Out & About

Yesterday I got a brand new toy and I am soooo excited! I have been wanting a new camera for the last six years and we finally took the plunge and joined the DSLR world! Yippee! So, today I had to take it out for a spin.
First of all, I got the kids up early so I could take Grayson to see his plastic surgeon. He just wanted to see how his scar was healing and he was very pleased with how it looks. He told us to keep massaging his lip, but other than that the red line will continue to fade. We have to go back in November or early December....but we are very pleased with everything...the doctor...the outcome...the healing!!!
Then, I headed out to meet a friend at an indoor playground. It was windy and chilly today and this was the perfect place to be! Claire had a super time running around and driving the cars along the track.

We ordered lunch and just sat back while the kids played. Ahh...so nice!

Grayson just loved exploring a new exersaucer! He was full of smiles for the unfamiliar toys on the tray!

And then Grayson figured out that his exersaucer bounced. It made a nice squeaky sound when he bounced and he loved it. He bounced and bounced and bounced!

Of course when we left...the sun was out and it felt so much warmer! Hopefully tomorrow will allow us to be back outside!

11 months...the countdown has begun!

Grayson is 11 months old! Can that be true? Where did my baby go??

We have now started the weaning process and I am a nice mixture of sad and happy. Sad to be done with the bonding of feeding my baby boy, but happy to have my body back, ha! Last week I dropped the 4 o'clock feeding and it has been going okay. I am planning on dropping one feeding a week until his birthday. Grayson is (kind of) learning to use a sippy cup. He has been given the sippy cup many times but has yet to get anything out of it by himself. He does seem to like the Avent cup better than the hard plastic Playtex cup, though. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he gets the hang of it soon!

We have been leaving home to enjoy the nice weather a lot lately and this boy is just so laid back. He loves to sit in his stroller and is even content to just crawl around and watch his big sissy play. He now can crawl pretty well on his knees. His newest accomplishment is going from crawling to sitting. I have gone to get him from his naps a few times and found him sitting up in his bed.

AND...he is FINALLY sleeping through the night! I read an article on the internet about how to sleep train your baby and it worked! I do think that he was also just ready, but still...it worked!!! The article said to go in when your baby wakes up and cover them back up, pat their back, etc. but not to pick them up or talk to them and quickly leave. Of course they will scream (and boy did Grayson!) so go back at 2 mins, 5 mins, 10, 15, 20, etc. until they stop crying. The first night I went back in at 2, 5 and before I got to 10 he fell asleep. Then he woke up an hour later and I went back at 10,15,and 20 and he fell asleep and slept through the night. He has only woken up twice in the last week and I have just ran in and patted his back for a few seconds and he has gone right back to sleep until morning. YES!!!!!! I think part of the reason he has been waking up is because he is working on some new teeth. It looks like four are coming quickly. Yay for new teeth! 

Some other new things this month are: he is babbling more and he can now push buttons on his toys to make them light up or make music. He is also eating more and picking up and feeding himself some foods. His favorites right now are avacado and peaches. I have been giving him mixed vegetables and peas to feed himself and that works pretty well.

Grayson is still wearing 12-18 months onesies and 6-12 or 12-18 months pants. He is in a size 4 diaper and I think he will be in that size a long time. I did notice that his 18 months sleepers aren't so big anymore. He will be in a 2T before I know it! Yikes!
It is true that the older they get the easier things are. Grayson has gotten pretty easy to take care of. He keeps to his schedule pretty well and still likes to take two naps a day. The only problem we have been having lately is getting his diaper changed...that boy can flip over the fastest I have ever seen! Even with a toy in each hand, he still flips! It is almost impossible to change his diaper and put his clothes on at the same time. I find that when I get to the clothes part I have to move him to the floor because I need to sit down, ha!

So, now I am only a few weeks away from Grayson's first birthday party. I need to get busy! We are pretty much settled on having a Mickey party. This boy just loves his Mickey! We are going to invite some friends over. I do hate that family won't be attending, but we are thankful to have some friends that can celebrate with us!

Summer loving

I should be spending this time typing Grayson's 11 month post. But I'm not. Instead I thought I would list some things that I am loving right now. Enjoy!
1. The way Claire says "yep I do!" in response to 99.9% of all questions that cause her to respond positively. (some variations are "yep I would" and "yep I will" and "yep it does")
2. The fact that Grayson has slept through the night 2 out of the last 3 nights. And last night he woke up long enough for me to pat his back for 10 seconds and leave his room. Hurray!!
3. The splash park. It is my new love. I have been there the last two days. Heaven! Which leads me to...
4. The slight tan I am developing! It is HARD to tan in Canada!
5. These new piggie tail sets I have been working on...

So fun to pick out colors for them!
6. Cosco....we just became members. (Man that place can suck the time out of the day...and I thought IKEA was bad!)
7. I love love love that Claire is into dressing up all. the. time. Yesterday she was in a sleeping beauty dress and insisted her name was "Princess Zalla" and she was going to marry her prince.
8. These bible song CD's my Mom got Claire. They have been great! And I just love to hear her little voice singing from the back seat. Soooo cute!

9. And speaking of the Bible, Claire has been wanting to say prayers by herself at night. She has been thinking of one person and then asking God to keep them safe. Makes me a proud Mama to hear her talking to God like that!
10. Hearing Grayson's little voice say "Mama." Some things just need to be bottled up...like his little baby voice and maybe a couple of his fat baby toes! :)

Jurassic Forest 2012

We were so happy to go back to the Jurassic Forest this weekend. We went last spring and Claire enjoyed it even more this time. We invited our good friends along and had a really fun day!

Claire was a little bit unsure at first. The dinosaurs are really big and do make a lot of noise! But, after being reassured that they are pretend she loved it!

The forest is pretty marshy and we saw lots of mosquitoes (one of my least favorite things about Canada), but luckily we didn't get bitten. We had thought it was going to be chilly too, but all of the sudden the sun came out and it was really humid! Weird Alberta weather!

I had to get a picture of the Albertosaurus!

The park is really well done. It really could've been cheesy with all the robot dinosaurs, but everything is really nice.

"Look at those dinosaurs!"

Claire and I had to pose in front of Mr. T-Rex. I think she was more excited about her sucker, though!

Brushing the dino bones.

And this is when I realized that Claire is the complete opposite from me when it comes to dirt. I never would've played in the dirt like this when I was little. When Claire was done playing she was filthy! She even had dirt all around her mouth!

Grayson did so well. He hardly made a peep, just hung out in his stroller and looked around and then when he could not stay awake a minute longer, he dozed off. Poor, sleepy boy!
We all were worn out when we left! But, we would go back again for a third time!

Soccer in the park

A few weeks ago I had the kids at the local playground and the Green Shack Program was going. The Green Shack is literally a green shack that is put at most of the playgrounds in the city in the spring and summer. It is run by volunteers who play games and do crafts with the kids. I had thought that Claire wasn't old enough to participate, but while we were in the sandbox I saw a sign on the shack that said "under 6 must have a guardian." So, when the volunteers (I like calling them the "green shack people") got out the miniature golf set and set it up, I sent Claire over to play. She LOVED it! She attached herself right to one of the volunteers and held her hand. After mini golf was over Claire told her she wanted to play something else and when the girl asked her what she wanted to play she said, "SOCCER!" Soccer? She has never played soccer! But the girl didn't know this and ran in to the shack and got a soccer ball. She and Claire kicked the ball around for a long time and Claire was so into it that I started thinking about putting her in soccer next spring.  Charlie was happy to hear of her interest too and bought her a ball at Wal-Mart over the weekend.
So the other night it was so pretty out that we decided to take out her ball and kick it around some.

Don't you just love the fact that Claire is playing soccer in a pink dress with a pink ball? She is my little girlie girl!

It was a perfect night...so warm (well in the low 70's...but hey, that's warm here!) and Grayson and I sat on a bench and watched.

Then, I decided to play. I had on flip flops, but that didn't stop me! And my bloody toes were proof that flip flops were a bad idea!

Do you think we have a future soccer star on our hands? She still is awful excited about ballet which starts in September. I guess we'll see!!