Busy February!

This has been a challenging month. It began with Graham having pink eye and the beginnings of an ear infection. For the record, someone needs to come up with a better treatment for pink eye than prying a baby's eyes open for eye drops three times a day. Pure torture! As soon as we celebrated the end of those infections, Graham got a cold. Did I mention that in the midst of that, we were having spur-of-the-moment showings for our townhouse?! One day someone showed up just before his morning nap, so I drove us all the way to Smithfield so he could sleep. At least there was some shopping to do when we got there! =) Anyway, our townhouse sold! We also have found a new house and are under contract!

Aside from his sicknesses, Graham's been doing well. He's beginning to stand on his own now, just for a few seconds. He also climbs the stairs very easily (with us right behind him). The most exciting milestone to me is that he ate his first non-pureed food without throwing up. I've been hesitant to try out textured foods again with Graham, but today I gave him a "Mum Mum" (dissolving cracker type snack), and he went to town! I was so excited to see him holding his own food and crunching away!

10 Months Old = Urgent Babyproofing!

We tried to hold off on full-fledged baby-proofing since our house is on the market, but we can't wait any longer. Graham prefers drawers and cabinets to any of his toys now! No matter what room I'm in, he goes straight to his favorite drawer or cabinet to pull everything out. In the kitchen he likes to pull out every single Ziploc bag, in the bathroom he gets Drew's toothbrush (which hides in a low cabinet for house showings), and in the loft he opens the file drawer and pulls out his x-rays. It may be a lot of work to install child safety locks, but I think it's going to save us from the constant scramble we do now!

Two-A-Days

We're down to two naps a day now. We had previously been squeezing three in when possible, but it started to seem like Graham wasn't sleepy enough to put him down that often. It sure makes it easier to plan a day without three naps going on. The downside is that there is a long stretch between nap #2 and bedtime, and it's sometimes hard to keep Graham entertained that long. Our fall-back entertainment plan is to watch the cartoon "Sid, the Science Kid" (we keep several on the DVR!). It's got some really catchy music that Drew and I have taken a liking to!

Last week I went to the Kids Exchange consignment sale at the Raleigh fairgrounds. It was so overwhelming that I didn't really try to look at anything other than clothes. It's hard to predict what size Graham will be when the weather is warm, but I just went to the long aisles of 18-month clothes and found lots of cute stuff. Now I just have to find a place to put it all.

Walking...With the Help of Dino

I couldn't resist getting Graham this cute little dinosaur that he can push. As soon as I put it together he was off! I was worried that it would roll out from under him, but he does a pretty good job of keeping up. He's so cute smiling proudly at us as he walks across the room. It gives me visions of him as a 12-year old boy mowing it lawn (probably without the smile).

During Christmas and through the stomach virus week, we gave Graham a vacation from his least favorite vegetables. Now, we realize absence has not made his heart grow fonder! He refuses to eat anything green now, among other things. Our solution to this is to mix vegetables into the oatmeal he loves. It's an ugly mess, but he's much more likely to eat it this way. I'm sure we gross out the people around us when we take this concoction to restaurants. Hopefully we'll work our way back to the plain ol' veggies soon. We're still not giving Graham finger foods because the three times we've tried, he gagged and threw up. The pediatrician said some children just take longer to adjust to the texture. Oh well. Some new things he does lately are reaching out and opening/closing his hand (kinda like a wave), and shaking his head "no." His timing of the "no" head shake is funny sometimes...like when we left a daycare tour and the director asked him if he would like to come back.

Happy New Year!

We had a great Christmas! On Christmas Eve, we went to Raleigh to spend time with Drew's family. Graham stayed up extra late to socialize with his relatives, but around 9, we put him to sleep in his pack 'n play so that we could continue hanging out, eating dessert, and watching DVDs of old Christmas cartoons. Eventually, we had to wake up the sleeping baby to take him back to Apex. The next morning, Drew carried Graham down the stairs to see what Santa had delivered.... a toy truck, a book, a musical hammer, and a lion puppet. The truck was definitely the favorite. Then, we rushed (too much rush) to finish packing and headed to Stedman for lunch with the Gainey clan. Graham did a great job sitting at the table in his portable high chair while we ate. He had a good time playing with wrapping paper and his toys during the opening of about a hundred gifts (slight exaggeration). We think next year he'll be able to take over my role as gift distributor. Without a midday nap, Graham fell asleep as soon as we loaded up to head to my parents' house in Clinton. Later that day, my mom's side of the family came over for a candlelight Christmas dinner. It wasn't supposed to be a candlelight dinner, but a power outage set the festive mood for us. Graham seemed to enjoy having his little second cousins to play with in "the hexagon" (a playpen).

The day after Christmas, we woke up to see LOTS OF SNOW! Even though it created some inconveniences (like another power outage), the experience was worth it. We passed up the Christmas leftovers to drive around and find a place that was open for lunch. Andy's it was. After lunch, we built a rugged snowman for Graham. I made a mental note to figure out what people use to decorate snowman faces, and keep those things on hand in case we ever get a chance for a do-over. Unfortunately, the snow prevented Drew's grandparents from making their drive from VA to Raleigh. Hopefully we'll have a late Christmas get-together with them soon. It was probably for the best though, because we brought a stomach virus back to Apex with us that Graham and I really struggled with. I think we're finally well though - just in time for 2011!! Last New Year's Eve, Drew and I went out for steaks and then put a crib together. This New Year's Eve, we heated a frozen dinner and watched a movie from the floor (our sofa cushions were in the washing machine because Graham threwup all over them). Then, as the Times Square ball was dropping on tv, we listened to our little boy wake up and cry from his crib! Our lives have definitely changed a lot, and we realize that we are so blessed for what we've been given.

Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas

After two failed attempts to have Graham's picture taken with Santa (the lines were too long), tonight it happened! We found out that there is home in Apex where Santa welcomes families into his decorated garage for pictures. It was actually a nice setup, and more cozy than the mall. Santa's strategy was for us to back Graham into his lap to prevent a panic. Good idea. Graham was more interested in the mobile circling around the garage ceiling than anything else!

I think we're finally all set for Christmas. All the gifts are wrapped (mostly purchased online...Graham doesn't love shopping), cooking is in progress, and we've watched parts of our favorite Christmas movies (Elf and Christmas Vacation). It's especially tough preparing for the holidays when I have a little shadow who cries when I walk away from him. The picture above shows him finding me in the kitchen. So, now it's finally time to stop and enjoy Christmas because it will be over too soon!

Daddy, Take Me!

Our lives have been chaotic lately. We've been making little upgrades to our townhouse and cleaning it from top to bottom to put it on the market. Just after the realtor took pictures for the listing, we drug down a thousand boxes from the attic to decorate for Christmas. Every night, Drew and I tell ourselves we're almost through with the craziness. I'm afraid we'll never completely reach a calm point though. I think that's parenthood. Now Drew's headed out of town for a work trip, so Graham and I are going to have to manage without him.

Graham has been doing really well lately. He's been laughing, baby-talking, crawling at record speed, and pulling himself up with no problem. He's also learning to lower himself from standing to sitting. One of our favorite new things he does is dance. I first noticed it in Target, when he bopped up and down while I pushed him in the cart. Now he does it lots, especially if we bop with him and sing "Go Graham, Go Graham." He's going to be a natural in the center of a dance circle! We're getting excited about our first Christmas as a family of three. This week we had a decorating "party," and invited Aunt Susan and Uncle Ryan to hangout and babysit while we decorated the tree. Graham loves to look at the lights. I'm sure he also would love to eat the tree branches, but we put up a baby gate to prevent that. People keep asking what we're getting him for Christmas, and I have to admit that it's not something I'm really thinking about. We're saving up for a carseat and jogging stroller, but maybe I need to give him at least one new thing to play with Christmas morning. Wonder what that should be?