in Florida

Hello from sunny Florida and Happy Independence Day!

Graeme is asleep in the pack-n-play for his second nap, and I thought I'd pay some attention to my neglected blog.

We are having a great trip. We left Wednesday afternoon right at 2:50pm and we rolled in to my grandparent's driveway at exactly 2:15am on Thursday. We stopped three times on the way, and Graeme only cried a few times. He wasn't too keen about falling asleep in his carseat for bedtime, but once he did, he was fine. For a twelve hour trip with a 3-month-old, we can't complain at all! 

We've kept him on his routine and he's taken to his new surroundings like a champ. He is, of course, the center of attention!



Aaron had to work on Wednesday until we got in the car to leave, so I was in charge of packing. I didn't mind, and even though Graeme must have sensed my to-do list and didn't want to take long naps, I got everything done. When I got it all downstairs, I was pretty certain there was no way it was all fitting in our little Honda Civic.

Graeme was asleep in his swing at this point, so I began the task of loading the car. After a huge fight with the stroller and the rock-n-play (which I finally won), I was pretty pleased with myself for getting everything in the trunk except for the four little bags that were filled with things for Graeme and needed to go in the backseat.

Yeah...I'm not sure how that's ever going to work again. Especially since Aaron has since acquired a ginormous, orange stuffed owl that he found at Cracker Barrel for our new preschool set at church.

My grandparents have an in-ground pool that's screened-in. Graeme has been in the water both days that we've been here and he loves it.

We didn't bring his little bathtub down here. It obviously would have either sat in someone's lap or been strapped to the top of the car! Graeme took a bath in a couple of inches of water in the regular bathtub last night, and apparently we wasted our money on the Finding Nemo baby bathtub with infant sling. Graeme was all about the big bath. We will have to try to video him in there next time. He would have stayed in the bath for a very long time and been so happy. I'm so glad he's a water-loving baby.





I am so glad Graeme is down here making memories with his family. He is surrounded by five grandparents right now, so he's getting plenty of snuggles.

Getting kisses from Great-Great-Gramma Pierce while his Grandy looks on.

Graeme is the fifth generation from his Gramma Pierce. How awesome is that?

"And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation."

Luke 1:50

about three-month-old Graeme (with cute pictures galore)

Monday marked three months since our little Graeme entered into this crazy world. 

Sometimes this...

...seems like it was so long ago.

I remember after Aaron and I had only been married a short time that it was hard for me to remember what it was like to not be married. It just fit so perfectly that it seemed it had always been. It's the same thing with being parents. Graeme fits so seamlessly into our life now that we can't imagine what we used to do!


Graeme really does get more fun each day. We love him so much. We basically stare at him all the time because he's just way too cute for his own good.

Too. Cute.

At three months Graeme is...

1.  Smiling, smiling, smiling. He smiles so much and it just melts us into little pieces. He loves when you talk to him and make the "brrrrrr" sound with your lips. That gets a smile every. time. My favorite is when he smiles so big that it requires him to move his whole little body.

2.  Talking, in his own words of course. He's most talkative right after he wakes up. There's a video of me and my brother when I'm five and Tyler's just a little baby, probably around Graeme's age. Anyway, the video is literally five minutes of me repeating the same baby nonsense-word over and over and over, as only a five-year-old can. I was trying to get my baby brother to say "Ah-goo." Not sure where that came from. My family all watched it awhile back and Aaron constantly makes fun of it. However, as a joke, I started saying it to Graeme and my dad joined in. I swear to you that Graeme can say "Ah-goo." He won't do it every time, but we've all heard him repeat it. Five-year-old me is avenged.

3.  Sleeping...the same. We can't quite crack this sleeping through the night thing yet. Graeme consistently only wakes up one time every night. It kind of varies, which leads me to believe he's not necessarily "stuck" waking up every night. And, he always downs his bottle, so I do believe he's hungry. It's a quick 15-minute interruption, so I can't complain too much. Every baby is different, so we aren't going to push him quite yet. If he hasn't slept through the night by his four-month check up, I plan to ask our pediatrician for her opinion. I'm also hoping that taking away his pacifier will lend itself to our cause. 

4.  No longer a pacifier baby. He hasn't seen his paci since Friday at bedtime. Saturday naps were a little rough. Saturday night was surprisingly awesome. Every night since has actually been great. Sunday and Monday naps were still really hard. But, we had a breakthrough yesterday, and his naps were some of the best naps he's ever had. I am so very glad we stopped the pacifier. He doesn't even seem to miss it at night time. After the first couple of days of screaming before naps (so very hard to hear), he has gotten to where he just makes some fussing noises before he drifts off. One way we decided to help him in the loss of his paci was to trade it in for a "lovie." (See more on this below.)

5.  A "blankie" baby. This makes me so happy. I had a blankie for waaay too long. I still have my childhood blankie in a storage box and I have a special place in my heart for it. I have been hoping that Graeme would have a blankie that he loved one day. In the past month, he has really loved holding his super soft "Aden and Anais" blankets. It's so, so cute. 

I thought he would definitely take comfort in a blankie to go to sleep, but I didn't want to put a big, giant one in his crib with him, for obvious reasons. I did some research, and we decided a little "lovie" blanket (I'm not making that word up, they're really called that), would be perfectly fine. On the day we made him give up his paci, we made a special trip to The Learning Express and Graeme "helped" pick out his new bedtime companion. We made it smell like mommy and ordered another one so that we'll have two identical ones on hand. He took to it right away. I didn't think him sleeping could get any cuter, but this might just do it.

We are excited for what the next month with Graeme will bring. He is going on his first family vacation this month. We are making a ten-hour drive to Florida...yikes! We are leaving in the late afternoon, so most of the drive will be after his bedtime. I think he'll do great. Penny, on the other hand...she might be the troublesome one.

Happy three months to our sweet Graeme Grayson!

a goodbye to the pacifier

I will be truthful and admit that it's 10am and I'm still in my pajamas. It's so cloudy outside that I am not the least bit motivated to put in the work of hair and makeup and clothes. We had a long night.

Let's just say, today marks the day of NO MORE PACIFIER.

I didn't have anything against the pacifier when Graeme was born. I myself sucked on my finger until I was ten years old, and I knew I didn't want that for him. At least the paci isn't connected to him and could be taken away. My only feelings towards it were:

1. He's not using it past his first birthday, and hopefully not even that long.
2. If it becomes more trouble than it's worth, it's gone.

Well, friends, the day has come when it is indeed more trouble than it's worth. It's not been an issue until the past few days. He would use it to fall asleep, spit it out, and not care about it anymore. He was sleeping fine, and I didn't mind that he used the pacifier to soothe himself to sleep. Well, for the past few days and, unfortunately, nights, he has woken up and needed it back way too much. Of course he can't find it and put it back in his mouth, so I was having to give it back to him during naps, and more annoyingly and exhaustingly, every couple hours at night. 

All that to say, we are quitting cold turkey. He's only three-months-old, so he can only protest for a few days, I'm hoping. Then, we will all get some better sleep around here! We have decided to cut it out almost completely, probably only saving it for "social situations" if we are desperate. (i.e. we might resort to it in a restaurant or an airplane as to not make too many people hate us.)

I don't regret using the pacifier for the first three months, but I think it's definitely time to wean from it. From what I've read on the "all-knowing" internet, most people were paci-free and sleeping great after a few days.

I talked to Graeme about it this morning when he woke up for the day. He smiled a lot while I was talking and seemed to agree that this would be best, but I told him I thought he might feel differently when it came time for naps and bed. 

So far, he's gone down for two naps today with ten minutes of fussing before he fell asleep. Not too shabby. We shall see what bedtime brings. Prayers appreciated.

Bye, bye pacifier!

In other, more fun, news:  we had two firsts this past week.

1. Aaron had his first Father's Day.  Like Mother's Day, we celebrated a day early. We gave Aaron his cards and presents on Saturday. I offered to take him out to dinner or lunch, but he said he wanted to cook. I said I would cook him anything, but he said, no, he wanted to cook. I thought that might make me look lazy on Father's Day, but who was I to argue? He made an amazing dinner from Gordon Ramsey's cookbook. I told him that he was going to have to cook more often. 
2. We took Graeme to the pool for the first time. I grew up swimming all of the time, and I love the water. Pool. Ocean. Maybe not slimy lakes and ponds. Aaron likes the water fine, but he's not as keen to stay in as long as I am usually. I am hoping that Graeme is a water baby. I am so excited for next summer when he and I can go to the pool all the time. This year, since he can't be in the sun too much, we waited until the water was really warm and took him to my parents' pool that is in the shade in the evening. Graeme didn't cry at all in the water, although he did look a little puzzled at first. Before long, he was floating around like a champ.

about our beach trip

I think I could very easily be a mom that worried to leave her child and therefore never left him anywhere with anyone, at least not without worrying about him the whole time. But, I decided before Graeme even arrived that I would not be that mom.

When Graeme was eight days old, Aaron and I left him for two hours to go to dinner and to Walmart. It was what we referred to as our first "lame parents date," jokingly. After that first time, it was easier to leave him. Our first few dates, I was a little tense. Now, I don't worry about him at all.

Anyway, all that to say, we decided that since our anniversary was in June, we definitely needed to get out of town just the two of us. Next year, we will plan for a longer trip per our usual routine, but this year, we figured one night would be a great little refresher. Plus, I think Aaron was a little nervous to take me away for more than one night right off the bat. He wanted to ease me into leaving Graeme for longer than a few hours at a time.

I must say, I was pretty proud of myself. I really thought I would cry when we left him. I mean, I usually cry just to leave Penny. But, I must have been so worried about crying and starting our trip off sadly, that I psyched myself up and was able to leave tear-free.

I also thought about how by leaving Graeme to go on a trip with Aaron was actually a way to love him more and love him better. A trip away to reconnect with Aaron without the typical interruptions of typical life helps us to recharge. And by doing so, we can come back with a fresh outlook on everything and energy to press on and take care of our family joyfully. Plus, when you leave someone you love for even a day, it reminds you how much you love them and appreciate them. We missed Graeme like crazy, of course, so we came home loving him even more.

We left for Carolina Beach on Thursday morning in my dad's Jeep. With the top down, the music up, and some Chick-fil-a breakfast, we began our anniversary beach adventure.

We had a great time. The weather was perfect, the ocean was semi-warm (once you got used to it, it felt nice), our hotel was awesome, and of course we had so much fun just being together. 

View from our room

We got a room on the top floor. We were excited about that.

Graeme has still not mastered sleeping through the night, although I think he's close, so I got my first uninterrupted night of sleep since March 21st.

Graeme and Penny stayed with my parents, and my mom sent me several pictures and updates during the day to keep my mind at ease. That helped me fully relax and enjoy my time knowing he was happy and following his routine. He had so much fun.

I am so glad that Aaron and I were able to escape for a night, and I look forward to our next getaway, which will definitely be before next June. Once a year just won't cut it, I believe. I have a feeling we have four grandparents that will love to help us out.

For now, we made some fun memories on our first trip together as parents!

Some of the best ice cream 

We loved cruising around the beach in the Jeep looking at houses we can never afford.

Fireworks over the ocean that we enjoyed from our balcony.

Four years and I love him more each day.

memories by photos

Happy Anniversary, Aaron Jack Bauer! I love our fairy tale!

about our party animal baby (and other things)

What a crazy week it's been. Excuse my absence on the blog. My brother is officially married as of Saturday, and I am so excited to have another wonderful sister-in-law.

The wedding weekend was a lot of fun, but it involved three late nights for our little guy who is accustomed to being in his crib at promptly 7pm every night. And we learned that he is definitely a boy who needs to be in his bed to go to sleep at night. No, he didn't cry and scream about it. But he just would not sleep. He's like a party animal. Couldn't miss out on any of the fun. He was happy and awake until really late every night of the weekend. Even on the car rides home. Not until he hit his bed would he be out for the night. Crazy kid. He's slept SO well since the wedding. We've had six hour stretches in his crib every night. It's been pretty great.

We got to see most of my extended family and introduce Graeme to many of his great aunts, great uncles, and second cousins.

He's now met all four of his great grandparents and his great-great grandma. I am so, so thankful that he not only has all of his grandparents around, but also their parents, and my dad's grandmother! What a loved boy by up to five generations!




In other news, Aaron and I celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary tomorrow. I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday. Usually, we take at least a week's vacation to celebrate this time of year. Our honeymoon was spent on a cruise, our first anniversary was a week at Disney, our second was a week at Daytona Beach with one day at Disney, and last year we went on another cruise.

This year, we are foregoing a long trip for obvious reasons, but we are taking the time to spend one night at Carolina Beach sans baby and dog. I am excited. I'll admit, I'm a little apprehensive to leave Graeme overnight for the first time. I'm not at all worried about the care he'll receive (my parents are keeping him), but I know I'll be sad to leave him when the time comes.

My excitement for a night away with Aaron will stop any tears as soon as we get in the car and head towards the ocean. I have no doubt that we are doing the right thing! Time away together alone will be non-negotiable, and we might as well start early. Going for one night will make going for longer easier the next time.

Check back tomorrow for a special, bonus blog post as I reminisce about the happiest day ever. June 11, 2010. Our wedding day.





Two more things...

One, I chopped my hair off! About a month ago, my hair that I had been growing out for like a year started to bug the crap out of me. It was SO long. But, I didn't want to cut it before the wedding so I could wear it up. I scheduled a haircut for the Monday right after the wedding, which was yesterday. My hair stylist, who is my friend and has been cutting my hair for like six years now, asked me what I wanted to do. And I said I just wanted to go for it. Cut it off. My two stipulations were as follows: no bangs and I wanted to be able to put it in a ponytail.

It's a pretty big difference!

Two, in not as fun news, when I was leaving to go get Graeme from my mom yesterday after my haircut, I noticed that my car felt weird to drive. At first I thought it was the road being bumpy. But it didn't stop. You know me and my lack of car knowledge, but I supposed I should pull over to check since I was still in my neighborhood. I also remembered that I thought I was supposed to turn my flashers on. I wasn't sure if it mattered in my neighborhood, but I did it anyway because it's not too often I get to push that button and I actually know where it is! I got out, and was disheartened to see that my back tire was totally and completely flat. Yuck. I made the short drive back to the house and called Aaron. My mom brought Graeme to me, and then Aaron came home early to mess with it. He surprised me and changed the flat tire himself! We drove it to the tire place and ended up having to replace it. The world just wants all of our money, I guess. I'm just glad I was not out on a big road and that Graeme was safe.


Lastly, I can't finish a post without at least one picture of my cute kid. He's eleven weeks old now, you know.