Lost

I am heartbroken. I have lost every photo that has ever been on my blog since 2008! That's why you see the black boxes where photos should be. For some reason, all 600 of my blog photos were suddenly stored on my Samsung Galaxy taking up all of the photo space. I knew that I had them on my blog too and wouldn't need them so I deleted them. Now they have disappeared from my blog, and I am pretty sure they are gone forever! This has something to do with Google, Gmail being on my phone and Picasa Web Albums all being synched, but I am too tech-un-savvy to understand it all. I have most of the photos backed up in one place or another, but it would take me weeks to go back and find them and put them back into my blog posts. I am so upset! Just thought I'd update so  the four people who read my blog would know why there are no more photos.

Mimi-isms

Amelia is really in such a sweet stage this days. Gone are the strong-willed tatrums that I thought were going to be the death of me a year and a half ago. She has grown into a very sweet, polite and obedient child (Most of the time.) I can't brag as if this is due to my superb parenting. I think it's just her nature. Although we did have ourselves quite a season of disciplining during that time. She is such a little pleaser. She loves to be praised and to make us proud of her.

She is also more hilarious than ever these days. I have so many things that we've laughed at that she has said or done and I've thought, I need to blog that so I won't forget it. But sure enough, I forget it. Here are just a few of her Mimi-isms from lately:

• "I shouldn't brought my sunglasses." (I should have brought my sunglasses.)
• Tavle, Bath tuv, Mrs. Devvie... (table, bath tub, Mrs. Debbie. She substitutes some of her b's for v's. I love it so much, I can't bear to correct her. )
• "I drinked all my water just like you, Mama!"
• "I'm actually not very hungry."
• "I have very important work to do." (This usually consists of making a huge mess with colors and/or stickers. So really, it's just giving me more important work to do. But funny nonetheless.)
• "I want to watch Max and Ruvy (Ruby) at their house." For some reason she calls the show this as if it's the name of the show. I guess she prefers the episodes of them at their house over the "on-location"episodes.
• calls Ruvy's friend Louise "Baweeze."
• "Bless your sweet heart," to her doll, Annalee when she fell off the couch.
• "Mama, can I have a sister next time? I want to name her Eloise." (Um, next time? Sorry, sister.)
• "What are we going to do with this baby?" (said in frustration when G is crying hysterically)
• "If SOMEONE would get their CHILD off their boob, they could come dance with me." (This was said in a sassy tone when she wanted me to have a dance party with her while I was nursing brother. LHM.)
• "My mama says..." This is a common phrase that she uses with people other than me and Cliff, supposedly to add credibility to whatever she is about to say. It may or may not be followed by something I've actually said. When spending the night with my parents recently, after a very full and exhausting day of fishing and playing at the creek, my mama dozed off on the couch. Amelia told her, "Grammy! My mama says this is a playdate, NOT a sleepover!"
• "I catched a fish!"
• "I love you to the moon and back...I love you thiiiissss much (stretches arms out)....I love you more than Mama!" (This is her little game she plays with whoever is putting her to bed at the time. She is trying to prompt the other parent to tickle her and force her to say she loves us the best.
• "Thank you, God for my brother. Please help me to be the best big sister I can be." (Melt. My. Heart. She didn't come up with this all on her own. She got it from me praying and thanking God for my children and praying to be the best mama I can be.)
• She also "reads" books all the time and loves nothing more than to be read to. She often talks like her fairytales. For example, she'll often say we "shall" do this or that, or use phrases like "Oh dear," and "Oh my." When reading her books, she will quote whatever the character is saying and then say, "she replied," or "he gasped.."

This girl cracks us up!

Graham at two months

Since Graham will be three months on Friday, I guess I am technically not too late to share his two month post. At two months, Graham:

• weighed 12 lbs, 3 ounces and was 23 and 1/2 inches long (just a little bigger than sister was at this age)
• really started smiling and cooing all the time this month. He is such a friendly and sweet baby!
• still loves being on the changing table and taking a bath
• started kicking his feet and holding them in the air a lot
• has found his thumb and likes to suck it when his paci comes out
• wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 months clothes. Newborn clothes are too little now! :(
• still nursing great and takes a bottle well in the church nursery. Takes about 4-5 ounces at a time (well he did at this age. He's eating a lot more now that he's almost 3 months!)
• started wanting to be put down more than be held, exactly the opposite of sister at this age! He likes to be put down in his swing or bassinet with his paci and lovie next to his face and he likes to have music on. Usually he goes right to sleep this way and will sleep from around 8 p.m. to 5:30 or 6 a.m.
• starting playing on the floor more and enjoys looking around wherever he is, or staring at the toys in his carseat
• LOVES riding in the car. Can I get a PTL for this?! Amelia cried all the time in her carseat. But Graham falls right to sleep every time we get in the car. The key is to keep moving. He doesn't love when we stop at redlights or in a drive-thru.
• likes to be carried around in a sling like a little kangaroo

Overall, Graham is a sweet and easygoing baby. He is pretty content to go along with whatever we have going on with sister. His biggest problem is gas. He gets really uncomfortable sometimes and spits up a ton. We have a prescription that has helped with the reflux, but the gas is still an issue. Gas drops are our friend! This month Graham went on his first roadtrip and traveled to Ft. Rucker, Alabama to visit cousin Jackson and Aunt Mare and Uncle Justin. He was perfect in the car and seemed to enjoy a change of scenery. He even got to go to the beach for the first time! He did OK, but we learned that he doesn't like to be hot. This was a good practice run for when we go back in July for our real vacation.

To compare, here he is beside a pic of Mimi at the same age. I don't think they look alike at all!

Some other photos of what he's been up to this month:

Smiling at Aunt Mare

Sweet beach baby



Happy on the changing table







What's sweeter than a baby? Two babies! And cousins in matching outfits!







Back at work

The day has come. I had to leave my sweet babies and come back to work. Not gonna lie, I totally cried all day. It was much harder than when I came back to work after having Amelia. She was just across the street from my office at the daycare on campus. That's where Graham will be too in August when school starts, but for the next two months, he's staying with a sitter at her house. I have really enjoyed my time at home with him. I think I've soaked up each day as much as I can, knowing that this will (most likely) be my last time to be at home with my new baby. I got very little done around my house, but I did spend a lot of time loving on both of my babies. I feel like I made the most of my time off. G and I did a lot of snuggling and strolling and when Amelia got out of school at the beginning of May we filled our days with playdates, swimming lessons, and other random outings. It was tiring, but I enjoyed every second of it.

But this week has been kicking my butt! Cliff is busy with basketball camp 24/7, so I'm on my own from morning to night right now. Getting myself ready for work while trying to get Graham fed, bottles pumped and prepped for the day, getting Mimi's stuff ready for VBS each day (Katie is taking her), has worn me "slap"out! I don't know how single mamas and military/offshore moms do it by themselves with more than one kid all the time. I am even more appreciative of my husband's help than ever before.

I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging now that I'm at work and have both use of my arms for more than 5 minutes at a time. Can't wait to talk about how sweet and precious G is, and how helpful, loving and funny Amelia is. Tired or not, I am one blessed mama!

Easter 2012

We had a fun Easter this year. Amelia and I had fun decorating our eggs and baking cupcakes.

Graham's umbilical cord finally fell off and he got his first bath (with help from big sis). Yes, he sometimes enjoys his bath with his paci in his mouth, ha.

First Easter morning with two kiddos!

Amelia was excited about the loot in her basket. She got a Pinkalicious puzzle, a nightgown, Hello Kitty chapstick, a flower headband, bubbles, a chocolate bunny and candy.

Graham was pretty pumped for sister for show him what came in his basket. He got a stuffed frog, a pair of  PJs and a toy for his carseat.

G and I stayed home while Cliff and Mimi went to church. Katie was sweet enough to come over and take a few pics before they left.

After church, we went over to my grandmother's. Here she is meeting Graham for the first time.

Amelia had fun hunting eggs with her cousins. It was so funny when she would pick up a real egg. She would shake it and realize it didn't have any candy in it, and then throw it back down, ha.

Papa and Baby G.

Grammy and Papa and G.

About a week before Easter, Katie and I tried to get a sweet pic of Graham in his Easter basket, but he didn't love it. He threw up shortly after this pic, ha.

I'm so sad that we didn't get a photo of our family of four at Easter! I meant to, just didn't stop and make it happen. I am so bad about that when Katie is not around! Oh well, there will be plenty of time for family photos later.

Graham's first month

I am a couple of weeks behind with this post, but I really do have an excuse (besides the whole having a newborn thing). Our computer was down for two weeks. Now, it's back in working order and I am finally sitting down to document Graham's first month. I did this with Amelia and I am so glad I did. At one month old, Graham:

• weighs about 9 pounds, I am guessing. He was 7.14 at birth, lost down to 7.6 in the hospital, and was 8.3 at his two week check-up. Coincidentally, that is what big sister weighed at birth.
• is about 21.5 inches long. He's grown about an inch since birth.
• wears mostly newborn and 0-3 months clothes
• is a pretty decent nurser and sleeper. He goes about 4 hours between feedings, sometimes more, sometimes less. Nursing is going much better at this point than it did with sister.
• is starting to focus his eyes on people and objects, rather than the wild-eyed thing newborns do at first.
• loves taking a bath!
• enjoys spending time in his swing (unlike sister did), but is also a little spoiled already and really loves to be held and to snuggle.

The first month totally flew by! We have all adjusted really well to having a new baby in the family, and I couldn't be prouder of Amelia. She absolutely adores him, and jumps at the chance to help. She hasn't once shown any signs of jealousy. I know this might change eventually, but for now, we are enjoying what a precious big sister she is being.

We had a newborn photo shoot with Lindey, and I will be sharing those photos as soon as I get my act together and get the birth announcements sent out. We got some really sweet ones of the two of them together that I can't wait to share. Although it's only been a few weeks, we already can't imagine life without our sweet baby Graham. He is just the piece of our family that we didn't even know we were missing!

Welcome, baby Graham!

I have some catching up to do! I talked in my last post about my 36 week check up. The next week when I went in, I was dilated one centimeter. Then when I went back the next week for my 38 week visit, I was dilated four centimeters! I still thought I had a little more time, so I went ahead and went to work the next day. After I got home that evening, I noticed my contractions were a lot closer together than they had been, and some of them were semi-painful. I wasn't ready to rush to the hospital just yet. I figured they would become really painful, or my water would break. But then I had a fear that by the time I was in real pain that it may be too late to get my beloved epidural, ha.

After texting my doctor, (LOVE the fact that we're on texting terms, ha) she told me if I had three contractions in 30 minutes, to come on over to the hospital. Luckily for me, she was on call that evening and was already going to be at the hospital delivering another baby. After that, I ended up having three contractions in the next 15 minutes. I still couldn't quite believe it was real, but we decided to head over to the hospital anyway. I was so afraid of being labeled "The Girl Who Cried Labor" and being sent home. But as it turned out, I was already at 5 centimeters when I got there so they got me checked in, we called our families, and I got my epidural. By this time it was around 10 p.m.

After laboring throughout the night, it was time to push at around 4:30 a.m., and at 4:53, sweet baby Graham arrived weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 20 and a half inches long. Thankfully, he wasn't as big as my earlier ultrasounds had indicated that he might be. However, I guess he might have been if he had waited a couple more weeks until my due date. My labor and delivery were much easier than with his big sister too.

We're doing great and enjoying our time at home now. I can't believe he will be two weeks old tomorrow! Big sister has been an absolute angel with him. She's been a little louder than normal, and a little more obnoxious at times seeking attention, but she's been SO sweet with her baby brother, and a great helper for me. Life is good!

And now a few pics:

Quick shot before heading to the hospital. I really didn't think it was for real!

Sister got out of bed at 3 a.m. to come meet her brother!

Jackson is a big cousin!

This makes my heart so happy!

All dressed up to go home

 

Loving getting his hair washed at home

I love nothing more in life than a clean baby in a hooded towel!

Hey y'all!

I meant to share nursery pics before he was born, but since he surprised us with an early arrival, I didn't get a chance. Hopefully I'll find some time to share those soon!