TWO!

Today my boy turns two!  

Grant has been growing and changing so much lately.  We seem to pick up on something new he's doing or saying almost daily.  

Here are some of his favorites at two years old!

Favorite song: "Ho Hey" by The Lumineers and "Hot Dog!" by They Might Be Giants

Favorite word: "go!"  1-2-3 "go!" or ready-set "go!"

Favorite food: Trader Joe's Joe-Joes (Oreos), any cereal, cuties/halos (mandarin oranges)

 

Favorite toy: play blood pressure cuff, ball popper "vacuum," elefun (elephant that blows "butterflies" out his trunk)

 

Favorite activities: walking the dogs (and holding Pepper's leash), watching the washing machine start, playing in the sink (we had to put away our awesome kitchen helper stand because he was dragging it everywhere to get to things! And he was also getting too confident climbing it and reaching over.), chasing the dogs, pointing out airplanes in the sky, giving hugs!

Favorite app: Endless Alphabet

 

Favorite book:  It changes so quickly, but for now, "Uh oh, Dodo!" by Jennifer Sattler

 

Favorite person: Abuelo Manuel, his middle namesake (Grant's great grandfather)

He's still a great sleeper and pretty good eater (although he'd rather feed the dogs).  Still sucking on his left two fingers and not sure how we'll ever brake that habit.  

Both Chris and I have more grey hairs and wrinkles this year, but we wouldn't trade it for the world.  Grant is such an awesome kid and we can't wait to see him grow and learn in the next year!  

We're having a small family get together on Saturday to celebrate the big 2.  Even though it's just family, I still coordinated some things with his love for trash and recycling trucks.  

I share so many pictures between FB and Instagram, but I found a few more from this month that were pretty cute.  

Bundled up for a cold walk with Aunt Tania.

Just chillin' with my iPad.

Breakfast smiles!

My handsome boy posing for Aunt Neeki.

Another shot from Aunt Tania.  Leaves!

Ready to ride with Daddy!

All dressed up for Great Uncle Marty and Aunt Denise's wedding!

Let it snow

Thanksgiving Day fun!  This cute elephant ball popper was conveniently placed next to the paper shredder.  In minutes, Grant was having a blast and the office was covered in "snow."

Bonus fun for giving Grant the vacuum afterwards to do his own clean up. 

Thanks for supervising the fun, Aunt Tania!

First Word! (Finally!)

We've been so anxious for Grant to start talking and we're experiencing a bit of a delay.  This has led us to Speech Therapy.  We're just getting started, but in the past week I can now say that "Up!" is Grant's first word.  Not the best video, but wanted to capture it before it changes from the adorable "aaaaaaahp!"

Sandbox Fun

Throwing sand is so much fun!  Washing sand out of all that hair is not so fun. 

Zulily FAIL

I have a love/hate relationship with the online retailer Zulily.  It's fun to shop on their app, you feel like you're getting a good deal (even if it's last season and NOT a deal!) and they often have unique kids clothes that aren't "my mommy rocks" or a surfing bear onesie (Carter's, I'm looking at you!). 

But I've been burned by Zulily and here are two examples.  

This is me.  In a Bob Marley t-shirt I ordered for Grant.  I vaguely remember infant sizes being sold out, so this smart Mom planned ahead and sized up!   Maybe he'll fit in it in ten+ years.

 

Then there's this adorable 3T Texas Rangers jersey we ordered months ago.  

Cute, right?  Nice quality.  Every kid needs a baseball jersey!  I'm sure it wasn't that cheap.  If you follow Texas Rangers baseball, you already know where I'm going with this.

 

Wah, wah.  Josh Hamilton.  Left the Rangers when Grant was 11 months old!  

I know I have more Zulily (and other online shopping) fails, but can't think of them tonight.  

Any funny online shopping stories to share?  

Duck face

First duck face, next thing you know he's going to take selfies!  

Oh wait...

This picture cracks me up.  It's a couple months old, but he did take it himself.

You turn your back for one minute

And he's out the doggie door, pounding on the window!

He knows nose!

I've been worried that Grant doesn't know any body parts, so just this weekend when I quizzed him, I found out he knew belly.  Chris said he knew nose, but I didn't think so.  I also was worried about repeating "nose" over and over again, thinking he might think we were telling him "no!"  (I know, silly thing to worry about.)

But of course, my smart kid DID know nose!  Proved this Mama wrong.  I wonder what else he knows but we're just not asking him!  I promise not to post every little video I make... but he just seemed to have a big development week.  Dancing, belly and now nose!  They really are little sponges.

Shark week

Who am I kidding.  We don't have cable so I just heard it was shark week.  But, I never pass up an opportunity for a themed dress up!  

Where's your belly?

April 2012 & April 2013

Remember this picture? I took it on my last day of maternity leave. G was 3 months old. So small snuggled in my neck.

Tonight Chris took Grant and the dogs on a walk while I cooked dinner and Grant passed cold out. This never happens! (He was in the Ergo on Chris' back.) When they got home and I saw he was asleep, I scooped him up so fast so I could snuggle my sleeping boy. G monkey was worn out from daycare and playing at the park with friends. He didn't want to wake up! He finally did and ate dinner, took a quick bath and we were able to get him into bed for the night pretty close to schedule.

I had to replicate our previous picture (selfie!)

14 months

I'm so bad about these monthly updates, but I don't want to forget the cute things grant is doing lately.

New tricks:
Waving - he does the open handed wave as well as the open/close grasp wave

Clicking his tongue (or maybe this is an old trick?)

Giving kisses

Making noises with his hand/mouth and lips

Not walking yet but getting better while holding our hands.

Really loving the dogs right now. All three sit by the back door when I get home from work. He loves when Moses' big tail hits him in the face and when pepper licks him. He loves dropping them food from his high chair and tries to play in (and eat!) their dog food.

We're in a pretty good groove avoiding all dairy. Grant is allergic to cow's milk protein so that means no milk, cheese, yogurt, butter! We've become avid nutrition label readers (I have good practice!) and searching allergen menus at restaurants. He is doing really well with vanilla hemp milk. He's too young to know any better, but it's challenging to avoid dairy completely. Butter and/or milk is in everything! Hopefully he'll outgrow this in a few years, but if not, we're figuring it out. It seems like we've been dealing with this for a long time, but actually it's just been the past two months.

Size 3 diapers, trying to get back into cloth at home (took a break while figuring out the allergy)

Still fits into some 12 month clothes, but more 18 month clothes now

No new teeth, still sucking on his left two fingers

No new stats, but g is getting heavy! Ready for him to walk so we won't have to carry him as much.

Off to bed. Happy April!

Adios, Google Reader

If you use Google Reader to read blogs (who doesn't!) and haven't heard, Google Reader is retiring July 1st.

They say usage is down.  Usage is probably down because they got rid of the "share" and "comment" function awhile back!  Boo, Google.  I know some people who created a gmail account JUST for Google Reader.  Anyway... what's the alternative?  Reading blogs by actually going to the website is not going to happen.

There are several sites out there but I'm sure they're not the same.  Some friends are trying out bloglovin'.  I just downloaded feedly on my iPhone.  So far, so good.  You can sign into your Google Reader account and transfer all your blogs in one second.  The layout is very nice!  This is what the "cover" to my last blog post looks like in the app: 

The tools will take some time to get used to.  I've only messed with it for a couple minutes, but you can "bookmark" posts (recipes!) to save for later.  Having a decent app is one thing Google Reader did not do right so Freely gets points for that alone!

Let me know if you find something better.  I don't want to miss out on all my blogs!

Busy Saturday

What a day. I am so tired!

We went to a birthday party this morning. (Happy Birthday, Olivia!). It was at an indoor safari park. They had some electric animals that the kids rode. Grant wouldn't sit on the elephant, but did want to show off his tricks by standing on the elephant for his turn. He had fun crawling around the tunnels and sliding into a ball pit.

Then we headed home for lunch and a nap. Well, "No Nap Grant" had other plans and decided it was more fun to pull all the dirty clothes from his hamper into the crib.

Next we headed down to Fair Park to the Irish Festival with Chris' family. It was a lot colder than I was expecting so we bundled Grant in a blanket to stay toasty. Lots of people watching! And Grant went on a huge slide with Chris.

Since we were so far from home, we decided to swing by the new Klyde Warren park downtown and check out the food trucks. So fun! Grant is going to love it in the summer and when he's old enough to play on the playground. We did sit and read a book in the "reading room." Amelia Bedelia, my favorite!

Ready for a lazy Sunday!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Grant's second Valentine's Day.  I asked him if he remembered last year.  I sure do! I was home on maternity leave snuggling my 2 week old!

This year Grant is getting this fun bath toy (thanks, Pinterest!).

One YEAR!

Holy cow.  I have a one year old!  This past year has been totally amazing.  Some days I feel like we're doing alright and other days I think we're just chasing the clock and trying to make it to the next day.  Hopefully that will improve as he gets older, but I'm sure they'll be new things to keep us busy.

Weight:   21# 3 oz. (48%) 

Teeth:  6.  Four on top and two on bottom.  The third bottom one is starting to think about popping out. (one week later and the count is 7!)

Favorite Foods:  black beans, oatmeal, bananas, cherrios/puffs, brisket.  He still loves pureed foods but we're working on more table food.  He's doing really well so far with diced fruits and vegetables, crackers/bread and some tender meats. 

Likes:  the VACUUM!  The kid is obsessed.  I even looked up a kiddie size Dyson but Chris said no.  He bangs on the closet door that the vacuum is in and he cries when I put it away.  Bathtime:  now that we ditched the baby tub, he loves to crawl back and forth, stand up and plop down making a big slapsh, having a big cup of water dumped on his head, putting his face underwater (what?!  scares me, but I think he'll be ready for swimming this summer).  Unrolling toilet paper, watching Daddy hacky sack, taking clothes out of the dryer

• Favorite toy: lil' zoomers spinnin' sounds speedway (thanks, aunt tania!)
        

Dislikes:  Laying still on the changing table, getting his nose wiped

He is such a joy in our lives and we are so lucky to be his parents.  Happy Birthday, Baby!  We love you!