Merry almost Christmas!!

We had a fun little Thanksgiving break last week, our first Thanksgiving with just our little family. I guess I can't really call it a break either, Ryan had to study or work on his research almost everyday and I worked 2 night shifts, but it was still fun. This is Ryan's last week of actual classes and then next week is finals, woo hoo!!! We'll be heading up to VA sometime after that to be with my family. For that reason I've decided not to put up any Christmas decorations, that and I know Grant would be 24/7 trying to climb up/pull down the Christmas tree and eat the lights and ornaments. Not that it will be any easier at my parents house where they will be about 50 trees to choose from (my mom likes to decorate!)


So one of Grants favorite things is to pull himself up on whatever he can find, stable or non. The other night after a poop explosion I let him crawl around in his diaper and socks (I didn't feel like getting another outfit dirty before his bath). Also, I figured, who doesn't love to run around in their undies and socks? I've gotten pretty good at positioning the catch pillow for when he gets tired of standing and crashes to the floor. Fortunately, babies heal very quickly, but unfortunately, they don't seem to remember what might end up hurting and continue to climb up on things. Oh well, I guess that's why they have such hard noggins.






Here's the turkey and our Thanksgiving spread. It actually turned out really good. We cooked the turkey in one of those oven bags and used a recipe that was in the newspaper. The only thing that did not turn out was the gravy, it was horrible. Good thing Ryan made the potatoes tasty enough that they didn't need any gravy. Mom is going to have to teach me how to make it over Christmas!















Grant also enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal, delicious rice cereal and squash. Then there's always the post dinner nap on the chair. Okay, so this picture wasn't taken after Thanksgiving but I thought it was funny that he just laid there and let me take his picture a couple of times, he usually won't lie still any more, he must have been comfortable.

Fall Fun

We decided to take Grant to the NC Botanical Gardens to get some fall pictures. He seemed a bit hesitant at first when we put him in the leaves, like he wasn't sure he was allowed to play with so many things that crinkle (since we always quickly take away any plastic bags or paper he gets into). However, he soon felt comfortable and started chewing away on the colorful leaves.















It was a lot of fun to go back and walk through some of the trails. Before we had Grant, Ryan and I would go for a nature walk every Sunday through the trails, or I used to go running through them. Now that the leaves are clearing off the trees, and the tails are widening, we may go back more often since it is less likely we will walk through a spider web. Let me tell you, there is no worse feeling than walking right into a giant spider web, especially with the crazy spiders they have here in NC. Going on my tangent...one day I was running and had to stop at a road entry and wait for traffic to clear before crossing. I looked at the tree beside me and there was a HUMONGOUS spiderweb that stretched from a tree branch that was at least 3-4 feet over my head to the grass and was probably 6 or more feet wide. Right smack in the middle was a crazy, disgusting, leggy spider that was at least the size of my hand. AHHH, it almost made me run into traffic. I thought, what if I had run just a few feet to the right and got some of that web stuck on me.....it would have been horrible!!!! Just thinking about it makes me jumpy.

In other news, Grant has been crawling for about the last 2 weeks and is getting really good at it. He is starting to pick up speed and becoming less wobbly. He likes to follow us around the house, slowly but surely, and crawl over us whenever we are sitting on the ground. Besides having to keep a much closer eye on him I am enjoying this stage because Grant is much more content now that he can satisfy more of his curiosity and get to where he wants to go.














Grant is finding ways to get to whatever he wants. My attempts to block the shelf with the couch pillow were easily thwarted. Also, he loves to reach into his toy basket. His new trick is the hold onto the side of the basket and stand up and shake the basket. He shakes it so hard he usually ends up flipping to the side and banging his head. We're going to have to find a new and safer obstacle for him to master.





Grant is actually a great helper around the house. He shows me a thing or two on the piano and likes to help out with the laundry. What a good boy!

Happy Belated Halloween!

Okay, so I'm a little late with the Halloween pictures, but here you go. Grant turned into our very own fuzzy little skunk and I dare say he makes quite a cute little stinker! This was on Halloween night when we stayed in to pass out candy. Unfortunately, Grant was ready for bed before hardly anyone came by so we just stuck the bowl of candy outside our door while I put him down. Maybe next year he'll be able to make it past 7:00.

We were actually in charge of taking pictures at our ward Trunk-or-Treat. We were supposed to be farmers, with Grant being our pet skunk, but we didn't really pull it off too well. By the time we took this picture Grant had about had it and had lost his feet. Thanks to the Hemmert's for finding his paw in a random place in the church!

Don't be fooled by the cute smile and bow tie, he's still a dangerous creature. After all, those are the initial signs of rabies!

Since this is his first Halloween, Grant was ready to try his first candy. At least he was content to play with the bag. However, when the paint started coming off the bag, it was confiscated, which left him quite malcontent.

We have begun the early stages of baby-proofing the house. He's not yet at a full blown crawler, but can still get himself around, slowly but surely. He feels especially mobile when the clothes come off and he's only in a light-weight diaper.