PRESCHOOL

Last week Grayson started preschool. He is attending Hudson Memorial MMO (Mom's Morning Out) Program on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He is there from 9-12:30. We did all the preparation for school before we left for vacation. Pretty much all that is required at this age is a little backpack to carry his change of clothes and diapers in and a lunch bag.

Grayson loves his backpack. In fact, when we returned from vacation it was the first thing he went to. He put it on an wore it on his back for most of that evening. He does love his backpack.

Justin and I worked hard to make sure that he got to bed early and got plenty of sleep. The morning of I made his favorite breakfast (muffins, eggs, and fruit) and gave him plenty of time for the leisurely type of breakfast he enjoys. We got him ready all while talking about how he was going to go to preschool to play, learn, and make new friends. I am sure he was like, "yeah, sure, whatever you say."

We got to school after praying he would have a great day the whole way there. He got out of the car and wanted to walk in on his own with his backpack on his back. He would barely hold my hand in the parking lot. All I could think was, is this preschool or middle school?

We got into the building and he quickly realized that all of the big people were walking back out without their little people. Then he wanted to be held. By the time his teacher came to the door to greet him, he was acting like he didn't want to go in and starting to cry. I took him over to the hook with his name on it to show him were to hang his backpack. I put his backpack away and told him it was time to play. He said, "play?", went right into his teacher's arms and said "bye-bye". I was left standing there thinking, no, wait, that happened way too fast!!!!

Apparently he did great the whole day. When I arrived to pick him up he was really happy to see me and seemed very excited with trying to tell me about his day. That lasted until we got into the car and then he was out like a light before we even got out of the parking lot. I guess they wore him out.

Thursday's drop off didn't go as well. HE SCREAMED!!! I finally just had to walk away. The teacher told me when I came for pick-up that he only cried for a moment before he became very interested a toy.

This upcoming week brings another adjustment. After a weekend of spoiling with his Nana, Grayson is supposed to be going back to daycare. He has been out for the entire summer with me and his aunt Meg. He will go there on Monday, Wednesday, and/or Friday opposite of his preschool days. I will keep him out with me one of those three days as my schedule allows. I still want to be able to have plenty of Mommy and Grayson time.

I said he is supposed to be going to daycare because at this moment he has a terrible cold and a bit of a fever. You know you aren't supposed to send them if they have had a fever in the last 24 hours. I just love when God throws you a curve ball. Tomorrow is going to be the most hectic day at work I have had in a long time. I thought we had it all figured out with taking him to daycare tomorrow. Yeah, I am not sure at this point that is going to happen. We shall see.

TOPSAIL '09

We made it home from our week of vacation about 2 hours ago. We are all unpacked, the laundry is started, and we are enjoying those last few moments of relaxation before it's all over. Yes, our much anticipated trip to Topsail is now over and we have been left with a ton of wonderful memories.

We had a great week!I pray all year for a sunny and enjoyable trip full of quality time with our family and we had all of those things. Well, almost all of those things. We had only two days of less than desirable weather (one with rain, one with clouds and wind), we definately enjoyed every minute, but unfortunately our Granny Royal wasn't able to make it this year. She typically goes with us and the trip just wasn't the same without her. Granny had some complications following a minor surgery she had the week before and was admitted to the hospital while we were at Topsail. I will update on that when I have more information. All I know now is that she will be transported to Duke on Tuesday for the removal of some sort of digestive track blockage.

Grayson had a fantastic time at the "beesh". He loved the sand, which wasn't a surprise to us since he loves his sandbox at home. He was happy in the water as long as he had daddy or another adult with him, and he loved playing and relaxing at the beach house. Grayson did venture out to the water once on his own with use watching him a VERY short distance away. He didn't get very deep at all (ankle deep) before a big wave came and he lost his footing. Daddy ran over to scoop him up right away and Grayson learned an important lesson about being careful in the ocean.

Some of Grayson's favorite things about our vacation was playing in the sand with Peyton, walking on the beach with daddy, rocking on the porch and singing with grandpa, waking granny and grandpa up in the morning to cuddle, and finding shells to bring mommy. Grayson also went on his first boat ride at Topsail with Granny and Grandpa. Dad took him out in the floudering boat with his life jacket on. It was adorable. They said he enjoyed the ride, except for when bigger boats passed in the sound and made big waves for them to ride over.

We had a few visitors throughout the week. Anne and Adra came for a day from Wilminton. Grayson really like playing with Adra on the beach. He followed her everywhere. Adam and Lisa came for the last weekend to spend some time with us. It was really nice to share some vacation time with good friends.

We were all together as a family the whole week which was wonderful. Justin and I even got to go out for a dinner date thanks to granny and grandpa keeping Grayson. Other than that and a men's outing for some golf we didn't really venture far from our little cottage. In fact, Grayson didn't even get in his carseat from last Sunday until last night when we rode out to the point to watch the sunset. That is how I like to do vacation. Long days on the beach and memorable nights eating dinner as family and just relaxing at the cottage with a little floudering in the mix.

Yes, I said floundering. We go flounder gigging at Topsail. My dad has been doing that for as long as I can remember. You go at night, drop lights down into the water, and gig the flounder we see laying on the bottom of the sound. It is really fun. We gigged a total of 25 flounder this week. Mostly by Justin and dad. I went out one night and got one and Adam and Lisa both gigged some flounder while they were there. That all made for a yummy fish fry on our last night. Yes, Grayson loved the fish!

So now we are back to the real world. Grayson starts preschool this week and we have lots of other things going on. It will be a whole year before we return to Topsail, God willing, and do it all over again. I will be couting down the days until.

THE BIG 3-0

Yes, this week I turned 30. It was a wonderful birthday week. Justin and Grayson made sure to pamper me and treat me very special all week. My office hosted a birthday party on Wednesday and our small group went out for dinner that night to celebrate. On my actual birthday Grandpa Royal came up to keep Grayson while I went to the spa and then to the football game with Justin. On Friday my dad, Sue, Brooke, Bradley, and Peyton came up to go out for dinner and on Saturday my mom and Aunt Ret came up for a day of shopping. It has been a busy, but VERY special week.

Last week, in honor of the end of summer (Grayson starts preschool soon), Grayson and I took a day trip to Wilmington. I got to see my friend from college, Anne, and meet her sweet daughter, Adra. Anne and I had not seen one another in at least 8 years. The plan was to head to the beach, but the rain forced us to resort to Plan B. Plan B turned out to be Monkey Joes. I have never been there with Grayson. It is a big warehouse-type space full of giant bouncy houses. I went in thinking Grayson would probably spend most of his time in the toddler bouncy house. Boy was I ever wrong! He went for the biggest and best ones with the big slides. Obviously those are not really made for someone with little short legs. SO, I ended up having to go in with him to help him up the climbing walls to the slides he was so determined to go down (all by himself). I am sure that I looked like an absolute fool in these giant bouncy houses, but I was so proud of him. It was adorable and a wonderful way to wrap up the summer visiting friends.

As I said, Grayson is about to start preschool. We went to preschool orientation on Friday and he seemed to love it. He went right into his class and made himself at home with all of the toys and things. Both of his teachers seemed really nice. I hope he will like being there. The actual first week is next week, but we will be on vacation so Grayson will start a week later than the other kids. He will be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30 until 1.

Grayson has started doing one really funny thing these last couple of weeks. Apparently we have really drilled the no-no thing. For those of you who don't believe in spanking or popping, you may want to move on to the next paragraph. Anyway, so we pop Grayson on the hand or leg when he is clearly being disobedient and doing something that we have repeatedly told him he is not allowed to do. This form of punishment works well with Grayson. Only once did he decide that the activity was worth the pop. That activity was throwing food. At that point we resorted to time out on the upstairs landing (yes, it is all gated and safe). He hates being alone so that form of punishment works when the crime is worth the punishment of a pop to Grayson. After one time out, he no longer throws food. The popping has worked for everything else so far. These days Grayson has pretty much learned all of the things around the house he is not allowed to touch or do. Occasionally he just can't seem to help himself and he must do that one thing he knows not to. When this happens he makes sure to do it right in front of us, says no-no to himself, and then pops his own hand. WHAT do you do with that?!?!?!? Is this self injurious behavior??? Should I be worried ;-)

Tonight things are pretty busy around our house. We leave for the beach tomorrow. It is our annual trip to Topsail with the Royal family. I am so excited that I can hardly stand it. I am pretty sure Grayson can sense the excitement and I am certain he knows we are going away. While I was packing tonight he got in his suitcase and said, "Go-Go". I replied, "Yes baby we are going to go-go tomorrow to the beach, but right now you need to get out and go to bed so that I can pack your clothes". He got out and I got his clothes all packed, but there are a million things left to do. I love the excitement of getting ready for vacation!!!

THIS WEEK

Yep, this week has come and is pretty much gone. What week, you ask? This is the week that Faith and Avery should have been born. If all had gone well, my doctor would have induced labor on Thursday. It was a hard week. We tried often to focus on all of the blessings around us and not focus on what might have been, but that wasn't always easy. It was a sad week.

I honor of the idea of an expanding family, we do have some news. NO, I am not pregnant although it does seem like everyone else in the world around us is. We have decided to begin the process to become foster parents. Fostering has always been something that I have felt a bit of an urging towards. I could never get over the thought of giving a child back once I had made room in my heart for them. So until this point I have only marveled at those who seem to have found a way to get over that idea that I could not. During this process of giving our own daughters back to the God that loved them more than we can even imagine we coped by realizing that in all things God has a greater purpose. A couple of months after the loss of our girls that urge to foster crept back up on me again. I felt like God was telling me, I have prepared you for this and now your heart is ready. Justin will quickly admit that I felt called before he did, but we are praying that if this the direction that God has for our family that he will prepare the hearts of each member (including Grayson). We have filled out the application and now we must wait to see if Wake County feels we are qualified to begin the training classes. Those last 8 weeks and the next session begins in mid-October. I will keep you all posted. Our prayer right now is that God will lead our path and decisions and that if this is not what He would have for our family, then we are asking that He close this door.

Grayson is wonderful, as usual. Since Aunt Meg's departure he has been going with me to the office a lot. He is so good there. He loves to make copies with some of the therapists and he really loves working with Ms. Brenda, our office manager and office mom. He sits at the desk with her clicking away on the mouse she lets him play with, adding up who knows what on the adding machine, and drawing. Oh he is in Heaven! Brenda treats him just like one of her own grandchildren. He isn't spoiled there one bit. I feel so blessed to have a working situation where I can take him there when I need to. It makes life so much easier.

Grayson has finally transitioned to going to bed without the pacifier. He didn't cry at all the last two nights. He has also dropped a nap. Grayson went from taking two, two hour naps to now only taking one (hour to an hour and a half) nap. He goes and goes and goes and now that he is walking he gets there really fast. I don't know where he gets the energy from. He is talking a lot more. His jibberish is adorable and he has a lot of real words now. He is now saying fish, truck, spoon, light, that, yummy, yuck, poop, pool, and no. Everything is HOT these days and he loves to talk about his shoes. He is even putting some two words together like "hi daddy" and "bye fish". He will also try to say people's names if you tell him how to say it. He says Pa-pa (for his grandpa) regularly, Guh (?) for his Aunt Meg, Bee for his aunt B, and he has tried to say Levi, Rin, Peyton, Lisa, Brenda, and Katie.

His two most amazing things this past week both involved talking. After a day at the pool with my friend Cindy and her kids, one who is named Jack, he came home remembering that Jack-Jack. I asked Grayson to tell daddy who he saw that day when Justin got home from work not really expecting a response. He quickly replied, "Jack-Jack". I asked him several more times throughout the evening and the next day. Same answer, Jack-Jack. Guess that little fella made an impression. Grayson also learned the sound a dinosaur makes. Grayson doesn't do a typical roar like most little boys. Oh no, he has a very deep growl of a roar that will make you fall in the floor laughing. I LOVE IT!

Oh, and one last thing for those of you who have not seen them yet. We FINALLY had Grayson's one year and our family pictures done. Remember, right after he turned one I went on bed rest and well the rest since has been chaos. Anyway, they turned out great. You can take a look by going to www.mycreativeclicks.com Click on the baby in the middle of the page. That will take you to the galleries. Grayson's gallery is named Grayson and the password is Caldwell (case sensitive). Let us know what you think.

Bye-Bye Paci

As a speech therapist I am fully aware of a pacifiers impact on oral development and speech. My rule for clients and recommendation for other parents has always been that by age one a child should only be using the pacifier for naps or bed and around 18 months it should be gone all together. I am a little bit on the conservative side when it comes to this. Some professionals will say the pacifier is okay until 2 or 3. I am not one of those.
As you all know our little fella has become rather attached to his "paa", as he calls it. He uses it for bed and nap. We also give it to him for long car rides when we want him to fall asleep. Grayson is quickly approaching 18 months. He will be 16 months this week. Justin and I have been talking recently about when and how to cease the pacifier use especially since Grayson tries to talk with it in his mouth. That is one of my pet peeves.
Well we decided to take the paci head on tonight. Actually we were planning to attempt last night, but Grayson wasn't feeling well so as soon as he started to cry we gave it back. Tonight I knew we had to be tough and stick to our guns. Giving in would only teach him that he if screams we will give him what he wants, right?
As Grayson was getting ready for bed he saw his pacifier and put it in his mouth. We decided to let him take it out. After several "eewww, yuck", "throw that away", and "that's gross" comments, Grayson took the pacifier out of his mouth and threw it on the floor. So far, so good, right? WRONG! We put him down in his crib and he screamed for an entire hour. Justin went in once to try to calm him down, but that just got him going again. He was determined to get that "paa" back. After an hour of screaming, things have finally gotten quiet upstairs. UGH! I dread nap time tomorrow.

SAYING "SEE YA LATER"

All of us are feeling pretty sad this weekend. Grayson's aunt Megan moved out yesterday afternoon to return to school in Greensboro for the Fall semester. We were more than sad to be seeing her go.

Megan has been living with us since I came home from Duke on May 10th. Originally we planned for Megan to come help while I was on bed rest. At the time I had an opening for an office assistant at my office and we were in desperate need for some help around the house. After the birth of Faith and Avery we encouraged Megan to keep her original plan to come and stay for the summer. Having her here gave her the opportunity to work at Southeast part-time which was nice because she is in school for Speech Pathology. It also gave me the opportunity to pull Grayson out of daycare for the summer. On the days that Megan wasn't working she kept Grayson so that I could go into the office. It was a wonderful arragement for us and I hope that Megan felt the same way.

Megan was such a blessing to us all summer. She did a fabulous job at the office (everyone LOVED her), she was wonderful with Grayson, and she was incredibly helpful around our house. I also think having Megan here really helped with the healing from the loss of our twins, especially that first week. It so was nice for me to not be home alone during that time. Not only was Megan very helpful, but she was GREAT company. We had so much fun with her. I am not sure what it will be like next week when we don't have her funny stories over dinner or her commentary during tv time. I also don't know how Grayson is going to feel when he realizes his Aunt "Ga" isn't returning on Sunday evening like she typically did.

So on Friday we bid a "See ya later" to Megan. We were sad to see her leave our house, but very happy for Megan to begin the next chapter of her life. She only has 3 semesters of undergraduate left and then grad school. Maybe after that she will find her way back to Raleigh for a new job at Southeast as a Speech Therapist. I am sure we wouldn't mind that one bit. She is a pretty amazing person and I know that God has great things in store for her, regardless of where that path leads her.

BIRTHDAY BUDDIES

Grayson has had a pretty eventful couple of weeks. He started walking on Friday, July 31st. I have been postponing posting about it in hopes that I could post it along with a video. I haven't figured out the video posting thing. As soon as I do, I will have one on here.

So, on the 31st he pretty much walked all the way across our living room unassisted. Now, he still prefers to crawl to get where he needs to go because that is much faster, but he seems to be walking a little more each day. He does have a very cute little walk with a bit of a twist in his hips. HILARIOUS!

Just tonight he also decided he prefers walking over crawling, but only when he is dressed as some sort of naked caped crusader. After bath he put his hooded towel on his head and began walking all around the upstairs part of our house as naked as the day he was born. Most of the time when he falls down he abandons walking to crawl around. Not as Gray Bear the Great. This fantastic walking machine refuses to crawl no matter how many times he falls down. It was the most funny thing ever. We do have that on video, however given the lack of appropriate clothing we will not be sharing that one.

Grayson has also been busy the last couple of weeks celebrating the birthdays of some of his bestest pals. Little cuz, Peyton, turned one on Saturday. Aunt Brooke hosted an amazing cookout for all of Peyton's friends and family. Grayson had a blast playing with all the other kiddos and family members. Then on Sunday we celebrated Rin's first birthday. Rin is Grayson's little girlfriend and he plays with her pretty often at church and when we get together with her mom and dad, Katie and Bryce. They also hosted a wonderful cookout and Grayson had a ton of fun helping Rin open her presents and eating cupcakes by going in to it face first.

After this weekend of partying and his recent streaking as Gray Bear the Great, it seems we have a bit of a wild man on our hands. I wonder which of his parents he got that from?