Thanksgiving, Christmas and Almost 8 Months Old!!

Sorry for the delay in the post...we've been busy....very busy trying to wrangle a now mobile Grayson Dean. So, we visited Kentucky for Thanksgiving. Grayson got to meet all of his Kentucky hillbilly family (ha-ha-ha), and he said to tell you all he loves you very much and can't wait to see you again in February.

We stayed with Uncle David and Aunt Rhonda, and had 50 people at Thanksgiving dinner at Mamaw and Papaw Rigsby's house. It was a wild and crazy time. Lots of babies were in the house, lots of food was in the house, and lots of people were in the house. It was good to see everybody and let everyone meet Grayson.

We also had a little mini-reunion for the West Carter class of 1996 at Patrick and Julie Perry's house. It was really good to see everybody and catch up over the past 10 years. It was not nice to show the video of me cheerleading at a pep rally in high school (I'm gonna get you for that Julie!).

We just celebrated Grayson's first Christmas here in Oregon with Mel's family. He got tons of presents, but he loved the bows, wrapping paper and boxes most of all. In fact, we're keeping one of the boxes for him to play on for a while. It's really fun to watch him squirm around on top of it. We had Christmas dinner at Mel's parents' house, and all three of the grandkids were in attendance (Devon 2, Grayson 7 mos, and Kyle 7 wks). That was a busy house as well. Those three boys are going to be lots of trouble for lots of people in the near future. We think Grayson will be leading the pack.

Grayson is now crawling, pulling himself up and standing on his own against anything that is taller than him. We've got a few videos we'll put on YouTube. We've added a bunch of pictures from the holidays and general shots on the picture website.

Me and Grayson will be traveling to Florida and Kentucky in February for a vacation for Mom. She's going to try and get the time off. She's starting a new job at work and she's not sure what her schedule will be yet. We'll be in Florida Feb 13 - 16, and then up to Kentucky to watch my little brother Jarred play his Senior Night basketball game in Raceland. Travelling back to Oregon on the 19th.

Hopefully we'll get to see everyone we didn't get to see at Thanksgiving (Uncle Ron??!). So, go check out the videos and pictures, and we'll talk to you soon.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/ThanksgivingInKentucky

http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/7Months

http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/1stChristmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qhp9dtiXgE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xqG0cuuiDU


Love and miss you all,
Brad, Mel and Grayson

P.S. And just for the record, I did ride my Uncle David's bull, Brutus. Now he needs to be in my freezer for dinners. HA-HA-HA!

6 Months already?????

WOW has the time flown by?? It seems like every time I write one of these I can't believe that he has already grown so much!! So this is the 6 Month update, and I'm a little late....About 10 days!

Doctor visit;

So the 6 month checkup went very well. Our doctor said that he couldn't remember seeing another 6 month old baby so active and aware of his surroundings...ever! And that everything was progressing just fine. He weighed 19lbs 1 oz and was 29 and 1/2 inches long.....That equates to 99% on height and 85% on weight. Grayson made it through the mandatory round of shots with about a 15 second burst of yelling .....Then back to looking around at what he could put in his mouth!! His mom didn't fair as well....I think her burst of yelling/tears lasted all day after the shots!! J/K!! HAHAHA

The 1st Halloween!!

So this is his first Halloween and he was a lobster! (as you can see!!) he had a good time, Grandma Yoder and cousin Devon came over to Trick or Treat with Grayson and Mom. I was on duty handing out candy at the house to the 30 year old Meth addicts that wanted free food..ie candy!! Grayson visited a couple of the neighbors houses and they all thought he was super cute!!


Thanksgiving!!

So, as you all probably know we are heading back to Kentucky for Thanksgiving....We are SUPER excited to see everyone and to let everyone meet Grayson that hasn't met him already! He is super stoked as well.....He told me so!! I will be having a mini 10 year class reunion at a classmate's house, that will be fun to see everyone and catch up and gossip about old times! I can't believe I've been out of high school for 10 years already....I hope life slows back down sometime before I turn 80??

The Crazy DAD?!?!

For those of you that might be keeping track or care.....I've been continuing my path to Ironman Canada 2007 with my training. I ran a 1/2 Marathon on the 29th of October ...It was called the Run Like Hell 1/2 Marathon. It takes place right here in downtown Portland. Out of 927 people I finished 73rd, in 1 hour and 35 minutes....I would not have beat Lance Armstrong in NewYork last weekend!!

So that is about it......Except for the fact the Grayson is now CRAWLING!!!! That is right the TERROR of the N.W. is now MOBILE!!! Be ready for destruction in NOVEMBER!!!

Check out some new pictures here....
http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/6Months

And I'll get some video of him crawling in the next couple days!!

Love,
Brad, Mel, and Grayson!!

5 Months Old and CRAZY!

Hello to all! Oh my gosh, summer has come and gone...it seems like yesterday we were having a baby. I hope everyone's summer was good. As we begin fall, we'll share our summer's experiences with you. Mel is back at work now. She says she's part-time, but she works every chance she gets. Grayson is doing good in daycare...the gals love him. We like having him just downstairs...we go visit him every chance we get, not to mention Mel is feeding him every 3 or so hours during work days.

Grayson now has a bag full of new tricks since that last update. He now rolls over both directions and both sides, can get on his hands and knees (God help us!), is seating on his own, eats his toes, and squeeks like a bird. He's always laughing, even when we put him in his crib for naps or bedtime. He's eyeing Buttons, the cat. She's even come up to him and he's grabbed her tail and tried to eat it. Yum-yum!

He tried his first food a few weeks ago. That was quite funny. (video links will be included to see all his tricks). He loves bananas and pears. He wasn't too sure about the squash, but he got through it. The rice cereal is....well, rice cereal.

He said Da-Da for the first time tonight. Mom's not too sure about that, but Dad sure loved it! He kept saying it over and over just to make the point for Mom!!

I climbed Mt. Rainier a few weekends ago. That was amazingly hard, but an experience I will never forget. Unfortunately, I came home to a sick baby and momma, and became sick myself with a temperature and everything. We're all three recovered now and back to our old selves.

Now, we're just getting ready to head to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, and Grayson's first Halloween. We'll make sure to send out pictures of his costume (you're going to love it!).

So, happy Halloween and Thanksgiving to all! We'll see most of you in Kentucky next month.

Check out his new pictures here
http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/5MonthsOld
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/MtRainier

And for the videos go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_4P8g_JxOA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnWq6hD-xE4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMjyxEDuSU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5sHFZUaCIU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUsvPhHcn7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK0iAXINjQg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD6pruzYmuc

Grayson at 4 months.

Hello to all!!

On the 30th of August we went in for Grayson's 4 month check-up and the dreaded SHOTS!! Mom never likes that part!! The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and mentioned that it looked like Grayson really likes to eat. He weighed in at 16lbs and 12oz and was 26 and 1/2 inches long. For you keeping stats....that was 90th % on weight and 95th% on height compared to the national average!! We still have a chunker!!! Dad had his 29th birthday in July and we had a couple of friends over to help eat some cake and ice cream. Grayson's buddies Ben (Otto) and Lorenzo visited.

Since July we have been busy just getting ready to send Mom back to work!! She is excited and depressed about going back to work at the same time. The good part is that it's only part time and we are keeping Grayson in Daycare in the same building that we work in...so we can drop in and see him ANY time during the day! We'll let you know how she holds up!! HAHAH

I almost forgot Grayson is now ROLLING OVER from his back to his belly, it started a couple of weeks ago. I shot a little video.....with our camera....so the quality isn't that good.....but go here to see our little Monkey start his MOBILE life!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TA2AvrVVgE


He also has now found his feet and I'm sure it won't be long before he is haveing toe sandwiches all day long!!! AHHAHAHA

Make sure to see Grayson's new pictures here!! http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean

Love and miss you all!!

Brad, Mel, and Grayson!

Uncle David and Aunt Rhonda Visit from Kentucky!

Uncle David and Aunt Rhonda finally visit from Kentucky, and Grayson was very glad to meet them! We kept them busy looking around the beautiful Pacific Northwest for the week. We visited Mt. St Helens, took a day trip to the Bonneville Dam and the fish hatchery in Hood River Oregon. Then we took a trip over to the Oregon Coast and stayed in a house in Bandon Oregon, Home of Bandon Dunes golf courses. We golfed 2 days then drove up the coast back towards Portland and took in the sights. We had a Ton of fun visiting and letting Grayson meet his wonderful Aunt and Uncle....well Great Aunt and Great Uncle....man are you guys old??!?! J/K....Happy Birthday Uncle Dave!!! They flew home on Saturday and Grayson was sad to see them go. We will get to see them again at Thanksgiving when we take Grayson to Kentucky for the first time...he is very excited!
We love and miss you all...

See you soon ,
Brad, Mel, and Grayson

P.S. Be sure to check out the pictures!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean/UncleDavidAndAuntRhondaVisitFromKY

Grayson Visits California and Moto GP!!

Hello to Everyone!!
This week Grayson headed down to California to help out his Daddy's buddies Racing Motorcycles down in Laguna Seca for the Moto GP race weekend. We stopped in the Redwood's and visited San Francisco and then on to the Monteray Bay area where we had a house rented for the weekend. The Redwoods are Astonishing and utterly undescribable!! San Francisco is a very nice city and we will have to get back there just to sight see and check out the city in future trips. The Camper worked great for the drive down and sleeping the first two nights on the way down. That was a very good purchase for us. Grayson is looking forward to actually meeting his Uncle David and Aunt Rhonda this next week....August 5th, he has heard all about them and he told me to tell them to hurry up and get here!! So nothing big planned until then except to recover from the last couple of weeks traveling! We hope to see you all soon and love and miss EVERYONE!!

Brad, Melanine, and Grayson!

P.S. be sure to check out all of our picture over at

http://picasaweb.google.com/Graysondean

Grandparents Visit from Kentucky!!

So Mamaw and Papaw Rigsby flew in from Kentucky the first week of June when Grayson was about a month old. We has a TON of fun visiting and watching Great Grandma and Great Grandpa falling in love with Grayson....Here are the photos from the visit......Grayson says to tell the old people to hurry and come back to visit!!!

 

The first BLOG.....

The First BLOG!

Well I'll start blogging to keep everyone up to date on Grayson and My family out here in Oregon....It's probably a better way to keep in touch instead of my 400 picture mass emails that I send out all the time! I hope everyone that reads this blog will e-mail me every once in a while to let me know what is going on with you and yours! So I'll keep it short and simple for the first blog and just attach ONE picture of my favorite Baby in the WORLD!!!