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.

9 months and some pictures

I took Graham to see Dr. this morning for his 9 month check-up. she said that he obviously has no problem eating. stating the obvious, i suppose.

23.25 pounds - 90th percentile
29 inches long - 70th percentile
45.3 cm head circumference - 50th percentile

All is well with G. he is developing as he should be. and he is all over the place. by the time we left her office, i was exhausted. next time, chad better come with me. our child was crawling back and forth on the long table, crinkling up the table paper, throwing toys everywhere. all of this within five minutes. sheez.

We are awaiting a call from AR Children's Hospital to schedule Graham for an ultrasound. He is going to hate me for telling this but he has a testicle that has retracted and won't come down. So we are going to get an ultrasound to see where it is and if it will have to be surgically pulled down. Sorry Graham for telling your business. Please forgive mommy.

Right now, like I said earlier, our child is all over the place.

he is now pulling up to stand.

he makes "clucking" sounds with his tongue.

he throws his arms up in the air all of the time like he's doing the touchdown sign.

he is still dancing away. loves it.

he hates it when mommy gets the big camera out. my happy smiling baby turns into a mad disgrunted child.

he has started throwing fits when we take something away from him that he wants.

we have to wrestle with him when it comes time to change his diaper. he just hates to lay down period unless it's naptime or bedtime.

he knows his name and understands "no". but when you tell him "no" he looks at you and gives you the cutest smile and it's so hard not to smile back because gosh darnit, he's so freakin adorable. but if you don't smile and keep a stern look on your face, then he will stop.

he likes olives. like his daddy. certainly did not get that from me.

i have a hard time getting his pants over his thighs. sorry graham. this is my fault.

here he is waving

i love these New Balance shoes that I got for him...so cute!

prairie dog...we NEVER see these come out of their hole...but it was feeding time and we got lucky

Challenge Update:

The 42 Day Challenge is now over and I lost a total of 7 pounds! YAY!! I'm thrilled!!

But we have now started another challenge and it's 12 weeks long and this time we will be taking body measurements to see how many inches we have lost. I haven't had a chance to work out as much but I think I walked more than enough at the convention center during our conference to count for something. Right now i am trying to get us all back into our routine and get everything back to normal at the house so it hasn't left me for ANY free time. but I am still drinking LOTS of water and eating right.

Wish me luck on Challenge #2.

i will let you know when we will go to Children's for Graham's ultrasound.

Our first....

...ear infection. :( The last two nights, Graham has been up all night long screaming bloody murder. I thought that it might be his teeth because he still doesn't have any yet and thought that it might be time...I also thought it was his teeth because he had a fever and a slight diaper rash (several friends and family members have told me these are tell tell signs). But then last night he screamed his head off again and cried and cried and cried. Graham hardly EVER cries and he ALWAYS sleeps all night. Plus he started to refuse his bottle...BIG SIGN THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. The beast NEVER refuses food. I thought that it may be an ear infection since he only cries when he is laying down flat. and so I called Dr. O'Neill this morning and took him in and sure enough. left ear infection. We have him on a 10 day round of antibiotics. I sure hope this doesn't become a trend. I don't want him to have to get tubes. No fun. Other than screaming at night, he has been fine though. Just as happy as he always is and playing and laughing and smiling. Please pray that Graham will have some relief and will fight this infection soon and that we will all get some sleep around here.

By the way, here are his stats:

23 pounds
28.5 inches

he is a BEAST, i tell ya, a BEAST!!!

6 month stats

Yesterday, our lil man turned 6 months old and oh how the time flies. I know I probably say that all of the time but seriously. it does. and i want it to stop. It's all happening just way too fast! I have been trying so hard to write things down that he is doing and I frustrate myself so much because I feel like I am not doing enough to remember and capture everything. With the way my memory is these days, I am so afraid that his babyhood is going to be lost if I don't keep a memento or something of EVERYTHING. i'm whack. ha! does anyone else feel this way or am I the only crazy one?

I took Graham to Dr. this morning for his 6 month vaccinations.

Stats:

Weight: 18.14 lbs - 75th percentile

Length: 26 7/8 inches - 75th percentile

Head Circum.: 43.1 - 40th percentile

He did great with his shots. he just screamed very briefly and then was over it. Dr. said that everything looked great and he is growing and developing as he should and no worries! It was a pretty short visit. :) And I love having the first appointment because we were in and out in no time! 9am appointments it will be from now on! but let me tell you, it was no easy task keeping him still on that table. that boy is a force to be reckoned with for sure. he was all over the place. ha! He was putting on quite the show. I wish I had my camera with me so I could show what the white paper that lines the bed looked like when we left.

Graham loves rolling over from him back to his tummy now. We cannot get him to stay on his back. but when he is on his tummy and gets tired, he won't roll back over to his back. he refuses. he wants mommy and daddy to do it for him. silly boy. spoiled rotten. he is really interested in his toys now. he loves playing with everything and is grabbing at anything and everything. his favorite toy right now though is his walker. he even turns himself around in it. he isn't quite doing one foot in front of the other very well though. right now, he just kinda pushes himself off with both of his feet similar to how a kangaroo hops. he notices now when chad or I leave the room. he will try to follow us with his head and darn near breaks his neck trying to turn to see us. we are still trying to get him weaned from his swaddle blanket at night. Last night, we put him to bed around 9pm without being swaddled and he did great til around 2am. He kept whining in his sleep and wouldn't stop for an hour. so we decided to swaddle him and he didn't wake up or make a peep until 8am this morning...and that is only because I woke him up to get him fed and ready for the doctor.

I love these Paul Frank PJ's that I bought Graham at Dillard's. It says "Chicks Dig Scars" and has little band-aids all over. So cute!

Tuesday night, Chad had a piece of individually wrapped cheese and he gave it to Graham to play with before he ate it. Graham took it and waved it all around and had a field day with it and did NOT want to give it back to daddy. So, Chad finally got it back and unwrapped it and put it to his mouth while Graham was watching Chad's every move. So I told Chad to give it back to Graham and see if he would mimic him. And he sure did. As soon as Graham got it back, it went straight to his mouth. What a ham! I love it! and no, he did not take a bite of it. ha! We grabbed it back before we let him do that! None of that til he is a year old.

So much else is going on in our lives that I don't even know where to start. So I apologize now because this will probably be a LONGGGGG post instead of me making a lot of small posts. I'm kinda in a hurry to get this posted since I have to see my OB at 1:45pm for my 6 month post operation check up for my c-section. I hope that is all that it is. eeeeeeick.

Chad has been really stressed at his job because his union is in contract negotiations with AT&T and they are all afraid that they are going to have to go on strike pretty soon...and strike could last a min. of 4 days and there is no telling how long it could go on. AT&T wants them to pay 80% of their insurance premium and right now we don't have to pay ANYTHING which is sooooo nice! If we were all on my insurance with the state, it would cost us almost 500.00 a month!! Please pray that it won't come to this. Also, Chad gets a raise every 6 months and AT&T wants to take that away from them as well. There are so many issues that's being discussed right now and nothing that is great. Please pray for us. I don't know what we would do if the union went on strike. So, we have been really stressed out about that.

My job is going pretty good. Since the Legislature is in session, we stay quite busy going through all of the TONS of Bills that are being drafted to give us more General Improvement Funds which means more grants that we have to administer and more work...hope they plan to give his more pay! :) Also, it's my conference planning time and that keeps me EXTREMELY busy!

I have been sick for the past week and am FINALLY getting over it. I took the day off yesterday because I just felt terrible but I stayed drugged up so I feel a lot better today. And GRAHAM IS GETTING BETTER TOO!!! I better knock on wood. He still has a little bitty tiny cough and a little bit of a runny nose but generally he is doing so well!!

Here is Graham in Daddy's Rugby Helmet.

Graham LOVES this book!! This is a fun book that the Kelly's got Graham and it teaches him out to spell his first and last name...well, in his case, middle and last name. :)
I got the proofs back of Graham's spring pictures at school and OH.MY.GOOD.NESS. They are sooooo adorable!!! I tried to scan them but they didn't turn out so good so I am just going to buy the CD from the photographers so I can make as many copies as I can. It seems to be the cheapest way to go because the individual packages are so expensive and I can't mix up the poses. and I want copies of EVERY pose! Am I a proud mommy or what?? I have been terrible at not printing all of these THOUSANDS of pictures I have of him though. I will get on Walmart.com and start uploading and then I get so overwhelmed and stop. But family, I will get on that soon, I promise! I know you all want new pics of Graham..

4 Month Stats

I took Graham to the doctor today as a sick visit because he's been coughing really terribly bad again and he's been losing his appetite as well (if you know my child, you know that he NEVER refuses to eat and he ALWAYS finishes his bottles and ready for more) so we knew something had to be wrong. Chad took the day off so we saw Dr. at 9:30am. She noticed that when she listened to his chest, he was wheezing quite a bit and that he was really having to work to breathe. So she ordered another RSV test (just click on "test" to take you to a previous post about his first test...I'm in the process of learning the tricks to blogging!)

and thankfully that test turned out to be negative but she did determine that his respiratory infection is back and with the wheezing, she prescribed an inhaler to use for breathing treatments.

We were supposed to see her again next week for his 4 month vaccinations but thankfully she let us do all of that in this visit. So here are his stats at 4 months:

Weight - 17lbs and in the 90th percentile

Height - 26 1/8 inches and also in the 90th percentile

To be clear on the 90th percentile, if he was measured up to 100 babies his age, he would be bigger than 90 of them. So she said that was GREAT and probably a lot of that contributed to me breastfeeding him (which I am in the process of weaning and I'm not sure I am happy about it).

I can certainly see the benefits of breastfeeding him and I love knowing that he is getting all of the nutrients he needs but with work, it's getting harder and harder to pump 3 times while I am there. I don't want to stop though. It makes me sad because I feel like I am taking away something from him that has been benefiting him so greatly. So I don't really know what to do. I have already been pumping less and have noticed that I am not producing a lot of milk like I used to produce. Again, this makes me very sad but I just need to get over it. I've breastfed him during the most crucial time and he is thriving very well so I just need to give myself a good smack and get over it. ha! I'm really stressed out about this and I told Chad today that I really should go talk to a therapist. ha!

Dr. also said that we could start giving him rice cereal from a spoon so we will begin working on solids in the next week or so.

By the way, our Christmas Tree isn't dead after all.

All I had to do was change the fuses and waaaaa laaaaa...we will have Christmas next year, people! :)

2 Month Stats

Yesterday, Chad and I took Graham to see Dr. A (who, by the way, is even more AWESOME than I remembered her to be in the hospital...I HIGHLY recommend her!) for his 2 month wellness checkup and also for 5 vaccinations.

Graham weighs 11lbs and 12 ozs and is 23 1/8 inches long. He is in the 60% percentile for his weight and length. His head circumference measures 38.9 and he's in the 25th percentile. G has a tiny head and I love it! :)

Graham received his DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis), Prevnar (Pneumococcal Conjugate), HiB (Haemophilus Influenzea Type b), EIPV (Polio) and Rotavirus Vaccinations. Sounds like a lot, huh? Thankfully 3 of them are combined into one shot so he only had 2 pokes (One in each leg) and the Rotavirus was administered as an oral (swallowed) vaccine and HE LOVED it...He cried when she took it out of his mouth...he wanted MORE! Graham loves it when I give him Mylicon for Gas...guess it's a welcome change from the regular ol' breastmilk and formula. He did really well with the shots too. He cried from the initial poke but shortly after, he was good to go. He forgot all about it. :) Dr. A said that Graham could get a fever and be super fussy but thankfully, neither happened! I've noticed that since Graham started daycare he has been a much happier and calmer baby. Makes for a happier and calmer mommy and daddy too. :) While we were home on maternity leave, he was probably getting extreme cabin fever like his momma.

Dr. A put Graham on Polyvisol which is a multivitamin for infants and toddlers. She said breastfed and formula babies may not get enough iron and Vitamin D so I should give him one dropper daily.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at Jason's Deli and then went to Target to get his multivitamin. Now, this Polyvisol stuff says that it has a fruit flavor but it smells GROSS. I was afraid that Graham wouldn't like it too much and yep, I was right. He swallows it like he is supposed to but his face tells a story of great distaste.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are leaving for Texarkana. Payton Rhodes is the daughter of my best friends, Tabatha and Tal Rhodes, and she is turning 3 years old tomorrow!!! Her birthday party is Saturday. I cannot believe Pay is already 3 years old. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was holding her tiny lil body in my arms. Makes me want to cry! I don't want Graham to grow up that fast! I cannot wait to see all of them. I don't get to see them as much as I used to and I miss them like crazy. Chad is so sad that he won't get to go with us because he misses them too...he will be working on Saturday, as always.

The Yummy vaccine

"NO NO!! I'M NOT DONE!!"

"So very very good...thank you!"

One Month Doctor's Appointment

Before Graham's Dr. Appt in his Arkansas onesie from his "Auntie" Shauntel

Today we went to see Graham's pediatrician for his checkup and also for his 2nd Hepititis B shot. He did really well getting his shot. He screamed for a few seconds and then forgot all about it.


Graham weighs 9lbs and 7oz today and is 21 inches long. He is in the 25th percentile for his length and 50th for his weight. I couldn't believe how much he had gained in ONE MONTH!! But then again, yes I can believe it because all he wants to do is eat. While we were at Mimi's this past weekend, he drank 8 ozs in one meal!!! 4oz of breastmilk and then 4oz of formula...I pumped the 4oz of breastmilk so Mimi could feed him before we left to come back to LR and he drank that so fast and was screaming and crying and STILL hungry so I made him a bottle of formula and he guzzled that down fast too!! It seems he is hungry all of the time and is never satisfied but I know he is getting a lot to eat when I breastfeed cause I can hear him gulping it down so fast. The doctor told me not to be worried about it. He is one of his biggest growth periods and said by our next appt. he should have a fairly normal schedule.

Right now Graham cries when he is not sleeping or eating and the only way I can get him to calm down is to pop a boob out. Goodness. This child is wearing me out! ha!

Graham's next dr appt is Nov. 6th at 1:30pm. He will get two shots at that appt. :(

So...there's been quite a bit going on since I last posted an update. Dad and Cheryl DID get married in Vegas on Friday, September 26th. I'm proud that they didn't chicken out!

Graham's umbilical stump fell off on the 27th of September and he now has a real belly button! YAY!! It's so cute!! Can you believe I actually thought about keeping it?!?! That's so gross!!! Yeah, I thought about it for a nanosecond and then said OH HECK NO!

Graham is so alert now and is so curious about everything and everyone around him. He has the biggest prettiest blue eyes. I just love looking at them! With Chad and I having pretty slanted eyes, we thought FOR SURE Graham would have "Asian" eyes but Nope. Guess that's the white folk in him! ;)

On Sunday, September 28th Chad and I needed to go to the grocery store so bad so we decided to have our first family outing to Walmart! Graham did so well!! He rode in Daddy's front carrier the entire time and just loved it!!

This past Friday, October 3rd, Graham and I went to Texarkana to see Mimi and Poppi for Mimi's birthday. She was so happy to see him! She misses him so much!! It was a nice and relaxing weekend at Mom's! I was so worried about how Graham would do with traveling in the car for 2 hours but he did great! Just slept the entire time. Whew. Thank GOODNESS!!

My Aunt Judy and Uncle Doug will be here Thursday from Alaska! I am soooo excited to see them! It's probably been 5 years or longer since I have seen my Aunt Judy (my dad's sister) so we have a lot of catching up to do!

That's all I have for now but I will leave you with some more pictures of Graham!

Oh, one more thing...I mailed out Graham's birth announcements Saturday so everyone should be getting them soon! If you didn't receive one and would like one, send me your mailing address and I'll send it out!