OK- not really that I have TIME to, but I need to, or I'll never get around to it..just like my scrapbooks. I haven't updated them since 2006 Christmas. Ugh. I know I need to, but I can't figure out where to start. Plus, with the rhinestone shirt business underway, I simply don't have time these days to do anything....really, I am not kidding. I shuffle my kids back and forth from school, to camps, to dance, VBS, to the gym, and then collapse in sheer exhaustion when it's all over. Add Dr appts to boot, and we are one busy, BUSY family.
So, I would normally back date posts to co-incide with the dates that it actually happened, but I have a feeling they would just get lost and not be read. So, instead, I'm just going to write a REALLY, REALLY long post. Sorry. It will have lots of pictures though.
So, Grayson is doing very well. We had his checkups this week and he is 25 lbs (85%). He is 30.5 inches long (75%) and his head is between 19.5"-20" around (he's a wiggle worm and doesn't like his head measured) which makes it off the charts.still.forever. I asked his neurosurgeon about this and if he would ever "grow into" his head. His answer was simple, but understandable. NO. He was born with a large head, coupled with sagittal synostosis, he will always have a large head. 2% of children are above average in head circumference and he falls in that 2%. Most of that 2% is made up of sagittal synostosis patients. OK. So, he really really is taking after me and my big head. I say it's because he has a lot of brains to fill it up.
His nickname is Lil' Bruiser. If you could see him walk, you'd see why. He totally looks like a bruiser or bully. Walking around like a bulldog, and sometimes resembling a sumo wrestler. He walks through the house patting his belly, and stomping one leg (like a sumo wrestler) He has the chunkiest thighs of ALL my babies, and I think he takes the prize for the biggest belly too. (besides mine, of course) Grayson is released from any further treatments, or follow-ups with the neurosurgeon. They say he is also released for any sports that he wishes to play, but I don't know if I'll ever be OK with that.
We had his birthday party this past weekend. It was very fun, but our air conditioner went out on Friday night, which made for a miserable HOT Saturday. But, luckily, the party was outside anyways, so my guests knew they were gonna be hot and dressed appropriately. We themed his party "Grayson's Splish Splash Birthday Bash" and used yellow rubber ducks to decorate with. Invitations, Thank you's, decorations, plates, napkins, etc were all Yellow Ducky. We rented a 16 ft. water slide for the older kids. They LOVED it. There was NEVER a break in the line to go up. It was always full. We had a baby pool for the babies with about 6" of water in it (for safety) and I also filled up our duck pond with water and floated some ducks in it. It was actually our old built in sandbox, but it ran out of sand...go figure, with Brayden and co.... so we dumped out the remainder and used it for our temporary duck pond. The in-between-age kids had fun sitting in it. It had more water in it than the baby pool (probably 1 ft) and they all crammed in it. We dubbed it the "hot tub" for the day. After playing for a while, we enjoyed Lasagna, Pizza, Bread and Salad, we all had some Ducky cake. Then the kids all got Ducky themed gift bags, filled with rubber duckies, ducky necklaces, bubbles, candy, etc... In lieu of gifts, we asked that our guests bring a donation to the Texas Childrens Hospital Neurosurgery floor. We collected almost $200 for them. (which I left on the counter when we went to our appt, so we'll have to plan a trip to the zoo very soon and drop it off then...gggrrr) We wanted to give back to the hospital so that the other neurosurgery patients could have some new stuff to play with while recovering. I also was able to use it as a learning lesson for my older 2 children, that giving to others is the best thing you can do. Not only does it help other people out, but it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside. :-)
Finally the AC got fixed at 8pm that night. Whew. That's a story for another day...
Brayden finished his 3 yr old preschool this year. We debated for a while if we were going to start him in Kindergarten when he was 5, or wait until he is 6. His birthday is LATE August and we just don't feel like he is going to be ready next year, so we are holding him back this year. So, next year he will repeat at the same school with the same teacher in the 3 yr old class. He will be with a lot of kids that were in his 2 yr class because their birthdays were after Sept 1, so they got put in the 2yr old class again when he moved up to the 3yr class. So, old friends....new tricks.
He really is ALL BOY! He recently started showing his emotional side and says things to me like "mommy, I still like you" UUMMM, STILL? I laugh because it's his way of saying I love you, but man, that would be offensive if he said that to his girlfriend in 15 yrs. Today, he actually gave me an arm kiss and told me "mommy, I just love you". Big improvement! Thank you, Brayden! He torments Kaylee and Grayson, but then he will turn around and hug them, which would make it all better, but then he may spit at them right afterwards....Man, I just don't know what to do with him. He also says "mommy... I want you" which means he needs some snuggle time, or he will tell us at night that his back hurts, "that's why he needs us to rub his back and give him purple sugar" (tylenol, which he apparently thinks is candy)
Kaylee finished Kindergarten this year and is excited to move on to 1st grade! I still cannot believe I have a 1st grader! She got her first phone call from a friend the other day. Wow, that was not expected. I thought mom's still called on their girls behalf until age 8 or 9...I guess not. She is reading on a 3rd grade level and was... as she says "the 4th smartest kid in her class".
She had been dubbed "Polly-Talks-A-Lot" by us because she does not.stop.talking.from the time her eyes open until she finally gives up and lays still at night. She finally broke the 40 lb mark!! WOO HOO! That was a BIG HUGE acomplishment for her. She's been 39 lbs for, I swear, 2 yrs!
Kaylee and Brayden both took 6 rounds of swim lessons in the winter/spring so this summer, if we are not at home, we are at the pool. Any pool. Wherever we can get an invite to since we don't have a neighborhood pool. Chris really wants a backyard pool, but we are still weighing our options with this economy. (it would definietly be fenced, so don't fret) They both swim very good though, and for my comfort level, Brayden still wears floaties and Kaylee has to stay where she can touch the bottom. I am always with Grayson in his baby float, so I couldn't be worried about where they both were and constantly worrying about if they were floating, swimming, drowning, etc... Brayden has NO fear and is a little fish, but that's the part that worries me. He drinks water, gags, chokes, and has vomited before, so I can't deal with that while trying to keep 2 others kids afloat. But, this is our first summer to really "swim" so we are enjoying every minute of it.
OK- so I think that catches me up, so now for the pictures....
So, I would normally back date posts to co-incide with the dates that it actually happened, but I have a feeling they would just get lost and not be read. So, instead, I'm just going to write a REALLY, REALLY long post. Sorry. It will have lots of pictures though.
So, Grayson is doing very well. We had his checkups this week and he is 25 lbs (85%). He is 30.5 inches long (75%) and his head is between 19.5"-20" around (he's a wiggle worm and doesn't like his head measured) which makes it off the charts.still.forever. I asked his neurosurgeon about this and if he would ever "grow into" his head. His answer was simple, but understandable. NO. He was born with a large head, coupled with sagittal synostosis, he will always have a large head. 2% of children are above average in head circumference and he falls in that 2%. Most of that 2% is made up of sagittal synostosis patients. OK. So, he really really is taking after me and my big head. I say it's because he has a lot of brains to fill it up.
His nickname is Lil' Bruiser. If you could see him walk, you'd see why. He totally looks like a bruiser or bully. Walking around like a bulldog, and sometimes resembling a sumo wrestler. He walks through the house patting his belly, and stomping one leg (like a sumo wrestler) He has the chunkiest thighs of ALL my babies, and I think he takes the prize for the biggest belly too. (besides mine, of course) Grayson is released from any further treatments, or follow-ups with the neurosurgeon. They say he is also released for any sports that he wishes to play, but I don't know if I'll ever be OK with that.
We had his birthday party this past weekend. It was very fun, but our air conditioner went out on Friday night, which made for a miserable HOT Saturday. But, luckily, the party was outside anyways, so my guests knew they were gonna be hot and dressed appropriately. We themed his party "Grayson's Splish Splash Birthday Bash" and used yellow rubber ducks to decorate with. Invitations, Thank you's, decorations, plates, napkins, etc were all Yellow Ducky. We rented a 16 ft. water slide for the older kids. They LOVED it. There was NEVER a break in the line to go up. It was always full. We had a baby pool for the babies with about 6" of water in it (for safety) and I also filled up our duck pond with water and floated some ducks in it. It was actually our old built in sandbox, but it ran out of sand...go figure, with Brayden and co.... so we dumped out the remainder and used it for our temporary duck pond. The in-between-age kids had fun sitting in it. It had more water in it than the baby pool (probably 1 ft) and they all crammed in it. We dubbed it the "hot tub" for the day. After playing for a while, we enjoyed Lasagna, Pizza, Bread and Salad, we all had some Ducky cake. Then the kids all got Ducky themed gift bags, filled with rubber duckies, ducky necklaces, bubbles, candy, etc... In lieu of gifts, we asked that our guests bring a donation to the Texas Childrens Hospital Neurosurgery floor. We collected almost $200 for them. (which I left on the counter when we went to our appt, so we'll have to plan a trip to the zoo very soon and drop it off then...gggrrr) We wanted to give back to the hospital so that the other neurosurgery patients could have some new stuff to play with while recovering. I also was able to use it as a learning lesson for my older 2 children, that giving to others is the best thing you can do. Not only does it help other people out, but it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside. :-)
Finally the AC got fixed at 8pm that night. Whew. That's a story for another day...
Brayden finished his 3 yr old preschool this year. We debated for a while if we were going to start him in Kindergarten when he was 5, or wait until he is 6. His birthday is LATE August and we just don't feel like he is going to be ready next year, so we are holding him back this year. So, next year he will repeat at the same school with the same teacher in the 3 yr old class. He will be with a lot of kids that were in his 2 yr class because their birthdays were after Sept 1, so they got put in the 2yr old class again when he moved up to the 3yr class. So, old friends....new tricks.
He really is ALL BOY! He recently started showing his emotional side and says things to me like "mommy, I still like you" UUMMM, STILL? I laugh because it's his way of saying I love you, but man, that would be offensive if he said that to his girlfriend in 15 yrs. Today, he actually gave me an arm kiss and told me "mommy, I just love you". Big improvement! Thank you, Brayden! He torments Kaylee and Grayson, but then he will turn around and hug them, which would make it all better, but then he may spit at them right afterwards....Man, I just don't know what to do with him. He also says "mommy... I want you" which means he needs some snuggle time, or he will tell us at night that his back hurts, "that's why he needs us to rub his back and give him purple sugar" (tylenol, which he apparently thinks is candy)
Kaylee finished Kindergarten this year and is excited to move on to 1st grade! I still cannot believe I have a 1st grader! She got her first phone call from a friend the other day. Wow, that was not expected. I thought mom's still called on their girls behalf until age 8 or 9...I guess not. She is reading on a 3rd grade level and was... as she says "the 4th smartest kid in her class".
She had been dubbed "Polly-Talks-A-Lot" by us because she does not.stop.talking.from the time her eyes open until she finally gives up and lays still at night. She finally broke the 40 lb mark!! WOO HOO! That was a BIG HUGE acomplishment for her. She's been 39 lbs for, I swear, 2 yrs!
Kaylee and Brayden both took 6 rounds of swim lessons in the winter/spring so this summer, if we are not at home, we are at the pool. Any pool. Wherever we can get an invite to since we don't have a neighborhood pool. Chris really wants a backyard pool, but we are still weighing our options with this economy. (it would definietly be fenced, so don't fret) They both swim very good though, and for my comfort level, Brayden still wears floaties and Kaylee has to stay where she can touch the bottom. I am always with Grayson in his baby float, so I couldn't be worried about where they both were and constantly worrying about if they were floating, swimming, drowning, etc... Brayden has NO fear and is a little fish, but that's the part that worries me. He drinks water, gags, chokes, and has vomited before, so I can't deal with that while trying to keep 2 others kids afloat. But, this is our first summer to really "swim" so we are enjoying every minute of it.
OK- so I think that catches me up, so now for the pictures....
I love this mischevious face Grayson makes....
Brayden's Sweet Face
Brayden's End of the Year Program
He went to Jareds.....Mother's Day Rings from each kid. Birthstone, Diamond, and it has birthdays and names engraved on them for each child, respectively.
Laugh, Baby, Laugh... I love your hearty belly laugh...
At my Brother Christopher's Wedding in June
Daddy and Grayson at the Birthday Party
Mommy and Grayson at the birthday party
Grayson's Sweetness
The hot tub
Grayson LOVES pizza. He ate 4 slices, and bread, and salad.
The duck cake (above) and the #1 cake (below) that he got ALL to himself
Oops, I forgot to put his shirt on him before he started eating cake. I bought it specifically for eating cake, and he was going to wear it!!!
Just wait, it gets worse...
Aaahhh, Now that was some GOOOOOOOOD cake!
I met Jodie on babycenter chat room when I was pregnant with Brayden. We've been "friends" ever since, and still talk often, but had never made the drive to see each other. I was so excited to have her come to the party and we finally got to "meet" face to face, even though we already knew each other very, very well.
All cleaned up and ready for bed. Just need to wash the cake down.
Showin' off his skills...
Ready to open presents.
If the present is bigger than you, do it Grayson's way and climb on top!!
Look at my new toys...
Grayson ridin' his new Bounce N Spin Zebra
Kaylee's Dance Recital and her friends from dance class.
