surprise!! another surprise!!

the murray's happened to be in ireland for my 30th, but i was certain we would celebrate once they got back. little did i know that they were planning a little surprise party/cookout for me!!! we couldn't have better friends. <3 them!



and we <3 their neighbors too. miss amber, mr bruce, aiden and little dude's girlfriend bethany came over, along with the court's (they all live in a culdesac) newest neighbors miss jen, miss gabby, paris and channel! we had some delicious kabobs and corn (it really started to feel like summer) on the deck, followed by some cookie cake and a nice little cranberry cocktail.

thank you all for such a great evening! it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

(even mojo got in on the celebrations! we even caught a little smile of hers in the one picture. okay, well maybe she just finished yawning, but it looks like she's smiling! there are some pictures of me being decorated by the kids too that i still have to get from colleen. they're pretty funny!)

good sippings!

i can't believe it's been 6 months since i've seen jenn! such a change from our weekly pilates class and wegman's dinner routine when we were both pregnant! it was definitely time for us to all hang out and meet the new little dude and dudette, so we all met up at breaux vinyards. the adults enjoyed a nice wine tasting (11 wines!!) and then it was off to the lawn where we enjoyed
our packed lunches.

it was so cute to get graham and vivi together. i think they enjoyed themselves....as much as 4 and 6 month old babies can! soon graham will be able to play with owen!

we had such a good time though. it was nice to just get out and relax. all the kids were good, and the weather couldn't have been better. maybe the weather was too nice...graham got his first little sunburn on his cheeks. first mom flaw....forgot the sunscreen. so guess what i'll be buying at target!!!

6 month stats

holey moley...the due is GrOwInG!!!

weight: 17lb 4oz (43%)

height: 25.5" (15%)

head circumference: 18.5" (drum roll pleeeeeeeeeeeeease......99%!!!!!)

dude has a BIG head! :)

nothing to be worried about (i already asked the doc). he has a feeling his head growth will plateau and we'll see that at his 9 month well visit. guess we'll wait and see!

graham did super well at his visit today though. no stranger anxiety, he impressed dr. bill with his tummy time strength, he was reaching out for all the cool toys dr. bill had, and he only cried for a little bit after he got his shots. he's one tough dude!

bwwwwwwwwwwwap

someone has a new trick!

must have monday

sorry for the hiatus last week. with my birthday and a weekend full of surprises, my must have monday slipped by me! this week i just have three words:

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

we use our graco doorway jumper EVERY DAY!

and thank you to our other great neighbor, teresa, who was on the lookout for us. she snagged us ours for free from freecycle. yahoooo!!! grady and grampa hooked up the hanging system (a block on either side of the entrance to our sunroom) and it has provided the dude with endless amounts of fun! he loves to jump, jump, jump! (i'm sure you've noticed this in quite a few of our videos)

happy easter!

happy easter!!

we spent the day relaxing, laying around and playing! we hope everyone enjoyed their day as well. a special thank you to the best neighbor ever too, miss stef, who made the cutest easter basket for the dude. he LOVED it!

playtime

to round out the evening, we had the clay's over for dinner. the boys thoroughly enjoyed playing with each other. it's like they never left school!

surprise!

it's official, i'm OLD! i hit the big 3-0 this past tuesday! i thought time was going fast with the dude...man o man...i'm not exactly sure how 30 years of my life have gone by already. i have to say, this is probably the first birthday i've had where i've actually felt different after the day passed. maybe it's because of everything i've accomplished lately:

- graduated from college

- married for almost 4 years

- own an house

-worked at an awesome advertising agency with some amazing people

- HAD A BABY!

- became a marketing manager

wow!! not bad! although i have plenty more to work towards!

so in honor of my 30th, grady planned a whole day of surprises.

we started out by dropping graham off with miss jodi, so we could have some adult time.

we then stopped by grammi's work to pick up some glasses for grady and sunglasses for me.

found a new little brew house in leesburg, vintage 50, and had some pretty darn good craft brews (also had some GOOD hummus!)

then for the big surprise.....

a private wine tasting at tarara winery!!!

it was great, we were in a private room with the somalier and two other women. we learned the 5 "S's" of tasting wine and then got to taste 8 different tarara wines. of course my favorite was the $40 bottle!! :) it was a great experience and i had so much fun. perfect way to start my 30's!

these photos were taken outside of the entrance to the winery. we're looking forward to going back soon and enjoying some time on their patio!

happy half birthday!!!

holey moley! the little dude is six months old!!! how did this happen? i swear it was only yesterday that we were getting everything packed and ready for him to be born. not only is time going by quickly, it's going by in what seems to be time warp speed! happy half birthday dude! we love you so much!!

we don't go in for your 6 month well visit until next week, so the stats will have to wait until then. but here's what you've been up to lately:

- wearing size 3 diapers

- wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes now

- sleeping between 9.5-10 hours at night (YEAH!)

- have LOTS more hair than last month. it seems to be growing in blonde too. i think we're going to have a toehead on our hands!

- eyes are still blue, with maybe a hint of green in the center. we'll see if they change!

- had your first fever and ear infection (boo!)

- eating cereal twice a day. he seems to really like oatmeal over rice and barley.

- able to sit up on your own and have become more of a fan of playing on your tummy

- sitting on the 'big boy' side of the bathtub (that would be the non-reclining side)

- have started to giggle from being tickled or from hearing a favorite word

- colored our first set of easter eggs

- HUGE fan of the bouncy chair!

sunny days

someone has some cool new shades thanks to his grammie!

we're definitely ready for the beach now!

sunday morning visitors

we were so lucky to have miss nicole stop by our house this morning before she headed back to raleigh. the little dude was definitely loving all the attention! he didn't want her to leave either. he was grabbing at her face right before she left. it was very cute. guess that means we have to schedule a visit soon!

side note...graham was REALLY into these blocks today. it's so crazy how his favorites change from day to day. surprisingly enough, sophie is not in this picture. she is the exception to this phenomenon. i think she will ALWAYS be a favorite.

rainy day blues

and no, i'm not just talking about the dudes eyes!

i also seem to be mad about plaid for this little dude. he just looks so good in it!!

and OMG...when did the little dude turn into a big dude?

chomp

and we have ourselves a case of the giggles!

we like to chomp, chomp, chomp like crocodiles!

must have monday

as the little dude has been battling this ear infection, he has also been battling a fever as well. all day this past friday, saturday and sunday he had a fever...poor dude! awhile back we had purchased a thermometer with the three settings (oral, rectal and armpit). i only had to use the thermometer once or twice before just to check and see if the dude had a fever, so putting it under his armpit wasn't too bad. buuuuuuuuuut, having to take his temperature more often, the under the armpit was NOT working. especially if the dude was sleeping and i had to mess with his onesie to get a reading.

so behold...my must have monday

exergen's temperal artery themometer!!!

OMG, this little thing makes taking a temperature SO MUCH EASIER! it was so easy that i would take the dude's temperature every 2 hours or so, just because i could and it wouldn't bother him or wake him up if he was sleeping! it even came with batteries, which they must have been thinking of mom's when they did that one. what frantic mom who's infant is running a fever is going to run in and get a thermometer and then remember to get batteries for it?! not this one! :)

i hope i don't have to use it again in the future. but i love that i'll have this on hand when i do!

easter eggies!

i haven't made easter eggs in, well, i don't know how long! i figured with a little one in the house though, it was only right to make some. even if he doesn't appreciate them, we at least did them for his first easter.

i had all these grand design plans for my eggs, but unfortunately, they didn't turn out as i planned. i think the first trouble was using the paas dyes. i think next year i'll just use plain old food coloring. actually, i know what i'm going to do next year and i can't wait!

for now though, here are our eggs! they still turned out pretty cute!

on the mend

yesterday was spent eating, sleeping and taking medicine for the dude. he was running a low grade fever pretty much all day, but honestly stayed in good spirits the whole day. not too much crankiness. just a WHOLE LOT of snuggling. we stayed on top of things with tylenol and his antibiotic and today i think it's safe to say we're on the mend!

he's not completely the 'little dude' again, but he was able to muster up some energy to bounce and flash a couple duck smiles (that's what i'm calling them these days)! we're so happy he's feeling a little more like himself. hopefully tomorrow will be even better.

feeling puney

so my hope of the dude sleeping off whatever sickness he had, or that it was just teething, was unsuccessful. poor dude woke up with a 102.2 fever, so i knew something wasn't right. i had to wait until 8 to call the doctors office to get an appointment. luckily though they got me in right at 840.

dr. bill took a look at him and after checking his left ear, thinks he found the culprit. little dude's first ear infection!! poor guy had to go through the nose swab of a flu test after getting gunk dug out of his ear, so needless to say, he was all snuggled up on my shoulder until we left the office.

the flu test came back negative (thank goodness), so we walked out with our antibiotic prescription and well wishes that he'll be much better for his 6 month appointment in a couple weeks. (oh my goodness...how did it get to be almost 6 months already!!!) mommy has the best medicine though. cuddles and kisses! here's hoping the little dude feels better soon!

on a side note, the dude weighed in at a whopping 16.7 pounds!!! over double his birth weight!!

amazon

yes, rudy loves amazon! he wishes they could deliver shoes everyday! (so do mommy and daddy!)

mojo shows her enthusiasm about this situation perfectly!

feverish friday

2:21pm

call from school that graham has a fever of 101.2!

2:25pm

walk over to my bosses office and tell him about graham and i get "oh no! get out of here!" gotta love having a boss who has three kids of his own and understands the urgency of the situation.

2:40pm

i get to school and kadisa is holding graham and he's all red in the face and hot. poor dude!!!

2:55pm

we get home and give the dude his first dose of tylenol. something is definitely not right seeing as he's been sleeping in two hour stretches all day and normally he only sleeps an hour at a time and only about two naps a day. we were going on the 3rd nap after i gave him the tylenol and he had already taken two naps at school for two hours each!! maybe he'll just sleep it out?!

6:02pm

we've been cuddling all afternoon and sleeping. fever has seemed to go down. we're definitely at a better, more normal temperature now.

8:00pm

nursed one last time and then put the dude to bed for the night. OUT for the count!

ei yiyi!! the little dude gave me my first dose of a 'sick' baby today. i guess i should count my blessings we made it this far though. 5 1/2 months old without having a fever, and 1 1/2 of those months he's been back at school and hadn't caught anything. hopefully this means the dude has an immune system like his dad. grady rarely gets sick!

bounce to the beat

thanks to our neighbor down the street we now have a doorway jumper for the dude. and thanks to grampa and grady for figuring out how to hang it from our molding-less entry into our sunroom, we now have a bouncing baby boy!

daddy likes this video because it proves his point that the little dude is going to like house music. seems that whenever we put it on he starts jumping more. raver baby! he's also got a little jig in there too!

must have monday

i think i jinxed myself awhile back when we experienced the dude's first blowout when i said "we're lucky because he hasn't had many blowouts." ha! the clean poops are a thing of the past now! we've moved onto one to two outfit changes a day due to 'messy' diapers. poor daycare has to deal with most of them as the dude tends to be an afternoon guy. *side note...i love how i openly talk about poop now!*

so now my evening ritual includes not only nursing, feeding cereal, cleaning bottles, making bottles, sometimes taking a bath and then putting to bed...but it now also includes washing out the 'messy' clothes from school. this is where my must have monday comes into play...

the shout advanced gel stain remover with built-in brush.

oh man...this stuff takes EVERYTHING out!! and we've seen some horror scenes here lately! because grana had bought us a little bottle of the totally toddler stain remover we gave it a shot. it also claimed to get everything out of clothes. but to our dismay, the dude's poop stains would normally still be there after one washing. i was having to wash his clothes twice and apply the totally toddler twice until the stain was gone...not liking that!

but the shout is great. i rinse the clothes in our set tub in the basement (thanks grampa for helping grady put that in. it's a lifesaver!) to get all the 'mess' off of them and then just squirt some gel on the stains, use the brush to massage the gel into the clothes and then i just lay it on the side of the set tub until i do a load of the dude's laundry. even with the worst stains that i thought wouldn't come out, the shout gel has not let me down!

i did have a hard time finding it at target, but i did find it pretty easily at walmart. it's cheap and well worth the investment! happy laundering!