beckett will get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.  Sometimes he propels himself forward or begins moving backwards.  No matter what direction he's going we have to keep an eye on him when we set him down since he's never in the same place long.
• He figured out his paci.  He knows how to hold on to it really well and put it in and out of his mouth.  Sometimes he gets it stuck on his thumb and we have to pry it off.
• Beckett started sleeping better at night.  We give him a bottle at 8:30pm and he will sleep until 5:30-6:30am.  He still wakes up around 4-4:30am some nights, but it doesn't take much to get him back to sleep.  
• He's eating 7-8oz bottles about 5 times a day.
• We have tried oatmeal a couple of times and he isn't a big fan.  This week we plan to start some veggies to see if he likes those better.
• He is still wearing size 2 diapers but might move to size 3 this month.
• He is wearing mostly 6 month clothes but some 9 month since he is so long.  Most of the 9 month clothes we have are for the warmer months but they are alittle lose on him.  
• Weight: 16lbs, 6 oz (35th percentile)
• Height: 28 inches (90th percentile)

Beckett went to the doctor for his 6 month check-up on Thursday.  He is really healthy and going to be one tall and skinny boy!  The ear infection has cleared up which I think has helped him sleep better.  He got another round of shots and handled it so well.  

At the doctor with mommy

What?  Is this not how it works?

We have mentioned Beckett's laugh before and I finally captured it on video.  Shane was bouncing a ball on his head while we played on the patio and Beckett could not stop laughing (between coughs). 

Tonight I gave Beckett some small gerber puffs for him to try.  I would randomly feed him one but then we caught him trying to feed himself. 

Despite some storms the last few nights, the weather has been really nice this weekend.  Saturday was a full day of running errands and going to an event for my work. We learned some of the repercussions of not keeping Gray on his schedule.  He was alittle difficult most of the day. Luckily we got him right back on today.  

Gray will be transitioning to the next room at school tomorrow.  It seems really quick since he's only been in this room 4-5 months but they think he's getting bored in his current room and the teachers in the next room are asking for him (did we ever mention how much everyone loves our boys at this school?)  :)  Moving up means potty training!  He was supposed to start in this past room but progress has been slow.  I guess the teachers in this next room are really going to work with him.  We may be down to just one in diapers soon! 

 At Carrollton's Spring Blooms event

Beckett was over taking photos.

 See, he does cry

 My little man

I got to spend lots of time with him 

this weekend.

 Daddy and little Becks

 I climb

 We ran some errands on Saturday.

Turns out Gray is a shopper!

The new Kroger by our house has these little carts.

Gray loved pushing it around the store.

Definitely made shopping much easier for me!

We are raising a guitar playing Viking dinosaur

Waffle Wednesday (and bacon and nana)
at home with momma

It's going to be a busy week at work for me but I am looking forward to the weekend.  All day Friday, Friday night and Saturday is "mommy time".  It's my (early) Mother's Day gift from Shane.  He got me a room at my brother's new hotel so I am meeting up with my friend Courtney to have some girl time, sans kids.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my kids, but I am definitely tired and looking forward to a break.  It may be hard since I can count on one hand the number of nights I have been away from either one of my boys.  I have only spent 4 nights away from Gray and 0 from Beckett.  Call me crazy or obsessive, I don't care.  There has never been a reason for me to be away from them, but I will take a night if it's given to me.  It will be nice to have some adult talk, a meal where I don't have to keep up with two kids on either side of me, uninterrupted sleep and a chance to catch up with my best friend.  I know Courtney is looking forward to a break as well.  She's got two little girls (Emma, 4 and Maggie, 2) and is pregnant with her third (due in July).  When Shane asked if I wanted someone to join me, I could not have thought of a better person to have spent my time with, and possibly needed it just as much as I did.  As of now we don't have any big plans.  Maybe a pedi, a nice dinner and SLEEP!  The sad part is, I get so excited when I have the opportunity to sleep, that it just keeps me awake.  Here's hoping this hectic week wears me out enough that it won't be an issue.

Start of Spring

We have had a good (but wet) start to spring so far.  When it's not raining, the weather has been really nice so our family has been spending some time enjoying the outdoors.

One night last week I went on the patio with the boys and Gray pointed out two bunnies in our backyard.  We have never seen many bunnies in our neighborhood before so it was odd to actually see them in our yard.  Gray loved them and I was able to snap a quick video of him saying "hi" to the bunnies.

On Saturday I took Gray to Home Depot to pick up some flowers so the two of us could plant them in some pots on our back patio that afternoon.  I had seen some cute Mickey garden tools at Target a couple of weeks prior and we stopped by there after our trip to Home Depot and to my surprise, they were on clearance!  Gotta love a good deal.  I gathered our supplies on the patio and attempted to get Gray to assist me.  I must have the only boy on earth that doesn't want to get dirty.  He did like helping me put dirt in the pots using his shovel but had no desire to get dirt on his new Mickey gloves.  He was also ok watering the plants, but became hesitant to assist when the water on the patio began to impede upon the area he had to stand.  

 This was a pot and flower he picked out at Home Depot

 Watering his flower

 Kind of watering the flowers...looks like he's

watering the patio more than anything

The results of all "our" hard work

Our weekends are also filled with walks to the park, the mailbox or just around our cul-de-sac or neighboring streets.  I have a few hours alone with the boys on Sunday afternoons while Shane is teaching his classes so I try to find easy ways to manage both boys without keeping them couped up inside too much.  

My view during a recent walk with the boys to

build up Grayson's rock collection.

Beckett really loves being strapped in his carrier.

We really love our patio and I'm glad we have some space to hang out with the kids and have people over.  Recently we have had some discussions about expanding that space by pouring a slab adjacent to the existing patio and adding an arbor.  We would move the fire pit and chairs to that area which would open up the existing patio to serve more as a play area for the boys and their outdoor toys.  Along the same theme of home renovation, we recently had our foundation repaired.  Over the last year or two we noticed some cracks throughout our drywall in the house and decided to get some quotes to get the work completed to avoid further issues.  Our landscape was semi destroyed so we figured now was a good time to redo the front landscaping since we had talked about doing it before.  One of the guys that works for me does it as a side business so I gave him an idea of what we wanted and let him run with it. We think it turned out great and really opened up the front of the house.  

New Landscaping

Before

This past weekend we went to gymnastics after taking last week off while we were at the lake.  I'm never sure how cooperative Gray's going to be as he sort of likes to do his own thing from time to time and not follow the class structure, but this Saturday he seemed to really enjoy himself.  I think as long as he has a smile on his face and wears himself out as much as he does, we will continue to take him.

 I build a tower!

I hide!

 Look at that smile!  And that hair!

He had worked up a pretty good sweat.

 He decided he wanted to crawl instead of walk

 Drumroll...

 Hooray!

Tara
To switch gears, I had the opportunity to take my other cousin's senior pictures on Friday.  I have a hard time believing the little girl I once held in my arms after she was born is about to graduate from high school and go off to college.  She's been given a scholarship to play soccer at a private school in Kansas.  I am so proud of her and all of the obstacles she's overcome in her life with the loss of her mom at such a young age.  She has grown to be a beautiful girl!  The weather was absolutely perfect on Friday so we were able to get alot of great pictures in downtown McKinney.

With the start of spring means summer is just around the corner.  Where work used to be somewhat seasonal, it's become more steady in that I'm constantly busy year round.  Shane's school year is winding down but he's making preparations for all of the summer programs he will be offering through his college prep company.  Our summer vacation is booked, too.  We rented a house in Crystal Beach with 2 of my best friends from college and their families.  It will be a house filled with 6 adults and 6 children, between the ages of 8 months and 7 years.  We don't go until the beginning of August but I'm looking forward to spending some time with these girls and their families.

Beckett will be 6 months on Thursday!  We have a doctor's appointment that morning so I will try to get an update posted sometime this weekend.