The Grandparents' First Year Memories

Hello fellow Carter fans, 

I am Grandma Cox, Ty’s mother, and I am so excited about writing a special guest post! 

Reading the ‘Life of a Running Momma’ blog, which is filled with fun stories, updates, pictures and videos of Carter, is the highlight of my day.  Every evening, all night long Grandpa Cox and I are constantly checking the blog for the latest happenings of Carter. 

I am going to have a hard time picking one fond memory of Carter to write about. Should I write about the tiny little newborn that fit so easily into my arms and whose sweet, warm breath on my cheeks I will remember forever?  Or the little baby who would study the book pages ever so intently as you read to him? How about every time I see him sucking his thumb and how my heart melts because it reminds me so much of my own little boy, Ty?  How can I not write about ‘jammy’ time? How I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and started listening for him only to have him sleep in until 8:30 a.m.! Oh, but when we do get ‘jammy’ time . . . . Carter, Grandpa and Grandma, curled up in bed, surrounded by toys and books, playing and enjoying Carter's many sweet smiles and infectious laugh. 

Enjoying jammy time with Grandma Cox and Great Aunt Netta.

I must say though, my favorite memories of Carter would be bath time.  It doesn’t matter if I am there, assisting his momma, or watching on Face Time I get a bang out of watching him enjoy the water.  He never was scared or disliked the water.  I think he was 2 ½ months when we laid him down in the tub for the first time.  He did a lot of kicking and splashing and never minded when he got his face wet.  It is exciting seeing him grow and get more mobile too, to watch him kick and splash and then suddenly turn over onto his stomach and splash some more. Then next time he was all over the place, back, front, sitting up, and swishing from one end to the other.  He was a hoot!  He had Grandma giggling the rest of the night every time I would relive it in my mind. 

After a bath with Grandma Cox.

Happy 1st Birthday Carter Ty.  You are the cutest, sweetest, happiest, most kissable little grandson a Grandmother could wish for and I love you very, very much.

Grandpa Cox:

Happy Birthday Carter! A year already! 

I want to thank your mom & dad for this blog and the face time events that allow your family and friends the opportunity to see you growing through each stage you meet. I know it is a lot of work on their part sometimes with all that happens with raising you and working, but we greatly appreciate it. 

It’s hard to pick out only one of my favorite memories of you so far, your smile and laugh is so infectious all that are around tend to perk up a notch. 

Grandpa holding you the night you were born.

I would have to say that first time we met, as I held your little bundled body in my arms, you made eye contact with me, it made me smile.  As I followed along with you on the blog pictures and face time you would smile or laugh and it would make me smile. When we would make a visit and get to play with you with some of your toys or just your reflection in a mirror, it would make me smile.  And just a few weeks ago we had a large family gathering, and even from across a large room you would make eye contact with me and you smiled back at me. I knew I was smiling back but until I seen a picture your mom took of us together I didn’t know how big of a smile I had on my face… it is almost as big as the one in my heart! 

Happy 1st Birthday, love Grandpa Cox

Grammy Hurford:

My favorite memories of you, Carter, are hard to single out, because they are anytime I’m with you, see pictures, video or hear stories of you.  It was amazing when you were born, seeing your first bath and realizing I was finally a grandmother and my baby girl was a mother.   

 

Holding you just hours after you were born!

I love holding you, because you’re so cuddly.  But I also love other people to hold you or have you running around, so I can see you.  I like watching each new thing you try and then conquer.  It seems so much easier to see and enjoy than when your mom and uncles were doing them.  Maybe because with them there were other children and other things to do besides just being a grandmother, so I couldn’t focus on them like I do you.   

I love to play peek a boo with you, I love that you learned the “one, two, three and I pull your thumb out of your mouth” game and it makes a popping sound.  But, since you know the game so well a lot of times you start smiling and pull your thumb out on your own on three so we don’t get the pop.  I walked with you at the Dylan Meier 5k and you slept the whole time, but it was still nice to take you.  Then we ran the Clash of the Clans one mile fun run together, and you kicked and yelled the whole time.   That was so much fun I ran too fast, and then had to go slow, but you’re such a happy guy, you didn’t care what speed we went. 

Ready to run with Grammy.

I love that you love animals.  Just seeing one of the dogs makes you smile and if they do anything at all you laugh.  Because you love them so much, they love you back and pretty much let you do anything to them.   

I enjoy how easy it is to take your mind off any problem, or how easy it is to cheer you up.  It’s neat to see your mom interact with you, and it’s great to see your uncles with you too.  And I love that your grandfather is now a grampy.  So, I can’t really think of a special time, but I enjoy them all and am looking forward to each new thing you’ll do.   

Hanging out with Grammy and the dogs.

Grampy Hurford:

To be honest, there are many wonderful memories we have of you already and you have only been here two days less than a year! One of the most important and great memories was getting to meet you for the first time. That day was on your actual birth day. All of the grandparents got to watch you as you were given your first bath. Your dad got to do that. You were not very dirty, but it is customary to get you ready for your new clothes by giving you a bath! 

Grampy holding you on your actual birth day.

Fortunately for us, your mom and dad send us photos and videos of you nearly every day so that we can see how you are growing and the new behaviors that you can do. Some of our favorite memories are likely to be remembered from those photos and videos that were texted to us. We also get to see you with Face Time, which is really nice. That way you can see and hear us in the same way that we are seeing and hearing you. 

Here are some of my favorite memories: 

1. Anytime that you laugh! Hearing an infant laugh is one of our favorite sounds. 

2. You did not really like to crawl for quite some time, but you would get to where you wanted to go by rolling. Uncle Thomas thought that if we were able to constrain your ability to roll that you would try to actually crawl. You didn’t! Instead, you tried to roll and when you discovered that you could not, you started playing with whatever was by you. You have always been really good at comforting yourself and finding something interesting to do. You are fortunate to have those skills. 

3. The first time that I ran with you in the running stroller was in the St. Patty’s Revenge 5K and I did not know that the front wheel was locked. This meant that it was very hard to turn and there were four turns. I was afraid that I was going to tip the stroller over. I guess this part of it was not a great memory, but it was memorable. Also, we had to run over a train track and when we did the stroller made some loud noises and your mother who was just a little ahead of us turn around quickly to look at us to make sure that you were OK. 

   

   Grampy trying not to tip the stroller at the St. Patty's Day 5K.

4. Watching you make “decorations” for special days and holidays. 

5. When you actually waved “good bye” to your Uncle Jeremy when he was leaving for work. 

6. You were sitting on the floor and I was sitting in a chair directly behind you. You saw my thumbs and reached up, grabbed them, pulled yourself up to a stand and then started running with your holding my thumbs for better balance. I figured that you will probably be a runner like your mom and dad and some of the rest of your family. 

   

   Walking with Grampy.

I would also have to add then we really look forward to getting those photos and videos of you texted to us each day and that is a great memory to have too. Everyone takes a lot of photos of you, especially your mom and grammy, so we have a lot of fun memories to see in photos. 

Tearing down towers at 363 Days Old.  Only 2 days until your birthday!