One Year Ago

I am so far behind on my blogging. So far. Greyson is so big and growing and I have SO MUCH to catch up on. Tonight though I want to write exactly what I am feeling.

This night, one year ago, I remember getting ready to gear up for another week. Up until this point I had only worked about 4 days a week since Christmas because I was so physically exhausted. The week prior I had been to the doctor and was told I had dilated to a 2, I can't remember how much I had thinned and told it would probably be a good thing to pack my bag (already done) and install the car seat (I did this the day before my appointment). It was all becoming so real.

Back to that weekend. On Saturday, John Thomas and I got up and spent the entire day together. I knew that I wanted a hat for Greyson that was solid white so I could get his name on it. John Thomas woke up with a bad ear ache (He has had numerous problems with his left ear; two past surgeries when he was smaller and part deaf. A hole from one of the surgeries never healed so when he goes under water he has to wear an ear plug. It has never bothered him though the entire time we have been together.). We went to a few stores that morning in the search of the hat. We had lunch at Cook Out (I remember it not being good at all) and then headed to the Minute Clinic for his ear. We laughed when we finally were called into the little office because John Thomas told the nurse that we were concerned about this growth on my belly and we were considering whether or not I should take a pregnancy test. Ha. 

He did have an ear infection, got the meds and then headed to the nail salon for a pedicure. I am so ashamed to say that I have only had two more since then.

That night we went to my favorite restaurant, MiMis Japanese Steak House. 

So Sunday...one year ago today...

John Thomas's ear was still hurting him pretty bad and had starting draining some blood. We decided a trip to the ER wouldn't be a bad idea until he could get to an ENT the next morning. Over FIVE hours later he came home with some stronger antibiotics and an appointment for that week to an ENT. (After about 3 hours of waiting I went home because more and more flu people came in and thats the last thing I needed 37 weeks pregnant) so his mom came and sat with him. 

I could not even begin to imagine what that week was about to give us...

A year later and I can not sing and say it enough, God is SO SO SO good! 

Tonight I sit with tears coming down my face. I have done a lot of birthday preparations today for next weekend and my baby WALKED! Greyson took his first wobbly steps and is now on the path to walking! Be still my heart. That little boy steals my heart more and more each day. I forget what life was like before him and I am so okay with that. What a emotional roller coaster week this is going to be. 

Happy Birthday Week, my sweet little angel!

7 Months!!!!

 Happy 7 month birthday to our sweet Greyson!

After your daddy and I put you to bed tonight we looked back at pictures from the day you were born. You have changed and grown so much! I can not believe that it has been seven months since you changed our lives! There are days I feel like you just got here and then there are days that I forget what life was like before you! They both are great feelings! I am just glad you are here!

 Here's what you've been up to.

Weight:

This morning when we weighed you before church you were 19.5 pounds! I am not sure exactly how accurate that is, but trust me when I say you feel every ounce of it! 

Height:

I honestly have no idea. I feel like you have grown longer too because your pajamas are starting to get a little tighter! I have a hard time measuring you- I will tomorrow though when you are up and maybe still for a minute. 

Clothing Size:

  You are still in 9 months, but they are getting snug.  I'm hoping we can get at least a few more weeks out of 9 month clothes.  This is the quickest you have gone through clothes. I am not buying anything for Thanksgiving/Christmas time yet because at this rate you will be in 18 month clothes! 

Diapers:

  Size 3's are still great.  We still have you in those day and night.

Feeding:

You have four bottles a day. One when you wake up between 7-7:30, one somewhere between 10:30-11, 3-4 and then your bed bottle around 7. Each bottle is 6 ounces and your bed bottle is 8 ounces. 

You LOVE food! You eat three times a day, about an hour after each bottle with the exception of your bed bottle. For breakfast you have oatmeal and a fruit and the other two feedings are fruit and veggies. You have tried all sorts of food. You have had two foods that you hate and won't even open your mouth for. They are prunes (I can't blame you on that one) and broccoli. I am not giving up and going to try them a few more times. It is hard to narrow it down to your favorites. You do love sweet potatoes and anything banana. 

I really like Gerber's baby food and the Plum Organics. I had the best of intentions to make your food but life is so busy and crazy it was hard. So far, from what I can remember, you've tried apples, pears, avocado, green beans, squash, zucchini, bananas, peas, mangos, chicken and rice, macaroni and cheese, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes.  I am so thankful you haven't been picky!

Hair/Eyes:

You are still our blue eyed boy!

Wild and crazy! There is no taming it, even if I wanted to, and I don't!

Sleep:

You have transformed to a good sleeper this month! You usually go down anywhere between 7 and 8 at night, it all depends on how long it takes you on your last bottle, and sleep anywhere from 6-7:30 in the morning. You take two naps a day most days. They vary though- some days they are 30-45 minutes and some days they are 2 hours! You are so unpredictable on napping! Your daddy and I have started staying downstairs at Mimi and Papa's and out of the room with you and I think that makes a huge difference! 

Fun Stuff:

  

-You are so, SO close to crawling.  You army crawl all over the place! You can get up on your hands and knees pretty easily now and rock. but realize you can scoot quicker. 

-You love pulling yourself up onto things! We actually lowered your crib last night because Mimi caught you pulling up in your pack-n-play! 

-You can stand on your own if we get you holding on to something.

-You can walk if we hold you up and kind of move you forward. It's so cute watching you figure out what to do with your feet. 

-You have two pearly whites! I am so glad they finally came! You are beginning to drool again like crazy so I am wondering if your top ones are coming in sometime.

-You LOVE Wally.  He is your favorite.  You just light up when he comes near you, especially if he's playing!

  -You are ALL over the place.  I can't leave you on the floor anymore without watching you - you'll be across the room in 2 minutes if I do.

-I have noticed the past few days that you are learning to fuss if you're not getting your way.  When I leave the room you start it, and if you can't get something you want you fuss too.

-You are so grabby!  If something is in front of you that you want (cell phone, remote), you're going to get it.  You are constantly pulling or grabbing at something.

-You LOVE talking! Tonight you wouldn't take your bed bottle because you were just singing your heart away! I love it! I can't wait until you start saying stuff. You did say "Papa" a couple weeks ago over and over. I think it was because you had heard it 1,000 times in a day! :)

-You also love blowing raspberries, and imitating our sounds.

-You love jumping if you're in our lap, and dancing if we tell you to.  You'll just giggle and giggle!

-You are SUCH a ham!  If I pull a camera out, you immediately start staring at it and smiling.

-You still love being outside, and going on walks around the neighborhood.

-You are becoming very interested in your toys! I love watching you discover new things!

-Mickey is still our life saver when me and daddy can't calm you. 

Happy 7 months to our heart and soul!

We have a driveway!

On July 2 we closed on our four acre piece of property. During the next week and a half we worked really hard on finishing house plans and picking out appliances, colors, etc. 

August 2 we closed on our construction loan and now we will start the building process!

Friday, August 2, the grading for the driveway started. Our driveway is roughly 650 feet. We are not going to pave it right now (maybe if I had found a money tree we would have blacktopped/paved it) and decided on using crushed concrete instead of regular gravel.  

I do not believe I have ever been so excited to see dirt, or a driveway! 

This week we will wait on Duke Power to come run their power lines.

Construction is suppose to start a week from today!

We are getting so excited!!

Saturday pictures...

 

 Monday, August 5

We are getting more and more excited as the days go on!

6 Months!!

Greyson,

You are halfway to your first birthday!!! That sure was the fastest (and best) 6 months of my life. You are such a fun little happy boy, and I love each one of your stages more than the rest!

 Here's what you've been up to...

Weight:

You are 17.9 pounds..we just got home from the doctor so that is our exact weight. 

Height:

You are 27 1/4" tall! Dr. Parra said today you were going to be a tall boy! 

Clothing Size:

  You fit perfectly in 9 month clothes.  I've been getting away some 6 months clothes, but they will be too little soon. I can put you in a few 12 month outfits but they are still a little bit big.

Diapers:

 You are in size 3 diapers. I actually switched to the Target brand after talking to a few people and I have LOVED them! They actually seem to hold a lot more (this is mainly a concern at nighttime) and they are almost half the price which is fabulous!

Feeding:

You eat about 31-32 ounces of formula a day. You also eat probably about 2 ounces of cereal twice a day that is mixed with some formula...once in the morning and once in the evening.  We're starting veggies and fruits next week if we get the ok from the doctor!

Hair/Eyes:

Your hair is WILD! It stands straight up unless it is wet- it cracks me up! I've had several people ask if I have taken you to get your haircut or do I gel your hair that way, I always laugh and just say no, it is your natural look. It is a lighter brown color but when we are in the sun a lot it is a lot lighter. It's blonde around the edges though. Your eyes are still blue, I'm thinking you are going to be my little blue eyed boy!

Sleep:

I am not going to stress over sleep until we are in our new house and we aren't sharing a room at Mimi and Papa's house. You are one extreme or the other. At night, we try to put you down between 7 and 8. You will either go right to sleep or it is a 1-2 hour battle of paci pong and comforting you. You have also been on two big trips this summer so you haven't had a lot of consistent time in your crib! Once asleep you do well though. You normally wake up between 7-8, it varies. You take maybe 2 naps a day. You are big catnapper so it is hard to tell how long you are actually sleeping. 

Fun Stuff:

-You are starting to enjoy tummy time now.  You look so determined when I put a toy in front of you!  Not crawling yet, but you are so close! Any time now!

-You can hold our fingers and pull yourself up. If we are propping you against something, you can stand on your own for a few seconds.

-You talk constantly!! You love to babble- sometimes it sounds like words. I know you are awake every morning because you are talking your head off. I am so glad you wake up so happy!

-You are chewing on EVERYTHING.  If we put it in front of you, it's going to be in your mouth in about 10 seconds.  This includes fingers, shoulders, and remotes...we've had to start watching what we keep around you. Your favorite, by far, are your toes. 

-That being said - no teeth yet.  Your gums are SO swollen. I was for sure that when you woke up this morning there would be teeth. They haven't been the best to you and I hope they come on in the next few days and you won't be so restless!

-You've really started showing your gums when you smile, and crinkling up your nose.  So cute!

-You can sit on your own pretty good. I can leave the room to fix a bottle or go do something really quick and you are okay. 

-Your favorite toys are Sophie (daddy calls this Butch because Sophie doesn't sound like boy toy, haha), your colorful stackable rings, your pirate octopus, and you recently have really started to like your yellow ball.  

-You love to dance.  If we hold you up standing, you rock up and down, especially if we're singing for you or if there's music on.

-If you're excited about something, you kick your legs and smile now.

-You love being outside, and you love animals - especially dogs.

-Speaking of dogs, Wally is your best friend and you are Wally's worst enemy. You LOVE to grab his hair and he isn't very fond of it. He won't get super close to you anymore but you will watch him and grab after him. It's pretty funny to watch!

-You love your paci.

-You still LOVE Mickey Mouse! You have some interest in Jake the Pirate, but nothing like Mickey!

You are so happy and we love you so much!!! 

Happy Half Birthday to our little Greyster!

 

House Update!

For the first part of this post, Click Here!

After we had decided to let the other people buy the house we had a contract on, I was left in total confusion. I thought the house was suppose to be ours but no one had came and looked at ours in the previous weeks.

The very next week, we had a call for someone to come and look at our house and some other houses in the neighborhood. They ended up putting an offer in on our neighbor's house. I was becoming very discouraged. We continued to look for houses in the meantime but just could not find one we really liked.

The following week we had another couple come and look at our house. Again, they were looking at another house in our neighborhood. I tried my hardest to not get my hopes up. However, they loved our house, put an offer in, we accepted, and within two weeks we were moved out! BAM! It all happened so fast I still look back and think, "Oh my gosh! We have sold our first home! The place where we got engaged, have great memories of fun parties with friends, where we started our married life, where we brought our first baby home to." The last time we went into the house I sat in the dining room floor and sobbed. All the memories of that house came flooding back to my mind. John Thomas was so sweet and reminded me that yes, we did have wonderful memories there, but we were going to a new home where we would make twice as many memories and a place where we would begin raising our family. That made me smile. I stood up, looked back once more and smiled and walked out looking forward to our future...wherever it may be!

We decided to look for land and build. We had been looking at other houses online still and could not find one that we loved. We met with a builder and found a house plan we LOVED! We wanted to make a few changes to the plan and it was going to cost us a lot more than we were willing to pay at the time.

So we looked for other builders and more land and kept a similar house plan. Just as soon as we became frustrated, things seemed to start falling into place.

On the way home from work one night, John Thomas passed some land that we passed every single day and it had a For Sale By Owner sign up. We found out later he had put the sign up earlier in the day. JT quickly called the man who was selling the land and he said it was 4 acres and pretty darn close to our price range! Excited doesn't come close to how we felt! We quickly went to look at it, fell in love, went to the county office, had DHEC come out and do the PERC test (it passed!) and made our offer!

In the mean time we had met with other builders to get estimates. We were very pleased with the ones that we met with but their cost seemed way higher than it should be for what we wanted! We talked about it and made some cuts and ended up going back to our original builder to talk.

Our offer was quickly accepted and the house plans were beginning to become final. This all was about a two month process.

This past Tuesday, July 2, we closed on the land! We are now proud owners of 4 acres! We have been meeting and working with the bank on our construction loan and we have our Pre-Construction Meeting Monday with the builder! Our goal is to be closed on the construction loan by the end of July and breaking foundation by mid-August!

I can not wait to see the house come together! We have been praying, searching, hoping, planning, and waiting for this to all come together for about two years now and we are SO excited to see it all  unfold!!!

Here are some pictures of the land!

I am standing where the house will be looking towards the driveway. You can see our closest neighbor. So we aren't THAT far out :)

This is probably somewhere in the driveway closer to the house than the road.

Road view looking up the driveway!

Here we are! John Thomas was out meeting with someone about grading the lot and didn't want the picture made because of his cut off, but I insisted! :)

Five Months!

Greyson, this month has gone by so much faster than all the others! I feel that you have grown up so much more during this month, especially the last two weeks!! I am absolutely loving being home with you and watching you learn and discover new things each day!!

Weight:

As of this morning, you were about 17 or so pounds. We don't have a doctor's visit planned until August so this is my best guess based off our scales at home. 

Height:

You are a little over 26 inches this morning. (Best judgment I have) Your daddy keeps making the comment that you are getting so long! 

Clothing Size:

Solidly in 6-9 months clothes now. All of your pajamas with feet in them are 9 months. In your everyday outfits you can still wear 6 months. Your nicer clothes are anywhere between 6 and 9 months, depends on how they are made. 

Diapers:

Size 2's still. We will be venturing to 3's before long, probably as soon as this size 2 box is over!

Feeding:

You are on the same eating schedule as last month. You eat four six ounce bottles a day and your bedtime bottle is 8 ounces. 

I may start you on some cereal this month, I want to wait until you can sit solid on your own. Your doctor told me I could start whenever I wanted to, but she suggest waiting until you are six months.

Hair/Eyes:

Those eyes are so blue!! I feel that it's finally safe to say they are staying blue - the pediatrician even confirmed it when we were in a couple of weeks ago. 

You have, once again, a head full of hair! Only now it is not near as dark and it it so thick! I am not sure where you get thick hair from!

Sleep:

We have our nights. You LOVE to fight it! I am not sure if it is because you are in the room with us because we are still in between houses or what. I think you are quickly getting some seperation anxiety at nighttime. Which is rough on me and your daddy! Once you go down you do okay, still waking up and can't go back to sleep on your own about 4 or 5 each morning. You are sleeping longer though in the mornings, close to 8! I have gotten into the habit of picking you up and you are  okay. I am trying to break that habit and come give you your pacifier or rub your head until you go back to sleep. It is SO hard! You scream and we both end up in tears! I know we will get through this! I also think some of it is you are trying to get those front bottom teeth in!

You normally take two naps a day. They are anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half! Sometimes you will get by with a third nap- especially if we are busy and you are in your carseat a lot. 

Fun Stuff:

-You are SO SO SO close to sitting on your own! When you are laying on your back you try your hardest to sit up. You can sit for about a minute on your own before you begin to tilt one way or another. I see you sitting in the next two weeks or so!

-Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is your favorite, favorite thing.  We know if you are fussy, we can put that on to calm you down.  You can be in the middle of whining and throwing a fit, and if the Hot Dog Dance comes on, you immediately stop and start grinning.  It's so funny!

-You like tummy time more and more.  Lately, that's been probably your favorite activity....especially if we put you in front of a toy.  Those arms and legs are scooting. Your daddy keeps saying once you learn that your legs and arms will work together, you will be off and crawling! And if we lay you on your back, you will usually always find a way to your back!

-You love standing in our laps. You are a strong little boy for sure! And you've started leaning into our shoulder when you're tired.

-The other day Wally and Bailey got in your face and you thought it was the funniest thing! You laughed and laughed! You have not grabbed at Bailey yet, but you grab at Wally and pull his hair. He is so good and doesn't mind! 

-You can make some of the funniest faces.  And you love looking at our funny faces.  When you start laughing, you can not stop yourself. It is the funniest thing and we all are cracking up laughing before long!

-You've found your feet!  You can get them in your mouth now.  You love to wobble back and forth while you're holding your feet.

-You've also learned how to hit and grab! I don't think the hitting is on purpose, but you LOVE to grab long hair! 

  I hope one day you can understand how happy you make us.  You are the light of our lives, and the last 5 months have been the best!






You were not feeling very well on your picture day this month, but I wanted to still get that day.

Find Your Wings

When I graduated high school this song was very popular. At our graduation recognition at church a friend's dad sang this song while they played a slideshow of all of our pictures growing up. When I heard it I thought it was a sweet song and I liked it and went on about my way not thinking much about it.

Greyson had been sleeping so well! Then we moved and things just got crazy to say the least and his sleeping just wasn't like it had been. He wakes up between 2:30 and 3 every.single.morning. He wants to be held and then goes back to sleep but doesn't like being put back down in his crib. He's my cuddle bug for sure. 

Last night he was NOT having going back to sleep. So we were up until about 5:30 this morning. I had class at 8:30 and it was raining. Needless to say, I was not in a good mood. 

Music is my therapy. I get in my car, crank up my radio and drive to school for my class (not to mention it was presentations today, too). 

This song comes on the radio and I think, "Oh, I haven't heard this one in awhile." The first line, the very first line, I instantly felt this guilt come over me of how frustrated I had been in the wee hours earlier. ("It's only for a moment you are mine to hold." Tell me you wouldn't feel instant guilt.) I listen to the words and now I completely understand why this song was written. As a gentle reminder about how long the days and nights can be, but how short and quick the years will go by. (Thanks for wise words mom and Josie!)

It is also a gentle reminder of how thankful I should be that God has entrusted Greyson with John Thomas and me. We have two different sets of friends right now that are struggling with infertility. We have another set of friends who have been pregnant in the past and have lost their baby (and now have two wonderful and beautiful girls!!). I never have not been thankful for Greyson, I hope nobody would ever think that, but that doesn't mean I don't have my moments of frustration. I just need sleep and can become easily frustrated, like majority people. Thank you God for your sweet reminder this morning. 

It's only for a moment you are mine to hold 

The plans that heaven has for you

Will all too soon unfold 

So many different prayers I'll pray

For all that you might do 

But most of all I'll want to know 

You're walking in the truth 

And If I never told you 

I want you to know

As I watch you grow

Chorus:

I pray that God would fill your heart with dreams

And that faith gives you the courage

To dare to do great things

I'm here for you whatever this life brings

So let my love give you roots

And help you find your wings 

May passion be the wind 

That leads you through your days 

And may conviction keep you strong

Guide you on your way 

May there be many moments

That make your life so sweet 

Oh, but more than memories

Chorus:

It's not living if you don't reach for the sky 

I'll have tears as you take off 

But I'll cheer as you fly