A Family Affair

Ice cream, that is, specifically Sonic's Oreo Blast. I've shared my love for ice cream with oreos before here! Apparently, Grant and Claire also share my affection for this confection! I had planned to just share with Grant until little Miss let us know that she wanted in on the action. She is already LOVING her sweets! I can't believe I actually give the stuff to her, but it's amazing the things you'll give the 2nd one. I can't imagine what I'd do with the 3rd or 4th. However, it's not likely we'll ever find out! Claire gets really excited whenever she sees anyone eating. I've been giving her little tastes of just about everything, but it seems like the only things she actually swallows are the sweet ones..go figure!! Grant is the same way. Over the weekend, he wasn't feeling too hot, but he managed to get down banana pudding and chocolate cake back to back. For the record, I did not give him the cake! His daddy did while I was getting sister down for a nap. That boy would live on dessert, but then again, I think I've made the same statement about myself! I was really hoping they'd take after their daddy and not have my major sweet tooth, but that's virtually all they got in utero, so they didn't have much of a chance.

Speaking of things I could just eat up...look at this sweet face!

Just a Few More!

It seems all my posts are about pictures right now, but there's not a lot noteworthy going on around here lately. We got our disc this week from Krista, and there are literally over 500 pictures on it. I am SO overwhelmed. I can't post many just b/c I have NO time, but here a couple of cute ones and one family one, which may or may not be cute! Out of probably 250 family ones, there are very few that everyone is actually looking in the same direction and there are ZERO with all 4 of us smiling...ahhh the frustration! There are however a load of great pictures of Claire which was the main purpose. You may wonder what I do with all of these pictures, and the truth is almost nothing right now! I did have Grant pics all over the house, but we literally were out of wall space. So, to be fair I've parred his down to a few and left a few spaces for some of Claire. I can't wait to move to another house with more wall space (not that we have one picked out or anything) just so I can hang up all of my precious pictures!

More Pictures

I know y'all think I'm crazy, and I do too, but I just can't help myself. Truly it is an addiction! Krista has posted a few sneak peeks at some of Claire's pics from last week. She did smile bigger in some of them, but HERE are a few of my brown eyed girl.

Claire turns 8 months old!

I've been trying to find the time to do a post to mark Claire turning 8 months since Tuesday night, and I'm just now getting around to it, even though I can think of 15 other things I should really be doing. It's 8:30 and Grant hasn't had sheets on his bed since yesterday morning, but it will get done tonight, as soon as I'm done with this!

Claire is now 2/3rds to One Year Old, and my how it's flying by! She is getting into everything, everywhere. I feel like I'm THAT frazzled woman everywhere I go because I don't feel like I'm the one in control with her (or Grant) most of the time. Claire is very into toys, especially Grant's. She's a playing machine these days. She pulls everything out and just goes onto the next room for more destruction. It does no good to pick anything up anymore. Poor Grant gets the brunt of the picking up duty, but he's starting to complain already that he didn't get it out.

My little stone face is starting to crack smiles at others. For the longest time, I didn't know if she would ever smile at other people. They'd talk and coo at her and she'd just stare them down. We have had this experience at several different photo sittings, and it is very frustrating. We did her pics and family photos on Weds though, and she did a lot better. She's also been cutting up with some of the people that sit behind us and make faces at her during church. I'm glad she's showing that sweet little smile to others finally.

Although little miss was pulling up last month, she now will let go for a brief moment. Mainly to reach both arms up for me to pick her up. She is a big time momma's girl. It's good and bad for me! I love it, but it makes it hard to do much with her on my hip the whole time I'm home. I think she's still weighing in at a little over 18 lbs, which is really building up my arms! Her 2nd tooth came in at the end of August and a 3rd is on the way. I can see one of her top teeth through the gum, but it hasn't broken through yet. She has also started pulling out all of her hairbows as you can see here. I love that you can see her teeth in this picture.

Sleep is still our main "issue." I am starting to wonder if I will ever get to sleep through the night again. I'm going out of town for 1 night in a little over a month, and was certain she'd be sleeping all night by then. Now, I'm really not so sure. God bless my momma while I'm gone. I don't know how she'll handle waking to someone other than me in the middle of the night. Of course, she'll probably sleep all night that night!

Claire really loves Grant, although sometimes I wonder why. Since he's in MDO two days a week now, she does not know what to do with herself while he's gone. Nanny said she crawls around looking for him and sometimes just stops in the floor and starts to cry. Hopefully, things between them will continue to improve. I still don't think it would be a wise move on anyone's part to turn their back on the two of them. He cannot be trusted not to injure her yet. She'll be holding her own soon I think.

I cannot imagine this little think walking around, but I know it won't be long. She is such a joy these days. She loves to cuddle and makes the sweetest little sounds. She regularly says mamamama, dadadada, and daddy swears she says ball, though I think it's just babbling. She does the cutest little think where she scrunches up her nose and breathes really hard in and out through her nose while smiling. If you do it to her, she'll do it back. I tried to get video of her doing it, but of course, she had performance anxiety so all you can hear on the video is all of us doing it...not so cute!

Happy 8 month mark baby girl! Nine months is right on the horizon, and that feels like such a huge milestone. I cannot believe we're almost there.

Mother's Day Out Starts, etc.

Grant started his 3rd year of Mother's Day Out today. He has really been looking forward to it this year, and he had a blast today. He didn't even care to tell me bye when I left. My how things change! When we went Sunday afternoon for the open house, he insisted that he would stay there "this day" instead of going home for the night. That's his little saying right now, instead of today, he always says "this day." I heard he was the first one asleep in his class, so Mrs. Tracee must have worn those kids out because that is so not the Grant I know! He's looking forward to another great year. I absolutely cannot believe that he could go to Pre-K after this year, not that he will....but he could. Last year, he sat so perfectly still and smiled so cute for his pictures, this year not so much. I was getting so ill, I almost gave up. I had to tell him to put his hands in his pockets so he wasn't messing with his backpack or pulling his shirt up..busy busy body!
Grant and Mrs. Tracee.

I had a crafty moment this weekend and made Claire something to hold her hairbows because they are piling up quickly. Her hair hangs straight down into her eyes if it's not pulled back, and it absolutely drives me crazy. I'm sure we will buy a bow to match every outfit from here on out!

This picture does not do this moment justice. This was last night after Grant's bath. He had on his hooded dog towel and was barking. You couldn't see his face at all, and Claire just started attacking him. She was crawling all over him and hitting him. I was laughing so hard at them both. Since his arms were safely inside his towel, I knew he wasn't hurting her, so I just let her go at him.
This is Claire in her new favorite spot - big brother's room. I was getting Grant ready this morning, and this is where she headed. This is where she ALWAYS crawls as soon as I put her down. She loves playing with all of his toys. She may seriously be the most destructive baby ever though. She goes from room to room pulling stuff out and leaving her mess behind.

Today is my mom's and one of my brother's birthday. We celebrated yesterday with lunch and ice cream cake - yummy! I have serious issues with sweets right now. Can you see Halloween Oreos? Orange creme is a reason to buy oreos right?!

Fun in Gatlinburg

Friday morning, we got up and went to work just like normal, only to head home around 11 to pack up for Gatlinburg. It was kind of last minute. We got there Friday night around 9 or so, and had a full weekend. Saturday, everyone but Claire and I spent the day at Splash Country. I just didn't think she (or I) would enjoy wrestling with one another all day. I knew she would want to get down and crawl around, and I think water parks are disgusting. I like to go, but don't want my baby crawling around in the "goo." So, she and I walked around Gatlinburg, went to a few places in Pigeon Forge, and swam at the condo.

Saturday, we spent all day at Dollywood. We closed the park down, and we were exhausted!! We all had a really good time. I even rode a roller coaster! I cannot remember the last time I did that. I think everyone got quite a laugh out of me screaming. I scream so I can't feel the pit in my stomach so much. I hate that feeling!

Since I didn't make it to Splash Country, there are no pics from Saturday, but here are some from our day at Dollywood:
Grant on the duckies. Claire rode these too, but she's looking another direction in every one of daddy's pictures!
This is how Claire really felt about Dollywood! No, really she was great all day long!
Everyone riding the River Rampage, even Grant. You can see his little orange hat sticking up.

Grant and his daddy. This was toward the very end of the day and the stroller was FULL of basketballs that had been won. Grant wouldn't/couldn't walk anymore, so this is how he was getting around. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of that rented stroller full of basketballs.

Family pic..the Dollywood crew minus Nana and Papa

That was our first trip to Dollywood, but I'm sure not the last! Thanks Nana and Papa for the great weekend! We really enjoyed it!

Spur of the Moment

We took a spur of the moment trip to Gatlinburg with Pookie's family for the holiday weekend. We all had a blast, but are now exhausted. Grant cried when he woke up in our garage, or I'd say we're all glad to be home. I am looking forward to a night in my own bed without both children in the room with me..even though they really were good, they just don't rest well. I will post pictures and more later.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day!