Easter Fun and More

My computer crashed last week and I just got it back so I apologize this has taken so long to post. We were really busy this past weekend with Easter activities. We went to the GA Governor's Mansion Annual Easter Egg Hunt, our neighborhood easter egg hunt, the Easter Bunny at the Mall and we died easter eggs!
Grant has a couple of new obsessions this week: he points out EVERY fire hydrant as we ride down the road and I can honestly say that I never realized how many there were until he started this. It is probably my fault since he asked me what one was in our neighborhood and it all started after I told him.
He also has a new favorite word: "LOVE"; he will say "I love my blue shirt mommy", "I love cheese dip" and he told Luke "I love your boxer shorts daddy" so when we were at the Mexican restaurant Luke asked him if he "loved" beans (which he doesn't) and he said "I don't love beans" in a very serious tone.
We were playing outside in a new little pool that sprays water up high and he started singing "rain drops keep falling on my head" out of the blue. I think Kasie, his nanny, taught him that one.
He is still extremely observant. We were walking around the neighborhood and we saw an AT&T truck and it has their logo on the side (the round circle with stripes) and out of no where he looks at me and says "daddy has that on his phone". Sure enough, he does since our cell phones are with AT&T. Crazy!

Sloan is starting to eat really well now. She eats a bowl of oatmeal with a fruit in the morning, bottles throughout the day and then sweet potatoes at dinner. We are going to be trying out new stuff every few days now. She is also starting to get into a nap routine a little. She slept 2 hours this morning and an hour this afternoon. As soon as she can get on food at lunch, she should stretch out that afternoon nap. She is obsessed with her pacifier now....she will pull it out of her mouth and stare at it and talk to it. She tries to get it back in her mouth to no avail yet. She is consistently rolling over on her back in the middle of the night and we have to go and put her back on her stomach. I can't wait until she can do it on her own!

Easter Bunny at the Mall

The bow didn't stay on long.....

Holding her pacifier out and looking at it

She LOVES Grant and will smile at him no matter what he does

Our neighborhood bunny

Dying eggs! He had to crack a few open afterwards to see what was inside

Starting to sit up on her own a little better

Grant found the escalator at the mall and he had to go up and down several times

Bunny mask he got from the easter bunny

Clifford the Big Red Dog at the Governor's Mansion

Finding eggs at the Governor's Mansion

"Can I please have my bottle back now!"

Papa Bill's Birthday and Adventures with Cousin JW

We went to Easley this weekend for Papa Bill's birthday and had a great time. Grant had a ton of fun with "a whole lot of people" as he says. He got to use a real gas blower too. It scared him at first but then he liked it....it was just too heavy to do on his own. I didn't get a picture but Grant also blew out Papa Bill's candles and opened his gifts, lol!

Sloan and Jon Walter (a week older than her) played bumper cars in their walkers. JW is much more advanced in his walker skills!
Sloan is still being very difficult on the food front! I have switched to Oatmeal and even put applesauce in it and she still clinches her mouth shut tight and will put her tongue in the way if I try to stick a spoon in her mouth. I have to hold the bottle up to her face for her to open up and the I shove the food in....so crazy. But she doesn't gag like Grant did. Not sure which is worse at this point. I have moved on to Sweet Potatoes this week and getting the same reaction. Hoping it gets better soon.

New Shoes/Words and The Jumper has Returned

We pulled out the Jumper for Sloan. The first time, she didn't have a clue what to do and just sat there. So, we had to show her how to do it by moving her up and down softly. Grant was amazed with this toy and wanted her to go higher. We have had to watch him since he tries to push it up and down to get her jumping faster. She has it down now and can jump really well.

Grant's feet are growing fast, he is now a size 8. I will preface this story with the fact that Papa Bill only wears New Balance shoes that are white leather. Grant is very preceptive and doesn't forget anything, especially details that most people would dismiss. He got a new pair of New Balance shoes this week (in the picture below). When he saw them he said "Oh, those are like Papa Bill's". To which I laughed out loud and responded, "yes they are".

He is also starting to ask questions in the right format. Some of them have been "What did you say mommy?", "What is that?", "Where did that go?". It's pretty interesting to see his little brain working. One other interesting thing he says.....if he is referring to something that happened in the past (i.e., last month, last week, yesterday), he says it happened "last night" no matter how long ago it was.

Sloan is 5 Months Old - Food Time and St Patty's Day

Sloan is now 5 Months Old! She went to the doctor this week for her DTaP, Hib, Polio shot and did great. She actually didn't cry at all this time since it was just one shot. So we are done with the 4 month shots. We started rice cereal this morning and she was not a fan! Grant gagged when we gave it to him the first time. She didn't gag but just cried and wanted a bottle. It was sad but funny too. I ended up giving her some of her bottle and then she did manage to eat some of the cereal. We took a video and will get it uploaded onto the blog soon. Grant was still asleep this morning when she got her cereal. So, we tried to give her more at dinner and Grant thought it was great. He wanted to eat some of her cereal.....or he thought he did. I gave him a spoon of it and oh how I wish the camera was rolling....he gagged and almost threw up! He will never go near her food again, lol!

Then, I put Sloan in her St. Patty's Day attire....and yes, the bow is about as big as her entire head. She can actually sit supported a little now. We are working on that skill.

The End of the Crib is in Sight for Grant

Grant can now get out of his crib without any help! However, he hasn't done this yet without telling us first. So, when he wakes up from sleeping he still yells for us to come get him. When we go in his room, he says "Grant can do it" and he gets out on the side of the crib. Not sure why he chose the side instead of the front. Selfishly, I am ready for him to get in a regular bed so I can get the queen bed out of Sloan's nursery. But I am obviously a little nervous about that transition. He has always been a great little sleeper so I hope that doesn't change when the bed changes.

Daylight savings time has thrown us for a loop this time for some reason. Grant talks to himself in his room at night now for about an hour or so before going to sleep. And Sloan has been a bit difficult to get down at night the past couple of nights. She rolls over now onto her back and we have to go and flip her back over so she will go to sleep. She also takes her paci out of her mouth but can't figure out how to get it back in.....and she gets really mad. It has added about an hour onto our bedtime process which we are working on getting back to normal soon.

Grant and I made Easter cookies this weekend. He loved it and enjoyed eating the dough about as much as he did the decorating.

Playtime with 2 Kids

Grant is getting better about not squeezing her to death when he holds her.

She is getting stronger everyday but she is still so little that we have to surround her with blankets in the exosaucer.
Grant had to have a bow too! Both of them with their bows!
We were trying out a new baby item that my friend, Leigh, invented. It is a sunshade for baby seats. She seems to really enjoy it so far and it does keep the sun out of her eyes. You can check it out on www.jaybeebabyshade.com if you want one.
We were out to eat and he was making her laugh a lot at the table. She loves watching him all the time! I think it is because he is in constant motion and never stops!

20120227 Grant ABCs from Luke Johnson on Vimeo.

Life According to Grant...

Some funny stories about Grant....

The Blue Man - A couple of weeks ago, he woke up and told me that he saw a blue man in his bed. I was obviously intrigued by this comment and started asking questions. He preceded to tell me that the blue man sat at the end of his bed and was nice. He also said that I could not see him and that he was gone when he woke up in the morning. He has since told a similar story a few more times. I am guessing that he is dreaming but who knows. It is interesting to listen to. While we were at my parents house over Christmas, he kept saying that he saw a man upstairs too. That was while he was awake but of course, we never saw a man.

Mocking Mommy - We have started to read some books that are not board books so they have regular paper pages. I was reading to him and licked my finger to turn the page which I didn't think twice about. He just started laughing and preceded to lick his finger and turn the next page and every page there after. He will do it and look at me and say "mommy does that". The books will probably have water damage from all the licking! lol!

The world is his urinal! I have signed him up for preschool which will start this summer. My number one concern is that he is going to drop his pants to pee when they take them to play outside. He thinks that if he is outside, he can just pee on anything. I have been trying to work on this but he doesn't like the idea that he should go all the way inside to use the bathroom, lol!

Calm Down - I have recently told him to "calm down" a few times when he gets really wild and I am trying to get Sloan to nap. Then, out of no where, he looked at me a few days ago and said "mommy, calm down" in a very quiet voice. I laughed out loud it was so funny.

Shrek and Cars - He LOVES both of these movies and has memorized certain parts of them. He will ask for you to put on a particular scene which can be hard to do sometimes. We actually just bought him some new underwear that has Lightening McQueen and Mater (Cars characters) on them. They are actual briefs versus the cotton padded training underwear and very cute. He is still doing great with potty training. I actually can't remember the last time he had an accident but it has been a long time now.

Oops, I forgot to post these pictures

I just realized that I forgot to post these pictures, oops. Sloan was 11 weeks old in these. We got a chance to get pictures with their second cousin, Ben, as well as their first cousin Jon Walter who is a week older than Sloan.

Sloan's 4 Month Pictures

Yes, we got a bow in it....barely! Sloan did great with her 4 month pictures. She didn't want to do many tummy shots but we got one good one. She now weighs 12lbs!

ABC's, 123's, and almost ready for a Bow!

Grant can now say/sing his ABC's entirely. We are going to get a video of it soon and post it on the blog. It is very cute to listen to. He can also count 1 to 6....but he sometimes skips 4 for some reason.
A funny story that I probably should not blog about but he may get a laugh out of it when he is older. A few weeks ago he woke up and kept telling me "pee pee longer" and I think it goes without saying what he meant, lol! This week, he has changed his phrase to "pee pee taller". I try not to laugh when he says it and just redirect him to something else but it is sooooo funny! We have been telling him that he will grow big and tall one day like daddy so I guess that is where the word "taller" is coming from. Testosterone kicks in early!

Sloan is doing great and her little cold is completely gone now. Her hair is now long enough to spike up. I haven't tried a bow yet but that is coming soon.

Sloan's 4 Month Stats

I took Sloan to her 4 month doctor's visit today. She is 11lb 7oz (5th percentile) and 23 1/4 inches (20th percentile). She got 2 shots (Hep B and PCV) and will go back in a couple of weeks for one more. Everything else is going great with her!

How many names can a parent have?

Yet another funny story for Grant. In the last couple of weeks, he has decided to change up what he calls us depending on his mood.
For me.....I get "hey mom" when he needs or wants something.....I get "mommy" in a very whiny voice if he is tired or I don't respond fast enough to his requests.....then I get "ma ma" if he is referring to me when talking to someone else. Occasionally, he will use "Mel" to get my attention.
For Luke.....he has started saying "hey man" when he is asking for something and I have no clue where that comes from....and yes we are trying to correct that one. He says "da da" when he is referring to him when talking to others.....and he loves to call him "Luke" when he doesn't get a response fast enough.

I am sure we will get called many more things over the years, lol!

Almost 4 Months Old

Sloan is almost 4 months old! She has recently started that phase of wanting to put everything in her mouth. She is still fighting off a bit of a cold as well. It is just taking a while to work its way out of her little body I guess. One mystery is still her eye color.....we just cannot tell yet what it is going to be. I am still guessing hazel but they have blue around the outer edges, green on the inside a muddy brown in the middle. Grant's were already bright blue at this age.

First Cold

Sloan has her first cold....boo hoo. Grant's nose was running a little for a couple of days last week and Luke and I had sore throats this past weekend. It seems Sloan has picked up a bit of this and has a little cold. Her nose isn't running bad but there is a little congestion....she doesn't like the snot sucker at all! It hasn't seemed to bother her really though. She is still sleeping fine at night and smiling a lot during the day. This too shall pass....hopefully soon!

She is officially in Size 2 diapers now and has almost outgrown the 3 month outfits. I just got her new pajamas that are 3-6 months. She is still not as strong as Grant was at her age but she is also a much calmer, laid back baby. She is just content most of the time. Her only fussy period is at night right before bath time (7-7:30pm) when I think she is just ready to go to sleep. Last night she went to sleep at 7:30pm and didn't make a peep until 8:30am so she definitely likes her beauty sleep. Her first bottle of the day is 6 ounces now and she can take it down really fast!

Sloan Growing and Grant's Adventures

Sloan is now 11lbs! She is growing more every day. She is not reaching for toys yet but she is trying to hold her bottle when we feed her. She is very vocal and loves to coo and laugh. She has almost outgrown her 3 month outfits so she will get to try out more of her new wardrobe soon. She still continues to spit up like a champ. She is up to around 25 ounces per day now. She is sleeping almost 13 hours at night now. Napping during the day is still all over the place but she usually naps around 3 hours per day.
We took Grant to the zoo last weekend and he had a blast. He can identify all of the animals and loved the petting zoo. There are statues of animals throughout the zoo and he had to "ride" all of them. I can't remember if I already posted this but a funny story about Grant.....when we are riding in the car and I have to hit the brakes a bit harder than usual, he says "Be careful mommy!". So insightful already. I took him to get a haircut today and Luke told him last night that he looked like a "hippie". So, when we got to Great Clips he says to the lady...."I look like a hippie!". We really have to watch what we say to him and around him, lol!