he's almost one!

Yesterday, Graeme turned 11 months old, and I am trying to comprehend how I am 30 days away from having a one-year-old.

We've all heard parents say "Kids grow up so fast!" So, if you're a parent, you're tracking with me. If you're not a parent yet, just believe us that this is true:  your kids really do seem to grow from a tiny baby to a little person in the blink of an eye.

And I know I can't even comprehend it fully. Like I said, I am only almost one year in.

I have tried to be really intentional all year about soaking in every possible moment with Graeme. I know I am not always successful. But I try to put my phone away when I am with him (minus the million pictures I have taken of him), leave the cleaning and housework for when he's asleep (except wiping up drool and crumbs), and get down on the floor to play with him (my jeans all have very faded knees). Now that we are days away from his first birthday, I am even more aware of the need to be present with him and not miss any of his absolute adorableness.

He is learning something new every. day.

The biggest change this past month has probably been his growing vocabulary. I don't have much to go on here, but in my opinion, he's talking a lot for his age. He says:

• Dada
• Mama
• Penny
• Baby
• Ba-ba (bottle or bye-bye)
• Puffs
• Bath
• Mimi
• Me-me (referring to himself when he wants something)
• Thank you
• Love you
• Psst psst (pretends to whisper a secret)
• Puzzle (Pu-pu, but he means puzzle)
• Balloon (sounds like ball sort of)
• Read
• Please (when he feels like it)
• Up
• Elmo
• Pooh

I can't think of anymore right now. If he can't say a word, he is still pretty efficient at communicating what he wants. He knows a lot of things too. Like he knows in the morning we make coffee while Aaron takes Penny outside. He gets very upset if he thinks I started without him. He must be held so he can watch. He knows how to give Penny a treat and loves doing that. He knows the names of meals and is excited for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He likes helping Mimi and Grandy get the mail at their apartment and knows how to work their key remote to open the doors.

He's a pretty smart kid. But we are a little biased.

"Up!"

He loves playing different games now like peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake, and "throwing" toys for Penny. He likes for us to chase him around the island in the kitchen while he crawls as fast as he can. He has several little balls that go to various toys and every once in awhile he'll pick one up and motor as fast as he can to the top of the stairs so he can push the ball through the bars of the gate and watch it bounce down the steps. He still loves to read books, and is especially intrigued with his lift-the-flap books right now. He has memorized which way all the flaps flip, which blew our mind. He also still loves his touch-and-feel books and will often bend down to kiss the pages. This is hilarious and we have no idea why he does this.

Playing with Penny and his puzzle

His appetite is still going strong. After many, many sippy cup purchases, we finally found one that he didn't detest and refuse to even consider trying. Of course, it had to be the most expensive sippy cup we had bought so far. Of course. So, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner he has his milk out of a sippy cup that he can drink out of by himself. (This. is. a. life. saver.) He is still having a bottle at bedtime for now. He generally eats whatever we are eating. His favorite foods right now seem to be yogurt (still), the banana bread I made last week that we pull out of the freezer for breakfast some days, and hibachi chicken with vegetables and rice. He is also a puffs addict and requests them after every meal.

 Such a big boy

Well, I think that covers all of the major going-ons with Graeme this past month. Words we use to describe him on a daily basis:  cute, funny, fun, dramatic, so cute.

We surely love you, Graeme Grayson.

I sat down and addressed the invitations for his birthday party this evening and couldn't believe I was already doing that. Last year at this time I was dying for him to be here and that still seems like just yesterday. 

Next time I write one of these monthly posts, he will be one. Wow. Slow down, time.

(I'm still here)

Hi.

I'm back. What started off as an accidental break turned into an on-purpose break and I decided to take a month off of blogging. No real reason other than taking time to re-align priorities and get the new year started off well in other areas. 

I have missed writing and I am glad to be back, and I will post as often as I can. I can't believe we are already one month in to 2015, and I really can't believe that starting tomorrow we can say "Our son turns one next month."

Since I missed Graeme's 10-month update while on my hiatus, I will fill you in on what's new with him.

He's been changing daily ever since he was born, but I feel like the past month has held the most changes so far. He's seeming more and more like a toddler than he is a baby. This is exciting and fun, but also a little sad for Mommy and Daddy. We often reminisce about our once tiny little snuggly baby that continues to grow so, so fast.

DON'T BLINK.

Graeme is crawling, pulling up, cruising, and sometimes standing on his own now. He moves so fast and we are often sent into small panic attacks as we follow him around and save him from falls and tumbles. He went from not moving much at all to being all over the place within a few days. He just gets faster and faster and more daring every day.

He's a constant blur now...

He talks up a storm with his baby babble and also tries to copy a lot of words that we say. His favorite word right now is "baby," and he says it as clear as day. It's pretty much the cutest. He's changed his "Da-da" to sound more like "Daddy" and also spouts off Penny's name pretty well. His "Uh-oh" is more like "Uh-uh-oh." Again, the cutest. He can say "Bye-bye" and tries to say "Thank you" and "All gone." We've heard him say "beep beep" and "brush" because he likes to take his hairbrush and brush his Daddy's hair. I am really surprised at how much he's talking already.

With a face that cute, you can imagine his adorable voice.

He still loves books and has about 10 that are his favorites and are the ones he likes to read over and over. He knows which book you're talking about if it's one of his favorites and can pick it out of a stack. He loves to play with Penny and will find her pile of toys and try to bring her one. He thinks playing fetch with Penny is hi-lar-i-ous.

He hates getting his diaper changed and can barely be persuaded to lay still for it anymore. Getting dressed and undressed are also major inconveniences for him.

Shirts...who needs those?

The kid still loves to eat. He's had so many different foods now that I don't even know if I can list them all. I stopped making purees about a month ago and he is eating everything in small pieces. He does well with his four teeth and is great at picking food up off his tray. He loves yogurt, applesauce, cheese, waffles, ravioli, mashed potatoes, chicken, potstickers, spaghetti, pizza, Cheerios. I'm sure I've forgotten things, plus he's still eating a wide variety of fruits and veggies. If I had to pick a favorite for him, it would probably be yogurt. I'm pretty sure he would eat a whole giant container of it if I would let him.

Waffles? Good. Grapes? Good.

He got his first haircut on the day he turned 10 months. It was past time for one, and although I dreaded it, it was a great experience and I love his hair. He did well and only cried for a second here and there.

This was before he decided he wasn't too sure about this experience.

On a not-as-fun note, he also got his first stomach bug this month. It was horrible. He, thankfully, didn't seem phased by it much at all other than not having a big appetite for a few days. He played like normal and was pretty happy. He would cry while he threw up, but as soon as it was over, he was smiling again. It was more horrible for us. I absolutely hated watching him be sick. And then I caught it (and my parents did too). Somehow Aaron steered clear, and thank God, because it totally incapacitated me and he had to take care of everything for 24 hours. Thankfully, that is behind us.

Sleeping it off.

Well, let's talk about something more positive now. Ha.

I think that about wraps up the past month's milestones. We blinked and have a toddler, basically.

I promise I won't be MIA for an entire month this time.

Until next time, friends.

Bye-bye

Happy New Year

Well, the new year begins in less than three hours. Aaron asked me while we were out driving around this evening what my favorite part of the year had been. I think he knew the answer, but I obliged anyway...

"Becoming parents with you."

It was a wonderful year, and I look forward to what lies ahead. I don't know what is to come in 2015, but I know our great God never does the expected. He never leaves. He never changes. With Him, anything is possible.

Happy New Year, friends.

Love,
Whitney

about Graeme (nine months old?!)

Hi.

Graeme and I are both a little sick today, so I am taking advantage of our church's live stream, doing about five loads of laundry from our overflowing hampers, and catching up on the blog!

There's a lot to write and get up here, but first I have to catch up and do Graeme's nine month post. He turned nine months on the 23rd, but then we had quite a few busy days!

His little "Lambert" keeps getting smaller and smaller next to him...

Graeme did so much during his ninth month of life and seemed to transform into much more of a little boy than a baby.









...He started crawling two nights before he turned nine months. It was the perfect moment. Aaron and I were both sitting and watching him play upstairs in our loft. Out of nowhere, he just started crawling to get to something he wanted. We stared at each other with our jaws dropped and then went crazy with praising our little mover. It's only been a week, and he gets better at it each day. He's also pulling up a lot more and cruising a little bit. We did some major baby-proofing this past week. Bumpers on our coffee table and a gate at the top of the steps were the two major additions.

Those legs go on and on and on.

...He continues to sprout up. At his nine-month appointment, he was 31.5 inches long. This is 11 inches taller than when he was born. So he's grown more than an inch each month. His chart for height is quite interesting - seeing the line for the 99% and then Graeme's line going up past it at a pretty steep angle. She told us he's the average height of a 16-month-old! He is thankfully, very healthy and growing perfectly so far. His weight was in the 81% at 21 pounds, 10 ounces. We have the go ahead to introduce a lot of different foods and start transitioning him to relying more on solids and using cups. I can't believe we just have three-four more months of bottles and formula! Although our bank account won't miss buying formula. Ha!

He is a big fan of puffs. DEVOURS them.

You can sorta make out the top teeth this in this picture...

...This past month his top teeth finally popped through! They were a much worse experience for him, the poor kid. He's now the proud owner of four cute teeth. They really threw his night time sleep for a loop. We got in the bad habit of going in and comforting him, so then when his teeth were through and shouldn't have bothered him anymore, he was still waking up for middle of the night snuggles. As much as I love to snuggle him, we knew it wasn't good for him or us to keep this particular routine going. We went through one really bad night of him screaming for almost an hour from midnight to 1am. Aaron and I took turns going in to pat his back and tell him we loved him every 10 minutes. Finally, he fell asleep. The next night was better with only 30 minutes of not nearly as loud crying and us only going in there twice. And by the third night, he didn't wake up at all! Yay! He's had a couple more nights of waking up around midnight, but then it only takes him less than 10 minutes to get himself back to sleep. Crisis averted.























...I know I say this like every month, but it honestly keeps getting more fun. Graeme is starting to really show that he understands what we are saying and remembers how things work or where things are. He says "Da-da" all day long every day, and will also throw in the occasional "Pa-pa" for Penny. He also says "Ba-ba" which seems to either mean "bye-bye" or "bottle" on different occasions. He still loves to clap and will wave when he's in the mood. He loves peek-a-boo, hide-and-seek, and sneaking up behind someone to "get them." He knows all about lights and fans and knows that the remote works the fan in the living room. He tries to reach up and touch the lights whenever he goes under one at my parents' apartment building. He LOVES baths and thinks it's so funny to splash and get everyone soaking wet. His favorite book, or at least the one he knows the best right now is Goodnight Moon, and he knows right where it sits in his room. I could go on and on, but I won't. This kid makes any day better, seriously.

with 3 more sleeps till Christmas...

Christmas is in three days. We have done a little wrapping, but have the majority left to do. Needless to say, my guest room is quite a disaster area. 

I was going to get some wrapping done today, but Graeme decided to start crawling Sunday night (yay!!!). And for some reason we have been all like, "Why baby proof? He's not moving." So, today was quick-let's-make-the-house-safe-as-fast-as-I-can day. Thanks to my dad, we even got a gate installed at the top of the steps. 



Anyway.

We are excited about Graeme's first Christmas. As much as we said, "We won't go crazy!" on his gifts, we did. We shopped for him over the course of the last few months a little at a time. Everything is so cute for him at this age and it was easy to buy little things here and there. So when we finally put everything all together, it was quite a pile of gifts! Something about it being his very first Christmas just made us want to buy all the things. Ha! 

I have been giving so much thought to how I want Christmas to be for him as he grows up. And I have a feeling we will just figure out what works as he grows and as we pray for wisdom in parenting him. We will always love to buy him things because we love him and that's a way to show him that. However, I never want him to think Christmas is all about getting presents. I want to teach him to give gifts to others before he thinks of himself and to help people in need. And I want him to never forget why we celebrate Christmas:  because we received the best gift ever when Jesus was born.

I pray that we can teach Graeme that he isn't entitled to anything, but that the people who love him choose to give him gifts out of that love as a way to represent God's love. I pray he is selfless and would be willing to give up anything for a friend. I pray he will rise above the consumerism of the world and realize if he has Jesus that is all he really needs.

And most of all I pray that I will learn all of these things myself because if I don't live like that, he won't learn how to either!

We have so much. So much more than we need. I know I am constantly guilty of what the Berenstein Bears called "The Gimmies."

I am so thankful for what we've been given over the past few years as we've built our beautiful home, but I know sometimes I forget to be thankful.

I forget to give away.
I forget to hold things loosely and treat our possessions as things that are going to fade away.

I want to be willing to leave all we have at the drop of a hat if God called us to do that. I really do want to say that I could do that. (I'm not sure I could right now, if I'm being authentic.) But I pray God will work on my heart and help me get to that place.


Because the only thing I need...the only ONE I need...well, that's Jesus.

Mary and Joseph named him Jesus, "Emmanuel"--which means

"God has come to live with us."

Because, of course, he had.

-The Jesus Storybook Bible

finally...it's been awhile!

Hi.

It's been awhile.

After Graeme turned 8 months, the insanity of the holidays hit in full force. No matter how hard we try to keep our schedule simple, it seems almost impossible this time of year. There's just no way around the busy-ness. So, we make the very most of our time at home together. Tonight, Aaron is at a meeting, Graeme is asleep, and so I am taking advantage of the evening and trying to get a blog post up!





A lot has been going on around here. Let's see, I suppose I should go all the way back to Thanksgiving first! Graeme's first Thanksgiving was super fun and super tiring! We are fortunate to live near all of our immediate family, so we spent time with both families over the course of two days.

Two nights of being out past bedtime (6:30pm)...we really partied. 

His cute bib from his MiMi and Grandy

Family picture at GiGi's house

Aaron's younger (taller) brother got engaged a couple of days before Thanksgiving, so they had an engagement party on Thanksgiving night.
This photo is of the Bauer family (us, Andrew and Lauren, GiGi and Pop, Adam and Becca and Samuel and London).

Aaron and I ventured out for some Black Friday shopping, but we waited until the more reasonable hour of noon on Friday. Graeme hung out downtown, and we enjoyed a shopping/lunch date. Of course, a lot of what we bought was for Graeme, including this awesome orange vest.

Speaking of shopping, we have ONLY shopped for Graeme so far for Christmas. Yeah...we've got some catching up to do. It is so fun shopping for him, and he doesn't even care yet. I know it will just get better and better. 

Anyway.






What else has been going on?

We paid a visit to one of our very favorite families:  Bensen and Keyen and their lovely parents. We don't get to see them nearly as much as we'd like to, but we try to make visiting them as often as possible a priority. Graeme loves them and he really loved checking out their awesome Christmas village.

Graeme is cutting his top teeth. One of them is finally through. When he got his bottom teeth, Aaron and I were like, "Oh, this teething thing isn't so bad..." Yeah, well, we didn't know. The top teeth are apparently much worse! They don't seem to bother him too much during the day, but when it's time to sleep and he has nothing to distract him from the pain, that's when he's so pitiful and I feel awful for him. We have tried some gels and tablets, and I'm not sure how much they help. He usually just wants to be held. Poor little boy. Teething even kept him from enjoying Pullen Park.

Sad swinging

We have a lot going on at Journey this month too. This past Friday night we had our Christmas FX. Aaron got to put his acting skills to use. I don't see him act very much, and I didn't have the privilege of knowing him in his college theater years. He's a very talented actor and watching him was my favorite part of the night. But everyone else in our FX was awesome too! It was the first event I had been to at Journey in quite awhile since I usually skip out to stay with Graeme. I had so much fun! I miss being there for everything sometimes, but I know as Graeme gets older we will participate more and more.

Well, I will try to not wait so long before I post again! 

Last note:  Graeme started saying Da-Da yesterday! It's just about the cutest thing. He's also waving bye-bye now. Goodness, time is speeding away. I sure love that boy.

Graeme Grayson