Welcome 2009!



2008 was a great year for us. A new happy, healthy baby boy, Ryan starting school, and basically no major catastrophies! We are looking forward to another great year in the Grattan household for 2009.
Christmas was good, the boys were spoiled of course, and Scott and I enjoyed watching Ryan love all his stuff. He has been singing Christmas songs since October, and I am sure that he will continue to do so for at least another couple of months. I will try to get some video up of his school program, it was a hoot!
Marcus is growing like a weed. He has his 6 month checkup just before Christmas, and he is just over 19 lbs and 27 1/2 inches! He is really trying hard to catch up with Ryan! He loves to sit and watch his big brother do anything, and is very ticklish, so he laughs a lot!
Ryan lost his first tooth before the holidays, and the new one is well on its way in. He is the first in his class, so it has been a learning experience for all the kiddos. Marcus has finally broken his first tooth, and we think that the second one is close behind.
Scott and I continue working away at the same jobs. This year will mark 10 years for me at the Workforce Center, and 4 for Scott at Hilltop. Things are always changing both places, so never a dull moment!
We wish you all a very happy and healthy new year filled with fun and family. We hope to have lots of visitors this year, we would love to have you!
The Grattan 4

Halloween 2008

Ryan is REALLY into Star Wars right now, so he decided that he wanted to be Yoda this year. And who better to join him than an adorable little Ewok! Tanya, Marcus' day care provider made his costume w/o a pattern, and it was PERFECT! They had a great time, and Ryan has enough candy to last till next year!

Happy Fall from the Grattan 4!

Things have been busy around our house this fall, Ryan is doing well in school, and is currently in karate lessons. He really likes it, and just moved to his 2nd belt!

Marcus is now over 4 months, he just had his well child visit and he is 26 inches long and 16 lbs! He is happy as ever, even though he is trying to get a tooth or 2. He is doing great at day care, smiles and talks all the time, and is a great snuggler! We are all getting over being sick, but doing well. We are excited for Halloween tomorrow, and I will get pictures up as soon as I can.

We took the boys to the pumpkin patch and corn maze and had a great time. Hope all is well with everyone, love to all.

Well, the day has come that I had to come back to work. I really had a hard time this morning dropping Marcus off at day care for the first time. I know he will be okay, it is me that I am worried about! He is almost 11 weeks old, over 13 lbs, and growing every day. My mom was here for 2 weeks, and she swears that he changed a lot while she was here. He is a great baby, very sweet, full of smiles and laughs, and has figured out that he has a tongue, so he looks like a lizard some times.

Ryan is a great big brother! He started school last week, and is doing really well. He looks so cute every day with his huge backpack! He loves Marcus, and is a great helper.

That is about all from here for now. I am thinking about heading out early, I miss the boy so much! I am so glad that I have an understanding boss and flexability!

Love to all!

The Grattan Four

Hard to believe it, but Marcus is going to be 6 weeks old tomorrow! He is growing like crazy, in fact he weighed in at 10 lbs 11 oz last week at his check up. The doctor says that he is "strong like bull". He has a very relaxed personality, and I am really enjoying my time with him at home. Ryan will be home with us for the next month, as our dear day care provider that has taken care of him since I returned back to work in 2004 is "retiring" and going to work at the school district. We will miss her very much, and are sad that Marcus will not be going to CeCe's. We are hoping that we have found someone that will be as good for him. Ryan will be starting pre-k at the end of August after Scott's parents come and visit for a few days, and my mom for 2 weeks. We are looking forward to showing off both of our amazing boys.

We hope that everyone is doing well. All our love, and thanks for all the well wishes for the new addition.

I've got a couple of videos I'll be putting up soon too!

Cool!

It's been so long since there's been a post here, I thought I'd take a few minutes to get something put up. I've been saying that for months now, but I finally forced myself to just do it...

I've been home for a little over 4 months now, and I think I can honestly say it's the happiest time of my life. The past 5 years have been full of ups and downs, but lately everything has been so good. I really enjoy my job, and I love being able to spend time with Shelley and Ryan every day. While I was overseas I tended to not dwell on that absense... and it used to make Shelley crazy. The fact of the matter is, if you spend too much time thinking about what you can't have, it'll drive you crazy. So my solution was just to do the job, and take whatever distractions I could find.

We're leaving for France in a couple of weeks. Shelley's mom is going to come and stay with Ryan, so he's going to get some good "grandma" time. We're really looking forward to the time away, and of course we're going to miss him a lot.

Shannon (Shelley's mom) is going to just be blown away by this little man. Every day he does something amazing to us, even if it's something as simple as getting up on the couch by himself. This morning's thing... the thing that prompted me to run down here and post ... was as he was getting out of the hot tub this morning. We have a bit of a routine for "mimming"; Ryan runs around inside the tub for a while (I'm in there too, of course), and when he's had enough, he goes to the stairs and starts looking for Shelley. He'll say "all done", "ma ma", and "meeeze (please)". Shelley will bring his towel, I'll take off his swim diaper, turn him around, and she'll wrap his towel around him. As she's carrying him away, he'll give me a "bye", and head for the bathroom tub. This morning, Shelley asked him if he wanted to take a shower. He said, "yeah" ... which he says to most anything that he doesn't really understand, and I said "cool". He immediately said, "coo", gave me one more "bye", and off they went into the house.

I think it's safe to say at this point that his three most favorite things are Elmo:



Swimming:



... and eating:



Gotta run, sounds like they're out of the shower!

Cool!

Guess who is 6 months old today?

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

... see you in a couple weeks!

Some new pictures!

Shelley uploaded a bunch of new pictures today, and they're all in the Latest Photos album. I'm way overdue to clean up the albums, and promise to get it better organized in the next couple of ummm ... days? Really... I'll try.

I'm working a very odd shift now, but it allows me to spend time on both night and day shifts and give our regular morning guy a break. Midnight to Noon does some strange things to your head... since I literally go to work, go to sleep, and wake up to go to work, all in the space of one day (think about it). Believe me, it rapidly makes figuring out what day it is very difficult...

So, now I've got a new background for my computer, and I need to get back to work to get some things done... More later!

Overdue...

My mom is visiting Shelley this weekend, so we'll give her a little slack. I'm sure she'll have a bunch of pictures next week, and I'll have her post something then...

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you all my new favorite picture:



That's all I've for for now! Looking forward to some new pictures!

While Shelley is trying to figure out how to post, I'll tell you something she called to tell me earlier today. She took Ryan to the doctor for his checkup, and shots. He weighs over 12 pounds... typically it takes a child six months to double their birth weight... He managed it in 2. That's my BOY! hehe

BTW, Happy Two Month Birthday kiddo!

For now, this 'blog will mostly be a place that Shelley can tell you (and me too, since I'm currently 8000 miles away) what's happening at the Grattan homestead. The latest news, of course, is the addition of Geoffrey Ryan Grattan:



Needless to say, we're pretty fond of him, and will have a lot more pictures and stories of him in the future. In the meantime, feel free to email him and welcome him in to the world. Of course, Shelley will be reading the emails to him, but you might as well put him in your address book now. You know I'll have him sending emails shortly after he learns the alphabet (should be any day now...).

Thanks for visiting!

Just the beginning...

Scott
Shelley
Ryan