Vacation Part 1 - The Gradys

Jon, Grady and I ended up having both of our family vacations back to back. The first part of the trip we went to Sheboygen, WI to an indoor water park right off of Lake Michigan. Grady was still a little young to truly get excited about the water slides, but our family has decided to go there again next summer. I am sure he will really enjoy those water slides as the park is very kid friendly. This family vacation included our family, Matthew's family and my parents. We stayed in the same "apartment" type place and cooked our meals there. It was a fun time!

The first night we tried a pizza restaurant with the entire family.

Family pictures - this one was in the lobby of the resort.

Family Pictures - this was outside our "apartment". In front of the patio was Lake Michigan. It was so pretty!

Grady with Grandpa Jim on the morning before we headed out to our next family vacation.

We bought Grady a new stuffed animal - a dolphin which is about his size. He loved cuddling with it during the rest of the trip. Actually if you "bing" him with it, he thinks it is the funniest thing in the world!

Overall Grady family picture - we will be here next August too!

Sneak Peek Update

Well - it has been a long time since I last updated our blog and I do want you to know that I will be updating it over the next few weeks...so stay tuned. Here is a reminder from where we left off...last time I posted something Grady was only about 3.5 months old. He is now almost 9 months old...WOW!!! Here is a sneak peek as to how our blog will end up. Here is a current picture of our little guy playing with in the laundry basket (clean laundry).

Grady and Maggie

Here are a few pictures of Maggie and Grady. Slowly but surely, she is getting more and more used to Grady. He LOVES her, but I would not say the feeling is mutual. She is starting to sit more near him and when she is on my lap with Grady. Grady likes to "pet" her...actually he likes to hold on to her hair. Yikes! So far Maggie has been patient. Whew! I think he would lay all over her if he could. Right now, when he sees her in the house he screams and has a huge smile on his face...again, the feeling is not mutual. Here I sat Grady down next to Maggie for a quick picture...

Here she is realizing that Grady is next to her...

Now that she realizes that Grady is next to her, she leaves...it's the usual thing that goes on between the two of them.

Grady's Dedication at PLC

Today Grady was dedicated at our Church - Prairie Lakes Church in Cedar Falls, IA. Jon and I have been going there for about 5 years now. Although we did not meet via church, we actually went to the same church and both attended a singles bible study...different ones of course. Who would have known that two years or so later that we would be attending there as husband and wife. Anyway, at Prairie Lakes (PLC) they have a program where parents and their families/friends can come and share in a time to hear about Grady. During the dedication, we went up front with Grady and I answered the question,"how did we come up with the name Grady", Jon then read a verse that we had picked out. After that, Pastor John prayed for our family. The church gave us a few gifts such as a Prairie Lakes bib, a Children's Bible and a quilt that the ladies in the church made for babies.

Here is Grady with Pastor John Fuller.

Family picture with Pastor John

Betsy and Travis Haht are a couple that Jon and I met in Lamaze class in August/September. We ended up setting next to them at each class, so we talked a bit. Later we found out that they also go to PLC and go to the Saturday night service (as so we for the most part). Travis works with hogs and Betsy also works in Hudson...what small world. To add to our journey with Betsy and Travis, they actually had there baby boy, Matthew, on the Saturday/Sunday before Grady was born, so we were even in the hospital at the same time. Betsy and I keep in touch and continue to share in baby stories or advice. They are a neat couple that we have enjoyed getting to know. They also attended the baby dedication with their son Matthew. I think Matthew and Grady are going to grow up to be good friends!

Here is a picture of the different things that we got at the dedication.

Heather and Trisha came to share in Grady's special day! Thanks Aunt Heather and Aunt Trisha! We love that your so involved in Grady's life... Afterwards we all went out to lunch at Peppers. It was a great time spent with family.

That night, at church, all of the families that attended the Saturday night service went up front with their babies and Pastor John introduced each family as well as prayed for us a parents.

Three months and Three Years

Today Grady is three months old AND it is also Jon and my three year anniversary. Grady spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa Grady's while I was at work. After that, we went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse...my favorite restaurant!!!

Grandpa Jim LOVES to give Grady different types of food even though he can't eat it. The first time he gave Grady a cracker...here he gave Grady a Butterfinger. Dad didn't think he would do anything with it, but Grady was starting to put things in his mouth - he did just that.

Here we are having a nice dinner out.

Swing time and trying to giggle...

Grady sure does love his swing. He loves it even better when "puppy" gets to be in the swing with him. He does not get a lot of swing time in the evening - as he gets it in the mornings the most. A lot of times if he wakes up too early and won't go back to sleep but I still need to get ready, he gets to swing and hopefully fall back to sleep.

Here Grady is just learnng to giggle. Jon would pretend to hiccup and that would make Grady giggle. I tried to capture the start of a giggle, but it would not happen - so just enjoy the video of Grady being....Grady

Could he be a Hawkeye Fan???

On New Year's Day, Jon stayed home with Grady as I went off to work. This was his day to be a stay at home dad. They had a great time. When I came home, I was rubbing in to Jon that the Hawkeye's had won their bowl game. He didn't much care - but I thought it would be fun to dress Grady in his Hawkeye jersey (complements of Aunt Trisha) even though it was too big. Lucky for me Jon let me do this - but I think it is still up in the air if he'll be a Hawkeye fan or a Cyclone fan. My vote is Hawkeys!!!