Weekend fun, times two

We've had a wonderful couple of weekends. I can't tell y'all enough how much I look forward to the weekends when Paul is home and we get to spend time as a little family of three. Since he doesn't coach on Fridays, he gets to come home right after school and we have a few hours of daylight to kick off a great weekend playing with our sweet boy.

Last Friday afternoon we headed to Hawk's Pumpkin Patch with my bestie Lindsey and her family. We've been going with them for years and it was so fun this year having our own little one to make memories with. Not to mention that yet again, Lindsey was generous to bring along her camera and capture some amazing shots of Gray's first trip to the pumpkin patch.

Sunday we wanted to to to the Blue Ridge Parkway to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves but Gray napped so late that we didn't have time. So we went to Pilot Mountain instead. It was so cold and windy up on the mountain but for some reason Gray LOVED it! He just smiled and laughed the whole time.

This past Friday afternoon we headed to Reynolda Village to enjoy the sunshine and perfect 75 degree weather. We strolled around the gardens, the shops and the trails.

And just talked about life and how blessed we feel to be this little guy's parents.

That evening we ventured back to the same side of town to watch the Demon Deacons take on the Wolfpack in soccer.

Paul has a former player on both teams so it was the perfect game to show our support to both. Gray was so good y'all. We are just feeling overwhelmingly thankful for his awesome temperament these days.

Saturday we were able to make a day trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway and Boone.

There is only a week or two left of soccer season, depending on how far they make it. Until then we are enjoying the week but looking forward to another weekend when Daddy will be home!

4 months

Gray is 4 months old as of October 10th. This month was definitely the biggest for development and milestones so far. It seems like every single day he is doing something different. I have such love/hate feelings about him growing up so fast. His newborn days already seem like a blur (though maybe that's God's way of helping us to forget about his colic so we aren't terrified to have another baby one day) and some days I find myself wanting my tiny baby back. I miss him napping on me every day and sometimes I have to "cheat" and forget the crib and rock him in my arms for a little snooze here and there. I miss him falling asleep on me while he nurses, although he still does that every now and then. I get sad every time he has outgrown yet another outfit, especially the ones that looked so big to me when he was first born. But then I find myself so excited for another day; to see what he'll be doing and "saying". I can't wait to see him sitting up, crawling, clapping, waving, walking and a million other milestones, all while soaking up every day and not wishing a minute away.

Here's our sweet boy at 17 weeks

At 4 months Gray...

Weighs 15 pounds, 5 ounces (44th %tile)

Is 26 inches long (79th %tile). That is 4 whole inches he has grown since birth. Crazy!

Has a head measurement of 16 3/4 inches (70th %tile)

Is wearing mostly 6 month size clothes and still wearing size 2 diapers

Is now rolling over both ways! He mostly does this in the crib though, rarely during play time or tummy time.

Started sleeping on his tummy once he figured out how to roll over (this made Mama a nervous wreck at first but he is sleeping even better this way)

Takes 2-3 naps a day, depending on when he wakes up in the morning. He has slept until 9:30 several times! Naps are anywhere from 2 to 3.5 hours long.

Sleeps 11-13 hours a night (not straight through yet). Bedtime is around 8:00 most nights. He started waking up 2-3 times a night several weeks ago. At first I think he was going through a growth spurt and was needing to eat more, but then I think it became habit because I'd let him cry and he would go back to sleep after 5-10 minutes and sleep for a couple more hours before waking back up again. So I am only feeding him once now, about half way through the night. If he wakes up much before that or after that he has to cry it out. I hate letting him cry and some nights I want to give in because I could have fed him and been back in bed before he stops crying, but I want to continue teaching him to sleep and self soothe. After talking with his pediatrician today and knowing he has enough weight on him, I am going to start weaning night feedings and hope to have him sleeping through the night sometime in the near future.

Started eating rice cereal at night in a bottle a couple weeks ago. We are going to start trying to feed it to him with a spoon for a couple of weeks and then move to baby food after that. I can't wait to see what he likes. If he's anything like his Mama and Daddy, he won't be picky at all!

Is starting to hold his bottle. He can't completely hold it by himself yet but almost always puts both hands on it and will even pull it out when he is finished.

Has almost total head control and can sit in his bumbo, although he doesn't love it and he leans forward to try to put it in his mouth!

Pretty much only fusses when he's tired. He stays awake 2 hours at a time and is ready for a nap almost to the minute of 2 hours since he woke up last. If we are away from home, half the time he just falls asleep without a fuss, the other half he puts up quite a fight until he gets home to his bed.

Is very content to be in the car and out and about these days, unless we hit the 2 hour mark and he just can't fall asleep without being in his bed.

Has just started laughing! It is the sweetest thing and brings us so much joy to see him that happy! He will also squeal when he gets really excited. He is cooing and babbling a ton and has just become quite the vocal little booger. I can't get enough of his sweet sounds!

Is obsessed with his hands and anything else he can get in his mouth. Nursing has become quite challenging sometimes because he is so focused on putting his hands in his mouth. I read at the doctor today that that kind of behavior is very normal at his age and could be from here on out. So long effortless nursing days ;) He also loves to suck and chew on little blankets and will do some damage to Mama and Daddy's fingers.

Is still liking his paci for the most part and sometimes it is a great distraction for preventing fussiness when he gets really tired while we're out. I am still not giving it to him for naps or bedtime though.
He can put his paci back in his mouth when he is in the car and it doesn't fall too far away. I couldn't believe it the first time this happened. I look in the rear view mirror and noticed his paci was out and the next time I looked he had it again. I thought I was going crazy because it seemed early for him to be able to do that (it happened for the first time several weeks ago) but then the next time we were in the car Paul saw him do it and we even got it on video ;)

Is still loving bath time and will squeal and kick for most of the time. I can't wait until he can sit up and play with toys in the bath.

Loves to be read to. We read books every day and he will just sit on my lap for the longest time looking at the pictures. I hope one day he'll be bringing me piles of books begging me to read "just one more".

***

It's hard to imagine loving our sweet boy any more than we already do, but something tells me I'll be saying that every day for the rest of our lives.

Randoms

We have now passed the three and a half year mark since we first put our townhouse on the market. I haven't mentioned anything about it in a while, honestly because most days I forget it's even for sale. We are giving our current realtor a couple more months and then we'll move on to number four. We keep being the lowest priced in our neighborhood until another foreclosure comes up. We had a showing last night for the first time in months. It's still frustrating at times but I've been so busy with Gray I don't think about it too much. And our house is a constant wreck with play mats, toys, blankets, a swing, a stroller and all kinds of other baby stuff scattered across the floor. For that reason, I am not complaining that we rarely get showings. But as I picture Gray walking and running around in what will seem like no time, I get a little discouraged about being in this tiny home with no yard. We have no desire for a big house, even if we could afford one, but more storage space, a few hundred more square feet and a yard would be great for our family one day. God hasn't forgotten about our house though and He knows what we need, far better than we do so we continue to trust in His will and timing.

Paul's been super busy with soccer season, which makes us treasure our time together on the weekends SO much! I love the time we spend as a family of three but I also always want to keep our marriage first in our family. We had a great date day last Sunday and spent several hours at the fair, just Mama and Daddy. Y'all that know me well know how much I love the fair, mostly for the food. This year was quite different because there was hardly anything I could eat that was dairy free. Oh well, I guess the fried Snickers wouldn't have done much for me wanting to lose the last of my leftover pregnancy pounds anyway. And there's always next year, right?!

I really miss going to Paul's soccer games and honestly, I hate having to cheer him on from home. Gray goes to bed about 8:00 these days so it just doesn't work out for us to go. I look forward to next year, although by then I'll be spending the entire time chasing him around :) Daddy knows we are still his number one fans.

I have an addiction to Shutterfly. I have always loved pictures and taken a ton of them. I think they are so important for keeping memories around forever. I always make a Shutterfly album after any trip we/I have been on and I love how many pictures can fit in one small, thin book that doesn't take up a ton of room around the house. I started on a "Gray's first year" album shortly after he was born.  I can't help but work on the album at least once a week during Gray's nap. And when I do, I am glued to it until he wakes up and forces me to stop. I love looking at all of his pictures over and over again, and writing about everything he was doing and learning in each month. He is just four months today and the book is already 45 pages. I have a feeling I'll have some editing to do once we get closer to the year mark. But I already treasure the book so much.

Tomorrow will be one year since we found out I was pregnant! It seems like forever ago, yet I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Tuesday morning and before I got in the shower I took a pregnancy test. It was the kind with the lines. The second line showed up but was so faint that we didn't get our hopes up. I went to work and tried my best not to think about it all day. Ha, yeah right! I told Paul that I wanted us to take another test that night-the kind that has the words saying either "pregnant" or "not pregnant". We were meeting with a potential new realtor that night so I stayed home straightening the house and Paul went and bought some pregnancy tests (what a sweet hubby I have). We were crunched for time so we were going to have to wait until the realtor left, which was killing me! We were walking around the house listening to her give some advice about what we could do to the house. We got to the smallest bedroom in our house and she said, "I don't know y'all's personal life and you might think I am crazy for saying this, BUT-I think y'all should borrow some baby furniture from someone and stage this room as a nursery." Paul and I were trying our hardest not to crack up or pee our pants with excitement thinking that soon we really might be turning that tiny room into a nursery. After she left it was time to take the pregnancy test. I wanted so bad to stare at it for the entire three minutes you are suppose to wait but Paul made us go into a another room and wait. It seemed like the longest three minutes of my life. When the time was up, Paul and I anxiously went into the bathroom and saw the word PREGNANT on the test. The rest of the night was so exciting and special. Now here we are a year later with a four month old precious baby boy. That brings about a lot of emotions for this mama, mostly feeling humbled and blessed.

Gray doesn't go for his four month appointment until Monday so I'll post next week to report his current measurements. I can't wait to see how much he's grown. The shots on the other hand, do not excite me one bit.

Happy Tuesday

These sweet smiles happen a lot lately but I haven't been able to get one on camera in a long time. Gray is so fascinated with my phone and camera that every time I get them out to take a picture, his smile becomes a very serious look and he gets obsessed with checking it out. I hope this brings a smile to your face this Tuesday afternoon :)

A busy week

Mama and Gray have had quite an eventful week. Monday my friend Kristen and her sweet one, Grace (aka-Gray's future wife), came over for a play date. We had plans to run errands later that day but I had no interest in toting around a baby in the pouring down rain. So off we went to my friend Ashley's house to have a second play date of the day with her little princess, Selah.

Tuesday consisted of the errands that didn't get done on Monday, including an hour long trip to Walmart. Y'all, I HATE Walmart. I can't even express how much I hate it and I usually do any and every thing to avoid going. I honestly don't think I have grocery shopped there in over a year. But it is a small price to pay to be able to stay at home with our sweet boy. And Gray was an absolute angel. As my dear friend Alexandra would say, "Ya betta praise Him!" We also had another play date with my friend Caroline and her 6 month old, Aidan. Caroline retired from teaching to be a stay at home mom and her husband is a coach at Wake, so Paul and I have a lot in common with them. We are hoping to start getting our boys together a lot more often.

Wednesday morning Gray and I went to church for Bible study. Last week when I picked up Gray from the nursery he was the only baby NOT crying and they said he had been perfect. He was really good this week too. And I'll say it again-YA BETTA PRAISE HIM! After Bible study, I babysat my friend Laura's little sweetie, Evelyn.

She just turned one so it was a busy few hours with her and Gray together. But they were both great and Gray napped for a good bit of the time. Evelyn and Sophie hit it off immediately. Evelyn thought it was funny when Sophie gave her kisses right on the mouth. And Sophie found it especially sweet that Evelyn shared her snack with her. Laura I promise I only let her do it twice-I wasn't expecting it the first time and the second time was for the sake of getting this cute picture ;)

Thursday Gray and I went to my friend Julie's to meet baby Hannah, who was born a week and a half ago. How precious is she?

Then we had to help my Gram take her car to get worked on, which was a half hour away and we left just in time for 5:00 traffic. Gray ended up being in the car for almost two hours and only took about a 40 minute nap. Then Gram and I ventured to Costco and went out to eat. That was a total of six hours since he'd woken up from a good nap at home and a good majority of that time was spent in his car seat and he did not cry at all until we were on the way home. I can't say enough how thankful I am for the happy, easy going baby that we have these days. He was so tired when we got home he couldn't even keep his eyes open long enough to eat before bed. Bless his sweet self.

I certainly can't say we lacked for social interaction this week. Excited that it's almost the weekend and we can soak up some time with Daddy!

PS-Our baby will be 4 months in less than a week. Say whaaaaat?!