3 Months and Letters Galore

The past 3 months have FLOWN by.
Delaney is thriving and turning into the most expressive and talkative little lady. We are enjoying her (and all the pink bows & outfits) so much! And just like her brother, she is extremely easy going and very happy. We truly have been blessed with 2 amazing kiddos!
We had some professional pictures taken of her yesterday, so I’ll post those 3 month pics when I get them.

And speaking of amazing, here’s a video of Grayson working on his letters. That little stinker knows all the letters by visual queue and their corresponding sound. The best part is that it’s fun for him. He loves learning about everything from shapes and colors to numbers and letters. It’s awesome how quick he can pick everything up too! Such a smart little man. Maybe I should start working on Presidential fun facts and submit him to the Ellen show? :-)

Hope all is well with everyone!
Enjoy the video and pics!

P.S. I apologize for the quality of all the pictures. I’ve only been taking pictures with my iphone. I definitely need to get better about having our SLR handy.

Fun with Creepy Crawlies!

I picked up a couple of these window crawlers at Target today and boy, they were a hit!
At first Grayson was a bit apprehensive of the gigantic bugs (who wouldn’t be when REAL bugs can grow that large here in SC?!) but after he gave them a thorough inspection, it quickly became an award winning purchase.

I love this thing, Mom!

Pointing and telling the bug to crawl "down here, down here"

Ginger left her coveted sunbathing spot to get a piece of the bug crawling action

Blessings of Baptism

Today Dan and I were blessed to have Delaney receive the Sacrament of Baptism. And just like Grayson, Delaney has the 2 best Godparents in the world!

We truly are blessed to have great families and we are so lucky to be able to pass our faith onto our kids. Faith and spirituality mean a great deal to Dan and me and we try to teach Grayson so much about God by incorporating a lot of our faith into our daily routine. Each week and holiday I try to include a Catholic craft or activity that flows with the Liturgical calendar, we made sure to choose an amazing faith based preschool, and we always say prayers before every meal and nap. In fact, one meal we were busy doing other things and neglected to say grace. We were promptly stopped by Grayson as he held out his hands to say the prayer. So cute! Hopefully Delaney will enjoy learning about the Catholic faith just as much as Grayson.

Thanks so much Regan and Chris! You’re the best folks for the job and we wouldn’t have it any other way!
And make sure to check out the amazing christening gown too. Grammie Thanne had them specially made. Grayson was able to wear the boy’s gown at his baptism and now Delaney was able to use the girls. We received so many compliments too! The dress is amazing! Such a great heirloom to pass through the family.

Even Captain America Gets Bumps and Bruises

Our little hero, who HAD to wear his Captain America costume the other morning, is now equipped with improved armor defenses…a camouflage ankle cast.

Poor little Grayson took a small spill and twisted his ankle…or so we thought.
After his tumble, we immediately called the triage nurse who told us it sounded like a sprain and to keep a close eye. Knowing we had a scheduled doctor appointment the next morning for an ear infection follow-up, we decided to take the advice and add his ankle to our list of inspections. And the next morning, based on his reactions, the painless limp, lack of pain/wincing during her poking and prodding, and absence of bruising & swelling, he was again given a sprained ankle diagnosis.

Fast forward 4 days and the small lingering limp (and antibiotic resistant double ear infections) brought us back into the doctor. Our amazing doctor decided to take an X-ray to be safe, even though all symptoms (or lack thereof) were identical to the earlier exam. I’m so glad she ordered the X-ray too, because we soon discovered that the limp was actually due to a broken distal fibula!
To quote Clark Griswold, I would have been more shocked had I woken up with my head stapled to the carpet. Grayson never complained, was always happy, constantly smiled and giggled, and never once portrayed a kid with a broken limb and double ear infections. This kid is amazing! Every medical professional we’ve encountered over the past week, at 3 different doctor’s offices, told us he must have super powers. They’ve never seen such a sick kiddo with that great of a disposition and flirtatious eyes and dimples for all the girls; including the immunization lady who, for 3 days in a row, stuck both his legs full of shots (for the ear infection). Poor little guy!

We sure have been blessed with 2 extremely easy going babies. Either that, or Grayson really IS Captain America!
The verdict is still out on Delaney. I’m guessing Wonder Woman circa the Linda Evans years…with these light blue eyes and brown hair she’s a shoo-in!

Make sure to check out the videos at the bottom too. The first is Grayson cutting a rug to Gym Class Heroes. It cracks us up how he loves to dance to that song. I should try to get a better video though. There were a few distractions, so he wasn't in full dance club mode. The second video is the first time Grayson walked on his cast. Oh, I’m sorry…he never walked…he RAN, right out of the gate.

The Outfit Fit For Smiles

Our great friends gave us this adorable outfit for Delaney, and boy, it has been used a ton!
In fact, Delaney likes the ensemble so much, she cracked her first captured smile in it today!
Little Miss has smiled a number of times, but clams up every time I reach for the camera.
Just my luck!
But this little outfit just brings out the giggles with everyone. How can anything be cuter?
Thanks Uncle Sean & Aunt Melissa!

Stylish Star Wars

Dan came home with this shirt for Delaney a couple weeks ago and she finally fits in it!
Who says Star Wars can’t be stylish?
And what a coincidence, little Grayson looks oh-so-handsome in his gear too!

So tired!

Stack – A – Roo

Grayson has loved to stack blocks since before his first birthday but lately the fascination has crept up again and I suspect it’s because his school has an amazing set of huge blocks. They build forts with them, count them, sort them and I’ve even seen one of the kids use them as a bean bag chair. Hilarious!
What’s amusing about Grayson’s new stacking passion is that all the blocks HAVE to be sorted by shape and color and, for the most part, following the ROYGBIV guideline we’ve been working on.
But of course, leave it to Mom to ruin today’s stack.
I ended up finding another purple block late in the game, after the matching purple wedge had already been placed and buried. Good job, Mom!
Little man was ecstatic that I found another block to stack, but he REALLY wanted to place it with the other purple piece. It was adorable watching him imagine how to make the higher blocks levitate, in order to accurately place purple’s partner.
After a few seconds though, he decided to forgo that requirement and elected to make the tower a bit more feng shui instead. :-)

I can't tell you how much I am loving this phase! He has his own little clever personality and is absorbing everything!

Even more adorable…he’s sticking his tongue out when he concentrates…much like his Dad and Aunt Chris! :-)

Immediately after placing the last block, he sat back and waited to make sure his tower didn't budge. So cute!

The genetic "In order to fully concentrate, one must stick out one's tongue" maneuver:

So happy!

The Wonderful World of Hats

For months now Grayson has had an obsession with wearing big shoes….Dad’s combat boots (see post here), snow boots from his cousin, mom’s running shoes, really any old shoe he can slip his feet into. It’s extremely comical and I’m amazed that this kiddo can actually clop into a fast jog in dad’s nike’s. Remarkable! Those shoes are huge on him! Even more remarkable is that he knows the left shoe from the right, and which correct corresponding foot should be placed where. Man, I gotta keep my eye on this kid! Too smart for his own good.

So in the wake of the shoe fascination, a new craze has taken over the Halsted house….HATS.
It’s one of the first words Grayson ever learned to say and he still LOVES saying it. In fact, it doesn’t have to be an actual hat to be called a “hat”.
It could be a plastic cup, balanced ever so gently…”HAT!”
It could be his favorite stuffed animal held on his head… “HAT!”
He’s fully aware it’s his favorite stuffed bear, and not a hat, but the giggles we provide have reinforced the hilarious behavior.

He has always been great about wearing hats, but the past week he’s become somewhat of a fashionista and HE has been changing his hats daily. We’ve had absolutely nothing to do with it.
I love the independence!
And to balance the equation, little sis had to get in on the action too.

Of course we have to round out the picture parade with some fun shenanigans from our park adventures too.
Happy Hat to all!