The Baggetts

Dec 28, 2012

Graham - 12 Months

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y G R A H A M !!!

So many days this past year I wondered if we would make it through that particular day...that week...that month...but somehow, someway we conquered the first year! The past few days I have been reflecting on all that has transpired this past year... It has most certainly be a year full of "firsts" for us, some good and some not so good, but nonetheless we survived! I remember someone asking me what I thought of motherhood when Graham was about 2 months old and at the time I said, "It is the most difficult and most wonderful thing I have ever experienced." I have to say that one year in I still feel the same way. Being a parent is MUCH more difficult than I ever imagined, and it is also far more WONDERFUL than I ever imagined. Graham brings us such joy and delight. Nick and I laugh louder and harder than we ever have when we are with him.

Graham you are a precious gift, and your dad and I are so very thankful that God allowed us to be your earthly parents. We love you!

For documentation sake...this past month has yet again been full of sickness. We returned from Camden after celebrating Thanksgiving with Nick's family and Graham started running fever yet again with the SAME ear infection he has been battling since November 1st. So on December 3rd we headed back to the pediatrician. We learned that Graham indeed still had a double ear infection and started our 3rd round of antibiotics. The day we finished this round I was still convinced that the infection wasn't gone so back to the doctor we went on December 13th. We were finally referred to an ENT which we miraculously saw that same day, and thankfully Graham got tubes just a week later on December 20th. The tubes seem to be working so far... fingers crossed that this will help keep him well.

Even through all of the sickness he has been such a trooper. He is cruising around much faster and even started taking a few steps behind a push toy over Christmas. I still think we are a month or so away from actually walking, but he is making progress.

He babbles all the time which is really funny, but the only "words" so far are dadadada and uh oh.

He has 8 teeth (4 on top and 4 on bottom). He has finally gotten the hang of brushing teeth, and now he loves when I do it right before bath time. Speaking of bath...he loves taking a bath. Nick and I usually end up just a wet as he is, but we love seeing him get so excited.

Eating has been rather interesting lately. He won't have much to do with baby food anymore, but I introduced the baby food squeezers, and he loves those. It is essentially that same thing as baby food, but he likes that he can feed himself. For the most part he eats what we are eating assuming I can cut it up in bite size pieces, and he can gum it down. He has the sippy cup figured out, and he can even drink from a straw.

We love to read books especially ones that are interactive, but he is getting to where he will sit long enough for you to actually read a short book to him. In addition to books he is still mesmerized by his TV shows (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jungle Junction, Little Einsteins, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates). He and Nick usually watch one in the morning while I am getting ready then he watches another one later in the afternoon when I have run out of things for us to do and I'm trying to get dinner ready.

Our schedule has changed slightly since Graham was consistently waking up around 5:20...too early! We had to push his bedtime back a little bit, and now he seems to be right on track. This is what our schedule looks like now:

6:30 Wake Up and Bottle (7 oz)
7:30 Breakfast (yogurt and cheerios)
8:45-10:45 Morning Nap
11:30 Lunch (turkey and cheese sandwich, fruit, leftovers, mac n cheese, goldfish)
1:00-3:00 Afternoon Nap
3:00 Bottle (7 oz)
4:30 Snack
6:00 Dinner (typically whatever we are having)
7:00 Bath
7:30 Bottle (7oz) and Bed

The monthly posts are now over! Thank you to all of our family and friends who have loved, encouraged and prayed for us throughout this first year of partenthood. We couldn't have made it this far without you.

Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Dec 21, 2012

Phone Unload

It has been a CRAZY month around here...which I am sure it has been crazy in your homes too! I am way behind on my blogging, but I have several posts in the works and hope to have time over the next few days to get those published. Until then I will leave you with some random pictures that were on my phone from the last few weeks. Here we go.

This was our attempt at a family picture over Thanksgiving. Fun times...better luck next time!

Graham isn't walking yet, but I thought that 11 months was about the right time to buy the boy his first pair of shoes. One afternoon we took a trip to Sikes in Homewood. For those of you who live in Birmingham you know how wonderful this place is...for those of you who don't it is a rare gem! Sadly there probably not many of these types of stores left. Sikes has been in business since 1954 and is still owned and operated by the same family. They are extremely knowledgeable, have a great selection, and they make a big deal when you get your first pair of shoes. Once Graham was fitted one of the owners (an older gentleman) came out to make sure everything fit just right, and he made sure that Graham was happy with his new kicks. They even took his picture and framed it in a card that says "My first pair at Sikes." It was a special occasion and, Sikes made it even more special.

I scored a deal on some Santa diapers, and Grahambo was pretty excited about his spiffy new underpants!

We got a Christmas tree.

Making sure Daddy doesn't have any cavities.

We finally got these two munchkins together. This is my cousin Katie's daughter Emma. They came to visit us for the day, and we had lunch at Jason's Deli.

Shopped at Buy Buy Baby

And went to see Santa!

And to end with a bang...this week Graham got tubes in his ears. After battling ear infections for almost 2 months it was time. Here he is in the waiting room at 5:20 AM.

Getting checked out by the anesthesiologist.

Cute little sign outside of his room.

He was a trooper! Here we are on our way home.

And one day later he is back to his old self.

There has been a whole lot more than this, but for one reason or another I don't have pictures of those events. This will have to do for now. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Dec 7, 2012

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like my old-fashioned calendar. My monthly calendar is my last technological holdout. While I do use my Outlook calendar at work to keep track of work events, I absolutely have to have the old standard as well. It’s just something about being able to flip the pages and scanning for available meeting dates that I can’t let go of just yet. I really gave some serious thought to utilizing my iPhone’s calendar app in place of my paper calendar but when it came down to crunch time, I couldn’t pull the trigger. Maybe I’ll upgrade in 2014!

This week, I love my daily welcome-home party. Julie and I have a small column of windows next to our front door that extends all the way to the ground. They’re the perfect height for Graham to view what’s going on in the front yard. Now that he’s more mobile, I’m greeted by his sweet, smiling face when I come home in the evenings. He thinks it’s hilarious! It’s this sight that melts all the day’s problems away. He’s happy to see me and I’m even happier to see him!

Sometimes Graham sees me off to work in the mornings too.

This week, I don’t like this season’s bowl matchups. It doesn’t take much for a college football team to be invited to a bowl game to cap off their season (although winning more than 3 games definitely helps). There’s always a lot of spectacle surrounding these games and they really are a reward for the participating teams. But this year’s schedule of bowl games absolutely stinks. I don’t know if it’s because you have an independent team (Notre Dame) playing in the National Championship game or if it’s because the SEC has so many highly-ranked teams but there are a lot of unappealing matchups to be played. Bowl games have always pitted teams against schools they normally wouldn’t play and the contests always matched up well. That notion has gone out the window. Except for the Fiesta Bowl (Oregon vs. Kansas State), I have no interest in watching most of the bowls in the coming weeks.

I should point out that this lackluster schedule is due in part the vast number of bowls. But some argue that more bowl games stimulate more local economies. One glaring exception to this assumption is Birmingham’s BBVA Compass Bank Bowl, which will be hosting the mighty Pittsburgh Panthers for the THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR. Having Ole Miss play in this season’s game might…MIGHT…draw more Birmingham residents to the game but I can assure you that the number of folks that travel from Pennsylvania won’t do much to add to this local economy. It’s just a great example of how the bowl games have lost their way. All in all, I’m sure the players have a great time and get lots of free stuff. Here’s a clip of the teams from the 2012 BBVA Compass Bank Bowl enjoying some of Birmingham’s finer entertainment.

Dec 1, 2012

Graham - 11 Months

I have to admit I am freaking out JUST a little bit that Graham Bam is almost a year old. You people warned me that it goes by fast, but boy I was not prepared for just how fast. Unfortunately this past month for us has mostly been defined by sickness. Graham went to the doctor on November 1st for his first sick visit with an ear infection in his left ear. It was no surprise that a few days later I got sick..so off to the doctor I went for shots and an antibiotic. Just when I thought we were all on the mend...Graham started getting worse so back to the doctor we went on November 12th for a second round of antibiotics. In the midst of all the sickness he is also cutting four top teeth. All in all its not been the best month, but nonetheless we survived, and Graham continues to bring us more joy than we could have ever imagined.

His crawling is much faster, and he can cruise around pretty well. He loves to play in the dishwasher and refrigerator as well as see his daddy off to work every morning. Much to my chagrin he LOVES cartoons..so far his favorites are Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I do limit the TV time, but when they are sick and all they want is to be held ALL day you pretty much do whatever to keep them entertained.

As I mentioned before the teeth are coming in fast now. He has three on the bottom and is cutting four on the top.

Also this month he decided that he wasn't so much into baby food anymore. He will still eat some of the fruits, but he will have nothing to do with the vegetables or meats. So we are experimenting with table food and so far he LOVES it. Pretty much anything that he can feed himself he likes (with the exception of cucumbers...those didn't go over too well).