about our impending trip

Aaron is in Charlotte tonight for the Orange Tour. It was one of those trips where I was going to go and take Graeme, but it's only for one night. Graeme is at an age where it's much easier to keep him at home and on his routine. So, we stayed home.

If I'm being honest, I'm a total baby about Aaron being gone, even for just one night! I feel like I've gotten a little better since when we first got married when I would cry any time he was gone overnight. It's a little less lonely with Penny and Graeme here, and I usually try to keep busy during the day. I am not cut out for living alone, for sure! I have great respect for wives and moms who have husbands in the service or jobs that keep them traveling and out late often. And single parents:  you guys are amazing. I know I can't complain at all.

Tonight, after Graeme went to bed, I came down and ate dinner and watched Wheel of Fortune by myself. Aaron and I watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune almost every night. We're cool like that. It's definitely not the same watching it without him. Anyway, now I figure I have time to do a little writing on the trusty blog.



We leave for Disney World in less than two weeks! Ah!

Can. Not. Wait.

Now, for most things in life, I find it helpful for me to not have unrealistic expectations. I take sudden changes or things not going how I thought they would go pretty hard. Aaron hates to give me definitive answers on his schedule a lot of times because he knows I am easily upset if things don't pan out as planned. I am trying to be better at this.

That being said, while I would love to imagine that every waking moment of our Disney trip with a 7.5 month old will be like this...

Happy baby I don't know

I am also fully aware that every moment could very well be like this...

Very sad baby I don't know

We definitely realize that taking a baby to Disney World probably isn't the easiest thing, but we are so excited to take Graeme. Hopefully, if we try to follow his schedule as close to normal as possible, take things slow, and give him plenty of time for rest, we will all have a fabulous time. I am not worried about it at all, and I really think he's going to do great.

We will take him on his very first flight to get there. I am trying to not worry about that either. We are due to take off at 12:05pm, which is very close to a nap time for him. I'm hoping that after the initial excitement of the airplane wears off, he will sleep for most of the flight. Our plan (currently) is to check two big suitcases and carry on the stroller, the Baby Bjorn, and a big backpack that will be our diaper bag for the week. We don't need a carseat because we will be riding buses to and from the airport and to get everywhere in Disney World.

Disney Resorts accept packages labeled with your arrival date and store them for you until you get there. With this being so, we plan to ship anything that can be thrown away as the week goes on so that we don't have to take it on the plane. This includes: diapers, wipes, ready-to-feed bottles, and baby food pouches. The goal is to take one-time-use-then-throw-away food for the week for Graeme. Aaron and I are trying the Disney Dining Plan for the first time since it is included for free in the package we bought. That takes care of food for everyone!

I put in a request for a crib for our hotel room. I will take some crib sheets for Graeme, but if the crib is anything like a pack-n-play, he probably won't sleep well in it per our past experiences. (Of course, he could be so worn out every day that he might sleep fine!) Our room should also have an extra bed, so he could maybe sleep there if I built an acceptable pillow fort for him. Ha. Of course, he might end up in bed with us. We all know what great sleep that is for everyone...not!

We arrive on a Monday afternoon and have no big plans for that night. We may try to meet up with some friends for dinner at Downtown Disney. 

On Tuesday, we will visit the most wonderful, magical place, my personal favorite:  The Magic Kingdom. I could easily give up the other three parks and only ever go here. Aaron would not agree and probably leave me in the Magic Kingdom by myself to hop around to the others, so I will choose to visit them as well from time to time. Magic Kingdom, is of course, all-around magical. It also has a lot of rides that are baby-friendly, so assuming Graeme isn't terrified of them, that should be fun. The few rides he can't join us on, Aaron and I can take turns riding. Last time we went, I was pregnant and had to miss out on all of the roller coasters, so I'm looking forward to them. We also want to have a lock of Graeme's hair cut at the Main Street Barber Shop. And he will be meeting Mickey Mouse before we leave or I will cry. That is my one expectation that is engrained in my head for sure.

On Wednesday, the plan is to visit Animal Kingdom. We figure this park is the other one best suited to a baby. There isn't a ton to do, the rides are few and far between, it always closes early, and there are, of course, animals to see! Our favorite thing at Animal Kingdom in the Finding Nemo show. And the safari should be fun too.

Thursday, we will take it easy in the morning and probably try to visit the pool. That evening, we will enter Magic Kingdom again for Mickey's Christmas Party. Aaron and I did this last year for the first time, and it was so fun! They kick everyone out the of park that doesn't have tickets for the party. There are free cookies and hot chocolate everywhere. It snows on Main Street. There are special fireworks and characters out and about. And all of the rides are open with way shorter lines! The party lasts until 1:00am. I highly, highly doubt we will be there that long. But, this will be the one night that we will plan to be out late, and hopefully Graeme will sleep in his stroller or in the carrier. I looked into a bunch of noise-cancelling headphones, and I think I will buy these ear plug things that are for babies and kids. They are cheap, so if they don't work or he hates them, no harm done.

Friday is our last day, and our flight home leaves around 3:00pm. This means we will probably start the trip to the airport around noon. It's always super sad to leave Disney. I still cry when this happens. We will have the rest of the weekend to relax though, and we are planning to start our Christmas decorating (Mickey's party should get us in the holiday spirit!).

I can't wait to experience this with our baby. No matter what happens, I know we will have fun memories and stories to tell.

Well, there's a tentative run-down of our trip barring any strange circumstances. I know you were all dying to know these thrilling details...just passing the time while I'm missing my husband, remember?! :)

Me, Aaron, and Graeme at Disney World in November 2013 with our buddy Stitch

about our sweet seven-month-old

Seven months.

This...

...was seven months ago.

(insert crying emoji)

Like I said before, something about seven months sounds a whole lot older. We are closer to the first birthday than we are to the day of birth.

Watching Graeme grow can get awful bittersweet sometimes. Of course I'm glad he's growing into a healthy, strong, smart little boy. But, goodness, it is flying.

His seventh month of life has been a blast. Fall weather is here, and that in and of itself makes everything better.

This month, Graeme...

1.  Mastered sitting up by himself. No more Boppy pillow needed. Our only precaution is not sitting him next to something that could hurt his head for the very rare instances when he tips over. He loves to sit and play with toys and watch Penny play with toys next to him.

2. Moved to two naps and four meals a day. He takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap now, and they are both generally 1.5-2 hours. He sleeps about 11.5-12 hours at night. He loooves to eat. So far, he likes/has tried:  carrots, butternut squash, yellow squash, broccoli, green beans, peas, sweet potatoes (just reintroduced these after initial dislike...now he likes them!), apples, bananas, pears, mango, and rice rusks. He still loves oatmeal cereal too, and of course, his bottle.

Check out that bed head...

3. Says (his version of) Penny's name. Well, "Mama" and "Dada" haven't happened yet, but Graeme will make a "P" sound when he's looking for Penny or sees Penny. He loves that little dog and thinks she is hilarious. She returns the love and is super sweet...even when he gets ahold of her fur!

4. Officially outgrew a lot of things and clothes. Things already in the attic or waiting to go in the attic:  Rock-n-Play, Swing, Boppy Pillow, Bumbo seat, Baby Bathtub, all clothes 0-6 months. He is wearing mostly 12 month clothes, a few 9 months things, and even a few 18 month things due to his height! His carseat carrier is not going to make it to the end of the year, let alone his first birthday. We will be searching for and purchasing a rear-facing, convertible carseat in the next few weeks.

This thing is not only getting too small...it's so heavy when he's in it!

5. Has two teeth! His second tooth was not to the surface at his six-month appointment, but the doctor assured us it was on it's way. Indeed it was. Both teeth are through and super cute! 

6. Seems to be very close to creeping. He has his own way of getting to something that he wants...a unique mixture of rolling and squirming and rotating on the floor. I don't think it will be much longer before he's making some significant creeping moves. 

7. Entered the "I want Mommy to hold me all the time phase." I don't mind this much at all, especially since I know it will not always be so! He will still play by himself and go to other people, but if I walk by and catch his eye it's like "Oh! You! Why aren't you holding me?!" It's often not enough to sit right next to me either. Must be in my lap. Sweet little momma's boy.

Seven things for seven months. (Although I'm sure I could go on and on!)

It's crazy and hard to fathom that last year on this day, we found out we were having a boy...

October 23, 2013

...and a year later our little Graeme is seven months old already! So much love and thankfulness for our little hero!

nostalgic things (it's been six years since Aaron and I started dating?!)

Around this time of year, right before my birthday, I get a little nostalgic. Several years ago (it's really, really weird that I can now classify it as "several years...") around this time was when something started brewing between Aaron and myself.

If I stop to think about it, a lot of those fluttery feelings come rushing back. Aaron and I went from being what I would barely classify as friends to being in a relationship pretty quickly. I was reading through an old blog post I wrote about the beginning of our relationship. Because it's been five years since I wrote this stuff, I'm going to be lazy and assume most people haven't read it or forgot about it. And therefore, I can post some of it again without actually having to re-write what I'm wanting to say today...

Let's travel back then, to 2008. I was a Junior in college, 20, almost 21. Aaron had just been hired full-time at Journey, although he had been leading the kid's ministry for two years while working other full-time jobs. I helped in Journey Preschool and we happened to be in the same small group of which he was the leader. Other than those two things, we had no communication...

The first time the idea to “date Aaron” came in my head was July 3, 2008.  It was not my idea at all.  It was actually my mother’s.  And I quickly put an end to it.

I had surgery that day [to have my thyroid removed].  Aaron and his mom came to visit my family while I was with the surgeon.  They brought me flowers and an awkward stuffed turtle.

But I didn’t get to see them because I was having my neck cut open (sorry if that’s too much information). When I woke up in the afternoon, Aaron came back without his mom.  He sat with me and my family for awhile.  When he left, my mom made a big deal about how he came twice.  “Maybe he likes you!”

I believe I rolled my eyes and thought, “Whatever mom.  We are just friends (barely).  He is too…I don’t know.  We would never go together.”

And that was the end of that.

But, now the idea was there.  I didn’t want to entertain it, but it wouldn’t go away.  So there it was.  Now, I couldn’t quite look at him the same.  And, after all, I couldn’t deny how nice it was for him to come see me in the hospital.  Twice!  And I will admit that Awkward Turtle has slept with me ever since…

So, that was what I consider the very beginning.

In August of [2008], everyone at Journey was busy getting ready to launch Journey’s Northwest campus.  Plus, my small group was busy painting at Journey Northeast.  I remember offering to help Aaron.  A lot.  The more time I spent with him, the more addicted I was.  I just loved being with him.

We spent a day in August painting together.  We spent a day shopping for supplies for Northwest.  I loved one-on-one time with him.  Every once in awhile, a feeling of “I think I might like him…” would creep up, but I would try to ignore it.  We were just friends.  He would never date me.

At the end of August there was a wedding shower for [our friends] Alex and Valerie.  I think a lot of people thought something was going on between us then.  But there wasn’t.  We just happened to be the only single people [at the shower].  So we hung out.  That started some rumors.  I really didn’t mind them though.

[After we spent a day together in September running errands for Journey]....  I couldn’t help it anymore.  I was smitten with him.  I wanted to be with him.  I knew I would be good for him even if he didn’t know it.  I don’t know how I knew that.  But I did.  I couldn’t lie to myself anymore, even if I kept lying to my mom and everyone else.  I did like him.  A lot.

[For his birthday on October 13th], he invited some of us from small group to go out to dinner at 518 West to celebrate.  I sat across from him at the table.  Other people were there, but I was only interested in Aaron.  

I remember just a few of us being left at the restaurant at the end of the night.  I went and sat next to Aaron and monopolized his attention.  (On purpose.  But he gave it to me, so it wasn’t all my fault.)  I reminded him I would be 21 soon.  He promised we would celebrate.

My birthday [that year] was actually [on a Wednesday], and WCA Homecoming/Halloween was on Friday.  On Tuesday evening, I had a class at Campbell.  When I got out, I had a text message from Aaron:  “Enjoy your last day being 20.”

I don’t remember what I texted back to him, but later that night I made up some excuse to call him.  I can’t remember what it was, but I didn’t feel like I could call just because I wanted to talk to him.  We talked on the phone for awhile, and I asked him if he was coming to Homecoming on Friday.  He said he was, and he asked me the same question.  If he was going, I was definitely going.  I told him I would be there.

Somewhat cleverly, I asked, “So, are you still interested in celebrating my birthday with me? Maybe we could do something after Homecoming…”

I held my breath, not believing that I just said that.

He agreed.  Now I was smiling and I couldn’t stop.  After we hung up, I tried to stop my wild imagination.  This was not a date.  It was a mutual, friendly decision to hang out.  As friends.  He was not picking me up.  I would pay for myself.  We were just hanging out.

Well, I'll stop there with the flashbacks. We did hang out on Halloween at Homecoming and went out afterwards (although it ended up being not just the two of us, which actually worked out for the best). The rest, as they say, is history. Aaron "officially" asked me to date him on November 2, 2008. By the end of December, we were inseparable. In the spring, we were already talking about getting married. And in August, just 10 months after it had all started, we were engaged.

It was quite a whirlwind romance, indeed, and we never have looked back!

I sometimes wish I could talk to my 20-year-old self right around the middle of October and say, "Hey. That Aaron guy that seems to creep into your every thought recently...well, get ready. You have no idea how much fun is in store over the next few years."

But, of course, where is the fun in that for 20-year-old me?

Back in the beginning...

in busy October...

Man, I could not get myself to sit down and blog this past week. Not sure what it was that kept me from it other than I just never felt like it when I had the opportunity. That means there's a lot to catch up on!

Let's go back to last weekend. Last Friday, we met my mom-in-law, sis-in-law, niece, and nephew at a pumpkin farm. Aaron, Graeme and I got there early, and explored around the entrance while we waited. We there learned Graeme's feelings towards hay:

This was very funny, and made us hopeful that he will not be completely different from us in our preference for things not outdoorsy.

We did have a lot of fun at the farm, all the while being thankful that we didn't live there or have to be there all of the time. There were ponies.

There was a train ride (on which Graeme lost his hat, but no worries, they sent a man on a tractor to retrieve it).

There was more hay discovery.

And, of course, a hayride to pick some pumpkins.

It was great, family fun.

Last Sunday night, we had the great honor of making a promise in front of our family and friends to love Jesus and teach Graeme that God made him and loves him and that Jesus wants to be his friend forever. Aaron and I have done at least two Parent-Child Dedications every year for the past six years. It was so amazingly fun to participate as well as lead it this year. And Graeme thought it was pretty cool watching his Daddy on stage.

He looked pretty dashing, right?!

On Monday, it was Aaron's 31st birthday. Graeme and I had ventured out the Thursday before to get the remainder his presents and cards. We had to make two trips out to work around nap times but Graeme did great. We gave Aaron his gifts Monday morning, and then Monday night, we had a nice dinner at home and I made Aaron his favorite:  chocolate chip cookies.

This weekend, Aaron and I had tickets to see one of our favorite artists, Ben Rector, in Downtown Raleigh. It was a late concert, so we had decided the easiest thing to do was let Graeme and Penny spend the night with Mimi and Grandy. This worked out great, and Aaron and I were so excited for a night out together when we could stay out past 8:30pm! You see, we get a lot of free babysitting from grandparents, but we realize that once the baby is in bed, the fun of it is over for them. We usually try to get home pretty early on our date nights.

But, Thursday night, 8:30pm hit, and the concert was just getting started. What party animals we are! Ha!

The concert was amazing, as Ben always is. We didn't get home until like 11pm (when we are usually fast asleep). I don't remember the last time I slept past 7am, so I wasn't even sure I could sleep in later than that. But, I did make it until 7:45am. Wow.

The house was so, so quiet Friday morning.

It was pretty fun having breakfast and coffee without having a dog eyeing us for scraps and a baby that wants all of our attention while at the same time using his go-go-gadget arms to spill everything in sight...but after that, we were very ready to see our little Graeme Grayson! And Penny too, of course.

We headed downtown to get them, and we were all very excited to see each other, of course. Much to Penny's utter dismay, we left her behind again to take Graeme for his first trip to the NC State Fair.

I failed majorly at pictures at the fair, but we did have fun. We are planning to go again next Friday, so I'll try to better document it then. I did get a picture of Graeme seeing a cow:

Graeme did great at the fair. We took the stroller as well as the Baby Bjorn, so he was content switching back and forth between those. He only napped for about 30 minutes, but he was happy and content the rest of the time. We figure this was all good practice for Disney World. I'm telling you, the fair might be worse. People are like crazy vultures around benches. It took us forever to find one to feed Graeme his dinner.




Well, that's been our last week and half or so. I am finding it very hard to believe that my little boy is going to be seven months old this coming week. Six months still sounds like a little baby sort of. Seven months sounds a lot older to me for some reason. He sure keeps getting cuter, and he is more fun each day.

30 weeks of Graeme Grayson

some Graeme updates

How is it already October 8th? Good grief.

Time always seems to speed up once October hits and the holidays race us on to the end of another year.

Speaking of time, Graeme has moved to a four hour schedule. I think he was ready a couple of weeks ago, but it seemed like such a hassle to me that I put it off for awhile. Moving to the four hour schedule, I've gathered, is really an ambiguous thing. There's no "set time to do it," and like most things, it depends on the baby. I decided to make the move because:

1. Graeme was sleeping through the night consistently.
2. He did not seem hungry every three hours anymore. He would push his bottle away sometimes and not eat as much as he normally would.
3. One of his three naps (typically one of the morning ones) would be extremely short or he would take for-ev-er to fall asleep for it.

So, last Thursday, I knew I would have three consecutive days at home with him to get a new routine going. Like a lot of other things with Graeme, we just made a clean cut switch. I figured we would try the new schedule, and if he wasn't ready like I thought, no harm done and we would go back to our previous schedule. The four hour schedule means dropping a nap and dropping a meal.

I started last Thursday morning by stretching his morning wake time longer and laying him down for a nap about 30-45 minutes later than he was used to. It took him a few days to get the hang of his new morning nap time, but the past couple of days he has slept for over an hour. He has had no trouble waiting four hours to eat, and it hasn't even seemed to phase him that he is eating an hour later than before.

His new schedule goes something like this:

Between 6:00-6:30 - wake up (yes, it's early, but he also goes to bed early, which is nice)

6:45 - breakfast

8:45 - morning nap

Between 10:00-10:15 - wake up

10:45 - lunch

12:45 - afternoon nap

Between 2:30-2:45 - wake up

2:45 - dinner

6:00 - bath/pajamas/story time

Between 6:30-6:45 - bottle/bed

The four hours of wake time at the end of the day is the only other thing that is taking some getting used to. He was used to only making it three hours, so the extra hour just requires a lot of "changing the activity to keep him happy." He does pretty well and is getting better each night.

This schedule, of course, is subject to slight changes every day. I have divvied up the meal we dropped across his now four meals each day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are accompanied by solid foods. At bedtime, he just drinks his bottle.

It's nice getting to this schedule and knowing any future changes will be just stretching meals further apart (so maybe one day he can eat dinner with us at a normal dinner time) and dropping the morning nap in several months.

In other Graeme news, he finally got to try fruit. Funny enough, he wasn't overly excited about it like I thought he would be. He likes it, of course, but he gets just as excited about his oatmeal and vegetables. We went with apples as his first fruit.



I mentioned that Graeme didn't feel very well the past couple of weeks. Most of it was teething, but he also had a runny nose, cough, and awful sounding congestion. He never had a fever, his nose ran clear, and he was eating and sleeping well. I wasn't ever too concerned about it. But, he just couldn't shake his cough, so on Monday we decided to take him to the pediatrician for peace of mind. Our pediatrician does sick walk-in appointments on most weekday mornings, and we barely waited five minutes.

It turned out that he just had a cold, and there was nothing we could do for him except what we already were doing (fluids, humidifier, saline in his nose). Peace of mind was nice and of course knowing Graeme isn't sick with something bacterial is worth it, but it is a little sad to pay a co-pay for not much of anything. Ah well.

His cough seemed better today, and the doctor was pretty certain it would clear up by the weekend. His bottom teeth are both through his gums, so hopefully he will get a break and feel better for awhile.



We had our friend Julie take some pictures of Graeme after he turned six months. We are fortunate to have several close friends that have side hobbies/businesses as photographers. I love all of the photos they've taken for us, and I can't believe how different Graeme looks in each photo session.

Five days, one month, four months, six months and one week

about our visit from the tooth fairy's not-so-nice relative, teething

I remember reading somewhere that just when you really feel settled into a pretty perfect routine with your baby...

teething comes along.

Yes, yes it does.

Sophie might not have legs left after this teething business...

Graeme now has two bottom front teeth poking through. They're super cute. He is still pure joy to be around, but teething, coupled with his vaccines last week and some diaper problems, if I may be discreet, has really thrown our little man off. Plus, he has had an awful runny nose and a bad cough/congestion. I am not sure if the latter is due to actually being sick, or if it's just part of teething for him.

Anyway, he has been very clingy, especially to me. (I, of course, don't mind this much.) He's also been a little more fussy during the day. The hardest part has been the nights. We had just settled into continuous nights of almost 12 hour sleep from him, and then all of a sudden:  mayhem.

A couple weeks ago, he started waking up between 5:00-5:30am and either taking a really long time to fall back asleep or not falling back asleep. A couple mornings he seemed really hungry when he woke that early so I fed him and then he would go back to sleep. I was unsure if he was just going through a growth spurt or what. We tried adding the dreamfeed again, but he still woke up before 6:00am. We pushed his bedtime back a little, but that also failed to do anything.

Finally, we noticed the tooth, and that seemed to explain his disrupted nights. The next week, he acquired the runny nose, and then he went in for his vaccines. He's never really had trouble with having his shots in the past, but this time they did a number on him. We had to give him Tylenol for the second time ever. Most nights last week found him having a hard time getting to sleep and then waking up throughout the night. He usually just needed to be picked up and held for a few minutes and would fall back asleep. I tried those teething tablets, and I guess they would help him. It's hard to say. Our pediatrician said she was "indifferent" about them...I think I would agree.

I felt so bad for him, and I was getting worn out! Over this past weekend, he slept a little better, but still needed some hugs during the night and a feeding one early morning. On Monday, his second tooth was on its way through, and I was talking to one of my neighbors. She mentioned an amber teething necklace might help him.

I knew some of my mom friends used them, so yesterday I asked a couple of them their thoughts on them. (I'm a bit of a skeptic sometimes.)

However, I trust all of the people that I talked to that like them, and the necklaces aren't too expensive. I figured it didn't hurt to try. I finished work early yesterday, and since my mom had Graeme, I drove to Cary to pick one up at a baby boutique. 

Now, it has only been less than 24 hours since he's worn it. Last night, I didn't want to leave it around his neck, so I took the advice of my friend and wrapped it around his ankle twice before I put his pajamas on.

I'm not saying I'm a 100% believer yet, but I will say this:  It was the first night in over two weeks that Graeme went to bed at his normal time (6:45pm) and slept without even a peep until 6:30am. That's the 12 hours that we've all been missing!

So, like I said, it hasn't been long enough for me to say, "Yes! Go buy these beads! They will solve all of your problems!"

I will definitely keep you posted though. And I will pray that last night wasn't a fluke!

Another plus of the beads:  they're super adorable.