Fans/Dance/Parties/Playdate/Smiles/Family/Easter

Whew-you can tell by the title it's been awhile! Sit back-relax and enjoy all the photos that have to be updated!

A few weeks ago I read somewhere that babies need to listen to all different types of music-not just lullabies. So in Gray's room he has his own iPod-and one day I played the Cha Cha Slide-and Grayson laughed and smiled the whole time. It was way cute. He's a big fan of Bryan Adams-and also likes the old break dance songs that Rob used to dance to. So we have a dance party every day-mostly just with momma-but sometimes dad partakes too-and it's a major boogie session!

Here he is showing off some of his dance moves-did I mention he likes to be naked baby when we do it?

Another thing that I have come to realize is that I can lay Grayson on the couch-turn the fan on and do what I need to for at least 30 mins. This kid doesn't need any toys-all he needs is his iPod and a fan and he's good to go! Every room we enter-he looks at the ceiling to see if the fan is on-and if it's not-he'll start to fuss until it starts moving. Warning: My voice sounds really annoying in the video....and the cinematography isn't all that great.

Lucy was finally able to meet her baby cousin. He hasn't been able to meet baby Olivia yet-she was home sick with a cold. Lucy was a big help with Gray-she really enjoyed being around him-except when he would get fussy.

My friend Shelly from grad school had her baby Fletcher in the beginning of March. He was about 3 weeks early-but is growing like a champ! Grayson and I went and had lunch with Shelly and Fletcher a few weeks ago-Gray looks big to me compared to Fletcher.

They liked laying on the floor playing with each other

When I was getting Grayson all locked up and ready to go to the grocery store on a cold day-he gave me some cute smiles-and thought I would share

This past week we had Rob's family in town. We had Aunt Gail and Uncle John up from Florida-we had Donna, LeRoy, Carole and Chase from Colorado and Aunt Carole from Mulvane. It was great! While we were all together-we were able to celebrate Chase's 3rd birthday with a little party at a local park. It was Grayson's first birthday party-and he slept through the whole thing-he's such a party animal!
Here's Chase and Uncle Rob playing on the slides

Everyone eatingMimi feeding GraysonDonna, Rob and Carole on the alligatorBrother and sister on the teeter-totter. This was way fun to ride on--Rob and I did it for quite awhile!Sara and JenniferAnd now Jennifer, Sara and I on the alligator--it was THE picture spot!Grayson and his PaPa LeRoy snuggling in the rocking chairWe had a great time with everyone! Thanks so much for coming!

Grayson enjoyed his first Easter. I wasn't really able to get that great of a picture of Gray in his Easter outfit-but believe me-he was super cute. And in the pictures-it doesn't really show how cute his hair was-I styled it in a little Mohawk-it was too cute.
Here's his Easter basket from Grammy and Grandpa Joe. The blanket on the top is the blanket that me and Sara both came home from the hospital in.

Grammy had knee surgery on Friday-so she just wanted some baby snugs from baby Gray. As you can tell-he was really enjoying them
Aunt Sara and her favorite nephewAnd here's some photos of his outfit--he had on plaid pants-with a navy polo and cute blue shoes.On Monday morning-Tubs and Grayson were still so tired from the busy weekend and previous week-this is how they were taking a napAn update on Rob and I--Rob's been really busy this month doing lots of surgeries-which is great. I've started working with my personal trainer-so slowly but surely this left over baby weight is going to be coming off-plus the pre-baby weight I should have lost! I go back to work on May 12-so we are going to start taking Grayson to Missy (babysitter) for a few hours to get him acclimated to it-as well as us. We measured Gray the other day with a tape measure-and we think he's about 23 inches long-and a little over 11 lbs. We go to the doctor next Thursday for his shots.
Have a great rest of the week!

After Bath and Baby Booty

Over the last few weeks Grayson has been changing quite a bit. He's getting to be such a big boy! We went to Rob's office yesterday and put him on the mailing scale-and he topped them at 11 pounds! Holy cow! Apparently Rob and I are doing something right! He's also started holding his head up on his own for a few minutes at a time. It's still really funny when he does it because he isn't quite sure yet what to do with this new fun task. He just kind of stares at you-and gives kisses. He has a new activity gym on the floor that he loves to play on-especially looking at himself in the mirror.

The last couple of nights have been a little difficult with sleeping. Grayson has been very vocal during his sleep-so Rob and I are always checking on him. He woke up about 1 AM looking for food last night-because we were fussing over him making sure he was ok. So tonight we are going to move the Pack N Play to the other side of the room to see if helps him sleep better. I thought I had read somewhere that sometimes babies don't sleep well if they sleep close to their parents-and vice versa.

Grayson has found a new way that he loves to lay-and I had to take a picture of it because his baby booty looked so cute

Here's the rose that was on the alter at our church in honor of Grayson's birth. He was actually in the newsletter that goes out twice a month. He's famous!Last night I had a fabulous night out on the town with Sarah for tapas and wine. So Rob was on single daddy duty. He gave Gray a bath and took some pictures with his little bunny towel that Jenni got him.

Today Addison decided that since her brother wasn't using his Boppy pillow-she was going to
Grayson was laying with Aunt Sara watching Wheel of Fortune yelling out all the answers. He'll meet Pat and Vanna someday...
Have a great weekend!

Already!

Grayson is 1 month old today! We can't believe it! But as Rob says-we've had him for 4 weeks and we haven't done any major damage-so that's always good. Things are still going great-he amazes us on a regular basis. He's started cooing and making some other noises-which puts a big smile on my face. He loves his tummy time and he likes to lay on his back and kick, gurgle, make noises and play with his pups. Tubs and Addy are doing fantastic with him-they don't like it when we leave for the day without them-it's too cute.

The past 3 nights from about 7:30-9:00 Grayson will cry and cry. We haven't figured out why just yet. We think he's maybe trying to poop-but he's not constipated because he's fine during the day. Maybe it's just gas? So we give him gas drops. That lasts for about 10 mins and then all of a sudden he'll pull his legs up and just scream. Any ideas? Supermom (Katie)-you have any ideas?

Nothing else really new going on. Rob and I are doing great-Rob's still trying to adjust to his 4 AM feeding. I'm still getting used to doing things on Grayson's schedule-not on mine. But it's still loads of fun! Here's some pictures for you to enjoy!

Tubby LOVES his little brother. He has to nap with him every morning-otherwise he gets a little cranky

This is how I found him the other day in his crib. He broke free of his swaddleAunt Sara laughs at this picture...it's a pretty good close-up! His cheeks are starting to fill outHave a great week and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Mimi's Visit/Follow-Up Dr Appt

Last week Mimi (Donna) came and visited us for a few days. It was wonderful! She of course immediately fell in love with Grayson and wanted to help out as much as Rob and I would allow--so we said--Have at it! She would do the night time feeding and would bring him up to bed when he was asleep. So Rob and I were able to go to bed around 8:30 and sleep through the night. I was able to sleep in because Rob would get up and do the 4 AM feeding with his mom-I of course jumped on the chance to sleep as late as I wanted. We were able to go out on a date while Mimi had a date with Grayson. Rob and I went to Pot Pie and I enjoyed my first glass of wine-we got to be adults for a few hours!

We took Grayson for his follow-up visit to the doctor last Wednesday. She was very impressed how well he was doing. He had gained almost 1 pound in 5 days! It's amazing how much weight they'll gain when you feed them the amount you're supposed to-the nurses at the hospital really didn't know what they were talking about. Any way-since he was looking so great-we are now able to cut out his 1:00 AM feeding! Yahoo! So now I do the 10 PM feeding and Rob does the 4 AM feeding. So we each are able to get about 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep (on a good night). His jaundice is totally gone-he's about ready to lose his little belly button stump-and he's just still as cute as can be. He has had so many visitors come over and love all over him. It's fantastic.

So we just hang out during the day-waiting for daddy to come home. Only a few more weeks until we can go out in public with him. The dr. says not until he's 6 weeks due to the RSV being so out of control so we just hang out and snuggle. He's already growing out of some of his clothes-so I guess let's start the garage sale pile! Here's some more pictures of the little guy...

He loves to sleep on his belly-we so wish he could sleep like this at night!

Our little thinker...

Trying to sit up like a big boyGrayson also had his first photo shoot last week. Not sure if this link will work or not-but it's worth a shot http://www.bassettphotography.com/shop/gallery.php?dir=family2&name=Family

Try it-and if it doesn't work-and you really want to know how to see the pics-let me know and I'll post the directions. I'll try and take some more pictures of the little man and post them soon! Have a great week!

A Quick Update...

So we have been home for almost a week now-and wow-our lives have completley changed. You would think that being pregnant for 10 months would prepare you for what you are stepping into--wrong. It's been trial and error with the little guy. Rob and I are learning how to function on a few hours of sleep a night-trying to stick to a feeding schedule-and keep ourselves some what rested. I've been trying to get out of the house once a day to help keep me feeling normal.

We had his first dr. appointment last Friday-everything went good-they said that we needed to feed him some more. It's interesting that the hospital and the pediatrician tell you two different things. Very confusing. So until he resumes back to his birth weight we are to be feeding the little guy every 3 hours. So sometimes he wants to eat lots-and sometimes not so much. He's sleeping really well-we mostly have to wake him up in the middle of the night to feed him. We go back to the dr. tomorrow to check his weight to make sure that he has gained back his 6 oz that he lost. I told him that he could borrow some weight from his momma...

His Mimi (Donna) is coming today-and we are so excited to see her! Rob can't wait to show Grayson off to her.

So here are a few pictures of the little guy since we came home. He had his first photo shoot yesterday-so the announcement cards should be done in a few weeks. Hope all is well with everyone!

The Story of Baby Gray

I know you have all been waiting for this...the story of how Baby Grayson joined our world!

On Sunday-Feb 15 Rob and I went to check into Shawnee Mission Medical Center around 8 PM. We of course were scared out of our minds--I had already cried once that day. They got us situated in our room and around 9:00 Nurse Maggie came in and started the Cervedil-to help ripen my cervix. About 3:15 AM my water broke on it's own--and it was off to the races! At around 4:00 AM the contractions started coming about every 5 mins. It was really weird-we could clock them. Dr. Piquard came in about 8:15 expecting to break my water-but was very happy to see that I didn't need it. She came in during one of the major contractions-and of course I was crying. She asked if I wanted my epidural yet-she said that being dilated to a 4 was not too early to get one. So I said bring it on! By this time our family was there-helping Rob and I get through the contractions. Then my saving grace came--the epidural. It was amazing. Once I had it-I didn't even realize when I was having contractions--I was just chatting away with everyone.

Nurse Joann checked me at about 12:00 and I was dilated to a 9-we were moving right along! Then around 1:30 it was go time! Dilated to a 10-ready to go! Everyone left the room but Rob and Nurse Joann. Everything was being brought in-the tanning lights-his little cradle-and then I started crying again. Dr. Piquard hadn't arrived yet-but Baby Grayson wasn't waiting. Started pushing-which if you haven't done it-it's really exhausting-and all I wanted to do was sleep and eat something. When Dr. P came in-she walked in and started talking-"Hey Kiddo--whoa--ok we are ready!" I think she was there for maybe 5 minutes before he came out. I only pushed for about 45 minutes--and then 2:49 PM here comes a perfect 8 lb 6 oz 19 1/2 inches long baby boy! Rob was crying--I was still so out of it-I didn't know what was going on. But all of a sudden I had a baby boy on my stomach-and then he was in Rob's arms! 10 fingers 10 toes everything was perfect! I just laid there and I have no idea if I was awake or not-that epidural was amazing! Plus it was great when they kept coming back to give me higher dosages-which was fantastic!

So Rob went with Grayson to the nursery to watch them do everything-bath him-give him some shots, etc. The family all stood outside the nursery and looked at him through the window. During this time I was being all cleaned up and taken care of. Then he was able to come back to his momma and the family came in. The first thing I wanted was McDonald's-Yum! I hadn't eaten since Sunday night-and it was probably about 3:30 at this time. So I got my McDonald's-and then we had lots of visitors. Probably around 6:00 they moved us from the delivery room into the room we would be staying in. I try to remember the ride to the next room, etc. but I really can't. All I remember is that I tried to walk-and my legs were totally numb.

The first night in the room-we kept Grayson for a little bit-but then our fabulous Nurse-Sherry-suggested that maybe she take him to the nursery because he had a little mucus in his nose that they needed to get out--we really think she saw how exhausted we were and wanted us to sleep-I was still on some major drugs-and Rob was going on about only 2 hours of rest. So we racked out-then she kept coming in every 2 hours to help with feeding him. On Tuesday his pediatrician-Dr Nelson came and checked him out-and mentioned how cute his face is-which of course it is! Everything was perfect for him. Had lots more visitors on Tuesday-then Tuesday night had Nurse Sherry again-and she mentioned again that maybe we should take him to the nursery since we wouldn't be able to probably get a good night's rest for awhile after we left. So around 11:30 PM he went back to his friends-and we passed out again.

Came home yesterday afternoon-mom's been here to help with whatever-which is fantastic. Last night was let's say...pretty good for 2 people that have never had a 2 day old baby to take care of. He slept mostly through the night-momma didn't--daddy did a little-but that's about it. I figured out that in order to get him to sleep-I needed to put my finger in his hand over the Pack N Play so he could hold onto it-and he was fine.

Today he is having some pictures taken around 2 PM-so that should be fun. What every baby needs--a professional photo shoot! Here are a few more photos of the little guy that Aunt Sara took at the hospital. Of course we have tons more-I just have to download them. Enjoy!

He's Here!

Yup folks-that's right! Grayson John Swindle arrived on February 16 at 2:49 PM 8 lbs 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. More to come about it all later-but here's what everyone has been waiting for...pictures!

First here is what I looked like at 40 weeks-the day that we went into the hospital.

And here are some great pictures of the most handsome baby in the world.

We'll post lots more when we get home-little busy here in the hospital!
-Rob, Leah and Grayson