Yea for Collar Shirts!

Grady has had this weird phobia/pet peeve with shirts that have collars! AGH! Have no clue what started that or why he all of a sudden decided that he didn't like shirts with collars, but one day, he just refused to wear anything with a collar and that was that. We would have knock-down, drag-out fights on Sunday morning because he wanted to wear gym shorts and MSU shirts to church and I wouldn't let him. Last year, he lived in polo shirts...wore them daily with no fuss at all. Then last fall, he was adamant that he did not want to wear them anymore. So we went through the winter either fussing and fighting over what he was going to wear, or me having to get creative and find shirts that would be appropriate for church and special occasions that didn't have collars. AGH!

So I know it sounds crazy that I would get so excited over what he let me put on him for church on Sunday, but I was THRILLED and couldn't believe it! Granted, I did have to bribe him and tell him that he could immediately change his clothes and wear his MSU football jersey as soon as we got home. ha. Whatever works! I was so excited that I made him pose for a picture. May never see it again. ha.

Josh Junior, or what???

Dates

Last week, Mom came over and had a "date" with Vera for the day so that I could have a "date" with Grady!  He requested to go to the zoo, so that's how we spent the morning.  How AWESOME to get out of the house!  Mom, you are the best!  Thanks so much!

One Month!

Hard to believe that we have reached the one month mark!  I remember when Grady was this age and time seemed to drag!  No offense to Grady at all...it was really all ME!  I had no clue what to do with a new baby and didn't know if I would ever get sleep again for the rest of my life.  This time around, it's still tough with a newborn and her unpredictable schedule...BUT I know that it will not last forever.  And that makes it so much more do-able!  We've had a rough time with Vera at night basically since we came home from the hospital.  She is a major crier at night.  Usually is pretty good during the day, but at night she's been so upset.  She has cried some nights for 2 hours straight with nothing consoling her.  We've switched formulas, tried zantac, gas drops, swaddling, rocking, etc., etc.  Nothing would work.  I was just sure she had colic.  We are using something we researched and found online called Colic Calm and that has seemed to help a little bit.  But I am honestly just starting to think that she doesn't have colic or a reaction to the formula or anything physically wrong with her.  I think she may have just had her days and nights mixed up.  Don't want to jinx anything, but the last two nights have been GREAT!  Her crying has been so minimal and she's pretty much relaxed when we've fed her in the middle-of-the-night-feedings.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that we are over the hump! 

Grady-man still adores his little sister.  He is settling down into the routine much better and not acting out as much as he was a few weeks ago!  Makes me teary-eyed to see how "grown-up" he acts sometimes and how sweet he is with her!  He wants to help with everything and gives her a kazillion kisses every day!

Here are some pictures and I promise I will try to post pictures more often now that we are getting into more of a routine...

p.s.  I think her eyes are blue...Josh says brown, but they look blue to me!  Time will tell!

Updates

I think we forgot just how tough life can be with a newborn. ha. Add a toddler to the mix and then you have chaos times two! When they are both crying at the top of their lungs simultaneously, it can be enough to send you to the mental hospital!

All that aside, we are doing okay! Just learning to adjust to this new way of life. ha. Little Miss Vera does not like sleeping at night. I think she has her days and nights mixed up. We are doing better. A week ago, she was crying for 1-2 hours straight, inconsolably, each night. Nothing would calm her down. She's gotten better thankfully. She usually sleeps pretty hard during the day and I have a tough time keeping her awake. I am working on that to hopefully tire her out for nighttime! She had some issues with gassiness, but so far she is not the spitter that her brother was. That boy spit up so much that we changed his clothes like 5 or 6 times a day and wore bibs constantly. When we went to the doctor last week, she was gaining weight and everything was fine and dandy. We switched formulas and hopefully will see that start to help with her little tummy aches.

Grady still loves his little sister so much and hasn't asked to send her back yet. He is so sweet and gentle with her. When I pick him up from school in the afternoons, I think he is more excited to see her than me! He wants to help with everything, which sometimes is a bit scary. But so far, so good. She hasn't been hit in the head with a football or baseball yet. Grady is really in to "playing pretend" right now for some reason. I just noticed him doing this alot in the past couple of weeks. Anyway, he has his own "pretend baby" that he takes care of when I am taking care of Vera. He changes his diaper (he's a boy baby of course!), feeds him, puts him in Vera's car seat when she's not in it, etc. Cracks me up. SO glad that Grady has adjusted to Vera the way that he has. He still has a hard time sometimes and we've had quite a few temper tantrums, but I can handle those as long as he is being nice to HER!

Here are a few pictures of the two of them that we took outside the other day...

Easter Weekend

On Friday, we enjoyed hanging out and having lunch with Jenny, Susan, and my parents before Jenny's flight back to Idaho that night. She helped Grady dye eggs...

On Saturday, we had a cookout/egg hunt with our small group at our friends Chris and Tanya's house. Grady's new favorite thing is getting in a bounce house! Used to be terrified of those things, but now LOVES them!

On Easter Sunday, we always have lunch with Josh's sweet family. Vera got to meet her great-grandmother, who she was named for!

Vera meets Vera!

Grady got to hunt eggs again! Next year he will have some competition and won't have to hunt by himself. ha!

And we took a few family pictures...

Happy Easter!

Vera Helen

Little Miss Vera Helen arrived on Wednesday morning at 10:35 after a (thankfully) easy and quick labor! She weighed an even 8 pounds and was 21 inches long. She is doing great and is a healthy, beautiful little girl! Thanks for all of your prayers! We are back at home (got home yesterday) and re-adjusting to life with a newborn! Oh those joys of sleepless nights! Ha!

Here are some pictures...mostly from the hospital.
Notice Grady-man had to come visit his sister with his bat bag! Of course! He was ready to teach her how to "pitch." IN THE HOSPITAL ROOM!

My friend Leigh Ann has three boys and she suggested the idea to me of getting Grady a "big brother" present FROM Vera to give to him at the hospital. Great idea... Here he is opening his gift from baby sister.

A new special big boy night light...since he is giving his old one to Vera!

Grady has done so much better than Josh and I would have ever dreamed. We weren't really sure how he'd react to not being the center of attention, or adjusting to a new little person in his world. But he has been GREAT with Vera and loves her to death! He is so sweet and gentle and when he talks to her, he does so just like the rest of us...in a sweet little high-pitched voice! It's too funny!

Somebody has her dad wrapped around her little finger already! Josh is just crazy about his little girl!

This is one of my favorites...

I promise to post more pictures soon! Thanks for all of your prayers for our family!

Updates...

Grady learned to blow dandelions this weekend in Grana and Pops' backyard! We managed to only get a few seedlings in our mouth during the event, but he was fascinated with dandelions! Faye took this picture and sent it to me. I thought it was precious! He is growing up way too fast!
And speaking of growing, our little girl is growing like a weed, too! Went to the doctor today and she was measuring anywhere between 8 lb. 6 oz. to 8 lb. 12 oz. I am 38 weeks today, so according to due date (April 2nd), we still have two weeks to go! Thankfully, my doctor is going to induce on WEDNESDAY of this week to prevent me from having a 10 pounder! ha! So in just two more days, our little family of three is about to get a bit bigger! Will keep you posted!