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Happy 1st Birthday, Grayson!

My baby isn't much of a baby anymore.  Grayson turned one on May 11th.  The year went by so quickly, definitely quicker the second time around.   Looking back on pictures it's hard to believe the transformation that has taken place, Grayson went from a little, helpless baby boy to an independent explorer that lives for excitement, hugs and giving his brother and sister a hard time.

Grayson is not walking yet, but I have a feeling that it really won't be that far off.  I am betting that Grayson will be walking before Saray did (walked at 14 months) and long before Joshua did (walked at 17 months).  He has to keep up with the twins you know.  He likes to walk if you hold his one hand, but for the most part he is happy to crawl at lightning speed or cruise the furniture.  Overall, Grayson is a happy kid.  He sleeps fantastic at night (generally 11 or 12 hours straight) and generally naps decent, thankfully.

He loves to babble, loves music and loves destroying books.  He's favorite song is "Barbara Ann" By the Beach Boys, he sings the "ba-ba-ba" part right on time and dances til his heart is content.  This little boy is such amazing gift from God.

Here are a few pictures, a few from a year ago, and a few from a week ago. Enjoy!

Dad holding Grayson for the first time

Mommy and Grayson (1 day old)

Few minutes old

One year later - Happy birthday Grayson!

Grayson's birthday - Mommy and her little boy

Daddy and his boy - Grayson's 1st birthday

Saray, Grayson, Mommy & Joshua - celebrating Grayson's birthday

Our New Home

We have been in our new house for 2 weeks now; the piles of boxes are diminishing and I am starting to find the right place for things, even if that place is the "get rid of this" pile.  Our garage is half full of boxes, but hey, that just means that we have gone through the other half!  Yay!

The kids are finally settling into life here at our house on Cascade.  Saray is now calling it our "new home" vs. "The new house", so we are making improvement.  However, we have been making it a point to steer clear of the old house cause it does make the twins sad and it's hard to explain why we are not going back to our old home.  Josh is back on track with his potty training and Grayson has mastered the stairs. 
 
Jer and I are enjoying the house more and more, especially as we see the project list shrink one project at time.  We absolutely love the neighborhood and the fact that there are sidewalks to walk on and lack of fast cars zooming by our house, this is one HUGE benefit about living on a cul-de-sac, very few cars.

We really have our work cut out for us this Summer; Jer's Dad, Step-mom and sister Maddie are coming Memorial weekend to help finish a bedroom or two in the basement.  Then we will put in a water sprinkler system with Grandpa Ivan, then we'll broadcast the seed for the yard ourselves.  But before that, Jer wants get rid of a bunch of rocks in the yard, plus add a little more retaining wall off of the current retaining wall by the driveway.  A bit more details have to go into drawing up the landscape plans before things move forward too much more.  But it is an exciting time even with all the work that lays ahead.

We are excited to be Home Owers (like Emily Hall's Dad says).  Even if we are home owers, at least we can it call it our own.

Joshua James

My quiet little boy Joshua is turning into a talker.  I love it!  He is communicating, with WORDS!  I love how words can help eliminated a ton of frustration when dealing with a toddler and I am sure it eliminates a lot of frustration for him as well.

Josh has really developed a fascination for big trucks (diggers, dump trucks, semi-trucks, etc) and tractors (this includes 4-wheelers).  He loves tractors with trailers and tractors that haul things.  He even picked out a sticker package (for potty training) that had just one tractor on it, just because he enjoys tractors so much.   He didn't mind that it didn't have lots of tractors, he was just happy that it had one tractor on it.  One is always enough for him.

He is still content to play with one thing for a long period of time (or until his sister or brother come along and swipe it).  He loves Elmo, not just any Elmo (yes we have two in this household), it has to be the smaller one without the plastic eyes.  Ha.  Oh and don't forget about the gray kitty.  Those three (Josh, Elmo and Kitty) have spent countless hours these past few weeks playing pretend.

Regarding Joshua's tummy issues, we finally saw some breakthrough.  We eliminated milk from his diet and he is doing so much better.  It took about 2 weeks to notice a change.  We also noticed a few other things, like too much juice ( as in 6 oz of juice more than once a week) is not a good thing for him.  He just can't seem to handle it.   We also have noticed that he is a a little sensitive to dye in foods, especially yellow 5 and red 50.  Nevertheless, we are super excited about the improvement in his eating habits.  This last week he has been out eating Saray (minus the fact that she has a small appetite due to the cold she has), but still, he is eating way more than he used to - Praise God!  Now I just pray that his weight would start to increase. 

I love this gentle boy.  He lights up my world.

Saray Anne

Saray, my little sports fan.  Where did that come from?  Sports fan?!  Neither Jer or I are really into sports, I mean we like them, but we don't go goo-goo-ga-ga over them like Saray does.  Before having kids, Jer and I would go to a sporting event maybe once a year.  But now that we have a sports fan on our hands we have gone to more sporting events this past year then we have in our 6.5 years of marriage!  Ha!  Is this the start of something big in our lives?  I have a feeling that Saray will play in some sport, which one she will pick?  I think if she could she would play football.  But since football doesn't super young, I think soccer would be her second choice.

The other day I asked Saray if she would like a football for her birthday, and her response was oozing with exciting.  She shouted "axsolutely! I can't wait to get a football for my birthday!"  Oh dear...what a girl.   I love it though.  She continues to surprise us.  

Saray is finally starting to get over twirling & pulling out her hair (hopefully it lasts).  She will even let me brush her hair and put a barrette in her hair.   This is HUGE!  I never thought I'd see her content to wear a barrette.  But, once again, she has proven me wrong.  She even let me trim her hair without crying and even sat semi-still! Amazing!  Oh and she likes having her nails painted blue.  She always informs that her nails are melting, which means I better paint them again, and it has to be blue.

I love this sweet girl.  She lights up my world.

Grayson Carl

Hard to believe that Grayson will be a year old in just a few weeks.  I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by. He is turning into a toddler a little more each day.  He knows what he likes to eat and what he doesn't like to eat, and if you put something on his tray that he doesn't care for, he'll just toss it overboard.
 He also loves being in the center of it all, I mean literally.  If we are reading a book, he has to be right in the center.  If the twins have made their way to standing in front of the TV, he has to be right in the middle of them dancing along to the music until his twin siblings knock him out of the way (poor kid.)

He is still my little cuddle buddy.  He will sometimes just rest and relax in my arms and just watch the world happen around him.  He loves hugs and loves a good cuddle, you can just tell.   He loves to smile and loves being near me.  :)  He is a mommy's boy that is for sure.  Although, he absolutely adores his Daddy too.  I love this little kiddo.  He lights up my world.

 Grayson, how can you almost be One?!  You're growing up too fast.  Love ya Scooter.

Grayson - 10.5 months old - April 2011

Soccer Field

How in the world can a soccer field & a few balls make an evening special?  By spending it with your kids and spouse.   

We finally decided to take the kids over to the soccer field that is just a short walking distant from our house.  The kids LOVED it!  Especially Saray, she would run and kick that ball all the way into the "met" (net).  Her hand and foot coordination amazed me.  She is my little sports fan (any sport with a ball she loves.)  Grayson and Josh enjoyed themselves too.  Grayson chased his red ball around in the poking grass (no complains were made by him about the grass, amazingly) or pushed the stroller around by holding on the basket near the ground.  Josh mostly held onto his blue soccer ball and stared at the big truck that was being cleaned just beyond the fence.   Occasionally, he would put his blue ball down and kick it around.  

Isn't it funny how kids can be so very different even though they are siblings (or twins)?  Even though I know that each one of my kids is an individual and unique, I am still always amazed at how different they really are.  And I love their differences; I love that Saray has shocked us by being a sports fan.  And I love that Josh would rather play with tractors and trucks than kick a ball around.  And I love that Grayson doesn't mind the poking brown Spring grass that he has to crawl around on to get to center of the fun.  Watching them become more aware of themselves is so enjoyable.  I love exploring the world with my kids...please don't let me forget to enjoy these days...

Grayson loved chasing after his ball and his siblings

Joshua mostly just watched, but still had a great time

Grayson having a blast

Saray setting her ball in place so she can kick it into the 'met' (net)

Grayson & Daddy

Mommy and the Twinkies

Hugs on demand...Love it.