Made my day!

Grandpa sent me this picture today from his iphone of Grevin playing with one of his favorite toys. Because we did not find out if we were having a boy or girl, we had friends who gave us a few hand-me-downs from their kids. Matt moved to Arizona and gave us his daughter, Jordyn's exersaucer which was bright pink and purple! It makes me laugh everytime I see him in it :-)

4 month check up

Last Friday we went in for Grevin's four month well check. He was trying to eat the stethoscope and pull the doctor's beard so the doctor said he was right on track! One of my biggest concerns was that I didn't know if I was pumping enough milk for while he was at Grammie's and if I should start introducing solids. The doctor said it would be completely fine to do that but then I had a parent educator come out to the house later that day from the Families First program and she said to NOT start him yet, to wait until 6 months-she acted like it would be detrimental to his health if I started before then. She suggested supplementing with formula instead for the next few weeks. As a parent, you have to love all the mixed messages you get from what is safe to eat, when to start eating, how much to feed them, where they should be sleeping, how they should be sleeping, what they should be doing at what age, do you let your baby cry so they learn to self sooth or do you traumatize them if they cry,etc, etc, etc. No one can agree on anything! Sorry, I just think there is way too much information out there and too many strongly opinionated people. I think you have to do what works best for your family.

Anyways, enough ranting, and back to the check up! I have to say again how much I love my doctor because he shares that same philosophy about what works best for your family. He is so good with Grevin and with explaining things to Zippy and me. He also likes that he doesn't have to give the vaccines to Grey so Grey won't associate him with that! We have to go down to the injection clinic...and this is the only part that sucks because it is where the swine flu clinic is! Everyone on one side of the room has on masks and then there is us! Grevin was a trooper like usual and just cried for a moment. He was a little fussy the rest of the day but was back to his smiley self the next day!

Grevin's stats:
17 pounds 14 ounces
26" (they measured incorrectly last time so I am not sure much he really grew)

Missouri

Better late than never, right? I have been trying to get this post up for awhile. What a trip. I think we saw 50+ friends and relatives and Grevin was such a champ. We left the house at 4:45 am on July 5th to fly back to Missouri. Our flight was uneventful, Grey slept through most of it because he had a bit of a cold. I was concerned that his ears would be bothering him but he did great. We spent the first few days hanging out with my dad and his side of the family. My stepsister's oldest son was staying with them for a few days so it was fun hanging out with them. Lisa has been living overseas and I think I have seen her maybe two or three times since our parents married. She has three little boys and is now living in Omaha. Everytime we have tried to see each other, we barely miss each other(she moved to Belgium the day we came back from living in Holland; she was at my dad's and left the morning that we arrived. You get the picture!). We finally got to meet up if only for an hour but hopefully we will see more of them and Grevin's only cousins! We then headed to Lake Pomme de Terre for an Owings Family Reunion. We ate alot of food, drank alot of beer, played alot in the water, and caught up with family we hadn't seen in awhile. It was alot of fun but never long enough. I am sad that Grevin won't get to see these people on a regular basis...but I guess that means I have to go back more often!! He thought his Uncle Ben was the funniest thing ever. Ben would just look at him and he would crack up.

And I apologize for the picture mess down here. I guess I didn't format them correctly in the blog so they are all over the place. They take so long to upload that I didn't want to do it again!! The pictures with my dad are a few posts down in the section about a quick look at Missouri!

Uncle Ben playing with Grey

My cousins babies with Grey: Ashlyn (7mths) and Grevin. She was nice enough to share the pink bumbo! Other Picture: Grey sitting on cousin Aubrianna's lap.(2 yrs)

Zippy and Ben did alot of wakeboarding while we were at the lake and Grevin was jealous. He wanted to try too!

We had alot of fun. Grevin is a true pisces...he loves the water!!

New tricks!

Grevin may not want to roll over tummy to back but he has a new trick! When he is laying on his belly, he can scoot himself in a circle to grab things that are out of his reach. He also loves to BANG on anything: a counter top, his toys, dad's head, just about anything he can touch. He started doing it when he realized that when he does that motion with something in his hand, it makes a noise.

I need to get Grammie to start taking pictures during the day. By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is find my camera! Things are going well with Grammie. It is good to know that she spoils him as much as I do! They had so much fun yesterday that Grey fell asleep on the way home(which he does quite often), but he was still asleep when I pulled into the driveway. I decided to let him sleep, thinking it would only be about 5-10 minutes. I opened my book (the second Sookie Stackhouse book-great series by the way if you want to read something like Twilight but the adult version) and two hours later I had finished my book...and Grevin was still out! He woke up when we got out of the car and was in such a good mood the rest of the evening...plus didn't want to go to bed. He was laughing non-stop at everyone and charming everyone with his smiles. I love my little boy!

Back to work

Day 1: completed.

I have been off of work for 20 weeks and was completely dreading going back to work. It was not as bad as I thought it would be other than a few teary moments throughout the day and thinking CONSTANTLY about what Grevin was doing. Luckily, the people I work with made the transition easy to get back into the swing of things, it was almost like I never left! The worst part would have to be the pumping every few hours. I do not have a very good relationship with my pump but I am trying to work things out with it. It is going to be an interesting 8 months if we can't start getting along!

Grevin had a great time with Grandma. And Grandma had a great time with him. I was worried about having to wake him up to go over there but he was wide awake at 5:30, a half hour before I needed to get up. I thought that was bad until this morning. Last night, we got home and played for awhile. Around 5:15 pm, he started acting tired so I thought I would let him take a power nap. He was still sound asleep at 9 pm so I decided to let him keep sleeping. Guess who's smiling face I saw at 4:45 this morning?? None other than the well rested Grevin! I think he is still on Missouri time! Tonight we are going to try to go for a walk after work when he gets sleepy so he won't think he is down for the night and maybe he will let me sleep in until 6 am tomorrow!

Thanks, Becky!

One of my silent blog stalkers( I know you are reading this, Becky!!), came out to my mom's house while we were back in Missouri and took our family photo as well as some great shots of Grevin. If you live close to my mom or if you are in the Oak Grove area on vacation(haha).....and are looking for that perfect person to take photos for you, I can give you her information! She is alot of fun and as you can tell, can take some great shots. I hope to have a few of these hung in my living room soon if you want to stop by and see the hi-res versions! Also, if you are family and want a copy of any any of the pictures, shoot me an email and I will get them from Becky.

Thanks, again, Becky, for coming out to the house. We had so much fun with you and these are some amazing pictures!

Quick Look At Trip

I don't have much time but wanted to share a few photos that I downloaded from the first days of our trip back to Missouri. Now we are at the lake waiting for the golfers to get back so we can go out on the boat!

Cousin Ethan with Grevin

Can't resist those cheeks!


Grandpa finally getting to cuddle

Gray Bar the cat, Aunt Mackie, Grandpa, and Grevin

Grey playing with one of my favorite childhood toys

Month 4

Grey,

Here we are again. I am trying to keep the tears in check as I write this but they keep rolling down my cheeks as I type. I have really enjoyed being able to be at home with you for four months, and I know that I was very lucky to have that much time, but I am so so so very sad to have to go back to work in a few days. It helps to know that Grammie will be taking care of you but I am so jealous that she will be there to see so many of your "firsts."

It has been amazing to watch your personality bloom this month. You are definitely a "people person" as you do not hesitate to wow everyone with your toothless grin. You brighten my day along with anyone else who crosses your path! You wait until someone looks at you and then you give them the BIGGEST grin so they will continue giving you attention. You and your daddy are very much alike because you both have a hard time sitting still. You love to be constantly moving and seeing new things. Grandpa Kearney kept wanting to cuddle with you and you just wanted to go-go-go!

This month has been alot about your tongue, your toes, and your voice. You are constantly sticking your tongue out and chewing on it. Your toes may be your favorite toy right now. You love to grab them and I have even seen you sleep holding onto them. You think they might be like your hands so you try to grab your toys with them. It cracks me up! You also like to talk. You love to hear your own voice and you make 'angry' sounds and then laugh!! You have discovered peek-a-boo. Your Uncle Ben is the funniest though. He can just look at you and you start laughing. He looks away and then looks back at you and you just crack up!

You are thinking about rolling over. You have rolled from back to front twice this week but I think the bed gave you some help. You can easily get to your side from your back but show no desire to go the rest of the way or from stomach to back.

I love you more and more everyday. I can't wait to see what next month will bring!

xoxo-Mommy

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July celebrations! We went to Zippy's grandparents for their annual 4th of July party. It is a combination of many things: family reunion, grandparents' anniversary, and good friends. Also lots of good food and good company. We left early to head home to save the dogs from the fireworks and I think Grey and I are thinking about heading to bed(it is only 8!). Hopefully, I will make it long enough to see the fireworks because if not, they will just wake me up!

Grevin's Great Grandma and Papa Weirich Weirich Crew:

Uncle Tyler, Grammie with Grevin, Zippy, Great Papa, Great Aunt Carol, Great Grandma, Great Uncle Bob, me, and Auntie Zeph

Wordless Wednesday