this house

Jeremy, Grant and I took advantage of being only 2 1/2 hours away from Tulsa (in Springfield) so we went over on Saturday to see some great friends. We spent most of the day with Joey, Cristin and Harrison Odom (who is four months old but quickly catching up with our 8-month old in size!) and then had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with the Odoms, the Pinnells and their two adorable kids, and Nate Cook. It was so much fun and great seeing such wonderful friends.

is this not the cutest picture you have ever seen? My sister has an eye, a great camera, and a cute nephew. :)

Grant misses Daddy - can't wait to see you tomorrow!!

Jeremy is in Kansas City this week for some work training (I got to be there with him for the first couple days while Grant spent some quality time at Grammie and Papa's house in Springfield.) Now I am back in Springfield and here are a few pics of what we've been up to:

SWINGING IN THE BASEMENT AND PLAYTIME WITH PAPA


POOPED OUT AFTER A LONG DAY OF ERRANDS AND SHOPPING.

On Friday night the three of us went to Firebirds for dinner to use my birthday coupon! :) Jeremy and I shared the buffalo meatloaf (something I've always wanted to try ever since our friends Cristin and Joey ordered it when they came to visit a couple years ago) and it was really good!

Our MOPS group had a playdate on Wednesday and here are just a few of the kids who were there...the rest were playing indoors. As you can see, I'm trying to get Grant around other children more often in hopes that his attention span might be stretched a little bit!

Every Tuesday after 2 p.m. the Memphis Zoo has free admission (a $13 savings!) so Grant and I met four other moms and their little ones there to walk around. We especially liked the "Grant's Zebras." That's really what they are called! (see a picture below of the sign). Grant liked the zoo for the first few minutes, but then he got whiny as usual when any activity lasts more than 10 minutes. His attention span really is extremely short.

It's been a LONG afternoon with Grant...for some reason or another his naps have been way too short and he wakes up cranky. I let him talk, fuss and carry on in his crib for up to an hour and I finally get him up because it's time to eat anyway. I was getting very discouraged about this but then I read my friend Jen's blog who has four boys and her oldest is in fourth grade and is running for student government. She just couldn't believe he is old enough to do that, and was recalling the precious day he was born when they placed him in her arms....I cried reading about it, and am tearing up right now. No matter how challenging or frustrating it can be at times, motherhood is by far the best occupation in the universe. I love how Grant gives me "kisses" (a.k.a. eating my face) and just lights up when he sees me or Jeremy first thing in the morning. I want him to stay my baby forever (but I am also VERY excited for his next milestones and think more independence will be good for both of us)!

Anyway, I was going to write a blog asking for advice on how to help a 7-month old have a better schedule but then I realized that he truly is on a great schedule most days, this was just a bad day. So instead I'm writing this to go on record that I will do my best to cherish each day and stage with my son (and all future children, the Lord willing) instead of complaining about the annoyances that accompany them.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon with our awesome friends, Brandon, Kelli and Maddie. Kelli is a native Iowan so we all got together at their house to watch the Iowa/Iowa State game and eat pizza. Their daughter, Maddie, is 15 months and super cute. We can't wait for Grant to be able to do some of the things she does (like walk, etc) :)
(click on the picture to enlarge and read bubbles)