Birthday Weekend - part 2

Warning: this is a LONG post with LOTS of pictures. :)

I'm fairly certain I go a little overboard with birthday parties and planning and decorations... but I can't help it, one day I won't be able too.... So Friday night my mom (Gigi) came into town and the whole family (really, just the girls) stayed up way too late baking and decorating... But it was worth it!!! :)

I have an amazing friend who volunteered to come to the party and take professional pictures for us sot hat we can enjoy the party and still be in the pictures! I am so very grateful for Cyndy! So I am basically going to let the pictures show you all the party details for themselves:

 

 

 

Isn't it all so much fun!? I give Pinterest all the credit for all the adorable ideas and my awesome family for helping me pull it off! Now for the cutie it was all for!... Grayson is so very loved and this party reminded me how many people in our lives are investing in this little man - we are blessed!

 

 

 

 

 
 This picture, with all the kids running around our backyard and hearing laughter - makes my heart soo happy! THIS is what I prayed for and envisioned when we were praying for a home... a big backyard where kids could come and gather and have fun - God is SO Good!  It was so amazing to see all the people that showed up to celebrate with us! I am loving this chapter of our lives that God has us in right now and am SO blessed by the friendships we have.

That night, we had a little family cupcake time. :)  Since the wind blew out his candle - we thought we would sing and let him blow out his candle for the first time with just us and grandparents. It was such a special time - so glad they were there for this!

Welp - my baby is a big 2 year old now. Excited to see what God has planned for his life!

Birthday Weekend - part 1

After bombarding you with Grayson pics and stories leading up to his birthday, I had to take a week off to enjoy him and our family all this last week! We have had lots of family and nonstop fun since his birthday weekend! So.. now to finally unload it all (in two parts) ;)

Nana and Papa got here Thursday, Mar 6th. And Tony and Papa quickly got to work on Grayson's swing set for his birthday!!  These two men are amazing and are so handy when they are together! I love these two daddy's! :)

Grayson is one blessed little boy!

 

 Grayson LOVED his swingset! We let him see and play on it the night before his party so that he could experience it himself. It was love at first sight!

Nana and Papa had a short visit with us for the weekend and Grayson loved playing and cuddling with them! We are so blessed with parent's who fly all the way to Texas to celebrate G's birthday! 

 Tomorrow I'll post all about the party! :)

Dear Grayson...

Sunday is your birthday! Tomorrow you Nana and Papa and Gigi are all coming into town and Saturday we will celebrate you with our friends and family all surrounding. I want you to know how incredibly loved and blessed you are! You have so many people that love you and support you (us, as your parents) and pray for you. More than that, you Heavenly Father LOVES YOU! He created you and finds such joy and delight in you!

So do we. Your dad and I love you SO much! You have changed us. You've made us grow up, you make us grow closer to each other and to God, you give us such joy and fill us with such pride that God gave you to us!

 You help us find the silly and fun moments in everyday. You help me to relax and enjoy the moments with you - as they are so fleeting.
 

 

It is such an honor to be your momma! I love to watch you. You have the sweetest personality that wants to hold my hand when I'm driving and ask if I'm okay when I'm crying and says "Sowy Mommy" anytime I hurt myself. You are the sweetest little boy! 

 

I love to watch you with your daddy! You two are something else when you are together, it makes my heart so happy! You love to chase each other and high-five, you love to attack and tickle mommy together, you love to sit and watch Cars together and share a snack. Watching you two fills my heart to overflowing.

 

Sometimes I just sit and watch what a growing boy you have become and are becoming. There are moments I want to freeze time because I cannot believe how big you look or are acting. It amazes me that I get to be your momma! You have so much to teach me and I have soo much I want to teach and share with you.

Your daddy and I were together a long time before we had you - but you made us complete! My first born, you will always have my heart. You will always be on a learning curve with us as me and your dad learn daily from you and from God how to do this parenting-thing. We love you, son and are so blessed by you. 

Let's Get Real Thursday

I know I've been going Grayson crazy on here this week (and today is no different), so I wanted to get real with you here and explain why.  Most people (myself included) don't make the 2nd birthday a huge deal... 1, of course!... 5 and 10, big deals! (PS - birthdays are big deals in my family)... But 2 usually isn't anything to blog about for a whole week! Lol. (Although, I think birthdays should be celebrated all week... but that's just me).

For some reason, I am struggling with 2... More so than I did with 1. Grayson's first birthday was so sweet and the night of his birthday, while I gave him his last bottle of formula and rocked him to sleep, I cried my eyes out that my sweet baby was a ONE year old.  But, he was still my sweet baby. I still gave him a bottle before bed and rocked him to (almost) sleep. He couldn't walk yet and still needed and relied on me for most everything.



This year my  momma heart is being tugged at as I have watched my sweet little baby turn into this little boy! He still needs me (always will) and relies on me for most things... But he has also grown and developed so much in this short year that I am daily surprised by him and all that he can do! He doesn't just walk, he runs! He's talking more and more each day and his little personality is quite amusing. He has moments that I want to freeze where he is my sweet baby again wanting to cuddle to momma and rock in his chair... but those moments are few a far between the moments of running and playing and laughing and tantrum throwing and ball throwing and jumping.... 2 is a HUGE deal! And it's harder and more fun and sweeter and more frustrating and more entertaining and way more proud and joy filled moments.

Looking back

By the end of this week, you are going to be sick of my blog and all the pics of Grayson... But really, how could you get sick looking at this sweet face!?

Yesterday I re-posted Grayson's birth story... Today, I have little words and just wanted to post some of my favorite pics of our growing boy!

 

 

Birth to 3 months

 

 4 months to 7 months

 

 8 months to 11 months

 

1 year old!

18 months

Grayson's birth story

As I said yesterday, I am being a complete sap and reminiscing of Grayson being born... In doing so, I read through old blog posts and looked through pics of him being itty bitty. I was going to go through his whole birth story - but I thought it'd be easier just to repost from the blog on March 29, 2012....

Grayson's Arrival!

Just one day after my last blog post, Grayson made his surprise arrival! I know I am almost 3 weeks late posting this... but time really gets away from you with a new born!

Let me catch you up with what has happened the last couple weeks.... Friday morning (March 9th) I woke up about 7AM thinking I was wetting the bed! I woke Tony up and texted a couple friends trying to find out what was going on... b/c I really didn't know that my water had broke. As far as I knew, we were scheduled to have the C-section on Monday and that was that - we had a schedule to stick to.. haha. So after about an hour, a phone call to the Dr and a quick shower we were headed to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. Tony kept his cool - though I think he was a little freaked, as he got from Ft Worth to Dallas in about 30 minutes!

After a few hours of contractions they were finally ready to do the C-section at 2pm. I was so scared, but the doctors and staff were great; and at 2:33 PM Grayson Anthony Bianco made his arrival.

He is absolutely perfect!! Weighing 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long.

That's all I've got for now (sorry for the teaser), but more to come! :)

2 Years Ago....

2 years ago on a Monday morning I waddled into my cozy office desk job at the College of Southwestern Seminary for what I didn't realize was the last time. I worked for a little while before driving to Dallas for what I didn't realize would be my last Dr.'s appointment pregnant. After the appointment I headed back to our apartment, not work, because I was put on partial bed rest from all the swelling. 2 years ago I was getting excited for a week off before all the family got in town over the weekend. I was getting excited to purchase the last few items when they got here and had restaurants picked out to go to with our family over the weekend for my last meals not being a mom. 2 years ago I looked forward to my week of resting and sleeping in and napping before the crazy weekend was to get here.  2 years ago, the plan was for our family to fly into TX on Friday and spend a nice relaxing weekend getting ready for Grayson to arrive and then we would all go to the hospital Monday morning ready to meet him!... That was the plan.

Today, I am sitting in another cozy office desk job at our church. And I am getting excited for our family to come into town this weekend... But it's not so relaxing this year. This year I have an almost 2 year old (what!?) that I send off to "school" (daycare) every morning. This year I'm getting excited and frantic with all the party planning and prep work for this weekend.... This year, like every year since 2 years ago, I am a total sap thinking about my sweet boy growing up way too fast. 

2 years ago, he surprised us and came quicker and earlier than we expected. And nothing has changed since... He continues to grow and develop quicker than I expect and I'm not ready for my baby to be this big toddler!