Swimming

Jake LOVED his very first swim lesson and didn't want to get out of the pool! They sang and swam to some of his favorite songs: Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider and others. He even got to jump into the pool!

Here are a few pics of our lil' fish:


Doesn't he look so big in this picture ? :

Nemo

Jake would love to be a fish - he loves to swim. A few times a day he will say "poo?" Meaning: Take me to the pool, please. He has been a few times when we went on vacations or went with Papa to different hotels...so, we know he is a bit familiar with the idea. Two weeks ago when we went to sign up for swim lessons for him at the YMCA, he was tugging on his jacket and saying "poo"..meaning: take my jacket off, I'm going swimming! Last weekend we took him during family swim time and he could not have been happier. He had a smile on his face the whole time and splashed like a mad man. He even kicked his legs as if he were a member of the US Olympic Swim Team! We are so happy that he loves it and we are looking forward to his swim lessons. By week 2 I'm sure he will be better than Mommy!

Jake is still picking up words left and right and is able to communicate a bit better. Every meal is "looooounnncchhh" (pronounced like a true frenchie)and he points out "cucks" (trucks), cars and "round and round"'s (school busses) on the road. He loves to yell names randomly: YaYa, Papa, MiMi, Ahnny (he has many aunties), Lally (Magaly), Titty (kitty), Two..he has so many friends and family that he gives shout outs too.

He loves puppies and sleeps with at least one stuffed puppy a night, but no more than 3. His tiny arms can only carry so much!

February is almost behind us.. hopefully March brings nicer weather so that we can get out for more walks and get his toy cars outside to drive!

Love is in the Air!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a great weekend and shared it with many family members and friends. Saturday, Auntie Kim visited and we had a great time catching up with her. Jake loved that she let him walk the house in mommy's boots..he loves to wear anyones shoes, so the boots were a great time. They literally went to his bum! Needless to say, it was a riot watching him walk in them. I guess you could say Auntie Kim and Jake had a "playdate"! Later on, Auntie Kaylin came over and we did a bit of V-day shopping. In the evening we had dinner with Grampy & MiMi and Jake was spoiled with great gifts.


Sunday morning the Gregsons hung out and exchanged Valentine's..mommy got some pretty jewelry, Jake got come crayons and a coloring book..Daddy got new sneaks. Later on, Uncle Timmy, Auntie Shelley and YaYa visited. More presents - a puppy, balloon, snacks and clothes..he is so loved! We had a great time watching the Daytona 500 (what an ordeal!) and just hanging out. Jake was non-stop all night and the second his little head hit the crib, he was out! He loves, loves, loves hanging out with his family - there was no shortage of hugs and kisses from him tonight. He says each persons name (over and over) and delivers kisses and hugs (over and over). It's very cute now, might not be in 16 years! ;)

The toys and presents were all wonderful but the real gift he has are his family and friends. Jake is loved by so many people, near and far. He truly is one lucky boy.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day! <3

Congrats to Adrienne & Kevin on their engagement!!

February 2010

February is here? The winter has treated us well so far..with a storm coming it reminds me of a lesson I recently learned. When sending anything to daycare (clothes, toys, lunch boxes, etc) LABEL IT ALL. We have no snow pants. They went to daycare one day and never returned. It's quite difficult to find snow pants in February, as odd as that may sound. All the stores are gearing up for the spring/summer and have moved on with the clothes. I swear I sent the pants, the teacher swears she can't find them. To make matters worse, the "spare pair" is missing as well. They were both hand me downs..so there is no real loss to us. I'm hoping for a large storm this week and for the pants to magically fall from the sky with the snow. Fat chance, I know.

Classes have started relatively smoothly..I'm already looking forward to spring break..

Remember: Label the labels!

Happy February, stay warm!

19 months

Jake is 19 months old..where did the time go? It seems that he is picking up new words each day and putting them together to communicate a bit better too.

Here are a few of his new quotes:

"Hi, Mommy!" (insert Daddy, MiMi, YaYa, Papa etc)
"Crackah, pease" (Cracker please)
"Teeff teeff" (I want to brush my teeth)
"Bye Ahnny" (Bye Auntie)
"Kitttttty, NOOOOO" (I like you kitty, but i'm afraid of your size)
"Moooooo, Daddy" (please move out of my way)

He continues to eat up a storm and loves to have Vanilla Wafers in his hands most of the day. He was 28.4 lbs at his last doctors appt..still growing strong. He loves dancing around the house, solo or with Mommy and Daddy. Our neighbors are quite entertained!

Elmo is now a fan favorite in the house..and...I hate to even type it.. Barney. Today Jake watched a Barney show and really enjoyed it. He was dancing to the music and mimicing the kids/purple things moves. It was quite entertaining to say the least! He also enjoys watching "puppies"..as he has a Snow Buddy move featuring a gang of puppies. His favorite pup is Uncle Tim's dog..at Christmas he was a bit afraid of B"Ella" but has not stopped saying her name anytime dogs come into conversation.

Spring 2010 semester is almost here..let the madness begin yet again for the Gregson family. With not only classes starting, but tax season as well - it's going to be a very busy spring semester. Bring it on..we can handle it. I HOPE!

Happy Birthday Dana!

Our very special friend, Dana turned 21 today! Dana is a close friend and co-worker of mine and was one of the first people to get the chance to babysit Jake last summer...he loves playing with her and she often spoils him with gifts!



Happy 21st Dana, we love you!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010! 2009 was a great year for the Gregson's..Alex got a new job, we both accomplished a lot school-wise, Jake had a great year growing more and more each and every one of the 365 days! The high for us was buying our first home.we are so happy to have finally reached the goal of home ownership.

Not to say it was all roses, we lost a special person, Gramma Betty, but we know she is now Jake's second guardian angel, joining Grampa John in watching over him. He is one lucky boy!

We had our ups and downs but as a family, with the awesome support system that we have, we accomplished so much and look forward to what is in store for us this year!

Bring on 2010!

Bye Bye Santa

Christmas came and went! We were (as always) extremely busy visiting home after home and spreading holiday cheer. Christmas Eve was spent at his RI grandparents home with Jake running the house like a madman and stealing cookies left and right. With that he slept in until 8 on Christmas morning, which was great but it set us a bit late for all of our home visits. We opened up our presents from Santa (a camera for the family - Santa- you rock, clothes for Mommy and Daddy, blocks for Jake and a few smaller toys). Off to MiMi and Grandpa's house where there was a slide waiting for Jake (Auntie Kaylin rocks!) and many many more toys. We had our Christmas breakfast of Eggs Benedict and rushed off to MA to Papa's house to open with Jake's MA family. More toys and clothes (his own mailbox!)..from there we went to Jake's cousin's to celebrate with more family. Jake an awesome time running around the house and playing with big cousins Annabelle and Oliver and their new toys. Oliver received a ball pit for Christmas.. oh boy did Jake love that (grandparents reading this: do NOT get him one, he can visit Oliver and use his anytime!!).
From there we went to Uncle Tim and Aunt Shelleys where YaYa spoiled the kids further (a wagon for Jake!!).. can you say exhausted? We slept over and spent a great night and morning with Tim & Shelley and headed back to RI in the morning.
Jake was interested in opening presents for about the first two or three but then he was more interested in running circles in the houses. He is still at the stage where new places are like huge adventures to him and he loves to run and explore. I love watching him on the go, but boy is it tiring!

This New Year's Eve Jake will spend the night ringing in 2010 at MiMi and Grandpa's house while Mommy and Daddy hangar out with friends. We are excited for 2010 and what it may/not bring!

Alex and I have had quite the past few years. Here is the decade in review:

2000 Moved to Lake Tahoe, CA
2001 Lived the simple life of snowboard bums
2002 Traveled the West Coast, living the life
2003 Moved to and settled in RI
2004 Mommy started her "career" at URI & were all blessed by the blessed birth of MIA
2005 Engaged
2006 Married
2007 pregnant with Jake
2008 JAKE arrives!
2009 Bought our first home
2010 ???????

Santa Is Coming~

Resting up for the party...

What Christmas is all about!

We had Alex's work Christmas party this past weekend..wow.. they do it up! They had a great feast set up (with a chocolate fountain that Jake just LOVED) and a petting zoo, pick your own tree (AND they out t on our car), ornaments, games for the kids, family photo sessions, etc. It was so amazing to see. The best part was Santa..Jake was a bit hesitant to approach him, so I picked him up and places him on his lap. He just stared in amazement! No crying, screaming, just staring. He said "hi" and Santa told him what a good boy he was and that he had beautiful eyes. Santa gave him a gift and off he went..

Speaking of the tree we picked out..its laying down in the sunroom. Who has time to decorate?

Side note.. Jake has his first cold of the season. He has had a fever today and a bad cough. Looks like tomorrow will be another day home for us.

Only 16 more shopping days!

Thankful

So..we are a week late but I thought I'd share some of the reasons we are thankful this year:

1. Alex and I are happy to have a happy & healthy little boy who loves to share hugs and kisses and sing and dance up a storm.
2. We are thankful for the new roof over our heads and that we had to ability to buy our first home.
3. Very fortunate to have the most amazingly supportive families who we love so very much.
4. Jobs! In this economy we are very fortunate to have a place to go from 8-4:30 or 9-6 each day (although, we'd much rather go somewhere else!)
5. My amazingly giving sister has let us borrow her "spare" car for ever now.. we are ever so grateful for these wheels and hope to be buying a new car VERY VERY soon.
6. Friends and family are everything to us.. so we are thankful to have so many in our lives.
7. Education..we have access to it and we are working on bettering ourselves by taking these classes every semester..it's not easy but we are thankful to have the opportunity to do this for our family.

The list can go on and on..but I'll stop there.


We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were surrounded by lots of family and friends!

Bring on SANTA!!

We're in!

We have been busy with..Jake, work, classes, and last but not least THE HOUSE! We are in and have survived our first week in our new home. We love it, but we do miss our old housemates- "AH NEE" Kaylin, "MeeMee", Grampa, and Two . Oh, and "kitty" x 2 and "doggy" x 2, who I am sure are not missing Jake chasing and yelling (aka screaming) at them. We can't thank them enough for putting us up and helping with the house for the past few months..we are lucky to have such great family!!


We are still living amongst suitcases and the amount of boxes is slowly dwindling, but are totally functioning and happy here! Jake is getting accustomed to his new room and will hopefully start napping better in it soon! He tends to not like to nap right now and if he does, its for a short period of time. His sleeping at night is right on track though..he has been going to sleep well before 7 and waking at about 7..we like it - keep up the good work Jake!



With the holidays coming we will certainly be even busier..but we are excited to spend the holidays in our new home! We will have to send a letter to Santa with our return address clearly labeled..wouldnt want him to deliver our goodies to the old pad!

Here are a few pics of Jake and his gal pal Sidney hanging at a soccer game...

Updated Update

We have gone from "bad bloggers" to "wicked bad bloggers". The house is coming along and one of the last pieces to the puzzle arrives on Monday - appliances. We are hoping to get a ton done and get in the house ASAP.

Jake.. Jake is awesome! He is constantly making us laugh and his presence brings lots of smiles everywhere we go. This past Wednesday we spent a wonderful day together at Story time in the morning and then a fun play date with his cutie pie gal pal, Sidney. Jake had a ball at story time and although he didnt sit still the entire 25 minutes, for the most part he listened to stories and interacted very well with the other kiddies. Later that afternoon he and Sidney enjoyed a snack together and then laughed and giggled side by side on the baby swings..they then tired themselves out on the baby jungle gym which allowed for Marissa and I to put them in their strollers for our own walk. In all, the Wednesday was a great day..and much needed!
Jake's new favorite story/song is 5 Little Monkeys..he can act it out by "jumping" and then "bumps his head".. quite cute! HE has added a few words to his voc - "nana" for banana, "baaaall" for ball, "cacka" - cracker, hi and bye with waves and kisses. Speaking of kisses..he is super cuddly and warm and loves to dispense kisses..on the cheek, on the hand, on the lips, on the legs..you name it, he spreads the love!

Here are a few recent pics..



Jake finished up his round of flu shots tonight and couldnt have been stronger doing it. A short yelp and a cry but then he was back to his smiley self. He met his (cougar) friend Dana for dinner and she treated him to some delicious ice cream to mend his sore arm. Smiles all around! Thanks for meeting us Dana, and for the ice cream!!

Auntie Kaylin!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...HAPPY BIRTHDAY dear Auntie Kaylllinnn..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

Love you lots!

Happy Birthday, Kim!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!

We love you!

On the Move!

Yet again, the Gregson's have been on a hiatus from the whole blog thing. We are all moved out of our rental (Thank you Kim, Mo, Leah, Dana, Grammy & Grampy!!). We are now homeowners...but..we don't live in the house, just yet. We are living with Grammy, Grampa and Auntie Kaylin for a bit while we get the new castle ready. However, Zak the fat cat is habitating there and living the life of a king, as we want him to get the feel for the new place right away..and he would probably freak out if we took him to live with Auntie Kaylin's two cats.

The painting job is probably about half way done after our painting party on Sunday - a BIG thank you to Marissa, Brian (for watching Sid so that Maris could help), Pumpkin, Tony, Alex, Sam, Glen & Abbie for coming over and helping..and as always the Mann's have been phenomenal painters & cleaners as well. As Run DMS says - "Teamwork makes the dream work".. together we will get these projects done!

The floors will be done and hopefully we will be able to move in soon..although, I think Alex likes Jack's cooking enough to delay the projects.

In all of this, Jake is still his happy self..he loves living at Grammy & Grampa's and all of the attention he is getting. He is starting to communicate more -with "BYE" being one of his new favorite words. He loves to play with anything but toys - cell phones, home phones, clickers (he will walk to the TV, aim the clicker right at it and push numbers) keys, wipes are among his favorites. He also loves to run the house giggling and laughing away as we play peek a boo with him..sticking his little belly out and wearing a path out around the island. Pure joy!

He weighed in at 26 lbs and 31 inches at last Wednesday's 15 month checkup..a happy, healthy, growing boy!


That's our story right now..

And THIS is our future HOME...

Fun at the Beach

Bye Bye summer...

Welcome September

Ahh..where did summer go? I guess it is still technically summer, so we cannot complain just yet. September promises to be a very busy month for the Gregson fam. We are trying to close on our new home which brings with it packing, moving, painting, sanding, cleaning - ETC! Alex and I are both taking classes this semester, which start next week (agghhh)! We will also be looking to move Jake from his current daycare to one closer to our new home. SO much to do, so little time!
Jake and I have been enjoying our Wednesdays off together and today was no different. As always we tried to pack way too much in today and were both wiped out by 7 pm. We left the house bright and early at 7:15 and headed to help Papa with his high school soccer practice. Jake had a great time with the girls and loved carrying the soccer ball around (possible goalie?!). Papa took us up to the beach and treated us to a great lunch at Markey's. He loved his time with Jake so much that he took the (VERY) long way home from the beach! We had a tour of areas I have not been to in a long time and along the way we ran into SuperCuts for a quick cut for the JAke man. I have to say he looks adorable..and a bit older. Before we left MA we headed over to see Gramma Bettie and had a great visit with her. She was so excited to see how big Jake had gotten in just the few weeks since she has seen him last. He would not stop blowing her kisses..brightened her day! Which in turn brightened mine.

Jake has changed so much in the past few weeks..he is still his curious self and roams the house looking for anything he can get his hands on. His favorites now are the shampoo and conditioner bottles from the bath tub. It's cute to see him tuck them under his arms and walk the house..not so cute at 6 am when the shower is void of anything to cleanse my hair! He loves crayons and it's cute to watch him attempt to color..but not so cute when he sticks the crayons in his mouth and tries to eat them after he is bored of coloring. We have put the crayons away until he is rid of the "everything in the mouth" stage.



He is a sponge and really picks up on the little things we do..

Laughing. He LOVES to laugh and throw his head back as he laughs..it's so cute! I think he mimics Daddy with the throwing of the head while chuckling away.




"Really?" His new favorite question. This is a mommy trait! He likes to walk the house saying "REAHHH??" and sometimes puts his hands out when he asks it. When he grabbed my cellphone, put it on his shouler and leaned into it saying "REAH?" I knew he was copying me. I have made a mental note to stop saying it so much, thanks Jake!


He has the "more" sign down and loves to use it when he is eating..we are working on "please" and "thank you" next.


Kisses - the boy loves to share kisses..both on the face (anywhere on the face) and by blowing them and making kissing noises. Some times at night he will stop playing and just walk over to one of us and kiss us. At times, he will walk back and forth between us, kissing away. Who could refuse his cute face coming at you over and over?


There are no pictures just yet of his new haircut, but I promise to share as soon as there are some.

Happy September!

Happy ##th Birthday YaYa!!

Happy Birthday to the best Mom & YaYa on the planet!!

Love,

Your "favorite little boy & girl!!"




It's your birthday YaYa..party like a ROCK STAR!!

Back to Reality

The Gregson's have taken a break from blogging..we have been celebrating birthdays & anniversaries, traveling, hitting the beach and the other fun things that go along with August!

Our vacation to Lake George was a good time. We got to spend a week with aunts, uncles, cousins etc and enjoyed every minute of it. I will be honest, although it was a "vacation", it was a lot of work. The house that we were in for the week was on the large side, so that meant it had lots of stairs. At this point, Jake is obsessed with stairs. We do let him climb on them, but he wants more more more and more stairs all the time. It's a bit scary right now, as we are trying to teach him to go down the stairs on his back side. Not as easy as it sounds! There was never a dull moment with him - he was on the go constantly, trying to climb stairs and exploring every part of this new place. He stayed up WAY past his bed time most nights and had a great time cruising the Lake George strip checking out girls.
One of the things Jake and I did daily was take a walk each morning with Papa Kevin. We hit the pavement early each morning and went a different route each day. By the last day we were hiking through the camp ground down the road and trekking up and down hills. It was a great way to see all of Lake George, and some nice down time with Papa. We really miss our morning walks with him!





The Lake was just across the street from the house and with the beautiful weather we had, we tried to hit the sand as much as possible. At first Jake was a bit hesitant to go in..but he warmed up to it rather quickly and had no fear walking to the waters edge and even further. He had a great time playing in the sand with his cousins.


One of the highlights of our trip was a day at the races! We packed up the cooler and hit Saratoga Race Track. Saratogo IS after all the August place to be! Papa got to introduce Jake to his favorite pastime - horse racing! We had a great time betting on them and checking out the horses and jockeys (some of the smallest butts on men I have ever seen!). We even had a celebrity sighting...Andy Rooney said "thank you" to Jake and I as we let him cut us in line when exiting the track. How
exciting!

The proudest Grandfather at the races! Jake's already choosing favorites!





We are now back in RI and looking forward to our up coming move! We have lots on our plate in the weeks to come but are extremely excited to get into the new home and make it our own.

I almost forgot..we are amazed at times home many times Jake takes a phone (or a brush, or a toy or just about anything really) and puts it to his ear and says "'ello'" while walking the house. This may be a bit more troublesome....











Everyone knows Mommy & Daddy drink Miller Lite...who drinks BUD LITE? Uncle Timmy?!

Happy Birthday Auntie Courtney!

Enjoy the beautiful sunny dad - We can't wait to celebrate WITH you next week on vacation!!

XOXO, Jake

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We are a few days late but Jake and I hope Daddy had a great birthday!! We got to celebrate a bit while Grammy watched Jake and we had dinner at Crazy Burger here in Narragansett. We are trying to soak up as much as Narragansett and it's surroundings before we move up north.
Also, Happy Belated Birthday to Mia Madison - 5 YEARS OLD!! Where did those five years go? We are looking forward to her carnival themed party this weekend!

The summer has been busy for us with birthdays,online classes, more birthdays and lot's of house hunting. Once we found "the one" we have been busy just trying to get everything in order. We plan to move mid-September and are looking forward to being closer to both families.

A big welcome to Jake's new friend - Lillian Jean Goodrich! He was patiently awaiting her arrival and is so happy she finally made her debut (only 13 days late!)! We look forward to visiting the new Goodrich family member very soon!

Jake is growing before our eyes and seems to be doing something new everyday! He loves to sing "Row, Row, Row, Row, Row (Your Boat) and still rocks out to The Wheels on the Bus. He is walking all over the place, getting into everything and anything he can get his hands on! Stairs are still a constant source of entertainment for him as well! He loves to shake his head NO whenever he is asked a question..but throws in a few Yes nods once in a while. Blowing kisses to the ladies and showing lot's of TLC make him the cuddliest little boy! We love every minute of his cuddlebugness!

Hope you are all ready for August!! Here it comes!!


Cheesing it up with Mommy!


Chillaxing with Daddy!



Happy Birthday MIA MADISON!!!

Busy bees

We have been super busy the past few weeks..but we promise to update really soon!

Hope you are all enjoying the summer!

3 G's

Bye Bye Hair

We have been asked a few times this past week "boy or girl?" in reference to our beautiful "ALL BOY" son. Another incident - OMG, SHE has the most BEAUTIFUL blue eyes. She is a boy, thank you. So.. we took Jake up to Daddy's barber shop and got his haircut. We have been saying for weeks if not months now that we were going to cut his hair. It's not that easy. In fact, it was very very very very hard. But, we did it. I have regrets, Alex does not. I look back at the pictures pre-cut and I miss his brown locks..I really do. I know this haircut will grow on me (please grow fast long lost hair) but it's just that I miss the little baby boy look he had. The baby look and the baby hair. It's gone.

Here are a few pre-cut, cut and post cut..










































































































Mommy got her hair cut today too..it doesn't matter..I miss Jake's hair more.

On a positive note..we had a great afternoon at the beach today with Grammy, Auntie 2, Dick & Auntie Kaylin...loved the sun sand, surf and great company!

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July! Today is Jake's first second holiday! Does that make sense? It's the first holiday he will celebrate for the second time...

Just 365 days ago he was this...







We hope you all enjoy the sunny weather and get to see lots of fireworks!

Walking! And lot's more.

First things first.. HAPPY (Belated) Birthday to Grampa Jack...Jake had a great time celebrating another birthday and eating more cake..



Jake had a great time feeding Auntie her cake..




And playing Hide and Seek with Auntie 2:



Last week we had Jake's one year appointment. One YEAR! Wow. It went very well and the Dr. said he is right on track for everything. She even had some changes for us. No more bottles or formula and no guilt over stopping the nursing. So, we have switched things up and Jake is now drinking milk or water from sippy cups only and eating big boy meals. So far, he has been great and loves to drink from any sippy cups and has some foody favorites: mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, kiwi, green beens, chicken and lots of other foods. He even had Sal's pizza last week, he will be well prepared when he goes to Merrimack.


Jake is walking, all on his own. On Sunday we cleared a ton of room for him in the living room and let him roam free. At first he was walking from person to person just a few feet, diving into us when he reached us. Then he started standing on his own while drinking from a sippy cup. He is now walking even more and standing more on his own. He is gaining confidence and will be running in no time. We are in for it! It's such a fun time though. He tends to laugh a lot when he is walking and has a great time doing it. Our little man is on the move!

I'm working very hard to get the video up of him walking..but it wont work. Try back!

We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Fourth of July!