Puppy dog pj's

I don't have anything terribly exciting to blog about, but I do have something terribly cute! Gigi got Jack some precious new pj's for Christmas and I think the puppy dog ones may be my favorite! They have these cute little slipper looking feet in them! Too cute!!! I seriously could eat him up!!! Why are babies in pj's with passies in their mouths so darn cute?

Had to take out the passy to show off that sweet smile!

I think this picture is hysterical. Look at that grin on his face... and then look at his hand! :) Only a boy right?!

He looks like a little boy in this picture which really breaks my heart! It just goes by way too fast!

A trip to Austin and Wendy's Wedding

So, right after the new year we all packed up again and headed to Austin for Wendy's wedding! We drove into Austin and went straight to the ceremony site for the rehearsal. And since we got there early and it was a BEAUTIFUL day we just played around outside!

Jack and his daddy taking in the view!

The view from this place seriously had Denny and I regretting our decision to stay in flat, barren Dallas. :)

Jack playing while his sister got rid of some stored up energy!

See... Liv on the run! However I posted this pic so you could see the altar for the ceremony. It was on the edge of this hill we were on and overlooked Lake Travis. It really was breath-taking!

I was shocked, Olivia actually posed for every single picture I took of her.

Getting some QT with daddy

Here is Wendy on her big day! Isn't she a beautiful bride!

Unfortunately mother nature was not as kind to us on her wedding day as she was the day of the rehearsal. It was overcast and in the low 40s! We were freeeezing! But it was still beautiful and we were thankful to have been a part of it!

Thankfully the reception was indoors so we all thawed out quickly! After dinner Olivia and daddy put their dancin' shoes on and lit up the floor!

While Olivia was dancing Jack took the opportunity to snuggle in his carrier and take a nice nap!

Congratulations Wendy! We all had such a great time and are so happy for you and Andy!

Jack is 5 Months Old!

Happy birthday to my sweet angel! Again, another month has flown by and Jack has reached another birthday!

What a fun fifth month Jack had. He had his first Christmas and got lots of love from his wonderful family that visited over the holidays! We are still missing them all!

There really isn't much new in Jack's world since he turned 4 months! He is still the same, easy going, happy baby he always has been. He is still sleeping good, and is really liking his cereal now, which makes dinner, and now breakfast a much more pleasant experience for all of us! In a couple of weeks he'll tackle veggies, so I'll be anxious to see how that goes! Olivia ate everything that was put in front of her as a baby, so he has a lot to live up to when it comes to eating!

Jack is still working on rolling over, he doesn't do it very often, but loves to be on his side and make you think he's going to roll over! He is still not really a big fan of being on his tummy either. Hopefully now that the holidays are over I can be more diligent about giving him more time there! He's a weakling when it comes to his arms! :)

He has started taking his pacifier out with his hands and can sometimes get it back in on his own, if it's still in his hand from when he took it out! It's pretty funny watching him try to get it back in!

Jack and Olivia are starting to interact more together, especially in the car! It is so cute to hear them "play" together! I really look forward to more of that as he gets older! Hopefully his big sister won't be too cool for him by the time he's really ready to play!

So I have a cute video of Jack that I have been trying to load ALL day, but it just gets stuck trying to upload it to blogger. So I will work on it and maybe I can post it later! :(

Christmas 2008

I am finally sitting down to blog about our Christmas! We had such a wonderful Christmas, I just wish I had more pictures of everyone! I have a lot of the kids... as usual, but am sad that I don't have any of Denny's brothers or his parents!!! How does that always happen?!

This year for Christmas we were blessed with everyone coming up to Frisco to spend it with us. Ryan got into town on Tuesday and then Denny's parents took the red eye from LA and got into town at 9:00 a.m. Christmas Eve! We had a fun day full of playing and baking! And then going out to Jin Beh for dinner (which I just realized that I have pictures of that on another camera that I forgot to upload!!! Argh!).

During the last week of school before break Olivia had made some reindeer food with her class. Gigi also brought some with her, and it was magic reindeer food. It attracted the reindeer right to our house with it's pretty sparkles. So, when we got home from dinner Olivia was ready to sprinkle her "magic" reindeer food on the front lawn.

After the yard had been sprinkled we hurried in to open our annual Christmas Eve presents of new pajamas! Then it was time to change, set out Santa's milk and cookies, a quick book about the birth of Jesus, and off to bed. Since the reindeer food had been sprinkled we had to hurry to get Olivia and Jack to sleep before Santa came!

The kids with their presents

Olivia loves gingerbread men, so when I saw these matching pj's I knew I had to get them!

Jack looks very interested doesn't he?

Setting out Santa's snack!

We got up the next morning and were so excited to see what Santa had brought!

If anyone knows us, you know that Olivia never sleeps in! Even if she is up until midnight, the girl has this internal alarm clock that gets her up every day between 7:00 and 7:30. So imagine our shock when she slept until 8:15!!! Christmas morning no less! I was so eager for her to get up and see her loot, that must have been why she slept in! :) But I was happy that she was getting obviously some much needed rest!

Sadly, I don't have any pictures of her reaction when she saw her beloved Emily American Girl doll she had so desperately wanted! I was busy on the video camera capturing the moment! But, I think I have mentioned on here before that she is not very demonstrative when she opens gifts. Christmas is no different. I know she was excited, but I am always looking for a loud squeal, jumping up and down, running to her gifts, or something equally enthralling and it just doesn't happen! I have learned to accept that is just how she is, but it is still a little disappointing, I won't lie! :)

Olivia opening her stocking... A Hannah Montana microphone that plays her favorite song, Nobody's Perfect!

Daddy playing with Liv's Hannah Montana guitar. Maybe he's a long lost Jonas Brother or something....

Awww... my sweet little boy smiling at something!

Olivia "helping" Jack open his gifts.

A fire truck given to Jack by his sweet sister. She picked it out and everything!

This is Jack's "Whatchu talkin' 'bout Willis?" look

Yea!!! A picture of both kids in their pj's on Christmas!!!

Olivia giving Jack a kiss

... and another one

... and another one, with a bear hug! Her love seems to be smothering poor Jack!

Later in the evening (yes, we were still all in our pj's), Grandma stopped by to share her gifts with the kids!

Olivia was in awe of her BIG present!

A cleaning cart! Like mother like daughter I suppose!

And then we had one last Christmas celebration with Nana's family at Lala's house last Sunday! I did not have my camera out much, but did capture some sweet pictures of the kids with Nana!

All in all our Christmas was so much fun! We got to spend so much time with all of our families and eat lots of yummy food! What more could you ask for?! We hope that your family was equally as blessed over the holidays and you are all enjoying a wonderful start to 2009!

Jack, Jack and more Jack

Mr. Jack has had a busy couple of days!

It started after Mimi's on Sunday evening. When we got home I laid him down on a blanket on the floor so he could play. Before I knew it, he had just rolled right on over! Denny was still unloading the car because we had literally just walked in, so I was only able to get a still picture of him, but at least it's something to document his first roll! :)

"Whoa... how did I get here...???" Hey mom!

Then Monday, we had his 4 month well visit... and started cereal!

Jack is still growing like a weed, but has slowed down on his weight! Here are his stats...
Weight = 15 lbs. 6 oz. - 75th%
Height = 27 1/4 inches - greater than 95th%
Head = 45th%



Dr. B gave Jack a glowing report, then the mean ole nurses came in for his shots, and then we were on our way!

I really dreaded starting cereal only because it's such an obligation, the bottle is just so easy and convenient when you're out to eat, or even when you're just at home! And really, it just means that my little guy is rapidly growing up! :( But it was fun to see his reaction and start a new little chapter in his life. I can remember when gave Olivia cereal for the first time so clearly!

I don't really think Jack knew what to make of it.... Needless to say, I don't think he'll be eagerly awaiting his cereal dinner tomorrow night! :)
This picture really says it all! He never cried, but you could tell he was not loving it!

Ah... finally done!

Christmas at Mimi's

We had such a busy but fun weekend! We ended it with our annual Gray Family Christmas at Mimi's house! I can't believe that a 90 year old woman still demands to do everything herself and entertain our family of 14! She is so stubborn, she refuses any help!

As always we had a lot of fun! It's always so good to see everyone and watch the kids play together! I didn't get a picture of Olivia and Laurel playing, but they were literally out of sight the entire time, playing in Mimi's "TV room". It was so sweet seeing them play together, in the very room that I played with my cousins, Mel and Liz, many moons ago, as Mimi would say!

Liz, Jack and Presley

(this was the only pic of Jack as he was either sleeping or eating for the rest of the afternoon!)

Presley and Gray - These 2 are hysterical! They absolutely just love each other, they are two peas in a pod! They climbed up on Mimi's bed and were pretending to sleep... snoring and all!

All of the great-grandchildren - sans Jack, he was taking a snooze!

The 3 girls - Me, Mel, Liz (and Ed and Bryan in the background)

When we got home I thought I'd try a picture of the kids together since they were both dressed up. See below for how well it went! :)

And last, but not least, Olivia with her favorite gift from Mimi's Christmas, a stuffed pony from Uncle Ed! She has been carting this horse around all day. We have even made a bed for it in her room, and it had to come with her to Kennedy's today because Olivia did not want to leave the horse home alone!

Olivia's Christmas Program and Party

Last Wednesday Olivia had her Christmas program and party at school! I was scared we were going to miss it yet again (she was sick last year and missed both!) because she had been sick since Sunday and missed school on Monday. But thankfully she was feeling much better by Tuesday and was able to make it this year!

Unfortunately her class got the back row, so we could hardly see her, and we were in the 2nd row of the audience! So the picture is not great, that's for sure! But she is in the back row, towards the left.

Back in the classroom for the party!

My little Rudolph eating her donut!

After their snack they had a book exchange.

Olivia and Maci - don't they look like such big girls!

Someone please tell me why

this sweet little boy
keeps waking up SCREAMING in the middle of the night!!!

Jack usually has an awake period around 5:00 a.m. He'll wake up, play, laugh, talk, etc.... However, he has not been so happy the last 2 nights! Wednesday night he woke up at 5:30 a.m. and cried and cried. I finally got him back to sleep after an hour of holding, walking and rocking. Then last night he woke up at 11:30, 4:00, and again at 5:30! At 11:30 and 4:00 we were able to get him back to sleep relatively easy. We had to pick him up which is not typical, but he quickly calmed down and went back to sleep. But at 5:30, it was not so easy! He was completely inconsolable! No matter what we did he was screaming and super wiggly! Which is so not like him!!! Usually, even if he is upset he calms down if we pick him up. I finally gave in and fed him for like 5 minutes. It seemed to do the trick. He was awake when we put him back in bed, but talked and laughed until he fell asleep, like he usually does. And then he slept until his normal time of about 7:30!

I don't know if it's a milk supply issue, like maybe he's not getting enough anymore throughout the day, just a phase, or something else. I am all for letting him cry it out and cry himself to sleep, and we've even tried that. But he is SO upset, it just feels like there is something wrong and that is why he's not sleeping. Whatever the reason Denny and I are desparately trying to figure it out! We have been spoiled by Jack's great sleeping and are at a loss! :)

I think we may try to give him some cereal tonight and see if that helps. My dr. wanted me to wait until we came in for his 4 mo. well visit, but desperate times... :) His appt. is Monday so, we aren't jumping the gun too much!

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas we are happy to hear them!