A letter to my boy

My handsome boy Grady,

Mommy has wanted to sit down and write you this letter since your first birthday. Boy do you and your sister keep me busy though! But it's a good busy, a happy busy, a busy I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world.

Every day, I am thankful for God's plan. For He is so wise. He knew placing you in Mommy's belly at the time He did was just right. These 19 months have been so full of the joy, laughter, & excitement you have brought into our family. Every day I watch you grow and learn, and become less of a baby and more of a boy. From the first time I held you, to the first time you threw a ball, to the first steps you took, I have felt so very blessed that God chose me to be your momma.

 You are so full of sunshine and all the world knows you are going to be a star! You may not speak with words but you certainly find ways to communicate, and boy can you throw a ball like nobodies business! I have never seen such a tiny boy throw a ball the way you do. With strength and accuracy, it's just incredible!

Oh my sweet mommas boy, I love you so. I look forward to watching you grow into the amazing man I know you will be someday, just like your Daddy. Please feel free to slow that growing on down though, Mommy wants many more years of you to herself!

All my love forever & ever,
Momma

Prince Charming

For months now your sister has been calling you "my Prince". She takes your hands and forces you to twirl and dance with her, sometimes you give in and play the role accordingly, and other times you flee....as fast as your little toddler feet will carry you. It makes my heart so happy to watch my Prince & Princess play so sweetly together, and as you grow I know you will continue to play the role of her prince in many ways. Protecting her from heart breaking boys and name calling girls, I am so glad Ava has you as her brother....our sweet Prince.

Fall Fun

We sure have had a lot of fun this fall! We spent a weekend with Ryan in Savannah, Georgia where he was working for 5 weeks (the month of September). While we were there we played in Forsyth Park, ate at Ms. Paula Deen's resteraunt, and went to Hilton Head beach. We paid a visit to Green Meadows Farm, Grady loved the animals and was so excited to touch them. He also loved the train ride and "choosing" a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. He still loves to play with balls; and when he saw those big, round, orange pumpkins his face just lit up! Maw-maw & Paw-paw came for a visit. And Grady celebrated his 2nd Halloween with trick or treating, he was the cutest little Flounder I've ever seen! We also took a family trip to Helen, GA & Charleston, SC but that's going to get it's own post over on our family blog!

Grady's Whaley AWESOME 1st Birthday Party

I realized yesterday that I never posted about Grady's 1st Birthday party! Yikes! We celebrated our little man's 1st Birthday with a whale themed pool party at our community pool. I worked for weeks on whale themed decorations and goodies, and was very pleased with the super cute results! Grady's favors for all of his "whaley" good little buddies were whale shaped crayons, a special thanks to my sweet friend Erin & my wonderful cousin Jenn for helping to peel a bajillion crayons for these. Grady had a great time swimming, munching on a "whaley" tasty lunch, smashing & eating his cake, and opening his "whaley" big pile of gifts!

Walking, walking, running...

A few weeks ago we were able to join Ryan in Savannah where he was working for a long weekend/quick mini vaca. While we were there Grady discovered the blessing of carpeted floors for a new "walker". Well those 4 days of cushioned falls was just what he needed to give him the boost from the "taking 4-5 steps" world into full blown walking. And just a few weeks later he is practically running. I mean seriously people, he's got the "look back over his shoulder and laugh at Mommy as she is chasing after him" thing down.

12 months

* DISCLAIMER*

Please pay no attention to the unmade bed, or finger print covered/dusty mirror...rather focus on the adorable 1 year old! This was the best shot I got after 30 minutes of trying to get him to sit on the couch for "just 1 second"!

Grady- boy is 12 months old now. Yes, 12 months. 365 days. 1 year. Incredible how fast it happens. My little baby is now a boy, a toddler. A mischief maken, big smooch given, wanna be independent toddler. I took Grady for his 1 year wellness visit with Dr. Alvarado last week. I was surprised to find out my little skinny thing weighs 20 lbs 8 ounces and is in the 10-25 percentile. His height came in at 31 & 1/4 inches, putting him in the 75-90th percentile. Grady is VERY active and keeps me running all day. He loves to open and close cabinets and drawers, he loves to drop and throw things down, saying "BOP" when he does so, he likes feeding himself and holding his sippy cup. I started him on almond milk and some times he sucks it down like it was a chocolate milk shake and other times he has no interest.....he drinks down a mixture 90/10 mixture of water and juice much faster. He is walking without assistance further and further each day, if the floor is obstacle free he will walk quite far! He does resort back to his rapid crawl when he needs to get somewhere fast...like to me when I have the nerve to walk away from him! ;) He loves making us laugh, one of his favorite tricks is flopping down face first into the bean bag; I just love the way he looks back over his shoulder for a smile and laugh when he does this. Grady is just a bundle of sweet boy lovin, and I can't remember what life was like before him. I am so grateful to God for entrusting me with my precious boy and look forward to all of the moments yet to come!

The Long Overdue 11 Months Post

So tall and handsome!
This is what 90% of these 11 month pictures looked like!

Last shuttle launch!

First taste of a snow cone....waiting very impatiently for another!

First hair cut! He did great!

It's been a busy couple weeks of swimming in our newly reopened pool with our newly swimming toddler, eating snow cones with sticky fingered babies for the first time, morning runs with play ground stops, and party prepping for this little guys big o-n-e! My apologies for this belated post!

At 11 months old our little adventurer is becoming quite the wild man! I find him on top of tables, chairs, and dogs daily. He gets himself caught in places I wonder how he got into in the first place! There is no obstacle to high, wide, or deep for this little Bear Grylls wannabe! He says three words now uh-oh, momma, and ball. He cruises all along the furniture and will use anything that moves as a walking toy...so if you see him behind a stool you better watch out becuase he'll be coming at you like a little drag racer in a matter of moments. He gives the sweetest kisses ever, and just loves to plant big ones on his sister. He dances, claps, and loves to bang his toys on things. He understands social cues suprisingly well....he knows "the look" and recievs it several times a day! He waves hello and good bye and I think he is even saying some form of buh-bye but it's hard to tell for sure because it sounds so much like ball. I'm sure I'm leaving out a slew of other special things he can do but this will have to do for now!