Kelly in NC

Grayson,
Today you are 21 months old and seem to quickly be approaching your 2nd birthday. You are steadily turning from baby to boy and I often watch in amazement as you learn to say something new or accomplish a task that the day before you could not master. You’ve developed a love for Blue’s Clues which you call “blue blue” complete with a self-made sign- your 2 hands near your head, facing outward, opening and closing twice. You are working on learning the words to the songs on the cartoon as well as the hand motions.
You enjoyed another trip to Florida by airplane this month and enjoyed staying at your Nagy and Pop Pop’s house. You visited with a number of aunts, uncles, and cousins and even got to see your Great Grandma and Great Grandpa who you haven’t seen in over a year. You enjoyed being baby sat by Pop Pop and was kind enough to reward him for his hard work with a massive poop! Ahh the joys of babyhood!
A new love of crayons surfaced this month. You could color and draw all day if we let you and of course we already had to set a few rules. You “accidently” colored on the wall in you play room- so now your coloring acitivites must be supervised and the crayons are not allowed to leave the table. The new rules seem to suit you just fine. Especially since you like for Daddy and me to draw pictures with you. While coloring, you like to hog all the crayons, putting as many as you can hold in one hand and refusing to share. You’ve learned the word “mine” (although you say “mines”) this month and say it over and over when we ask for one of the colors that you are hoarding. In the past you have shown a preference for your left hand, but since you have started coloring you now to seem to use the right hand more frequently.
You love to be outside and love all things to do with sports. You will stop anything you’re doing (including watching Blues Clues) for a promised trip outdoors. You are good at putting on your jacket with help and will often bring your socks and shoes. For Christmas you recieved a t-ball stand and a basketball set from your Aunt Jennifer. When outside you love to play with the t-ball set and have found that almost any type of ball will balance on top of the stand. Even better, you discovered that all balls will go flying when you hit them with the bat! Inside you love to play with the basketball and in my opinion- you’ve got a pretty good arm for being so little!
In your 21st month, you expanded your food favorties. You love oranges (you say “onzhhh”) and would eat two or three a day if we let you. You also continue to love apples- although they have taken a back seat to your new fruit favorite. Daddy has spoiled you with ice cream every night after dinner. As he prepares a bowl for the two of you to share, you often stand at his feet, clapping your hands, spinning circles, shouting “I May, I May”- your way of saying ice cream!
So another month has passed and as I looked back on the photos I took of you for this post, it hit me just how big you are getting. Long gone are the chubby legs and arms and the tiny baby body that I could easily fit onto my lap. Instead I now have a toddler who is working on his independence- but luckily still loves to hug, kiss, and cuddle. One of my favorite memories from this past month was when completely on your own, you stopped playing with your puzzles walked over to me, grabbed my face and planted a slobbery wet kiss on my lips. I rewarded you with tickles and kisses and thought how happy I am that you are growing up and are able to express your love for me now! I’m looking forwad to a thousand more of your spontaneous kisses and hope you know that I love each and everyone of them!
Grayson, I love you more and more each day!
Always,
Mama

The number of flavors of Baskin Robbins ice cream.
The atomic number of gallium.
The number of days in the months January, March, May, July, August, October and December.
The car number of NASCAR driver Jeff Burton.
Turkish slang for masturbation (”otuzbir”). Whoops!!!

See there are all kinds of great things about the number 31….

including the number of candles on my birthday cake this year!

My NC Family was kind enough to celebrate my special day with dinner at Cantina (a yummy upscale Mexican restaurant). After a number of margaritas and a plate of delicious fajitas, th festivities then continued at Carri and Dave’s house-where Renee’ was also able to join us! My S-I-L Jill made a appropriately named “Better Than Sex” cake that was to die for-(thank you so much Jill). Thank you to everyone who called, sent a card/ gift, and otherwise went out of their way to make me feel loved and appreciated on my birthday. I feel so lucky to have you all in my life!

Click on the photo above to see the other photos that were taken on my birthday.

It has been a very busy week. I was suppose to fly down to Florida on Thursday afternoon for a baby shower that I was co-hosting for my sister-in-law Amy. On Wednesday evening, I logged on to the airline website to print my boarding pass. That was when I noticed a warning that indicatd winter weather warnings for the next day. At 5:45, I called the airlines and they offered to change my flight for leaving that night. At 5:55, I got off the phone and then began running around my house like a mad woman packing for both Grayson and myself. Within 15 minutes, I had our bag packed, called our dog sitter, and was out the door. I arrived at the airport at 6:50 and due to the help of my S-I-L Jill (who also happened to be flying on my new flight) I was able to catch the plane to Florida.
Once in Florida, I seemed to spend alot of time in the car, driving 50 minutes one way to visit Amy-once on Thursday and again on Friday. Then at 7:00 on Friday night, while hanging out with all of Tim’s Aunts, Grandparents, and his Uncle who was in town, we received the call. Amy’s water broke and the baby was expected to deliver at anytime. We jumped back in the car and made it to the hospital in time. We waited about an hour for Joe to come out and announce that it was a boy! Adler John was born on January 18, weighing 5 pounds 1 ounce and measruing 18 1/4 inches. Amy and the baby were doing fine. We then proceeded to wait for four hours to see our new nephew- but because he was 6 weeks and 2 days early, it was to no avail. We ended up going home without even a peak at the new addition to our family.
On Satuday, we still held the shower. Joe (Tim’s brother) was our guest of honor and opened all the presents. It was hilarious watching him examine every gift. His comments and expressions were priceless.
On Sunday, we drove back to the hospital to visit with Amy and see the baby. SInce Adler was in the NICU, we could only visit one at a time. He was such a beautiful baby. His color was great and he looked so sweet and fragile lying in the incubator. At one point, while I was visiting, he began to cry but quieted right away once Joe gave him the pacifier. So the new baby is doing well- considering that he is premature. His lungs seem to be fine- which is a relief. He is being kept in an incubator to keep his body temperature up and he was given a feeding tube. (I heard news today that he drank an entire bottle- so maybe the feeding tube is over now???)
Early Monday morning, we flew back to NC. Once home, Grayson and I both napped for over 3 hours. I was exhausted from the lack of sleep. (Grayson insisted on sleeping in my bed while in FL.)
Today I went back to work and I am already ready to call it a night. I think I will need the next 5 days to recover from our trip away.

Ok, so apparently yesterday was “Delurker Day”. Well, I had no idea- so I’ve decided to do it today! I am calling out all of those friends, family members, and fellow bloggers who visit this blog, but never comment! I’m not aksing for a long, witty comment. A simple “Hey, I read your blog today” will do just fine. It’s nice to know that people are checking in- so please…tell me who you are!

No baby yet. And that’s good news! My sister-in-law, Amy is still in the hospital and still on bed rest. Poor thing, she hasn’t been out of the bed since she was hospitalized on Friday. They did finally give her permission to sit up and that’s a releif. For the past 5 days she has had to lay with her head lower than her pelvis…sounds like torture to me. She is still 5 cm dialated and is 100% effaced. They say that she will not go home until the baby is here and she won’t be allowed out of bed until next week. Then she will be in her 34th week of the pregnancy. Please keep her in your prayers. I think that I would be feeling a bit CRAZY at this point.

~Yesterday, my pregnant sister-in-law, Amy was hospitalized because she had already dialted to 4 cm. She is only 30 weeks pregnant, so there is concern about the baby being born too early. So far, she has spent a little over 24 hours in the hospital and she is being giving medications to stop the early labor. Things seem to be going ok- she hasn’t dialted any further. I guess tomorrow, they will make decisions about what to do. At this point it’s a game of “wait and see”. Best case scenario- labor stops and she will be on a bed rest for a while. Worst case scenario- the baby comes early. Of course at 30 weeks- the baby should be ok- except for some possible breathing issues and being under weight. We are all crossing our fingers that the labor will stop and that the baby will stay put inside Amy for at least a few more weeks. I will admit that I can’t wait to meet my new niece or nephew- but I know that it will be best for all of them if the new one can wait a few more weeks before entering the world. My heart and prayers go out to Joe and Amy as I know that they are worried sick and scared to death.
~Onto a happier note- Tim’s parents officially moved to NC this week. Thier moving truck arrived on Thursday and already they invited us over (last night) for dinner. Have I written about how happy I am that they are moving here???? I love Tim’s parents and enjoy spending time with them. They will now live only 15 minutes from our house and I couldn’t be more ecstatic. Welcome to NC Mom B and GB!!!
~ My winter vacation is almost over…and man have I enjoyed it. I have read 3 books, gotten back into scrapbooking, continued work on my house, and have spent an incredible amount of time with my family. There is a part of me that wishes I didn’t have to return to work- but at least I will be at a workshop on Monday and Tuesday. That should make the transition back into the working world a bit easier.
~Last, but not least, Grayson began running a 102.4 temperture tonight before bed. I gave him Motrin and the temp is down. Not sure what the problem is- since he just finshed antibiotics and he acted like an angel today. One of the tubes feel out of his a ear about a month ago and I am worried that he is going to get ear infections again. Looks like we might be headed back to the doctor tomorrow. Thank god for weekend hours!

This year I decided to choose a New Year’s Resolution that shouldn’t be too difficult for me to keep up with- after all it is about something that I love to do: Scrapbooking!
So in, 2008, I resolve to keep up todate with this year’s scrapbook!
A challenge I know! To be honest, in the past I had no problem keeping up with a yearly scrapbook. However since the birth of Grayson and the building of our house- I have gotten pretty far behind. So I have decided that rather than trying to get those caught up (which I will do if I have EXTRA time), I will instead focus on the photos that I take this year. I have noticed that since I have stopped scrapbooking, I have started taking less and less photos. So hopefully by making this year’s book a goal, I will also start taking lots of photos again. (And by lots of photos, I mean more than just those of Grayson-which I photograph ALOT!).
Anyhow, to start off this year’s goal I have already made my first pages. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been considering going to digital scrapbooking. It was bit overwhelming at first and I still have alot to learn, but I did it! I created my first two digital pages:

This page was create using:
Embellishments: “Dazzling Evening” by Newlife
Papers: WInter Formals 1 Sampler by Kim Smith Design
2008 Font: Liquid Silver by Atomic Cupcake
All other Font and editing software: Microsoft Digital Imaging Suite 2006.