First Steps!

I don't have any pictures of it, but Grant took his first steps on Sunday night! I set him a couple feet away from me and held out my hands, which I've done a few times over the past couple weeks. He'd always stand and smile, but then reach out with his arms and try to grab my hands before taking any steps (or else he'd decide that crawling to me would be much easier!). But on Sunday night, he actually took two tiny steps before lunging towards me! He's done it a few times since then. He's barely bringing his feet off the floor, but I think it still counts! We've gotten a couple of his tries on video. He's still very apprehensive, but I think he's so proud of himself when he does it!

Here are a couple of very unrelated but funny pictures from the past few days:

Hanging by his legs while he plays with Daddy:
More pictures playing with Daddy:
Stuck between the couch and corner table!Pulling books off of his bookshelf; one of his favorite activities:

Window Pics

Grant has a really cute Alabama jersey we got for him while we were there visiting in April. He has SO many Alabama clothes, and no A&M clothes that fit him right now (hint, hint, Mom and Dad!). So every Saturday, he's decked out in some kind of Alabama outfit for the football games! He was standing by the window a couple weekends ago and I got some really good shots of him....it is definitely true that natural light makes pictures so much better! And this happened to be the day that Alabama beat Tennessee 41-17, so Dean said that Grant is going to be wearing that jersey for good luck until he's a teenager!

Trip to town

We have been having such great weather here over the past week, and Grant and I both love to be outside! It's just fun to do something different, so we've had some of our most fun times yet these past couple of weeks.

First, last Tuesday, we went up into town to have lunch with my friend Karen, who works downtown. Grant has been downtown once or twice before, but he was only 4 months old the last time we went. So this was the first time he really noticed everything around him. He loved walking down the streets and looking at everybody, and he kept rocking back and forth in his stroller, as if saying, "mom, come on, you're going too slow!" He looks up and smiles at people, and just loves all the attention he gets. Anyway, we went to lunch at an outdoor restaurant, and he did okay.....it's very hard keeping him occupied and happy sitting in restaurants these days, but I think it helped that we were outside.

After we left downtown, I let him sleep in the car while I drove around and ended up at Central Market (one of my ALL-TIME favorite places!). We got out and walked through Central Market (he enjoyed getting some free samples, just like mommy!), then walked from there over to Pottery Barn and some of the stores over in Highland Village. Then we went back to Central Market on our way out and bought some dinner to take with us.

Since Dean was in a training that day and would be gone until after 9pm, I thought it would be fun to go to Hermann Park (where I used to go all the time, and where Dean and I got engaged) to eat our dinner. Again, Grant had been there once before, last Christmas when he was only 1 month old! He LOVED it.....we walked around the park and watched some ducks, then ate dinner on the grass next to the reflecting pond. The only thing he was unsure about was the little passenger "train" that runs around the park....he just stared as it went by the first time. Then a few minutes later, he heard the siren and held on tight to me, looking to see where it was coming from. He still just doesn't quite know what to think about it....

We also met a really nice couple named Deborah and Julius, who stopped to talk to us and kept trying to get Grant to take his first step....Deborah just knew that he would walk to her! Of course he didn't. But he did enjoy the attention....of course!

We had SO much fun....it's just nice doing something a little out of the ordinary like that. I can't wait to go back up in another few weeks or so. I think we will make a "mommy and Grant" trip to town every once in a while.

Chasing the duck:


He hears an airplane and looks up at it:
There it is! He has been pointing to things a lot lately; he'll just hold his hand out towards whatever it is he sees. I'm not sure if he's pointing or trying to wave. He notices airplanes so much now because we live just behind an airfield and have planes flying around us all the time!
Mommy and Grant eating dinner:

More pictures of Grant and Evan

It's taken me a while, but here are a few more pictures of Evan and Grant playing while we were in Bryan visiting. They both loved this toy train that my mom bought....it beeps and chugs and then starts moving, and they were intrigued by it!

They both love to play with shakers (what baby doesn't?!) and kept trying to grab them from each other!
Evan looks like he's helping Grant get the "hat" off of his head:
Leah and me with our boys:Grant and Evan sitting together the next morning in their pajamas:
Evan is eating, and Grant wants some of it!

High school reunion

We went to Bryan for my high school reunion this past weekend. I was unsure how I would enjoy it, and was afraid it would be extremely awkward. But it was actually a lot more fun than I expected! Of course I hadn't seen many of those people in the past ten years, but I was surprised how everyone looked pretty much how I remembered (or maybe it was just because we've all aged, so they still look the same age as me and we all look 10 years older!). But I found that I was genuinely happy to see all of those people again....it's a little bit weird, because these are people I saw almost every day for four years (some much longer!), so it wasn't just like seeing an acquaintance after all that time. I found that it was easier than I expected to talk with them as if no time had passed.

Here are some pictures: Dean and me before we left (by the way: we forgot our hanging bag at home, so we had to make a trip to the mall after getting into town to buy some clothes!)With Laurel, Whitney, and Sarah (I was in Kindergarten with Whitney and Laurel, and met Sarah in 3rd grade):
With Ashley (my neighbor and friend since Kindergarten):
Unfortunately, that's all I took while we were there! And I was sad that a few of my close friends weren't able to be there, but it was still good to see everybody.

Here are a couple more from the weekend (more to come in another post):

I am getting into everything!

We are officially in the baby-proofing stage! Although he's been able to crawl for 3 months now, Grant hasn't really figured out how to open cabinet doors and get into things until just the past couple of weeks. He'll usually just go up to a door that we've left open and start rummaging through stuff in there, although he's begun to pull them open on his own too. His favorite place to visit is the utility room, where the kitty litter is located. We have to leave the door open a little (so the cats can get in!), and he'll dash over there and swing the door open, then crawl over to the litter to try to put his hands inside. I guess it's like a sandbox to him...and there have been a couple of times that he's gotten a handful of litter before I get to him!

As I've read it recommended in books and websites, we keep a cabinet unlocked in our kitchen that just has tupperware in it, so hopefully he'll remember that and want to play in there! Here he is after he's pulled out almost everything from the bottom two shelves in our pantry!

Happy 11 Months, Grant!

This is one day late, but I wanted to mark Grant's 11-month birthday. I can't believe my little baby will be a year old in just four more weeks. In the past month or two, it seems like he's grown up a lot....I know that he understands a lot now, and is just so aware of things around him! It's amazing watching a helpless little baby transform into a real person! If I have time later (which is questionable....I seem to have very little free time these days!), I will make a list of things he's been doing. Happy 11 months, sweetie pie!!

Why do we buy toys???

Last week, Grant started pushing his little convertible pushing/riding toy that we bought for him a while back. He can't steer yet, but he loves to push that little thing all over the place. But.....yesterday we went shopping and bought a package of toilet paper, and I left it laying on the kitchen floor. Last night, while Grant was pushing his car, he pushed himself right over to the toilet paper and started pushing that instead! It was very cute....but since it has no wheels, it was a lot harder for him! He had to stop after a while and was breathing heavily! Things like that always make me wonder why we even need to buy toys for our kids....a lot of times they're much happier (or just as content) exploring and playing with everyday objects around the house!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Friday, our Bible study group had a "play date" at the pumpkin patch that one of the local churches puts on every year. We had a good time; Grant, of course, wanted to crawl all over the place, and he enjoyed standing up and beating on the pumpkins! They make for such a good photo backdrop, so I'd like to go again when Dean can come with us. Here are some pictures we took.

With Sierra and Jacob:
Grant is sharing a piece of straw with me:
A couple pictures of Grant standing with the pumpkins:

Grant and Jacob admiring each other. When Grant got a little closer, Jacob grabbed his head and tried to eat it! I guess that's what teething babies do! Grant didn't seem to mind (or even notice), but we all got a kick out of it!

Learning to share

Grant loves to take his food (or whatever is in his hands) and hold it out to anyone who's around. At first you think he's wanting to share with you, but he doesn't seem to fully understand that concept yet. If you try to take it from him, he grasps it more tightly and pulls it back to himself! Here he is "sharing" his biscuit with Amminadab. And notice that he's sitting in his bumbo again (for the first time since his fall....it took me a while to stick him back in there again), but ONLY on the floor!

We went to Bryan last weekend to surprise my mom for my parents' anniversary. They were planning on coming down here for the weekend (or so my mom thought), but instead my dad took her to a nearby country club/resort where he had booked the Presidential Suite for them to stay in overnight. Then my mom's other surprise was that Dean, Grant and I, plus my brother Rob were coming there too. Rob met us at my parents' house, then we went over to the pool area (where my dad told us they'd be). My mom was so happy and surprised to see us....we went swimming for a while, then came back to their room a little bit later (after cleaning up at their house).

Rob got sick and ended up leaving before we went to dinner, unfortunately. But the rest of us went to dinner (including Grant, which was interesting!)....we enjoyed a wonderful seafood buffet. Since Grant came with us, we sat outside.....just in case he got fussy. But he was fine, as long as I kept giving him bites of what I was eating! I can't even guess how much he ate....it was probably way too much, but he kept wanting more. And he liked our waitress....he would try to stand up and bounce in his highchair when she'd come out! Probably the funniest thing was the dessert.....we had ice cream and peach cobbler. I gave Grant a few bites of ice cream, then my mom asked for a bite. So I scooped some up for her on my spoon and went to hand it to her. Well, Grant wasn't too happy with that....he got mad that it wasn't for him and started crying! So we did it again just to see if he wasn't crying about something else, but sure enough! Then we gave some to my dad and he did it again! We sure do have a demanding little boy on our hands!

The next morning, we went over to see my parents for a little while longer, then we drove to Madisonville to see my good friend Margaret and her husband Doug. Margaret is (now) 38 weeks pregnant and is due to have her baby boy any day! We had BBQ sandwiches and spent a few hours with them. Grant got to meet his first horse, although he was more interested in their dog Jack, who kept running around us!

Family picture from their balcony:
Daddy feeding Grant some snacks before going to the seafood buffet:
Grant entertained everyone with his expert xylophone playing:
Meeting Molly (I think that's her name!) the horse:
Jack and Molly:

Margaret and Doug: