Goodbye, Miss Stacy

*Note, this post was written on Wednesday but published on my last day with Miss Stacy, Thursday.

Oh what a sad, sad day it will be for me tomorrow.  One of those days where you can't do anything else but journal about your feelings - which, is why I am skipping my nap right now and journaling instead.

You see, Miss Stacy has been my M, T, Th best friend since January but it feels like she's been here my whole life.  I don't think the Lord could have provided a better sitter for me if He tried - let me give you a few reasons as to why I feel this way.

Umm - can you ever look like this and NOT know it was a good day?

1. She introduced me to Kipper.  Who doesn't love a British dog that is a dog of few words but hours of entertainment?  Stacy, without you my parents would have NEVER found Kipper and I don't think I'd ever have a haircut since Kipper gets me through my haircuts.

2. She took me to my first lock-in.  Usually kids don't get to go to their first lock in until they are like in middle school.  Not me...Stacy exposed me early by locking me in her car and it was awesome.  We played cars through the window, I got to see police cars, policemen, AND a locksmith. I mean, have you ever been best friends with a lock smith?  I didn't think so - usually I only get to see these types of things on Barney but that day it was REAL LIFE.

3. She taught me the formal name of that buckle that goes between my legs in the car seat.  Duh, a CROTCH BUCKLE.  I say it all the time - it's my favorite buckle and whenever I climb in my seat my parents know exactly what I'm looking for when I yell, "where's my cwotch buckle??"  I'm pretty sure I'm going to skip kindergarden with knowledge like this.  In addition she taught me so many new sayings. My most used is, "one mo' minute??" said in the sweetest voice possible.  Fellow toddlers, do you even know how much more playing time you can average with a saying like that?? They don't ever set a timer - I think I get anywhere between 3-10 additional minutes of whatever I was doing when I ask for "one mo' minute?" -- thank you, Miss Stacy for adding hours of playtime into my life.

4. When I was throwing up a few months back she didn't care.  Mom tried to give her an out so she wouldn't get sick but her reply back was, "I'm not scared of a few little germs!!" - that's how much she loved me and she loved mom and dad - mom barely would come near me and here Miss Stacy still wrapped her arms around me.  For the record, yes - I got her sick within a few days .and she still came back as soon as she was feeling better.

5. She takes me to the pool almost every day and makes sure my eyes are protected at all times. She has introduced me to about 5 new parks I never knew about.  Mom barely makes it up the street to the same ole' playground we always go to.  Stacy just looks in the gps for fun new playgrounds and takes me there so I can experience more.  C'mon..say it with me - ROCK-STAR.

6. She does SO much for mom and dad.  Grocery shopping, errands, will empty the dishwasher without being asked, has done our laundry, given me my baths, cleans up my toys, and helps mom with decorating ideas.  Jack of all trades - she is the entire package.

7.  Because she is the "entire package" I decided I didn't want to let this one slip away. SO, in honor of it being my last week with her I decided to take advantage of her singleness and I had my first REAL kiss.  You heard it - I'm not talking no peck here people - I had her entire lip in my mouth.  Here's what you do - throw a baseball bat at your baseball tee and have it bounce back up and hit you in the face.  Booyah, tears start coming and as every male kid knows, the first thing any grown woman knows how to respond to a boo-boo is, "do you want me to kiss it??" - BEST RESPONSE EVER - and the answer is always YES, please kiss my boo-boo.  So she did and in for the kill I went - I won't ever forget it...and I'm not positive but something tells me she won't ever forget it either.

8. She became Dad's hero when she and I spent a few hours making a homemade Mother's Day gift for Mom.  It's awesome.  it's a stepping stone that has my hand prints on it, the year, and Happy Mother's Day love, Grayson that now sits outside in between some flower beds.  I'm pretty sure Dad is banking on the fact that mom will one day forget it was Miss Stacy that helped me with that.

9. She voluntarily invited my girlfriend over so her and I could get some alone time.  I guess adults look at this like she was being a servant to Lucille's mom by taking Lucille off her hands but I know she was just loving me and giving me the time with Lucille I needed before she moved.  Seriously though, what babysitter voluntarily asks for additional children to watch?  Stacy does..that's who.

10. She has loved me so well these last 6 months.  Through attitudes, smiles, snots, the runs, long naps and short naps.  Through my boo-boos, my crankiness in the mornings when she comes (this is nothing against her but happens to just about anyone that walks through the door not named Mom, Dad, or Lucille).  She got very accustomed to dirty diapers and taught me to even say, "EW GROSSSS!!!" when someone changes them, she sings to me, reads to me, prays with me, and teaches me everyday.

Miss Stacy, our whole family with miss you IMMENSELY and are so thankful for these past 6 months!  Good luck at Grad School and let me know if you ever need to get away for a Chic-Fil-a date. 

xoxo,

Grayson

ps. a little sneak preview to the next post (so long as mom doesn't go into labor in the next 24 hours) -- yes folks, if you remember from last year at this time...get excited.

Life these days...

For all one of you who still manage to check my blog (cough, mom) - I couldn't sleep tonight so I thought instead of just despairing about my girlfriend's departure to Florida in a few days, I'd update you all on life as I know it.

1. Well, for starters - this whole "baby phase" still hasn't gone away and in fact, it seems to have just gotten bigger...literally.  I think I'm starting to put it together though...the baby inside mama's belly is a real baby like I hear crying at stores.  I don't love when I hear babies cry in stores and whenever I do I tell mom "baby cryin' mama..go get it?!?!" - hopefully this baby won't cry...ever.  I kinda can't wait to meet this thing so that I can actually interact with it.  The other day as I colored I wanted the baby to color with me so I just took three crayons and rubbed them on mama's belly.  I don't know if they weren't the baby's favorite colors or what it's problem was but eventually I just gave up trying to play because he/she wasn't taking my crayons.

I think this baby is coming soon too - well, at least that's the vibe I get from all the strangers that feel the freedom to comment to mom on the birth of my brother or sister.  Comments like, "how many weeks are you?  REALLY?  Looks like that baby is ready to come NOW." or "..how many days do you have left? (said at 34 weeks)."  My personal favorite comes from a great friend of mine, William (remember my body guard twins William and Hudson?) - we were at dinner the other night with them and William oftentimes would just look at mom, point to her belly and say, "why it like dat??" - Ms. Shannon took it as a learning opportunity for William that although there is a good excuse for this belly - not all people with big bellies have babies in them so it's not an appropriate question to ask outside of the house. 

2. I had my last day of school today with Ms. Kathie and Ms. Becky.  What a great time I had with them every Wednesday morning for the past year.  Ms. Kathie gave me bubbles today and I gave a big daisy (the flower..not my dog) to each of them to say thank-you.  When Ms. Kathie gave me the bubbles I gave her a pretty good high-five.  She wasn't satisfied with that so when she asked for a hug I figured I'd go all out on my last day (what are they gonna do...suspend me?) and gave her a big fat kiss on the lips.  No shame here, people - Ms. Kathie is retiring after this year so I knew I'd never see her again.  Mom MAY have been a little embarrassed by my forwardness but I didn't care.  Don't worry though, mama...you know you're still my #1 pregnant girl.

3. Ms. Stacy - my favorite nanny - has taught me how to ensure mom is in a good mood upon her arrival home from work.  It's so easy - I wish I knew this before - but fellas, when your mom gets home from being gone for any period of time - especially if she has swollen ankles and is sweating profusely from the 90 degree heat and in clothes that don't fit her well..all ya gotta do is say, "mama, you so pretty" and they turn into pudding - and sometimes she'll start eating pudding..I wonder if that has to do with people asking her how many hours are left till she's due??  I don't think mom's ever said no to me for anything after I feed her that line.  What's not cool apparently is using that line on Dad - for whatever reason it didn't have the same affect.

4. My girlfriend and best friend is leaving to move to Florida on Sunday.  I couldn't be more upset if I tried.  Not only is she cute but she's funny, she's little, and I mean look at us at our latest photo shoot - if that doesn't scream MARRIAGE IN PARADISE I don't know what does.  I'm just praying she doesn't meet any other guys in Florida..or in South Carolina when they move there because I plan on waiting for her.  She loves me for who I am and vice versa - Seal, I'll miss you so much!

Here are the rest of my besties after an Easter egg hunt.  From left to right we have Eve (Evie), baby Francis, her big bro Johnathan, my girl, stud, Mae (Mae Mae - twin of Evie and big sisters to my girl), William, baby Anna, and Hudson.  A couch made for 3-4 fits 9...I love it.

Here was Dad showing me how to get it done at the Easter Egg hunt.

5. Here's me and two of my cousins who came to visit when MAD were in Boston for a baby moon and to see Mom's bestie, Christina (Kitina) get engaged AND run the Boston marathon!!  I can't WAIT to be the ring bearer in her wedding - from what I've heard there's going to be a big bowl of mac n' cheese waiting at the end of the aisle calling my name.  Thanks, Grandma for watching me for SO MANY DAYS and loving me so well!!!!  My car collection DOUBLED while she was here as did my CARS logo apparel.  Booyah, Mom - you are losing big time in the "control over my wardrobe" game. 

6. Dad's been setting the bar high for Brock men lately.  When I say high I mean HIGH.  Aside from all the work on the house/yard he's been doing, he managed to surprise Mom on Mother's Day after church.  STRAWBERRY PICKING!!  Similar to our blueberry experience I got the hang of it pretty darn fast.  2 for me and 0 for the bucket.  Any collection we did have was strictly from Dad's doing - apparently mom found it difficult to get (and stay) that low to the ground and still be able to stand back up.  Seriously, I don't know WHY people are saying she looks big :).

Oh and sometimes I like to watch myself on the computer.  In fact, I ask to watch myself quite often but my guess is if you danced as well as I do...you'd watch yourself too :).

Love you all - thanks for checking in!

Dance Party?!?

I heard my dad threw my mom a Birthday Dance Party and I didn't get an invite...check these dance moves to see what you missed dad.......as C-Lo would say...forget you!

The 2nd Anniversary of the day of my birth...

The time has come..(Warning..no pics)

I have no idea how long this post will be but I have been writing posts for the past 5 months and just saving them.  Every time I would show one to mom she would claim she didn't have time to edit...hence the videos I was forced to create - (insert frustration: She has time to eat every 2 hours and time to update her facebook status every 10 minutes but no "time" to edit my blogs..ugh).  I digress.  So, I just keep writing and saving and now I will pull out the highlights of the last 5 months into this post as she has PROMISED me she'll edit one this week...I'm not holding my breath, people. Oh and you wonder why no pics?  That's because there haven't been many taken of me around here. I know - grounds for removal from the home you ask? I'm looking into it. 

Here we go:

1. I love cars. It's legit and it's my passion. I love to race my cars down pillows from the couch, I take them to the pwayground and race them down the slides, or sometimes I just like some alone time and prefer to take cars to the bottom two steps and play there for a while.  Usually when I do this I ensure some quite time as mom finds it difficult to fit her new and improved "wider" self onto any one step comfortably.

2. I also love"shooting" my basketball or sockie bomb (soccer ball) or football. I know a "miss" when I see one and I call them out every time.  Even if I don't know you..if you come over and shoot and miss I'm going to remind you that you  missed. Don't be offended.

3. MAD says my mind is like a sponge.  I remember EVERYTHING so be careful what you say around me.  Before mom put me down for my nap the other day she wanted to remind me that everyone else in the world was asleep in hopes I wouldn't be tempted to want to wake up early and play.  Well, low and behold the dryer buzzer went off 30 minutes into my nap and I was convinced that was national time for all things to wake up and play.  Mom came in to try and rock me back to sleep by reminding me again that everyone else in the world was sleeping.  This was our 20 minute conversation while she rocked:

Gray: "daisy nigh' nigh'?"
M: yes, daisy nigh' nigh'
G: daddy nigh' nigh'?
M: daddy should be nigh' nigh' but daddy is disobeying and is washing mommy's car outside..but then he'll go nigh' nigh'
G: McQueen nigh' nigh'?
M: yes, McQueen nigh' nigh'
(this was followed with naming ALL my cars and asking if they too were sleeping...Owey-owey nigh nigh? Blue Balooza nigh' nigh'? Monster truck nigh' nigh'...etc, etc).
G: mac n' cheese nigh' nigh'? Banananananana nigh' nigh'?
M: yes, mac n' cheese and banana nigh' nigh'
G: Eve, Mae, 'Cille (short for Lucille) nigh' nigh'?
M: yes, all of the Kennedy girls are nigh' nigh'..even Ms. Stephanie
G: Rob nigh' nigh'? (Rob is the Kennedy girls dad whom I have probably interacted with twice in my life but I look up to him and want to talk of him often whenever anyone in the Kennedy family is mentioned).
..and the list went on and on.  It was comforting though to know everyone and everything in the world was sleeping all at the same time.  Although, it didn't convince me to go back to sleep..I took it as a challenge to wake everyone up.  "WAKE UP mac n' cheese, WAKE UP Rob, etc, etc, etc"

4. I love jumping off of anything I can find (even if it's just 1 inch high) and typically when I "land" I look around and repeat "C-C dat? C-C dat?" which I find is much easier that pronouncing ALL the words "Did you see that??"  I also prefer when MAD confirms that yes, they did see the incredible height I got on my last jump.  Oh and another favorite activity is duck feeding..not sure which I enjoy more, feeding the ducks or eating the bread myself but I have learned a few valuable lessons in sharing from this activity.  Piece for duck, piece for Gray..piece for Gray, piece for Gray...oh yea, piece for ducks....etc.

5. There often is talk of "baby" around the house.  Mom makes me say good night to so called "baby" every night and I do so with love. I know what a baby is when I see it.  Baby Anna, Baby Lucy, and soon I'm going to go meet Baby Frances and yea, they are fine but they won't race with me and quite frankly I don't understand what baby Anna, baby Lucy, and Baby Frances have to do with what is in mom's belly.  To be totally honest with you, I kinda wish what was in Mom's belly would go away (being a baby or one too many pieces of coffee cake) as I am finding it difficult to get comfortable when cuddling for songs before bed time and am tired of the grunts I hear upon moving from sitting to standing position or vice versa.  I'll let you know if anything comes of this "baby" phase but so far I'm thinking it's just a phase.  Oh and I like to imitate daddy by putting my hand on mommy's belly at night. Not sure what I'm waiting for but I think it's funny.

6.  We've had our share of illness around here. The good news is that when we get sick in this house the cleaning patrol comes out and I'm pretty sure everything that can be washed gets washed over and over and over again.  I'm starting to catch on to this idea of "clean up" and am extremely good at cleaning up my own toys while singing the clean up song "cwean up, cwean up, evwie-body evwie-where..." - it's also a great song to sing while cleaning up if mom and dad are NOT helping me clean up because when I get to the "evwie-body evwie-where" part i just kinda give them a look..."ah-hem..EVWIE-BODY EVWIE-WHERE..." and it becomes a team effort.  Oh and there has been SO much cleaning up lately that the other night when mom put me to bed and was closing my door I wanted to remind her of something, "Mama...??"  "Yes, buddy" she replied to which I said, "Check laundy, mama? Check laundy?"  - "Good point, buddy..I do need to go check the laundry..thank you."  I then heard Dad yell out from MAD's bedroom, "Mama, check dishes? Mama clean bathroom? Mama take out the trash??" - I thought he was taking it a little far but always glad to help mom remember when needs to be done around here :).

On that note I'm out. Sorry so long - hope you enjoyed the read and I'll be back soon (i hope).  Next up..a short video - stay tuned.

Now I know my Daisy...

7 minutes with Grayson