what Graeme is up to at eight-months-old

Two things that are boggling my mind these days:

1. 2014 is over in less than 40 days.
2. I have an eight-month-old.

So many of my friends are pregnant right now and hearing about their pregnancies brings back many memories of my own pregnancy, that really seems like it was yesterday sometimes. It's hard to believe that Graeme has been in our arms for eight whole months now. We are speeding towards his first birthday. Goodness.

Graeme's eighth month brought more fun and learning and growing just like previous months have. When I look back at a picture from just one month ago, I can point out so many changes in him. 

One obvious change is that hair of his. The longer it grows, the flatter it becomes. No more fuzzy duck hair. And his face tends to gravitate more towards a little boy look than a baby look. 

What else?

• He's still not mobile, other than rolling and a tiny bit of creeping. I'm really not in a rush for him to be on the move. It's nice to leave him sitting and know he won't get too far if I need to run to the bathroom or whatever. He is lunging from a sitting position to his hands and knees a lot more, but then he just collapses to his tummy. He definitely finds a way to get to something he wants if it's not too far away from him. He does pretty well at pulling himself up and balancing in a standing position, but still needs a hand to catch him when he forgets that he's in charge of his own balance. 

  

  Figuring out a way to Penny's toys

• His fine motor skills have really blossomed this past month. He is fascinated with his hands and we will catch him watching them open and close and checking out how his fingers move. He is blindingly quick at reaching for things and is also working on feeding himself some food here and there like banana pieces or his Baby Mum Mums. Right before he turned eight months he clapped his hands for the first time. He loves clapping with us the past couple of days and I think he's pretty proud of himself.

  

  In the middle of clapping at Marbles Kids Museum yesterday.

• He still LOVES to eat, and I've yet to find a food he doesn't like so far. He's a big fan of corn and still loves his butternut squash. He and I have a new morning ritual of sharing a banana together. His menu these days consists of carrots, corn, peas, butternut squash, yellow squash, green beans, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes, mangoes, apples, pears, plums, bananas, blueberries, peaches, avocado, oatmeal, and his little rice cake things.

  

  Threatening to eat his high chair if I don't fix his food fast enough.

• He's still sleeping well, although teething throws us a weird night every once in awhile that has him awake in the middle of the night. He sleeps about 15 hours every day, three hours of napping and twelve hours at night. He loves his Lovie and will snuggle it all night long and during naps. We put two in his crib so that he has a better chance of reaching one at all times.

  

  Those Halo Sleep Sacks are amazing, by the way.

• He is growing taller by the day, it seems. He won't be officially measured again until his 9 month visit to the doctor, but I'm guessing he's over 30 inches now (he was 29 at six months). He is so tall, and we really don't know where he gets it from! For pants and onesie pajamas he is in 18-month size. Those legs go on and on and on. We ended up making the switch to a bigger rear-facing carseat already. The poor kid already touches the back of the seat with his toes. If he keeps growing like this, he'll be pretty cramped back there for the next 16 months that he has to face backwards!

  

  Riding in style.

• He loves to play with his toys, and even though everything still makes an immediate trip to his mouth, he is manipulating his toys more and studying them with his hands and eyes as well. He loves to close things, so one of his favorite toys currently is a pop-up animal toy. He can't open the animal doors by himself yet, but he closes each one over and over as we open them for him. He also loves to read books with us and turn the pages himself. His touch-and-feel books are some of his favorites right now.

  

  Books are a big deal around this house. 

He's been fun his whole life, but right now he is at a really fun age. His personality is darling and he is so stinking hilarious. He loves Mommy and Daddy and the rest of his family. He is definitely developing preferences for people that he knows well and is shy and a little scared of strangers. He adores Penny and thinks she's pretty funny. I could talk about him for many more paragraphs, but I think I've covered the bases for his eight month update.

This little boy melts our hearts daily and makes us beyond grateful that we get to parent him.

about taking a baby to Disney World

Well, we've been back home from Florida for six days now, and I'm just starting to feel settled back into normal. I don't know if it's because Disney is so other-worldly feeling or what...it's hard to come home from vacation anyway I guess.

Thankfully, we had Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday to relax too. Saturday, Graeme went to see his MiMi and Grandy for a few hours while Aaron and I put up the Christmas decorations. We love getting them up before Thanksgiving so we are free to enjoy our festive house for both upcoming holidays. And at our house, they come down as soon as Christmas Day is over, so earlier is better for us to get maximum enjoyment out of them. Sunday we did nothing except a little grocery shopping. Having Sunday off with Aaron home ALL day was especially rare and awesome. 

Well, assuming if you read my blog you most likely follow my Facebook and Instagram, I won't re-hash all of our vacation pictures again. You can find them, like I said, on those two sites.

But, I will post some thoughts on taking a baby on an airplane and to Disney World. Perhaps you could apply them to other vacations too. First, some things that made our trip nice and easy:


1. Baby Carrier:

 We chose to take our Baby Bjorn, although I'm sure whatever carrier you prefer would work just as well. The Baby Bjorn is nice for us because Graeme loves to face outward, but there was also the option to face him inward when he needed to sleep in it. The stroller couldn't come everywhere, and we used the carrier every day we were there. It's easy to strap on, and Aaron doesn't mind wearing it at all, which was also nice so we could trade off holding him. It's hands free as well, and that's always helpful.

2. Pouches of baby food, on-the-go bottles, and these million-dollar-idea spoons:

I love the person who invented these. They are awesome. There was no way I was taking homemade baby food to Disney World, so the pouches were great. They don't need to be refrigerated and they barely take up any room in a bag. The spoons just screw on a pouch and on-the-go feeding is a breeze. Since we aren't breastfeeding, we invested in on-the-go, ready-made bottles too. They also don't need to be refrigerated. You screw on a disposable nipple and they're ready. Everything Graeme ate from went in the trash when he was done except the little spoons that I just washed in the hotel room every night. Easy peasy.

3. These wipes:

No matter how hard we try to hook things with clips or those little toy rings, Graeme's toys and sippy cup and pacifier always seem to drop. I don't feel like I'm over-the-top insane about germs because honestly, they're everywhere and he's going to get exposed to stuff. But, I try to obviously keep him as clean and healthy as possible and these wipes were handy when a sink and soap weren't a lot of the time. They at least made me feel better about giving him something that he dropped but wanted back!

4. Something to snack on:

These are what we took, and they are often handy at home too. But, they were especially a life-saver several times on our trip. When we were eating in restaurants, waiting in lines, and on the plane ride home. Graeme isn't too good at eating them by himself yet, so I break off pieces and feed them to him. It keeps him happy for quite awhile normally!

Some other parting thoughts:

1. Obviously this isn't usually something you can control too much, but a flight at nap time was awesome. Not that the flight home wasn't good when he was awake, but a napping baby is clearly easier to take care of on a plane, ha!

2. We kept Graeme on his feeding schedule no problem, whereas naps and bedtime were a little more tricky. He's not used to falling asleep out and about for naps too much anymore. He did great though and never skipped a nap (even if he only took a short one!). It worked out well for us how we scheduled our trip:  We had a couple days being out and about, a couple of days that we were at the hotel for naps. A couple of late nights, and a couple nights with bedtime like normal. Graeme did great. Four nights away was just perfect for his age right now. It took him a couple days to get back on routine here at home, but it wasn't that bad. He had been used to a lot of snuggling, especially for naps, so he was a little distraught to be back in his crib at first. Anyway, I think we had a good compromise of making sure he got what he needed while still making sure we got to enjoy being out and about more than usual.

3. I know I've read and heard a lot that once you have kids, it's not really vacation when you take them on vacation. While I do agree that it's more work having another little tag-a-long with you, it is totally still vacation. I don't see taking care of Graeme as a chore whatsoever. Never. It is my joy to care for him. So, I loved doing it on vacation just as much as I do at home. Plus, I had constant help from Aaron (at home I'm on my own more), and who in their right mind can feel stressed at Disney World?!

4. "A baby can't enjoy Disney, won't remember Disney, will be a lot of work at Disney..." We heard all of that. Yes, we realize he won't remember it. We will, and I'm sure he will love looking at the pictures one day. He did enjoy it (minus the character meetings, ha!). He loved the lights and music and rides. He loved all of his time with his Daddy. I think he loved just being with us constantly. And he got a five-day break from his carseat! And, like I said up above, it is a little more work, but all you need is a little preparation beforehand and the right attitude.

We had a great time on our first family vacation and are itching to go back already! We kept saying, "Next time, just think how different he will be and how much more he will be able to do!"

Until next time, Disney World!

about Graeme's Halloween

The week before vacation always finds me distracted, especially now that Graeme is here and he requires like a billion things to leave the house for a week. I think, think we have everything we need for our adventure to Disney World next week. It's not at all packed yet, but it's in our home ready to be packed.

We decided to forego shipping a package, and we are going to check a bag that is filled with food and diapers and wipes. On the way home, it should be basically empty and can be used for souvenirs. Because, let's face it, we are going to have a hard time not buying Graeme something every day while we are there.

Anyway, I won't bore you with another post about Disney until we return when I plan to fill you in on how it all went. I highly doubt I will post a blog while we are gone unless I really get in the mood and want to fight my iPad to type one. No computers allowed on this trip. We are unplugging for the most part, but you can bet on pictures every day. My Instagram is here if you want to follow!


So, today, I want to document our little guy's first Halloween.

We are not too Halloween-y here. Pumpkins are as far as we go for decorations. We don't even usually carve them, but this year, my parents invited us down and carved one of our pumpkins for us.

Bat Signal on the front, Graeme's name on the back.

Over the past couple of months, I had glanced at Halloween costumes a few times, but there was never anything that jumped out at me "Graeme must dress up like this!" The baby girl costumes were always way cuter, of course.

My mom had given us the costume I wore for what was my second Halloween (I was only two days old for the first one!). So, I knew he had something for a costume anyway. We finally decided to save the $30 we would have spent on a new costume and go the sentimental route. What made it even better was that my mom had made it for me. Thankfully, it was totally gender neutral...

Graeme as a pea in a pod

Whitney as a pea in a pod

Note that seven-month Graeme is pretty much the same size as then twelve-month me. He's so tall! And he may look happy for those two pictures, but those were probably the only two smiles in the midst of the fussing for the five minutes he was in that costume. He was sick on Halloween, and was not impressed with dressing up for a photo shoot. If only you could hear the utter nonsense-crazy that Aaron and I were doing to get smiles out of him...


For the rest of the day, he wore his Halloween-themed onesie and a bib that his MiMi bought him.

If you can't tell due to his squirms, his shirt says "Batty about Mommy." The bat has a bowtie. I die.

He cooperated much better for this photo shoot on the morning of Halloween.

Journey did two Halloween Block Parties in two different neighborhoods that evening. Aaron had to be at one of them, and he was able to go to the one that was only five minutes away from our house. After Aaron left, the idea of having two hours before Graeme's bedtime and me being by myself with a fussy, tired, sick boy wasn't necessarily appealing. So, I bundled him up (it was pretty chilly on Halloween night) and we went to the block party for about an hour before it got dark and really cold. He loved it. There was a lot to look at, and he was warm and happy in the Baby Bjorn.

We left and went home before the block party got very busy. I put Graeme to bed after hanging a sign over the doorbell, "Please don't ring! Putting baby to bed. Will be down with candy soon!"

He went to sleep easily, and no tricksters rang our doorbell. At this point, it was after 7:30pm, dark, and pretty cold. I figured I missed most of the trick-or-treaters, but I had bought a little bag of candy. I took the baby monitor, a chair, and Penny outside (I still didn't want anyone knocking or ringing).

We sat out there for about 20 minutes, and we did get a handful of kids that came by. They all got a handful of candy because I wanted to get rid of it!

Me, blurry Penny, candy, and baby monitor. Quite the set-up.

It was a fun day (minus both of the boys not feeling too great). Next year, I have a feeling it will be a lot more fun since we will have a 19 month old. Crazy!


Well, I probably won't check back in here until after our trip. Have a great weekend and next week!

Bye for now.