Walking and Cross-stitching

This has been a fun week for our family. Grant started walking behind his little "Activity Walker". It is just kind of weird to think of the little newborn baby we brought home, and now he is walking (with help) all around the house-and he loves it! Notice that he doesn't really bend his knees- it makes his walking so much funnier. Every once in a while he will take a step without the walker.

Grant has started saying some new words, which is a lot of fun. On the video below we caught him saying Ball.

Also, I thought it would be fun to make a Birth Info craft for Grant's room. So I decided to cross-stitch him a cute wall hanging. It took me about 2 1/2 months to finish, but voila- it's done! (FYI- if you're going to create a craft that involves framing- look for something that is a standard size. Custom Framing is super expensive.)

And here are some fun pics of Grant in his natural habitat.

From Zoos to Snooze

So this past week, Chris had Spring Break so we decided to take an overnight trip to St. Louis. (Good timing because I think I really needed a break from Champaign Land- it has been cold and overcast-ee lately). So on Thursday we packed up the car and headed out. We must be living in a barn or something because when we were about 40 min. away from our Hotel a good friend called us to inform us that St. Louis had been declared a Disaster Area- due to all of the flooding. I hadn't heard about this, but since we were so close and everything seemed fine, we decided to keep moving forward. It turns out that the flooded areas were south of where we were staying. Basically, we wouldn't have known anything was up, other than watching the St. Louis news and receiving a phone call from a friend. This is why we need to get out more.

The day we arrived, Chris and I took turns going to the Temple (St. Louis) while the other watched Grant. Later that night we went out to dinner and then thought it would be fun to take Grant swimming. Unfortunately we forgot to take our camera to document Grant's most serious face ever. He wrapped his arms around either Chris or my shoulders the whole time and never cracked a smile. But we think that he actually enjoyed it, otherwise he would have cried. Who knows what was going through his mind, he was probably wondering why the bathtub was so big and why there were ten other people in it. Poor Kid.

Anyway, to give you a brief look into how our vacation went, enjoy the following photos.


The seriousness continued the next day when we took Grant to the Zoo. (This is in front of the Hippo exhibit. At least Chris looks like he enjoyed it.)


This is my favorite exhibit-Penguins! It is an indoor, climate, controlled room with 4 different types of penguins (King Penguins behind us). So we bundled Grant up and even got splashed a few times by diving penguins. He was really taken by the penguins, especially since we were so close.


In the Insect Room there were a lot of gross/cool bugs. An animal keeper brought out this "Leafy Bug" (I Spy- The Movie). It is a relative to the Walking Stick bug. And it turns out they have never found a male of this species so they are called... uh...some scientific name I can't remember.



We were really fortunate because the weather really turned out beautiful. It was around 71 degrees at the zoo. Since Grant gets his pasty-ness from me, we had to buy him this cute little bucket hat to keep the sun off of his neck and face. PS. this was the only smile we caught on camera for the entire trip.


Chris loves Elephants! The elephant in the background is just over a year and half old. When we came to the zoo last year she was so much smaller.

Ten minutes after we got in the car Grant zonked out, which made the trip home really easy. Sweet dreams little cutie pie.

Happy Easter!

This was Grant's first Easter, so we were excited to give him an Easter Basket. We gave him a bath tugboat, which he is showing off in our really new looking bathtub.

Chris and Chris Jr.

It is funny how many people come up to me when Grant and I are alone and say, "I bet he looks like his dad." I love that I have Chris and a mini Chris to love so much!! Even though Grant looks a lot like Chris, it is fun to see his own personality develop. I enjoy watching my two boys play together- there is nothing more rewarding than a happy baby and a happy family.

Grant love his "uh-dadadadada".

We got Grant a baby grand piano so that he can start practicing to play like his "dadadadada". Practice session aren't long though, because there are only four keys.

"uh-dadadadad, let me squeeze your nose with my slimey, baby hands."

Grant loves to "help" in any way that he can. Chris is putting together Grant's new high chair. We really needed a high chair because before we were just feeding Grant on our laps, which was dangerous because after every bite he wanted to give us hugs. So we basically had to wear bibs too. (PS. Chris' dad inspired us to get the colored beads- one of the "every kid needs one". He loves them- thanks Grandpa Anderson.)


Ta-da! It's finished- and I think Grant put the whole thing together- Chris held the screwdriver.


Grant is trying to get the apple so that he can use his two new top teeth! Now he has four, very sharp baby teeth.



"I love my uh-dadadadadada." Grant gets so excited to see Chris. No one can get Grant to laugh like Chris!

Grant is starting to stand against everything. He has also learned how to stand up against smooth surfaces- like the wall and the washer.


Two nights ago we put Grant down for bed, but since he was having a rough day he cried for about 10 min. before he fell asleep. Usually when he stands up against the side of his crib he needs us to help him get back to sleeping positing. A couple hours later when Chris and I were getting ready for bed we went in to check on Grant and found him sleeping like this. It was so cute!! This is the first time he has ever fallen asleep in a position other than lying on his back under the blankies. Poor sleepy baby.