WILL YOU BE MY VALENTINE?

Graham and I spent the morning at story time at our local library. We then braved the store to find some small Valentine gifts for family. I've spent so many years thinking this holiday was so silly, but having a little person around makes it exciting to celebrate even the littlest of moments.

And, maybe it was just an excuse to get crafty and dig out my art supplies, or the motivation I needed to check a few things off my Pinterest inspiration list, but I created some Valentine's decorations this year as well. Most of our everyday decor is packed and in storage right now, and our living room is terribly bare. Just a few little items on the mantle seemed to help brighten things up.

Happy Valentine's day!

SEVEN MONTHS

The months seem to just be flying by and our wiggly, scooting little boy is seven month old!

Graham is the happiest baby we've ever laid eyes on. From dawn to dusk, he is full of big grins, giggles and gummy smiles. Everyone who meets him can't help but comment on his joyful disposition. He is so much fun!

Just this month, Graham has started sleeping better at night as well. In four weeks, he went from waking three to four times, to just once during the night! Wahoo! Both mama and daddy are thrilled with this development. We finally feel like functioning members of society again!

Graham's first tooth has made an appearance this last week as well. He's weathering the pain fairly well, but afternoons seem to be the most difficult. We're hoping he gets a break here soon before more teeth follow!

As if this weren't enough, we also have a mover on our hands. Seemingly overnight, Graham is now all over the house. He isn't quite crawling, but it's amazing how accurate rolling, army-crawling and scooting can be as a mode of transportation. We've been rudely awakened to how dangerous our house is from his perspective. We had to run to the store for outlet covers, rearrange living spaces to remove plants and cords, as well as keep our floors much cleaner. We've really been enjoying watching Graham explore and hone this new skill. Isn't it amazing how fast a little baby can move?!

Here are Graham's seven month pictures!

JUMPER

Graham has spent a lot of time in the last month and a half doing this:


At about the time that our arms were starting to give out, Santa brought a Johnny-Jump Up for Graham for Christmas. Here is a clip of him testing it out. He's a regular twinkle-toes!

SIX MONTHS

We have a six month old. How did this happen?!

Suddenly our newborn is this lively, jumping, smiling little man. We are having so much fun with him!

Currently, Graham is busy practicing his rolling over and sitting up (although he's still pretty wobbly). He LOVES to jump in our laps or in his Johnny Jump Up. He is talking up a storm. And he just starting eating solid foods!

We are experimenting with baby-led solids (for those of you into baby eating practices terminology) and we are just letting him explore his food. So far, Graham isn't sure what he thinks of avacados. On Wednesday he loved them. Yesterday he just sat in his highchair with a look of disgust on his face. We're hoping bananas prove a better experience!

MINNESOTA

We made it to Minnesota and have spent the last week helping Graham adjust to his new environment and battling sickness - what a welcome! Matt caught a cold first, it inevitably hit me a few days later, and unfortunately, Graham caught it the next day. Poor guy has been so stuffy! Luckily, he's keeping his spirit's high and is still our happy little man during the day.

MOVING

Blogging fail. I learned that going back to work after having a baby, for me, equals CHAOS. So, this blog suffered greatly. But now, I'm back.

With some news...

We are relocating to the midwest.

This week.

Yesterday was my last day of work and I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to stay home with Graham more. We're happy to be moving closer to our families and for Graham to be near his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We are SO sad to leave our wonderful friends, our church and this beautiful city, but know that God is leading us to start a new chapter in our lives.

So while we're in the thick of packing up our belongings and moving our family to a new home, here are a few recent pictures of our little man. Graham is almost 5 months old already and he's growing so fast. We are constantly laughing at his antics and enjoying this fun and curious stage his is in. He is such a happy little boy!

Graham is so active and wiggly these days. For his 4 month picture, we had to opt for the
tummy pose as all his sitting pictures were a blur of baby!

Mommy and Graham

At Texas Roadhouse celebrating Matt's birthday.

Graham likes to put anything and everything in his mouth.
Did you know that metal pails taste delicious?

Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Danny came to visit earlier this month. Grandma found Graham
discover his new favorite toy in our kitchen - a rice scooper, naturally.

Celebrating Thanksgiving just the three of us. Graham enjoying eating
his toys while Matt & I enjoyed a more traditional feast.

AMBITIOUS

Babies provide incredible entertainment. And our poor son has to put up with our ridiculous antics.

Matt has decided it's only best to start teaching Graham developmental skills as early as possible so everyday he takes our son on "walks." Here's a video of Graham showing off his skills.

(Please disregard the poor phone video quality!)

SIX WEEKS

Six weeks! Our little pumpkin is no long the itty bitty baby we brought home. It seems like he's changing daily now and I can't help but feeling like I'm already seeing his newborn days slipping through my fingers.

Going from this...

...to this...

...to this in 6 weeks just blows my mind!

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Matt went in to put Graham down for the night earlier this week. It had been awhile since I had heard anything so I walked back to our room to check on them and found this.

Apparently Matt enjoys a good swaddle too!

ONE MONTH

I'm a little late posting Graham's 1 month photo. Better late than never!

Graham is now hovering at 11 pounds and is more alert and awake than ever! He sleeps pretty well at night - about 3 hours - but is a terrible napper. While this makes it diffucult to getting anything done during the day, it makes for lots of time for sweet baby smiles and watching his endless hilarious expressions as you can see here!