Friday Night Redemption

Michael and I have decided to redeem ourselves after spending last weekend hold up in our house the ENTIRE time. Don't get me wrong, we had a nice and relaxing few days, but realized there are times our activities should require more than pajama pants.

So, tonight we're having date night! I'm not sure who is more excited, Michael and I or my mom (who gets to pick Grayson up from daycare and dote on him all evening). We're planning to go to dinner and then attend an art show fundraiser for the City Arts Center. I've never been to this event, but apparently it's a "see and be seen" type of affair.

I really could care less about that, but am looking forward to dressing up and spending the evening without drool or spit up on my clothing. That said, we'll probably find ourselves rushing to pick up Grayson by 9 p.m. because we're having withdrawals.

Snow Day!

There's nothing better than a snow day...especially one where your power stays on. Michael and I both got off work around 1 p.m. today due to freezing rain and an impending ice storm, so we are now enjoying some family time huddled up in our house. 

All signs point to a snow day tomorrow as well, and we're having fun taking care of projects around the house that we never seem to have time to complete. 

I got myself psyched up to tackle taking down the wallpaper in our guest bathroom. Surprisingly, it took me all of about 30 minutes to get it all done. It was the easiest wallpaper removal job in my life. If we'd known it would have come off so easily, we would have done this a long time ago. 

Once Michael putties up the holes, I'll start painting. This project is going so quickly, we don't even have new fixtures picked out yet. I figured it would take me a few days to even get this far. 

Well, our little man is stirring from his nap so I better go check things out. I'll try to post some new bathroom pics once we have paint on the walls. 

Friday Night in the Big Town

I think we're getting old. During our commute home from work this evening, Michael and I enjoyed an amazingly beautiful Oklahoma sunset while having a discussion about how nice it is to drive home knowing we have no weekend plans.

We were in our pajama pants by about 6:30 p.m. and our excitement for the evening consisted of introducing Grayson to a new food, some tummy time with the baby, and watching a Netflix DVD once our son went to bed. (The sad part was, we didn't even watch a popular movie. It was a sustainability documentary about how a dozen or so Portland-based companies incorporated the "natural step" process. I felt like I was back in my high school environmental science class.)

For the baby's "dinner," I steamed and pureed some zucchini for Grayson's first taste of real food. After making some questionable faces during the first few bites, he quickly decided it was way better than rice cereal and ate up the whole bowl.

Daddy was nearby to capture the moment.

I think he would have licked the bowl if he knew how.

I have to sign off now so I can go get in bed and start my book club book. It really takes so little to make me happy these days.

P.S.

I forgot to tell you that Grayson weighed in at 15 lbs. 1.5 oz. today when we went to the doctor. Such a chunker! He's becoming quite the arm workout when you carry him in the car seat. 

Food Allergy Dilemma

We're only at the first step in the food introduction process and we may have already found an allergy. I can't really say for sure if Grayson is allergic to rice cereal or if his eczema is just flaring up because of our recent crazy weather pattern.

Grayson's suffered from cradle cap practically since birth which morphed into eczema about a month ago. We've tried several different bath washes and lotions for sensitive skin, hydrocortizone creams and ointments, but nothing really helps much.

We introduced rice cereal into his diet on his 4 month b-day (Jan. 1) and he has been loving it, but we started feeding him twice a day last weekend and his eczema has gotten worse. He had a really bad flare up yesterday at school so we decided to take him to the doctor.

Of course, I was scared to feed him rice cereal last night if in fact he was having an allergic reaction, so I just gave him bottles. We went to the pediatrician this morning and Grayson's head and body still have dryness and some signs of eczema, but nothing like yesterday. His face is clear as can be (which could be the result of not feeding him cereal or the fact that it's 70 degrees today).

The doctor said he's been seeing a lot of eczema flare ups this week because our weather has been fluctuating drastically from cold to warm. He admitted there could be a link to the cereal, but didn't seem too concerned since Grayson didn't show any other signs of an allergy. He suggested we lay off the cereal and introduce some other food, then go back to the cereal and see if it causes a flare up.

It's all a bit frustrating and in the end is just trial and error. This goes against every problem-solving bone in my body. Why can't there be a clear answer: "yes, he's allergic" or "no, it's just a coincidence with the weather." Arg!

This whole parenting thing would be a lot easier if we could simply apply logic and have a clear outcome.

Random Updates

I just realized it's almost been a week since my last post. I feel like yesterday we were celebrating Christmas, yet January is nearly over!

I don't really have any big updates for Grayson this week. Nana and Popper (Michael's parents) came up from Houston last weekend and we enjoyed catching up with them. Michael and I took advantage of having babysitters to go on a date night on Saturday.

Grayson's been having a good week at school and at home. I think he may be going through a growth spurt because he's been eating more, taking really long naps and sleeping longer at night. Yesterday we had to wake him up at 7:30 a.m. to eat and get ready for school. I couldn't believe he wasn't up already.

We're (finally) back to our normal sleeping arrangements, now that the swaddle blanket saga is over. Grayson is sleeping in his crib and is unswaddled so he can move all around. He seems to be enjoying the freedom, and tends to kick around until he's positioned perpendicular to how I lay him down. Oh well, soon enough he'll be too long to fit that way so he'll have to adapt.

He's getting close to outgrowing our countertop bath tub which used to seem so big. We have a cute inflatable rubber ducky bathtub that sits inside the real tub, but I've been putting off using it since our tub is so deep and Roxy thinks that's her domain. She comes running every time we turn on the faucet and can even leap over the big side of the tub to get in if you don't catch her. This will be yet another one of her favorite places "invaded" by the baby.

That's the latest from our world. Hope you're all having a great week!

A Milestone Hat Trick

Grayson has accomplished three new milestones this week. 

1. Laughing: it's the most adorable thing EVER! We caught it on video, but the file is so large I can't post it. Michael is working to edit just the laughing segment to a smaller size.

2. Discovering Roxy: For the last few weeks, Grayson has definitely been noticing Roxy and stares at her like he's trying to figure out what she is. This week he must have determined that whatever she is, she's safe, because he now enjoys reaching out to pet her. He's grabbed on to her fur a few times, but luckily let go pretty quickly. (He may be associating her with the "touch and feel" books I've been reading him. Hey, at least it's progress)

In turn, Roxy discovered Grayson's not so bad either and he may even be another person to love on her. This realization has resulted in the strong desire to constantly lick Grayson (which poses a challenge for his parents).

3. Honing the rollover: It's amazing how much a baby changes in just a matter of days. Grayson's gone from rolling onto his stomach and getting his hands pinned underneath himself, to mastering the roll and even pulling his legs up like he wants to take off crawling at any moment. He's better at rolling from his stomach to his back, but has made great progress due to some added floor time at school.