So vacation went really well. We all had a nice time. Grady was an absolute trooper for the car ride there and back. It took us about 11-hours to get home and he only had about 15-minutes of fussy-ness the whole time. He's a good boy. We had nice weather (except one-day which we spent shopping at the local outlet mall), our house was nice and we were able to visit some of Mandy's family. Her Uncle Rob and Aunt Lori spent a few nights at a hotel a half mile from our house while Mandy's cousin Christine drove 2-1/2 hours from Charleston, spent about three hours visiting, and then turned around and drove home so she could be at work the next day. As Mandy said, she definitely earned the "Cousin-of-the-month" award! We also got to visit with Mandy's cousin Paul and his wife Jennifer as well as their 5-month old son Ethan Robert. Oddly enough, had Grady been born a few years earlier we likely would've named him Ethan Robert ourselves. They live in Fort Mill, SC so it was right on our way to Hilton Head.
Things are back to normal around the house. Dad took care of letting Frank in and out while we were gone while Mandy's dad watched Lola for us. Since he's retired he's gotten in the habit of walking 3-miles in the morning and 1-1/2 at night...so Lola came back to us nice and worn out. Still, she had a great time especially since Dave has a six-month old puppy that Lola got to boss around for a week.
Grady continues to grow every day. It's kind of heartbreaking but really exciting at the same time. Hearing him laugh is really, really funny. He's knows that a bottle is on sight and will reach for it and hold it up himself. It makes us really happy to see him developing so well so early. He's now sleeping 7 - 10 hours straight at night. We've started the letting-him-cry-it-out thing if he wakes up in the middle of the night. Honestly, it's harder on me than it is on Mandy. I know it's good for him and that we have to do it, bla bla bla...but I just want to go in there and pick him up. He didn't wake up for good until 8:02AM the past Sunday which scared the bejezzus out of me. Usually he's woke up at least once during the night and is up for good sometime between 6:30 and 7:00. It's amazing how fast I've gotten used to waking up early and sleeping weird hours. This kid is totally worth it. I'm really excited to see what our subsequent children will be like. Grady is a total homerun. Hopefully Mandy will post some pictures of him soon.
College football is almost upon us. All is right in the universe. Ohio State is going to be sick-good this year.
