Tis' the Season...

...to be thankful for every moment!

(The hat stayed on for .25 seconds!)

Happy Thanksgiving from The Ripleys!

Things are going great at the Ripley residence!! We plan on staying in town this weekend and just hanging out with Grandma & Grandpa Harmen, Aunt Lissa, JR and Ross.
I've already planned Grady's Thanksgiving meals.

First up - yummy Banana Peach Granola for breakfast


Sweet Potatoes for lunch


And for dinner - Vegetable Turkey


Now doesn't that just make your mouth water?!?!


I can't believe Christas is right around the corner!!!!
If you can't tell I'm stupid excited about Grady's 1st Christmas. I have all his presents already bought, now I just need to fill a 3 x 5 foot stocking sack full of goodies!





Oh, for some of you mommies out there, I found this great site ScrapBlog that I'm in love with. I love scrapbooking but can't afford to keep up with it. Now I don't have to spend $50 on stickers!




Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

The good, the bad and the surgery...

A few weeks ago we went in for Grady's follow up appointment and found out his hypospadias surgery was unsuccessful. Well let me rephrase that, the only successful part was the circumcision.
So we now have a new doctor who will perform the surgery all over again. :(

THE BAD

Dr. Strand (our new urologist) said there are several fistulas or "leaks" that he'll need to repair. We originally thought there was only 1.

He'll also need to reconstruct his urethra. It's in the right spot now, but is extremely too narrow to have a "full stream".

THE GOOD
The doctor informed us that thankfully there's enough reusable skin left to patch up the leaks (love my technical lingo) so he won't need to do a skin graph from the inside of his cheek!

THE SURGERY
Is scheduled for Jan 13th at Medical City of Dallas. I'm hoping we'll get him all fixed before his first birthday and no one will ever be able to tell he had surgery!

Beary cute!!

Learning you day by day...

Learning that every morning the first thing you do is mumble yourself awake. Then you stretch so big I swear you grow an inch. Followed by looking at daddy and I with the sweetest smile ever seen.

Learning that your new nickname should be root hog. You love to root under things...whether it be under my arm or under daddy's pillow in the middle of the night.

Learning that your eyes change from a cobalt blue to almost a taupe gray. I have yet to figure out what brings on the change. I'm assuming the color of your clothes.

Learning that no matter how upset or cranky you are that putting on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse will bring a huge grin to your face "almost" every time.

Learning that you have your daddy's sleeping pattern...never naps and gets up at the crack of dawn every morning.

Learning that you love the ladies. You'll ham it up for the girls but will start to cry if a man comes up to you.

Learning that you like to rough-house with Ross and can sometimes be a lil' bully. ;)

Learning that you're the most amazing and beautiful being to "walk" this earth. And that we can't wait to learn more and more with each passing day!

~Fall is here~

Courtesy of Miss Zoot

Halloween weekend re-cap

Ross and Grady are ready to Trick-or-Treat!!



Grady's first trip to Comanche to see Nana and Pops. (Jason's parents)



Grady did exceptionally well on the way there. Snoozed part of the time, played with mommy, stopped off at a gas station to change Grady's diaper. It wasn't 2 mintues back on the highway that he decided he wasn't done...stop off #2 literally!



8pm...wouldn't fall asleep. Cried endlessly...not even the Great Mickey Mouse could save us. So we decided to pack it all up and head back home.

Got stopped by a State Trooper...thankfully only gave us a warning. Listened to Grady cry most of the way. Finally passed out 2 hours into the trip.

Arrived home at 12:30am with the time change!! Thank god for day-light savings!!

Grateful

I'll post Grady's 1st Halloween pictures tomorrow. I left my camera in Comanche...along with my purse and cell phone! (It's amazing how the absence of these objects can throw you off balance.)

Anyways, my friend Angela got me hooked on this amazing blog.
"Matt, Liz and Madeline" http://www.mattlogelin.com/

The story is heart-wrenching. I sat at work yesterday with tears streaming down my face reading his story. It makes me realize how grateful I am to have Grady, Jason and my family in my life. All the "other stuff" I've been worrying about doesn't mean a thing.

If you get some time please check it out and let me know what you think.
(Click on "If you haven't been here before," to understand how he got to where he is today.)