Happy 4 Month Birthday!!

I have always been a person who never ceases to be amazed by the passing of time. I wonder where time has gone, why it can’t move faster or slower, and how something as seemingly menial as time has the immense ability to change absolutely everything. Never did I imagine how much my perspective and observations on time would be affected by having a child of my own. Graham is 4 months old (okay almost 5 now, but I had the best of intentions!), and I am in awe of the way time has flown by and the changes that we experience on a daily basis.

The changes this month seem so dramatic…I can say without any hesitation that we have definitely left newborn-land and are settling into the infant lifestyle! Although his physical development of weight and length (11 lbs. 6 oz. and 23.5” at our 4 month appt.—4 months and 2 weeks) might not tell the story, Graham’s social, emotional, motor, and communication development (and incessant drool and teething behaviors) leave little doubt that he is growing so fast! And assuming he continues to be a great eater and sleeper, I am sure that the size thing will catch up to us soon! However, let’s be honest, any of you who have met the Reeces or the Kochs know that Graham comes by his small stature naturally!

The biggest milestone of this month was rolling!!! Graham has never been a fan of tummy time, unless he is lying on someone. However, being diligent parents, Chris and I continue to place him on his stomach a few times a day. Initially, he would just scream and cry. During this month, he started to push himself up off the floor and one day, just rolled right over! Once my little problem solver figured that out, there was no stopping him! He now rolls from tummy to back in less than 3 seconds, making it very hard to get pictures or video!! When he decides to roll the other way, we will definitely be in trouble!
Aside from his new rolling skill, Graham’s biggest discovery of the month…his hands!!!! It was funny to watch as one weekend, he just “discovered” that they were there and began to reach for and grasp anything and everything, toys, rattles, hands, faces, hair, etc.! He enjoys lying on his floor mat and reaching for the toys that are just out of reach. He is able to grasp small objects for short periods of time, although he is not very coordinated yet. He still tries to put everything into his mouth!

Graham has become so interactive this month. He loves to chat and vocalizes a lot. He talks in the car on the way to and from Natalie’s each day and has spent many days talking her ear off as well. One day, he was riding in the car with her older son, and they apparently took turns having a great conversation back and forth. Who knows what the topic might have been, but the two were happy as could be!

All this chatting has been accompanied by newfound wide ranges of expressions too! Graham loves to smile and laugh. He also loves to look at people, and now makes very intentional eye contact.
He truly looks at you and uses this new skill to get attention and make everyone smile! Graham also loves to look in mirrors and see what that “other baby” might be up to!
Graham is all about entertainment! He loves music and enjoys singing songs like “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “When I Feel Happy”, and “The Wheels on the Bus”. We even have a song that we sing every morning about his dream the night before and he loves to “sing along”. Graham also makes a mean “Paddy-cake” and will sit on our laps to play and sing for long periods of time. One of his favorite toys now is a rattle, and we constantly joke that he loves to rock and roll.

Similar to the note above, Graham also comes by his love of music naturally. I spent my entire pregnancy playing and listening to music of all types. We often joked that our child was going to come out singing the Avett Brothers since that was the one CD we listened to in Chris’ car over and over again. Sure enough, Graham demonstrated the power of music (and his highly refined musical taste) during the Grammy’s. We had been watching while we were getting ready for bed, and Graham had been fussing. However, once the Avett Brothers started singing, he immediately stopped, turned toward the TV, and starting smiling and cooing. He watched attentively the entire time they performed, and then returned to fussing as soon as they were finished! Chris was so proud!

All in all, it seems as though we have had another happy and healthy month. We’ve celebrated a few more birthdays (including Chris'), watched Graham’s first Super Bowl, had lots of love to go around for Valentines’ Day, taken lots of walks around the neighborhood and naps around the house, and had LOTS of fun!


I just can’t wait to see what changes the next month will bring!

Happy 3 Month Birthday!

So once again, I have had this post started for about 2 weeks, but have just never quite gotten around to finishing it! Tonight, however, I looked at Chris and said, "Do you realize that in 10 days Graham will be 4 months old?!". Better finish the 3 month update, huh?

This has definitely been a busy, busy month. Graham has been so busy growing! Sometimes I wish I could freeze time or at least slow it down a little, just to have longer to enjoy my little boy while he is still that, little. Physically, Graham has grown a LOT this month. He weighs in at a whopping 11 pounds now! (At our appointment for his 2nd set of two month vaccines [February 9th—3 months, 2 weeks], he was 11 lbs. 6 oz). This is impressive given his birth weight of just under 6 lbs. He has almost doubled his birth weight and has definitely filled out.Check out those cute cheeks!!

Graham continues to be a great eater, although we have entered a phase wherein I think his eyes are much bigger than his stomach. He tends to eat a little more than he can handle and is a champion at giving some back! I have learned the hard way that I need to get Graham dressed and out the door before I attempt to dress myself. That is if I don’t want to change my clothes as often as we change his! He still fits into most of his 0-3 month clothes, although some of the onesies are getting a little short, and he is starting to rock the “1980’s off the shoulder flash dance look” in a few of them! This is partially due to the fact that we were finally able to start using our cloth diapers this month as well. Graham really seems to enjoy them and he has not had any diaper rash or breakouts since we switched. Chris and I have both commented that the diapers are easier to use than we thought, and we love hearing the “ka-ching, ka-ching” money saved sound every time we throw a load of cloth diapers in the wash, as opposed to disposables in the trash!

Graham also continues to be a wonderful sleeper. He has been sleeping through the night (10:00ish-6:00ish) since I started back to work at the beginning of January. He seems to do fairly well with naps during the day, typically sleeping for longer periods in the morning and catching more cat-naps in the afternoon and evening. Chris and I are keenly aware that we are so, so, so fortunate he is sleeping so well at this stage. It has definitely helped make the transition back to work and into a daily routine much easier.

Why the need for all this sleep you ask? It seems that the other thing Graham loved to do this month was party. He enjoyed celebrating New Years, even insisting that he be awake for the Times Square ball drop at midnight, despite Chris and I putting him to bed a good 2 hours before! However, ringing in 2011 at that late time did put a damper on watching the marathon of bowl games New Year’s Day. He is definitely his Mommy's son...He even signs "Touchdown" in his sleep!

Graham also got invited to his very first birthday party. Our friends, Mickey and Melissa, had a party for their son Quin’s first birthday. Graham enjoyed getting all “dressed-up” and looking around at all the fun decorations (particularly the balloons), but couldn’t quite stay awake to see Quin dig into his cake or presents. I guess it was just too much birthday fun all at once. However, with all the friends who had babies in the past year, I think he will get the chance to make up for it at another party soon.Graham's party outfit from Grandma Koch
Apparently, it was too much party fun for Daddy too!

Although it feels like we have spent the past month partying and celebrating, we have actually started to settle into a routine, which, on a daily basis seems pretty uneventful. Although I still hate going to work and really wish I could stay home, Graham seems very happy going to Natalie’s everyday. Typically Chris drops him off and picks him up since they live so close to Hartsfield. I have also been fortunate to arrange my schedule so that on my district days (Tuesday and Thursday), I can go and feed Graham during my lunch assuming he is awake and ready to eat. I love that I can still see him during the day, if only for a little while. The fact that he is always smiling and happy, and has definitely bonded with Natalie and her 3 kids makes leaving him somewhat easier. Apparently, Graham LOVES the mornings before school, and the afternoons when the kids are home. He watches them play and likes to smile and chat at the whole family. Natalie even commented that one day her husband’s cousin came and took her kids to the park afterschool. Graham seemed really confused and was looking around, wondering where his entourage/paparazzi/audience/friends went!

I think this month’s biggest areas of growth and change, however, have come in Graham’s personality. He has become such a smiling, happy, talkative, and curious little man.



He is busy finding his voice and makes lots of different sounds. He loves to look at people, especially faces and recognizes Mommy, Daddy, and Natalie and the kids, greeting us with big cheesy smiles! We had a few days of warmer weather in the middle of January and we were able to go out exploring in the stroller. What a difference a few weeks has made in his ability to hold his head up, turn to look around, and track lots of different sounds. We are hoping that it warms up again soon so we can keep going on our walks!



Graham is also starting to explore with his hands and is trying to reach for toys and rattles. While he doesn’t quite have the coordination or strength to really independently grasp yet, he frequently shows off his problem solving skills: if he can’t reach or find any of those things, he will just play with or chew on his hands instead!

I think Graham’s smiles and giggles may very well be the best part of being a mommy right now. Graham is so fun to interact and sing with, and he has definitely inherited Chris’ sense of humor. Graham loves to be entertained, the sillier, the better (just ask him about my rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” during one of his recent diapers changes—hilarious, according to him at least)!
Overall it has been an exciting month full of ups and downs, and while Chris and I are both sometimes so far beyond exhausted we don’t quite know what to do, we wouldn’t have it any other way!! We can’t wait to see what will happen next!

Happy Birthday

So I know this post is a little late, but I wanted to take the time to write about my birthday. Although I didn't go to Chuck E. Cheese's with all my friends, I had a great day. Quite obviously, I had a special birthday gift this year (and he's pretty cute).

Graham got me a card that talked about how much he likes hanging out with me. He and I get the chance to have "Dude Night" each Monday while Jen is at her rehearsal for the Tallahassee Community Chorus. We both love having Jen here, but we have a lot of fun just the two of us. Graham is turning into such a little ball of personality, and it warms my heart every time he smiles or looks my way.

I'm sure there will be ties, homemade cards, ties, and did I mention- ties for birthday presents in the years to come, but a simple card and that cute smile made my first birthday as a dad extra special!

Serious faces!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Another "First" holiday is in the books! Graham had a great first Valentine's Day! He had way too much fun with the photo shoots that Natalie and I made him do.

Oh No! Where is my Valentine?


Mr. Shy..."Will you be my Valentine?"



Perhaps most impressively, he survived the whole day in his "My First Valentine's Day" shirt!

(Just a little bit of drool!)

Chris is forever giving me grief about being suckered into the "My First..." shirts, but I mean really, how could you not advertise with this cuteness!

This year, he was definitely my favorite, funny valentine!

Mommy is my favorite Valentine!

Graham has definitely stolen my heart! Happy Valentine's Day!

10 hours!!!!

Chris and I know that we have been so lucky with Graham. He is typically a very good sleeper and has been sleeping through the night (10:30-6:00) for at well over a month now. However, nothing could have prepared me for last night. He slept for 10 hours straight!!! That's right...10:30 Saturday night to 8:30 Sunday morning. While this is extremely impressive for him, I think that the 8 solid hours of sleep that I got made me even happier! Now, I am not naive enough to believe that at 3 1/2 months this will be a regular occurrence, but I will take the baby-steps in the right direction and enjoy my 8 hours!!! I might even be able to conquer Monday with the stockpile of sleep from Saturday night! HOORAY!!

SNOW!!!

In honor of all our northern, snow-bound, and winter-weary friends and family, and the southern disbelievers, we proudly present...Graham's first snow!



Snuggling with Daddy to stay warm!



Mommy, are you sure this is supposed to be fun?



Taking a nap on the snow. Graham was still so small that when we laid him in the snow, he didn't sink into it at all!



I LOVE SNOW!!!

Snowstorm on Christmas Eve morning!





Here's a sight you don't see everyday!


While visiting Chris' family in New Providence, we had a new experience for all of us...hoarfrost. Hoarfrost generally occurs on cold nights when ice crystals condense and form on the ground or objects on objects. The night before, we had an amazing blanket of fog cover the area. That moisture mixed with the freezing temperatures created this winter wonderland that amazed even seasoned Iowans like Chris and I. We were so excited, we took the cameras and plowed into snow almost waist deep to get some of these pictures.








And while we don't have snow here in Florida, we are definitely experiencing some winter chill. Morning temperatures have been in the 20s and 30s with some daytime highs only reaching around 50. I know that would be considered balmy at this point for our mid-west friends, but it is definitely chilly and damp down here.




Needless to say, we have gotten lots of use out of Graham's snowsuits, slippers, and blankets. Speaking of which...I hear a nice warm bed calling my name!