Henry turned 1!

Last Saturday, Graylon got to experience his very first 1 year old birthday party. Our great friends Jon and Ashley threw their son Henry one of the coolest parties filled with all kinds of jungle animals, balloons, great food, and fun. We not only got to visit with the Lane's but also with Granna, Pop, Aunt Caryn, Uncle J, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Rick, and cousins Averie and William. That's right...we stopped by and hung out with the newest member of the LaBarbera family...William Anthony. I did not get any pictures which I was pretty bummed about but just getting to see him and Averie was so much fun. Graylon got a first class tour from Averie of her play area. I think he was a little overwhelmed with all the toys and puzzles and stuffed animals and baby dolls.

On Sunday, Gray, Mike, and Grandma Sharon made their way to the Lady Dogs home game against Rutgers. Before the game, Teresa Edwards, a five time Olympian and former Lady Dog was honored for her induction into the Olympic Hall of Fame and also the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. We also unveiled a display case of just her things in the training facility. During this ceremony and later the reception, Graylon got to meet lots of people even Teresa herself. He loved her. The Lady Dogs beat the Scarlet Knights by 1 point and Gray's record went to 2-0.

As Monday was a furlough day for me at work, Grandma Sharon, Gray, and I spent the day shopping in Commerce. It was a enjoyable day and Gray did great. Grandma Sharon bought him his first pair of Stride Rite shoes. They are adorable on him.

I am getting ready to go with the team to Hattiesburg, MS for a Thanksgiving tournament. We leave tomorrow after a home game against Alabama State. Gray and Mike will be in Dalton tomorrow and then heading to Kentucky to visit family. I will be reunited with my two boys on Sunday when we head to Dalton for a special day. Stay tuned to see pictures and hear details from the rest of this week.

Enjoy some pictures below...


Graylon got to meet two VIP in the women's basketball program...Hunter and Melvin.


Gray and Uncle Rick hanging out at the party in their stripes.


The birthday boy, Henry, and his Mama posing for a pic.


Gray chillin out at about 6 ft. 7 in. right before he had cake and ice cream.


So we are trying to get Gray interested in drinking out of a sippy cup. He is getting better.


It was cold on Monday for our shopping spree. We had to bundle Gray up.


This is one of several Christmas sleepers that Gray has. Too cute!


Gray can't get enough of this play wall.


"Hello?"


Daddy and Gray have sooo much fun together.

Not Only Does He Crawl, But He Tailgates Too

So Gray has still been busy crawling. He's covering more ground. He's moving faster. And he's pulling up constantly. His diet has added more baby food and eliminated one bottle per day. I can't believe that my son is already nearing his 8 month birthday! I love watching him grow.

Graylon begged and pleaded all week to let us take him to the Georgia/Auburn game this past Saturday. We compromised and told him he could come to the tailgate as long as he was on his best behavior. Well he was. He posed for pictures, ate a hot dog, and threw football. We have proof of the picture posing, but he did all the rest off camera. We had a wonderful time. The Dawgs won too. Gray was pumped!

Not pictured in this post, but also a monumental event...Gray attended his very first UGA Lady Dogs basketball game. He sat in my lap the entire game while Mommy sat on the bench. He would sit still until the crowd would get excited for a big play. Georgia won, so there were plenty of great plays. He was such a good boy, and I thought he seemed very comfortable inside a basketball gym and watching the sport of basketball for the first time. That's a very good sign don't ya think? Anyways, enjoy the pictures of the weekend below. For your viewing pleasure, there is also a video at the end of Graylon pulling up and doing a little crawling. Enjoy!


When I said he pulls up on everything, I mean it.


He had JUST finished his hot dog.


Gray learned every player's jersey number from Pop and the program.


Gray seemed very comfortable sitting with Kelly.


Graylon zonked right out when Aunt Caryn got a hold of him.


I think Jon's glasses look better on Gray than they do on Jon.


Chip and Elizabeth got their Gray time in too. He had just finished throwing football.


There's nothing like play time on Sunday.

Gray Can Crawl!

I wonder how many blog followers we lost during this drought between posts? Our schedules haven't really allowed us to blog lately. There are gobs and gobs of pictures to put up, but for the time being, I'm just gonna put up some cute ones with a video. Heather will chronologically put the rest up later.

The video below is a very special one. It is the first footage caught of Mr. Graylon crawling. This video was shot a few days ago while I was still in Dalton. He is much faster now. Hopefully I'll capture a little more video soon. I'm gonna have to be quick with the camera cause the little guy can scoot now.




He's also battling a little cold too, so keep him in your prayers. He's still as smiley and happy-go-lucky as he always is. Mommy and I just cringe though, every time he coughs.

This past Wednesday, Gray got his pictures made at Olan Mills. He posed with overalls, and a football uniform, and in a diaper. We picked several good ones. We can't wait to show them to all of you. We'll get them in 2 weeks.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures below. They're all long overdue. We apologize for the delay. We're all doing the best we can. Thanks for your patience. I hope all followers of this blog are still loyal and true. We'll pick up the pace as soon as we can.



Headed to see the Dawgs play at Averie and William's house


You can tell by the smile that UGA/UT game hadn't kicked off yet.


Pop feeding Gray some sweet potatoes.


Gray and Henry were finishing their secret hand shake with a chest bump.


Yep. He can hold his own bottle...most of the time.

Another Great Weekend

Last weekend, we traveled to White, GA to visit Granna and Pop, to watch the Georgia Bulldogs, and also to celebrate Uncle J's birthday. We got there on Friday night and we stayed in the "family" suite for the weekend. In Granna and Pop's new house, they have an upstairs bedroom and bathroom over the garage. They also have a crib in there so it was perfect for us.

Saturday was packed full of fun. Besides the entire LaBarbera crew, the Lane's and Payne's joined us too. While the girls were in charge of the dips and sides, Jon with the help of some of the guys, made wings...buffalo, Asian, and fire-que. It was all excellent! The Bulldogs won and we got some much needed fellowship with family and friends. Averie, Henry and Gray all had a blast playing in their homemade play area in the living room. See some pictures from the weekend below. Gray got love from EVERYONE!


Mr. Henry Patrick Lane showing Gray just how easy it is to stand up and play at the coffee table.


They share eye lashes and they shared an embrace on Saturday...Aunt Caryn and Baby Gray.


Granna holds her only grandson...only grandson for now.


Can you guess what Gray and Daddy's favorite team is?


Uncle Rick sitting with a little girl and a little boy. Get used to this combination.


Averie seemed to step in an Uncle Mike trap.


Pop seems to have his hands full. I don't think he minds.


Go Cubs Go. Well, maybe next year.


If it's a staring contest, Graylon wins. If it's a smiling contest, Ashley wins.


Aunt Kelly and Baby Gray discussing what they think William will be like. Both of them can hardly wait.

We have a few things that we are looking forward to coming up very soon. This Saturday, our cousin Jonathan and his beautiful fiance Becca are getting married. Uncle Brandon, Auntie Heather Lynn, and cousin Jocey Lynn are coming to Athens to visit us next week. And last but certainly not least (and may not even be last), Uncle Rick, Aunt Kelly, and cousin Averie are expecting a little boy/brother any day now. We can't wait to meet William Anthony!

Gray's First Tailgate

Gray experienced a first last weekend...his first tailgate. We had told him how exciting it was going to be, but I really don't think he had any clue until he was actually in the midst of Dawg fans, loud music, and the smell of Jon Lane's pork tenderloin on the grill. The Bulldogs beat the Gamecocks and Graylon couldn't have been any happier.

We also had lots of visitors at the house. Friday night, Aunt Caryn, Uncle J, Uncle Rick, Aunt Kelly, and Cousin Averie all came to get ready for the big weekend. The next day everyone else including Granna, Pop, Jon, Ashley, and Henry arrived. We had more people in our house staying the two nights than ever before. I'd like to say that it is a record for the LaBarbera household. We had a great time. Check out some pictures below.

The LaBarbera's

The Lane's

Granna and Pop with their grandbabies Averie and Gray

Daddy giving Gray the pregame talk

Henry just told Caryn that the Dawgs are totally gonna win. He's not even worried.

Three Daddies getting some tailgate love from their babies

The Three Amigos

UGA Picture Day

Saturday morning at around 4 am, and without having gone to sleep, Uncle Rick, Henry's dad Jon, and I set up three tailgating chairs outside Sanford Stadium and waited. We were waiting for 9 am. At 9 o' clock, the UGA promotions department would begin to give out tickets to reserve a spot next to Uga VII at picture day. This year will be only this Uga's second football season, and he was so new last year, that he didn't attend Picture Day. So we expected a crowd. 150 tickets were going to be given out, and when we got there I counted our spot in line. I calculated around 50th, so we felt satisfied and tried to make the best of the wait. I woke up two hours later. The sun was up, and there were approximately 100 more people behind me in line down East Campus Road. The time finally to stake our claim to a spot finally arrived, and we inched our way toward the booth. In the other direction was Coach Richt's line. Uga and Coach Richt are, by far, the most popular picture takers on this day. They are the only two with the need for prearranged tickets to get pictures. So we finally got our Uga ticket and thought we would just go get in the fast moving Coach Richt line, and try our luck. 250 Coach Richt tickets were given, and after Rick, Jon, and I GOT OUR TICKETS, the guy right behind us got the last one! We were lucky and exhausted. We headed home to tell everyone the good news, and we were to come back to the stadium with wives and children to take some pictures.

We got to the stadium around 1 pm, and did our best to track down Mr. Uga. The promotions staff did an excellent job of herding us all through as quickly as humanly possible. Everyone we encountered working this event were friendly and made the experience great. We finally got to see Uga VII, and he seemed pretty worn out and sleepy. All the kids did great with him. We then headed to see Coach Richt. Once again, we waited in a line. The Coach Richt meeting included one autograph, so his line moved a tad bit slower. Even waiting in line, we were all entertained. While waiting, the football players came through, and we got to see a glimpse of some of our favorites. We met with Coach Richt, and he was a pleasure. Heather mentioned that Gray's Uncle Brandon was in the Army, and Coach Richt wanted to send him a personalized message. He said Sgt. Byers, but the camera only caught the "Byers" part. So Uncle Brandon, here you go:



The day was long, but well worth it. Jon, Rick, and I can claim all the Daddy brownie points, but it was gratifying to us as well. We had a great time. Jon was the driving force behind the entire event, so I'd like give him a special "thank you." Here are a few pictures. There will be more to come. Getting Brandon's message didn't allow us to take a picture of the family with him with our camera. Aunt Kelly and Ashley were taking pictures though and the professional one was snapped, so we'll have it eventually. Enjoy the pictures we have, and an edited video of the day. I'm going back to sleep.


"Oh boy! I can't wait to see Uga!"


The Lane's were anxiously awaiting their first peak at the baddest bulldog in all the land.


The LaBarbera family epitomizes everything Georgia. They sure look good in red and black.


Heather and I had the privileged of posing with UGA's quarterback for the 2027-28 season.


Just moments before we got to see Coach Richt and Gray faints from excitement. Jk...he was sawing logs.




GOOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM!