tyler + leah

We attended my co-worker's wedding this weekend, here's a little fun from the photo booth :) Congrats to Tyler and Leah!

The design was on her invite, program, etc, thought it was super cool that it also printed out on the photo booth images. The wedding was full of super cute details!

more Heffernan reunion

Here are a few shots from the official reunion photographer.

Connor wouldn't let the cone out of his sight.

Terrible, or maybe it's just me, well and Connor might be picking his nose. Grayson was screaming his head off and I had no idea when the photo was going to be taken, but here we are :)

Needless to say this will not be making it on any Christmas card.

My dad and his sister, Mary, serving up the pork.

My aunt Mary and her cousin (I think) Kitty, organizers of the event. Great work!

The pork :)

Sunday Funday

We had a great Father's Day this past Sunday, hopefully Bryan thinks the same :) Started out with Bryan and Aaron taking their Dad and friend, Fred, golfing. Connor joined them for the last 8 holes. Then lunch with the Bodes and Froehlichs at Aaron's. The boys and I left Bryan there as he was napping (probably his favorite Father's Day present of the day :)) and when he came home we swam in the pool a little bit, ate supper, drove around (kind of our family thing) and stopped at Spring Lake Park.

 

 

Grayson chilling 'in' the pool. He liked it, I just wish this chair would have been lower so he could have actually sat in the water. I got tired of holding him up :)

I just liked his expression here. He was watching Connor throw buckets of water onto the patio.

 my boys

Grayson probably sat in here for over 20 minutes, he loved it, and loved the wind :)

Heffernan Family Reunion

 This past Saturday we had the Heffernan (my Dad's Mom's side) Family Reunion at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis. Although it was a little overcast, and it rained at one point (poured), it was a nice day (I hate being hot :)). We brought two ATV's to transport people and their coolers to the park's pavilion as it sat on a big hill, so you can imagine the fun Connor had. There was a photographer there taking photos as well and we attempted some family photos, but it was muggy, the kids were sweaty and there wasn't a mirror in the place...so who knows how those will turn out :)

I think equipment follows this kid around. Of course there was a packer right outside of the pavilion. (Connor even knows it was a smooth drum packer)

Kaelyn being all serious.

 

 Playing in the puddles from the rain.

The only bummer of the day was as we were getting ready to leave, someone noticed that 4-5 cars (from people at our reunion) that parked on the street had been broken into. Windows smashed in, ipads stolen, etc. Crappy way to end a family reunion, that's for sure. Our three cars from our family were parked immediately across the street from the cars that had been broken into, very thankful we lucked out.

morning face

I snapped a few pics of Grayson the other morning, of course trying to capture a smile. At the time...you had to work pretty hard for them. As I type this post a few days later, he's all of a sudden way more smiley which is much more fun so hopefully I capture that pretty soon :)

  

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, these boys couldn't ask for a better dad. Love you!

sleepover

My parents volunteered to do a sleepover at their house with Connor and Ashlyn. It's their second time doing this, so I no longer feel bad for them having to deal with two busy toddlers :) They of course had a great time and I'm sure are looking forward to the next one :)

Dinner on the patio, can't beat hot dogs over the fire!

 

stoking the fire

 my father's dream...kids that willingly pick up sticks

the new bed mom and I put together for the kids, love it!

little green dinosaur

Starting this past Saturday at my mom's, Connor has been talking about a little green dinosaur that was in our house that 'got' him, and at the same time it was raining, in our house.

Sunday: I met my mom and picked Connor up from his sleepover at their house with Ashlyn (post coming soon) and he fell asleep in the car (actually he was asleep when I picked him up and we successfully transferred him to my car, in his car seat, as one unit, to my car without him even flinching). So I let him sleep in the car (car off, doors open obviously). When he woke up, and I'd say he was 15% awake, he asks me, "Did Grandma tell you about the little green dinosaur in our house?" That might have been all I got until later that night before bed he brought it up again, asking if we let the dinosaur in our house, we reassured him no, we don't let dinosaurs in our house to which he replied, "yeah mom, it was in our house, and it was raining." I wish I had him on tape, because he's like 100% serious when talking about this dinosaur.

Monday: We're getting ready in the morning and he told me again about this dinosaur that was in our house, and that it was raining. I asked him if we got wet, he said no, I asked if we had umbrellas, he said no. Um, okay. I called my mom that night and she said he had talked about it a ton at her house, too. Mom thought we were using it as a threat or something (we're not THAT mean) and was just as confused as I was.

Tuesday: We're walking into the living room and he stops in the kitchen and goes, "See mom, the floor is green!" I am like, um, what? "The floor is green, from the dinosaur." Again, 100% serious. On our way out to the car he stops, "See, there are his tracks!" Is this normal?!

Wednesday: Again, getting ready in the morning, tells me about the dinosaur in our house. However this time he tells me that he hid from the dinosaur so he couldn't get him. I asked if the dinosaur was a mean one, and he said, "No, but he's not my friend.". On the way to school he asked where the dinosaur lived and I replied with really far away, etc., to which he asked which house he lives in. I told him he lives in Africa which is REALLY REALLY far away.

Trust me, no matter how much we reassure him that we don't let dinosaurs into our house, he just is so serious. He doesn't act scared or anything, just like he can't believe we haven't seen the dinosaur ourselves and haven't noticed that it rained in our house........

Grayson's first day

Today was Grayson's first day of school and I think it went pretty well. He was sleeping when I dropped him off so hopefully he wasn't TOO sad when he woke up in a strange place and with strange faces. They said he did really well, he was crying when I picked him up, but he settled down while we went to go get Connor from outside. He ate well and slept well, can't ask for too much more than that.

Looking studly.

He was not in the mood for photos, a few minutes prior to taking this photo Connor slammed his foot down onto his hand (pretty sure intentionally...) so once we got him calmed down, he was still in no mood to smile. Hopefully he was a charmer at school at least :)

staying cool

I went and bought a little pool for Connor the other day when it was over 100 degrees and he had a blast. I just bought a cheap 'pop-up' one as I didn't feel like blowing one up, worked out pretty well and took like 2 seconds to get it up. (well, longer than that to fill it of course)

 

jump!

mall of america

On Sunday we ventured up to the cities to take Connor to the Nickelodeon Universe park at Mall of America. I wasn't sure how many rides he could or would want to go on, but at least he knew all of the characters. He went swinging with the Backyardigans, flying with the Wonder Pets, on a bud adventure with Diego and more. We even saw a real live Dora...but of course he refused to pose with her :) The mall and park were deserted (it was beautiful outside) so therefore there were absolutely no lines, it was great! Connor is very excited to go back, and will quickly tell you what rides he didn't like, ha.

Grayson did great, chilled out in the stroller the whole day. I promise that I finally filed his nails instead of just trying to cut them. Hopefully we'll avoid additional injuries to his little face :(

The log ride. This would be on Connor's list of rides he doesn't need to do again...I found it hilarious. I absolutely should have purchased the pro photo of them coming down the final hill...the look of sheer fear on Connor's face was pretty priceless. I'm so cruel.

Shocker, he LOVED this one.

 Bryan and I were both shocked he wanted to go on this one. We watched the batch of kids ahead of us do it, and he still said he wanted to go. It's one of those where you lift up, then bounce yourself down, little free falls in a way. I don't think I would have even liked it...he didn't either, but he kept the tears away! We were proud that he tried it :)

Had to do the big rigs a few times.

We'll definitely be back, and once he grows about 2 more inches, there are a few other rides he'll be able to go on.

Grayson: Twelve Weeks

Grayson is 12 weeks old today. Yes, I can say the standard things about it goes too fast, they change so much, but, it's been a really good 12 weeks. The weather has sucked, from rain to gale force winds to now 100 degree heat, but, it's been good. I probably worked too much, and not even that I worked that much, but, hard to stay away.  I go back to work on Monday and however much I'll be sad, Grayson has semi-become a little mama's boy so I think he'll be sad too, I know he'll be fine and they'll be much better at tummy time than I have been, ha. And, I'm ready to get back into it. Little worried how our mornings will go to get everyone out the door in a timely fashion but we'll figure it out. So, a little bit about Grayson these days...

-eats his hands and fists like there is no tomorrow. I guess I'm thankful he hasn't found his thumb?
-While eating his hand and laying on the floor, he rolls over onto his side (well his upper body is on his side), arching his back. I don't know why, but I think it's cute. And he's generally talking up a storm while eating his little chubby wrist.
-Speaking of talking, definitely getting more vocal, which is fun
-Nicknames still consist of Chunga, and of course all the standard ones like peanut, buddy, etc. Connor will repeat what we call him, but on his own he calls him "bud" and always "hey, bud!". "Hey bud, you want to look at this dump truck?", "Hey bud, you want your milk?"
-is hungry. I think he eats around 30-35 ounces a day, something like that. And I really only know that because I pump about 45-50 in a day, and freeze anywhere from 15-20 daily.
-Speaking of pumping, I hate it, but I do it. I'll have about 250-270 bags stored by Monday when I go back to work, and I'll keep at it, but not sure I'll last as long as I did with Connor (7.5 months). Obviously the ultimate goal is to never have to buy formula, but probably not going to happen.
-only real fussy times are if he gets overtired, which we obviously try and avoid
-loves hanging out in his bouncy chair, generally sucking on his wrist
-doesn't love the nuk, which we are 90% on board with, but there is that 10% that sometimes it'd be really handy if he liked it, not going to lie.
-cradle cap is way under control. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions. We've been using Cetaphil (sp?) body wash on his scalp and brushing with a baby brush.
-I think his face itches like crazy. I try and apply lotion a few times a day, but he is constantly rubbing at his face or when you're holding him on your shoulder he leans in and does a full facial itch into us. At least I finally started filing his nails, hopefully the cutting decreases.
-wearing 6 month clothes. I had been trying to stretch his 3 month clothes (probably quite literally) so he could wear them a few more times, then I go to an outfit I'd been saving, or something, only to find out it doesn't fit, or really could only get one wear out of it. So, we're comfortable in 6 months clothes right now and I must say he looks a little less like a stuffed sausage. Ha.
-rocking the chubby baby look. I did notice his white onesie he was wearing yesterday had a little blood around the neck which means the skin in his neck folds is getting very sore :( So, we're going to try a few things and obviously be more diligent about keeping it clean and dry. Any suggestions on what would work best to heal it up are welcome!
-is an okay sleeper. And, he's probably a pretty good sleeper, but by this time Connor was sleeping through the night. I think the biggest difference between the two is Connor was a night owl (still is) and Grayson would be content going to sleep at 8, which is fine, but that means he's up anywhere between 4 and 8 hours later. Not very consistent this little man.
-has toxic poop. Meaning, I swear every outfit he poops on, I literally have to soak in oxi-clean, scrub with shout, spray with stain remover and then wash, at least two times. No lie. I honestly think Connor had like two blow outs (I'm sure I'm blocking this out...) and I don't remember it being this difficult to get out.

Okay that got a little long for a little man so young and that really doesn't do anything... :) But, we love him oh so much and I'm trying to capture the memories, to be overly cliche.

Oh, and I finally got around to posting his birth story, I just back dated it so it would be in the right order for the most part. Not that many of you care, but I'm sure some of you will read :)

it's official...the nuk is dead.

I've been waiting to post this, in fear of jinxing us, but I think it's been well over a week now with no nuk. We went to the dentist early last week (or maybe two weeks ago?) and his bite is a little out on control, all due to the nuk. So hopefully, everything will shift back in place before his permanent teeth come in, which the doctor was pretty positive it would, but just stressed we needed to ditch the thing soon. So, we talked about a nuk fairy coming, but a few days after the appointment, he had had a bad day in terms of #2 accidents so I told him I had to take it away. He sadly looked at me and just said, "okay, mom." I was of course shocked, expecting a massive meltdown. He DOES ask for it now and again, saying if he poops on the toilet can he have his nuk back, which, I wrongly tell him yes, he can have it back if he doesn't have ANY accidents. Sadly, this just doesn't happen, so I knew it was safe to tell him that. Obviously we're desperate to get to a day with no accidents, but, it was good to get rid of the nuk.

Obviously we've cut his hair since this photo :)

boat ride

We took a quick trip out to the lake after church on Saturday for a spin around the lake. It was a beautiful night and the boys had a great time, well Grayson slept or ate the entire time, but I'm sure he thinks that qualifies as a good time :)