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?

BOOOO HOOOO

Grayson had his 15-month check-up today. He was in such a great mood when we first arrived. He played with books in the waiting room until the nurse called our name. As soon as we walked back and he realized that he had seen this woman, the nurse, before in that same room she was leading him into, he lost it.

Grayson cried through all of his measurements, weighing, and long after the nurse was finished with him. He was able to be calmed and coaxed into looking at a book while we waited for the doctor to arrive.

He was pretty cooperative for Dr. Murnane and did all the things she asked. Well except for walking. She isn't worried. She said as long as he will walk holding one finger, which he will do, we shouldn't be worried. He is just scared to let go.

After she finished we found out that Grayson would be getting two shots. He was fine being put up on the table, but as soon as the nurse walked in he got nervous. I gave him his pacifier, hoping that would help. He got SO upset when she gave him the shot. He cried until he fell asleep in the care on the way home. Poor baby!

It wasn't all bad. We did get some good news about his weight. Grayson is FINALLY at 20 pounds. 20 pounds and 2 ounces to be exact AND he is back on the chart at the 3rd percentile. His length was in the 10th percentile. We don't have to go back for his weight to be checked until his 18-month appointment. YAY!!! I guess all that eating has finally paid off. Oh and we do know why he had some fussy spells over the weekend. He is cutting three of his molars. He now has 11 teeth total. Mystery solved!

THREE AMIGOS

Grayson hit the 15 month mark last week. As usual, time is flying by. At 15 months, he is just amazing. He has decided to keep crawling and pretty much refuses to walk. He can walk. Oh yes, we have seen him do it and he even took about 5 steps at his Granny and Grandpa's last weekend. We will see what his doctor thinks about that at his 15 month appointment tomorrow. I expected him to walk a little late after his broken leg, but now I think he has just decided that it is much faster to crawl and he likes to get around quickly.

Lots of great things have been happening in Grayson's world lately and he has even picked up some new words to talk about it. He can now say hi, bye, pa pa, grandpa, car, baaa (for a sheep or goat), fish, truck, and will attempt to imitate most anything you say.

Last weekend was spent with his Granny and Grandpa. They took him to the Ft. Fisher aquarium. We are still waiting on copies of those pictures. (Hint-Hint). As usual, Grayson came home with some treats and now has a new fish friend to keep him company in the crib (stuffed-not real).

This past weekend Grayson was able to spend some time with two of his favorite buds, Louis and Levi. The three of them were incredibly entertaining together. Louis is almost 2 and Levi is almost 18 months old. It is so nice to see him together now that they sort of play with one another. Grayson just loved watching those two bigger buddies. He had a ball playing with all of Levi's toys and swimming in Levi's grandparents pool.

Justin and I also had a great time visiting with Beth, Matt, Kelly, and Wez. All of us spent the weekend together at the Rollins' new home in Thomasville. It was a much needed vacation for me and I couldn't have spent it with better friends. We are blessed with so many great friends. The Rollins and Barrells are just a reminder of how much God loves us. Beth and Matt also shared some of their Thomasville friends with us during our visit. It was great to spend a weekend surrounded by such wonderful people.

On Saturday we took the boys and Layla, Neil and Lindsay's energetic and hilarious little red head, to the Lazy 5 farm. There was nothing lazy about his outing. Once we arrived and took care of potty visits and diaper changes we headed over to the barn. There we boarded a huge wagon, were handed a pail of feed, and began our journey into the animal habitat pulled by three HUGE horses. Our trip through the animal habitat lasted a little longer than an hour and was well worth the time and money. Grayson was able to see all kinds of animals up close and watch them eat feed out of mommy and daddy's hands. We saw all sort of goats, deer, llamas, water buffalo, zebras, camels, bison, giraffes, pigs, a rhino and MANY more animals that I can't even remember. It was amazing and Grayson loved it. He was so excited and didn't seem to be scared at all about getting so close to all of those animals.

To wrap up the weekend we traveled to Greensboro to welcome home Papa Jack. Yes, Jack is home from a two week leave from Iraq. We were so happy to get to see him and spend a little time visiting. Grayson got lots of cuddle and play time with his papa. Since it wasn't enough to make-up for only seeing him on a computer screen since January, we decided to leave Grayson in Greensboro for the night to spend more time with his Nana and Papa. We will be picking him back up this afternoon and I can hardly wait to get that little guy back home.

We have been incredibly busy lately and it looks like the rest of the summer will not slow down one bit. I guess we should get used to it. Grayson is a busy guy that likes to stay on the go.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

Okay, so I know it is just a little crazy, but I am me and this is another one of those me things. I like to say "Happy Independence Day" instead of Happy 4th of July. I do often say "Happy 4th", but I prefer the other. I think it is important to acknowledge that the 4th is not just about hot dogs and fireworks, but about celebrating our independence and freedom, which was not "free". People gave their life for the freedoms that we have here in our United States of America and there are many who continue to risk their life to protect those freedoms. So, I have gotten that out! Now, on to Grayson which is the reason most of you even log in to look at this website.

Grayson's second Independence Day was great and we had lots of fun with family doing all of the traditional things (cookout, fireworks, etc.) at Lake Gaston. Grayson spent lots of time with Granny and Grandpa Royal and the whole Royal/Tart family at my Aunt Audrey and Uncle Tommy's house on the lake. He had a blast swimming, playing with his cousin, fishing with grandpa, and watching fireworks.

There was one very important person who did not have the opportunity, even if he had wanted it, to celebrate this holiday with Little Gray Bear. Grayson's Pa-Pa Jack is currently deployed. Yes, Grayson has his very own hero serving and protecting our county right now. Pa-pa Jack has been gone since January. Although Grayson doesn't really understand where Jack is or why he must be there, we try to remember to talk about him often, show Grayson pictures of him regularly, and make sure he has the opportunity with Aunt Meg and Nana to talk to Pa-pa Jack via Skype. I am starting to think that Grayson thinks Pa-Pa Jack has moved into a computer.

I can't tell you how proud we are to say that we know such a fine man. Yes, it stinks to have him away for a whole year. Yes, it is scary to think that he risks his life to protect this country we call home. However, the bottom line is that our freedoms need protecting. Our Independence does not come without cost. We feel very blessed to have a such a man in our family and the opportunity to show Grayson, even though he may not fully understand, that the freedoms we often take for granted require sacrifice.

There are many families and individuals who have sacrificed a great deal so that we can live freely. I hope that on your Independence Day you took time to thank God for the blessing of freedom, time to pray for the men and women who are protecting those freedoms right now, and time to pray for the future of our country and it's leaders.