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Graham - Month 6

In just another six months, we will be celebrating a first birthday! 

Graham is a great baby! He is a chunk! Weighing in around 20 lbs already and wearing 9 month clothes. He's still in a size three diaper. His wellness check is next week, so I will know all his stats then. 

He drinks six, six ounce bottles a day. We will either cut a bottle out or cut it down to five ounces now that he is eating more food. He's been eating one container of stage one baby food a night. This weekend, I started giving him one in the morning and one at night. He's tried pretty much all the veggies and fruits. He liked them all, except green beans. He ate them the first time, but started gagging on them tonight. He had a taste of fruit and sweet potatoes, so I'm sure he would rather have that! 

He loves daycare. I love getting pictures and videos of him too! 

I'm glad to know he is getting a lot of loving! 

He eats, stays up for about two hours, then goes back to sleep for an hour, sometimes two. He goes down between 6 and 7 at night. Brandon gets off at 10, and gives him a dream feed. He wakes up for the day around 5am. Just like his brother! They are both early birds, and they both have a great routine. 

He loves bath time and tummy time. He has started to crawl backwards! He also LOVES his jumper and his Sit Me Up seat. I think he is in both quite a bit at daycare. He can get where he wants to go by scooting around, but he isn't sitting up by himself just yet. 

Rolls for days!

He has also found his voice. He likes to squeal and babble. His favorite sound to make is "dada" which makes Brandon super happy. Since he is so loud, I started taking him to the nursery during church. 

They are my favorites! 

Going back to work as been much easier this time!! Part of it is being a specialist, and partly because it's my second child. I know he will be ok! Brandon has a weird work schedule, so we have to have a  routine. Brandon cleans up the house in the morning, so when I get home, I get to focus on dinner, baths, and bedtime. We make a pretty great team. 

And Griffin is awesome. He's so stinking smart and grown up these days. I'm loving four and a half. He gets very little screen time these days. His imagination is so big. He can spend over an hour playing in his room by himself. He opens the car door himself, buckles himself in, dresses himself, brushes his teeth, helps me around the house, buys his own donuts, wipes his own butt, sticks his straw in his juice box, and so much more! Most of this started six months ago when Graham showed up, but he continues to amaze me. I love him dearly. 

Graham - Month 5

Seriously. I blinked, and my baby is five months old. 😳

Graham is absolutely precious. He's had a lot of changes the past two weeks. He has been taking bottles all day for the last week, and I nursed him just in the morning and sometimes evening. Yesterday, we had our last nursing session. It makes me want to cry. I was ready to stop nursing at this point with Griffin. But this time around, I wish I could keep going. However, with work demands, I just can't juggle it all. He transitioned to formula like a champ. He is also spitting up less now, and I'm so thankful not to be tethered to him all the time. It's hard following a breastfeeding baby's schedule. So I guess it's not all bad. 

He's also started solids! We started practicing with rice cereal at four months. I gave him a bowl when I remembered which was only about twice a week. The week before he turned five months, he displayed all the cues for being ready for the real thing. He has only had carrots so far. He wasn't a fan of them the first time he tried them, but he gobbled them down the day after that! 

And the next big change in his life will be on Monday. He will have his first day at daycare. Sigh. I have been fighting back the tears all day. I wish I could take him to work with me. I hate that I won't be his caregiver all day every day. But I know he will be loved. It'll be ok.... I keep telling myself that. 

He can even hold his own bottle! 

He spent some time at school with me getting my classroom ready! 

I chopped off an inch of his mohawk! I did a really terrible job too! Haha!

Stories at bedtime

He's happy about 80% of the time. He gets fussy when he has a bubble, tired, or hungry. 

He weighs 19 lbs! A chunk!!

He's in a size three diaper and 6-9 month clothes. 

He loves his toes! He actually wants something in his mouth to chew or suck constantly. 

He sleeps the best with something over his head and face. People give me dirty looks when it looks like I smother him, but he loves it. 

And this makes my heart melt!! Griffin climbs in bed with us around four in the morning which is about the time I nursed Graham. They both just stayed in our bed after that. Griffin is up and ready to start the day between 5 and 6. Most days I would get him a bowl of cereal, turn on his  cartoons, and go back to bed. I'm loving his age! 

Graham is now sleeping about 12 hours in his own crib. He goes down about 6:30. I do a dream feed around 9:30, and he wakes up between 6 - 6:30. Of course he has some nights where he will wake up or goes down later or gets up earlier. Overall he is an excellent sleeper. 

In other news, Brandon graduated from Police Academy!! I threw him a surprise graduation party. We had so much fun! 

We also celebrated my dad's birthday! 

Nana's house is the best!

We had a fun morning with just Griffin at SDC. He is so much fun to hang out with! 

We are blessed!

Graham - Month 4

Sweet little Graham turned four months old the day after the Fourth of July. He loved his first fireworks show at Nana's and Papa's house. Aunt Tina held him during the show. She said he would sit up when they were low, and would lean back when they were high in the sky. 

Graham wants to sit up most of the time now. I can strap him in his bouncy seat, but he is working hard to sit up straight. So I bought him this cute little chair. I like it much better than the bumbo!

Graham had his four month check up today. He is ahead in his gross motor skills. Yay! He weighed 16 lbs 6 oz and was 26.75 inches long. He is tall! He didn't have a major growth spurt like he did at his two month appointment, but he's still ahead. 75th percentile in weight and 95th percentile in height. He is in a size three diaper still and 6-9 month clothes. 

He is grasping for objects. He chews and  sucks on any and everything. Today I have him his paci in his hand, and he brought it to his mouth. He's also already trying to hold his own bottle. They just don't stay little long! 

I introduced formula this month. He has worked up to about five bottles a week. I usually only give him formula if someone else is watching him or we are out and about. He drinks it like a champ! It has however made him start pooping in the middle of the night which makes him wake up and has given him some diaper rash. And his diapers are STINKY. The past three nights he has been up around 1:50 with a dirty diaper. After I change him, he won't go back to sleep until he nurses. I think it's starting a bad habit! 

Brandon can really get him to belly laugh by tickling his neck. It is the sweetest sound!! I haven't caught it on camera yet. 

Brotherly love 

He was smirking at me across the room. 

Graham also had his first bowl of rice cereal. He did a decent job of getting it down. Dr. Bartlett wanted to see how he would do with the spoon. I think by next month, he will be ready for some baby food. Blows my mind!!!

Drew and Audrey spent the night after the Fourth of July party. Drew loved on Graham so much. It was so sweet. 

Daddy and G shot off some fireworks while he was home too. Griffin loved it! 

So this isn't a photo of Graham.... This is Brandon when he was a baby! Holy cow!! They are twinkies!

My sweet momma came down and spent three days with us while I was in training. Two days I was in training from 8am to 6pm. She brought Graham to me every two hours. She is such a blessing!!! 

The weekend after Father's Day, Graham was dedicated at our church. Pastor Morris did a great job. Afterwards, we had lunch at our house. It was a great time to celebrate little Graham.