Crawling....well, kind of

Graham is officially mobile - and at 8 months it is about time! Chad and I have been having to do some major baby-proofing the last few days! I don't think that baby-proofing is something you can really do until you see what your baby wants to get into. You can't really call what he's doing "crawling".....maybe more like scooting. =) Another new development is his ability to transition from tummy to sitting up and back again. We had to, therefore, lower the mattress in his crib. He is doing so many new things right now, it is so much fun!

First Christmas

So today since my son's first Christmas is coming up, I was thinking about my first Christmas. I don't remember it, of course, but I've always loved to hear the story of it. Mom and Dad - I hope you don't mind my sharing.

So my Mom and Dad decided, for some reason, to drive from Colorado Springs to Searcy, Arkansas on Christmas Day with a 6 month old baby. That was apparently a bitterly cold winter. Their VW van broke down outside of Little Rock. With no cell phones (of course) they had no choice but to get out and start walking. Luckily, a nice family on their way to Little Rock picked them up. My parents had to wait at their house for my Grandpa to come pick them up. My parents awkwardly watched as this family had Christmas and opened presents. They did, eventually make it to Searcy!

Later, my dad had to head back to Colorado Springs on his own for work. My mom flew back with me later. He drove back in the recovered van, which had been striped. With no heater, no radio, and no money, he drove most of the way with snow chains on going about 20 miles per hour. He drove straight through, and when he finally arrived days later, he immediately went to work at the hospital! Crazy.

Hopefully G's first Christmas will be a little less dramatic.

On a side note, Graham has lately been trying to get up on his hands and feet (not hands and knees). So we'll see if he soon starts crawling. It may be the bear crawl! He has certainly found his own unique ways to do things, and I'm loving it!

Update

Wow, It's hard to believe that today is December 13th! In 2 days G will be 8 months old! He is such a good boy. He has 2 teeth now (bottom front teeth). He is not crawling yet, but he uses his own creative ways to get around! He rolls and pivots and sometimes he even bounces forward on his bottom. He is nursing 4 times a day and eating solids at breakfast and dinner. He likes all kinds of foods. He eats a lot of baby food, but he likes real food better and gets little bites of whatever we're eating. He is sleeping 11 hours a night and taking 3 naps a day (sometimes 2). I'm not ready for him to drop that 3rd nap yet! We are so excited to enjoy our first holiday season with him.

I am uploading a couple of videos for you grandparents out there!

Christmas stocking

Last Christmas when I was about 5 months pregnant I started making Graham a felt applique Christmas stocking. I am proud to say that today I finally finished it! I don't think I knew what a project it was going to be, but I'm glad I did it, and I think it turned out so cute! I do plan on making one for each of our kids. I don't think it will take me as long next time since now I know what I'm doing.

Getting Ready For Christmas!

On Saturday night, Chad and I took Graham with us to pick out our first Christmas tree. Graham can't crawl yet, but he sure can get where he wants by rolling and pivoting. So, I got a picture of him after he rolled up to the tree to check it out and try to grab the ornaments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Having Graham just makes everything more fun. =) We went to my mom and dad's house in Kaufman for Thanksgiving Wednesday-Saturday. We were joined by my brothers and grandparents from Searcy. And on Thursday my other grandparents and several aunts, uncles, and cousins came. All of the cooking, eating, and fellowship was so special. We played a lot of games, which I love! Everyone got to hold and play with Graham, which meant a lot to me. He gave out lots of smiles and made all of his favorite noises for everyone. He rolled all over the floor (nope, no crawling yet!). The only downside was that Graham doesn't sleep that great when we're not at home. He's a homebody like most babies. I think that we'll all be happy to be in our own beds tonight! On Friday we celebrated my dad's birthday, which is today. We went out to eat in Dallas at a great restaurant called Truluck's. Graham loves sitting up at the table in a high chair! Now that Thanksgiving is over, I am really in the Christmas spirit. We are planning to put up our Christmas tree and decorations this weekend, and I will include pictures of course! We are so excited to start all of our own family holiday traditions. Graham is just such a good boy, we feel blessed every day to have him. I know every parent thinks this, but to us he is just the sweetest, cutest, smartest, more special baby ever. Thank you Lord for this blessing!