Kreativ Blogger Award!! YIPPEE!!!

Courtney gave me my 2nd bloggy award! thank you! how fun!! i must be pretty boring cause i never get awards. ha! pity party? maybe. ;)

So here are the rules:
1-Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2-Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3-Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4-Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.
5-Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6-Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7-Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they've been nominated.

7 thing's about me that you may not know...or may already know...who knows...

1) i am an insomniac. i have to take medicine to sleep or i will stay up all night tossing and turning and being mad about it. so many times, my dear husband has woken up to me beating my pillow out of frustration. it's so annoying because i don't want to have to take medicine for the rest of my life to sleep. and a lot of times medicine doesn't help. i feel like my doctor(s) don't listen to me and don't have my best interest at heart because all they want to do is prescribe sleep aid, or anti-anxiety meds, or anti-depressants. I'm depressed dang it because no doctor cares to LISTEN!! lol. i haven't had a sleep study done yet but that is the next step.

2) growing up, i had a complex about being half asian. in elementary school, i remember the girls not wanting to play with me and calling me names and pulling their eyes taut and ridiculing me, telling me that i would never be anything. their mothers even looked at me as if i were an alien. i told myself then and there that i would be the best at EVERYTHING that i did. and not to toot my own horn, but i think i've done pretty well at fulfilling it. I've always been an honor roll student, always had the top score at cheerleading tryouts, always made all american at cheer camp, graduated in the top 20 in high school (with over 300 students) and in the 20 top in college, started at the very bottom where i work and in three years worked my way up to deputy director (2nd in command) at a top state government agency by the age of 25. i am head strong and determined and i will NEVER let ANYONE get in the way of my dreams and goals. i would like the thank all of the girls who have made fun of me throughout my life because i wasn't fair skinned enough or because my eyes weren't round enough. you have made me the woman i am today. a woman that i can say that i am proud to be.

3) i'm VERY outspoken and it's hard for me to hold my tongue. and often times, to my detriment, i speak without thinking. but at least you always know how i feel and what i am thinking. i know my husband absolutely LOVES this quality about me. ha!

4) i am married to the most patient, loving, considerate, compassionate, understanding man that i have EVER known in my life. he works so hard for our family and is so good to us. he goes without things that he wants and needs so graham and i can have. he hardly ever raises his voice and when i'm being a tyrant, he just looks at me with so much love in his eyes. and not only is he an awesome husband but he is the world's best daddy. yes. i said the WORLD'S BEST daddy. when we were in the hospital having graham, i didn't have to change ONE diaper. not one. he even volunteers now to get the bad ones. and if you know what it's like to have a toddler who eats solid food, then you KNOW how terrible these diapers stink. and he hardly ever complains. not about the stinky diapers, well, he does tell me how terrible they are but he doesn't gripe about doing it. he doesn't complain when i make all of the plans, only to tell him about it an hour before. he is just so laid back and just wants to make me happy and make graham happy. ahhhh, give me a minute so i can sit here, chin in hand and daydream. he's the man of my dreams. plain and simple. no, we don't have the biggest of houses, we don't drive the fanciest of cars but we sure are rich with love. and that is all that matters.

5) geez. this is getting pretty long, huh? anyone still with me??
Pandora radio is simply awesome and sure does good at getting me through the work day. it's so fabulous. if you don't know, now you know.

6) being a mom is the best thing i have ever done. i know that some people say that kids aren't for them but i just don't get it. yeah, it's nice to be able to get up and go anytime you want without having to think about what you need to throw in the diaper bag or who you can get to babysit. and yeah, it's nice to sleep in. and yeah, it's stressful knowing that you are responsible for the raising, rearing and life of another person. but i really wouldn't have it any other way. there is no love like the love that you have for your child. NOTHING compares. no, not even a love for a pet.

7) let's keep this last one simple. ha! I worked for an interior decorator for three years during college and it was ones of the best. jobs. EVER. of course, right? i mean, duh.

okay! whew. done.

The 7 people i nominate:

jill @ http://sophieblair.blogspot.com/

rebekah @ http://theboonefam.blogspot.com/

melissa @ http://melissaperkins.blogspot.com/

brandi @ http://brandihargis.blogspot.com/

whitney @ http://babybell-whitney.blogspot.com/

kelsey @ http://3scotts.blogspot.com/

kristi @ http://livelaughlovekristi.blogspot.com/

GIVEAWAY!!! CHECK IT OUT!!!

Hey everyone! My friend, Courtney, is so creative and such an awesome painter...and lucky for you all, she is giving away a 16x20 canvas painting. CHECK IT OUT!!!

http://cbdesigns13.blogspot.com/

Super Saturday

last saturday, graham and i went to see my friends, jennifer and trent, in Bryant. they just bought a new house so we went to visit.

here's graham on our way to lunch...he looks like he is up to no good, huh?

water bottles are such easy entertainment

High Tide???

chad had to pull graham's pants up sooo high because they were long and he kept tripping over them. we could not stop laughing.

p.s. ignore all of the cords. it's temporary and driving me crazy.

GO HOGS!!!

we all had a blast watching the game together. even if their defense IS horrible and they lost their lead and ultimately lost the game. we still love our razorbacks!!

Our New Piece of Furniture

how cute is this little chair for graham? we have been looking for a chair for him for quite a while and just couldn't find anything that we were crazy about and didn't want to spend a fortune on it either. we know our child well enough to know that it will have scratches and teeth marks in it in NO TIME FLAT. so chad found this one at target and it's adorable. i'm still on the fence about it though. it's not all that comfortable. but sure is stylish. maybe it will just take some breaking in.

One Year Stats

taking my lil spitfire to the doctor is no longer an easy task anymore. gone are the days of him just laying there. not rolling. not crawling. not walking. not getting into anything. just laying there, being a good lil graham. i pretty much had to fight my son to be still for Dr. M. he did NOT want mommy to hold him. he wanted to get down on the floor, naked and barefoot and play. and with all of the stuff going on with the H1N1 flu, i certainly did NOT want to put him down. but after being punched in the jaw (not on purpose, of course. not MY child), and getting whacked in the nose, i finally gave in and just put his feisty lil butt down so he could walk to the toy area. oh, no worries. i gave that child a good scrub down with my Wet Ones when all was said and done.

• Weight: 24 lbs and 11 oz. 75th percentile
• Height: 30.5 inches 75th percentile
• Head Cir: 18 1/4 inches 50th percentile

Poor thing had to get FIVE shots. none combined. he was not the least bit happy about it whatsoever. can't say that I blame him. i would have screamed my head off too. they gave him his flu shot too. now it's time for mommy and daddy to get theirs.

Graham's eczema has gotten a lot worse so she finally prescribed a steroid cream.

These are the one year happenings:

• has 4 teeth. two front bottom and two front top

• is drinking whole milk 3 times a day...all in sippy cups. NO MORE BOTTLES!!! YAY!! Well, i am guilty of sometimes letting him have a night bottle. because really, it's the only time that he will let me hold him and cuddle him without a knock down, drag out fight.

• is only eating solid foods. pretty much eating anything that we eat.

• is now walking.

• is wearing a wide range of clothing sizes, from 12 to 24 months. just depends on the brand of clothing. he can still wear 6-9 month polos from The Children's Place. he is wearing a size 6 in his shoes. but again, totally depends on the brand. his New Balance's are size 6 but he has a size 5 from Old Navy that are wayyyy too big. Shopping for graham is so hard because I never know what size to get.

• still sleeping all night long...in his crib of course. he goes down at 7:30pm and is up at 6:30am. ON.THE.DOT. sometimes i want to put him in bed with us but it's a lost cause. he just wants to play when i try to do that. when graham is at school, he only naps once after lunch. when he is at home with me, he takes two naps. one in the morning around 10am and another around 2pm.

• he really doesn't have any favorite toys. he just plays with whatever. I think it's great that he doesn't have just one thing that he is attached to...makes it easier if it were to get lost, etc.

• he says "dada", "mama", "cat". he talks a lot in baby language. one day it will become something that we understand.

that's all that i can think of for now.

it's officially OFFICIAL

yep. it's true. we have a FULL FLEDGED WALKER. it is so cute. and wobbly. i love it.

IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

we had graham's birthday party last sunday at our house. we had so much fun and enjoyed getting to see our friends. but i assure you, it will be the LAST time we have a birthday party at our house until we buy something bigger. ha!

we had a slideshow playing during the party. unfortunately we had to bring graham's tv into the living room because the bulb in our main TV blew out the week of the party. of course it would.

this cake was the pooper of the party. the lady that I asked to make it did a baby shower cake for one of my friends and did an EXCELLENT job. well, i asked this same lady to do what she wanted to with graham's cake BUT i do want it to be COLORFUL, WHIMSICAL and MATCH HIS PLATES, CUPS, ETC. well, this is what I got. a green and white cake with PLASTIC animals. I honestly could have just done this myself. what a disappointment. at least it tasted good.

here is a picture of some of the plates that we had for his party. does it look like the cake matches this??? not.so.much.

Graham and his mimi. he adores this woman. i can't blame him. she is pretty awesome.

graham was super excited to see his friends. which so happened to be all girls. graham needs more guy friends in his life. ha!

here he is welcoming Rylee to his party.

saying hello to miss caroline...


and to miss calleigh as well. graham and cal went to daycare together at cdc and hadn't seen each other since we switched him back in june. i think he remembered cal because as soon as he saw her, he ran right over to her and gave her a big welcome. it was so sweet!
trying to rip the bow off of his presents.

our house full of guests

graham wasn't too interested in opening presents. it was more fun for him to play with his friends. so mommy ended up opening all of them.

graham loves music and loves to dance so I bought him a singing card that played, "i like to move it, move it" from the movie Madagascar. It was definitely a hit!! he kept bouncing up and down. so fun!

Thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends for making this such a wonderful day for our little boy! He had so much fun! We are soooo blessed!

Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin Graham!!!

the picture above is right when they wheeled me back to my room from the OR.

i love this picture with his arms and legs crossed. this is how he loved to stay inside my belly.

i honestly don't even know where to begin with this post. i have so many thoughts and so many emotions and i simply cannot get them in order.

it's amazing to me how fast time passes. at 6:27pm on Sept. 5, 2008 after 2.5 LONGGGGG hours of breathing and pushing and then finally being wheeled into the operating room, dr. h pulled you out of my belly. when i first heard dr. h say how beautiful you were and hearing your cry, i completely lost it. she put you up to my face and i kissed your sweet lil conehead and balled like a little baby. after 9.5 months of anticipating your arrival, there you finally were. it was bittersweet because i already missed having you in my belly, having you all to myself, knowing that because i was alive, so were you. as selfish as it might have been, it was amazing to have you all to myself, feeling you kick and move and do kung fu in my belly. feeling every time that you would hiccup. and you hiccuped a lot. i honestly loved every single second of being pregnant with you. yes, even through the terrible indigestion and swelling because i knew the outcome was going to be so worth it. and yes, it totally was.

for the entire birth story, you can click here http://theneiplings.blogspot.com/2008/09/announcing-arrival-of-benjamin-graham.html

our first year together has been so wonderful. I never knew I could love someone so much. i mean, don't get me wrong, i absolutely adore your daddy who is by the way, the most amazing daddy EVER, but the love for your child is just completely different. one day you will understand this when you have children of your own. that is, if i ever even let you leave home.

thank you for such a wonderful year. you are such an amazing, smart and healthy little boy and I am so proud and so thankful that you are our son. we have truly been blessed. this has been the best year of my life.

yesterday i took cupcakes to graham's school to celebrate his birthday.

all of the pictures below were taken this morning, right when he woke up...bedhead and all!

then i remembered that i had a birthday onesie for him to wear today.

i still can't believe this big ol chunk was only 6lbs11oz when he was born. WOW!! he has grown so much!

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party with family and a few friends. I will be sure to post everything on Monday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!!!