Play Dates!

The past few weeks have been a little rough, I've been trying to get Grant on one nap a day so I've been trying to keep him entertained nonstop! Last week we went to my best friends house and we let the kids play! Now that they are older they seem to have more fun each time we get them together! They know each other now too, they'll hug and grin really big when they see one another! We've been trying for over a year to get a good pic of them smiling at the same time and its finally happened!

Allie is such a doll and such a girlie girl.. I looked over and she was in my flipflops saying "Shoe", it was precious!

Allie pushed Grant around on her push toy!!!

TRUE LOVE!

Hey.. slow it down Girlfriend!

Then on Monday we headed to see our cousins! Kelly and I needed some girl time and what better way for the boys to work out their energy!

I love this picture!!!! Grant follows Tol around!

Kelly is having a yard sale so I wanted to go through her maternity clothes before she sold them (NO.. dont get excited.. Im not even CLOSE to thinking about having another one.. I just wanted them for when/if Im ready again!) and I looked over and Tol had grabbed a pair of the pants and was putting them on! He didnt want to take them off either!

Here he is getting ready to ride his four wheeler in them!

Brotherly Love!

Hey cousins.. wait for me!

We had a great time and we greatkt enjoy spending time with all of my loved ones!

So Pitiful!

The past two days Grant has been running a fever, I just chalked it up to teething because he has to big white spots on his gums and he's been a drooling machine! However yesterday his fever got up to 101, so I called the Dr and she sd if he's still got it in the morning to bring him in. Just to be safe (being that it was the weekend) I went ahead and made an appt for first thing this morning. Franklin was up with him until 1am and then I got up with him at 630 and he was fussy and still hot, fever of 101.9. Get to the Dr's office and he was so good.. he's so wimpy and pale and yet he still smiled and waved at everyone! I took the cutest picture of him playing with this sunglasses in the dr's office and of course when I emailed it to myself from my phone, it wont open :(. Anyways.. long story short.. he's ok... he has a mild ear infection and some signs of an upper resp. infection.. but the Dr sd I caught it just in time! As soon as we got home I gave him some lunch and some medicine and he took a good nap! For some reason, even though he whines a LOT when he's sick.. I think its so pitiful when he looks at me all "sickly" and still musters up the energy to tell me that his supper was "Mmmm GOOD" and still waves bye bye at his Daddy when he goes to bed! Hopefully he'll be much better tomorrow!

All In A Days Work... WHEW

You may look at this picture and think.. AW.. what a sweet face.. but to me the only thing I can think of is "Calgon.. take me away"! I can not express how funky and absolutely exhausting the last two weeks have been with Grant. TONS of people told me that things really change when your baby hits one, and yet I still wasnt prepared. Lets start with change #1: ... Tantrums. WHY? Seriously.. is it necessary to arch your back, clinch your fist, and kick your feet over the channel changer? REALLY? Why do you want the ONE THING I dont want you to have when you're in a room with ten thousand toys? Its so hard for me to "keep my cool"... I've simply figured out how to walk out of the room. Change #2: Climbing... what on earth? I feel like my kid is a monkey... he's climbing on EVERYTHING... I do mean EVERYTHING... I was eating with my friend Becky at lunch the other day and he climbed out of his highchair and yet it was still buckled? He's climbing OVER the couch and on TOP of his toys? Exhausting!
Change #3: OBSESSED with opening and closing doors! I've had so many doors slammed in my face or on me the past two weeks its rediculous. NOW.. while Im cooking, he's allowed to get in to ONE cabinet.. thats fine. But when I open the fridge to get something.. dont close it, if Im hanging up clothes its really not necessary for you to shut the door on me and lock me in the closet! I've put cabinet locks on all but two cabinets and you should see how mad he gets when he cant get it open! WOW! Change #4: No more bottles! This was something I really dreaded doing but I have to give him props.. he's done great! We've even eliminated the "night-time" bottle! Change #5: One nap a day.. oh this is so bittersweet. Its been a living nightmare, it really has. He's exhausted by 10am, however when I put him down for his morning nap he would sleep two hours and then only 30 mins for his aft nap, or the other way around. I have to have some sort of relief during the afternoon, its a MUST. SO I thought.. ok.. back to naptime bootcamp we go... its time for "1 a day". He's so cranky and exhausted but he's been taking three hour long naps the past 3 days in a row. Its been MISERABLE trying to keep him occupied because he gets bored so easy. Thank the Lord for my friend Emily inviting me to playdates! Today, on the other hand, was awful. Tantrum after tantrum, followed by a short 2 hour nap and woke up ill as a hornet! I am absolutely exhausted and can not wait to get my very well earned bubble bath.. Calgon.. TAKE ME FAR FAR AWAY!!!!!!!!!
Here are photos from my adventures from 6pm-7:45pm.. and to think why I'm exhausted!

Spaghetti Dinner... As Im thinking of the terrible mess Im having to clean up he looks at me and grins and says "MMMM GOOD"... who could get mad at that?


As I am loading the dishwasher.. he's unloading the cabinets!


Instead of standing in front of our toys to play with them we climb over the couch....

... then on top of our other toys...




Now.. up we go for bathtime! I tell Grant "Come on Buddy.. lets go take our bath".. and he crawls as fast as he can in to the bathroom and opens and closes the door (in my face!) for about fifteen minutes!

To cure the meltdown he was having because I made him stop opening/closing the door.. I thought.. Hmm.. I'll make it fun.. lets have a bubble bath tonight, he'll love that! Who doesn't love a bubble bath, right?
W-R-O-N-G ..... he was SCARED TO DEATH of the bubbles.... who is scared of bubbles? I sd.. "Look Grant.. BUBBLES... FUN.... dont be scared"... he screamed and put his arms around my neck! Yes.. I had to drain the water, wash out the fun bubbles, and start all over!

"terror of the bubbles"

I hate these stupid bubbles :(

I would like to report that I read him a book and put him down peacefully but that would be way to easy! We had a good fifteen minute battle at bedtime! WOW I'M TIRED! (BTW.. for those of you trying to figure out where Franklin was in all of this FANTASTIC FUN... he was out of town at a funeral ... I know he's so sad he missed all the fun!)!

GIRL'S TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahhhhhhh... just those two tiny words.. "Girl's Trip" just makes me smile! Two of my great friends, Emily and Casey, and I decided to take a road trip to Atlanta, Georgia to the Ikea store. Our mutual friend, Mary Leigh (who was supposed to come with us but ended up having to stay home to attend a wedding.. MAN WE MISSED YOU!), has raved about this place to me for a year or so now and I've been dying to go. So ... Saturday at 745 Em picked me up in her new Van and off we went to get Casey.. after a short stop by Starbucks, we were Ikea bound! Now.. I've never been to Ikea... I just knew that all my friends liked it and I knew I liked all of the things they had purchased from there... but I must admit.. I had NO CLUE what I was in for. That place is 5 acres of pure female bliss :) ... Organizational items, furniture, rugs, bathroom stuff, shelving, toys.. you name it.. they have it! Being that I wasnt prepared and didnt have anything in particular I was looking for.... I didnt do to much damage! Emily and Casey on the other hand... well... just see the pictures of the cart below! Speaking of that cart.... OH THAT STUPID CART! Words do not express how much I hated that cart, LOATHE isnt strong enough... I'm pretty certain that it would've made the Pope himself curse.. it was that bad!

Me and the STUPID CART....

This should've been a picture of Emily and Casey.. since that was their full cart

After about 3ish hours of shopping they had a little snack bar downstairs and HOLY MOLY.. they had the most delicious cinnamon buns you've ever put in your mouth! The look on Emily's face when she saw that coming was PRICELESS.... I'm pretty sure she cheated on Greg with that cinnamon roll! (totally kidding!). I wont lie, I had one too and it was divine!

I booked us a room in dowtown Atlanta at the Hotel Palamar (however you spell it) and it was super "swanky" as Emily would call it! After checking in and changing clothes, we got back in the van and headed out to find somewhere neat for dinner! On the way we stopped at a Trader Joe's (seriuosly.. only Mom's would go to a grocery store on a girl's trip!!!) and The Container Store (I LOVED that place!) and then found Uncle Julio's for dinner! OH MY GOSH... Em may have had her way with her cinnamon roll but MY OH MY did Casey and I have ours with the guacamole... HOLY COW.. Im not sure I've ever had guacamole that good! It was a pile about as big as my head and we ate almost every bite! The food was to die for... I barely got a word in at dinner because I constantly had my mouth crammed with food! We stayed there probably two hours determined to finish our meals.. not to mention the fact.. we werent on anyone elses schedule and didnt have any little sticky fingers picking in our plates! I cant remember the last time I've laughed that hard, and we certainly learned A LOT about each other. I wont be able to eat Mexican again without thinking of Emily.... picture it.. 7 months pregnant, slouched to the side of her chair, a look of disgust on her face because she's so full and saying "OH I need a cushion" ! Now it might now sound that funny.. but it was HYSTERICAL! Casey and I looked at each other and about fell out of our chairs laughing!

Here we are AFTER dinner! Stuffed but having a ball!

After that we get back to the room and Emily needed her chocolate fix and low and behold there was not a vending machine in the hotel.. so back to the elevator and around the corner to Publix we go!!! Now..Im not sure what was going on that weekend but lets just say there were some "interesting folk" out on the town.. WOW! I've seen many bad/slutty outfits in my time but these certainly were "special"! WHEW! After that we all got in our pj's .. Casey and I decided to let Em have her own bed since she's pregnant! POOR CASEY.... OH .. bless her soul! I was dog tired .. and I told them that... and I even warned Casey that I was a wild sleeper! I remember getting up at 3am to go to the potty.. and thinking.. Is Casey reading with her book light on? Nah! Well the next morning we get up and appartenly I kept my knee in her ribs all night and snored :( NOT ME... I dont snore?????????? YAH.. I do! I felt so bad... :( I will be better next girl's trip! I promise! Dang those full size beds! Hey... at least I didnt spoon her!

Sunday we were up and out by about 830 and headed to The Flying Biscuit! We had heard awesome reviews and thought we would try it out! Emily and Casey really enjoyed it... I on the other hand, thought it was good but I wanted good ol' country biscuits and gravy and that wasnt on their menu! It was too modern for my taste.. still good though!

Anways it was a WONDERFUL trip and I desperately needed it! I missed my boys really bad but feel like I came back refreshed! Enjoy the pics! Thanks for a great trip girls, lets go again soon!

1st Birthday Bash!

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet little Grant!

We had a fantastic turn out and thank the Good Lord for not letting it rain on us! I feel so thankful because there was a horrible black cloud surrounding our house and the Lord just knew my baby boy needed a rain free party.. so many thanks to Him!

The party could not have gone any better if I had tried! All of our wonderful family came and brought him some beautiful gifts! He was such a perfect boy and had a BLAST! I was surprised though, he didnt want any part of his cake! He ate a big dinner and I think it was a combination of being outside and being a little over stimulated! Oh well.. if that is the only thing that didnt go to plan, then that's great! I posted a slide show of alot of the pictures! These are just the ones my Dad took, hopefully I will get mine downloaded in the next day or two! Although.. I was a little busy and sadly didnt take that many! OH.. and for the record... I didnt cry at the party... just that morning when I gave him his birthday pancakes! hahaha!
Happy Birthday Grant!

Has it really been a year?

The picture above is so funny to me.. Franklin and I had NO IDEA what we were in for! A year ago today at 9am I was induced to have my sweet baby boy! Little did I know that it would be 21 hours, 7 epidurals (that didn't work), and a c-section later before I got to hold my sweet little boy (Sept 6, 2008)! Franklin and I were so blessed to have such a big wonderful family there to support us! Franklin never left my side and was everything and more I could've asked for in a husband/father! I tear up as I sit here and write this because it seems like yesterday that all of this happened and yet I can hardly remember life without our sweet baby boy! Tomorrow we will have his very 1st birthday party (dont worry.. that will be its own post!) and I am so excited to celebrate one year of a happy healthy little boy, and yes.. I admit I am sad too and will probably boohoo when we sing Happy Bday to him! Here are a few pictures from his birth!

8 lbs 5ozs 21 1/2 in

Our 1st family photo!

My first glimpse! Love at 1st sight!

I love this.. notice his little leg... he always rubbed my arm with those sweet little feet!

His 1st day of life just happened to be the opening weekend of college football! GO VOLS!

His birth announcement!

One year later......