Growing Graham: 10 months

Graham absolutely loves to be upside down. If he's ever fussy or whiny, just hang him upside down by his ankles and he immediately starts giggling. As soon as he gets turned right side up, he'll fling himself backward in an attempt to be upside down again. He just can't get enough of it!

He's learned to high-five too. It still takes some coaxing sometimes, but for the most part if you put your hand up to him and say "High five!" he'll grin and slap your hand a few times.

He also talks nonstop!! No words yet, but he just babbles and babbles. You can carry on a full conversation with him in baby-speak. And he's really serious about it sometimes too. He's such a funny chatterbox. 

Graham also knows exactly what a banana is and always wants one if he sees one. He'll point excitedly and adamantly requests one by pointing and yelling until he gets one. At least it's healthy!

He also adores his Daddy. Anytime Bob shows up and Graham hasn't seen him for a while he gets a big grin and lets out a giggly squeal while he requires Bob to pick him up or play with him. It's so cute to see how much they absolutely love each other. 

The phenomenon that is toilet paper has been discovered. The toilet has also been a source of intrigue for him. Luckily, he hasn't combined the two just yet. But we do get to re-roll toilet paper on occasion.

Lately Graham has been into holding and pushing something in one hand while he crawls around. He just hangs on tight and takes a random toy or piece of clothing he's found on the floor, and it goes everywhere with him for a while until he finds another intriguing item to hold onto.

Graham also is really good at waving hello and goodbye to anyone and everyone. He loves to wave. He'll excitedly do so when he hears "Bye-bye" or sees someone else waving to him.

He's so much fun to be around and such a joy to have as a son!

Growing Graham: 9 months

Okay, so I did a little bit of photoshopping on this. But I didn't have to do
anything to his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes look like that normally!

I can't believe that this boy is already 9 months old! And he won't slow down, not even to nap.

Graham hates taking naps. I think he feels like he's going to miss out on something if he does. He nearly squirms out of my arms when I walk into his room to lay him in his crib. He screams, cries, arches his back, kicks, pushes away with his little hands, and rolls over and over when we go to lay him down for a nap. But at night he goes to sleep without a fight! After dinner and a bath I'll usually nurse him until he's nice and full, hand him his favorite cotton blanket (which he immediately sucks on and snuggles with), and as we walk from the living room into his bedroom, he closes his eyes. By the time I'm through singing the single verse of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" he's out. I lay him down, cover him with his quilt, and I don't hear anything from him until 4am.

Speaking of, he still can't quite sleep all the way through the night. He makes it to 4, sometimes 3:30 or 5:00, but never until 6am or later. And he's always ravenously hungry when I go in to get him at that time. He eats until he's full and goes back to sleep, usually until 6:30 or 7:00am.

Bob gets up with him in the morning since I get up with him at night. I sleep until 8, sometimes later, and when I get up Bob always tells me how happy and fun Graham is during those fun couple of hours they have together. And when Graham sees me after I finally get up, he can't contain his excitement and I have to hold him.

He still rarely snuggles. But when he's sick or tired, he tends to lay his head on my shoulder when I hold him. But that only lasts for 10 seconds if I'm lucky.

He babbles all the time now. He's exploring the sounds he can make, from the high to the low pitches, the ways his tongue moves, the way it sounds when he moves his lips, etc. He's gotten away from blowing raspberries and into making "ba-ba-ba-ba" sounds. Often times, he'll whisper that instead of saying it loudly.

And Graham has an entire range of faces that he makes. Most of them are hilarious.

He absolutely loves bathtime. When he's cranky or too tired, he loves it less-so, but usually, he gets so excited for it. As soon as we go in the bathroom and I push open the shower curtain, he starts bouncing in my arms. I can't lay him down to undress him anymore--he has to be standing by the tub, watching the water fill it. If I try to lay him down to strip him, he won't stay still and keeps trying to roll over to the tub so that he can try and get into it. And if I don't get him naked quick enough, he tries to crawl into the bath tub without my help. He just can't wait to get into that warm water! And the funny thing is, once he's sitting in it, he usually just wants to stand back up and explore every corner and play. But he's happy the whole time. Until I rinse his hair by pouring water over his head. It startles him and he whines afterward. But he is getting more used to it and sometimes just wipes his eyes and continues on with what he was doing before.

This kid eats a lot! I don't really know what's normal, but on any given day, he'll eat 8 containers of pureed baby food (3.5 ounces each), mashed beans or avocado or banana, about 4 ounces of infant cereal, as well as breastfeeding 5+ times a day. I'm already having visions of what he's going to be like as a teenager. I don't know why I'm surprised though, since his dad needs about 3000 calories a day to maintain his weight. I probably should have considered that in preparing to have a baby.

But he's still so skinny! The other day I tried to see how much baby fat he has on his tummy. I pinched it between my thumb and finger, and it was all skin, measuring maybe a quarter of an inch. He's still toned and mostly muscle, although he has a single little roll on the inside of each thigh still. And it's so cute!

We sure love this boy! Sometimes, Bob and I make up our own words to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Mine usually go like this:

I love you my Baby Graham.

You're my favorite little man.

And one day you'll grow so tall,

But I'll still love you--height and all.

So for now you're Baby Graham,

And I love you, yes I do.

And I mean every word of it!

Family Christmas Card

We took our family portraits while up in SLO for Thanksgiving. Here was our Christmas card that we sent out to our family and friends this year.

On the back was this update:

Bob is currently pursuing a career in real estate and is planning to have his license to become an agent shortly after the beginning of next year. He still enjoys surfing when he can get out in the ocean and looks forward to having more free time in the coming years after he is finished with school and the startup of his business.

Janae is maintaining a blog and a small online shop where she writes about and sells her designed and handcrafted creations. She's anxious to further her ambitions in self employment and has high hopes for the future. She enjoys cycling when she can and spending time with Bob and Graham.

Graham (8 months old) is growing into a happy and hilarious boy. He loves to play and laugh, is extremely outgoing, and rarely sits still. His favorite foods are sweet potatoes, pears, bananas, and applesauce. He crawls everywhere and tries to climb up furniture, people, out of his crib, and on top of anything that is taller than he is. He's eagerly awaiting the time when he can stand and walk by himself.

We wish to express our gratitude to you for your love and friendship. We also wish you a blessed, merry Christmas and a happy and productive New Year!

Of course, we didn't get these sent out until after January 1st. Maybe next year we'll get them out on time.

Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Bob's Birthday

We went to San Luis Obispo, CA for Thanksgiving, which meant we'd also be there for our 3-year wedding anniversary and Bob's 28th birthday. We stayed with Bob's Grandma, Mary Alice.

It was a lot of fun. One day we went to Morro Bay and a nearby park with Carrie and her daughter, Sierra. Then for Thanksgiving dinner we went to Bob's cousin, Carrie's house in Cambria, CA. There was so much food and the view was amazing.

 

The boys--Pettit cousins.

For our anniversary Bob took me to downtown SLO, to a fancy shmancy restaurant called Novo. I had quail for the first time. It was tasty, but a lot of work to get the meat off the bones of that tiny and perfectly cooked bird. Then we walked around downtown for a while to see various little shops and spend some time together. It was nice to spend time and celebrate our marriage.

For Bob's birthday, we invited family over for dinner (pulled pork sandwiches, sweet potato fries, and various veggies and chips) and French apple pie with vanilla ice cream. We ate, talked, and played games. It was fun.

 

Birthday presents!

Earlier in that day we went to see Bob's Grandpa's grave to pay some respects. Neither of us had been out there to see it yet, so it was good to see where Grandpa Rusty was buried.

Before leaving, we got some photos with various family members. Tani, another of Bob's cousins got to hold and play with Graham before she went home to Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving.

Jason, Carrie's husband, loved holding Graham.

And of course, Grandma Mary Alice got to dote over her first and so-far only great-grandson. She loves boys, and was so happy to spend time with him.

Growing Graham: 7 Months

Graham is one busy, high-energy kid. He's also extremely happy and silly and makes us laugh every day.

He is completely mobile now. At about 6 and a half months old, he crawled on purpose (before that he had crawled but didn't realize it and couldn't do it again) and he hasn't stopped crawling since. Then, two weeks after officially crawling, he already pulled himself up on furniture by himself so he can stand. If he can, he climbs the furniture too. We've had to drop his crib mattress down to the lowest setting because we caught him trying to climb out of it the other day. Did I mention that he's only just 7 months old?! It's like he can't wait to walk, and at this rate he will pretty soon. 

Along with crawling and climbing, he's been getting bruises from falling and bumping into things too. He had three bruises on his forehead at one time. But he's already learning how to prevent a lot of that too! He's gone from falling and bumping his head to falling into a sitting position so that his head never even comes close to the floor. He's a smart baby!

As with any baby his age, Graham loves to put things in his mouth. But sometimes it's just hilarious when/what he does. The other day he was crawling around on the floor in front of the couch. There was a pillow propped up against the ottoman, and the corner of it just happened to be the same height as his mouth. As he was crawling past it, he turned his face to it, looked at it for a second, then tried to latch onto it for a moment like it was a bottle. Then, since it didn't produce anything, he unlatched, looked at it confusedly, and tried again. After the second time, he decided that it was useless so he continued crawling past it.

He's a fantastic, although particular (but not picky), eater. He knows not to grab the spoon when we're feeding him, and I even like to set the container of baby food that I'm feeding him on his tray. So far he leaves it alone while he's eating. But he eats a lot. And very fast. At any given meal, he'll eat two or more full containers worth of baby food! But you'd never know because he's still so skinny. As soon as I've given him one spoonful, I have to immediately be getting the next one ready. If I'm taking too long to get that next spoonful, he gets upset and starts crying. He'll also cry if there's not enough on the spoon or if the food is too watery. And I haven't fed him anything he didn't like yet. However, if I feed him a sweet fruit first, he has a hard time eating green beans or peas afterward. Something about the flavors, perhaps... 

Graham also talks up a storm. He babbles constantly to his toys, crawls around blowing raspberries nonstop (and his latest development is blowing raspberries while crying), and when he finds a tiny piece of paper or a shoelace he focuses on it really hard as he carefully examines it with his fingers and he makes a steady "ehhhh" sound. We call it his concentrating sound. It makes us laugh or smile every time.

He's very opinionated. If I set him on the floor when he doesn't want me to he'll look up at me and whine. If it's nap time and he doesn't want to take a nap, he dramatically throws his head backward, arches his back, stiffens his legs, and flails his arms about while screaming/crying. This one is especially fun to deal with while holding him. He'll also throw that tantrum when we're changing his diaper, all the while trying to roll over and crawl away. It sure made us learn how to change his diapers quickly. 

Toys that involve laws of physics entertain Graham the most. We have this random yellow ring that we'll spin on the wood floor, and he sits and watches it intently until it stops. Sometimes he'll yell at it until we spin it for him again. Then he'll pick it up and play with it. If there's any toy that will spin or roll or demonstrate any law of physics like that, he loves it!

He's so small that we had to stuff his blanket and whatever else we could behind him to keep him in place.

He loves to be outside. When he gets cranky we'll take him outside for a few minutes and it usually settles him down completely.Graham loves to go on walks. He usually needs one walk in the morning before napping and then some more outdoor time before his afternoon nap. I like to just sit in the backyard with him. He'll sit very still for a long time, and just look around, taking in all the sights and sounds. He loves trees and leaves, birds, airplanes, flowers, long sprigs of grass, and the sunshine. Usually he'll go right to sleep afterward, though sometimes his naps are only 20 minutes long. If we wait too long to take him outside, he gets really cranky. This boy needs the outdoors like his daddy does. He's keeping us healthy and active already!

I can't believe how fast Graham's growing up! We're excited to see more of his personality as he get older, but we're trying so hard to savor and enjoy every moment while he's still a baby because it's going by so quickly. We sure love him!

Halloween!

Bob and I love Halloween. Well, I think mostly I love Halloween and try to make it fun and now Bob likes it too. I love costumes and parties, so since our engagement Bob and I have always tried to do a theme together with our costumes.

When we were engaged we were Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable (yay Disney!). I even made Bob a naked mole rat to carry around in his pocket.

              (I can't find any pictures of us from that year, but I know they exist!)

Our first year of marriage we were Ken and Barbie from Toy Story 3. We loved those costumes and had so much fun that year!

Our second year of marriage I was pregnant, and since Bob likes puns and jokes so much I dressed up as an oven with a bun inside and Bob was the chef.

This year, we really wanted to play up Graham's awesome red hair. In talking to some friends about how we can incorporate that into our costume this year, my friend Karen mentioned that Peter Pan had red hair. It was such a perfect idea! So we went with it.

Bob was Captain Hook.
His costume was a mish-mash of thrifted, bought, and borrowed items.

I was Tinkerbell.
I made my costume from 2 t-shirts, a tulle tutu, and thrifted shoes with some fake snowballs glued onto them.

And Graham was Peter Pan.
I designed and made his costume, from head to toe!

We attended a costume party at a friend's house up near Escondido, CA on Friday night. Saturday was the trunk-or-treat at church. And on Halloween we went to Chipotle and got $2 burritos for wearing our costumes there.

It was such a fun holiday this year. I can't get over how adorable and how perfect Graham's costume was! Well, I think that all of our costumes were perfect, really. I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

Now, to start thinking of next year's costumes....