April Fools...

So, I know it is almost June and a little late for an April Fools joke, but that happens to be the day we found out Owen is going to be a big brother!!!!
That's right, Willard baby #2 is on its way. It was a little unexpected and definitely ironic finding out on April Fools Day, but we are very excited and couldn't be happier. The due date is December 1st, although I doubt it will actually be then considering Owen was early. Below is the first ultrasound taken when I was six weeks along. {I'm now at week 13.}

A typical week in the life of the GrisWillards...

Ok, so here is an update on what has been going on in the past few days...

• Owen and I have been spending some time on the Willard property on my days off. Owen has been having a blast playing in the garden with Mimi, while I work on my Tree of Life project that you will see next month.
• Mike's grandma Louise (Owen calls her Gigi) is in the hospital, but will hopefully be going home this weekend. Please pray for her to get better and not to be in so much pain.
• On Monday I took Owen to a sleep specialist, Judith Owens who was recently on the Today Show. If you don't know our struggle, Owen goes to sleep just fine at a normal bedtime, but then wakes up anywhere from 5-20 times a night. He also won't put himself back to sleep. It only takes a minute each time, but he comes into our room and then we walk him back to his, he climbs in bed, and goes back to sleep right away until the next time. Our goal is to get him to wake up and stay in bed. This is much easier said than done. Hopefully with some new tips from the specialist we will be able to achieve this. In the meantime we are having X-Rays done to make sure that he doesn't have sleep apnia, which I don't think he does.
• The Celtics are in the playoffs!!!! This is not new news, however, we happen to have tickets to all the home games of this round, which is huge!!!! For Mike's 30th birthday I bought him a twelve game pack, which made him a partial season ticket owner. Because of that his name was put into a lottery system to get tickets for the playoffs at face value. He got this round! On Tuesday, Mike, Kenny and I went to the game. It was amazing! The intensity of the crowd was overwhelming. We had a great time and they won!
• We all stayed overnight at the Willard's the night of the game because they were watching Owen. Mike drove into RI with his dad to go to work and Owen and I spent another wonderful day with Mimi and the dogs. However, the "wonderful" day quickly turned into a day from HELL! While driving back to RI, an hour and half drive, I was pulled over. No big deal really, except that my driver's license was in Mike's wallet and my registration was folded up in the millions of papers that RI requires you to have. After Owen won the not-so-nice-in-the-beginning cop over by telling him his name repeatedly and yelling "Hi Guy!" until the cop acknowledged him, I got a warning for speeding and a $35 fine for not having a license on me. Whew! That was close! We continued driving with another 30-45 minutes left, when a horrible smell came from the back of the car. Diesel had gone diarhea! I pulled over on the side of the highway and cleaned it the best I could with the five baby wipes I had left and then we were back on the road. I wonder, does AAA roadside assistance cover dog diarhea clean-up?
• We finally arrived at Mike's school in time to pick him up, drop the sick dog at home praying he doesn't leave us a surprise in the house, and then went straight to a fundraiser at Moses Brown School for our friend Shawn's organization Longitude. Students from both Moses Brown High School and Mike's school, Highlander, performed. They were all very impressive from the improv act to the Step and Salsa dance performances.
• So, that was the past few days. This weekend we have a wedding, I have to work a Westminister Kid's Festival, Diesel has a vet appointment for a mysterious rash in addition to the diahrea, and there is a million things to do around the house as usual. All in a typical week of the 'Gris'Willards.
• Unfortunately, I can't find my camera, so no pictures from the game, the students dancing, or anything else the past few weeks. The pictures below are older ones because I know I would get in trouble if I posted without pics.

Mike, me, and Kenny at one of the first games this season. Probably the only game we weren't decked out in Celtic's gear.

Mike, me, and Willy D at a game earlier this season against the Caveliers, who we just beat in the last round of the playoffs!

Mike introducing Owen to Celtic's head coach Doc Rivers, at Owen's first game in Chicago against the Bulls.

Happy Mother's Day

Owen is blessed with some pretty amazing women in his life, all of whom are not pictured here unfortunately. But we love you all and thank you for enriching his life on a daily basis! Here are some pics of Owen and just some of his favorite "moms".

Moving back to RI has kind of been like one big high school reunion for Mike. Most of his good friends still live in the area and he has reaquainted with close aquaintences too. It has been a lot of fun for Owen and I to meet everyone and get to know them on a different level from just our yearly visits we once had. The Powers live in New Hampshire, but came in town for the weekend to visit Brendan's parents who still live here. We don't get to see them very often and this was actually the first time the kids met. Carrie is 2 1/2 and she and Owen had so much fun together!



Brendan and Kristen holding Owen and Carrie who were kissing behind The Hungry Caterpillar! We kept giving Brendan a hard time that he needed to watch out for Owen, especially considering as soon as we went in the house Owen took Carrie's hand and said, "Let's go to Owen's room." It was very cute. You can see Brendan in this picture telling them that it was enough kissing.


Willy D and Tat came over for dinner too with her sister Penelope who was in town visiting with her daughter Lilly. Mike made his famous fish tacos with Mahi Mahi and homemade salsa. It was delicioso as Owen loves to say.

Baby Lilly and her bright blue eyes.


More kissing! This time they were saying goodbye.


Speaking of high school reunions... Mike and all his guy friends are in a softball league and this past Sunday was the first game. This is a very family oriented league and after every game there is a cookout with all the players' families. This time it was at Pat and Amy's house because Pat is the team captain. I don't have any pictures from the game because I got there late, but promise to get some of Mike in action next time. Here is Owen at the cookout helping himself to the food.