We're back....

Grayson and I arrived today around 11 am after an interesting plane ride. First off....we had a great time visiting Grayson's Grammie, Grandma Tammy, Grandad, Aunt She-She, cousin Gracie, Bibi, Granny, Keira and Jared, Andy and Marissa and 16 month Jaci, and all the dog-dogs. It felt like a short trip, yet it also felt like we were gone for longer than 5 days. We had beautiful warm, humid Texas weather....warm nights that I sooo miss! Nothing beats a warm night to walk out into from a cool house. Not the other way around! We spent quite a bit of time in the car driving to visit family, but it was all worth it. A great experience for Grayson!

So....now the "interesting" part. I'll get to it soon. Grayson developed a fever the 2nd to last night we were there and had a very rough night with sleeping.....which caused me to have a rough night as well. He woke up with quite a runny nose and a slight fever, but was in great spirits, regardless. We went out and got coffee and breakfast at Eurotazza coffeehouse (which is owned by Sheila, aka Aunt She-She's friend Keira)....then went and played around. That night Grayson looked a bit more miserable, but I was prepared with newly bought Tylenol, Benadryl, Kleenex, nose sucker, etc. It still was a rough night....he woke up almost every 1/2 hour or so until about 2am (I think). I believe we finally got a couple to a few hours of sleep closer to morning. I was kind of nervous about flying with a sick little boy, but it had to be done. So, off we went with drugs in tote. He did quite fine on the first leg of the flight to Albequerque and pretty much slept (thanks to lack of sleep at night and a little Benadryl). Note to readers: I don't normally drug up my kid too much, but this called for it. Anyway, the 2nd leg was a bit more fitfull and he couldn't get comfortable for too long with sleep. So, I finally got him out of his carseat and had him sleep in my arms. That worked pretty well. He woke up with about an hour left until gate arrival, so I gave him some water and he seemed interested in having a little snack. By the way, he did eat some yogurt before we got to Albequerque. So, he had some crackers and some grapes. Well, I think he got a little too carried away and got too many grapes in his mouth. He had them chewed up, but tried to swallow them all and kind of gagged. He has a really good gag reflex by the way. So, some coughing and up it all came!! I couldn't catch it and it went all over the place.....grapes, yogurt and all. Now what a major predicament. The flight attendant was very nice and brought us a bunch of paper towels and garbage sacks. I didn't even know where to begin! So, with an upset little boy I removed all of his clothes and the ones I could remove off me. Thankfully, Aunt She-She put his jammies in our diaper bag this morning so I had something to put him in. I had vomit all over my pants, flip-flop, the carpet, the back of the seat, carseat, etc. Anyway, I somehow managed to get it all cleaned up just in time for our descent. Boy did it smell bad!! I was waiting for others to join in on the vomit-fest. Nobody joined....that was surprising! Note to self (and others): Always, no matter how old the kid, have extra clothes on hand!!

It definitely is somewhat of a challenge to travel with a toddler with all the "stuff" you have to bring. I'm one who has to have the carseat on the plane, so its quite a workout getting everything to the plane by yourself and not piss people off. Everyone seemed pleasant on this trip, to which I am very thankful.

I will post some of our pictures as soon as I get our bags unpacked and the stinky vomit laundry done. I've got some great photos from a great trip!

Hi Y'all!

Well, Grayson and I made our way south to Texas today to visit my in-laws. Heath stayed home due to not having many days of leave saved up. We will be here till the 30th and will visit with several family members in the area. Grayson did pretty well on the airplane but was getting antsy and was really tired.....too much that he wouldn't sleep much. He cried pretty hard one time on our descent into Albequerque...possibly because he was disoriented after waking up from his nap and maybe his ears were bothering him. He did great, however, on the descent into Dallas. He has been having fun here at Grammie's house playing with the antique baby buggy and Grammie's 3 dogs. We will have an event filled day tomorrow, so hopefully he gets a great night's sleep. I will hopefully have some good photos to share when we get back!

Uncomfortably numb

According to Pink Floyd.....its "Comfortably Numb", but my title fits much better!

Bright and early Sunday morning, Heath and Jessica set out on their 1 1/2 hour drive to Enumclaw to participate in the Black Diamond Sprint Triathlon. Grayson was dropped off at Grandpa's house at 6:30 am and snuggled back into bed with Grandpa...all warm and cozy. Heath and Jessica were bundled in many layers of clothing hoping to stay somewhat warm as they watched the temperature climb to a whopping 45 degrees Farenheit! When they arrived at Nolte State Park, where the triathlon was being held, they found that the water temperature was a mere 61 degree Farenheit. Yikes! After setting up their gear in the transition area, they put on their wetsuits to prepare for the polar-bear-club-like event. Jessica looked around to notice that many people had on long sleeved wetsuits....something that she wished she had, rather than the sleeveless wetsuit. She was grateful, however, that it had long legs. As she ventured off towards the water in barefeet she realized that she was getting an ice-cream-headache type feeling in her feet. This did not seem to pass while it also got worse walking along the rocky beach of the lake.

At 9:00am Heath's wave was sent off for their swim. Heath had a bit of a struggle at first trying to get around people and fighting the urge to drown while people climbed on his back. He quickly found a good spot along the outside of the pack and stayed there throughout the rest of the swim. Jessica's wave started at 9:05am in the freezing cold water. It took her a bit to relax and breathe normally so she wouldn't go into panic mode. The cold water in combination with the beginning of the race adrenaline and the several other bodies claiming water rights caused her to get a little bit anxious. Once she mentally fought through it she was good to go. Even though her body got somewhat used to the cold water, it still was pretty darn numb. Again....long sleeves would have come in handy.

Next the two had a transition to the bike. They each took their time so they would be able to warm up a bit. Jessica's feet were still numb! Their bike rides seem to go nicely and they both made pretty good time and passed many people. Jessica's rear tire went flat right at the very end....she was quite thankful that it happened then and not out on the course.

The run came next and Jessica's feet were still numb....the numbest they've ever been in her whole life. The run course consisted of two laps on the trail circling the lake. This was a nice flat course, but one had to watch their footing because of sneaky roots and rocks. Heath became a victim to one of the roots and twisted his ankle and foot pretty badly. He ran on though. As Heath came to what he thought was the finish, he noticed other people running by and continuing on around the lake. He was not aware about the two lap route....and it was too late to continue on. He was slightly bummed but was glad that the race officials wouldn't DQ him and instead doubled the run time that he had done. This still put him in a great standing and in contention for an age group medal. As for Jessica, her feet finally started feeling normal after the first loop of the run. She was then able to kick it in a bit and pass some more people. As she neared the finish, she saw that their support crew of Grayson, her dad, Carol and Natale were all there cheering them on.

Overall Heath and Jessica felt good and thought it was a good race. Apparently this year was actually warmer than last year.....it rained and was 8 degrees colder in the water. Thank God it was a clear day.

(Thanks for reading my long story! Sorry, no pictures yet....we will have to get them from our support crew.)

My dog dog

I thought this was a really cute picture of Corbin with Grayson even though Grayson refused to take the car out of his mouth. Its rare that I can get the both of them to hold still for long enough to get a picture. Grayson loves his dog dog....and you can tell that Corbin feels the same way. The other funny thing that Grayson likes to do when you take his picture is that he anticipates the flash and starts squinting his eyes. You can kind of see it a little in this one.....he is pretty goofy :)

Love to read!

Our little Grayson loves to read (thank God!)....so I had to capture some of those great moments when he asks us to read. He will bring us a book and then come sit on our lap and listen to us read to him. This will go on for several books.....he would probably do this all day long if he could. He likes to point out his favorite items in the pictures and sometimes he like to just flip through the pages very quickly.

The book that we are reading here is from the library called Dos Anos.....in Espanol (obviously). Grayson quickly decided that he liked this one a lot, so we read it very often. This was good for me since I don't know much Spanish....I got to learn some of the words also!

Our day at the fair!

Today we took Grayson to his first Puyallup fair....well, besides when he was in utero (which was very early on in the pregnancy so I was fighting a bit of nausea). Anyway, we went early enough that it wasn't crowded at all, which was a first for me. We parked near where the kids rides were, so when I saw the train I knew that I wanted him to go on it with me. However, the kids are supposed to be two years old. Well....he looks two, right!? So, off we went on our little train ride...which was quite short. I think he liked it, but he didn't really say too much. He did like looking at all the other big rides and he "oohed" a lot. The main reason we wanted to take him was so he could see the animals. Since he loves feeding the sheep and chickens so much at the farm.....and loves to make "moo" sounds (which is a long grunt noise) when he sees cows, we thought he would enjoy seeing a whole bunch of them. I think he had a pretty good time looking at all the different animals. He got to be close and pet our friend's horse, but he wasn't so sure about it. That was his first close up with a large animal (other than a sheep). I think he really wanted to get down and run around for the most part and do his own animal exploring. We weren't going to let this happen because I think he wanted to go run up to the cows that were lying down. He did do some of his signature "mooing" and his pig oink....which he scrunches up his nose and snorts. He even got to talk to one of the grunting pigs and pet some goats and a cute bunny. Oh...and he started clapping his hands when he saw the sheep because this is how we call them on the farm. It was cute! After the animals it was time for some lunch and then off to look at some of the booths. As we were leaving we caught a little bit of the acappella group, The Coats (previous name was Trenchcoats....they probably ditched the trench part after the whole trenchcoat mafia thing). Anyway, they've been around for quite some time and I've seen them perform a couple other times when I was in high school. It dawned on me that I used to know one of the singers.....oh yes, he was one of the tennis pros at Sprinker where I used to take tennis lessons. My memory did ok on that one!

All in all I think Grayson had a fun time today....he definitely is a tired little boy! Next year he can do more rides! Sorry no pictures....I forgot the camera!

Lookin' like a toddler

We've really noticed lately how "grown-up" Grayson is starting to look. After his mama's professional haircut :) yesterday, he looks even more toddler-ish. Just a reminder for everyone....savor every moment, because time sure does fly!

For some reason, Grayson kept running away from me when I tried to take his picture and get him to smile. He said "no-no-no" and turned the other way. I guess there was too much fun stuff to do at the farm. I kind of liked how this photo turned out though....with him off center and the sheep in the background. My attempt at art for the day!

Yee Haw!

One of Grayson's favorite things to do these days is to go in our closet and look up at Heath's hats and say "hat, hat, hat, hat, hat"....until we get the hat down and put it on his head. Then he will take it off and say "uh, uh, uh, uh, uh" (translation: "on") for us to put it on our heads. This can happen up to several times a day.

Speaking of words that he is saying, the other things he says a lot are dada, dog dog (which also sounds quite similar to dada....but we know what he means), no, num (or yum), sometimes mama, something that sounds like night-night, and a version of milk. He also has a variety of gibberish type words that I can usually translate into English. His signing is much better than his verbal words. He will sign "more" (all the time), eat, milk, baby, dog (which is a panting noise), book, all done, bib, apple, no, flower and a various versions of some other signs. Most of the signs he learns from a baby sign language book. It has pictures of kids doing the signs along with the actual item or action. Although it isn't true American Sign Language (the true deaf sign language---also what I took as a "foreign" language elective in high school), I think it is beneficial for him to learn any sort of communication. Not only that, he really enjoys looking at the books and doing the signs and will constantly look at them or want us to read them to him. Along with sign language, he is also learning Spanish from his DVD he watches while I take a shower. I will peek at him sometimes to see that he is completely enthralled with it and smiling. This is the first interest he has shown in any sort of TV program (which is good). He really likes to see little kids and babies in this movie....I suppose this is why the Baby Einstein empire is so successfull.

My buddy Clayton

Grayson sure loves his buddy (and cousin) Clayton! He waves "hello" to him every time he sees him and will even wave randomly when he is hanging out with him. They are such a pair of goofballs!

Corn, corn, corn!

As you can see, Grayson really enjoys corn from the garden like his mama! He does quite a good job eating it and isn't TOO messy with it. However, if I'm not watching closely he will pitch the cob to the ground....that's where the mess truly is!