Month 9 of My Creation

With two bottom teeth, and the ability to get in to crawling position from sitting, Graham has reached his 9th month. He is the still the happiest baby I've seen. He loves to bounce and stand with help. He says, "ra-ra-ra-ra and na-na-na, it's cute because his cheeks get all chubby as he forms the words. His best friend is probably Nick. They have their little "inside jokes" and laugh and play together as soon as Nick gets home from work. We love our son to pieces and are excited to share his first Christmas with him! I had to get cute pics of him with the tree on this first Christmas of his.

8 Month Olds, They're Just Like Us!

Well it's true, babies really do grow up fast. Dang it. I wish it weren't so. Yes it's getting more and more fun, but there's nothing like a baby in the first few months of life. Sometimes I can't believe i'm saying it when I talk about how he needs to start eating solids without a bottle, or other things that mean he's growing up. It really is a bitter sweet time! Now, here's a sneak peak at how babies are becoming more like us and can do so many grown up things!


They take baths!
(He graduated from his baby tub)

 They Stand!
(with help of an ottoman, but he does so well!)

They hold their own drinking device!
(Since September, this has saved me so much time)

 They sleep through the night! (Since August, blessed day, no this is not a pic of him sleeping during the night, but it is to represent)

 


SLOW down Graham!

A Big Deal

19.5 lbs 26.5 in and holding his bottle!!

I only let him do this once a day for practice and sometimes he needs help because his hands slowly slip away but I definitely am able to do other things! 

yes, that's all

6 Months Right Before My Eyes

When I first held Graham in my arms, today seemed very far off, in fact I didn't even think about it. It was us and our newborn--for a short while. Why do babies have to grow SO fast. Us adults pretty much look and act the same when we did three years ago. Big whoop. I really want to push pause, actually I wish I could have pushed pause three months ago. So far I've loved newborn-three months. Yes every age is fun and exciting, but there's nothing like those first few months. Now it seems Graham is becoming a kid! Sitting up, laughing, talking, playing with toys, he's interactive!

Just yesterday I got Graham to sit up for about ten seconds, and it was really exciting! And today, he sat up for 3 minutes. How do babies learn this over night? He didn't have that much practice, his body just decided to be strong enough. Well, ok! He's been A LOT of fun this boy. Sleeping through the night is a hit and miss, but I'm testing the waters with feeding him before bed. Thrice in a row he's slept through the night when I feed him at 8pm (He goes down 10ish) rather then RIGHT before bed. I don't know why, but it's been working, so I'll take it. Well I can't figure out how to post videos on here, but I put one on FB. So here are some pics of my growing boy.

We've been comfortable in the basement here at my folks. It's a total transformation, and if you've seen this basement before it was renovated, you'd know what I was talking about. Here's some pics of our new home.

Nicks loving his job at the stain glass studio, though now a days he's unable to pull 8 hour shifts because of his arm, it begins to hurt and he hardly uses it at all so he's close to border line useless at work, but I'm glad he can find something to do. I'm just home, raising a child and I love it. We're happy and loving life.

Two Months Old

WOWZA, two months already? Man, being a mom is the funnest. Even though it's practically the same thing every day, I love it because something new always happens in Graham. He smiles all the time now when he sees us and coo at him. It's amazing how he's become more aware and alert. He's very vocal and has almost laughed a few times. Until about a week ago, he woke up at 3 or 4 every night, now it's 1 and 4 am...not sure if this is new or if it's because he's had the sniffles; we'll see. His favorite things are bath time, being on his tummy on my tummy while we hold his head up for him (my sister did this yesterday and he was perfectly still and calm, loved it so much) eating, napping for 3 hours (new routine since about two weeks ago, I love it too) conversing in baby talk, car rides, and his binkie. My Graham is a binkie boy for sure. Well here's some pictures to show how my boy is growing. We love him immensely.

1 Month Approaching

Two more days and our little man will be one month old-truly crazy. Today I officially finished the nursery. Tidied up and made some finishing touches. He probably won't sleep in his crib for about a month or so, maybe less, but we'll be in there more now that I've put the rocking chair in :) So fun.

Had to put Graham in the crib in order to get the full affect.

Week 2

Time really does fly when you're having fun! Graham is such a good boy...really. When he's eaten and slept he just lays there and stares into the abyss, perfectly content, when this happens i usually like to hold him and take advantage of his well behaved manners and cuteness. This weeks appt he lost even more weight, he should be a his birth weight but he isn't. So we're going to eat every three hours instead of two, and push for 3 oz instead of 2. Appt on Monday we'll check is weight again, hopefully our new system will have worked!

Newborn Portraits March 1

 Here are just a few of the many darling portraits my sister shot of Graham, he did so well!

One Week Old

I can't believe it's already been a week! Graham is still so new but I find myself already missing his newborn days. When we left the hospital Tuesday night, I felt a little sad. Sure I was so glad to be going home and have all my belongings again, but the room I was in the past two days I had become attached to. It was in that very room I held my brand new son for the first time, it was in that room he lived with us so fresh and new, so quiet and perfect. Leaving that room, I said goodbye to those oh so precious moments we experienced with him in his first two days of  life. My hospital stay was pleasant. I was constantly amazed at the help of the nurses. They were incredible from the morning I checked in to the night we left with the nurse that walked us to our car. The time had arrived too quickly to take him home and start the parenting life.

Wednesday morning was beautiful. I had moved to the couch late tues night because of fussing and I wanted to deal with it in the other room so Nick could sleep. I had Graham nestled against me last few hours before dawn. I woke up to the early sun faintly lighting the room. I don't know why but knowing we had slept till morning was such a relaxing happy feeling. My baby had slept soundly. I treasured his soft sweet breathing against my chest. This sounds very much like poetry, but that's how it  really was. It was such  a sweet morning for us all having him in our home for the first time. 

Graham isn't a champion nurser, but he's not a hopeless one either. We practice several times a day. I think because of his pallet, he has a hard time latching and pulling. Be patient young prince, we'll get it down. (I hope) 

This week has seriously been so much fun- F.U.N. I love every minute of being a mom, whether he's awake, asleep, eating, fussing ( which hardly happens) its all so wonderful and I've seriously been waiting for this all my life. 

Can't wait for a new week with new things that'll be  happening every day! I love my family!

Honey, I Think My Water Broke

When did your baby come?  How early was your baby? Did you have your baby on their due date? When the end of my pregnancy drew near it's end I found that the answers to these questions did not help because everyone is different so you really can't go off of anothers story even if you wish it would happen to you. Because of this I was so excited to finally know what my personal birth story would be. Well here it is.

Feb 23-second day I had regular braxton hicks contractions. Nothing too painful just uncomfortable. I heard from a few people that raspberry leaf tea has worked for inducing their labor. So, we tried it. I drank only half a mug around 7, and didn't feel any different. If it wasn't me talking I'd say it was a wild coincident because at 1:30 in the morning Feb 24, I woke up to some mildly painful contractions and then liquids draining from within. WHAT?! I got up and rushed to the bathroom and without a doubt I knew my water had broken and was continuing to break. There was also blood so I knew this was it. I called to Nick and told him that my water broke. I called my midwife and she okay'd us to be on our way to the hospital with no particular rush. We were finally on the road about a half hour later. We checked in, and they got me all set up like they do. This is it, we're going to have our baby soon, like this morning! I know it because my water broke. So, normally when your water breaks you're at least dilated to a 2 or 3. The first nurse to take care of me told me I was dilated to a 1 (which later I found out was assumed) once my midwife showed up a little before noon, she confirmed I was not even dilated and was very surprised herself. "How did you water break?" she'd ask me. With how things were looking she mentioned he might not come till the middle of the night the next day. Luckily that was not so, once they gave my cytotec which got me to a 4 in about 4 hours. She was so excited that it worked. By that time I was still unmedicated and the contractions were intense. I got the epidural soon after which was glorious; I felt so relaxed afterward. Well like most people I continued to dilate over a period of a few more hours. It was incredible that I couldn't feel the contractions because they were literally off the charts. Around 7:30 with each contraction I felt a lot of pressure (which was him dropping) I'm glad I felt these because I was able to inform them each time they checked on me that it was intensifying. Around 8 o'clock I was cleared to push. Things were fine, not too uncomfortable, just pushing every contraction (or when I felt the need) until about 9:15 or 9:20 the medication wore off completely and I experienced real birthing pain and turned totally Hollywood. I was giving birth and I could feel it. Nick was able to help deliver the baby which was neat for him. He did great and didn't even come to close to feeling faint. At 9:35 he was completely out and hearing that cry was incredible. Of course I cried with joy and relief. I DID IT! That day was full of surprises. The first being that my water broke, the second that I was not dilated (would have easily been sent home had it not been the water) the third being the amount of time between checking in and to when he was born, and the fourth his weight- 9lbs 8 oz. No wonder pushing was so hard! It's so true- the instant love that falls over you in just seconds. I love the bond I feel with my son and the bond I know he feels with me. We were one for 9 months, and it's wonderful to finally be able to feed him, smell him, and hold him. He's an angel.

Monday, the pediatrician visited us and gave us some quite alarming news, she discovered a cleft on Graham's soft palate. So far this has hardly affected his feeding which is a relief. He doesn't nurse too well so I'm going to pump but we won't stop trying. He's perfect with bottles and not bad at the pacifier. Surgery won't be performed for another 3 months or so. Again it's his soft pallet which is a relief because that results in a much easier procedure than if it was a cleft on his hard palate. Regardless, he is beautiful and healthy.

We love our baby and are already having so much fun with him! We can't wait to go home this evening and begin our new life together. We are a family!