Ten Weeks Already

Sometimes it feels like we just brought him home, and other times we can't seem to recall anything about life before Graham. Graham's been busy dragging us around the countryside the past few weeks - okay, maybe we've been carting him a tiny bit kicking and screaming in his carseat... We went to Michigan for Uncle Nate & Aunt Staci's wedding just before Christmas, and stayed to celebrate Christmas with the Mihalek's. We decided that gone are the days of making the whole 13 hour trip in one day, expecially now that our fifteen minute "grab-some-food-and-go" stops have become hour long "feed-Graham-feed-ourselves-change-Graham-entertain-Graham-so-he'll-sleep-tonight-once-we-get-there" stops. He's a much better traveller in the daylight, and somewhere between 6 and 8 hours strapped in the carseat is his absolutely max.

Graham got to meet lots of Mihalek & Hoisington relatives at the wedding & Christmas celebrations, "Aunt" Betsy who happens to live just down the street from Uncle Nate & Aunt Staci, as well as many of Anissa's good friends at First Baptist Howell. Graham even got suckered into his first role in one of Grandma's Christmas plays as none other than the baby Jesus.

This past week we celebrated the life of Graham's Great Gramma Ruby (Craig's Gramma) in Wisconsin, as she passed away on January 12. It was a good time of remembering and sharing stories of Gramma, and again passing Graham around to meet Shantz & Huffman relatives. Aunt Susie & Uncle Trevor were a little unsure about holding such a tiny person, but Graham won them over - especially Uncle Trevor when he quickly fell asleep in Trevor's arms ( to Trevor's alarm - "Anissa - he's not moving, should I be worried?"). The absolute best Graham moment, though was when he greeted Great Grampa Lee with a high five. Yeah, Graham's a genius, over achieving, wonder-child - didn't surprise us that he'd be giving high five's at nine weeks old :).

Graham visited Dr. Wooldridge (we're convinced Graham thinks Dr. W is his best friend; we've finally convinced Graham to hold off his visits to once every two weeks) for his two month, and four shots! He took the shots in stride - I suppose after you've been poked for an IV three times, shots are nothing. Dr. Wooldridge says Graham looks great. He is doing well on all the standards - except weight, he's playing catch up there on account of the fact that he lost a pound and a half the week before his surgery. But he has gained 2 pounds in about 6 weeks so we're optimistic that he'll catch up in the next month or so.

He's quite alert and active now, with several periods of playtime during the day. His eating and sleeping is a bit unpredictable, mostly because Mommy's home and able to answer his beck and call, I suppose. He's able to support his upper body pretty well with his arms tucked under his chest, and keep his head pretty steady for a couple minutes. He rolled over the other day - quite by accident, but he keeps trying to do it again. He travels around his crib - not sure how, just by pushing with his feet maybe - and often we find him sideways in the mornings. He loves his bouncy seat - one with songs and lights - laughing and smiling at the little critters that bounce along with him. His favorite songs seem to be "Bingo"(a la bouncy seat & Mommy clapping) and "Amazing Grace" (a la Daddy), and he's developed a taste for Johnny Cash. Craig's still working on his U2 repetoire. Graham & Daddy have quality time in the evenings; Craig bathes him, gets him ready for bed, reads him Bible Stories, prays with him, and rocks him a bit before putting him in his crib for night-night time. Mommy has two favorite times: seeing the purely contented look on his face after he's eaten himself to sleep with milk dribling out the side of his mouth; and changing time particularly in the morning when he coos & laughs, and gives big smiles (although he often does this at 3 AM which is not so much a favorite!). All in all, he's a pretty contented, happy baby!

Here are a few more pics - sorry, having trouble uploading to blogger; this will have to do for now...