A New Sport for Team Dickerson

2 New Racquets


2 New Pairs Tennis Shoes (mine pictured)

Huge bag of balls so we don't spend ALL of our time chasing them

2 Fans


and an instructor.


Team Dickerson is taking up tennis. Reston, the town we live in now, is big on tennis and has an abundance of beautiful courts. We thought it would be fun to have a sport we play together in the evenings. The individual courts are netted in so that beginners like us don't ruin other people's games AND it's great for little boys to be able to play while mommy and daddy attempt tennis. Tennis is a lot harder than it looks. At least for us. And no, we don't plan on Billy being our main source of instruction- but we don't mind a few pointers from him when we play together. Well, Billy plays. What Hope, Joe and I do is probably better described as "hitting the ball around".

I plan on taking lessons in October and then it will be Joe's turn. If you are brave and patient we would LOVE to play with YOU!

Betsy's Photo Shoot

When we moved up to DC we were blessed to meet the B's at church. We quickly became great friends and shared lots of good times before they moved to Africa last summer. In July they came for a visit and Grayson met his intended.

(You can tell how thrilled Baby Ellis is after travelling for 24+ hours.)

Betsy brought her great camera along and was SO kind to take pictures of Grayson one afternoon. She has taken a photography class and had LOTS of time to practice on Ellis in the past year.

I am just so impressed by how they turned out...

...Just a sampling.

And one more, for embarrassment's sake down the road...


Thanks so much, Bets!! We miss you already!

The Slipcover

Well, Ikea decided to discontinue a padded slipcovered bench that my friend Melissa gave us, so I couldn't change out the white one it came with. It looked great until Hank decided it would be his new perch to look out the house. It was constantly covered with dirty paw marks. After searching ebay and craigslist I had just about given up when Joe suggested I dye it. Of course!

Here is the bench in front of the window in Grayson's (mostly future) playroom. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the slipcover on the bench when it was WHITE. So just imagine it with the Ikea plain white cotton slipcover.



One trip to Michael's for the dye



Into the washing machine for 30 minutes

Out of the dryer and voila! Brand new navy slipcover.


So proud of myself.

Texas Trip

We came back early from our trip to Texas because Grayson was physically miserable. We thought he was just teething, but it turns out he has an ear infection on top of the teething. Awesome! Anyway, we are sad that we missed out on seeing many of you, but had a great time otherwise.

Click here for a pictorial taste of our trip (which doesn't include the beach with Joe's fam because those pics will arrive shortly in the mail).

Five Months for the Little Boy!

Grayson, at five months you:

-Sleep through the night from about 8 pm to 8 am
-You wake up happy and talk to yourself until we come to get you
-Nap 2 to 3 times a day; usually 2 1.5 hour naps in the am and pm, and then a 45 min one after dinner (this is AMAZING for your mother)
-Love your baths, which dad usually gives you before night-night time
-Do great in your car seat and will fall asleep in public
-Love Hank and if mommy and daddy would allow it would let him kiss you all day
-Still enjoy your activity mat, but also like spending time in your Exersaucer
-Spend a lot of time with Sophie the Giraffe and anything else you can put in your mouth
-After rejecting the swing at an early age, you spend some fun times in it now
-LOVE sitting in your bouncy chair while watching Baby Einstein (don't worry, I'm not too bad of a mommy, this is not an everyday occurrence)
-Don't seem to favor mommy or daddy- you like us both
- And for that matter, will let anyone hold you anytime. I would LOVE if this continued, because you just about make everyone's day!
-You are ALWAYS smiling, which makes me feel like I am doing something right, even though I know it probably is just your personality and has nothing to do with me.
-But in public, this smiling makes everyone you come across feel like a million dollars
- You are still a snuggler and will sit in our laps any old time. During your last feed at night we sometimes rock you to sleep because it is such a sweet time.
- Now roll from your back to your front and are DYING to sit up on your own
-No teeth yet
- Got your first cold a couple of weeks ago :(
-Are SO handsome and everyone thinks you look like your daddy. Except my mom and Betsy think you look a little like me.
-You're a great shopper in your stroller until you get hungry. There is just so much to look at!
- Are betrothed to Ellis
-Have started grabbing my hair
- Absolutely love the outdoors
- Are still not a fussy baby
-Weigh a little over 14 lbs. (still solidly in the 10th percentile for height and weight)
-Are quite the talker and would MUCH rather talk in the morning than eat anything
-Giggle when daddy tickles you
- We call you Gray-Gray, Little Boy and G Baby
-Just make life better for mommy and daddy- we are having a blast loving you!

And now, about feeding.

We should have expected resistance when we began solids, after all, eating is not Grayson's spiritual gift. There are children who gobble them down no problem the first time, and then there are kids like Grayson.

For about the first 10 times we tried cereal he thought it was a great game of "colorful stick goes in my mouth, then I spit the stuff out that was on the stick." Then, he FINALLY decided to swallow one day. What an accomplishment in the Dickerson household. Of course when the doc told us it was time to start this endeavor we were in the middle of the house remodel so that made things crazier. Grayson now eats solids twice and day and enjoys banana and sweet potatoes that I make for him.

Becoming more interested in solids

Exersaucer

First time in an Aggie outfit

Figuring out this spoon thing

We can't wait to share him with some of you during our travels this summer!

What has Grayson been up to in the last month?

1. Spending time with Jonah

2. Trying solids...
...Unsuccessfully (this will have its own post later)
3. Watching Baby Einstein with Sophie the Giraffe while Mommy unpacked the house

4. Relaxing with Dad and Hank at the end of the day (if you look closely you can see drywall on Joe's shoulders and drool on his leg from Hank)
5. Fighting over Ellis with JJ (look ALIVE Grayson!)
6. And chubbing up a little!


Tomorrow Grayson turns 5 months! Wow! More to come on that boy....

And We're BACK!

Well, that hiatus took a lot longer than expected due to 2 things:

1. old cable in the walls that is so weak it is basically broken, thus leaving us internetless for a couple of weeks.

2. the amount of work we had to do to this place- of course, more than we expected. and can any project ever be easy or just normal? no.

Therefore, I will be posting about stuff currently happening while weaving in stories about moving and the house.

Today we talk pond removal. Oh yes, pond removal. We didn't realize we were pond owners until we received a letter at our new house that read, "Dear Current Pond Owner". That is when we realized that we did not just have a little fountain in the backyard from the previous owner, but a pond. The funny thing is that ever since I have known Joe he has said that he someday wanted land with a pond. Well, there ya go.

Now, why the removal? This pond, even when plugged in and "moving" was the mosquito hotspot of the neighborhood. That place was hoppin'. After we and (Grayson!) were covered with bites from minimal exposure (not to mention the safety issue once G is mobile AND the wet dog issue) we decided to remove. Shockingly, none of our friends had pond removal experience.

I forgot to take a "before" picture, but here is the process:

First of all, here is the area that was PREVIOUSLY filled with monkey grass, and Hank would lay in it. As you see, there is now just dead grass and what you can't see is holes. The stones in the back have been thrown in (from the pond removal) to fill one hole. If any of you know Hank very well, OR ever stepped foot in our South Carolina backyard, you know that he has a special gift for excavation. He has wasted no time.

Ok, so the picture I was going to put HERE was a picture of the hole the liner left, but alas you can't tell that it is an 18 inch hole, so no pic.

This is the pond. It previously had a fountain in the middle. It is currently for sale on Craigslist.

We filled the pond hole in with the remaining stone, hose and cinderblock. We filled the rest in with sand and topsoil, which of course Hank has already made great progress on today. I would love to show you another boring picture of the filled in hole, but I am too lazy to go take one.

Sorry there are no pictures of Grayson today. Truth be told, we missed about a month of his life (photographically speaking) while working on this place, but I hope to remedy that tomorrow!