The Holiday Weekend

...and Exhale...ahhhhh.

Yes, we can finally breathe as we've come to the end of a very busy, but very amazing Christmas weekend. Yup, this one goes down as the best Christmas ever, hands down. So you might have guessed that there were plenty of pictures taken to document the G-man's first Christmas. And we didn't let you down. So here's some photos to sum things up. enjoy.
Christmas Eve we spent some time with Grey's Great Grandma Gibbs. This was her 96th Christmas...Greyson's first...crazy.

We then went over to my mom and dad's house where Grey received a wagon from Grandma and Grandpa...he loved it!!!

He pretty much stayed in the wagon most of the evening.

Aunty em and Uncle jimmy got him a drum...perfect thanks guys, thats not gonna cause a ruckus in the house!!! hahaha.

Grandma loved it just as much! :)

Christmas morning, bright and early...I guess Grey was extra excited and decided to get things started early.

Family Christmas at the Gibbs House

Did a tornado hit? nope, just the normal mayhem involved at the Neal house on Christmas morning.

The day after Christmas we went tubing with the family.

Grey fit perfectly in the tube :)

He loved it!

We sent grey down by himself...hehehe



It was truly an amazing Christmas and was soooo much fun to have Grey around for all the festivities. Hope everyone else had a wonderful time as well.

love,

Andy, Leigh, & Greyson

Merry Christmas!!!

We wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and to show you one of Grey's new "tricks." It's funny to think about how much he once hated this snowman, and now this snowman is helping him to sit up!! Have a wonderful and safe Christmas!

The Gibbs'

Our last day...

Today was the last day of our first parent and child session at the Conductive Learning Center. Let's just say that we ended MUCH better than we started! :) This last week was by far Grey's most successful! He cried much less and was actually able to stay awake until the end. :) It's remarkable to see the changes in him just during these three short weeks. At the beginning of the session he was able to sit on a stool while holding with both of his hands onto a bar. Today, he is able to sit on the same stool while only holding on with one hand and waving (kind of) the other, he is also able to bend down and pick something up while still holding on with one hand, and comes back up. At the beginning of the week, while standing he needed help with both his upper and lower body. Today, he can hold onto the bar and I only need to help with keeping his legs straight for him. He also sat up from lying down for the first (and second, and third...) times during this session. BIG accomplishments for such a little guy!! :) Looking ahead, we will be attending the CLC once a week in Jan. twice a week in Feb. and doing another 4 week parent and child session in March.

Greyson also had a urology appointment this week. We are very pleased to let you know that things are looking good in that department! His kidneys and bladder have not changed since his last ultrasound 6 months ago. We were told that his kidneys are small, but they have always been small and they are growing, so the doctor isn't too concerned with that. We will go back again in 6 months for some more testing.

No pictures to post today...but look back this weekend for some pictures of all of the things that he has been working on these past few weeks!

Love to all,
Leigh

Grey...the elf on the shelf

Yesterday, I was able to jet out of work for a bit and watch the Conductive Learning Center's production of "Elf on the Shelf" When I got there I was handed a program and as I looked it over I saw our very own Gibblet's name as "Elf to be named." Yep, Grey had a part, albeit a small part, they still included him in their Christmas program. :) I thought that was pretty cool! If you've ever been to any kids productions of anything, it usually is just a mass of craziness, crying kids, and a lot of waving to parents. And for that reason I love these things. For years I've always enjoyed watching my nieces and nephew in the church Christmas programs, anticipating/placing bets on which kid will cause the biggest ruckus! I love it! Yesterday's performance didn't disappoint.

Here's a picture of Grey and Mommy before his big part. Cool costume huh?


Then it was time for Grey do do his thing...which happened to be to shake his head back and forth. It's kind of his latest trick. (soon to come video of him doing this :) The funny thing is it related to the Elf Christmas story that the kids were telling. So funny!


Finally after the program was finished, guess who came to visit? Grey was pretty excited!!!


Happy Holidays

The Gibbs'

Sleeping beauty...

That is what Grey was called as we walked out of class today. :) The last 15 minutes is spent working at the parallel bars standing, and he just couldn't make it today. He was sitting on his little stool sound asleep! We tried to sing to him to wake him up, but nope, he was a goner! This week started off rough...VERY rough. Monday was not a good day for either of us. Grey cried...LOUD for at least an hour of class and didn't want to participate in the lying program AT ALL...but as always he seemed to perk up a bit for our individual session. Tuesday was better and today was the best day that we have had. He still let us know that he wasn't really interested in the lying program, but he didn't cry as much or as long. His individual program went well and he was working hard on kneeling and pulling himself up to stand. When I say this, I want to make it clear that he isn't actually "standing." We are working hard on getting him to bear weight, and I think he is starting to just a bit. What he is doing is using his arms to pull himself up and strengthening his core and back while I hold his legs straight. He does a great job, and I am just amazed at how strong he is. We go back again tomorrow for another "exciting" day. :) As always, we are hoping that tomorrow will be even better than today. :)

I couldn't post without leaving a picture...here Grey is showing us how much he "love" the snow...hehehehe

Grey's Holiday Spirit

So the Gibbs house is all decked out and "Christmasy" these days, and one item that keeps getting some attention at the house is the singing snowman. Now if you ask me how we got this thing in the house, I couldn't tell you...But know for sure I had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, it's been making an appearance every year around this time for the last 4 or 5 years.

Greyson's feelings about the Snowmen have come full circle... Here, take a look at the video. You'll see what I mean.



The Gibbs'

Snow Day...

This is what we woke up to this morning...


We got up nice and early to get ready for "school" and after looking out the window, I decided that I should take a look at the school closings (didn't think I'd have to do that for awhile!) and sure enough...today was Grey's first (of many I'm sure) snow days! To be honest, as much as I loved snow days as a kid, I certainly don't love them as much now.


What?!?! No School?!?!?


We have our day down, I know when to give him breakfast, his nap, what time we need to leave to get to therapy on time. This not having to do anything threw a loop into my schedule, and for those that know me, you know that I NEED my schedule! :) Not to mention the fact that yesterday was the first good day we have had since we have started this new regimen of therapy. And by "good" I mean the first day that he didn't cry for over half of the time, the first day he actually smiled while we were doing some of his exercises, the first day that I didn't question myself and wonder if he was really ready for this. I think that there is a thin line between doing what is best for Grey and his PT and just letting him be a baby. I don't want to have to take my 9 month old to 2 hours of therapy a day, everyday. But I also don't want to waste this opportunity where he is learning so much and seems to be gaining some new abilities. I think that this will always be a struggle, a big struggle. We just continue to pray that God will show us the right path that we should take, the path that is best for all of us. Right now, I feel strongly that we are on the right path.

So...for what we have been doing at the CLC...The beginning of the day starts with "the lying program" the babies lay on a "table" and work different parts indivually, stretching their arms and legs, Moving one leg at a time, rolling from side to side. Grey can stand this for about 3 minutes, then he realizes that he can't go anywhere and decides that he'll just cry for the remainder of the lying program time. Although, like I said, yesterday he did very well. He didn't cry much during this and we were even laughing. Big improvement from the previous days. After the lying program we have an individual time where we work on 4 point crawling, kneeling, kneeling and reaching out with one hand, standing, and standing and reaching. He usually does pretty well during this time. We don't stay on one thing too long and I think that that helps. He is also working with his buddy Carson and I think he likes to see what he is up to. :) Once we are done with the individual part of class we (there are 4 kids) all come back and work on the parallel bars sitting and standing. They play games together going up and down, sitting with only one hand holding on to the bar, waving, standing with only one hand on the bar (Grey still needs a lot of help with the standing, but his upper body and core are very strong which is very encouraging. After this, it is time to LEAVE! hahaha I can honestly say that we are READY TO GO at this point. Grey is ready to get home, get some cuddles in and take a nap. :)

We also had our first parent teacher conference this week. It went very well. I was feeling a bit discouraged that Grey wasn't getting enough out of it, and I was worried that he wasn't ready, but they reassured me that now was the perfect time to start this. It's great for these kids to build off of each other and to start to take direction at a young age. They also assured me that they were happy to see him cry and let us know that he wasn't happy. That is what a 9 month old SHOULD be doing! :) They also noticed that Grey has much more active hip movement while he is standing and kneeling, to them, this is quite different to see, as most kids have more active movement while lying down where Grey has virtually none. We now know to work more with him in these upright positions. Well, I hope that I didn't completley overwhelm you all with this lengthy post, but I just wanted to try and give you an update on what has happened with us over this past week. Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we start again Monday. :)