Trip Up North

So this past weekend Grey made his first real "road trip". We all packed up and headed north with some friends to Boyne City. We weren't quite sure how the G-man would do, but figured when he fell asleep after traveling a full city block, we thought we might be in the clear for the full duration of the trip. Although when Leigh told him he had to ride in the backseat for over 3 hours this is how he looked at us. :)



As to say, "seriously..., you want me to ride in my car seat for how long?" hahaha He was a champ though, made it all the way to Boyne city and the minute the car stopped, he woke up and was ready to go!! (eat that is) :)
Anyway, the entire weekend was incredible, great weather, great friends, great place to stay (thanks tom and jess!) great food, just a really nice time to relax and get away. Grey seemed to have a good time as well. And guess what, he pretty much stole the show. Even when I ventured out on the water to rip it up wakeboarding...sure enough he was on the dock gettin all the attention. I mean, come on, I nearly pulled off a 360...look at me!!! hehe :)

so here's a few pics from the weekend.





This last photo just shows off our amazing parenting skills...when the little dude has to spit up, just hold him over the dock. :) haha.

Here's one more photo just cause i love his shirt and love my son!!!!

Motherly Instinct?

I guess it's that time again...time to update the banner image and showcase just how big Greyson's getting! Admittedly, we kinda set up the shot and kinda put his hands in his pockets. It was hard to resist!

I just wanted to share a quick story about Leigh and "Motherly Instinct". First off there is no doubt that Leigh possesses this thing that many refer to as motherly instinct. I knew that from day one. And truthfully, I'm very thankful for this type of "radar" moms seem to have, becasue I can guarantee there will be plenty of times when I'm clueless about some parenting issue and Leigh will swoop in and just know what to do. It's good to have that on your side. :) I've seen it come into play many times already in the first 4 months and am amazed. Here's the thing though, This weekend Leigh tried to use this "motherly Instinct" on something far from parenting. Let me explain:
Leigh, Grey and I are in the car going somewhere, I can't remember where, but as we often do when we see a car that we like, we typical say something like.
"ohh that'd be a nice car to have someday"
Well I just so happen to say this and made reference to some sort of Pontiac driving by us. Leigh almost disgustedly glanced at me and was like,
"Uahhh, are you serious? I don't like Pontiac's"

I kinda chuckled to myself and was looking forward to hearing her reasoning, of which I knew she had no "real" reason not to like a Pontiac. So I ask Why?
She responds saying,

"I can't really explain...(she pauses) it's just my Motherly Instinct"

Ohhhhhhh OK, that makes sense. Let's just say I'll ask Leigh to leave her Motherly Instinct at home when we do any future car shopping. HAHAHA


Other than that things are good with Grey! In about a week he'll return for a head ultra sound and another visit to the SB clinic. He's a very happy boy and we're getting pretty good at making him laugh!

love to all,

Andy, Leigh, and Greyson :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Hello everyone!!
It's been a week or so since we posted, so I thought I'd update how things are going here in the Gibbs house. And to put it simply, GREAT! Little Grey amazes us everyday, and no matter how tired or drained Leigh and I are, we instantly get recharged when we get a smile or even better, a belly laugh out of him!!! It's funny how the outlook of an entire day can be flipped by the simplest of things...a smile.

So we all had a day off this Monday and celebrated by hanging with the family on uncle Jake's boat. Leigh and I were both a little nervous about taking him on the boat with a bunch of his rambunctious cousins, but we thought if he had all the proper boating attire, he'd be good to go! (see picture) :) Turns out grey, and his mom and dad had a pretty nice time on the lake!

love

Grey, Leigh, and Andy

Pic Post

We were camera happy this weekend, so we thought we'd share a few.
Grey's getting so big!

love to all,

The Gibbs Crew

SB clinic...

Today we had our first spina bifida clinic. For those of you aren't familiar with this, this is somewhere that you go and get all of your appointments done at once. You see the neurosurgeon, orthopedic doctor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, dietitian, and a pediatrician who is also a rehabilitation doctor. Our clinic doesn't have a urologist as of right now, but they hope to have that as well within the year. So...as you can imagine this makes for a veeeeeeerrrrryyyyy long day!!! We knew that it was going to be long but had NO idea that we would be there for 4.5 hours. I would almost just rather go to all of these doctors separately, rather than stay in a little room waiting for that long. Anyway...Greyson was a champ and did amazing! He showed off to all of the people that he saw and they all seemed to be very impressed with his head control, tracking of objects, and his overall happy and laid back personality. We met with a new orthopedic doctor and liked her very much. She really believes that Greyson will be able to walk one day, with the aid of braces and perhaps a walker/crutches. This was very encouraging for us to hear. Part of me was a bit terrified for this appointment, with the limited movement that Grey has in his legs, we sometimes get ahead of ourselves and wonder if it will be possible for him to walk. But, these doctors have seen many cases similar, or worse, then Greyson's and they know what they are talking about. :) With every appointment that we go to, the fear of spina bifida gets smaller and smaller. We know that we can handle whatever we are told at these appointments, but news like this always makes us feel good!

Well, Greyson continues to get bigger and cuter every day, and every day we are amazed at how blessed we are to have him. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers for Grey and our family, they mean so much to us! Here are a few more pics of the little man...one with his new boots (AFO's) :)

I hope this finds you all healthy and happy!
Leigh (Andy and Grey)

Leigh's First Mother's Day

So Grey and I had the task of making Leigh's First Mother's Day the best ever!! And after bouncing some ideas off eachother we think we gave mommy a great first mother's day! It started with a stack of pancakes, pancakes made just how she likes them (kinda runny in the middle) weird, I know, but she likes her pancakes slightly uncooked :) Grey and I also picked out her favorite photo of the 2 of them and put it in a nice frame so she could take it to work with her. This wasn't my idea, but Grey thought Leigh would like a massage at one of those salon places. I agreed, and got her a gift card so she could go when she was really upset with her boys and needed time to relax :) The rest of the day was just as enjoyable as the morning, we hung out with both sides of the family and although they're were plenty of other mothers around, Grey pretty much stole the show. One other fun gift we got for Leigh is a clay foot impression of his little feet. Thanks to aunt emily for her help with that!
Speaking of Grey's feet, last week we got his Ankle Foot Orthotics (AFO's) These are to be worn most of the day, and will help straighten out the "bend" in his feet. And after only a week of wearing them, it seems to be helping. So the weathers getting nicer here in Michigan, and thus resulting in more opportunities to take Grey out for walks, which we love!

Grey's officially 3 month's old and it blows our minds! He amazes us every single day, we love him so much, and he and I are pretty darn lucky to have such a great mommy in our lives!

love the Gibbs

Grey's Dedication

This past week has been a wonderful/busy/exciting week for the Gibbs Family. It started with some good news on Wednesday, when Grey had his head ultrasound and the results came back great! His ventricles are where they need to be, which means the shunt is working properly!!! We go back for another checkup in 2 months.

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to have Greyson dedicated at our church. This was a big day for Leigh, Grey, and I. We were happy to share it with our incredible family and friends. We were asked to prepare a blessing for Greyson so as the official blogger of the family I guess that made me the official "blessing writer". And so I wrote, and when i was finished I considered asking a friend or family member to read it for me, knowing there was no way to get through it and still look tough. :) hehehe
But I felt it would mean more if it came from Grey's dad, so here is what I said:




It's funny to think how much leigh and i have learned about life, family, friends, and faith from a little guy thats only been around for three months.

From the moment we found out we were going to have a baby boy our longtime dreams came to the surface and we blissfully awaited his arrival... and as all of you know this blissfullness last about 20 minutes. We heard those words no parent-to-be ever wants to hear.

"There's something wrong with your baby"

devastated, afraid, angry, confused, you name it, we felt it.

We felt these feelings for a long time....until finally that moment on february 12, at 7:48 aM we got our first glimpse of our baby boy... and almost instantly those feelings went away. And somewhat to our surprise, he was REALLY CUTE :) And although it was quite possibly the most emotionally and physically draining day we've encountered, it was by far our proudest moment.

our little gibblet..., I wish i had a great story or deep meaning behind Greyson's name, but truthfully we kinda just liked how it sounded, and thought grey was a cool nickname. Greys been thru more than most of us will ever go through and still has an uphill battle his whole life. But we have Hope, and Hope lifts us up,

it lifts us up everyday, and everyday we pray for strength... strength for grey, strength for us, just strength in general to help on those tough days.

But we've experienced what love is, and every single one of you as shown it and we are truely blessed for that.

Greyson has flipped our lives upside down, but in the best possible way. and hes been an inspiration not only to Leigh and I, but to just about everyone that meets him.

And today we have one simple yet significant task, one that spina bifida, or a shunt surgery, or 11 days at the NICU doesnt change. Today, Leigh and I dedicate our baby to our Heavenly Father. And promise to raise Greyson to become a strong, independent young man.

We know that Greyson's a special little boy and will without a doubt, continue to amaze us.

we love you all.




So after blubbering through the blessing,(The minute I started reading, I knew I was in trouble) :) Leigh's Dad lead us in prayer, It was a very special moment for all of us. Thanks to all for sharing that moment with us and supporting our little Gibblet.

love, Leigh, Andy, Greyson


(heres a picture of Grey and his cousins after his dedication)