All the Parties Are Over

Yes, I said parties. Grayson had a family party on the 19th with a lot of family members in attendance and then his playgroup party was supposed to be the next day. Unfortunately, a lot of moms and kids had to cancel due to a variety of reasons and only two were able to come. So, I decided to hold the "official" party the following Monday and still have the two kids come on the original date. Grayson, however, only got cake at the first two. Even that was bad enough!! If you want to take a look at some of the pictures, you can click here. In the meantime, here are a couple of Grayson enjoying some of his cake.

His First Taste of Cake

More Cake at His Friend Party

(Thanks, Amy, for the special cake just for Grayson!!)

One Year Ago Today

This time last year, Dominic and I were waking up in a hotel room in New Jersey after a fairly restless sleep. We were getting ready to meet with a Social Worker to talk about a little baby who had been born on November 17th who may become our son. It's amazing to think about how one phone call received just a few days earlier could change our lives forever.

We officially met Grayson on this day last year. I remember how Dominic and I were staring through the window of the NICU trying to figure out which little baby would soon become ours (we never did figure it out without being told). I remember when we finally did see him and hold him, how surreal it all was. I didn't feel like a Mom. It didn't seem possible after all we had been through, but there we were, being congratulated by Nurses, Doctors, our Social Worker, our family and friends. We were parents. This little baby was completely dependent on us. And it scared the crap out of me!!

We had a lot to be thankful for on Thanksgiving last year, that was the day Grayson was discharged from the hospital. The day his breathing problems suddenly disappeared. The day we ate hospital turkey while we waited for everything to be just right so we could take him with us.

And this year we have a lot to be thankful for. We've made it through the first year and it was a great one!! Thank you, Grayson, for making our lives so wonderful. We only hope we can bless you as much as you have blessed us.

Happy First Birthday, Grayson!

Wow, It's Been a While!!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted an update. Things have been very crazy around here as I help our local adoption group plan a National Adoption Day Open House for November 18th and prepare for Grayson's first birthday party on the very next day. Also, Grayson has gotten very clingy lately which has made it rather difficult to get on the computer. So, here are a few updates...

Halloween was a major bust. Grayson looked adorable in his costume, he was a bat, but I couldn't get any good pictures of him in it because he wouldn't stop moving. My sister Linda, niece Heidi, and I took Grayson and his two cousins, Brooks and Tevyn, to the pumpkin patch on October 27th. Unfortunately it was a miserable day making us all very miserable as well. The ground was so wet from the rain that the place wasn't even doing hayrides to the pumpkin patch - something they neglected to tell us when we paid the $7 each to get in. Needless to say, we were rather disappointed, but the boys seemed to still have a good time. On Halloween itself, Linda, another niece, Brandi, and I gave out candy at my Aunt's house in Boonsboro. I thought this would be a perfect way for Grayson to be seen in his costume, but he wouldn't let go of me and barely anyone even noticed him, and when they did, they couldn't tell what his costume was supposed to be. Oh, well. Maybe next year. He did get to wear his costume two more times with his friends from playgroup, but even then I couldn't get really great pictures.

Last week I took Grayson to see the doctor because he had had a runny nose for about two weeks and then over the weekend he developed a cough. She listened to his chest and said he sounded like an asthmatic. She offered to give him a nebulizer or have me try antibiotics first. I went with the antibiotics. This is the same doctor who sent us to an orthopedic when she noticed Grayson's right foot turned out a little and the orthopedic had no idea why we were there. With that in mind, I would rather try the antibiotics before jumping to the worst case scenario. Today Grayson still has the runny nose, but is barely coughing. I'm hoping that means they are working. We have a follow-up appointment on Thursday.

There's most likely more to share, but I'm probably pushing it with Grayson right now as it is. He really doesn't take naps anymore, which is driving me a little crazy, so I don't get much downtime. C'est la vie!

It's Not For Halloween

Today I pulled out some of the clothes I've had stored for Grayson to wear once the weather got a little cooler. Included in that stack was an outfit that was given to me when Dominic and I had first started trying to have a baby. My sister gave it to me one day when the family had all come together for one of our many get-togethers. She had seen it and thought of me - it was a Snoopy one-piece pullover. She thought of me because I used to collect Snoopy (I still have a bunch of stuff to pass down to the kids) after I played him in a school play.

So today I washed the outfit and took a few pictures of Grayson wearing it. This was the first gift I had ever received for my future baby. Unfortunately it's already a little too small for Grayson (and it's an 18 month size!!), but I'm glad he got to wear it at least once. I'm sure it will fit the next baby since we'll be pulling for a little girl. I would hope she won't be quite as big as Grayson!! Oh, and as for the title of the post, this isn't his Halloween costume, those pictures will come soon enough.

And now for the pictures...

Baby Snoopy

Yes, that's a tail on the back!!

Could I get any cuter??

Eleven Month Update

Our baby turned eleven months old on Tuesday. Honestly, he hasn't been a baby for quite some time really. He stopped eating baby food over a month ago and now eats pretty much everything we eat. And he prefers it. For example, his favorite vegetable seems to be zucchini flavored with basil and garlic and he loves red and green peppers.

He's also kicked the bottle habit. I think his last bottle was about two weeks ago. He was already down to only one bottle in the afternoon by that time and I decided to drop it a little earlier than I had planned. He's not having any trouble at all and I love not having to wash those things and then put them back together!! We've also slowly been introducing milk with his formula. He's up to three quarters milk and only a quarter of formula in his mix. I can't wait to purchase my last can of the stuff.

He's added another word to his vocabulary...cat. It comes out as a very strong "KA" and then he occasionally throws the "t" at the end. He definitely knows what he's saying because he says it every time Rudy, our cat, walks in the room. Unfortunately he seems to be mistaking our dachshunds for cats now, but who can blame him? They weigh less than our cat does.

As for his personality at this age, he's as happy and as social as he's ever been. He loves people and really enjoys socializing. Although he tries to play the shy boy at first it doesn't last very long. He's also incredibly curious. So curious that after Dominic installed the baby lock on the cabinet under the kitchen sink, Grayson figured out how to open it within ten seconds. All this drives me crazy because he's into everything, but I encourage it. It helps him learn more about the world around him when he's exploring and helps me learn a little bit of patience. He's also constantly on the go. He very rarely will sit still. This also tests my patience, but I'm surviving.

I'm now busy planning his birthday and steadily counting down the days until I can turn his carseat around. The poor kid has been 20 pounds since he was six months old, but he's still facing the back of the car. Soon, very soon, little guy!!

Oh, What Fun!

One of Grayson's favorite pasttimes is getting into the cabinets. I don't really have a problem with him exploring, as long as he can't hurt himself in the process. I recently emptied a cabinet in the office, where we spend a lot of our time, and I now store a bunch of Grayson's toys in it. He has since discovered that when the cabinet is empty, he can fit into it. You can see by the pictures he seems very proud of himself. And that he thinks he's getting away with something!!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Grayson had a great time at the pumpkin patch at Summers Farm yesterday. We are so lucky to have found such a wonderful playgroup!! The moms and I decided to try the corn maze first and we made it out in about 15 minutes, not too bad. We then took the kids for a trip around the farm as we went down some of their slides and took a hayride to the pumpkin patch. Grayson really enjoyed walking through the patch and was amazed that I didn't stop him from getting into things. He had such a good time that Dominic and I plan to go back again at the end of the month for their Harvest-Ween with Grayson in his costume. I'm sure he'll enjoy it even more then!!

Teeth, Teeth, and More Teeth

Poor, poor Grayson. These past few days have been pretty rough on him, but he's surviving (and so are we). His first tooth came in almost two months ago, on August 5th. On Friday, September 29th, we finally saw another one break through. It's right next to his first one, on the bottom left. He now has two coming in at the same time on top. We've seen the white slowly emerge, but I could finally feel them breaking through today. I hope he gets a little bit of a break after these three come in. It has to be painful for him. I don't have any pictures of his teeth quite yet, but we're heading to a pumpkin patch tomorrow with one of his playgroups, so hopefully I'll have some great shots to share with you!!

All These Big Boy Things

I guess it's official, Grayson is no longer a baby. We purchased his walking shoes yesterday and he really looks like a toddler now. I don't think the women at Stride Rite believed me at first when I told them he had been walking for a month because they seemed reluctant to sell me the shoes, but once they saw him walk in them, they were convinced. He got two new pairs - some Nikes and some Eccos, which are his dress shoes. It was A LOT of money to spend on shoes he may wear for about two months, but I want to make sure his feet get the right support (especially if he's going to be our little athlete!).

His new toy chest arrived yesterday as well. I ordered it back in June and it has taken forever to arrive, but it's beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I'm hoping it will be a nice keepsake throughout the years.

Ten Months Old

Grayson turned ten months old on Sunday, September 17th and I've tried a few times to get on-line to update the blog, but it's been a pretty hectic week which included going to the Baltimore Aquarium with one of Grayson's playgroups, meeting with our potential home designer, going to an AFF meeting, and celebrating my birthday. The week was jam packed!

Playing with New Bath Toys from the Aquarium

So here's a full update...

Grayson is really on the move! He is now walking everywhere and doesn't crawl much at all. This is also making it much more difficult to take pictures. We went to Stride Rite to buy him some nice snazzy walking shoes, but they didn't have his size (4 Extra Wide, by the way) in any of the shoes I wanted. I guess I'm going to check them out on-line or try the store again next week.

He's also really starting to say some words. Of course he's been saying Mama and Dada for a while now, but he said his first real word while we were in Colorado - Dog. It's really no surprise that is his first word considering we have four of them. It comes out with a funny accent, but it's definitely dog. He's also saying "bye bye," "uh-oh," and "no no."

Finally, he's working on some new teeth. He's been teething all week which means he's also been really cranky (my Mom saw the worst of it on Thursday when she was visiting). It looks like he has one coming in on the bottom and one on the top. I feel so bad for him but he's doing well overall. He also got a haircut yesterday. It was his fourth one, but he still hated it. He screamed most of the time but luckily the barber wasn't phased.

We're Home!

We made it back from Colorado Wednesday night in one piece. It was a wonderful trip overall. The plane rides were a little rough (as I mentioned in the previous post), but the rest of the vacation was terrific!! Grayson was a trooper the entire time, like he usually is. He adjusted well to the time change, which also made life much easier for us.

Breckenridge was the first place we stayed. Our friend's wedding was Saturday night and it was gorgeous. The weather had been horrible during our entire visit. And when I say horrible I mean it was very, very cold, it snowed Friday night and sleeted and/or rained most of the day on Saturday. But during the wedding it was beautiful. The ceremony took place on the deck overlooking the mountains and I really can't explain how breathtaking it was.

A Family Portrait Before the Wedding

Speaking of the mountains, did you know that Breckenridge is 11,460 feet high? Just for comparison sake, the tallest mountain in Maryland is Backbone Mountain which is 3,360 feet high. This is a BIG difference. I didn't really believe in the whole "mountain sickness" thing until I felt it. It was almost impossible to breathe and I started to feel a little down and miserable by Sunday. We could even notice the impact on Grayson as he started to breathe a little heavier. When Monday hit, we were all ready to leave and go to Ft. Collins and we could tell the difference in the altitude almost immediately.

A few friends joined us as we headed toward Ft. Collins and we tried some Colorado wine in Georgetown from the Canyon Wind Cellars. (We also bought a few bottles.) We then decided to tour a tunnel which serviced a large number of gold mines in the early part of the 20th century. Grayson even got to walk into an old mine. Of course it rained on us as we were "searching for gold," but we found a few pieces in the little baggies they provided us. That evening we spent with the newlyweds who were kind enough to share their home with us for the rest of our stay. It was so nice to actually hang out with them for a few days.

On Tuesday we visited the Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Ft. Collins. That was definitely a lot of fun. After that we took a hike at Poudre Canyon and saw some great Colorado scenery. This was our last full day in Colorado and we finally had some beautiful weather. We were so glad we could take advantage of it!! Grayson spent the entire hike on Dominic's back and really seemed to enjoy himself.

On Wednesday, we visited Anne, a childhood friend of mine who now lives in Denver. Anne and I went through elementary, middle, and high school together and haven't seen each other since our 10 year reunion a few years ago, so I'm glad she was able to take a break from work so we could catch up and also see her house. Grayson wasn't on his best behavior when we were visiting, but we all survived.

Hiking at Poudre Canyon

I think it was just a precursor to the rest of the trip home - once again our plane ride was a nightmare. He wouldn't fall asleep and he just wanted to run around and play. Oh, and talk very, very loudly with an occasional squeal thrown in. Once he was tired, he cried. And cried some more. He slept for the last hour, first in Dominic's arms, then in mine. He luckily slept through the landing as well. When we arrived at the airport, they couldn't find our luggage. Not just ours, but the luggage for the entire flight. We waited for an hour and 20 minutes. Luckily Grayson slept in my arms while we waited, otherwise it could have been much worse.

Grayson Watching our Plane Arrive in Denver

All in all it was a wonderful vacation!!

So How Was Your Flight?

Well, we're here in Colorado and that's probably the most popular question from everyone and the answer would be...it started out great, turned into a nightmare in the middle, and then ended just fine. Our flight originally wasn't delayed, so we got on the airplane and Grayson fell right to sleep. We then sat there. For about 45 minutes while they added more passengers onto our flight from another one that had been grounded. Grayson slept through take-off and then for about another hour, but then he was up for the rest of the flight. Two and a half hours. And we were miserable. He didn't want to sit in his seat. He didn't want to play with his toys. He just screamed. We were "those people." You know, the ones with the screaming kid on a tiny airplane. I walked with him up and down the aisle and he was happiest at the back of the plane, so I stayed there for as long as the Flight Attendants would allow me. I can't even tell you how happy I was to land!! Here's a picture of him when he was sleeping peacefully.

As for Colorado, it's gorgeous. It snowed last night so the mountain tops around us are capped with snow. Our hotel is beautiful and the wedding is tonight. Unfortunately, the weather is a little damp, but it's supposed to clear up tomorrow and we're looking forward to getting out and about.

It's Been a Busy Weekend, As Usual

We've been pretty busy this weekend. On Saturday we all went down to Anne Arundel County to hang out with Dominic's family. We celebrated Grayson's cousin Paul's second birthday that night. Grayson and Paul had a blast running around together. Now that Grayson is mobile, he loves to push things around and Paul accomodated by riding on the little car and helping Grayson move it.

Yesterday was spent visiting with Auntie Shannon and Auntie Mina. Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took from the visit really turned out well so I'll have to do better next time.

Today Grayson is spending the day with Britnee while I head to Virginia to visit with a friend who just brought home her son!! My other friend Erica will be there as well. I can't wait to have a little "alone with friends" time and I'm sure Grayson will love hanging out with Britnee.

This week we head out for our first official family vacation. We're traveling to Colorado on Thursday to go to a friend's wedding and we've turned the trip into a vacation. Dominic has never been to Colorado and I'm already thinking of the great photo opportunities for Grayson. We've been planning this trip for well over a year (our first real vacation since our pre-IVF days) and I can't wait!!

Welcome to the Family!

It's official, Grayson is now our son under the eyes of the law. The court hearing for his finalization was this morning and we now have the documents to happily say he is our little boy. The judge was wonderful. He had obviously taken the time to read our paperwork because he knew about our wedding (which had been discussed in our homestudy) and he knew we wanted a more "official ceremony" documenting Grayson's finalization. As a result, he said the hearings are usually conducted in the judge's chambers, but since we had wanted something more formal, he had arranged for our hearing to be in an actual courtroom. He talked about how unique adopted children are in that a family chooses to love them even after getting to know them and learning all about them. He also talked about how especially unique adoptive parents are and how special the family relationship is. We were very touched by how much the judge truly seemed to care about the whole process. After the formalities, we were able to come up behind the bench to take a few pictures. We then went to pick up the official documents proclaiming the adoption.

By the way, Grayson is also taking a few steps. He started this morning at my parents' house and has taken a few more since we've been home this afternoon. All in all, it's been a wonderful day!!

Nine Month Update

So Grayson turned nine months old last Thursday and Mom and I went shopping the next day to find clothes that will fit him in the fall. He's already starting to outgrow his 12 month clothes and I don't want to be stuck with nothing for him to wear as it starts to get cooler. Plus we're heading to Colorado in September and where we are staying for the first few days only gets up to the 60's during the day, so the little guy is going to need some warm stuff to wear. Since fall weather is unpredictable in Maryland, he's also going to need some shorts that will fit, so I was hoping to find some good deals but didn't have too much luck. I did get a few cute outfits and Grayson wore one of them at the Adoptive Families and Friends (AFF) annual picnic on Sunday. I've included a few pictures. Oh, and by the way, I am now working with AFF on publicity and outreach (my mother will be happy to know I am using my Masters Degree) so if you are interested in joining, please let me know. It's a great way to network with other adoptive families!!

They Tell Me It Counts

On August 5th, toward the end of Heidi's birthday party, I reached my finger into Grayson's mouth and finally felt it...his first tooth!! After months and months of slobber and chewing, he was finally cutting a tooth. A couple days later, we could see it peaking through. I hadn't planned on counting it as "his first official tooth" in his baby book until the thing came in completely, but according to my sisters, you record it as soon as you notice. So, I'm counting it. You can barely see it in the pictures, but if you look really close (and I mean close), Grayson now has a tooth on his right side of the bottom gum.

Nine Month Appointment (A Little Early)

Yesterday I called Grayson's pediatrician to schedule his nine month check-up. Since they had a cancellation, they said we could come in today even though Grayson won't be nine months old for another two weeks. He did very well, he only cried a little when they gave him his Hep-B shot, and we got his new measurements. He now weighs 22 pounds, 8 ounces (88th percentile) and he is 29 inches long (75th percentile). No wonder he's barely fitting into some of his 12 month clothes!!

Isn't It Too Soon?!?

Well, yesterday Grayson started pulling himself up to a standing position. All by himself. He just started crawling for goodness sake!! Isn't it too soon for him to start standing and trying to walk?!? Yes, I said trying to walk. He's already maneuvering himself around things after he stands. He's even let go a few times and stood on his own. My Mom said my brother walked at nine months. I know it's possible but I guess I just didn't think it would happen. Everyone kept telling me he would probably walk late because he's so big, so that's what I expected. I guess they're wrong. We are so not ready for this!

Beach Baby

Well, it's official, Grayson absolutely loves the beach. We just got back from spending a weekend in Ocean City, MD and he really enjoyed the ocean. The first day we took him out at about 4:00 pm. It was a little cool and the water felt cold to me, but he didn't cry once. As a matter of fact, he did the complete opposite, he screamed in delight. He enjoyed some beach time with his cousin Paul, his Aunt Maria, and his Uncle Jay. Thanks to Maria, we have some great pictures of his first time on the beach (I managed to leave my camera in the hotel room).


Unfortunately, Saturday was pretty miserable, so we didn't want to take him out. We spent the day on the boardwalk and then went to dinner with a friend of mine from Grayson's playgroup. As a result, he got to "hang out" with his friend Griffin a little at Seacrets. The next day I was determined to get some pictures of him myself, so even though the day was still cloudy and a little cool, we went back out and stayed on the beach for about an hour. He still loved it!

Of course when we left today, it was nice and hot with not a cloud in the sky. We took a walk on the boardwalk before we left and took some pictures of Grayson in his hat from Seacrets (thanks Amy and Doug!). Overall it was a great weekend!!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!

We are officially up and running again on highspeed internet. Oh how I do NOT miss dial-up! Anyway, I've updated Grayson's photo album and you can check it out here. We're heading to the beach tomorrow so there will be plenty to report next week, I'm sure!!