Raisinglittlegrays

Holy Moley. We have a 3 MONTH OLD in the house! I absolutely can not believe how fast time is flying by, and how fast our little baby boy is growing! Day by day Hasting is learning something new and being more aware of his surroundings. He does a wonderful job at following noises and making great eye contact when you speak to him. He has learned just recently that he can grasp things in his hands (although he STILL loves to try and grasp things using his toes!). He is making funny noises, and when he lays in his pack n' play he will carry on a conversation with himself :) Hasting hates tummy time, therefore I do NOT push it on him. I do occasionally lay him on my chest, or Chad will lay him on his chest so that he has to use his neck muscles to look up. We have started to try and use Hasting's Bumbo, but it's hard to fit him in it... his legs are chunky & his butt it big from his diapers :) He also needs a little more neck control before he can si

Meet Logan Jay Forbis! Our beautiful baby cousin! Logan was born 2/6/12.  He weighed 5 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 in. long.  When he was born he took 2 breaths and then needed help breathing.  Once they got his breathing under control he was rushed to the NICU for evaluation.  From there, they discovered that Logan could not swallow, nor move his body. He was basically a floppy baby. Logan spent 8 days at Women's Hospital, and on 2/14/12 he was transferred to UNC hospital so my cousin & his wife could get some answers. Logan is currently still in ICU. To learn more on how little man is doing please visit his  CaringBridge  website. Yesterday, we drove to Burlington, NC to contribute to a fundraiser that was being held for little Logan. 10% of our bill went towards helping our cousin's pay for Logan's medical bills. It was wonderful to see Kathleen & Brian, as well as other family members there. There were also SOOOOO many other people there to supp

"The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes." -- Amy Grant The longer Chad & I are married, the more I realize date nights are a very valuable aspect in our relationship. Now that Hasting is here, it is even MORE important. I remember when Chad and I first got together, almost 4 years ago.  We NEVER wanted to be apart, and we were on the phone constantly. We went out on a million dates, and had so many different good dates together (even if we didn't go out for the date). It's easy to let dating slip away now. With Chad having a hectic wok schedule and having Hasting it's easy for us to throw dating on the back burner. I found this REALLY awesome website  for awesome dating ideas, and ways to make your husband feel extra special! I'm so happy that I an across this blog, because it's important Chad and I get that time together. It's a blog about strengthening marriages, one date at a time. Now don't get the wrong

Today I had to take Hasting to his doctor, & turns out he has his first official bad cold :/ Earlier last week Chad was sick & went to the doctor. He ended up having an Upper Respiratory Infection, an ear infection in his left ear, & Vertigo (makes you dizzy). He was given Amoxicillon (sp) & was out of work for 4 days. Then I started getting sick :/ I didn't go to the doctor, instead I immediately started taking Amox.  Hasting had a cough at his 2 month check up (2/28), but his doctor told us not to worry about it, that he was just a little congested and it was that time of year. Last night I started worrying about his cough a little more. He sounded more congested and was getting fussy. When he was crying it seemed harder for him to catch his breath, and sometimes he would gag himself from coughing so much! So this morning when I woke up I called the doctor and we went in. We weren't able to see his regular doctor, but I was thankful we saw t

Alright people, as most of you know. I'm a SAHM (Stay-at-home-mom). My husband works his BUTT off to allow me to do so, usually Mon-Sat.  We have BIG PLANS for our family, and want to give Hasting everything that we never had growing up. We want to take him to Disney, provide for him to play sports, have mommy/daddy playdates, etc. Of course all this takes money (esp. trips), and with us on an under $30,000/year budget it seems a little hard. So with that being said: We are going to HARDCORE start to budget. Here is the plan: 1. Open up a new checking/saving account for all our irregular expenses. (Christmas, birthday's, car maintenance, medical bills, clothing, etc.)   2. Calculate what we would like to spend in each category & divide by 12. This is how much $ we should be depositing into this account on a monthly basis. 3. Money left in the primary account is for gas, groceries, power, etc. 4. Chad & I will allow ourselves ONE date night/week. C

Last night Hasting stayed with his Mimi. Over-night. I was a hot mess about it, not by the fact that he was staying there. The fact that he wasn't going to be with me through the night, or there when I woke up in the morning. Chad and I went out to Farmington Dragway in Mocksville, NC with Clay (Hasting's god-father), and to a little bar in town afterwards to meet Clay's mom. We had a great time. We got to hang out with great friends, sing karaoke,  have a few drinks, & enjoy some time with one another. Of course the whole time I felt guilty, so did Chad. We knew that we were making the right decision though. Although Hasting is our world, we know that we need time to get out and do things together and still socialize with friends.  Here's a little video from the dragway: Chad & I woke up this morning & couldn't wait to go pick our little booger up! The house was so different without him here. It was like our schedule was all messed up

I just had to share this video! Hasting REALLY enjoys his bath time! He loves his water to be extra warm, and would stay in there for an hour if we let him! He likes to slash water all over whoever is giving him a bath! We are going to work on introducing some bath toys within the next 2 weeks or so and see how he does. He hasn't really grasped the concept of grabbing things yet, but we are thinking this may help him out some. We are trying to work on more tummy time with Hasting to build up his neck muscles more. He HATES tummy time, and does nothing but wine the whole time he is on his tummy. He is doing MARVELOUS with his sleep schedule. He will take between 1-2 good 2-3 hour naps during the day, but other than that he is wide awake the whole day. This has really helped him sleep his 6-8 hours through the night. He has gotten into the routine of bath time around 7:30 & his last bottle around 9:00. He is typically asleep between 9:30 & 10, but is always in hi