What do you do when it's 70 degrees in January?

Go to the park, of course!












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Let the "real" parenting begin

We've seen quite a bit of this the past couple of days...
Gray has been going through some serious separation/spoiled-ness lately. I truly do believe some of it is separation anxiety but it either turned into spoiled/not getting what I want, when I want it episodes or has been accompanied by it. Whenever we leave the room he freaks out but lately it hasn't gotten any better even when we come back into the room and he sees and hears us. That isn't good enough. He wants to be held. Like ALL the time! I realized we had been giving in way too much and in return, it was only getting worse. If I sit down next to him while he is playing on the floor but I don't pick him up, he throws his arms at me and nuzzles his little face into my chest as if to beg for me to hold him. As sweet and cute as it is, I know that to some degree that isn't healthy for him or for us. So we decided as long as we knew he wasn't in any pain and he could see us, we were going to have to let him just cry it out and deal with it. Friday was going to be day one of that plan. I dreaded it. But then Daddy got home from work early because of the ice storm, which meant I'd have some support with it. Thank you God! There was a whole lot of crying, turned to screaming, going on but he got himself together a lot faster than I thought he would. As soon as he quit crying and started playing by himself, we verbally praised him and clapped for him. Then soon after we went over to him, sat next to him first and as long as he didn't start crying again, we'd pick him up for a few minutes. Just a couple of weeks ago he was doing so good with independent play time and we want to get back to that. I don't want him to be spoiled and too dependent on others, although I know he is a baby and these things are normal and he does have emotional needs. It's such a fine line and I know we will make many mistakes with teaching and disciplining him but we are going to try our best every day to do what's best for him and us.

We did the same thing Saturday and Sunday and though there were a lot of tears shed, he is already doing so much better. He has cried some, but gets over it quicker and has played a lot more by himself. I am hoping we can get back to better independent play time again soon.

It's scary how hard things are and he is only seven and a half months old. I know we haven't seen anything yet but we are praying daily for God to give us wisdom on how to deal with these challenges as they arise. Discipline is certainly not the most important aspect to raising our children, but it is high on the list. Our main reason for that is that we feel like if our children don't respect and obey us, they won't respect and obey God or anyone else for that matter. Some people probably think we are too harsh in our views and even the way we are already choosing to parent Gray but I think children are smarter than we give them credit for sometimes. At seven months, I am certain that Gray was learning that every time he cried, we would pick him up or feed him faster or give him another toy. My own nephews joke about how mean we are and how our kids aren't going to like us. But I am hoping for the opposite. God disciplines us because He loves us and knows it's what's best for us. We feel the same way about Gray.

We have a tough road ahead of us on the parenting end, as do all parents. But I am thankful to be a mama and wouldn't trade it for anything on earth!

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A long weekend in paradise

We spent Saturday through Tuesday at Topsail Island. A friend of Paul's dad is a builder and is often is generous enough to give his parents a week at one of his beautiful, monstrosities of a house...
It's right on the beach and all you have to do is turn your head to get this view when you wake up every morning...
We couldn't have asked for better weather. Sunday we sat on the deck in t-shirts and the hot tub was almost too hot to stand. We took a long stroll on the beach and even saw dolphins swimming in the ocean. As many times as I've been to the beach, I never seem to get over how amazing and beautiful it is. Surely it's at least a little bit like how heaven will be one day. Anywho, we let Gray sit on the beach after our long walk. He loved it but of course wanted to eat the sand.

Monday we went into Wilmington for lunch at one of my favorite places on this earth to eat. It's a Mexican restaurant but it's very fresh and authentic and different from any that I've ever been to. They have these rolls that are like sushi but wrapped in a tortilla. They will seriously make you want to smack somebody, as my husband would say.
Gray was such a good boy at the restaurant. In fact, he is so much better out and about than at home (if he can fall asleep at some point for a cat nap). He loves looking around and LOVES the people. He is such a social little guy. I love that about him and hope it continues to be a personality trait of his.
After lunch Nana and Grandpa took us shopping. They bought Gray a few things on the Ralph Lauren sale rack along with next year's winter coat. The only way our children will ever wear Ralph Lauren is if it's a hand me down or Nana and Grandpa insist on buying it. But dang how cute is this sweater?
We headed back in time to take a few more pictures on the beach before it got dark. It was freezing and extremely windy by that time and I'm pretty sure that earned us a "parents of the year" award for having our baby on the beach during such conditions, all for the sake of some pictures. But Gray was as happy as ever and we managed to get a few good pics of our handsome man, so I'd say it was worth it.

We may or may not have taken over 100 pictures while we were at the beach. Here are a few for your enjoyment...
We had planned on leaving mid-morning on Tuesday but made a last minute decision to go to Wilmington one more time with Paul's parents on our way out. We were happy with that decision since they were filming the show Revolution where we decided to shop. They were filming in my cousin's neighborhood back before Christmas and they literally sat on their front porch and watched the filming. They also got pictures on the set and with Miles, the main character of the show. Paul was hoping for the same but instead he settled for a picture with Charlie. Gray did the best yet in the car on the way there and back. He slept about an hour and a half each time and the whining was kept to a minimum. Sleeping the first night was pretty rough. He went down without much of a fight because he was so tired, but he woke up a little after midnight and was up off and on for almost 3 hours. He seemed scared, his cry was different from how it is at home but similar to how it was when we were at Paul's parent's over Christmas. We'd get him settled down but as soon as we'd put him back down he would freak out. We finally had to let him cry it out and it broke my heart into. He woke up a happy baby though-I am so thankful he doesn't remember those rough times. The next night he went down good again but woke up about 45 minutes later and cried for about 15 minutes but then slept the rest of the night. And by the third night, he went down great and slept through the entire night! That was the first time sleeping through the night away from home and we were so proud. He did, however, decide that the beach was a great time to change his wake up time from 7:30 to 6:00. How could I complain though when I had the sweetest boy and most beautiful view?!


I can't wait to see Gray at the beach this summer when he is crawling and/or walking around. I sure hope he loves the beach even half as much as his Mama does!

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If this doesn't make your day...

Then I don't know what will.

I posted this on Facebook two weeks ago but now that I know how easy it is to put videos on my blog through my blog app, I thought I'd post it here too. Gray says you can thank him at any time for making your day ;)

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Showing off some new skills

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Gray's first snow

I was so excited with the anticipation of 3-6 inches of snow that they were calling for us to get on Thursday night. School was called off before the rain even turned into snow and knowing Daddy would be home on Friday just added to the excitement. We didn't end up getting much snow at; it didn't even completely cover the ground at our house but it was sure better than nothing. We bundled up baby boy and headed out for some fun and pictures the next morning. Gray loves the cold weather so he was squealing and kicking as soon as we got outside. We didn't let him stay out long because it was freezing and he's had a little bit of a snotty nose thanks to some teething. Plus he kept trying to eat the snow ;)
Our sweet snow baby...


I love how chunky he looks in this picture...



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We've got a clapper!

And it's one of the cutest milestones yet! Gray just decided it was time to put his hands together the other day. As many times as we have clapped to him and tried to get him to copy us, the first time he clapped he did it randomly and on his own and we barely even caught him doing it. And by the next day he was clapping all of the time. It is so stinkin cute!



This morning he woke up crying (and I'm thinking he must have been awake for a while and we just hadn't heard him yet because this baby wakes up happy 9 times out of 10) and when I got the monitor to look at him, he was crying and kicking his feet, mad as heck that no one had come to his rescue yet but he was clapping at the same time. It was hilarious!

Here is baby boy clapping while holding some plastic to Mama's nursing pads.



Two things in this picture you need not judge. One is the unmade bed. Most days I'm doing good to have the bed made a few hours before we get in it at night. The other is the fact that Gray is playing with the wrapper to my nursing pads. He loves the sound of crinkling paper and plastic and as long as he isn't putting it in his mouth, I'm all about a free, random "toy" from around the house. Another favorite right now is the lid to his puffs. Hey, whatever keeps him content, right?!

And a final funny clapping story...we are in the car heading to the beach as I write this (which would be a great time to interject and mention how much I am loving being able to blog from my phone). Gray woke up from an hour and a half nap (in the car-woot, woot!!!) and literally the second he opened his eyes he start clapping.



I can hardly stand the cuteness!

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