Grady and Aubrey

Josh's family had their summer picnic last weekend and Grady got to meet his little cousin Aubrey for the first time. Aubrey was born exactly a week after Grady was born, so they are just about the same age! They were so cute to watch together. Here are a few pictures that Faye took of them playing.

Advertisement for Pampers!

WE ARE BOTTLE-FREE! WHOO HOO!
Thanks to these new sippy-transition-cups that I found. Who knew??? Pampers makes sippy cups! I saw them advertised in a BabiesRUs catalog I got in the mail. They are a new item, I think. They are called Pampers Natural Stages Bottle and SippyCups. Supposedly the stage 4 is a transition type cup and there is supposed to be a stage 5 after this one, but I have yet to find it anywhere online or in a store. Anyway though, if your child has trouble letting go of his bottle like mine did, these are wonderful and I highly recommend them! Grady LOVES them and we have been bottle-free now for 5 days! YEA for Pampers! So eventually we will work our way to a "real" sippycup! ha!

Yea for "big boy cups!!!"

And now...on to the next summer-time battle of mom v.s. son: "BIG BOY FOOD!!!"

**side note...I feel like a terrible mom at times because I hear of other people's children doing things faster than Grady is doing them, or doing them with more ease, I guess. I have decided not to worry about any of it anymore. He will learn when I have time and when he gets ready! And now that I am off this summer to spend more time on these mom v.s. son battles, I think we will start to make progress. Just since I have been home for the summer, we have accomplished these: we have gotten rid of the bedtime bottle/feeding, gotten rid of bottles altogether, AND transitioned to only one nap a day (he was napping 2-3 times when I was at school). Now, on to big boy food... YIKES!

So when we went to the doctor for his 12-month visit, I was so sad to find out that the doctor doesn't give a suggested feeding schedule/menu to you anymore after 12 months! Josh and I are such by-the-book parents, this being the first time around! (Poor Grady!) So what on earth is a poor first-time mom supposed to do without a suggested feeding schedule??? My child, unlike many others apparently, does not jump at the chance to eat table food or eat off our plates. In fact, he loves his baby food so much that I think he'd continue to scarf it down until he is 18 if I was okay with it. ha!

WELL, anyway, after researching online yesterday for ideas and what to feed a picky little 1 year old who doesn't chew all that well, AND talking on the phone to mom for an hour, I made a huge grocery list and Grady-man and I set out to find something that he will possibly eat! Yesterday's attempt is pictured below... He is SUCH a typical kid! I put carrots, green beans, and diced apples on his plate, along with a few of those Gerber "crunchies" that are basically toddler cheese-puffs. He immediately went for the crunchies and scarfed them all down, then just stared at me like "Ok, can I have some more of those?"
Today's attempt went somewhat better. For lunch we tried Ritz crackers with torn up cheese slices, diced carrots, asparagus spears, applesauce, and Gerber "chicken sticks." AND I didn't get anything spit back at me for once! Whoo hoo!

Stay tuned for the latest adventures in mom v.s. son!

And feel free to give me your suggestions for little picky eaters...

Swing

If you can't tell from the pictures, Grady-man LOVES his new swing! (Thanks, DeeDee and Pete!) It cracks me up how he grabs on to the ropes to "hold on." Reminds me of the "swings" at Opryland! That used to be my favorite ride when I was a kid!

Four Years Ago Today...

...the beginning of the Hammer Family!

HELP!

Grady's 12-month checkup was this morning. Here are his stats:

Weight: 24 lbs. 13 oz. (80th Percentile)
Height: 31 3/4 in. (95th Percentile)
Head Circumference: 19 1/4 in. (greater than 95th Percentile...which is "off the charts" ha...thanks, Dad!)

Everything was fine and he is a growing little man... BUT Dr. Flowers said it is time to get rid of the bottle! We have had a struggle with this lately... it's time to go into "Bottle De-tox Mode," I'm afraid! Grady, for some reason, refuses to drink from a sippy cup. We have tried 4 different kinds of sippy cups. We've put all different kinds of liquid in them and even given one to him empty just to play with, but the child will not drink out of it. And what's even worse,... he throws a temper tantrum every time you try to give it to him. I'm not talking about a little cry or whimper... but a full-blown FIT! AGH! I know this is going to make me pull every strand of my hair from my head before the summer is over... SO, if you have any suggestions of what I can do as we are entering Bottle-Breaking-BootCamp, PLEASE leave me a comment and tell me what to do and what I've done wrong!
Thanks!

Easily Entertained

Just give the boy a balloon and he's occupied until you decide to take it away! :)

Grady is ONE!

So hard to believe that Grady is ONE today! This past year has flown by (well... I'm sure if you'd asked me if time was flying when he was 2 months old, I'd have told you NO WAY, but thankfully we started figuring things out as parents tend to do I guess, and it got a little easier as time went on.)
I thank God every single day for blessing us with such a perfect little miracle! He brings such a smile to my face and has turned out to be such a happy little kiddo! This smile melts my heart!

At 12 months, Grady is all OVER the place! Not yet walking, but he is pulling up on everything and you can't let him out of your sight. He will walk down the length of the couch as he holds on to the sides. I know he is getting close. His favorite toys are balls and cars and anything that rolls. He is finally learning to play with toys that have little chutes and ramps for you to "drop" a ball into. He's getting good at "shooting baskets" into his goal also! :)

He talks incessantly at times... (well, in his own language, that is...) He will get so tickled at random things and just squeals with delight! Those moments make my day! He cracks me up!

My, how fast they grow up! I catch myself saying things like, "I wish he could just walk." Or Josh's favorite thing to say..."I wish he was just potty trained!" (HA!)... But then I remind myself not to wish away one moment! He will be grown too quickly and I love the age he is right now!

Happy 1st birthday, sweet Grady-man!

Happy Birthday, Dear Grady!

hmmm...I wonder why all these people are staring at me? Haven't they ever seen a boy eat?

Hey, what's this? Where are the peas? Where are the bananas?

Happy Birthday, Dear Grady...Happy Birthday to you!

This does not taste like my normal food!

hmmm...Mom said I should dig in, so maybe I will give it a try!

not bad, not bad at all... what's Dad doing sticking his hands in my new food?

Seriously, Dad??? I know you just didn't do that in front of all these people!!!
We love you more than words can describe!!! Happy birthday to our growing little man!

Testing the Waters...

Yesterday after church, we packed up a LOAD of gear and took Grady for his first swim! Grana had a new float waiting for him to try out in the pool! He didn't act at ALL like we thought he would. Grady LOVES taking a bath in the bathtub and splashing/playing with all of his toys. We thought he'd have a ball in the "big bathtub"... but he was surprisingly quiet and motionless! ha! He had this odd look on his face the whole time and seemed as if he were at peace enough to fall asleep. Probably because we went straight from church, to lunch, to the pool and he didn't get a nap except for the car ride... Anyway though, he has been introduced to the pool. Maybe next time he'll have more fun splashing! Thanks to Grana for the float and Aunt Jen for the cute swimsuit! They were both perfect! Here are a few pictures...

"Pops, what are we doing in this cold water? This does not feel like my bathtub at home!!!"

"I'm not so sure about all of this..."

"Maybe if I give them a half-smile, they'll let me out of this frog cage and let me get warm again!"

"Still not sure why Mom and Dad are smiling so much! My toes are getting wrinkled!"

FINALLY!

YEAAAA!!!! We finally turned Grady's car seat around this weekend! He was excited to see the world from a new perspective! :)

Spring Photo Shoot

We recently had Grady's first photo shoot. I know most people do this with their kids a lot earlier than 11 months, but...
1. We were saving money.
2. Grady was a spitter-upper for so long...doesn't make great pics! ha!
3. I guess I'm just a bad mom!
Anyway, we finally got around to having his pictures made. My friend Monique did them and she did a fantastic job! She took pictures of Grady for a solid hour and he was so well behaved! I was so proud of him! Here are some of my favorites...

We had to bring along the cowbell to keep him occupied! He LOVES ringing it! (I am not kidding! He is a true little bulldog fan!)

A "YES-answered" Prayer!

Great news from the Hammer family! This past Friday, Josh was offered a job as a program analyst with a company called Enterprise Corporation of the Delta! YEA! He will start on Monday, May 17th! He's been going through the interview process with them for the past month or so and has been through several rounds of interviews and completed a case study for them as well. Every meeting he had went really well and he always kind of felt like this might be the one! HE is so excited, I am so excited, and Grady is excited because the stress-level at our house will decrease hopefully now! ha!
Josh and I were talking about all of this the other night and Josh made the comment that this past year has been quite a year for us! That is so true! Josh's company closed their doors in March of 2009. Having a baby on the way and losing your job is a scary thing. I know that I have handled it more like a roller-coaster than Josh has. There have been periods of time when I've totally trusted God to take care of us and give me patience and peace. But to be honest, there have also been times that my patience and faith have been tested and I haven't been so faithful to trust, but instead have worried and stressed over the situation. It can be so hard when you can't look into the future and see what's ahead, but have to just trust that it is going to be okay. JOSH, on the other hand, has handled this whole thing so great! He has truly been a picture of patience! He's been so calm about it and has totally trusted that God was going to provide the job that He wanted him to have. For that, I am so thankful! Imagine two of us being stressed and worried! ha!
Through everything that's happened this past year, God has been so good to us and blessed us in so many BIG ways, but also the little, unexpected ones, too! The other day after Josh got the job offer, I was thinking about all of that and how God is so faithful to us...even to worrisome people like me. A good friend of mine once told me that he hated the Garth Brooks song, "Unanswered Prayers." He said that it was all wrong because the words in the song and the title make it seem as if God ignores our prayers. "Unanswered" isn't the right word. God either answers our prayers with a YES or a NO...the no may mean NO, or it may mean "no, for right now." We have had SO many people praying for us this past year during the job search process! Every time an interview didn't work out, it was easy to get frustrated and down, but it was just God's "NO for right now" answer. There was something else for Josh and we just didn't know what it was. This job with ECD/Hope is so perfect for him and I just know in my heart that God had it picked out a long time ago. That's why all of the other "doors" were closed. So this is the "YES-answered" prayer! I know that there have been so many prayers offered up by our friends and family and for that, we are truly grateful. They were not "ignored," but rather answered with a "not right now" answer! Now, God has given a "YES" and we are so excited and thankful for this answer to prayer! THANK YOU for your prayers for our family!
Love,
Julie

Why Highchairs Have Wheels. . .

Little Bulldog

WELL, Mr. Grady has had his first trip to Starkville! We went for Super Bulldog Weekend this past Saturday and had a blast! It was the perfect day, weather-wise, to make his first visit.

Think Josh is a little hopeful??? HA! When we passed the "prospect gate," we had to get a picture... would have been better if we'd have taken Grady-man out of the stroller I guess, but we were trying to get into the stadium.

taking it all in at Scott Field...
(We went to the sidelines to get his picture with Bully...and of course as soon as we walked up, Bully left the sidelines and went back onto the field. Oh well... Grady probably would have cried anyway because he was SO tired at this point!)

Marooooooon....... Whiiiiiiite! Grady is getting so good at ringing a cowbell! He's a natural!

Of course the highlight of MY day was getting to take my child to Dudy Noble for the first time! It made my day! Grady was such a little trooper at the baseball game. We didn't get there until the 2nd inning. He lasted until the bottom of the 7th, which I think was pretty good for his first game! We won the game... so of course, it must have been Grady-man's good luck!

My favorite picture of the day. I'm not sure who had more fun...Grady or my dad! I don't know of a bigger bulldog fan and being there for his grandson's first trip to Starkville definitely made my dad's day! He was all smiles!

So, it was a success! Grady has been introduced to the place where he will spend 4-6 years of his life. ha! Brainwashed a bit??? Nahhhhh!

GO DAWGS!

10 Months

SO hard to believe... Where does the time go?