Mischief

Graysen is a handful. He is into everything, much more so than Caleb ever was. He loves to crawl into his Baby Einstein toy. I have pulled him out of his at least five times in the past two days. The only problem is that it is much more difficult to remove him from under the toy than it is for him to crawl into it. At least I have the "Safety Police" (Caleb) to help me keep an eye on him.

Sick Baby

Poor Little Gray is sick. (It is hard to tell from this picture. He is always such a trooper.) I took him to the doctor this morning, and she said that he has a sinus infection. She prescribed antibiotics for him, so I am sure that he will be feeling better soon.

Preparing for Graysen's First Birthday

Our first glimpse of Graysen.
Happy, healthy Graysen.

Graysen's first birthday is in a month! To prepare, we mailed invitations, purchased party supplies, and planned his cake.

We feel very fortunate that Graysen is as healthy as he is now, given the heart defect that he was born with. There are many parents of babies born with congenital heart defects (CHD's) that are not able to celebrate the first-year milestone with their baby. We have hope that future medical research will be able to give more parents of CHD babies the blessing that Lee and I will have on January 26th.

We want to invite you to make a donation to The Children's Heart Foundation or to give blood locally in celebration of Graysen's first birthday. For those of you who were intending on giving Graysen a present for his birthday, either of these acts would be a wonderful gift to Graysen.

Links:

The Children's Heart Foundation

Christmas 2008

We returned from our trip to Florida yesterday. We had a nice Christmas with my family.

Here are the boys in their Christmas outfits. The weather forecast was originally for highs in the 60's. Unfortunately, the actual tempeartures ended up being in the 80's. Graysen was stripped down to a diaper for most of Christmas day.



Grandma and Graysen
Cory

Grandpa opening his gift from Caleb. Caleb went Christmas shopping at the Dollar Store and was allowed to buy whatever he wanted for everyone. I did not help or direct him at all. He knew that he was doing his own Christmas shopping and insisted on carrying the basket throughout the entire store. He was very proud of his gifts.

Kevin opening his gift from Caleb: The next two pictures are revenge for Kevin posting a bad picture of me on his blog. Note the 2009 "DOC Babies" calendar in his lap. It was one of his favorite gifts. Kevin likes helmet babies a lot.

Kevin cooking Christmas breakfast.

A few pictures of the boys with their gifts.

"Elmo loves you. You are Elmo's best friend."

Christmas Eve

We arrived in Florida yesterday. We are staying with Auntie and Kevin, and are enjoying spending time with our family. Lee and Auntie made a great Christmas Eve dinner. I was in charge of making Christmas cookies. Everyone had a nice time. The only downside is that it is 80F here, which is not very "Christmassy."

Graysen Dancing & Singing

Christmas Cookies

This post is for Erica. This is a preview of what our Christmas cookies will probably look like on Christmas Eve. I wanted them to look like something Martha Stewart would have made. Unfortunately, they look like something Elmo would have made. We will have to figure out a way to make improvements in the process.

Coloring Contest Winner & Little Crawler

Caleb won the apartment-wide coloring contest. They dropped off his prize while he was sleeping, so I gave it to him when he woke up. The lady said that he won because he colored both sides of the paper. I do not have a picture of his masterpiece. He turned it in a few weeks ago. It is hanging in the office now.

The video also captures some of Graysen's early crawling. He isn't quite there, but is close enough to get to where he wants to go. I think that he will be crawling by the first of the year. Then it will be impossible to stop him!

Big Play Day

Yesterday was a busy play day for Caleb. He spent the morning at Aunt Kim's house playing with his friend. Then, we met Lisa and Emily at McDonald's for lunch. Emily's grandma and aunt

sent presents with Emily for Caleb and Graysen. The boys loved opening the presents and received very nice bibs, sweatshirts, and pillows. It was very sweet of Emily's family.

Graysen's First Tooth

Graysen's first tooth poked through this morning. It is on the bottom of his mouth. We are happy for him.

Happy 25th Birthday Erica!!!

Boiling Springs Christmas Parade

The Boiling Springs Christmas parade was this morning. Our apartment complex was on the parade route, so all we had to do was walk outside. Everyone had fun except for Graysen. He was ready for his morning nap and didn't have any interest in watching the parade. Caleb loved all of the floats, trucks, and candy... up until he saw Santa at the end of the parade. He does not want anything to do with Santa this year.

My favorite float:
Pure enthusiam:

Play Date

Yesterday, Emily and Lisa came over for a Christmas-themed play date. Emily and Caleb wore their matching Christmas shirts which Emily's aunt gave to them. They looked really cute, and Caleb loved the fact that he matched Emily. The play date ended with a really big hug from Emily. (The hug was so big that Caleb fell to the ground. I think that he liked it because he gave her two more hugs and pretended to fall.)

Craft Night

Caleb and I generally do crafts on Wednesdays. This evening, Caleb made a snowman. It turned out pretty well. Graysen feasted on Puffs while I helped Caleb with the craft.

It has been a quiet week for the boys and I. Lee is in Georgia all week, so we have kept ourselves busy with Christmas activities.

Play Time

Caleb spent the morning at Aunt Kim's house so that he could play with his friend. They had a great time making Christmas crafts.

Cramerton Christmas Parade

Yesterday we went to the Cramerton Christmas parade with Lisa, Todd, and Emily. It was a lot of fun. I think that Caleb has the most fun at Christmas parades, because he is excited about all the cars and trucks. Caleb would probably consider watching the traffic on Highway 9 an exciting parade.