Graham Playing Some More

Third Tooth

Graham's third tooth arrived in the past 24 hours or so.

Typically a baby's first two teeth are the lower central incisors, followed by the upper central incisors. But not Graham, his third tooth is an upper lateral incisor. It looks like the other three upper incisors are about ready to pop out too.

Farewell Phone

My cell phone died.

It died at one of the worst times. After my factory warranty expired, but before I'm eligible for discounted pricing.

Verizon would not give me a free replacement. The best they would offer was 1 year contract pricing. Which wasn't free (the cheapest phone was $70!)

I threatened to move to ATT. She wasn't willing to budge.

Fortunately I have friends with old verizon phones lying around. So I have a *free* phone that someone else has already used for 2 years.

I bought a memory card for my dead camera, so I have most of Graham's camera pictures on it. Unfortunately my new free phone doesn't have a slot for a memory card. Hopefully my next phone does.

Transitioning

Graham is now an expert at transitioning from sitting to being on his belly and back. Still no crawling, but he can get into a position that is comfortable. He is also starting to move around when he is sitting. He mostly moves around so that he can tear apart his play-mat more. Sitting in one position really doesn't cut it.

Graham has been sleeping really great lately. Last night, he woke up screaming around 12 am. It just makes me wonder what startled him. Was it a dream about that super scary squirrel? Or was someone teasing him with his bottle? Or did he wake up only to find his play-mat had disappeared? It would just be fun to get into that little head.

Smiles!

Graham Playing

Mom

I've been missing Mom a lot this week. I still don't grasp that she is gone forever. It is just such a hard concept to fully grasp. Mom being around is one of the few constants in my life. And now I have to adjust to that constant being gone.

I went to dinner with Catherine this week, and her and Kareen surprised me with a gift basket of things to pamper myself with. It was very timely. I was feeling pretty down, and just the reminder that they are still thinking of me made me feel a little better.

When I'm busy, I don't really think about Mom that much. It is the times where I am alone and not occupied. Like on my drive to pick up Graham after work. Or when I'm driving across town to get my hair done. When I am alone with just my thoughts. But to make matters worse, those are the times we would have been talking. I called her very frequently when I was driving. One of the great things about my mom was I would say "I just pulled in the driveway" and she would say "I'll talk to you tomorrow" (and I love you... she ALWAYS ALWAYS ended every phone call with that, I think she was worried that her last words to her child would not be I love you. If she forgot to say it, she would call you back to just say it. She ended her text messages with it too).

(The night before she died I called home, and she had just got home from the hospital, and wasn't in the mood to talk. So I talked to Dad for a little while, with her talking in the background. I'm pretty sure her last words to me were something like "Tell her I don't feel like talking to my girls tonight". Then me asking Dad if she was feeling better. Him saying yes. Her yelling in the background "No, tell her I don't feel better." I'm not sure if she squeezed an I love you in there are not. I don't remember, I didn't know it was the last time I was going to hear her voice. I might have demanded that she actually talk to me.)

I don't think she was ever resentful about the way I would just let her go when I got home. I do the same thing to my sisters, and I'm pretty sure they think to themselves, "why does Kassie always get to decide when our conversations are over?"

If I was able to talk to Mom today, I would have told her about the stupid things I did. I went to Toys R Us to buy Graham some toys because they were buy one get one free. I worked (I would have complained about working on a Friday). I went to lunch with Margaret - we had Thai. I would possibly tell her that France got Cammie a car for her 4th birthday (just because she liked the Frances, not because she actually ever met them). I would probably tell her about the volunteering I did today at the Sanctuary on 8th Street. And how sweet and needy those kids are. I might have told her that one really smelled bad though... and someone needs to have the deodorant talk with him. We would have talked about Graham. What he is eating, how he is sleeping, his babbling, how big he is, and just how cute he is.

Valentines Party!

We hosted a baby's first Valentine's Party last weekend. Here are some pictures.

Graham talking to the only girl in the group

The moms and babies

Scary Squirrels

The house below is a great hand-me-down toy that Graham loves....

except for the squirrel climbing the tree. He hates him! When you move the squirrel it makes a noise, and Graham promptly freaks out. He likes the monkey hanging on the tree though.. he can make him flip.

But his hand-eye coordination is that great yet. And sometimes he accidentally hits the squirrel. Which promptly causes a freak out.

Oh joy!

Graham Standing

Can't Think of Anything to Blog about...

Updated family pic

I wasn't lying - Graham does have hair!

Love the hat pics

Want Some Crazy Mom

Today I really could go for a dose of my crazy Mom. :( She would have been so excited to see Graham's 9 month pictures. John did her tax return yesterday, she would have been so excited about that. Instead I just share with my Dad, who is not near as excited.

Graham did not sleep well on Saturday night. He woke up screaming several times. We ended up just bringing him in bed with us. Since I'm generally paranoid about deviating from our routine, I was paranoid that Graham would expect the royal treatment again on Sunday night. He didn't. Graham slept straight through the night without a peep. Another bullet dodged. :)

Another Giant Fail

Went in for the 9.95 teaser deal, $100 later came home with 7 poses and the CD. We suck.

Graham Eating

I started to give Graham his mush on his high chair and just let him go at it.

.

Yummy.

Two Nights Away from Graham

I'm back with Graham. I'm sitting on the floor with him writing this blog, as he is rolling around exploring the family room. He continues to move around without really crawling. He is going backwards with more purpose now, but still backwards. He is already all over the room, corner to corner, once he figures out that actually crawling will be more efficient, we are going to be in trouble.

I was sad to leave Graham. But at the same time, it was a nice little break from parenthood. I got to sleep in two days in a row. I got to go to the airport without worrying about blowouts. I really noticed how much faster I am from getting from place A to place B without lugging Graham and his stuff.

John told me he started playing a new game with Graham last night. He puts Graham on the couch, lets Graham roll off of the couch, and John catches Graham. John has not (and did not) think about the consequence that now Graham is going to think rolling off the couch is okay, and someone/something will be there to break his fall. I'm not sure how to bring this up with John without being the Mom that always knows better than the Dad. I don't want to be that Mom. John reads my blog though, so I guess I just took care of it.

Two Nights Away

I'm traveling to Iowa for my Grandpa's funeral tonight. I'm going to be there until Wednesday. These will be my first nights away from Graham. Of course he is on the verge of crawling, so I might miss those precious first forward movements.

There is bad weather in Iowa (go figure), so hopefully I don't have any flight troubles. It is okay if I do though, Graham isn't going to be with me. It'll just be me, and I only have to take care of myself. Flight delays/cancellations/lost luggage are tolerable when adults are traveling, but once you throw an infant in there -- it is a whole different ballgame.

Graham has started babbling! He is so sweet sounding. The video doesn't do it any justice. He has found the letters "B" and "L". Or at least that is what it sounds like to us.

Graham Talking

Graham is starting to babble!

Can Graham get the Camera?

As requested by Miss Kinsey...

Up on his Knees

Graham is starting to more seriously think about crawling....

I was a Really Good Mom Before I had Kids

Tonight I skimmed "I was a Really Good Mom Before I had Kids."

There are quotes in the book from interviews they did for the book -- here are some of my favorites.

"My girlfriends and I decided that 4 pm is the "new 5" when it comes to pouring that first glass of wine every day."

"I love being a mom; I just hate doing it."

For Kelsey: "Sometimes I think, 'I can't believe I gave up nine months of drinking for this'"

"I lost my toddler when she was one, and a stranger found her riding up and down on the elevator by herself."

"Sometimes I secretly let the milk run out so that I have to make a late-night grocery run -- all by myself. I drive slowly, put the windows down, and enjoy a tiny piece of solitude."

"I tell my daughter, 'You are only two years old. It says right here on the package you can only have two cookies.'"

"When they're still sleeping with their butts in the air, the drool coming out of their mouths, it's so cute, and you get it."

"Since our two year-old was born, we've tried to remember that childhood is a journey, not a race. It's posted in her room. Still, my husband encourages her to write, to spell, and I say, 'Let's try to appreciate the little things, let's try not to worry about her walking and talking and moving forward.'"

Third Nap Struggles and Pacifiers

Graham and I are struggling around 6 pm every night. Graham is struggling because he is clearly tired, and I am struggling because he is being annoying. I try to keep him up until his Dad gets home (at 6:30 or 6:45 if the struggle is particularly bad) so they get some G-Dad time.

Up until basically last week, Graham was taking a third nap around 4:30 or 5. The 6:00 struggle didn't exist as much then. But it was a struggle to get him to nap. He has been napping much better at his afternoon nap, so I decided we were done with our third nap. Now I need to reevaluate -- either his bedtime or the nap situation needs to be revisited, because I'm sick of this struggling crap.

Graham has a serious addiction to his pacifier. It is my fault. I love the way it pacifies. I don't know when we are going to take it away, but there will be issues. Oh fun.

Shredding...

John and I are doing the 30 Day Shred. I bought it one night because it was only $10, and I had read some blogs where the authors are doing it. I then told John, I bought it so we could do it together after Graham goes to sleep. To my surprise, he was okay with it (excited even?).

There are three workout levels, and you are supposed to work your way up to level 2 and level 3. John and I are just rotating what we do each day -- so day 1 workout 1, day 2 workout 2 and so forth, repeating workout 1 on day 4. I think this is better than repeating workout 1 over and over again until you think you are ready to move up a level. I'm pretty sure I would get super bored doing the exact same thing over and over again.

We also aren't doing it everyday. I am on day 10 and I think I've owned the video for 2.5 weeks.

I actually enjoy the video which is more than you can say for other workout videos I have tried. There is a lot of jumping, jumping jacks, and push-ups, all things I really liked from Body Attack (liked??), but way cheaper than still being a member at the Y ($85 per month cheaper). Plus it isn't taking away G time like the gym did. If I went to Body Attack at the gym, it would be during prime playing with G time.