M.I.A.

Apologies for the delay in posting. After a whirlwind trip to Houston, I've been trying to get our house and laundry back under control in between a work trip, pre-wedding errands for my little sister (Saturday is the big day!), and miscellaneous to dos for a friend's baby shower (also this weekend). 

To illustrate the priorities in our household -- all of Grayson's clothing, bedding and bibs are freshly washed, meanwhile Michael and I are scavenging for clean underwear. To top it off, I just picked up my bridesmaid's dress from the cleaners and it looks worse than before they steamed it. Arg! 

The good news is somehow we'll find a way to get  everything done and I promise to be back soon with new Grayson pics and anecdotes. Thanks for bearing with me! 

Like A Weed

Grayson has definitely hit a growth spurt. All of a sudden he's at the end of his 9 month size pajamas and we've had to move his exersaucer and jumperoo up to the highest notches. 

I remember when we first put him in the exersaucer (around 4 months) and his arms could barely reach the toys because he was so short in the seat. Now he's an old pro, spinning the seat around to give equal time to each toy and sticking them all in his mouth. 

He's also working on a new skill: chewing. We've progressed from totally pureed foods to chunkier meals and I must say he's not a fan. He would prefer the food to smoothly slide down his throat so that he could take another bite as quickly as possible. Now that he has to take time to chew, it takes entirely too long from one bite to the next. 

I gave him a few apple flavored rice puffs and he contorted his face like I had betrayed him and was pulling some kind of terrible prank. This from a boy who sticks everything in his mouth, we finally found the one exception -- rice puffs. Instead he's content moving them around on his high chair tray and then throwing it on the floor or breaking it up in his hand so it becomes a million little pieces. 

Grayson has also begun testing some boundaries such as lifting his feet up in the high chair (when the tray isn't attached) or trying to grab the feeding spoon with his hand. I think he's beginning to understand the word "no" but choosing to consistently obey it is a whole different story. There's only about 18+ years of that phase, right? 

He's going to have to work on his poker face because he's starting to get a certain look in his eye when he knows he's testing his limits. Most of the time he realizes that if he's playing with his feet during a mealtime or grabbing at the spoon it's going to delay his next bite, so he quickly falls back in line hoping the feeding will recommence. 

These are just a few of the changes I've noticed this week, but I'm sure it will seem like there's a lot more for Nana, Popper and all of Michael's family that we're visiting in Houston this weekend. Most haven't seen Grayson for three or four months so it will be fun to show off some of his new tricks. 

Pearly Whites

It's been a big week for teeth in our household. On Monday, Roxy went in for her first teeth cleaning. The vet had to put her to sleep to do the deep cleaning procedure. It's common for them to pull teeth at the same time, but luckily Roxy's all checked out okay. While her breathe is not minty fresh, it is considerably better and I think she feels a little better too. 

In other dentistry news, Grayson's outcropping of teeth continues to evolve. He has one tooth a little over halfway up and the one right next to it (on the bottom) is also beginning to surface. He doesn't seemed as bothered by it as the first one, so that's been good news. I tried capturing his teeth on camera, but of course he was less than cooperative. After about 20 pictures of his chin and nose, I was finally able to get these. They aren't wonderful, but it's the best I can do for now. 

More Holt Pics

My dad sent over more pictures of baby Holten and I can't seem to get enough of him. We got to Skype with Amy, Ben and Holten tonight so we could be properly introduced. I'm pretty sure I saw Grayson and Holt swapping secret baby code over the webcam. I'm sure this is just one of many conspiracies they will form against us. 

Looks like Ben has quickly learned the art of multitasking! 

Welcome Baby Holten!

CONGRATULATIONS are (finally) in order for my sister Amy, her husband Ben and daughter (now big sister) Kayla. They welcomed baby Holten Sanders Gibson to the world this evening.

Holt weighed in at 9 lbs. 8 ounces and is 23 inches long. Both mom and baby are doing well. I've been promised more pictures are coming!

One to Remember

I can't believe the week is nearly over and I haven't had a chance to post about my wonderful Mother's Day gift. Michael made portrait silhouettes of our family and they are the perfect way to mark my first year of motherhood.

My terrible photography skills are not doing these justice, but hopefully you can see them in person soon. I tried taking some close ups to show how he amazingly captured the tiny details. Click on the individual images and they should get bigger.

Our Evening Entertainment

(Disregard Michael's black socks with shorts. Apparently he's becoming an old man and dresses this way once we're home from work. I tried to keep the evidence out of the camera shot.)

Patience is a Virtue

If nothing else, this week is looking to be a lesson in patience for me. Despite daily progress, my sister has still not had her baby. We were all so sure she would deliver early, but here we are a week past her due date and she's still as pregnant as ever. 

The doctor is planning to induce on Thursday morning if she doesn't go into labor before then. I know this will seem like a long few days for all of us, but especially Amy and Ben. 

A little closer to home, we're dealing with our own lessons in patience as Grayson's first tooth comes in. The tip of a lower tooth FINALLY broke through on Sunday after several days of serious fussiness. He's also had a slight fever on and off which we attributed to the teething until he was sent home from school today. 

I got a call around 2 p.m. that he had a rash from head to toe and needed to be picked up. Another child in his class was also sent home with a rash and neither could come back until they were cleared by a doctor. Unfortunately, I was three hours away from the city for a speech so Michael had to drop everything and go pick up Grayson. 

Luckily, they were able to get into the doctor about an hour later and found out the rash was caused by a virus and he is likely past the contagious stage. We're still supposed to keep an eye out for fever, but since he's still teething it will be impossible to know what is causing the fever. 

If last night is any indication, tonight will be a long one. It's amazing how quickly you revert back to needing a full night's sleep once you're used to it. I used to not have a problem waking up several times in the night, but am now out of practice and pay the price when the alarm clock sounds. 

A Moment to Reflect

Today marks our five year wedding anniversary, so I think it's only appropriate that I take a moment to look back on how we got here.

I was going to dig up some vintage Michael and Lindsay pics (circa 2000), but quickly realized that nine years ago when we first met, we didn't have digital cameras. That means all the pictures are stuck in a shoebox somewhere and need to be scanned into our computer. Guess, you'll just have to settle for this pre-baby picture taken in NYC during Thanksgiving 2007. When we took this picture, little did we know we'd get pregnant a month later and our lives would be turned upside down. We had so much free time then, heck we were on a vacation...but I digress.

Five years ago, I was living in St. Louis working at a PR agency and flew home to marry Michael who was graduating from OU, moving to another state and getting married all in a 24 hour period. (Did I mention we were crazy and overly ambitious?) Fast forward to present day and we've been through one rental apartment, two houses, two states, five cars, seven jobs and acquired a dog and a son along the way.

The secret to our marriage is that we take turns doing the dishes, changing diapers, and driving each other crazy. I could live without his stashes of car and bike parts or computer circuitry (aka future art projects) and he could live without my unruly pile of bags and purses in the coat closet or ever-growing to do lists, but life just wouldn't be as fun in the long run.

I can't even begin to imagine what the next five years will bring. What I do know is that I wouldn't want to take this amazing ride with anyone else.

Bumping & Bruising Our Way to Cruising

Grayson is starting to catch on to crawling on all fours instead of dragging or scooting his legs. Thanks to dad, he's also enjoying standing up by himself while holding on to chairs or our coffee table. He's tried taking a step or two sideways, but quickly learned not to step back from whatever he's holding on to.

This morning he also pulled himself into a sitting position while lying down, but I think it was only because we were on the bed and it's a little easier than the hard floor.

This new active lifestyle is quickly leading to bumps and bruises. He's got a little patch of rug burn next to his mouth and has bumped his head a few times on toys when transitioning from sitting up to the crawling position.

Most of the time he doesn't seem to notice, but

there have been a few instances when he began to cry and then looked at me for a reaction.

I quickly smiled and laughed so he would do the

same and it seemed to work for now. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before the real injuries begin and I curse the fact that boys are so rough.

Grayson at 8 months

It seems like I was just sitting down to write Grayson's 7 month update and now it's time for another.

We don't go back to the pediatrician until next month, but our home scale says our baby boy is just shy of the 20 lb. mark. He's nearing the weight limit for our carrier/car seat so we're shopping around for a new one.

Still no sign of teeth and only a light dusting of peach-fuzz hair, but what Grayson has lacked in physical development he's made up for in other milestones this month. He's become a full-on mobile man and although he drags or scoots his legs more than he uses them to crawl, it doesn't slow him down.

He's been sitting unassisted for some time now and is about to master pulling himself from a lying position into a sitting position. He flips from his stomach onto his side and grabs his pant leg like he's posing, but he's really working on leveraging himself to sit up.

Luckily for our ears the crazy squawking has calmed down tremendously and he's back to vocalizing letter sounds. His favorites are bababa or vavava, but every once in a while we can get an "m" or "d" sound out of him.

I think we may be nearing the stage of separation anxiety. He's becoming extremely aware of when we leave the room and even his teachers at school have noticed he only sleeps a certain direction in his crib so he can see out the end and look at them. They've tried turning him the other way away, but he flips himself around and once he sees they are there he can immediately fall asleep.

Grayson definitely thrives on having a routine. I don't mean this in a rigid sense, but just that he's beginning to anticipate the order of events. For example, our evening routine is consistent in that he eats, we play, mom and dad eat, bath time (every other night), bottle and then bed. He knows that when we sit in the rocking chair with the lights off and his aquarium white noise machine is on, it's time for a book, the bottle and to wind down. As if to signal he knows the program, he grabs the collar of my shirt like he's got to hold on while drinking because that's just the way it works.

What is not routine these days are diaper changes. They have become a wrestling match lately, as is changing his clothes. He can flip over to his stomach in a flash and before you can barely react he's trying to crawl around the changing pad -- not such a safe idea. I think he's even trying to crawl in his sleep because we go in to check on him and he'll be asleep on his knees with his butt up in the air. It's too cute.

On the entertainment front, peek-a-boo is a daily favorite around our house. Grayson has liked this game for a while and lately he's discovered even more fun in pulling the blanket down himself to reveal your face or his. We're also working on hand motions to the itsy bitsy spider and he's amazed at the dexterity of his own fingers (and mine). Oh, if it only took so little to entertain him like this for the rest of his life.

That's the latest news around here. This next month promises to be one of the biggest of Grayson's life to date. He's welcoming a cousin and a playmate, attending his first wedding, gaining an uncle and traveling back to Houston for a visit.