New Blog coming!

Well, after much thought, and seeing how really silly it was for me to name the blog after my only child when we plan on having more, I decided it was time to start a new blog. One that the whole family and future additions can be a part of...

So please join us at:

degraaffamilyblog.blogspot.com

Although I'm sad that I can't just change the address of my old blog to include all those cute pics of Garrett, I'm really excited to have something that will grow with our family.

Krysia

Kids say the darndest things!

Garrett has a huge obsession with Mickey Mouse. All he talks about is "House! House!" (Mouse! Mouse!) Usually every morning that I'm home with him, I'll let him watch Playhouse Disney, in which the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is part of the lineup. And every morning all I hear about is "House!". So this morning, I was trying to get him to eat his breakfast and the TV was still on. He heard Mickey Mouse asking to join him in his clubhouse, and here's our little conversation:

"House?"

"Yes, Mickey Mouse is on."

"On?!" (in a very desperately excited voice)

"Yes, honey. Mickey Mouse is on."

"All done!"

And he hands me his plate (with half a waffle still on it)

"Down?! Down!" (he wants down from his highchair)

He never did finish breakfast.

Binder Park Zoo!

We finally made it! But don't think that we didn't have our road blocks, because we definitely did! As most of you know, Garrett got Hand Foot Mouth disease last month...the same day we were supposed to go to Binder Park Zoo! This time, we were actually in the car, about a half hour away from the zoo, when fate stepped in once more. Garrett started getting whiny. I asked what he wanted... Juice?...Snack?... Both times he said no. EB and I figured that he was getting hot because the sun was on him. So we pulled off the highway and put the sun roller shade on his window. Not ten minutes later, he started puking. After pulling off again and stopping at a Burger King to clean him up, we then missed the detour to the highway we needed because of all the construction. After driving another 20 minutes to get in the right direction, we stopped at Meijer to get new clothes for him, as well as Lysol, towels, and Germ-X. We figured that he was car sick, since he never puked again. By the time this picture was taken, EB and I were exhausted! And this was before we even entered the zoo!

The first thing we wanted to see was Wild Africa. So we took the tram to Africa and headed right to the restaurant for lunch. If Garrett could keep lunch down, then the rest of the zoo was worth seeing. Well, not only did he keep everything down, he ate everything put in front of him! EB brought a bag of freeze dried fruit and between Garrett and Carolyn, they ate the whole bag! Here's Garrett saying "Cheese!" for the camera while eating!

EB even stood in line for 15 minutes to get us (them) ice cream cones. This was Garrett's first "ibeam" cone. He thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

The first exhibit was the giraffes. This deck overlooks the field, and they're so tall, some of them can reach over the top railing! Most stuck their tongues through the net to grab the crackers people were feeding them.

Garrett's first up close look at a "raff". He tried feeding them, but when their tongues touched him, he got scared and dropped the cracker.

The next exhibit was the monkeys, or "buttees" as Garrett calls them. Although I was glad that they weren't throwing poop at us or something equally disgusting, I do wish they were doing something! Most just sat there in the trees, content with being watched. On our way out of Africa, we stopped at the souvenir shop. Carolyn got a plush giraffe, and I got Garrett the monkey. We saw lots of other moms having their kids pictures taken with this giraffe, so we thought it would be cute, too. Unfortunately, we couldn't get both kids smiling and looking at the same camera at the same time! Close enough.

Long story short, there wasn't enough room for both EB and I to take the same tram back together, so Garrett and I hung out and waited for the next one. He kept biting his monkey's face while screaming and running away, while I was trying to take his picture. He thought it was hilarious.

We stopped and got a cookie, too. It was warm and gooey and Garrett dived right in.

Here are some more animals that I have never seen before:

Giant Tortoises

Snow Leopard

Cheetah

Another type of monkey
All in all, I'm glad that we finally got to go to the zoo. I made me feel good knowing that I could show Garrett some real animals that at this point we had only seen in pictures.

Vacuuming with Mommy

Sunday night, I decided to vacuum, or "ba-boom" as Garrett calls it. He was fascinated by what I was doing, so I asked if he would help me. The next thing I know, I look over and he's got Dusty the Talking Vacuum, and he's going over everything I've already vacuumed. For the next 5 minutes this was all we did. He's such a great little helper!

Daddoo's

Garrett loves to go in the bathroom, open my "hair care" drawer and play with my "daddoo's", as he calls them (brushes, clips, hair dryer, etc...). He found this pink elastic headband and kept trying to put it on. So of course I helped him out. Once I got it on, I laughed so hard! And the more I laughed the more he wanted it on! Here's one of the pics of him with this headband on, and he was loving it!

Once the headband was on, he would run from the bathroom, then run back in and rip it off so that I could help him put it back on. He repeated this many times, leaving mommy in hysterics!

I know, I know. Pink is not his color.

Garrett LOVES water...

Garrett loves taking baths and loves swimming. Splashing is the most fun, and the wetter everything gets, the better! Here, I came home from work one night and Doug was giving Garrett a bath in the utility tub in the laundry room. Since he's outgrown his toddler tub, and we haven't installed the new bathtub yet, this worked perfectly!

On Friday, June 20th, It was pretty hot outside so we turned on the sprinkler and let Garrett run loose! He kept trying to drink from the streams of water coming out. What a ham!

Finally! A new computer!

I'm finally in the 21st century with technology! We finally got a new computer and I'm able to upload images and video to Garrett's blog, literally at the touch of a button! Here are some more recent pics to show how much he's grown since my last posting.

Daddy and Garrett sporting "new do's" (via the vacuum)

As most people who know us know, Garrett is obsessed with vacuum cleaners, mostly calling them "buttis". Finally I broke down and got him his own "buttis", Dusty the Talking Vacuum.

Here he is, not even waiting for a diaper after his bath, to play with his new toy.

Lately Garrett just loves to hug Kyanne, our cat. He likes to pin her down and lay on her, and she's really great about it. She will usually just tolerate it until he's done, or until he loosens his grip to escape at an opportune moment.

Where has the time gone?!

I can't believe it's been 4 months since that last post! Here's some pics to give you an update:

DeGraaf Family Photo 10-06-07

Garrett enjoying his first time on a swing


August frolic in the grass


Garrett's First Halloween-unfortunately he
hated his costume.

Playing in the toy basket


Being silly in the Pack-N-Play



Just too adorable!



Garrett's First Haircut (Cuts By Nana :) )


Sleepy boy




Fall frolic in the leaves (can you believe this
was our backyard?)
So smiley



Garrett's First Birthday (and Christmas :) )




Bananas for bananas


Our trip to Hilton Head Island, S.C.-
Doug helping Garrett tour the beach

Look! Four top teeth!

Garrett wearing Nana's hat

Garrett also has been talking up a storm! He says about 15 words:

Mama

Dada

Nana (grandma/banana)

ba-ba (baby/bye-bye)

baah (ball)

bish (brush)

Papa (grandpa/puppy)

no (self explanatory)

hot

oss (eyes)

pees (please)

bath

oose (juice)

He's learning so much so fast. I try to get him to say new words everyday, and most of the time he says what I ask the first time, but he can't repeat it. Ususally if we're trying to get him to say a two syllable word that he can't figure out how to say, he says "da-da" instead.