Monday, September 29, 2008

Apple Picking

This past weekend we went on our yearly apple picking adventure with Sarah and Ian and the kids. We went to Honey Hill Orchard and had a blast picking apples and pumpkins, checking out the farm animals, going on a tractor ride, and going through a hay maze. I knew this was the same orchard that the Brown Family goes to also, and thought about texting Kristy to see if they may be going the same day, but never did. I burst out laughing when I got home and saw on their blog that they had just been there that same morning and that they had taken pictures at a lot of the same"photo ops." :)
Anyhow, the kids had a great time and I thought it would be fun to go back and share some pictures of Mia from her last couple years apple picking. She has really grown up!!!

2006

2007

2008

2006 2007 2008 And some more pictures...

The four Graske kids-first official photo :)Feeding the horse

The girls looking for the perfect apple Showing off their apples Pumpking picking
Ava, Aidan and Ian
AidanMia
Cole
First taste of apple-yuck!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Guess Who Rolled Over Today???

Today was an exciting day-Cole rolled over for the first time. I had put him down on his stomach and walked to get something. When I came back, he was on his side and before I knew it, he had rolled over. I ran to get the video camera and put him back on his stomach. Before I could get set up to record it, Cole rolled over again. Of course by the time I did get my act together, he was over it and very unhappy to be on his stomach!! Maybe I will have better luck tomorrow!

Here are two quick pictures from today when we were out playing on the deck...

Our happy guy
My BIG girl

Monday, September 22, 2008

Watercolors!

Mia recently discovered what fun watercolor paints can be and I think if I let her, she just might paint all day long. It took a couple times to get the process down correctly (water, paint, paper), but once she got it, it was full painting ahead! She also likes it when we paint pictures on her paper as well, her common requests are fish, turtles, and Zip. :) Here are a couple pics of Mia painting away.





Sunday, September 21, 2008

Visit with the Great-Grandparents

This past Saturday was a busy one for Mia and Cole as they got to see lots of their family. We started out heading to my mom's house, where she was kind enough to watch Mia and Cole while I headed over to the new Burr Ridge Village Center to do a little shopping BY MYSELF!! I picked up a drink at Starbucks and then leisurely walked from store to store with no stroller or anyone demanding my attention-it was heavenly. :) After that my mom made us lunch and then we headed over to my grandparents so the kids would have a chance to visit with their great-grandparents. Mia had a great time checking out all the fun stuff in the house and all the attention she got from my grandparents, aunt and mom. I am sure Cole also enjoyed all the snuggles he got. :)

Cole with G. G.

and his Great-Grandpa
Mia and I playing outside (maybe this is why my back hurts???)
My grandpa, Mia and me
A rare picture of Mia and me (Mia's cute outfit is courtesy of Pam-thank you!!!)
So cute!!
My mom and Cole Playing knock-knock with my aunt

Loving the pop-pop she got as a treat

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Thanks Venessa!!

I love this blanket that Venessa gave us as a gift when Cole was born. We joked it was a good thing she waited to have the date embroidered on since it ended up changing so many times. I have been meaning to try and get a picture of Cole with it for the longest time (well at least the last 8 weeks!), but finally just got around to it today. Unfortunately, we are still working on holding our head up, smiling, and giving eye contact at the same time! :)



Wednesday, September 17, 2008

2 Months Old

I cannot believe that Cole is already 2 months old! Today we had his 2 month appointment and his stats were as follows:

Weight: 13 pounds, 3 ounces!!!---80th percentile (Mia was 12 pounds at 2 months)

Height: 25 inches---95th percentile!!! (Mia was 22 3/4 inches at 2 months)

Head: 15 7/8th inches--50th percentile (Mia was 16 inches at 2 months-she of course has Cole beat in this category-ha, ha!)

The strange thing is that Mia seemed so much bigger than Cole (we always got the comments how chunky she was), but Cole is actually bigger, even though he is not nearly as chunky. He has that Graske height apparently!

Unfortunately Cole had to get 4 shots, but took them well. The only thing of concern was something we brought up, which is that he tends to favor looking to one side over the other. We got some exercises to work on with him and some simple things to do too (putting toys on opposite side he likes to look at, changing up which way we put him on the changing table, etc.). We just want to make sure that he is using those muscles so his head does not end up asymmetrical. If we are still concerned in a month or so, the dr. will refer us to a physical therapist. We went through the same thing with Mia and didn't end up needing any intervention, so hopefully we will go the same route with Cole. Otherwise, everything looked good with him. It was pretty cute as he was being examined, the dr. invited Mia to stand on the little step of the examining table and watch. She was VERY interested in everything the dr. was doing.

Whew! Let me just tell you how long it takes to bring 2 kids with you to the dr.'s office. Even though we were seen pretty quickly, it took awhile for the nurses to bring in Cole's vaccines, due to some confusion of one vaccine he received at the hospital that was incorrectly marked on his chart. After that I had to feed Cole (luckily my office is great and lets you stay in the room as long as you need), clean up all the toys Mia had spread around the examining room, and then check-out at the front desk. I think I was almost there for 2 hours!! The good news is that Cort was able to stop by for part of the visit (he took an early lunch), Mia was very well-behaved for being there so long, and that everyone was napping by the time we got home.

So what is Cole doing now that he is 2 months old? Well, the smiles are coming more and more and he is very alert these days when he is awake. He is great at tracking us and will verbalize back to us too. He is getting better and better at holding his head up, but isn't always the biggest fan of tummy time. When he sits in his bouncer chair, he will swat at the little rattles that hang from it. He is sleeping in decent stretches at night time, anywhere between 6-8 hours depending on the night. He is still in our room (I think Mia was out around this time and in her crib), more because I am lazy and tired in the middle of the night and would rather just bend and pick him up than walk to his room. :) He does nap in his crib occasionally, but I really need to be better about that! Cole's personality continues to be very mellow! He is just a chill little guy, which is quite a change around here! :)

Here's our BIG 2-month old

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Graham's Graduation Party

First off, congrats to Graham for graduating and getting a teaching job at Neuqua! To celebrate, Kristy and Graham had a "non-graduation" party. Here is Cole making one of his first appearances out at 2 1/2 weeks.


Kristy and Cole

Melissa and Cole

Daddy feeding Cole a bottle for the first time

Taking it like a champ! (I do realize the bottle is half of Cole's size. They don't have the smaller BPA-free Dr. Brown ones!) Mia playing with some of Payton's toys

and in the pool Heather and Roger-who will soon be parents too!!!
Payton giving Cole kisses

(August 3)

First Bath

Okay, we are flashing back....

Here are a couple of pictures of Cole's 1st bath at home at 5 days old. As you can see, he loved it! :)

Poor guy screamed through the whole thing and then again when we tried to dress him. I forgot how much they hate being bathed at first!





(July 21)

Cole Meets More Friends!

This past Saturday Cole got to meet some new friends! Lisa and Bob came in town with the kids from St. Louis and had the opportunity to see Cole for the first time. Cole also got to meet Marina, Corey and the other Baby G-Hendrix. It was awesome for me to get to meet Hendrix for the first time too. Sadly, Mia was a bit under the weather and stayed at home with daddy so she wouldn't spread her germs.

Never in a million years would I have imagined that there would be all these little ones running wild when I was back in junior high and high school with the girls causing trouble of our own. It is fun to see how far we have all come with homes, kids and careers, and how life has certainly changed!

Thanks Venessa and Jimmy for pinch-hitting and letting us turn your place into a playland! I wish we could all do this more often! Here are a bunch of snapshots from the night...

Lisa and Cole (cute monkey outfit courtesy of the South Family) Bob and Cole
The Baby G's-Cole and Hendrix meeting for the first time
Future troublemakers :)
Marina and I with the boys (don't mind my appearance, I had just come in from the pouring rain we have been having all weekend long)
Julie and Cole (practicing again with a newborn for number 3!!!!!!!!!)
Venessa and Cole
Hendrix chilling out
Pam and Hendrix
A glimpse into Venessa's very near future...
The Gustafsons
Awwww, how sweet is Carter (ready to be a big brother again!!!)

I am realizing as I am looking at these pictures that the toddlers are not represented so well! They were too busy moving and running around for me to get pictures of them apparently!