reading time

We are starting to read to Graham before bed time. For that matter, we are trying out a bed time routine for Graham. So far, we have read the book "I Love You Through and Through" (he ended up with two copies of it, thanks Grammie Mary and Nono) which is a great book, and my personal favorite "Twilight". I think reading him something he will like and then moving on to something I can enjoy is a win-win for all. Brett said he wonders how Graham will enjoy hearing about financial matters when he reads to him from his book, "No One Would Listen". Oh, if only Graham could talk :D

back of the head

Here is a photo of the back of Graham's head. You can see the front of his head in the earlier post, and how he is losing his hair. You can see that he still has a lot of beautiful RED hair in the back, and we are hoping it will stay! Maybe we can comb it over to the front if we need to. Let's hope not.

cute photo

While waiting for a party to start and to calm down Grammers, I fed Graham a bottle in the car. He then spit up right into my cleavage so I passed him over to Brett so he could burp him. This was the view from the backseat. How cute!

1st bath

Graham got his first live action bath tonight. We put him in his tub, added some water and the crying did not start. He did pretty well the whole time. He even splashed water with his feet, on accident mind you, but we still told him he was splashing us. He did not like getting out of the tub. But overall, this was a great first time at a real bath. No photos unfortunately, Brett and I were both involved with keeping him safe and enjoying the time.

newborn hair loss

Graham is losing is hair. Tonight, Brett was working with Graham on his tummy time and when Graham would lift his head up, Brett would kiss his head. Now, Brett has little hairs stuck to his facial hair and keeps finding new hairs in his mouth. This is totally normal, and we are really hoping that if he does lose this hair, that his new hair will be just as red...and just as awesome.

thunderstorm continued

Graham slept through all the booms and lightening. He is a trooper!!!

1st thunderstorm

Tonight we are experiencing some stormy weather. So far, it has thundered twice...and Graham (who is sleeping) has whimpered both times. We will see how this progresses. Brett may be holding both of us tonight if it gets too bad!!!

one month photos

Thanks to the fabulous ladies that Brett works with, we now have a frame that holds a photo of Graham on his month birthdays. So, we took some photos of him today on his one month birthday!

Enjoy!

one month old

Graham is officially one month old today!!! And to commemorate, his umbilical cord came off this morning! We found it hanging out in his sleep and play this morning! We are super pumped!

new moon & check up

Despite having an almost one month old baby boy, Brett and I were able to watch an entire movie, start to finish!!! And the movie of choice...NEW MOON!! Although the acting was horrible at times, the movie was very good (Jacob=hot). Brett and I both enjoyed it and Graham...well, Graham slept on Brett's chest the whole movie. God bless Brett for taking one for the team and remaining immobile for the entire movie to I could watch the next chapter in the Twilight saga!! We have already decided to get a babysitter for when Eclipse comes out!

We have also made it through our first week alone. Despite feeling more tired than we thought possible, I think we are doing OK. Graham had his one month check up yesterday and our little man is growing quite well. He weighs 9.5 lbs and measured 22 inches long. His head is also up to 14 inches in diameter. He is measuring in the 50th percentile in all his measurements, except his head, I can't remember what percentile he is in. He is doing great, and his umbilical cord is still attached. It should fall off soon.

time of day

As most of you know with a new baby, your sense of time completely goes away. For instance, I no longer eat meals at "regular" times. Brett and I are up every three hours throughout the night. I have not set an alarm since pre-Graham (neither has Brett). We rely on him to get us up.
Last night we fed Graham at about 11 pm. He should want to eat again at 1 am. So Graham wakes up and Brett looks at the clock and says, "Holy Cow, it's 4:30 am!" I was like "What!, he slept that long!" We did not feel like we had gotten that much sleep so it was hard to get up to get our crying baby. When I got up I looked at the clock and saw that instead of it being 4:30 am, it was in fact 1:40am! This made much more sense being that our kiddo rarely sleeps through a feeding and neither of us felt like we had gotten 5+ hours of sleep!! Oh sleep deprivation, how we love you!!!
Can you believe that Graham is over 4 weeks old now!! Times flies when you have no concept of it! We have his 1 month check up today, so we will post his news when we get back!

orangutan feet

Graham has some amazing feet. Besides being adorably cute, they have some super gripping power. He can grip your finger while he is feeding with his toes. I know this will make people in our family happy, especially Aunt Kimmy!! I also have this ability and used it in the last few weeks of being pregnant and while recuperating from C-section surgery. He also has a large space between his first and second toe. The space is so big it freaks Brett out, but I tell him it is completely normal, even though I have no idea if it is normal. I did see a photo of my friend's baby, thanks Bron!, and her daughter also had a big space between those two toes, so I am not that worried. He still has the super gripping power with his feet!!

More family photos:

Graham's first trip to the mall.



Graham and Daddy.



Graham and Mommy.



Chilling.



Ooohhhh...



Big smiles.

Graham Making Faces

Here are some of Graham's favorite facial expressions. This is from earlier this evening.

Let's Eat While We Can

This is video of Graham in his swing - shot just a few days ago. He will be three weeks old tomorrow. It is amazing how much he has changed and grown already. Enjoy.

work it out

We got Graham's social security number in the mail today....and to be honest, I do not like it. Brett and I both have numbers that start the same, and I was really hoping it would start like ours. But alas, he was born in a different state, we all were born in different states, so it can't be like ours. Oh well...on a funner note, we were reading the instructions on the card and Graham can't sign the card until he is 18 or when he starts working. I told Graham that he will definitely be signing the card before he is 18, because if he wants to text and send photos to all his friends and girlfriends, he can get a job and pay for that himself. Brett thought this comment was worthy of a post and I agreed.

cutest thing

When you feed Graham, he likes to hold your finger. It is the cutest thing ever and totally makes you fall in love with him all over again.

2 weeks+

Graham-a-lama is now over 2 weeks old and doing brilliantly. My in-laws are here for one more week, which means I have one more week to rest and use the help while it is here and one more week before Graham and I are left staring at each other all day long :D. They have been a huge blessing and Brett and I are grateful that they are here. It will be good too for me to get to do this thing on my own...Graham and I will be great! He is doing great at holding his head up on his own. He likes falling asleep on you while laying on his belly, and his umbilical cord is starting to get flaky. That thing seriously freaks me out. I hope we lose it soon!

talking about the baby

Graham gets up twice in a night. Brett and I were getting up together, but with Brett being back at work, we each take a turn now. So, we miss telling each other how the turn went until sometime the next day. I found it funny that today, while changing Graham, he pooped on the changing table. I tell Brett when he gets home, and he informs me that Graham peed all over the same changing table. I them tell Brett that Graham had puked on the new rocker chair in his room. Brett then tells me that he puked on the ottoman to the same chair. How cool is our kid! He is too much...and yet completely perfect at the same time.

a little funny

This happened literally our first night home...I have girlfriend's who have boys and they always say that once you take the diaper off, watch out for flying pee. This never happened at the hospital so I didn't even think about it happening once we got home. Well, we are changing a diaper and I am not on my "A"game and a fountain appears out of nowhere. I, who am holding a diaper, start screaming and use the diaper to stop the urine fountain. Well, the diaper was turned over, so the non-absorbent outside was used to "absorb"the fountain. Needless to say, not much was absorbed by the diaper, and most of it ended up on Graham and on the changing table. Brett and I just started laughing and cleaned up the mess. This also happened the next day....(we are slow learners) except this time, he peed on the wall. The wall that Brett went to all this trouble to paint and make perfect. The wall is clean, Graham is clean, and we are more aware of taking off the diaper and now have paper towels handy...just in case.

more photos

a few more from the hospital

Here is the last photo of Graham wearing his hospital outfit and here he is in the outfit we brought him home in. 100% boy!

Here is our family getting ready to leave the hospital...a family of 3!

1 week reflection

We have been home from the hospital for 1 week now....and this whole experience has been more challenging and more rewarding than I ever thought it could be. Bringing home a new baby is exciting and completely scary... not to mention I had major surgery to have this beautiful boy. So recovery is one thing...I can't lift anything heavier than Graham nor can I drive or do stairs...so I am limited in what I can do. Learning how to care for Graham and manage your own pain has been the challenging part. But looking back at photos of Graham at the hospital and looking at photos we just took today, the difference in him is amazing. He looks completely different...bigger, cuter, and more awesome than Brett and I ever thought. And Brett and I are learning how to do this all together...which is amazing for our relationship. I can see why having a child brings two people closer together...we get excited when we realize his cries at 3 am are because he has unwrapped himself and is cold, instead of looking at each other and going, "Now what do we do?"
I am breastfeeding...and that alone is a scary experience. You never really know how much he is getting and it feels like it takes forever to feed. At his first doctor appointment this past week, Graham had gained weight (!) and is now over 8 lbs 3 ozs!!!! This makes me super excited because breastfed babies don't get back to their birth weight until 2 weeks after they're born, and our kiddo managed to regain his lost hospital weight and gain MORE weight within a week!!!! I am making enough milk for him which makes me feel like I am doing a great job!! So this is a super rewarding part of parenthood.
Graham also recognizes Brett and I, and takes huge comfort knowing we are holding him and looking at our faces, another reward. He is sleeping better...3 hours at a time during the night! We feel like this is awesome. He did have one night where he was up from 1-5, crying the entire time. We like to think he found his voice that night, and lets keep the fingers crossed he doesn't have another one of those nights.
Brett goes back to work this week, sad, but something we knew would happen. We will miss him terribly but we will be so glad when he comes home. And not to worry, I am here at home in good hands with my fabulous in-laws, Mary and Neal. They have been a huge help with laundry, making dinner, and being super supportive. I totally appreciate them being here and supporting Brett and I. As I type this, Graham is entertaining them completely with yawning and blowing bubbles all while wearing no pants. That kid is totally a keeper. Uncle Kyle came to visit for the weekend and was smitten, just like everyone else who meets our little man. More to come on the whole delivery experience and hospital stay...looking back on that makes me laugh and cry and I can't wait to share!