Waverly's Blessing

We were finally able to bless Waverly at church last Sunday, October 25th. It turned out to be a great weekend and lots of family were able to come. Here is our little sweetie in her gorgeous blessing dress. My parents picked it out and sent it which was a great blessing for me because I didn't know how I was going to talk Andersen into spending that much money on a one-time dress :o) Thank you Dad and Mom! She was getting compliments on it all day long!
Andersen did a great job on the blessing, although it started out a little rocky. You may remember that Andersen and I had a hard time deciding on what to call our little girl. I liked the name Waverly (keeping with the last name for first name theme) and Andersen really liked Alivia. The compromise was, name her Waverly Alivia and call her whatever you want. So I call her Waverly, and all the women in the ward know her as Waverly. And Andersen calls her Alivia, and all the Men in the ward know her as Alivia. That's not confusing right? There are two reasons for the blessing of a baby. The most obvious is a blessing where you bless them with health and a desire to follow Jesus Christ and the principles of the gospel through out their life, but the other reason is to give them a name. Andersen had jokingly told me that maybe he would just change her name while he was blessing her and there would be nothing I could do about it. Joke right? Well, from all the months of saying Alivia that's exactly what he started to say. Luckily he changed mid-name and did bless her as Waverly Alivia. Whew! Although a few of the men in the circle helping bless Waverly did find this quite amusing and you could hear them snickering over the microphone. Coolidge has now nicknamed her Lily because he can't quite say 'Waverly,' so who knows what she'll go by?

Andersen's parents and his brother Will and his family were able to come. We love finally being able to spend more time with Will and Christy and their girls. Andersen's parents were able to stay a whole week with us which was a blast. I'll be posting soon about their visit.

And we were even able to get a pretty good picture of our whole family. This has Christmas card quality don't you think? Thanks Lora for taking pictures for us!

Just a few days before the blessing I got a call from my Grandma Iris (my mom's mom) who said that she was planning on coming out to Kentucky that week on a genealogy trip and wanted to stop by for a visit. What timing! My Uncle Tony and his family actually live in Kentucky just south of Louisville and she and my Aunt LaDeene were planning on staying with them. So they were all able to come to the blessing. I hadn't seen my cousin Xavier and Aunt Jennie since I was 10 yrs old so it was great getting to visit with them again.

Here is my Grandma Iris and little Waverly.

Here is Christy trying to get her baby fill before heading home :o)

Porter and Kaylee saying good-bye.

And I had to post this one because I love catching Andersen's goofy side. He "claims" that his mom told him that he needed to move in because he wasn't in the picture. Looks like he had plenty of room to me. Sure Andersen, and that's not a ram apron you're wearing either!

He Passed!!

Remember me complaining about Andersen having to go to Miami for a "Physics Review" right before Waverly was born and then spending all of his "Maternity leave" studying for his Physics Board Exam? Well he took the Exam the middle of September and finally got the results back and he PASSED! To celebrate, we went out to eat at IHOP. The boys love the idea of eating breakfast for dinner. I'm not quite sure if this is a relieved look or a shocked look on Andersen's face. And I always enjoy not having to cook!

Now that Andersen has passed this first exam he is one test closer to becoming a certified radiologist. I think he was truly scared that he had failed and would have to spend a whole other year studying for the test again, but I know he's smarter than he gives himself credit for.

Congratulations Andersen! We love you and are so proud of all your hard work!

Campbell's 6th Birthday

Campbell's birthday happens to fall on "Fall Break" here in Kentucky so we were able to party all day with Campbell. Waffles in the morning and Campbell's choice for lunch? McDonald's of course! The last few months I have been training to run a half-marathon with 5 other ladies from my ward and we all decided that we should have a little BBQ get together. But it just so happened to fall on Campbell's birthday so we ended up celebrating the night before. 6 years old!

We made the mistake of letting the boys watch the new Wolverine movie that's out now. So of course that's what Campbell wanted for his birthday cake. He actually asked us for a white tank top for his birthday (because that's what Logan, aka Wolverine, wears in the movie) but luckily we talked him into an action figure instead. Andersen said he never thought the day would come that his son would ask him for a 'wife-beater' while we lived in Kentucky! By the way, he has taken up weight lifting so he can "get big muscles."

I had to post this picture because I caught Porter mesmerized by the match he just used to light the candles. Nothing better than a birthday and playing with fire!

By the end of the night Campbell made out with a newly re-sewn Wolverine costume, a new Spiderman costume, and a Batman costume. My parents sent the Batman costume and I think they totally out-did themselves with this one.

MY favorite part of the costume? This warning label on the inside of the wing pack.

We'll see about that! Here is a video of Campbell demonstrating the costume features.

Pumpkin Pie

I made my very first pumpkin pie today and it was delicious! When Andersen was little he asked his mom one year to make him a pumpkin pie for his birthday instead of cake and every year after that, that's what he got for his birthday. He never told his mom that he didn't care for pumpkin pie that much anymore! Totally his own fault. It makes me laugh because she even made little pumpkin pies for our reception in New Mexico. So, since we've been married Andersen has NEVER asked for pumpkin pie until today. For some reason he was craving it and I think we did a good job. The boys even asked for seconds and thirds. Campbell took this picture of us and our first pumpkin pie!

2 Months Old

Waverly is 2 months old today! She is so much a part of our family now it is hard to remember what life was like before she came. Waverly is now 11lbs 7oz and 24 inches long. That means she is 75% in weight and 95% in height. I would have to say that she is growing exceptionally well.

She is just smiling up a storm now and the boys love it! Andersen likes putting Waverly in her car seat like this. She does like being a part of the action and this way she can get a pretty good view of what's going on. It reminds me of Porter.

We used to walk all around BYU's campus with Porter hanging over his car seat like that. It was the only way we could keep him quiet. He HATED being on his back!

I had to take this picture of Coolidge. I don't know where his clothes went, but socks and shoes were good enough for him! He always knows when I've got the camera out and is ready to ham it up.

He kept distracting Waverly while I was trying to take a picture of her smiling. She wasn't quite sure who was touching her.

Coolidge In the Hospital

Remember Campbell coming home sick from school? Well, it was inevitable that some one, if not every one would get it. So far only Mason and Coolidge have gotten it with fevers, coughing, and runny noses. And the coughing was bad. Last Sunday afternoon Coolidge started wheezing when he would breath and at night he was really having a hard time. We were up all night with him Monday night just trying to calm down his breathing and when he didn't sound any better Tuesday morning I took him in to see our Pediatrician. I was hoping the doctor could just prescribe a cough medicine with codeine or something, but after he listened to Coolidge they did a nebulizer treatment in the office and when that didn't help his breathing he told me that we needed to admit him into the ED at the hospital! The whole time I was just thinking, "REALLY? Is it THAT bad?"

I paged Andersen at the hospital and he was able to meet us outside and since I had Campbell (home from school sick), Mason and Waverly, Andersen just took him in and stayed with him the whole time he was in the hospital. I wanted to go in with them so badly, but with breast feeding Waverly I didn't want to pass it on to her. So we went home and waited.

Thankfully Andersen kept calling with updates. They x-rayed Coolidge and took him to the OR. They thought they needed to intubate him to help him breath, but after scoping his airways they decided just to do a steroid treatment to help them open up. Our home teachers were able to go up to the hospital and help Andersen give him a blessing and he finally started reacting to the treatments. By Wednesday evening he was breathing normal again and we were able to pick him and Andersen up from the hospital. I think Andersen and Coolidge had some good bonding time in the hospital because ever since he's been home he will only go to Andersen and not to me, which is probably a good thing since my arms are usually full of Waverly.

Thank you so so much Ashlee and Lora for bringing in dinners. It was a huge relief for me. And the boys thank you for the cookies and ice cream sandwiches ;o)

There's a happy Coolidge again! But you can still see the glue marks from the EKG leads they had on him in the hospital to monitor his vitals. These marks were all over his body and impossible to get off!

Now, you may be wondering what an emergency stay in the hospital for a 2 year old would cost, well, feast your eyes on this...

Thankfully we pay monthly for some good insurance and we only had to pay $150 of this bill. Hallelujah for insurance!

Camping in the Sandbox

We had planned on going camping with Will & Christy this last weekend, but because Campbell came home sick and there was serious rain in the forecast we decided to cancel our camping trip. The boys were VERY disappointed so Andersen came up with the perfect solution - just build a campfire in the sandbox! It was a huge hit for ALL the kids in the neighborhood.
We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and played with fire, who could ask for more?

The boys even took a hike down by the creek and Andersen brought me back these flowers. I had been wanting to pick some of these flowers for weeks and I loved them!

I am so lucky to have such a sweet husband. He always makes me feel special. I love you Andersen!

Cooley's 2nd Birthday

As is tradition in the Grigg house, birthdays always start off with a waffle breakfast. I was pretty proud of my self for getting up early (or rather, staying up from Waverly's last feeding) and having breakfast ready by 7am so that Porter and Campbell could have waffles, too, before school. Here is the birthday boy, sharing his waffles with his stuffed turtle. Campbell wanted me to take a picture of him wearing this moustache that he made. My little man of a thousand disguises!

Campbell ended up coming home from school sick after he threw up in the library. Poor guy! He had to wait in the nurse's office for a few hours before the school was finally able to get a hold of Andersen at the hospital. I had taken Coolidge, Mason and Waverly to McDonald's for lunch and then gone grocery shopping so by the time we got home Andersen was pulling in right behind us.

Now, like I said, we had gone grocery shopping and decided to pick up a cake for Cooley's birthday, but in all of the excitement of Dad being home early, Mason stepped on the cake, smashing the "Happy Birthday Coolidge" to the top of the lid! Luckily Coolidge didn't care.

Here is Cooley afraid to blow out his candles.

Ahhh, the much anticipated dollar from Great Grandma Adams! The boys love getting their birthday dollar.

Birthday books from Papa and Nana, "I'm Going to be an Astronaut" and "I'm a Big Brother!"

It's still hard to think of Coolidge as BIG of anything, my little 4lb wonder! Look at him swimming in that preemie diaper!

A new Geo Trax train from Grandpa and Grandma.

All aboard! Next stop, Cakeville!

And what ever you do, don't touch Cooley's toys!

Campbell MUST have been sick to sleep through the entire party. It wasn't until the next morning that Campbell asked if we had had cake yet.

The Boys Showing Off For Waverly

Grandma Adams

Once again, my angel mother was able to come and help us in our time of need. She came the last week of August and worked her magic, cooking, cleaning, playing with the boys, taking care of baby, and babying me. It was perfect timing, too, because I had just gotten a cold and hardly felt like doing anything, Andersen was on night shift (8pm-10am) at the hospital and spending every spare second studying for his boards in a few weeks.
Waverly even started smiling while she was here. There's nothing like Grandma's love to make you smile :o)
We even got to spend a whole day canning peaches. I used to help my mom every summer can peaches, pears, and green beans so I was way excited when she suggested we do some canning. I love having peaches during the winter. We borrowed a steam canner from my friend Joy (thank you Joy!) and I already had 2 cases of jars, but we ended up buying too many peaches so I had to go out and buy 2 more cases. Darn! More peaches! The boys love these peaches and always ask, "Can we have some of Grandma's peaches?"
It's always nice to have reinforcements when Andersen is at the hospital and not able to make it to church with us. And we even managed to get pictures with the boys. Although, we couldn't talk them out of eating their suckers from the Bishop.
Coolidge refused to sit with everyone else so we all had to move to where he decided to sit. Did you notice Mason's haircut? He tried to cut his bangs, but he only cut the middle and I didn't have time to fix it.
And of course, Waverly is always the center of attention.
Thank you so much Mom for coming and helping. And thank you Dad for letting her come. We missed having you and we miss you both!