Back in the Routine

er,...three weeks after the fact... (and hence the reason for no posts in forever!!!)
It was bittersweet to start back to school at the end of the summer. I enjoyed being with Grady so much this summer and doing not much of anything else! It was much needed and he and I had fun! I was worried he would be rotten when he went back to Gail's in August, but she said he was fine and acted like he'd never had a summer break! (on a side note though, I went to pick him up one day this week and he had been put in "time-out" for hitting people with a truck...ha! yeah, we're working on the no-hitting thing at home!)
But also, the start of school always excites me so much...all the "newness" of another year beginning and new students to teach. It's hard to explain, but usually I am not ready for summer to end, but at the same time, kind of excited about school beginning. This year was no exception. I LOVE my class this year! They are wonderful and I am so excited about the year ahead!
We took pictures of Grady-man the first morning of "school" starting again!

All ready to go...

DeeDee got Grady a new big-boy backpack! He loves tractors and anything to do with a farm!

I told one of my friends at school the other day that they need to start a club for husbands of teachers. Poor Josh! Did he even know what he was getting in to!!!?? I am still learning not to be a work-a-holic. He is so great to get Grady ready in the mornings and take him to Gail's. Usually, I am gone before Grady even wakes up! Josh does so much to help out! I am so lucky! Of course, Grady doesn't even care that I'm gone...Dad is pretty entertaining!

Enough Said...

Yes, Daddy is the super hero around here! I thought this picture was worth a thousand words. Grady grins and squeals every afternoon when Josh gets home! On this day, he decided to wear Daddy's shoes!

Late Mother's Day Treat!

Susan and I had been wanting to try out the painting class/studio, Easely Amused. We got Mom a gift certificate for Mother's Day and we just all were busy over the summer and didn't get around to scheduling a class until the end of the summer. We finally found a time we could all go and we had a BALL! If you haven't been, you need to grab a friend and schedule a class! I cannot wait to go back! We plan to do it again really soon!

Hammer Family Visit

Paw-Paw and Aunt Autumn came to visit us in late July. Grady LOVES his Aunt Autumn.
Paw-Paw surprised Grady-man with a new "Cracker Barrell" rocking chair that's just right for him! He LOVES this chair and can now crawl in and out of it himself!
It is for sure his new favorite place to read books! Josh is worried that Grady is turning into a book-worm like his mom! Of course this child must love to read if he belongs to me! :)
Thanks for the chair, Paw-Paw!!!

FINALLY!!!

Better late than never....
Long time, no posts! But Grady-man's latest milestone requires posting! Grady is FINALLY walking! WHOO HOO! Late bloomer maybe, but better late than never I guess. He's been walking with one of us holding his hand for a really long time, but he wouldn't get the confidence to let go of someone's hand or a couch, wall, chair, etc. and just go on his own. Just this past week, he's started to get a little more confident. Gail told me on Monday at daycare that he has been walking a good bit with her. Last night, Josh and I were watching a football game on tv, not really paying attention to Grady all that much. He was just in the floor playing and we were in the floor too, but watching the game. All of a sudden, we see this little blonde head streaking across the living room to get another toy and we were like OH MY GOSH! He had never been more than a few steps at a time and all of a sudden, he crossed the living room in a flash! It was too funny! Now he's walking all over the house. I am so proud of my little late bloomer! ha! Here's a video from this morning.

The 4th

Happy Belated 4th of July! We didn't take a vacation, but instead just hung out at home. We took Grady to the Balloon Glow in Ridgeland on Friday. He loved the balloons, but slept through the concert and fireworks! We hung out at the pool and cooked out with Grana and Pops on Saturday. After church Sunday, we spent the day playing outside. How blessed we are to live in such a great country! Hope you all had a happy 4th! Here are a few pics from our weekend.

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!"