Early Flight

Leila, Greydon and I headed to Utah this past week to see family, while Paul was at home studying for all of his tests.  We decided to fly since we were able to get pretty cheap flights.  The only problem was the only flight I could get at the cheap rate was the 6:15 am flight which meant we had to be up really early.  We actually almost missed our flight.  It was incredibly crowded when we got to the airport and Southwest was soo crazy.  You are suppose to check in at least 45 minutes before your flight or they don't let you go.  Well pretty soon it was almost 5:45 and I was still in line, I thought for sure they wouldn't let me go but the lady didn't even say anything she just told me to make sure we go through family security.  We we rushed up to security which was also very busy but luckily there were only two other people in the family line so we made it through pretty quickly.  I had Greydon in my front pack carrier so I threw Leila into Greydon's carseat and pushed the stroller very quickly to the gate.  While I was getting the tickets so I could check the carseat and stroller at the gate they began lining up to board the plane well since I had a giant stroller I couldn't get to my place in line but luckily southwest saw me and pulled me to the front and let me get on first.  By the time we got settled in our seats I was exhausted and sweaty.  Thank goodness the kids were so good on the flight, Greydon ate and then slept and Leila looked at magazines and ate snacks.    My flight home was also a little crazy but I will write more about that and our actually trip in Utah later.

Park Bums

For the past couple of weeks we have spent several hours at the park every weekday.  The weather has been so beautiful and we just can't resist being outside.  We rotate between several different parks but by far I think Leila's favorite is the new park behind the post office.  We usually head to the park around noon or one and spend several hours there.  We lay out our blankets, bring lunch or a whole bunch of snacks and lots of water and just hang out.  Paul tells me I'm a park addict but we prefer to call ourselves park bums (oh and when I say we I'm talking about a bunch of girls in our ward and their kids).  It is so fun to kick back, chat, eat and watch the kids play.  And one of my favorite parts is how tired Leila is every night, she is completely worn out by the time we get home.  If anyone is interested in going let me know and I will text you anytime we go to the park ( which is pretty much every day), we definitely are not an exclusive group we welcome anyone that wants to join us.

Leila trying to decide what kind of trick she wants to do while going down the slide

It was pretty hot this day and Leila decided that even her dress was much to hot to wear, it took a lot of convincing to get her to put it back on

Playing hide and seek with her friend Reagan

Oh and Greydon loves the park and is sooo good when we go, he usually sleeps for a bit and then wakes up and just hangs out on the blanket.  I can only think of one time that we had to leave because he was being fussy and I'm pretty sure he was fussy because we had already been at the park for like 4 hours.  We usually have to leave so we can get home to make dinner and see Paul.  The other nice thing about spending everyday at the park is that my house stays much cleaner because we are not at home to mess it up.  Oh how we love the park!

Growing so fast

Just wanted to record somethings before I forget or start to mix up when Greydon actually started doing them.  On Monday Greydon began rolling from his back to his stomach consistently.  The minute I would lay him down he would roll right onto is stomach, it was so exciting at first but then got a little frustrating because then he would get upset that he was on his stomach and he is refusing to roll from his stomach to his back.  Instead of pushing up and rolling over he just lays his head down in defeat and starts crying.  This made for a diffucult couple of days because he wasn't happy and content playing on the ground.  Luckily he has tired of his new trick and only rolls over every once in awhile and will stay on his back or sides.  Greydon has also started to sit for a minute or two on his own, he has got pretty good control and catches himself when he starts to tip to the side but his back usually gets tired and pretty soon he is almost folded in half.  His hand control has also improved so much in the last week, he can reach for something and usually gets it his first try.  He is also laughing like crazy, he is the happiest when he wakes up in the morning and in the evening after his sister goes to bed and he gets his mom all to himself.  Last night he laughed for a good 30 minutes straight while I played with him.  He loves when I fly him over my head or when I touch my nose to his.  He also loves when Leila jiggles his stomach, he will laugh and laugh, if I try to do it he doesn't give the same reaction he doesn't cry or anything but just doesn't seem as amused.  It is crazy how fast he is growing and changing, I just barely did a four month post and since then he has started doing so many things.  I can't wait to see what he will do next (hopefully it will be sleeping throught the night, that would be awesome).

Do they look Alike?

Here are some pictures of my babies at about the same age doing about the same thing, do they look alike? What do you think?

Four months

Greydon is 4 months old and the time has just zipped by so fast. I can't believe how big he is getting and how much he is learning and growing.

Greydon's stats:
Weight: 16 lbs 9 oz (90 %)
Height: 25 1/4 inches (75 %)
Head: 43cm (60%)

Greydon continues to be a happy easy baby. He loves his swing and is quite addicted to it especially during nap time, I was freaked out when our swing broke but luckily we have some good friends that let us borrow theirs. Greydon refuses to roll from his stomach to his back, when he has tummy time he pushes up for a minute and then just lays his head down. He likes to roll onto his sides and has rolled from his back to his stomach a couple of times. Greydon loves his fingers, sometimes while he is nursing he will sneak his hands into his mouth and then gets upset when he is not getting any milk. He loves his binky and it has become a bit of a problem because he wakes up in the night when his binky falls out so I am getting up several times a night to put the binky back in. Greydon has started wanting to see whats going on instead of just laying on his back, he wants to be sitting or standing. He gets upset when someone walks out of the room. He learned to blow raspberries a couple of weeks ago and gets the biggest kick out of it and loves when mommy does it back to him.

Big smiles after blowing raspberries for several minutes

He started giggling (short little laughs) a while ago but last Sunday he started these long drawn out giggles. He will still let me cuddle him, in fact today he fell asleep on my chest today (he hasn't done that for a while). Greydon really likes to play on his playmate and grab at the toys above him. He hates his carseat, will cry as soon as we start putting him in it. He is easy to take places, he will just hang out or fall asleep. He loves when we go to the park and loves laying on a blanket and watching everything that is going on around him.

Greydon is a big boy he is wearing 6-9 month size cloths and size 3 diapers. Its kind of sad because I bought him a bunch of summer clothes at the end of summer last year and he is fiiting in them quite well right now, they definitely are not going to last much longer.

Greydon still only wants to turn his head to the right. I talked to his pediatrician about it and they showed me some stretches to do with him but they said they may have to set him up with physical therapy and worst case scenario would be surgery.

Greydon is a great napper but the sleeping through the night is still a struggle. He still wants to get up once during the night to eat. Although the last two nights have been much better. Greydon tried rice cereal the other day and the first time I gave it to him he loved it, I couldn't get it in fast enough for him and he didn't make one disgusted face. Since that first feeding it has not been quite as enjoyable, he makes faces but still slurps it down.

He is giving us his serious face, he has started to enjoy being in his bumbo, when we first put him in it he hated it but now its more enjoyable because he can see what is going on.

We sure love our big guy!

Funny things

Just wanted to record some of the funny things Leila says to us.

Leila: "Guess what my toes grew bigger so now I can jump higher."
___________

Leila: "mom I'm shaking my hooties!"
Me: "what are your hooties?"
Leila: points to her butt
(when she says hooties she actually means booty)
___________

Leila shared some candy with me
Me: "thanks for sharing"
Leila: "mom, sharing is caring"
___________

I was getting dressed the other day and Leila says, "mom your sexy".  It made my day hearing her say that because she is usually asking why my stomach is fat.
___________

She also repeats everything she hears, so I have to be very careful with what I say or I may be teaching her naughty words.  She spilled chicken nuggets and I hear  her say, "oh crap".  I was trying so hard not to laugh because then she thinks its funny and ok to say.  It sounds just horrible hearing the word crap come out a cute little girl with a sweat little voice. 

She refused to open her eyes while I was taking her picture, she is such a little cheeseball

Lake to Lake Relay 2010

(Right before the race started, I had the first leg which was just over 6 miles)

This past Saturday I ran in the St. George Lake to Lake 50-mile relay.  There were 5 girls on our team and between the 5 of us we ran all 50 miles. It went from Gunlock Resevoir to Sand Hollow Resevoir.  We each had 2 legs to run that were about 5 miles each.  There were 3 girls from my ward that ran plus a girl from another ward in our stake.  When we weren't running were were traveling around in Jenny's van cheering on our team mate that was running and supply the runner with water.  We definitely were not in it to win it, we just wanted to finish and not come in last place.  And we did it, I was so excited to actually finish this race.  It was such a fun and exciting day, I can't wait to do another relay!

Our team!

Camille, me, Kristine, Rylee, and Jenny

My first run and it was cold, my hands were freezing.  I could definitely tell the difference in altitude between Henderson and St. George.  I remember thinking at one point, "why can't I get any air" and then I remembered I was at a higher elevation.

The first run wasn't too bad, it was quite flat or down hill and the scenery was beautiful so it was quite the enjoyable run!

Coming into the first exchange point, it was so exciting, people everywhere cheering you on!

This is Kristine running, she ran our 2nd and 6th legs.  She is mother of three and only started running two weeks ago and did a great job!

This is the "energizer bunny" Jenny.  She was our team captain and our amazing runner. She ran our 3rd and 9th legs.  She was so quick passing tons of people by and she always had a smile on her face!

Camille ran our 4th and 8th leg, she was so awesome she kept telling us she was slow and would have to walk a bunch of it.  Yeah right she was so quick and such a strong runner.

Rylee ran our 5th and 10th leg and did it so fast in the hot St. George sun.  She did such a great job and took some of the runs that none of us wanted to do

Running my second leg was not so much fun.  I thought it wouldn't be too bad since it was only 4.4 miles but it was hard because I was tired from the first run and it was really hot and by this point my knee was hurting really bad.  I have a bad knee and I forgot my knee strap.  The first 3 miles of my run were on a trail where no cars could reach me and it was so hot, I didn't think I was going to make it.  I had to keep telling myself to keep running and not too walk, and when I got to the end of the trail there was my team with water and a spray bottle, such relief even though I still had another 1 1/2 miles to go.  But I was proud of myself I ran the whole thing.

The water felt so good!  Towards the end of my run I had a big hill, to survive it I put my head down and watched the pavement as I run and would not let myself look up to see how much longer the hill was and the next thing I knew I was at the top of the hill.

Coming across the finish line of my last leg, how good it felt to be done!

At the very end of our race in front of Sand Hollow Lake!

Showing off our awesome medals we got for finishing the race, whoo hoo!

I need to thank my sister Leslie for coming to St. George and taking care of my kids all day long.  She was awesome for putting up with them because I know they are not easy and for packing up and checking us out of our hotel.  Leila had so much fun with her and keeps asking when I am going to run again so Leslie can watch. 

Thanks girls for and awesome experience!

Grady Bug

My friend Rachele made this adorable little tie for Greydon, he got so many comments on it at church, he looked like such a little stud.  Thanks again Rachele!  Oh and the picture was taken at the end of the day right before bed so Greydon was a little tired. I wish I would have taken a picture of him earlier in the day when he was nice and happy, oh well!

This is Greydon's lastest trick, he rolls over onto his sides from his back, almost onto his tummy.  He has actually rolled onto his tummy several times but mostly just stays on his sides.  He loves rolling on his side and then sucking on his thumb.  I'm a little worried he is going to be a thumb sucker, he won't take his binky unless he is swaddled and has no access to his hands other than that he wants his thumbs.  Sometimes when his is nursing he sneaks his hand up and starts sucking his thumb instead and then gets mad when he is not getting any milk.  Greydon has also learned to blow raspberries, it is so cute and he gets the biggest kick out of it and then starts giggling.

Miss Leila

The other day Leila wanted a sandwich and I guess I was not quick enough to make her one because this is what I found her doing, making her own.  Wow she is getting so big!

Some things I want to remember about Leila: Awhile ago she started coming into our room in the middle of the night and want to get in our bed for just a few minutes and then me take her back to her bed and tickle her for a few minutes, well this was getting really old night after night.  So we told her she needed to stay in her room and that she could not come in our room unless she needed to go potty.  She listened to the whole not coming in our room because now she walks down the hall and stands outside the door and yells for me, what a little stinker. 

Leila was eating chicken nuggets the other night and had a huge glob of ketchup to dip in, well she started telling us that she did not have enough ketchup and needed more, we of course told her she had plenty and that she probably wouln't even eat all that was on her plate.  Thats when she decided to show me, she started dunking her nuggets in so much ketchup trying to use it all up, she was practically licking the ketchup off. 

Sometimes we tell Leila to shake her booty when she is dancing but she has changed the word to hooty.  She walks around telling me she is shaking her hooties.   

It was bound to happen sometime with as much gum as Leila chews.  We were coming home from the store and Leila got really quiet.  When I looked back she was asleep with her hand covering part of her face and hair.  When I went to get her out or her car seat I discovered what she was trying to hide.  It took a bunch of peanut butter to get the gum out of her hair.

Craft Day

A bunch of my friends got together for another craft day.  This time we had a much larger turnout.  Several people were working on animal puppets and then everyone else brought their own craft to work on.  Again I didn't get my craft done, this time I didn't even get a chance to start it but thats ok, it's just fun to get together with all of these girls.  I am happy to report that I did finish my heart garland from the last craft day.  My front room was quite crowded with everyone working on their crafts and then all of the kids playing.  It was lots of fun and I can't wait for our next craft day!

On the left Rachele, Paige and Jamie

On ther fight Erica and Emily

Casie and me feeding babies

All the cute new babies

Greydon is on the right, with Grace in the center and Jaren on the left

Greydon and Grace were born on the same day and then Jaren is 6 days older.  Jaren and Greydon obviously have several pounds on Grace.  It is so fun having babies so close in age!