Fun with water in the backyard

The days have been getting warmer and so we've decided to have some fun with water in our backyard. As Daddy sets up the pool, Graham familiarizes himself with the new elephant sprinkler:
Looks like someone is getting all wet!
And Daddy has come to join in on the fun (as Mommy takes over pumping up the pool):
I'm so glad that Graham is not afraid of water:
Once the pool was set up, Graham was a little hesitant getting into it:
He did climb into the pool a few times, but almost immediately climbed out.

The sun was starting to disappear and the water was starting to get cold. So, that meant bath-time for Graham!
There will definitely be more "pool time" in the backyard with Graham this summer!

Parchment paper vs. Wax paper

Who would have thought that there was a difference! Well, I for one didn't. I was actually using wax paper instead of parchment paper in the oven! Bobby's mom figured it out while she was in the kitchen with me the other day while I was baking. She was wondering why the oven was smoking so much and then she smelled the wax. I'm so glad the smoke situation has been resolved! I don't have to open up all the doors now when I bake with "parchment" paper :-)

Grandma & Pop-pop's visit

Grandma and Pop-pop drove into Tulsa the Friday before last - in time for Graham's birthday on the 22nd of May. It took a couple of days for Graham to get over his "stranger anxiety", but once that was over with, he had a really good time with Grandma and Pop-pop!We all headed out to the Drillers baseball game on Saturday night. We didn't watch the entire game as Graham was getting sleepy and tired by about the 4th inning (the game started at 7:30pm). He did however take a little break during the innings to drink his milk!
On Monday, since Daddy was away for business, Grandma accompanied us to Graham's 1-year doctor's appointment. The wait was rather long...
Thankfully, Grandma kept Graham busy!
All went well during the check-up. Graham is now 29" tall and weighs 19 1/2 lbs. He had 3 more vaccinations - 2 on the left thigh and 1 on the right. He was NOT a happy camper!

Monday was also Pop-pop's 70th birthday!
For dinner, I made some chicken with homemade spaghetti and also a chocolate-walnut-bourbon pie for dessert. I also made some bourbon whip cream to go with it. YUMMY!

We put one of the pics of Graham and Pop-pop during the ball game into a frame. Bobby and I are still arguing about who took the picture, but I have to give Bobby credit for suggesting the idea. (I still believe that I actually took the pic :-)
Grandma and Pop-pop started on their drive back to NJ yesterday morning. I think Graham already misses them! And oh, I forgot to mention - hopefully they will be coming back to Tulsa! We had a terrible storm during their visit. We were fortunate not to be hit by any tornadoes that Tuesday night. All of us (Bobby excluded as he was away for business) were glued to the TV and we watched two storms roll by - one to our north and the other to the south. The latter was really close and definitely made everyone nervous! I had packed a bag for Graham and we were ready to go to the neighbors for shelter if needed! Phew!

Happy 1st Birthday to Graham!

Can't believe our little boy is now 1 year old! I can still remember clearly how I was waddling around with my big belly. And then in the early morning of the 22nd, my water broke and after that, Bobby and I were just sitting around the kitchen table trying to figure out what to do next!

Well, here he is... our birthday boy!
Graham got a nice card from Grandma and Pop-pop (who drove in from NJ). Graham also got $1 for turning 1 year old!
And now, here comes the birthday cake - rice krispies with vanilla icing and cheerios on top for his name:
Graham didn't hesitate to dig into his cake!
He sure had a good time! YUM!
Grandma and Pop-pop also brought lots of presents from NJ - A fancy rocking horse that belongs to Graham's cousin Madison in NJ, a wheel barrel as well as a dump truck to help Mommy in the yard with, of course.
And finally after a good bath, we had to measure Graham on the height chart in his bedroom. I have yet to still finish painting it!
It was a WONDERFUL first birthday!!!

Master bathroom remodeling done! Well, almost...

We were so excited when last Friday was coming to an end, but unfortunately the contractors were still not quite done! And Bobby's mom and her husband arrived on Friday at 5:30pm! The contractor came back on Saturday to finish up and the plumber came back as well to put in the new shower faucet and re-install the toilet. It was a nice feeling knowing that we were going to have our bathroom back but unfortunately, to our dismay, we were not very satisfied with some of the workmanship at the very end of the project. So, hopefully once we sort out some of the cleaning details, we will have our bathroom again!

Here are some final pics of the bathroom:
I think the new floor looks great. Thankfully the "earth" color of the grout was not too dark.
The step is gone! Yay! But there still needs some cleaning up and caulking to around the tub skirt.
Love the glass tiles and the little niche!
There's quite a bit of "haze" on the floor tile. Definitely requires some clean up!
Hopefully it won't take too long to have the door installed. Well, once this project is complete, it will probably be a while before we start on a new one!

Bathroom remodeling - End of Day 4

Almost there! A lot of progress was made today. The floor tiles are completely laid out now:And all the white subway tiles in the shower area were put in today as well. I think the pattern looks pretty good - staggered/horizontal both top and bottom 2 rows and then a band of glass tiles, and then, straight/vertical in between. The contractors have yet to lay those glass tiles but I think it's looking quite nice already!
I have to apologize for the slanted picture. I couldn't get into the tub to take a wider image because the toilet is still in the bathtub. And it's a bit more challenging with a baby in the other hand :-)
Grout all day tomorrow and the tile contractors are done! The plumber is coming back to install the shower fixtures and a glass contractor is coming by to measure the door. I hope the estimate isn't too much!

Graham's first word???

Alright, so Bobby was saying that "Da da" is Graham's first word, but I have to disagree. Until Graham actually looks at Bobby, points at him, and says "Da da" - then THAT would be a CONFIRMED first word. (Ok... so I am a little jealous because Graham has yet to said "Ma ma"!)

With that said... would this be his first word then? Watch the video!


By the way, another first for Graham... his first molar! I spotted it yesterday when we were playing upside-down.
I believe it would be #4 - First Molar on the Upper Right side of the teeth chart. No wonder he hasn't been sleeping well lately!

Bathroom remodeling - End of Day 3

Halfway point! There is still some floor tile to lay down but the shower floor is almost complete and the backsplash for the shower niche is done!
I was going to go with the pebbles for the floor, but I didn't like the color that was available at the store. So we went with some slate. I hope it feels just as good on the feet!
And some cool blue-ish grey glass tile for the backsplash. We're going to have a couple bands of it along the shower walls as well:
Slowly but surely, it's all coming together! We're so excited!

Day 2/Day 3 of bathroom makeover

Yesterday, a rep from the Wedi company showed up to install the shower area. These Wedi boards are basically waterproof boards that you install around the shower area (sort of like backer boards but a lot lighter!) and they also installed a pan on the shower floor. This stuff better work well! Although I suppose it's all about installing it correctly.
Anyhow, I couldn't get a good picture of it yesterday because the contractor started tiling before I could take some pictures:
The contractor put some more boards up today. Almost there! He said that he should be able to start tiling the shower area today too!
And this was where the floor tiling job ended yesterday:
And here's a pic as of today at 11am:
I have to say, it's looking pretty good! And I did want the tiles laid diagonally - that is suppose to make the room look bigger. Hopefully that's true! And oh, come to find out yesterday, we had bought 2 different sets of tiles (because we made two separate shopping trips) - Najavo Beige vs. Najavo Sand. Good thing the store still had plenty of the Beige!
And guess who I spotted when I was moving the pile of mortar in the garage. Mr turtle!
Or... is it a tortoise? We see him (or her?) every year, making it's way from the creek to who knows where!

How do YOU brush your teeth?

Graham has been "brushing" his teeth these past 2 days when I've greeted him in this room in the morning. It's just too cute! It made me laugh out loud first thing this morning even when I'm so tired.

And here's another video of Graham going down the stairs. He does this "moon-walk" or I guess "moon-crawl" just as he starts. And he would almost always go too far and end up in our bedroom!


He doesn't normally take 3 minutes to come down the stairs. Some days he just slides down on his belly and he's down in less than 30 seconds!

Bathroom remodeling begins!

We finally found a contractor that could commit to our deadline! The work began yesterday and I think some really good progress has already been made!
The plumber came by first thing in the morning and changed out the valve. And the drywall was taken out in the shower as well:Mommy finished pulling up the laminate floor (Graham helped, of course):
The contractor showed up and pulled the toilet off its base and we found more wallpaper when he pulled off the cultured marble by the tub:
Here's what it looked like at the end of Day 1:
The shower base is to be installed today and hopefully tiling will begin soon after! And somehow, Graham is sleeping through all the noise (thankfully!) :-)

Finally! Daycare for Graham!

We finally found a daycare that both Bobby and I were comfortable with. We were originally going to have him at a scheduled daycare center (MW 8:30am to 3:30pm) but the place went private and they could no longer accept any kids under the age of 3. So, we found this other place and I think it actually works a lot better for me because it's more like a drop-off center. I can drop Graham off anytime I want and pick him up whenever. They are open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. CRAZY! Anyhow, the flexibility is really nice.
Graham's first day was this past Monday. Bobby wanted to see the place and once he gave the thumbs up, we figured why not just leave Graham there for an hour while we had our lunch. Graham just sat at the entrance of the room for a bit... then slowly crawled over to the toys. He gave Mommy and Daddy a couple of looks and went straight back to the toys! I guess he'll do just fine at the new place :-)

By the way, Graham has upgraded to the 2nd stage sippy cup.
He can no longer squeeze the nipple and get himself all wet!
Graham has also learned to open up the storage/toy bin:
And, he loves to smack his lips while he eats!
I recently started him on some yogurt and we are slowly mixing in "real" milk with his formula. He needs to get bigger so the kids at daycare can't bully him! Ha!

Happy Mother's Day!

It was my first Mother's Day this past Sunday and it was nice to start it off with a little surprise on the kitchen counter!
We had thought about spending the day at the zoo, but after a late start in the morning and spending time at Home Depot (tile shopping!)... we decided to just hang out in the backyard.
Graham obviously loves to chew on his shoe:
He's got some crazy hair going on!
Graham loves to play "upside down"!
I love my little boy!
Bobby and I had a nice dinner at home. Bobby cooked up some steaks (yes honey, I did notice the grill marks on the steaks) and also grilled some sweet corn (yes honey, oil, salt, and pepper in the foil). Dinner was yummy in my tummy! But weirdly enough, I still ended up washing dishes!

It's so amazing being a mom and so wonderful watching Graham's every step. I wish my mom was still around so I can tell her how much I really appreciate her. You don't really realize how much work goes into being a mom until you actually become one. And now I understand why my mom was always so absent-minded and trying to multitask all the time. I'm just like her!!!