Rhys' first fay of Preschool

Earlier I posted about Rhys going to Early Intervention to help him with his talking. Since he turned 3 he was no longer able to go, but he did qualify to go to Preschool to continue to help him. He had to wait all summer, but he finally got to have his first day on Sept. 1. The week before we got to go to his classroom and meet his teacher. He had so much fun exploring all the fun things in the room and was really excited to go. Part of what he was so excited about is riding the bus. They pick him up and drop him off right in front of our apartment. Because he's so little he gets to be in a car seat, which makes me feel better about the whole thing.
I had been telling him about the bus from the beginning, but when he saw the bus pull up he said "Whoa" with a huge smile on his face. He wasn't upset about leaving me at all. Its really nice for me too, because they pick him up at 8:00 in the morning and drop him off at noon, so I get 4 hours of time with just Gavin. Its nice to have some bonding time with him since I got SO much time with Rhys before Gavin was born.
The funny thing is, when Rhys got off the bus on his first day he told me he had fun but he didn't go into too much detail. But, later that day when I called my mom just to talk, he wanted to tell her everything. So, I heard all about his first day by listening to him talk to my mom. Just one more example of how he doesn't mind that Gavin has become a part of my life too. All in all, I think this will be a really good thing for Rhys.

Gavin Shea Grawrock

Gavin Shea Grawrock was born Tues. Aug. 4, 2009 at 11:35 a.m. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 and a half inches long.

In my last post I said that we were getting induced... but it turns out I really didn't need to be. We were supposed to be at the hospital at 4:00 in the morning, but I ended up waking up at 3:00 having contractions. When we went in they were surprised to see that I was already contracting, but they said it was a good thing. I was only 2 cm and 50% effaced, so they gave me some medicine to help soften my cervix. You're supposed to take this every 3 hours, and they normally give you a couple of doses. But, 2 hours into it I was contracting so hard they came and checked me. I was at 4 cm and 80% so they told me I could have my epidural if I wanted it. I was very grateful for that. They broke my water and decided to wait to give me pitosen to see if I would go on my own so they checked me at 10:00. I was at 6 cm so they decided to wait some more to give it to me. They came back at 11:00 to check and I was at 10 cm and 100% so I got to start pushing. I only pushed for 15 minutes and he was here. I was amazed at how fast it was, and really happy that I pretty much went on my own.

Rhys was very excited to meet his new brother and already loves his so much. He is constantly asking to see Gavin and wants to hold him all the time. He has also "Helped" Mommy by putting Gavin in his Car seat. Although that gave me more of a heart attack then anything. But it was cute that he wanted to be involved.

So far we are doing great. Gavin is such a good baby. He also is great at nursing, which is something Rhys wouldn't do so I am extremely grateful for that. I was hoping to get to experience it at least once, and so far I am LOVING it.

Induction!

Our most exciting news right now is that I have decided to be induced next week. We are scheduled for Aug. 4 at 4:00 a.m. So, as long as Gavin doesn't decide to come before that, we now know his birthday. Its really kind of fun.

A lot of prayer went into this decision. Its not something I had ever really considered before, but when my Doctor brought it up it made Steven and me really think about the pros and cons. It turns out that this time, the Pros just out weigh the cons. Since my mom lives in Seattle, she is going to be able to fly down and be here in time for it.. which I am THRILLED about! Plus, my doctor is going out of town the day after my induction and will be gone all weekend.. so the chances of me having Gavin while she is gone were huge.. and I'm just not comfortable with someone else delivering him, since I haven't even met them. Plus, Rhys was 8 pounds 9 ounces, and I am growing big with Gavin as well. So I am curious to see how big Gavin will be at 39 weeks instead of 40. I bet he's still at least 8 pounds.. we shall see. =) For now, I am just going to enjoy the last week I have with Rhys as my only child.

Lets see... other random fun news. Rhys is taking after his Daddy in theatre so much. He loves to go to the Greenshow and Dance for all of the audience members. He won't dance unless he's sure there are people watching him. We have been so many times now, that he has most of it memorized and knows when a new dance is coming up. He also found his Halloween costume from this year and insisted on wearing it all day on Sunday afternoon. He would even crawl around chewing on his leaves. It was really cute.

Its definately because Steven sets such a good example of doing crazy and silly things for attention. Recently, all of the people working Concessions for the Festival came up with Super Powers for all of us to have. We then went and took pictures of us with our powers so that our friend Kaitlin could Photo shop them to look like we really have them. We are then going to make a comic book out of them. Its definately something only Theatre people would come up with.. but its fun. Rhys even posed for pictures as a "Fire Baby." My pictures will come later, however.. since I do not want to be a pregnant super hero.. that's just not fun. =)

So, anyway, we are not just anxiously waiting for the birth of Gavin.. and I am anxious to get some pictures of him posted up here. =)

Updates!

So, I don't have anything too interesting to report, but since it was pointed out to me by my beautiful sister-in-law Mickelle that I haven't updated this in a while, I thought I'd at least give a boring update. This ones for you Stella! =)

Lets see, since the beginning of June when I last posted Steven has started working at the Shakespeare Festival. He is working for Concessions and sells Tarts again this year. He was also asked to introduce the Greenshow, so he gets to be a part of things a little more. Another fun thing, he gets to interact with one of the actors on stage during the Gypsy night. (He sells the guy a Tart) Its quite funny. He actually really impressed some of the higher ups in the Festival last year, and they asked him to be the Crier for "As You Like It." For anyone who doesn't know what that means, he's the one who gets up before the play starts and tells everyone to turn off their cell phones, and who the sponsors are. Last year people had to audition to do it, but this year they just asked him... so he is slowly making an impression on them. Maybe next year he'll actually be on stage acting.

Lets see.. we have also decided to have Steven audition for the Shakespeare Festival Tour in the Spring. This year they're doing "Taming of the Shrew" and Steven was told by Michael Bahr (He's in charge of the Tour) that he should audition for it. The auditions are the end of August, and if he gets in then he will be traveling with the Company for most of Spring Semester. This means that he'd be post poning graduating a semester so that he could go... but we feel okay about that. We figure that if he gets in then it will be GREAT experience and something amazing to go on his resume.. and if he doesn't then we'll just get to go to Grad school that much sooner. So, either way its something we wanted to look into. Of course, the boys and I would miss him terribly while he was traveling, but we are just trying to focus on the good things.

Rhys is doing good as well. He misses going to his class and sometimes asks to go when we get in the car. I'll be really glad when Preschool starts up for him so that he will get to go again. Although, he is talking SO much more lately that I don't think he'll get to go to Preschool for very long. But, we will take as much time as we can get.

He is also getting ready for his new brother to arrive. We tell him about Gavin all the time, and he will come up and kiss my tummy and say "Hi Gavin" all by himself. I'm not sure he completely understands what it all means, but its still cute.

As for me, I am getting bigger every day. Sadly, I'm starting to look like I did when I was pregnant with Rhys... and I was HUGE with him. But, I have not gained as much weight this time around, so I am holding onto that. =) I am officially 36 weeks and hanging in there. I haven't gotten to go to the Festival nearly as much as I've wanted to because its really hard chasing after Rhys. As long as he stays by me we're good... but one day while we were there he ran away and jumped into a strangers car. It was the SCARIEST thing ever and I could only run so fast to get him. Suffice it to say, now when we go, Rhys has to wear a leash! =)

Anyway, that's about it for now. Hopefully things will pick up a little more soon and I'll have something more fun to report for next time. =)

Zoo Adventure!

This past weekend, Steven and I got to do something we've been wanting to do for a LONG time.... take Rhys to the Zoo. He has always LOVED animals, and one of his favorite toys is his "Little People A-Z Zoo" that he has. He can call most of the animals by name, and just loves to make the animals sounds.

Since we live in Cedar, we don't have easy access to a Zoo right near us, so last weekend when we were going up to Salt Lake for my Cousins baby shower we thought we would take the opportunity to finally take Rhys.

We had SO much fun. He ran from animal to animal saying "More animals." When he realized that all the animals were there, he started asking for them by name. He wanted to see the Tigers, Bears, Elephants, Zebras, Giraffe's, and Hippos. Sadly, they didn't have Hippos, so he was sad at that.. but he got to see all the other animals.

He had the joy of "talking" to the Monkey's. Some of them were really noisy and made noises as we walked by.. so he would make the noises back. It was really cute.

It was all so adorable, but my favorite thing that he did while we were there was see the Giraffe's. He saw one from really far away, yelled "Giraffe!" and took off running. He saw it from far away, AND he got to go upstairs and see him face to face. It was cute to see his reaction to how tall Giraffe's really are. =)

There was a little train ride that you could pay $1 to go on.. and Rhys wouldn't stop asking to go on the Choo Choo train. So, Daddy told us to go without him so that Rhys could ride his train. It was fun and there were a couple of animals he wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise.

We spent a LOT of time in the "Discovery Land" section of the Zoo. It was mainly a little park for the kids to play at, with the Prairie Dog and Bat exhibits. The Prairie Dog's were a lot of fun because you could stick your head up in a tube and see them up close. Rhys liked being in the tube, but going through the dark tunnels to get to the tubes weren't that much fun for him.

All in all, it was a really fun day, and Rhys keeps asking us when we are going to go see "More Animals" again. Hopefully we'll get to take him again soon.

Rhys' 3rd Birthday

Yesterday, Rhys turned 3 years old! It was both a very fun day and a sad day. He has been going to a class called "Early Intervention" for the past year to help him with his talking and over all development. He has LOVED going, but the kids can only go until they turn 3. So, yesterday was his last day of class because he is now 3 and can't go anymore. He was VERY happy to get to go on his Birthday, but was sad to say good-bye. We were able to get a picture of Rhys with his teacher, Ms. Colette. They sang "Happy Birthday" to him and gave all the kids cookies. He even got a little crown that the class made for him. As a "Graduating" present they gave him a little yellow smiley face ball wearing a Graduation hat. It was really cute, and one of the only ways we could get Rhys to stop crying when it was time to leave. Luckily, the school is having a "Spring Party" tomorrow and they are insisting that Rhys gets to go.. so its not over just yet.

Since all of Rhys' friends are gone for the summer, we didn't have a party. But, we wanted to do something fun for him. Rhys loves to play on slides of any kind, so we took him to lunch at McDonald's and let him just play on the indoor playground a while. Since it was not quite noon yet, he had the whole place to himself and it made it even more fun for Steven and me to watch him play. He didn't even put up a fight when it was time for us to leave.. which makes me want to take him back again that much sooner.

When we got home from McDonald's it was time for Rhys to open his presents. He had a very big pile and he was excited to dig in. He got lots of new clothes, some Spiderman sandals and big boy underwear, some books, a few spiderman action figures, 2 new board games, a puzzle, a gift card so he can go pick out his own toys, and a Spiderman water doodle book. It was quite the haul for a little boy, and he was very happy to get it. His favorite were the doodle book (We had a hard time getting him to finish opening his presents at first because he wouldn't put it down), his puzzle, and his Pokemon book. We even had to take them with us to dinner.

After Rhys opened up presents his Uncle Evan and Aunt Leslie came over to celebrate with him a little bit. Rhys got to show off all of his new loot, and he even convinced them to play both of his new games with him. It was very fun, although Rhys and I are convinced that they cheat since Evan won one game, and Leslie won the other. =) They ended up coming with us to Denny's to have some of Rhys' favorite food. He absolutely LOVES breakfast and was very excited to eat pancakes, eggs, and sausage for dinner. He was a very good boy at dinner.. even when he has his Daddy being a bad influence. (Steven taught him how to blow the wrapper off of the straws)

After Dinner it was time to go have some cake. It was just a homemade cake with chocolate frosting, but Rhys was very excited about it. He got his 3 candles and when we lit them he blew them out before we could sing. So, we lit them again and he let us sing to him this time. He was adorable and was smiling the whole time. He wasn't able to blow the candles out quite as fast the second time but he eventually got it. We cut him a piece but he immediately objected and pointed to his name. He wanted the "R" from Rhys, so we had to cut him a new piece. I was just excited that he actually said "R".

All in all it was a great day!

Mother's Day

I had one of the best Mother's Day ever! First, Rhys was really quiet in the morning so that Steven and I were able to sleep in together. Then he must have known there was something special about yesterday because he was extra affectionate and was constantly giving me hugs and kisses, which I loved.

Rhys was really good during Church and we didn't have to take him out in the foyer once. In the nursery they had him make me a little coupon book that was adorable. My favorite coupon said its good for 10 hugs.

After Church Steven had Rhys give me my present. He wished me Happy Mother's Day and everything. Steven said he picked it out all by himself. I got Buffy Season 6 and Ever After on DVD. It was very sweet of Rhys.

One of the best presents Rhys gave me though, was a nap. Rhys hasn't taken a nap in WEEKS, even though we always put him in his room to try and get him to take one. But, yesterday he actually fell asleep, so I got to take a tiny nap without feeling guilty too. It was very nice.

Steven made me Homemade Lasagna for dinner, so it was really nice not having to cook. He also baked a frozen pie all by himself. =) Actually, Steven really is an excellent cook, and if I had wanted him to he would have made me Creme Brulee... his is the BEST!

But, after all of that my FAVORITE part of the day was the call we got from a guy named Mark who wanted to buy our Washer and Dryer. Well, not OUR Washer and Dryer, but Kimmie and Shane's. They let us use them for 2 and a half years since we had the hook ups for them, but when we moved we couldn't use them anymore. So, instead of Kimmie and Shane hauling them back to Portland they decided to just sale them. But, while we were waiting for them to sale they were sitting in our Living room. Not really getting in the way.. but still there. So, it was a VERY pleasant surprise when we got a call Mother's day Morning after over a month of having no requests. Not only did the guy want them, but he wanted them that very day. So, my Mother's Day ended with the Washer and Dryer leaving my Living room. Plus, now I get to send Kimmie and Shane a check , which also makes me very happy. They are the best and we will be forever grateful to them for letting us use them in the first place. We love you guys!

So, all in all it was a VERY nice day and just makes me wish that EVERY day was celebrated like Mother's Day. =)

Its fun to have boys to watch!

So, since Steven was laid off in November and didn't have a play he was in this semester he had a lot more free time on his hands then we were used to. One of the things he got into was painting his models for one of his role playing games that he enjoys playing. Rhys will normally just sit there and watch him paint, or he will pick out colors he thinks Steven should be using. But, after a while that wasn't enough for Rhys and he wanted to paint to. So, Steven found one of his figures that he wasn't going to play with and helped Rhys to paint it all on his own. It was really cute to watch and Rhys was very happy to get to do something with Daddy.

On another note, Steven was finally able to find a job in this horrible economy right now and actually started today. Its not much, just minimum wage and about 8-10 hours a week, but since our Unemployment had JUST run out it is a HUGE blessing. Plus, he gets to work at a Game store, which is pretty much a second home for him. =)

While I am THRILLED that he is working, I am really going to miss him being home with us so much. I have to say that I was definitely getting spoiled having him home so much with us. I think it definitely helped get me through those first months of pregnancy too. Its nice knowing that you've got the help right there when you need it.

I guess I just need to remember to "Count my blessings" and enjoy the moments that I can. =)

Ultrasound!

Earlier this week we were able to go get a 3D ultrasound done of Gavin. The pictures are amazing and you can already tell that he will look like Rhys.

Rhys got to go with us to see it and he was enthrolled with the screen. Whenever you could tell that there was a baby on the screen he would point and say "Baby!" It was really sweet and I hope he gets just as excited when Gavin is actually there in person.

Meet the Grawrocks!

So, I've been postponing making a blog because I am not creative and I didn't want it to be totally stupid. But now a lot of people we know have one, so its time to jump on the bandwagon.

Steven and I live in Cedar City, UT with our almost 3 year old son Rhys. We have another little boy to be named Gavin, that is due in August. Our lives basically revolve around Steven and his acting opportunities. He is currently a Student at SUU studying for a BFA in Classical Acting. He has one more year left and then its off to Grad School.. so who knows where we will end up.

Living in Cedar has been great for Steven because he's had opportunities to work at the Shakespeare Festival here over the Summer's so he can make a good impression and hopefully one day get to Act in it as well.

I spend my days taking care of Rhys. So far we have been fortunate enough that I have been able to be a stay at home mom, and we really hope to be able to keep it that way. When I'm not taking care of Rhys, or watching Steven act, I am usually reading, scrapbooking, or watching T.V. I know.. my life is exciting.

Rhys is growing up really fast and I can't believe how much of a little person he is now. He was having trouble learning to talk so he was enrolled in a "Early Intervention" Class this year. He gets to go twice a week and he loves it. It has been a HUGE help to him and he will be sad when he has to stop going in 3 weeks because he will turn 3. We are hoping to get him enrolled in Preschool next Fall to help him continue to develop his speech, but we won't know for a few more weeks if he gets to go.

Well, that's our lives so far and we look forward to getting to share it with everybody!