Fella Party

Playing the White Elephant Game

I know what you are thinking...

CREEPY

Some of the cute kids

Every year we get together with Paul's friends from high school. It is so fun to get together especially now since many of us our living out of state. This year was really great because everyone could make it to the party. I love Paul's friends and their wives, it always amazes me at how well we all get along. There were so many kids this year it was crazy, I can't believe how big everyone's families are getting. The Berrett's little girl Joey was leader of all the kids she had them playing all sorts of games and running around. Leila loved it, she kept telling us she really liked her new friends. Most years we do and ugly sweater party but lately people haven't been participating except for the Phillips family well this year pretty much everyone was in their ugly sweaters it was great. Paul looked particulary creepy because he has been growning a mustache (it started in November for prostate cancer awareness but then has continued for a family party on Christmas eve).

Gingerbread Houses

Every year my family decorates gingerbread houses, usually my mom makes the houses from scratch but this year she decided to buy kits and it turned out much less stressful. Leila loved it this year, she kept saying, "I am having so much fun!"

Leila picked out all the candy and where she wanted to put it on the house

Jason, Leslie and Marcus

This is what Greydon did while we decorated houses

(you can kind of see his smile behind the blanket)

Leila's house, she dumped coconut over the entire house and yard

Leslie and Jason's house

He loves his daddy!

Greydon loves his daddy! If Paul is holding him or Greydon hears his voice Greydon will break out in the biggest smiles. These pictures are from about a week and half ago and his smile has gotten even bigger since then.

The past week

Leila, Greydon and I have now been in Utah for two weeks, it has been so fun to have Paul with us this past week. We stayed at my parents one week and our now staying at Paul's mom's house the rest of the month. Here are a few pictures from this past week.

Greydon sleeping, trying to recover from yet another cold. It is so hard to keep him healthy when his sister catches everything around

Leila and Mari waiting to ride the wagon at Wheeler Farm The whole family waiting for the wagon ride, Greydon is in his stroller behind us

Leila wanted to go on a wagon ride at like 10 PM one night to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood but refused to put on shoes, sock and a coat, so Paul's mom came up with this solution she made Leila a comfy warm bed in the wagon, what a spoiled little girl she is

The two kiddos taking a bath

Practicing her piano skills, she was also making up songs as she sat at the piano

Just playing a little soccer with her uncle Marcus

Talking with my cute little guy

Frosting cookies with Mia, Colby and Zach. Leila frosted her cookie and decorated it but spent most of her time just eating the candy

Temple Square

Over the Thanksgiving weekend we went to Temple Square with the Petersons. It was freezing cold but so beautiful and lots of fun to spend time with our friends.

Peterson Family

p.s. Kara you look so pretty!

Dunlavy Family

Thanksgiving

I wasn't very good about taking pictures on Thanksgiving. We traveled to Utah for the Thanksgiving weekend and stayed at my parents house. We had Thanksgiving dinner with my family and then went to Orem for dessert with Paul's family. It was a great weekend except for Greydon getting sick.Leila helping my mom and sister make the mashed potatoes

1 Month

Greydon turned 1 month on December 9th. We took him in to the doctors a couple of days early for his 1 month checkup so he could be followed up on being sick. Right before Thansgiving Greydon started getting congested, Leila had been sick and so had I so we figured he got what we had. Well he kept getting worse and worse on by Saturday night we were really worried, just after midnight I had fed him and laid him back down and he started wheezing. So Paul and I decided to take him into the ER. When we got there he was doing better, but they decided to do a chest x-ray and monitor his stats. The chest x-ray came back with viral streaking but his O2 stats were pretty good. They monitored him until 5AM and then told us to follow up with his pediatrician on Monday. By Monday he was even worse, his pediatrcian took one look at him and decided to test him for RSV, it came back positive. His doctor told us it was really rare for a baby this young to get RSV then gave us all the things we needed to do and watch for and sent us on our way. We also had an appoinment at Paul's school clinic for some OMM treatment. Dr. Galin took one look at him and said I hope you live close because you are going to be coming here every day until he is better. It was such a relief to see a doctor every day to be assessed and recieve treatment. Monday and Tuesday were the worst days, Greydon was struggling to breath, not eating and when I would finally get him to eat he would throw up. So it was a rough couple of days. I later learned that Dr. Galin was really worried about him on Tuesday and almost admitted him to the hospital. (I am glad she didn't fully let me know how concerned she was or I would have been a wreck, well more then I already was). By Wednesday Greydon had drastically improved and by Sunday was fully recovered even after his pediatrician said the cough would probably last 3 more weeks. I fully believe that Greydon recovered so fast because of the OMM treatments he recieved. It is so nice to have a healthy baby again!

So at his one month appointment these were his measurements

He weighed 8 lbs 2 oz (I know only 3 oz up from his birth weight, but the RSV really took a toll on his little body)

His height was 21 3/4 inces, he has grown 1 3/4 inches since he was born!

Greydon is the best little baby. He is so content and happy even when he was sick he hardly fussed. We are just starting to get a cry out of him and it only happens when he is hungry or getting his diaper changed. His cry is so quiet you can barely hear it, everyone says it sounds like a little lamb. When he was first born I would have to wake him up to feed him or he would grunt when he was hungry. He still grunts all the time, when he is hungry, when he is eating or just when he is hanging out. Greydon likes to eat every 3 hours, at night he will sometimes do a 5 hour stretch. He is a really good eater and will nurse or take a bottle.

Greydon can still wear his newborn clothes but will also fit into his 0-3 month clothes. He loves to be all bundled up. Greydon is really awake and happy in the evening, this is when we usually can get some smiles out of him. Greydon likes his binky during the day but doesn't like it at night while he sleeps. Greydon loves to cuddle he especially likes to be held on my chest or shoulder. Greydon does not like to lay flat on his back, this started because we would have to prop him up when he was sick and since then he likes to sleep with a pillow under him.

Greydon has been to Utah twice now and been on his first airplane ride. He did really well on the flight, he ate and then just sat on my lap wide awake, I was super surprised he didn't fall back to sleep. He also did really well on the drive to a from Utah, mostly slept the whole time. Greydon still sleeps in the bassinet in our room, which I love but Paul is so ready for him to be in his own room, I am surprised he has lasted this long, Paul kicked Leila out of our room after 3 days. We just love our little GQ!

*Thank you to my brother-in-law Sean for taking all the wonderful pictures of Greydon!