Random Pics

I forgot to get a picture after church yesterday (before the spit-up), but Grady looked adorable! My friend Teresa got me these embroidered onesies. He wore one to church that said "Bean Sprout" and here's the other one he wore to a cook-out last night...along with more Krout shoes! :)
Will came over to play in the pool today and the baby brothers just happened to have the same outfit on...along with matching nursing covers. :) Our little tax deductions...

Where does it come from?

We never have a problem getting Ainsley to go to bed, the problem is getting her to go to sleep!
Tonight:
Me: "Ainsley, tonight Momma is going to lay my head down on my pillow, close my eyes, and go to sleep. I'm not going to sing or play with my animals...I'm just going to stay real still and fall asleep."
Ainsley: "Wow! That's a great idea, Momma! I'm so proud of you!"

Ok, so that didn't work!

We're Home!

We're all 4 back home and had a fabulous time in Oklahoma! Grady slept 3 hours on the way down and it ended up only taking us about 4.5 hours to get there. So, we were off to a great start. We got up Friday morning (the 4th) and headed over to Wintersmith Park as we do every year. They have putt putt golf, a merry-go-round, train rides, and snow cones all for just $.75! It's not a special thing...it's going on every day. There's a lake to fish from, a gorgeous walking trail, peacocks, monkey cage, feed the ducks, etc. too. I really miss having a park like that...nothing in NWA really compares to it. Anyway, Ainsley usually loves the merry-go-round (horsies), but this time not so much. She grinned ear-to-ear the first couple of times around and then busted into tears. I still have NO idea why. They had to stop the ride just so we could get her off! We thought the train would cheer her up, but she even pouted on it the first few minutes. She finally warmed up later and enjoyed her strawberry snow cone the most. :)

Friday night all of the family came down to my mom's house to meet little man. We had a large cook-out and all went swimming...including Grady bug! He loved it! I even let Ainsley stay up and watch the big fireworks. She actually had her bath first, wore her pajamas, and watched them from the moon roof in my mom's car. She thinks it's a special treat. Grady was in bed at 7:30pm so I stayed home with him. So, we all slept in late Saturday, a little more swimming, dinner with Clint's parents, and then Ainsley was going to shoot her own "cracker fires" that night. However, even after picking them out with my dad and being so excited about them, she actually cried so much that we didn't even shoot off half of them. And we're not talking about anything big....sparklers, ladybugs, tanks, etc. We left Sunday morning and I was so excited about the ride home since the ride down went so well, but it was awful! It took us over 6 hours and way too many stops. So, I've been broken in....traveling with 2 kids is no picnic!

New pictures on flickr of our trip!

2 Month Check-up

Grady weighs 12 pounds even! He's in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for height. He's growing way too fast for me!

(New photos on flickr!)

Fireworks and Bonding Time

I met my mom in Oklahoma last Wednesday and dropped Ainsley off to stay with Mimi and Papa for a week! A whole week! I think it has been good for all of us, though. Ainsley is having a blast and getting a lot of attention from her grandparents. They spent the weekend at my parents cabin on the lake where Ainsley caught something like 6 or 7 fish, they've played in my mom's camper, had picnics at the park, fed the ducks, spent lots of time at the pool, caught a pet turtle (that Ainsley named "Grady"), and played LOTS and LOTS of barbie dolls! :) I've tried to talk to her every day, but she's usually preoccupied with a popsicle or something. I have to admit, though, it's been hard not to jump in the car and go pick her up. I miss her SO much!

On the other side of things, it gave me a lot of time to bond with Grady in a way I haven't really been able to yet. He is such a cuddly little boy! I've taken the opportunity this week to really work on his sleep routine/techniques. I'm happy to report that he is successfully sleeping in his bed (or pack 'n play) all night and now for his morning naps. He's going to bed about 7:30pm and waking up about 3:30am to eat, again at 7:30am to eat, and is up for the day about 11:00am. Then he takes his first nap in his bed also. I just lay him down and he closes his eyes....it's great! (If you're getting jealous right now, you have to read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." It's worked wonders for both of my kids.) Anyway, the nap we're still having difficulty with is the afternoon nap, but I can always get him to sleep if I lay down next to him. I don't have to touch him, he just likes to look into my eyes to fall asleep. (I know...precious isn't it?) He's still learning to soothe himself so I guess it's not awful, but we'll keep working on it nonetheless. That's his longest nap, about 4 hours, so it would be great if he would sleep in his bed since Ainsley is also napping during that time.
Sunday night we went to watch the fireworks at our church. It was so easy with just a baby. Actually, everything has been super easy! It makes me wonder why I ever thought things were difficult when Ainsley was a baby. :)

My handsome man in his red, white, and blue! (Kelly, I couldn't resist the shoes...even though they're double the size of his actual feet!)


Grady's reaction to the fireworks. His eyes stayed this big the whole time and he was holding onto Tiphanie with all his might!
Tomorrow we're heading to Oklahoma for the weekend to pick Ainsley up and let Grady meet the family...in my new mini van!!! I can't believe I took the plunge. I have taken vows with friends that I'd never get a van, but here I am...30 years old with 2 kids and a mini van. :) It's really great and we're looking forward to using the DVD player and GPS system on the trip. We're excited to show Ainsley our new "Dave car", but I don't think she'll be quite as thrilled. We've been looking at vans for about 3 months now and Ainsley never wants to sit in any of them. She always wants to stay in "Momma's car" and tells me she doesn't want me to get a new car. She'll get over it when she sees the new movies we got her, though! :)