Macy is 8 Months!

Macy,


Happy 8 months sweet-heart! You have changed so much in the last month, especially in regards to mobility. You are getting around quickly and confidently. You are not crawling, but you roll quickly and do 360’s on your tummy to get where you want to go. You are starting to get up on your hands and knees and rock, so maybe crawling is on the horizon, we’ll see.

You will hang out in this position.  It reminds me of a pilates move!

It is so cute to watch you play. You know what you want and you go after it. Your favorite toy is a ball-tivity from GaGa and Papa for Valentine’s Day.  You love it. You also really like your music table. It was your big brother’s when he was a baby! Graham is excited to see his old toys make reappearance. When he sees you playing with one of his old toys, he will pull it towards himself and start playing. Then you make your way over there and pull it back after voicing your protests! Usually you guys end up sharing.

Picture taken on Valentine's Day.

Speaking of your voice, you are babbling more and more now.  You say, "da-da-da," which Daddy loves to hear, though you haven't made the connection yet. 

You are getting big. You are the perfect squeezable size.  Not sure of your weight, but you are wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers.  You got your first tooth earlier this month. It seemed to bother you for a day or two. Otherwise you’ve been fine with it.

I spy a tooth!

You are eating solids very well now. You eat 3 solid meals a day. An example of a typical day's meals: for breakfast you’ll have pears and oatmeal, for lunch you’ll have a butternut-apple combo, and for dinner you’ll have sweet-potatoes.

You still nurse 5 or 6 times a day. I love that time. It’s the only time you really like to cuddle. You are done in about 5 minutes. You have always been a fast nurser. You are sleeping much better than last month. I guess the trick was to turn up the heat in the house! You go to bed around 9 or 9:30 and wake between 7:30 and 8:30. You take two naps during the day, each about an hour.

You sleep with your face straight down on the mattress.  How quirky!

You are a very easy baby. Your demeanor is as sweet as can be. I love watching you grow and learn. We still can’t get over how cute you are. We are thankful, so thankful, you are ours! We all love you so much!!

The rest of your 8 month shoot:

Look at those chins!  I LOVE baby pudge, just love it!!

 

Love,
Mommy


*Macy turned 8 mos 2/21/12.

Graham is four!

Graham,

Well my darling, you are four! Before I describe the wonderful boy you are today, I must confess that earlier this month I had such a tough time. You see, your sister Macy is almost 8 months and she does so many things that remind me of you as a baby. That is such a wonderful thing. That way I get to relive those moments a bit. However, it is also bittersweet. Just like I love the boy you are today, I loved the baby you were then. So even though you are still here and still wonderful, you are not that same little baby anymore. I wish I could return to those days for an afternoon just to bounce you on my lap and sing, “Wheels on the Bus.” Usually when I am melancholy about something, it passes rather quickly, but this funk hung around for a few days. “My baby? Four? How did this happen? And he’s still so young. Soon he’ll be 10, then 15…WAHHH!” Finally, Macy and I spent an afternoon watching videos and looking at pictures. I thought that was going to make it worse and that I was a glutton for punishment, but it didn’t. It broke the funk, I got my “baby Graham” fix. While I can’t return, I still have these cherished memories captured, and more importantly I still have you, my sweet boy, every day. Before I move on, I must share some of my favorite baby photos of you.

3.5 Months-  You fell asleep in my arms every night, and I would hold you for hours.

4.5 Months- Bouncing on Mommy's lap.

6.5 Months- Our first night in S. Africa.  You'd never know you were just on a plane for 30 hours!

7.5 Months- Fun with Daddy.

8.5 Months- So much personality!!



8.5 Months- Just a couple weeks older than Macy.

 Throughout the rest of the post I will share the second set of your 4 yrs pics that I took.  The first set is here.


I got the prints as a gift at your baby shower.  I framed them and they match your room perfectly!


The most wonderful part of you growing older is learning more and more about the person you are. You are so sweet and lovable. You are developing a sense of humor. Before your birthday I asked you how old you were going to be, and you replied, “Five?” with a giggle. I was surprised you didn’t respond correctly and thought you were confused. So, I said no and asked you again. You answered, “Three?” and proceeded to laugh hysterically at which point it became obvious that you were making a joke. Made my day! You love to spend time with us. You are always bringing us games, puzzles, books…you just want to be around us. On the weekends, you follow me around as I get dressed and ready for the day. If daddy is doing a project, you are his little shadow. You are talking more and more now and we can have little conversations with you. While driving you to Speech Therapy recently, you and I had a conversation the whole way.  I asked you about your day and you told me, “100.” Sure enough, it was day 100 at school and you all celebrated. I asked you about your friends and you named your classmates. You were pointing out so many things out the windows: trees, buildings, lights, trucks, etc. You have come so far. You speak quite a bit now to express your needs, a lot of 2-3 words phrases, and some 4 or 5 words phrases. Additionally, you repeat a lot. Your clarity is improving, especially when we provide a model for you. You have been able to express your needs for quite a long time, but actually being able to have a short conversation with you is relatively new and it is one of the most special accomplishments. We are so proud of you!!

You are still a little smarty-pants, showing off at school. You pick up on everything you are taught rather quickly. Your teacher is always amazed. You count to 100 now, and you can count to 100 by 10’s. Your teacher says you are the only student in the class who can be interrupted in the middle of counting and know exactly where you left off (instead of having to start over) and you are the only one who always knows the day of the week and the date. You write your first and last name and can recognize a number of sight words. The other day you came home from school and read your “leader sheet” to us and there were a couple sentences on it. You also know left from right.

The name of the game for you these days is…well, games. You love games and you have quite a few. Your favorites these days are ABC Game (by Eric Carle), Hi-Ho Cherry O, and Candy Land, but it seems to vary weekly. You love music. You have a CD you love to play over and over before bed. You can’t fall asleep with it on, and you cry like crazy when we turn it off. You love to sing songs and do the actions. Your teacher regularly sends song, lyrics, and actions home for us since you enjoy them so much at school. You love to ride your Smart Cycle bike. You have a number of games and you play them all quite a bit, but in recent weeks, all you want to play is Thomas the Train. Your favorite show is Blue’s Clues. For a while, you wanted to watch Super Why all the time. Now you’re back to Blue’s Clues, similar to how you reverted back to Thomas the Train on Smart Cycle.  I think that’s how we know your true favorite. You favorite foods are fruit and vegetables, especially apples, applesauce, bananas, and green beans.

To know you is to love you my dear. It is not hard to get to know you, but it does require a quiet environment and a little bit of time. Those of us who are fortunate enough to really know you have such a special relationship with you. Speaking of special relationships, it has been nice watching your relationship develop with Macy. You don’t always love sharing your toys, but you do like to feed your sister. I think she is as enamored with you as your mommy is!

Simply put, I love you…so much! You will always be my baby.

7 Months- One of my favorite pictures ever!

Lucky for me, you still love when I bounce you on my lap and sing, “Wheels on the Bus,” and you still love to be rocked while I sing your favorite, “Twinkle, Twinkle.” Yep, you’ll always be my baby!

4 Years Old!!

Happy birthday, Grahamie!


Love,
Mommy

*Graham turned 4 on Feb 19.

Happy Valentine's Day from our Little Loves

First a blast from the past:

I took this Valentine's Day picture in 2009, when Graham was just shy of 1 year.

Feb 2009

Kind of similar to this picture I took a few weeks ago to use in Graham's Birthday Party invitation.





Jan 2012

 

 Our newest Valentine:

Picture taken Dec 2011 by Anima Dolce photography.

XOXO,

Graham & Macy

Love Story

I have been seeing lots of love stories floating around the Bloggy World, so I thought I'd play along!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

10.5 yrs


2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}

We met at GM. I was a co-op student assigned to the plant Joel worked at, so technically that made him my boss. I worked with him for several months learning all about Environmental Engineering and quite a bit about him as well. After my session concluded, Joel asked me out. I thought it was just to hang out, strictly platonic, but he had a different idea. Our relationship moved really quickly at that point. Since we had spent the previous several months getting to know each other, once we realized there was a romantic connection as well, it was only a matters of weeks before we were talking about forever. Just in time too. We dated for only a few weeks before summer concluded and I returned to Michigan Tech for my senior year. MTU is about 10 hours away from home, so we had to spend the next 9 months in a long-distance relationship. We spent A LOT of time on the phone, upwards of 10 hrs on weekend days. He visited me monthly and sent me flowers and care packages all the time. When I graduated, I moved right in. So, for the first couple years, our relationship went from one extreme to the other, but I'd say it all worked out just fine!

This picture was taken after we had been dating about a week or so.  It was the 1st time I formally met his parents.  I had already met his mom briefly while I was wearing a swimsuit, but that's another story...

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}

7.5 yrs


4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?

We had a small wedding. We both liked the idea of a destination wedding, so that's what we did. We married in Riviera Maya, Mexico with our closest friends and family (pretty much just immediate family, the wedding party, and their travel companions). The wedding was beautiful and very intimate. We wrote our own vows and there were a lot of teary eyes. I wouldn't change a thing (only wish we splurged on a videographer). We had a reception when we returned so that our friends and family could share in our celebration, even that was pretty small <75 guests.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!

Joel used to call me "Princess," now he calls me "Your hineyness." For instance, if I ask him to bring me water, he will with a, "Here you go, your hineyness." :P I guess that's his smart alec name for me, otherwise it's "Candy." I tend to call him "Joely." And there's a lot of the usual ones...honey, baby, sweetie, dear...we both use those plenty.


6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.

There are so many wonderful qualities about Joel.  He is an amazing human being.  I am getting teary eyed just thinking about everything I love about him.  I can't really say what I love most, so how about just the first 3 things that pop into my head?

1. He is loyal.  I know without question that our babies and I are the most important things in his life.  He makes his priorities very clear, from working hard to provide for us to spending time with us.  I know that he is there for us and always will be.

2. He is the best daddy.  He is loving and fun, disciplines when he needs to, patient, kind, a good role model, and I never have to worry when the babies are under his care.  That says a lot, considering all of Graham allergies.

3. He makes me feel loved.  He listens when I ramble on about something he probably doesn't care much about.  He writes me love letters.  He brings me breakfast in bed EVERY DAY.  When I am upset, he always comforts me.  He makes an effort.  He initiates dates and trips, and just generally treats me how a man should treat their wife!


7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?

I am hard to surprise and seeing as we had been talking about marriage for some time, Joel was finding it hard to surprise me with a proposal.  I had always told Joel I thought proposing on a holiday was cheesy.  So, naturally Joel proposed on Christmas.  As it turns out, I don't think it's cheesy anymore and I was definitely surprised.  We used to watch Wheel of Fortune a lot.  I would always win, so I loved it.  ;P  Joel built a Wheel of Fortune set and had all these puzzles relating to our dating that I had to solve to "win my Christmas gifts."  When I won the bonus round he got down on one knee and said a lot of really nice things and asked me. 


8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?

Well, he has done all those things at one point or another, so I would say all of the above.  More often than not, we got out to dinner, or have a nice dinner at home, and he gets me a card and writes a letter in it.


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?

Well, I would rather have a sunset dinner on the beach, but obviously that is not possible too often.  So, we watch TV and cuddle more often.  However, we do have regular date nights (thanks to Joel's parents for baby-sitting!!!).  We go out to dinner and then do some sort of activity, like play pool, or last time we went to Dave & Busters.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?

Joel will already know the answer to this one.  I would love to go to Spain.  We went to Italy in 2006 and talked about our next big adventure being Spain, but I don't know when we'll actually get to go.  Someday...

Cinque Terre, Italy- October 2006

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.

Nothing.  We are busy getting ready for Graham's birthday party.  I made some heart shaped brownies for Graham (& us too), so I suppose that's festive, right??


12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?

I specifically asked Joel not to get me anything, even a card.  I am still feeling spoiled from Christmas!


13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.

Put in an effort!  Talk to each other, work on yourself, go out, go for walks, kiss each other, make time for one another, have fun...do the things that made you fall in love in the first place!


14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

Pregnant with Macy, March 2011, pic taken by Anima Dolce Photography

December 2011, picture taken by Anima Dolce Photography

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Odds & Ends- Our Week

This week has been kind of chaotic. I have been busy preparing for Graham's birthday party. I always swear I am going to keep it simple and it won't be too time-consuming, but then I always spend a lot of time in the little details. It will be worth it though. The theme is Candyland, so I have been gathering decorations, shopping for candy and candy dishes, and the like. Oh, and we decided to buy a Bounce House for the event and a Ball Pit (Graham's old pool that we scrubbed clean). We couldn't hold out until his birthday, so our house officially looks like a daycare!

So, things are in disarray. I have random bags of my purchases lying around, and I haven't been doing much cleaning. I teased Joel last night, "I bet you're wondering where the housekeeper has run off to!" He laughed, which is pretty much confirmation. A messy house makes me feel disorganized. At this point I have resigned myself to not focus on it. I don't have time to thoroughly clean everything, only to clean it again in preparation for the party next Sunday. So, the mess will stand for a few more days! Well, maybe I can at least pick up the toys lying around and wipe the counters and tables.

Graham broke his hearing aids twice this week. He's had them for 2 years and never broke any part of them. Now, twice in one week. Hopefully it is just a coincidence, not a trend. First, he broke off one the ear hooks when he ripped the aid out of his ears. So I got that fixed. The next day, he tore the ear tubing. So, I got them fixed today and Joel brought them to his school on the way to a meeting (thanks hon).

Macy is eating solids now. Yay, yay, yay!! Sure is easier nursing, but I am glad she doesn't have some kind of solids aversion, or something. She is having tons of diaper blowouts, and I am doing tons of laundry.

Macy's 1st tooth poked through on 2/8, her bottom right. Today is the 1st day she has shown signs of discomfort about it. She has been so whiny and discontent. She wouldn't go down for a nap until I gave her a bit of Tylenol and rocked her for a while. Usually we set her in her crib and that's that, but she needs more right now and I'm happy to oblige. It's nice when she forces me to slow down and enjoy!

On the sleep topic, she has been waking quite a bit lately. For the last few weeks she gets up several times a night. She used to sleep straight through from 9-9. Last night, she woke at 1:30, 4, and 6. That is pretty typical these days. It's worse than when she was a newborn. I am not sure why. She goes right back to sleep after she eats, so maybe she's hungry? Or maybe she has a tummy ache from the introduction of solids? Or is it her teeth? Is she cold? Does she sleep too much during the day? Is she not eating enough during the day? Who knows??! Thoughts? We are starting to feel like zombies 'round here! I have tried changing her naps around and feeding her more. Next, we're going to turn the heat up at night.

*Okay, that was the shortest nap ever. Macy's awake...and now on my lap, so I better wrap up.*

This post may come off as gripey, but that is not the intent at all. Everyone is healthy...yay! It has just been a normal busy week. This weekend will be more of the same. Joel has some painting to do and we will be busy getting ready for Graham's birthday. What do you have planned for this weekend?

**So, right before I hit "POST," I got a call from Graham's teacher that she thinks he might be getting sick. I guess I spoke too soon!**

Mamarazzi- Graham's 4 Year Portraits

Did you know Graham turns 4 this month? Well, he does. I have already had my share of break-downs over this very topic, but I will ramble about that in another post, mmmkay? Bet you can't wait for that one!

Anyway, last Saturday when we got Graham up from his nap, it seemed like he was getting sick. So, I hurried and dressed him to do a photoshoot. What? Isn't that the first thing that pops into everyone's mind when their kids seems sick? ;P There have been times when Graham has had a cold that lingered for 2 weeks, so I figured I better get the pictures before he was really sick. He never did get "really sick," thankfully.

It was a pretty short shoot as Graham wasn't feeling well.  I like the portraits, but I might try again later with a different outfit for variety.  After a few posed shots, I mostly just grabbed a few of his favorite toys and let him play. It is always nice to capture kids with their favorite things and the kids sure like it better!

He's so handsome!





This is a humming top, so Graham like to hum along with it.

Listening to the engine revving!

Off it goes...

And it's back!

You can see he's not feeling well, yet I love the sweetness captured.

Same as last, I love this cuddly, tired boy.

Hope you enjoyed Round 1 of Graham's 4 year portraits!