Happy 9 months Gray!!!!!

Gray you are 9 months old!!!!

So hard to believe... here is what you have been up to lately...

• You are now on 4 ounces of whole milk to 3 ounces of breast milk every bottle (3 a day).  The doctor gave you the ALL CLEAR for whole milk and you have had no issues with digesting it SO FAR! :)
• Speaking of the doctor... at your 9 month visit your measurements were as follows:
• 28.5 inches long - 75%
• 18.5 lbs - 50%
• Your favorite foods are:
• Carrots & barley
• Strawberry and banana yogurt
• Whole wheat garden veggies
• And anything Mommy and Daddy have on their plate!
• Your least favorite foods are:
• Peaches
• Apples
• And... apple juice - which is frustrating because you need hydration!!!!!
• One of my favorite things that you do is when you eat... you say "Ummmmmmm" after EVERY bite... no seriously... EVERY bite.  It is the cutest thing.  It's like you are saying yum!
• You still love to kiss Mikey Poo but have recently sparked interesting is kissing Toot Toot... and Toot doesn't mind it one bit... see:

• You love love love to read!  Your favorite books are "Brown Bear Brown Bear"(thanks Aunt Courtnie!!!!) and a children's bible story book that Aunt Ashley, Uncle Justin, and cousin Brooke got you
• You had your first play date this month at Aunt KK's house!  You played with a sweet and very handsome young man named Turner.  Turner and you became fast friends.  Yall would just smile and laugh and flirt with each other.  It was so neat to observe the interaction between you too.  Too bad Turner lives in D.C. or else we would play together again soon!

• Your daddy is still your best friend!!!  When you get your night time lotion after your bath you get a "Mr. Miagi" massage.  You just laugh and laugh... you think he is the greatest... shhssshhh don't tell him but I do too ;)

Please excuse the mound of clothes behind Jeremy

• I am TRYING to get you to take a sippy cup... you DO NOT like this...  so we haven't been very successful 
• Sometimes when you have woken up from a nap...I can hear you back in your room playing.  It is the cutest thing.  You love to play with the stuffed animals sitting in your crib... they are currently a pink hippo, your glow sea horse, and my personal fav... a Notre Dame teddy bear.  It is so funny to walk in and see you sitting down talking to them!  I can only imagine the conversation!

• Mommy took her first sewing class this month... and here you are... modeling the dress (as you can tell...you are not that enthused!)

• You are the cutest thing ever... here you are on your 9 month bday!!!

WE LOVE YOU GRAY!!!!

Shivers Family Garden 2012

So the garden this year was a huge success... we had so much fun as a family.   It wasn't easy taking on a garden this big, but thanks to Jeremy and his parents... we were able to harvest a great crop.  Here are some pictures for all of you who would like to see how it progressed over the summer.  

We planted shortly before easter

You can really see everything popping up in this pic

Growing even more

Let the harvest begin!!!!!!

Here are a couple of shots of the workers...

Cuddles loved it!

More random shots of the garden... it was so pretty.  I loved going out there in the mornings and going through the corn and peas... it was so peaceful.

And lastly... here are some shots of the best little gardener I know...

We put up hundreds of bags of corn (field and yellow), peas (purple hull and zipper cream), cabbage, butter beans, squash, zucchini, okra, bell pepper and banana pepper.  We also canned tomatoes, 2 different kinds of green beans, jalapenos and candied jalapenos, and pickles.  We had cantaloupes and even planted several varieties of beans (red beans, dark and light, pinto, and larger red bean, and edamame).  

We are about to bush hog the garden and plant a SMALL fall garden just to get seed and experiment.  I cannot wait!

Much needed update...

My goodness!!!!!!!  It has been a WHILE since I have posted... much much much has been going on including graduation and many other things that I will eventually blog about but do not have the mindset to blog about them at the moment... this blog is strictly dedicated to update my followers... bahahahaaa all 2 of you... about what is going on with Gray.  I mainly want to do this for my memory as well. A couple of blogs that I follow are of mothers around the same age as me and they do a great job of blogging about the little things their children are doing at their current age... so I decided that I am going to try and start doing that for Gray. Since she is almost 9 months old... I am way behind.  But I figure... it is NEVER too late to start!

Let's start with a recent picture of the chunky monkey...

I mean... could she be any cuter?????

It is so hard for me to believe that she is almost 9 months old!!! Can time please stand still? puhllleeeze????  On a side note... please look at how much my child has changed in her looks...

She went from this... (3 days old)

To this... almost a month old

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

Still 5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

So... I have an almost 9 month old and here are some of the things you (Gray) are up to:

• You are down to 3 bottles a day... and a whole container of yogurt and jar of baby food at lunch!!!! Momma is no longer breast feeding... whoooo hooooo!!!!  And you are taking 6-7 ounces of soy/breast milk with each bottle.  You LOVE LOVE LOVE yogurt and bananas... here is a pic of you eating bananas...

 

• You are a TOTAL Daddy's girl... which melts my heart of course and your daddy is EATING IT UP!!!

• You say ba ba ba ba ba and ummmphhhh ummmphhh ummmmpphhh... but your favorite word is DA DA DA DA DA.  And you know who your daddy is... sometimes when you see him you say "DA DA" and it melts my heart all over again.
• You love your Nana and Paw Paw and Coach and Nonna... For example...
• When you see your Nana... you smile, kick your feet, and immediately reach for her.  She still holds you every Sunday morning during church and watches you most Thursdays while Mommy and Daddy are at Praise & Worship team practice.
• You love to play on the floor with Paw Paw... and you blink those big blue eyes at him because you know you have him wrapped!!!
• When we visit "Coach's" house... you like to play like you are shy at first, but you love to visit him and B and look at all of his pictures and trophies on the wall.  You and him play, "ah 1, ah 2, ah 3, 4, 5."
• When we Face time with Nonna... you touch the screen because you are trying to touch her face... it is so sweet.
• You can pull up, cruise around the furniture, sit down, and pretty much get wherever you want to go.  This makes it hard on Mommy to keep up with you... but we have so much fun!

• Your favorite "no no" is to pull up on the TV stand.  We have recently started to "spank" you and tell you "NO."  You of course do not like this word and you pout and fuss occasionally when we tell you.  You have to learn Gray :).
• You are such a well behaved baby... you honestly don't fuss or cry much unless you are hungry or tired.  When we went on our trip to Chicago in June... you slept the whole 12 hours! :)
• You like to make growling noises... sometimes during church... which gets interesting, but I love it.
• You are scared of new people and new places... you will hide your face or sometimes even cry.  It's ok though... 
• Toot toot sometimes scares you when she barks, but you love to find her in the mornings when you wake up.
• Mike is your best friend.  You hug him several times a day and give him oh so many kisses.
• Speaking of kisses... you have learned how to kiss and it is the sweetest thing.  See...

• Our favorite time of day with you is in the mornings when you first wake up... you smile so big and jump up and down in your bed.  It is the cutest thing!
• You love to read books... sometimes you will sit for 30 to 45 mins in our lap and just turn the pages over and over again.
• Whenever momma takes a picture of you with her phone... this is the face you make:

You are truly a blessing from God... and we thank him daily for you.  You are such a good baby and we are amazed at how smart you are and how fast you are growing!

Make your own Baby food!!!

Many of you know that Jeremy and I are trying to be as self sufficient as possible, especially when it comes to what we eat.  Jeremy has recently gone to a virtually meat free diet, wouldn't call him a vegetarian, but he as close as it can get.  I still eat meat, but I have cut back tremendously.  We decided early on in my pregnancy that we would like to make our own baby food.  Because of school and other obligations, we haven't really made much for her so far.  BUT... that is no more! So moms... if you are interested... here are some simple and healthy recipes for making your own baby food... key word = SIMPLE.

Bananas:

1. Peel banana
2. Add water - (use your judgement...you can make it as thick or thin as you would like)
3. Put in blender, food processor, magic bullet, etc.
4. Blend
5. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

Avocado:

1. Peel avocado
2. Mash up
3. Add water (again...however much you like)
4. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So... do you get the picture??? You can do this with any type of food pretty much... some other easy options are carrots, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, green beans, butter beans, squash, and sweet peas (Gray's favorite).  For the veggies, just boil until soft  and blend!

Moms... this is an easy and healthy way for your child to enjoy baby food.   What I love about it is that you know EXACTLY what goes into the food.  For us, we try to buy all organic fruits and veggies and use distilled water.  Of course we don't ALWAYS have the organic option, but we try to buy it when we can!

And just because I think I have quite possibly the cutest child alive... here are some updated pics of sweet Gray...

Sweet Baby with milk all over her face... bless her

Tidbit Tuesday: Ice Packs... The Good Ones

So... this might be the physical therapist coming out in me, but... if you have ever had physical therapy or played any type of sport then you more than likely have had an ice pack applied to some part of your body.  So... you would also know how AWESOME these ice packs are because they are soft, mailable, and you don't have to deal with the dripping cold water that you get when you use actual ice cubes in a bag!  Here is a pic just in case you don't know what I am talking about...

So...often patients ask us if they can purchase these ice packs... well... they can be kinda pricey, BUT... there is an awesome alternative that costs around $2.00 - $3.00 depending on the kind of Ziploc bags and alcohol you buy.  So how do you do it???????

Step One:  Purchase a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a box of gallon size freezer bags.
Step Two:  Pour the alcohol in the bag, then, using the same container the alcohol was in, fill the container with water and pour it in the same bag.  You will do this twice.  So that is 2 parts water to 1 part alcohol. 
Step Three:  Seal bag and place it in another Ziploc bag - SEAL that bag
Step Four:  Lay flat in freezer and freeze for 3 hours.

The alcohol doesn't allow the mixture to freeze all the way - so you get a nice slushy mix!  When it starts to loose it's icy freshness - just refreeze! :)

CAUTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to WebMD... Always keep a cloth between your skin and the ice pack, and press firmly against all the curves of the affected area. Do not apply ice for longer than 15 to 20 minutes at a time, and do not fall asleep with the ice on your skin.

Tidbit Tuesday #1: SAY NO TO GMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to try to start a "Tidbit Tuesday" blog on here...I promise I will try to update it weekly, but that MAY not happen! :) 

For my first tidbit...

I read an interesting article on a friend's facebook page today about how to know which fruit in the grocery store is organic, genetically modified/enhanced, or just plain ole regular (non-organic, but not GM).  I have posted the link to the article at the bottom of this blog if you are interested - but to sum it all up, this is how you tell...

First... look at the sticker on the fruit... you know the one you ALWAYS have to pull off before you eat it.  If the fruit is:

Organic - there will be a 5 digit number on the sticker that starts with 9, ex. 94521

Genetically Modified - there will be a 5 digit number on the sticker beginning with an 8, ex. 85641

Non Organic/Non GM - there will be a 4 digit number on the sticker, ex. 4568

Why is this important?  Well obviously you want to eat organic if possible, but a good second option is the non GM option.  Never, ever, ever, ever, ever get the genetically modified version (which I am sad to say is the cheaper more cost efficient version normally seen on every isle at grocery stores). 

SAY NO TO GMO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the article:
http://www.curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=980568