Little crawler!

Drew has officially started crawling....since yesterday he's been scooting his little knees to propel himself a few feet forward. It's crazy how fast the transformation goes....less than two months ago he sat up for the first time! A few weeks ago, we knew the crawling was close, because he was getting himself up onto his hands and knees, rocking back and forth.

He has also started pulling himself up to stand, but the only place he's done it without any help so far was in his crib a few nights ago. I'd laid him down and was about to leave when he started crying, and thankfully I stayed to watch what he'd do. Sure enough, he grabbed onto the rail and stood right up! So we lowered the crib mattress one more level.....now it's almost to the bottom. I'm thankful that God gives you a sense that something might not be quite right.....I can't imagine if I had walked out of the room and he had somersaulted out of his crib!

Also today, Drew sat in the shopping cart for the first time. We would've done it earlier, except usually Grant is with us and he sits in the shopping cart (while Drew is in the Baby Bjorn). We went to Target today after dropping Grant at school, and he held on tight to the sides of the cart for the first few minutes....he looked so tiny in it!

This afternoon was rough; after picking Grant up from school, he ran away from me while I stopped to drop off picture money. It makes me feel like a bad parent.....I really need to train him to stay by my side when I tell him not to walk off. Most of the time (at home and when we're out), he just totally ignores me and does whatever he wants. That's a whole other story!! Anyway, then this afternoon was just bad.....Grant spent a lot of time in his room for hitting Drew, and yelling at both me and Drew.

But tonight was so much fun.....things always get so much better when Dean gets home! The boys actually had a screaming volley.....Drew will just randomly let out a high-pitched yell. One time, Grant repeated him. So Drew did it again, and they went back and forth, while staring at each other, for about a minute. It was so funny, because even though Drew was expecting Grant to do it each time, he still flinched every time (Grant is much louder than he is!). It was a fun moment and helped to make up for the frustrating afternoon we had!

Hopefully some more pictures soon!

Stinker story

About a month ago (just before we left for Alabama), Dean was working really long hours. One Saturday while Dean was at work, I took the boys to the Friendswood city park. I had a Coke Zero that was probably a quarter full when we got out of the car. Grant LOVES Diet Coke! So he saw my drink and said, "Mommy hold it. I just take a sip." (He always wants to hold it himself and I'll often tell him he can have a sip if I hold it.) So he found a picnic table, sat down, and said, "Mommy sit here," patting the bench. Then he told me to lay down my drink on the table. I was in a good mood, so I did it, curious about what he would do. He proceeded to drink every last drop of that Coke. Then.....he handed it back to me, saying, "now it's your turn" as he turned and walked away. That little stinker! Sometimes I feel like he is my puppetmaster (and I think he would agree!).



At one point, Grant went over to play in an area with sand, so I set Drew down too. Of course he was fascinated by it and kept trying to put it in his mouth. He hardly made a peep....he was just so interested in that stuff.Before we left, it started sprinkling a little bit. Grant and another little girl were playing on the playground equipment, and I told Grant to be careful because it was a little slippery. Just after that, the little girl had a little slip. Grant kept telling her after that, "Be careful. You might slip." I thought that was a very gentlemanly thing to do!

Craigslist and a couple of other things.....

We had a fun day......my good friend Megan came over from Pearland and spent a few hours with Drew and me while Grant was at school. It was wonderful to catch up.....we haven't seen each other since Drew was a month old. Now that she's "retired" (her last day was on Friday, and she's having a baby in November!), hopefully I will get to see her more often during the days!

Also, I sold our sandbox (which the previous owners of our house left for us) and Drew's baby swing today! I am completely addicted to Craigslist right now.....it is fun! It's a great feeling to sell things that you don't use anymore, and actually get decent money for them....it makes me feel like I'm contributing to the family income! Except.....I usually turn right around and buy something with the money I just earned. These were only the third and fourth items we've sold, but now I feel like I'm constantly looking around our house trying to think of things I can pawn off for more cash! :)

Right now I'm looking for an antique dresser for our guest room, a new rocker/glider (Grant's is about to fall apart), and also some big boy furniture for Grant (although that is really no rush). I hear about people buying cars, washers/dryers, all kinds of things.....I've told Dean that anytime we are thinking about making a big purchase, we need to check Craigslist first! Okay, enough about Craigslist.....

After reading Sara's post a couple weeks back about carseat safety, I started researching carseats. Grant will need a new one when he reaches 40 pounds (he weighed 36 pounds at his two-year checkup, but now he's probably down to 33 or 34....the boy does not eat....but that's a different story). And Drew will be needing Grant's carseat in a few months anyway. So I did some research on the ones people commented on (in her post), and I decided on the Britax Frontier. From the reviews, it's a wonderful, extremely safe carseat and the last one your child will ever need (it has a 100-pound weight limit). We have the Britax Roundabout now and love it.....so that was another reason I wanted to stick with Britax.

ANYWAY, my point is that I looked on Amazon last night.....the price had been $279.99, but now it's on sale for $229.99. That's almost 20% off.....so I jumped on it and bought it. I also saw it on a couple other websites for the same price. Just a head's up for anyone who might be in the market for a carseat soon!!

My soap box for the week

Is it just me, or does all of this swine flu hysteria seem absolutely ridiculous??? Every time I watch the news, it's the first story they talk about- local or national. Yet today they said that the total number of swine flu cases in the U.S. is up to 250. Are you kidding me? 250?? That is less than one in every million people in the United States. I think there are probably almost 250 people who live on our street! Yet the way schools and churches are closing right and left, you'd think one in every 20 people have been infected. And worldwide, the "pandemic" has reached a whopping 1,000 confirmed cases.

Even more funny, they are now saying that it looks like this strain of the flu is less dangerous than the "normal" flu that comes around every winter. I heard the other day that 36,000 people (I'm assuming worldwide, but I'm not sure) die each year from these normal strains of the flu. Yet you don't see schools shutting down every January and February when students and teachers come down with these more common strains. Not that I am advocating that.....but it just seems to make no sense.

I am not a scientist, nor a person who is completely well-versed in swine flu. There may be an entirely appropriate reason for all of the hysteria, and I might be issuing huge apologies when people are dying left and right a few weeks from now! But to me, it seems like all of these "pandemics" that don't come to pass (bird flu, mad cow disease, now swine flu) could eventually lead to a crying wolf type of story. If people are told too many times, "it's becoming a pandemic....thousands could die".....on and on....and then nobody ever does, then what is going to happen eventually when there IS something really bad going around??

One more thing.....we just thought it was hilarious last night on the news.....they interviewed an ER doctor, and she was saying that hundreds of people have come in to get themselves checked for swine flu....except that most of them don't have ANY symptoms.....no fever, no aches, nothing!! So all of these people hear about this mysterious disease that's going around and immediately think they're going to die! My goodness......

Hermann Park and the Zoo

On Monday, I took Grant and Drew up to town to meet my parents at Hermann Park. Our original plan was to ride the train and play at the park, but we ended up going to the zoo also. I actually became a zoo member for a year. I'm thinking I won't be back much before September, though....I don't think I'd want to brave a zoo trip alone with the boys when it's 95 degrees and schools are out for the summer!

When we first got there, we walked into the Natural Science Museum so I could use the restroom. There were tons of school groups there, and as we walked past them, a lot of little boys noticed Grant's cars in his cup holder and commented on them. Grant had to bring his Lightning McQueens (2 of them), Doc Hudson, and Chick Hicks (plus one more generic racecar) with him.....and it was funny seeing all these little boys stare at Grant's cars with looks of envy (I assume kids in elementary school can't bring racecars to school anymore!).

He feels complete when he stuffs all of his cars into his cupholder like this:

Once we let Grant loose from the stroller, it was hard to corral him. He had fun looking at all of the ducks and birds in the water (this was standing water left over from all the rain we've gotten lately).
And he got to chase a squirrel....he loves to do this and says, "come here, squal!" Hopefully he won't ever get too close and be attacked or something.....
Grant and Grandma.....
Time for the train ride. If anyone reading this is familiar with Hermann Park but hasn't been in about a year, it has changed a lot! They've built an amazing train depot, and the paddleboat lake is so nice!!
Grant was quiet during the entire train ride.....he looked around a lot, but was a little wary and had this intense look on his face. I did not expect that! I think he'll loosen up a lot the next time we go.


Then we went to the zoo. We had to move Grant to the stroller permanently, because he wanted to get into everything when he had the freedom to walk. And he enjoyed some of the animals, but he wasn't overly thrilled with it at this age. For example, when we saw this amazing giraffe that came and stood right in front of us (see picture below), he noticed a plane flying behind it in the distance and said, "look, it's a big jet!"