Baby Bridges #2 is a BOY!

It's official! We had an anatomy scan yesterday, and they were able to see very clearly that we'll have a strapping set of brothers come January. Baby #2 is kicking and wiggling and looking very healthy in there, so it was all good news at the appointment yesterday. And it's really nice to know who is in there and start to make sense of this two-kids thing! It feels very concrete now.

In seriousness, I'm so thrilled to give Grayson the gift of a little brother! It would have been just as thrilling to give the gift of a little sister too, but there really is something special about brothers. Let the fun begin!

Bridges Brood Expansion!

Well, this is happening! A new baby (gender yet to be discovered) will be joining our brood round about Christmas this year. The official due date is January 5th, 2014, but if Grayson's birth was a hint at the future, we'll be expecting an early arrival. We aren't sure yet if there will be similar complications, but my doctors (I have two now) are keeping a close watch with extra ultrasounds to catch anything that starts to happen.

Here's our announcement:

Catching up!

I'm a little behind, but we've been traveling, had visiting aunts and uncles, and this toddler has been keeping us plenty busy in the down-time.

Grayson is jabbering away, and we're starting to get some good communication from him. He's good at getting his point across, for better or worse, using the few words that he does have, and he certainly understands a lot, too. Naming animals and making animal noises are a big part of each day, and he's mastered the sounds of most of the zoo - fauna both real and fictional/extinct, roaring especially!


Grayson is proving to be a very playful, happy toddler! He loves to play outside, go to the park, and play ball with Rosie. Those two are pretty cute together. She's happy to have a playmate that shares her energy, and he is very excited to play fetch and tag with her - at least until she gets too jumpy. He thinks she's showing off because he's still learning how to jump.

Noteworthy events:
We took Grayson for his first meeting of the mouse on a Mother's Day trip to Disneyland! Brant and I had a great time just watching his face light-up (or get concerned) on rides, when he saw characters, and mostly smiling at other people. He's a very social guy, after all.

In May, Grayson's Uncle Jordan graduated from college, and we traveled to St. Louis to attend his graduation. Gray continues to prove that he is a wonderful flyer! While there, we also visited the St. Louis Zoo - another great day for our animal lover!

For Memorial Day weekend, Aunt Alexandra and Uncle Micah came to visit. We had fun seeing them and spending some time at the Huntington Library Botanical Gardens! Outdoor fun was definitely had with so many gardens to run around in and enjoy.

Springtime is Slash-time!

Grayson has been greatly enjoying the beautiful days we're having here lately, and we've been playing outside often - most of each day, in fact. Going to the park, taking walks, and we got a backyard climber with a slide and a water table a few weeks ago, both of which Grayson is just loving. As soon as we head outdoors, he goes straight for the water table so he can splash in it - usually splashing the water out to the excited puppies. They all have a great time, and Grayson just laughs and laughs! It'll be a lot of fun this summer as the days get hot.

I recently also joined the local Mom's Club, which is a group of stay-at-home moms that meet at parks or people's houses for play dates and occasionally do mom-focused activities like a book club or mom's night out. I've met some nice ladies, and Grayson is enjoying playing alongside the other kids! There are a lot of little boys in the group, mostly a little older and a few a little younger, but he's holding his own and enjoying it. It's also wearing him out for me, which is welcome!

Grayson's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds lately, as well! It seems like he adds a new word each day - still his toddler version of a 'word', but it's clear what he means in context, and he gets very happy when I understand him. He also has learned several new animal sounds - elephant, monkey, snake, sheep, pig... it's cute to watch him look at a book and say the sounds that go with the pictures. I'm making it my mission to get him on camera reading Dear Zoo. 

A few recent pictures...

One Year Portraits

I'm a little over a month late to get Grayson's first birthday portraits done, but we went today. It went... okay. About halfway through, he really wanted to go play with the wall of fun toys in the waiting area, and he was not very pleased that I wouldn't let him. So, we got about three more pictures after that and had to call it quits. At least we got a few cute ones! Here are those along with a few of the funny faces...

We have a ONE year old - a toddler! Oh, boy...

This is quite overdue, but our little baby Grayson is now ONE and officially a toddler! A couple of steps turned into five or six, which quickly turned into toddling around from place to place. He's a very fast cruiser, and is getting more and more confident with his walking by the day! Grayson seems very proud of his new skills, let me tell you, and he is greatly enjoying the new freedom it gives him, too.
We've been working hard to capture his walking on camera, but none of the videos are any good. Bear with us while we keep trying...

We had a great time with our families celebrating Grayson's birthday on the 2nd! The requisite cake smash was a success, and he is definitely a loved and spoiled little boy. All five of his grandparents were able to fly in (or drive over) for the occasion, and even his honorary great-great aunties made it. It was a really fun time to reflect on our first year of parenthood and watching our sweet son grow.

What a year it has been! It seems unreal that it's already over. I read somewhere, "the days are long but the years are short," which has definitely been proven to me tenfold. It still seems like just last week that we brought Grayson home, and yet, so much has happened and so many wonderful milestones have passed! I am one lucky mama to have been given such a happy, sweet-natured child, and I so enjoy being his mommy.

A year in review, birthday party pics, and a couple recent shots just for fun...

 

11 Months and Standing!

Grayson turned 11 months on January 2nd, which just does not quite compute in my brain. How is it possible that in just about three weeks our teeny-tiny baby will be ONE?! I cannot comprehend this time warp.

The last month has brought about several new motor developments for the buddy:

• Sitting independently
• Pulling-up to stand independently 
• Cruising 
• Several play-related milestones (stacking and sorting types of things)
• Dancing! (perhaps the cutest of all)

He went from sitting himself up to pulling up to stand within about a day, so that was a big leap that I can tell he's been mentally working on for a while. During naps is his favorite time to try out these new skills, of course... Anytime there is music from a toy or even on the radio or TV, he bops up and down dancing along, which is perhaps my favorite baby milestone since smiling! It's so much fun, and he really seems to love music.

I'm pretty behind in his first birthday planning, so my apologies to the family and friends who will be getting a last-minute invitation. We'll have all five grandparents in town to celebrate, and we're so excited everyone could make it! What a celebration it will be!

Anyway, pictures...he was in far too wiggly a mood to get very good 11-month pictures, but you get the idea.

"Mommy, let me see that camera you've got there! I want to push the buttons!"

Standing in his crib for the very first time! 

He crawled on over and pulled all the books off the shelf...

Running around and around!