This one's for Kevin!

This weekend was full of activity.  Grant met Kristin and Kevin, who were visiting the area and fit us into their very busy schedule.  Kevin, I'm getting this post up so quickly just for you.  They had some good hang out time and lunch.  I think they really enjoyed meeting Grant and I know he enjoyed meeting them.  He even waved his first real wave at them goodbye (of course I didn't have my camera out then...).  Here's a few pics of their visit.

As you can see his head is still pretty bruised...but better.

After Kristin and Kevin left, we drove down to visit Gram's birthday (that's Grant's Great Grandma).  And of course no trip to Trenton is complete without tomato pie.  We took Grant to De Lorenzo's and he had his first taste of pizza.  He got a few good bites of crust and was really having a good time.  Unfortunately we had to take it away when it got too soggy and he was NOT happy about that.  I just didn't want him to choke.  Oh well.  Here's a few pictures of him enjoying his pizza.  Eamonn actually got some even better pictures, so maybe I'll add them tonight.

And here we are at Monday again...and boo for the dreary weather.  Let's hope the week brightens up.  Grant and I are attending a "stroller stampede" benefit for the park by our house on Wednesday...basically a glorified walk with friends over to a restaurant.  Should be fun times, as long as it doesn't rain.  I'll try to snap a picture of us.

Grant's eats and more...

So Grant's eats is kind of defunct.  It's hard to keep up with blogs, especially when you have an 8 month old daredevil on your hands.  When he goes down for a nap, I need to have some quiet time to recharge for the next awake time.  He is a super fast crawler and grabs on to anything to stand up.  And now he doesn't want to hold on anymore, so I have to be fairly close in case he goes down hard.  Unfortunately that can lead to some bumps and bruises.  And Grant had himself quite a bruise last night.  He was so excited to see Eamonn when he got home from work that he sped towards and dove into the footboard of our bed.  Instant purple bruise/bump.  Oh man, did it look painful.  We actually took him to the pediatrician because it was so instant and so dark.  He's fine though...apparently foreheads bruise easily.  Here's a pic this morning (looking much better than last night)

 (last night)

On the Grant's eats front, he's been eating all sorts of things, beans, chicken, cheese, bread, pasta....he's not really much into being fed though.  He wants to pick everything up himself including the spoon.  I guess this is a phase that a lot of babies this age go through because it seems to be pretty common.  Here's a picture of him making a huge mess, but really enjoying his cheese

So that's the update...lots of excitement, some frustration and an injury.  Here's a picture from yesterday of my happy (bruise-less) baby!

Apple Picking and Dr Appt

Well we just got back from Grant's 8 month Dr appt.  All is well.  He seems to have done some good growing this past month as he's now in the 25-50% percentile at 18 lbs, 6 oz and 27" length.  He got two shots, a hearing test (pass) and a hemoglobin test (pass).  He got two vaccinations and we were on our way.  The best part is we don't go back until 1 year.  Yay!

Last weekend we went apple picking with my Mom at Demarest Farms.  It was such a fun time that we definitely need to make it a yearly event.  Grant was very well behaved and we have so many apples!  So far I've made apple crisp and apple banana muffins (feel free to throw me any apple recipes you like).  Here are the pictures we took.  It was an absolutely breathtaking day...perfect fall weather.

8 months old!

Grant turned 8 months old yesterday.  That sounds so much closer to a year than 7 months old.  This month has brought lots of new changes...much faster crawling and better mobility along with pulling himself up to standing.  He is all over the place.  Which is very tiring!  But it's great.  He has so much personality these days...he certainly knows what he wants and doesn't want.  It was very difficult for me to get him to sit still and look at the camera at all for the this photo shoot.  Kind of a bummer.  I'm not sure I got any great photos, but I got a few at least.

 Tippy toes!

First day of Romparoo!

What we've been doing...

Grant has become so much more mobile the past week.  I really can't set him down anywhere without him either following me or getting into some trouble.  Over the weekend we bought a "baby jail"...one of those superyard things that has flexible walls that you can move however you like it.  Grant is not the hugest fan. He's ok when we're in there together, but as I walked away to get his bottle ready, I saw this peeking back at me...

Adorable yes, but trouble, DEFINITELY.  He's pretty smart.

Grant also learned how to pull himself up to standing.  He loves to practice this.  Unfortunately he doesn't realize that some things are not so sturdy (ie a pile of blankets).  Again this is definitely keeping my hands full.  I got some action shots of him doing his thing.

The approach

kneeling and grabbing on

Kneeling

Standing!

Elation!!

Anyways, we've been doing some necessary baby proofing around here, so we don't have any more of these situations...cords are so yummy, apparently.

And this weekend we're moving the crib all the way down to the lowest setting.  My little baby is growing up.  Seems like he'll be walking in no time.  I can't believe it's already September!!