Riley Update

Good News!

Riley is back to his old adorably cute, charming self! You might remember back to this post: http://jenaandronyaeger.blogspot.com/2009/10/dogone-crazy.html
My sweet fur baby had an extremely hard time coping with Grant's arrival back in September, early October. He's been living with my folks since then and has been showered with affection unconditionally. They have nursed him back to health and I am so grateful for all they have done the past few months. My Dad gives Riley a bath every three to four days and washes him with medicated shampoo that has to stay on his skin for 30 minutes, this has helped aid in his hair regrowth. Riley also had the shakes and was an overall nervous dog when he went to live with them and I'm happy to report he no longer shakes or is jittery! Here's a picture of Riley I took on my recent visit to NC. He's happy as a lark and has assumed the position of My Mom's lap dog. Those of you who know my parents well know that their pomeranian, Miss Sally, (a.k.a. Tessa, in her former life) is truely my Dad's dog and nips my Mom when she comes close to him so Riley has settled right into their family.

Where do things stand?

Well, Riley is not particularly fond of his brother, Grant. Grant is in the stage now where he likes to pull Riley's hair and chase after him in his walker. I think Riley is overall terrified of his little brother. This picture pretty much sums up their relationship. Grant bullies Riley and Riley cowards away. Riley has such a great thing going on with his Grandparents (adoptive parents,) I think it's a little too soon to bring him back into our home and disrupt his fabulous lifestyle. When I say fabulous, I mean it. He sleeps in the bed with my parents, they take the dogs on carrides daily and feed them table scraps. They are pretty much spoiled and living any canine's dream. Let's face it, in our household, Riley would go on being our dog. Not a child but a dog...

Sooooo, for now Riley will continue to reside in Clinton and we'll settle for visits every couple of weeks/months. Riley will always be my first fur-child but it's pretty obvious now where his loyalties lie...

Just when you thought this week couldn't get any better...

After spending an absolutely perfect weekend with Poppy...

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Wendt and Mimi...
Grandmama and Granddaddy Tew are on the way to visit us right now for the remainder of this week. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. We love visitors and I love helping hands!

Who's Your Daddy?

Ron's Mom thankfully held onto a lot of his baby clothing prompting a photo of Grant in his Daddy's duds this past weekend. She also brought the photo of him wearing this particular outfit in his six or seven month portrait. I couldn't resist putting the two on here to compare. Looks like they have the same body type with the same little pinch of fat on the outer thigh and the same little dimples in their elbows. I just think they are both too cute for words!

Ronald James Yaeger, 1982 "Ronnie"

Grant Fitzgerald Yaeger, 2010

Happy Easter

Grant's first Easter was so Eggciting! The Easter Bunny was very good to Grant and we all had a wonderful day, the weather was gorgeous and we enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner.

Look what the Easter Bunny brought Grant!

(I actually cheated and let him wear his sandles early, last Friday!) You can't really see but that's a swimsuit and beach hat in there.

My first bulldozer!
Grant enjoying all the goodies in his Easter basket

from Mimi and Poppy, he loves his sunshades!
Baby "G" really racked up!

My parents didn't forget about the little guy either,

They sent him this plush rabbit that's just his size!

Grant loved shaking all the Easter eggs with candy in them.

They made for great fun, he loves noisemakers!

Our little family before church.

Hoppy Easter!

Grant Meets the Easter Bunny!

Grant has been so excited about his Grandparents and his Great-Grandparents coming into town all week. They all arrived Friday morning and as soon as they got here we all got in the car and headed to Ron's office in Mobile to meet the Easter Bunny. White-Spunner had a catered Good Friday Easter lunch for their employees and their families. We didn't stick around for the food because good Catholics don't eat meat on Fridays during lent and they were offering BBQ. Instead, we headed to the nearest restaurant and enjoyed catfish! Grant loved meeting the Easter Bunny, he was mesmerized and it was such a fun outing!

Happy Easter!

Mimi and Grant meet the Easter Bunny

Hmmm... I don't know what to think of you!

Ron and I with our baby boy and Peter Cottontail

Grant and his friend, Olivia

Grant received three Easter eggs from the Easter Bunny. This one had a $20 bill inside. The others had a $10 and a $5. He received a total of $35 from the Easter Bunny. I don't think he'll be quite as lucky with the Tooth Fairy! ;)

Yay, Money!

Seven

Grant turned seven months old last Thursday. The biggest change in his development since his six month birthday is his ability to sit up independently now and boy, has that changed both of our lives! He can now sit up and play with his toys and entertain himself for hours. Also, Grant babbles and tries to talk ALOT. He says byebyebyebye and some sort of sounds bunched up together that sounds like "I love you." Oh, a Mother can dream...

Grant has a great appetite. He eats rice and a fruit in the mornings and a vegetable and a fruit in the afternoons. I have actually started making his baby food in hopes that it might be a bit healthier without all of the added perservatives and cheaper but it is extremely time consuming. He's also doing very well with his transition into formula feeding. He drinks 6 ounces four times a day. 7, 11, 3, 7. He takes two naps a day. The first, two hours after he wakes and the second around 2pm. He's on a pretty great schedule and has become predictable which is a welcome blessing!

Grant is very tickelish, I get the biggest kick out of tickeling his belly and listening to him laugh. He has a wonderful personality and is very friendly to everyone. Luckily we have not gone through the phase where he only wants "Mama."

Grant drools constantly. I have to put a bib on him almost all the time now because he soaks through whatever he's wearing. He's been showing signs of teething for months now but that first tooth has been mighty stubborn. Overall, he's growing up way too fast. I am so in love with this little guy I find it difficult to put into words. Ron and I are loving being his parents!

Grant has great hand-eye coordination. He can grab almost anything and switch it from hand to hand. He still puts everything in his mouth (and I mean EVERYTHING!)

Still too little for his highchair...

Grant loves his walker and will not stay away from our trashcan.

He pushes it all over the kitchen trying to grab a hold of it, it's actually very entertaining!

Playtime! This is where we spend the majority of our day.

Such a sweet boy, but such a droolbucket!

Runaway Baby

Grant has been cracking us up lately with his mobility in his walker. Upon our return from NC he realized that he could go forward (FINALLY) in his walker and has not stopped since. He now loves to explore every nook and crany of our pad and tries to open cabinets and doors. We've had gorgeous weather here the past few days so I've been taking Grant outdoors and discovered he loves to do this...

Enjoy the videos!