Spring has sprung!

Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope all the mom's reading this had a great day with their families. Beckett has had a busy month since his birthday. He is quicker on his feet than ever before and is starting to expand his vocabulary. We brush his teeth every night before bed and now he says "teef teef!" when we get the toothbrush out. He is developing quite a personality too! He always chooses 'Goodnight Moon!' as his bedtime book of choice (regardless of how many other books are laid out) and has made it perfectly clear that he hates having his diaper changed! He's still our sweet little boy despite starting to have a tantrum or two! Those difficult moments are all erased when he puts his arms around your neck for a hug and gives you a big, open mouthed kiss! We are looking forward to some more time outside in the weeks and months to come and can't wait until it's warm enough to swim in the lake!

Easter at Grammie's!

Easter egg hunt with Gavin & Lilly! 

Check out my cool new shades for the summer! 

Testing out the new plants at Stagecoach

Beckett's First Haircut

We knew this day was coming sooner than later. Beckett's hair had gotten so long he could barely see and we were constantly brushing it out of his face. Chris and I took him to Reid's Barber Shop in Fly Creek this afternoon and he got his first trim. All in all he did well...a little freakout at the end but that's to be expected. Enjoy a video clip from the event and a few pictures.

Getting all set up...

The first few snips. No bowl cut please!

Almost done and losing patience FAST!

All of this is so exhausting!

All done! Look how handsome I am! 

Happy Birthday Beckett!

Beckett celebrated his first birthday on Sunday with many of you in attendance. For those of you who weren't able to make it here are some pictures of the big day. Beckett was a great sport and seemed to enjoy all the attention! Our little ham clapped for himself after everyone sang Happy Birthday :)

 Thank you to everyone for all of their love and support of Beckett this past year. Chris and I are looking forward to continue to watch him grow and change!

Yes, we clipped the birthday balloons to Beckett to see what he would do :) 

Lunch before cake! 

Beckett with Grandma & Grandpa before the party started. 

"Hey everyone! Look at my cool new bike!" 

Mmmm cake! 

Beckett and friends hanging out after presents 

The Grady boys...we have a picture similar to this from the day Beckett was born. 

He walks!

Beckett took his first steps last weekend and every day since has drunkenly toddled two or three steps before defaulting to crawling. Today I decided to push his limits a little bit. He shuffled two steps to me and I backed up- he kept going, I backed up again- he still followed me... we played this game until I got him to walk halfway across the kitchen. Our baby is growing up! As happy and proud of him as I am that he is developing and changing so fast it also makes me sad because my little baby is growing up. As I made our lunches for school/work tomorrow I realized that they weren't all that different (yogurt, fruit and a sandwich). Beckett doesn't eat strained fruit and vegetables anymore. He likes to feed himself his peas, carrots and whatever else we're eating for dinner. Some of the pictures I've included this week are of meal time. This time is often Beckett at his best AND worst :)

Eating Dad's famous chicken parm. for dinner 

Morning coffee at Stagecoach

Hanging with Oma post Beckett proofing the kitchen

Dinner for Nona's Birthday

First official practice of The Grady Boy's Band

Dinner at Nona's

Last week we went to Nona's for dinner to welcome her back from a month in paradise. Papa Shady is still in Honduras so we skyped with him. Here are some pictures from dinner and Beckett's first experience with a sugary dessert. Judging from his reaction to chocolate cake and frosting he's going to love birthday cake!

We also visited with lots of friends this week. The last picture is of Beckett with our friend Bevin. If you look close you can see Beckett has a new tooth coming in on the bottom right. He's been teething pretty bad this week and has a couple more coming in on the bottom that haven't broken through yet.

"More" pictures

Most of you know that Chris and I have been signing to Beckett for a few months now. Nothing major- just basic things like food, sleep, dirty diaper, all done and more. We've tried to do it with regularity and the  main reason is to help Beckett communicate his needs to us before he is able to voice them (beyond screeching).  He has always watched us sign to him but until recently had yet to sign back. Then one day last week when I was feeding him dinner he made the sign for 'more'. Totally unprovoked. He just put his fingers together in a perfect version of the sign. He did it several times for both Chris and I and has continued to do it since so we consider this a great breakthrough! Hopefully he will continue to sign to us and we can really begin two way communication! 

Dinner at Villa Isadoro with the Hall family. Love the boys in matching overalls!

Our little piggy! 

Hello everyone! 

Reading his favorite book "Goodnight Gorilla" and getting ready to give Daddy his Valentine. 

Winter wonderland

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful winter day in Cooperstown. Many of you are reading this from warm weather locations all over the country/world and although I am envious of the sun and sand outside your doors we are experiencing some gorgeous winter days in upstate New York. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and take Beckett for his first snow shoe with a group of our friends. We strapped Beckett to my back (a great added workout for Mommy) and headed out into the woods. Our friends Aarie and Bevin brought along their 5 month old Emerson and we had a great Sunday afternoon in the snow. Beckett absolutely loved being outside and was wide eyed and excited for most of the trip (see pictures below). Towards the end he got a little sleepy and probably would have passed out if we kept going. We couldn't be happier he enjoys being outside because since activities are a big part of our lives here.
Today Beckett had his 9 month check up. We are happy to report he is a strong and healthy little guy. He weighed in at 21.2 lbs. and is 30.5 inches long! We weren't too surprised by the length considering he has grown out of all his 6-12 month clothes and is comfortably fitting in 12-18 month pants! In addition to getting a clean bill of health he also wins the award for biggest flirt. He wooed all the nurses and Dr. Kwan with his smiles and giggles.... I think we're going to have a ladies man on our hands!

The whole group- Joe, Chris, Beckett, Stacey, Bevin, Sarina, Aarie and Emerson 

Beckett said "mama" yesterday and my heart officially melted. The three of us were cuddling on the couch and Beckett was relaxing in my lap. He looked up at me and clearly said "mama" and smiled. Even typing it makes me smile. He has spent the last several weeks/months babbling all sorts of "words" including dadadadada but nothing close to mama. One of my favorite things is when he stands at the gate to Chris's office, holds onto the bars and babbles "dadadadadada" even though Chris may not even be home. He knows that's where he can often find dada. Smart little guy. For the last two days he now crawls around the house saying "mamamamamamama". Until he can say "I love you" I don't think he can say anything sweeter. I'll hold tight to these moments because when he's a teenager I'm sure he will be saying some "not so sweet" things to us.

Beckett riding his Rody. Sorry, I took the video vertical and can't change it. For those of you with laptops, turn your screen :)

Story time with Daddy 

Helping Mama fold the laundry 

A big week in the life of Beckett Grady

It's been a big week in the life of Beckett Grady, but then when you are 9 months old and developing at a lightning fast pace when isn't it a big week? This past week Beckett started swim lessons [he LOVES the water, particularly the splashing part], successfully learned how to walk behind his walker without falling on his face and played in the snow with Grammie Robbie and his new sled [a short lived adventure due to blowing snow and chilly temperatures]. Additionally the 3 of us took a trip to Albany to see my friends from college. We're all turning 30 this year and try to be there for everyone's respective big birthday. They hadn't seen Beckett since the summer and couldn't believe how much he's grown. To quote my friend Lauren [the birthday girl] "He's only 9 months old? It seems like he should be a 1 1/2 or two or something". Most days I have a hard time believing my little baby is 9 months old. In some ways the time has flown so fast and at other times it's hard to believe he's only been in our lives for 9 [well technically 18] months. What did we do before he got here? I definitely don't think we laughed or smiled as much...

Remember to find humor in everything

Beckett is a very happy boy (or at least he puts on a great show). We are extremely lucky to have such a good natured little guy and we only hope he stays that way. He laughs when I tickle his face with my hair, when Chris wiggles his "tickle bug" finger or often times he laughs for seemingly no reason, which is what he appears to be doing in this video. It's amazing to watch him explore the world and find such joy in things we don't even notice.

On another note- to update you from the previous blog post. Beckett seems to have mastered getting down from a standing position. He has learned to bend his knees and put his hands on the ground. Something tells me he will be standing on his own without any support before we know it.

'Hello' from our sweet little boy

We decided to start this blog because many of you have asked for updated pictures and stories about our little man Beckett. Many of you live far away and don't get to see Beckett often or are away for the winter. He changes daily so we thought this would be a good way to share a little about B. Of course nothing is as great as when he crawls into your lap, laughs and smiles but hopefully this will give you a little 'Beckett fix'  until you get to give him a squeeze again.

The above picture is from Christmas Eve at Grammie's house. The sweater vest was an early Christmas present from our friend Becky and made for a perfect Christmas outfit.

Today we visited with Stacey's grandparents in Newburgh, NY. They hadn't seen Beckett since he was 4 months old so a lot has changed! Beckett traveled like a champ and enjoyed exploring Grandma & Grandpa's house and showing them his eating and crawling skills. He loves to pull himself up on furniture and has started walking along the edge of the coffee table and transitioning from couch to table. He hasn't quite figured out how to get from standing to sitting but perhaps that will be the big adventure this week! Stay tuned!