Grantham, Boyd & Walker

Earlier this week, Grantham and I headed over to my friend Krisitin's house for a playdate with Boyd and Walker. Kristin's little boy, Walker, is 20 months old and my other friend Lara's little boy, Boyd, is 8 months old. It is such a blessing to have friends with young kids to spend time with. I'm sure it's fun for the boys to have playtime with other kids but let's be honest....it's really more fun for their mama's who get to chat and catch up :) I snapped some of the above pictures while we were there. I think the one of Walker smiling like a big boy and Grantham and Boyd just staring into space is hilarious! Thanks for letting us come hang out Kristin...we look forward to next time!

Baby on the Move....

Grantham is crawling!!! He actually has been since shortly after he turned 9 months old but he is now really on the move. I think it's safe to say he has it down pat because the kid is EVERYWHERE! The day he started crawling my sister, Megan, was babysitting him because I had a dentist appointment. She sent me a text message saying that he was army crawling all the way across the room. Up until that point he had not army crawled once. I think most babies army crawl for quite a while before they actually get on all fours...well not my baby. He army crawled for about 3 hours, then he got on all fours and took off. Since that moment he hasn't looked back. I wanted him to crawl so badly and now I'm kind of missing the days when I could sit him in the middle of the floor with some toys and not have to worry about watching him like a hawk :) I took the above pictures as he was crawling across the floor trying to get to a ball. When I figure out how to take a video and post it, I'll do it so y'all can see him in action!

Pool Time!

Loving on Aunt Kristin

Trying to eat the float!

This past weekend we took Grantham to the pool for the first time. My sister, Kristin, lives in an apartment complex right across the street and invited us over for a swim. Grantham absolutely LOVED it!!! I knew he would because he loves bathtime so much but honestly he did even better than I expected. He happily sat in his float for over an hour. Thanks for the invite Aunt Kristin...we look forward to swimming with you again soon!

Big Helper

Ok...so I'm quickly getting blog obsessed!!! I'm sure after a couple of weeks when the newness wears off, I won't post nearly as often :)

This morning when I was unloading the dishwasher Grantham was sitting on the kitchen floor playing. All of a sudden he pulled up on the dishwasher and asked if he could help me. Well, not really but I'm sure that's what he was thinking :) I hope he keeps up this helpful attitude because when he's old enough to help with chores it will be a much smoother ride if he enjoys helping and does it willingly rather than me forcing him!

First Big Boy Bath

Grantham has moved out of the infant tub! It's taken Jamie and I a while to move him because it's just kind of scary to put your baby in an adult size bathtub with tons of water. We had to go ahead and do it though because he was really having a hard time in the little tub...he was just too big for it. So one night last week we decided to take the plunge...literally. Grantham absolutely loved it!!! He splashed and splashed and just had a ball. We left him in so long that his little toes were wrinkly when we finally got him out :)

First Tooth

Well Grantham officially has his first tooth!! You can see it in the above picture. Jamie and I were somewhat relieved to find out that his recent fussiness has been due to teething pains...not relieved that our little man is in pain, just relieved that there's an explanation for the fussines :) We've been blaming all fussiness for the past 4 months on teething to no avail. Everytime we said "I'm sure he'll get a tooth soon..." we would wait and wait and wait and nothing would happen. We had kind of convinced ourselves that he was going to be all gums and no teeth on his first birthday. Well that will not be the case after all. The bottom left is the first one to make it's appearance and I think the bottom right is on it's way. I'm told the first couple are the worst so I'm hoping it will get better from here on out. It breaks my heart to see him in pain.

Mother's Day 2010

Below is a picture of Megan and James dedicating Cole and Mollie. Mollie wore the same gown and bonnet that Megan, Kristin and I wore when we were christened. So special!!!

My first Mother's Day was definitely one I will always remember. It started out with my wonderful husband making me breakfast and giving me gifts from him and Grantham. Then we went to church where Mollie and Cole (my niece and nephew) were dedicated to the Lord. My mama, Kristin (my sister) and her fiance Matt were there along with myself, Jamie and Grantham. It was very emotional for me to see Megan and James make a public commitment to raise their children in a Christian home. I think it was more emotional for me than it would have been a year ago because I am a mother now also.

It was so awesome to spend my first Mother's Day with my family celebrating such a wonderful occasion. I absolutely LOVE being a Mama...it is the most rewarding job I've ever had!

9 months old!!!

Well...my son is now 9 months old so I decided it was time to finally start the blog that I've been talking about since he was born :) Parenthood is certainly a challenge but it is so much fun. I truly did not know it was possible to love a little person so much. Here are a few things that I have learned as a mom in the past 9 months:

1. Babies are humans...not robots. I sometimes (ok...a lot of times) want everything to be perfectly predictable. For every day to look exactly the same. I am a very type A person which I think is a benefit most of the time but I often have to remind myself that predictablity is not always feasible with a baby.

2. Babies are individuals and develop at their own pace. Grantham has been somewhat late in hitting a lot of milestones and I get caught up in comparing him to all of the other babies that I know. I've learned that it's not a big deal if he doesn't roll over, sit up, laugh, crawl, talk, etc. as early as I think he should...it's not a race and he'll get there eventually :)

3. There is truth to the phrase "When you have a baby, you'll understand..." I talked a big game before Grantham was born saying things like "When I have a child I'll do it this way." It didn't take long after he was born to eat those words. When I think about all the times I criticized my sister for things that she did when Cole was a baby, I am ashamed of myself. All I can say is I'm sorry Megan and now I do understand :)

4. There is such a thing as mother's intuition. A mother should always trust her instincts because 99% of the time she is right!!!

5. You can't count your success as a parent on the premise of whether or not your child is a good napper. Grantham has not been a good napper since birth. He has always been an AWESOME nighttime sleeper (which I'm very thankful for) but has never taken good naps. I gave it 8 months of trying to "fix" his naps and then just accepted that he's a short napper and that doesn't make me a bad mother.

6. Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and accept the way things are. Some things are worth making the effort to change and some are not. As a parent you must pick your battles, put things in perspective and move on.

I picked some of my favorite pictures that we've taken over the past 9 months...some of the highlights of Grantham's short life!