A dream to soon come true

I have some very exciting news to share. Paul and I are going to Kenya!!! This is something we've dreamed of doing together since we were dating. I've been three times and the love I have for the country and the beautiful people is something I could never describe. Paul has listened to every Kenya story and seen every picture (more than once) but it's one of those things that you can't fully "get" unless you have been. Not that Africa is the only thing or place that does this to you, but it's like once you've been it gets in your blood and your life will never be the same.

When Paul and I first started dating I had just gotten back from my first trip to Kenya. So it consumed a lot of our conversation from early on. Paul shared with me that he too had always dreamed of going. So the desire to go together has been there for years but the trip is always in late summer, right when Paul's official soccer season is starting which makes it not possible for him to go. To skip a lot of details that won't excite most of you, Chuck Peters (a 78 year old man who has been going to Kenya for over 20 years and is also like a grandfather to me) was willing to plan a trip for this December JUST for Paul and me!!! It's the only time logistically that Paul is able to go. We are planning on leaving the day after Christmas and coming back around January 5th or 6th. So it will be a much shorter trip than usual, but Paul has to go back to work and 10 days is more than plenty of time for us to be gone from Gray. Paul's parents are both teachers and will have time off over Christmas break. They plan on staying with Gray the first 5 nights or so and then my mom will finish out the rest of the time. This was a huge decision to make and though it was our desire, we didn't take it lightly! We've been praying and talking about it for a couple of months. It will be extremely hard to leave Gray for so long but we hope to grow our family sometime in the near future and the timing will only get harder. We are taking a huge step of faith as far as the financial aspect of this trip is concerned. I have raised a lot of the money for my trips in the past but what I didn't raise we were able to take out of savings. That savings isn't there anymore and with living on one income, we won't have much (if any) to contribute. We know that God is faithful and will provide and we are trying not to worry about it and leave it in God's hands. We were very encouraged by the response of our Bible Fellowship class when we told them on Sunday. A couple of people asked how they could donate and my very dear and generous friend Alex has offered to head up organizing a yard sale to raise money for our trip. Paul is also planning on doing a free soccer camp and asking for donations towards the cost of the trip.

I ask that you join us in praying about this. We leave in just three months and there is quite a bit of planning and fundraising that needs to happen. I will update here once I know for sure when the yard sale and soccer camp will be and other ways that we might be fundraising. In the meantime I'll be dreaming of sharing about Jesus with these sweet, beautiful people in one of the most amazing places on Earth.

Just another manic Monday

Gray was up especially early on this Monday morning and this is how we found him...













I'm just sad I missed his first time undressing himself. Daddy and I couldn't tell if the look on his face said "proud" or "confused". I know one thing, this boy is napping in a onesie today!

Happy Monday, y'all!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

15 months

Gray was 15 months on Tuesday but had his well visit this morning. There weren't in routine shots this time but he did go ahead and get his flu shot, which he handled like a champ but it still broke my mama heart anyway.
I'm trying to capture as much as I can about him over the last three months so this is yet another post more for my own memory's sake than your reading pleasure.

Growth-Gray is wearing a few 12 month clothes but mostly18 months (especially pajamas because he is so long), still in size four diapers and is wearing size four shoes (his feet are tiny compared to his hands and the rest of his body).

Weight-22 pounds, 13 ounces (51st %tile)
Height-31 and 1/4 inches (85th %tile)
Head measurement-48.3 centimeters (86th %tile). His head doesn't look big to me anymore so his measurements always surprise me until I remember that they go along with his height measurement.

Milestones/Firsts/Accomplishments-
Gray became a full time walker a week or two after his first birthday. He has been even happier and more content since, but walking has caused some of his first minor injuries as well. Our boy has a new scrape or bruise every day. He is tough as nails though and rarely cries.

He has SIXTEEN teeth! Six came in all at the same time and four of those were molars. Just after that when we were certain he'd catch a break, here came two more. All he has left are his two year molars and he'll have a full set of teeth. These last eight have been the worst for him yet. He's had a terrible, constant runny nose, low grade fever and many clingy and fussy days. He's even been up screaming a few nights here and there. When it's been that bad we give him some Tylenol or Ibuprofen and it seems to helps a lot.

We made the switch from the infant car seat to the big boy seat! Poor boy's legs were all scrunched up and we weren't about to buy a bigger rear facing car seat to use for only a few months. The pediatricians are recommending that you wait until as close to 24 months as possible to turn them forward but again, we didn't find it necessary to buy a third car seat, especially with Gray being so big for his age. He is much happier facing forward and loves to watch trucks go by on the road. Look how much he's grown since his first time in a car seat...

 

Gray had his second room "promotion" at church from the crawler room to a walker/young toddler room.

We had our first public tantrum. Thank God Paul was with me. I'm pretty sure every person in Target heard our son screaming. It was good times.

Language/Learning Development-I can't keep up with all of Gray's new words these days but he is pretty verbal most of the time. He will rarely say "more" or "all done", even though he used to say those words all the time. But then he'll bust out some phrases (daddy bye-bye, daddy's turn, go outside, so silly, etc.) when we aren't asking him to say anything.
He can show you where his feet, belly, ears, eyes and nose are on a good day but would rather point these out on someone else or a stuffed animal. His favorite body part to say is "EYES!"-he says it as clear as can be but pokes you right in the eye as he's saying it. We're still working on "gentle" (he honestly doesn't fully get that yet, plus let's face it-he's all boy!). Most things like that that he is learning are still pretty inconsistent. He is still answering "no" to questions, even when he means for the answer to be "yes". He understands so much and it constantly blows my mind. He is starting to sing along to certain songs now-his favorite is still Jesus Loves Me. His singing is more like humming right now but it's so cute! When we're out and about he loves saying "hi" to everyone we see. He has been very obedient lately when we tell him "no" or "stop" or give him a simple direction to do something.

Temperament/Personality-Gray is happy and well behaved about 80-90% of the time. We had a long streak of golden behavior but I knew that wouldn't last too long. He has started having occasional tantrums again, mostly over me telling him no or that he can't play with a bottle of Lysol. I am such a mean mama! We do time out sometimes but limit it to major offenses (haha) because us telling him "no!" in a very stern voice seems to be enough right now. He HATES for us to be mad at him and it breaks his little heart (wonder how long that will last?!). Right after he's been scolded or gotten in trouble, he gives a good long silent cry and runs to us to try to give us a hug and kiss. Some of that seems to be manipulation already too, but he genuinely (for now) hates for us to be mad at him. Thankfully he gets over his tantrums quickly at this point. He really is so sweet and affectionate and I thank God for that every day. We've prayed daily that God would give him a sweet and gentle spirit (amongst many, many other prayers) so we aren't taking any credit for it.

He has been going through some separation issues for a month or so now. He sometimes cries for a minute when I drop him off at the Y but as soon as he turns the corner he's fine. If I take him to Lindsey's, to my Gram's house or something like that, he does better. But if someone comes to our house, he thinks that means I am leaving and has a complete meltdown-we're talking huge tears and long, long silent cries that will break your heart right into a million pieces. He usually gets over it pretty quick and it seems to be harder on me than it is him, but I will be glad when it's over!

Interests/Playtime-Gray is still really into books. He reads so many each day and brings them to us to read constantly. We praise him for it and hope this continues. His new loves are any and every thing that he can turn on or move or manipulate in some kind of way. He has this weird obsession with cleaning supplies right now-vacuum cleaners, brooms, spray bottles, etc.

Look guys, I can ride my 4-wheeler and Swiffer at the same time!

He is also obsessed with doors-opening and closing them, closing us in a room and saying "bye-bye" or closing himself in a room and anxiously waiting for us to come and find him. Paul says my OCD is rubbing off on him but Dr. Bill says this is perfectly normal ;)

He still loves Sophie, but her feelings for him remain the same unless he has a snack. He loves to brush his teeth (praying this one lasts too!). He loves trucks and tractors and gets especially excited if we see one out somewhere. He is starting to get somewhat attached to a Curious George stuffed animal and a reindeer stuffed animal but he could care less about a lovey. He LOVES animals and would be thrilled if we made weekly visits to the zoo. He loves dogs and if we ever have a "real" house and yard one day, he is going to be a big dog kind of guy for sure!

Gray loving on Chip, my friend Julie's big lab.

Now that he is walking he is a lot more independent during playtime. He loves to play upstairs and we have a gate up there too, so I can actually do laundry, clean or get myself ready while he plays. It doesn't mean I don't have a huge mess to clean up afterwards, but hey beggars can't be choosers, right?! He is starting to play creatively and it's so fun to watch. He always gets a kick out of us smelling his stinky feet and saying "shooooweee!" and a few weeks ago he randomly went up to Paul's feet and did his best "shoowee". It was precious. He is still very affectionate and initiates hugs and kisses all the time. That will never get old. He is into everything-closets, cabinets, purses, etc. I try hard to choose my battles though and all that stuff can be put away so I just let him explore as long as he isn't into anything that could hurt him. It's hilarious to see him come out of his room from playing in his closet. He'll have on a toboggan with some diaper cream or Tylenol syringe in his hand.

He loves to play outside. I love that but hate that we don't have yard for him to play in or hardly any outside toys. There isn't a park close to us but we do go sometimes. He is still in the "parallel play" stage with other children but is starting to interact more and more. He really responds to older kids a lot more right now-he loves my nephews and he loves Mason and Landon!

Eating habits-Last time I wrote about this Gray wasn't digging his milk. We kept offering it to him and were about to call the doctor to see what they recommended when all of a sudden he started drinking it. He likes it cold too, which is awesome because it never goes to waste.
He became very interested in silverware about a month or so ago. He's actually doing pretty well with it too. He thinks eating from a fork or spoon is way more fun so even things he can pick up he will put on his spoon. This boy loves fruit! Watermelon is his favorite, followed by blueberries, strawberries, grapes, apples, bananas and peaches. I'm certain he could eat his weight in watermelon and blueberries. Vegetables, on the other hand, are a different story. We keep offering though and sometimes are able to sneak some in with bites of other things or put them on his silverware and convince him that it's fun. He also wants nothing to do with meat. It's certainly not that he doesn't have enough teeth to chew it up. The only meats he will eat are chicken nuggets and turkey pepperoni. He's had Chick-fil-a nuggets a few times but we can't afford to eat out often and I don't want to make a habit of super unhealthy foods. I did find some all natural with no preservatives chicken nuggets a couple months ago and I fix them for him once or twice a week. Paul and I eat pretty healthy most of the time but unfortunately it isn't rubbing off. I worry about it sometimes but Dr. Bill always says there are two things you can't force your child to do-eat and sleep. He did recommend two books today that might help with this and we'll also keep offering him meat and veggies and hopefully he'll change his mind one of these days. God quickly humbled my many "nevers" about how we would raise Gray when it comes to food (any other things). I'm sure I've said things like, "Gray will eat very little, if any, packaged food with tons of preservatives. I won't make a separate meal for Gray, he will eat what we eat, etc. etc, etc." Some days half of his meals consists of packaged food but I've got to feed him something. I can see us trying the whole "it's this or nothing, even if you go to bed hungry" approach but we don't feel that's appropriate at his age now. Also, as much as we want to encourage healthy eating, we want to "live a little" and have fun with him too so we've already allowed way more ice cream and treat dates at this point than we ever thought we would. So never say never y'all because God takes lots of opportunities to grow us through our children! ;)

Sleep habits-I am loving him being down to one nap! I wish his nap durations were more consistent; he sleeps anywhere from an hour to sometimes close to three hours. I guess I can't complain because he sleeps so good at night (11-12 hours) and never fusses about going to bed or down for a nap. At night sometimes he will actually reach out for his crib. I am so thankful for this! He's been a tummy sleeper since he could roll over but lately has had some funny sleep positions. Sometimes it's so hard for me to get things done during his nap because I can't stop watching him on the monitor.

If you're wondering if we still love this age despite the tantrums being present again, the answer is a big fat YES!!! I am having so much fun with him and feel so crazy blessed to be his mama. Next time I give this update he will be ONE AND A HALF!

Gray's first story time

I took Gray to Barnes and Noble for story time today. I've been wanting to do this for months because I don't think it's something that is ever too early for a child and Gray has such a love for books. But we've been busy and finally just now made it something we were determined to get on the calendar. My friend Lisa and her sweet little girl Brenna joined us. Gray was so much better than I expected. He sat pretty still and quiet for most of the time. Today's stories were all about Clifford. We have a couple Clifford books but Gray has never really seemed into them. But then the real Clifford showed up and he became Gray's new favorite book character. And best friend. For today anyway.

I am so in love with this boy and his sweet heart!

Gray kept sneaking more turns while the majority of the other kids decided if Clifford was scary or not. This boy doesn't know a stranger, big red dog or not.

After Clifford went back home and story time was over, the kids ran around playing, looking at books and completing a "craft", which was coloring a picture of Clifford.

I'd say our first story time was a huge success and we are excited about making it something we do more often!

Mid-week assortment of randomness

We've been busy y'all. And I am still learning how to balance life. First of all, let me say that I am not complaining. I am just being honest about balance being something I still need to work on. You moms that work two jobs (let's face it, whether you work outside of the home or not, being a Mama counts for at least one job!) may be rolling your eyes at me, and that's ok. Sure, I do have more time at home and with Gray than if I was outside of the home working. But it also means more gets on the to-do list and more pressure that I put on myself to do and teach certain things to Gray, spend time with him, make sure all the laundry and dishes stay caught up, etc. etc. I go to the Y almost every day (and sometimes feel guilty about that), tutor two to three days a week and watch Mason and Landon one afternoon a week (Lindsey and I trade time so we don't have to pay for child care). Assuming he takes a decent nap everyday, it honestly leaves very little one-on-one time with Gray. Paul and I feel strongly about me being a stay at home mom for several reasons and although some things have to be done in order to pay the bills, I want to be careful that I'm balancing things the right way.

Anywho...

Monday morning started with a frantic call from my friend Ashley that her nanny was sick and she was desperate for someone to keep Selah. We live about one mile from each other and I didn't have any plans that couldn't be dropped. So I braved it with two 14 month olds for the day. The morning started off great. Selah hadn't been here in a while so she was super entertained by new-to-her toys and books. I got Gray down for a nap and by nothing short of a miracle I got Selah to sleep without any tears being shed. Only problem was that she was downstairs so she wouldn't wake up Gray, which meant I was trapped upstairs...which meant I didn't get to eat lunch while they were sleeping. Neither of them napped very long and things took a turn for the worse when they got up. They were both fussy and clingy and honestly, there were moments that I thought pulling my hair out sounded like a better idea. At 3:30 I finally decided I was going to eat lunch whether they liked it or not. And at 4:00 I decided we were getting in the car. I didn't know where we were going but we were going somewhere. It was no joke y'all. When I keep kids that are older or younger than Gray, things are much easier but two the same age give me a run for my money, literally.

Gray has needed some new shoes for weeks. He went barefoot about 95% of the time until he started walking and even then only wore shoes outside, at the Y and at church. We have tons of shoes starting in size 5 but didn't have any 3s or 4s. I found his 3s at Target for 12 bucks and that was even a little more that I wanted to spend. They didn't hold up great but good enough for the few months he wore them. Besides them being too small now, I made the mistake of letting him wear them with no socks (who wants to wear socks in the summertime?!). Y'all, his feet are RIPE!!!!! They smell worse than his Daddy's feet after he's been on the soccer field all day. I am not even kidding. So the shoe hunt was on. I went back to Target and they had nothing. I spent over two hours looking for shoes on Saturday and another hour on Sunday, all with no luck. Size 4 shoes must be very popular. The ones I did find in his size were $40-$50!!!! Who knew?!?! I had NO idea how expensive baby shoes were. I wanted a pair of somewhat cute shoes that would go on easily with no laces (cause ain't nobody got time for that) that could be play shoes and suitable for church (cause I was definitely not going to buy more than one pair). I finally settled on a pair of really cute Converse Allstars from Shoe Carnival that had laces for looks but were slip-ons. Gray was being a hot mess when I was in there so when I found them on the clearance rack and saw they were size 4, I grabbed them and went. Can I stop here to tell you that they were still 20 bucks on the CLEARANCE rack?! What the heck? I got home and put them on Gray and he walked right out of them. I thought they looked pretty big so I compared them to some of his other hand-me-down shoes and dang if they weren't sized like a 6. So back we went yesterday to return them. Of course they didn't have any smaller ones and the cheapest shoe they had in his size was $38!!!! I know we are on a tighter budget than most people, but I seriously can't get over the prices of these baby shoes. I even checked several consignment stores and they either had nothing in his size or all of them were summer shoes. The Fall consignment sales are coming up in a few weeks but I really couldn't wait that long. So we ended up with some grey velcro Sperry's from Journey's Kidz store at the mall. They were the cheapest velcro shoe in his size that I could find in Winston and they were still almost 30 bucks. I think my blood pressure was higher than it peaks during Body Pump at the Y. Remember how at the beginning of this I said I wasn't complaining? Well this is me complaining. But I am over it now and am very, very thankful we have been blessed with hand-me-downs and probably won't ever have to buy Gray another pair of shoes.

I finally finished Gray's first year Shutterfly book and have been patiently waiting on a 30 or 40% off coupon so I can order it. It is 110 pages and that's after I was forced to consolidate and delete several pages. I've started his second year book but have been very slack about it and need to catch up. We have a lot less pictures since he is always on the go but I do want to document places and things we've done in each year of his life while he is so young.

I'm pretty sure I've said this the last several years but I am really starting to love Fall more and more. I'm so excited about outside Fall activities with Gray, especially taking him back to the pumpkin patch. He has the cutest hand-me-down owl costume this year and I can hardly wait to see his cute self in it. I've also found some new pumpkin recipes that I can't wait to try out. I know I'll be craving the beach again come December but for now I say bring on the Fall!

Paul has been very busy with soccer. The official season opened up with a tournament and his team had to play Mt. Tabor first, who happened to be coming in at the number one seed and was predicted to be the best team this year. My mom watched Gray so I could go. The game was so intense. It was tied at the end so since it was a tournament game, they did overtime. After overtime it was still tied so they did penalty kicks and Reagan ended up losing. They have won every game they've played since then and are off to a great start so far. I am a proud coach's wife. But let's face it, he could lose every game and I'd still be proud.

Our sweet boy has not caught a break in the teething department since he was 5 months old. These last 8 have been way worse than his first 8. He's in pain, his nose has been running for months, his poops are loose and burning his bottom, he's not sleeping quite as good as normal and he is super cranky off and on. And if he'd eat steak with those 16 chompers it might make me feel a tad better. We are still working on getting him to eat meat and veggies but most days he wins. Today though, he did not throw his green beans and instead dipped them in his peanut butter and ate a little. It's progress people!

I am SO excited about a long weekend with my little family. We normally go to Paul's parents for Labor Day but have decided not to spend this one traveling. We haven't had a weekend "off" where we've all been home in about 6 weeks and I can hardly wait! So happy Friday eve, y'all!

Gray has recently started answering questions. The only problem is that he always answers "no" even if he means yes. Thankfully most of the time it's a really sweet "no" instead of the way he used to say it. The other day I was asking him question after question to see if his "no" would change depending on what I asked. They were all questions that he understands well. "Gray do you want a snack? Gray do you want to go outside? Are you ready for a nap? Do you want some ice cream?" and things like that. He had the same response and tone for every question. Then I said "Can Mama have a hug?" And without any hesitation or the word "no" he ran to me, wrapped his little arms around me and gave me the biggest hug in the world. It was so sweet y'all. I'm sure if you'd been there it would seem a lot more special but I had to write this one down for my own record.

We'll keep working on "yes" but I have to say this is the most precious use of the word "no" I have ever heard.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So long summer

Paul started back to school for teacher work days today. Between soccer and tutoring, we soaked up every second we could get as a family of three before summer was officially over.

Here are some memories we made the past few weeks.

We played at the pool with sweet Selah.

Gray got to have dates with me while Paul was at soccer and dates with Daddy while I tutored. Many involved ice cream.

Gray had several play dates with Mason and Landon

Gray snuck Sophie lots of snacks

 We enjoyed watching our silly boy on the monitor

 Gray discovered Catch Phrase

 We played outside

 Gray walked Sophie for the first time. Don't you love how Soph is in mid-poop stance here?!

Gray had his first finger painting experience. He loves watermelon and loves to smear the juice all over his high chair so I figured this would be the perfect rainy day activity.

 I was clearly mistaken. You would have thought I was torturing him.

 But we have this beautiful masterpiece to show for it anyway.

Gray loves to play in closets. I try to choose my battles wisely and this is one I've chosen not to fight. So closet shenanigans have become a daily favorite around here. He cracks me up putting on his hats.

Only the best parents let their toddlers chew on syringes.

Gray "helped" me clean

He colored a picture for Daddy with magic markers. Thankfully this went better than the finger painting did.

We took one last trip to the zoo until spring. Gray was so excited that the Sowers joined us.

Besides him being cranky and whiny the past week since he's decided to only nap for 45 minutes, Gray has been so good lately. I know some of you will read this and want to say to me, "enjoy it while it lasts" and I will do just that. I know I've written about this before but Paul and I are very big on discipline for a number of reasons. God disciplines us because He loves us and we ought to do the same for our children. At the beginning of the summer Gray was having a rough time with tantrums and just being down right "ugly", as my mama would say. There were days we wanted to give in just so he'd stop whining and crying but we tried our best to be consistent. We aren't taking all the credit by any means (we've read lots of books and said lots of prayers and begged God for his guidance in this area) and we know we'll go through MANY more rough stages with behavior but I believe that really hard month or so that we had is paying off now. Two months ago Gray was having a total meltdown almost every time we told him "no" or disciplined him in any way. He tested our limits and patience big time. Lately we tell him "no" one time and he walks away from or stops whatever he is doing that he shouldn't be without any whining or crying or throwing himself down on the floor or swatting his hands at us. So I am soaking up every second of this for however long it lasts.

I'm pretty certain (and I would have said this in the midst of his tantrums two months ago) that this age is my favorite so far. I have loved every age and stage for different reasons but his age now totally blows my mind. He is so smart and is learning SO much every single day, it amazes me! So many people gave me negative warnings about how hard life would be when he started walking and I have found the opposite. He is even more happy and content and as long as we are in a somewhat baby-proofed setting, he is more independent too (even if he is partaking in some crazy closet shenanigan). He has so much personality for such a little guy and he makes me laugh so hard. He is so sweet and affectionate and it just melts my heart. Although this age is certainly exhausting (are there any ages that aren't exhausting?!), I am loving it so much and soaking up every second I can get.

So while we were sad to see Daddy go back to work this morning, we are so thankful for the time we had together this summer. And Labor Day is just around the corner, right?!