Busy Body

I haven't posted for awhile. But it hasn't been because of a lack of haps for the Sweet Baby Grey. In fact, he's been quite busy.

Aunt Jessie was here! He's reading to Papa!

He's holding rattles!

He sits in the Bumbo!

He's wearing Opa's clothes! He's hanging with the dudes!
He's a Hollywood STAR!

Smiles

I put Greysen on our rocking chair upstairs looking like a big boy. And then I sat in front of him to have a talk. He turned into Smiley McGee immediately. Here's a series of happy pics:

Poison (NOT the 80's Hair-Band)

Yesterday, I returned with Greysen from Kimmy's house for breakfast (and lunch, as it turns out). I pulled up and next door was parked a Nutri-Green truck with a loud generator running. I looked down into my yard and there was a man clad in a white lab-looking coat and a mask spraying a liquid substance into the trees right next to our yard which is right next to our house which had all the windows open because it was the FIRST NICE DAY OF THE YEAR!

As an aside, our house is situated in an area of Helena that is threatened each year by the pine bark beetle infestation. Our street borders the forest and if we don't do something about it, we could have all of our pine trees (11 in ours) dead in one season. As such, we purchase packets of verbione that are supposed to keep pine bark beetle at bay annually. They are an alternative to spraying that is non-toxic, natural and won't cause our children to be born with two heads. Our neighborhood has banded together and purchased these packets so that they are cheaper and then we all know that we are doing what we can to keep pine bark beetles from getting onto Strawberry Drive.

Except my neighbor. The neighbor that didn't bother to walk the 25 feet to my door and talk to me isntead of calling animal control when he had a problem with my dogs running through his yard the 1.2 times they did it over the course of 2 years living there. Also, the same neighbor who throws dog poop into our yard when he KNOWS it's not our dogs over there pooping because we've TOLD HIM that it's not our dogs but the neighbors dogs who we've witnessed pooping there. Oh and also the neighbor who snowblows his driveway right up to the INCH next to ours WHILE I WAS OUT THERE shoveling with a HUGE pregnant belly and an absent husband. Yeah, that neighbor.

So, that neighbor decided ON A SUNDAY, ON the ONE nicest day of the year so far, to have the most toxic variety of treatment, RIGHT NEXT to my house, WHERE I have a 3-month old baby who presently happens to have a respiratory cold. This was the first I knew about the spraying because, per usual, my neighbor couldn't walk the 25 feet next door to pay me the courtesy to tell me that we will have toxic substance spraying into our windows that are WIDE OPEN BECAUSE IT'S NICE OUTSIDE!

You can imagine how mad I was; livid, probably. So I marched right up to the white lab-coated fella and YELLED (because the generator was LOUD): I LIVE RIGHT HERE AND HAVE A THREE-MONTH OLD BABY WHO IS SICK RIGHT NOW. DO I ALSO HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT HIM BEING POISONED? That's paraphrasing though cuz I really can't remember exactly what I said through my anger. I also mentioned something to him, in response to his assurance that the substance is natural, that arsenic is natural too. And I also mentioned something like the fact that it would have been nice to be TOLD about this before I had to come home and get sprayed with it. Just paraphrasing though... But I do recall being loud enough for my whole neighborhood to hear me. AND CERTAINLY loud enough for my neighbor to hear me. BUT I would BET that he wasn't in his house because he wouldn't want to be there when a toxic substance is being applied to his trees right outside his window.

I have kept my eye open for my neighbor's appearance outside all weekend because I will have a word with him. I wouldn't want to walk the 25 feet to my neighbors door to talk to him because apparently it's something one would NOT want to do in ANY circumstance.

Tummy Time

I wish I could post for you the video with Greysen protesting his tummy time. But it told me it couldn't post the video after trying for 20 mins. Regardless, here he is successfully holding up his head but yelling at me at the same time. So cute.

Ladies Man!

On Sunday we had breakfast at AVD's house with the ladies. Even Adrienne Mabel was there to entertain us. It is so much fun to see how a little almost-two-year-old acts now and think about how Greysen might be at that age. I have a feeling Greysen will take after his Papa and love the older ladies. Watch out Adrienne Mabel, you are quite the cutie!

BFF Bennett

Greysen had his BFF Bennett over for dinner last week. They played on the couch with the music makers and then on the floor with the caterpillar. They even told baby secrets that none of us could understand. I have a feeling Greysen and Bennett will be getting into a lot of trouble together.

GTV

Greysen has developed quite a fan club. I am, admittedly, the president of his fan club as I have, on many occasions, watched him sleep. And I would bet his fan club would agree it's a desireable pasttime. So, I've started to call it GTV. The storyline is not too thick, the plot is really not that exciting, and the only redeeming quality is the starring actor. But when he's as cute as the starring role in GTV, you can watch him do just about anything ... including sleep. I think it's kinda like watching a Matthew McConaghey movie.

Missing Papa/Hubs

Greysen and I are missing Papa/Hubs lately. He had to be in the field for almost a month and we're about 1.5 weeks in. Luckily though, we have Skype. On more than one occasion, when Greysen has been a bit fussy, I've put Greysen's face up to the computer while Andrew was on and he smiles his big whole face smile that we love. We even play the NOSE, CHEEKS, CHIN game where we touch his nose, cheeks, chin and say the words in a high pitched voice and he loves it. I touch his face and Andrew makes the noise. Somehow I feel like he remembers Andrew doing this when he was home.

I think the most heartbreaking thing about Andrew being gone is the look on Andrew's face when he sees Greysen through the computer. He wants so desparately to connect with him and see his every movement and expression and not miss a thing. But he also knows that's not possible. He's been very interested in knowing every detail about the things Greysen does throughout the days.

Luckily the weather seems to be clearing a bit in the next couple days. It'll help us be able to do some things outside and do some new things to pass the days. And before we know it, he'll be home. But until then, I miss you Hubs.

SLEEP!

I'm afraid to even post this for fear it'll jinx me ... but here goes. GREYSEN SLEPT FOR SEVEN AND A HALF STRAIGHT HOURS LAST NIGHT. I am thinking it's a fluke. And I'm perfectly happy with 5 straight hours so I'm trying to tell myself that it's okay if it doesn't happen again. But I can't help but be ELATED about the possiblities of a near future with more sleep. Truth be told, I slept only 6 of those hours since I woke up convinced that he wasn't breathing. I eventually had to stir him (I EVEN STIRRED HIM) so he'd move and convince me that he was breathing. But by that time I was already playing in my head whether I would dial 911 or just take him screeching to the ER. So when he moved and I was convinced that he was breathing, I then worried about the schedule and how it was going to work with going to the nanny. Totally irrational and stupid, but this is what I do when I'm trying to sabotage my own sleeping potential. So, then he woke up.

But did I mention that I slept for SIX straight hours? This is an exciting new development in the live and times of Greysen's sleeping habits. So, I'm fully expecting that tonight it'll be back to my 4.5 or 5 hours of sleep just because I got so excited and wrote this post. But if it happens again tonight, you WON'T HEAR about it.

Letter to my son...

Dear Sweet Baby Grey,

Today I went back to work. We've had many blissful, and sometimes tiring, weeks with together and today signifies a change for us. I want you to know that I'm happy about going back to work. I feel a sense of purpose in my work, I build relationships there, and I exercise my mind; all important things to have a well-rounded life. However, I've never had such a beautiful 10 weeks as those I spent with you. We woke up together, slept (minimally) together, played together, and watched life pass by peacefully together. Our days consisted of talking, laughter, smiles, coos, squeals and happiness. I've learned your sounds and looks, your happy, your sad, your in-between. All of them I love like you will never know until you have a child of your own. I feel lucky to have gotten 10 uninterrupted weeks with you; something I may never have the opportunity to have again.

But this new chapter in our lives together will be a good one. You get to spend time with other children, learning from them. You get to spend time with your Aunt Cassie and get to know her better. And you will grow from this experience in a way that I can't provide you alone. So, I will be happy to know that you too will build relationships, exercise your mind and you will probably feel a sense of purpose spending time with all your new BFFs.

But I will miss the time we spent alone together day after day. I love you Sweet Baby Grey.
Love,
Mama

More Greysen Pics

And more of the pics from my new camera ...