Merry Christmas!

What a fun and quiet Christmas. This was the first year Grayson understood, to some extent, the gift thing. It was so much fun watching him! Christmas is so much better with children around!! We woke him up Christmas morning and took him into the living room where some of his presents were wrapped and some were just sitting under the tree. He opened his stocking first and found his favorite thing in the whole world...a candy cane!! He didn't put that thing down until he had sucked every last drop of juice he could from the wrapper. He discovered candy canes last year when we were up in Salt Lake for Christmas. See for yourself his passion for candy canes...

GRAYSON CHRISTMAS '07

Gray loved all his presents! His memaw got him a basketball hoop that he absolutely loves. He's a natural and practices on it all day long. He is obsessed with balls lately, so this is THE PERFECT gift. Thanks memaw!! It was hard not being surrounded by family because, after all, that's a HUGE part of Christmas. We made the best of it and enjoyed precious time with each other! It was a simple but awesome Christmas!

"DID SOMEONE SAY CANDY CANE?!"

HE IS THE BEST AT SHARING

THE AFTER CANDY CANE MESS

"CHRISTMAS IS NOT MY THING...NO CANDY CANE AND MOM'S MAKING ME WEAR THIS CRAZY HAT!"

We went over to the Wille's to make gingerbread men a few days before Christmas. It was so fun watching the kids. Grayson took to the sprinkles right away. He didn't care about much else but that the bowl of sprinkles be RIGHT in front of him so he could shove handfuls into his mouth. Have you ever tried sprinkles? They don't really have a taste, but he loved them. Below is his finished product...

GRAYSON'S FIRST GINGERBREAD MAN

"A LITTLE BIT FOR YOU MR. GINGERBREAD, AND A LITTLE BIT FOR ME."

GRAYSON AND GRACIE ANXIOUSLY AWAITING TO BEGIN...BRING ON THE CANDY!

Happy birthday to me!

So I've always grumbled whenever anyone brings up the subject of my birthday. I know there are people who have it worse than me, but December 20th is pretty high up on the "crappy days to be born" list. When I was little, the big thing was to have your mom bring cupcakes or treats of some kind to your class on the day of your birthday. Well, we were always on Christmas break for my birthday. That's o.k. we could still have a fun party, right? Yeah right! Not only did parents not want to take their kids to a birthday party 5 days before Christmas, but my mom was busy playing Santa for her own 8 children on a single mom budget. Needless to say, birthdays were never something to look forward to for me. Hank knows how I feel about my birthday and this is one of the reasons I love him so much. Ever since we've been married, he has made a big deal about my birthday. Keep in mind we have been students our whole marriage, but somehow he finds a way to have a fun surprise party and get me a nice gift. I always try to talk him out of getting me a gift and I REALLY WOULD be o.k. without one, but he has always been insistent about this. Even if it just a little something, he always gets me something meaningful. This year not only did I get to sleep in the morning of my birthday, but he organized a party with several couples we really love. It was so nice! We are surrounded by the greatest people! I think I end every blog with a variation of this saying, but I really am so lucky! I love my husband, my kids, my friends, my life!

Grayson and me at my birthday party. This is his "cheeeeeeeeeeeeese" smile.

Not his most natural smile, but SO CUTE!

The three best buddies at my birthday party.

Gaige, Gracie, and Grayson.

Despite what Grayson's face says,

he had a great time.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so great! Most of my family came into town to see the baby and celebrate the holiday with us. We actually celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday so my brother Tony wouldn't have to split up his day between us and his in laws. So we spent the whole day on Friday at his house where my mom made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. You don't know good cooking until you've spent a day or two with my mom!! She can make healthy, delicious food with some flour (whole wheat, of course), water, a few condiments, and like she always says, lots of love. The love must be the magic ingredient because seriously, I'll have nothing in my house and she'll come and make a 7 course meal that tastes delicious and is super healthy. (Lots of fiber, right mom?) It was so nice to have everyone together.
Grayson started the cutest game on Thanksgiving day. We were on our way home from my brother's house when I hear him say, "doe?", which translated to adult language is "Where did it/he/she go?" I turn around and he has his little eyes closed, his hands turned out, and the cutest little grin on his face. In this case his "doe?" meant, "Where did Grayson go?" It is my favorite game!! The expression on his face as he puckers his lips, shrugs his shoulders, and says "doe?" is priceless. It makes me laugh so hard every time.

(THIS IS THE ONLY VIDEO I HAVE OF THE "DOE?" GAME GRAY PLAYS. Please try to ignore my annoying conversation with the Starbucks girl in the background. Every time I tried to record Gray playing this game he would not participate--spontaneity makes it more fun, I guess. I had been waiting forever at the Starbucks drive-through window when Gray started doing it, so I sneakily turned on the camcorder hoping to catch the candid moment. Right when I pushed the record button the girl came to the window. Perfect timing, our dumb conversation will forever be recorded in the Reuter family archives!)

Family Pictures 2008

We finally got around to getting family pictures. We didn't want to do them without Preston, but once he got here we needed time to catch up on sleep and get used to our sweet little addition. The day started out cold and cloudy, but after a few minutes of taking pictures the sun came out. It ended up being the perfect day!

Welcome Baby Preston!!

JUST WHEN YOU THINK YOUR LIFE CAN'T GET ANY BETTER ...

Thursday afternoon we delivered a perfect little baby boy, Preston Everett Reuter! The C-Section was scheduled for 4:30 but didn't happen until 5:30 because our OB arrived late. By 5:49 pm I was asking my mom and Hank if they wanted to bet on whether this one would be Reuter or Hamby and by 5:50 pm they both exclaimed, "Definitely Reuter!", as the doctor pulled him out. Another little Grayson. They looked so much alike the first few hours, but Preston quickly took on his own little look as the swelling went down. He has black h air that curls up just like his big brothers did. His skin is flawless and seems to be very olive. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. The hospital stay was a dream. He slept alot, latched on well, and rarely cried. I was so unsure of how do deal with a calm baby that I stayed up most of the second night just to enjoy the silence and peace. Unfortunately Hank was also staying up but not by choice and his night wasn't as peaceful. The biggest paper he has as a nursing student was of course due on Saturday morning. Although he had worked on the Case Study all week, he still had hours left on it when the baby was born. So Friday my mom stayed with me all day and night at the hospital, while our sweet friend Becca kept Grayson during the day and my brother Tony and his wife had a sleepover with him that night. Thanks to our awesome friends and family, Hank was able to work on his paper all day and night. He was up until 3 am Saturday morning and then up by 5 am to go to his last clinical. I am SO INCREDIBLY IMPRESSED with my husband. He has been absolutely AMAZING! He has found time to work, study, be an incredible father, give me lots of breaks and sleep-in days, help people move, and on and on. I am the luckiest girl alive! I have 3 perfect boys that are mine forever!!

Welcome to our blog!

So I'm finally breaking down and doing this blog thing. I tend to resist when everyone is doing something, but I've seen how useful this is for our family who is spread out across the country. We have grandma, memaw, papa, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and lots of cousins who we rarely see. We want you all to be able to enjoy the priceless moments we share with Grayson every day (and Preston in 7 short days too). With everyone's busy schedules, this is the best way to share our family experiences with each of you! We hope you take advantage of this blog and hope you find as much joy in our sweet boy as we do! Life through the eyes of a child is so exciting!!