Six Months!

Grayson is six months old! I can't believe he will be a year old in six more months!

Lately, Grayson has been spending a lot of time in his exersaucer. He loves it and it has been nice to have my hands free to get some stuff done...yay for vacuuming the floors!
I haven't taken Grayson for his 6 month checkup yet. His 5 month was late since we were gone back to TN, so his next appointment isn't until February. But, I can definitely tell that he is growing! He just seems so long to me all of a sudden. I need to adjust his exersaucer again and this will be the second time since coming back from TN!

Grayson is wearing 6-9 month clothes...although the past two days I have put him in 6-12 month onesies and they aren't that big on him! He is in a size 3 diaper.

I was so excited to try baby food with Grayson. I found a great website with baby food recipes, so I have been making it myself. So far he has had sweet potatoes, rice cereal, pears, and applesauce. He hasn't liked any of it! I have finally gotten him to open his mouth for the first bite, but after that he seals his lips up and won't open it again. The faces he makes are hilarious, but I hope he will eventually eat something! He seems to be content to nurse forever...yikes!
Recently, Grayson learned how to stick out his tongue. Charlie got him to laugh so hard just by sticking his tongue out at him and it wasn't long before Grayson had to try that funny trick too!
We are still waiting on an official "roll over" but he did come really close a few days ago. Honestly, he hasn't been on the floor nearly as much as Claire was. He does enjoy his activity mat, but sometimes he will just look at his toys and watch Claire run all around. He is so laid back!

About 5 nights ago I was really tired of not getting any sleep at night. Charlie and I were holding Grayson every night on the couch after putting Claire to bed and I was ready to put an end to that and get him to sleep in his crib! So we tried letting him cry it out after putting him to bed. It took about 3 nights for him to fall asleep more quickly, but he now falls asleep by himself without his pacifier and only wakes up at 1 and 5 for feedings. What a change! Charlie and I have so enjoyed some time alone and the extra sleep has been so nice!
Grayson and Claire have been interacting more with each other lately. I just love watching them play together. I know it won't be long until they are both running around the house together. Our little "Canadian" has been such a blessing!

Ice Festival 2012

After a long week...we're talking horrible tooth pain involving a root canal...I was ready for some weekend fun. We took off yesterday to the Ice Festival. It was weird to go this year and there not be any snow on the grass. They even had to use the snow machines to make snow! Everyone has been talking about what a mild winter we have been having.
Last year it took us two tries to have a warm enough day to see the ice sculptures. This year it was 30 degrees...but there was talk of snow coming later in the afternoon. We were happy that the festival moved to a new location this year because that meant we got to ride the High Level Bridge Streetcar for free from the the LRT (subway) to the festival. It was really fun (and a little scary) to be up so high looking over the river!


The streetcar...who knew so many people could be packed on it?



The view of Edmonton from the bridge.



The LRT tunnel from the streetcar.

We walked from the streetcar to the Ice Festival. The ice sculptures were really impressive!

Poor Grayson...he had fallen asleep. Doesn't he look so funny?!

Claire couldn't wait another second to try out the ice slide. She kept saying, "I'm gonna ride the ice slide, Momma!" She was so excited...so I was completely shocked when she got to the top of the ladder and refused to slide down. I kept standing there with my camera ready, and Charlie kept trying to get her to slide down, but she wouldn't.

We finally got her to try out the baby slide and she loved it.

She slid down the baby slide a bunch of times, but never did try out the toddler slide. I wonder where she got her stubbornness, ha!

We also checked out the ice maze...

but it didn't take long before we were cold and ready to be on our way home.

We got back on the streetcar and rode the LRT home. And later that afternoon...it snowed about 3 inches. It seems that winter is here at last!

5 months, a new schedule..a new year!

Grayson is now 5 months old! (This post is really late...he will be 6 months in a couple of weeks!)
He turned 5 months while we were still visiting family in Tennessee. We celebrated with a photo shoot by Auntie Cynthia (my SIL). She is a super awesome photographer and a great person to have around to capture our adventures while we are together.

Now that we are home, I have now moved Grayson to a four hour schedule. I remember when I did that with Claire life seemed to much easier! The same is true for Grayson. Now, if I could just get him to sleep through the night!!!!

Grayson is now wearing 9 months and 6-9 months clothes and a size 3 diaper. I just took him this week to get his immunizations and they weighed and measured him then. He weighed 16.8 lbs and measured 26 3/4 inches.

The last two days he has eaten rice cereal. The first time I gave it to him, he loved it! Then last night, he spit it out. Who knows what he will think today?!

Charlie and I still marvel at how different our kids are. We are enjoying Grayson's laid back personality and love watching him change and grow into a happy little man!

Claire turns 3!

On New Year's Eve we celebrated Claire's birthday with a Minnie Mouse party. She was so excited that when we put her down for her nap, we didn't tell her that the party would start soon after she woke up! We learned our lesson from Christmas Eve and the lack of sleep from all of her excitement then.
A co-worker of my Mom's let us borrow some decorations and we raided the local Party Corner for the rest of the Minnie stuff. Charlie was given the job of blowing up balloons...and one of them popped while he was blowing it up and Grayson might be afriad of balloons for the rest of his life! Poor boy!
When Claire woke up we took her to the dining room to see the decor and she told us over and over "this is the best party ever!" Haha, no pressure for next year!
My Mom found a Minnie dress for her to wear in the Halloween costume section of Kmart for $2! And my Mother-in-law got her the Minnie hat from Disney World when they went in September! They turned out perfect!

After the guests had arrived we ate dinner and then came down to the den to open presents. All the practice on Christmas Eve and Christmas paid off, Claire tore through all of them at lightening speed!

I tried to get her to slow down and listen to the cards...

but presents were so much more exciting!

This particular present was a big hit! A Belle doll and a Belle dress!

We then went back to the dining room to eat cake and ice cream!

Don't you love the Minnie cake? My Mother-in-law's friend has so many character cakes to choose from. I sure wish I had the talent to make that!

We sang "Happy Birthday" and Claire blew out her candles.

It was such a great party! Oh, and if you are wondering where Grayson was during all the fun...

He was eating up all the attention he got as he was passed around to all the family that was dying to hold him!

What a great last night in Tennessee!