How is it June already?!?!

Um...wow... has it really been an entire month since I've updated the blog?? And how in the world is it June ALREADY?!?!? It's so surreal, we get to meet our baby girl next month - Cecilia is due in just 37 days :-)

35 weeks pregnant, ready to head out to our fantastic sprinkle!

For Memorial Day, we all went up north to Traverse City to visit Graham's Grammy and Grampy. Graham had his first adventures playing in sand and the lake. And I think it's safe to say he enjoyed both! I don't have any pics of him swimming in the lake, I was too busy trying to keep my little fish afloat, but I did capture some of his grins in the sand:

Enjoying the view of the lake

"Here, Mommy, stop taking pictures and play with me!"

Soaking up the rays after a long swim

(don't worry, he was slathered in sunblock!!)

Another first for Graham was his visit to the zoo with our friends Melissa and Hailey. We had a great time, Graham really enjoyed running around the monkey house and loved the lions. If you ask him what the lion says, he'll tell you "rawr". Ah-dora-ble!!


And for *some reason* the kangaroos reminded me so much of our Maggie and Gibson, I just had to take a picture. Ahhh... nature at its finest ;-)

Um...'scuse me, but where's mah behbey?

I think it's official -- my baby is no longer a baby. He's a toddler. Because, well, he TODDLES. EVERYWHERE! When you put his coat on, he toddles over the to door to the garage and reaches for the knob. If you open that door, he toddles over to the door of the car and waits for you to lift him into his carseat. He toddles through malls, parking lots and into daycare holding your hand. Just like he's, you know, alittleboyandnotababymama. Sigh. So sweet and so exciting to watch him grow up, but so sad to see the little vestiges of babyhood slowly disappearing; his little leg rolls, his chubby fingers and clumsy hands, the way he looks to mama for everything - they're all more of a memory than a reality now. But really, I can't complain too much, because I get to see this goofball every morning:

We had Graham's 15 month appointment with the pediatrician earlier this month, and as usual, Graham was more fascinated with playing with the paper on the table than being examined. But for once, it wasn't all "Yup, looks great, see you in 3 months." Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful, but we do need to keep an eye on his weight for the next few months. Graham only gained 0.75 pounds over the last three months, throwing him off his growth curve, so we need to work on getting him to eat more, or at least more often. His stats this appointment were:
length: 31.25" (55 percentile)
weight: 23 lbs (30 percentile)
head circumference: 47 (45 percentile)

So, project "Fatten Graham Up (the healthy way)" has begun. And so far, the most success we've had is by getting him to dip his food - ranch dressing with breadsticks, carmel dip and apples, and ketchup with...well, anything. I'll save those pictures for another blog post, but trust me, it's adorable. And so very grown up looking. Again...Sigh. Bye bye baby. Hello, ketchup dipping toddler.

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!

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?!?!?

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:

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:

All grows up

When Graham was 3 months old, we started going to a parenting group, organized by Beaumont Hospital. All of the babies in our group were born within a month of each other, and all of us parents were first-timers. The group was really beneficial, bi-weekly topics ranged from feeding to safety to baby learning. Most importantly, it gave all of us the opportunity to vent about, identify with, and get advice for what we were all going through. We had a great group of parents, and friends, and now that our 6 month session is over, I really hope we can manage to keep in touch and continue to meet up - we met some seriously cool parents with equally cool kids!

This first picture was taken 2 weeks into our group meeting, when they were all smooshy babies who couldn't even sit up on their own:

From left to right: Kelsey, Elias, Lily, Graham, Samantha, Jacob, Jack and Anna

And now look at them! This one was take this past Monday, at our last official parenting meeting. Look how big everyone's grown!!

Back row (L to R): Anna, Madelyn, Graham, Jack, Samantha
Front row (L to R): Elias, Kelsey, Jacob, Lily

Catching up, the lightening round!

Whew, busy month! Sorry for the lack of updates, here's a quick month-in-review:

Graham went up north and saw his Grammy and Grampy

...and the tree planted in his honor

Got a new stroller

Started crawling, and is going everywhere, FAST!
...and getting into EVERYTHING


The lucky boy got some fun new toys (thanks Melissa!)

And gets cuter by the minute!

Quick Updates....

We've been busy in the two weeks since our last post -- Graham's tooth has yet to make an appearance, it's hanging out just below the surface, but is definitely making itself known - G is still pretty miserable and drooley, mainly at night. But we're coping. In the mean time, Graham's been very busy. See:

Hanging out in his crib....

Wearing...er, I mean, eating his food....

Meeting new best friends....

and the Easter Bunny....

And just looking cute in general.

While Graham's mastered the art of rolling back-to-tummy, we're still waiting for him to figure out tummy-to-back. He's officially five months old now, so hopefully it'll be soon!

Grin and bear it....

We're in teething hell and will return to our regularly scheduled blogging when it's over, or when I regain my sanity, whichever comes first.

Rice, Rice Baby!

Last night was a very big day.... Graham had his first bites of "big boy food!!" I decided to start him on it a few days shy of his 4-month milestone primarily because he's going through his 4 month growth spurt, and Erik and I are both thisclose to losing our minds. You see, our son is ALWAYS hungry, trying to get enough fuel to facilitate his mammoth growing skillz And how did Graham take to his cereal?? I'll let the pictures tell the story....

He likes it! Hey, Mikey likes it! :-)

So, let's share....

Ok, I've decided that I need to "get with it," join the masses, and become part of the blogging culture. It wasn't an easy decision to come to - mainly because I'm insanely hard to please, and I KNOW I won't have enough time to devote to adequate blogging and updates. Because there's nothing more irritating than reading someone's blog, and then having it go in hiatus for weeks on end.

So, I promise to try to update as much as humanly possible, if you promise not to uphold me to impossible standards. Deal??

So what's going on in our life? Notawholehelluvalot, and that's not exactly a bad thing! Graham's been with us for an entire 12 weeks, and Erik and I haven't yet gone insane, gotten divorced, or otherwise inflicted bodily harm on eachother. I'll even put myself out there and venture to say we might actually be getting a hang of this whole parenting thing.... not that it's been easy, but honestly, we are really lucky and have an adorable, well behaved, enjoyable son to ease our learning curve.

I started back to work last week, and we're finally settling into our routine. So far, Graham's been really good the days I work from home. He's so happy playing on his own in his bouncy chair, and he's starting to understand the dynamics behind the Jumperoo. Thank goodness for all of the toys we were fortunate enough to receive from our generous friends at our showers!

Here are some images of what I get to look to my left and see every Tuesday and Thursday. This DEFINITELY beats staring at a cubicle wall!

Playing is such tiring work!

Watching mommy work

My little thumb sucker!