A Little Bit of This...

Our closest friends and family know Proud to Introduce Photography very well. Some of them even know the mastermind behind it, Allie Gadziemski. Allie is a light that came into our lives right after Greyson was born when I went on a mission to find an out-of-the-box photographer to capture our family. Little did I know she would become a big part of our lives and be counted among one of the people I miss the most. Little did I know she would become friends with my friends, take wonderful photographs of many of them, and make an impact in much the same way she impacted us. Allie is the eye behind every holiday card you've received and piece of photography/art you've seen in our home(s). She's photographed our family a dozen times and is the catalyst of hands down my most embarrassing moment. If you don't know the story, I give you permission to ask the next time you see me (note: see, not talk to). Allie recently gave birth to her third son, Desmond, and her blog was an inspiration to start mine so I just wanted to say thanks to her and one way or another, we will figure out a way to get in front of her camera for maternity/newborn this year.

Greyson's Uncle Nate (my 30 year old brother, currently living in Boston) lived in Chicago after college and aside from a short stint in Washington DC and his current digs in Boston, considers himself a Chicago guy and will be back again in the fall. Thankfully his taste in the NFL hasn't gone "the way of the Bears" but he is a Cubs fan, thus the photo below. It is in Nate's honor that I'm blogging tonight as he recently told me that they make his day. I just can't promise this frequency on a regular basis!

At the beginning of the year, I listed a few things I wanted to get accomplished- find an OBGYN and pediatrician, among other things. What I didn't list, but should have, was to find a local kid's barber ("hair cut store" in Grey-speak) since his haircuts were being done by yours truly since the move. Fortunately, we found a place called Brat Pack that has enough distraction to keep kids from going too crazy with sitting still in a chair for 15 minutes. Unfortunately, we didn't find it until this past weekend so Grey has been getting the aforementioned home-grown haircut for close to a year. It's not like he gets a buzz cut. Mike's only request is "keep it long" so I'm challenged with keeping him still on the bathroom sink while I use my shears (Target's finest) to look and act like I know what I'm doing. Having said shears also means that Greyson knows they exist and this is why I walked into his room a week ago to a clump of his hair on the floor. He cheerfully pointed out that he had returned the shears to their rightful place. How nice of him.

Note the missing chunk of bangs

Thankfully Brat Pack did a nice job of blending it in and I can happily hang up my barber hat...for now.

We had another really nice weekend. The weather was perfect and we had no obligations so we rolled out the Diego slip n slide, did some yard work and fired up the grill. It was the epitome of relaxation. A couple of weeks ago, Mike ordered Greyson a set of starter golf clubs- he's been swinging clubs and baseball bats lefty since he was 1 (Mike is very proud) so it required a custom order. He debuted the clubs tonight and is already showing both talent and frustration; a combination that I would like to save him from if I had my choice. He seems to be instinctively hard on himself. As parents, don't we just want our kids to be good but humble, hard-working but realistic? If you have the recipe for this, please, share it!

Milestones & Memories

Milestones

I've been blogging quite a bit lately about Greyson's growth and this post isn't much different since he's surpassed another and kept us laughing the whole time. For the past 6 months or so, we've been talking about getting rid of his pacifier for good (affectionately referred to as his 'nuk'). He's depended on it for naps and nighttime along with his monkey blanket, which is a Kushie Kritter he's had since before he was born compliments of the Johnson family. If the aforementioned monkey blanket ever goes missing, we're in for some trouble. I lament the fact that I didn't purchase a 2nd one right away as doing so now would do nothing but build distrust since he'd know it was an imposter immediately.

Back to the nuk. His dentist recommended that we wait until he potty trains and then throw him a Build a Bear party where the nuk gets sewn up into the bear of his choice (hmm). We skipped that suggestion since we'd already been plugging the fact that there are needy babies in Africa without nuks. At his request we put his nuks in an envelope, addressed to the needy babies, of course, and put it in the mailbox. Unfortunately, one of the nuks was damaged during the trip so the needy babies sent it back (the end was missing rendering it useless though it did provide some comfort for the first 2 nights- picture a distraught 3-year old clutching it in his hand trying to understand where the important piece might have landed. He thinks it's in the Pacific ocean). His reward for going nuk-less was a new bike that seems to scare the crap out of him. He'll sit on it, but that's about it.

Memories

Thank you to our grandfathers, uncles and friends on this Memorial Day. We celebrated by spending the weekend in Vancover, BC; a glorious 3 hour drive North (less if border patrol weren't so congested). The weather in the Northwest was as beautiful as the locals can remember it being and as a result, we enjoyed the most panoramic vistas we've seen aside from the tropics. There's something about snow capped mountains on a warm sunny day...we stare at the view as if we're looking at it for the first time. It's truly breathtaking. We stayed at the Marriott in downtown Vancover and walked for miles, visiting the amazing Stanley Park, the Vancouver aquarium and Granville island. Greyson made quick friends with the bellmen, charmed the waitstaff who in return gave him a free build your own sundae and had the best time watching the sea planes take off and land below our balcony every morning. If we're out here next year, we'll definitely be returning!

Lookout Point @ Stanley Park

Stanley Park

Coal Harbor from our balcony

Greyson & daddy on a hike

Greyson is growing up!

Big Boy Bed

Well, the transition is complete and I'm elated to report that it's been a big success. Last week Wednesday marked Greyson's first night in his new bed and I don't think I need to tell you that it was met with some trepidation from us. Mike set the line at 2 for the number of times Grey would get out of bed (and Mike took the over). Total number? Zero! He woke up at 7am, walked out of his own room for the first time and gave me the biggest smile and best 'good morning'. It made my day. Since his first night, he's been napping as usual and sleeping great at night. I wonder what we were worried about?

Greyson & his new bed

View from his closet

The whole transition was a really great experience for us. It reminds me that, as usual, I need to relax and give Grey the credit he deserves for being able to handle change. Lest I forget that he moved with us to a new state, with a new nanny and 2 new houses in 6 months. He's also nearly done potty training. Sara's potty chart was a huge success. The small incentives did the trick (we watched his final incentive tonight- the movie Bolt). We'll be ready for overnights in a week or two.

Greyson & his potty chart before he fully completed itHappy Mother's day to our moms (we love you very, very much) and to our sisters, cousins, aunts, grandmothers and friends. We hope you all got to celebrate in your own special way. For me, it was a relaxing day; sunny and warm. Mike & Grey let me sleep in, made me chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and helped get the baby's room organized. It was a great day.

Getting ready to go to the park on Mother's day
One of his park favorites
It's a rare occasion for me to get 2 posts in 2 weeks; if I get 2 in a month I'm happy. I just couldn't wait to share Greyson's latest milestone with you. We're so proud of him. Now if I could just get him to come up with a different baby name- he's still really stuck on 'Jesus'.

Date Night!

Beautiful weekend

It's Sunday night, Greyson is asleep and Mike and I are in our huge bed sitting side by side with our respective laptops open. There was a time when you could tune into life at our house between 8:30pm and 10:00pm and the picture was the same. I'm happy to report that this is actually a bit of an anomoly as we made a conscious decision before the holidays to minimize our nightly habit of working in bed. This is not to say that it doesn't happen from time to time if one or both of us has a deadline or gets an itch to shop online. Tonight, it's a combination. Per an earlier post, we have pulled the trigger on Greyson's "big boy" bed which is scheduled to deliver on Wednesday. I visited Pottery Barn kids to take one last look at the vintage sports quilt we fell in love with a few months ago. Aside from the price, I love it. Internet shopping complete, my plan was to rearrange a few meetings I have set but the blog sidetracked me. My calendar can wait. In a future post, I'll be sure to add a few pictures of Grey's new room along with an update on the transition.

May is officially here and we tried to take advantage of what was a beautiful weekend. Swine flu be damned, Greyson visited a number of parks in the area with Sara and we put a nice dent in his new bubble collection. (He is potty training like a champ and earning his prizes; thus the bubbles). We're down to a diaper at naptime and nighttime and in between he gets his pick of underwear by Spiderman, Thomas and Lightning McQueen.

Greyson & daddy on Saturday afternoon

On Saturday afternoon, we had the pleasure of seeing Mike's best high school friend, Tobin Janke, who has lived in LA for the past 10 years and was visiting Seattle with his girlfriend. I forgot to take pictures but he looks great, as always, and is vey happy. They brought Greyson a few books from the Mr. Mischief series and he's now working on memorizing them. After Tobin's visit, Mike and I got ready for a dinner out sans Grey (our first in a very long time). El Gaucho, a Seattle steakhouse, did not compare to our favorite Milwaukee hangout but we enjoyed the company of our friends who were enjoying their first night out since becoming new parents 8 weeks ago. It was a fabulous 3.5 hour dinner and I can't wait to get out with them again. This picture is Greyson kissing my 13 week old (and very much popped) belly before Tobin arrived.


It's been a while since I've shared video on the blog and I've certainly got enough of it. This clip is an excerpt of Greyson "interviewing" himself. He uses his wiffle ball bat as a microphone and chats away as if he's in deep converation with someone important. I'd love to say that he's this cute all the time but we're officially in the "3 year-old stage" and have been enjoying such phrases as "don't talk like that", "that's not true" and "I don't care". A few nights ago, he walked out the back door after being told not to (in his underwear and a T-shirt mind you) and ran 2 laps around the house. It was all we could do not to fall into fits of laughter as a blond streak whizzed by the patio doors.



A big congrats goes out to our friends Robb & Molly Mathia who just welcomed their first child, Dylan, to the world. We've enjoyed the pictures and hope to meet him soon. The Shah family is expecting their second son in August, the Leatherburys a second son in July, the Goehlers are anticipating the birth of their first son and the Lichts are breaking the trend with a girl on the way as well! Like the first time, I'm enjoying sharing my pregnancy with great friends and lament the fact that I'm going to be missing regular play dates this time around. Soon the time will come...