Our Teddy Graham

Our 7-month old teddy Graham just celebrated his first Halloween. He didn't mind wearing his costume, but he hated the process of putting it on. I'm not surprised about that. These days he hates to be restrained for things he finds annoying (diaper changes, sitting for long periods of time at a restaurant table, outfit changes, etc). On Friday night, our little bear made his debut for Fall Fest at church. He was underwhelmed. He and I weren't lucky in the cake walk, but he did get a balloon to take home. Graham is interested in balloons. He's been gazing at my "Happy Anniversary" balloon for weeks, and the curly ribbon tied to it makes it that much better!

Graham has only been crawling for a little over a week now, but he's not stopping there... he is learning to pull himself up into a standing position! So far he's only done this completely on his own in the crib (scary!). Drew and I had just lowered his mattress to the middle level, and the next day when I put him down for a nap, I looked at the video monitor and saw him standing there with his hands on the edge! It made me so nervous that I couldn't do anything until I saw that he had finally plopped back down to sleep. I think he uses the bumper to crawl upward until he can reach the rail. He's really keeping us on our toes now!

The Cast is Off

We've had a lot going on the last couple weeks. The most significant is that my grandmother, Mama King, passed away last Wednesday (Oct 20). She was 87 and dealing with some medical problems, but we all thought she had been fairly stable lately. She always made it clear how much she loved us, and we will miss her so much! I'm glad she was able to spend a little time with Graham, but we all would have enjoyed more time with her.

Last Tuesday Graham finally hit the 3-week mark to have his cast removed! We had been counting down every single day. He seemed pretty calm until the nurse turned on the really loud saw to cut off the cast. He screamed through that, and than again during the follow-up x-rays. The nurse said everything healed really well and the bone is now probably stronger than it used to be. Just a couple days after the cast was removed, Graham officially crawled! He's still not very steady sitting independently, and he doesn't care to practice that skill now that he's on the move! At Graham's delayed 6-month well visit (we waited for the cast to come off), the doctor said he looks healthy. His length and head circumference are around average, but his weight is only at the 5th percentile. That seems like a problem to me, but the doctor wasn't concerned. We're still feeding him some beginning solids, although they shouldn't be called "solids" because they are total mush. He likes oatmeal cereal in the morning, but hates the vegetables we've been trying at supper. Well...he did like sweet potatoes, but that was it. I don't know how much longer we'll be attempting the other veggies before we treat him to fruits.

On October 15, Drew and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. We got up early for a romantic breakfast at Cracker Barrel before heading to Ocean Isle for the weekend with our Sunday school class. We rented an oceanfront duplex, which was perfect because we were able to divide the 10 couples into a "with babies" and "without babies" side. We had a great time! It was slightly stressful to manage Graham's schedule and night wake-ups, but it turned out to go pretty smoothly. Drew and I feel like it's good to do things like that so we don't turn into antisocial, homebound parents with an inflexible child.

Tar Heel Baby Summit

This past weekend, a group of Drew's college friends came into town to hangout with each other and all the new babies. This event was declared the "Tar Heel Baby Summit." In the picture, there's 13-month Jack, 3-week Eden, 8-month Madeleine, and 6-month Graham. We kicked off the event with a group dinner on Franklin Street. Fun, but with 12 adults and 4 babies, it was slightly chaotic for the parents. Saturday the guys enjoyed tailgating and watching the football game from awesome box seats. The older babies got to play together at our house for the afternoon, which was cute. Graham and Madeleine even decided to hold hands for a little while. Sunday we all got together for several hours to hangout, eat, and baby-watch. Graham was pretty laid back, and would quietly try to socialize with the other babies by crawling after them or touching them. We attempted to put him down for a nap at one point, and he let us know loud and clear that he was NOT interested in sleeping through all the action. So, he won that battle and we skipped the afternoon nap that day. It was a great weekend -- seeing old friends and meeting new additions.

Graham is handling life in cast like a champ. We think his leg is completely healed because he will kick it around like crazy, and even chew on the little toes poking out the end of the cast! Somehow he is moving faster than ever. He can scoot himself across the den floor in less than a minute, headed straight toward dangerous things like tables, electrical cords, etc. I'm afraid it's time to baby proof the house.

Mother of the Year (and 6 Months)

Just kidding. I am officially withdrawing from any "Mother of the Year" contest, after causing Graham to break his leg. Two days ago I slipped on our evil, narrow stairs when I was carrying him. I landed on my butt and broke his fall, but he screamed like crazy for a long time. I called our pediatrician's office, and the nurse had me answer a couple questions to be sure he didn't suffer a concussion, but that was it. I was still worried because he cried when I laid him down, and he wouldn't roll over or put weight on his legs. Eventually I noticed that his left leg seemed sensitive to him. So....yesterday morning I called the nurse back, and she suggested Graham go in for a check-up (she probably figured if we didn't do this, I would continue to call her all day). This is where things turned worse. The doctor agreed that his left leg wasn't moving like his right, and she sent us to the lab for x-rays. I had to hold down the hungry, tired, crying baby as they took several pictures. Then we went back to the doctor to talk about the results: he had a small buckle fracture on his left femur (just above the knee). They wanted us to go to a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon asap. I started to panic as I thought about what might have to happen. Surgery? A Cast? All this on such a little baby who was just learning to sit and crawl.

Fast forward a couple hours, and Drew and I were at the orthopaedic clinic (I had to call Drew for this appointment because I was a wreck). The doctor told us good things: this type of fracture is really common, babies heal quickly, and it won't have any lasting impact. He said the bone will grow back correctly on its own, but he wanted to put a cast on for 3 weeks just for the extra support. I held Graham in my lap while the nurses wrapped his leg in a cast. It was actually a very non-threatening process...they said it was like a craft project. When we left, Drew and I cheered and clapped for Graham, and he smiled. I felt okay when I realized he was still a happy baby. He even got a new stuffed animal last night to cheer him up. Its name is Femur.

Happy half-birthday Graham!! I'm so sorry!!

First Football Game

Things change so fast that I can hardly keep up with the baby milestones anymore. I've been curious about whether or not Graham may be teething because he has been drooling, coughing, and chomping down on toys like a little piranha. I thought there was some suspicious texture on his bottom gum, and on Sunday, Drew and I spotted two little white specks! It looks like his two front bottom teeth are coming in! He's been handling it well though, because his mood has been pretty good for some big events recently.

Thursday night, our friend Kate came by during her visit from NY. Though Graham was not very cordial at first, he warmed up to her quickly over a Cracker Barrel pancake breakfast. On Saturday, he attended his first Carolina football game. Actually, I should say that he mostly just visited the campus. He had a good time hanging out on a blanket in the quad with his friend JT. He also showed off by doing some independent sitting (for about 15 seconds)! Just before kick-off, Graham and I strategically strolled around the library and student store to wait for the loud jet fly-over to happen. By the time we got to the stadium, I realized he had fallen fast asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake him up, so we sat in the shade for about an hour while he napped (through fireworks, loud cheering, etc). When he woke up, we headed down to our sunny seats to watch the game. That lasted for about three plays. We were both really hot, and when he started to whimper, I decided to end the day around halftime before things went downhill (for us and the team). Wait -- does that mean Drew left at halftime? No, we drove two cars of course!

No More, PLEASE!!

Since Graham's pediatrician okayed starting rice cereal, we've been trying to figure out when the right time might be. I bought baby bowls, spoons, and the cereal, but there was no clear "go time." He's never been one to go very long between feedings, but he does seem pretty satisfied after he eats. Recently, we weighed Graham and plotted his weight on the bell curve to check his percentile rank (keeping my school psychology skills fresh!). His 14-lb self is only around the 15th percentile compared to other 5 1/2 month babies, so we decided to break out the solids. As you can see, he was NOT a fan!! We've been experimenting with the consistency because the texture must have grossed him out. Last night (night 4) we had success! He opened his mouth for the spoon, and didn't make the throwup face. We'll see if this happy eating continues.

Our Den Is a Baby Playground

Graham used to only need a swing during the day. When we had to put him down, that's where he went. He probably could have taken naps in his pack 'n play or crib, but all we knew was that the swing worked. Now that he needs much more entertaining, he spends his wake time alternating between his activity mat, the bumbo, the bouncer, and us. Each can only keep him happy for a little while, so it's nice to have lots of options. (Uh oh...is he getting spoiled already?) His favorite thing to do is stand up and "walk," so I'm glad his legs finally got long enough for the bouncer, since Drew and I run out of steam before he does. It seems like Graham's going to skip the sitting and crawling stages and go straight to walking. He's very mobile now, doing a variety of rolls and leg pushes. It makes it really challenging to change his diaper without a helper to hold him in place!

We spent labor day weekend at the beach with my parents, and everyone was glad to have each others' company. Graham watched his first Carolina football game, and even offered his hand when Drew requested a high-five! Unfortunately, he went to bed before the team's rally. He's hoping he'll get to witness a good game with a full roster of players this season!