Grayson ~ 21 Months

~ 21 Months ~

Grayson is 21 months!  He is so much fun.  Craig and I always tell each other how lucky we are to have such an amazing little boy.  We are so blessed to be his mommy and daddy.  How can it only be 3 months until our little angel turns 2!?  

~ New obsessions/favorite things ~

The Potty Seat...

We got him a Munchkin 3-in-1 potty seat.  It also converts to a trainer seat that goes on the big potty and is also a step-stool.  He loves the potty, but mostly to use as a step stool to turn the fan and light on in the bathroom.  One night before bath time we had him sit on the potty seat and told him to go and he went potty!  We were so excited and screaming with joy.  He was so proud of himself too.  My nanny suggested I buy him big boy underwear as an incentive.  I bought him super hero and Elmo undies so hopefully he will get interested.  I think it might take a while to potty train him because he is not ready yet.  The next 5 nights he was not interested and has not been ever since.  Hopefully he will get interested soon.   

Climbing on things...

Our little boy loves to climb on things.  He can now climb up the small rock wall at the park.  I have no idea how he learned this, but he does it all by himself.  He also likes to climb the steps on the side of the jungle gym.  He still loves getting up on the chairs next to the island and gets up on the table.  He can now also get down from the chairs.

His cousins...

We celebrated Bryan and Lauren's wedding in Bloomington/Normal.  It was such a fun wedding and so nice seeing the family.  Grayson especially loved hanging out with his cousins Tommy, Lilly and Aidan and visiting with family.   

Babies...

His latest obsession is taking his babies from the crib when he wakes up in the morning and from his nap and bringing them downstairs.  We have to take every single one of them (he has at least 15) and if I forget one he will make us go back and get it.  He even has to include his pillow.  I bought more babies to leave downstairs so we didn't have to bring them up and down every time, but that backfired and he just wanted to take the old and new ones.  I decided to save the new ones for Liam.

Truck book...

He wants to read his truck book every single night.  He is so smart and I can't get over how many types of trucks he knows already...cement mixer, backhoe, tractor, concrete crusher, van, pickup truck, monster truck, car carrier, tanker, 

Taking toys to the park...

He loves taking his vacuum to the park.  Yes, his vacuum.  He has only done this once with me, but he takes it with his nanny all the time.  He also likes to take his bubble lawn mower to the park. 

New car race track...

We bought him a new, bigger and better car race track and he loves it.  Our nanny's husband, Juan Carlos, helped Grayson set it up.  It's taller than Grayson and he has so much fun launching the cars from the top and watching them race down the track.  It was so nice of Juan Carlos to set it up.  Grayson loves him and calls him Caros. 

Umbrellas...

He loves umbrellas and cries when we take them away from him.  He would not put down the animal print umbrella after dinner at Maggiano's so I had to take a picture.   Now anytime he sees one he gets excited and wants to play with it. 

Cars...

He is obsessed with playing in our car and throws a fit when it's time to get out.  We just recently bought a new car and Grayson had fun helping us pick it out.  :)  Or I should say he had fun grabbing the pretty receptionist by the hand and pulling her over to look at the cars.  He got her to open the back door and hang out with him inside.  Craig and I were standing there cracking up.  What a little stud. 

Hanging out with the ladies at the park... 

Grayson loves to go to the park and hang out with the kids, especially the pretty girls.  He will walk over to a group of girls, wave, say hi and pick one out to play with him.  He'll pull her hand and take her to the slide or swing to play.  Recently, he played with a 10 year old girl named Julia and saw her again the next week.  The girl's mom said her daughter's eyes lit up when she saw Grayson.  She thinks he's so cute and such a sweetheart.  Awwww.

Playing with Mama's makeup...

Grayson loves to play with my makeup.  He took my concealer and had fun applying it to his face.  It was so funny to watch him imitate me.  I took several pictures and took a video as well.  Priceless.

Daddy laying in his crib...

When I turned on the monitor I did a double take because Daddy was IN the crib with Grayson.  I have to admit I have thought about doing this several times, but I can't believe Daddy actually did it.  He only stayed in there for a minute, luckily, because I'm sure the bed has a weight limit.

~ New words ~

humongous

dangerous

 I'll be back

Oma, look at 

Here you go, mama

I walk

I do it

Mama, no, I do it

Come, mama

Get up, daddy

Get up please

Elmo's ship

Julia's High School Graduation

 Julia graduated high school from St. Ignatius!  We are so very proud of her and all of her accomplishments.  She is such a bright, smart, loving girl who has really grown into a wonderful woman.  She will be attending Iowa this fall and plans to study psychology.

This summer she is living with her mom and step-dad in the suburbs and working at a chemical company in their paid internship program.  She works from 6:30am until 3pm Monday - Friday and is really enjoying her new job.  She is very dedicated and such a hard worker.  We know this will look great on her resume too.

Pictures:

The first 4 pictures are from Julia's Baccalaureate at Holy Family Church.  Julia and Ethan went to dinner with their step-dad at Tuscany before the service.  Craig, Grayson, Marta (our nanny) and I went to Sapori Trattoria before and met everyone at the service.    

Ethan's Graduation from Fire Science

Ethan took a fire science class this year and really enjoyed it.  They taught him all the basic skills to be a fireman and he graduated from the class.  Ethan is so talented and we are so proud of him and all of his accomplishments.  He recently took the ACT and got a 29, but is re-taking the test in June.  Craig and Ethan looked at University of Colorado-Boulder this summer and it's Ethan's top school so far.  He is going to look at some schools in California as well.  Ethan will be a senior next year.

Liam ~ 24 Week Ultrasound & Belly Pictures

I'm 24 weeks and the countdown to BABY BRAHAM #2 is on...16 more weeks!  It's finally becoming real.  

We decided on a name...

~ L I A M ~

~ R I C H A R D ~

Liam is a name we both love (Daddy did not love it when I first brought it up a while ago, but now he loves it and doesn't remember not loving it.  ha ha :)  We think it goes great with Grayson too.  Richard is after Craig's dad, Richard Howard Braham.  He's a great man and we love him so much and wanted to honor him.  Grayson's middle name is after my dad so we thought it was very fitting.  We are very excited to have the name picked out so we can start calling him by his name.  

~ Goldenview Ultrasound ~

We did another 4-D ultrasound at Goldenview Ultrasound and got some great pictures, although he wasn't cooperating at first.  He was putting his legs by his head and blocking his cute little face.  I'm not sure why he was squished so much when he still has plenty of room, but maybe he is comfortable that way.  It looks painful to me.  Our little Liam is such a cutie already and we can't wait to meet him.  He gave us quite a show with the spread leg shot so we got a good laugh.  Our little guy is very active just like his big brother Grayson.  

~ 24 Months ~

My belly is getting so big.  Liam has been moving around a lot more.  It's funny because my BFF Allison was the first one to feel Grayson move from the outside and the same is true with Liam.  She felt a tiny kick while we were staying with her and Craig was out of town.  When Daddy got back from visiting Mimi and Papa he felt baby Liam give a little kick too.  He loved it and was so excited!  

I can't believe I'm almost in my 3rd trimester.  The time is flying by.  In 3 weeks I will be 27 weeks and officially in my 3rd trimester.  I'm looking forward to this as the baby can most likely survive in the outside world at this stage.  If he is anything like his brother he will not want to come out anytime soon.  I feel great other than being a little tired.  My nesting instinct has kicked in and combined with my organizing OCD it's driving Craig a little crazy.  The house is already very, very organized, but of course I had to reorganize a couple more things.  There is nothing left to organize now other than the bedrooms for Grayson and Liam.  Liam's room will be easy to change as I'm keeping the same theme, but Grayson's new room will take a little while as I'm still working on the details.  I will be moving Grayson into Ethan's room, Liam into Grayson's room and Julia's room will become her room when she's visiting from college/Ethan's room every other weekend/guest room.  (Julia moved out to live with her mom for the summer because of her internship and then will be moving to college in August.)  Liam will take over the nursery so there are only a few things that need to be changed including the pictures in the collage, circle letters on the wall and some monogramed blankets.  I already bought the monogrammed blanket for Liam that my friend Christy got for Grayson (orange minky dot on one side and gray and white chevron on the other side with his name written in white).  Our friend Diane gave Grayson a gray small Pottery Barn chair with his name on it and a blanket to match.  She mentioned she is doing the same for Liam so we are very excited.  Grayson's new room with be the same colors as his old room with the addition of blue (gray, white, orange and blue) and decorated with vintage airplanes.  I'll do a whole post on the new rooms soon.

~ 24 Week Doctor Appointment ~

My doctor appointment went well.  He is measuring a 1/2 week big, but that is normal.  We decided on my c-section date...September 1st.  It's a Tuesday and my doctor would be the one to deliver as that is her hospital day.  She told me to register for the hospital and they will take care of scheduling the c-section.  How crazy!  I can't believe I only have 16 more weeks (actually15 more weeks because my c-section will be almost a week before my due date of September 6th).  My next doctor appointment is June 8th for my 27 week appointment and glucose test.

~ Pictures ~

What BabyCenter says about 24 weeks:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at about 1 1/3 pounds. Since he's almost a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Julia's Prom

Julia went with James to her senior prom.  Her friend Kay hosted a pre-party at the top floor of her condo building.  The view was amazing and the kids all had a great time.  Julia looked absolutely beautiful.  She had her makeup and hair done and had the most gorgeous red dress.  The prom was hosted at UIC and the after party was at her school.  We can't believe this is her last high school prom.