Potty training

My sister is AMAZING. I just have to say that before I post about potty training because she took a week of her summer time to come up and help potty train Carsten. The original idea was to have her help with Grady while I train Carsten, but Grady had decided at that point that he REALLY did not like bottles, so Ashley did basically all the potty training for Carsten. Poor girl. But she did really, really well and someday when she has kiddos of her own I owe her big time. What an amazing blessing she is to our family.

We are sending Carsten to preschool in the fall (hooray!) for two mornings a week and in order to go, he has to be potty trained which is why we tried this summer. Carsten potty trained #1 within about week and #2 is well, still an issue. So far potty training still feels very driven by us meaning that we decide when he has to go, but we're dealing and overall it's ok. Here's hoping it gets better soon!!

Grady's shirt says it all :).

Grady's baptism

Grady was baptized June 9 at Scotia First Reformed Church, and we were blessed to be able to have Andy's parents, my parents, my Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen, Ashley, and my cousin Sarah attend the baptism. Amazing, right?! Tom and Bonnie arrived a couple days early to help with preparations and to spend time with us before the whole gang arrived. Everyone else arrived the night before Grady's baptism, and my parents and grandparents stayed for a few days following the baptism so we could spend time with them. We loved seeing everyone and it was incredibly amazing to have so many people at the church with us. This would not have happened in Switzerland :). So yay for being back in the US!

Mom and Dad's first time meeting Grady! 

Almost the whole group :).

Baptism! 

Our pastors

Some Grandma Bonnie time.

Aunt Ashley makes Carsten smile a LOT! Possibly the biggest smile ever for Carsten.

Grandpa and his grandkids.

Mom and Grady!

Grandma and Grandpa Hoogie brought a tee ball set for Carsten and taught him how to use it!

Grandpa Tom taught Carsten a few things too!

So remember the advice most people give about putting the baptism outfit on infants early? Well, we tried. But despite that, Grady still had a blowout with Andy's baptismal outfit, so he was baptized in the extra outfit I had brought along just in case (so glad I remembered this). Actually, he ended up matching Carsten's outfit just by chance so that was really cute :). The baptism itself was really nice and both Carsten and Grady did amazingly well. Grady actually didn't cry at all which we were thankful for since Carsten cried most of his baptism.

My Grandparents and parents were able to stay for a few days after the baptism, and it was wonderful having them around. My Dad was Carsten's playmate and Mom had a ton of fun caring for Grady. We also enjoyed playing cards, and doing a few touristy things in Albany like the NY State Museum and the State Capitol Building. We loved spending time with family! Thanks for coming everyone :).

Dad playing diggers with Carsten.

Carsten had so much fun!

Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Hoogeveen with the boys.

Dad with a sleeping Grady :).

um, I'm back!

I have been busy. Crazy busy. I used to think that I was busy in grad school before we had Carsten, and then once we had Carsten, I realized that I used to have a ton of time on my hands. Well, the same thing happened when Grady arrived. I used to have loads of time when there was only Carsten around, and now that I have two kids, well, I just don't have time for much else except to tend to my children. My last post was when Grady was around two weeks old and he was still sleeping during the day. I should not have written that post because those luxurious naps where Carsten and Grady were both sleeping by themselves no longer happen, and in addition, we found out when Grady was 3 weeks old that our land lady would not be renewing our lease so we had to find somewhere else to move to. This meant that any additional time that I have had available has been spent house hunting, writing papers (I just got another one published!), and trying to clean. Hence, no more blog posts. So, let me see if I can sufficiently summarize the last 3.5 months of Grady's life... 

Grady at 1 months:

-almost smiling

-sleeping ok at night (generally up 1-2 times per night but he has a long stretch in there)

-Carsten started having more fun interacting with Grady and enjoyed playing in the playmat with him

-stopped napping regularly and typically wants to nap on me in the rocking chair which was only ok when Carsten was napping

-we realized around 1 month that Grady had reddish hair

-we switched him into 3 month clothes before he turned 1 month.

My two boys.

My 1 month old Grady.

Grady at 2 months:

-started smiling (baby smiles are amazing!)

-he napped primarily in the swing, carrier, stroller, car seat, or on me since a crib nap was just not done.

-Grady is really quite happy unless he's tired and wants to sleep. This is especially evident at about 5 pm when suddently without warning Grady will just start screaming. We don't remember this happening with Carsten nearly as much. Then again, Carsten typically went to bed around 10-11pm at this time in his life. Grady is typically sleeping by around 6:30-7:00 pm almost every night. This is wonderful :).

-started cooing and making noises back and forth with us

-Grady loves being outside which works out great because Carsten also enjoys playing outside. So we try to go to parks and take lots of walks when the weather cooperates.

-He started wearing 6 months clothes right around his 2 month birthday.

Elusive smile...

Love. Love. Love. And you can definitely tell Grady's hair is red here.

oh the cuteness!

My handsome Grady.

Go Hope!

Grady at 3 months:

-we realized that Grady was losing his reddish hair and now his blonde layer underneath is all that's left

-Grady found his hands around 3 months and found his toes around 3.5 months. 

-Grady started sleeping through the night pretty routinely (6:30 pm - 5:00 am)

-Grady started looking different from Carsten's baby photos (probably the loss of his darker hair is helping).

-his eyes are quite blue

-Carsten and Grady have really started interacting. Grady loves to watch Carsten and actually during supper Grady will make noise until Carsten notices him and then they both laugh back and forth at each other. Simply hilarious :).

-During this month we gave up on giving Grady bottles. The timing never worked out that well for Andy to give him a bottle and anytime that it did just ended in a screamfest. So, once again, I have an infant who won't take a bottle. This will probably be an issue when I teach labs in the fall at Union. Sigh.

Handsome Grady.

Look at those baby blues!

My Carsten.

My two boys.

Carsten reads to Grady on occasion. Love it!

Grady 4 months:

-he likes to use your hands to pull himself up to the sitting position

-sleeping well at night (generally sleeps from 6:30 pm - 5:30ish am)

-he is pretty good at grabbing toys now (or your hands or anything) to put into his mouth. Probably his favorite thing to suck on is a burp cloth.

-Grady rolled over from his tummy to his back twice (he was propped up on his elbows so it was easier, but hey - he still did it!). 

-Grady's eyes are still quite blue.

-Grady started screaming/screeching for fun when he's having play time. We're not a huge fan of this - hopefully it's a phase.

-Grady continued sleeping well at night and we reached cat-nap (30 min) status for crib naps in the morning. Both Carsten and Grady it turns out are cat-nappers as infants - just means more work for me...

-Grady started wearing 9 months clothes right before he turned 4 months. My boys really do grow up fast...

Probably my favorite photo ever of Grady. 

Our little Swiss baby. Thanks Kai and Vanessa for the onesie! 

Our little Grady baby.

All my boys. :)

Ok, so that's a summary on Grady. I'm still WAY behind so we'll see how I can do catching up this week... :)