September Trip!

We took a road trip up to Utah to visit some friends and family back in September. It was so good to visit and take the time to catch up with so many people. I just wish it could have been longer.

We stopped in Las Vegas to see one of Bob's good friends and his wife, Scott and Janel. We also visited with one of Bob's mission companions, Louis.

Then we went to St. George to see my friend Lindsi and I had the opportunity to be her escort as she went through the temple for the first time. We got to meet her entire family and we had so much fun with all of them.

Then we went to Cedar City to stay with Aunt Judith for a night.

And then we went on up to Herriman to visit Russ and Ashley and their kids as well as Ben, Trina, and Peyton. We went back down to Provo one day to have dinner with a bunch of friends--Scott, Adam and Aimee, Jennie Ray and Jared, Stephanie and Justin.

We even got to go with Russ and Ashley to watch William and Jonathon play in a soccer game while we were up there. They did such a great job! And I got carried away with the camera.

Ashley, their kids, and Bob and I took Graham on his first ever hike too. It was an easy hike. More of a walk, really. But it was fun to go outside and enjoy the beauty that Utah offers as autumn was approaching.

We stopped to see Ben, Trina, and Peyton in Provo at some point while there too. Peyton was really cute and kept trying to play with Graham, but he was just a little small for her to be able to really play at all. But she read him a book and kept handing him toys. It was sweet.

And I got photographic evidence of Ben tossing away Peyton's My Little Pony that he had been playing with.

On the way back to San Diego, we stopped in St. George again for a night to visit Linda. Then we stopped in Hesperia to have dinner with Aunt Donna and Uncle Bruce the following evening before making it home.

We crammed in a lot of fun visits (and I wish I had been better at taking pictures everywhere we went) and we're excited to take another trip again soon!

Growing Graham: 6 Months

Graham is halfway to his first birthday and I can't believe it. Time has gone so quickly and it's already nearly time to go through and change out his clothes from 3-6 month sizes to 6-9 month sizes.

He smiles and giggles all the time and we can't help but encourage it. His favorite time is when Bob tickles his belly with his facial hair (if he hasn't shaved). Graham will squeal with delight and crack up nonstop. He also really likes it when Bob tosses him in the air, balances him in one hand, or holds him upside down. He laughs and smiles the whole time during any of those!

He sits up but doesn't like to for very long. He would much rather be rolling around on the floor or trying to stand and walk instead of just sitting in one place.

Graham is starting to kind of like tummy time. The other day I was watching him in his crib when he couldn't see me, and he rolled from his back to his stomach, pushed up onto his hands and knees and sat like that for a while. That sneaky little boy has been teaching himself how to crawl when we're not looking! He still face plants when he tries to go anywhere, but he's getting so close! But the other day he sort of crawled. I got it on video!

He enjoys bath time much more now too. But his favorite part isn't even the water. It's when he gets out of the tub and we wrap him up in his fluffy orange hooded towel. He squeals with delight every time!

We think Graham is starting to teethe. He's been extra drooly and extra fussy lately, and when he cries he grabs his gums a lot. The poor boy!

We finally trained him to sleep for most of the night, but now he's refusing to take naps during the day, and every time we lay him down for one he screams and cries for a good hour before finally dozing for 20 or 30 minutes. Sometimes he doesn't fall asleep at all though. I think it has to do with teething.

Graham's also got ridiculously good dexterity in his hands, fingers, feet, and toes. He passes toys from one hand to the other without looking sometimes. He can even hold his own bottle perfectly.

He began eating solid foods at about 5 months. He gagged on his first bite of rice cereal. Then, on the second spoonful he grabbed the spoon to pull it into his mouth. He loved it! He basically had the same reaction to oatmeal cereal as well as applesauce and pears too.So far so good!

His hair is still bright red (although he's been pulling a lot of it out when he throws fits--I find it in his little clenched fists sometimes) and his little legs are still toned and mostly muscle, but he does finally have one little baby-chub roll on the inside of each thigh.

He's got a big personality already, complete with a huge grin and bubbly laugh. He'll talk to his toys or to himself frequently. He started growling too. He's also experimenting with his vocal cords and breathing, so sometimes he'll inhale in a really raspy way and stare at us with his huge blue eyes until we react some way, then smile. He's going to be one silly kid!

Growing Graham: 4 Months

August 6, 2012

4 months

Graham is sucking on his hands all the time now. Sometimes he'll get his fingers in too far & gag himself, but he's not doing it on purpose... Yet.

He's also discovered his feet and toes. When he lays on his back he'll pull his feet up to his hands, roll over to his side, and then let go. He does that over and over again. When he lays in his play gym, he grabs his dangling toys with both of his feet as well as both of his hands. It's too funny.

We've also discovered a little brown dot on his scalp, right on top of his head. I'm pretty sure it's a mole. It sure is cute!

He's wiggling everywhere. The other day he almost squirmed out of his swing. I guess we'll have to be sure to buckle him in from now on!

"Umm, hey Mom, I'm not sure what happened here..."

He's started pushing himself up onto his knees, but he can't quite get his hands underneath himself yet. So instead, he just starts pushing himself around with his face on the floor. We have to keep an eye on him, because if we don't he'll wind up in a completely different place than we left him.

The other Sunday at church, Graham joined in for every one of the hymns we sang. Then he didn't want to stop. So after the organ had stopped playing and everyone was closing the hymn books and preparing for the next part of the meeting, there was Graham, still "singing" away. Loudly, might I add. He loved it.

"Hey guys!!!! Guess what!!!"

He talks a lot more than ever. And he loves when people smile at him. He cheeses it up and gives the biggest, cutest toothless grin I've ever seen. 

"Well, my dear Watson..."

He's also started giggling. But it's not always consistent. He has to be in a good mood, not tired, and sometimes when tickled he'll laugh. Otherwise he'll either start crying, or he'll just hold his breath and grunt while turning bright red.

Laundry day....

We love this boy more and more every day! He's a good napper. He loves to be held by other people. And his hair is still red as ever.

Photo Shoot with Graham

I love taking pictures of Graham! 

I seriously just can't stop. 

I can probably never have too many photos of him (as long as I keep them organized).

Here's my latest photo shoot of him.

Look at those eyes!

He must get them from his daddy.

I'm such a lucky lady to have such handsome men in my life. 

Growing Graham: 3 months

July 6, 2012

3 months

Here we are for the 4th of July. It was bizarrely chilly that day.
(It's a pretty memorable occasion for us, not only for Independence Day, but also because nine months after the 4th last year, Graham showed up....)

Graham is figuring out how to move around. He's rolling over from his belly to his back. He's scooting around on his back by pressing his feet down on whatever surface he's laying on and then pushing himself around. He doesn't go very far yet, but we have to be careful about how we lay him on things now, like the couch or our bed or even on the floor--he'll end up squished into a corner if we don't keep an eye on him!

He also talks and talks and talks. He'll lay in his play gym and just babble and talk to himself the entire time. I think he finds it entertaining. While I change his diaper he babbles and coos at me nonstop. When he's nursing, he'll make sounds at me between swallows while staying latched on the whole time. When I sing to him before naptime or bedtime, he'll just stare up at me and make sounds like he's trying to sing along (which I can't help but laugh at and makes it difficult to continue singing). However, every time I get a camera out to try and get a video of any of it, he frequently stops and is intrigued by my camera or phone and just stares at it. But I did get this cute video the other morning:

He loves smiling at other people. If you talk to Graham in a sweet voice, he'll give you a huge smile and coo at you. He does this especially after waking up from a nap. He'll fuss a little bit if he feels like he's alone, but as soon as he sees me he gives me a big, gummy smile. It's the sweetest thing he does and I can't get enough of it!

When Graham first starts eating after napping, he acts like he'll have a nervous breakdown at any moment. He eats like I might remove his source of food at any second--so he desperately latches on and swallows as fast as possible. He grabs the tops of his ears and pulls on them. He grabs his hair around his ears and holds onto it until it breaks off (which subsequently has made the hair around his ears start thinning out). When I stop to burp him in the middle of eating he screams and cries like I'm causing him excruciating pain. It's not until he's finally full that he slows down and relaxes and gets all milk-drunk and happy.

He's also becoming more aware of himself as an individual now. He knows what he wants and what he doesn't want. When we set him down at the wrong moment or hold him in a way he doesn't want, he fusses and cries about it. Here's a good example:

When I wait too long to lay him down for a nap, he cries until he falls asleep, which lasts anywhere from 1 minute to 20 minutes. But if I wait the perfect amount of time to lay him down, he quietly lays there until his eyes close and he dozes off peacefully.

Just look at those perfect little lips! So adorable!

He's growing so fast! I'm so proud of him, but goodness, I wish he'd slow down a little so I could enjoy how little and snuggly he is for longer. <3

Answer to Prayer

I've found that God answers our prayers. He really does. But we have to be careful how we word those prayers and not assume that how we see fit to have those prayers answered is actually how they will be answered.

Case and point:

We've been praying about a career for Bob. He's interested in real estate and has been around that and property management his entire life. He's been considering becoming a real estate agent and then seeing how that career and knowledge can tie into property management. But he's been working this dead-end job at a plumbing supply warehouse. It was a decent job for a good company, but it was more of a means to an end for Bob, and nowhere near where he wanted to stay for the next 10 years. The problem was it takes up his entire day. And he started liking it less and less every day, so when he'd get home from work the last thing he wanted to do was work on something else. But he tried.

So Bob had been praying for this career choice. He prayed for the ability to pursue it so that he could provide enough stable income for his family in the future. He saw the answer as being able to go work all day, then come home and work on this career all evening, and then still have time to play and surf to keep his sanity plus spend time with myself and Graham.

But that answer just wasn't happening. 

Things at work have been going fine for Bob, aside from his slow and steady decline of satisfaction in his current occupation. His supervisor liked him fine, as well as most of the guys he was working with. He was just getting a new gas card for the truck he was driving. And then last Friday at lunch the HR person called him into the office and told him his "services aren't needed anymore" for the company.

What the what?

He came home 30 minutes later and went straight to the shower, partially to clean himself up because doing what he did at work makes him sweaty and dirty, but mostly to settle down and cool off because he was really upset over losing this job.

All weekend we talked about it here and there. We mostly tried to have fun, relax a little, and figure out what to do this week.

Once getting past the anger over the whole thing, we've realized that now Bob has plenty of time to go after this real estate thing. He has plenty of time to do that as well as surf and spend time with his family.

Oh, Heavenly Father... Thank you for answering our prayers in a not-so-expected and yet oh-so efficient way.

We haven't figured out this whole how-to-earn-money thing without that job, because we do still have bills to pay. But we have some plans. I have some ideas of what I'll do and Bob has some ideas of what he can do. Hopefully it will earn us enough to make it for a little while. Something will work out, because Heavenly Father answered Bob's prayers about finding the time and a way to pursue this career. He will surely answer our prayers about how to make ends meet and stay afloat at this turning point in our lives.

Here's to exercising a bit of faith and having the humility to continue accepting how God sees fit to answer our prayers to Him.

Growing Graham: 2 months!

June 6th, 2012

2 months old

I can't believe Graham's been a part of our family for two entire months already! The days don't slow down, unfortunately. So I'm doing the best I can to keep up with my responsibilities to friends, family, home, and church while soaking up every moment I can with my sweet baby boy.

A few of my favorite things he does now:

• Coos, giggles, and smiles--especially while having his diaper changed, that silly boy.

• Pulls his knees up under him during tummy time.
• Holds himself up and looks around like he owns the place when he's on anyone's shoulder.
• Plays and is entertained in his play-gym.
• Kicks his legs nonstop when he's laying on his back anywhere.

A few of my least favorite things he does now:

• Cries at naptime.
• Cries and squirms when being burped during mealtime (to the point that it's almost impossible to hold him!).
• Starting to grab everything with his hands--my necklace, my shirt collar (and pulls it down so anyone around me can see my bra), himself or his diaper while being changed, his pacifier (and pulls it out of his mouth, then screams about it), etc.

And here are a couple of my favorite pictures of him at this age:

My favorite part of this church  outfit: those plaid pants! I love them!

He is so cute! And he looks way more mature than a 2-month-old.