Pictures From Trip

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Searcy this past weekend. Enjoy!

Road trip to Arkansas

This weekend we drove to Searcy for Harding's spring sing. It was so funny to see all of the students walking around in their sweatshirts and tennis shoes, going to chapel or to the student center, talking and carrying their books. They all look just the same as they did 10 years ago when I first came to Harding. Except this time, I didn't recognize any of the faces. I feel old! But life has only gotten better since then...even as it has gotten more complicated. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of college life. I loved walking around on Harding's campus (we had several walks over the weekend), I've never seen its equal. I was pleasantly surprised by how many old friends I ran into! It was really a blessing to spend the weekend at my grandparents' house, I love them so much. The spring sing show was better than ever, but that may just be because we had fabulous seats (4th row!).

G was such a good boy all weekend! Especially since he has only very recently been weaned, and I just decided a week ago to take all of his pacis away too. We've only had a little bit of paci withdrawal. We took him with us to spring sing. Anyone who knows Graham knows how sensitive he is to loud noises, so we were fully prepared for full-on crying when the show began. To our surprise, he laid back watched. It was awesome! What a blessing to live close enough to be able to drive there for the weekend. I really hope to be able to come back every year. Pictures to follow soon.

Birthday weekend

I have had so much fun this weekend! On Friday (Graham's birthday) Chad's mom Paula arrived and the birthday festivities began. We met my mom at the Cheesecake Factory in Arlington for dinner, which was delicious. For dessert, we ordered Graham his own child sized ice cream sundae to enjoy (mostly he just played with it). It was just so much fun to watch him.

Saturday morning at 11:00 we had his birthday party at our house. We were so blessed to have so many friends and family members here to celebrate with us! We ate pizza and watched Graham and the other babies play. Then we took a little quiz that I made called "All About Graham" just for fun. My good friend Emily (who is due to deliver her own baby on Friday - yay!) got 8 out of 10 right and won! Then we sang happy birthday to Graham and cut the cake. Speaking of the cake, I made and decorated it myself!

That is an owl on the cake. The birthday theme was "look hoo's turning one." We moved Graham's high chair into the living room so that everyone could watch when we let him dive into his own piece of cake. Boy, did he love that!

On Saturday night we all went to the Fort Worth Arts Festival in downtown FW. We ate dinner at Riscky's barbecue. It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Graham was exhausted! Here are a few more shots from the party. Enjoy! I will upload some videos soon. =)

Happy Birthday to Graham!

Wow! One year ago today, I looked like this:

Little did I know I was carrying an almost 10 lb. baby! I can't believe that Graham's birthday is tomorrow! I have never been so happy as I was to first meet this little guy:

Unfortunately, I had a very serious complication after he was born. I had a uterine inversion when my placenta was delivered. Having used no pain meds during labor and delivery, I was in extreme pain when this happened and rapidly began losing blood. The doctors had to take me to the OR and put me to sleep in order to put my uterus back in place, which took 2 hours. I was very lucky, half of the women to who have this very rare complication end up having to have an emergency hysterectomy. Some don't make it. I lost a lot of blood, but was OK. I had to have 5 blood transfusions. When I finally got to cuddle with Graham, I was pretty out of it and not looking too hot!

Proud daddy!

Hopefully the next time we have a baby, it won't be so traumatizing! Here are some special pictures and memories from the past year:

We love this little boy! It has been an amazing year, the best of my life! We are looking forward to many, many more wonderful years and birthdays ahead!

Lately...

Chad and I recently discovered a really great park that is very close to our house. We have had a lot of fun checking it out...and we discovered how much Graham hates the feeling of grass (like most babies):

This past Friday night we had some gift certificates to Embassy Suites in Dallas and to Medieval Times, so we decided to use them and leave Graham overnight with my parents. It was the first time he has had an overnight babysitter, and it went great! Chad and I had a wonderful time in Dallas just the two of us, and I actually got to sleep-in Saturday morning. That means that for the first time in a year I didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to breastfeed. Awesome! Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to do it, but everyone needs a break. Graham did great at my mom and dad's - he slept all night no problem.

On Saturday I went with my mom to the Angelika Theater in Dallas (very cool place on Mockingbird) to see the new film adaptation of my favorite book Jane Eyre.

I just don't have enough good things to say about this movie. I enjoyed every moment. If you like Jane Eyre, you would definitely enjoy the movie!

Speaking of things that I recommend....I recently finished reading a wonderful book that was recommended to me by my mom: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

This is a biography about Louis Zamperini. He was a runner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and then a bombardier in WW2. It is an incredible true story! I couldn't put it down. I spent Graham's entire nap times reading for about 3 days in a row until I finished it. I love finding a story like that. =)

On a different note...I feel very emotional when I think that on Friday Graham will be 1 year old! This has definitely the best and the fastest year of my life! I am so proud of him. Being a mother has completely changed my life. I feel happy and fulfilled in a way I couldn't have imagined before. The love I have for him has changed the way I think about our heavenly Father and how much he loves us. I almost died bringing Graham into the world (long story) but every day since then has been worth it.

Home again, home again

We had a wonderful trip to St. Simons Island, but we are very happy to be home!

The last 3 or 4 days we were there the weather turned cold and rainy, which was a kind of a bummer because it brought all of our wonderful walks and bike rides to an end. We did have a wonderful wonderful time though - just the 3 of us! We have always gone to SSI in the hight of summer - July or August. It was nice to be there when it wasn't so hot and crowded. On Thursday, we made the long 19 hour drive back to Texas and it went surprisingly well! We took a different route and turned it into an 18 hour drive.

For about 2 weeks Graham has had two swollen bulges on his top gums. I have been expecting his top teeth to come in any day and they certainly took their time. Yesterday morning they finally broke through. Yay!

In the car, 11 months old:

On the beach. We kept trying to get him to wear his hat because the sun was bright, but he kept trying to yank it off!

One day I went on the porch to take a phone call and Graham pulled up on the glass and stared at me the whole time. When I was done I bent down to say hi and Chad snapped a few pictures.