Gray's First Christmas(es)

What a lucky boy Grayson is! He got to have not one but TWO first Christmases!

First we went to Kansas to celebrate the pre-Christmas weekend with my family. Lucky for Grayson, there was a little snow on the ground, so it was a partially white Christmas! He had a great time playing with Mommy's childhood toys, his grandparents, and lots of aunts, uncles and older cousins.

Next, we came back on Christmas Eve to celebrate Christmas Day at home. We had a fun Christmas morning just the three of us and then were joined by Grayson's aunt, future-uncle, and grandma for the afternoon and evening.

In all of this, two things are certain: Grayson is spoiled (lucky?) and Grayson is loved! It was such a magical first Christmas - which Mommy and Daddy surely enjoyed more than our little mister, but I've been overwhelmed with joy and hope for all of our future Christmases together. Having kids around at Christmas REALLY makes it sparkle!

Photos and videos galore...

Trying out his new walker:

Playing with Little People baby Jesus:

Our first Christmas as a family of three!

Watching cousin Emily play the piano:

Playing with his new walker toy:

Grayson squealing on Christmas:

Crawling & Cruising!

Grayson is crawling! He's doing the army man shuffle, but he's moving across the floor all on his own. I was really mean to him and made him crawl to me to get him on camera, so here's that:




And here's one of him dancing with the singing snowmen decoration:

10 months...

Time is flying! Grayson Ray is 10 months old! He's picking up speed with his walking (while holding onto someone's fingers), he's getting closer and closer to pulling up on things, and he's just getting more mobile day by day. While he's not walking or crawling in the formal sense, he certainly figures out how to get where he wants to go with shimmies, wriggles, and rolls. Books and buttons are his two favorite pastimes, and of course, the Sesame Street kitchen remains his favorite toy.

We're gearing up to celebrate Grayson's first Christmas, and the tree ornaments are definitely intriguing! He's quite happy to shake the jingle bell moose ornament, which is fully non-breakable (win-win). It's going to be very fun to see if he 'gets it' on Christmas morning... We'll be traveling to Kansas to spend the pre-Christmas weekend with my family, and he's sure to have a blast with his cousins and grandparents! We're so excited!

The 10-month pictures...

A Tennessee Thanksgiving

Last week, we traveled to Nashville to spend Grayson's first Thanksgiving with his Papa T & Grammy Nana and had a great time! Grayson was a good flyer, thank goodness - as long as we kept the snacks and story books coming, that is. Luckily, we'd packed many of both! He thoroughly enjoyed his turkey and sweet potatoes. While we were there, Grayson had a few new animal encounters! He met a horse, and we took his first trip to the zoo where he got to see lots of new animals and even pet some goats. He seemed most impressed looking at the reptile, amphibian and aquatic animal tanks, and he loved spending the day outdoors.

Adventures in Nashville...

How is is possible we have a 9-month old?

As of November 2, Grayson is 9 months old. That whole time flies thing is no joke! I can't believe that the holidays are already upon us, either, but I'm really excited to celebrate Grayson's first Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. By Christmas, I suspect he'll be walking, what with how close he is getting day by day... I waited to post these pictures until I had his official stats from the doctor to go with them. Here's the run-down:
Height: 30 1/8 inch - 90th %
Weight: 21 lbs, 5 oz - 75th %
Our big boy is staying up there with the tall, skinny kids!

And the pics of our smiley boy...

This last one has a story... On our honeymoon, Brant and I got this shirt for our future firstborn to wear. We promptly lost it upon unpacking, and though we searched high and low for it over the years, we deemed it lost forever. Well, I found it about two weeks ago in a very odd location - the kitchen cabinet of odds and ends, and it just happens to be the right size for Grayson! Meant to be...

Cruising?!

9-Month pictures to come after I have a chance to edit them, but THIS happened this morning... a story told in captioned pictures:

"Mommy, did you hear what Elmo just said? That guy is a real hoot."

"Oh, hey, Rosie."

"What, Rosie? Follow you? Okay..."

"Hey! I can see the back yard from here! Oh, and there's Sam!"

Note that I did stand him up at the kitchen to begin with, and I did put his feet back under him after picture two when he started to slide. Otherwise, he made this move all on his own! Oh, boy... Guess he may skip crawling after all.

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch today! There were so many sights, sounds, and smells (thanks to the petting zoo), and Grayson was very interested in taking it all in. He was also very interested in sampling the flavors of hay, leaves, and pumpkins. Yum! Grayson is going to be a ferocious dinosaur for Halloween, and we took a few pictures in his costume at the patch along with a good family picture thanks to a kindly stranger. Here they are: