Exploring...

This morning I heard Graham messing around with his exersaucer which was sitting in our breakfast nook. I looked over and saw that he had discovered a new way to use it! I wish I had grabbed my video camera instead of my camera, but these pictures are still really cute!

PS - Graham now has 3 teeth! His third one recently came in next to the other two on the bottom.

Baby Dedication

Last night we went to the baby dedication at our church. It was to bless all of the babies born or adopted in 2010. Such a blessing! We were prayed over by one of our church elders and his wife. They gave us a family bible and some other goodies. Then during church they called all of the babies and families to the front to be prayed over. However, I couldn't really hear the prayer over all the crying! There were a lot of babies. It was such a blessing to be with all the other young families and welcome Graham into our church family! Here are some pictures:

Daddy got to leave work early to come to the dedication with us!

We were so happy that my mom could drive over for the night! My dad wanted to come too but had to work. We wish that Chad's family could have come too!

This is my friend Tara with her son Jaxon. He and Graham are 6 weeks apart.

This is my friend Jessica and her baby Megan. She and Graham are about 4 months apart.

Here are all the 2010 babies and their families!

Weight Loss

Yesterday I bought the smallest sized pants I've had since before I got married (6 years!). How did I do it? Breastfeeding! I have not deprived myself of anything I've wanted to eat since G was born. I don't mean to brag but....man, it feels good! On a more melancholy note: I realize I'm going to have to cut way back when I wean him. Bummer.

PS - We're going to the baby dedication at church tonight - super excited! Will update with photos.

9 months!

Wow I can't believe that G is already 9 months old! We had his 9 month wellness visit at the doctor today. He is now 31 inches long (95th percentile) and weighs 22 lbs 13 oz (85th percentile). He is perfectly healthy. The doctor said that my job in the next 3 months is to get ready to have a walking and talking baby! Where did the time go??

Graham has now learned how to crawl, not just army style. Although he still often reverts to army crawling - his old faithful. He pulled himself up to his feet for the first time on Friday. He is really starting to get pretty good at feeding himself bits of table food. The doctor said that we will slowly and naturally transition in the next 3 months from baby food to table food. He is babbling a lot right now (so cute!) and we can't wait for him to begin learning some words. He is at such a fun age right now. I love interacting with him. He's ticklish and has a great sense of humor. He's very active and doesn't have much time for snuggling - he's too busy!

On Friday night we went to Azle for a birthday party (for several family members) at my grandparents' house. It was really good to see everybody! My little 2nd cousin Presley (3 years old) was trying to play with some "my little ponies", and G was constantly bothering her by crawling over and knocking them down. He was on a mission! It was so cute for me to see him playing with the other kids. We went to Kaufman this weekend too to get out of town and see my parents - had a great time! And for once G actually slept really well at their house!

Here is a video of G I downloaded which just shows him doing his typical everyday stuff - playing and exploring. I know that you grandparents our there will enjoy!

New Year, New Developments...

This is always a difficult time of year in our family. The 3 of us enjoyed a heavenly 2 weeks at home together over the holidays! Now Chad's back to work and this is his busy time of year. Right now he is working 7-7 which is a lot but it could be a lot worse (as you CPA wives know)! It's harder this year because we have our little one that Chad wants to spend time with. G and I have been meeting him downtown for lunch once or twice a week to sneak in some extra daddy time.

This time of year I always to try to get busy and line up plenty of activities to keep me (and G) from getting lonely. I have signed up for a ladies bible class at church about David and I can't wait for it to start! I am attending a free introductory class at The Little Gym with a friend and am considering joining. I am hosting a craft day later this month! I have a few little play dates planned here and there and look forward to having more. I have made 2 New Year's resolutions this year (which I don't normally do): reading the bible through in a year and keeping our budget. These are ambitious resolutions for me and I hope I can keep it up!

Graham seems to be learning new things all the time now. He is "army crawling" ALL OVER our house! This has been a big change. I have to watch him like a hawk now! He is into everything. He can easily get on his hands and knees, and I think that he will learn how to do the traditional crawl soon. He learned how to clap by observation and now understands the command "clap your hands." Therefore, I have decided that he might be ready to learn a few baby signs! I have been anxious to begin teaching him since I learned quite a bit of sign language while I worked at Waverly Park. I'm going to start with "milk" and "more." I'll let you know how that goes!

I may not sound like it, but I am feeling very upbeat and positive about this new year. I know that theses months that Chad has to work hard will go by fast. I am excited to see what the coming weeks and months ahead will bring!

Christmas!

This has been a very special but very unusual Christmas for us! It all started on Christmas Eve when Chad and I were supposed to go to a Christmas gathering at my grandparents' house in Azle. That day we both came down with a nasty stomach bug and were totally incapacitated. My parents came and picked up Graham and took him to the party, which was good because we were both too sick to take care of him! I was very disappointed to miss the party. My mom came and stayed the night that night in order to help us with G. What a long night! Being sick like that is miserable. The next day we both were better but very weak. We enjoyed watching G open his presents but the sound of the paper tearing really scared him! He cried though most of the unwrapping. He got some very special gifts including some hand-made building blocks from my dad and a laugh and learn house from us. We were thankful that my parents were able to be there to help us with him while we recovered. On Saturday, before he even got to our house, my brother Jon got the stomach bug also (my other brother Britt went to California for Christmas). My mom ended up getting it on Sunday. Everyone stayed the weekend at our house, so my dad started to call our house "the hospital." Somehow, Graham never got sick, and I am so thankful. It was a wonderful time of togetherness even though most of us felt rotten. My illness almost caused me to not be able to nurse little G anymore because of dehydration, but thankfully my milk supply is back up and all is well! We are looking forward to Chad's mom and Tom coming to visit this weekend (and hopefully no one will get sick!). I have uploaded some pictures and 2 videos. One is Graham opening his present from us - he was very upset because of the tearing noise. The other one is G clapping. He learned how to clap on Christmas Day!!