Just as I Am

ball! Ball! BALL!!!

I cannot go to the produce department anymore with Grant!

He LOVES balls (it was his first word, and *anything* cylindrical is a BALL!!!!), and of course, the produce department is FULL of balls, didn't you know? Onions? BALL! Red Pepper? BALL! Avocado? BALL! Tomato? BALL!! Watermelon? BALL BALL BALL!!

Seriously, Grant FREAKS OUT over all the "balls" - I think it's too much stimulation for him!

He was gripping the side of the cart this morning, getting progressively louder and louder - "ball! Ball! MOM-MA BALL!!!!"

I gave him an orange to hold, quickly got my lettuce, red pepper, and sweet potato, and whisked him off to the dairy department!

Rosemary Mint

When we lived in Dallas, I briefly went to a hairstylist that worked in an Aveda salon. If you've never been to an Aveda salon, it's such an awesome salon! They use natural products, with as few chemicals as possible, and the whole salon (at least the 3 or so Aveda salons I've been in) has such a calming, upscale atmosphere. Well, in Dallas the hairdresser used this fab shampoo and conditioner - rosemary mint - and they just smelled wonderful. I would love smelling my hair over the next couple of days!

Well, an Aveda salon just opened up in the new outdoor part of the Greenwood mall, so I popped in there today. I recently found out that Aveda products aren't tested on animals (a huge

in my book!). So, I bought a sample size of the shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray in the rosemary mint line - they just smell heavenly. I LOVE the way it smells. I'm trying to find an excuse to shower to try it out! :)

103.9

That's what Grant's fever was the last time we took it! Poor kiddo!

Good Wednesday Morning!

Grant's eating grapes in his chair, and I'm listening to some of my favorite music (Chris Botti), while drinking a cup of coffee from my new Keurig coffee maker!

It was already on sale at Kohls (what *isn't* on sale at Kohls? ;-)), and I had a 30% off coupon!

We used it for the first time at some friends' house (Thanks, Ward & Kathy!), and we just fell in love with it! It's a single-serve machine, which is perfect for us, as usually I just want one cup of coffee in the mornings. (And, thanks, Karen, for your opinion on single-serve machines!) It brews the absolutely perfect cup of coffee, and also has a neat-o blue back-lit display.

So, between new dress pants for Matt, new towels for the bathroom and the coffee maker, we totally got the max out of that 30% coupon!

Back to Blogging!

Whew! After almost 2 months off (has it really been that long?!?), I'm back to blogging! Break out the Hallelujah chorus! :)

Just got in from running, showered, and am settling in to watch The Bachelorette!

Bird incident

Matt was outside with his Bible Study guys on Butler's campus tonight since it was such a beautiful evening. Well, Matt came home and told me the tale of the bird. He had just pulled out his laptop and was looking something up for the guys, and all-of-a-sudden, a bird, ahem, did it's poop business straight onto the laptop!!! Fortunately it hit just the outer casing and not the keyboard! Matt said one of the guys was like, "dude, a bird just pooped on your laptop!"

I'm still laughing. Matt doesn't think it's quite as funny.

Big!

Look how big he is!!

We're home!

Nope, I haven't stopped blogging...just had a busy couple of weeks, and then we were on vacation for a week! Grant did very, very well considering he was in his carseat for 31 hours!! We're all happy to be home, though, and I'm happy to be back to blogging. :)

The kid likes carrots!

Who knew that a toddler could like carrots so much?!

Today for his afternoon snack I had steamed some carrots (gotta love the Glad microwave steam bags!), and Grant ate ALL of them - and, I had steamed 1/2 of the frozen bag of veggies!! So, around 1 1/2 cups of CARROTS! he just kept eating and signing for more, eating and signing for more --- I even looked to make sure he wasn't stuffing them somewhere! And, Lizzie doesn't like carrots, so no luck there!

Matthew Grant

So, I watch The Bachelor.

I'm not going to stay up to watch the whole first episode tonight, but I just caught the first couple of minutes while I wait for the washing machine.

And, I thought the Bachelor's name was funny - "Matthew Grant".

The Quad Squad

SOOOO Funny!

And, how would you tell them apart?

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid533275934/bclid537018608/bctid196271166

Leaning...

Grant's learned to lean around stuff to see you - it's so cute! Here he's leaning around the chair to see Matt. :)

No pictures, Mommy!

New Toy!

We've only bought Grant 2, maybe 3 toys, in his life, and he was needing a new age-appropriate toy. So, Grant helped pick out his new barn toy - he was so excited! here are some pictures of him helping Matt open it, and then how excited he was to play with it!

Saturday Afternoon

What a wonderful Saturday! My parents called mid-morning and offered to meet us for lunch or coffee. Well, Matt was in a meeting, so my parents wonderfully brought lunch to us! It was great seeing them, and it was SO nice of them to bring us lunch! Thanks, Mom and Dad!

On the toddler news, he's standing up all the time now! The past several mornings when I've gone in to get him in the morning he's standing up in his crib, smiling at me - so proud of himself! :) He can't quite pull himself up on our couches yet - they're just a tad too high for him to reach, but he can pull up on the ottoman. Go, Grant, Go!

And, on the running news, I overdid it or something last night, because my left ankle and shin are sore, and my right knee is killing me today! I think I might need new shoes...or perhaps it was the increased incline on the treadmill?

Snowy Friday!

Whew! It's a snowy March day here! I just got home for running some errands this morning:

1) Target to get a few groceries to make breakfast snacks for the church meeting at oru house tomorrow morning. (Mini Ham and Cheese quiches, muffins, scones - I just realized I should've got some fruit. Oh, well).

2) Jo-Ann Fabric to get material for the master bath valance - creme-silk fabric - I think it's going to look really good!

and

3) Old Navy to check out their sale racks. Their strapless tops and capris did not look appropriate in their store today!

Grant and I met Matt for a quick lunch at Panera, and now he's at home down for his afternoon nap, I have a cup of tea and sweats on, and I'm going to watch the latest Lipstick Jungle episode online. A good afternoon to be inside!

Just HOW many times...

...is my hair going to be wet today?

This morning I had to run to my doctor's office to try to clear up some insurance issues, so I just jumped in the shower to try to head out quickly. Well, Grant ended up taking a morning nap, so my hair just air-dryed while I was waiting for him to wake.

Then, after the doctor's visit, it started to POUR down rain. Even a little bit of hail!! I was in Meijer when it started, so I had to push a 13-month-old toddler and a cartful of groceries across the parking lot! Grant actually LOVED the whole experience of getting wet and was slapping the cart and laughing. I was SOAKED by the time I got us and the groceries loaded up. Soaked, soaked, soaked!

Then, I decided to run during Grant's afternoon nap (I usually run after he's in bed), so I ran and then got in the shower - more wet hair! I think my hair's been wet today more than it's been dry!

But, I had a good grocery run and a good physical run, so all-in-all, a good day - wet, but good! :)

A Video!

Here's a video of Grant doing his Army Crawl that he does everywhere - he's army crawled for so long, I'm almost convinced he's going to go to college doing it! :) And, the word he's saying in the video is "ball" - his current fixation. *anything* round is "ball". Actually, when I got up with him in the middle of the night last night, when I finished feeding him, he looked at me, sleepy-eyed, and said, "ball?" :) Fixated, the kid is, fixated! :)

Quiet Rest Time

So, Grant's pretty much transitioned to only 1 nap/day - but, thankfully, it's usually a pretty long nap (around 11:30 - 2:30). Well, around 9am, the kiddo just gets SO tired - rubbing his eyes, fussing, not wanting to play. About a week ago I thought, hey, let's just put him in his crib and see what happens. And thus, Quiet Rest Time evolved. He's in his crib from about 9-9:30ish, 9:40 - he's quiet for about 20 minutes, then plays happily for 15-20 more minutes. Then, when he gets up, he's a happy little boy ready to play for the rest of the morning!

I don't know if he really can get "rest", but it seems to really help him, as before his rest time he's really cranky, and afterwards, he's really happy! And, it gives me time to jump in the shower!