The 90th Percentile

Grant is big stuff. BIG Stuff. 90th percentile. He weighed in today at 19 pounds! I was close, I guessed 20.

It has been a big week for Grant. He is now in his own crib in his new room, which he shares with Aid. It's kind of amazing. Every time I look in on them I think, "Everything that is important to us is in this room now." Bob said it out loud tonight. I hope that they love sharing a room. I cannot wait to listen to them talk and fight and laugh in that room. I hope they are the best of friends. We are off to a good start. Grant worships Aid and Aid is very concerned about Grant.

He has also started eating solid foods! And he started with a bang. It's funny. This kid has known how to eat from the moment he entered the world. I have had zero problems nursing and so far no problems with solids. He loves food! Even the rice cereal and applesauce that I couldn't get Aid to eat.


At the appointment our doctor also suggested giving him a sippy cup and letting him experiment with it. Experiment. My little Grant knew exactly what was supposed to happen. He couldn't quite keep up with the water flow but he got it right away.



We also went through the developmental chart with her and Grant is functioning closer to a 7 month old level. I cannot tell you how proud felt. My little genius.

New food. New sippy cup. New bed.

The future looks bright for you, my love.

They Came, They Fixed, They Went Home

My parents were in town this last week. I'd like to say they were here on vacation but that would be a lie. They came to help me fix my basement. It was an overwhelming job and I needed help. There was some visiting too, but really we were on Operation Basement remodel.

I will go into details in an upcoming blog. We cannot step on the floor for 2 weeks so I won't be able to take pictures for some time. So stay tuned.

But needless to say my parents once again were amazing and helped me more then I could ever begin to explain. They fixed my basement. They gushed over Grant. They spoiled Aid rotten. They took care of us. I have the best parents in the whole world. And the only part of their visits that I don't like is having to say good-bye....

I didn't take a ton of pictures because everyone was in work scrubs and not looking their best but here are the ones I did take!

I love you guys and miss you so much already.





They brought all of my old stuffed animals with them! Only my favorites stayed, the rest were donated much to Aid's disappointment. but can you imagine him trying to carry these with him EVERYWHERE he goes??


This was Aid's jumpy thing that they drove out here for Grant. Who loves it too!


My mom got him Hungry Hippo which was a favorite childhood game of mine and Aid loves playing it too. It's so fun to actually play a game with him. I hope this helps him learn how to play and share and take turns with his friends better too.


My dad put Grants crib together in Aid's room (which is now Aid and Grant's room...pictures in that upcoming blog I was talking about). Grant LOVES it. Aid was never in a crib so this makes me so happy!



This is the face of a happy boy....

Oh Shit!

We were arguing with Aid tonight about getting into the bath. He missed his nap due to an ill timed Dr.'s appointment and he was in terror mode. Hitting, yelling, screaming....the whole nine yards.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I heard him get in. (I was nursing Grant and could hear but not see.) Bob came up and I asked him if he had changed Aid's diaper since it was poopy. Bob raised his eyebrows and said no. There was a second of silence and then it happened.

Aid got out of the bathtub. And sure enough. The diaper was on....well, kind of. It was falling down his leg. And the poop...the poop was dripping down his legs. And onto the rug. We both yelled, "STOP!" But then it was so funny that we were dying of laughter. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Which made Aiden think it was fun so he then began to scream manically and run from room to room. Which made it not so funny anymore since there were now poopy footprints throughout the upstairs.

It's all cleaned up. Aid got a second bath which he was absolutely NOT happy about. We had a good chuckle. And our bathroom got a good scrub down.

What a shitty evening!!

Life Is Beautiful

But He Did Do This.....

He almost rolled over!!!!!

He's growing up so fast...


He sees the toy and goes for it....





Pretty big stuff little man....

Ready for Food?

After finding this I was SURE that Grant was ready to move on to solid food...right??! I even showed people this, amazed at Grant's zealousness.....

'

Then Bob told me....this fell on the floor and Chloe (our dog) chewed it up. Not a super hungry 5 month old!

Exhausted, but Happy....

It's been a tiring couple of weeks. First we over scheduled ourselves and wore ourselves out. Now Aid is sick and Grant is not being cooperative. We are all dead on our feet. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and scared myself.

But then I just went to check on Aid and Grant and they both look so peaceful and content and I remember why I still feel so happy....

Pneumonia?!

Seriously?

Aid has had a raspy voice and a fever that comes and goes for about 3 days. But when he walked in this morning something felt different. We had a play date scheduled at our house that had to be canceled....and off we went to the doctor's. I did not think they would say Pneumonia. I don't know what I thought they would say, but I didn't anticipate that. I kind of thought they would just tell me he had a virus and I was being a panicky mom. Nope.

It's so pathetic how sick he is. Earlier he had almost no energy. When he wanted to go upstairs he crawled up the stairs only to pass out once he got to the top. Thankfully Grant caught up on his sleep so that I was able to really take care of Aid....turned out he didn't really need that much taking care of. He needed his antibiotic. Then we had some ice cream. Then we took turns watching our shows on the tv. He didn't even care when it was my turn to watch a soap. He just took a little snooze and I watched on...

Come to think of it, this whole pneumonia thing might not be such a bad thing after all!

(Kidding.)

Zoo Day

We went to the Minnesota Zoo with passes and had a blast. It was a long, tiring day....but a much needed family fun day!


So excited!'


The best way to look at the animals!


I think I may like to come back in this life as a Prairie Dog. Or an otter. Both look like they are living the good life.


There were some funny animals today...


This camel is not dead. We did see it move....eventually....


Oh I feel her pain...


Grant was extremely cooperative today so we all breathed a little easier....


Feeding the goats....always a hit with Aid.


I just love this picture.


A happy little boy...

Grant Does New Things Too!

His are a little more basic but just as impressive!


He sucks the watermelon (the only one we have tried so far) out of this sucky/meshy horribly messy thing. But he loves it. So I do too.


We are on our way to ditching the Baby Bjorn for the stroller. It's just how we roll around here.

And So It Begins....

We are potty training!!! I have no idea how it will go. At the moment he seems pretty excited about it and enjoying getting his treat when he "tries." I am sort of thinking I need to be a little more hard core. I went into it thinking I would have to bribe him to even try it (which turned out I was right.) And he LOVED that he got a sucker for it. But, and I realize it's only been 2 days, after roughly 10 seconds he says "Aidee all done!" Uh...I don't know if I'm not explaining well enough what I exactly want him to do or if Aid has once again outsmarted me...

I walked it to the room and caught him like this after an "attempt". I'm starting to think it's more that Aid's beat me again. We are now at Aid:5 Mama: 0. My stats aren't looking very good.

Sorry Oliver

We had some friends come over to hang out with us this morning. So I was prepping Aid reminding him about sharing and not pushing....those sorts of things.

This is our conversation:

Me: "So when our friends come over to play we are going to share our toys with them right?"

Aid: "Aidee will share toys with friends."

Me: "And we will take turns with all of the toys right?"

Aid: "Aidee will take turn with toys"

Me: "And there is no pushing if someone has a toy that we want to play with right?"

Aid: "Sorry Oliver..."


I think this says it all. Poor Oliver.

Grant's growing up!

I can't believe how fast he is growing up! It seems like just yesterday he was my 9 pound bundle of love....

It's All In the Genes

And he seems to favor kicking with his left foot! That will make him a commodity!!!








Midfielder?? The kid loves to run...


Ok, Uncle Joe may have faked him out but I was in stitches that he instinctively knew he was supposed to get it!


He even dribbles!

The writing's on the wall.....

Good-Bye to Nap Time

Sigh. It's true.

The nap time routine turned into a daily war that I just couldn't do anymore. I had a few days to stew and pout over it before regrouping and altering the routine. We now have quiet time. Which is anything but quiet, but he's in his room so I can get the things done I need to get done.

The first day I went to the Goodwill and got a bunch of new toys that would be his quiet time toys (I cannot take credit for this idea it came from my new mommy group!) But he was very excited and happily skipped up to his room and played for an hour before falling asleep for another 30 minutes. Awesome, I'll take it. (My other trick is that I wait until Grant is asleep before instilling quiet time so that I get some time completely kid free.) The second day he was on to me and I had to wrestle him into the room and then I closed the door. He FREAKED out! And knows how to open the door... so it was another battle. He eventually caved and passed out on the floor for 3 hours!

Yesterday went the same, although I was able to calm him down and convince him he could sit in the chair for quiet time where he fell asleep again. (This from the kid who thinks he doesn't need an afternoon nap).

Today?? Today he went up just fine. We collected all of his toys and books he wanted to bring and he skipped his way up. I thought for sure my 'Cry it out' nap time war had been won and he had accepted his fate. Then I heard him asking for water. So I got him some water and attempted to open the door to give it to him.

Stuck. The door wouldn't open. We have really really old doors and door knobs that always give us a bit of trouble. But it stuck. From the other side of the door Aid's voice a little shakier asks..."Mama? What's happening?" I tried not to panic and told him the door was just stuck and mama would get it open....he started to cry....I kept trying....eventually called Bob and considered getting the ladder and breaking in through the window. Bob told me there is a lock on the inside of the door that he has seen Aid play with. So I went back up and tried to talk Aid into unlocking the door....he was fiddling around with the knob, as was I, and it finally opened. I don't think it was locked though...

So there was no quiet time today either....I kept envisioning the phone call I would potentially have to make. "Uh yeah....I locked my kid in his room because he wouldn't take a nap or do quiet time and I have to clean the house and then play on the computer and now the door is stuck and he's locked inside..."

Mother of the year.

Blame it on the Camera

Ok, Dad....I love you so very much! I love that if I am in need of an electronic devise within hours you have found one for me and I completely trust your opinion in this area.

Except you bombed with the camera you got for us about 6 months ago.

It sucks.

Worse then any other camera I have ever owned. It's broken down and looks like we have had it for 10 years. (It's literally falling apart.) It also does this weird thing where you take pictures and then suddenly they are gone....where do they go? I haven't deleted them....and sometimes what's even weirder is that they reappear! I can't figure out how to work anything and I am not that electronically inept. And it doesn't appear to explain the phenomenon in the handbook. And it can't take a clear picture if there is even the slightest movement.

I had a ton of pictures I had fully intended to make into blogs. Aid stealing all of the chocolate chips and putting them in a cup to eat....weekend with Grandma and Grandpa B, Grant smiling and almost rolling over, and play dates galore....all gone....or missing.

True, beggers can't be choosers. But I know I have not been very on top of the blogging and you can blame it on my ghetto camera that you so lovingly gave to us!