Sweet Summer Time

Family Trip to SeaWorld

Sweet Bill Snuggles

I love that I work at such an amazing place where I can make and share so many great memories with my family. I am so thankful for the life Brandon and I have built in Florida and the amazing friends and family we have that love and support us on a daily basis! :) The picture below is probably my all time favorite to date. :) My love Baby, my little Baby and one of my Fur Babies!!

Graham is rather busy these days learning all sorts of new tricks. With the assistance of his 'learning walker' he snoozes all over this house! He started on his knees and has since learned to stand on his own aaaannnddd he's off! It's so precious to watch him scoot around and the pride in his face as he rushes past us.

Today we put him in his crib for a nap. Sometimes he doesn't make it all the way to a nap, but instad just sits in there and 'reads' and chats to himself. It's a nice chance for him to unwind and relax by himself since everyother moment of his little life he's surrounded by people and interacting with us. So today we heard him busy in there just chatting it up and we peeked in to check on him. Well, his cloth diaper was on the floor outside his crib and he was standing there naked as can be. Fortunately, he didn't have any accidents before we were able to fix this little wardrobe malfunction.

Besides being silly he is such a sweet boy. He loves to just crawl over and kiss us. If we are on the floor he'll just come over and plant on our cheek or if we are in a chair he'll come over and kisses our legs, it's so sweet. When he's on his way to bed he will kiss us, then blow kisses and then say 'bbbyyyyeeeeee' real soft and sweet.

Night night. :)

5 year Anniversary

Now that Graham can crawl he is very busy exploring the entire house. His favorite exploration sites are the kitchen, more specifically the pantry and the pots/pans draw under the oven. He also thoroughly enjoys our master bathroom and the 'treats' he finds under the cabinet.

He absolutely LOVES to watch baseball with his Daddy and the two of them will sit on the living room floor and play catch for hours. Graham has an incredible arm already and no doubt he will be a baseball player one day. Everything is a 'bbbaaallllll' including, but not limited to wrapped up dirty diapers (we keep the pitching of these to a minimum), balled up junk mail, and watermelons (yes, we have a watermelon rolling around our living room as we speak).

His favorite things to say right now are:

HI DUDE

Hi Kitty

Bird

Fish

Daddy

Looovveee ddewww (my favorite sound in the entire world!!)

Some of his favorite foods right now are goldfish crackers (LOVE when they are 10 for $10 at Publix!), blueberries which he will eat by the pint if we let him, turkey dogs, anything that resembles a carbohydrate, spaghetti ABC's, eggs, peanut butter sandiwches, oatmeal and yogurt. He is a wonderful eater and is a lot like his mommy and tends to get grouchy if we don't feed him the second he decides hes hungry.

Graham and Brandon are really enjoying spending their summer together. Brandon is such a great Daddy and takes such wonderful care of him so I can go into work a little more. I am still putting in some hours from home, but we are able to enjoy family time together often too and it's so wonderful.

In fact, last weekend we went to Treasure Island (West FL) for the weekend and had a big beach day/volunteer for Surfers for Autism event and trip to the Florida Aquarim. It was a wonderful little getaway for us and very much needed.

Today is a very special day. It is our 5 year Anniversary. I can't believe that it was 5 years ago that we got married! Such a special day to have all of our family together as we started our new life. Thank you to everyone reading this for being a part of this awesome journey with us! (Yes, Brandon is crazy...see photo below).

Precious Moments

One year olds with cell phones...

What has this world come to? How does a one year old know how to work a touch screen cell phone? It's amazing. It doesn't hurt that he LOVES to see pictures of himself.

Big shoes to fill...

Bubbles! YAY!

Like every other kid in the world...the box is WAY better than the toy that came in it!

Graham and his friend, Grace

I was telling my mom the other day that if anything would make that boy crawl, it would be his cat, Grace. This was on the day before he began to crawl.

Grace is so good with him, so patient. We'll see how long this lasts now that he's mobile!

AND HE'S OFF!!!!

Yesterday: Graham scotted 2-3 feet at a time.

Today: Graham crawled across the living room!!!!

We couldn't be more proud and I'm so glad I was able to capture it on video so you could experience it too! :) Enjoy!

Ky Derby, Bird Feeders and Summer Vaca

Graham and his buddy, Wrigley

Kentucky Derby Party

Well, I can't believe it but it's already almost summer again! Brandon is anxiously awaiting Tuesday, which is his last day of school. I'm beginning to think teachers get more excited about school ending than students. I'm happy because Graham won't have to go to daycare 2x week anymore. The last few weeks when I would drop him off he would just cry and cry. It broke my heart every time. He is in a 'mommy and daddy only' phase right now and as cute as it can be sometimes, it's difficult when he throws a fit if I try to go to the garage to take out the trash. :) We're working on it though. I always do silly stuff like sing him songs from across the house when he's whining for me to return or will play peek-a-boo (his favorite EVER) around furniture to remind him that although he thinks I'm gone forever...I'm really not.

We have some exciting summer plans coming up. Aunt Stephanie (Brandon's sis) is coming mid-June, Papaw and Grammy (Brandon's dad and step mother) are coming in July and my sister and her boys are coming in early August.

I'm trying to convince Brandon to sneak away one weekend so Graham's Godparents, Lindsey and Trevor can steal Graham for a few days. He'll undoubtedly come home spoiled (and water logged from swimming) beyond belief from those few days. :) We are looking into doing something here in FL because there are so many amazing opportunities here that we have not seen/done.

I took Graham to see his doc yesterday, for a combination of things. 1. The whole not crawling/walking thing. He really seems to favor his R leg when we do walking exercises. I almost have to tug him to pull his L leg forward and he sticks his butt way out like he's trying to bend in half. She wants for us to go see a neurologist to check his lower boy muscles. :( 2. He was tugging on his ear...again. 3. Still dealing with constipation issues. We've started soy milk but it hasn't really helped, neither has his prescription, or prunes, or oatmeal, or anything for that matter. For any parent who has ever had to deal with this...we are an elite group of Saints and Angels...we are amazing and wonderful and patient. We are to be commended! :) 4. He sounds like a little bulldog when he breathes. Whether it's snoring, snorting or huffing. Now I love bulldogs as much as the next guy, but I was a little concerned so it looks like we are off to see an ENT doc.

Thanks to all our friends and family for the kind Mother's Day wishes. It was another wonderful day spend with my boys. I wanted a bird feeder (such a 'mom' gift, I know) and thats just what I got. We or should I say, Brandon and Graham, hung it in the back yard so it can be clearly seen from Graham's window and the back door. The birds have been checking it out, but we've only had one visitor-a male cardinal. I think he's trying to keep it a secret so he can eat all the food, but I wish he would tell his friends so we'd have something to watch! :) Graham and I went out and sprinkled stale taco shells (bread hadn't gone bad yet) in a little trail towards the feeder to try and get the secret out. I'll keep you posted.