Giggle Bug!

Griffin had the giggle bug this afternoon! You'll hear me ask him to "sing." Lately he's been finding his vocal cords for sure! He gets really high pitched and loud...it's very cute! Though, he doesn't really show it off during this video. I'll have to try to capture that another time. Enjoy!

A Nice, Big Dose of MOTIVATION...

So, I was in Barnes & Noble yesterday looking at kiddy books with Griffin. This nice older lady started talking to me about the Spot books...you know...Spot Goes to the Beach, etc. Somehow the conversation turned to her saying....

"Oh, so you're expecting again?" (While looking towards my stomach.)

As quickly as I could I said, "No, no I'm not."

And she quickly said, "Oh, just still............." and didn't finish her sentence.

OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!!!!!! Did that really just happen? Awkward! I pretended to shop around a little more so I didn't have to stand behind her in the check out line.

In the moment I wasn't really that upset about it...I kind of thought it was funny. Like, yeah, sure I look pregnant. But the more I thought about it, the more I was like REALLY? I just got asked if I was PREGNANT...and I'm NOT??!! You only hear stories about that happening...that doesn't happen to ME!

I mean seriously - I do have a few pounds left to shed (I still can't fit into half of my pants), but I don't look like this anymore....




Or even THIS...




So, lady...thanks for the motivation. The SERIOUS diet started today. I will spend the rest of my life counting Weight Watchers points.

Why didn't the diet start yesterday, you ask? Well, there were some brownies that needed to be finished up so I figured, why not? The sooner I ate them the sooner they'd be out of the house.

Whatever....

Happy Father's Day

We had fun celebrating Chad on his first father's day! Chad's dad was in town too, so it was nice to spend the weekend with him as well.

Instead of sleeping in, Chad woke up early to watch the US Open golf tournament that he had taped from the night before. He spent a little time playing with G on the couch too. How sweet is this?!

Then we all went out for brunch at Atkins Park. Their food is amazing. Chad had chicken and waffles...it was soooooo yummy!

After we ate we took a few pictures by the fountain in Smyrna Market Village.

Then we headed back home and relaxed the rest of the day. Chad spent most of his time on the couch watching soccer and golf...that's all he wanted for Father's Day! haha...

Then it was time to get Griff ready for bed. We gave him a bath and then daddy got him all dried off and into his pj's. Chad's usually in charge of the bedtime routine and I think it's so special for he and Griffin to have this time together.

This boy LOVES his daddy!!

Check out that full belly...

Griffin is so lucky to have a daddy who is so in love with his son, and it's so neat for me to see them together. I knew Chad would be a good dad, but he continues to exceed all expectations. I am so lucky to have him as my partner in this adventure called parenthood. Thanks for all you do for our family Chad...you're the best husband and daddy we could possibly wish for.

WE LOVE YOU!

Mmmmm...Rice Cereal!

Dr. Beckford said that we should start trying to incorporate some solids in G's diet. Here's a video of him eating rice cereal.....you tell me if you think he's ready for solids or not.



A few still shots...

Next on the menu...SQUASH!

4 Month Update

Can you BELIEVE that Griffin is already 4 months old? It's weird because it doesn't seam like he should be that old, yet that whole birth/delivery thing seems like ages ago!

We went for our 4 month check up this week and Griffin did great, as always. Sure, he screamed his head off when that mean nurse gave him those shots, but other than that, he did great. Plus, he calmed down pretty quickly after all the screaming. (...and the nurse wasn't mean at all.) We absolutely love our pediatrician, Dr. Beckford, so I really look forward to our visits. She had nothing but great things to say about Griffin and his development. At one point she even called the nurse in from the hall to see how cute Griffin was acting...he had himself wrapped up in the paper that was on the table. She got a kick out of it.

(Check out my looney toons band-aids from my shots)

Okay, so here are his stats:

• Height = 24 1/4 in (60%)


• Weight = 14 lbs. 8 oz. (50%)


• Head Circumference = 48 1/4 cm (55%).....I know, who really cares, right?

Now that G is rolling over, we've had to lose the swaddle for naps and night time. It was a bit of a transition since he was doing SO well with the whole sleeping thing, but he did a good job with it. He has now decided it's okay to sleep on his stomach (so sweet), although he still can't get from his stomach to his back, so if he wakes up and wants to roll over he lets us hear about it!

Other things G is doing these days:

• Laughing and smiling like crazy! He has such a sweet little laugh....very contagious!


• Starting to grow a little bit of blonde hair on that head, though still rockin' the rat tail he's had from the get-go (see photo above).


• Actually ENJOYING tummy time (for a limited time anyways).


• Reading books (current favs. are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Peak-a-Who?)


• Reaching out and grabbing for toys (he loves those plastic ring things) - actually, he pretty much reaches out and grabs at anything.


• He likes standing up (with support of course) and showing off how strong those little legs are!


• Beginning to enjoy spending time in his swing. He has never been much of a fan, but it's becoming a favorite spot to drift off for a nap in the evenings (the most challenging part of the day). However, the music has to be ON. hahah...It really seams to calm him!


• Oh! He's got this new thing he's doing with his mouth...kind of like blowing bubbles? You know what I'm talking about - I think some people call it rasberries?.....where the spit/drool bubbles out of his mouth while he's making a noise. Pretty gross when you put it that way, but it's probably the cutest thing ever.


• We're about to start introducing him to food...stay tuned to see how that goes!

Overall, he is just so much more interactive. It's neat to see and Chad and I are really having fun with him. I'm finding that it makes my job as mom a bit harder because I'm always having to find new ways to entertain! His attention span is about 3 minutes long, so it's a challenge! haha.

Here's a video of G rolling over!!!! He's seriously a pro at it now.

HH Vacation: The rest of it

Day Five:
The boys began day 5 with a golf cart ride around the neighborhood. Griffin and Jack both loved it and, I think found it pretty relaxing.

Actually, I KNOW Griffin found it relaxing. He was passed out when they got back! So cute.

Then the day continued on with some more pool time. Jack spent most of his pool time crawling around the pool deck and exploring. Such a busy little man!

Griffin enjoyed some time in Jack's float (since Jack was busy outside of the pool)....and then....

....we decided to do it. We DUNKED our little man!

He did pretty well with it. A little fussing when he first came up, but I think that was more from confusion than anything else. We did it twice and there was even less fussing the 2nd time around.

He was excited to get warm and toasty with daddy afterwards though.

And to add on to our already busy day, we made our 2nd trip to the beach later that afternoon.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures from the entire vacation...having fun with daddy on the beach.

Jack enjoyed himself again and managed to wear himself out pretty well.

When we got home from the beach we cleaned up, put the kids to bed (they were tired from their busy day), then the big kids grilled some steaks and sat out on the lanai the rest of the night talking, drinking and playing games. Such a fun night with great friends!

Day Six:

On day 6 we decided to spend some time at the neighborhood pool (no pics, sorry) and wait for Chad's parents to arrive home from their trip! They were excited to meet Jack and to see Griffin!!

Mrs. Herring pulled out some toys she had hidden away which Jack LOVED!

The great grandparents came over again and we got a picture with all of the "Gray" men. So neat to have all four generations together! We've got Willard Gray, Donald Gray, Chad Gray and Griffin Gray. There are some good genes in that bunch...just look at those handsome men!

Then we headed over to the "avenue of the oaks" for a photo shoot. Mr. Herring takes great pictures and they have the most beautiful entrance to their neighborhood...all those trees just scream for a baby in a basket...so that's what we did. I will post the good photos of G in a separate post.

Griffin did pretty well, but definitely hit a wall towards the end. He let us know when he had enough of the photo shoot! When we got home, he had some quality snuggle time with his Gram.

Soon after that it was time for the little boys to go to bed and then, with great babysitters on hand, Chad, Cliff, Erica and I headed down to Harbor Town for some adult-only time. It was fun people watching and good food!

While we were there Cliff had to show Erica the "tree house" that he remembered fondly as a kid. Cliff had built it up so much that Erica was a bit disappointed when she actually saw it. haha!

Day Seven:

The next day it was time for us to pack up and head home. Cliff and Erica headed out pretty early that morning, but I got some good snuggle time with Jack while they were packing. He's such a sweet heart!

Chad and I stuck around until after lunch to give Griffin more time with his grandparents.

We had such an awesome week and hated to leave, but we eventually had to head back to the real world. G did pretty good on the ride home. He slept for over half of it and waited until the last 15 minutes or so of the trip to absolutely lose it. Who can blame him though?...that's a long time in the car for such a little man, so we'll cut him some slack.

Thanks Don and Shirley for letting us stay at your beautiful house and have a fantastic week with our friends. We promise the next time we come, we'll make sure you guys will be there!!

HH Vacation: Day 4

The boys started day 4 with a round of golf while the girls and the little boys hung out by the pool. Around lunchtime Chad and Cliff got back and spent sometime at the pool as well.

We wanted to try out Griffin's new life jacket, but he wasn't to thrilled with that idea.

In fact....he HATED that idea. I think this photo takes Chad and I out of the running for parents of the year.

Later that day we all got cleaned up and went out for dinner, which can be quite the challenge with two boys under the age of 1, but both boys were on their best behavior and we had a great time at dinner.

We tried to get a picture of Jack and Griffin in their cute matching outfits...you can see how well that ended up!

I love how Jack seems concerned about Griffin..."Hey man, what's wrong?"

After dinner we did an impromptu photo shoot out on the golf course...we got some great shots of Griffin!