Graham in the morning

A video from this morning, after his first nap of the day. He was singing to himself, dadadada and nananana with a short mamama in there and it was so precious that I wanted to video it. I am not so good at being sneaky with him, nor did I realize he was standing up in his crib waiting on me. But he is just precious and I think this video shows it.

Happy New Years Eve!

Hello cabinet

I left him for a moment, and he some how got a cabinet open. He then pulled out three pans which crashed to the floor, freaking him out. We are using the door on the stairs to the basement just in case!

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Mobile down

Graham got a hold of his mobile. I think the horses are ok, a bit shaken up, but ok. No more mobile for Graham.

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Brower/Cooley/Esselburn Christmas

The day after Christmas Mary and Neal drove us to meet my parents for the Brower/Cooley/Esselburn Christmas. We met at my sister's house for some great family time. Graham showed off his crawling skills and his teeth. We also got to watch the Colts game, a special treat (we tend to not get the games out here). Anyway, Graham was adorable and had fun playing with everyone. Above, he destroyed a Christmas bag while waiting to open presents. What a boy!

This face is so cute, i heart him!

A popcorn walker from Papaw to Graham. This was a special present; my dad looked all over for one for his grandson and was successful. Papaw showed him how to use it by walking him around the room while pushing the popcorn walker. It was so precious (my video didn't turn out so well, so you will have to take my word for it). I am sure Graham will love this popcorn walker once he is up and walking.

Again, with the chewing. But, he is standing against Brett. He is getting better and better with this.

I love this photo. Again, Graham is learning to love his new popcorn walker and Aunt Pippy is being super cute in the background.

Graham helping Papaw open a big present. This didn't last long, but it looks like he is into helping. Again, Aunt Pippy being a ham!

Graham chewing on a toy from Aunt Pippy and Uncle Craig. He would pull on it with his teeth until it came out. It is a little monster. Once we got home, we realized he already had socks with the same monster on it! super neat!

A kiss for Aunt Pippy. There are times where Graham reminds me of baby photos of my sister.

He looks like such a little boy here. He is using the boxes to climb up onto the ottoman.

I love his feet in this picture.

After all the opening, someone needed a nap. I told my mom it would be for like 40 minutes or so; he ended up sleeping there for an hour and a half! Good job Grammie Lynn!

Both sets of grandparents got these record a story books from Hallmark for Graham. They are so special and now he can hear their voices when we read him the books. He got to listen to one with his papaw and grammie above.

Graham and Aunt Pippy had crawling races into the kitchen. He loved it.

Graham loves these bells that were hanging from a door knob. Doesn't he look like such a big boy? He even got to pull one off and have it to hold around the room. He loved playing with Aunt Pippy. They had a lot of fun together.

Graham is eating a crunchie at dinner. I can't get over how much older he is looking. He will be a year old before I know it!

Graham and Aunt Pippy. She was so great with him, and he loved every minute with her. She got him to sleep for bedtime after dinner. And a special treat, Graham got to watch the Sound of Music with all three girls and even danced during the puppet scene. What a great memory!

We flew back on Monday, and into a lot of snow. We had no delays on getting to Detroit, but once we were boarded in Detroit, they got word they closed the Philadelphia airport. Thankfully, after about 15 minutes of waiting, they said we could go and boy did we ever. We got back about 3 hours later than planned, but we got back. We are so very blessed to have not had to spend a night in the Detroit airport with a 9 month old. We came back to about a foot of snow that Brett go to shovel the next morning. Yeah for Christmas!

Graham's 1st Christmas

Graham in his Christmas pajamas, with reindeer feet! The anticipation was more than Graham could handle and he was up 3 times before 8 am.


Give the boy his breakfast spoon and he is happy like a clam.


A wardrobe change and onto the presents. He is eating the tag on one of his gifts. Again, with the tags! We changed his outfit a couple of times this day because of the Arby french fry. Remember when he had them on Brett's birthday? Well, he had not pooped since we left, and well, it all came to a head on Christmas day. He had pooped 5 times before noon, and every time he cried. His little bottom hurt super bad. Instead of having a Christmas morning full of presents, we had a whole Christmas day full of presents partly due to Graham.

We kept taking breaks while opening. Sometimes due to Graham needing a diaper change, or guests coming by for a visit or because Graham could not handle being in the room too long. He just needed some air I guess, Christmas is a big deal and he may have been overwhelmed.

Checking out his presents.

He managed to kick open one of his presents with his feet, but he had help with the others.

Trying to get a quick nap in with Grammie Mary. He eventually slept while we had Christmas dinner. Yeah for snuggle time. He fell asleep with his Grammie every night in the rocking chair looking at the Christmas tree.

On one of our many breaks. He didn't make it all the way to standing by the door, but he loved to look out at the snow. We had a really great Christmas and spending the whole day with family was so special. Graham got some really great stuff and we had a fabulous time all together. Now, onto the Brower/Cooley/Esselburn Christmas in Indy!

9 months

Graham was 9 months old on Christmas Eve. Here are some things he is into right now:

• Graham pulls up on just about everything right now. Boxes, pillows, couches, you, whatever he can, he pulls up on it.


• He has 4 teeth, but drools like he is getting the rest of them all at once.
  
• He chews on everything and just started licking things.
• His hair is red and his eyes are either Brown or Hazel. I call them muddy.
  
• He loves to laugh and smile. He has a great laugh and a killer smile.


• We think he can say "I did it". It sure sounds like it sometimes.


• He knows how to flirt; he made friends with every stewardess on our flights.


• He loves Mild Cheddar lil'crunchies....loves them.


• He loves crawling around and getting really fast at it.


• He loves sunlight and finding his shadow.


• He loves to look at himself in the mirror. We don't know if he knows it is him or another baby, but it can make him smile and laugh every time.


• He can get into laughing and screaming contests with you. He wins the screaming ones and I win the laughing ones.


• He can be squirreled by anything at anytime.


• He loves to be tickeled by Brett. They can play for hours by doing nothing but letting Graham crawl on Brett. It is so cute to watch.


• He is learning to give kisses, and can give Eskimo kisses too.


• He hates getting his nose wiped and cries every time.


• He knows how to whisper and shout.


• He loves ornaments on the tree.


• His favorite color is orange.


• His favorite animals are Sully (T-rex) and Mortimer (Moose). Draco (dragon) is a close 2nd, and can be thrown around easily. Draco goes with us to all doctor appointments to help Graham be brave.


• He loves it when Brett comes home from work. Nothing will stop him from getting to his daddy. He crawls over everything while letting out a genuine war cry.


• He loves the camera, and any remote or computer that he should not play with.


• He knows how to Skype and he can turn on the charm when the computer is on.


• He is a happy baby who makes us thankful everyday he is a part of our lives.


• His current vocabulary is dada, nana, baba, mmm and goo. A mom here and there.

I cannot believe how fast 9 months has come and gone. Some days it seems like he can't possibly be that old, and then other days I am reminded of all that is still to come. He is a fabulous child who brings a smile to everyone he meets.

Christmas Eve

We started the morning out playing in a pair of our Christmas pajamas. I love these pajamas on him. He is so cute! He had a great morning hanging out and being the center of attention.

If you could see the legs, they would be kicking and he had action arms.

We tried his hat again, but he doesn't like to keep it on. Oh well, we are working on it.

Graham also started to really pull up on things while in Indiana. He practiced on the ottoman.

I did it! Look how proud he is of himself!

Sweet snuggle time with Grammie Mary, Graham and Brett.

I think they all look tired here.

Also in the morning, Graham got to meet his Great Granma Evie Esselburn. She came over for a visit and got to see Graham at his finest. He showed off his talents and made us all laugh. After that, Graham got to meet Grandpa Neal's brother Mike and his wife Pat and two of their daughters and their kids. It was a busy place. We got photos of the 3 great grandkids but those are on Mary's camera. They are so cute. They did really well together too. Jerricks is 1.5 years old and McKenna is 3 months. After all our visitors left, we got ready to head to the Koehl gift exchange.

Graham and Grammie Mary in their Christmas sweaters. She had fun showing him off.

This cute bib was a gift from Great Aunt Teresa and says Santa's Helper on it. He looked great in it.

Another photo of Graham meeting Santa. He did really well and did not even fuss. He got a Night before Christmas book for his first time on Santa's lap. He also got a chocolate Santa that he gave me. Thanks Graham. Brett took him up to see Santa; I was petrified in the back of the room. I had tears the whole time. Not sure if they were from the fact that my child was on Santa's lap NOT crying, or if I was scared that I was in the same room as Santa. Regardless, he did great. He even went up with several other Great Aunts and did OK. We went home and got Graham in his Christmas pajamas and went to sleep. Graham had good intentions of leaving monster cookies and diet coke out for Santa, but fell asleep before he could. Maybe next year.

Brett's Birthday!

So, we started our holiday travel plans on Brett's 31st birthday. It was a long and eventful day, and to tell the story, I decided to use bullet points. Here goes:

• No sleep happened for the adults...thanks Graham. He decided to wake up right before we were going to get 2 whole hours of sleep. Once he went back down, I decided the 30 minutes left before getting up would be spent channel surfing and not sleeping. Brett got about 30 minutes; what a way to start a birthday!


• I was putting Graham in his buggy, and some how hurt my knee so bad it bruised. :(
  
• Flight left at 5:50 AM, what was I thinking?


• Broken toilets on plane, so we spent over an hour in the plane waiting. Graham did not like this and had a freak out crying session. Yes, we were those parents on the plane with a crying child that could not be comforted.


• Brett bought a coffee which spilled on the flight. It got all over the blanket we brought for Graham. Nice.


• Hit my head on overhead compartment trying to get out of the seat super fast because we were super late.


• Got in late to Detroit, so we had to run through the airport. We had 3 bags, a stroller, a Graham, a Sarah and a Brett birthday boy. Neither Brett nor I had on appropriate shoes for running through the airport, but Graham loved it.


• Graham slept the whole flight=fabulous.


• On time to Fort Wayne, but landed with no baggage or car seat. We ran faster than our bags could get driven to the plan.


• Get word that bags/car seat should be delivered at 2:30 pm. Time we landed was 10 am.


• Need to change Graham, and realize he has peed all over his outfit. We had no time to change him all morning.
  
• Realize that Graham needs a new outfit which I don't have. I didn't pack any extra clothes and all the extra ones are in the suitcase which is not in Fort Wayne. Mother of the year anyone?


• Graham left the Fort Wayne airport with a diaper, socks and a sweater on. There was snow on the ground. Again, mother of the year?


• No lunch at Azteca, due to no clothing for child nor a proper car seat for the boy.


• Get lunch and give Graham Arby's french fries. He loves them, but they hurt him later.


• No bags at 2:30.


• Give Graham a bath at Mary and Neal's because he needs it and what does he do? He pooped in the bathtub! First time he has ever done that. Had to get poop out of tub with my hands; I almost puked.





• Bonus: Graham got some practice opening presents seeing as we needed clothes for him to wear and he had none. Thank goodness his grammie and grandpa had clothes for him for Christmas. He ended up opening 3 gifts to get him through the day.


• We all took naps in the afternoon, bonus for the parents!


• Still no bags at 5:30 pm.


• Had to cancel dinner plans for Baker Street because there was no luggage.


• Brett's favorite pizza, Papa John's was his birthday feast.


• Finally, at 9:30 pm, our bags arrive.


• Brett got to open his cards and presents after dinner.


• Brett and Sarah change their clothes and finally go to sleep! What a day.

Overall, it was a great day. We hung out and watched Graham play with his uncle and grandparents. Brett said it was a great day and that is all that matters...and that we got our luggage. Happy Birthday Brett!

Uncle Kyle feeding Graham. He made cute faces at Kyle and also ate the Arby's fries. More on that later.

The outfit Graham left the airport in. But as you can see, it totally bothered him.

Graham and Grammie Mary playing. The book he is looking at lit up and played O' little town of Bethlehem. He liked looking at the lights.

Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a fabulous Christmas with your family. This is our 3rd wake up....someone was excited.

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Christmas Eve

A few from the day. More to come later, Brett had an eventful birthday!

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Meeting Santa

Graham was fabulous, mommy cried. Her fear of Santa is still very much alive and present.

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countdown to Christmas

Now that we have a kid, I am like, oh yeah, we get one of those chocolate calenders where you get a piece of chocolate a day. Woo hoo!! So we got one and we show Graham how it works. I get most of the chocolate, and Brett gets the rest. Sometimes we get behind because of our schedule, so we have to catch up and do like 3 days at a time. The chocolates are ok and of course, Graham has no clue what it is. But we like it, and it makes us take a moment and have family time. And there is chocolate!