Wednesday, February 29, 2012

My Afternoon at the Playground

(Written from the perspective of Grayson, by Dad)



Cars are boring, I wish I could get out of the car, oh boy the car stopped, who the heck is that in the window, IT’S DAD, this is the best day ever, I love dad so mu….. where am I, this isn’t home, OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD IT’S THE PLAYGROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, best day ever best day ever best day ever I’m so excited I need to run, I fell down, I’m running again, I fell down again, I’m running again….wait, where are my parents, oh my god where are my parents, oh no they left me, I’m going to cry, oh wait…there they are right behind me…..nevermind, there is a pink tricycle someone left…best toy ever, must play with it, no wait…mom….let me go, I don’t want to play on the playground, I hate playgrounds, I love pink tricycles….NOOOOOOOOOOOO….nevermind, are those stairs on this playground, I love stairs, climbing stairs is the best thing ever, I love stairs, a slide??? What genius put a slide at the top of the stairs, I love slides, stairs are stupid, slides are awesome, how do I go down the slide, I think I want to go on my butt, no my belly, no my butt, no my belly, no my butt….OH MY GODDDDDDDD IT’S A DOG……I have to go to the dog, stupid slide is in the way of the dog, how do I get to the dog, stupid slide, need to get down, belly? Butt? Belly? Butt? Belly, definitely belly….weeeeeee…oh hi mom, what are you doing down here, did you see me go down the sli…….oh yeah DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGG!!!!! I love dogs, I want to hug I want to hug it…oh my god it attacked me a licked the crap out of my face….I hate dogs…..OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD the SWINGSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! I love swings….Dad dad dad dad pick me up….yes yes yes…..swings are awesome…ok mom in front and dad you push from behind….what the heck are you doing in front, I said behind…..that’s better…now push, higher, higher, higher……WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…..Dad, what the eff are you doing, I said behind me, no not in front, behind me……I hate swings…get me out of here, mom pick me up…now put me down….OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!! A DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOG….I love dogs…I must hug the dog….it just attacked me again…..what is with the face licking….I hate dogs….Is that a playground…. I LOVE PLAYGROUNDS….STAIRS, I LOVE STAIRS…..wooohooo just running around on top of the playground, this is the best day ever….A SLIDE…. I LOVE SLIDES….. oh my god, do I go down on my belly? Butt? Belly? Butt? Belly?... hey wait…what the crap..no way girlie I was here first…wait Dad…no don’t touch me, there is no way that dumb girl is going to go down the slide first……what, no put me down….THIS IS THE WORST DAY EVERRRRRRRRR……I said put me down….OH MY GODDDDDD A SLIDE….Butt? Belly? Butt? Belly?  Definitely Belly….WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…. Oh hi mom, fancy seeing you at the bottom of the sli……OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD….ARE THOSE DUCKS????? I MUST FEED THE DUCKS….ducks are my favorite thing ever…I must run to them….I fell down, I’m running again…I fell down again….I’m running again….mom, bread, now, I need to feed the ducks NOWWWWWWW….ok thanks for the bread….ok here’s the wind up…wow I threw it really far (it was 5 inches from his feet), Hey Ducks, why aren’t you eating the bread…HEY DUCKS OVER HERE…stupid ducks….I hate ducks…..Is that kid running, that looks awesome, I’m going to go chase him, hey kid come back, I just want to hang out….COME BACKKKKKK… OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD is that a playground…..I love playgrounds…..what no put me down Dad, no I don’t want to go, no PUT ME DOWN…look there is the pink tricycle again….Let me play with that….PUT ME DOWN…..OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD…A DOOOOOOOOOOOG…..Dad PUT ME DOOOOOOOOOWN…. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….. DON’T PUT ME IN THE CAR….. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………worst day ever………………….


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Squishy and Messy

Grayson LOVED this new painting activity I created for him (found on Pinterest) that contained food coloring and shaving cream. He really enjoyed feeling the shaving cream and squishing it between his fingers and applying it to the tub for his "masterpiece"! 




While it was a bit messy, we will most likely keep up with it once a week. I'm very happy we've found an easy indoor creative activity. 


I'm going to do a Gatlinburg update as soon as John and Laura send me the pictures! I have a bunch (taken from my phone), but John is a much better photographer then I and I'd rather use his pics:)



Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Children's Museum

So I totally forgot to update the blog on our trip to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. 
I honestly cannot rave enough about it. We've done a lot of things with Grayson and this is by far one our favorites. We are definitely buying a season pass! 


I've uploaded a ton of pictures, but it doesn't do the museum justice AT ALL. 




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They have a small aquarium area. Grayson kept walking over to the fishies..it was really cute



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This was in the "cave area" - this section of the museum will be GREAT next year. While Grayson had fun here, there were a couple things he wanted to do, but couldn't because he was a little too young. 





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Climbing through the caves....




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This part of the museum "Little Sprouts" was perfect for Grayson. All the activites were geared towards young toddlers. They had a little mini slide, sandbox, push toys, and other toddler friendly toys. This room was sectioned off into a room with a door so that the kids couldn't just run away. SO PERFECT! 





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I love G's face here..he's like "what the heck?"



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And then he got into it...



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This was another separate room - it had a "crane" toy that dumped the rocks and the kids could scoop them up and dump them back in. 




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There was a Lego area around the corner from the "Crane"



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This was Grayson's favorite part of the museum...the "ball pitt". It was a ball pitt in the typical sense of a ball pitt. He is totally in awe...


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Look at him playing with the big boys! The older kids are helping the balls get sucked up into the tube! Grayson is trying to get his ball sucked into the sideways tube.



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Like I said, we didn't get a picture of EVERYTHING...and the pictures I did take aren't very good. But you get the "picture". It's pretty awesome for kids. 

We leave for Gatlinburg tommorrow - yey! So excited for hiking, shopping and relaxing with my favorite people! 

Bye Bye Momma

Um, what?


We had Annalee babysit for a couple hours last Wednesday afternoon so we could run some Home Improvement errands that we really didn't want to have to run with the G. (you know, because he's sooo patient and all:)


As I'm walking out the door to the garage, bracing for my child to run after me (which he ALWAYS does)..what does he do?


He runs up to the door really fast. AND STARTS SLAMMING THE DOOR SHUT BEHIND ME and I hear behind closed doors "BYE BYE" 


I kind of stood there shocked....while Dan laughed. 


Um. Grayson doesn't do that. 
The mornings I drop him off at daycare: Distract G, THEN walk out the door..or else he is running after me.
When I've dropped him off at the parents house: Distract G or he is running, screaming at the door for me.


Annalee comes over - "BYE BYE MOMMA" 


While I am so so happy that my little baby has a sitter who he clearly adores, I'm a definitely a little sad that he says "bye" so willingly. 


I guess that it's all part of growing up. 















Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Miscarriage

Sucks.


really really sucks. 


I am finally getting over the initial pain and shock of going through a miscarriage. I'm sad, angry, defeated, hurt, guilty..I keep thinking "what did I do wrong?" 


We found out we were pregnant about 2 weeks ago - Dan and I were OVERJOYED. Thrilled. I was so SO excited that Grayson would have a sibling a little over two years younger then him. We would have started trying for a second child right after G turned one, but I was in the middle of looking for a new job and didn't want getting pregnant to be a reason to be turned down for a position. 


Everything seemed to be going well until last Thursday. I started having immense cramps in the morning and decided, just for the heck of it, to pee on another HPT. I had like 50 internet cheapies...why not? Well, the line came up but it was SUPER faint. The lines that I had gotten the week before were dark...so I knew something was up. 


My OB had me come in and have bloodwork drawn to see where my HCG levels were. They told me not to get worried yet, that my urine could just be super diluted from drinking a lot of water, ect. I was supposed to get my results friday morning. 


Friday morning I wait. and wait. and wait. 


It's 12:00pm and Dan has called me twice by now to see if they've called me back with results. I call, leave a message hoping someone will finally call me back. 
At around 3:00pm I get a call from the nurse telling me that the doctor is looking at the results and will hopefully get to me before the end of the day. 


No call before the end of the day.


By this time, I'm a little resigned to the fact that the pregnancy is probably not viable. I just didn't feel pregnant. 


Saturday came around and we had a big birthday party to attend. One of my best girlfriends' Laura turned 30, and had planned a night of dinner and tubing at Perfect North. Dan and I decided that it was not the best idea for me to be tubing with the situation that was going on..so I told Lar what was happening and we got to attend part of her bday celebration. I'm sad that I had to mentally miss out on a big event in her life - she had SO many people at her house for dinner beforehand and packed a full school bus to get to Perfect North! 


Sunday morning came around and I woke up to blood. 
My heart literally stopped. I felt like I was punched in the gut. 
I knew it was coming, but it was still terribly emotional. Every part of me wanted to believe that I was pregnant and that everything was going to be fine. 


I bled all Sunday with heavy cramping.


Monday morning rolls around and the doctor calls to tell me that I'm likely miscarrying (you think) and that I need to be off my feet until the bleeding stops or subsides (I was passing small clots and they were irritating where I was stitched from my episiotomy.) 


I've cried. A LOT since Sunday. We had already started making plans for our new little addition in the couple of weeks we knew. Both Dan and I believe that you create a life at conception. We heard Grayson's heartbeat at 6 weeks. 6 WEEKS. 


Ironically, today, the day I was supposed to have my first pre-natal appt, I had a "follow up" appt to the miscarriage. They took more blood to confirm that my HCG levels go down to 0. 


I know that having a miscarriage is very common and I'm thankful that it was so early. (I would have been 6 weeks 1 day, today) but it's still a tough pill to swallow.


I'm terrified of it happening again. 


We have a lot to look forward to this month - a bunch of playdates and our trip to Gatlinburg. Focusing on the positive and gearing all my energy to G is helping...