Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our blogging friends!

We hope you have a beautiful holiday with family and friends!



Our Christmas at Home

Before leaving on a jet plane we had a special early Christmas with Grayson

The night before Chad spent a few hours getting all the toys ready and in front of the Christmas tree!

While he was doing that I premade sticky buns for our morning Christmas treat...they were yummy!

Of course the morning we would LOVE for Grayson to wake up early he sleeps in until 8AM.  Chad went and got Grayson from his crib while I waited in the living room and I recorded a video of him walking into the living room and seeing all his Christmas gifts.

It was so neat to see the excitement in his eyes and it brought a smile to my face all day.  Grayson had a great morning playing with all of his new toys.  It was also great to see Grayson open the gifts on his own.  He knows what he is doing... hopefully he will do great opening his gifts on Christmas morning at my Mom's house.

Here is the video it is around 3 minutes so don't feel like you have to watch it.  It is more for the family to see his excitement!

and now for some photos to capture the excitement from the eyes of a child

Grayson's favorite toy

finally got off of the ride on toy to open presents

boy oh boy drums in our house...if you know Chad personally you will be shocked to find out that he purchased this drum set for Grayson all on his own.  I had nothing to do with it!

playing with his new farm set

1st breakfast at his new table and chairs 

family moments in front of our Christmas tree.  All in PJ's enjoying this sweet Christmas moment together!

art project

Well I wanted to recreate our Christmas Tree foot prints for cards for Grayson's teachers, but doing this project on my own turned out to be VERY unsuccessful.  So instead I just let Grayson play with the paint. 

I am so excited tomorrow is my final day of work until 2012...

week 27 baby crew

Last Week we did have our 3D/4D ultrasound and Crew didn't want to play so we didn't get too many great images... so we will get to go back in January 2012.  This is exciting for me because we get to see his sweet face one more time before delivery day!

here is one ultrasound image

now for my week 27 update

a visit with Santa

Grayson's Visit with Santa

this pictures says it all...

no tears at all...

Since we watch POLAR EXPRESS all the time at our house we have been telling and showing Grayson who Santa Clause is so I don't know if he was shocked in this picture that it was Santa that was holding him or if he was just looking at all of Santa's hair...

it was a priceless picture!

Here is the picture of Grayson sitting on Santa's lap!

I wonder what next year will bring with two boys...

Dedication Day

Over the Thanksgiving Weekend we had Parent Dedication Day at Cross Church.  We finally were in town for this special day and we were able to participate in the dedication of our son Grayson.

The message on this day was:

You Will Love the Lord with ALL of your HEART, with ALL of your SOUL, and with ALL of your MIGHT!  Deuteronomy 6:5

It is the perfect frame work for us as Grayson's parents to teach and foster into Grayson's life.  

I will have to add for memory sake that Grayson did cry and was wanting down out of Chad's arms the entire time.  Oh well things can't always be perfect... 

Here is our professional picture from the event!

Christmas Program 2011

Christmas Program 2011

at

Grayson's school...

 Grayson helping daddy open our gift...

I love how excited he is in the pictures!

Grayson sort of participating during the Christmas Program.  He was more interested in hanging with mommy and daddy then singing and dancing.  At one point he ran up to his teacher Miss Tammy and sat on her lap.  He loves Miss Tammy!

Thanks Daddy for coming!

and one final picture captured...

creating CHRISTMAS traditions

Last Weekend Chad, Grayson, and I did a Pinterest inspired Christmas Project.  It was fun and a wonderful memory.  I am hoping to do this each year with Grayson and with Crew too!

Creating family traditions this time of year is so fun!

We have created a few traditions this year:

Elf on the Shelf

Painting Projects for gifts

a book a day to unwrap until Christmas



365 Day Project Mixbook

First I will start this post with sharing that Mixbook did not ask me to write this post.  I am doing this post because I was having a conversation with a few girls on twitter about the 365 Day Project that I did this year and I shared with them that I use Mixbook.  With several questions later it was decided that I should do a post on this topic.  So here you go!

Here is a peek at my book for your review...

it is MANY PAGES so don't feel as if you have to look at every page you will get the idea after a few pages.  A little side note I love looking at how much Grayson has changed through the months.  This book is my FAVORITE and I am so glad that I took the time to take a picture everyday. 

I use the blank canvas template photo book.  I like this template because I like the images to be the highlight of the pages. 

You might ask so I will tell you... I update this book at least once a week so it is up to date and not overwhelming at the end of the year...just a little Melissa tip for you!  

As for taking a picture everyday

this is what worked for me:

~ I used my iPhone to take pictures

~ I used the APP on my iPhone instagram to take pictures

~ I also used my camera

~ I found ONE location to keep all of the images.  This year I used Facebook and created two different albums to house these images.  I liked using Facebook because I could directly upload the images directly to Mixbook.  It also allowed for family and close friends to see images of Grayson every day!

A few changes I plan to make for next year as you can see my book is 93 pages and I still have a few days left to add before I order this book in January 2012.  With that many pages I think it is going to be expensive.  It will be well worth the money...

Also if you follow GROUPON they sometimes have GREAT deals on Mixbook.  So watch for those deals too! 

So next year I plan to do one page for the entire week, so that in the end I only have 52 pages.  I also plan to better document on each picture what took place on that particular day.  My sister Amie did this project for her boys and I LOVED how she took the time to write a quick phrase or sentence about what her boys were doing on that day.  Finally I will only have one book and coming in March when Crew joins our family I will just include him in this project. 

I hope this post encourages you to do the 365 day project.  If you have any specific questions please let me know.  I am happy to help!

By the way, Lenovo coupons come in handy for tech projects.

Week 26 baby crew

Week 26 Update

I did the recap a few days ago and was hoping to post before our 3D/4D Ultrasound, but I didn't have time.  Anyways back to the update.  For this pregnancy I am having a lot of hip pains that make my right leg numb.  I really think Crew is sitting on a nerve and after seeing him during my ultrasound his entire body is on the right side of my stomach.  His head is down and in the corner by my right hip.  So for now I just try to relax when I can, use a heating pad, and take warm baths.

You can see Grayson in the corner of the image that is the best we could do on this particular day he was sad and wanted to go and get in the car and go bye-bye.  

See you tomorrow with the Mixbook Photo Book Post!   

18 Month Well Visit

Today was a busy day for the Stafford Family.  It started with Grayson having his 18 month well visit!  For the first time I felt that we are finally going to a well visit and Grayson didn't have a cough or a runny nose.  He seems so happy and healthy!  Little did I know...

Grayson's ear tubes are GONE :(  I am so sad!

I was really hoping to make it another season with tubes.  On top of that Grayson has an ear infection.  NO FUN!  We are on antibiotics and ear drops.  I hope it is clear before we get on a plane next week.

Our wait in the doctor's office was longer than normal and Grayson was into EVERYTHING...

I tried hard to keep him busy and out of things, but boy was he curious of everything. 

Growing Grayson Updates:

Weight - 22 pounds 14 ounces (10.63% growth percentile)

Height - 31" (10.20% growth percentile)

Head - 47.5 cm (37.52% growth percentile)

Before leaving Grayson got two shots and was so interested in the band-aids he kept trying to pull down his pants.  Once we took the band-aids off during bath time tonight Grayson played with them in the bath tub and he also had to hold them in his hands the rest of the night...silly boy!

During lunch hour Chad and I met at my doctor's office to have a 3D/4D ultrasound to see baby Crew.

He didn't play well at all and had his hands over his face the entire time.  We got a few good images and confirmed that he is still a boy!

We get to go back after Christmas and see Crew again and hopefully we will get some good images.  I am just happy to see his sweet face again before March 2012. 

I took the below image with my phone...

Sorry again as always for my lack of blogging...

Tomorrow I will have my Week 26 Post Up and on Friday I am going to do a Post on my 365 Day Project Mixbook Photo Book.  I plan to share my book, share tips, and my ideas for 2012. 



week 24 and 25 baby crew

Work has kept me extremely busy...

so yes I am so behind on blogging, but we didn't forgot to take pictures!

Here is my Week 24 and Week 25 Pregnancy Post Update

fun image both of us caught of guard...ha!

this is the best image we could get of Grayson the moment we took my week 25 picture...

he was upset because we told him that we were leaving, but we didn't leave at the exact moment and he was MAD!

This pregnancy has gone by so quickly and I am looking forward to March 2012 when we meet our little guy! 

a few more baby items FOR SALE

Yesterday's monogram swap was successful...

Just waiting to hear back from a few girls and most of the items are sold!

So I thought that I would post a few more things

This diaper bag has NEVER been used!

I got it to use for Grayson and than Chad bought me another one that I ended up using all the time. 

It is a Kaleidoscope Diaper Bag

I paid - $80.00

asking $60.00 + shipping for it it has NEVER been used and has all it's accessories as well.

If you are interested in this diaper bag please email me at mlstafford26@yahoo.com

BIG BROTHER SHIRTS

these two shirts came from ETSY called PiddleDesigns

they RUN small I purchased size 12 month and I wish I would have gotten size 18 months

THEY are in excellent condition

price for each = $8.00 plus $3.00 for shipping

here is a better picture of Grayson in the big brother shirt

GRAYSON pillow

excellent condition as well

back side of pillow is a solid orange minky fabric

I paid - $35.00

asking price - $15.00 + $3.00 for shipping

If you are interested in any of the above items please contact me through email at mlstafford26@yahoo.com

Grayson Monogram Clothing Sale

I am linking up to Kelly's Blog and think the monogram swap is a WONDERFUL idea! 

Grayson has a lot of MONOGRAM items that are hard to see go, but since I can't keep everything it will be nice to see them go to a sweet boy named Grayson. 

I took the images of each item last night and most of them were folded in a tote and in storage.  I will also tell you that I did not dry any of his monogram clothing.  I just washed them on delicate and hung them to air dry.

SHIPPING IN THE US ONLY 

SHIPPING CHARGE WILL BE an ADDITIONAL $3.00  

On onto the sale!

1. {GSK} 0-3 Month Gown with matching hat

price - $15.00

sorry the image is facing the wrong way...

2.  3-6 Month Gown

{GSK Monogram}

price - $10.00

3.  3-6 Month Gown

Grayson down the side

price - $15.00

4.  Grayson 0-3 Month Onesie with G initial on the bottom of the onesie

price - $12.00/each

5.  Grayson 0-3 Month Onesie with G initial on the bottom of the onesie

price - $12.00/each

6.  same details as above

7.  same details as above

8.  same as above

9.  {GSK} 3-6 Month Suspender Onesie

price = $6.00 

10. Grayson 3-6 Month Onesie with G initial on the bottom of the onesie

price = $12.00

11.  0-3 Month Onesie

Price - $10.00

12.  0-3 Months runs small

single G initial on onesie

price - $5.00

13.  6 Months Halloween Grayson Onesie

price = $6.00/each

14.  same as above

SOLD!!! 15.  Holiday 6-12 Months Onesie

price - $12.00

SOLD!!! 16.  Holiday 6 Months Onesie

price $6.00

17.  Grayson PJ's size 6 months front of PJ's are plain Green and button up the bottom has the monogram on it

price - $6.00

Most of Grayson's clothes were only worn once or twice.  If you are interested in any of the above items I ask that you email me at

mlstafford26@yahoo.com

please tell me which item you want by telling me the number beside each item that way I can clearly identify which item you want and can immediately go back to this POST and mark SOLD as soon as I get your email.  I also ask that you give me your mailing address and if you can pay via paypal that would be great! Payment details we can work out through email as well.  I hope that all the details that I have provided are clear.  If you have any questions please send me an email.

Thanks and happy shopping!

If this is successful I have a few more items, but since this is my first blog sale I didn't want it to be so overwhelming. 

Happy Friday!