"BAM"

and no, I am not talking about Emeril, the famous chef.

Blaine's new "thing" or trademark as I like to call it, is to end every song, story or action with "BAM!" It's already amusing because he says it after anything and everything he does, no matter if he just finished a sweet lullaby to Gracie or playing catch with his dad BUT add to it his adorable smile and Okie accented "BAM", and we just crack up laughing, even him!






New railroad tracks are being laid near our house so Brandon has been teaching him "I've been working on the railroad." And don't worry, I have no plans to try out for American Idol.

when mom is away...

...the boys will play



Yes, that is my oldest sporting a Mohawk.

I knew it was haircut night at the Kelley household when I went to supper with a friend last night. I got a call from Ryan informing me that Brandon had a question for me. Brandon got on the phone and was giggling and asked if he could get a Mohawk. My instant reply was NO! Well when I came home the boys were in bed but Ryan warned me that Brandon did in fact get a Mohawk but that Ryan had warned him that per my decision it may not last long.
Apparently mom's "no" doesn't hold much weight in a house full of boys.

support from all sides

her bloomers!
love them.

sporting her Red Sox bow!

Brandon has support from his family. all of us!

Gracelyn is the best dressed, most stylish girl at the ball field. I got her a 3 pack of pink and white Boston onesies back when I ordered Brandon's Red Sox shirt for his birthday. I found a pink and white Sox bow to match. Then Ryan requested that she have Red Sox gear with actual team colors, red and navy. So one of the moms designed shirts for all the fans, even the little ones, and I ordered one for G. I also came across bloomers in "team colors." And of course she needed a red and navy bow too.

It helps that we are already Boston Red Sox fans. She wears her many outfits a lot, on MLB game days. The boys each have a few shirts and request to wear them often, even if they are all dirty. I make them wait til they are clean, which doesn't make them too happy.

She's a ROCKSTAR!

Gracie was a ROCKSTAR today at physical therapy!

her onesie says "Rock Me"

She has struggled with leaning over and grabbing objects since last Wednesday, when her therapist began working with her on it. She just flat out refused to. I continued working with her this past week and still had no success.

Today, Mr. Derrick, her therapist was gone so she worked with Ms. Sharon and she DID IT!! She leaned, from a sit, and grabbed a toy and sat back up!! several times!!!

(I wanted to use so many pics so I made them small but you can click and enlarge to see her expressions, which I personally LOVE!!)

LEANING!!!!

~and she GOT IT!!

Look what I got Mom!!
~And now that she has 1 toy, she goes for another! Such a showoff!!

Now her area in which she is able to do this is in front of her around halfway. Ms. Sharon put the toy out to the side and when she leaned over she couldn't push herself back up. She's doing fantastic, she will get there in no time!!

she loves that flower and she'll do just about anything for it!

I think she knows somehow that the bottom is a sucker!

I am so proud of my girl! She is so strong and has such determination!!

I L.O.V.E. her pose!
She poses all.the.time.
I think she's used to people watching her since she got sick so when she does something she will roll back on one hip, throw her arm on her side and look at you!
such a princess!
I love it!

Blaine got to help with G's therapy today because his speech therapist didn't show. He had a blast and she adores her bros!
I love how she is looking at him and he was giving her a huge grin!

She stood some and is gaining strength in her legs!! She took a few steps, while holding onto Ms. Sharon of course, and actually initiated the couple of steps! HUGE!!

ready to call it a day but Ms. Sharon was making her take steps and she wanted her paci so she bent over and picked it up!
she loved Ms. Sharon playing with her feet!

She wouldn't be where she is without God working through her. She is a miracle!

PT= pretty tiring

PT this past week was exhausting for Gracelyn and brought lots and lots of tears and required her pacifier much of the time (when it wasn't being used as leverage for her to do something.) Mr. Derrick made her work and work hard she certainly did.


He held onto her while she took steps. She did better than she has ever before, actually moving her feet twice each foot, without him having to move them for her.


Derrick also worked with her pulling up to a stand and then making her stand for as long as she was able to several times.

this picture cracks.me.up!
She wants her paci so bad, she has her mouth open, tongue out, eyes closed like she can taste it, she is READY!

Gracelyn did really well standing for about a minute each time! Her paci and all the toys were up on the table so she kept entertained and had a reason to want to stay up there!


Then he wanted her to reach from a sit and pick something up (her paci.) She is incredibly stubborn, which comes naturally from her mother (yes, I admit it.) so she sat there for a good 10 minutes just crying and refusing to reach over for her paci or the toy.


Gracie won't intentionally go from a sit to the floor in order to move. I think it's because she knows how hard she has worked to gain the strength to sit. Mr. Derrick had to pull on her (not hard of course) several times throughout the hour session to get her to stand or reach or lay on her belly from the sitting position. She wasn't a huge fan of that either.


I've continued working with her since therapy last Wednesday and she still isn't budging on reaching for things from sitting or transitioning from her bottom to her belly. I think it's a majority of stubbornness but I tease her that she is such a little princess!

8 months down!

Gracelyn is 8 months old now! I cannot believe that in 4 months we will be celebrating her first year of life, and now the tears are forming....


OK, so specifics on G!
I have made so much baby food so she has tried a lot of foods and really only disliked green beans, carrots unless they are mixed with a fruit, pears unless they are mixed with another fruit and she can take or leave squash, depending on her mood. I did try yogurt per a good friend's suggestion and she L.O.V.E.S. it! I still have to give her daily suppositories. I was hoping that the introduction of prunes would help but no such luck. She also loves the Gerber Puffs. We are working on fine motor skills because she is unable to get the puffs in her fingertips and get them to her mouth just yet.

she really wanted off the bench

Developmentally, she is still inchworm crawling AND has started the motions of army crawling!!! She doesn't really have all that down yet to actually move forward but it will be no time before she does. She is getting really vocal, saying "da da da da da da" and a few other sounds! I love it! She squeals when she gets excited. It's adorable!
Gracie is able to sit unsupported for long periods of time! We have to sit her up and she will sit there until she can no longer and then will fall over and get moving!


She continues to be my sunshine! We all absolutely adore her and everyone she meets comments on her HUGE smiles!! She loves people! She also loves being outside which makes me so excited for our upcoming camping trip! I know she will do fantastic!

Tea Party Time!

Gracie received a Fisher-Price tea party set as a Christmas gift. I just opened it the other day since she can sit up unsupported now and actually play with it. She absolutely loved it!













The little teapot sings and the teacups are just her size. I put her pacifier in them and make her get it out, to exercise her fine motor skills, which need work. She's not so much into the plate and "cakes" yet. But the teapot and cups keep her interest for 10 minutes, which is fantastic for her!

from 4 to 2....

...only for a day!

The older two boys, Brandon and Blaine spent the day with Ryan's mom, their Nana. For lunch, they dined on mini corndogs, or "baby corndogs" as Blaine called them and taquitos! After Blaine's nap, they swam and then baked cookies before it was time to come home. They had a super time and Nana said that Brandon thoroughly enjoyed splashing her and Blaine was a little fish. I don't have pictures from their fun day but they told me all about it!!

giggles!!

At home I got to enjoy Britton and Gracelyn. Britton is only 16 months younger then Blaine and since they are together all day, every day Britton is pretty much Blaine's shadow, doing and saying everything that Blaine does. I so enjoy and cherish times with just Britton because I get to see him, just being him! He is only 2 after all.

kisses!

Britton loves Gracelyn but when Blaine is around he doesn't love on her as much. It's like he has a reputation to uphold in front of Blaine or something. So the 2 little ones played and laughed in the floor for a very long time before we left to pick up Ryan and go to Pizza Hut for lunch.

peek-a-boo with Gracie and she isn't grasping the concept!

Britton sure missed his buddy Blaine though because as soon as he woke up for his nap he asked "where Bane?" I told him he would be home soon so he took his toys to the front door to wait for him. It was so sweet!

The Red Sox

Team picture...

Brandon is second from the left on the back row

Best buds being best buds...

that's Jackson's dad, Todd, right behind them!
You cannot help but laugh at/with them because those boys are always having fun.
They are such good boys!

12 weeks of PT...

and so much to show for it!

she sat, unsupported for nearly 20 minutes!!
what a BIG girl!

Gracelyn is still scooting (her little inchworm method) like crazy!! She can really G-O!

Mr. Derrick, her PT, made her travel the length of the mat.
It's about 8 ft...

along the way, her pretty little head got heavy
(she had just sat for almost 20 minutes)
so she had to be bribed with Mr. Derrick's badge.

she made it!!
and she made sure to let him know just how upset she was at having to work so hard!

I am so proud of her, she is such a hard worker at therapy (even if she only does it for the attention that she gets from everyone there, because she gets ALOT!)
Gracelyn smiles so much, is such a happy girl for the most and I am thankful to God beyond words, for the work He is doing in her.

She has met almost all the 6 month requirements in physical therapy so within the next 2 weeks, she will be forced to graduate. She is 8 months old on Wednesday so depending on what our doc says we may look into another therapist for her.
I still have to give her suppositories daily and I pray that the more mobile she gets, the more it will ease her bowels somehow.
Our other main issue right now is Miss G's tongue thrust, it's not getting any better, even after the couple of months that she's been on solids. She cannot eat off the spoon well so I have to thin her fruits and veggies so she can slurp them off the spoon. Blaine is attending speech therapy for stuttering and Ms. Janet, his therapist, is looking into it for us to see if she can help in any way.

in full swing...

Baseball season, that is!


Baseball started Tuesday before last, with a loss, and then our team was in a tournament that weekend, an 11 hour, machine pitch tournament. They lost the first game, won the next three and lost the fifth in extra innings! They did so well and got 4th out of 11 teams!!! And did I mention that our hometown league is coach pitch and the boys had only practiced twice with a pitching machine?!? Way to go Sox!!

I love how the little bros were sitting in their chairs,
with their backs to the field that their big bros were playing on!

Miss Emily and Miss Gracelyn being such troopers in the 100+ degree heat.
It was scorching!

They had league games Tuesday and Friday last week and won both by over 10 runs! We were in another tournament this past weekend. We lost both of our first 2 games, the second was quite a nail-biter. As our team was warming up for game 3, a local highly respected businessman (and member of our church) in our town suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. Out of respect the tournament was called, there are much more important things other than baseball. Our prayers go to the family and friends.

It is awesome to see how far our team has come since last year. They have grown into such neat boys and as a team have really have become united. That first win in the tournament was definitely needed for their confidence. Funny that last season, their first win was in a tournament as well, after 2 league game losses.

CELEBRATING!!
Brandon's in the catcher's gear

Brandon is catching and doing very well. He has become a little nervous since his finger injury but he is getting out there and more comfortable little by little. He is hitting extremely well and has some definite speed! The pitching coach has nicknamed him, "smoke," which makes me giggle! We are very proud of him!

poor Brandon...

that's all I can say.
I am really glad that I took pics of Brandon while he was making banana boats last week. He was smiling, which can't exactly be said for the other pictures of him posted lately. He just cannot catch a break.
Tonight was his first baseball game of the season. The Red Sox lost but before the game even started, while the team was warming up, a ball popped Brandon in the mouth. His lip was bloody and got him good right in the mouth. It swelled immediately. poor guy, he is just really having a rough couple of weeks. I am super proud of him though, he is one tough boy!



Brandon had a super time in Branson. He loved Silver Dollar City and loved the roller coasters, which makes Ryan and I happy because we love them too! He took almost all the pictures on his little disposable camera so I will have to locate a scanner once I get them developed. I cannot wait to see what all he took pictures of! He was ready to come home. Ryan's sister said that he told her that he missed me. That totally melted my heart!
He had his first day of cub scout day camp this morning and had a great time!

banana boats

In celebration of Brandon's last day of second grade, last Wednesday, we stopped at Sonic for slushes and then the boys made and devoured banana boats as their snack! We always have a lot of bananas at our house. Fruit is a favorite for breakfast, side dish with lunch or snack treat after naptime!

Banana boats became a tasty treat for the boys after Brandon was first introduced to them last year at cub scout day camp, which is this week!
They are super easy (which is right up my alley!)

All you do is cut a banana lengthwise, making sure not to cut all the way through. Then fill the banana with marshmallows and chocolate chips. Wrap in foil and either grill or bake until chocolate is melted. The boys love them!

Their boats this time were not as done (melted) as they usually are.

the boys were very antsy to dive in!