Obviously ...

Greysen went to his 4-month Well Baby Visit. And every parent thinks they have a perfect baby, but we got confirmation of it. Dr. Augustine told us, probably put it into her doctor notes, that he's "perfect." What she probably meant, without parental biased interpretation, was that his growth is 50th percentile for height, weight and head circumference. Apparently, this is perfect in doctor speak. But in DOCKTER speak (aka Mama speak), it means he's perfect in EVERY way. Obviously.

Summer Kiddie Pool

Truth be known, I put the kiddie pool out this morning so that I could sit in it this afternoon. I've always wanted a reason to buy a kiddie pool and Greysen is just that reason. The water was cold yet Greysen didn't seem to mind at all. We like the kiddie pool. There will be many more days of soaking in our future.

Symphony

Greysen got to attend his first Symphony Under the Stars. It's great to live in a community that celebrates the arts as Helena does. We like to support the events as much as possible. Saturday night was one of those events that you must not miss if you live in Helena. We sat on a blanket on a hill overlooking a sea of other blankets with people there to listen to the symphony while it serenaded us all in a theme of Spanish Nights: Spectacular music and wonderful finale of fireworks. Greysen seemed to enjoy it and even slept through the entire display of fireworks (while I covered his ears to keep him from startling awake). It was a perfect evening of music, friends and family.

Large Eggs

Greysen got to meet Aunt Lara this past week! She had him giggling the first day. Grandma Jean was here too. The visit was short but it was long on love.

G's Nicknames

Greysen's nicknames are so plentiful that we don't really know yet which one will stick. Here are the few I can recall while sitting here...

Sweet Baby Grey
G
Grey
Sweet Boy
Sweetpea
Sweetie Pie
Little Man
Big Man
Big Blue
Bug
Monkey

G-love - almost forgot this one. Thanks Auntie JDoc

If you have more, leave a comment and add to the list...

Hat Series...

Greysen is growing like a weed. Too often, I'll go into his dresser to pull something out to wear and it is too small and has to be retired to the baby bin of outgrown clothes (and rejected clothes that contain football insignia - another story for another post another time).

While in utero, I joked with AVD about how he is growing like a weed. Her response, in her usual French witty way, was to refer to him as Le Herb (she will cringe at my spelling and grimace at my pronunciation). Le herb is french for grass which is close enough to weed so VOILA! His nickname was born: Herbie.

We called him Herbie for the entire pregnancy and on more than one occasion his Oma worried that it would stick and we would call him Herbie for his lifetime. Luckily we've got many many more nicknames for him that seem to have stuck more than Herbie.

I usually lament his outgrown clothes because there are SO MANY cute ones that he never wore or wore just once. And I get sad that he's already growing so fast that I can't keep up with him. So, I tried on his hats the other day and alas, many are too small... But oh what a fun and hilarious series of pics. Ironically, his head looks HUGE but it really is quite small on the scale of baby heads (25th percentile in circumference). Enjoy...

And finally, one that still fits ...

Happy 4th of July!

Sweet baby Grey has had a number of "firsts" this past weekend.

G took is first camping trip! We took the fam over 4th of July weekend with Greysen's BFF Bennett (and his parents Amy and Rory) to the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forrest near Wise River. He slept in his own "tent" (inside our tent) which we've dubbed the Phil & Ted's Excellent Adventure. We got rained on, eaten alive by mosquitoes and woke up to frost on the outside of our tents. Yet, G was a trooper - had fun being outside and slept beautifully (for the most part) each night we were there.

G went on his first hike (besides his backyard trails)! We took a hike while camping over the 4th of July weekend. Greysen wasn't able to hike on his own (doesn't have hiking boots yet), so his Papa carried him in the Baby Bjorn. G LOVED it - stared at the trees, smiled and cooed at the sun and even hung out on the rock that we now call the Poop Rock for obvious reasons. We hiked for 3 hours and it was only at the end that he fussed a bit and wanted to get out of the contraption on his Papa's front. Good little boy!

G took his first dip in hot springs! We went to Elkhorn Hot Springs on July 4th. For a short time, we had the hot springs entirely to ourselves. We even took G's Excellent Adventure into the hot springs so he could nap. He got a little too much sun on his cheeks (though we slatherd him with sunscreen) but other than that, he was a content little boy for the better part of the afternoon while we soaked in the sun and the hot springs.

In all, G's first camping trip was a success. We had a great time with the Ruff-Pearson family and hope there will be many more camping trips in the future.