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

Happy 4th Birthday Miss Grace!

Dear Grace,

I can't believe you are already 4 years old!  Your daddy and I are always saying to you that we want you to stay little forever, but you're not too keen on that...instead, you love to stand up on your chair during dinner (when you decide to actually eat dinner, that is) and show us how much you're growing as if every bite triggers and extra millimeter or something.  You love to talk about how big you are, and I think you take the cake in regards to "most excited for their birthday"!  You seem to think that your almost as old as Olivia now that your 4 and will somehow catch up to her - I imagine you'll eventually figure out that you're always going to be younger!

This weekend at your birthday party someone, I think your Aunt Beth, said that you have spunk.  Yes, that is most definitely true...you have enough personality to fill our entire house!  You can be sweet, cuddly, crazy, sassy, silly, aggravating, mischievous, kind, a little mean, funny, and sensitive all in a matter of minutes!  You have pretty much zero patience (we're working on this) and are one of the most stubborn and persistent people I know.  And, while this last trait, to be honest, makes me want to tear my hair out and scream quite often, I think it's going to take you great places one day.  When you truly want something in the future, I have a feeling you're going to fight for it, and the willingness to fight can be the key to success.

You're doing really well in your transition from youngest to middle child.  You love your little "Grady Bug"/"Buddy" so much, and it makes me happy to see you be a little mommy.  You're pretty proud of yourself when you can make Grady smile, help him with his paci, and get me this or that.  Sometimes you don't like when you have to wait when I'm helping Grady, but overall, you get it that waiting in this regard is necessary and don't seem to mind entertaining yourself with some toys or a show.  You don't ask to hold Grady too much but you really like to be near him.  The other day he fell asleep on my lap while you were "reading" him books - pretty cute.  You and Olivia get along really well for the most part; you enjoy playing a lot of the same activities (but you like dance a lot more).  You two help each other out quite a bit too which is very sweet.

You're super into imaginative play right now...I find you often up in your room playing with your dollhouse, baby, stuffed animals, and Barbies.  You also really like playing house, school, and dress-up.  I often find myself nodding in agreement to some story you're telling me about something even though I really have no idea what you're talking about as most of what I'm supposed to be understanding is part of some imaginary world/game/situation!  What else do you like:  going to Luther with Dad, playing Trouble (you're obsessed), drawing/coloring, doing puzzles, watching TV/movies (sigh), and creating stuff with Leggos.  Uncle Nate bought you some new Leggo sets for your birthday, and you were instantly obsessed - you call it playing blocks, and it makes my heart happy to see you and Nathan connect over this shared passion.  :)

Based on your interests, I think you're going to be the child who's good with abstract concepts...the drawings you make and your explanations of them along with all the other imaginative stuff you do make me feel this way.  We'll see if I'm right!

You're enjoying preschool and seem to have lots of friends.  It seems to me that you don't hesitate to involve yourself in activities and groups of people.  Sometimes a shy side of you comes out but not very often, and when it does, it's relatively short lived.  You can write your name pretty well and like to make letters though don't always seem to know what you're making.  It'll be fun to see how you grow next year as you switch to school 3 full days a week instead of just 2 mornings.

Other facts about you:  You love filling your bed with stuffed animals, blankets, books, and whatever else; basically you fill it so full that sometimes it's hard to find you in all the chaos - how can that be comfortable?  You barely eat anything these days...we can see most your ribs.  You'd probably take 3 baths a day if you were allowed to, like to change clothes, and/or like to wear no clothes or clothes that don't make sense...like swimming suits when it's -15 and our house is 60 degrees.  You love a big glass of milk at bedtime and like to get out of bed a couple of times before falling asleep.  You're obsessed with the movie Frozen and anything connected to it.  You can backtalk better than I would like...seriously this is a major problem that your dad and I are working on (sometimes more successfully than others) as hard as we can and can be a tattletale.  You are a pretty good sport when we play games, have great hand/eye coordination (thanks to hot potato with Dad), do your best to manipulate your dad and I, like to give people nicknames, have a recognizable sound of your feet running across the floor, love to laugh, don't pronounce "r's" very well, can get dressed, put your shoes on, and zip your coat by yourself (though you don't always like to do so), can be amazingly cooperative or a terrible listener, and have a major sweet tooth.  Whew...that's quite a bit of information for a girl who's only four!

One last little piece...today (January 30) at your well-child check you weighed 32 1/2 pounds (30 percentile) and were 39 3/4 inches tall (52 percentile).

Mostly, Gracie-girl, everything I just wrote shows that you are a lovable little girl who adds a lot of spice, spunk, and sweetness to our life.  You have the kind of personality that just draws people to you, and your smile is big enough be be seen across the room.  You have a zest for life, and there is absolutely no way it (or we) would be the same without you.

Lots of love,
Mommy

2 + Months

This last weekend I got to meet our friends' new little addition, Quinn...she was born on the 13th (my mom's birthday), and weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches exactly.  Now, granted Grady had 9 ounces on her when he was born, but their length was the same, and all I could think as I stared down into her sweet, sweet face was GRADY IS HUGE!  :)

Actually, I don't think he's that big, but he's certainly not hesitating in the growing department!  Our little guy is basically out of 0-3 month clothes...especially the ones with feet.  I haven't packed them all up though - while some certainly still do fit him, I think it's a little bit of denial on my part too.

I'm going to parallel this post to Grace's 2-month post in style...here goes...

Playtime:  Grady is a big fan of smiling these days - yeah!  Love them (and need to get more pictures of them...apparently he's not interested in posing).  To get smiles, all you have to do is talk to Grady - he'll love you, guarenteed.  Grady also likes his swing (most of the time) and is really starting to enjoy his little play gym.  It's neat to see how he can focus on the hanging objects now and be enteretained by them.  We've tried out the Bumbo seat too as you can see below...I'd say he was neutral about it.  Grady also is, just like his sisters, a lover of baths.  As night time often equals a little fussiness, I often start bath a little early 6:00-30ish...often, he'll get his and then happily hang out in the bathroom while Liv and Grace take their bath or shower too.

Not the greatest picture...but a sort of smile.  :)

Eating:  Doing super!  He eats about every 3 hours during the day...at night, it's all over the place.

Liv took this picture...a funny face, but it shows 

that Grady's a good eater - hello, double chin!

Sleeping:  Similar to what I said for Grace's 2-month post, we're working on it.  Every once in a while I get a really amazing nap, but so far, I haven't figured out the trick to making these a "for sure" situation.  I've begun using that "pick up-put down" method if Grady wakes up too early, and sometimes I can get him to go back to sleep and other times, I can't.  Patience.  I'm really ready for 2 good naps a day with one smaller one in the evening though instead of 5 little ones, and I think Grady would say the same if he could...he's amazingly happy after a nap that lasts longer that 30-40 minutes (which is his usual amount right now).  I have hope...I went through this stage with both the girls and they turned out to be excellent nappers.

Schedule:  I'd say Grady is up fairly consistently between 6:30 and 7:30 every day...and he goes to bed about 7:30 at night.  During the day I'm doing my best to follow the EASY schedule (eat, activity, sleep, you (mom/Grace) time, but it's hit or miss in terms of success as Grady doesn't always sleep long enough for me to feed him again right when he wakes up.  Again, patience.  At night, Grady is trying on some longer sleeps, but he's not consistent with these...sometimes I get a 4 hour chunk, sometimes 5, and three time 8!  The positive part of getting up at night is that it's usually pretty quick as Grady doesn't require too much to go back to sleep after eating.

Favorite Things:  His sisters!  Besides the things earlier mentioned, Grady loves Olivia and Grace and smiles at them a lot!  Thankfully, he also doesn't seem to mind getting held, squished, and/or poked by them either!  At night, Grady likes to be cradled to sleep - with his head on my left arm I might add.  This used to be the case for during the day too, but now he's drifting off more often on my shoulder.  Grady sometimes loves...and sometimes hates...his paci - not sure what direction he'll go in this department.  He also likes to face out and see what's going on now that he's getting more sturdy.  I've had him in the Baby Bjorn a few times, and he's seemed to like this.  He's pretty good about getting carted around on errands too - can't wait till we can start going on walks once it gets warmer.

What He Can't Do (Yet):  Sleep for long periods of time, enjoy long periods of tummy time (although this is how he takes most of his daytime naps), grab objects, roll over (although he did do this once!)

What He Can Do:  Smile!  Coo and ahh at you - so cute!  Follow objects, make huge messes in his diaper, hold his head fairly steady, and stare intently at anything bright or that has good light/dark contrast.

What I Hope:  In the next few weeks, I hope we make some progress with naps and longer night stretches.  And, I hope Grady continues to stay healthy (a major feat considering the rest of our health - more on that later).

PS - A funny reminder...on Grace's 2-month post, I wrote that I really hoped Olivia would start calling Grace, Grace instead of Baby.  I had forgotten how she didn't use Grace's name for so long - little stinker!  :)