Quite behind... 8-month pictures!

Now that it's been over two weeks since Grayson Ray turned 8-months, I'm finally getting around to posting the pictures and a video. I actually did take these on time, though! They're accurate. I weighed the little mister the other day, and he's right at the 22 lb mark, and he's definitely gotten taller because we've had to go up a size bracket in clothes - especially visible in his now high-water pants and pajamas. Here he is, starting to look a little too mature for his months, if you ask his mama:

7-Month Pictures and More Birthdays!

I'm remiss in updating about some more grandparent and birthday fun we had a couple of weeks ago! Grammy Jyl and Grandpa Dave came to visit for Grayson's Aunt Fifi's (aka Andrea) birthday, and it was just on the heels of Grandpa Dave's birthday too, so we got to celebrate both of them together. Grandpa Dave has a knack for animal noises, which are Grayson's favorite these days, so he was a big ol' fan of hearing Grandpa read stories with animals in them. I'd like to also update that I weighed our big boy this morning and he's pushing just over 20 lbs now and tall enough for 9-month clothes. Oh, and how could I forget words and teeth! Grayson is now saying Mama and has his two bottom chompers, of which he is very proud and making good use (ouch)! Pictures:

7 Months - a month of firsts!

It's been a month of fun firsts for Grayson, starting with his first swim that I posted about last week. Two of his grandparents celebrated 60th birthdays in the last two weeks, and each one gave us the chance to go on a little getaway with some extended family and the chance to take Grayson to some old family haunts! The first trip was for Grandma Darcia's birthday. We took a drive up the coast to do a little wine tasting and stay at the Apple Farm, a place Brant went many times with his mom and sister growing up. Grayson enjoyed walking around in the shops with his Grandma D and looking in the toy shop with Daddy! We all had a great time, and on the way home, we hit the beach in Santa Barbara for his first time! He had a blast putting his toes in the sand.

The second trip was for Papa Terry's birthday. We drove up into the mountains to Mammoth Lakes and stayed in a cabin, another great family tradition making Grayson the fourth generation of Bridges to vacation at Lake Mary! Our outdoor-loving boy enjoyed all the time outside feeding birds and squirrels with his Papa Terry and Grammy Suzie, and on the trip, which is itself an important first, Grayson went on his first hike! He took a snooze on the way up, but he was happy to look around at the trees on the way down.

So here we are at seven months, and we get to see Grammy Jyl and Grandpa Dave this weekend for some more awesome family time and (belated) grandparent birthday fun! It's so great to get to see our parents with our sweet little man.

Water Baby

As promised, here are the photos of Grayson's first swim! He loved the water, as I assumed he would given his affinity for bath time.

Grayson in ACTION!

I'm pretty behind in posting anything new here, and oh, so much is happening in the life and times of Grayson! To name a few: his first swim, many new foods - for better or worse, officially sitting unassisted, and how standing holding on to things (if he's put in position, that is)... and many more! He's just developing and learning by leaps and bounds all the time, and it's almost hard to keep up with it all, sad to say. Here are a few videos of the little man over the last few weeks! Pictures forthcoming, but not uploaded just yet and, well... I'm too lazy this evening.

Loving his jumperoo...


Making funny faces, his latest favorite being to scrunch up his nose and huff through it...


Cracking up at Brant's bee sounds...

6-Month Pictures - Pro!

This post is just a photobomb of Grayson's 6-Month pictures from the pro studio! He wouldn't quite give out his big smiles for the photographer, which is actually sort of flattering to his parents for whom he grins readily, but they turned out beautifully nonetheless.

This one I entered in the Gerber photo contest...

This one is entered in the Picture People contest at the photographer's urging...

Not to brag, but...Grayson is so cute! :)

6 Months!

Our sweet Grayson Ray is six whole months old! It's really hard to believe that he's been with us for half a year. The time is really flying by, and he has grown so incredibly much!

Six-Month Stats:

27.75 inches tall (90th percentile!)

17.5 pounds (50th percentile!)

This means that our tiny little three-week-early boy who started out in the 25th percentile all around has now started to surpass his full-term peers. Lean and mean, says Dr. Gold, and right on target for a healthy mama-fed baby. Grow, Grayson, grow! Looking at pictures of his day-of-birth and seeing how tiny he was really puts it in perspective how big he's gotten so fast. Sigh...

He continues to gobble down each new food with great excitement, diving for the spoon, grabbing for my hand as the bites come in, and punctuating each bite with, "Mmmm." It's very entertaining and cute.

A couple of other milestones reached over the last week or so are sitting (almost unassisted but still unsteady if he reaches for a toy) and saying mama, mom and many other m related syllables along with his squeals and vowel sounds. He's quite loquacious! 

Without further ado...

I also put this photo together the other day for a good side-by-side comparison on Grayson and his parents as babies! It's easier to see where his features come from, and I think Daddy still dominates the look-alike contest, but it's also pretty apparent Gray has a look all his own - a cute look! :)