An Interview with Gray

I have been wanting to do an interview with Gray for a while since seeing the idea on the Internet and on a few friends' blogs. So I finally took a few minutes to make it happen one evening last week. 

This interview was conducted on Thursday, March 19, 2015. It was 8:15 (many factors contribute to him being awake at this hour, mostly the fact that he actually napped) and Daddy was out of town. Walker had gone to bed and Gray and I had just finished having a dance party. After the first few questions he got on the floor and started reading his Children's Bible, which really distracted him and made for some answers I know we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. It was still fun though and I can't wait to do it again in a few months.

What is your name?
Gray

How old are you?
2

When is your birthday?
June 10th

What is something Mommy and Daddy always say to you?
No. (Sad! I'm pretty sure we say "I love you" way more than no, but nonetheless that was his response.)

What makes you happy?
Feeling

What makes you sad?
Not nice boy

What makes you laugh?
Lions. (Um, ok.)

What is your favorite book?
This book. (As he flips through his Bible)

What is your favorite thing to do?
Dancing on the ceiling. (We had just finished having a dance party to none other than Lionel Ritchie. Just trying to raise him right.) 

Who is your best friend?
Daddy

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Construction worker

What did you do today?
Go to church (that was actually yesterday)

What is your favorite food?
A sucker

What is your favorite song?
Jesus loves me

What do you want for your birthday this year?
An open truck. (There is a big rig truck with a fork lift that we were trying to hide in the sunroom closest for when he is officially potty trained. But he found it and he wants to "open it".)

What is your favorite animal?
A kangaroo. And I like an elephant and a snake and a tiger. 

Who do you love?

Papa! He's so funny! I get his belly and he laughs!

Where is your favorite place to go?
Haircut store (he gets a sucker every time)

Do you like this interview?

Yes

Do you want me to ask you more questions?

No. No thank you Mommy

Walker-9 months

I got a little ahead of myself on last month's post and said that Walker was three-fourths of a year old. I guess none of my five readers caught that or were too polite to bring it to my attention?! ;) Now that Walker is nine months old I can say it honestly-although, do I really want to? I thought it would be more meaningful and interesting if I did the last few monthly posts in the form of a letter. So...

Dear Walker,

My sweet, baby boy-we have had you in our lives for nine months now! You bring so much joy to our family and we have loved watching you grow. I could stand for things to slow down a little but I don't reckon I can count on that. You had your nine month well visit yesterday and we are so thankful for a good check up. You now weigh 19 pounds, 15 ounces and are 28 and 3/4 inches long. You have made leaps and bounds in the weight department and are now back up to the 53rd percentile! Your height percentile went down a little to the 62nd and your sweet noggin was 45.7 centimeters, which was in the 68th percentile. You are wearing some nine but mostly 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers.

You are nursing about two or three times a day and drinking Mommy's frozen milk and/or formula two to three times a day. You are nursing great most days but still aren't an easy one to get a bottle down. Thankfully you love "real" food though. You are still eating a little baby food but we are giving you more and more big boy table foods too, especially since you are becoming less of a fan of someone else feeding you. You tried a lot of new big boy foods in the last month, including: cheese, pancakes (so syrup yet, sorry buddy!), waffles, cantaloupe, pineapple, wagon wheels, goldfish, shrimp, black olives, rice, chicken, peas, carrots, green beans and pita bread. When we first tried strawberries last month you refused them but I think it was mostly because you were cranky and ready for a nap because you didn't think twice about them after that. And other than being a little weirded out by the texture of cheese at first, you have gobbled up every single thing we've given you without even thinking twice about it. I really wonder if you even have any taste buds. I think God is showing us His grace with you being so good with big boy foods since we had such a difficult time with milk for so long. I don't think we are going to make it to the one year mark with nursing but I consider it a miracle that we made it this far with all the difficulties you had and occasionally still have with reflux and swallowing liquids. Speaking of, you are still taking Prevacid twice a day. We've tried taking you off twice and it didn't go well. Instead of increasing your dose since you are getting bigger, we are going to keep the same dose and try taking you off again soon.


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You are down to two naps a day unless you doze in the car. Usually your second nap in the afternoon is 2-3 hours long. A few weeks ago we had to make you cry out your once or twice a night waking. We really felt like you had enough weight on you and you'd finally caught a break in the teething department. It only took about four nights and you are now sleeping a solid 12 hours. You go to bed around 7:00 or 7:30 every night. Occasionally when you are really, really tired you will fall asleep nursing or on my shoulder while we are singing and praying. I try so hard to just soak it in-staring at you and studying every little thing about you because I know it won't like this for long.

You still suck your thumb when you are really tired and most of the time you are sleeping. You sometimes take a paci but we really only offer it to you in the car.

You are crawling so fast and pulling up on everything. Thankfully you still like your jumper and exersaucer because sometimes buddy, Mommy's got to go to the bathroom! ;) You moved from the baby room up to the crawler class at church a few weeks ago. This is hard on you because since there is so much going on in there, you don't nap on those sweet old ladies anymore. I'd say getting to ride on the bye-bye buggy helps but it takes a lot to impress you, my little stinker. However, you have been quite impressed with yourself lately for pulling up like such a big boy.



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You love Gray and your favorite time of every day is when he comes in your room with me when you wake up from your nap. I put him in your crib with you and you squeal and bounce up and down as hard as you can. Watching you and your brother play and laugh together makes my heart so happy.

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You have three words now-"bye-bye", "mama" and "dada". You sometimes seem to be making connections now to those words instead of just babbling them. I could listen to your sweet voice all day long.

You love the bath and have starting consistently taking one with brother. You get SO mad every night when we get you out and throw a down right temper tantrum. You also throw a fit when we take something away from you or don't let you have something you want (mean Mama won't let you chew on the baby monitor or my phone). We have started teaching you "no touch" on a few things for safety reasons or the fact that we don't want you tearing up our blinds (your favorite thing to grab and pull on). You respond so well to "no touch" and almost always will stop. I usually say "Good job" or "Yay Walker, good listening!" and then you clap for yourself. But the other day when you obeyed "no touch" you just stared at me for the longest time with your eyebrows scrunched and then started clapping for yourself, as if to let me know I had forgotten to give you praise. You make us laugh, my sweet buddy!

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You have a lot more hair than your brother did at this age. It's starting to really lighten up but I'm not sure you are going to be as blonde as Gray. You and brother have many similarities but mostly differences and you both are so special and perfect to Daddy and me.

Gray/Walker

There has never been a doubt that Gray looks just like Daddy but several months ago people starting wondering if you looked like me. After Mugger found some baby pictures of me there was no doubt. Aunt Barbara sent me this picture of me and I do believe you are a mini-me. I even had the same gap in my baby teeth until the rest of them came in.

 

I almost cried leaving the doctor yesterday when we scheduled your one year and Gray's three year well visit, but I really do look forward to watching you grow and learn. 

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I love you with my whole heart,

Mommy

Snow Week Recap

In the south we folks like to make a big deal about white stuff falling from the sky. With any amount of precipitation everybody heads to the grocery store clear out the bread and milk while all the northerners make major fun of us. Last year we got a couple of snow "storms", one of which was pretty big for North Carolina. I'm a spring and summer girl myself, but I do love at least one good snow every winter especially now that we have a certain little boy that LOVES to play in it! We were beginning to think we wouldn't see any snow this winter so even though it didn't turn out to be much we enjoyed the inch or so that fell late afternoon on Monday. The schools got out two hours early and because of the crazy colds temperatures not allowing anything to melt, they were out the rest of the week. Paul has so many days saved up that he said "no thanks" to the optional teacher work days and stayed home for some QT with the fam. The boys and I couldn't have been more thrilled!

Gray had an absolute ball playing in the snow. We got a layer of ice on top which made for perfect sledding. It often takes a lot to impress Walker but we managed to get a few smiles and pictures out of him in the same snuggly bear suit that Gray wore two winters  ago.



Gray found these ski goggles and insisted they be a part of the snow craziness.

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And now for the comparisons...

Sweet, chubby cheeked snow babies make me squeal!

 

That picture of Gray on the right still makes me almost pee my pants when I see it.

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We even let Walker go on a little sled run. He said he would much rather be inside eating a banana.

Gray helped Daddy with some home improvements when they weren't out playing in the snow.

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And he completely tore his room apart and built book towers.

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Thursday night Paul and I hosted a table at a dinner our church puts on for engaged and/or newly wed couples. The speaker happens to be THE Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the Five Love Languages and tons of other awesome marriage and family books. We are so blessed to have Dr. Chapman as one of our senior pastors at our church. Paul and I attended the dinner as newly weds about five years ago and got to host a table two years ago for the first time. It was so much fun and it's always challenging, yet encouraging to hear Dr. Chapman and his wife speak. Not to mention it was a kid free night that we didn't have to cook and clean up after!

Friday we were all ready to get out of the house so we spent the morning at the Children's Museum. Apparently all of Winston-Salem had the same idea. Despite the crowds Gray had so much fun. We hadn't been in a coupe months and an added bonus was the Sowers deciding to meet us there at the last minute. I'm really not sure Gray's heart could be any more full than it's been this week!

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Walker once again looking very thrilled about such shenanigans.

It's going to be a rude awakening for all four of us when Daddy heads back to work on Monday. And now that we've had our one snow, bring on spring!!!

Valentine's Day 2015

2013

2014

And this year we had two little loves to celebrate with. 

Paul brought these beautiful flowers home to me yesterday.

My mom and Gram kept the boys today while Paul and I enjoyed a day long date. We hadn't been on a date in waaaaay too long and it was so much fun! We talked without being interrupted and ate without a youngin whining or crying or begging us to share our food. But of course we spent a good bit of our time talking about how we missed our boys and wondering what they were doing.  We feasted out on our favorite for lunch-sushi! We tried a new place that my friend Mary recommended and it did not disappoint! 

Then we piddled around town for a few hours before going to a late afternoon movie-Old Fashioned, which was a little cheesy but for us it beat the 50 Shades of Grey alternative. 

Feeling very thankful for the love from and for my husband and sons and remembering that we love only because God first loved us. 

Walker-8 months

Y'all, my baby boy is EIGHT months old!



SLAYS me I tell ya!

Gray/Walker

 

He and his brother are keeping me busy as ever, which is why I haven't written in a month. Like I predicted in his seven month post, we've got a fully mobile baby. He is crawling everywhere and getting into everything. We've put up a baby gate so he can't fall down the stairs and thanks to Pinterest we found a way to baby-proof our huge brick fireplace. Other than that we don't plan to do much baby-proofing. Once making the house safe we try to teach "no touch", or at least we did with Gray. So we'll see how that goes ;)

Eating habits-Walker is back to nursing well (about 5-6 times a day) but not taking more than an ounce or so from a bottle, if even that. He is still loving his stage 2 and 3 baby foods and we are trying to introduce table foods now too. He loves "real" bananas and sweet potatoes. He continues to put away Puffs and teething crackers, except for the past few days when his teething has been at its worst.

Sleeping habits-I try to always be home for Walker to take at least one good long nap in his crib. He completely fights sleep at church or the Y but will dose in the car some. If we happen to be home all day he takes at least two good naps and sometimes still three. He goes down between 7:00-7:30 every night. He has not been sleeping well at night and is up anywhere from one to three times. I will only nurse him once during the night and unless we know he is in pain from his teeth, he has to cry it out. As soon as he gets a break from teething he is going to have to cry it out completely because I really don't think he is hungry at this point. And Mama is TIRED!!!

Milestones/New Discoveries-He started crawling a couple weeks ago which is almost a month sooner than Gray did. He is pulling up on his knees and will be cruising around things in no time I'm afraid. He had two top teeth break through a week or so ago, two more top ones two nights ago and he has two more bottom teeth coming through too which will make EIGHT total. He seems to be following in the exact footsteps of his big brother in the teeth department (Gray had 16 teeth when he was just 14 months!!). One of my favorite baby milestones/discoveries of all time is clapping! Walker started clapping a week or so ago but he takes his left hand and "claps" it against his stomach or chest. It is the cutest thing and I nearly die every time he does it. The past few days he has started clapping his left hand to his other hand but only moving the left one, instead of clapping both of them together. If we say "clap, clap Walker" or start singing, he pretty much performs on cue. He waved bye-bye a few times early in the month but hasn't done it since.

Practicing his clapping and actually using both hands a little here

Walker was a tired, fussy, teething hot mess last night at church (Gray goes to Awana on Wednesday nights. Paul usually stays home with Walker so I can have some "me" time but we had to meet with some people about something last night). After fighting it for a long time he finally fell asleep and I got to enjoy this slice of heaven for about a half hour. Thanks to my friend Laura for capturing the moment. I sure wish this wasn't so rare anymore but we've got a busy, "I want my bed" baby.

Temperament/Mood-A little less content lately even though he is crawling. He has had some really rough days and nights since he's had like 37 teeth coming in. Other than that he is a pretty happy guy. He still seems to have a lot less animated and more chill personality than big brother.

Likes-crawling, pulling up, chasing Sophie, watching big brother, when Daddy throws him up in the air, being tickled

Dislikes-Teething (duh!), getting in his car seat (fine once in the car, thankfully), having something taken away from him, when Mommy leaves the room, getting his diaper changed (I DREAD every diaper change and feel like I've just been in a wrestling match every time we're done), "real" strawberries

Between teething and a nasty, mean stomach virus last week I'm not too hopeful Walker has made much progress in the weight department but we will have official measurements at his 9 month check-up.

Walker-7 months

With my blogging record lately it should come as no surprise that I am almost a week and a half over due on baby boy's seven month post. Better late than never, right?



I'll never be able to get enough of this face.

I don't think anyone would question that they are brothers but I didn't really think they looked too much alike in this picture.

Walker went for a weight check yesterday (he was weighed a month ago and had actually lost a little) and weighed 17 pounds, 9 ounces. He has gained almost a pound in the last month and I'll take it!

He wears size 9 month clothes and is still in size 2 diapers.

Eating habits-He is back to being pretty hard to nurse and take bottles. I consider it a miracle that I am still making any milk and every month I feel so thankful that I am. I'd be thrilled to be able to nurse him through the winter. On the other hand, Walker is a champ at eating solids. I still feed him quite a bit of oatmeal mixed with breast milk since he doesn't nurse well but he also eats stage two solids and will pretty much eat anything. We've also started Puffs and he can't get enough. At his six month appointment his pediatrician said I could start adding a scoop of formula to his oatmeal and  pumped bottles to add some extra calories. So I've been doing that for about a month and I think it's definitely helped him gain some weight.

Sleeping habits-Walker is such a sleepy head! He is yawning and rubbing his eyes within an hour of waking up no matter how long he has slept. He still takes three naps a day (usually 1.5-2 hours each) and most nights sleeps at least 9-10 consecutive hours. The past few nights he has slept 11-12 hours, though I guess that technically needs to go in his next month's post since I am over a week late writing this. He fights sleep if he is not in his bed or in the car but isn't nearly as fussy about being tired as he used to be. He is getting to be a lot more flexible-thank you Lord!

Milestones/New Discoveries-I expect more teeth anytime since we've had some rough days with teething here and there. He is really starting to express his likes and dislikes. He is also starting to make a lot more sounds and says "mamamama", though of course he doesn't associate that with me yet. He isn't crawling quite yet but is rolling everywhere, rocking back and forth in push up position and can almost sit himself up from a laying down position like so...

This will go down in history as one of my most favorite Walker pictures ever!!

Temperament/Mood-Walker man is a pretty happy, chill baby these days...at least compared to how he started out! It's easy to make him smile and he is getting better at going with the flow. I just love how he smiles with his mouth closed most of the time-sooooo presh! Daddy jokes about him being "a tough crowd" because he isn't laughing much yet. He gives us a really short little chuckle when he's being tickled but that's about it for now. By five months Gray was straight up belly laughing but I think Walker is just a lot more chill. We joke but love to see how different our boys already seem to be. He just has the sweetest little chubby face and smile though and he has me completely wrapped around his little fingers!

Likes-rolling around, being on his tummy and pushing up, watching Gray, Sophie (our dog, not the giraffe, though he loves that too), sucking his thumb, his mobile, being read to, music, toys that light up and make noise, his jumper

Dislikes-When I take something away from him or when he can't get to something he wants, green beans, trying to rock him to sleep...major sniffle over that one-homeboy wants his bed and only his bed :(

I have a feeling we're going to have a very busy and mobile baby by next month's post!

2.5

Dear Gray Christopher,

Oh my sweet, sweet boy! Today you are two and a half years old (well it was today, and then this stayed in my drafts for almost month-you keep me busy, what can I say?!). I won't bother going on and on about how you were just born yesterday. I really can't even begin to describe the joy you have brought us over the past two and a half years. You make my heart so full and every day I thank God for allowing me to be your Mama.

You have such a big heart buddy! Of course Daddy and I always thought so but from a very early age people commented on how unique and special you were. There is just something so sweet about your spirit and we know that comes from God. You willingly ask to pray for people at night and your prayers are so sweet they bring tears to my eyes. You make me want to be a better person. You keep me humble-constantly reminding me of God's grace and love and how I can't do this whole parenting thing without His help. Often you are the one reminding me to say our blessing before meals. Just the other day you saw Rose's (a girl in Kenya that we sponsor through Compassion International) picture and said "We need to pray for Rose, Mommy!" We were in the car last week when an ambulance drove by and you said, "Let's pray for them Mommy." I could go on and on for hours about the sweet, sweet boy that you are. I pray every day you stay that way, my precious boy.

Though you have such a sweet spirit and big heart, you are also extremely strong willed. Daddy and I pray daily that God will use that to make you a positive leader. But for now, it sure keeps us on our toes. You really are a good little boy though. You obey and use good manners most of the time and when you disobey, usually your little heart is sad because of it. The other day after I had given you a spanking, I told you it hurt my heart when you were ugly to me and you said, "No Mommy, it hurts MY heart!"

You make my heart want to explode when you say to me out of nowhere, "Mommy's my girl!", or "I love you Mommy.", or "Will you dance with me mommy?" or "You're so pretty Mommy!"

You love tractors and have since you were a baby. You can name any and every kind and love playing with them and seeing construction sites. You also love trains. For your second birthday we took you to the Transportation Museum and you rode on your first real train. You got a train table for Christmas and have already spent hours playing with it. I already wonder what you'll be when you grow up.

You are a Daddy's boy! He is your most favorite person on this earth and there is no question as to why. He really is the best. You want Mommy if you are hurt, but other than that if Daddy is around Mommy is only good for snacks and band-aids.

You are a good big brother. Most of the time anyway. You were very patient when Walker was such a fussy baby. You'd bring him a paci or a toy and say "It's ok Walker man!" when he would cry. You also sing "Hush little baby" to him almost every time he gets upset. The other day Walker was in his jumper and started to get upset and you ran up to him and said, "It's ok Walker, I'm here. I'm here buddy!" Walker adores you! Every time he sees you his whole face lights up and he gives you the biggest grin. He loves to watch your every move. He already wants to be your best friend and I pray so hard that y'all will be just that.

You are so, so smart! You can say your ABCs and can count to thirteen consistently and twenty most days. You can also spell your name and you love to ask us what letter different words start with. You have an incredible memory and are very well spoken for your age. We love your sweet voice and the way you talk. There are very few things you say that we can't understand and few things that you don't pronounce the right way and I have to say I think it's so cute! One of my favorites is "bevy", which is what you say for both "very" and 'really". You and Daddy read Bible stories every night and your favorite stories to hear are 'the mean king", "Moses in a basket", and "Jesus heals the little girl". You can pretty much say the entire Lord's prayer because you've said it with Daddy every night since you were a baby. You also have an incredible memory; you don't forget anything and you will bring things up that happened six months ago. You love to ask questions-especially "WHY?, WHY?, WHY?" You love to read and your favorite books are tractor books, Curious George, Clifford and your children's Bible.

You are a very good eater. I can count on my hands the number of things you don't like. There's no doubting who your Mama and Daddy are when it comes to eating-you get it honest!

You are fearless! I really can't think of one thing you have ever been afraid of and you are also very tough. I'm afraid you'll have a broken bone one day and I won't even know it because you'll just keep right on playing. However, you do love for Mommy to kiss your boo-boos and I LOVE how you really think it makes it them all better.

You are really tall and most people think you are three years old, which I don't really love to hear because although I love your age, I don't want you growing up any faster than you already are. You wear size 3 clothes (some of which are too short for you already) and size 7 or 8 shoes. You are starting to want to dress yourself and Mommy tries to choose battles with you wisely. The other day you had on a nice shirt with some sweat pants and your camouflage boots. It also happened to be a rare time that we went out to eat. You may have gotten a few looks.

I could go on for hours and hours. You make me so happy, so proud and just so thankful! I'm afraid that until you have your own children one day you won't be able to grasp how much I love you. But I promise you this my sweet boy, I'll spend every moment of every day trying.

With all my heart,
Mommy