Quick video from this week. I can’t get the youtube editor to work they way it did the first night I used it so I can’t get the other Christmas video edited. I will go ahead and post it. It is long and may make you a bit motion sick…. 
At least he isn’t putting them in the trash anymore.
Christmas videos from Christmas morning at our house. Maybe one day I will be able to edit it properly!
I finally figured out a way to edit my videos so I am slowly working on them. The only way I can edit them is to do the edits in YouTube. I stumbled on it the other day and was so excited. It isn’t anything spectacular, but I am just looking to crop them down some and make them a little more interesting for everyone. I haven’t found a free program on my computer that can read the ten million video formats (I am pretty sure there are 10 million and none are compatible with each other) and doesn’t slow my computer down to a snail’s pace making the videos all choppy and impossible to edit. It takes a long time to upload them and then do the work and time isn’t something I have much of these days. If Graham could start entertaining himself some during the day or taking a long nap that would probably help, but I don’t see either happening anytime soon.
Here is a collection of videos my brother took on Christmas Day. It is long, but make sure to stick around for the mini break down in the middle involving the Hess truck. Graham was a bit whiny and tired by the time we got over there Christmas morning and there was a lot of action. Not a good combination. Hopefully more Christmas videos to come soon.
I know everyone is waiting for Christmas pictures so wanted to post a few tonight. I have videos too, but might be another week until I can get those on here. I still have old videos and pictures to post if I ever get around to doing it. I am trying to update and clean up all my pictures. There are a lot. Way too many and not organized or printed. I need to get better at tagging, printing and deleting the bad ones. Videos too.
Santa brought Graham an awesome cardboard house for Christmas! He loves it, even more than his expensive fancy toys. I am not sure what is so great about it, but he sure seems to like it so it looks like I will have a big box in my living room for awhile. Santa spent a lot of time and way too much money making this house, but it turned out really nice. He of course has already started destroying it.
Felt wall in the house
The other Santa gifts, not nearly as exciting. We had to drag him out of the house to open them.
Christmas with my parents.
Trying to ride the Hess truck.
Christmas in Charlotte with all his cousins. He was in heaven playing with them!
A black and white expression since I haven’t done these in a long time. I wasn’t able to edit it as much as I wanted because I upgraded to Elements 10. There are a few things I can’t figure out yet and none of my actions are in 10 yet.
A couple weeks ago we went to Pullen Park with our good friends. Since both our boys go to bed pretty early and we all hate being cold we decided to get there at 4 when it opened. They turn the park into a winter wonderland for the Holidays and since we were there while it was still light we didn’t get the full feel, but it was still fun. The boys rode on the carousel and neither seemed particularly thrilled with it, neither cried so that was good. I think the biggest hit was the swings, at least for the boys. For the adults I think it was the carousel! We also rode the train around the park, but it wasn’t dark yet so the lights weren’t as pretty as they could have been. It was still fun especially for me and Jason who used to visit Pullen Park as children. They renovated the park so it doesn’t even look like the same place to me, but there are some things that are the same and bring back memories. Maybe if I have some free time (ha) I can find some pictures of me at Pullen Park when I was little. By 6 we were ready to leave and go get some food, the selection at the park was weak at best. We had to wait a bit for the shuttle bus and while we were waiting I heard a lot of people complaining about there being so much waiting. I thought it was strange because we didn’t have to wait for anything all day. When we arrived at the parking lot there were about 5 cars and we were on the first bus. When we got back to the lot at 6 there were about 500 cars and a line that went on forever of people waiting to get to the park! Then those poor people were going to have to wait for all the rides (there are only 2) when they got there! Yikes. If we had arrived at 6 we would have promptly pulled back out of the parking lot and went home. Casey and I were parked in front of the buses so we got out quickly, but Allison and Jason witnessed the chaos that occurred when some very rude people tried to break out of line and rush the bus we just left! So much for the Christmas spirit. Here are a few pictures from that day including Graham’s first encounter with Santa. I have no intention of taking him to see Sanata at the mall until he is much older and actually asks to see him, but the Pullen Park Santa was free to visit and the line was short. He was pretty excited about it in line and seemed happy right up until the point we walked up to Santa and stood next to him. I knew there was no way he would sit with Santa, but I thought maybe he would at least check him out and give him a smile while I held him. Instead he held on to me for dear life and started to cry. The picture is one of my favorites though so it was worth it.
Click HERE to see all the photos from Pullen Park.
Here are two videos from the park this week. Graham is really gaining confidence on the playground!
My little baby is now 18 months. Well, over 18 months now since it has taken me so long to post. It is so hard to get things done in December! I do pretty much all the shopping so that keeps me busy. Plus we have lots of activities going on with playgroups and friends this time of year. I wish I had more pictures to post because I have so many to catch up on and videos, but I can’t seem to get them done! We have been taking videos with our phones since they are always on us and you have to be pretty quick these days to catch the cute stuff. The problem is I don’t have a good way to edit the videos so if I post them as is you will probably be really bored and annoyed by them. So I will work on figuring out a better way to edit and post them.
In Graham news he has become a pro at opening door knobs. Many people told me how hard it would be when he learned to walk, yeah, wasn’t really that bad. This is bad. Now I can’t contain him! Most of our rooms are pretty child proof so no matter where I am I can shut the door and do what I need to do while he plays, but can still keep an eye on him. I have various things stashed in each room to entertain him. Well, now he just opens the door and goes somewhere else! Usually down to the bonus room screaming “da da” and busting into Casey’s “office” while he working, usually on the phone. As of now he can’t open the bigger, heavier doors that lead out of the house and he can’t unlock those so at least he can’t escape on me. He can unlock the regular doors so I will have to find some of those little door knob child proof things. I have some, but no idea where I put them. I figure they will work for a bit until he figures them out too.
We had his 18 month appointment last Friday and he weighed in at 26 pounds and is 33.5 inches tall. So his height has gone up a good bit, up to about 75th percentile. Weight is just above average. Not bad for a kid that was only 13 pounds last year at 6 months old and not even on the charts. The doctor said everything looked great and he was a little ahead with fine motor skills. He loves to talk and is very verbal. Lately he is really into colors. Yellow, blue and purple being the ones he can say the best so everything is one of those colors, mostly yellow.
So funny story about me…. a week or two ago I couldn’t find my brown shoes. I looked everywhere multiple times for them and finally gave up. Then the next day I had to run up into the attic to grab something (see, I can’t even remember what I was going up there for!) and there were my shoes. Nicely placed in the attic with a stack of clothes. Really? I managed to put my shoes in the attic and had no idea! Hopefully that made you smile and if you are a mom I am sure you can relate. I have had to dig through the trash (outside, not just the one in the house) at least 4 times in the last few months in search of items I accidentally threw away. Although, one was technically Casey’s fault.
I took this video one day after a busy morning out. I was cleaning up the dishes from lunch and I looked over to see Graham falling asleep in his chair. This is probably something most children do, but not Graham. He has never fallen asleep like this! He has also started falling asleep in the car on the way home from our morning activities and then he doesn’t want to nap. I never used to have to worry about that because he would never in a million years sleep in the car! Guess he is getting used to sleeping other places.
Having fun at Lowe’s.
Playing around at the dinner table. He loves to pull things off the table.
Enjoying some healthy dinner. He was eating all my fries! He was desperate to try my Sprite so I let him have a little sip. He promptly made a face and spit it out.
This is how I found my child dressed when Casey was in charge. The sad part is that he had taken him for a walk around the block dressed like this and stopped to talk to a few neighbors. It’s hard to tell in this picture, but the greens do not match. I really need to keep my good camera near me because the one on my phone is horrible.
Climbing on the couch. You can see he already lost one shoe on the table during one of his climbs. The other day I was cleaning up toys in the living room and all the sudden the light came on in the room. I turned around to find Graham standing on his highchair playing with the switches!
Okay, last one for tonight. It takes so long to upload these to you tube. Here he is helping to clean up. Those are his play leaves so we had to take them out of the trash after he cleaned them up for us.
I am trying very hard to catch up on pictures and videos this week, but Graham is going to bed a bit later these days which doesn’t give me as much time at night. The last few weeks Graham has really turned into a big boy and isn’t my baby anymore. He likes to drink from a cup like a big boy and he does a really good job. He loves to sit in the big chairs and was in the big swing at the park over the weekend. He is looking so much like a big boy too and is really into repeating things we say or do. Or at least making his best effort. He loves to play in the car and sit in our laps as we drive the car into the driveway or just sit in the car and honk the horn, play with the buttons and turn the wheel. He currently likes the color yellow since it is the one he can say, kinda. There has been so much going on lately and I wish I could remember everything, but right now my brain is fried. I wanted to at least post a few pictures. I will post more this week and hopefully some videos too.
Eating an apple like a big boy while lounging and watching TV.
Thanksgiving on Saturday, wish I had a picture of everyone at the table. Think dad has one though. To see all the Thanksgiving photos click HERE.
Setting the table
Playing with Christine
Boys watching football ALL day!
Me and Graham. He is downing some cranberries…. or should I say sugar and HFCS with a touch of cranberries.
Graham eating AGAIN…. Lola keeping a close eye on the cracker.
Playing in the pond. He tried many many times to walk into the pond. He is obsessed with water.
Playground with Uncle Zach. To see all of them click HERE.
Today we went out to Yates Mill Park in an attempt to get some pictures of Graham. I wasn’t really impressed with the area, well at least not for Graham. It was so busy and there were professional photographers all over the place. There is pretty much one main area to take photos so you had to wait around for your turn. This doesn’t really work well for a 17 month old. It is great for the families with older kids that you can pose and give instructions, but toddlers don’t really do what you want and if you try to force them you get a tantrum…. We tried a couple quick photos, but Graham was in a pretty grumpy mood. We tried to go over to the rocks and water fall area, but as soon as Graham sees any type of water he wants to get in it. Walk in it, stand in it, play with it, sit in it, you get the picture. You can’t get him to do anything else and he screams when you take him away. He is obsessed with water! So needless to say the photo shoot didn’t go well and I have pretty much no pictures. Plus I lost my sunglasses. We went to another park in the afternoon and I got a couple photos. I am debating about using them for my Christmas cards. If I do I will have to keep them under wraps for awhile, but if I change my mind I will post some soon.
Saturday Casey’s parents, aunt and uncle and cousin and his wife came over for a short visit. It was nice to see them and they brought us some very yummy cookies which Graham loves! He gets the chocolate all over his face. It was a short visit, but Graham had a good time. I think the highlight for him was driving Pa Pa’s truck (and the cookies).
Checking the mirror:
Since I don’t have any new pictures for you I am going to post a few that dad took last weekend while they were babysitting all weekend.
I thought I would do something a bit different this week and give you updates on everyone in our house!
Graham
Graham has molars! Being the observant mom that I am I discovered this after they were pretty far in and only by accident. I was tickling him one day and he leaned back and was laughing. I saw some white way back in his mouth so I had him laugh again and then just stuck my finger back there to feel and sure enough there were two molars on top. So perhaps that explains the not wanting to sleep and need to be held non-stop a few weeks ago. Considering at the time he had 4 total teeth in his mouth and 2 that were just barely coming in I didn’t expect molars to show up already. It looks like he grew teeth numbers 3-6 on top all at once (including two molars which I hear are the worst, so I say he did pretty good with them). He still only has 2 bottom teeth, but his gums are a bit puffy and he is chewing his fingers a lot so I think more are coming. I didn’t realize molars would show up so soon. He loves walking and is going pretty quickly now. I still love watching him walk. He is really into words and trying to repeat the words he hears. Here are a few of his favorites. None are said “correctly” which really bothers Casey, but we can tell what he is trying to say. Cracker, cookie, truck, JD, bib, button, mama, dada, banana, blueberry, grape, night night, bunny, light, gate and diaper. We also drill him often on his body parts and he knows most of them. He actually knows a lot of words and points to things when we ask, but can’t say most of the words yet. We of course think he is really smart.
Lindsay
Several weeks ago while sitting on the couch editing pictures I managed to pull/strain a muscle in my back. It hurt pretty bad for awhile, but I figured it just needed time to heal. Then one day I woke up and no pain, but the area felt almost numb. I guess my muscle finally decided enough was enough and turned itself off. I didn’t realize it at first, but my right arm doesn’t function at full capacity anymore. I can’t lift it higher than shoulder level in any direction and my shoulder blade “wings”. Awesome. I work out all the time, eat right and still manage to pull a muscle while sitting on the couch. Am I 90 or something? So now I get to go to physical therapy so I can teach my muscle how to work again. At least I am not in pain, but not looking forward to the process of bringing this muscle back to life. And speaking of muscles, I have joined Stroller Strides and I love it. It has been a great way to get exercise and meet some new moms. Some of which are clearly a million times richer than me, but that’s okay. They are all really nice and maybe one day they will invite me to their awesome beach houses. Graham enjoys the class and running around with the other kids after class. Oh, wait this is supposed to be an update about me! Yesterday I realized the following:
1. I am not a morning person and no matter how many times I tell myself I will do it, I will never get up early to exercise.
2. I have no ability to dress myself and need a personal shopper
3. I need more money
4. I look horrible in skinny jeans, they are clearly not meant for short ladies with hips that have birthed a child (or the thighs that go with those hips), also they make me feel like I am in 7th grade again
5. Old Navy sucks
6. I love Starbucks
So as you can tell I made an attempt to go shopping last night which never ends well for me as I hate shopping and would actually rather be cleaning my house. I am not one to buy trendy clothes. Since I never shop I need clothes that are pretty classic and will last me many years. Tonight I tried to find at least one trendy outfit in my price range and maybe find some shoes to go with it. I have decided I should just give it up and accept that I am now a mom and it is okay that my style is about 10 years old, my jeans aren’t cool, I wear tennis shoes or flip flops at all times, my hair is always a mess and/or dirty and all the exercising in the world will not make this extra belly fat go away. Okay, really I can’t blame any of these thing on being a mom because this was all true before I had Graham.
Casey
Casey works. Done. Ha! He is a man of few words…. written, not spoken.
JD
JD continues to puke on a regular basis (irritable bowl) and get fur/litter all over my house, but I love him. He is harassed most days by the little one and tolerates a good amount of hitting and pulling. Most days he sneaks off and sleeps, but some days he is dumb enough to hang out with us.
Tuscan and Moose
They continue to be annoyed by the presences of the new creature that makes a lot noise and grabs at them. I don’t let the creature around them much since he can be a bit rough and doesn’t fully understand his strength or that they are tiny and fragile. Most nights they still enjoy running around the bonus room with us, but have started leaving us a lot more presents to clean up at night. This is their way of protesting against said creature.
I had a request for a walking video so here it is! I will try to get more this week. It is fun watching him walk as he is learning. I just started putting shoes on him this weekend since it got cold so watching him try to walk with shoes is hilarious and loud! He is really proud of himself and walks a lot now. He is starting to go a bit faster and is falling a little more, but no serious injuries. I think he is more mad about falling than he is hurt. He is already such a perfectionist.
Here are a couple pictures I took the other day when he was eating. He had oatmeal all over his face and hair.
Graham, mom and I spent last weekend in Pennsylvania. The trip up was pretty crappy and it rained A LOT! We got stuck in a lot of traffic in DC as usual, made worse by all the rain. Graham did good though and hung in there pretty well even though he was clearly ready to get out. He enjoyed saying “tuck” (truck) over and over. It was funny because he would put his hands on the car seat snap and then do the all done sign. He did this many times and got very annoyed that we weren’t letting him out of the car seat. Here is a picture of him riding around with Uncle Ned. Make sure you check out the grip he has on his shirt!
As usual Graham had a hard time napping and sleeping while we were away. In his defense it is pretty loud there and there was a lot of construction going on while we were visiting. By Sunday he was pretty tired. We took him to a graveyard that I needed to visit quickly (family tree research) and he didn’t want to walk around. He kept sitting on all the grave markers! On the way back to the house he fell asleep in the car!! I know to most of you this isn’t a big deal, but my child NEVER and I mean never falls asleep in the car. Even on long trips he sleeps about 30-45 minutes tops. He never falls asleep while running errands. Not even as a baby when he was supposed to “sleep all the time”. So I had to grab a couple pictures since this never ever happens. I put him down when we got back to the house, but he refused to sleep so I tried an hour later and he slept for 2.5 hours. Guess he was pretty worn out from all that not sleeping.
He looks just like Casey to me in the last one.
It is fun to see him learning so many new things and trying to say words. You can tell he is trying to say the words we say even though he can’t make all the sounds yet. He says several words now, but like I said in previous posts I am most likely the only one that understands them. He also love to imitate sounds and try to make animal sounds. He is walking more the last few days, but still wants to crawl a lot. He will often come over and take my hand so I can walk with him. I will try to have more photos next week!
