Two Months

Grayson is two months old, can you believe it?

He is growing like a weed....and eating a lot too! :)

Grayson now weighs 12 pounds 4 ounces. He is 24 inches long. He is exactly one pound heavier and one inch longer than Claire was at two months.

We are starting to stay pretty much on schedule. His morning nap is still a little random, but he takes a good afternoon nap at 1pm every day. Grayson is now going to bed between 9 and 10 and waking up once at night, usually around 3:30am. He then wakes up at 6:30am and (thankfully!) goes back to sleep until 8:30am.

He just started cooing and smiling at me a lot..which I love! He is pretty laid back and really doesn't require much to be happy!

Grayson is now wearing 3 months outfits and a size 1 diaper, but the next time we get diapers we have to get a size 2...they are getting a bit small!

Claire and Grayson at 2 months.

Grayson at one and two months.

We are enjoying out sweet boy!

Also, Grayson's surgery has been scheduled for November 3rd. We have quite a few appointments coming up to check his hearing and meet the doctor again and anethesiologist. He also has to be fitted for his arm splints he will wear for 3 weeks after his surgery. We are nervous about having him "put under" and have to be tormented with surgery, but hopeful that this will repair his lip and make him look more "normal." (We still think he is handsome, though!)

Chuck E. Cheese

A couple of weeks ago we ended up at Chuck E. Cheese. It was one of those "what can we do last minute that might be fun...and include dinner?!" kind of times. I went in to look around before we fully committed and came back out to the car to report the "sky high" pizza prices to Charlie. We agreed to go in anyway because we thought Claire would enjoy it.

We ordered a pizza and I sat with Grayson while Charlie and Claire went to the toddler area. After we ate (the pizza was pretty good!) I took three dollars (a twoonie and a loonie here!) to the machine to get some tokens. Of course I chose the broken machine and had to flag down a worker to help me. He went over to the register and grabbed a handful of tokens and gave them to me. Yes! Extra tokens!
Charlie and I relived our childhood by playing skeeball and Charlie played the basketball game twice. I do have to say though....who remembers being able to get a prize even with just one ticket? Not the case now! You have to have at least ten tickets to get anything. And by anything I mean one plastic bracelet or one piece of candy. Ridiculous!

Claire loved this horse ride! She could've sat on the horse all day!

I tried to play this game with Claire. She did pretty good. You just have to roll a ball to make your "man" move. Thank you Charlie for stepping in and helping her win!

I ♥ skeeball!

I was all about trying to get as many tickets as possible, but Claire only ended up with a plastic bracelet and a pack of smarties. She wasn't dissappointed, but I guess that is why parents spend twenty dollars on tokens instead of just three, ha! We decided it was more fun for us to play there than Claire...maybe we'll go back in a couple of years!

One Month

Grayson is one month old!

What a fast month is has been! I still can't believe that it has been a month since I got a full night of sleep, ha!

Grayson is doing really well. He weighs around 8 1/2 pounds. He has been eating every two hours, but in the last couple of days he has started going 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Thank goodness!

He is so much more content than Claire was. He doesn't cry very often, mainly just grunts. He even grunts in his sleep!

Lately, he has become more alert and will spend a few minutes looking around. I can't wait until he starts smiling back at me!

Claire loves her brother. She asks first thing every morning where he is and wants to go get him. We have been letting her lay with him in her bed while we say prayers every night. She thinks that is the best! She will hug and kiss him over and over.

We are so enjoying our baby boy!

Grayson and Claire at one month. Do they look alike?

Canadian Derby

Yesterday we ventured out to the Canadian Derby! I was ready to relive my days in Kentucky by seeing some good ole horse racing!

Before each race, they would parade the horses down the track. Charlie and I bet (just for fun!) on three races, and we lost each race! Each horse we picked started out dead last. It was pretty funny!

The starting gate.



We were hoping the yellow horse would win...

Claire loved watching the horses run by. She cheered the horses on!

I had to get a picture of Grayson too...he is always sleeping in the Baby Bjorn.

Then we went to the infield for the "family" activities...which of course was a petting zoo.

Claire is getting really good at petting animals in petting zoos. I feel like we see a petting zoo almost every weekend, ha! I told Charlie that when we retire we should go around to places with our own petting zoo. I bet that would be good money!
Then, we met some dressed up characters. I think they were mascots for the derby and the local news station.

The "dog" was checking out Grayson.

Giving the "horse" a high-five!

I can't say that these races really compared to Keeneland, but it was fun!

Zoo!

Yesterday we decided to go to the zoo! Claire didn't know what the zoo was, even though she has been a few times, so she was really excited to see some animals. Charlie and I were ready to walk out the door after getting ourselves and the two kids ready for around two hours! This whole having to get a toddler and a newborn ready thing is exhausting! It seems like as soon as we are ready I have to feed Grayson and then change his diaper and then I forgot something, etc. it goes on and on!
So, when we got to the zoo (after I had to feed Grayson again in the van!) we were ready to walk around and enjoy being outside.

There were only two goats and one sheep in the petting zoo...Claire still liked petting them though.

After we ate lunch, we went in search of the elephant. The zookeepers like to take her out for walks through the zoo so she usually isn't in her cage. Claire kept yelling, "Lucy!"
While we were looking we stopped to see these animals. Now doesn't this gigantic hamster-looking rodent look like he belongs in the fire swamp from The Princess Bride?

Then we saw some inflatables. Claire just had to try them out.

We walked around a bit longer, still looking for Lucy. We tried to watch a wolf show, but somebody woke up hungry. It was time to go!

Glad you can't hear the poor crying coming from the Baby Bjorn!

We never did find that elephant...Oh well...Maybe next time!

Plastic surgeon and splash park!

On Wednesday, we took Grayson for his day full of appointments. He did really well and so did Claire. Poor girl, she had to spend the whole day with Grayson at the doctor!
The cleft lip and palate clinic here is one of the best around and our plastic surgeon is really good too. I was really pleased with him. He gave us a lot of information and answered all of our questions about the surgery. It should be booked next week and will take place when Grayson is 3-4 months old. We were surprised that it is more extensive than we had thought. Charlie and I just assumed it would be stitching the lip together, but cleft lip babies are born without one of the muscles under their nose and so the surgery involves a cut up to the nose and several other cuts to pull the skin and straighten his lip and nose. Grayson also has to wear arm splints for three weeks to keep him from scratching his face and messing up his stitches. He will stay in the hospital overnight and we can stay with him. Also, breastfeeding won't be a problem after his surgery. I am so relieved about that!
Whew! That was a lot to take in!
After we ate lunch we went to see the feeding specialist/speech pathologist. She asked a lot of questions about feeding. Grayson has done well. He already exceeds his birth weight, and I am so thankful to be able to breastfeed him. If Grayson had a cleft palate or worse cleft lip, this would probably not be possible.
Grayson has to have a hearing test done (it is mandatory for all cleft lip/palate babies), but I don't think he has any hearing problems. He always jumps when his sister gets loud, ha! Then, she will see him at 6 months and they will continue to follow him as long as we live here.
As much as we hate to put Grayson through the surgery, we did think that we heard a lot of good things at the appointments.
When we were finished, we thought Claire needed a reward. I put her down for a quick nap and Charlie came home a little early so we could take her to the splash park. She was in heaven! I have never seen her so excited and she kept making me look at her wet hair and her wet swim suit.

P.S. Grayson took a nice nap in his car seat while big sister played in the water!

Counting our blessings...

When Grayson was born and I looked at his beautiful face I didn't even notice his lip, but I do remember Charlie talking to a nurse from across the room and asking her about it. "What about his lip?" I asked. I was told he has a cleft lip. Immediate dread set in. When he was brought back to me I looked at his sweet face. Sure enough, he has a small cleft lip on his right side. Luckily, it is incomplete and doesn't extend to his nose or include his palate. Charlie and I were really surprised. And I admit, we were upset too. I don't think anyone wants to hear about birth defects minutes after your baby is born. The nurse said that a pediatrician would come and talk to us the next day.
Charlie and I looked and looked at his lip, and we have had countless conversations over the last few weeks about it. We were immediately really funny about sending pictures or taking pictures of Grayson. We just didn't want anyone to comment on facebook and say something about it. When I did finally post pictures I was super selective about which ones I chose to post. I now think that I shouldn't worry about that so much. I am proud of my little boy, and I don't want to hide him! He is such a good baby and we are enjoying him so much.
The pediatrician set us up an appointment with a plastic surgeon and feeding/speech pathologist. The pediatrician said that the surgery would be in the next few months and would completely correct his lip. We felt relieved that the problem could be fixed, but we really hate that Grayson has to go through the surgery at all.
Grayson's lip has been a constant reminder of God's mysterious ways. In the midst of dealing with Grayson's lip, we have realized how much we have been blessed. There are so many things to be thankful for, such as the fact that his lip isn't that bad and that I have been able to breastfeed him at all.
We think Grayson is beautiful, even with his lip. Here he is in the hospital when I got to dress him for the first time.