The Worm Farm

Grant is lucky to have two cousins, Brooklyn and Jack, who live close by! Brook is 1 year older than Grant and Jack is two years younger than him. Last night they came over for dinner and we spent some time outside enjoying the sunshine! Brook and her Dad (Ryan, my brother) made a worm farm with some left over worms he had from fishing. She was so excited to show Grant.

Brook and Grant dug right into the dirt and each grabbed a worm...they were swinging them around and I was trying not to show how grossed out I was! Brook had named all her worms too.

I think this ones name was Cash a.k.a Cash Money! Grant looks a little grossed out by his worm....

While Grant and Brook flung their worms around, Jack was content to play big boy basket ball.

As always it was a fun night with the kids, Ryan and Wendi! Lets hope that Grant got enough of Brook's worm farm because Mommy won't be making one for him anytime soon :-) Ewww....

"Mini Vans"

Awhile back, while driving down the road, Grant pointed to a minivan and asked "what is that?" I told him it was a minivan and that mommy never wanted to drive a minivan (although for those of you who have them- I know that they are fab and that I should get one). So I made up a little song about minivans to an old tune I knew. I sang "we don't want no minivan, no, no, no, no minivan." Of course, Grant being my biggest fan, thought it was super hilarious. So for awhile there and still occasionally he will point out a minivan and say "sing that minivan song mommy."

So this morning I was putting on his shoes (Vans) and Grant tells me, "mommy, these are my minivans." How clever.....I just cracked up!

Oh and we are on night seven of no pee-pee at night success!!! Way to go Big G!

Six Nights and Counting

Grant has been potty trained since 2 1/2 years old, but we continued to use Pull-Ups at night because he has always been a big night-time pee-pee-er! Occasionally there would be a morning where he would wake up dry, but for the most part he would go at least once a night in the Pull-Up. A couple weeks ago we heard him get up in the morning and use the bathroom and get back in bed...only to find a dry Pull-Up. So after 5 straight nights of no pee in the Pull-Up, Grant went commando to bed last night. He was excited to not sleep in the diaper and even asked if he could not wear underwear (maybe too constricting- I guess). This morning we all cheered his success and have him tons of kudos for getting up to use the bathroom instead of wetting the bed. You should have seen how proud he was of himself. We are now on night two of sleeping sans diaper.....let hope for continued success!

Rest In Peace Murphy

It is hard to believe that when we got Murphy, he could fit in the palm of our hand, just a ball of cute fuzz, who was wobbly on his feet and quite clumsy. In our over 8 years with Murph he became a huge part of our family and even in the end hadn't outgrown his clumsiness. Before Grant and even after the cats were subjects of many of our pictures....one of my favorite is of Murphy the time that he partied a little too hard on New Years and we caught him passed out.

Anyone who knew Murphy knew that he was a big teddy bear....he let you hold him like a baby, let kids crawl all over him and would take loves wherever he could get them. Murph was know to get himself into some tight spots..below are just a few!

Murphy has a larger than life stature! When Grant was born it took him awhile to outgrow Murph...

Grant and Murphy became buddies and even in his last hours he was tolerant of the hugs and kisses that Grant showered him with. Grant knew that Murphy was going to see God in heaven and asked me if he was going to take a rocket ship to get there?

We will sure miss our friend Murphy and his loving ways! We will miss watching him bask in the sun, miss finding him curled up in the tightest spots, miss holding him like a baby, miss his big green eyes and little black goatee. He was a big part of our lives and it was hard to say our final goodbye.

We will always remember our family member- Murphy! We love you sweet kitty.

a Little Boy's Dream- Mass Transit!

We have always known that Grant LOVES trains and all things that go, but a recent trip with Josh to his school downtown got him really interested in the ariel tram as well as the MAX train. I guess they stood on the sidewalk downtown and watched it pass many times before they were able to go home. On Saturday, we decided to make all his little boy fantasies come true and take him on the ariel tram up to OHSU and on the Portland Streetcar. He was a little afraid to ride the tram at first because he thought we might hit the trees, but once we go there he was the first one to run on and loved the ride to the top and back down. (This picture doesn't show his excitement though)

After we took our ride on the tram, we jumped on the Portland Street Car and rode that up towards PSU. Grant was all smile and thought that the streetcar was just about the coolest thing ever. We stopped downtown and had Hot Lips Pizza (one of Josh's old PSU Grad school spots) for lunch. Grant had a hard time saying good-bye the streetcar and we had to make promises to ride it again soon. I think our next play date should be riding mass-transit around town...anyone in?

The Date Is Set!

Will Grant get the "chocolate" sister that he is hoping for or a little brother to take under his wings? The anatomy ultrasound date is set for Tuesday, March 31st! All ultrasounds are exciting, but this one is my favorite...it just makes everything feel more real. Let me know what your predictions are.....I love to hear if people think it is a girl or boy! Either way, we are so blessed to be welcoming a little one to our family.

Just A Day At The Park!

Grant had a super fun Friday. The day started out with a trip to the Children's Museum with his "buddy" Brady. They had fun at the grocery store, the dig pit, making music in the theater, and at the water table!

They managed to put on a two man show with the drums and the tambourine~

After "rest time" (which is more for mommies benefit) we walked to Florence Park where Grant played in the pond, kicked the soccer ball a lot and got tons of under doggies on the swings.

Dinner Drama

So around 6pm in our house you would think that we were performing some type of torture ritual on our child....but no, it is just dinner time. If it was summer and the windows were open our neighbors might call child services because they would hear crying, screaming and excessive whining from Grant.

Let me start at the beginning...it isn't really Grant's fault. As parents Josh and I failed him by catering to his every desire for dinner. I would make Josh and I one meal and G would have his standard of pasta, carrots, cheese, olives, sandwich, etc... You would even find us packing Grant's dinner when we went out to dinner as well! What were we thinking? Anyway, we decided that at age 3 he needs to start eating what the family eats. My first goals are to have dinner ready for all of us at 6pm (when Grant gets hungry) and to make dinners that you would reasonably think a 3 year old should eat. Both things have taken planning and some dedication on my part because I love to try new, fun recipes and don't always have the meal prepared by 6.

This week we have had spaghetti, chicken rolls, and breakfast for dinner. All three have resulted in utter meltdowns. We have to basically put the food on the fork to get Grant to eat and he complains the entire time. It is exhausting, but we are committed to repairing the damage we have done by not starting this earlier. The next baby is never going to know that there is another option. By the time it can eat solids, it will eat what we eat!

I look forward to the night when we can make it through dinner without crying or whining!

A Chocolate Sister...

I get the question a lot...."Does Grant understand that you are having a baby?" As much as any 3 year old can comprehend, he gets it. We have told him from the day we found out that he was going to be a big brother and that mommy has a baby in her belly. We asked him if it was going to be a little brother or a little sister and he has always said "little sister." But he instantly went further and now thinks that he is carrying a sister in his belly. When he wants to eat cereal in the morning, he says that it is for his little sister. I think he got that during my first trimester when I went on a cereal kick! When anyone asks him what he has in his belly, he relies, "a sister." Now when you ask him what he is going to name his sister, he says "chocolate." I guess she is also going to be coming out of his nose in a few days too (ouch). Oh the things they come up with.

I think he is going to be a super big brother and is already excited to buy the baby a doggie just like his favorite doggie. Believe me, when we find out what we are having, we'll either be getting another blue doggie or a pink one from big brother Grant!