Temper

Grayson loves pears. Pears, sweet potato, and cereal are his FAVORITES, but I mention pears first because last night he devoured them! I seriously couldn't spoon that fruit into his mouth quick enough. I stopped for a second to take a drink, and he got mad at me. Temper?? I hope not, but I see one coming every so often! Another example- this morning he was getting into a corner in his room where his nightlight is plugged in and where the trash can is. I don't really want him getting into that stuff, so I was telling him "no" and picking him up and moving him away. Yup- started yelling at me again. Strong nosed little boy.

Back. Maybe.

I really should update more. It doesn't need to be anything huge, just little fun moments.

Fun moment #1- I broke my toe today. Tried taking a picture of it but it doesn't show up. Maybe it's not as bad as it feels.

Fun moment #2- Grayson like knobs. Especially at Daddy's work. Someday, he's going to make the speakers screech during the church service someday.

Fun moment #3- We're back in cloth! Holla!! Now..to just get rid of the ammonia stink. Grr...

Fun moment #4- Grayson ate a banana at church while I was working the computer tonight. He just started gnawing on it- and got banana everywhere! Quite messy.

Fun moment #5- Jared and I are on spring break this week! I'm soo excited! My goal is to do something I've never done before or go somewhere I've never been. Maybe just a new restaurant or something fun like that.

Goodbye 2010!

2010 was a wonderful year. Possibly one of the best. The obvious- my darling Grayson was born- but it was more than that. It was a year of starting to feel truly settled. A year of contentment and happiness. Other than the huge day of August 2 with the birth of Little Man, there weren't any huge happenings, but the little things added up to a great year.

I thought I would do a little snapshot of the year to remember the good things..and a few of the bad. Enjoy!

January

Looking back, January was a tough month. Coming back to WV to a frozen gas tank which led to an electrical problem in our pickup. Then to a car with a frozen parking break. January was just a cold month with lots of car problems. Car problems equal money problems. Money problems equal unhappiness.

We were also really excited for our little baby. Maybe too excited. We cleaned out our nursery to make room for baby. Yes, I'll admit. We were jumping on that one pretty quickly, but we were excited!

February

Our January money problems led us to do something about it in February. We decided (okay, Jared forced me into it) to take Financial Peace University at our church and start figuring out how to make money work for us. So, February started our strict budget and learning a lot about finances. It has truly been a life change.

I had a cold this month. So much so I must have decided to take a picture documenting it...and now I feel I need to share it with you.

March

We're having a boy! Let the shopping begin! Mom and I went shopping for little boy things after our gender ultrasound. So much fun!!

April

Getting the nursery set up! Crib is up! Glider is up! All we need now is a baby...4 more months. Sigh.

Opening night at the Iowa Cubs! Cold but a lot of fun!

May

This was a busy month for me! Organizing my school's track and field day was overwhelming and stressful!

We had a weekend celebrating our "Babymoon" in May. We just had a great weekend being together- went to the farmer's market, botanical gardens, out for dinner a few times. Great time being with my love.

We also bought a new vehicle! We said goodbye to our truck that kept leaking fluid and got our Honda CRV. We love it!

We were also incredibly blessed this month. My first baby shower with my 3rd grade class as well as trash bags full of clothes for our little guy from 2 different families...for free. So grateful.

And my garden went in this month. I had so much fun with my garden this year. Onions, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, banana peppers, jalepenos, broccoli, tomato plants, cilantro, and basil. Yum!

June

It's summer! I realized later that I should have gotten some type of summer job. Don't get me wrong- I thoroughly enjoyed my summer of lazing around, getting ready for baby, but the days also got me antsy for our new addition. I spent a lot of time in my garden (but it never took long, it was small), cleaning the house, scanning pictures, and being a wife. :)

July

Baby's room is ready! Mom and I spent a few days together sewing up curtains, a quilt, pillow, and a bed skirt for baby's room. Looks wonderful!

Lazing around in Dad and Mom's pool. Such a wonderful feeling to just relax. Did get burned one day a BIT too much. My belly was RED!!

August

Grayson Taply Wells was born on August 2!! Best day of the year. He's been a wonderful baby and has been such a blessing to our family.

August was a great month of getting to know our little boy and learning how to be a family. Our little boy made it pretty easy on us by being pretty laid back, slept well, and ate well. Dad had a few weeks off from work and mom was on maternity leave, so we spent a lot of time together as family.

September

We had a few fun outings this month! We went to a Labor Day parade to see Daddy's drum line perform. Grayson just laid back and chilled the whole time.

Grayson also took his first combine ride! We visited Grandpa Dave while he was harvesting and we had a great time riding with him. Grayson even got to steer the combine!

Mommy had to go back to work at the end of the month. Grayson does a great job at Carissa's and I miss him, but the days go quickly.

October

Grayson took his first trainride! We had fun going to Boone Scenic Railroad. Not as fun as we envisioned, but fun none-the-less.

Baptism! October 24 was a special day as Grayson got baptized into the Lord's family. We had a wonderful day celebrating with Grandpas and Grandmas and aunt and uncles and cousins here to celebrate.

November

This month flew by. Not much too special, but we're having fun being a family and watching Grayson as he experiences so many firsts.

Many tears.

But so many smiles!

Putting the star on our tree.

December

Again, another month that flew by. Christmas was pretty special this year as it was Grayson's first. We had a wonderful time with family and it was great being together to celebrate.

Happy New Year! We're excited for this year and everything that it holds.

4 month appointment

Grayson had two checkups a little over a week ago (Dec. 14) and I need to update so I have the info in my records.

It was nice for Jared to take one day off and is able to take him to two appointments! I love that he can just take any day off with his job since I used every bit of my sick leave.

First Grayson had an apptmt at the ENT. A few weeks before we went in because he had such a raspy, growly voice and the pedi said he had acid reflux and put him on Zantac. Well, his voice was still terribly low and raspy, so he went in to the ENT and got a scope put up his nose (poor kid- he hates it when I put a q-tip up his nose, not sure how he handled a scope!) but there are no polyps or bad things in there so that's super good news but his esophogus (??- I wasn't there) is really red. The ENT says it's acid reflux so it keeps getting covered with acid all the time. He's really surprised we haven't noticed much throw up or him being bothered but he gave G a new prescription so I hope that helps his voice.

Then in the afternoon he had his 4 month well check which I was able to go to. He's 16 pounds 9 ounces (90th percentile!) and 26 inches long (90th percentile!). All looks good. The pedi kept saying how he seems like a 6 month old with his size and how well he can sit up on his own. I was telling her how he moves all around to get his toys and she was super impressed with the fact that he's rolling from stomach to back and back to stomach to get places. So, I'm really happy it went well. And he got a few more shots again, but no reactions at all.

Christmas Lights A-Twinkling!

Current status- taking a break from putting up the Christmas tree. It's Thanksgiving weekend! You know what that means? It's officially Christmas season! Yey! Christmas music is playing, the tree is in the process of being put up, the beautiful scent of pine tree is wafting through the air (thanks to Yankee Candle's "Mistletoe"- which is unfortunately in a glob at the bottom of the jar due to sitting in the garage during the summer...hey, it still smells good!) and I'll soon start wrapping presents. Grayson needed a bit of an afternoon snack and then decided to take a snooze on Momma's lap, so here we sit, taking a break.

So this year, we decided to put up colored twinkling lights on the tree. Yes, the terribly awkward, gaudy lights. To buy them, we took the money out of Grayson's money envelope for the month- since they're for him. :) Since he loves staring at flashing lights, etc, we thought they would be perfect for him, so decided to go for it. They are kind of mesmerizing. He's only been awake long enough to scream out in hunger so not sure if he likes them yet or not. I'll try to update you on that later.

Update on us...Life has been pretty good. Jared and I got hit hard by a fast flu bug on Thanksgiving, so we're both just getting over that. We went to my parents on Thanksgiving day and ended up leaving early because Jared wasn't feeling well and before we got home, I was down and out. It was a tough couple days taking care of Grayson while both of us were awfully sick. Thursday night we put him in his crib before he was asleep and he had to cry himself to sleep because neither of us could stand up. Then he woke up at midnight just crying again...I was in tears too because I couldn't get out of bed. It was horrible. BUT, we survived! And we're better and I don't think Grayson got sick so we're very happy about that. Enough about being sick. Makes me queasy.

Grayson is growing up so fast. He's doing awesome. He went to the doctor last week because his voice has been growly lately and he ended up having a cold and was given a prescription for acid reflux. We have an appointment with the ENT doctor next month to get that checked out more. His doctor was impressed with his head control and commented on how big he's getting. He is up to 16 pounds! Yowza! Momma's milk is doing him well! He's filling out his 3-6 month clothes and 6 month clothes already. Crazy how fast they grow out of stuff.

His favorite thing now is sitting in his exersaucer. He loves all the toys that are around him. I'd love to get him a jumping chair but his exersaucer will have to do for now. Maybe we'll get him one for Christmas. He would love that! He also has a few favorite toys- his squeaky giraffe named Sohie and his crinkly blue elephant we named Elvis. :)

Well, little guy is moving all over, making it difficult to type, so I should stop. Enjoy your Christmas! I'll try to update more!

Smiles, Sleep, Pokes, and Pumpkins

Smiles and Coos :) They make my heart happy. FINALLY got a good smile on the camera. Thank goodness for fast shutter speed!

My other favorite thing is holding Grayson in the rocker. No, not for the cuddle time, but for how much he LOVES the picture that hangs above the rocker. He just stares, stares, stares at this picture and then all of a sudden a HUGE smile comes across his face and he starts jabbering away- all without taking his eyes away from his picture. I don't know what it is about this picture, but he absolutely loves it and I love watching him enjoy the picture. So, his early morning feedings don't make me too annoyed because once he sees this picture, the smile and the chatting make those moments worth it. I'll see if I can link to the video we got of him doing this so you can all enjoy it too.

His early morning feedings are farther and farther in between. The past two nights he's slept through the night! Last week was bad though...we went about 10 days in a row of waking up once during the night. I know, I know. :) No complaints. But a full night's sleep is wonderful! Especially with being back at work.

We got our shots last week too. Jared brought him in because I couldn't get off work in time to pick him up and bring him to the doctor. Jared found out why I wanted him to do it- so I wouldn't be the bad guy. ;) He took the 4 shots pretty well. Jared did say he cried harder than he'd ever heard and his little mouth was open farther than we'd ever seen it with his screaming. The shots didn't seem to affect him at all, so we're thankful for that. He didn't have an official appointment so no official news on how much bigger he is. I did just step on the Wii Fit board while holding Grayson and Wii Fit told me I just gained 13.5 pounds. :) So, he's growing! That, or I gained a whole lot of weight in a few minutes. He's starting to grow out of his 0-3 month clothes too, so we're starting to make piles of "these don't fit anymore" clothes. Sigh. I think the closet exchange of sizes will be happening more than I realize.

We went to Boone Scenic Railroad on Saturday for the Pumpkin Train ride. It kinda stunk. I wouldn't do it again. But, Grayson loved the train ride. Really. He did! He was awake the whole 30 some minute trip to the pumpkin "patch" and just stared out the window. It was so cute! We did get a cute pumpkin, but it was disappointing that there wasn't an actual patch. Just a small area with pumpkins sitting on hay bales...sigh. I guess next year we'll visit a pumpkin patch.

Back to Work

I can't believe my time home with Grayson is already over. I've been back to work for 4 days already. My heart breaks every time I have to leave him, but the days go pretty well. It's the anticipation and the actual leaving that hurts the worst. And driving to pick him up. That always takes way too long. I can't wait to get to the babysitters and snatch him out of her arms.

My first official day back at work was last Thursday. I think my slow ease back to work was the best thing I could have done. I worked a Friday, and Jared stayed home with Grayson. Then we had off the next few days together- all 3 of us! Then we dropped Grayson off at daycare for a half day on Wednesday. Then Thursday I headed back to work and Grandma Jo stayed with Grayson at our house, and then Friday I was at work and Grayson was at Carissa's. My kids have made the transition easy on me too. They're such good kids. I'm not burying my head in my hands all day and I can actually have fun teaching and doing what I love.

Daycare is going awesome for Grayson. A girl named Carissa is watching him out of her home. She has two kids of her own and then watches a few other kids. I drop him off at 7 and pick him up by 4. He has "fun". :) Who knows if he does! She says he's good. He's struggling a bit with the bottle, so don't know what's up with that, but it doesn't sound like he's too fussy! He even came home with a craft his 2nd day- a little painted pumpkin that said "Mommy's Little Pumpkin." :) Carissa said the other kids did the craft and she just had to have one for him too! I really appreciated that.

Well, Grayson is already conked. Isn't he always?!? (is that bad?) I might head to bed early. It's tiring being back at work...