All About Grayson

What can I say Grayson is ALL BOY and so much different from Jillian when she was this age.  Grayson is now 22 months old and he is into EVERYTHING!  He climbs on things and is very brave which I guess is why he has knocked out his teeth and already had a black eye.  Watching him for a day is truly exhausting!  He follows you around everywhere and tries to help you with everything from washing dishes (which means he puts the clean dishes back in the water), unloading the dishwasher (while you are trying to load it), helping with the laundry (he doesn't pay attention to my piles).  He also wants to do everything by himself and doesn't want any help.  He does everything that Jillian does and is constantly watching and bothering her.  

He has recently decided that he is too big for a booster seat for eating and he doesn't want to sleep in his crib anymore and instead just climbs out of it.  This has made for some long meals and long nights trying to get him to sleep because of course he won't stay in the big bed by himself.  

Unfortunately he isn't talking much at all but he understands absolutely everything you tell him to do (its just if he chooses to listen or not).  The school psychologist in me is starting to get concerned but the pediatrician said to give him 6 more months at his 18 month check up.  So we just keep talking to him as much as possible and try to get him to try to say things which he sometimes will be it is usually just the beginning of the word.

Even though he is a handful, it is very hard to resist his cheesy toothless grin that he gives you and the hugs and kisses that he gives and blows.  He is just hard to resist.

Grayson helping build the forms for our shop.  He was the beer boy

He loves to wear anyone's shoes that aren't his

Helping in the garden with grandpa's gloves

So proud of himself for finally figuring out how to climb on the bed

Mother's Day

Since Mother's Day was also our anniversary James and I spent the day and night in Port Aransas the weekend after Mother's Day.  We had a relaxing time at the beach all day and enjoyed a great dinner.

Easter

Easter is always a fun time a year with many celebrations to attend and many egg hunts.  This year was no different of course!

We started Easter off with Good Friday at Henke Hill and managed to get a group photo of the growing number of Henke great grandchildren

Then it was time for the Easter hunt - it's going to be hard to fill that basket with eggs if she keeps it on her head

 This was Grayson's 2nd year for egg hunting and he had it down!  Of course he practiced with Jillian at the house for a while before easter so he knew exactly what to do

 Grayson braved a high five for the Easter Bunny at least!  Jillian wouldn't even go near him and she kept hiding on the porch.  I admit he is scary but he sure does make good pictures

 Even though Grayson did very well with egg hunting he is still very smart so as the older kiddos were checking out there loot Grayson continued egg hunting and was stealing eggs from everyone when they weren't looking. 

 The next day it was on to mom and dads for Easter.  There wasn't much for bluebonnets in the patch near their house but we gave it a shot.  Next year, we will have to go searching for a better patch

Jillian still found plenty to pick

 Taking pictures sure is exhausting so Grayson sat to relax by a tree with his drink.  I'm surprised that little tree held him up as far back as he kept leaning on it

 Ready for egg hunt part 2

 Easter Morning Grayson noticed the Easter baskets right away

Jillian's birthday

Better late than never!  Jillian turned 4 back in February and she celebrated by taking 2 friends: Willa and Avery for manicures and pedicures.

The girls were unsure at first but eventually loved their robes and soaking there feet

 All smiles for the manicures - Jillian was so proud of her blue with sparkles

We followed up with a joint birthday party with Willa since the girls birthdays are less than a week apart

Jillian really liked her pink and purple cake that Aunt Jennifer made

She blew out her candles much better than her momma ever could

The next weekend Jillian had a second party in Hallettsville since Daddy was working the week before and Daddy's family couldn't make it before

Mommy took the time to make Jillian the castle cake that she wanted and Daddy helped with the outlines

Hard to believe our baby is 4 already!  She has an amazing vocabulary and it is always fun to hear some of the things that come out of her mouth.  She loves to watch cartoons, color, draw, and put puzzles together.  She has outgrown naps pretty much but sometimes she will take one when she is really tired.  She is so ready for school to start in August but she is probably in for a big adjustment as she likes to stay up late and sleep in in the mornings - much like her momma

Blog Catchup: June - December 2012

 Well its been a LONG time since I've done this but I think I mostly remember how it goes...I'll try to give you a brief catch up as to what we have been doing since June.  Well our June was mostly spent with packing but James and I took time out to have a weekend to ourselves in Fredricksburg to celebrate the wonderful 5 years that we have been married.

At the beginning of July we packed up the U-haul

 and said goodbye to our wonderful 1st house in Buda!  It was very sad and emotional because we had so many 1sts in this house and it was very good to us.  We were sad but excited about our new journey!

With the house empty poor Grayson had nothing to play with but trash and curtain rods but he was a happy camper while Mommy cleaned the house.  We were not able to sell the house so we opted for renting it out and are hoping to be able to sell real soon so that we can start saving for our forever home.

 Unfortunately we did not have anywhere to move to as we were unable to find a rent house in Hallettsville.  So in we all moved in with mom and dad.  We had decided to buy a trailer house but we knew it would not be available until October.  We made plans to improve our land - put in the water well, electricity, septic tank, leveled land for our future house and made a pad site for our trailer.

We made our annual trip to Port Aransas with James' family also in July.  It happened to be the weekend after we moved out of the house so packing was interesting as most went into storage, some to mom and dad's and we had to know where all the stuff for the beach was.  We survived and had everything we needed for an enjoyable weekend.

Jillian was a pro at the beach and knew exactly what to do

She loved splashing in the water

This was Grayson's 1st time at the beach and he wasn't so sure about the water, especially after just waking up from his nap

The sand though he was a pro out - complete BOY in so many ways!

 As July ended we had adjusted to living with mom and dad.  Grayson grew and got in to more trouble, forcing Granny and Grandpa to add child locks to all the cabinets and keep all bathroom doors closed due to our little trouble maker

But a cute trouble maker he was!

By the beginning of August Jillian got to enjoy some Daddy/Daughter time at the Schulenburg Festival thanks to mommy being sick as a dog.

Mommy started her new job in Schulenburg also at the beginning of August.  That has been quite eventful to say the least - it started out very rough but things are luckily getting better and I get to work with such wonderful people!  I keep telling myself that it can't get any worse - only better!

Soon it was time for our baby to turn 1!  Hard to believe it has already been a year!  Grayson is SO different than Jillian and he surprises us every day.  He is a total BOY and is constantly on the go and into everything.  He is very exhausting to chase around all day as Granny can attest to. His favorite word is hi and he says it all the time.  He also says bye bye, dada, okay, and all right.  Still no luck to this day with the mama, which is a little upsetting but I know he knows his mama because when he falls, which is often (as I said all BOY) he always runs to mama.  Grayson has had his share of bumps and bruises and ant bites since living in the country because he is so hard to keep up with but nothing probably compares to the day he knocked 2 of his front teeth out!  Now he is our toothless vampire!

Posing for pictures for his birthday invitation

Not too sure about the candle

or the cake

 Also in September we got away for a close friends wedding which delayed Grayson's birthday party.  We had a wonderful time celebrating with friends and dancing

My handsome hubby was a groomsman

I took time to make Grayson's cake

and make Mickey hats

Still not very fond of the candle or all of the people staring at him

but he did a little better with the cake

 October brought Halloween and we got plenty of wear out of the costumes with a Halloween party, Trunk or Treating at the Church and actual Halloween night

Our beautiful princess!

and fittingly our Little Monkey

 Finally mid November our trailer house finally arrived.  We got everything ready very quickly and actually started moving things in the week of Thanksgiving in between get togethers and we spent our 1st night in our new home the Saturday after Thanksgiving!  It may not be perfect but it is our perfect space for now!

 We took time out of our Thanksgiving schedule to get Grayson his 1st haircut.  I know he looks shabby but all the curls were so precious!

Before

He did well at first and then when he realized what was happening he wanted out of that car

Our handsome boy after

December brought more examples of our trouble maker.  We definitely had an interesting Christmas tree this year.  Before we made it to Christmas all the ornaments from the bottom all ended up at Jillian's height after she would grab them out of our little thief's hands.

Good thing daddy could take care of that trouble.  James started at the Lavaca County Sheriff's office at the beginning of November

 We ventured to the Christmas Eve children's mass here and we learned that you definitely need to get there early.  We were able to get a seat but we were packed like sardines with 2 very active children but I guess it could have been worse

 Santa made a stop at our house apparently before he stopped off at church at the end of Mass.  The kiddos were happy to see the presents under the tree when we arrived home!

 

Grayson likes his new Cozy Coupe or more likely the big box!

Jillian proud of her new pink and purple bike!

Christmas Day brought us to the Henke gathering and although we were missing quite a few we still had to get the annual great-grandkid picture

 The day after Christmas we were at mom and dad's for our family Christmas

Grayson was as goofy as ever and always posing for pictures

Grandkids with Granny and Grandpa Grahmann

Reading a Christmas story before opening presents

 The following Friday we were off to Austin for the Whited Christmas!  It was nice this year to not have to travel back and forth so we were able to spend more quality time at each gathering without having to rush.

Whited grandkids - yes they are holding Grayson down but doing a good job of it

Grandkids with Grandma and Papa

2 tuckered out kiddos after all the Christmas festivities