Four.

Dear Amelia,
Today you are four years old! How is that possible? It seems like no time ago when you were a tiny baby in my arms. You are our firstborn, and came as a ray of sunshine after a sad time for our family. You are the first grandchild on both sides of our family. Do you know how spoiled rotten that makes you? Everyone went nuts over you the day you were born and continue to do so today.

You are cute, smart, polite and funny. You are clumsy, love to make a mess with tiny objects and forget to say yes mam and no mam sometimes, but those are about the only negative things I can think of to say about you. You are really such a delightful child, and other people tell us this regularly as well and it makes us so proud. You are girly and love to dress up and pretend. We absolutely adore your imagination! You love your baby dolls, and I just know you are going to be a fabulous mama one day. You are so bright! We are amazed at how quickly you learn things, and I hope that love of learning continues as you go through school.

You grew up so much when you became a big sister, and we are so proud of how you have handled the changes in our family. You are so sweet to Graham, and he adores you! It makes my heart so happy to see you interact with each other. You love to help me around the house and with the baby. You are very obedient and love to please me and Daddy and your teachers at church and school, and we are so proud of that.

Amelia, you are such a joy to our family. You make every day more fun. Daddy and I could not be prouder of the little girl you have become, and we can't wait to see the person you grow up to be. Happy Birthday to the sweetest four-year-old I know!

Love,
Mama

Quick catch-up

As usual, October has flown by in a busy but fun blur. I just finished up my biggest event of the year at work, Homecoming, and had a few minutes to share a few of our recent photos. I have lots more fun things to share soon after I wrap up Amelia's birthday party parties this weekend. Of course, then basketball starts the next week, so the running around never really ends. Luckily, we like being busy and on-the-go most of the time and G is pretty content to just go with the flow, thank goodness.

We did a photo shoot with Katie a few weeks ago specifically for Graham, but we jumped in for a family pic at the end and I'm so glad we did.

Graham isn't wearing a shirt because we had just been photographing him in just his jeans on top of a hay bale, ha, and sister still had her braids in from earlier that day and after a nap. Sometimes the non-staged/coordinated pics turn out to be your favorites. Katie took a bunch more that I hope to share soon when she gets them ready. We are so blessed to have her in so many ways, but the great photos are a nice perk.

And can we just talk about how cute this boy is?

I know he's mine, but good gracious. He is as sweet as he is pretty! And yes, his eyes are really that blue. We took these pics in the field behind Cliff's grandparents' house, and we stopped in to see them before going out. Katie thought to grab one of Papaw's fedoras before we left and got this precious pic of G in his great-grandfather's hat. Priceless.

Sister has been in her share of photos lately too, of course. She was asked to be the flower girl in Cliff's cousin Kaitlyn's wedding, and I was so proud to hear what a good job she did. Yes, I only got to hear about it since the wedding was on Homecoming day and I couldn't make it, boo.

This was her third wedding to be the flower girl in in her almost 4 years, and after two failed tries (she was only 18 months old in Mare's so it doesn't qute count), she finally nailed it. I was proud of myself for whipping up her dress too! Tutus and tutu dresses are super easy. No way was I paying over 100 bucks for it when I knew I could do it myself.

I hope to be back soon with posts about other fall fun like our trip to the fair, as well as a post about Graham at 7 months, and sister's 4th birthday. Wow! So many fun things to talk about, so little time. The Furr family is blessed, indeed.

Graham at 6 months

I can't believe it has been almost a month since I last blogged. Tis the season for busy. Anyway, before he turns 7 months old, let me record G's stats. At 6 months Graham:

• weighs 18 pounds, 1 ounce, and is 28 inches long. He is a pound heavier and an inch longer than sister was at this age. He grew four pounds and four inches since his four month appointment. Good gracious! He is wearing 9 months clothes, size 3 diaper and a size 2 shoe.
• LOVES to eat! (see previous point). Graham's favorite foods are...well, everything. He eats any fruit or veggie or mixture of the two that I put in front of him and ALWAYS cries when it's all gone. I haven't been able to fill this boy up yet!
• still loves his bottle and takes 6 ounces about 4 times a day. He gets so excited and kicks his feet and squeals when he sees his bottle. It's so precious.
• is sitting up really well on his own, and loves to sit in the floor and play with his toys. He was a good baby before ,but he's even easier to deal with now that he is able to entertain himself with his toys for a while.
• is starting to babble a good bit, but hasn't really said any definite word sounds yet. Amelia was waving bye-bye and saying a couple of words at this age, but I'm not worried about brother. She was ahead of the game a little, and I know he'll do things in his own time.
• FINALLY rolled over for the first time, but has only done it a few times since. (See previous point on doing things in his own time, ha) He prefers to be sitting up now, so he doesn't have a lot of opportunity to roll over. He does tolerate tummy time a little better now and is starting to push up with his arms and attempt to scoot.
• is getting a lot better with his reflux, but is still a pukey little boy. Obviously he's keeping enough down to grow!
• ADORES his big sister more and more every day. He grins all the time anyway, but he is absolutely infatuated with Amelia. He smiles every time she looks at him or talks to him, and he looks bummed out if he's in his carseat and looks over and she's not in hers. He is sitting up by himself in the bathtub now, and he really loves taking a bath with her.
• is still a super happy, friendly baby. Everyone we come in contact with comments on how sweet and happy he is. We are so thankful for his sweet personality.
• is rarely fussy, but when he is, it is usually because his gums are bothering him. Poor thing still doesn't have any teeth, but he has been drooling and chewing (and whining) a lot lately, so I expect one or more to push through any day.
• got his first little cold this month, and did not feel good at all. He had a runny nose and a cough and for the first time, wouldn't smile at me when he woke up in the morning. Luckily, he got over and it was back to his happy self in a couple of days, but not before sharing it with Mama, the little stinker.



First time in the swings at the park. Not surprisingly, he loved it!



Another park day. Sister was making a goofy face, but since this post is about G, his smiley shot made the blog.



Going for a drive in the church nursery



First time sitting up in the tub!

Comparison shot of sister at the same age. I still don't think they look anything alike.

At his dedication service at church this month

I adore how Amelia was holding his hand and he was smiling at her.

Typical shot of our G!

Graham has just stolen our hearts more than we ever could have imagined. He is such a laid-back, happy and sweet baby that you just can't help but love him and to smile and be happy when you are around him. We often say that Amelia was a tough act to follow. She was the first grandchild on both sides, and everyone was just nuts about her (still are). But little brother's sweet little personality shines through to everyone who spends time with him, and it's so easy to be nuts over him, too. We can barely remember what life was like without him, and I'm so sad that he's already half a year old. However, I am excited to watch him grow see the little person he is turning out to be.