.My Big 2 Year Old.

July 27th, my baby boy turned 2!! His personality shines through and he is still such a sweet boy.

His 2 year stats:

30.2lbs (76%)

35.59 inches (87%)

He is very healthy, has healed up from his surgery back in November perfectly and is definitely on the tall side. He just might be taller than his Daddy one day, who is 6'1".

He LOVES balls. Soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, bouncy balls...they are his favorite thing to play with. His collection is a bit crazy, but it is hard to tell him no at the store when he gets SO excited over a ball. He is quite skilled when it comes to soccer and baseball. He has great control with kicking the soccer ball and can hit a ball correctly with the bat. It makes me so proud. :)

His other favorites include skateboards and breakdancing. He loves to watch older kids skateboard and will try to stand on one. He gets pretty nervous when it starts to move though. He isn't quite sure how it works yet. When it comes to breakdancing, he has quite the moves. He watches lots of breakdancing YouTube videos with his Daddy and whenever he hears dancing music, he goes straight to his own breakdancing moves. 

He is very polite and is great at saying "Thank You". He is so good at it, he usually says thank you when he should be saying please lol He is also very good at saying sorry and giving hugs when he hurts someone.

He loves to give kisses, hugs, high fives and pounders. 

His current favorite phrase is "Look at this!"

After I finish dressing him he loves to ask "I cute, Mom?" He LOVES to wear hats and can't leave the house without a hat or having his hair done. He has to have his nails painted if he sees me painting mine or his sisters. He will sit still the whole time and even give them time to dry.

We celebrated his birthday on August 10th with a Bounce House party. Aaron and I rented a bounce house for all the kids to play on and kept the party pretty simple. It ended up being the best idea I have ever had seeing as the day before the party I ended up getting the stomach flu and didn't have the energy to put on an elaborate party. :/ The kids played in the bounce house the entire party and had a great time. 

I have absolutely LOVED having a little boy. The bond we have is something I have never experienced before and I feel so lucky to have the chance to raise a boy. He is such a sweet heart and is my little buddy. Snuggling with Mommy is one of his favorite activities, besides playing outside.

I love you Mr. Greyders! You have added so much to our family and made us feel complete. We are so lucky to have you in our family.

Greyden is 1!!

My sweet little boy turned 1 on July 27th. 

We celebrated the next day with a family party. He got some fun toys and some adorable clothes.

Mr. Greyden has been cruising around the furniture for a while now, but hasn't made the attempt to take any steps. He will stand up in the middle of the room and stand there for a while, but he won't take any steps. He gets into enough trouble as it is just crawling around, so I don't mind him waiting a bit longer in the walking department.

He is one of the sweetest little boys you will ever meet. He smiles ALL the time and he is just so happy. He gives the best hugs I have ever received from a baby and some sloppy kisses to go along with it. 

 

He is still nursing a few times a day when nap time comes around and if he just needs to relax a bit. He is still sharing a bed with Mommy & Daddy, which will end some time in the near future...at least that is what we keep telling Daddy ;)

We all love Greyden SO much and enjoy having him in our family. He can brighten anyone's day with his smile, it is truly infectious. 

.9 Month Stats.

Greyden has his 9 month check up yesterday. 

Here are his stats:

Weight: 20 lbs 15 oz (52%)

Height: 29 3/4 inches (78%)

Head: 18.9 inches (98%)

Funny Moment: The Medical Assistant had measured his head while he was being weighed. When she entered it in on the computer I could see it was at the top of the curve. She stated that she must have written it down wrong and wanted to measure again. I told her she had probably gotten it right as I know my son has a large head...turns out my son has a large head. 

I learned something new as well. Turns out that when a baby has a large head, there can be some reason for concern. There can be extra fluid that is putting pressure on the babies brain and it can hamper their development. The Dr. reassured me that there was no need for concern considering the level Greyden is at with his ability to get from point A to point B quite efficiently. 

Speaking of Greyden getting from A to B...he has MASTERED climbing on the LoveSac and zooms around on that thing like he can't fall off. I can't really blockade him off from getting on the LoveSac. So for now, I just have to haul him around with me if I leave the living room. He also showed me that he can climb stairs while we were over at my Sister-in-laws yesterday. He is definitely ALL BOY with a little bit of sweetness thrown in.

He can pull himself to standing pretty much ANYWHERE and is so proud of himself. He will definitely be walking by his 1st birthday. 

He is also ahead a bit when it comes to the sounds he is making. If you know my children, they are all VERY vocal...which can be extremely wonderful and highly embarrassing given the situation. 

.9 Months.

It seems like just yesterday I wrote a post about my baby turning 8 months old...he is 9 months old already!!!!! Where in the world has the past 9 months gone?!?

As you can see, he is growing quite quickly. He is still so stinkin' handsome and extremely good-natured. He is a VERY happy baby and gives the best smiles EVER!

Right before he turned 9 months old, I thought it was time for a haircut. I told Aaron right after we found out that we were having a boy that I wasn't really in to shaggy/long hair on little boys. I have my girls for the long beautiful locks. His hair had come in quite even and it didn't look bad, but I guess I was just overly excited for him to have a real haircut. So one Saturday morning after breakfast we cut it off!

As you can see, he thought it was quite nice. ;)

Greyden is now eating solid foods. Pretty much anything we eat, he is eating right along with us. He still nurses for comfort and to fall asleep. I quite enjoy the fact that we still have those little moments together and I don't plan on weaning him any time soon.

As of Saturday he has started crawling on his knees!! He will still army crawl when he wants to get somewhere quickly, but he is practicing crawling on his knees more and more.

This little guy LOVES to be outside! If we don't get outside at least once during the day, he is a bit cranky come that evening. Thank goodness the weather is warming up!

I am not sure how I got SO lucky to be this little guy's Mommy, but I sure am grateful and enjoying EVERY single second that I can with him.

.8 Months Old.

My little Greyden is 8 months old!! He is still such a sweet and happy little boy.

He is weighing in at 19lbs 13oz.

Here is Greyden with his older cousin Clara. She is 8 months older and they are the same size. She is just a cute & petite little girl :)

As you can see, Greyden likes to eat anything he can get his little hands on.

He loves Mashed Potatoes, Mac n Cheese, Pasta, Bananas and many other things that we share bites of at every meal.

Greyden LOVES his Daddy. As soon as Daddy walks in the door at the end of the day, Greyden lights up and starts saying "Dada Dada" over and over. Whenever Daddy is working on his computer, Greyden has to join him so he can bang on the keyboard and show Daddy how it is done.

Greyden is now a PRO at army crawling. He is getting really fast and has a few favorite things. He loves to find any sort of cord that he can and anything small he can put in his mouth. I am now vacuuming my house 2 -3 times a day.

Sadly, this month, Greyden has also had his first illness. It started with Lily who had a cold. It got passed on to Greyden and it turned into Bronchitis & Early Stages of Pneumonia. Thankfully, he is very healthy otherwise and has just needed an antibiotic and LOTS of Mommy snuggles.

We love you Mr. Greyders!

.6 Months.

Wow! Seriously...I can not believe that my little guy is 6 months old.

He has brought nothing but pure joy in to our lives the past 6 months.

Having a little boy has been SO much fun so far. It has definitely been different...especially when it comes to the size of the kid. Holy cow! Carrying him around in his car seat has grown my biceps considerably. With that said...I think it's about time to move him into a convertible car seat.

Today at his 6 month check up, the Dr. was quite impressed with his progress. She said that she hadn't ever seen a baby at their 6 month check-up with teeth that had come in as far as Greyden's. His motor skills are quite advanced for his age as well. He is sitting up VERY well for his age, his back to tummy roll takes him all of 2 seconds if you lay him on his back and the way he is grasping things and getting them to his mouth is impressive as well. She also gave me some hope that the sooner he gets moving the more his weight gain will mellow out a bit. It would be nice if he could stay in one size of clothing for more than a month. **He has been wearing 12 month clothes for a month now.**

-Check-Up Stats-

Weight: 18lbs 10oz (69%)

Height: 27.5inches (79%)

Head: 17.7inches (81%)

I had mentioned to the Dr. today that Greyden seemed to have no interest in baby food. She suggested sitting him at the table with us during dinner time and just starting with some finger foods while he watches us eat dinner. So tonight I went and bought him a high chair and let him sit with us at the table. I gave him a graham cracker, which he devoured. So I decided to try and give him some rice cereal...which he also devoured. That little stinker was just waiting for me to get him a proper seat. 

Greyden is the CUDDLIEST and HAPPIEST little baby I have ever met. He gives smiles away freely and can light up a room with his happiness. He still would rather be held then left on the floor without someone talking to him. He will play with his toys as long as one of his sisters is nearby playing as well. I am hoping we aren't reporting at his 9 month check-up that he is taking strides towards walking...but we will see! I want him to stay my little baby for just a bit longer!

.5 Months.

Greyden is now 5.5 months old!! I weighed him around Christmas and he was weighing in at 18lbs!

I wanted to post a 5 month update earlier, but I have been sick with an ear AND sinus infection the past few weeks. During that same time, Mr. Greyden has been teething! Sleeping has been interesting...thankfully all the antibiotics I have been taking have been transferring to him while nursing so he hasn't been getting anything I have had! 

 Obviously, he is teething! His 2 bottom teeth are coming in! 1 has poked through, while the other is just making it's way in. 

 He has been rolling over from back to tummy for a few weeks. He knows how to roll tummy to back, but we don't do too much tummy time around here. Lily is a bit of a terrorist when it comes to her younger brother. Someone has to have an eye on him at ALL TIMES when Lily is around. 

 He is quite the little snuggle bug. I LOVE IT! I love waking up with him snuggled up next to me in bed and seeing him so peacefully asleep. I also love that his favorite place to be is in Mommy's arms when he is awake as well. 

 He will play by himself, if he has too. ha ha He can grab toys and put them in his mouth...but he loves to clear everything off of his bumbo tray and make you put it all back on there for him. 

 He has quite the strong grip. I find myself gasping in pain fairly often when he pinches the back of my arm or my neck. This morning he gave Daddy a nice punch in the face. :) He is a very strong little guy. 

 I have people ask me constantly when I am out in public how old he is. When I reply 5 months they always say back "Wow! He must be big for his age!" Yes...he is quite big AND adorable!! 

 We are still enjoying every second with our little guy. He gives the BEST smiles and the most adorable little giggles I have ever witnessed. 

 I am IN LOVE with this little guy!!

.Baby Giggles.

.4 Months.

I LOVE this little guy!!!

Our little man is now 4 and a half months old.

Time has flown by, but we have been enjoying every second with him.

He is such a happy baby and SO sweet!

He LOVES to give smiles to everyone. 

His smile is contagious. My heart skips a beat EVERY time he smiles at me.

He is the ONLY baby I have ever met that actually enjoys diaper changes. He smiles at me the whole time I am changing his diaper as if to say "Why Thanks Mom!". ha ha

He is wearing 6-9 month tops (some 9-12 months) and still 3-6 month bottoms (some 6-9 months).

He has a nice long torso like this Daddy, and his legs are a bit shorter...but he is by no means a shorty.

He had his 4 month check up on Friday, here are his stats:

Weight: 16lbs 12oz (76%)

Height: 27in (97%)

Head: 17.5in (92%)

In other words, he is perfect! ;)

He is rolling from his tummy to his back and is SO close to rolling from his back to his tummy.

We tried rice cereal twice...he didn't really have an opinion on it either way, so we are going to try again in a few weeks.

He loves to "talk" with everyone.

He still is a Mommy's boy and a big snuggler.

He is sleeping in his own bed for part of the night, but still likes to sleep with me most of the night.

LOVE this adorable little face. :)

.My Big Little Guy.

Greyden had his final jaundice check on Thursday.

His levels were down to 4.3 YAY!! 

I was originally told to stop breastfeeding him for 24 hours to ensure it went away when I took him in for his check up last month. I had done research on this particular topic and had actually had the Dr. before tell me that it would clear up on it's own. Her son had breastmilk jaundice as well and she did not stop breastfeeding.

Well, I did NOT stop nursing him and everything has gone exactly as my research had said. 3 months and it is pretty much gone.

At his check up he weighed in at a healthy 15lbs 6oz!! He is now officially in 6-9 month clothes although 3-6 month pants will still fit him...he has a nice long torso like his Daddy.

.Greyden's Blessing.

Aaron blessed Greyden back on September 25th. 

It was a very special day, as this was the first baby Aaron has blessed.

Greyden was wide awake throughout the blessing and didn't make a sound.

Aaron was joined in the circle by our friend/neighbor Preston, Grandpa Cutler, his Dad, all of his brothers, brother-in-law Chase, his cousins John & James (I think...I can't remember for sure) and the bishop. 

Afterwards we had a little get together over at Grandma & Grandpa Cutlers. 

Greyden with Grandpa & Grandma 'chilles

Greyden with Grandpa & Grandma Cutler

Greyden smiling at Grandma Helen

.3 Months.

My little boy is now 3 months old!! We are enjoying this little guy SOOO much!! 

*He LOVES to smile and gives the best smiles ever. It melts my heart every time.

*He loves to "talk" with Mommy and Daddy. I will lay on the floor with him and we will have little conversations that last a few minutes. 

*He has been in his 3-6 month clothes since he was 2 months old. He is definitely growing like a boy. He weighed 1 oz less at his 2 month check up than Lily did at her 4 month check up.

*He loves to be held and demands that I hold him most of the day. I can lay him down now while he sleeps, although I still enjoy it when he takes a nap in my arms every once in a while.

*He is on the verge of learning to laugh...he will definitely be laughing within the next couple of weeks.

.Greyden Smiling.

This is Daddy's sure fire way to get Greyden to smile, every time.

.2 Months.

2 Months went by in the blink of an eye. 

Luckily, he is still a baby...but man has he gotten BIG!

We went in for his 2 month check up yesterday. I had guessed he was going to be between 12.5 and 13 lbs. 

Here are his stats:

12lbs 12.2oz (75%)

22inches (50%)

Head: 16.1in (70%)

I haven't ever had a big baby before, having had girls before him. So it is weird for me to have a baby just about outgrow his 0-3 month clothes at 2 months vs the 4 or 5 months with my girls.

He got the normal 3 shots and 1 oral vaccination. Thanks to his jaundice that he is still showing physical signs of (his chest is still a bit yellow, according to the Dr.) he had to get his blood drawn as well. It wasn't a little heel poke this time either, they had to draw it from his arm. Let's just say, it was emotionally taxing on me. Especially now that they have you hold your little one on your lap while they give them their shots.

I swear, I saw the first needle coming at him and my first reaction was to knock it out of the nurses hand. Good thing she was quicker than me ;)

Greyden has not been big on smiling until about a week and a half ago. Now he will smile at just about anybody, but Daddy still gets the biggest smiles he can give.

I love this picture of my 3 babies. Greyden's face is PRICELESS.

Greyden has been such a blessing to our family. He is such a calm, mellow and loving baby. My favorite time of the day is when he falls asleep in my arms and just wants to snuggle with me for nap time.

Aaron and I have talks a lot about how special this little guy is. He has definitely completed our family (for now) and brought us all closer together. I couldn't imagine life without him.

.7 Weeks.

The past 7 weeks have been nothing short of amazing. I am so in love with my little man! 

Nap Time smiles...my favorite :)

Greyden is a serious baby. He rarely cracks a smile for you and if he does, you had to work pretty hard for it.

He is such a little snuggle bug. He has to be snuggled up as close as he can get to me when he falls asleep at night...or any time for that matter.

He spends most of his day either in my arms (with a tight grip on my shirt) or in the Baby Bjorn. I can sometimes sneak him into his swing for a quick nap, but those occasions are rare. 

He is definitely a Momma's boy, but he sure loves his Daddy too.

He knows his Daddy's voice well and will turn his head towards Daddy's voice whenever he hears him. 

I assume he doesn't mind bath time too much because he never cries when he is in the tub. Like I said though, he is always so serious so it's hard to tell what he truly likes.

Greyden's Poker Face

We feel so lucky to have this little guy as a part of our family.

.4 Weeks.

As you can imagine, life with 3 little ones has left me a very small amount of time to do anything except a random status update on Facebook throughout the day.

Here is an update on Mr. Greyden.

At his 2 week appt he was 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long.

He eats like a champ and would eat all day long if I let him.

We took him to the Dr. Sunday night due to the fact that he had seemed a bit congested and we had some family members come down with random illnesses and wanted to make sure that he had not contracted anything. Turns out he is perfectly fine...better safe than sorry. :)

At that appt he weighed in at 8lbs 7oz. So he put on a whopping 19oz in a matter of 10 days. They consider normal weight gain to be about an ounce a day (which would only be 10oz). Proof that my kid is a great little eater.

I haven't really updated by way of what has gone on since he has been home and the whole jaundice situation. That was seriously a nightmare and I would like to think I handled it like a champ.

Greyden ended up being on the lights for a grand total of 8 days. For 5 of those 8 days, I had to get 3 kids ready and out the door by 9:00am to get his levels checked by 10am. I am pretty fast at it now. :)

The first 3 or 4 days he was on the lights full time more or less and the last few days he was just on them as much as I could get him to be on them (which wasn't much). I ended up requesting the bili-blanket for the last 3 days to supplement with since he was constantly wetting himself and I was having to wash the bed cover and improvise with other things MULTIPLE times a day. Also, he wouldn't sleep much unless he was being held and I didn't want to start losing my mind with a fussy baby and 2 little girls that were already acting out due to lack of attention from Mommy. We finally determined that he had breast milk jaundice and had his Daddy's blood type (A+ and I am O+) so that contributed to his jaundice quite a bit.

I had to deal with 4 different doctors due to the fact that his Dr. just happened to be out of town the entire 1st week and a half after he was born. I was actually VERY grateful that things ended up this way. The Dr. that I saw for him the first week (Dr. Jackson) had talked to me about breast milk jaundice and that her son had the same thing. She explained to me the option of formula feeding for 24 hours and just pumping my breast milk. She told me that she didn't stop breast feeding because it is not harmful for a baby to have a higher jaundice level, so long as it stays below 20 (Greyden's has leveled out at a 16.5). EVERY other Dr. since then, even his regular doctor (Dr. Liddle), recommended that I do the formula thing for the 24 hours. I had done a lot of research on the breast milk jaundice since speaking with the 1st Dr. and most of my research came back saying that stopping breast feeding was completely unnecessary as well. So I pretty much told the other 3 doctors what Dr. Jackson had told me and that I would not be stopping breast feeding unless it was medically necessary.

I have to admit, breast feeding doesn't just magically get easier with every baby (maybe it will with #4...but so far I have not found it to be true). It is truly a learning process for Mom & baby every time. Getting a baby to latch on correctly can be a difficult task and painful for Mommy. Even with this being baby #3 for me, I still went to see a lactation consultant due to Greyden's jaundice and his lack of weight gain the first 3 days. I took her advice and modified it as time went on as to what worked best for me and Greyden. The first 2 1/2 weeks were not the easiest with breast feeding and we are now pro's at it. It was not easy, but so worth it. :)

Here are some random little facts about Greyden:

• He usually sucks on his lower lip when he is sleeping.
• He prefers to fall asleep while being held, forcing whoever is holding him to walk around until he falls peacefully asleep.
• He can sleep through MOST of his sisters loud noises, screaming and crying.
• He LOVES to sleep in Mommy's arms and sleeps best when being held by someone.
• He will not sleep in his swing for more than a few minutes at a time and that is only when you put him in there already asleep. He won't fall asleep in it and will start crying almost immediately after being put in it if he is awake.
• He truly only cries for 3 things: When he is hungry, needs his diaper change or just needs some Mommy loves.
• He is a dreamer. He is constantly having dreams and even nightmares every time he falls asleep.
• He has officially smiled 4 times now. The first time was Thursday night while I was holding him. The 2nd time was Friday at Grandma 'chilles. The 3rd time was Friday night at Daddy. The last time was just last night when he smiled for Daddy 3 times REALLY big all in a row. Seriously, SO adorable!
• Up until about 2 days ago he was eating just about EVERY hour during the day. Now he is starting to get on a better schedule and will eat every 2 or 3 hours.
• He LOVES to grunt, especially in the early morning around 4am when he is requesting a diaper change.
• He is a GREAT sleeper and only wakes up about twice a night to eat.

We all love our little guy and he has been such a blessing to our family. He brings us lots of smiles and has filled our home with so much love. Not to mention, he is one handsome little man.

.Dear Jaundice.

You are not my friend. :(

This morning I had to take all 3 kids with me to get Greyden's weight and his bilirubin levels checked. I somehow made it out of the house 10 minutes before I was planning. Not only that, but the girls were SO good. They didn't fight at all and stayed right with me the whole time. The ride there and back was nice and peaceful as well considering the girls both had full access to Greyden with him being in the middle of both of them. Luckily they left him alone most of the ride and he slept through any of the touching and loud sounds he had to endure.

Greyden's jaundice levels have gone up a bit more. So...still on the lights for at least another day. I truly thought that they wouldn't have gone up anymore due to the fact he gained 5 ounces in 2 days and he had been having PLENTY of wet and dirty diapers.

The Dr. is thinking that it is due to Aaron and I having incompatible blood types, so we will be checking his blood type tomorrow along with his bilirubin levels again. I am hoping we don't have to do this too much longer.

.The Last Saturday.

Here it is...my last Saturday of sleeping in for a while before Baby Boy get's here. I am up before everyone else and can't fall back asleep.

I woke up to A LOT of nudges in my belly and decided to get up and just feel him move around. Enjoy and savor these last few moments of being pregnant and uncomfortable. :)

4 more days of this and we get to see who has been beating up my insides for the past few months.

The emotions that are running through me are indescribable.

I do know one thing...I feel incredibly lucky that I have the opportunity to be able to create a new life and enjoy all these little moments that some women never do. The pain, the emotions and everything that goes along with it is SO worth it in the end.

.The Final Dr. Appt!!.

Today was my last Dr. appointment before Baby Boy gets here!!

Dr. Hebert ended up being in a delivery and I was lucky enough that I was the only pregnant woman that was far enough along to be seen by her nurse. So I waited for about 3 minutes before they called me back and was out of there within 15 minutes.

I am 2cm and the nurse didn't say how effaced I was. Either way, I am pretty sure we won't be having this baby before next Wednesday unless something drastic happens.

I was 2cm for 2 weeks in a row with Lily before I went in to labor 6 days before her due date. Ironically enough, my induction is scheduled for 6 days before Baby Boy's due date.

Labor is just a guessing game that no one is very good at. So I am prepared to wait it out and I am ready for next Wednesday!! Well, as ready as one can be.

.38 Weeks.

38 Weeks!!

We are almost there!! 8 more days until we get to meet our little Boy!!!

I am getting very nervous and extremely excited. 

The nesting bug FINALLY hit me yesterday and I got almost all of my house organized. I paid for it last night and am still paying for it a bit this morning. It's pretty much done though, so I can put that task behind me. 

I have started to feel like I could just be pregnant forever. It's weird to think that I won't be pregnant 2 weeks from now. I will be home with a brand new baby and 2 very helpful little girls. Daddy will have headed back to work that morning and I will be left to myself managing these 3 little ones. I am not too worried about it, but I know it won't be the easiest thing I have ever done.

I can't wait to see what this little guy looks like!!