funny man...

I took these photos over a month ago when Gray was having a snack or "ack" as he likes to call it. He was laughing so hard at Drew. It was priceless.

National Western Stock Show.

When we first got inside the petting zoo, I was carrying Gray and he was holding on for dear life. After a few minutes, he wanted down to explore the animals. I took this picture right when I put him down...hoping for a good reaction, but not getting anything too exciting.

Gray was very interested in all of the animals, but kept his distance for a while.

Come here chicken, I want to give you a hug.

He took a liking to all of the goats. We have never talked about goats before but within a few minutes he was walking around saying "goat, goat, goat."

This little pig was 6 weeks old. It was about 8 or 9 inches long and the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He was in a cage on his own, so he wasn't allowed to be handled, but so cute to see.

We are serious about our snacks.

Greta trying to herd 'em in.

Cowboy Gray. Cowboys wear Chucks, right?

I have never been to the National Western Stock Show before and I must say it was pretty impressive. We were there on the last day, so most of the animals were gone, but we did manage to spend a little time in the petting zoo. Gray and I both loved it! Thank you so much Sara, Greta and Charley for letting us tag along.
I can't wait to take Gray back next year!

17 months.

Gray's chairs are still too big for him, so he has a moment of panic every time he's ready to get down.

I think Gray assumes when Ellie wags her tail close to his face she is telling him to grab on. What I really imagine is her saying "Shoo fly, don't bother me."

Ellie Love.

The very, very serious Gray.

Poor Ellie. Gray was sticking this candy (no he didn't get to eat it) through his chair and teasing Ellie. She actually thought he was going to give her some.

What a stinker.

"Here Ellie. If I can get this open, I will give you some."
"When will it ever end?"

At the park yesterday, checking out all of the geese.

"Where the heck are they going?"

17 months.

This last month has been filled with a lot of laughter and tears (from Gray's fun temper tantrums.) Here are some things that have happened...

Gray got 3 molars within a week of each other. It had to be so painful for him. He's now working on his 4th and his cuspids. YUCK.

Gray shifted to one nap a day which has been a wonderful thing for our morning routine. Now instead of him waking up at 6:30 and then needing an 8:30 nap, we have until 11:30 before he goes down. I'm sure this sounds ridiculous to those of you that don't have kids, but I can assure you...it is awesome!

Gray has taken a liking to hugging all babies that are smaller than him, all stuffed animals, Ellie, Dad and Mom. It is so sweet and something I never get tired of experiencing.

Gray has graduated from Level 3 Gymboree and is now in Level 4. I'll post a video on that sometime soon.

After 17 months, Gray has finally decided he likes sitting still for an entire book. Now, he wants you to read the same books over and over and over and over. Another thing I will never tire of because when I read to him, he turns around about 2 feet in front of me and backs up inch by inch until he finds my lap. He then sits down and actually listens. It's definitely one of my favorite things.

Gray's sign language and vocabulary continue to grow and impress me. He has more than 20 signs and more than 20 words.

It's been a great month (minus the temper tantrums.) In the next month, I'm having another knee surgery (my right knee this time) and my parents will be here for almost 2 weeks. Drew and I are going to Boulder for a night while they are here for our first (well, my first) night away from Gray. I'm looking forward to sleeping in for the first time in 17 months.

Happy 17 Gray!
Love ya, sweetie pie!

My new fave.

A cold winter's night...

Our house around 9:00.

We turned the Christmas lights back on (yes they are still up, but we had unplugged them for the season.) That's Drew shoveling the sheet of ice on our sidewalk.

This looked so cool from our living room, the photo does nothing for it.
The trees were covered in 1/2 inch of ice. It looked amazing with the lights from our driveway shining up on it.

Drew made this amazing dinner...
shitake mushrooms, cippolini onions, asparagus, fresh thyme in a red wine reduction on top of beef tenderloin. It was perfect for a cold winters night.

Red wine, amazing meal, fire, snow= perfect night.

It was so nice to stay home last Saturday night. We had no plans and it felt so good. There was a dusting of snow (really, ice) in our neighborhood and as we were eating Drew said I should take some pictures. Well, I have had very little experience photographing at night so I thought it would be good practice. I set up the tripod and shot a bunch of our house and neighborhood. It's amazing to me that you can capture so much light in the sky when shooting without a flash in . I LOVE night shots, so much fun!

Rody

Our original Rody was given to Gray by his Nanny and Grandaddo. The first one had a run-in with a sharp plant. My cousin Todd and his wife Brandy, were so sweet to replace the original (although I never would have expected such a thing!) Anyway, the new Rody is finally out of the box and Gray is pretty much in love. He does get a little freaked out when he is ready to get off. He's not tall enough to get his foot over Rody on his own. He's tried falling off a couple of times and is not really a big fan of that. We'll be working on it!

I love this picture because of the unsure look on his face.
He was looking at me like "What am I supposed to do?"
When I told him to start bouncing, the fun began!

Here we go!

All I see in this picture is my dad.

Yeehaw!!!

The Three Stooges.

..................................................................................................

Post Rody...
These pictures are taken right after Gray's fun with Rody but have such a different feel to them, So I had to seperate them from the rest!

Ellie*Elle-girl*Elle*Eloise*Love

Poor Ellie.
The last 16 months have not been her favorite. The amount of attention we give her since Gray has come into our lives is not what she is used to. We love her as much as we always have, she has just become less of our focus. I remember people telling me this would happen once we had a baby and I remember thinking "NEVER. Ellie is my first baby!" Well the fact is, I just don't have time. Not that I don't want to lay in bed with Ellie and read magazines like we used to, trust me...that's all I want to do. It's just not possible anymore, at least during the day. For this reason, we make nighttime, Ellie's time. She gets to sit with us on the couch and watch TV and get in bed with us for a bit at night. It's our way of letting her know we still love her even if we don't always show it during the day.