Thanksgiving

We were very thankful to have a visit from Grandpa and Nana this Thanksgiving!  Grady loved spending time with gram-pa and nana, and has been asking after them since they left very early this morning. 

The timing of the visit was both fortuitous and unfortunate, because Matt and I were pressed to make lots of decisions on kitchen cabinets for the remodel by Sunday, which meant a lot of time (like 9 hours or so over two days) at Ikea.  The first day we were able to convince Dotty to come with us; the second day it was all us.  It did give Grady a chance to spend some quality time with the OGs (older generation), and allowed Matt and I to avoid the inevitable (taken from previous Ikea trips) -

Matt and I made it under the wire, and the cabinets have been ordered.  Now we hold our collective breath and hope they actually fit.

The rest of the week was lovely.  For Thanksgiving day we had Grandpa, Nana, my business partner/friend Tabitha, and her husband Casey and 3-year-old Marshall over.  We had plen-ty of food - two kinds of stuffing, a 16 pound turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, 3 kinds of veggies, salad, two pies....  Luckily most things could be made or at least prepped in advance, so the actual day was pretty calm.  Of course, I forgot to take any pictures.  Everything was delicious, but we are still working through it all!  Matt has about 3 gallons of turkey soup to get through.

We didn't actually do any outings together, now that I'm thinking back.  But there was a lot of Grady hamming it up, flirting with his grandparents, talking about cars and trucks, running around, and eating.  All in all, a pretty great Thanksgiving!  Here are some shots, courtesy of Dotty, of the visit.

Pour!  Kept Grady occupied and cleaned the floor while working on Thanksgiving dinner.  Aim's a bit off in this picture!

Flirting with the camera

Grady LOVES Grandpa!

Hmm, not sure how this one came about.  I turn my back for one minute!

Grady in his beautiful new coat from Peru, courtesy of the grandparents

As usual, we were pretty spoiled by Dad and Dotty.  If only we could sell them on moving to Portland....  Grady's already counting down the days to Christmas.  Well, "Three.  One.  Two." Close enough.

I also have some initial shots from a photo shoot Matt, Grady, and I were able to do with PDX Kids Calendar with Power Blue Photography.

I think they came out great and can't wait to see the whole set! 

A few other random odds and ends from the week before.

Here's Grady getting his first measurement on his growth chart.  Closing in on 3 feet that one!

And here's Grady getting messy eating some oatmeal.  His pants were even worse off.

As we were leaving for school this morning, Grady declared he wanted to "bring cat toys."  He was able to get I think seven of them in his hands!  Here he is with his loot.

Once in the car he kept saying "more cat toys!"

Baby girl Wilkinson has started to really make her presence known.  Lots and lots of wiggles and kicks, and pretty much all over the place.  We're also taking name suggestions - Walterina has been nixed (sorry, Dad) but we're happy to hear suggestions.  Most of our favorites are two syllables ending in"A."  It felt like her arrival was very far off for a long time, and now all of a sudden it seems like there's not much time left!  Only 3 months or so to go - unless she arrives as late as her brother, then closer to 4. 

Welcome home, Daddy!

Matt's been gone since Sunday in NYC for a visit back to work.  Grady and I have managed okay, but we sure can't wait for him to come back later tonight!  Grady doesn't understand the concept of "New York" but he does understand the concept of planes.  So when I ask where daddy is, he'll say "Daddy plane!"  Sometimes when I ask who's on the plane, he'll say "Daddy!  Ciff?"  He still remembers an loves his Uncle Cliff!

I didn't take many pictures this week, but here are a few random shots -

Grady trying on the new hat I made for him, and me forcing him into a sweater vest that no longer fits

All dressed up for my co-worker's baby shower - we had to wake him from his nap for it in case you're wondering why the stink face

"Daddy shoes?"

They fit pretty well this way!

The biggest development for Grady this week has been working on his sentences.  I missed his biggest one - it was at daycare - but he said "I read monkey book?"  He's consistently getting 3 word "sentences" out - "more cracker please," "read truck book," "party on top" (he likes to dance on top of boxes)....  I know all kids go through this, but it just seems miraculous how much he is picking up every day.

Although I didn't take a lot of photos, I do have a bunch of videos to share.  (Sorry about all my singing in these.)

A few weeks ago, Matt was singing the Smokey the Bear song.  Grady started requesting that it be "Daddy bear" instead of Smokey.  It takes some (extremely subtle) coaxing here, but the payoff is worth it. 

For some reason, he can only say "Daddy bear" as if possessed. This next one is a demonstration of how Grady has inherited his mommy's gift of patience.

He just hates those pauses in songs!

And a video of Grady playing with Besa.

This video is mainly for Peggy.  One of Matt's favorite recipe is spinach strata.  It's basically white bread, spinach, cheese, and some other stuff.  His mom sent me the recipe, and suggested that Grady might like to help rip up the bread.  It took him a while to get it, but he eventually did...

after consuming half of it!

In other news, progress on the house continues.  Here are a few shots of the progress so far.  Still mostly tearing down, but you can see the structure of the new bedroom and the progress made on the kitchen side of the house.

Baby girl Wilkinson seems to be doing well.  I've been feeling her move for a while now, but a few days ago her movements became much more constant.  It's reassuring to feel her moving around in there.  I'm measuring about a week and a half ahead (and my belly seems to be measuring even further ahead than that!), and I can tell.  She is strong!  Only four months to go.  Crazy how fast it's going.