two ories!

Wow, so it's a been a while since we've updated...we've been really busy and very relaxed all at the same time. A few weeks ago Leigh and I were in Cozumel for some time off! Grey stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa and since our return has been asking for chocolate milk, exclusively. Hmmm.... very curious. hahaha. It was the longest we've been away from the little man and yeah we totally were missing him by the 4th day. (Note: Leigh missed him before we even left :) So yeah, the time away was incredible and much needed.

oh how i miss you sun...don't worry we'll see you again...in june. *sigh*
oh yeah on our way home we got stuck in the largest blizzard in history! perfect. just when we wanted to be home and see our little man, we get stuck in Atlanta! (note: to those living in the Atlanta area, im sure its a great place and all that, but we wanted to be HOME!) :)

So needless to say we were very excited to see grey when we got back to Michigan. I can;t believe how much the little guy changed in a single week...crazy. the kids a giant, and enrolled in college. geez.

Ok, now onto Grey's best friend (besides me) his stuffed eeyore. This has been Greys "goto" stuffed animal for a long time now and recently we've noticed eeyore (or orie as Grey refers to him as) has gotten a little rough around the edges, heck the kid drools on him all night long, what do you expect. So leigh and i thought, "hey we should buy another one just in case this one goes out of commission" Perfect we thought. So we did and recently we introduced Grey to his new orie...

we took a video of the introduction...

while watching you'll notice a few things.

1. He's not really sure why there's 2 ories and proceeds with caution.
2. He thinks theres 3 ories for some reason.
3. But he's not afraid to kiss either one of them
4. He's not interested in taking a nap at this time.
5. He Definately knows thediffernce between the "real" orie and the "fake" one.
6. Finally he resorts to some "close talking" followed by falling over to make his full introduction... goof.





*A few side notes from Leigh
1. Grey does not exclusively ask for chocolate milk. My mom would kill me if she saw that. My parents did great and followed all of my rules (even though they think my rules are crazy)
2. Our plan on having a "spare" Orie backfired...big time. He now has to have BOTH ories. He can't sleep unless he has two Oriess.
3. You may be thinking "oh, how cute he cuddles with Orie when he sleeps...Uh, no, he uses them BOTH as pillows. What a weirdo!
4. When first meeting the "fake" Orie he refers to him as "puppy" it's not in the video, but it's very funny!

oh yeah in other news...grey's almost 2!!! ahhhhh


love to you all!

the gibbs'

Paper Towel...

A few weeks ago, Grey was in the bathroom on his potty and he spotted the toilet paper. He looked at it, pointed, and said "paper towel". I, of course laughed and laughed...a) because he had just called toilet paper paper towel, and b) because it was the first time he had ever said paper towel. Well, for the next few weeks he thought that it was HILARIOUS to call EVERYTHING a paper towel. (Admittedly, Andy and I laugh pretty much everytime he does this, we're an easy audience)

He thinks he's sooooo funny (and so do we)

Untitled from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

Smarty Pants...

Lately we've been amazed at how much Grey is learning and how quickly he picks things up. While at therapy, Grey can't get enough of the beads (as seen here)

and while he plays with these beads, we talk about what colors they are, not really thinking that he would be paying any attention to us. Now...we have a little boy that knows his colors!

Grey knows colors from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

Love to you all,
Andy, Leigh, and Grey

Sunday Sledding

So we got a little snow here in Michigan the last week but its been bitter cold, so i haven't taken the little man out to sled as much as we would like. But yesterday the sun was out! which helped a little bit (it was still really cold) so we got our snow gear on and hit the hill. As you can see grey loved it!

Untitled from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

A very merry christmas

Well, we're a little late on showing some of these Christmas photos to everyone, but here we go!
On Christmas eve we had my family (Andy) over to our house for dinner and gifts. Grey was excited to see his cousin Evan. He so lovingly refers to him as "baby elvin" these days. Anyway here's a picture of grey and evan with grandma and grandpa.

I think aunty em was being silly, Grey thought it was hilarious!


These pictures were taken "post-gift opening" where apparently the boys stripped down to their onesies and started partying.

i just really love our new home and Christmas felt so great in it this year!

this totally wasn't from Christmas eve, but i just like photo.
Anyway, back to Christmas eve...After Grey was in bed we set up his big gift, a tent (or a house as he refers to it) Christmas morning he was able to see it and as we thought it was a big hit! in fact he ate his breakfast in it that morning. So now we currently have a tent permanently set up in our living room.


ah yes, holdin my boy wearing snowman pj's on Christmas morning, can't beat it.

Here's a family shot on Christmas...man i feel like we could have tried that one again...were like 50 feet away from the camera. Don;t worry, i got a tripod this Christmas so i wont have to rely on propping it on the arm of the sofa to do the job anymore.

Here's Christmas at the Neals! Christmas chaos at it's best!

Oh and here's Leigh with niece Kendall singing Karaoke. Let's just say we don't have the next American Idol in our family :) hahaha.

here's grey crawling out of his house when Leigh was finally done singing :)

Here's the cousins playing with their new gadgets. Grey found the play/pause button quickly and kept pushing it until Olivia got sick of him and left.



Might as well wrap up the day with a spin behind the go-kart on the tube! oh yeah!

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas and we wish all of you out there a happy and healthy new year!

love the Gibbs'

How it happened...

First, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who called, emailed, commented, etc. on our last post about Grey walking. It means so much knowing that there are so many people cheering Grey on just as loud as we are. :) I said in that last post that I would have more info on how his new-found walking came about, and then I realized that I really have no idea! But...here are some things that I think helped...

Since Grey was about 11-12 months, we started using this little push toy. At this point he couldn't bear weight at all and I was doing ALL of the work. He wasn't shifting his weight, wasn't swinging his legs, and wasn't supporting himself. This was the beginning. Lots of work for mama, and lots of learning for Grey. Each time that we did this, I would say "shift your weight, swing your leg" he never did, but that little mind of his was starting to get it. :)


Next, his PT, Liz, brought over a gait trainer. Not Grey's finest moment. :) He wasn't a fan of this gait trainer and all of the "extras" that came along with it. Liz decided that it wasn't the right time. Good decision. :)


THEN...Liz suggested that we get a pair of knee immobilizers. Grey was still having trouble bearing weight for longer then a few seconds, his knees would just buckle and we weren't making much progress. His ortho didn't want to go with KAFOs (knee, ankle, foot orthotics) just yet (which I understood) but I felt like that left Grey hanging. Unable to do the things that I knew with a little more support, he would be able to do. The knee immobilizers were the next best thing! (Although, I was so excited when I ordered them, that I forgot to check the "male" box and they came with fairies on them...oops! Sorry Grey!

Once his immobilizers were here, we started working more on standing on his own, taking side steps, and being upright way more often. Then, during one PT session, Liz brought that gait trainer back...without all of the "extras" just to see what would happen. Much to our surprise...Grey started getting it! He still needed help with shifting his weight, but he was bringing his left leg forward all on his own! So exciting!!

Then, in December, we made a huge decision and decided to try out a new therapy place. 1 plus 1 Therapy
A decision that I was so nervous to make (sorry, Amy!) has turned out to be so good for Grey. Grey gets to do things there that he has never been able to do before...like jumping,

standing without leaning on something,

moving forward on all fours,

and more jumping!

After that first week of going to 1 plus 1, his Early On PT, Liz was back over and we were trying out the walker again. This time he was shifting his own weight and swinging both legs forward all on his own! He still needed a bit of support at the waist but he was doing it! Now, after a month at 1 plus 1, he is starting to 4 point crawl, and no longer needs any support when using his walker, although we do still need to push it forward for him. Army crawling is still his perfered method of getting around, but more and more I see him on all fours taking a few "steps" that way.

So, that is some of what we have done leading up to this point. So many people have helped Grey, but above all...it's Grey's strong will and determination that have gotten him to where he is. He is the best!

Grey's gift to us...

Grey has been working very hard on a special gift to give to all of us. There really aren't words to describe how proud we are of him...to say that we are bursting with pride just doesn't even seem to come close. Take a look...

grey walking!! from Leigh Gibbs on Vimeo.

More to come on how this came about. I just couldn't wait to share with all of you! :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!

Much Love,
Leigh, Andy, and Grey