December 2011

OK, I know everyone is amazed that I have almost caught up with the blog posts. Now, if I can just throw something together for January maybe I'll start doing something crazy like weekly posts. It helps if I know people are reading, so leave a comment. Hint, hint Nonna. December was a big month for us, as you've already seen with Grady's post. We also had Miller's first time to sit on Santa's lap - his second celebrity (Remember, Mickey was his first.) and Christmas. Our son is so unbelievably spoiled that he had to start opening presents throughout the month of December, just so he didn't have hundreds of gifts to open on Christmas Eve.

Miller isn't much of a morning person, but he is cute eating his cereal and watching cartoons in the morning.

This is Mimi with Miller at the church for Pancakes with Santa. Our church had such a great idea. The feed everybody pancakes, and then all the kids get to sit on Santa's lap. It's so much nicer than having to wait in line at the mall.

Here's our last family picture before Grady was born. I think this was a Saturday, and Grady was born on Thursday.

Miller did a great job with Santa. He walked right up to him, and sat on his lap. He didn't have to be coerced at all. In fact, when Santa first walked into the room, he walked around saying hi to everyone. Miller followed Santa around the room, and kept running back to Nonna, Pops, and Mimi to tell them "Santa's here!"

Grady, in his hat Nonna knitted for him.

Tess, Alisha, and Granny Chris came to visit us in the hospital on Friday. We had such a nice, long visit. Unfortunately, this is the only picture we managed to get of their visit. Although, I know Granny Chris got a few more. ;-)
Mommy takes a self-portrait of Miller and herself.
Nonna's first time holding Grady. She brought Miller up to the hospital after school on Friday. Miller wasn't too sure about sharing his Nonna with Grady.

Miller playing on Momma's phone with Daddy.
Momma and Grady.
Daddy, Grady, and Momma. I'll admit it, I'm looking a bit rough, but, in my defense, I had just had a baby. :-)
This was as soon as we got home from the hospital. Miller wanted to hold Grady. Of course, he's not smiling for the picture, but look at him holding that sweet little foot.
Miller, Grady, and momma. Miller's actually almost smiling in this one!
Grady's first bath. Of course, Miller was right there to help. He like to be there when we change Grady's diaper, and now they get baths at the same time - Miller in the tub, and Grady at the sink.
This was one of the gifts that Miller opened early. I find it funny that he already had his Thomas the Train jammies on, and he opened up a Thomas the Train to play with.
Uncle Austin and Mary Alice.
For Christmas, we had gotten gag gift boxes for everyone. This one was a Bathe & Brew. It was supposed to brew coffee while you showered. It sounded absolutely disgusting. We had real gifts inside the boxes, but the outside just cracked John and me up.
Austin's box was for a Snuggie for up to eight people, but it still only had two arms holes, one on each side. The box also said it could be used as a car cover. It was absolutely insane. Mary Alice's box was for a pet petter. It would pet your pets when you weren't around to do it. Mimi's was slippers with speakers in them. Mimi wasn't too impressed with the slippers, but she got excited for the photobooks inside.
Pops holding Grady
Miller in his football jacket. So cute!
Excited about Santa coming tonight.
Miller holding Grady
Our first family picture. Christmas day, Grady is 10 days old, Miller is two and half.
Miller got a trampoline from Santa. You'll notice he's blurry in this picture because he never stops jumping long enough to pose for a picture.
Grady, showing off how big he is by holding up his head.
Miller climbed up on the table to take a look at Grady.
Grady, sleeping on John's chest.
New Years Eve - we popped fireworks at Nonna and Pops's house while they were out of town. We also left a few surprises around their house for when they got back - a few poppers here and there.

OK, that brings us up to January! I'm so excited. That's the month we're in. Will I get a blog posted before February gets here...that may be the challenge. :-)

Grady's birth!

Grady Andrew Vrana was born at 4:06pm on December 15, 2011. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, and was 19 in long. Even though we went into the hospital at the same time we did with Miller, it took Grady a couple of hours longer to get here. Amy C. was such a sweetheart, to drive all the way here from College Station the night before, take pictures, and drive back all within a 24 hour period. She took over 300 pictures during the course of the day. Don't worry, I left out any that would be embarrassing, but I am so glad to have those. The labor and delivery may not go by fast, but without those pictures, I don't think there is much of it I would actually remember. I am infinitely grateful to her for taking those pictures.

This is actually the only picture from our camera from the day. This is me at the hospital, at 4:30 in the morning, or some ungodly hour like that. So, there I am at 39 weeks. I really didn't get a whole lot of pictures while I was pregnant, except for maternity pictures. So, at least I have one from the morning of.

This is a few hours later, once people started showing up. John and I are just sitting there. Obviously, the contractions aren't painful yet.

Austin was there for a while. Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to see Grady until the weekend because Grady took so long to get here.

This isn't the picture I meant to put in, but it'll do. The painful contractions had started by this point. For whatever reason, I wanted to be sitting straight up, and I would throw my head back whenever I was in pain. There are a TON of pictures with my head back. I didn't even realize I was doing it. The nurses kept coming in because Grady would move off of his heart monitor, and they didn't want me sitting straight up. I was ready to throw something at them. The routine went a little something like this. Nurse would come in, and want to lean me back, and mess with the heart monitor for 10 minutes. I would tell them I was more comfortable sitting straight up. They would say they were just going to lean me back a little bit. They would walk out of the room. Grady would slip off of the monitor, and I would move back to sitting straight up. Repeat 100 times. The other thing annoying me was the stupid blood pressure cuff. That thing would tighten up to EXTREME measures to take my blood pressure. Trust me, that's the last thing you want to be feeling. You get a break from a contraction, or you're in the middle of a contraction and this stupid cuff would threaten to cut off all circulation to my arm. Eventually, I just took the stupid thing off.

My father liked to tell me when contractions were coming...nice Dad, real nice.

My goofy husband, when Amy told him to act like he was being an attentive husband. I chose not to post the hundreds of photos of him on his phone...which was most of the time.

You can't see my face here, but he did make me laugh. I'm pretty sure this was after the epidural too. I wasn't doing too much laughing before that.

OK, I didn't post any of the actual delivery pictures, but there are quite a few. We'll just skip ahead to after Grady was born. Look at that bottom lip stuck out. He still does this!

Sweet face.
Crying - poor little guy. That face is just pitiful.
Newborn baby feet! So sweet and cute.
Nonna went to get Miller from school so he could meet his baby brother.
Here's Miller's first look at Grady. The nurses called the first hour after he was born the Golden Hour. It was just three of us in the room, and that was supposed to be the bonding time for us. I was really glad that we got this time together just the three of us. When Miller was born, he had trouble breathing and was taken straight out of the room. We didn't end up getting to see him for hours, and I really think that played a part in why it was so hard to nurse him those first few days. Grady did much better, and it was so nice to have that time just John, Grady, and me. Miller was the first one allowed in the room, after the hour was up.
Nonna had gotten Miller a big brother badge to help him with the adjustment. Daddy was trying to show him how to wear it. Miller actually helped me pick the pictures out for this blog, and when we got to this one, he said "Silly Daddy."

We let Nonna, Pops, and Mimi in for a little while before they took Miller home for the night.


Miller did much better when Daddy was holding Grady. I think all the stuff I was hooked up to scared him. He started crying a couple of times. Even now, for him to see the pictures or see some of the videos scared him a little bit. While "we" were writing the blog, he kept turning around to give me hugs. I think he was just grateful to have his Mommy right here and not in the hospital.

OK, that's it for Grady's birth. Of course, I'm going to have to have a whole separate post for the month of December. :-) In the meantime, I think the little guy is tuning up for a feeding.

November 2011 - still rolling

We had lots to do to get ready for the baby in November. I had a wonderful baby shower, hosted by one of my oldest and dearest friends and her mother. We got the baby's room painted, decorated, and the crib put together. Miller continued to be the cutest 2 year old ever. :-)

Before the crib was completely assembled, Miller could crawl in there. He thought that was pretty cool, and it kept him distracted while we were painting the room.

Isn't this the cutest cake? It was the cake Amy B. had made to welcome my little pumpkin at my baby shower.

Here's the spread. So good! It was absolutely delicious, and these ladies went all out.

Me with the two grandmas. Granny Chris, me, and Nonna.

Amy B, me, and Mrs. Jan - these ladies did such a great job. Seriously though, Amy could be a professional at getting parties together. She's got TONS of experience in hosting showers.

Miller had another birthday party at Jumping Jupiter. This time it was for Sailor, and Daddy took him while I was finishing up the shower. I joined them a few minutes late, but still enough time to get plenty of pictures.

Sailor's dad always dresses up for her birthday parties. Well, when Mickey came walking in, Miller was in awe. It was like he was seeing his first celebrity. He just kept running back to us, and saying, "It's Mickey!" This was one time he was actually happy to pose for the camera.

My silly little guy. He found a flowerpot laying around, and who wouldn't put it on top of their head.

Watching TV in Pops's recliner. I'm pretty sure Barney was on, based on the intense way he's watching.
I think this was when we were getting ready for church one day. I'm pretty sure Miller was smiling so big because he was dressed like Daddy. By the way, this was early in John's "no shave" phase. By the end of it, he was a woolly mammoth. In fact, he finally shaved it off last weekend. Thank goodness!
Here's a few videos. First, it's Daddy and Miller sliding down the slide. Miller wouldn't go down it by himself, but he sure was smiling when Daddy was there to go with him. Next, it's a video of Miller showing off how smart he is with a book his Aunt Elizabeth gave him. Finally, it's a video of him singing his ABCs. Such a cutie!

OK, that brings us all the way up to December. I'm getting close now!