Happy Ten Month Birthday, Little Graham!

Ok... Ok... so yes, he is now 10 months 3 weeks, so this post is way overdue but we have a good reason.. HE IS WALKING EVERYWHERE!!! (So any free moments we have are spent reserving every bit of energy we have.)

His first trip to the ZOO & on a Train!

But, I was good at keeping a running list of g's changes during his 9th month of life! Here they are:

1. Graham has moved on from the "lobster claw" of refined hand-eye coordination to, what I like to affectionately call, "shovel-method". He just uses the majority of his hand and will shovel in everything and anything he can get his hands on (even if it's not food). 
2. He puts two words together to follow instructions... i.e. Brush Cooper (the dog), Brush Hair, Brush Teeth (so... mainly just brush instructions).
3. Graham really gets words meanings now... it's amazing the non-verbal vocabulary he has!
4. When g is really, really excited he flails his arms up and down... much crazier than ever before. Once again, I love that this is his way of expressing his over-excitement and happiness. 
5. Graham actually communicates via pointing with his index finger at everything! If he wants something, he points... if he's showing us something, he points, if he wants to go somewhere... he points! It's great.
6. What a social butterfly we have on our hands... I actually wish he was a little less social. He'll go up to everyone and give them a kiss. This is actually really fun to watch how awkward this makes most adults. So yes... Graham is giving the best open mouth kisses, upon request, that any baby has ever given!!
7. We took a little hiatus from waving... he used to do the "queens wave" which I read was much more complex and required higher hand-eye coordination than just a regular wave... but then one day he just stopped waving! This month he picked it up again but it's the usual baby wave and not the queens wave any more. The unique thing is that he has a separate wave for Hello (up and down) and another one for Bye-Bye (side-to-side). 
8. He is pretty much eating what we eat, with a few exclusions. His favorite foods are: Peas, Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and Bananas. But he has been exploring interesting flavors such as Kiwi, Mango, Pear, Peaches, Grapes, Green Beans, Squash, Zucchini, Broccoli. 
9. His favorite game is Peek-a-boo. He is really good at it too... he uses both hands to hold up the blanket (he's been doing this game for a while but he really enjoys it right now). 
10. He's learned to kick in the bath tub and stomp... clearly a difference! haha...
11. Little Graham has the best facial expressions and it's actually where some people see that he looks a little like me. We spend so much time together, he has the same eye brow raise and he can even move his ears like me! 
12. He mimics our movements such as head-shake and voice changes too! 
13. Wow -- our little guy also likes to throw fits... so I just let him... he can throw a fit on the floor and get over it and then rejoin me in the other room!
14. And finally... our sweet little guy started biting us (mainly me) on the shoulder! (He's actually stopped since this post but more about this in the next blog post). 

His schedule has said the same since last month...

 At Graham's Promotion to Senior Corporal!

Look forward to writing his 11 month blog in a few weeks (I can't believe it).

Dad's Randomness

So this post is ridiculously over due and I am sorry for the delay! Normally I try to be funny during these posts but this one is gonna be borderline serious.
Being a parent is exhilarating but exhausting! I remember people constantly telling me before Graham was born that as soon as I saw him, a switch would click inside of me and I would never be the same. Little did I know how powerful and life changing the little guy would be. I just put him to bed for the night and I already miss him! He slipped in the bath(because for some reason he HAS to stand up in the tub) and he busted his lip and I wanted nothing more than to take that pain from him. I feel truly blessed to have him, Sara, and our families in my life. He is growing up around such wonderful people and I just wanted y'all to know I appreciate you all.

Sara is such a wonderful mother. She has a way with Graham and you can see that he just melts in her arms. She is so patient and loving. She even shares with him(which is a major feat). He is so lucky to her as a mom. I still feel so lucky that she chose me to be her husband and the father of her child. Thank you Sara for being so wonderful to both of your boys. We both love you so
much.

Family...no words can describe how much we appreciate y'all. I am actually overloaded right now with everything I want to say...so its gonna come out all lumped together. Thank y'all for being excellent role models, amazing grandparents, our best friends, and most of all great examples for Graham. I could type a novel about how much Sara,Graham, and I love each one of you. I am so excited for the years to come and how much he will learn from each of you.

So I guess it finally happened. Sara and I finally grew up(well...I kinda did!). No more hangovers that last all day. No more staying out till 4 am, stopping at waffle house on our way home, and hanging w/ some cross dressers. No more Jagermeister and red bull shots or Irish car bombs. No more puking out the car window because of all the bumps on the way home(Sara!!). No more naked Stan phenomenon (don't ask) or late night secret missions with Shannon in the new neighborhood. No more convincing Steven to noodle in the stump below my parents dock... And you know what...I am 154% fine with that. I had a blast and I survived with the help of all of y'all. I love the direction of our lives and just being with my little family.
Love
G

Happy Nine Month Birthday, Little Graham!

Wow... we've gotten really bad about writing ON the day-of his birthday. This month was stalled because we had his wellness check-up the week after and I like including his weight/height change... but I've made a list throughout this month so we don't forget anything (last month's post was horrible because we didn't keep track of his progress). Without further adieu...

1. He weighs 21lbs (50th percentile) and is 29 inches long (75th percentile). He is now long and lean, just like his Grandpa and Uncle Matt!
2. He can clap without us showing him how -- we can just say "clap Graham"!
3. He will also clap if you sing "If you're happy and you know it..." {Thanks Grammy}
4. Dance - he will start shaking it if we sing "Bad To The Bone" {Thanks Nana}
5. Graham can now say, "Mama", "BaBa" (although we don't use this term), and "Do-Do" (Dog)
6. Biting - he loves to bite everything... people and his crib are his favorites (he's made a little bite ring around his beautiful crib with teeth marks)
7. One of his favorite pastimes is reading and he loves to turn the pages! He is so serious while reading and his favorites are the touch-and-feel books {Thanks Aunt Cheri}
8. He can pull himself up without touching anything! This is amazing to watch and such a huge accomplishment.
9. Graham can pick things up with his index finger and thumb... food, small particles... whatever it is it always ends up in his mouth.
10. He can climb over and on to anything... it's amazing how clingy his little hands and feet are. He loves to climb over blankets, into baskets/boxes and on to the fireplace (where he likes to play with the chainmail).
11. We are truly amazed at how many words g knows. We've counted over 20 words... this is a fun game at night to "find" all of the objects we ask him about (some of his favorites are fan, outside, bath, hungry, cup... etc). 
12. One of our favorite games to play together is we'll grab an old blanket my mom gave us and toss it over our heads to make a tent (while holding our hands up to form "walls"). He loves this SO much that when we get hot and take the blanket off, little g get's upset! 
13. He loves crawling in to the other room and sitting there until we say "Where's Graham?" Then he peeks his little head around the corner with a huge smile!
14. Graham loves to look at pictures... in the scrapbook I'm making or in frames. His favorite is the sonogram picture we have on the fireplace that says "Love At First Sight". 
15. We bought his Halloween Costume last month - we're going as the three bears! He loved it so much that it's the first item he wouldn't give to the sales associate to scan. He can also open his closet and pull it down from the hanger. It's become a permanent fixture in his room (it's going to look so tattered by Halloween).
16. He switched his favorite toy from his puppy to his white bear (we call "Dottie" because it's made with the white fabric that's super soft and has dots all over it). 
17. BIG NEWS: He's now no longer in his baby Britax seat... he's graduated to a bigger carseat that he'll grow with!
18. Oh... and little g's bump on his forehead has disappeared! Apparently it was actually a water cyst and we could have been massaging it this whole time to get it to go away. Who knew (the doctors that told us from birth and we didn't believe them)?! 
19. And... our FAVORITE accomplishment this month (although they're all pretty great, huh?!)... he can KISS us now... and we melt every time. 

Little g's schedule is about the same as it was last month:
3:00am - Nurse
7:30am - Wakeup, Nurse, Play, Breakfast, Play
10:00am - Nurse, Nap
12:00pm - Wakeup, Nurse, Play, Lunch, Play (Errands run, if any)
3:00pm - Nurse, Nap
5:00pm - Wakeup, Nurse, Play, Dinner, Play
8:00pm - Rice Cereal, Bath, Dry-off time with Big G, Goodnight to everything
8:30pm - Nurse, Goodnight

Wow... I can't believe we'll have a one year old soon... time does go by pretty quickly, luckily we're enjoying every second of being g's parents!

Big G's edition numero uno

My first bout with Aunt Sybil!!!

So it has been quite some time since I have written a blog but the little g (a.k.a wild man/crazy boy). He has been keeping me super busy and worn out at times!!! I can not believe it has been 8 months (8 3/4's months really) already.... since we missed out on last month here are new things he can do for the month of seven. I always heard that time will fly by but never believed it until now. We were pregnant, I blinked and slept once and he is now a big boy. Here are some of his accomplishments so far

1) "da da"...absolutely melts my heart. He'll just be laying in his crib or playing with a random toy saying da da over and over and over...I love it. The hardest thing though is when we lay him down for a nap and he cries and says it...so hard not to go grab him!


2) Climbing the stairs...I guess the 1st place he started doing this was at Uncle Matt's and Aunt Cheri's house. He is really great at it but we have to crawl up behind him because he tries to sit down sometimes and doesn't realize how far he will actually fall down them. We have a gate at the top and the bottom of our stairs to keep him from going up them too far without our help but of course he likes to grab a hold of the gate...stand up..shake the gate..and SCREAM!!!

{{{BLOG CHANGE TO MOMMY}}....

3) Speaking of screaming... our little guy likes to be heard. He is the most talkative and yelling baby I've ever met (I love it when people call him "vivacious"). He is absolutely the loudest in our playgroup!

4) He helps us with the bath. He will crawl in there and grab on and stand up while we are starting the bath process. Once again, he we yell as to say "hurry, hurry, start the water" or "can you make it go faster". He loves bathtime.


5) We bought him a cheap, plastic swimming pool for under our pergola... he loves the water. {AND it wears him out}.

6) He has a passion for learning about how things work and cause and effect... it's SO neat. He almost wants to take things a part to see how they work. I'm like most mothers and think he's a genius.

7) He prefers to play with older kids than babies his own age.

8) Little g is such a happy baby. I think this is because we don't pressure him to "learn" right now, we're simply enjoying him being a baby; we never have the t.v. on; we're always crawling around and playing with him. We build forts and tunnels and he loves it. Sometimes he enjoys quiet time and we let him play by himself but overall we know how precious this time is. We're always on the ground with him... we love having an excuse to be little again. Plus, it gives us time to talk and play together too! He loves it when we say "I'm gonna get you...." and then chase after him... then he'll do it right back. He's learning from playing with us and he has the rest of his life to learn something. I think this should be 101 Parenting... PLAY WITH YOUR CHILDREN AND TURN OFF THE TV.

We don't know his weight as this is the only month our little guy get's "off the hook" for our alternative-vaccines. We'll post soon though. He's getting longer and skinner as the days go by... less like an oompa loompa.

His schedule is now, and has been:

4:00am - Nurse then back to sleep.
7:30am - Wakeup, Nurse, Play in Bed
8:00am - Make Breakfast while he plays in the living room - then eat outside on our NEW pergola
8:45am - Play in living room or upstairs play room
9:45am - Nap Routine: Change diaper, close window, nurse
10:00am - Nap
12:00pm - Nurse, then he'll play as I get lunch ready
12:30pm - Lunch
1:00pm - Play around the house until afternoon nap
3:00pm - Nurse then Nap
5:00pm - Wake up and play with Daddy (he get's home about 3:30pm)
6:30pm - Dinner then play
8:00pm - Bedtime Routine: Rice cereal, help with bath, play in guest room as we get dried off {a.k.a "dangerous-no-diaper-time"}, say goodnight around the house to random objects and things, diaper, kisses, nurse, bed.
8:30pm - Asleep

So, now you only have to wait a week or so for how much he's changed this past month and his weight and height... we can't wait!

Happy Seven Month Birthday, Little Graham!

I know I say this every single month... but c'mon, SEVEN months already?! Doesn't it seem like just yesterday you were reading our birth story or even following along with out pregnancy?

He has been doing so great this month. Here is the newest exciting things little g can accomplish:

1. He is CRAWLING everywhere!!! He will even follow us from room to room -- this is the most excitement we've had in a while. We are so proud little g.
2. He can now pull himself up. I had no idea this happened right after crawling, otherwise we would have stalled the crawling. It's scary sometimes but he's tough and doesn't even cry when he falls.
3. Because he can pull himself up… we had to move his crib down to the lowest level (sound of my heart breaking). I can’t believe he is growing up so quick.
4. Sitting up from crawling or tummy time is NO problem now.
5. He had his first bath alone and in a big bath tub… this was at the beginning of this month and he has been doing great all month long.
    
   His first bath!!! 
   
   
   
    
   "Happy As A Clam" - as my Dad "Grandpa" says.
   
   
6. He can squeal louder than ever and does this to get people’s attention
7. Once he has someone’s attention he can now WAVE! It’s a one hand up in the air type of way (more like he’s saying “HOW” like an Indian).
8. He is feeding himself now… he loves the fruit stars and the veggie sticks. We also love to give him long pieces of celery and he chomps forever.
9. His two front teeth are now actually visible when he smiles.
10. We went on his first big trip to California (more on that later). He rode on a airplane for the first time.
    
     
    Helping us pack for our trip...
    
    
11. He is effectively switching things from hand to hand and is a pro about picking things up with one hand.
12. Graham is learning to combine toys to make louder noises. He loves to bang his remote on other toys… he will bang on the piano, then on the pin ball machine, then crawl to the ball and bang it on that… this is so FUN! Sometimes he bangs himself in the head (only about 50% of the time does he cry though!).
13. Graham knows his name now and will answer to it!!  This is especially helpful with crawling while he's getting in to something. 
14. We are just amazed at how he can already communicate with us. He can lean when he wants us to go some where and hold out his hand if he wants to touch something. He body language is coming in loud and clear as well... we love that he's starting to 'talk' to us.
15. And finally, he weighs 20 pounds and is 29 inches long. He's absolutely the size of a one-year-old!

His schedule is a little messed up from California but from what I can remember before we went it was a little something like this:

5:00 or 6:00am - Eat and then back to sleep
7:30 or 8:00am - Wake up, Eat, Play in our big bed
8:30am - Eat in high chair while Mommy eats breakfast
9:00am - Playtime
9:30am - Morning Nap
10:30am - Eat and Play
12:00pm - Eat in high chair while Mommy eats lunch
12:30pm - Early-Afternoon Nap
1:30pm - Eat and Play
4:00pm - Late-Afternoon Nap
5:00pm - Eat and Play
8:00pm - Bedtime Ritual

**Little g still likes taking 3 naps... it has been helpful to keep him awake for a long period in the evening before bed... this helps all of us get some rest!

What does the seventh month have in store for us?!

Dogs "helping" with first bath...

A First: Teeth!

While on the below mentioned vacation... we noticed little g was cutting a tooth! We actually noticed on Wednesday, June 9th while we were at the Mid-America Science Museum. He was playing with some leaves outside and while we were shopping in the gift shop waiting for the rest of our party, big G noticed little g was chewing on something. We thought it was a leaf but upon further research... we noticed he had a big white area on his lower gum. The rest of the days he was a little fussier than usual and the next day, Thursday, it broke through.

The whole time I thought that it felt a little long to be just one tooth and I was right... he was actually cutting TWO front teeth at the same time... what a challenge.

So, fast forward to today and he's doing great. I think they have completely broken through and now they are just pushing the rest of the way up. It's so cute to see little buds of teeth when he smiles.

Stay tuned for our trip to CALIFORNIA in 10 days... little g's first flight and his first time seeing fireworks... we are so excited!

A First: Vacation!

Little Graham had so much fun on his very first vacation! We took a drive up to our summer timeshare in Hot Springs with all of G's family.

We left on Monday, June 7th at 4:15am. Since we are new parents we tried to think of ways that would maximize our time in the car while g slept. He always wakes up to eat at this time anyways, so we loaded up the car and then he woke up right on schedule to eat. Instead of laying him back down in his crib we put him in his carseat and drove off in to the sunrise!

He woke up about 7am, as normal, and wanted to get out and play. We stopped for a little while at a rest stop and let him stretch and move around. We loaded back in the car 30 minutes later and g took another nap until we found a Cracker Barrel in Texarkana. Little g enjoyed a little of our buttered biscuit and blueberry pancakes! 



After having an awesome breakfast we hit the road again and made it to Hot Springs by noon. We were exhausted but so happy to be on vacation. Little g did great on the way there...

The rest of the week was full of lots of sun... little g doesn't like his life jacket. We took him out on the tube for the first time and I was a little apprehensive about it. Graham told me that it would be ok and we wouldn't fall off because Pop's would go so slow. We fell off... UGH... little g was a trooper though and was only shocked at the instant water but was fine!


 First time on the boat!






We also spent some time in the pool and took a break from the sun by touring downtown Hot Springs, visiting an aquarium, and taking a short trip to the Mid-America Science Museum. The aquarium was a waste... we would have been the same off if we would have went to a pet store and looked at the fish. But, they did have an awesome large, friendly turtle and little g loved looking at the bubbles in the fish tanks. They also had a 'Dori' fish that was shy and a baby alligator! The Science Museum was SO fun... little g loved to touch and explore everything. He really loved the hot air balloon since that's what his mobile is at home! We had a great time and will do the science museum every year.

We decided to stay an extra day and we left on Friday night after bath time. Instead of laying him down for the night we packed everything up and he fell asleep in his car seat about 8:30pm. We arrived home about 2am (he slept the entire way) and tried to quietly transfer little g from his car seat to nursing to crib but he was AMAZED that our house was still here... I guess he thought that it had disappeared or something. He was so excited to be home and wanted to touch and explore everything. Luckily this only lasted for about 30 minutes and we were all able to get some needed rest.

We had such a great trip and we already are looking forward to how different things will be next year.