Week of the park.. among other things

Now I can see how tough it might be to think of updates with only one weeks worth of events. Granted, babies do develop at a rapid rate, things have slowed a bit as Grant has accomplished the walking milestone. He is doing well.. I like to chase him and say, "I'm going to get you!" and then I tickle him once he is caught and I just started playing the game while he walks instead of crawls. So its fun and I can see him walk faster than he normally would. This week we went to the park a lot. The weather was so nice! Like 60-70 degrees and just really nice. The only downside was the time we went. The first day we went in the morning before his nap. There were a lot of other moms with young children at the park too. Grant met a girl and she was huge compared to him and only 3 months older. She walked circles around him and touched his nose and he was just all goo goo eyes. He followed her as well as he could and then just enjoyed watching her run around. The next day we went after his nap and all of these high school and middle schoolers were there and it was crowded and profanity was everywhere.. very annoying to say the least. Then we went on Saturday and it was less crowded with mix of all ages. We love walking to the park. We should do a picnic next time its warm. Perks other than the obvious is that Grant loves to be outside. He is always happy outside. So the park is the perfect way for me to relax and enjoy him. Another place I discovered we like to go is the library! The libraries almost always have a children's section like 3 years and younger allowed in and there are age appropriate toys and books. Also Grant gets to interact with kids near his age and he learns how to be social. Its like a play date with out the appointment. I really like it! I think it will be a weekly activity, when I'm out of ideas of what to do with him I will just go to the library. There a few in town so I can choose which to go to. Also I learned that there are mommy n' me classes at the local rec center so I should check those out too.. I would love to do a class like that with Grant. Sounds like a blast! Here are some pics and videos of the week:

By the way, I decided to be more active in adding family home videos to the blog so now you can see I take lots of videos.

This video was actually taken at Great Grandma and Grandpa's home in AZ.

So cute all bundled up.

Not too crazy about the spaghetti.

Watch out.. this video makes me motion sick.

Not sure what he was laughing at exactly.

We went go-carting because when the family went last time I was preggo and not allowed to go. It was a lot of fun!

You can see his eye color pretty well in this photo.

Enjoying the park.

Learning to cuddle.

Grant decided to wear a pacifier that outing.. weird, since he never knew how earlier in his babyhood.

Grant really likes to eat rocks so this was a pretty good solution to that.

Climbing up so I could go down the slide with Grant.

Yes we went hot tubbing, but with a lower temperature of course for the baby's sake.

Love it!

A little more about AZ and mini updates.

So as of Wednesday or so Grant has started to comb/brush his hair. He is so funny when he copies us. So when we brush his hair he tries to also and says "Ba!" For brush.  I love that he is learning so fast and can probably understand quite a bit of what we say to him. He also is becoming more helpful in cleaning up. Part of his bedtime routine is bath time and when bath time is over he has learned to "put the toys in the basket" to clean all of his toys and then he tries to pull the plug to drain the water. What a smarty pants! Something that is really hard about parenting I have discovered is trying not to laugh while diciplining the child. Grant will do something and we have started saying "Ah ah!" meaning no and he will cry or get frustrated and sometimes he will try to bite your finger or the coffee table or end tables. Of course that usually hurts him because he will bonk his tooth on it and it won't feel good. Or he will say "Ah!" really loud while playing like he is practicing his expression of anger. Soo funny! I must get it on camera but I don't think it is nice to laugh at him. After all it isn't the most validating thing to do.. so I try to keep a straight face or turn away when laughing but then give him sympathy and love after the discipline. I do the validation mainly so he knows its okay to be mad and angry. No emotion is a bad emotion. Anyway.... off my soap box of child development knowledge. Something cute Grant has also started to do is whenever he cuddles against a blanket or pillow we say "Awe, so cute" or "Awe, so nice" and then he gets excited about it and does it like 10 more time and giggles kind of during it. He is so funny! Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip to Arizona during Christmas as well as some fun videos to watch of random moments during the day.

Grant loves his books! Seriously... I hope he continues to love books!

Chomping on his sweater while pushing the lion toy.

He also loves stacking his rings! Kept him busy most of the car ride to AZ and back.

Christmas dinner... like my second time having ham for that holiday! Soooo good! Oh and Grandpa is taking the picture.

Pushing his other new favorite toy... the shopping cart! He loves Elmo's googily eyes.  He makes  a "G" sound whenever he sees him.

Grant calling his girlfriend the operator.

I will upload three more videos in the coming days.

Grant does his own laundry!

One morning Grant woke up and said, "Mom I think I'm old enough to do my own laundry." And this is what transpired...

And it actually is his laundry.

Baby interaction

This is a video of Grant playing with his second cousin Andilynn. I think he hit her bow and pulled the hair a little and that is why she started crying! As you can see Grant loves other babies!!!!!!!.... A little too much! Oh and PS this is when we were visiting family in Arizona City, AZ.

Promised pictures and updates!

So I have hit the ground running with my blogging adventures! Not. :( After a couple weeks I realized I wasn't blogging more often and I had made a poorly worded new years resolution. I never said how often I was going to blog. I am going to blog every week. Probably on Sunday because it will be my weekly journal for the week, and Sunday blogging (journaling) is considered a Sabbath appropriate activity! Check! So updates... Grant is walking! He is so little (tenth percentile)! But walking like a pro. He was never even scared and we barely encouraged it! So my little boy has reached all the "first year" milestones that a mother could have hoped for. I thought since Grant is a boy of course, he was going to be behind like most boys with their development. I thought he would be walking by maybe 14 months of age. But no he took his first steps at 10 months and walking well at 11 months and of course still fine tuning turning around. His latest jokester move is to walk to someone with excitement and then at half way he will slyly turn around and laugh about what he just did... getting the parent's hopes up. Oh my.. he may be a clown someday. He has such a sense of humor already!

Grant also has his 5th tooth and is teething the 6th, both on the top. He is sleeping 10-12 hours per night with out waking for a feeding (in the last 5 days that is) and takes 1.5 to 3 hours naps! Boy does mom love him now!!! Of course I love him unconditionally but with a baby like that... even the baby haters would love him! Grant is also learning his body parts. He knows eyes (closes eyes and points at his own), ears (flicks them with his fingers back and forth), and belly. He knows Grant by patting himself in the chest. He knows mole because Aunt Meg has a mole. So I don't know if he knows  her name. Sometimes he said Mole or mamole....... who knows. Anyway, he also knows the words: Rock, bird, dog (mmmf), horse (nneee pbts), sheep (aaaa), truck.. at this point the list goes on. Well here are a BUNCH of pictures for updating since December and probably a few more to come from ones I haven't uploaded to my computer. Enjoy!

Our 7- Layer bean dip. It was good!

Went to a casino christmas light show.. this is a picture with out flash to get the full lighting effect!

Same place.. but with flash. Quite a difference don't you think!?

Grant's first Christmas! And first Stocking!

First Present.. he is well unwrapping.. but the rest I opened.

Megan just home Taiwan... hence the peace sign. A popular thing to do while posing.

My little Beethovan.

New anti-skidders! (the shoes, too big but will be great when they fit)

The fam together.

Christmas dinner!

The lovely couple.

Meg and Mom.



More pics to come!
 Thanks for stopping by!

2011 Resolutions

I can't remember what my new years resolution was for last so I guess that means I didn't keep it up...hmmm. The year before that though I resolved to floss my teeth and I did all year long! Yay for good hygiene and healthy chompers! Or pearly whites I guess! Soooo this year I am going to resolve to:

1. Blog on a more frequent basis for those people who actually like the updates I have.

2. Continue to floss (its so annoying when I'm tired and want to sleep sooner).

3. Continue to exercise at least a half hour 3x a week.

4. and finally, study my scriptures everyday.

Hope it all works out! Good luck to the rest of you who make resolutions! Happy New Year!

PS pictures to come!

2010 Recap

So it has been a great year!! I will tell you the top 10 things in no particular order (but actually chronologically) because I don't care to put that much thought into the idea:

1. Grant Ryan Stotts was born Feb. 18, 2010 and blessed our lives as most babies do.

2. I managed to finish college and graduate with my BA with honors, I might add while taking care of a newborn!

3. We bought a beautiful huge desktop mac computer.

4. We moved to Las Vegas so that Perry could student teach in Henderson, NV.

5. Perry got a guitar amplifier and an effects pedal.

6. Grant started to take his first steps.

7. Perry graduated with honors also with his BA as well!

8. Perry applied for graduate school with a great GPA and did well on the GRE and very well on the praxis.

9. We went to AZ for the first time as a family for Christmas.

10. Finally, Perry and I started a work out program called from Couch to 5k, which is exactly what it sounds like. And we have stuck with it for over a month so far!

We are so excited for 2011!

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

So we celebrated Christmas yesterday since my sister Megan came home from Taiwan on Christmas Eve. It was so exciting to see her after the time she was gone. Now she will be getting ready for her mission which seems like hard work when you only have a month and a half (Feb 16). But she is focused and will definitely get it done! I think I just have the perspective of being a mother and if I was to try to do everything she needs to it would take me a lot longer. Good thing she isn't a mother just yet!

So Christmas took two shifts to knock it out of the way! We took forever grouping so we opened our stockings and then it was Grant's nap time and Megan was dealing with jet lag so she napped also. Of course my dad also decided to nap. So then we started back up mid-afternoon. It took us til 6:60 pm to finish up! So the highlights were that I got a sewing machine! Also Perry did really well shopping for me. I got a new bangle watch, very cute and very cheap (you can't tell that its cheap though). He also got me some nomad puddle rain boots with Paisleys and a bunch of different massagers (bath, behind the back and neck, and my mom got me a food massager and a full back massager! Clearance at wal-mart!). I also got chopsticks from Megan and the list goes on!

Overall the family had a good time together! As for New Years I have not been into staying up ever since I met Perry. I just don't seem to have the stamina. Especially with a little one now. However, Grant was gracious enough to wake me up a half hour before and nursed til right before the New Year so we celebrated with a kiss and watched the ball already dropped!

So this year will be exciting and my next post will be about 2010 recap and 2011 resolutions.