Catching Up...

1.  Welcome Home Brian:  The girls and I were very happy to have Brian home from the Dominican Republic where he was for 5 days for a wedding.  I think it's safe to say that we held our own pretty well while he was gone, but being a single-parent for a week made me appreciate how much Brian does!  Brian had a great and hot trip while we got five inches of snow and had a late start one day because the morning temperature was -20...you can imagine that I didn't feel too sorry for him when he emailed saying his feet were sore because he had sunburned them!  The girls loved watching on a flight-tracker website Brian's plane get closer to home, and I woke up the next morning to the three of them playing Touble downstairs in the basement...it was 6:00am - I took that as a definite sign that they were glad to have Brian home!  :)

2.  Valentine's Day:  The girls were excited for Valentine's Day this year!  Liv got to have her party on the 13th and was pumped to bring the cookies we had made to share with her friends at school.  Grace, unfortunately, still hasn't had her party...thank you very much cold and snow.  Ugh - when is it going to end?!?  Grady had on a very cute little outfit from Auntie Beth that lasted until about noon before it was covered in too much spit-up to tolerate - still need to get a good picture of it!  There was no school on Valentine's Day (4-day weekend), so we all headed over to a friend's house for some play/craft time and treats; it was a good day!

3.  Staying Home:  I continue to enjoy staying home with the kiddos.  Sometimes I get a little stressed out with how perpetually messy everything seems to be, but then I remind myself that that's a good thing; I really wouldn't have it any other way...well, maybe I'd like it if I could keep things a touch cleaner!  :)  Anyways, it's been wonderful to be home with Grady, and I feel like I've been able to soak up his baby-hood.  I've also enjoyed spending the days with Grace playing games, dolls, blocks, and dress up with her.  Grace is a pretty independent girl, so we parallel "play" a lot - her playing is legitimate whereas mine often means folding laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, or something of that ilk!  I'm definitely looking forward to warmer weather and getting these two kiddos out to the park and on walks while Liv is at school.  Speaking of, I love being home when Liv gets off the bus - it's fun going through her school bag together and sometimes having some alone time if Grady and Grace are still sleeping.  Lastly, at night, I am so enjoying being stress-free.  It's really nice to not have to do anything once the kids are in bed and to be able to sit and watch TV with Brian or read a book; I think dealing with grading in the evenings is going to be one of the toughest parts of going back to school next fall.  But, as next fall is a while away, I'm not going to think about it and am just going to enjoy what I've got!

 

4.  Watching Miss Ivy Anne:  Last Monday and Wednesday the girls and I got to spend some quality time with Ivy (the girls' cousin).  Beth and family were in Canada checking out the town they'll be moving to in late May (Edmonton).  We had lots of fun together playing, dressing up, jumping on the trampoline, painting, and reading books.  It was so sweet to see Ivy playing with the girls (Liv was home Monday too enjoying the last day of the 4-day weekend), and I loved hearing Ivy request for them to come with her upstairs, and downstairs, and upstairs, and downstairs!  Even better...the girls were willing to do all of it with her!  Ivy was coming down with a cold, and later Monday I got to enjoy a few cuddles because of it.  My favorite...Manda, can I hold you?  Translation:  Amanda, can you hold me?  :)  Ivy also liked holding Grady - but she couldn't quite remember to say "Can I hold him?" and liked to say her instead!  Tuesday, Grandpa Roger stayed home with Ivy even making a trip to the doctor for some medicine, but by Wednesday morning, Pat reported that she was asking for Liv and Grace again!  I'm very glad we got to spend some quality time with Ivy - we're certainly going to miss her and the rest of the Hoden family when they move!

Grady (and Grace's) Photo Shoot

Last week, Grace helped me out with a little photo shoot of Grady.  It was pretty cute watching/hearing her try to get Grady to smile...especially since half the time she either was acting a little oddly, being truly goofy in a way he can't yet appreciate, and/or was being a bit scary!  :)  We got some decent photos though Grady is not really into smiling at the camera and I'm way too prone to taking picture that are too close up.  Oh well, we'll get professional pictures done at 6 months!  For now, these will preserve our little bud at 3 months (and our Grace and her spunkiness at age 4) just fine.

And, scroll down to the post below to read what Grady's up to at 3 months too.

Grady Lawrence - 3 Months

A few days late on this post, but that's what happens when your husband's on a trip to the Dominican Republic!  For those who don't know...one of Brian's best friends is getting married there - today actually!  :)  I'll write more about our time without Dad later.

Dear Grady,

I still like to call you my little man, but little is something you are not!  We don't own a scale, but I'm guessing you're awfully close to 14 pounds and have grown another inch or so...I think you look a little older than your three months and so do many others!  You're pretty much done with your 0-3 outfits and fit your 3-6 month ones pretty nicely.  Who do you look like - that's the question of the day.  We get all sorts of comments - you look like your sisters - you look like Olivia - you look like Grace - you look like your dad when he was little (says your Grandpa Roger) - you look like you mom (okay...only one person has said this, but that still counts, right?).  Does it matter?  No, mostly, you're just super adorable...especially as you love to flash a full blown smile pretty darn often and at whomever is talking to you!  :)

This month's accomplishments include more frequent and very purposeful smiling, more cooing/noise making, rolling over from tummy to back, strong attempts at rolling from back to belly but with no luck, and increased hand coordination - especially your left hand (seriously, this is not just wishful thinking - you know your dad's dream is a left-handed, tennis-playing kid!).  You like to bat at your toys in your activity gym, and you have a new-found and very intense love of your left fist and....wait for it....thumb!  Will this love last - that's to be determined, but seriously, what are the chances of us having three kids who suck their thumb/fingers?  I will embrace whatever, I suppose.  You do like your paci too, and that's more comforting to you as you're not super coordinated at the thumb sucking yet.

 

 

What else do you like...you much prefer to be carried facing out now, and if I'm holding you the other way will crane your neck around and throw yourself sideways until I turn you.  You like being on the counter in your seat while I make dinner or work in the kitchen.  You love when people (me, you dad, your sisters, or perfect strangers) talk to you and make faces at you.  You like sitting up quite a bit on my lap or in the Bumbo for short periods.  You LOVE one particular book filled with pictures of babies...it's very sweet to hear you coo at them.  You like getting your diaper changed and have started to giggle a bit when I do so and tickle your belly or legs.  You like tummy time alright and will tolerate it from anywhere between 1 and 10 minutes.  And, you still really enjoy getting baths - in fact, we're probably about ready to graduate to the real bathtub instead of your baby tub.

Napping and a schedule have made their appearance these last couple of weeks too.  I confess I called your Auntie Beth when I was having a near breakdown, but after, later that day, you took a 2.5 hour nap, I felt much better.  Since then, you've done really well taking (approximately), 1-2 hour long naps in the morning, 1 awesome nap anywhere from 2-3.5 hours in the afternoon, and usually a short snooze in the evening.  For the most part, going to sleep is a pretty simple affair.  Unlike what I wrote at 2 months, you prefer to be wrapped in a blanket, cradled in my left arm, given your paci, and rocked for a few minutes before being laid down.  I let you sleep on your tummy during the day, but we always do your back at night.  However, with the way you crank your neck, I think it won't be long till I find you sleeping on your tummy at night too.  Another random thing - when you sleep on your tummy, your face is always pointed right...when you sleep on your back, left.  Weird.  But, at least it's opposite ways.  Anyways, I hope that soon you'll compact those 2 morning naps into one better one in addition to your afternoon nap and evening snooze.  At night, you get up usually twice - I'm fine with this as you go to bed about 7-7:30.  Overall, you're doing really great, and it's nice to have time to play with Grace and/or do some things around the house while you sleep.

Well, that's about it little buds.  Oh, I guess the other thing to mention now that you're three months is that I would have gone back to work as of January 29th.  How glad I am to be home!  I love it and am treasuring this time home with you (and your sisters, of course).

Lots of hugs and kisses,
Mommy

Baptism

Sunday the 26th of January, we celebrated Grady's baptism.  We were so happy that Bob and Michelle (Groene) agreed to be Grady's sponsors - they are going to be such fantastic role models for him as he grows.

Baptism was, to say the least, memorable.  All started out well, but after an interesting sermon from a substitute priest, when it came time to do the official sacrament, Grady decided he'd had enough!  The second we got up front he started fussing...and that quickly turned into full blown crying.  Combine that with Grace and Olivia arriving late from children's service, Grace "flying" her fish she had made during that around the baptismal fount soon to be followed by her jumping to watch the priest pour the water over Grady, everyone leaving me stranded temporarily at the front instead of standing there while the baptism song was sung, Brian joining me only to have Grace follow, him to madly gesture for her to go sit, and Grace to pout in front of everyone, and you've got a moment to remember!  I suppose it was a bonus that Grady did stop the very loud and echoing crying when the church clapped for him!  Words cannot describe it well enough, but, maybe this will...on Monday, a friend, who doesn't even go to our church, ran into Brian and said, "Heard you had the best baptism ever this weekend."  Yikes, apparently we were memorable enough to be a topic of discussion!  :)

Birthday Bash

The weekend before Grace's birthday, we had her party as everyone was also in town for Grady's baptism - why not make it the busiest weekend possible, right!  In the afternoon on Saturday, we headed to the Cresco pool.  After swimming for a couple of hours, we came back to the house for pizza and cupcakes!  It was fun to see the kids having a blast, and I think it's safe to say as she's still talking about it and asking when her next birthday will be that Grace had a fantastic time!

Lovin' it!

 Bob and Evan Groene (my uncle/cousin)

 Chris, Ivy, and Mya Hoden

 Grady was all smiles for Grandma Linda!

 Mya (cousin), Olivia, and Grace

 

 Quite the crew:  Evan, Max, Grace, Mya, and Olivia