Just in time for Christmas....

We had a Rudolph look-alike in our house! Last Tuesday, Grant was walking around in the front yard with his new friend Brynna (a 9-year old girl across the street, who loves to come over and play with him). Grant lost his footing and fell flat on his nose on the neighbor's sidewalk! I was standing right there too and could hear him hit the ground....I was worried he had broken his tooth! But I think he's fine, and a week later, you can hardly even tell he did it!

At 13 Months, Grant......

- Gives kisses on demand (touches our cheeks/noses with an open mouth).

- Cannot speak any words (other than mama and dada, but even those it's hard to tell if he directs them at us), but he babbles all the time. And he'll copy me when I say "whoa" when looking at airplanes overhead! And it sounds like he's starting to say "ki" when we see the kitties.

- Understands many words, like "no", "daddy's home", "I'm gonna to get you!," "do you want a cookie/a piece of cheese?"

- Loves to walk around picking up objects, then throwing them on the floor to pick up something else. He's almost always walking around with one or two things in his hands!

- Still uses his pacifiers a lot.....I think even more than a few months ago. He likes to have them when he's walking around, although I try to save them for just when he's going to sleep.

- Loves storytime before taking naps or going to bed. Just as one is finishing, he'll sit up and look towards his bookshelf, trying to figure out which one is coming next! And he resists trying new books; he got a few for his birthday and the first few times I read them, he'd look at the first page and immediately start looking for a new book to read (because he didn't recognize the pictures, I assume). But after a few times, he finally starts to enjoy them too. Some of his favorite books right now are:

• Mr. Brown can Moo, Can You?
• There's a Wocket in my Pocket
  
• The Belly Button Book
• Are you my Mother?
• Bear Snores On
• Puddle the Duck
• Blue's School Pictures
  
• Peek A Zoo- touch and feel book
  

- Has seven teeth popping through....three on the bottom (including one that just came in a week ago on the left side), and four on the top (the front left tooth is the only one that's made it most of the way in).

-Wears size 12 and 18 month clothes. Most of the 12 month clothes fit perfectly right now, but his little tummy is too big for some of the 12-month pants! But the 18-month pants are way too long for him now! Dilemmas, dilemmas!

- Is learning to crawl on top of things....he tries to crawl onto his little learning/play tables, and just the other night he started to lift his leg up over the side of the bathtub, to get either in or out. He also likes to crawl into laundry baskets that are filled with clothes.

- Likes the Chicken Dance Elmo toy I found for him at a garage sale. He may be past his thrill with this, though....for a couple of weeks around his first birthday, he would smile bashfully the entire time it danced. Now he still points to it and wants to hear it, but then while it's playing he tends to lose interest!

- Is becoming more and more difficult to contain while we're out shopping! Basically, he just wants to be free to walk around. Sometimes he resents being in his stroller and he starts fussing, and it's definitely impossible to hold him without him squirming out of my arms. This is where cheese and cheerios come in very handy!

- Loves his Snack Trap (a little cup that he can stick his hands into, but theoretically doesn't spill when he shakes it). I use this a lot (as well as biter biscuits, which he also loves!) to distract him and keep him happy in stores when he's starting to get impatient. The "trap" part doesn't work so well, though, because he sticks his hand in there, then yanks it out, bringing 10 or so cheerios with it! Needless to say, this makes a HUGE mess in the car or wherever we are!

- Has JUST started to wave bye-bye. Today at Target was the first time he's done it, when he responded to our checkout lady waving at him. In the past, he's just pointed at whoever he's looking at, but hasn't waved his hand.

- Usually will go to sleep on his own now (at least at night)....I'll read to him, then rock him and try to get him really sleepy before putting him in his crib. He'll usually just cry for a few seconds and then go to sleep. Naptimes are a little more questionable! But lately he's been especially squirmy and doesn't settle down in my arms as easily as he used to. Something really cute, though....when he's just playing in my arms and not trying to go to sleep, I'll say, "it's time for bed," and start standing up, and he'll immediately hurry to get into his "sleeping" position, shut his eyes, and act like he's serious about going to sleep!

- Gets VERY excited about most foods, even ones he doesn't like! We'll set him in his highchair and bring out something for him, and he starts going, "ooh, ooh, ooh," and makes faces and kicks his little legs around! Sometimes he's sad to find out that the food we've brought him wasn't much to be excited about (ex. peas and carrots). But when he sees a piece of cheese, bread, a cereal box, a banana, or his box of Arrowroot cookies, he goes crazy!! Tonight we asked him if he wanted a cookie, and he looked over towards the pantry and got excited!

-Is starting to test whether I'm going to be consistent with discipline. Yikes!!! He knows he's not supposed to pull the Christmas tree cord out of the wall, and he'll walk over next to it and look back at me. He also did this yesterday with one of the outlets in his room. He has the most sly little smile on his face as I tell him no. That little stinker!

New shoes

Grant got his first pair of "real" shoes on Wednesday. Since he's been walking for a couple of weeks now, I figured it was time to take him out of his Robeez and put him into some real shoes. A couple of weeks ago, the three of us were out shopping and went by a shoe store, where we had his feet measured. Not surprising to us, he measured extra-wide....not wide, but extra wide! Grant has always had big feet....not necessarily incredibly long, but just really thick.

So this week, we were out at the mall and went by the Stride Rite store. I've said from the very beginning that I'd never buy my child $45 pairs of shoes, especially since they outgrow them so fast! But lately everyone says that you want kids to have good shoes when they're first walking. And even if I did try to buy him some cheaper ones, I don't know how many brands even make them available in extra wide.

So at Stride Rite, the lady measured him again, and agreed that he definitely needed extra-wide, and his foot came right to the edge of the size 5 line. So we found him some cute 5 1/2 brown shoes, which he'll hopefully be able to wear for a few months. He seems to do pretty well in them....he stumbled over them a little at the beginning, but is doing great now!

After we left the store, we kept walking around the mall. After I take Grant out of his stroller and give him some freedom, he HATES being put back in there! I let him walk around for a while in his new shoes, and for a while he was content pushing his stroller and holding my hand. But then he wanted to go off on his own, and a crowded mall is not necessarily the best place to do that! So after a few minutes of running and grabbing him away from places where he shouldn't be, I put him back in his stroller. He was not very happy with me and put up a good fight! The joys of having a toddler!

Here's a picture I took the other day when we were outside in the front yard. Grant has been pretty good with all the Christmas lights....he doesn't grab them and pull them as much as I thought he might. But here he was pulling on some of the lights we've run along the sidewalk. I thought this was the funniest expression!

He likes milk!

We've had a bit of trouble getting Grant to drink cow's milk. He just didn't like it! We started trying to give it to him since shortly before his first birthday. But every time I'd put some in his sippy cup, he'd take one sip, make a yucky face (and usually let it all fall out of his mouth!), and throw the sippy cup to the side. I didn't expect that he would dislike it, but our doctor said this can be common in breastfed babies. I'm still breastfeeding him twice a day, although it doesn't even seem like he's really attached to it anymore....I don't even think he'd notice if I stopped altogether. (By the way, the thought of this would have made me really sad six months ago, but I think I'll have an easier time with it than I would've thought back then.) But I just don't want to wean him completely until I'm sure that he's drinking enough cow's milk.

Well, once in a while I'll make him a bowl of cereal in the morning, and I'll let the milk get nice and sugary while the cereal sits in it for a while. He loves eating cereal, and he doesn't mind when I spoon little bits of milk into his mouth (obviously it tastes much better when sitting in sugar!). So then I'll pour the milk into his sippy cup and let him drink it. Last Thursday was the third or fourth time I've done this, and he drank and drank and drank! I even poured some regular milk into it, and he drank that too! Then that night, Dean gave him some more, and he apparently drank it up! Yay!!! Maybe he's finally decided it's not too bad. We need to get some more today at the store and see whether this continues.....

Picture update

I've finally started to catch up a little in uploading pictures from the past couple of weeks. So here are a few:

These first two were taken after a bath last week. These days, Grant gets out of the tub and immediately runs off to play again. This time, I didn't even dry him completely (as you can tell by his wet face!). But the towel stayed on his head, and he dragged that towel as he walked around naked for the next 10 minutes or so! Thankfully we didn't have any accidents!
In our shower....he likes to crawl into and out of the shower (again and again) after I get out, if I forget to close the door immediately. Usually I let him do it, because it allows me some time to get ready while he's entertaining himself! Please ignore the slight buildup of mildew in the background!
Now that he can walk, one of Grant's favorite activities is to pick up an object, stand up and dash off with it. This time, he came in the bathroom carrying his Balmex and a Christmas bow!
Here he comes again, but he's traded the Balmex for my hair pick!
Now he's traded the bow for a pen (maybe not the most baby-friendly object!).
It's hard to get pictures of him looking into the camera (and smiling) these days....he doesn't fall for my old tricks that used to work to get his attention! But this was one time that he gave me a good smile (without realizing I had the camera!).

12-Month Appointment

I realized that I haven't sent an update about Grant's 12-month appointment, which we had about 10 days ago (right at the beginning of his never-ending cold....which, by the way, has finally started to go away, we think!). First, here are his stats:

24 lbs, 3 oz (67%)
31 inches tall (80%)
19.25 inch head circumference (97%)----still a big-headed baby!

It's so funny to me, because I really don't think Grant looks like he has an enormous head! But yet every time we go to the doctor, he's at the top of the charts in this category!

He did fine at the checkup, although he didn't care to sit still for the doctor when she did her examination. He (of course) much preferred to walk around! I was a little nervous about the shots, because I've heard the 12-month ones are a little harder on them than all of the others. But he did great....he only got three (flu, MMR and Chickenpox), and he stopped crying about a minute after he got them! We'll have to go back in another month to get a booster shot for the flu, and then he'll get a few more at 15 months.

Grant is right on track with all the things he should be doing, maybe with the exception of speaking words. He'll say the syllables "mama" and "dada," but I still don't know if they're directed right at us. He'll walk around the house saying "dadadada," but I think that's more because he's practicing how to say things. The doctor said that at this age, some kids will have one or two words (on top of mama and dada) that they can say, but I haven't noticed that with Grant. She basically just told me to model words for him. And I'm not worried about it....I really think that it's one of those things that he'll just start doing one day (an experience we've had with a lot of milestones, like sitting, crawling, etc.). I think I've come to the conclusion that there's not a lot that parents can do to speed up certain milestones....when the child is ready, he will do it! One thing he IS saying, though, is "whoa," which I will explain later.

Update

***I just posted some walking pictures in the previous post below. This is an update about Grant's cold and some things we've been doing the past couple of days, but I don't have any pictures yet!

Grant's cold seems to be getting a LITTLE bit better....his cough is still there but doesn't sound nearly as bad. Yesterday I almost called the doctor because he was wheezing a little bit as I tried to put him down for a nap. But I haven't noticed it since, so hopefully he'll get better without having to experience the nebulizer machine again! The nebulizer has a mask that you attach to the face; when you turn the power on, it spits out a gas that, when inhaled, opens up the passageways in the lungs to allow you to breathe better. As you can imagine, it's not much fun for a baby!

Still, though, Grant's just acting a little more needy and fussy than normal. And his appetite has been horrible....he won't eat most of his favorite foods (he still gets excited about processed cheese, but that's it!) Today, I felt like I was going crazy for a while, because he'd start crying when nothing had even happened! It's been kind of a bad week anyway, and having a sick child just wears you down after a few days. I hope I'm right when I think that even the most nurturing and sympathetic moms out there have to break down and get frustrated with a sick baby every once in a while. Even though I know he doesn't feel well and I hate to hear that horrible cough, sometimes (like this morning) I get to the point where I'm almost mad at him for being fussy! Then I feel horrible because I know he can't help it!

Anyway, I do try to remember what I've read recently in books: that somewhere around 15 months (or later in some babies), they start establishing more independence, and will want less and less to do with mom. For the most part (even when he's not sick), Grant still likes to be held quite a bit. So my perspective is that I want to enjoy as much of this time as I have, before he starts to set off on his own and doesn't tolerate being held anymore!

Yesterday, to get out of the house for a while, we went to Kemah for a couple of hours. He enjoyed looking at all the fish at the Aquarium restaurant (he's never really been interested in them when we've gone in the past). We also sat outside by the "dancing" water fountain and ate lunch (at least the little bit I could get him to eat), and then walked through some shops to look at Christmas stuff. Like a typical boy, he got tired of this pretty fast, so we went and walked on the boardwalk next to the water. He chased some seagulls and enjoyed pushing his stroller around. We basically had the entire place to ourselves....there were times when nobody was around, including once when I was holding Grant and tripped over a rope! He had crawled into an area that was cordoned off, and I went to get him. I tripped when we were walking back over it, and it was almost a bad flashback to September when he fell off the counter! I heard two things hit the ground hard, but I think they were my elbow and my camera. Grant cried, of course, but I could tell he was more scared than anything. I'm very sore today, but thankful for that, because the more impact I absorbed, the less was absorbed by him! And, once I knew we were both okay, I was thankful that nobody was around to see me look like a klutz and fall on the floor!

Before we left Kemah, while Grant was practicing his walking on the boardwalk, we walked by one of the restaurants and some people who had just finished eating were admiring his newfound skill. One of them, an older lady, mentioned what a fun Christmas we're going to have this year. I know that's definitely true!

One more story: tonight I went up into town to meet my good friend Megan. Grant stayed with Dean, and they finished his bath just before I got home. When Dean was combing his hair, Grant grabbed the comb and started combing his own hair! Then he started combing Dean's hair! It's funny what they pick up just by watching you!

Walking pictures

As promised, here are a few more pictures of Grant first learning to walk. These were all taken last week. These first three are in our front yard:


This was at the park last Thursday:
This was his third time to ride on this piece of playground equipment...I'm not sure what it's called, but it spins around....everyone knows what it is! The past two times, he has ridden on it while sitting down. But this time, I stood him up and spun him very slowly (then faster as he got used to it). He got such a kick out of it! He kept making this silly face and laughed as he went around!

More, please!

Here is a picture of Grant walking....unrelated to the rest of this post! I will post some more walking pictures eventually!
Grant learned the sign for "more" and did it back to me on Sunday! It was quite exciting and unexpected, because I don't model it for him very often. I'd read about baby signing a while back (before he was ready for it) and the only one I distinctly remember is "more, please" (tapping your fingers together). So sometimes when I'm feeding Grant, I'll ask if he wants more and I'll do the sign. But for the longest time, he'd just stare at my hands with a confused look on his face! I thought that he'd never get it and must just think I'm crazy, especially because I'm not very consistent about doing it.

But on Sunday night while we were eating dinner, I asked if he wanted more, and I did the sign, and he did it back to me!! He did it a few more times that night too. Then yesterday when he was eating his morning snack of banana, I asked if he wanted more (but didn't make the sign myself) and he did the sign! What a smart baby! :) The only problem is that he doesn't really know what it means yet. He knows to tap his hands together when I say "more," but he'll do it whether he really wants more or not!


Other news.....Grant has a bad cold (yes, another one!). It started last Thursday, when he coughed a few times and it sounded like he had something caught in his throat. The cough continued on Friday, when, incidentally, we were going in for his 1-year checkup anyway (more about that in the next post). Our doctor told us that they've seen a lot of kids come in with these symptoms...it starts as a bad cough and ends up in their chests. She said that if we notice wheezing again (like what happened in May when he developed bronchiolitis), that we should bring him in so he can undergo the Nebulizer treatments again. Oh no!!!

He's acting like normal for the most part....maybe a little more fussy and clingy, but he is still enjoying his newfound walking ability in spite of his cold. He just doesn't have much of an appetite....he isn't breastfeeding as much, and at meals he'll hardly eat anything before he wants to get down (he still loves his processed cheese but doesn't even want fruit, which is unusual!). On Saturday, I was at a baby shower for much of the day. So when I got home, we decided to go out for dinner. I fed Grant some bread and meat before our food came, and a couple of times he coughed and gagged on his food. The first couple of times made me a little nervous, but then he gagged again and threw up some of what he had just eaten, then started crying. So we asked for our food to go and left immediately....poor baby, I feel so bad for him. He's done this a few times since then....it seems weird that a cold could make him do that, but maybe his throat just gets irritated or something.

This was a little long and graphic, so I'm sorry to anyone who may have just lost their appetite! Hopefully the cold will go away on its own in the next few days so we don't have to make another trip to the doc!

Our baby is upwardly mobile!

At least for the most part! Since last Wednesday at Nana and Papa's house, Grant has been walking more and more every day. Before that, he would only take steps when we'd set him in front of us and encourage him to walk (and even then, it was only a few steps before he bent down and started crawling). And he never seemed to care much for walking either....he's a very fast crawler, and I think it was frustrating for him to try to walk and to be so slow at it! He'd take our hands and walk alongside us a lot, but just didn't want to do it on his own.

But last week at Nana and Papa's, he walked to me probably 7 or 8 times in a row, and was so proud of himself every time! And since then, especially since we've gotten home, he'll stand in the middle of the floor and all of a sudden start walking, instead of bending down and crawling! Last night, he made it all the way from the middle of our den, around the couch and over to the pantry in the kitchen (about 15 feet), and today he even went a little farther! And now he thinks it's fun....he'll falter and fall down, then stand right back up and keep going!

He still does crawl quite a bit....especially when he needs to get somewhere quickly (like the kitty litter box, before I can reach him to grab him away from it!). But I think a baby learning to walk is one of the cutest things; with every step, their chubby little legs lift up so high and their little bodies waver from side to side as they concentrate so hard!

A few days ago, we were unloading groceries and Grant just insisted on getting down and walking on the driveway. He'd walk a little, fall, walk a little more, and he eventually ended up in the neighbor's yard. I tried to take his hand and steer him back towards our house, but he wouldn't accept my hand to help him (which hurt a little!). He wanted to walk on his own and go where he wanted to go! But he hasn't completely given up on our help....when he's uncomfortable with the situation or tired, he doesn't want to try to walk on his own....he'll still grab my hand to help him. At least for now!

The picture above is a little old....I've taken a few walking pictures this week, and will try to upload them soon....

Grant's Favorite Foods

Here's a Top Ten list of the foods Grant really enjoys right now (pretty much in this order):

1. Cheese slices
2. Pineapples
3. Mandarin Oranges
4. Toast with cream cheese
5. Eggs
6. Grilled cheese sandwiches (pretty much just toast and cheese, but I will consider it a separate food!)
7. Bananas
8. Cookies (he loves Arrowroot cookies and the Gerber teething biscuits, and he'll get one of these as a treat at the end of his meal if he's been good)
9. Turkey/Ham
10. Life cereal/Cinnamon Toast Crunch- a little soggy, from our bowls at breakfast (he leaves the Cheerios on his tray and eats our cereal up as soon as we give it to him!)

Probably way high up there would also be ice cream and desserts (he loves any taste we give him of our dessert, when we have it), but I don't give him those TOO frequently (although probably more than I should). No vegetables make Grant's top ten list, although he definitely tolerates peas and carrots (at least to an extent). And he does like sweet potatoes, but he hasn't eaten them much since he stopped eating pureed baby food (about a month ago). At Thanksgiving, though, he gobbled them up at Nana and Papa's house!

Thanksgiving trip to Alabama

As I said a couple of days ago, we went to Alabama for the week of Thanksgiving to visit Dean's family. We had a wonderful time. Here are a few pictures:

We had a 1.5 hour delay leaving Houston on Monday, so we didn't leave until 11am (instead of 9:30). Fortunately, Grant entertained himself by pushing his stroller up and down the hallway while we were waiting. He just couldn't get enough of it! He finally gave up and crashed in my arms for a nap at 10:30 (and woke up just in time to take off!). He did great during this entire flight, though....he looked out the window, ate his lunch, and was happy as could be! The same was NOT true on the way home!
After we got into Birmingham, we went to see Aunt Corie's new townhouse. It sits up on a hill and is very nice! Here Grant's meeting one of Corie's cats, George. Gracie, her other cat, was nowhere to be seen while we were there....she's a little scared of strangers.
The next day, we went up to Huntsville to have lunch with Uncle Steve at a Mexican restaurant called Rosie's. Yummy! I noticed it a couple days later mentioned in Southern Living. We'll hopefully go back there on our next trip!
That same day, we went out to Dean's parents' land just outside of their hometown. Dean got to see the goats again (he probably doesn't remember them from our last trip in April). And he especially loved their two Australian Shepherds, who tried to lick his feet! He also loved stretching his legs a little after being in the car for much of the day!
This and the next picture show the pretty colors on the trees. There are tons of Bradford Pear trees on their property, and they were a beautiful red color while we were there. We had a cold snap and rainstorm come through this same night, and Dean's dad said that all the leaves had fallen to the ground when he went back to check on the animals the next day. All over Alabama during our entire trip, it really felt like fall.....I never knew there was THAT much beautiful fall color over there.

On Wednesday, we had a little birthday party for Grant with Dean's family. He got a lot of great presents! Nana and Papa gave him a rocking horse which he really liked! Dean had to push him, of course, but he started to fuss when Dean took him off! We couldn't bring it home on the plane with us, so they'll bring it when they come for Christmas in a few weeks.

Uncle Steve was showing us pictures on his computer, and Grant kept trying to push buttons (just like he does with ours at home!). He even deleted a picture at one point, but Steve was able to retrieve it.
Sitting on Nana's lap on Thanksgiving morning. We were talking to Dean's grandma on speaker phone and Grant kept giving Nana hugs, which of course she loved!
Something Grant discovered while we were there: at one point, he put something in his mouth that didn't taste good, and he made this face (kinda looks like a yucky face). We laughed, so he kept doing it, even when he ate something that he liked! He has kept doing this since we've been home....he'll pick up a piece of food and make the face without even putting it in his mouth!
Ready to go home!
With Papa before going to bed on Thanksgiving night:
One last ride on the horsey on Friday morning:
Eating a biscuit from Nana before we left for the airport. He is becoming a little scavenger and will beg to be picked up if he sees food in your hands!!
I don't have any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner. But we had a fantastic meal with so much food, and we had a really nice time with Corie's boyfriend Pat and Steve's girlfriend Jennifer. I wish I had gotten some pictures of all of them too.

Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party here at our house on the Saturday before Grant's birthday. We had a great time.....I think Grant enjoyed most of it, although he had one big crash while he was crawling across the room, and cried for a few minutes! I think he missed his hand and fell onto his face, which he does every once in a while (especially when he's tired). But he enjoyed "playing" with a few of the other kids who were here. It's just funny when babies have one-year birthday parties; they have absolutely no idea that all of this fuss is for them!

His favorite part of the night was the birthday cake. I made a little cake for him, and he just LOVED it! We've given him quite a few tastes of dessert in the past couple of months, and of course he loves anything sweet (just like his mom and dad, and most babies!). So I had a feeling that he'd dig right into it, and he did! He picked at the frosting for a second, then tried a little bit of it. Then he proceeded to feed himself one handful after another for about 5 minutes, without taking much of a break. I think he started to get a little tummy ache, though....all of a sudden he started crying and wanted out of that chair immediately!

Another thing that was pretty neat: to eat his cake, Grant sat in my parents' "Babee Tenda" chair that's been in our family for almost 60 years! I think my dad was the first one to spend his first birthday in it, followed by all of his sisters. Rob and I also ate our first birthday cake in it, and Evan (Grant's cousin) sat in there for his first birthday in September. I think it's a pretty neat tradition!

I will try to come back later and add a few more party pictures.....I gotta post this now because Grant is awake and we need to get ready for church. Also, I will hopefully get some pictures up this afternoon from our great trip to Alabama this week!

Grant is ONE!

I cannot believe my little sweetie pie is a year old already. Everyone says the time flies, and I've definitely learned that it's true! These past 12 months have been such a whirlwind and probably the most intense and exhilarating of my life. I have learned so much....I was completely naive before having a baby, as are most soon-to-be moms! I remember going to Babies R Us during my pregnancy and having no idea where to even start. All of the baby gear was so overwhelming, and I had no idea how to pick between different products, what products I would even need, etc. Grant has taught me so much....about taking care of a baby, but also so much more. I don't think you really can comprehend what sacrificial love means until you have a child who depends on you for literally everything. My life is completely different than it was just a year ago, yet I wouldn't give anything to have all of that free time back.

I have also learned how to be flexible.....I have learned to do a much better job of accepting things as they are and rolling with the punches when things don't go exactly the way I'd choose. Grant has been the exception to the rules (as books define them) in many cases....spitting up ALL the time, having a really tough case of stranger anxiety from three months old, and never settling into a good nap routine (not being able to get him to regularly sleep longer than 30 minutes), to name a few! I'd do everything the books suggest, and for a while I got so frustrated when it seemed that my baby was just not cooperating! But I finally realized that when I look back 10 years from now, I want to have enjoyed Grant just as he is. I learned (and am still working on this!) that I will never be able to make him do exactly what I want! So I've started to cherish and enjoy all those little quirks about him, and remember that God picked him out just for us for a reason!

It's also just crazy for me to think how much time Grant and I have spent together over the past year. I've been within 50 feet of him for almost every hour of the past 365 days! I'll go out for a Bible study every couple of weeks or to run to the store and leave him with Dean every once in a while (or leave him in the church nursery for an hour or two), but almost every waking hour is spent with him! And I really wouldn't have it any other way; I never imagined how hard it would be to leave him, even for a few hours! And even though he can't speak yet, he knows me better than almost anybody else in the world. He has witnessed me at my worst, in my most upset and frustrated moments, and yet he is so forgiving....he still loves me and wants to be near me all the time. This just melts my heart and makes me want to be a great mommy to him.

Even when I was pregnant, I couldn't contemplate how amazing it would be to have a baby. Grant is the most precious treasure Dean and I have ever had here on earth. I love him more and more as I get to know his funny personality better every day. It's a little bittersweet knowing that he's changing all the time and that he's turning into a little boy before our eyes! But I also know that there are so many fun adventures for us in the months and years to come. I love you so much, big boy!! Happy first birthday!!

The beach....in November??

My parents are staying at a time-share in Galveston this week, so Grant and I went down on Monday to spend the day with them. I took his bathing suit because it was supposed to be fairly warm that day. It was overcast that morning, but by the time we ate lunch (at The Spot....a really good hamburger place right on the seawall) and went to the beach, it had cleared up and was really nice outside. We didn't put Grant's swimsuit on before going out there, since we went straight from the restaurant.

Well, we laid our blanket down and I sat Grant down, thinking he'd just sit and play with the sand for a while. His first trip to the beach was in May (when he was 6 months old), and he was terrified of the water....he clung to us the entire time! What a difference 6 months makes! From the moment I sat him down, he tore off towards the water....like a turtle going back to sea, my mom said! I thought for sure when he got closer and the water started washing up onto him, he'd freak out. But nope, he loved it! He splashed and played like it was a giant bathtub! He kept trying to go farther and farther, so my mom held his hands as he tried to walk out. She'd lift him up by his hands as the waves came up, and he thought that was so funny!

We tried a couple of times to bring him back up to play in the sand, but he just wanted to be in the water. It was so funny and unexpected, especially after his first trip to Galveston in May. We finally took off his drenched clothes and left him in a diaper, but I never even bothered changing him into his swimsuit.

After about an hour, we got ready to leave and he just crashed in his carseat....he fell asleep on the way back to my parents' condo, and stayed asleep until we got home (when he got a nice bath!).

Going back out to the water!
Enjoying some water after a tough day's work:

I bought Grant a new little dressy outfit a couple of weeks ago....at a garage sale! I'm becoming a little bit addicted to garage sales....there are always good ones in our neighborhood and in some of the surrounding neighborhoods. They're mostly people who have little kids, so it's great to be able to buy toys and books (and sometimes clothes) for a fraction of what you'd pay anywhere else.

Anyway, there was an dressy little boy's outfit (with the tags still on it!) for sale for $1 that I found; it was a 12 month outfit, which should have fit Grant perfectly (he can still squeeze into some of his 9 month clothes). So I went to put it on him the next morning for church, and it was quite tight! He looked like a little sausage in it! But I was bound and determined that he'd wear it at least once! And Dean didn't oppose, so I guess it didn't look too girly (like some of the dressy little boy outfits you see). He did look pretty cute....

Park pictures

We've been to the park in our neighborhood so much over the past few weeks. The weather really cooled off for about 10 days (temperatures in the 60s), and for the past 10 days or so it's been in the low 80s. For a while this summer, we really couldn't go outside much at all, so we had to take all of our walks at the mall! That's fun for a while, but it does get a little old! Grant has been loving riding in his stroller in our new neighborhood.....he loves watching the kids walk to school in the morning, and there are always kids and dogs to watch in the afternoon.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from a few different trips to the park recently; this one was a couple weeks ago; Grant spent about 20 minutes pushing his stroller up and down the sidewalk. Of course I had to steer for him! And he was barefoot, so his little feet got a little scuffed up, but he didn't seem to mind!One night the three of us went to the park together; Daddy pushing Grant in the swing, then a picture of the three of us:
These were taken last week; Grant is starting to enjoy the playground equipment. Just in the past couple weeks, he's really been enjoying this swing, and we've tried the slide a few times too (while I'm either holding onto him or riding down with him). He doesn't really care too much for the slide one way or the other yet, but he likes to be pushed in the swing!