Little known Grady Facts...

OK, so this is mostly for me to help remember, but some of it is kinda funny.

1. He is still in a crib. The girls were both in twin beds by 18 months old. I think I'll keep Grady in until he tries to climb out. He likes his bed and I'm not messin with a good thing.




2. Like Teagen, he only breastfed. The doctor says, go away for the weekend, he'll take a bottle. I did. He didn't. He was pretty hungry by Sunday.




3. The little bugger decided to quit nursing on my 30th birthday. Way to make your mom feel all old and dried up.




4. During my pregnancy, Jason worked 2 FULL TIME JOBS. I was so lonely. He was just really tired. The prospect of 3 mouths to feed must have scared the Hell out of him.




5. Grady's been a bit behind physically but way ahead verbally. This kid gets his point across!




6. He's a bully.




7. Me and my sister and both Jason's sister and sister in Law were all preggo together. We all had boys!




8. Grady is the cutest;)




9. He is the only one of my kids who has learned to open the ancient doorknobs to all the rooms in our house before turning 2.




10. Like most boys, he loves motorcycles,cars and trains. Unlike most boys, he has a thing for Polly Pocket.




11. Grady knows when a Hannah Montana Song comes up on itunes and screams "nontanna! nontaana!"




12. He is always dirty. Always. I give up.




13. Grady calls me "doge-y" He also calls me Mommy, but prefers to call me that.




14. He calls Summer "Dora". Again,he is aware that that is not her name, but continues.




15. He has taken to pretending that each mac n cheese noodle is a tiny telephone. he holds each noodle in his hand and pretends to dial a number. then he smashes it to his cheek and says, "Hello? Whats up? K, Bye."only one side of his face is covered with cheese at the end of the meal.


16. Grady is warm and loving to everyone, gives out lots of hugs and kisses and says hello to everyone who crosses his path(seriously, everyone.Even the scary ones) Happy Birthday Baby. You are a blessing to this family. I am beyond lucky to have been chosen to have you. Now, about those terrible twos...

Grady's Story

The story of our boy is a good one in our family. After the miscarriage, and then the birth of Teagen, I really was not sure about more babies. Not sure if it would even be possible, and if it was, it would take some work. It was New Years Eve, Teagen was 8 months old and still nursing a lot. I still had not had a period. I was feeling"weird". I wanted to have some drinks for New Years but did not feel comfortable about it unless I ruled out that I was pregnant. Bought a crappy generic test, knowing it would be negative. That thing was so positive that there were 2 lines before I even set the test down. Pure and utter shock. I already had a baby. I cannot handle another one! I am not one of those mothers that can balance all that! Oh my.....
So I still have the issue of Teagen only nursing, and me unable to eat. MY doctor says to keep on nursing as long as I want, she'll want to stop because my milk will change. TEAGEN'S doctor told me to stop nursing her. She'll be fine on food and a cup, but the 2 babies feeding off me will suck all the calcium from my bones. OK, I stopped! So I was so sick until about 18 weeks. I mean SO sick. I lost 20 lbs. Thank the Lord for Zofran.It is truely a wonderdrug. Piss on insurance companies for not covering the $30 per pill price. And thank God for Kristin who was amazing help to me in this area. I surely would have been hospitalized if it weren't for you. I did however permanently damage my upper GI with all the vomiting. Nice.

At 20 weeks we had the 4D ultrasound. We left the girls with Rachael(who was by now also preggers) and discovered immediately that we were having a boy! I was certain it was a girl. Everyone I know with 2 kids of the same sex have a 3rd of that same sex. I actually found out that baby #3 had an 88% chance of being another girl. We couldn't believe we beat those odds! Neither could Rachael when we got back and told her!


I think was due Sept 10th, but the baby was growing well and since I had to have a c-section(wanted to: I had had it both ways and I will take the surgery any day over natural delivery) after Teagen's, They scheduled me several days earlier. Which, it would seem obvious to normal people, ruled out Wheatland for us that year.(Wheatland is always the weekend following Labor Day)The year before, Kelly had her son on the 29th of Aug and still brought him to Wheatland. All I would have to do is convince my Doc to take the baby a bit earlier. Lucky for me a doctor in the same office has been going to the festival FOR-EVER and put in a good word for me. My doctor agreed to Aug 30th.
Perfect birth, didn't get sick(this time!) and I was totally with it. The nurses in recovery couldn't believe it. I was so happy and ready to jump in to this new adventure. I kept moving and was healing so fast with hardly any pain at all. 8 days after he was born, with my family claiming my insanity, we left for wheatland!
We were able to get tickets at the gate(yippee!) And borrowed Bob and Joan's trailer. It was a cold year so I kept Grady bundled up really tight, and he loved all the music. I stayed close to camp, only making the walk to main stage a couple times. It couldn't have gone better. It was a great opportunity to bond with our little guy while his sisters were off having fun with Grandma. I know its a total cliche, but I knew right away, that our family was complete. Our little party of five.

2 days until 2 years

Grady...


I dont know what to say. I think I'm gonna cry.

More Photos

Yeah!!! Thanks Jodi! You were RIGHT! I am so happy that I can post as MANY pics as I want:) And to anyone in my family who wants copies of the shots of the kiddos, just right click on the photo itself and "save picture as..." and then its on your computer for you to do as you please.

What Weekend?

Cuz it flew by! Of course thats what happens when you keep busy and your following the routines of 3 kids etc...
So Saturday I decide that I am getting everyone up early and we were braving the sale at Old Navy. I got a tip from my friend(thanks Amber!) that they had that $7 jeans sale and I just couldn't pass it up. Jason had to work but was going in a litter later so he actually(thank goodness) kept the 2 little ones and met me at the store with them once I made my way through. I needed Summer with me to pay for some jeans because it was only 3 pair per personand I wanted 6 pair. That place was NUTS!!! I got there about 20 minutes before they opened and people were lined up to Barnes and Noble. Rachael was there too, so we made a plan. since she also needed little girl and little boy sizes, she got the ones I needed too(she was WAY ahead of me in line and had her MIL there to help)I had to get to my size and Summer's size(that was interesting, lots of moms in that mob!) So I grabbed what I needed and got the heck out. That was enough excitement for me for one day. So Sunday Teagen and I went grocery shopping and then we all spent the rest of the day at my Dads. BTW-Meijer in Norton Shores is a total mess. Its going to be so nice and is HUGE but I couldn't find a darn thing. Then I bought like 15 Box Top products and was supposed to get a bonus 120 Box Tops at the checkout but the dudes machine was broke so the manager had to RESCAN my 15 box top items which were in various bottoms of my lovely reusable bags. She gave me girt card for my trouble. So I guess I still like Meijer. Anyway, my Dads was fabulous as always. Water was still plenty warm. So beautiful. Grady loves the Kayaks, Teagen loves the Beach, and Summer loves the water.
Jason only worked a couple hours(while we were asleep)on Monday and we had free tickets that Grady won from our credit union for Michigans Adventure! Teagen had no clue what to expect. I love this shot of Summer checking on Tea and the look on Teagen's face!
Summer was a GOOD sport riding all the "baby" rides with the littles. How shocking that Grady loved the motorcycles best! Summer was tall enogh for some of the bigger rides and went on the corkscrw for the 1st time ever. She says she did NOT like it. Says she bumped her head.
Yeah, I don't do carousels. Cant go round in circles anymore. Teagens favorite though!
I hate that blogger wont let me add anymore pics to this post!! I shoulda cropped the strangers out of this one and just focused on my little Tea-Tea!
Teagen, Grady and I hung out in the little kids pool area while Jason and Summer did the water slides for a while. It confirmed that it was a good idea that Grady did not go to Great Wolf. It was a nightmare for me to chase after him and he kept running and slipping. Finally I got him to just practice going up and down a couple steps into the pool. He did it for like 20 minutes. Then he sat in the sun with me and Teagen to warm up.

It was fun, I am glad it was free, and it will be easier next year. At least I slept so good that night!

Savoring Every Second

So here it is, Tuesday. School starts in 1 week. Last week we tried to do everything on the Summer 08 List that has kept getting push off. Starting with the Cousins Sleepover.Jess and Kennedy stayed and were both a lot of fun. Kennedy had a few rough spots, but she's only four and really did well for her age.
After a very musical visit with Jason's Aunt Barbara and Uncle Paul from Cali, we decided to jump in to the world of the Ukulele. Seriously, we got on ebay that night and started hunting for good deals.Since Jason already plays guitar, he caught on rather quickly and can already play a few of my favorite Jack Johnson songs. He is teaching me, but I am a lefty so he has to teach me the chords upside down. If you were wondering, mine is the sea turtle one;)
The kids are wild about them. Look who else is a Lefty!!!
Summer has a few chords down. Right now she's into writing her own music.
Don't worry Teagen, You'll get your turn. (Don't tell, but Daddy is getting each of you your own for Christmas!)

Inspired

Did a layout for the I Inspire Me challenge blog. The theme was stationary. I found this cute card while browsing etsy and got an idea right away:
Pretty cute! Used some old Doodle Bug paper that I've been hanging onto for-ever! The "tea" is flocked(fuzzy) and is so much cuter in real life.

The next three I did at the crop I went to last Friday with Mya and Miranda. I really like this crop, it was at Scrapbook 101 and they do a $5 crop every Friday. Very relaxed and fun. Great new owner of that store. If there is anything you want, he will try to get it in for ya.


As always, my photos do not do these papers justice. There is a lot of shimmer and sparkle that just doesn't show up. I need some pointers on shooting layouts!

Getting Ready

Yesterday Summer had her yearly check up, of course she's perfect. I love that now that she's a bit older the doctors stop speaking to me and only ask her questions. "How much TV do you watch? Do you wear a bike helmet? Do you wear a seat belt?Do you eat fruits and veggies? Do you drink 3 glasses of milk everyday?" Never once looking at me,knowing they would get more honest answers from a 7 year old. Thank God all of those things are kinda important around here ( I did let her go without a helmet at the campground a bit) and she probably watches too much TV, but she's lucky to see 1 show a day once school starts and she's usually awake before me, so I guess I will try to ease my guilt with those excuses.

After the appointment, we went school shopping with the $$ from the Yard Sale( $300 thank you very much!!!) I need to keep school shopping pretty simple. If I buy too elaborate outfits, I never let her wear them and then its like a total waste. Go for the basics. OK, so I know there are a few Momma's reading thing and please tell me if ya'll are having the same troubles I am. Summer wears a 6x-7. What I find are appropriate clothes up to size 6 and skanky streetwalkers apparel for the 7-16 crowd. Ugghh. How many Hannah Montana shirts does one girl really need? Penneys ,Yonkers, even Sears...like 4 racks of all Hannah garbage. Listen people, if I wanted any more of that junk, I would go to Walmart where I can get one of her crappy tees for $6.(I know this because we have several)

So basically, I bought everything at the Childrens Place. Any other fed up mothers will have also gone there and I will know because they will be dressed the same as my girl. (kinda small selection) At least its age appropriate. My other favorite is Gymboree and their sale starts Thursday. So might try to find a total matchy-matchy outfit there. Again, their clothes are suited for young children. According to my sister-in-law (Laura) it only gets worse. She has an 11 year old girl and is running out of options. I want my girls to look their ages. Not like miniature teenagers. I don't really even want my teenagers to look like teenagers, but thats for another worry-fest.

However, we did come home with 3 pair of satin undies for Summer and proceeded to give Jason a bit of a heart attack....:)

Oye

This has nothing to do with my post but.......I'm feelin a little snarky and this made me laugh. Found it on Etsy. I think its a card. The artist has a bunch of them, some were very naughty;)

I really should be sleeping, but its just not happening for me. Its only 11pm but the kicker is I gotta get up @4:30am with the Hubs to set up the yard sale no one wants to have(but I cant find it in me to just give everything to Goodwill without trying to get a little $$) I need his help hauling some big stuff and he goes to work SO early, so gotta get up with him. Wahh. Don't feel too bad for me...the littles have been sleeping till 9am lately, so I'm not hurtin for sleep by any means. I am setting the coffee pot. That should help.

Jason promised Summer she could have a lemonade stand for this stupid yard sale, but I am being a total Grinch about it. Ya know the spilling and all the guilting into buying and all that. Somehow, I am sure I will be doing most of the work on that. Jason did make her purchase all her supplies. But the girl down the road is also having one and she's got one of those fancy store bought set-ups. Her sign says 50cents a glass. We're walkin in like Walmart and going with 25cents. Oh yeah, we are totally like that. Watch, she'll probably have keg cups.

Wish us luck...Jason swears nothing is coming back into the house. I hate yard sales. Having them, going to them, all that. Its weird having people look at your stuff. It weird looking at other peoples stuff. Thank goodness I get to escape and go scrapbooking later on Friday!

Whatcha Readin'?

I just finished this.... It may be the last of the Twilight books so I really drug it out over a couple of days. It was SO fantastic. I simply cannot explain it to someone who has not read any of them(there are 4 book)For real the best love story I have EVER read. I read a lot. And I know I have said it before, but it just hangs with you for a while. Breathtaking.

And I just ordered this:

I know, funny, right? Now if I had 3 martinis at a playdate, I would probably forget where I was and possibley who my children are. But actually I have heard some great reviews on this one. I just couldnt resist.

And since summer is winding down I leave with some cute photobooth shots from Great Wolf of the fam minus the G-Man. Goofy people!

Sum Sum Summertime

This right here is why I LOVE summer! I have alway had a strange addiction to blueberries, but it got out of control with Grady's pregnancy. See, for me, in the good ol' 3rd trimester, I always craved fruit. in large quantities. and beverages too. Also in large quantities. But that summer I was due with Grady it was blueberries around the clock. Poor Jason was being begged to stop at roadside stands on his way home from work regularly. But the thing is that the craving never left. My quantities are much smaller(usually) but I just love them. Jason brought home 5 lbs and I had great plans for them in muffins, pancakes, coffeecake,etc...but they never made it. I passed the love to my dear son and he is an eating machine!

Anyway, aside from blueberries, we are trying to enjoy the last weeks of summer. Working on a yard sale for next weekend. Jason is working the next 26 days straight, so that puts a little damper on things but what can ya do? Enjoy what we got, right?

And for the music fans, I added a bunch more songs that I have been loving on my ipod lately. Got a few winners in there! Check it out....

So now we're back, from outer space...

I know, I keep disappearing. But this is it until Wheatland. We will be living the last weeks of summer close to home. Goodness knows, we'll be busy enough with that. We spent Thursday through the weekend at my Aunt Julie's in Mason. They came up for a lake day last Saturday and took Summer back home with then. I made the 2 hour drive with the littles on Thursday morning. By the way, I understand that its cooler here on the lakeshore, but wow it was so much hotter there! At least 10 degrees warmer. Everyone stayed cool in the pools and sprinkler.
The Ingham County Far was going on right down the road and summer (and Amy and Kristy) got free passes from the library's summer reading program. Even though it was HOT, we had fun going through all the 4-H exhibits and petting zoo. Summer spent 20 minutes talking to an MSU Vet student about xrays and instruments. I know lots of kids want to be Veterinarians when they grow up, but Summer is serious about it!

Amy, Summer and Kristy lovin' a Llama.
And sweet Lisa took one for the team and rode the Himalaya with Summer. I cannot go in circles like that anymore without being ill. Lisa's 18, she can take it!

To Julie, Jim and the girls, thanks for a wonderful time and taking such good care of us. We were lucky enough to also spend some time with my Grandma and also my Aunt Linda. It was so fun see you both again and I will be really looking forward to Cookie Day!