Daddy's and Grant's shoes

Here is a cute picture of Dean's and Grant's shoes sitting side by side. These are Grant's little Merrells, which are unfortunately already getting too small for him!

End of our trip

On Tuesday, we went into Huntsville and found some Alabama gear for Grant. Until now, his few pieces of sports clothing have been A&M-related. We bought him a jersey (for next fall), an Alabama cap, and a T-shirt. I think Dean feels much better now! Then Dean, Grant and I went into Decatur that night and had dinner with some friends of Dean's and their two little girls. Grant wasn't in the best mood and didn't want to play with the girls like they wanted, but he did swing on their swingset outside and really enjoyed it! I think I'll have to get one soon for him, especially since he loves being outside so much.

Unfortunately, Grant got his first cold near the end of our trip. Poor thing, it's so sad to hear him coughing when he's so congested! He had a hard time sleeping those last couple of nights, so that means that Mommy and Daddy had a hard time sleeping too! But he was pretty happy when he was awake, so it hasn't really bothered him as much as I would have expected. Here are a few more pictures taken with Nana and Papa.

Alabama

On Saturday, we drove to Alabama with Dean's parents for the second part of our trip. Grant did much better with everyone starting at this point; he tolerated being held most of the time, which made his Nana happy! On Sunday, Dean's brother Steve and his girlfriend Jennifer came down from Huntsville, and his sister Corie and her boyfriend Pat came up from Birmingham to see us. We had a good time with all of them! Here are some pictures.....unfortunately, I realized afterwards that I didn't take any of Steve and Jennifer with Grant!

On Monday, we went out to Nana and Papa's property outside of Hartselle. Grant saw goats for the first time, but he didn't seem to notice too much....he was much more interested in his hands!

Arkansas

We arrived in Jonesboro, Arkansas on Friday and visited Grant's great-grandparents and others on his Nana's side of the family. He was a little scared being passed around to everyone those first couple of days! Here are pictures of him with his great-grandparents, his great aunt Janet and his cousins Staci, Tanner and Tyler (Staci's kids). The last picture includes four generations: Great Grandma and Grandpa Gill, Nana, Daddy, and Grant!

Wildflowers

We just got back last night from our week-long trip to Arkansas and Alabama to see Dean's family. We had a great time, and Grant did fairly well.....as well as a five-month old can be expected to do! Dean was in San Francisco last week for work, so Grant and I picked him up on Thursday at the airport on our way out of town. We stopped along the way and took some pictures of Grant with the wildflowers. We couldn't find any bluebonnets along Hwy 59, but I guess these were good enough to get the point across!

First Solid Foods

Grant tried his first rice cereal this weekend! Lately he's been getting hungry before three hours goes by, which is a sign that he might be ready. I hadn't even considered that, since he sits at dinner with us and doesn't show much interest in our food. But a friend suggested that his bigger appetite might mean that he's ready for solids, so we tried first on Saturday. As we suspected, he spit it out every time I stuck the spoon in his mouth! But every time, I think he gets a little bit better....his tongue still instinctively tries to push things out, but he's also managing to swallow at least a little bit. I bought some baby food today, so after he gets the hang of the cereal, we'll maybe try the applesauce or bananas!

Easter 2007

Happy Easter! We went to church, and Grant did SO well in the nursery! He played in the walker for a while, and all the ladies commented how cute he was....he made noises at them and had fun! He got a little fussy, so one of the ladies took him out and rocked him until he fell asleep. He's been in a stage where he doesn't tolerate anybody holding him except for Mommy and Daddy, so maybe he's starting to get over it (hopefully!!). Here's our Easter picture that we took when we got home from church.

FINGERS!!!

Grant LOVES chewing on fingers these days....and not just his own! We've bought him three teething rings, but I'm afraid we're wasting our money! He usually holds them for only a few seconds before he drops them....I think the teething rings and toys are still a little too big, and he's just not coordinated enough to get a small part of them in his mouth. That makes him frustrated. It's much easier just to chew on Mommy or Daddy's fingers....he even grabs onto our hands and tries to pull them up towards him! It feels strange having toothless gums chomping down on you, but it doesn't hurt much (yet!).

Haircut

I am sad to report that Grant got his first haircut last night....sniff, sniff! I know he needed it badly, but it was so hard to see that long shaggy hair come off! Strangers we see in stores or the mall have sometimes assumed that he's a girl, and Dean thinks it's because of his hair....but how many 4 month old girls have hair as long as his? I do agree that he looks like a little boy now, instead of a shaggy baby, but it was hard nonetheless! And poor Dean....I gave him a hard time because he snipped it really short on one side, when Grant moved his head suddenly right as Dean was cutting it! Oh well....it will grow back, I suppose! Here's a before and after picture (click on the first picture to see up-close how long it was!).

First Baseball Game

Grant also went to his first baseball game last Saturday! We planned on leaving him with Grandma Hoyt when we went to the A&M-Nebraska game, but he cried every time she held him! So we just decided to try to bring him with us, and he did great! He loves being outside, and he just looked around the whole time. He's a touchy baby, so he got scared and jumped every time there was a sudden cheering...poor thing! The Aggies won, 8-5, and there were two home runs. Go Aggies!

Busy Week

Grant had a busy week! On Sunday, he laughed out loud for the first (official) time. He has been making little laughing sounds for weeks now, but Sunday was the first time that he did it without stopping! And we were able to videotape it too....the file is too large to attach, but we're still working on attaching a small piece of it.

He also found his toes on Sunday....he was sitting in the Bumbo chair at dinner and all of a sudden just started staring at them and grabbing them! It's amazing to me how he does new things almost every day.

Here's a laughing picture....not from Sunday night, but from Monday when we were playing with him again.

New to the Blogosphere

Well, this is our first attempt at throwing our lives into cyberspace. Well, aside from e-mail, text messaging, internet browsing, and all of the other things we are already doing. As I am writing this, Grant, our 4.5 month old son is sitting on my shoulders (held by my wife), pulling both of my ears with a fierce infant grip.

We are attempting to attach a wonderful video of Grant's first laughter. It is unbearably cute, so if you cannot stomach that sort of thing... well, don't watch.