LLEAAAAAAAAH

Here's our pretty girl:


And here's her name:


(We were playing the "letters game" and I spelled out her name. She rearranged it thusly.) :)

One for the fridge

Last week-ish, Leah drew this picture of me and her! (She even "drew" my forehead.) We sure are happy :)

Rolls

With the right recipe (in other words, "with enough butter"), anyone can make delicious rolls (as evidenced by the fact that I did so):



Yum!!

Cross your fingers!

Grant learned to do this (all on his own) during the BYU/Florida game on Thursday:



Too bad it didn't help :(

Socks

Grant is easily recognized by his state of sock-wearing:



Strangers everywhere alert us to the absence of his right sock... but the few seconds it stays on his foot is (most of the time) not really worth the several seconds it takes to put it on :)

Popcorn

(The song, not the food...)


Leah's latest favorite :)

For lyrics (in case you couldn't understand each of Leah's perfectly enunciated words), click here.

Picnic Time!

A little while ago, a day rolled along that was both sunny enough and warm enough, so we decided to grace it with our very first picnic of the year. We had great food, a great view, and great company (we even had a few visiting friends with whom we shared our lunch). Hopefully it is just the beginning of many, many more this picnicking season! (As I write this, it is pouring down rain. And cold. The next one might not be for a little while...)

Pillows

Give Grant a pillow and get ready for some cute!



He looooves pillows!

Writing Her Own Name

Leah wrote her own name, all by herself! See? (Ignore the monster up top.)



You don't see it? Let me point it out to you:



Okay, okay, so I did coach her a little. I wrote one letter on one side, then she did her own letter on her side. Let's zoom out:



But still! She is just learning so fast. She is always putting her letter magnets in order on the refrigerator so that they spell her name. She can also sound out a few small words (cat, hat, mom, bug, etc.) with encouragement, and if she's in the right mood :)

Five teeth!

Just another number to add to all the ones from my last post: This morning I discovered Grant's fifth tooth!

Funny story... I had a dream that I found his fifth tooth. I woke up, remembered the dream, checked his mouth, and sure enough, it was there. Dreams do come true, folks!

9 months old

Grant is nine months old!! At his doctor's appointment on Tuesday, he measured in at 23 pounds 6 ounces, and 29 inches. At eight months, I weighed him at home (on a different scale, obviously) at 24 pounds, so either our scale is off or he's just about the same. Either way, he's definitely big enough! He wears clothes sized from 3-6 months to 24 months. Depends on the brand. Shows you how reliable and "standard" those sizes actually are, huh?

He has four teeth last time I checked, and he is starting to say more consonant sounds (deedeedee, bababa, etc.), though not yet with any meaning that I can tell. It is so fun to "talk" with him :)

Here is a cute picture of our sweeties on Grant's nine-month birthday!

Photography

Leah has been practicing her photography and has a nice portfolio put together. Do you think anyone will be hiring three-year-old photographers? Here are some of her specialties:









Okay, so maybe a profession is a long way away, but it was really cute to watch her put her baby dolls together on a chair and take a dozen pictures of them at different angles, saying "Say cheese!" every time. I just couldn't resist :)

Standing!

I know a lot of babies can do this much earlier, but yesterday Grant surprised us with a new trick!



It is so cute and he just loves to stand! Of course, we have to provide the balance still, but it has been a lot of fun :)

World Record

The Guinness Book of World Records lists the night of February 7-8, 2011 as having the largest number of hours of straight sleep by Jeralyn since Grant Was Born.

(8)

Well, they would if I called them up about it, anyway.

Both kids slept all night, AND I got to bed early-ish! Hooray!

Hands and knees

Several days ago, we wanted to see what would happen if we propped Grant up on his hands and knees. When we let go, he stayed up for a few minutes all on his own! He has done that a few other times too, but always with our help getting up. (Each time, he spends a good portion of the time with his little head down... see the picture. He's just a cutie pie!) He is getting stronger and stronger! He is even better at sitting now, too!

Plus, he doesn't spit up anymore!! Well, just a teeny bit once in a while, but it really is very seldom! Our amount of laundry has gone way down, too :)

Also, Grant's little bald spot on the back of his head is gone.

Grant is growing so quickly that I just feel like I turn my head for a second, and by the time I turn back, he has changed so much.

Trains

This is what Grant does when Leah gets out her train tracks:





I think all boys are born loving trains ;)

Eight months old!

Our buddy is eight months old! I weighed him yesterday (wearing just a diaper, a shirt, and some socks) at 24 pounds!! Guess it's time to get out the bigger carseat!

Grant is rolling all over the place. He can get wherever he wants by rolling and turning. So we'll see if he ever feels motivated enough to crawl!

He still has just the two teeth on the bottom, and is still very picky when it comes to solid foods.

Back at seven months, we discovered that he could kinda sit up for several seconds if we balanced him just right. Now he has figured out how to take care of the balancing on his own and can sit by himself for several minutes!

Here's some cute pictures of our big boy!



And I have been having fun taking pictures of Leah and Grant together the past few days. It is so fun to watch them interact and to catch all the different combinations of expressions. Anyway, here are some of my favorites :)
(Click on the pictures to see them bigger...)







(P.S. Hoku, you inspired me to try a french braid... but it didn't really turn out. You did a great job with Malia!)

Grant's Dance, Revisited

Grant has been working on some new moves!

I hope his Exersaucer survives whatever he comes up with next. :)

Grant's Dance

Yesterday, Grant started doing this little dance in his new Exersaucer that he got for Christmas. Whenever I would smile at him, he would get really happy and do this:

This just makes me smile every time :)

Holidays

We all had a really nice Thanksgiving and Christmas, and were so fortunate to spend both with family. We had lots of fun (of course), ate lots of good food (double of course), made cookies, decorated, saw lights, watched old Christmas movies, played games, exchanged gifts, saw old friends, and took lots of pictures :) They were pretty much the perfect vacations... I even had time to relax! I wish we could do it again. Thanks to everyone for making it such a great time!

But, due to a fussy baby and a sick (again... with the same thing, poor girl) girl, I will get straight to some pictures.

This one's just 'cause she's cute :)

Leah decorated this tree herself... multiple times. You can see her favorite spot to hang the ornaments, on the bottom-right of the tree :)

Making sugar cookies!

Grant turned seven months old!

Playing with half of the Brewer cousins (with more to come!).

Naptime is cuter without a crib!

Grant loves all things string-ish. Be it strings, ribbons, zipper pulls, cords, or necklaces, he will find it and grab on tight! And usually try to eat it, too!

And this one's just 'cause he's cute :)