That Was Then

This is now!

It feels like I just barely wrote about Wes's four month stats, and here we are at six already! Wes is coming in at a whopping 29 inches and 21 pounds! He is growing so stinkin' fast. He loves to eat and it shows. Wes prefers oat cereal over rice, and loves veggies while he barely tolerates any fruit except real mashed bananas. None of that jarred stuff for him!

Here are some darling pictures we have taken recently.

Still won't smile for the camera.

I want more carrots! NOW!

Just playin'.

Lookin' more like daddy everyday.

Grant went out of town on business for a week, and hanging out alone with a six month old didn't exactly appeal to me, so I went to my parents for a few days. I was a little worried about how Wes would do, since he had never slept anywhere but in his own crib in his own room. I was thrilled that he did wonderfully. Better than usual, in fact. He slept all the way from 8pm to 7 am two out of the three nights we were there. Happily, he continued the habit when we came back home, allowing me to get 8 or more consecutive hours of sleep for a week straight. I was finally putting a dent in my sleep debt that is bigger than the national debt. And then we got a visit from the teething fairy. Yup, Wes's first tooth is just barely breaking through. Thankfully, it hasn't been too bad (knock on wood.) Nothing that a little Infant Tylenol and Baby Orajel couldn't fix.

It has been awhile since we mentioned Oscar and Scooter (those poor, neglected pups.) They are still alive and well and loving Wes. They are near him every opportunity they get. Oscar is much more gentle and will just lay down by Wes, but not Scooter! Scooter wants to lick every inch of his body. Wes just takes it, and even laughs sometimes. Every once in awhile, Wes will even grab Scooters tongue, just to show him whose boss! Needless to say, I keep Scooter away from Wes most of the time. Oscar has a little more freedom. I sat Wes on the couch today while I was getting things together to leave the house, and Oscar hunkered down by Wes resulting in the following pictures....

I had grabbed Wes's hand just before I took this picture so that Wes wouldn't yank on Oscar's ears. Sadly, it left Wes vulnerable to an onslaught of puppy kisses!

Harvest

We have more tomatoes than you can poke a stick at. (I tried to poke a stick at them and I just couldn't.) The funny thing is, we didn't even put forth much of an effort this year. Planting time coincided with having a newborn, and so we almost didn't even have a garden. My aunt bought a whole bunch of sprouts from a local school for kids with special needs. (At this school, the kids plant the seeds, and cultivate the plants until they are ready to sell to the public. Cool, huh?) She had so many that she shared her abundance with us. Grant had tilled the garden earlier this year with a bag of peet moss and a bag of manure, so we plopped our plants in the ground and that was that. No rhyme or reason to it, and we just hoped for the best. We didn't fertilize, we didn't spray for bugs, we barely remembered to water.... and yet somehow our tomatoes did just as wonderfully as they did last year, if not better. We have picked literally hundreds of tomatoes so far. We also go a decent crop of peppers, squash, and a few zucchini (which is still plenty, if you ask me.) Our cantaloupe, which did awesome last year, have failed us this year. Darn.

We have become pros at canning. We have made LOTS of salsa and spaghetti sauce. I am glad we could this year. We had to give all of our tomatoes away last year because I was newly pregnant and I had a major aversion to tomatoes. I couldn't even be in the same room with a tomato. Just reading the word salsa would make me gag!

During such hard times with rising prices and a crummy economy, we are so grateful to have our garden and our home canned goods to helps us get by.

Good Question

Last week, Grant's Coke fizzed and foamed so much when he added ice that it overflowed all over his desk at work. He wanted to know why it did that, gosh dang it! So he decided to Get Gephardt. Grant wrote it to Gephardt's "Good Question" segment wherein you can write in with a question, and if your question is chosen, Gephardt will investigate the answer and air it on the news. He picked Grant's question, and it aired on TV last Friday. Good work, Grant. Anyhow, if you would like to check out the answer, go to http://www.kutv.com/content/gephardt/story.aspx?content_id=3c0e8d2c-a2dc-474e-b31a-7f843770ef92

To the Birthday Boy

Today is Grant's birthday, and in honor of him, I just wanted to tell him (and all of you, apparently) how gosh darn much I love him. In fact, here are the top 10 reasons that Grant rocks (in no particular order.)

1. He is incredibly thoughtful and caring. From the day I met Grant, I was struck by how thoughtful he is of everyone around him. He is just always thinking of others and does whatever he can to help out when someone is in need.

2. He is super smart. No, freakishly intelligent is more like it. There is nothing that he can't figure out or fix. He is one of those people you don't want to play against in Trivial Pursuit. I have a nephew with a thirst for knowledge, and it didn't take long for him to figure out that Grant was a fountain of information. Grant would sit with my nephew and explain everything from the bones in his hand to how magnets work. Pretty soon when we would visit, my nephew would sit next to Grant and simply say, "tell me more interesting things."

3. He works very hard. Whether it is his day job, or projects at home, Grant always works hard and does it thoroughly and well. He even finishes what he starts. I have trouble with that, so I appreciate it in him!

4. Grant is so grateful. That is an awesome quality to have in a husband, believe me. I have been doing his laundry now for over 4 years, and yet he never fails to thank me for his clean undies! It doesn't matter if it I made his favorite dinner or simply cleaned the bathroom, he always notices and always says thank you.

5. He has so many amazing talents. In fact, he is the most well-rounded person I know. He is smart, outdoorsy, athletic, very spiritual, incredibly talented in music... the list goes on. Grant is good at pretty much everything he tries!

6. Grant can make me laugh harder than I have ever laughed before. He has the best sense of humor... that and he knows where I am ticklish.

7. He is darn good lookin'. It certainly doesn't hurt that I get to look at him everyday... and for the rest of eternity.

8. He likes my cooking. Any wife will tell you how nice it is to have a husband that enjoys what you make for him!

9. Grant has a great sense of adventure. We love to travel, go camping and hiking... anything. He is so much fun to do things with. And, anyone who has ever gone camping with him will tell you, he is the ultimate Eagle Scout-- always prepared. Our friends nicknamed him Grant "Wait-a-second-I-think-I-have-that." No matter what anyone needs or forgot to bring, you can always bet on Grant saying, "Wait a second, I think I have that." He loves to whisk me away on some new excursion as often as possible. The greatest adventure yet: parenthood!

10. Last, yet most importantly, Grant is the most amazing husband and father you will ever meet. Seeing him with our baby boy just melts my heart. Wes loves his daddy, that is evident in the way Wes looks at Grant, and the way Grant can get him to laugh the harder than anyone else. Grant loves his little boy, and is so great with him!

The list could go on and on! Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I love you!

-ME

GQ Baby

Wes is such a smiley, happy kid... until we whip out the camera to capture all the adorableness, at which point he is so distracted by the camera that he won't smile. Therefore we have a lot of pictures like this one wherein he looks serious and brooding, like he could be on the cover of GQ.

I finally captured some good smiles, and since it is so rare, I thought I would share 'em with ya'll!

Music

I am looking for some good running music. I know a lot of you are athletes and runners, so please give me some suggestions on some awesome music that will keep me movin'!

Wes at 4 Months

Wesley just had his four month well-baby visit, and he is one big boy! He is now above the 95th percentile in height (27 inches) and weight (18 lbs 9 oz.) He is eating well (obviously,) sleeping well (he slept all the way through the night from 8pm to 7am for the first time last night,) and is an all around delight. Since Wes is so big (he is at four months the size of your average 8 month old) we were instructed to go ahead and start him on solid foods. We jumped in with the standard rice cereal. Wes wasn't such a big fan at first....

Apparently it's an acquired taste.

Wes is also gaining more control over his head, arms and hands. He can lift himself up on his arms, he is on the verge of rolling over, he can swat at and grab his toys (and my hair,) and everything he grabs goes directly into his mouth (including his bib when I am trying to feed him.)

A day in the life of Wes might include tummy time, watching his bug mobile (he likes the spider best,) taking a couple of naps, playing with his favorite toys and books, and - his personal favorite- bath time! This is followed by his least favorite-- getting out of the bath!

Have ya noticed the rolls on this kid?! Ya gotta love a dimply, chubby, rolly polly baby! Being a mom is a blast. It is so awesome to watch Wes grow and develop. What a blessing he has been!

The Best Sound in the World

Happy 4th

Not that I'm not thankful for our nation's independence and all, but I've never been a huge fan of the 4th of July. I think that the teen years full of plans with friends or dates that always seemed to fall apart had something to do with it. Things have improved over the years, but the 4th got really good once we moved up here. The 4th is a big deal in these parts.
We live around the corner from a huge park where the day starts with a breakfast and a fun run, then a parade followed by ball games, a children's carnival and a concert, and the day is capped off with a fabulous fireworks production.
Last year we hit the parade and the fireworks. This year the parade was smack dab in the middle of Wes's nap (and we didn't think he would really be into it at this age anyway.) My brother and his girlfriend came up later in the day and we all walked around the carnival and got some lunch. It was fun, but HOT! Apparently Wes didn't think much of the whole thing-- he fell asleep.
Some of my family came up for a BBQ and to see the fireworks at night. One of the coolest things about living so close to the action is being able to reserve our fireworks-viewing-spot really early in the day, and then go back home where there is air conditioning!
We were a little worried how Wes would react to the loud, bright fireworks. He didn't seem to like it all much. He got a little fussy, and when I picked him up, he fell fast asleep!
Here are some pics from our fantastic 4th:

Baby Blessing

Wes's Baby blessing was on Sunday. It was such an amazing day, and Grant did a wonderful job. We feel so blessed to have so many awesome friends and family that came out to participate and to support our little family.

Our Little Man

This darling outfit was given to us by our neighbors when Wes was born. At the time I just couldn't imagine our little tiny newborn fitting into those (seemingly) huge clothes! Already he not only fits into them, but it is almost too small!! Doesn't he just look like a cute little man?

Wahoo!

Wes slept for 7 1/2 hours last night!!! I am so happy I could just shout it from the roof tops! Of course, I didn't sleep that long, unfortunately. I woke up after five hours and had to check on him.... then I had to keep checking on him every 20 minutes just 'cause I am paranoid like that. Anyway, it was a good night and a good sign that he might sleep a whole 8 hours at some point. I don't expect this to repeat anytime too soon. It seems like he sleeps for a long stretch one night then goes back to waking up every few hours for a couple of nights before he will do it again. I am so happy to know that he can, and probably will very soon, sleep through the night!

Chubby Baby!

Wes just had his two month well-baby visit and he has become a chunk! At his first newborn appointment, he was in the 95th percentile for height, but very low on the weight. Well things surely have changed. He is still in the 95th percentile for height at 24.6 inches, but now his weight has caught up! He is now in the 95th percentile at 13 lbs 12 oz! I can't believe how fast he is growing.

Lots of Stuff

My First Mothers Day
I had a great 1st Mothers Day this year. Grant was so good to me. He gave me a dozen red roses, and a fishing pole, complete with gummi worms and swedish fish (get it?) I know that you might be thinking: a fishing pole? Sure... every mother's dream gift! But it was just what I wanted. Ya see, Grant was telling me how much he was looking forward to taking Wes fishing someday, and I said that I would want to go, too, seeing as I have never caught a fish. You can't grow up with an outdoorsy dad and five brothers without going fishing at some point, but I had never actually caught a fish. I forgot all about that conversation until Mother's Day. Grant gave me the fishing pole and said that he had a dream that is what he got me for Mother's Day, so he decided to give it to me in real life. I love it and I really can't wait to use it!

I have to say that having a child has given Grant and me a new, HUGE appreciation for our own mothers. I have no idea how my own mother had seven (SEVEN!!) children and not go crazy. Not only that, but to do such a great job! I just have to say that I love my mom very much!

Smiles and Five Hours

Wes has started sleeping five hours at night! Hot diggity dog! The American Academy of Pediatrics defines sleeping through the night as a stretch of five hours. That isn't my definition, but whatever. I'll take it! Grant usually takes his late evening feeding, so I am getting a lot more sleep these days and loving it.

Wesley has also started smiling more. We have been trying to capture the allusive smile on camera, with no real success... until we got this picture--

Workout Motivation

Since I have been getting a little more sleep, I decided it would be nice to start exercising a bit. Grant and I decided to run a 5k this fall so we would be motivated to train for it. It is really hard to get started with a work out program, so we both thought having a goal would help. As it turns out, I found something that motivates me even more...

Let me just say that Wes has a hard time napping during the day. He usually takes two shorter morning naps, and a longer afternoon nap. I discovered that if he doesn't get that first morning nap, he won't sleep (and is extremely cranky) the rest of the day. That first nap is the key to his day. You can usually find me holding him, rocking him, carrying him around in my baby front carrier thing, or anything else that will get him to sleep for that first nap. Yet there still are days where he will refuse to go to sleep.

Anyway, I decided to run on the treadmill the other day while Wes took that first nap... but he decided not to take that nap, so I gave up and just put him on a blanket with some toys near the treadmill so I could run. Well, within a few minutes he was fast asleep! Something about the sound of the treadmill put him to sleep. So, when it was time for his nap the next day, I tried it again to see if it would work... and it did! Within about three minutes when I am on the treadmill, he is fast asleep. I also don't want to leave him alone on his tummy (what with the SIDS risk and all) so it also forces me to work out for a long time! You better believe that I need no more motivation to work out than that!!

Getting Big

I took this picture of Wesley yesterday, and I couldn't believe how much he has changed. Since I see him everyday it is hard to tell, but looking at the pictures for some reason made me really see the difference.

I have to say, it is really exciting to watch Wes grow and develop. He is smiling more and more (I tried to get a picture of him smiling, but I only got the end of the smile,) he is getting more head control, he is getting closer to getting that thumb in his mouth, and he is trying hard to roll over from his stomach to his back (mostly because he hates to be on his stomach.) He did it once, but I think it was on accident because he looked as surprised as I was that he did it, and he hasn't done it again since!

Wes is such a sweet baby. Grant and I are spoiled with the fact that he is a pretty good natured little fella. I have begun to realize that if he really fussy or cranky, it is generally because of something I ate that is disagreeing with him. We're just getting to know his quirks and personality one day at a time. It is fun to get aquainted with this little guy.

Wes, meet Grover

When we brought Wes home from the hospital, Wes's Aunt Heather brought him a stuffed Grover. I put it in the corner of Wes's crib to wait until Wes was a little older and could play with him. One day I put Wes down for a nap, and he woke up a little, but seemed to fall right back asleep because he was really quiet for several minutes. After a bit, I could hear him making noise, so I went to check on him. Apparently he had discovered Grover, because he was wide awake just staring at him. Whenever we put Grover down in front of Wes he just stares and stares. It is the first toy he has really taken an interest in. Just yesterday he reached out and grabbed Grover's hand. It was so cute, I had to grab the camera!! He loves his Grover!

-Kate

We Have a One Month Year Old!

It is amazing what comes out of the mouths of exhausted parents! We were sitting on the couch the other night when Grant asked me, "Can you believe we already have a one month year old?" Nope, I can't believe that Wes is already a month old. Each day goes by so quickly, and he is growing like a weed. My favorite is that he has been sleeping better and better... four hour stretches at a time, which mean that I only have to get up once in an eight hour span! More sleep for everyone!

Wesley has also started smiling more. I got four big grins out of him this morning. Other days I get nothin', but I love it when he smiles.

-Kate

Three Weeks Already

An interesting thing happened to me this morning. Wesley started crying and when I went in his room to get him up.... I found that my little newborn with his funny, dry, wrinkly skin, his perpetually closed or unfocused eyes and his orange jaundice tint were all gone. There instead was a darling little baby with plump, smooth, rosy skin, chubby cheeks and eyes that were wide awake and focused. It seriously seems like he changed overnight! He seems to be going through some kind of growth spurt at the moment (at least that is what my book tells me.) He went from three and four hour stretches between feedings at night, back to two or less. Oh, the fun.

I just thought I would also mention that Wes is currently sitting in his swing trying REALLY hard to get his thumb in his mouth, but his little motor skills just aren't that developed yet. So every once in awhile the poor kid lets out a cry of frustration. It looks like he gave up and is going to sleep. Funny baby!

Two Weeks Old!

Time flies when you are having fun (or not sleeping-- and we are experiencing both!) Wes is two weeks old today, and life is starting to get back to normal. We are slowly figuring out this parenting stuff and getting into a routine. We are loving every minute of our little baby boy. He is growing fast already! We had his two week check up today, and he now weighs 7 lbs, 8 oz. He gained 11 oz. in less than a week. Good golly, that boy likes to eat... and I have the sleep deprivation to prove it!

Our dogs are finally adjusting to the new baby as well. The first few days were a little hard on them, but they are coming around. Oscar's take is more of a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." He loves to be by the baby and always wants to rest his head on him. He also frets when the baby cries, and runs into the nursery and looks anxiously at us as if to say, "Well, aren't you going to do something about this??"

Scooter more or less ignores the baby, or tries to sneak licks of Wes's face when he thinks we aren't looking. He seems to still harbor a little resentment. Of course, Scooter was the "baby" until the real baby came along!

We are so thankful to have this precious baby boy come to our family. He has brought us so much joy. We are so grateful for our family and friends that have helped us so much with everything. We can't thank everyone enough for your love, support, meals... the list goes on. We are truly blessed.

-Kate

Daddy's Boy

It is so much fun to watch little Wes grow and change, and to discover the new personality traits that seem to emerge everyday. It is pretty clear that Wesley takes after his dad in a lot of ways. For example, I used to tease Grant about being a multiple sneezer. I have never in my life sneezed more than once at a time, but Grant ALWAYS sneezes at least twice in a row. Not long after we got home, we discovered that when Wes sneezes, he almost always sneezes twice in a row!

Also, shortly after we got home, we were told that Wes's jaundice was so bad that he had to be put on a belibed (a bed with fluorescent lights in it.) Since the belibed had to be in the crib in the nursery, Grant decided to "camp out" in there just to make sure everything was ok with the baby during the night, as well as to help me sleep since every noise the baby makes wakes me right up.) On the first night, at around 3 a.m., I went in the nursery to check on things. I looked in the baby's crib and saw Wesley sound asleep with his arm thrown over his head. I had never seen a newborn sleep like that before and I thought it was cute... but also familiar. Then I looked over at Grant on the blow up mattress next to the crib, and he was sound asleep in the exact same position! Yep, Wes is definitely his father's child.

-Kate