Happy Belated Halloween!

"helping"

Here's a clip of Grady helping Jesse with the lights on our Christmas tree...



And a few more random pictures from the evening...

Sniffing the tree. Yes, it is real.

Helping unbox the ornaments, with his trademark confused expression.

Before ornaments...

After ornaments... Colin was getting sleepy.

ACC Champs!

Go Hokies!

Big brother

Grady likes having a live model to point out body parts!

Me, too!

Grady laid claim to the Bumbo chair when he got home today.  He's never one to be left out.  :)

Bumbo!

Cheeky...

Multipurpose toes...

We had cereal for breakfast today.  Grady still doesn't eat his with milk in the bowl.  Some cereal flakes fell in the chair, but that didn't phase him.  I took the tray off, turned to set it on the table, looked back and saw Grady licking Special K flakes off his feet.  Something to save and show future girlfriends,  perhaps?  Or audition for America's Got Talent?

Tummy time.

Jam!

Colin has been supervising the jam-making at home...  Here he is trying to restrain his excitement over raspberry - peach jam.

Colin James Hunter

Colin is two weeks old today!  He was born July 21 at 3:48 am.  7 pounds 15.2 ounces and 20 inches long.  He's been a good sleeper and eater so far.  Grady has lots of unrestrained love to give...we're working on harnessing it a bit.  More pictures to come as soon as we get the camera unloaded.

We're all doing well!  Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes and good thoughts.  We're very thankful for our healthy and happy baby.

LBH2...

...is apparently quite content where he is, and isn't showing much indication towards vacating the premises any time soon.

So, we wait.  And wait.  And wait.  At least until Thursday,  when we see what's what at my appointment.

In the meantime, we've changed all the lightbulbs in the house.   Which means we're REALLY ready now.  All the way ready.

I LIKE YOGURT!!!

Our new puppy!

We brought Jasmine's crate up from downstairs to use during last night's thunderstorms.   Grady couldn't wait to let her out this morning so he could move in...

Heatwave in the NE

Cracked 100 today, calling for 104 tomorrow and 102 on Wednesday.   Grady's been getting in pool time late in the day when the patio is shaded.  T has been very graciously sharing his pool with Grady, although he could do without the toys.  Jasmine is loving the weather and would lounge outside all day if we'd let her.  T is less enamored and we think he's thinking he left Daytona for a reason!

Grady also had been spending time washing his tractor and pushing it across the yard.  He can't pedal it yet, but that doesn't stop him from shoving it around.

Chevy's Fresh Mex

For the first time ever, we ordered Grady a meal off the kids menu instead of scavenging for him off our plates.  I think he's only had a taste of ice cream once before, and that was in a bowl.  His cheese flauta meal came with a big wedge of cantaloupe, an orange quarter, and a soft serve ice cream cone.  He did pretty well with the cone.  The cold surprised him, but he ate some of the rest with all the skill of a seasoned ice cream cone eater.

CSI Auditions?

Learning to dip in ketchup or auditioning to be a CSI body?  You decide...

Fun at daycare

Grady's been having lots of fun at daycare this summer. His class has a new theme each week. For sea-life week they learned how to crabwalk, read stories about underwater creatures, and snuggled with their favorite sea-creature stuffed animals from home. Mommy lent Grady the stuffed lobster that Daddy brought her back from his first work trip to Boston.

During safari week they made safari explorer hats, lion mane masks, practiced roaring, and snuggled at naptime with their favorite jungle animal from home. Grady brought his stuffed Tigger along and apparently it was a big hit.

Occasionally they also have water play outside. Grady loves the water table. This is no surprise, seeing as how we can't get him out of the pool, or away from the sprinkler, or pry the hose and nozzle from him when he's outside at home.

Uncle Chris comes to visit

Grady was excited that Uncle Chris could visit for a couple days.  It was swelteringly hot out, but fun to be outside in the yard with his spray bottle.  And Uncle Chris was nice enough to share his ice with Grady, too.

Busted!

If you look at Grady's lip, you'll notice that the left side is fat.  With teeth marks.   When I picked him up at daycare yesterday, there was an accident report in his cubby for me to sign.  Apparently another kid was playing with a drum and Grady wanted it.  Sooo, he took it.  And in his haste to run away with his ill-gotten booty, he tripped over his feet and smashed into a cupboard face-first, biting his lip in the process. 

The report goes on to describe what was done for the injury (TLC, tissue on lip until it stopped bleeding, ice).  Then I get to the section on follow up/action plan...

"Talked with the whole class about why sharing is better than stealing and why we don't run in the classroom."

That's our kid... getting the whole class lectured!  :P

Today when I picked him up, there was another accident report.  When I dropped him off in the morning, he spent an hour in the smaller infant room until more of his classmates arrived.  He was standing on a pillow, trying to look outside, and was using the pull-up bar.  (Like a ballet barre/railing for the smaller babies to hold on to while they're learning to stand up).  He somehow managed to get his arm stuck, wedged between the bar and the wall.  Scared the teacher when she went to pick him up and he was stuck.  Thought they were going to have to soap up his arm to slide it out.  The teacher in the next room over was able to extricate his arm.  More TLC, more ice, more paperwork for me to sign...

Grady and I agree that we can't wait for Daddy to come home on Saturday!

Click!

Last weekend a tree fell down in our back yard; hitting Karen's garden (/cry)... it was a neighbor's tree, not very big and we don't know them, so I figured I'd just cut it up this weekend.

At 2:30 today, I checked the weather and it was going to storm in about 45 minutes. So I threw on my work clothes, grabbed the chainsaw, and headed out to work on the tree.

Karen came along to with Grady to watch the action. Of course, I forgot my eye protection so Karen runs into the house while Grady is playing in his "Cozy Coupe" on the back porch. In a matter of a nano-second, he goes from the Coupe, into the kiddie pool - fully dressed with shoes on... gonna be in trouble for that one! But I digress...

Karen comes back out, gives me the dirty look, and I go about hacking down the tree. About 44 minutes and 30 seconds later, it starts pouring down rain. Karen takes Grady and what she can carry into the house. Then she comes back out to the porch to grab a few more things... and in that nano-second, Grady reaches up, and locks the sliding door.

Great - we're locked out, in the pouring rain!

We do that dance of "come on kid, you can open it"... just a little more. While he is gigling and probably enjoying the fact that we are now completely soaked! After a few minutes, I do the walk of shame to the neighbors to get our spare key... oh Grady, you're the man! :)

Crazy kid.

Sausage?

So we're sitting at the dinner table last night and I hear Karen say (while trying not to laugh). "Grady, we don't put sausage in our eyes!".

Goofy kid.

Big Boy Bed

So day #1 of the transition to the big boy bed (full size adult bed with guard rail) is complete and I think it went about as good as you could ask for!

As Karen pointed out with her last picture, it took about an hour for him to finally settle down and go to sleep. I could hear him in there playing with his toys and having a good time until he finally got tired enough! He only cried for a minute when we closed the door, but nothing really after that!

Last night we put him down for bed at around 7:45pm. Same thing as his afternoon nap, got out of bed and cried at the door, but just for a few seconds... we then heard a few toys chatter, but not for more than a minute or two and then silence... we peaked in a bit later and he was sound asleep in his bed! YAY!

I'll be honest though, neither Karen nor I slept well last night. We'd jump at the slightest sound and check the baby monitor and peak in on him to make sure everything was okay... it has made for a long day today though...

Grady has a tendency to wake up around 6:45, chatter for a few minutes, then go back to sleep for another hour (yay!). My fear is that since he could get up and play, he would at 6:30-7am.

As I feared, 6:55am came around and I hear toys ringing and banging in his room. He was up, playing, and ready for the day. So I sat in my room and did a little bit of work on my laptop for about another hour listening to him play with his toys. He wasn't mad, he was playing happy and even talking to himself! At about 7:40, the usual time I go and give him his bottle, he started slowly bouncing off the door and every 3 or 4 bounces I hear "DADA!". These weren't loud, angry, banging, just slowly leaning on the door letting me know he was ready for his bottle now!

So I grab his bottle, head in, he smiles, then heads back to his toys - he wasn't done playing yet! Sat with him for about 5 more minutes before we was ready for the bottle and got dressed for day care!

WOO HOO!! I don't think it can get much better than that! Hopefully tonight will go as well! :)

First nap in the new room!

It took about 45 minutes for Grady to decide to settle down in bed and not wander the room checking things out, but it appears that he's OK with his new digs.

He looks so tiny in the big bed!

Snack time at Sea World

Gotta stay hydrated and well-fed!

Post-swimming refueling.

Like any good young semi-pre-professional athlete, Grady understands the benefits of a post-swimming workout shower, warm puppy dog jammies, and a banana.

He's absolutely loving the water! And watching other older kids in the pool playing and splashing.

Vacation!

Grady wanted to test out his pool floaty in a contained area before taking it out for real tomorrow.  At the pool today, he was a little apprehensive at first, but quickly warmed up to it.  Lots of clapping and splashing!

Carrot cake!

An experiment in making two loaf pans instead of one 9x13 pan.   Froze one. Split this one horizontally, frosted in between and voila! Cake for four for a day.

Saturday in shorts

Supposed to be 76 here today. We're headed to the farm co-op yo get our soil tested.  Grady's sporting his shorts and hoodie from Auntie Laura.   Check out those legs!

Belly Button!

So Grady has found his (and everyone else's) belly button. He lifts up mommy and daddy's shirt just far enough to jam his finger in their belly button and get the happy little laugh!

He even knows where his own belly button is... see the video! :)

61 and Sunny Outside!

At lunch today we decided to take a quick little stroll around the neighborhood! Grady seems to like it outside! :)

I love blueberry pancakes!!

Sample day at Costco

Someone apparently likes chili.  Who knew?

.............................

And more...

A little more...

We're being buried alive!!!