Happy New Year!!

So it's the last day of 2008 and what an amazing year it has been. We didn't do much to celebrate, we just went to Grandma and Grandpa Beechers for pizza and came home for the countdown. Grayden had a late nap at Grandmas by accident so he happened to be awake for midnight. Grayden was my first new years eve kiss this year :)

As the year wraps to an end I can't help but reflect on everything that has happened to us. A year of miracles, laughs, tears, Much love and an out pour of blessings. It has been the best year of my life!! I can't wait to see what 2009 brings. Thanks for making this year the best year of our life Grayden.
Happy New Year !!

Mom and Dad
xoxoxoxo

Trying to ride (backwards)

Crazy Grayden....haha

Check out my new ride !!

Our clapping boy

Ball pitt fun

Merry Christmas Grayden

Today was Grayden's First Chistmas !!!! There is just something so different and special about spending christmas with your child, Especially their first. We decided to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa Beechers instead of driving back and forth because we were spending Christmas Eve their anyway to play games. You didn't sleep very well. You weren't fussy just tossing and turning all over the place so Daddy took you downstairs and rocked you until everyone got up which was around 8am (what a good daddy) You were very spoiled this year Grayden. Grandma and Grandpa Beecher got you a bunch of neat things in your stocking, a couple cute outfits, a sleigh, and a 6 V batman quad. Its pretty cool and I think daddies a little jealous. LoL

We went home around 6pm to open your presents from Santa. Santa brought you a few outfits, a hulk toy, a story reader, books, a bunch of cool bath toys, a ball pitt and a few other neat things. You were very spoiled to say the least. It was so fun to share our first christmas together and watch you tear open a couple gifts. I think you were at a perfect age to celebrate a FIRST Christmas. You may not have known you were unwrapping presents but at least you could tear some open.

My family was in Vancouver this year but neXt year that will change (RIGHT MOM AND DAD!!) Although Christmas was amazing this year with Grayden......it just wasn't the same for me without my family around. I really missed you guys today :( My parents are coming down in February so Grayden gets to have another christmas from them then.

Christmas is our favorite time of year and we are already planning on a bunch of traditions we want to start with you and have as a family.
Thanks for making this Christmas extra special baby boy. We love you so much!!
MERRY FIRST CHRISTMAS GRAYDEN

LOVE
MOM AND DAD


My cute shirt

Me in Great Grandmas rocking chair


My bike from Great Grandma and Grandpa Bergeson







My first Christmas dinner










All my presents this year


In my ball pitt

10 months

NNNNOOOOO.......

10 months old !!

Grayden is now a double digit baby! He turned 10 months today and I still am amazed at how time flies when your having fun! He is so much fun and brightens every moment of our life. I still get to wake up to that adorable smile everyday, I feel like the luckiest mom in the world to get to be Grayden's mommy!

So what has this month been like for Grayden:

This has been your busiest month SO FAR. Im sure I will probably say that for the next few months to come. You cruise around everywhere, stand up and walk between furniture and stand all by your self here and there. You can stand there and balance your self for a while now. You will be taking a step or two in no time. Its so wierd for me to look at you just standing there ALL BY YOURSELF! You just look like such a big boy and it only seemed like last month where you couldn't even hold your head up without support. (sniff, sniff)

Your favorite things to do around the house are sneaking into the bathroom and play with the toilet paper. You spin it over and over and watch the toilet paper make a mess on the floor. In the loft you like to get under the computer desk and play with all the cords (mommy is constantly pulling you out from under there!!! In the kitchen you LOVE to play in the pantry and pull down whatever is on the first shelf. You love to grab all of daddies plastic cups from work and bring them out and scatter them across the floor. You like to take the magnets off the fridge and fling them across the hardwood over and over again. when we open the fridge you get histerickle and crawl as fast as you can to see all the goodies in there. You have had no luck sneaking in there YET....but have come VERY close. haha You know that places your not supposed to be because every time we hear you crawling into the bathroom towards the toilet paper roll or under the computer you stop and wait for someone to catch you and once we look at you and say "NO" you smile and go even faster!!...... LITTLE STINKER LoL

Grayden cut THREE teeth this month and theres another one along the way. He cut one in Hawaii, and a week later he cut his 2nd top tooth and the very next day his bottom one came through....I had NO IDEA he was even teething on the bottom. So he almost has all four teeh. 2 on the top and 1 on the bottom. I'm guessing his other bottom one should be through in the next day or two. I am so greatful he handled it so well. I have heard some horror stories about teething and luckily you weren't to botherd. A few fussy nights and that was it.

What else is new this month? Grayden added a 2nd word to his vocabulary!! he started saying DADA !! Cody's been trying to get him to say that for a while now and finally out of no where when we were shopping in Walmart he just said Dada, Dada! That was on December 5th, 2008. Cody was so excited!! So he says Dada and MaMa so far along wtih a bunch of new goo goo ga ga babbles. He loves to talk right now
and the jibberish he comes up with sounds sooo cute.

Grayden is still eating similarly to last month, he loves apples with cereal for breakfast, cucumber for lunch and anything green for dinner. He doesn't seem to be pickey AT ALL which is wonderful. Lets hope that doesn't change and he continues to enjoy his greens!! We added a few more dishes to the menu. He loves pasta with some cinnamon, he also tried some organic chicken which he doesn't seem to mind but definitely not his favorite. All the recalls lately has made me hesitant to feed him any meats but we did try some. We mostly feed him grow foods so he'll get chicken every once in a while. I can't stomach my self to give him any red meat. I don't eat ANY red meat so I can't see him eating it anytime soon especially if I can't find it organic. He tried a couple pieces of mommies favorite food (grilled cheese), potatoes and zuccini. He is still nursing about 4 times throughout the day and once through the night and uses it for his primary nutrition and of course mommy snuggles!

You are starting to sleep through the night. YAY ...He goes to bed around 10 and wakes up at 6 for a quick feed and then back to bed until 9am. We have started skipping his 3rd nap of the day to get him to sleep earlier so he is now going to bed around 9:30. We have our bath just before to keep him awake and happy and then story time, then bedtime. Grayden really LOVES his books right now. his favorite book is called "RHYME-A-ROUND" its a touchy feely book and as soon as we read it he looks up at you and gives you a big smile....so cute! He has learned and loves to turn the pages for you.
Daddy or I continue to rock him to sleep for his naps and at night and we love that quiet, snuggle time with our cuddly little boy! His naps are still around 1 1/2 - 2 hours long.

Oh yah Grayden FINALLY started clapping this month!! haha my goodness we have been trying to get him to clap for months. He would just stare and continue doing anything BUT. He started to clap on December 21 on the way to Grandmas and it came from no where. I just looked at him sitting there all quiet and he was clapping and now does it ALL THE TIME. All you have to do is say "PATTY CAKE" OR clap and he starts to clap.

This has been such a fun month with Grayden, he learns something new everyday and I love seeing the world through his innocent, trusting little eyes. He is such a loving little boy. I think he hears "I love you" more than any other phrase, at least a 100 times a day from daddy and I. You really cannot imagine how LOVED you are Grayden. Not only from your mom and dad but your family and friends adore you SO MUCH!! You are one lucky boy to be surrounded by so many people that love you.
Happy 10 month Birthday Grayden

Mom & Dad














Check out my teeth

HO HO HO ...

Grayden met Santa Clause for the first time today :) He was pretty good at first when I sat him on Santa's lap and we got a few "curious" pictures (No smiles though). He kept looking back and forth to Cody and I for approval that this man was safe or something. After a minute or so he started to cry and wanted mommy or daddy to take him away from the strange looking man.
It was cute....

Christmas is only a few days away and we are SOOO excited to celebrate Grayden's FIRST Christmas!! 5 MORE DAYS!!!
So another special FIRST today !!! Here is Grayden's First picture with Santa Clause :)

His Favorite time of day.

As I have posted previously Grayden JUST LOVES his baths. We have a bath before bedtime and It's the time of day we ALL look forward too. We all just have so much fun together and tonight was no exception. I wanted to capture a little video of what our bath times are really like.

Heres a little video of Grayden's bath tonight :)

Tug a war- with kiara :)

Graydens First tooth

As I said in his 9 month update. Grayden cut his first tooth in Hawaii on November 18!
Here is a couple photos of His first tooth!!!

Attack of the duck

Playing in the hawaiian grass

On the beach in Maui

Graydens 9 month update !!

Grayden turned 9 months old the day we came home from Hawaii. What a crazy and fun month he has had!! He has become so aware of his surroundings and has developed this little personality that I am getting to know more and more everyday. Just seeing him develop into this little tiny person has been so fun!

Grayden has gotten SO mobile it is crazy! He has mastered crawling anywhere and everywhere. He has been very clingy this month and is constantly wanting your undivided attention. Maybe the teething? I dunno....he sits and plays by himself for a little while but it doesn't take long before he's hollaring for some attention. If we're not playing with him he comes and finds us and pulls himself up by our pants to be picked up. He is strong willed, which I think is a good characteristic for a boy. He hates it when he gets placed in his play pen or anywhere else for that matter and tells me all about it until I come get him. The babbling has really increased this month too.

He is now officially pulling himself up on everything. He just looks so old standing there all by himself. For a while when I would come into the room and see him like that I almost couldn't believe it. We have started to use the word "NO" a lot these days. The first few days it was cute, and I liked watching him explore and see everything for the first time at this new level but it can get exhausting chasing him around everywhere. He has started to move side to side on different things and has actually stood up all by himself a couple times, but then immediately plops down to his bum.

Sharing is also something that developed this month. He loves to share his soother with me. I smack my lips and save "mommy have" and he pulls it out of his mouth and tries to put it in mine. He gets quite a kick out of someone else having his soother. He likes to share his mum mumss as well. Waving hello is new too. He just flaps his right arm up and down with a big smile on his face....so sweet :)

He had his first commercial baby food in Hawaii. I packed some organic bananas and pears for fruit but I had to buy some vegetable commercial baby food because I had nothing to make vegetables with. Surprisingly he didn't mind it but didn't eat much. Finger foods are by far his favorite, he loves slices of banana, cucumber, avocado, pieces of broccoli pretty much anything he can feed himself with. He surprisingly does pretty well with it and most of it he is actually eating! He could eat broccoli for 3 meals a day if i let him. It is definitely one of his favorite foods and gets all antsy and moves his tongue around every time he sees me make it! He's going to grow big and strong :) We are still doing mostly 2 meals a day. He continues to nurse about 5-6 times a day and then once or twice during the night.

Oh yah...Gray FINALLY cut his first tooth in Hawaii on November 18th. A few days earlier he was just drooling like crazy and a couple times he would spit his soother out and grab my finger to bite chow down on. A couple days later I could see that his gums at the the top of his mouth had been pierced through a bit. My baby was cutting a tooth :( I felt so bad for my poor little guy. I kept saying to Cody and Grandma that I think he was cutting a tooth up there because it looked all red and stuff but they didn't really believe me at first because it was happening at the top of his gums instead of the bottom which is where they usually come in first. Anyway he definitely has one up there and I don't think it will be long before the other one pierces through beside it. The doctor said it wasn't really normal for them to cut a tooth at the top first. I googled it and read from other moms that it was normal and that every baby is different and his doctor said it isn't anything to worry about. She said if the tooth was canine like then there may be worries but its coming through normally.

He is one healthy boy and weighs in at a whopping 20 Lbs 5 ounces. He dropped at bit from being in the 75%tile for his weight to the 50%tile which is normal since he is more mobile. He is 30 inces long which keeps him in the 95%tile for his height! He is one tall boy!! (I wonder where he gets that from) His head circum was 17.75" (we always new he had a big melon). I bought him an 18 month snow suite thinking he would have so much room to grow trough winter but when we tried it on his feet are already stretching out!! Not only is he tall but his feet are huge...He is in a size 4 at 9 months old!!!! We under estimate our son and how big he is all the time.
Anyway we couldn't be happier and feel so blessed to have such a happy and healthy boy. He has never even been sick yet!!! Not one cough, not one sniffle....Nothing (knock on wood) I know he will catch a cold and get sick one of these days but I am pretty impressed he hasn't caught a thing yet. He is still happy as ever. Every single person that meets you has commented on how happy you are. Everytime we got on the elevator in hawaii almost everyone would say, "Aren't you just a happy boy". You smile at everyone you meet and there is no greater feeling as mother to see you so happy and healthy. You love to laugh and be tickled. You go hystericle especially when we chase you around the room and say, "im gonna get you" Your giggle is the cutest sound in the world.

I am 3 months away from his first birthday and am totally in shock. Sometimes when I stare at him sleeping all sprawled out on the bed he is absolutely, without a doubt, a little boy laying there and I can't remember when that happened. I must have blinked. I am really going to try and soak up the next few months of babyness with Grayden. You are unbelievable baby boy and a dream come true in my life. Love you Love you Loves you!!!

It has been a fun and exciting month! So much has changed and I know I'll say the same thing next month but man does it go by fast!
Happy 9 month birthday baby!!

Mom and Dad
xoxoxoxo




9 months old!!


Doesn't he look so big !!




In my first snow suite



Playing in my toy bin

Aloha Hawaii..

Our Vacation to Hawaii came and went too fast. We left November 13 and came home the 22nd....NOT LONG ENOUGH! It didn't help coming back to snow either!! Although I really miss the warm weather and the beach in view, it's always good to be home!

We left here at about noon to Vancouver and we were able to visit mom and dad for a couple of hours before our flight to Maui. They hadn't seen Grayden in about three months so they were thrilled to have spend a few hours just to see him and spend some time with us. Grayden was so good for the flights!! I was dreading that 6 hour plane ride but he slept almost the entire time. He was awake for about 2 hours during our flight to Maui but kept himself busy with all the new toys Grandma Beecher had brought for him. He nursed himself to sleep through every take off and landing!

We finally arrived to Maui at about 11pm Hawaii time which was 2 am our time. and when we arrived to our hotel it was about 3:30am our time. It was an exhausting night to say the least. Cody went scuba diving for the first time with his dad but other than that we didn't have anything planned down there so we mostly stayed at our condo and hung out for the week. Our condo was right on the beach so we had a nice walk every morning and night. When Grayden napped we just sat out on the deck and starred at our amazing view. There is something about the ocean that is sooo soothing and relaxing!! Anyway our days consisted of swimming in the pool with Grayden (he loved the pool), playing in the grass (he found the grass sooo amusing...he would just sit there and pick at it forever). We played in the waves ( Grayden didn't like the ocean very much and would clinch on as tight as he could every time one rolled in) and of course taking loads of pictures. We did a bit of shopping here and there. On the third day the weather wasn't so nice to we spent a few hours at the aquarium, Gray loved watching all the different fishes swimming around. It was cute to watch him tap at the glass over and over. Other than a few good pictures it was a big waste of money. I guess everyone else had the same idea to go there on a not so nice day. It was jam packed in there and just all around not that great.

Anyway He napped at least three times a day which made it difficult to really plan on doing anything for long. Naps in Hawaii were a nightmare...lol thats the downside of rocking them to sleep everyday I guess. He had such a hard time napping without it!! He would sometimes nurse himself to sleep on the bed but for the most part we each took turns rocking him side to side in our arms. He has a mind of his own I tell ya.....I would try but once he figured out what I was doing he would have a big fuss so I would pass him to daddy and most of the time he would fall asleep but sometimes he gave daddy a big fuss as well so it was Grandmas turn and ususally every time Grandma had him he would fall asleep.

Thursday was a ruff day for Cody and I but know one had it worse than poor Gray Gray. We decided that for Graydens morning nap we would set the play pen by the pool so that Cody and I could have a little fun while he napped. Well as soon as we FINALLY rocked him back and forth to sleep and put him in his play pen, someone started up a saw which woke him up immediately. I quickly picked him up and put him back to sleep. We moved the play pen away from the noise closer to the ocean and as I put him down he sat right back up. By that point he was not going back to sleep and that was that. We got him all sun screened up and went in the pool instead. Well he rubbed sun screen in his one eye and while he was in the pool Gray bumped his other eye on the side of the pool. He was cranky tired, tears coming out one eye, a bruise on the other, and drooling all over from his tooth. IT WAS HORRIBLE.... emotionally draining for Cody and I but like I said I don't think anyone was more upset than poor Grayden. That was probably his crankiest day ever and I can't blame him.

It was a wonderful and much needed vacation. We had a lot of fun!!
Thank you so much mom and dad Beecher for everything!!



Awaiting the tide....dun dun dun


Hanging with Grandma Beecher


Grandma and Grandpa Beecher


Playing in the pool


Pulling out the Grass


No shoes....no shirt....no problems !!


Graydens bad day :(