The Mischief Begins

Grant had his 6 month appointment this past Friday afternoon. He's grown to a very healthy 29 inches and 20 lbs. 8 oz. He's getting to be a big boy. While at the appointment, the pediatrician asked us if we've baby-proofed our house yet. We said no, because we figured we'd hit it hard when he started crawling. But we're starting to find that maybe she was right - preemption is the best defense. You can see Grant's adventures below. Oh, I should probably say that sitting up is nothing too new for Grant (he's been sitting at least somewhat since October or November) but we never really posted anything about it. He's sitting quite well these days.

Grant loves to "help" KaraLee in the kitchen.

It's funny to watch him watching the water - he'll try to grab it like a toy and he gets confused when it slips through his fingers.

Diapers were probably Grant's favorite Christmas present. :)

It's funny to watch him eat - he can sure put away the baby food.

I have to include this video from tonight. I was just trying to distract Grant by tossing a diaper around and apparently a flying diaper is about the funniest thing around. He's got a great sense of humor!

Christmas in Seattle

We enjoyed a nice Christmas/New Years vacation in Seattle this Winter. The weather was great (mid-40's == great in my book) and the company was better. We enjoyed doing the tourist thing again (which we do during most of our visits to Seattle) and having Grant meet 2 of his uncles (Bryan & Stephen). It was also nice to see Cory & Tessa Ross and their baby boy, MacCade, and also Richard & Michelle Kenyon and their little girl, Makenna. We hadn't seen either of their families since their kids were born.

Grandma & Grandpa Anderson were greatly thrilled to have Grant visit and to see his progress. He's sitting up like a little champ these days and seems to be getting bigger every day. It was nice to visit Jack-in-the-Box a few times and go down to the wharf in Seattle to patronize Ivar's and the Pike Place Market (home of the flying fish for out-of-towners).

KaraLee and I also celebrated our 3-year anniversary on December 21st. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful wife and family. I love you KaraLee!!

You can see our documentation of the trip below.

The great Snoqualmie Falls. Always a favorite spot for us in Seattle.

Bryan the chef with KaraLee. Bryan's always had a thing for baking - good for his lady friends. :)

My mom got more high-fives over the past few weeks than she probably got all year!

I had to include this picture because I love Grant's shirt. It says, "I do all my own stunts." Thanks to Julie Nye for the shirt!

The Christmas crew. The only "kid" missing is Jeffrey, who is serving a mission for our church in Brazil. We talked to him later on Christmas day and he's doing very well.

Bryan and Grant really bonded over the trip - you can see the joy in their faces.

It's hard to see, but Stephen gave Bryan a can of clams. Yeah. That's what Christmas is like at the Anderson house.

Lunch at Ivar's on the wharf. If you ever visit us in Seattle, lunch at Ivar's is a must.

Grant is helping Grandpa Anderson take a nap during a football game. He's very helpful.

KaraLee's always been quite the rock-climber. It was tough to get this picture because she was so high up in the air. :)

Grant looked pretty cute in his new hat and mittens. He really likes going outside.

Visit to California

My younger sister Kristen and her husband Evan had their first baby, Connor, in the beginning of October. I was excited to meet her little cutie pie, so I flew out for his baby blessing on Nov. 2. It was a lot of fun to visit and sleep in their living room. On a side note, Grant slept next to me in an "Infant Travel Bed". A spare dresser drawer would have also done the job. :)

Kristen holding Grant while I got to hold baby Connor!

My mom bought the boys matching Future Missionary shirts. We thought it would be fun to get a photo of the little companions in action.

Grant and Connor at the end of a long day.

"Am I the senior companion? But I've got drool on my shirt!"

Grant and Connor listening intently. Grant interrupts, "when can we eat?"

Family Portraits

(This pic is ironic, because Grant doesn't really sit up much yet, but just slouches over his diaper and chunky tummy. But we like the picture!)

It's been nice so far to have this week "off" from school. "Off," of course, is a term of art - it means "not in class," not "no studying." With finals right around the corner and the rough draft of my note due for law review soon, there's no time to take a true vacation, but that's okay - it's still nice to have the extra time.In honor of having the extra time, and the fact that Grant is growing pretty fast, we decided to get some family portraits taken yesterday evening. Of course Murphy's law was in full effect. We had Grant's nap schedule all mapped out so he would be in a good mood for the pictures, but no dice. We had hoped to get him down at around 4:30-5:00 so he would sleep around an 1-1.5 hrs and be good for our 7:00 appointment, but we couldn't get him down till 6:00 and had to leave at 6:30 - so he was a little tired when we got into the studio. In spite of that, we feel pretty good about the pictures, because we managed to trick him into smiling a couple of times. But this meant KaraLee & I had to freeze smiles for like 10 minutes. But we're happy to get the pictures and memorialize our little family. (We've include samples in this post)