the cutest valentine...

I have been waiting to post this picture of my precious little valentine! I wanted to make sure that all of Grady's family & (girl)friends got it in the mail first!:-) It was a unanimous...YES! My friend Shannon took some pictures of Grady recently for her 'Share the Love' contest and she surprised me with these for letting her use Grady's picture...what a gal!!!

I had the best valentine's day yet! It started w/ this...

Grady was a little under the weather, so Jaci (our sweet sitter) came early and I got to go to church w/ Aubrey. Afterwards, we walked out to the parking lot to get the car...only it wasn't our car! It was a gorgeous, silver porsche! ...what a fun surprise! He took me to Pappasitto's (my FAVORITE!) and then we spent the rest of the evening riding around and talking. When we were almost home, Aubrey reached in the side pocket and pulled out a little purple box. He said "I wish I could do more"...WHAT!? I'm thinking "all I got you was a homemade card and some dark chocolate m&m's!" He spoiled me w/ not 1...not 2...but 3 massages!!! Seriously the best gift ever! Thanks to both of my gorgeous valentine's...I have to be the most blessed woman alive and I don't deserve it!

~jen

A Few of My Favorite Things - Baby Edition

As Grady has grown over the past seven months I stand amazed at how rapidly he moves through various stages. Let’s take his hands for example. At first baby hands are merely another thing attached to their tiny little body. Pretty soon though they turn into somewhat of a curious anomaly and he stares at them in wonder rotating them back and forth in slow concentrated motion. Then comes the jerky, “I… can’t… seem… to… get … this… in… my… mouth” stage which is soon followed by the emergence of the little fist eating monster inside of us all. Finally he begins to work on dexterity. This is the process by which he learns to grab and hold things in his surprisingly strong baby death grip as he moves them to a slobbery collision with his baby gums. Jen loves it when he applies this technique to her hair. Fortunately, mine just comes out when he pulls on it. :)
That having been said, I have come to the realization that there are things that, potentially, Grady will never grow out of; things that will go with him as he grows. One of these transcendent treasures is in fact one of my favorite things.

Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book

If you don’t know about the yawning yellow yak with Yolanda on his back and if you cannot explain how nine new neckties, nightshirt, nose fit in the same sentence, then you seriously need to run out and pick this up. I’m not sure what to think about Dr. Seuss sometimes. On some levels, he’s a kook and yet on others he is a complete creative genius. I mean, “Four fluffy feathers on a fifer feffer feff.” Holy Smokes! It’s crazy, but so much fun!
And finally, as if you needed more evidence, “Big Z little z. What begins with Z? A Zizzer Zazzer Zuzz as you can plainly see.”
~Big A little a

No More Gummies!!!

It's been a rough few weeks for our little family. First Grady had a stomach bug and he passed it along to Daddy. At the same time, our poor little guy started teething for the first time. He was in obvious pain, which was heartbreaking, lost his appetite for his favorite veggies and was excessively slobbering. For a long time, we couldn't see anything breaking throught the surface, but we could feel little bumps on his gums when he would let us check. Let's just say that Grady is not fond of Mommy and Daddy sticking their fingers in his mouth unless he is instigating it. In some ways, it felt like we had rewound about 6 months, because he was getting up at night and couldn't get back to sleep. It is amazing how quickly you forget what 3AM looks and feels like. Let me just tell you, it's not good!

Soon we began to feel the razor sharp edges of his little teef poking through. Within a couple of days, Grady had regained his appetite and the worst was over. People say that the first are the worst and I sure hope that "people" are right about this one. I don't know if we can stand nine more bouts with this kind of teething. It seems like a lot of work for one pair of pearly whites. In the days following "the breakthrough", both of us made the same rookie mistake. We allowed Grady to bite down on our finger and quickly found that his sweet little gummy gnawing had turned into a painful toothy chomp. Now we're just waiting for them to fully arrive so we can take some cute pics, but for now you will have to settle for some teething pics... sans teeth.

Painful! Poor guy!

Slobbery McSlobberykins

"I don't want to show you my teeth!"

I'm feeling much better! I'm strong to the finish cuz I eats my spinach!

Early oral hygeine training.

Feels good Mommy!

Grady and Daddy feelin much better!

~A