Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, we hope Santa brought you everything you wanted!!


A quick look at how Graham spent his Christmas Day:




And just for fun, a look back at G at Christmas last year - what a difference a year makes!!!

Bar O' Bubbles = Soaking Wet Mommy!!

Graham had a fun, bubbly treat in his bath water today! I picked up a Lush Bubble Bar for him, and he was in heaven!! If you've never tried Lush, it's a fantastic company, full of all sorts of green, earth friendly principles, luscious ingredients and none of the bad-for-you additives. I love that my baby can have a fun, foamy bath without any harsh surfactants or preservatives. And it's economical, one bath bar lasts through 4 or 5 baths, with lots and lots of bubbles, SEE:

Can you hear me now?

Graham has perfected the art of talking on the phone. I have noooooooo idea where he picked up this skill ;-)

One year photo shoot

Last month, we revisited our friends Jessica and Nate over at Mod4. And let me just tell you -- these are THE BEST pictures they've produced yet! We are having such a hard time choosing which ones to order. Any votes or suggestions? Check out their work, their fabulousness speaks for itself! Just click to visit the gallery, the password is: elyse

Happy viewing! Can't wait to hear what you think :-)

Hope you like change....

....because we have A LOT of it!!!

The month of November was a crazy one for us. Graham broke Mommy's camera, and Mommy broke Mommy's laptop (both of which I'm happy to report have since been replaced, thus ushering me back into the blogosphere!). Then we got word that our offer on a shortsale house got accepted and we were moving in two weeks. And as if THAT wasn't enough to send our heads spiraling, we were hit with this news:



That's right, Baby #2 is due July 12, 2010. I've said it before and I'll say it again....

Chaos Is Our Normal!

One and done

Well, my baby is no longer a baby, he's officially a toddler! The little stinker went ahead and grew up, and turned one last week :-)

Unfortunately, I'm not able to blog on depth about it, or anything reallly, since I no longer have a camera. That, coupled with the demise of my laptop, making blogging near impossible (this update is coming from my cell phone!!!).

Thank you for reading our blog over the past 8 months, and please check back after Christmas, maybe Santa will help cure our unblogability!

Graham vs. The Oreo (Halloween edition)

What else can I say, apparently he IS MY son....... ;-)

I want to rock and roll all night, and POTTY every day!

Big, exciting news in our household. Huge, even! THIS has been part of the bedtime routine for the last few weeks :-)





I know it's early, and I know it's probably just the luck of good timing, but Graham's getting pretty good at this whole "pee-pee in the potty" thing. I've been sitting him on it in the mornings before changing into his school clothes, and at night, just before bath or PJ time. And usually (and by usually, I mean 90% of the time), he'll actually GO in the potty. We've even gotten lucky a few times during the day and he's actually done more than just pee-pee in the potty. But I didn't take pictures of that, because let's admit it, no one likes to look at their own turds, let alone someone else's, right?!?!?

Belated Ball Game

Ok, ok, I apologize for letting our blog die a slow, boring death. Admittedly, it's all my fault -- or, more accurately, all my thumb's fault. Not knowing my own strength, I decided to ram my thumb through the screen of my laptop, rendering it completely useless. And it's kind of hard to blog without a computer, so..... yeah, you got a whole whoppin' three posts in September. My apologies. I'm now coming at you from a super industrial-strenght, slower than molasses desktop, but hey, I hear these things are a bit harder to destruct, so here's hopin'.......

While the Tigers were making a run for the playoffs (before they blew it), we took Graham to his very first ball game at Comerica Park. He LOVED it! Despite the cold weather, the layers upon layers of clothing we bundled him up in, and the lateness of the evening, he was an angel, completely enthralled with the action, the people, and the lights. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost, thus dashing out hopes of some October ball, but we still had a great time, and cannot wait to bring Graham along to a few more games next year.

Seriously, have you ever seen anything more beautiful?

Ahhhh, there's no place like home!

I've waited my whole life to take a picture like this!

Baseball Buddies


Freezing and tired, but still having fun!

730 days ago...

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary. It started out as a stressful day, complete with a clingy, diaper-rashed baby, a dirty, filthy house, and stupid work issues to deal with. Then...my husband came home, and my night quickly turned around - long stemmed red roses, a fantastic, touching card, a delicious dinner at Big Rock Chophouse, super expensive wine, and a fantastic sitter who picked up my house for me! I couldn't have asked for more :-) It was great. Seriously. Probably the best night I've had since... oh.... I dunno... our wedding festivities? Seriously, it was perfect!

Of course, in typical Elyse fashion, I forgot my camera. Again. So, unfortunately, no pictures of our fantastic meal, my handsome husband, or my gorgeous roses. But I wouldn't want to leave you without some kind of visual enjoyment, so here's some pictures from our honeymoon in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Look closely, you can see the worker who climbed the tree to get me a fresh coconut!

Our villa - we were upgraded to a honeymoon suite!

Erik's favorite cigar bar, fashioned after Ernest Hemmingway's place

Mariachi band at one of our a la carte dinners

Posing in front of the swim-up bar, our favorite spot in the entire resort!

The hotel at night - tiki torches were everwhere

My new hubby, enjoying one of the many yummy wines we had!

Being goofy, showing off my new wedding ring!

Space Filler

Ok, in all fairness, this post really should be titled: Mommy Is A Total Slacker And Would Forget Her Head If It Wasn't Attached To Her Shoulders

Because, it's not that we DON'T have updates. We do, we've had lots and lots of fun over the last week. It's just that I ("Mommy"), in all my hurried unpreparedness, didn't think to bring along a camera on any of our adventurs. Not once, not twice, but four or five times over this long weekend. So while we had *plenty* of fun photo ops worthy of preserving on film, my dumbass didn't have a camera. So yeah. You just get to read a whole bunch of blahbity-blah-blah about our Labor Day weekend instead. Fun, no?

Over this weekend, Graham made his first pilgrimage to Mommy's Mecca - Birch Run! We had lots and lots of fun dreaming of all the ways we could spend Daddy's money. But we were good, we have lots of stuff to save our pennies for. Then we went to Frankenmuth to have some chicken and potatoes and beer with Oma and Opa. A great time was had by everyone, and Graham was really enjoying his chicken and mashed potatoes! He even had some ice cream, thanks to his Oma.

On Labor Day, we went over to Franklin Village, to visit the Franklin Cider Mill. Graham had his first taste of apple cider and donuts - one of Mommy's favorites! Needless to say, they were both a hit with the little guy. Graham also started feeding himself off of his highchair tray - FINALLY! He was stuffing pancakes, chicken and grilled cheese into his mouth by the end of this weekend. He's been a little slow at the whole self-feeding thing, and it's really nice to be able to actually enjoy my dinner while he feeds himself next to me

:-)

--> Editing the blog to upload some pictures I have on my iPhone (big shout-out to my honey, who bought it for me! Thanks darlin', I love you!!!!!), of Graham during his first trip to the park. And please note the long pants, windbreaker AND socks he was sportin' in the middle of freaking SUMMER! That's Michigan for ya....

And visiting with his Aunt Jamie

Ten! And Nine

Today, Graham is 10 months old! I have a hard time calling him a "baby" or an "infant" now. Seemingly overnight, he's become an actual, honest-to-goodness PERSON, a mini-Erik in looks and a mini-me in attitude, an almost-toddler who's full of life. Full of charisma, smiles and a little bit of mischief. He has his likes (Mommy, biting, nursing, and singing) and his dislikes (lamb, Puffs, going to bed, wearing pants), and he has no problem letting you know exactly which is which. He consciously seeks out trouble objects, crawling to them with amazing speed. And he has perfected the innocent "who, me?! I wasn't doin' nuttin'" look when he gets caught with his hands in the dogs' water dish.

We took Graham to Mod4 to have his nine month pictures done in August, and a sampling of the pictures are up on her blog now (--> Pointing out the "His mom is also one of our favorite moms too~!" statement -- just in case y'all needed further proof of how awesome I really am!!!). If you like what you see, you can view (and order) the rest of the pictures in the gallery, the password is "elyse".

My Baby.

My Toddler.

My joy:

Put one foot in front of the other...

or

"The One Where Graham Walks"

So I get back from my girls' weekend up north, and I find that my baby is walking. Un-friggin-believable!!!!

Chomp, chomp, chomp

Well, Graham's bottom two teeth are officially in, and he's really working on using them! It's not unusual for him to crawl up to you, lunge for your feet, and chomp down on your big toe! And let me tell you -- IT HURTS! I think the only thing that Graham finds more delectable than big toes is our poor Maggie Moo's rear end. Poor girl!

If you look closely (or just double click on the pic to enlarge it), you can see G's bottom two front teeth:

As you can tell, he's been a wee bit crabby during this whole teething debacle experience. And sure enough, just as his bottom teeth have finished coming in, he's started cutting his top two. Let the hell joy continue. I just want my smiley, happy baby back.

In and out - a retrospective of the space-time continuum

Nine months, one week ago today:

Exactly nine months ago, today:

And today:


It's amazing to believe that Graham has officially been "outside" as long as he was "inside." The nine months of my pregnancy seemed to last for-ev-er. There was so much to do: researching, registering for and assembling baby gear. Getting the nursery ready. Worrying, wondering, and anticipating. It was a jam-packed nine months that just couldn't go by fast enough, I was so eager to meet my little man.

Then, suddenly, wheter we were ready for him or not, he arrived in typical Elyse/Erik fashion - whining, just a little late, and with a splash of drama ;-) And it only took one look, and I knew - my life was forever changed, and the word "love" took on a whole new meaning. I was smitten.

And now. Now. I cannot imagine my life without this smiley, smart, loveable boy. In fact, I have a hard time even remembering what life was like before he was here. Whereas the nine months of my pregnancy dragged on, these last nine months have flown by. It's been a whirlwind of feeding, diapering, laughing and marveling at the perfect little person who's growing up too fast, right before our eyes.

Graham is motoring around the house now, crawling from room to room, completely fascinated by electrical cords, dog water dishes, and dog bones (ick). It's dumbfounding to realize that I no longer have to pick up my son when I leave the room. Now, he'll just follow along after me, motoring along on his hands and toes - no hands and knees for this boy, he crab-crawls on his hands and toes (I REALLY have to get a video uploaded on here for y'all to see). He's eating more and more solids, and gives himself his own water out of his sippy cups. Graham LOVES him some water - that's my boy, a camel, just like his momma!

We go to the pediatrician on Thursday to get some immunizations and have a height/weight check, and then it's off to Mod4 for his 9 month portraits. I'll be sure to update after that. In the meantime, I've got a little grinning NINE! MONTH! OLD! boy to enjoy: