Updates

I have nothing to blog about. I've been terrible at taking pictures, and I dislike posting without pictures. So boring. But here's what we've all been up to lately.

Grayson:
Gray is a very busy, energetic, fun, funny, opinionated little boy. He keeps me on my toes for sure. Right now he is very into playing with trains, watching Sesame Street, and climbing anything and everything he sees. He climbs his changing table. He climbs his bookcase. He tries to climb on the windowsill. Couches. Tables. Chairs. If Steve is crouched on the ground, Gray will climb on his back. If Oliver is lying down anywhere within reach, Gray climbs all over him. Luckily, he's pretty cautious in his climbing, and he hasn't fallen yet. But it scares his mother to death. I always have visions of broken limbs, concussions, knocked-out teeth, etc. *sigh* Such a BOY. We've been having a great time taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather, and have been spending most of our time outside, which is where Gray is the happiest. He's starting to use more and more words -- and his sentences are more fully-formed, if not completely understandable. He repeats everything he hears, which is fun. He's a little sponge that absorbs everything! Even while he was playing while Steve and I were watching General Conference, every once in a while he'd repeat something they said. He's always paying attention, this one.

Steve:
Steve is working very hard at Autoliv. He has too many projects to keep up with, and is constantly asked to help with more. He is very much in-demand. Right now he has the Autoliv plants in Japan and China competing for which one of them gets to have him first. He's doing quite a bit of travelling lately, and will probably go to India again soon. He's also still going to school, but this semester he's only doing one class, twice a week. So between school and work, he's gone quite a bit. We miss him, but we're very grateful that he is so valuable and in-demand. And when he IS home, he always makes time to help his wife, play with his son, and play Halo. :)

Samantha:
Just busy being a Momma! Keeping up with Grayson is a full-time job for sure! When I'm not chasing him, trying to get him to eat, cleaning up his messes, etc etc -- I try to clean the house, though it feels like I am losing that battle. I try to rest when I can, as my doctor advised me to do, but it's hard to do. I do lie down while Gray naps, and try to lie down soon after he goes to bed at night, too. I've been crocheting quite a bit, too -- but I can only do it after Gray's in bed, so it's slow-going. I'm trying to make as many Christmas presents as possible, and I'm maybe 1/2-way done. Yeah, I'm not very exciting. The most exciting thing about me is baby in my belly:

Baby #2:
So far, everything is going great with the littlest Wayment. He's growing well, and I'm finally back at my pre-pregnancy weight (I was losing weight before -- weird), and it's getting hard to bend over. He is VERY active, and Steve is very excited that he can feel the little guy kick now. He loves music, and moves a LOT when there's a good beat going. He's also learning early to stand up for himself. As previously mentioned, Gray is a climber, and his preggo momma is not exempt from being climbed upon. When a stray Grayson elbow/foot/knee inevitably finds its way into my stomach, Baby will kick right back quite enthusiastically.
This pregnancy is so far much less eventful than my first. I've been feeling great for the most part -- just the usual complaints of heartburn, ligament pain, headaches, exhaustion. I have occasional contractions and pressure pain, but the doctor isn't worried about them (yet), so I'm hopeful that maybe I'll get away with no bedrest (yet). I'm 26 weeks now (6 1/2 months), and I went on bedrest with Gray at 28 weeks, so we'll see.
Baby Boy still doesn't have a set name. Boy names are SO HARD! It seems like I change my mind daily. We know for sure that we want his middle name to be Arie (after my late Grandpa Koldewyn), but the first name is posing a problem. We want it to be unique, but real (not a made-up name), and not too common. Plus it has to fit a little boy AND a grown man. HARD, I tell you. Our short-list consists of: Merrick, Asher, Archer, Bram, Abrahm, Callan, Thatcher, Callum, Cohen, Dean, Carver, or maybe just having his FIRST name be Arie. We also like Liam, Lucas, Eli, and William, but those seem to fall into the "too common" category -- we just know too many boys by those names. I ask Grayson what his baby brother's name should be, and he usually says something like "Elmo" or "Thomas". Sorry, little guy, those aren't options (I actually like Thomas, but it doesn't go well with Wayment -- the 'sway' sound they make when said together doesn't work for me). When we tell him the names we like, he usually says "Baby broder Archer!" or "Merrick! Merrick!" so I guess those are his picks. And he pronounces "Thatcher" as "Fatcher", so that may be a deterrent... We'll see :)

Random Pictures

Just some random pictures of Grayson I thought I'd throw on here:

I LOVE this picture -- isn't he SO sweet?!?

Gray LOVES the trains at his Nana's house -- he's named every one after a character from Thomas and Friends.

Boy loves Cheetos.

More train love.

Gray loves lining his cars up, and any other toys he can fit onto his table. (side note: Gray has been on a monster kick lately, so I crocheted him one. I think he's pretty cute, and Gray loves him, too. His mouth is a pocket -- my intention was to eventually use him as a tooth fairy tooth holder thingy)

Every once in a while, Gray will bring me the camera and say "CHEESE!" and make me take pictures of him :) I usually get one good one before he does this :


Sweet sleepy boy.

We've been getting out some of the baby stuff, and Gray thought the baby swing was particularly fun. He'd climb into it by himself sometimes and just sit there, or swing himself back and forth.

He's so darn cute, I almost can't get mad at him for crushing his bowl of popcorn alllllll over the floor...

Meet Dexter

We surprised my mom for her birthday with a new PUPPY!!! His name is Dexter, and he's the cutest, sweetest little white Schnauzer. Grayson is in LOVE with him, and asks every day to go see "Nan, white puppy!!" or "White an black!" -- my mom's other Schnauzer is black. Here are some fun pictures of when we gave her the puppy:






This was all JD's idea, and as he said, he's "happy we're all still alive" :D

Toddler Bed!

I finally gave in and converted Grayson's crib to a toddler bed. I've been hesitant to do it, because he's always been content in his crib, and it's so convenient to be able to corral him at night! :D But we decided it was time when Grayson surprised Steve by walking into the family room when he was supposed to be napping -- he had climbed out of his crib without making a sound! It's the first time he's done it, but he did it very well!! So that night I put the toddler rail on. Grayson was SO excited, and immediately climbed right up into bed and started jumping and rolling around. He kept saying "Bed! Bed! Bed!" -- he knows it's a big boy bed now instead of a crib! Luckily we have a baby gate installed in his doorway, so I was able to shut the gate to keep him contained to his room, but of course he took the opportunity to play with everything in his room and make a huge mess :) It takes him a bit longer to go to sleep now, but he's happy with his new-found freedom, and I'm not worried about him falling out of his crib. Although I AM a bit worried about him climbing other things -- I've discovered toys on the floor that were up high on shelves the night before -- so he's been climbing his bookcase and his changing table. I'm always in the next room, and both our doors are open, so I've never heard him fall or bang around a lot, so he's obviously very good at it -- it just worries me a bit. I've stopped putting the toys up on the shelves, hoping this will negate the need to climb. Also, to my surprise, Grayson has always ended up back in his bed to sleep -- he doesn't just pass out on the floor, he'll climb into bed when he's tired.




The evidence of the destruction :)

Two BOYS!

Baby #2 is officially a BOY! I'm going to have TWO little boys! :) We're so excited!!! I'm still getting used to the idea -- since the beginning of this pregnancy, we were so sure it was a girl! Sure fooled us!! It will be so fun for Grayson to have a little buddy -- I think all boys need brothers!
All went well at the ultrasound -- everything looks good, he looks healthy! It was so fun to see the little guy wiggling and kicking and turning -- he was so active it was hard for the ultrasound tech to get good pictures sometimes! Here are some pictures:
Profile: (totally has Steve's nose and chin!!!)

Proof of the boy-ness:

LONG leg with a BIG foot!! Again, just like his daddy! :)


And here is an updated iPad shot -- this is actually how big Baby is right now!



The best part of having another boy is that I won't have to buy a SINGLE piece of clothing for this new little guy! Wahoo!! He's due a month before Gray's birthday, so all the clothes I had for Gray will be the right season. I can spend my money on other things :) I already bought a crib (AWESOME deal from Target -- buy a crib, get the matching changing table for FREE! -- couldn't pass it up), and now I'm working on cleaning out the 2nd bedroom so we have somewhere to PUT the crib. Steve says maybe we got a boy this time around because God knew we couldn't afford a girl right now -- I'm going to go a little crazy with the cute baby girl clothes when the time comes :)

The worst part of having another boy is that now I have to come up with another boy name!! We had a girl name picked out and ready to go, but boy names are so much harder!!! Our top three contenders right now are Abrahm, Merrick, and Asher. Other suggestions are welcome :) Vote on your favorite name over on my poll!!

2 1/2!

Grayson is now 2 1/2! And what a fun little man he is! I am LOVING this stage -- he is so incredibly cute and fun! Granted, the screaming, constant "NO!"s, tantrum-throwing, and general stubbornness isn't that fun. But everything ELSE is :) Here's a little about what Gray's up to lately: (warning: this is a long post of things I just wanna document. Feel free to not read the whole thing in it's entirety)
* Gray is talking up a storm, but isn't quite forming his own sentences yet. He can repeat usual phrases ("I love you", "Thank you", "To Infinity and Beyond" -- you know, the essentials), but usually 'makes up' his own sentences by using "blebababaglubablue" as a filler.
* His "I love you" sounds like "I judge you". Hilarious.
* He is now saying "Grayson", and I love, love, LOVE how he says it! Beyond cute! Sometimes he still refers to himself as "baby", though.
* Gray still loves his Ele, but he now calls all other elephants "Ephants" -- he used to call all elephants ele. Now it's only his special one. As an aside, wanna see how many elephants Gray has?? It's a lot:

* Gray has a stellar memory. He can point to a drawer and ask for a toy that's in there that hasn't been played with for a year. He can also repeat every word to Cars, Toy Story (1&2), The Princess and the Frog (say "I think it's done, Da-addy" to him sometime, and behold the awesomeness. Just saying.), "Over the Hedge", "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" and "Land Before Time".
* He often goes off into dramatic monologues, acting out scenes from these movies, and making up his own. He is BEYOND entertaining.
* Gray's current favorite thing in the world is Thomas the Train. He knows all the different trains, and LOVES to play with his toy trains.
* Grayson is a very picky eater. He'll eat like a bird for 3-4 days, then eat more than I do for a day or two. He loves pizza, chicken nuggets, fries, popcorn, crackers, pretzels, ice cream, juice, chocolate muffins, cheetos, chocolate milk (instant breakfast -- it's the only way he gets nutrients some days), peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and anything chocolate/candy related. SOME days he can be persuaded to eat cereal, apples, peaches, spaghetti, mac & cheese, yogurt, and string cheese.
(this is his Cheeto-Monster picture. Also, lately he's been asking me to take off his shirt. Except he says "Pants off" when he asks. Silly kid)
* He is starting to get sneaky. I'll tell him not to do something, and he'll do it when I'm not paying attention. His favorite is sneaking out the dog door into the back yard. He's not supposed to do it, but he just can't resist, now that he's figured it out. And it's so darn funny to watch him do it, it's hard to get too mad at him (plus, the back yard is fenced, so he can't really get into too much trouble out there...) He also will flat-out fib to me -- "Gray, did you poop?" "NO!"(as he runs as fast as he can the other way)


* Gray loves anything with wheels, and thinks any toy car/truck/train/etc he sees is automatically his. He isn't too good with the whole sharing thing, but he IS very good at telling OTHER kids to share. And he does get there eventually, if not begrudgingly.
* He LOVES making adults go where he wants them. He constantly orders me around the house ("Go DAT way!"), and makes me sit ("Sait, Mommy") where he wants. When we go to my mom's house, he has to position every person EXACTLY where he wants them to sit, and heaven help you if you try to get up before he says you can. He even tells HIMSELF where to sit ("Sait, Baby!"). Then he goes around the room and points to everyone, naming them off as he goes.
* Grayson LOVES Ollie. They are little buddies. Thank goodness I have such a tolerant dog! Gray chases him everywhere, orders him where to sit ("Sait, Ah-yee!"), sits on him, drives his cars on him, and generally just laughs his head off at anything Ollie does. Even when I call Ollie by his full name (Oliver), he laughs SO hard. Ollie is very good-natured about it all and just takes it. If he gets too annoyed, he'll just leave the room. He's never EVER even growled at Gray. And he's always the first one into Gray's room in the morning. I love that they're such good buddies.


* Gray thinks almost everything is a computer. If it has buttons, or anything he can PRETEND is buttons, he says "Puter!Poot!" (I think that's trying to be "Computer! Boot!"), and furiously 'types' on whatever it is. We got him a LeapFrog laptop for Christmas -- I can't wait to see him with his very OWN computer! :)
* Gray loves water. If there's a puddle anywhere NEAR this kid, he'll find it. But he doesn't like swimming pools, and he didn't like the splash pad. His favorite thing is for his Nana to squirt him with the hose. And the water play table at her house.
* He still loves books, but doesn't like you to read to him. He'll snatch the book out of your hand and take it to the floor to read it himself. I really miss having him snuggle on my lap while I read him books.
* Grayson unfortunately inherited his daddy's migraines. It's the saddest thing ever to watch him when he has one. He just says "Head hurt" over and over, sometimes throws up, and just wants me to hold him. It's the only time he'll let me really snuggle him. We just lie on the couch together and watch movies or sing soft songs. Poor little guy. Tylenol DOES seem to help so far, though, so I hope they never get as bad as Steve's.
* Gray loves the song "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam" and will sometimes make me sing it 20 times a day. We always have to sing it for FHE. He knows all the words. So cute.
* Gray hates anything unexpected/unfamiliar, but he's fine as long as you give him warning, or let him get acclimated to a situation before making him do something. It just takes him a little while :)
* Overall, Gray is such a sweet-hearted little guy, and is SO much fun! I love every minute I get with this little guy!

Blue Pants???

Steve and I have been trying to institute a new rule at naptime/bedtime: Gray can only have three toys in his crib with him. Otherwise, he'll sit there and ask for every single toy in his room, until there's no room in there for HIM (proof: the photo above)! So lately we've been telling him "You can have THREE toys, Grayson. 1,2,3!" and count as he names toys he wants. It's been working fairly well, with only the occasional tantrum. Today at naptime he got me laughing though. He asked for his first two toys (Thomas the train and Doc from Cars), and I said "Okay, you can have ONE more toy." He put his hand on his cheek, said "Uuuuuuuuuuummmmmmm"......... and had a look of intense concentration on his face, then suddenly smiled and exclaimed, "BLUE PANTS!!!!" and seriously made me get the navy shorts he wore yesterday out of the hamper. Then he just layed down and said "Ni-igh'" like he always does when he's ready for me to leave, and I left. Since when do 'blue pants' count as a toy?? And where does he come up with these things?????