Happy Thanksgiving!

Instead of meatloaf and mac-n-cheese (for the past 2 years), we spent Thanksgiving with Bobby's colleague and his family. It was great! And the food was excellent... especially the corn bread and the yam casserole. YUMMY!
And as usual, I ate too much. But Graham was the one that fell asleep on the way home. Actually, he fell asleep while we were all having dinner and was still asleep when we got home.
Graham started on solids recently. I made some apple sauce and have been mixing it with his cereal. He seems to like it! He is still such a messy eater!
Graham is also starting to get more mobile. He's been rolling everywhere, which includes under the coffee table.
And it seems that he has been scooting backwards a little as well, but just today, he seems to scooting forwards. He's getting too close to that TV!
Graham also loves to "walk"! He picks his left foot really high up like he's doing a march and screams happily while he walks. Too funny!


But like Mommy, he is still our little sleeper!

Graham cutting teeth again?!

Graham woke up crying a couple times last night and today, he's definitely drooling a lot more than normal. I put some orajel on his gums this morning and he made the funniest looking face!
I can't figure out how he does that with his lip! Here's another funny face!
I can't seem to find his teething tablets but then of course, the Hyland's teething tablets have actually been recently recalled. Hopefully he'll get them out soon otherwise, he'll be singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

New uses of the Boppy pillow

I'm sure the pillow is only recommended for breastfeeding, but it seems to work really well for supporting Graham. He just loves to sit up!
And who knew that the Boppy pillow label is also good for chewing! Graham loves to chew on all sorts of labels!
You can still use the pillow to feed. I can't wait till he can hold his own bottle!
You can also lounge on the pillow...
Or just use it to take your naps!

And finally, I had Graham in the garage again today - supervising Mommy. It's always so much colder in there, so I put his hat on. He's just so cute! Daddy says that he looks "hipsta"!

New project in garage

Last weekend, I started cleaning up the garage as we had to put the riding mower back into the garage. I was suppose to start painting during the week, but somehow or rather, that just didn't work out with Graham being so fussy this week! I hope it's just the 6-month growth spurt and that this fussy period will pass soon!
Anyhow... back to the garage. We cleared up all the tools and removed all the old nails and hooks that were hung by the previous owners.
After some much needed dusting, scrubbing and some priming, we finally painted. We decided to paint the walls the same color as the exterior of the house. But weirdly enough, the color seems to be a lot more blue than gray! And the first "garage organizing system" that we had picked out yesterday just didn't seem to work out. But after a second trip to Lowe's, I think we finally figured it out! I think it looks awesome!! It's definitely a lot cleaner and more organized. Now we just have to finished up the other 3 walls and the ceiling! And gosh! Look at all those cans of paint!
By the way, that white/unpainted blotch in the top right corner of the pic... that was Bobby's fault. He was pulling out a nail that didn't want to come out, so I told him to knock it in instead. I probably shouldn't have suggested the hammer!
Anyway, nothing spackle can't fix. It's just a matter of making it look pretty that's difficult! I still need to put up peg-board on the other side of the wall. I've always wanted one to arrange all the tools! Bobby says that I get a lot more done when he's not around. :-) I told him that I wanted to stay home and that he could go out to play golf. Needless to say, he did not object to that suggestion!

Graham had some part in helping us with the garage project as well.
Ok,... maybe not. We just purchased the Trend Walker for him this past weekend. He seemed quite excited when he first sat in it.
But after a while, he got bored and just started chewing on the toy attachment. He just loves to chew! I hope he is not teething again.
By the way, he has a new sitting position on his high chair - with his foot IN BETWEEN his toy and the food tray. Graham is just so mischievous!
And oh! Finally... some yummy cupcakes to celebrate Graham's 24th week birthday last week. A couple of pumpkin cupcakes, banana, carrot, coffee, and Bobby's favorite, peanut butter. YUM!!! It's all in the icing!

Graham is 24 weeks old!

Last Saturday was Graham's 24th week birthday. Wow! Where did the time go?! We've yet to get some cupcakes to celebrate. Bobby and Graham went to the specialty cupcake store on Sunday but it was closed!
We started Graham on cereal again. Hopefully he will do better this time. His skin did not react very well with the cereal last time. He definitely loves his cereal! And he has learned to grab on the spoon too!
And as usual, just like last time, he would cry when we're all done!
This was him at 18+ weeks. Look at all that hair he had before!
Now, he just start to chew on his bib as well!
I've started to leave Graham on the floor to play a lot more recently. He seems to enjoy chewing on all his toys (so many of them!)... or just fall asleep when he gets tired and cranky.
I do have to be sure to check on him more frequently though, as he is rolling around a lot more these days. I was quite surprised to see him so far away from his blanket!
I'm not sure if I'm ready for him to start crawling yet, although I have seen signs of it. He has been putting his bum up in the air and trying to scoot forward. If he gets more mobile, perhaps I'll just tie him to the coffee table. Ha ha... just kidding, Grandma! ;-)

Another Milestone

Graham was 13 weeks when he learned to roll from his belly to back. Now, at 23 1/2 weeks old, he finally learned to roll over from his back onto his belly!


Graham has finally gotten over his jetlag. Last night he was asleep for over 11 hours... from 8pm to 7:30am! Although, I'm sure by saying that I'm going to jinx myself again!
Graham has also learned to scream! He discovered this new "skill" a couple of days just before we were all leaving Malaysia. Needless to say, he's an expert screamer now - being quite a tyrant at times!!!
Ok, ok... he wasn't losing his temper there. I was trying to take his picture when he fell over from a sitting position. Yes, bad mommy!! But he does seem to get upset when I leave him - wonder if that's the separation anxiety that people are talking about. For example, when I put him down on the changing table and just leave him briefly (still within sight) to get more diapers... he would start to cry!

Graham is also learning to pull on his blanket while sleeping. I guess he likes to feel his blankie in his hand... or on his face!
We've definitely been keeping an eye on him when he falls asleep now. Sometimes if Graham is restless while sleeping, we just end up taking his blanket away from him!

Happy Halloween... Moo!

This year, Graham got a moo-moo outfit from his aunt Myla when we went to NJ in the summer. And all I have to say is... cutie pie!
Of course, being a Sunday, we spent Halloween on the golf course!
And as usual, by the end of it all, Graham fell asleep by the 8th hole.Graham is still trying to get through his jetlag since his trip to Malaysia. He has been up at all hours, especially early in the mornings, which means Mommy has been too! Unfortunately, I am having a tougher time going back to sleep so for the past couple of (early) mornings, I've been watching TV till about 6 or 7am! Hopefully Graham will get better these next few days before daylight savings kick in next week!

Finally... a trip to the Zoo!

After months (or maybe even years!) of convincing Bobby, we finally had a chance to visit the Tulsa Zoo yesterday! Graham couldn't wait to get out and see the animals!
Well, he needed his little catnap first before the trip. After a quick diaper change in the car, we were off! By the way, I love the trunk of my new stationwagon - it's the perfect height for feedings and diaper changes!
The first few exhibits were quite disappointing. It was actually quite sad to see the animals in such small enclosures. But it got better once we got out to see the larger animals in their outdoor enclosures. I think we all loved the rhinos the best!
And in between exhibits, Graham just had a ball chewing on his sock!
His sock got so wet that we couldn't even put it back on! Needless to say, we had a good time at the zoo!

Trip to Malaysia - Part III

Now that the tournament is over, we are all able to relax a little bit more. My dad flew into Kuala Lumpur to watch me play (for the first time ever!) and my sister and her family flew in as well from Minnesota. Dad saw little Graham for the first time and spent some valuable time with him during the short trip.
We decided to see the Petronas Twin Towers and unfortunately, the Skybridge is closed every Monday! So we only admired it from afar...
and directly outside the structure.
It's amazing how quickly time flies and we're back on the plane again. The first leg from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai was 7+ hours. It was nice to have all 4 seats in the center isle of the plane. Graham loved every minute of it!
Just kidding... Graham had his usual bassinet seat. Good thing he wasn't strong enough to open the latch!
When we arrived in Dubai at 1pm, we planned on taking a nap and then heading out to see the city. By the time we woke up, it was already dark outside! So we decided to continue on sleeping and by the time we woke up again, it was now 2am. We had a little snack and decided to visit the tallest building in the world - the Burj Khalifa. And talk about TALL!!!
Unfortunately, the lighting at 3am was not very good. But let me assure you, 160 stories is a long way up!
By 6:30am, we were back at Dubai International Airport. Did I mention how big this airport is??? And it is constantly busy no matter what day or time!
On our 16 hours and 1 minute flight back to Houston from Dubai, we had 3 seats to ourselves on the left side of the plane, right behind the Business Class. Graham enjoyed watching Disney classics with Mommy...
and spilling water and orange juice all over Mommy (and looking all innocent) with only 3 hours left into the flight!
Thankfully, Mommy was prepared for the worst and packed extra clothing in our extra-heavy carry-on luggage, which Daddy took care of most of the time. Thanks Daddy! :-)

We are glad to be home now after the long trip home. Thursday was a blur as all of us slept throughout the entire day! Last night, Graham has been up almost every 2 hours and so he is obviously still getting through his jetlag. If he continues to be up tonight, perhaps I'll have to get together all the hand-puppets that we collected on Emirates Airlines!