Chick Fil A Grand Opening!

We made it to our 3rd Chick-fil-A Grand opening and it was our first with Grayson. He did great! He loved being outside all day! Amazingly he took his naps and slept through the night despite the constant noise of the band playing, people talking, balls bouncing, children screaming, etc.
We left at 4:00am on Wed. morning to arrive in Ellijay at 5:00am. To our surprise, there were 275 people in line by 6:00am. Unfortunately, they had to do a raffle for the first 100 people and out of the 5 people we were with, I was the only one that made it in. So, Chad and I started setting up camp after having to say goodbye to our friends--we were really disappointed, but happy that at least 1 of us made it.
It was a very long day with cold rain in the morning and steaming heat in the afternoon. It finally cooled down that night and was very comfortable. We had a good time meeting some new people and eating free Chick-fil-A all day long. Word is definately spreading about these openings and it seems to be getting harder and harder to get into. Nonetheless, if you do make it in, it is definately worth the wait--we walked away with 52 coupons for free #1 Combo meals. Yum!!

Crawling?!?

Nope! Not crawling yet, but he sure is trying hard! Grayson is 5 months old now and he's been very busy this past week with lots of firsts!! He started blowing bubbles this week and making lots of new noises with his mouth-he can entertain himself this way for a long time!!
He also loves to be in charge of taking his bottle now--pulling the bottle to his mouth and away from his mouth--this leads to a much longer feeding time! Speaking of feeding, he now loves bananas with rice cereal!! Yum! This week he gets to try sweet potatoes--I'm sure that will be pretty!
He's really good at pulling his mommy's hair and burrowing his head into her chest--he pretends to be shy sometimes--I have to admit, it's very sweet!
We're also very excited that he is now sleeping 11-12 hours at night!!!
And just today...I laid him down for an afternoon nap on his back (because this is the way he's been sleeping lately). About 10 minutes later, I heard him making talking noises so I went in to check on him and he was on his tummy pushing up on his elbows! He had flipped from back to tummy! Another first!! So I'm sure things will get interesting from here on out.... he's growing so quickly!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention that he's really good at sucking his toes! Yuck!!!

Weekend Pics

We made a trip to Clinton this weekend to visit with Mimi and Papa.

Here's Grayson with great-grandmama and daddymac.

Grayson--ready for more rice cereal. He's also enjoying avocado these days.

We also got to see Gray, Seth, and their new little baby--Hamilton. While we were at the Taylor's house, Grayson did his first belly laugh. He's been giving us a chuckle here and there and lots of smiles, but this was the first real laugh. Little Claire was there and he thought she was so funny! By the time I got out my video camera, he was already laughed out, but I got a little bit of a laugh. It was so cute!!!

Grayson's favorite toy

Here is a video of Grayson playing with his favorite toy--his kick'n' play. Before this, he was making lots of "talking" noises, but of course as soon as I pull out the video he just sits there and stares at it. I'll keep trying...

A Summer Favorite

Fresh, homemade salsa is a favorite in the Hayes' household during the summers. I thought I'd share our recipe--well, it's not really a "recipe" because I never really measure anything. Just add what you like in the amounts that you like! I chop everything up in my food chopper so that it's fast and easy.
Here are the ingredients:

Tomatoes (I used about 6 for this batch and then I drained some of the excess liquid)
Chopped onion
1 clove of garlic
cilantro (fresh!)
ground cumin
salt
cider vinegar

Tomatoes and garlic came from my dad's amazing garden--thanks, dad!!
Enjoy!!!

Day 3 and Pacifier Free!!

Grayson is now 4 months old! He weighed in at 15 lbs. 4 oz. and he was 26 inches long!
Here he is showing off where he got all of his shots on his chubby little legs.
Our big issue lately has been with the pacifier. We started the paci when he was 2 weeks old. It was the only to get him to stop screaming at 2:00 am. I didn't want to, but it worked and it meant that we got some sleep. I think it was probably a good thing for him to have for comfort since he was dealing with reflux and gassy issues. It had even gotten very easy to lay him down for naps and at night--we would put him down awake with the paci and he would put himself to sleep-no crying! Well, a few weeks ago, he started flipping over alot at night and this would cause his paci to fall out. This meant that me and Chad would have to get up and stick the paci back in his mouth. This would happen about 5-6 times a night (on a good night!). I had finally had enough. I knew that he was capable of sleeping 9.5-10 hours straight at night because he had done it on and off for several weeks. I felt that we had worked too hard on this for the paci to disrupt his good sleeping habits (not to mention our own!). So I decided to go cold turkey this week--no pacifier! It actually has surprised me how well he has done. We had already limited the paci to his crib, so this meant he just had to learn to soothe himself to sleep. Naps have definitely been the hardest for some reason. He'll cry for about 10-15 minutes before he's out. Nights have been amazing! I was prepared for the worst and was pleasantly surprised when after 10 minutes of crying, he slept for 10.5 hours straight!! The next night he slept 10 hours straight and last night he did not cry at all when I laid him down and slept 10 hours!!! I am so proud of our little man! We're all so much happier because everyone is getting good sleep--finally! Hopefully, naps will get better and the nights will continue to go well.
Here he is--no paci!!! He sleeps with this little teddy bear instead.
We started rice cereal this week--which has also been interesting! He would drink an 8 oz. bottle and still want more--so we decided he was ready! I'm reading up on preparing my own baby food now. This should be fun!

A friend came over last week to take some pictures of Grayson. She did an amazing job!! I love the pictures and I'm trying to decide which ones to hang up in the house! Thanks Amy!