Trip to the Biltmore

We took London to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC on Sunday, January 15th. Kary's parents had guest passes and we figured we'd take a chance and bring London along.
The few days before we went London was running a fever every 4 hours. He actually woke up the night before at 2am and still had a fever. We decided we weren't going to go. But, he surprised us by waking up feeling great so we took off.
London was fine in the car on the way there but did not nap. When we got to the estate he was mesmerized by the lion statues and all the people. We ate at the stable and he was in a good mood but barely ate anything.
As we were getting ready to start the tour, London became very cranky and started to totally lose it and scream as we were strapping him into his stroller. It was embarrassing since the house is so quiet but luckily he passed out after a few minutes and slept the entire tour. We were able to take the elevator a few times but unfortunately a sleeping London in the strolled meant we had to carry his stroller up and down a lot of stairs...I think I got a good workout from it.
After the tour we hung out a bit and took some pictures in the garden. We also stopped at the winery and London enjoyed walking around The drive home was awful and London was starting to feel sick again. Luckily, Kary's dad had his iphone and we played elmo videos pretty much the entire way home.

15 Month Check-Up!

London turned 15 months on January 5th and had his 15 month check-up the next day. I took the afternoon off to be there and met London and Kary at the pediatrician's office. When I got there London was playing in the playroom with cars. He was excited to see me. When he got called in, he started to cry as he was walking toward the door. We thought he was upset because he didn't want to stop playing. We were wrong. He remembered....he remembered the last time he was there and was poked and prodded by his nurse who was currently smiling at him but he wasn't fooled.
He clung to my neck in the patient room and continued to cry and turn away every time the nurse spoke. He acted as if being measured and weighed was some form of torture. He still weighs in at 24lb 7oz. He hasn't gained any weight in 3 months. He is taller now and is measuring 32 inches. He is in the 75th percentile for height but considered average for weight. He's going to be a skinny lank like his mom and dad.
It was stressful trying to talk to the doctor through screams. London was miserable. Maybe it was because he had a sinus infection and double ear infection..yikes! We felt so bad but he had only been sick about a week and we figured his appointment was coming up and he didn't seem very sick and we just chalked it up to teething. We know now to be sure to bring him in right away if he gets a cough and stuffy nose again.
His doctor is awesome and she checked Kary and my heart before London so he wouldn't be so scared. It was cute. She asked us a few questions about his development and verbal skills. We answered a few questions and she said he's on track for a 18-24 month old as far as speech development and building skills. That is exciting. She wants him using about 50 words by 18 months. He currently has about 20 words. So far the words he uses on a regular basis are:
dog, dada, mama, cheese, car, milk, cat, juice, fish, yuck, no, whoa, cool, stop, down, done, step, ouch, muah, up, and a few phrases: what's that? all done, stop dog. He also shakes his head no, kisses and says muah, blows kisses, waves bye, scribbles with a crayon, and can stack about 6 blocks.
He had to get a few shots too and I hate holding him down. It is awful and I know those things hurt. We took him out for pizza (well he had mac n cheese) afterwards and he felt much better.
We are so proud of how far he has come in 15 months. He amazes us everyday. He is a happy, well-adjusted, funny, little man. We couldn't have asked for a better baby (toddler...sniff sniff) to join our family.

Christmas 2011

Last year at Christmas time London was just a little bobblehead. He wasn't doing much of anything but eating, pooping, crying, sleeping, and a little cooing. We remember him sitting in his bouncy chair in front of the glowing tree and being so happy he was there with us. We were extra excited this year to have him open presents, run around with his cousins, and be more aware of what fun Christmas can be.
My most favorite part of Christmas is being able to see my family. I love my parents' house at Christmas, my mom's cooking, the chaos that ensues after a few Chesleys get a good amount of wine, mimosas, and bloody marys in them.
This year Kary and I had a really hard time "getting in the spirit." When I was a kid, Christmas was the world's most fantastic thing! It was my favorite day out of the year and my parents made it so incredibly special. (Kary had the same experience) I remember that even if my parents didn't have a ton of $ to buy us all the expensive gifts, I was never ever disappointed. I was always so grateful and excited to play with my new stuff and I know now they made incredible sacrifices to give us that experience.
Kary and I have both kind of lost interest in Christmas as adults. We love the time with family but have failed to really get new traditions going. My family lost a lot of traditions when we lost our matriarch Grandma Jan.
This year we went to Pittsburgh and spent a day and night with the Filos. I was so excited to meet Jude and he is such a little cutie. Mason and Isla were so excited to play with London and he felt so comfortable there. He barely needed me for anything.
When we got to my parents he hugged my mom right away. He cried when he saw my dad and that wasn't a very nice way to greet his papa but, for some reason, men over the age of 40 freak him out. I am hoping this fear passes soon. It was great to have 2 days with just my parents. They got some good bonding time with London and my dad even was able to hold him a bit.
My Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Denny and cousins Becky and Jill came over one night and we got to meet Jill's baby boy, Bentley. He is exactly 364 days younger than London. They were almost birthday buddies. He is such a cutie, but like Jude, London showed no interest in him as if he did not see him...haha. By next year, they will be running around together.
Christmas day was great but didn't really get started until about 2:30pm. We do miss that excitement of opening gifts right away. Soooo, we have made the decision that next year (London will be 2) we are going to celebrate Christmas morning at our house. Then we are going to PA the next day. We want to get the chance to start our own family traditions and then get that special family time. It will work out much better because the Gray family party is the day after and we always miss it because we usually have to go home that day.
So, lots of fun traditions planned for next year. Kary and I are determined to get back into the spirit of Christmas, we have just have to~ for London!

Here are a few pictures from our visit to PA...

Here are some pics from home:

we need a new camera, BADLY!!

Christmas Photo Shoot!

Believe it or not, and despite the fact that I have taken thousands of pictures of London over the past year, we have never taken him to get his picture taken professionally. I have always wanted to but something always came up and I never got around to setting up an appointment.
The Sunday before Christmas we had an appointment at Portrait Innovations at 3:20. It was either that time or 8:10am. I knew both times were crappy but opted for the later one...big mistake. London was incredibly cranky by the time we got there and wanted nothing to do with having his photo taken. He was not crying or fussy, just not into it. He didn't smile at all for the first 30 minutes. The photographers tried everything and he just looked at them like they was nuts. Kary and I were dancing, singing, making faces...nothing worked. So, the photographer had us switch rooms and gave London a chance to take a break. During his break he played with a lego table and was obsessed. There were a bunch of other kids playing and one little girl started ti bully London. She was about 3 and kept stealing London's legos and saying, "No!"...and "Mine!" London was annoyed but stayed calm. The last time she took a lego he shot her a smirk, grabbed the lego back and pushed her face away and said, "pssssh." It was hilarious. We ended up getting some good shots but we could have done better. Kary hated his hair, was smiling awkward because he can't fake smile and London kept walking off set. I was sweaty, stressed, and we spent too much money on prints but we'll most likely do it again...haha.