My Buddy

Grady has a buddy that he loves to play with! His name is Jake and you've probably seen a few pictures of them together. They are both becoming more interested in each other and it's so much fun to watch them interact. Jake is already crawling! He's so strong and Grady is hopefully taking some notes from him during our playtimes. Kristen (Jake's mom) and I enjoy our time together as well and are becoming closer friends.

Grady and Jake in the wagon from Nana and Papa! We love it! We went on a walk to the swings! Jake smiling in this one . . . maybe I should photoshop these two pics together so I can have them both looking and smiling in the same picture!

Grady swinging away! He loved it!

On the ride back home Grady was pretty exhausted from the fun and he fell asleep! This was too cute to not take a picture! He is just like me . . . can sleep ANYWHERE, ANYTIME!

He did the sleepy nodding off thing you see really tired people do and ended up like this. He kept falling forward and then sitting back up. Of course the thumb never left his mouth the entire time!

Kristen, Don and Jake came over for dinner one night and the boys had fun playing together. You can see Jake up on all fours here . . . he had crawled over to see what was in the toy basket.

Happy (Late) Valentine's Day!

Grady wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! We hope you all had a great one! We took these pictures on Valentine's Day, but of course I am just now getting around to posting them. We had a great night! Richard cooked me a fried shrimp dinner at home and it was delicious!!!

Our handsome boy!

He's excited! Mama said she got a really good picture, so we should be done with the photo shoot! right???

No, your not? Well I'll just hang out and enjoy my thumb as usual!

Do I really have to take more pictures? Okay, here's my first fake smile! Get used to it Mama because I'm a BOY!

Visit from Aunt Irene, Nana and Papa

Nana and Papa came and spent the night with us this past Saturday. We went out to eat dinner at Firebirds and all Grady wanted to do was give Nana kisses (slobber on her) all night! He would grunt/complain if he couldn't reach her face. This is just one of the pictures we got. This is a new thing that his Dad taught him. So cute, but here he looks like he is about to attack! A picture Richard's mom got of Grady back in November, but it's too funny not to post!

Aunt Irene came recently to visit Grady and he just loved getting rocked to sleep by her.

Uncle Jamie's Birthday

Uncle Jamie turned 29 at the beginning of the month and Richard's parents came in town to celebrate! Aunt Sarah begged Nancy/Nana to please make Jamie a train cake. It was his favorite as a kid growing up. Nana came to our house and set it up so that when Sarah and Jamie got here it would be a surprise for Jamie. Below are pictures from the night. Jamie surprised and excited about his train cake!

Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jamie (baby James too)!

Dad, Papa, Uncle Jamie and Grady

Nana and Grady

The love parents have for their children!

Grady and I hang out all day everyday and I have to say it is so much more fun, enjoyable, satisfying and wonderful than I could have imagined motherhood to be. Just watching him sleep is entertaining to me! I love the simple things about our day and just delight in the blessing Jesus has given Richard and me. In my bible study group we are reading a book called Holiness by J.C. Ryle. There was a quote that he wrote when discussing how much Jesus delights when we do good for his kingdom and any good work we do for His glory. It says, "And as a father finds a pleasure in the least acts of his children, of which a stranger knows nothing, so I suppose the Lord finds a pleasure in our poor feeble efforts to serve Him. Know that Jesus can see beauty in everything that you do from a conscientious desire to please Him." It was an enlightenment to me. Now that I am a mother I see that Grady's smallest giggle brings so much joy to me that noone other than his parents would think is marvelous . . . and Jesus sees every effort and attmept we make at pleasing and glorifying Him and finds pleasure in it. He loves us so unconditionally and my relationship with God is growing so much just from my experience of being a mother. I am amazed at how much God must love us all since we are his children!

A video of him laughing (you will want to pause the music) . . . this never gets old!

Here are a few pictures of my favorite moments with Grady . . . seeing him fall asleep after a lot of bouncing in the Johnny jump up.

That sweet face when he wakes up!

The happiness in his face when he sees Richard or I when we come through the door to get him!

How much he loves bathtime!

How proud I was when he starting holding his feet!

How handsome I think he is!

How I love seeing his face when he is trying something new!

6 Months Old

Grady is now 6 months old! It's hard to believe how fast these 6 months have flown by! He is growing so fast and is doing new things every day! At his check up he was 27 1/2 inches long (90th percentile) and weighed 17 lbs. 12 oz (50th percentile). I got a few pictures of him in this adorable outfit from Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jamie. One of her friends makes baby clothes!

A trip to see Katy and Addie!

Richard, Zack and the guys went on a ski/snowboarding trip so Grady and I went to Charleston to stay with Katy and Addie. We had a blast and Grady thought Addie was SO funny! He was laughing at her all week! I tried to upload a video of it, but it's not working yet. My parents came to visit while we were there and Addie loved my dad! We had a fun visit and Katy and I were able to catch up while the kiddos were sleeping and I got to feel baby girl moving around in Katy's tummy! Nothing beats girl talk and ice pops!

A precious video of how much Grady loved Addie! She always had him giggling!

Addie and Grady Laughing at Katy
Grady trying to grab Meme's glasses
My Dad and Addie playing Chutes and Ladders

Addie and I in her new playhouse!

Grady was loving Addie's baby dolls!

One of our walks! It was very chilly!

Addie and Grady were worn out!

Grady waking up . . . he slept in Addie's old bed/crib. Had to get a pic of him in a crib with all that pink!

My first Geneaology purchase!

Uncle Gene

Katy calming Grady down. He got upset everytime Uncle Gene came near....it was very stange. Normally Uncle Gene is his favorite!

Food!

Grady started rice cereal about a week before he turned 6 months old. He does not like rice cereal at all! We tried it a few times and he really just doesn't like it. He has liked just about everything else he has tried and I think pears are a favorite right now! He tends to gag when he doesn't like something . . . very funny!

Seriously mom, just feed me cardboard next time!

Yeah...still hating it!

Baby Andrew

Our friends Jason and Bridget had an adorable baby boy, Andrew, December 26th! We are so excited for the boys to grow up together! It is hard to believe Grady used to be that small. Bridget and I try to get together at least once a week to hang out with the boys.

Richard, Grady, me and Andrew

Baby Andrew and Grady - we met up for lunch at Topz! Yummy!