1,162 miles and 1 tooth later...

We made it! We have arrived safe and sound, and for the most part, unscathed, in Iowa! We left Tallahassee on Wednesday afternoon and drove through ALL of Alabama to Nashville.

Our view in Birmingham, AL
Graham is a GREAT helper with the keys!

Thursday, we drove from Nashville to Des Moines.

Our welcome home gift! Gorgeous Iowa sky!

That is a long time and a lot of miles for a nine month old (and for a couple of 30 somethings as well)! We had a few meltdown moments and heard the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Song (all 58 seconds of it) for about 25 straight minutes through northern Alabama,The end result of our mini-melt-down!

but overall Graham did a great job, despite cutting a top tooth for the better part of the trip! He was a wonderful backseat driver!! Now, we are all looking forward to lots of visits with friends, snuggle time with grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and most importantly LOTS of sweet corn!

Happy 9 Month Birthday!

I wish that someone would have told me that 9 months translated in baby terms means “On-the-Go”. We have been on-the-go non-stop this month, traveling by knees, feet, stroller, water, road, etc. You name it and it seems as though we have done it!

Graham continues to be a happy healthy baby boy! He loves to eat, and we have explored lots of different tastes this month, including kiwi, raspberries, blueberries, potatoes, tomatoes, yucca, sweet potato fries, pasta, bread, and I am sure other things that I am totally forgetting now. While we have made use of the Baby Bullet we purchased, we are starting to move away from purees and into many different textures, and I am feeling extremely fortunate that, to this point, he has enjoyed most everything. The two things that he was not so sure of were pineapple and grits! We think his dislike for both were more texture-related than taste specific,. Plus, there is no way Uncle Brian will allow his nephew to dislike pineapple, so we are hoping that he will acquire that taste yet.

His incredibly healthy appetite and all that eating seem to have paid off as at his nine month appointment, we were finally on the scales, as far as percentile rankings go. He weighed in at 15 lbs. 15 oz. (3^rd percentile) and 27.2 inches long (15% percentile—double digits!!!). The doctor would still like to see him put on a little more weight, but he is moving in the right direction as he is steadily gaining on his own growth curve.

Graham is also moving in another direction as of this month…up! He is sitting up high in both high chairs and carts, loving the new vantage point, but more importantly, to him anyway, he is pulling up on anything he can and becoming much more steady as he stands. He is not quite ready to let go and stand independently, but I am sure that will come any day now! Graham is still not much of a crawler, but rock on his hands and knees and attempt a few moves. He really loves his stander and his walker and bounces up and down and scoots across the room, usually backwards! He thinks that is hilarious and will even look behind him to make sure he is not going to run into anything. Chris and I joke that we need to install some mirrors so he can check his blindspots too!

While busy conquering movement on land, we have also introduced Graham to another mode of transportation this summer; swimming. We signed up for a two week “Mommy and Me” swim class through Tallahassee Parks and Rec. The neighborhood pool is just a few blocks from our house and with Chris off ESY for those two weeks, we were able to enjoy time as a family for walks to the pool and a brief cool down from the Tallahassee heat and humidity. My whole goal was for Graham to get comfortable with being in the water, and we definitely achieved that one. After swimming lessons ended, we went swimming at a friends’ 4^th of July party and at the hotel in Orlando with Grandma and Grandpa too.

It was great fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Koch come to visit this month. Although they had just seen Graham at the end of May, they were both amazed at how much he had grown and changed. He had a blast with them during their stay, visiting our favorite beach resort, Seaside,

trying out a high chair for the first time, and of course, visiting Mickey Mouse! He even got to spend some quality one on one time with them while Chris and I went to see Cirque du Soleil. He definitely kept Grandma on her toes, as he informed her repeatedly that he was NOT tired, even though it was 11 PM!!

Although we have spent part of the month traveling around, I think Graham most enjoys being home and playing with Mommy and Daddy. I am still having a blast being home with him this summer; spending time at the library and pool, playing, and shopping?! He loves his toy phones, opening and closing his computer, and of course his precious, Mickey. He also loves to laugh, and his new favorite game is to play with Daddy’s glasses and see if he can’t yank them off his face! Chris gasps and laughs which of course makes Graham laugh too.

There is just nothing more precious than baby giggles! Except, maybe baby talk. And boy, does Graham love to talk!! He is starting to understand the call/response of conversation and will look anxiously in our direction after he says something to see how we will respond. He is not consistently using signs, but definitely understands the signs for milk, more, all done, and head nods for yes and no. When asked if he would like more to eat, he will open his mouth and lean forward, and then look at us like we’re crazy if we try to get him to use a sign..I mean, “hello, people” didn’t I just show you I wanted more?

He is also getting really good at high fives and will share them with anyone and everyone…even the cats. The cats are adapting, just like the rest of us, to Graham’s newfound energy and movement, but I think they are both longing for the days when he would just sit still, as evidenced by Rescue jumping in the crib to snuggle with him when he was napping one day!

In a nutshell, this month has been all about movement, but something tells me that that will be the case from here on out! We are so blessed beyond measure by the light of our life and are looking forward to all the adventures that next month will bring!

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!!

Living in Florida, one of the first things Chris and I acquired were season passes to the Happiest Place on Earth. We loved to spend time visiting the Mouse every few months and enjoyed getting the perks of being the first to go on new rides and see new shows. Being residents and having the Disney experience at our near fingertips also allowed us to leisurely enjoy visits without feeling the need to do EVERY ride, EVERY time, and to have fun in one or two parks a day, as opposed to the “Grand Slam” of all 4 in one day. While we loved visiting Disney, we were very content with our seasonal passes which block-out visits during the busiest times of the year and the summer. This has always been fine with us, because who in their right mind really wants to visit Disney World in the middle of summer?

Answer, my family, of course! Whenever my family visits, they almost always take a few days to head to Disney, regardless the time or season of the year. This summer was no exception and Chris and I caved and took Graham to Disney for the first time. I don’t really think that I have mentioned it before, but Graham has come to LOVE Mickey Mouse. And when I say love Mickey Mouse, I mean LOVE MICKEY MOUSE!!! He has seen the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel in the morning at Natalie’s, and will drop whatever he is doing to stop, look, and listen if the theme song or the “Hot Dog” song comes on.

Needless to say, Graham was beyond excited to see all the Mickey’s everywhere at Disney World. He would smile, wave, and get super excited each time we saw a shape of Mickey or a picture on some ride, wrapper, or trashcan! While it was hot and we had our usual afternoon showers, we had a lot of fun seeing Disney through Graham’s eyes!

He loved the Nemo ride and Aquarium at the Nemo and Friends exhibit at Epcot. He was completely fascinated by the fish and loved watching the “Yellow Zoomer” as it swam around and around in the tank (I am thinking a trip to the Georgia Aquarium is in our near future!)! He also enjoyed the safari at the Animal Kingdom. His favorite thing of the day, however, was meeting Minnie,

Goofy, Donald, and, of course, his beloved Mickey! And what first trip to Disney World would be complete without earning your very own ears?! We can’t wait for the next to Disney this fall. Look out, Mickey, here he comes!

6 Month Pictures

Since Graham's 9 month birthday is just around the corner, it is probably about time that I put some of his 6 month pictures up! These were taken again, by our fabulous and very talented friend Claire.

















She did such a great job capturing his personality and interests at this age! We can't wait to see what will happen with his 9 month pictures...Claire, have we set that up yet?! =)