Grady has started to hold on to his teddy bear blanket. He is also a great poser for pictures.

He slept from 9:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. on May 21, then he went back to sleep at 7:30 until 10:10. He took 3 more hours of naps until 3:30 in the afternoon. Then his sleeping was over! We took Grady to OHS graduation with us at 8:00 p.m., fully expecting him to fall asleep during the ceremony. Instead, he stayed awake and watched the crowd and the graduates. He listened to the band and choir, and he really took notice each time a graduate's name was called during the distribution of diplomas. He was charming and smiley after the ceremony. He finally slept at 10:00 p.m.

The weekend meant 6 graduation parties and 1 additional gathering for the three of us. Grady is such a content and joyful little man; John and I truly enjoy bringing him places with us.

Eating in Luxury

We're still working on eating rice cereal. Grady truly enjoys this process, and I've gotten smarter about it. He now eats in just his diaper or in his bathtub in the evening. It's much easier to wipe him off than change his clothes. Seriously, can you imagine lying around in your underwear or bathtub and having someone who intensely loves you feed you delicious food? Nice thought, huh? By the way, the cereal is pretty tasty organic rice cereal - I sampled it once.

Bath Time May 18, 2010

Grady loves his bath more everyday. Here he is splashing and talking. The kitchen floor has probably never been this clean - it gets wiped up every night. It's so much fun to watch and listen to Grady as he expresses himself through movement and noise. I can't believe how much he's grown since the last bath pictures I took on April 10 - 5 1/2 weeks make a huge difference!

Thankfully, you can't see that I am dancing around the kitchen encouraging Grady's actions.

Week of May 9, 2010

Outside at Kathy and Mike's house. The rice cereal and sunshine gave Grady energy - he took one fifteen minute nap after 1:45 this Saturday, and he didn't go to bed until 8:15. Normally, he only stays up for 1 to 1 1/2 hours at a time. Exhausting, but so darn cute!

First Rice Cereal! Grady is a bit young for this, but the doctor said to start feeding him rice cereal because he's drinking close to 40 ounces of formula per day - he's definitely a growing boy. Amazingly, he opened his mouth for the first spoonful, and he liked it. He's also rather tidy, as evidenced in the second picture. He ate a total of 6 spoonfuls, and it took about 20 minutes. This is not a quick process by any means.

Cool little man! One of my friends said, "the girls will be swooning over him" after she saw this picture. Of course, he'll only have eyes for mommy until he's OLD. Grady is sitting outside in his chair while I plant some flowers. He actually seems to like the sunglasses! He wore them out and about to several garden centers this weekend with mommy. He was a hit everywhere we went.

On Sunday night of this week, Grady slept from 8:45 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. This was huge for all of us! Tuesday he went with me to get my teeth cleaned at the dentist, and he slept on my tummy the whole time (a new experience for both of us). Wednesday night meant a trip to Target and Cub for the three of us. Grady was a trooper. He was obviously worn out by Thursday when this picture was taken of Grady on the window seat in his nursery. He loves to lay there and fall asleep, especially if mommy or daddy lie with him!

Mother's Day

Grandma gives the best head rubs on the planet, and Joshua has always loved them! Here he is, Grandma's oldest grandchild, holding on to Grady while Grandma loves them both.




Grandma Arlene, Grandpa Gerry and the adorable babies! God is good!

Grandma Arlene with Samantha, her first great grandchild, and Grady, her youngest grandchild. Samantha is the daughter of Josh and Lisa, and she is six weeks older than Grady. She's a very sweet girl!

My mom, me and Grady. My constant prayer is that God will give me the grace, joy and patience that He gave my mom and she so lovingly gave to me. I've been so blessed!

After church and breakfast out, John, Grady and I went to Good Sam's to see Grandpa Pat and Grandma Kay. Grady loves to be held by Grandma. He's obviously a cool little man! Grandma Kay is my other key role model of a Christian wife and mother.

Week of May 2, 2010

Grady is always so curious now. I thought he looked so adorable in this outfit - shockingly, it's a six month size - he's growing quickly! Chief still loves to kiss Grady whenever he can, and Grady is very patient with Chief. In fact, many of the kisses elicit a smile.

Grady hung out in his pj's for quite awhile this morning. Last night he had his OHS debut at the Empty Bowls program. This program highlights Heifer International and teaches about world hunger. John and I support Heifer International - if you don't know about it, check it out! If your local high school has a fund-raising program to support it, you should attend. Anyway, back to Grady; he's loving his swing and, as you can see, he's really hanging on to objects much more now.

Grady really does love bath time, and he's so darn snuggly afterwards!

Swingin' to the Classics

This was his first ride in the swing our neighbors are letting us use for Grady.. As you can see, he was interested in what was happening, but he wasn't sure if he liked it. He does love the music it plays. I thought I'd try the swing because Grady's been a bit different since his shots. He has been extremely sleepy - in fact, he even slept from 8:15 pm to 5:45 am on April 28. That's a record! However, we feel it's the result of his shots, not any new sleep habits. We have started a new bedtime routine - I keep reading that babies love routine: warm bath, singing, bottle then bed. Grady loves the first three steps, but he's not always happy about the fourth. I guess he wants to stay awake so he doesn't miss anything. Consistent sleep still eludes us...

Yes, I finally fixed the date on the camera...