Our niece Hannah is finally home!

Little Hannah finally came home last Friday after a 2-month stay in the NICU! At her first pediatrician's appointment today, she weighed in at 4 lbs, 14 oz and is doing really well! We're so thankful that she is finally home and can't wait to see her again! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers over the last couple of months.... many of you don't even know Kelly and Louis (or Hannah), but have been so sweet in checking in to see how they are all doing. I know they appreciate that more than you'll ever know (as do we)!

This is the happy family finally at home!

Her first ride in the car on the way home....

Waving hello!

First Day of Pre-School!

Today was Grady's first official day of pre-school (the 2-year-old class)! He'll be going three mornings a week... We've been building the whole idea of "school" up to him for weeks now and going over how we'd say goodbye to him, but that we'd come back later to pick him up. We even went out and got him a bookbag, which he was very excited about! (Of course his bookbag isn't for books, but rather stuff like a change of clothes, etc.... Elmo and his favorite blanket were also in his bookbag just in case!) Needless to say, he wore it all around the house last night and was thrilled with the idea of being "a big boy!"

Brandon and I both went this morning to drop him off for his first day. (Luckily, Brandon works right across the street, so it's pretty convenient for him.) We brought him to his classroom this morning, he hugged us both goodbye and then immediately starting playing. He didn't seem to be concerned at all that we were leaving! That's our Grady though.... a very laid back, go with the flow kind of guy. :) While Grady was completely fine, Brandon and I were doing all we could to not burst into tears!

We picked him up at noon, and his teacher told us he did "absolutely great!" She said that he happily went with the flow of everything they were doing and even mentioned how much he really loved the playground (which was no surprise....he could live at the park and be completely happy). Here are a couple of pictures (below) from when we were leaving the house this morning ... We did struggle a bit to get out of the house on time, which makes me a little nervous come November when I'll be getting a newborn ready at the same time! We'll figure it out though! I even lost my keys this morning... when I finally found the spare set, Grady turned to me and said, "Good job Mommy!" It's sad when your 2-year-old is cheering you on for finding your keys....he he. It was quite cute though!

A Long Weekend at the Beach!

Over Labor Day weekend, we decided to take a mini vacation to North Myrtle Beach.... We figured this was the last little vacation we'd squeeze in before baby #2 comes along and before we officially become a family of 4! So, after attending an open house for Grady's pre-school on Friday morning, we headed to the beach and stayed through Monday afternoon, which was great! Grady was very excited and LOVED playing in the sand. He loves the water too, but was not all that crazy about the waves in the ocean....which was honestly okay with me. I'm sure Brandon wasn't too excited about the idea of venturing out into the ocean with a toddler and a 31-week pregnant woman who could easily float out to sea if a wave hit her the wrong way. :)

As you can tell by the video, Grady was very amused when Brandon built sandcastles....Well, I don't even know if these should be called sandcastles, but close enough for a two-year-old. His new little obsession is going through and making tunnels with his trains and cars (in anything and everything), which is why he's so excited to make holes in the sandcastles.

We also decided to take Grady to the aquarium while we were there. We never know what to expect with things like this because sometimes we think he'll really love something (and be old enough to appreciate it), and he ends up completely bored and un-interested. Other times, we think something will be a complete dud, and he ends up loving it. The aquarium was kind of in the middle.... He really liked the aquarium tunnel (which we also loved!) and the interactive section (the toy section, as Grady called it). After those couple of things though, he was pretty much ready to leave. This is of course about 20 minutes after we had gotten in and after we had spent nearly $50 for tickets.....go figure. We really enjoyed it though, and he did too for the most part!

And finally, here is a picture of the highlight of the aquarium. Yep, you got it - the gumball machine in the gift shop! So funny!

Grady and his new deer...

As we mentioned in an earlier post, Grady has recently developed a fascination for deer. We see them quite often in our yard (sometimes up to six at a time), and Brandon and Grady now have a nightly ritual of going to feed the deer after dinner (which is essentially putting leftover dinner food in the compost/deer pile). Then we all watch the deer eat the food from the screened in porch. While I was out at the store yesterday, I found this deer stuffed animal that I just had to get for him! Needless to say, he really enjoyed his new little friend, and I captured this video before bedtime. (Sorry that it's kind of long!) Having a 2-year-old is so much fun.... the little conversations are priceless! At one point he insisted on going into the baby's room and sitting in the rocking chair because he needed to rock the deer to sleep. I got part of that on video too, but figured one video was enough for the blog. :) Oh- and we definitely have no plans to watch the movie Bambi anytime soon. I think Grady would be traumatized for life!

Weekend in the Mountains!

Last weekend we went up to Boone to visit Granny and Gramps and had a great visit! The mountains in the summertime is definitely the place to be. During the day, it was in the 70's and at night it was in the high 50's, so it was perfect weather to have a few adventures.

On Saturday we went to Grandfather Mountain and walked across the "mile high" bridge. Grady's first reaction - "NO WAY!" - was much like ours. The thought of walking across a very high bridge (with LOTS of people) that was swaying in the wind (with a toddler...and another little guy in the womb...29 weeks and counting!) didn't seem all that enticing. We did it though and were glad we did because it was beautiful! Afterwards, we had a picnic lunch and then headed over to see the bears, the deer and the otters. Grady particularly loved the bears and was really fascinated by the otters. (He loves deer too, but they were kind of far away....and we see them all the time in our yard.)

On Sunday we headed to Tweetsie Railroad.... Grady LOVES trains, so we of course thought he would love Tweetsie this year. (We took him last year too, but he didn't fully appreciate it. Luckily Gramps hooks us up with free passes, so we at least didn't have to pay the $30 each ticket price. Thanks Gramps!) He was very excited to see the big "choo-choo," so we thought we'd ride that first. We should have known the outcome when after sitting on the train for two whole seconds, he started saying "Go bye-bye," as in get off the train. He didn't mind the ride so much, but he was terrified of the whistle...it was rather loud! So, he was not happy for most of the ride and didn't seem to care that his own daddy used to work there (acting as an Indian in the skits....yes, can you imagine?!) It ends up that Grady wasn't the only unhappy little guy on the train.....another little 2-year old (named Brady ironically) sitting behind us had the same reaction.

Luckily he did love feeding the deer and eating ice cream (or "anu" as he calls it....we're still not sure where he got that name from, but we think it's so cute that we even call it that now!).

Life with a 2 year old!

I don't like to say Grady has hit the "terrible 2's" because this age is actually tons of fun.... Yes, interesting at times (to say the least), but 2 year olds are incredibly cute with the things they say and do. We find ourselves laughing all the time! There is definitely some frustration in there too, but in general we're trying to enjoy the little moments - even ones like these!

Grady decided it would be a good idea to go into my purse (this is just a day after the potty training fiasco) and play with my makeup. Before I realized what he was doing, he had gotten to my lipstick...he then ran to show me that he was doing what Mommy does!



The incident with the lipstick was about two hours after Grady decided it would be a good idea to play in the toilet! Yes, we know....disgusting! He actually got one of his sippy cups and filled it with toilet water and splashed it around. Ugh. Now we realize why they sell toilet latches...something I previously thought was completely unnecessary. I immediately searched on the internet to figure out what kinds of horrible effects this could have on him, but instead found many parents reporting that their toddlers experimented in the same way. I don't know if that was comforting or disturbing. :)

And here is yet another lovely thing Grady started doing! As you can tell, Grady will be teaching his little brother all kinds of wonderful things once he arrives in November!

Potty training isn't as easy as it looks....

Well, things didn't go so well this weekend in the potty training department. Let's just say that by 1pm on Saturday, we had a house covered in bodily fluids and a hysterical toddler. (Somehow we were covered as well!) We knew it reached a point where we had to give up for the day when we had a screaming toddler running around the house "spraying" everything, and a dad following him with the swiffer at record speed. In every corner (and on every surface) there seemed to be more! While Grady did manage to have a few successes, we decided we have to re-think our approach...not sure what that will be yet, but the intensity of bootcamp didn't exactly appeal to him (or to us for that matter), and the whole being naked idea didn't go so well (with a boy anyway). The book said that he wouldn't like it running down his legs....well, with a boy it doesn't really run down his legs....it goes EVERYWHERE (high and low)!

We have a feeling our hopes for having only one child in diapers by November might not happen, but we'll just keep trying! For any of you experienced moms out there, we're definitely open to advice (especially when it comes to potty training boys)! Thankfully, we have no pictures to go along with this post! he he....

On another note, it's supposed to be 101 degrees here today. Ugh. Doesn't mix so well with a 7-month pregnant woman. I think we're staying in!

Potty Training Begins...

We are determined to have Grady potty trained before his new little brother arrives in November! This is not because we feel pressured to do so, but because we don't want to deal with two little people in diapers at the same time. We've been talking about the potty with him for weeks now (actually months) and are finally ready to take on the potty training challenge full force this weekend. Grady loves sitting on the potty, but for some reason won't do anything on it! Then he thinks he should get an M&M....he gets quite upset when he realizes he only gets one if he makes a "deposit" so to speak. he he.... We went out today and bought pull-ups and even some "big boy underwear." I tried to make a big deal of it to him so he would get excited about the prospect....but instead he took one look at the package and threw it as hard as he could on the floor. We definitely have our work cut out for us! When we got home, he told me he wanted to go to the potty, so I of course sat him there, but again he did nothing except try to unravel the entire roll of toilet paper (which is why it's not in the picture). I went to capture the moment on camera (thinking one day we'd look back fondly on him learning), and he got very mad at me and yelled "NO WAY!" a hundred times. Guess he likes his privacy. :) Tomorrow we will start "Potty Bootcamp," which is supposed to potty train toddlers in 2-3 days (aside from at night). We'll report back on Monday! :)

27 weeks.....

I am just now at about the 27 week mark in my pregnancy, the age our little niece Hannah was born at just about three weeks ago. It's amazing that right now our little guy is the size she was when we first saw her! Experiences like this make us realize how truly lucky we are to just have a healthy pregnancy... it's something I think I took advantage of the first time around because we just didn't know any different. It hardly seems fair that little Hannah has to work so hard everyday, while our little guy still rests warmly in my stomach. We are just incredibly thankful and now truly realize what a blessing that is. Prayers have definitely been answered with Hannah though....she is doing well (despite a few small bumps in the road) and growing everyday! Here are a few recent pictures of her!

Fourth of July!

This post is a little out of order, but that's okay! :) We went to Pinehurst for the Fourth of July holiday to visit Mimi and Popeye (Grady's new names for Tracy's parents). We had a joint birthday party for Grady, Tracy and Mimi (since their birthdays are all within a couple weeks of each other). Grady got a guitar and microphone for his birthday and absolutely LOVED it (as you can tell in the video). :) We also went to the July 4th celebration in Pinehurst where Grady got to climb up into a firetruck and ride a pony for the first time! We also watched fireworks that night.... Grady was fascinated by the lights, but wasn't too crazy about the noise. I included a picture of Grady's first July 4th since he was only about 2 weeks old then. I just couldn't resist! :)

Just being silly while eating his cake.... :)

Riding a pony for the first time!

Grady's first Fourth of July (at only two weeks old)! :)