Graham - 10 Months

Busy, busy, busy...This is how I will define this past month.  In mid October Graham learned to crawl on all fours and learned to pull himself up, and he has been going non stop ever since.  We have had a fair share of bumps and bruises thanks to our new mobility but thankfully nothing major.  It can certainly be tiring at times, but for the most part it is such a joy to see him explore all of his surroundings.

Typically our days involve playing with the Fisher Price activity table, watching Little Einsteins or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, climbing the stairs, reading books, running errands, afternoon strolls, riding on Daddy's shoulders, and bath time.  Every day is something new and it is so much fun getting to experience each new day with him.  We are truly blessed.

After our busy September we decided to stay close to home, but before we did that we were itching to go to Camden to spend time with Grandmommy and Granddaddy (Nick's parents).  It was a wonderful weekend. I am pretty sure that there is no greater feeling than seeing your parents/in-laws delight in your child....well at least for me there is no greater feeling.

Three generations of Baggett men

It is hard working riding on someones shoulders...

Solving all the worlds problems

We also spent some time with Emily, Clay and Brooks this past month.  Not sure if you have tried to take a pictures of two 10 month old boys while holding shakers...if you haven't this is what you get...

For some strange reason while watching football 1 TV isn't enough for Nick and Clay so they usually have 2 going at the same time.  The problem this year is there are two little boys who are mesmerized by anything and everything and this TV was at their level.

Lastly I will leave you with a few outtakes from our photo session.  

Yes.  He did fall out of the chair while I was snapping pictures.  Don't worry he's fine.

All Trimmed Up

I had a haircut last week and while I was there I had Evan give Graham his first little trim.  Nothing major just cleaned him up around his ears and his neck.  

Not quite sure about this Mom....

"Do I look handsome?"

Such a big boy

Thanks Miss Evan!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like 100 WAPI FM. There are two news radio stations in Birmingham. WERC features the big names like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (as well as ‘Coast to Coast’!). WAPI features local personalities that discuss national topics. The conversations are usually about politics and it’s easy to identify that the hosts of the three shows I enjoy (Matt Murphy, Leland Whaley and Richard Dixon) will all be voting for Mitt Romney in a few weeks. It is very refreshing to find a media outlet that isn’t all wrapped up in the current President’s "cool" factor. Additionally, WAPI has a very strong signal and they carry all the Auburn football games. These guys may not be right, but I like what they have to say and, more importantly, how they say it.

This week, I love feeding Graham. I’m not talking about feeding Graham his baby food. I’m talking about feeding him grown folk’s food. Graham is constantly on the go now and his curiosity measures off the chart. The boy will put anything in his mouth – suckers, pieces of blueberry muffins, Q-tips...you name it. I don’t want to admit to giving in but if it means buying a few moments of calmness, sure - he can have some of my Cheerios. It helps me lose weight and keeps him from sneaking off to completely destroy another vase or magazine. By the way, I have never seen Graham turn his nose up at any type of food. I mean...just look at the way takes to this pickle!

This week, I don’t like the second season of American Horror Story. We’re only one episode into the new season of one of my favorite shows and I can already tell that Season 2 is very different. I guess that’s what you get when the two main stars from Season 1 move onto other projects. It seems that the producers have jammed in confusing storylines, unneeded sex scenes and over-the-top gore to make up for the main characters that are missing from Season 1. I’ll try watching a few more episodes but if I don’t see any improvement, I’ll probably free up room on the DVR for other shows.

Graham - 9 Months

This past month has most certainly been defined by Grahams new found mobility!  Starting in early September he discovered, what I like to call, the army crawl... where he uses his arms and legs to drag himself across the floor without raising up on all fours.  We kept thinking that he would eventually get up on all fours, but it is mid October now, and he is still army crawling.  So even though it's not a true crawl for documentation sake we are saying that he started crawling at 8 1/2 months.

Naturally now that he can go most anywhere he wants to he loves roaming around and exploring every nook and cranny.  We have done some baby proofing, but still have a little more to do.  I have held off on the gates about as long as I can...pretty sure we will be making that investment very soon.

I have to say that even though he is into EVERYTHING I am really enjoying this stage.  His personality is coming out more and more each day, and it is so much fun to see accomplishing small tasks and exploring new and exciting places.  For the  most part he is a happy, fun-loving little guy.  He loves to laugh, be tickled, play peek a boo, "read" Pat the Bunny, go for strolls, and he still loves to eat.

His schedule this month hasn't changed much, but we were able to drop the dream feed!

6:00-6:30 Wake Up
6:30 Bottle (7 oz)
7:30 Breakfast (fruit, oatmeal, yogurt melts)
8:45-10:30 Nap
11:00 Bottle (7 oz)
12:00 Lunch (fruit, vegetable, puffs)
1:00-3:00 Nap
3:00 Bottle (7 oz)
5:00 Dinner (fruit, vegetable, meat, puffs)
6:15 Bath
6:30 Bottle and Bed

At his 9 month check up these were his stats:

Weight - 20 lbs 9 oz (50%)
Height - 28 3/4 inches (70%)

Nick and I are beyond thankful for his health and development.  It is a joy to be with him every day and watch him grow and learn.

Where did September go?

I honestly have no idea how September came and went so quickly.  Wow!  Time flies when you are having fun (and chasing around a 9 month old).  Here is a what we have been up to the past few weeks:

Not the best 1st football season for this little guy, but he is a true fan and enjoys supporting the Auburn Tigers!

Graham started back to Mothers Day Out at our church.  He loves it and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful program available to us. 

September 9th was Grandparents Day and since Graham has the best Grandparents ever he had to send them a little something to let them know how much he loves them.

He became mobile....

As Nick mentioned in the previous post a co-worker of mine allowed us to use their lake house for a few days.  We enjoyed the time away and filled our days with pool time, watching movies, reading books, afternoon strolls, grilling out and resting.  It was wonderful!

View from my pool chair

Good Morning Logan Martin Lake

1st time in the pool

We spent a weekend in Auburn visiting with Auntie El

Took a day trip to Meridian to meet sweet Emmelyn (and she lets us play with her dog, Lilly).

Did I mention that the boy is mobile.....

Lastly we went for our 9 month check up and had to have the finger pricked, but he recovered quickly and got a great report!  He is a healthy, happy boy!

Well now I know where September went...man we were busy, busy, busy.  Such is life these days...wouldn't trade it for anything!

2 Cute

I have FINALLY managed to squeeze in a little time to get some sewing projects completed for Graham's Fall/Winter wardrobe.  I will be posting more soon, but thought I would share this one now:

I found this on the sale rack at the Carter's Outlet for 50% off...I think I paid $10.00 for it.  I loved the colors and the stripes, but oh how I hate the patches that they put on their clothes.  

Here is a close up of the "2 Cute" applique that came on the romper.

This is what is looked like after I took my seam ripper to it...

and here is what is looks like with a cute monogram!  I did like the contrast of the orange against the blue and brown so I stuck with that combination, but I love it so much more with a monogram than the generic applique.

 

I think he likes it!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like the new YouTube app for PlayStation 3. Apps are the hottest things these days. It seems that if a company offers a service, a bona fide way to up the awesome factor is to accompany said service with a handy app for your customers’ phones. Now that tablets and other devises are growing in popularity, apps are more available than ever. The folks at YouTube worked with the folks at Sony to develop an app for the PlayStation 3 and I’m here to tell you that it is SHARP. Because the PS3’s internet browser is so bland, I was skeptical about this YouTube app. But I gave it a shot and after downloading it, I was really impressed. I don’t know all of the proper technical jargon but the app looks really nice and is easy to use. And, similar to my experience with Google+, I kinda think the PS3 app is like the new iPhone app in that both are better than the YouTube website.

This feature was made available in mid-August. Every review I can find about PS3’s YouTube app is negative…and all dated around the time of the release date. Things have definitely improved since then. Weirdly enough, Sony and YouTube do not have any detailed articles or videos about this app on their company sites. But take it from me, this app is really nice.

This week, I love my daily commute. I totally understand the look of confusion I get when informing people that Julie and I live “out 280”. I’m sure visions of bumper-to-bumper traffic are instantly conjured with the mention Hwy 280. There are times when I have to make that fretful trek – before and after work – and it always serves as a good reminder as to how fortunate I am to only have to cross over Hwy 280 on my normal commute. I always find that the morning traffic is much worse than the evening traffic on Hwy 280. There are many reasons for this but my theory places the blame on those of us that don’t eat breakfast at home. It always baffles me to see the breakfast lines wrapped around Chick-Fil-A, Burger King, McDonalds, Arbys and the other fast-food establishments on Hwy 280. Can you imagine what that route would be like if the traffic lights weren’t constantly changing to let eaters back onto Hwy 280?

 

This week, I don’t like the new 3-day format for the local newspaper. As we all know, The Birmingham News will now only be available on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. This move will help shepherd readers to an all-digital format while allowing those that prefer ink-stained fingers a final opportunity ruffle their paper in an uppity fashion when reading a disagreeable editorial. Newspapers have the hardest fight when it comes to actually delivering news. At best, a newspaper will always feature day-old news. My beef with this new format is that the Wednesday paper now contains three-day old news and the Friday and Sunday editions consist of information that’s been known for two days. Thanks to my phone, I had already read each article in last Sunday's (October 7th) sports section the previous night. The print version of the News is smaller now and the content is identical to that of The Mobile Register and The Huntsville Times. It all begs the question – how long will Advance Publications delay the inevitable?