just a day in the life of this mom...

giving bathes...

laughing...

more laughing...

rolling with the punches...

smiling...

cleaning up drool and spit-up (and toys and crumbs and hands and clothes and....)

lots of playing...
being a mom is so much fun!

to my almost six-month old boy

dear baby graham, 

you light up our lives like no other.  my favorite thing about you is that just a quick glance in your direction makes your face BEAM!

you are SO loud... hilariously loud...pay attention to me loud...give me more of that yummy applesauce loud...i love to be tickled loud...i'm so happy to be alive loud...

you make us laugh out loud.

we are just now beginning to see some semblance of your schedule.  mommy has tried hard to force you to get with the program - to no avail.  it has been obvious from the beginning of your life (since eight weeks in utero...i mean the very beginning) that your plan has been to keep us guessing.  and you have not failed at accomplishing this goal.  we have a feeling that you are going to be our outgoing, outspoken, "think outside the box" child.  and, truth be told, your daddy & i think that makes you the absolute perfect addition to this family!  

you LOVE your big brother.  you are enamored with him.  and harrison loves you, too.  he likes to put you to sleep by putting your binky in your mouth, giving you your woobie (blanket) and saying, "night night baby gwaham".  he works magic with you...sometimes better than mommy.

your favorite things, at the moment, are toys that have faces.  you like to "talk" to your stuffed dog and lion.  you love to be free on the floor - rolling and scooting.  no sitting up for you yet. you love to eat fruits and veggies, although green veggies take a bit of coaxing.  when you eat you wail with delight in between every single bite.  you love to be outside.  you still love to be swaddled.  you love to be held...and tickled...and read to...and sung to...and played with...you love interaction.  

your daddy & i love you so much...with an unconditional love (and, trust me, you have already tested those conditions).  we think you are the sweetest, brightest, most light-hearted, and cutest boy.  we feel SO extremely blessed to call you "son"!!

happy burbay!

that's "happy birthday" in harrison-speak.  

i could listen to him say "happy burbay" over and over and over again.  because i have a feeling that he won't be saying it when we celebrate year number three.  

this year we celebrated with a monkey theme.  his invitations said "monkey see, monkey do...harrison is turning two.  so, swing on over and go bananas with us".  the original plan was to meet for a play-date at the park but the weather forced us inside.  everyone came over here to play, then we made "monkey" cupcakes and ate them.  messy, but fun!

after our friends left, meme & papa stayed to eat lunch, cupcakes, and to open presents.

harrison was SPOILED!  he got a sandbox with sand toys, a big wheel, a thomas the train set, a bosch tool/work bench, one of those big balls that you sit and bounce on, a ball pit, and some bubble toys.  the child is not hurting for things to do.

the pictures: 

i had to take this one of harrison's curls.  yes, some might call that a mullet.  i call it precious.  i live for the days when he takes a shower in the morning with daddy because then his hair stays cute all day.  if he takes a bath at night the bed-head is ridiculous.  hilarious, but ridiculous.  he actually got a haircut yesterday, so it will take quite some time to grow it back out to this stage (if ever).

our friend cadence and harrison had a great time running around outside after they decorated and ate their cupcakes.

too cute for words.

our beloved meme & papa...the best grandparents a boy could ask for.

a monkey cupcake.  i made this one.  cadence's cupcake turned out pretty great.  harrison's little monkey had a "smile" in between his two crooked eyes.  it all tasted the same, though!

graham wanted to play with harrison's new train set.  i'm sure one day the boys will have a fantastic time playing together!

happy burbay to you, happy burbay to you...  harrison didn't want to blow out his candles because they are "hot".  daddy and i had to help.

riding his new "motorcycle" off into the sunset.  did i mention that he is spoiled??!

truthfully, though, jer & i are the ones who are spoiled!  we have the most amazing two-year-old a mommy & daddy could hope for!

a pictorial of winter

even though we have been watching the flowers bloom and the birds build nests in our trees, it is still winter around here.  we woke up to a fresh blanket of snow this morning.  i think i've finally figured out that the phrase "april showers bring may flowers" doesn't really apply in denver.  unless, of course, you think of the "showers" as snow showers rather than rain showers.  

in any event, we've had a lot of fun this winter...

harrison woke up one morning and decided this is what he wanted to wear...

baby graham (4.5 months) in jeans and tennis shoes...

our sweet boy is getting sweeter each day.  he loves to smile, laugh, and talk to us...

we got to take the boys to the zoo.  harrison had a blast...

he loved all the animals, but the rhino, elephant, and mongoose were his favorites...

harrison got to go sledding with daddy and papa.  it goes without saying that he LOVED it!  in fact, as we were driving to school this morning (looking at all the snow), harrison said, "swed papa".  (translation: i want to sled with papa).

when daddy works from home harrison likes to play with his headphones...

graham is getting bigger, rolling more, scooting around, getting more hair, and crying less.  he gets to eat fruits and veggies now and LOVES it.  

harrison turned two on april 14th.  due to how close his birthday was to easter, we did not celebrate until this past weekend.  and, boy, did we have fun celebrating!  the birthday pics deserve their own post...

this morning

could a mom ask for anything more?

well, it sure has been a while...

so, i haven't been blogging...  

there are a few reasons...

1) i got a bit tired of writing about my children and, sort of, wanted to "reclaim" my blog for myself.  i decided i needed to write about what i was reflecting on, what i was learning, etc. and, then, i realized that self-analyzation doesn't always make for the best blog posts.  at one point i began a post entitled "i don't like me very much right now"; only to erase the entire thing. sometimes you just don't want all your baggage aired online.  so, i don't know what i'm going to do about all this, but i'll figure it out.

2) baby graham has been a really difficult baby.  i'm not gonna lie, life has been really trying for the past six weeks.  well, really, for the past four months.  i'm quite sure that the transition from one to two would have been hard...but graham's crying has made it almost unbearable.  i haven't wanted to write about it.  i don't want to document it.  when it's over (and i know it will be over one day), i want to forget it.  and, most of all, i want to acknowledge the sweet, happy moments rather than the crabby ones.  as my mother always used to tell me, "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".  that has been my mantra for a while now.  and i'm sincerely hoping and praying that i'll get to write LOTS of sweet, happy things soon!

3) we've been busy...and sick...and busy.  : )  life continues on.  every mom knows what that is like.  we've been to the doctor WAY too many times in the past six weeks.  i turned 32 and had a fabulous birthday, thanks to my sweet husband.  we are preparing to celebrate harrison's 2nd birthday, which seems impossible. we took the boys to the zoo over the weekend and it was awesome.  harrison's favorite animal seemed to be the mongoose.  : )  graham enjoyed riding in the stroller.  the weather has been beautiful and we have played outside nearly every day.  these are just a few of the little things that have been "up at the white house".  

so, until next time, america...

oh, happy days

graham is 12 weeks old.  supposedly, this is the age when colic is magically cured.  and i think it is safe to say that graham is much better.  we still have some fussy moments, but they are few and far between.  we are enjoying lots of smiles from our sweet boy these days.  and we are finally getting to do tummy time...and other activities that were previously too stimulating (or at least they seemed to be).  

the first time graham was on his tummy, he pushed him self back over.  and he has been rolling ever since.  strong boy!

oh, i forgot to tell ya'll...at his 8 week check up, he weighed in at 12.03 pounds.  dalene had the closest guess!  and, incidentally, harrison actually weighed 12.53 pounds at 8 weeks....BUT, he was 2.5 inches taller than graham.  so i guess that's why graham just seemed so much bigger.  

here's the little munchkin watching big brother play outside...

and posing for a photo so mama can always remember those precious striped pants...

and smiling...  he's a keeper!