Bigger and Better Things

Lately we've made a few purchases that have made our lives feel a little more complete. One being a new camera!  It's nothing special, very basic (so I can use it) but I'm hoping it'll get the job done better than my poor iPod, which has been overloaded with pics since my old camera broke. As time keeps going by, we feel like we have a lot of great things to look forward to and plan.

I feel like being without a camera has made me miss so much, especially since Grant (and all of us really) are changing so much right now!

Grant is talking like CRAZY!! Mike and I were talking today about how we feel like we can just talk to him like an adult now and he gets it (for the most part).

I'm actually posting this from my iPod and having some trouble uploading the pictures so here's the stories first, then the pictures.

Some of my favorite current quotes/stories from Grant:

*When he's working with Mike, he calls him "Mighty", which is either a cross between "Mike" and "Daddy" or he's heard someone call Mike "Mikey" and he's trying to repeat it. Either way, it's super cute to hear him call his dad "Mighty".

*Whenever we go somewhere, he wants the whole family involved. Yesterday he and Mike set out for a walk and he stalled to tell me "Tome on Ash!". Then, "Tome on Tat (cat)!".

*He calls us "Mike" and "Ash". I'm still trying to figure out why. And why sometimes he'll call us "Mom" and "Dad".

*He refers to my stomach as "Baby" and "Sitter (sister)". He also knows that the picture of the ultrasound is a baby and that an actual baby is a baby. I wonder how much he's actually put that all together!

*If he finds something he's looking for he exclaims "Oh! Dere it is!"

*After the "Circle of Life" on the Lion King, when the title flashes and the big bass drum hits, Grant always shouts "BOOM!" along with it.

*He LOVES apples! And recently "chitten (chicken)". 

*A few weeks ago, he was very frustratingly telling me he wanted "chotat". I had NO IDEA what he was trying to say! I finally asked him if he could show me what he wanted and he pointed to a tiny something on the ground and yelled "CHOTAT!". It was that little paper strip that comes out of the top of a Hershey Kiss...he wanted chocolate.

*I know most kids do this at some point but when he wants to be picked up or hugged, he reaches out and says "Hold ya? Hold ya?". I LOVE it!

*He knows "Wed, dween, bwue and oranche colors".

*He says "elephant" as "elphadent" and exclaims it everytime he sees something that resembles a trunk.

*He loves to talk on the phone. One of the first people he actually called was Mike's sister Emily. Now everytime he picks up the phone he says very official-like "Hallo Emaly, Halo". Like he's saying "Yes, I've been waiting for your call".

*He LOVES his daddy. He always wants to be involved in whatever Mike's doing and always asks for him when Mike's at work. The other day, I hugged him goodbye and told him I had to go to work and he followed me to the car and said "I doe to wert too!". It breaks my heart to leave him!!

*We heard "Wild Thing" on the radio the other night and were all jammin' out to it. My sister Celina (he calls her "Souw" for Sal) was in the back with Grant and he kept telling her "Stop Souw!" while she was dancing. Finally she asked him "Well what do you want me to do?". Without hesitating, he pointed his finger at her and yelled "DANCE!".

There are SO many more but I've already probably bored everyone to death. I just don't want to forget this stuff!  It's going by too fast!

Getting wood.

Getting dirty.

Getting clean.
What, you don't eat apples in the tub?

First puddle experience.

Success!

Crawdad fishing.

The Lion King!

Grant showin' some swag...while watching The Lion King.

A gift for our little girl!! Thank you Tracy!!

If you're still reading this, you may care enough to know what Mike and I have been up to. Mike just started a new job at Little Colorado Behavioral Health and is working full-time. He's working in the field he got his Bachelor's Degree in and it's making him seriously consider getting his Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy. He'll be applying to a select programs at the end of this year and we'll see how life changes from there! :)

I'm still working full-time, at least until the baby's born. We already pretty much paid the whole deductible on my insurance with a few initial tests right when I got pregnant so it seems like the most sensible thing to do for now. My sister Celina has been helping out A TON and made it so I can still get some sleep without having to worry about running Grant back and forth to a babysitter. I'm getting fatter and more tired by the day and hoping/keep telling myself I can make it another month and a half!

We're both excited/nervous/scared/clueless about what to do to get ready for this little girl!  We still haven't decided on a name yet (Ah!) and have a few big house projects to do before she gets here! My mom, sister and I have been working on some projects for her room and I've already received a few gifts for her and with D-Day getting closer and closer, they all combine to remind us this is real and make us SO excited and grateful!!