Oooh, Merry Christmas Baby!

We had a very merry and lovely Christmas, and hope everyone reading this did aswell. Grant was amused by all of the paper and wanted to munch on it more than anything! Here is a summary of things: tons of smiles, strangers loving Grant's Santa hat, Grant finding the musical button on a new toy while it was still wrapped, the rest of the adults opening gifts while Grant jumped in his jumper for 2 HOURS STRAIGHT!, a lovely meal, crazy games of Taboo and Trivial Pursuit and a whole lot of love! below is the link for all the pictures, enjoy your vacation/ time off, time with loved ones and family!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNj6&notag=1

The Anatomy of a Roll

((This is Laura jumping up and down, clapping and saying

"LOOK WHAT GRANT CAN DO"))

Grant's 1/2 Birthday

Today Grant is 6 months old... man how time flies. Happy Half Birthday Little Man!

Christmas in Texas

We celebrated an early Christmas in texas this weekend... complete with cold weather, ham dinner and presents. Here is Grant enjoying the wrapping paper (and book that was wrapped inside)

Nature in Lights

As a finale to our "Texas Christmas" we headed over to the lake near post where they had an incredible light display. I tried to get a few photos but the video turned out the best. There were over 100 different displays, you know santa packing up the sleigh, the reindeer taking off, and of course frosty using a backhoe! (yes, inorder to get 100 different displays you have to get creative) Here is the tunnel of lights just as we were ended our hour long tour:
P.S. Grant LOVED them!

Sitting pretty

Blurry because it was caught in the moment, but LOOK WHAT OUR LITTLE MAN CAN DO! hhhooorraaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh for Grant!

Like Father, Like Son

D is for Destruction

See Grant break a bear off of his mobile See Grant dump bananas all of his lap See Grant's mommy get excited as he begins to be a "real boy"!

Discovering Bs

Buu bub baa ahbbb ba baahh bu bbbum!

Oh, if only we can translate... though we think it means "Dad has a funny feeling face and I want everyone to know it" Grant offically discovered Bs this weekend and found his voice outside of the car (before he would only sing along to the hum of the car engine, now he talks non-stop) So without further ado I present to you The B Song;

(sorry that I can't rotate it... just turn your head and enjoy)

Playing airplane

Grant and Geoff discovered the joys of playing airplane yesterday! LOOK AT THAT SMILE! It was all fun and games until Grant let a little drool go and then lets just say Geoff wasn't in the mood for playing anymore! :o)

Our little elf

The joys of christmas and wrapping gifts was quadrupled last night when Grant wanted to help wrap presents, who could resist having a little elf to help you out? Who knew wrapping paper could be so fascinating... or hypnotic for that matter!

New chew toy!

Who knew chewing/ teething on daddy could be so much fun?!?!

Our son, the contortionist

Who can bite their own toenails? Grant can! Let me tell you, diaper/clothes changes have become quite the battle. Grant has officially discovered his feet and he loves them. Do you dare put on socks that might cover up his little piggies.... absolutly not, they'd be either off or in his mouth in a flash. Gross yes, but atleast this new treat is saving our finger from the relentless teething!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We've set up our Christmas tree and took Grant to see the big man! Yep, Santa has been graced by Grant and they both had a blast! Grant kept starring at Santa (I think it was the beard) and Santa kept wondering where he could get those rosy cheeks! Here are my two boys outside of Santa's Village!

First Lieutenant Childs

GEOFF IS HOME FROM NTC
HHHOOORRAAAAAHHHHH! After a month of playing Army in the desert, about freakin' time! I went to pick him up on wednesday and despite all of the dust and the no-shower- stinch I was able to make out that the little bar on his chest had magically changed colors! No more 2nd Lt. "butter bars" for him, his gold bar was replaced by a silver on! CONGRATS!

Hanging around, basting!

Grant celebrated his first Thanksgiving in Richmond with the Bartholomay/Taylor clan. In all of the activity happening in the kitchen he got mistaken for the turkey....... oops!

Baby, its cold outside

As Christmas tunes fill the air (especially after they get stuck in your head for a few hours) I thought I post pictures of Grant all bundled up for the winter. Don't worry about him though, see those cheeks? Hes got his winter stash of food stored up already!

Horsin' Around

We were lucky enough to get to see the other part of the Childs clan on our visit to Atlanta week before last... and Grant had two fun firsts! He meet cousin Jenny and got to see horses live and in person, let me tell you, he was super excited about both! Here we all are with Cannon (and yes, thats a big smile underneath the paci!)

Flying in Style

well we've made it to North Carolina and let me tell you... have we figured out the way to travel! Step one: pick a flight that is only one third full. Step two: have child grin ear to ear at every airline attendant in the airport. Step three: have said airline attendant tell you that he/she has moved you to a row by yourself so that child can have a seat of their own (for free). Step four: enjoy flight with child in carseat and/or being passed around between stewardesses... rinse and hopefully repeat for the flight back home!

Highchair eats!

PUCKER UP!

OK, NOW WHAT?!?!

CAN I EAT MY CARROTS IN PEACE?

How you doin'?

Dear Daddy

I miss your face!

Love, Grant

Who needs Mike

"I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike", remember that commercial....

well today Grant taught us a very important lesson.

Who needs Mike when you can be like your Uncle Brian!

Go Panthers!

FEED ME!

We had a huge first today! Seeing as Grant is 4 1/2 months old (shock and awe, i know, i can hardly believe it) we decided to take his mind off of the shots he had earlier today by trying our hand at feeding him. Yummm yummm, good ole rice cereal! Verdict: HE LOVED IT! Took to a spoon with no problem and smiled the whole time. Since Geoff is leaving tomorrow for California for a month, we didn't want him to miss too many "firsts" so we also tried a spoonful or two of squash. Verdict: HE HATED IT! Guess we'll have to stick with boring ole rice for awhile...

Fancy Schmancy

I finally got around to reading the owners manual on the fancy schmancy new camera we got in preparation of Squiget's birth and look what I found.... our fancy schmancy camera can do fancy schmancy color things! Heres to hours and hours of playing....

Happy Halloween

Its a bird, its a plane... ITS SUPERGRANT! We've sure had fun getting Grant ready for his first Halloween. Pumpkin hats and pumpkin patches, and all of those good ole costumes! Here are the pictures from our shananagins:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNeC&notag=1

Football frenzy

We realized that all of Grant's blankets were baby blue and I had wanted to try my hand at the infamous "taggie" blankets and this is the final result... Gran't own personal Houston Texans Football Taggie!

(...and he seems to be just as pleased as mommy is!)

Best Laugh Ever!

its official... sorry to all of the other moms out there but there is just know denying it; Grant has the best laugh EVER. I finally found "the" spot and torture tickled my poor son over and over again simply because I couldn't get enough of this laugh!.... bad mommy!

Grant gets excited!

***YAY FOR TECHNOLOGY***

(insert fanfare and a drumroll here)

I have been wanting to post videos of Grant for sometime now and finally figured out how to do it! (I am BEYOND excited!)

So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Grant gets excited" also known as his Dancin' ....

Tim and Valentine Breitbarth

Valentine and GeoffWell Ms Valentine Woods has officially become Mrs Valentine Breitbarth (thanks to Tim) and it was such a beautiful wedding. Geoff got to fly to NC for the weekend and we were both so glad that he got to make it (Army life is stinking a bit at the moment so it was a much needed break from that reality) The day was full of last minute alterations, beautiful vows, a ton of dancing and lots of laughs with old friends. Valentine ordered perfect weather for her big day and we enjoyed a night out on the town. Here are the pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNdO&notag=1

Rubber ducky you're the one

'nuf said!

(P.S. have I mentioned recently how unbelieveably cute our son is?!?!)

Heads up!

Talk about progress... Grant is holding his head up with the best of 'em! We thought those cheeks were gonna weigh him down for good. (Still no interest in rolling over but its not for lack of practice)

Geoff is back to work today after a long weekend off complete with chili, football, grilling out and the pumpkin patch. Now we're gearing up for the NC trip and theres a lot to look forward to...Valentine and Tim's wedding, meeting up with Dave, visit to ICCIS at Elon, lunch dates with Lindsay and Emily, roadtrippin' to Richmond to meet the Bartholomays/Taylors, playtime with Uncle Brian, meeting the Westminster crowd, and finally homecoming, where he'll be spoiled with love from "Aunt Roars and Auntie M". Good times ahead...

90 year old man

Geoff and I sometimes joke that our son is really a 90 year old man.... he gives us this all knowing look with his forehead all wrinkled, or when he looks like hes pondering the fate of the world, or flashes his toothless grin. This weekend however, Grant showed us his 30-40 year old self, (as the picture shows) he gave us a glimpse of a beer belly/couch potato future. Yes, it was an NFL game and there were plenty of belches and rumblin in the pants to pull off the part.

P.S. I love the fact that he already is pushing buttons with his thumb

Peekaboo, I see you!

Ladies and Gentlemen

...we have a teether!

Grant has been drooling and gnawing on his hands for the past few days, looks like the we have just entered the wonderful world of teething! JOY! The teething ring is still a little to big for his mouth but he sure has fun trying to make it fit, as for poor butterfly, he gets decapitated hourly!

Caught in the act

...now if this doesn't make you smile, you must be dead!

I was trying to snap pictures of Grant in his cute Lion head towel after his bath tonight by holding the camera out blind in front of us and just snapping away. Needlesstosay I laughed out loud when I looked back over the pictures I had snapped and saw this "action shot"! Oh the joys of having a baby... get them out of the bath and then there is spit up everywhere. hey, at least hes still cute even when caught in the act!

Here are some more pictures from the week: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNZ8&notag=1

Hot off the press

Here are the pictures from Grant's latest photo shoot. He got his first big boy teddy bear this weekend and loves it (not as much as the blue dog, but a muched loved second): http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZMmzJw5aNZe&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5
You'll notice a lot of pictures on the exisaucer, its amazing that hes actually starting to play with the toys on it instead of just starring at the monster. You can also see how big he seems in it now as compared to a month ago: http://www.laurabartholomay.shutterfly.com/action/pictures?a=67b0de21b350f82425ae

Happy One-Quarter Birthday!

Grant celebrated his 3 month old birthday today by being the mack-daddy escorting three lovely ladies to the pool. (We warned everyone that he was going to be a ladies man)

Our "little tubbie" enjoyed his time in the "big tub" until the water reached his bottom... then he let the world know that he was NOT having it. I can't believe how big he has gotten --case in point, those swimming trucks are size 12 months, I bought them on sale a while ago hoping to save them for next summer, guess I'll have to rethink that idea because they definately won't make it 'til his 4 month birthday!

The Cat is away

so we will play!

Geoff left for a week in the field, so Grant and I are holding down the fort. Unfortunately with the troop getting ready for a motnh long training camp in California in November, its going to mean a lot of feild time in the next month! Grant's baby book has offically been started (note: the wedding album has not, haha) and we're getting excited for our trip to NC next month for Grant to meet the Bartholomays, Valentine's wedding and seeing friends at Elon's homecoming!

PROGRESS:

Grant is really starting to hold his head up at the begining of tummy time, he gets pooped pretty quickly though. He still isn't interested in rolling over, in fact it scares him when I help, like he doesn't know how he got there and doesn't like that!

I never knew that one little dog could make a baby smile so much but Grant has singled out one of his toys as his favorite. A blue and white lovey with a dog's head on it that the Rossis sent him. I don't know if its the fleece and silk, or the fur of the dog's head, but Grant loves this thing.

The one eyed Grant monster hasn't been spotted in several weeks... Grant has actually started to somewhat enjoy bath time (i.e. not scream bloody murder throughout the whole process) He did manage to wet the changing pad before we could slap a diaper on him last time though... "you gotta be quick with these things mom"!


As for an update on Ray and Tiffany, they have moved down to Tampa for rehab but Ray got an infection and is back in ICU. Once the infection has cleared they will go back up to Bethesda to have the surgery to remove fluid from his head, then be back in Tampa to continue rehab. Ray is in isolation right now so its gown and gloves for Tiffany and little Alli hasn't seen her day in a few weeks~


Hope you all are having a great week!