Little Miss Trouble

Today I walked in after Delia's morning nap to find this:


Yes, Delia was standing up in her crib! She hadn't been sitting up in it yet, so I had no reason to expect to see this. Needless to say, it was time for the boys to grab their tools and get to work lowering the crib.


Hopefully we have a few more months until she starts climbing out of the crib...

Seven Months Old!

Delia is 7 months old today! Over half way to being a year old. Amazing :-) She is becoming such a beautiful, determined, adventurous, mischievous, talkative, happy little girl. It is an absolute joy to watch her grow up. At 7 months old, Delia:

• Is on the move! Delia has been crawling for a month now, but she has finally mastered the movement and gets where she wants to go now. For the most part, she is methodical in her movement, but once she focuses in on something, then she picks up speed and is remarkably quick. John Grayson is still adjusting to the idea that his little sister can crawl over and get into his things now. Some days are better than others, but all in all, we're adjusting nicely.
  
• Pulls up. No, I'm not kidding. Not more than two weeks after she was truly mobile, little miss decided to start trying to climb. She's fearless too, which scares me. She likes to pull up on you if you're sitting on the floor and can also pull up on toys and almost on the couch. Watch out! Even scarier is that she will let go from time to time and doesn't mind falling over. She was crawling on John the other day (while he was laying on the floor), and when she reached his shoulders, she ducked her head and rolled right off. Yikes!
• Said her first word---Ma. Yes, Delia is talking now. She babbles all the time (which is so different than John Grayson). When she really wants something (to eat, be picked up), she very loudly starts saying "Ma, ma, ma". Hmm, isn't she supposed to be a Daddy's girl?
• Is quite the traveler. Delia and I flew to Charleston, SC last weekend to visit with Aunt Andrea and her 2-month old son Grant. She did a fantastic job on the plane, slept well during our visit, and even survived a 2.5 hour flight delay on the way home. Delia loved playing with Grant and was truly fascinated with him. We're hoping to 'encourage' those two to get married someday!
  
• Sleeps well, for the most part. I still wouldn't call her a great sleeper, but Delia is doing much, much better. Most nights, she sleeps 7pm - 6am and I can 'ignore' her until almost 7am. A definite improvement!!
• Is teething. Not sure how long it will take for those teeth to appear, but Delia is definitely cutting teeth. Thank goodness Orajel, Tylenol and Motrin seem to be keeping her comfortable. I promise to post pictures of her first tooth!!
• Has a lot of hair. Her hair is filling in on the back and sides, so she's quickly moving away from her mohawk (thank goodness). Now comes the issue of figuring out what to do with her hair. I'm a little anxious about selecting the appropriate hair style for her!
  
• Has started getting into everything. I affectionately call her my Mischief Maker. She LOVES John Grayson's toys and pretty much anything that she shouldn't be touching. It's time to baby proof the house again!

Here are a few pictures of Delia at 7 months:


In other exciting news, Delia now shares her birth date (the 19th) with another beautiful little girl. Aunt Sarah (one of my best friends and John Grayson's godmother) had a baby today!! Elizabeth Brennan Hutchens (or Bea as they're calling her) was born at 2:33pm in New York City. Since there are so many babies now, it helps that Delia and Bea were born on the same date. When I'm old and senile, I have a good shot of remembering it :-)

Our Growing Boy

John Grayson had his 3 year check up yesterday and we're happy to report that he is PERFECT! Not that we didn't already know that, but it's always nice to have an expert tell you how great your kid is :-)

Here are his 3 year old stats:

• Weight: 33 lbs (+2 from last year) - 65th percentile
  
• Height: 37.5 inches (+2 from last year) - 50th percentile
  

It may seem like John Grayson is getting shorter, but the doctor said that most kids drop in percentile when they start measuring them standing up versus laying down. She also said that it's hard to predict how tall he'll be until he's been measured standing up for a few years. Of course, if he's like the Schmitt boys (Daddy and Uncle Andy), then he'll grow late anyway :-)

John Grayson's Third Birthday Party

John Grayson's 3rd Birthday Party was held at Maymont this past Saturday. All of his friends were there and everybody had a wonderful time. The kids fed the animals, played games, ate pizza and cake, and ended the morning with a hay ride around the park. Instead of merely showing pictures, John got his creative juices flowing and created a fancy video and picture montage of the day. Enjoy!




As many of you know JGray has become quite skilled at remembering song lyrics and singing along with many different songs. Over the past week he has thrown a new song into his playbook.....

Three Years Old!!

Three years ago, I was embarking on the most amazing, challenging and rewarding adventure of my life--motherhood. I had a tough labor and was recovering from a c-section and suddenly had this little person to take care of. A million thoughts ran through my head. Could I do this? Would I be a good mother? Would I love him enough? Would he love me? Thank goodness I was blessed with a special little boy who has made being his mommy the easiest thing in the world. Sure, we have our moments, but spending my days with him (and now with his little sister too) is a privilege and one that I wouldn't trade for anything in the entire world.

At three years old, John Grayson:

• LOVES dinosaurs! Love is probably an understatement for how JGray feels about dinosaurs. Maybe obsession is a more appropriate word. He will read any book about dinosaurs and is especially fond of dinosaur encyclopedias (the more facts, the better!). He will watch any television show about dinosaurs (History Channel, Science Channel---he is definitely my child!). He has dinosaur models that he plays with. He digs for dinosaur bones in the backyard. He wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up (yes, that is the word he uses). And he has even told us that when he grows up, he's going to discover a new dinosaur in Africa called 'caveosaurus'.
• Is potty trained!!! Mostly. On July 3rd, he announced that he was using the big potty and hasn't turned back. Best of all, it didn't require any pressure from Mommy and Daddy. Bribery was still necessary (we now have a constant supply of popsicles in our freezer), but now he goes most of the time without asking for a treat. He doesn't like to ask other adults to help him, so he wears Pull-Ups to the gym and to school, but we're still very proud of his progress so far.
  
• Talks, a lot! The boy will talk to you about anything and everything. He's gone from simple sentences last year to soliloquies this year. If he doesn't think you're listening, then he'll just talk louder and keep on talking. Makes for fun car trips :-)
  
• Loves to dance. "You Can't Stop the Beat" (JGray just calls it "Stop the Beat") from Hairspray is his favorite song. He will dance and run around in a circle until he falls over. Seriously, until he falls over. John Grayson is also learning the words to Stevie Wonder's "Uptight." It's amazing how many lyrics he can remember.
• Loves school. He went to preschool last year and had a wonderful time. He made great friends without Mommy's help and seems very excited to start school again in September.
• Took swim lessons for the first time this summer. They were a little hard core (we had to leave him there and they wouldn't let him cry his way out of doing something). Now he swims like a fish and one of his favorite things to do at the pool is to jump off the side. Over and over and over again.
• Runs! Everywhere. He loves to run and has even started telling us that he "needs to work out." John has taken him to the track at the high school a few times and he's been able to run an entire lap. We may have a future cross country runner and marathoner on our hands!
  
• Is still a good eater. Although pizza is his favorite food, he loves fruits and vegetables. Especially watermelon. And the kid still drinks 4 glasses of milk a day. We keep telling him that that if he gets his height and size from the Schmitt side of the gene pool, then he can play any sport that he wants to.
  
• Cannot wait until he's big enough to help Daddy with all of his chores around the house. Anytime that John is fixing something, John Grayson will grab his tool box and run over to help. He likes to tell us, "When I be big, I help Daddy."
  
• Is remarkably persuasive for a 3 year old. He'll tell us what he wants to do and then for added emphasis will say "That be good idea."
• Loves to spend time with his MaMa and Pop. Sometimes I think he would leave us and move in with them permanently.
• Had a blast in Chicago this year with his Grandma and Grandpa. Since he's a "big boy" now, he was able to do activities without Mommy and Daddy and still talks about how much fun he had. He was even great for the flight, thanks to a portable DVD player and a bag full of lollipops, goldfish crackers, animal crackers and fruit snacks.
  
• Says the cutest things. He'll put his head up against John's and say, "Mommy, we your boys?" He was holding up a William & Mary sweatshirt and I asked him if he wanted to go there someday. He said, "No Mommy, I marry you."
• Sleeps with a giant pile of books in his bed. Most kids have stuffed animals to keep them company. John Grayson has books. He keeps at least 2 dozen books in his bed to read before and after he sleeps. Hopefully this love of reading continues!!
  
• Is the best big brother in the entire world. I had no idea how he would react to a new little person invading his space, but he amazes us with his infinite love for his "Baby Delia." He gives her constant hugs and kisses and always wants to help. He likes to say "I love you Baby Delia!" when he goes into her room in the morning. Now that Delia is crawling, we're hearing "NO!" a little more than before, but overall, he's a wonderful big brother. He's already promised me that he will always take care of his little sister. I plan on holding him to that when they're in high school together.

Happy Birthday, my sweet angel! Thank you for giving me three of the best years of my life. I cannot wait to see what amazing things you show us in the years to come!!!

Six Month Photos

As promised, here are some pictures from Delia's photo shoot on Friday. She was an absolute joy and gave me too many good pictures to choose from!!

Catapillar Girl

As mentioned previously, Delia is beginning to crawl...kind of. Her legs are ready to go, she just hasn't completely figured out how to get the arms to move in unison. Nonetheless, she is now able to move herself around. While I find that quite exciting, Allison has a look of fear knowing that soon she will have two mobile children to watch each day.

A short video clip of Delia's valiant attempts at crawling...enjoy.