We didn't get to make a trip to Yazoo City, so my family came to see us Sunday night! Grady was excited to see everyone, especially Aunt Jenny! He already loves to be read to. I ordered a kid-sized little bookshelf for his room for Christmas and it is already FULL of books! (I will have to post a picture of it soon...) Anyway though, the neatest little story to share: My mom called me one afternoon to tell me she had "enrolled Grady in a bookclub." I wasn't quite sure, but figured it was something where he'd get a book-of-the-month or something like that in the mail. However, it was something else I'd never heard of before...a "chain letter" for Grandmas! My mom got it in the mail from one of her good friends. The grandma receiving the letter sends a children's book to the child listed on the letter and then adds her grandchild's name to the list and mails the letter out again to friends who have grandchildren. If it works out the way it is supposed to (which I know chain letters never do...), Grady is supposed to get 36 books from who knows where! I just thought it was a cute idea and of course my mom loved it and jumped right on it! So far, he's only gotten 2 books in the mail, but they both have been SUPER cute and absolutely perfect for his age. I love that he is already interested in books (of course Julie-the-teacher WOULD just love that, huh?!) I'm sure Santa will be bringing more to add to the shelf! :)
Thank you for reading to me, Aunt Jenny! I can't wait to see you at Christmas!
Poor little Grady didn't have the most fun "First Thanksgiving" (and I guess neither did Mom and Dad! ha!) We went to the doctor on Friday morning and found out he had bronchitis, an ear infection in both ears, and a sinus-cold. We were so glad that it wasn't RSV or pneumonia. Still though, he was a sick little guy for a few days. He's much better, but the medicines that he still has to take make him SO keyed-up! He has gone from being a zombie the few days before Thanksgiving to being SO hyper! Josh made fun of me for taking a picture of Grady getting his breathing treatment, but I had to document his first Thanksgiving... no family feast pictures, or Fulton Family Farm pictures since we missed out on all of that, so here's a picture of what we DID do all weekend! :)
Happy Thanksgiving from the Hammer clan! It's been a strange day for us. Little Grady-man is under the weather and we celebrated the day at home. He's been congested for a few days and yesterday started running fever. It got worse overnight and so we kept him home instead of getting him out in the cold and exposing his germs to both our families. I knew he was sick when the little guy refused to eat today! Grady-man has never been one to turn down food! Guess he gets that from Josh. ha! I had just thought he was teething again and that was the cause of the fever, but it's looking more like a really bad cold that he can't seem to get over. We'll be taking a trip to the doctor's office in the morning most likely.
ANYWAY, so it has been an "out-of-the-ordinary-Thanksgiving" for us. I was kind of moping earlier because I was at home all day long and not getting to see my family OR Josh's family. So much for the little turkey outfit that Grady was supposed to wear and all the pictures that I had planned on taking with all of his family members on his first Thanksgiving... (Gosh, didn't this same thing just happen to me on Halloween!!!?? I told Josh that if somebody gets sick at Christmas, it's HIS turn because Grady and I have already taken our turns being sick on special occasions! ha! just kidding!)
I was holding my sleeping little sick one and watching the news earlier this afternoon and saw the clips from places like the Salvation Army and such, feeding homeless people Thanksgiving dinner...and then clips of the military overseas eating Thanksgiving meals. It made me feel so small for actually being sad that I didn't get a piece of pecan pie or get to taste my mom's wonderfully delicious dressing. Big deal. How much have I been blessed this past year!!?? I have so much to be thankful for and how quick I can be to forget it and take it all for granted. This year has been a year of ups and downs for Josh and me with both of our jobs and learning to be parents. Yet I am extremely thankful to have a job during such a time as this, and to have the challenge of being a new mom...because that means that I have Grady!
Okay, I know this is a really long ramble of my thoughts, but it was just on my mind. I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you took some time to think about what really means the most in your lives and what you're thankful for. Sometimes it takes the unexpected to throw me for a loop and change my plans enough to make me see the most important thing. Happy Turkey Day! Love Julie
What a difference a week can make! When we first started putting Grady in his jumperoo a couple of weeks ago, he didn't do all that much. Now, he jumps like crazy! It is so funny to watch! Here's a sample...
I had hoped to find a small Santa hat for Grady to wear this Christmas and while out shopping with the little man on Saturday, we came across one that fit him PERFECTLY! We've already tried it on. He didn't seem to mind much at all. Here is a holiday preview for you..... the many faces of Grady the Elf!
This is a "better-late-than-never" post! Yes, the World Series is long over, but I had been meaning to post these pictures of Grady especially for Pete to see! This year was Grady's first World Series and how perfect it was that the Yankees were playing in it and WON it! YEA! For those of you who didn't know it, my Dad raised us three girls to be sports fans (every sport!) but my particular favorite of course is baseball! Dad is a Yankees fan, so I inherited that from him. He and Mom brought Grady back this little Derek Jeter tshirt from their recent trip to NYC. Grady-man wore it as he watched the World Series...for good luck! Here's a picture of my future ball player watching Jeter bat! Thank you for the tshirt, Pete and DeeDee! Can't wait to take the little man to Yankee Stadium one day! "Start spreading the news.... I'm leaving today..."
Another new thing for Grady is his highchair! He has gotten so much stronger and holds his head up without it being so wobbly. I think he likes the highchair so much because he is up high and can see so much more around him! He enjoys watching me cook dinner and wash the dishes. He likes to be rolled around the kitchen in the chair, too.
We're working on him holding his own bottle, but we're not quite there yet! He'll grab it, but it's usually a bit too heavy for him to hold on his own.
AHHHHH... FINALLY someone gives me something besides milk! I am liking these baby carrots! Thanks, mom!
It only took him a few tries to get the hang of using a spoon! I'm so proud of this little man! Gosh, he is growing up so fast!
Grady turned 5 months old yesterday! Hard to believe how much time flies! He is growing like a little weed! We had to take him to the doctor last week because he had a cold that wouldn't go away. With me having had the flu, we wanted to make sure that he hadn't come down with it also. When we went to see the doctor, they weighed him and he weighed in at a whopping 17 pounds, 6 oz.! Thankfully, he didn't have the flu...just a really nasty cold!
We have been trying out all sorts of new things. One thing in particular that Grady-man LOVES is his Jumperoo. I'd been hesitant to put him in it because he still has reflux and I could just see all that bouncing around making the spit-up attacks even worse! I wasn't that thrilled with the thought of puddles of spit-up on my carpet! ha! But anyway, we decided to give it a try. We broke out some old blankets to catch the spit up that inevitably came, and Grady was happy as a lark. He LOVED it! All the lights and music kept him entertained for quite a while. He is about to out-grow his bathtub just because he is SO long! He's not ready for the next "stage" of the tub until he can sit up on his own. So I'm not sure what we'll do until then! His poor little feet are already about to hang off the edge of the tub! I guess the poor little fellow had no choice but to have extremely long legs! Needless to say though, he LOVES getting a bath. His new thing is to kick those big feet of his as hard as he can in the water and see what a big splash he can make! Here is a video of the little motor-mouth and a shot of his two teeth which are REALLY starting to break through!
We are the Hammer Family! We live in Brandon, MS. Josh is a program analyst for Hope Enterprise Corporation / Hope Credit Union and Julie is a 3rd grade teacher. We were married in 2006. God has blessed us with two wonderful little kiddos...Grady and Vera. This blog is just a bit about our life.
Thank you for reading to me, Aunt Jenny! I can't wait to see you at Christmas!
