Dear Graham, Week 21

Dear Graham,

The big news of the last week is that you have finally rolled over! Once. On mommy and daddy’s soft bed. But still, it was a roll. And you did it! We’ll see if you attempt a repeat performance any time soon or if you’re content with having checked that off the list for now.

Also during the past week, you have developed a new sound. Normally I’m excited about your new noises and coos, but with this new shrill you’re trying to see if you can actually break glass just by using your vocal chords. Let me tell you, buddy, you can’t. So, if you’d kindly stop trying, your mommy and daddy’s ears would greatly appreciate it. Because we’d actually like to have use of our ears so we can hear you for the rest of your life. And our lives too for that matter.

We had to make a transition last week from bathing you in your infant tub in the sink to bathing you in your infant tub in the bathtub. You continue to love your baths but you love to kick so much that you were turning our kitchen into a splash zone. So now you can kick until your heart’s content and the water stays in the bathtub.

Our refrigerator door's art collection is growing, thanks to your projects from school. Several of them feature your pictures as you are making the art and if your facial expressions are any indication of how much you're enjoying the projects, you're not going to be the next Picasso. But we love each of the pieces and admire them daily.

At the risk of upsetting the sleeping gods, I’m going to tell you a bit about your sleeping patterns (while crossing my fingers that I’m not jinxing anything). You continue to go to bed so early, often by 6:30 and mommy’s stretching you for you to stay up that late. This is due, in part, to the fact that you don’t like taking naps for fear that you might miss something that’s going on during the day. You sleep from 6:30 to midnight or 1:00, when you wake up to eat. Then you go back to sleep. Lately you’ve been waking up in the 5:00 hour, which mommy and daddy are trying desperately to get you to change. You always wake up such as happy baby, smiling from ear to ear when we come in to get you.

Speaking of those smiles, your belly laughs are more and more frequent these days and there isn’t a better feeling than making you laugh. We can get you to laugh now with just noises or silly looks and it’s so much fun.

I told your daddy this week that I find myself smiling all of the time in your presence…you bring such joy to our lives.

Love,

Mommy

Dear Graham, Week 20

Dear Graham,

I can’t believe we’re already 20 weeks old. Who knew that 140 days could pass by so quickly…

The big news for this week is that you’re growing hair! Your cute bald spots are rapidly disappearing as new light brown hair is beginning to cover your sweet head. Your eyes have remained a grey color, although some days it seems like we can see a bit of brown in them. Your eyelashes and eyebrows have grown in and have darkened…your features are definitely beginning to take shape!

You continue to be so vocal these days. You and your daddy have developed a new game where your daddy will make a sound rolling his g’s and you imitate the sound back to him. It’s so precious and something I never tire of watching.

You are also so alert in taking in your surroundings. We went to a Christmas party at our neighbor’s house last weekend. The plan was for you to be asleep in your stroller when we went, but you, of course, never do anything by plan. Instead you were awake and alert throughout the first half of the party, looking around at all the people and the noise. You charm everyone you meet by flashing a sweet smile and showing off your dimples.

Speaking of those dimples, you’ve learned to use them to captivate your teachers at school too. Every morning when we drop you off you smile at Miss Leslie. Throughout the day your teachers tell us that you’re happy and content. When your daddy picked you up from school on Friday, you were laying on the ground with all of the other babies around you in a circle. I’m a little worried that you might be already be a flirt and what this might mean for us as you grow up.

Rice cereal is going over much better these days and you’re up to one tablespoon twice a day. You still get it all over your face and, because your hands are constantly in your mouth, your hands end up covered in cereal as well.

Because you’ve been changing so rapidly each day, lately I’ve been especially cognizant of the fact that I only get this one opportunity to spend each day with you. You’ll never be 20 weeks and 1 day again or 20 weeks and 2 days again, which means I’ll never get a second chance to spend that time with you. With this in mind, I’ve been trying very hard to live in each moment. To take in your smells, your smiles, your touch. To just hold you and squeeze you tight. It’s such an important life lesson that you’ve taught me without even realizing it.

Love,

Mommy

PS…still no progress in the rolling over front. In fact, I think you’re content to just be on your back forever.

Dear Graham, Weeks 17, 18 and 19

Dear Graham,
Again, we have combined letters this week as we were out of town celebrating your first Thanksgiving during the first week and during the second week your mommy was just plain exhausted. Apparently you can easily survive on fragmented sleep, but for the rest of us, it's taking its toll. However, you're changing so rapidly these days that three weeks is really too long period of time in documenting your new milestones that are occurring daily. Your daddy and I often say to each other "Who is this big baby?" as every time we turn around you're growing and doing something new that charms the both of us.

So, with that, I apologize in advance for the extreme length of this letter....

Week 17
This year for Thanksgiving we went to Panama City, the family reunion in Alabama and Tallahassee in what daddy called the "Turkey Tour 2010." I have to admit I was a bit concerned that your mom and dad were crazy for planning such a full trip with a 17 week old, but you were such a travel pro. You entertained everyone you met with your big smiles, coos and expressions. At daddy's family reunion you met 70-plus distant relatives, and they couldn't get enough of you.
On your first Thanksgiving, you loved watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, slept through dinner and enjoyed morning walks with mommy and daddy.





The last leg of our Turkey Tour 2010 was a stop in Tallahassee for the Florida State/Florida game. While you don't understand this yet, it's the biggest game of the year and one that your mommy and daddy were so excited about attending. We began your Florida State brainwashing early in life as we took you tailgating with us in the morning before the game and you loved being outside. It was a chilly morning and you were bundled up in your Seminole gear. I wore you in the Baby Bjorn for quite a while and I think you were mesmerized by the all of the colors and images. (That or you were trying to figure out the rules to the flip cup and beer pong games that were being played around you.)





Mommy's friend Amy and her family watched you during the game, and they came and picked you up from tailgating. This was your first babysitting experience outside of school and you were such a good baby for them. Or at least that's what they told us. :)

You again were amazing on the flight home from Florida on Sunday, which is a behavior I hope continues on future flights.

You still haven't rolled over yet, but we keep thinking you will every day. You'll get up on your side, flip your legs over your body, and just lay there on one side. You don't know quite what to do with that arm that's underneath you, so eventually you just plop back over. If I were a betting mom, I would have lost some dollars as every day I've thought today was going to be "The Day" where you were going to actually do it and roll over. The funny thing is as excited as I am for you to roll over, I know it is the first in a long string of mobility milestones and the end of you staying where we put you.

Week 18


We marked week 18 with your 4 month doctor's appointment. It seemed like just yesterday we were there for your 2 month appointment, and it made me again realize how far you've come. At the two month appointment you were fussy and we did a lot of bouncing you as we waited for the pediatrician to make her visit. This time while we waited, you simply looked around, taking in your surroundings and learning from it all.



You continue to be our long, skinny boy, although you wouldn't know it with the cute rolls on your thighs. You weighed in at 14 lbs, 3 oz (34 percentile) and 25 1/2 inches long (71 percentile). The doctor was pleased with your growth and the fact that you're reaching your developmental milestones. He wasn't nearly as concerned as mommy is that you're not rolling over yet. You again did amazingly well with your shots. You didn't even cry after the first one, you just looked around with an expression that said, "What in the world was that???" You did cry after the second one, but you calmed so quickly afterward.

During our appointment I may or may not have told the doctor that your sleep patterns were "a hot mess," a phrase in which your dad may or may not have teased me about. There's no better way to really describe it though; we'll have one great night followed by three not so great nights. The one good thing that we've done is gotten your feedings down to one a night, but that doesn't mean your wakings are also once a night.

While at our appointment the doctor gave us the green light to begin putting you on rice cereal. We made a first attempt over the weekend, and you were not. a. fan. At all. We've continued to try each night, and you still aren't really liking it.



Also during the week we bought your first Christmas tree. Let me tell you a little bit about our annual Christmas tree buying experience: your dad is the world's most picky tree buyer...ever. We went to three stores this year, which, believe it or not, is less than our typical average, but we spent more than an hour at our final location selecting the perfect tree. Did you know that after an hour of looking at Christmas trees they all begin to look exactly the same? That's the case for everyone but your daddy, who can somehow still distinguish between a little gap here or a not so perfect angle there. You were a trooper during this process and even slept through part of it. After looking at 1,241 trees, we selected the "perfect" one and brought it home. You love looking at the tree's lights and we love beginning the traditions for what will be the first of many Christmases with you.



Even though selecting and decorating your first Christmas tree was a highlight, there was a bigger memory for us that day: your first belly laugh. While you've been squealing and letting out an occasional giggle for awhile, this is the first time that you truly let out a long belly laugh, which we couldn't get enough of. We've spent much of our free time since trying to replicate that sweet sound, and you reward us about every other day with a hearty laugh.

Week 19
You can't keep your fingers out of your mouth. This, combined with the inordinate amount of drool that's commonplace on your chin, has led me to wonder if you're teething early, but nothing can be felt on your gums yet. Because of this, we got out a present that my friend Melody sent to you when I was pregnant: Sophie the giraffe teether. You love Sophie and the fact that she squeaks when you squeeze her...you're always figuring out a new way to chew on her limbs.

You have also been learning how to hold your bottle at school, and you are doing a great job holding the little bottle, while the larger size is a bit of a challenge. You are grasping everything these days, from your toys to mommy's hair. You continue to be interested in new toys, including the exersaucer at school, and you love being read to...mommy normally reads you three or four books every night after school.



Even though you don't understand Christmas yet, this holiday season has taken on such a new meaning with you in our lives. Your daddy and I are constantly awed by the blessings you bestow upon us each day, even if it is with little sleep. Your smiles...your sweet noises...the curious way in which you explore everything around you, has led us to also look at life in a whole new way. We, quite simply, are smitten with you.

Love,
Mommy