Happy Birthday, Graham!

Yes, his birthday was last month, whatever. I'm finally getting around to posting about our sweet boy's 12 months stats:

At 12 months, Graham:

• weighs 22 pounds and is-- inches long (I can't remember this, but I'll go back and add this in when I find the sheet from the pediatrician)
  
• wears 12 and 18 months clothes, size 4 diaper and a size 3 shoe

• has four teeth on top and two on bottom
  
  
• gave up his bottle on his own around 11 months and drinks milk, juice and water out of his sippy cup like a champ
• still eats everything in sight! I can't say what his favorite foods are because he will eat anything in front of him. He still gets upset when I finally declare that meal time is over, ha. He eats all table food now.
  
  
  
• is still a fabulous sleeper! He sleeps for about 12 hours at night and takes a long morning nap and a short afternoon nap every day. My boy loves his bed! He likes to have his paci and lovie at bedtime and is happy to just snuggle up in his crib and goes right to sleep without rocking. I don't know what we did to deserve him, but I am so thankful!
  
  
  
• says ma-ma, da-da, da (dog), ba (ball), yay, hey, and some version of "peep-eye!" (I'm not even sure how to spell this. We say "peek-a-boo" but he got it from my parents.) It is so precious for him to hold something over his face and play peep-eye peek-a-boo. 
• is still not walking, but he is getting close! He cruises around furniture and walks while holding your hand. He can stand for a while on his own, but hasn't taken any steps yet. 
  
• loves balls, our dog Cash, swinging, playing outside, dancing, waving and clapping
• is crazy about bathtime, especially if he is joined by sister. 
  

Our G is just such a joy to our whole family! He has the sweetest, happiest personality and is the most laid-back baby I've ever known. He and his sister absolutely adore each other. He is just starting to try to get into her stuff, which drives her crazy, but she is still so sweet and loving with him. It makes our hearts so happy, but I know a day will come when they won't be so sweet to each other all the time. We are so thankful for the past year with him, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. I have loved watching Amelia become a big sister and for Cliff and I to learn that our love could multiply even more. We couldn't imagine life without our sweet, sweet baby Graham!

G at 11 months

I had to finally get G's 11 month post up today since he is turning one tomorrow! I know parents always say this, but I really can't believe it. He did not want to sit down for his 11 month picture this time. I love looking back over how he has grown. When I ever get around to putting his 12 month post up I will post them all together. 

At 11 months, our sweet Graham:

• wears 12 months clothes, size 3 or 4 shoe and has moved up to a size 4 diaper
• has started eating mostly table food, but still enjoys his baby food. He still will eat pretty much anything you give him.
• has two bottom teeth, two top teeth and some more coming through on top any day
• weaned himself from his bottle on his own :(
• has gotten to be a super fast crawler and loves going in sister's room best of all. His favorite thing to play with in her room is her toy kitchen. He is pulling up and cruising, but not close to walking yet.
• has started to notice television and will watch for a few seconds, but isn't too into it yet. 
• loves our dog Cash and looks for him when I ask, "Where's Cash?" or "Where's the dog?" Just another example of how he could not be more different than his sister.
• does this funny thing where he shakes his head as if saying 'no' when he is really happy. He will just grin and shake his head around. He will also grin and mimic you if you do it. It is so precious. 

Dr. Love and sister on Valentine's day

He loves helping sister cook!

Not much has changed for our sweet boy from last month, but it does appear from these photos that he is growing like a weed. I can't wait to celebrate his birthday this weekend and share photos and a recap post soon!

First Oreo

A deep love of chocolate runs in the family. 

G at 10 months

I think it's safe to say that Christmas, part two is just not going to happen. Whatever. It's basketball season. But I do, of course, have to update so that I'll remember sweet baby G at 10 months. Goodness gracious, how did we get here so fast? He turned 11 months on Friday. You know what that means... Birthday party planning time!

 At 10 months, our sweet boy:

• FINALLY started crawling. Now he is on the move and into everything. We had a good run of him staying put where I leave him, and now he's making up for lost time. He is pulling up and cruising around the furniture too.

• weighs about 21 pounds and wears mostly 12 month clothes, a size 3 or 4 diaper and a 3 shoe.
• has two teeth on bottom, and a couple are poking through on top. 
• is getting more hair and even has a few curls. Be still my heart. 

• is doing a lot of jabbering, and says mama, dada and bye-bye. He loves to mimic sounds and has a few other "almost words" that he says. 
• still loves his bath and loves to splash like a crazy boy. 
• still gets excited about meal times and is eating some table food. He doesn't turn much down, and he still really likes his baby food. He is not a fan of puffs or other baby snacks besides yogurt melts. He loves those. He also loves any kind of ice cream. He gets that from me. 
• Has started playing with toys a little more, and this is his favorite one. Thanks to "Aunt" Kelsey for that one. He loves any ball. 
• still sleeps great in his crib, PTL! He prefers not to be rocked, and goes right to sleep at night and sleeps for about 12 hours at a time. He still takes a morning and an afternoon nap at home, but usually only takes one when he's at school. I should mention here that he adores his teacher, Miss Margaret more than ever. All of the girls at the daycare just go nuts over him and talk about how sweet and happy he is. 
• got to see his very first snow! We only got a dusting, but he liked it. 

• is such a good little fan at Daddy's ball games. He is good to sit in my lap and clap and watch the game, and he especially loves watching the Colettes dance. Typical male, ha. He also really likes the wolf mascot, but gets a little scared when he gets too close. 

I can't believe we've almost had our happy boy for a year. We can barely remember life without him!

Christmas 2012 part one

What a fun Christmas we had! I know it's already January, but whatever. I still want to record my memories and photos even though I'm a little late. I really enjoyed being at home for over two weeks with my family. Cliff was gone a lot with basketball, but we still squeezed in as much family time as possible. When he wasn't around, it was just me and the kiddos, and good gracious, that will wear you out! No wonder I haven't made time to blog lately.

Last year was such a fun and special year since it was the first year Amelia really "got it," and it was our last Christmas with her being our only child. This year was even more fun because not only did she really get the whole Santa thing, but she understood more about what Christmas is really about, the birth of our Savior. She was just so excited about everything. G, of course, couldn't have cared less about the whole holiday, but he did enjoy getting so much attention. And he really liked playing with all the wrapping paper and boxes!

I'll just share a bunch of photos rather than more boring commentary from me.

We started off the season with a quick family shoot with Katie for our Christmas cards. These pictures make me so happy!

After 12 years together, we hardly ever take any pictures of just the two of us.  I'm so glad we took these.

This makes me laugh. 

Amelia got to do a lot of fun things this year like perform in a Christmas program at school, 

Sister with one of her favorite people, her teacher Miss Melissa at her school program

 Marching in the parade with her dance class,

And performing in the most precious Christmas program at church, The Christmas Cupcake. We are still listening to the CD Every. Single. Day. in the car. Annoying, but it is so precious to hear her sing Christmas songs and her personal favorite, "Happy Birthday, Jesus." How can I say no?

 Ok, since that was already a ton of photos and I have a bunch more to share, I'll split this into two posts. Next up, even more photos and Christmas Day memories! I am so thankful for my sweet family and the chance to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Graham at nine months

Nine months was a month of continued growth and trying new things for our sweet boy. We enjoyed a week at home together for Thanksgiving and over two week at home for Christmas during this month, so we have had lots of time together. Here are some highlights from month nine:

• wearing mostly 12 months clothes and a size 3 diaper during the day and a 4 at night.
• has two 6 oz bottles a day, and usually one more at night
• still has just the two bottom teeth
• still loves all of his baby food and is great at self feeding little snacks and yogurt melts. He cleans his tray off in lightening speed.
• becoming a chunky monkey! Not sure what he weighs now, but he was 20 pounds the last time we went to the doctor a month or so ago.
• started doing better at drinking from his sippy cup. He likes to drink it while you hold it for him like a little bottle calf, ha. But he can and does hold it himself when he wants to.
• really started mimicking sounds more. "Ma-ma-ma" comes mostly when he's whining and wants me to pick him up. "Da-da-da" is all the dang time. I think he's starting to get that that means Cliff, and I'm pretty sure he knows I'm mama. Can't wait to see what he will call sister. He will also wave bye-bye and say the words a lot. Sometimes he just randomly starts waving at people and it is so precious.
• loves playing outside, swinging, and playing on the trampoline.
• really improved his crawling skills, but mostly just army crawling and going backwards. Still has been pretty content to stay in the same place for a while.
• loves his teacher at school, Miss Margaret, and his Sunday School teachers, Miss Sandra, Miss Kim and Miss Chris.
• kicks his feet wildly when he gets excited about something. Examples of kick worthy moments: when he sees his bottle, when I pick him up from school, when I get his food ready to feed him, when Amelia comes into the room, when Cliff comes home, and once he was so tired that he kicked when I took him in his room and walked over to put him in his bed. Sweet, sweet boy.

Teeth!

Best friends

Sweetest boy ever!

Just being Christmassy on his nine month birthday with Sister

Graham at eight months

 

Eight months was a big month for Graham. Back in November and December. Oops. I wrote this over a month ago, and it's been sitting in the drafts folder waiting for a photo. But at last here I am to catch up on my baby's memory keeping. .At eight months our sweet G:

• Finally got teeth! After months of gnawing and slobbering, those little two on the bottom popped up at the same time shortly after he turned eight months.
• started sleeping all night in his own crib. While I was nursing, he slept in the bassinet beside our bed, and usually ended up in the bed with us at some point in the night. When he outgrew the bassinet a month or so ago (it's a large one, ha), I started putting him in his crib to start the night, but he never lasted long and  eventually ended up with us. Not sure what happened, but it was just like something clicked and he started sleeping all night in it at eight months. It's so strange waking up and seeing him sleeping peacefully on the monitor. Since Amelia slept with us until she was two, it finally feels like we're getting our money's worth out of the crib and bedding, ha.
• started making strides towards crawling, but didn't go all the way quite yet. He would go from a sitting position onto his belly, but only succeeded in moving backwards a little bit. He's was still pretty content to just sit still and I have been very OK with that!
• started waving all the time and saying "bye-bye." He also makes the "da-da" sound but I don't think he associates it with Cliff yet. He waves at everyone and just grins at them until they wave back and it is so precious. He is such a friendly little guy!
• has absolutely no interest in playing with toys. This should make Santa's job easy!