Fall Forward

Life continues to move forward and Grady continues to grow and develop and move farther away from being my little baby. He will be turning 1 year old in 3 weeks and I can barely believe that a year has almost past since we brought him home. Here he is at his 11 month photo shoot. These picture opportunities keep getting more difficult as he gets more mobile and more feisty. He is 24lbs. and 291/2in. long. He is starting to attempt to say more words as well as thinking about walking soon; he is an expert crawler. Grady absolutely loves playing with his daddy. He especially loves being chased and tackled!His hair is getting somewhat out of control but it is sure fun to play with during tubbiesGrady loves getting together with his friend Finn. I think Finn thinks Grady is a little crazy since he is so loud and all over the place, but I think Finn likes being entertained. Grady's parents sure love getting together with Finn's parents as well. We went to visit Ben's sister and brother-in-law in St. Louis because it was their daughter, Abigail's first birthday. The whole family was together to celebrate.Abigail and Grady were born 2 weeks apartWhile in St. Louis, I made the difficult decision to get Grady's hair cut as it was always in his eyes and since Ben kept calling him our "hippy" baby. Ben's mom, the family beautician, whipped out her scissors and her cape and went to town. She was so quick that I barely was able to snap some pictures. It was a good thing that she was so speedy since Grady was only still for about 3-4 minutes. I had to hold back the tears, but it is amazing how one haircut can take a baby to a little man.Here he is after his haircut..."Where'd all my hair go?"At my coworker's suggestion, we took the family to a pumkin patch to commemorate the fall season as well as to get out of the house. We had so much fun going through the corn maze and watching Grady explore the corn and pumkins. Grady found the perfect pumpkin!Aunt Jen and Auntie Kim came with to have some fall fun. It is so great to have family around. Here is our little farmer hanging out in the corn field with his overalls, cap and all. He thought the corn tasted pretty good. Makin Papa Chuck so proud right now I'm sure.

What a sweet "little love"

Big blue eyes!

So many cute photos of our little man that I felt another blog post had to be done. Some exciting new developments including: Grady saying MaMa....finally, standing on his own, and walking all over with his John Deere; he also really enjoys chasing the cat. At daycare we are told that he has daily screaming matches with his friends and he is able to win many times. He keeps our lives exciting.

We took family pictures with my side of the family. This was one that the photographer captured. He is just so handsome!Here are a few family pictures and one of the whole Herman clan...Grady absolutely loves walking all over the house with his tractor. He can't quite figure out how to turn it around when he gets stuck, so he just screams until Ben or I point him in a clear direction.Grady is such a great eater. He still really loves his milk, but he also enjoys feeding himself. What a mess, but at least we have a dog that doesn't mind cleaning up after us. Grady not only likes our food, he also loves drinking from our mugs. He's quite proficient at sucking out of a straw.We decided that every little boy needed a ball. So we went to the store and started looking. We found this one and let Grady play with it in the store. We weren't sure if we were going to get that one so we took it away and put it back. Not a good idea...screaming, real tears and all...needless to say, we purchased the ball! Grady really loves "reading" books. Here he is will Daddy right before bedtime. Grady loves giving Mommy hugs; here he is squeazing me and squealing

To end the post, here is Grady in his precious little man pj's. At the end of every day, I thank the Lord for what a blessing it is to have a child; especially one this cute!

Our baby's growing up!

Yes, I know, it has been awhile and to be honest it does not look like things are going to be slowing down for the Blanchard clan anytime soon. Everyday it feels as though Grady's "baby" days are coming to a close and that we are right around the corner to the toddler years. He is now 10 1/2 months old and he is just doing so many fun things. He is a crawling maniac! He loves chasing the cat and being chased by mommy and daddy. He also enjoys mimicing others, playing "so big" and learning to click with his tongue. He just stood by himself for the first time today for at least 5 seconds! I can see walking is going to be right around the corner. He continues to make motor noises and he "drives" everything he can find. His favorite toy right now is his John Deere tractor that he walks with. My little baby is growing up and we are just enjoying every moment of it!

This is Grady at 10 monthsThis is our little man after sleeping through the night for the first time in 10 months! After Labor Day, Mommy and Daddy set a date to "help" our baby sleep through the night. It was difficult to listen to him plead for Mommy, but now I am seeing that the benefits of a full night's sleep outweighs the "trauma" of a couple of nights of screaming. Bright eyed and Bushy tailed!Grady so enjoys swinging and all the aspects that a playground has to offer. He has so much fun on the swings and will even cry if we take him out before he is ready. Yes, we are already at that stage. This is our baby sleeping through the night. He has a tendency to "burrow" beneath his covers. It is always a surprise to see what position we will find him in. Grady's new game is growling and "scaring" Mommy and Daddy. This video just cracks me up every time. He reminds me of a little lizard here.

Places and Faces of Grady

It's been a while since I've updated the blog and Grady has been so many places and given the camera so many faces. He just turned 10 months old and he is crawling all over the place. Because of his constant movement, I have not been able to take his 10 month pictures just yet, but hopefully they are in the works. Here are some recent fun pictures of our little man.

Here is one of his fun faces after making a ton of noise. He really is getting expressive.

Since he can pull himself up, he thinks it is really fun to look out Chicago's window. He has fun talking to the squirrels and the cars that pass by as well as blowing spit bubbles.

Here he is with his "puppy" both enjoying the great outdoors from the nice air conditioned house.One Saturday morning, I needed to work on the computer so I decided to see what would happen if I put a Baby Einstein video on the TV...Needless to say, Grady was captivated. Over the Labor day weekend we went to SD to visit my family. We decided that Grady was old enough to visit the famous Corn Palace. So Ben and I went and did the whole tourist thing with our little guy. He seemed to love it, but of course who wouldn't love a big building made with corn!This is one of my favorite family photos. We all put on coonskin hats while visiting a souvenior shop. Daniel Boone, here we come!Grady had fun with his Papa Chuck on the farm. Here he is on his first 4-wheeler rideFamily picture on the SkidloaderPlaying on the hay bails with the cousins
Wrapping it up with the cutest face ever. What a blessing to be mommy to this child!

Update Already!

After much hounding from certain individuals (Courtney) I thought it necessary to update the blog before a linching was had! Of course I completely understand wanting to have the most recent photos and updates of one of the cutest little boys on earth! It is amazing how 3-4 weeks can change an entire household. Grady has become an expert crawler, puts everything in his mouth, can pull himself up on any surface (including the dog) and has learned that he can use his body and motion to resist Mommy and Daddy, especially when his diaper is being changed. But we wouldn't have it any other way. Everyday we get to watch the development and growth of a little one and how amazing God's design is for his creation. Here are the most recent photos of our family. Enjoy!

This is the latest family picture. On one of the most beautiful evenings of the summer, we went out to Raccoon River for a supper picnic and interaction with nature. It was an experience taking the whole family including Aunt Jen and Chicago in one car, but it was worth it. Aynsley, our cat, is no longer needed for a family picture, since he is so independent and does not do what a cat is supposed to do which is snuggle his owner! What a cute family!Grady is getting so big, he can actually ride the playground toys on his own!This was the scene in the backseat of the car coming home from Raccoon River. Chicago is obviously HUGE and he takes up a large part of the back seat. This picture kinda freaked me out since Chicago is sitting like a person!Grady is crawling all over. We remembered that his activity mat could be turned into a tunnel and he has enjoyed crawling through it and playing with the toys. Our cat also enjoys the tunnel as he sees it as his "hide-out" from the dog.Grady thinks it is so fun to crawl and play underneath his exersaucer. He bonks his head quit frequently, but it seems like it does not phase him since he continues to do it.Grady really enjoys "helping" Daddy out with the laundry. He especially loves taking clothes out of the basket after they have been folded. Here he is helping sort through the clothes. I think Grady sees the puppy has a big play toy. He crawls around him and uses him as a pull up prop as well as plays with his toys. Here he he sitting in between Chicago's paws. Thankfully Chicago is really gentle with our baby. I think Grady is telling us what he wants to be when he grows up....The hulk!Here is Grady again with the puppy. Ben absolutely loves to watch them interactThis is a video that I caught of Grady "playing" with Chicago. It made me a little nervous, but Chicago was a very good puppy.

Here again Grady is able to ride his big boy toys. He's probably getting old enough to ride a real tractor.

I am really into Grady wearing pajamas because he looks so sweet. The pj's were lovingly handed down to Grady from his friend in Cedar Rapids - Ty Walker. He just looks like a little man in them and of course I love them since they have a Koala bear on them.

What a sweet face