Monday, January 5, 2015

Grayson ~ 16 Months

~ 16 Months ~
 
Another month has gone by and our little guy is 16 months old!  He is a lot more vocal now and tries to communicate with us all the time, although most of the time his is talking his own language.  He will repeat almost every word and now says the new following words: cookie, cracker, chocolate, pickles, Juju, no, no, no (while shaking his finger), ca-ca (oranges in Grayson's language), eggs,     .  He can now open doors and loves to get in our pantry.  The lock broke on the pantry so it is a challenge as he loves to take everything out of it and snack all the time.  We are getting this fixed ASAP as it drives us crazy.  He would snack all day if we let him.  

Grayson on most nights fights going to sleep.  I guess he knows what he is missing now and does not want to miss a beat.  He stalls and wants to read more books.  We started reading together with Daddy, Mommy and Grayson on his big stuffed elephant.  We used to take turns putting him to bed, but thought it was more fun to all read together and he loves it.  Most of the time he says bye bye when we put him in his crib and will keep saying this as we walk downstairs.  It's his way of saying night night and it's so darn cute.  He will say it about 5 times until we can barely hear him.  

Our sweet little Grayson has now started screaming when he gets frustrated.  He loves throwing things over the gate and sometimes he will try to throw the pantry keys and they stick to the metal gate so he gets so mad and screams.  I keep telling him to use his words, but he doesn't understand that yet.  He has also started throwing fits.  The other day he wanted to play with the over the door hanger for the wreath and I wouldn't let him play with it so he threw a major fit and was almost hyperventilating.  He did it again when Daddy wouldn't let him take the swifter in the car.  

He got a new pretend kitchen for Christmas and loves to play with it.  He will pour us a cup of coffee or tea when we ask for it and even pretends to drink with us.  He will also serve us a hotdog or hamburger on a plate.  He likes his new grocery cart and pretend cans of food that he got for Christmas as well.  

He is very opinionated about what book we read him now.  He will say no until he finds the right one and then gets really excited.  He loves any pop up book especially the ones by Karen Katz.  His new favorites are Good Night Chicago, Daddy and Me, Chicago Baby, Llama Llama books (from Oma) and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star that Oma recorded.

Our little mischievous boy stands on his train and jumps over the side of the couch.  I caught this on video and crack up every time I see it.  He also props himself up on the ottoman and gets up on the couch and also does this on his rocking glider and ottoman.  He likes to stand on the ottoman and dance to Sesame Street songs.  Any time he hears music he starts dancing and our little boy has some moves.  

Grayson is obsessed with airplanes so we took him to the airport just off the runway and watched as several planes came in.  I have to admit it was a really cool experience.  We took lots of pictures and videos so he can always remember this cool moment.  We have actually already taken him two times and I'm sure we will be going back again soon.  Grayson absolutely loved it!

Oma and I took Grayson to a pottery making place and made an ornament for our tree.  He was a little too young and was more interested in the dust pan and brush.  It was a challenge because he wanted to run around the store and when he was painting he wanted to do it all by himself.  It turned out great, but we were hoping to do several so Oma could have one too, but maybe next year.  

Our poor little boy had a bad experience with the bath tub and wouldn't take baths for a week.  Craig and I left for less than 24 hours to meet with Craig's clients in MI so Oma and Julia watched him.  His bath went okay with them, but for some reason he would not take a bath for a week.  A couple nights we tried and he screamed bloody murder so we had to skip it and then we started doing showers instead.  A little over a week later he finally was okay with baths again.  It was such a strange thing, but I'm just glad he is back to normal.

































Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas

Merry Christmas!  

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  It was a very nice Christmas and it was great to spend it with the whole Braham fam and Oma.  We missed the cousins this year and hope to spend the holidays with them next year.   

I planned on making crepes for Christmas breakfast, but Craig bought the wrong kind of flour (unbleached) and the mix was the wrong consistency so we had pancakes and sausage instead.  Afterwards we opened presents and listened to Christmas music.  

Julia got three stackable gold rings, lots of clothes, PJs, robe, Spring Awakening tickets, Kate Spade necklace, jewelry, Michael Kors purse and Christmas ornaments.  Ethan got money, rollerblades, clothes, travel mug, shower head, Bose headphones and Christmas ornaments.  Grayson got a play kitchen, pretend shopping cart and canned food, Dyson vacuum that actually turns and makes noises like a real Dyson, lots of books, new Pottery Barn Camel Ombre Fur Anywhere Chair, several toys and Christmas ornaments.  We got Oma a new mirror, Christmas ornaments, a new iPhone case and a David Yurman bracelet.  Craig and I did our big gifts to each other (watch and bracelet, earrings and necklace) for our birthdays, anniversary and Christmas.  We also got the new kindles and Oma got us a new point and shoot Sony camera and covers for our kindles.  Oma also got the kids a Christmas advent calendar that plays music and lights up and an indoor snowball fight game, which everyone loved.  We hung out all day, ate appetizers, watched Elf and had Dutch style pork tenderloin, new potatoes and garlic spinach for dinner.   













































Positive Pregnancy Test

We have some exciting news to share...

We are PREGNANT!  

Pregnancy Story:

December 25, 2014

After Grayson I had 3 cycles and we got pregnant on our own in August, but sadly had a miscarriage in September at 7 weeks.  At first my hcg levels were good, but when we got to the first ultrasound there was a gestational sac, but no baby.  They had me come back a week later and there was no progress so I had to have a D&C.  On one hand I was so excited that it happened all on our own without IVF, but of course so devastated that is was another miscarriage, my 6th one.  I know everything happens for a reason and I would soon understand why.  After the D&C I had one cycle and then got pregnant on our own again in December.  I had night sweats 4-5 nights in a row and had a feeling I might be pregnant, but thought there was no way possible.  I woke up Christmas morning and took a pregnancy test and it was negative at first.  I waited a little while, but only saw one line so I threw the test away.  I went back to sleep for about 15 minutes and then had a strange feeling so I got the test out of the trash can and it was POSITIVE!  It was a very faint line so I still didn't believe it.  I went downstairs and shared the amazing news with Craig and my mom.  They were so excited and couldn't believe it either.  That was the BEST Christmas present ever.  

December 26, 2014

The next day I took another test and there was still a very faint line so I had Craig go to the store to get a digital pregnancy test.  The test came back pregnant right away so we were thrilled.  

December 27, 2014

I took the third test from the box of original ones and it was positive right away.  

December 29, 2014

I went to my doctor's office and my hcg level was 382.  If the number is above 5 you are pregnant and this number should double every 48-72 hours.

December 31, 2014

My hcg was 953 and they were very happy with this number so I do not need to come back until the ultrasound on Friday, January 16th.

January 6, 2014

Terrible moodiness. :)

January 10, 2014

We went to Sarah and Stu's engagement party in Plainfield and had a great time.  On our way there I had some pain and remembered exactly what is was from my first pregnancy.  It was my uterus stretching, which is a good sign.  

Here are the positive pregnancy tests: