Well, Rebecca and the kids left on Friday morning, which was sad. It is SO quiet around here now, and Graham was just getting used to sleeping through lots of noise. We had some good times with them last week before they left... Went shopping a few days for some things Rebecca needed. One thing to note--don't let a child with a pacifier stand by a rail on the second floor of a shopping mall. Just as I thought, "I wonder if Risa might drop her paci overboard...", there it went. No worries, a woman on the first floor yelled up at me about "my binky" loud enough for the entire mall to hear. Such helpful people around here!
We saw Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Very cute movie, and interesting enough to keep the kiddos entertained. And Rebecca cried through part of it, heehee! That was entertaining to me. :) We also brought out the riding mower and let the kids drive. The look of pure delight on Risa's face just cracks me up, and the fact that you can hear Kaiden from across the yard is impressive.
Graham misses his cousins very much, I can tell. He talked to Kaiden on the phone the other night. Mostly he just squealed, but I'm sure he was saying something riveting. Recently he has started sucking his thumb with gusto, and he can chew on both thumb and pacifier at the same time:
In other news, we have had a lot of rain. We used to joke about needing a drawbridge for our driveway, but apparently it's not a bad idea:
My sister Rebecca is here with her two kids, Kaiden & Risa, and we've been having a blast. They flew in on the 9th and we drove out for Risa's birthday party. We drove back on the 13th in time for Will's family to visit, and this week we've had some time in town.
Risa is now 2 and has quite a personality. She calls Graham either "Gim" or "Baby Graham-ma". In fact, she calls everyone over 20 "Grandma", including me. When she is trying to get you to be quiet, she puts her finger horizontally over her lips and says "Thhhhhhhh..." She was not a big fan of getting her hair cut for the first time.
Kaiden is almost 4 and has been enjoying his new Thomas trains (and because of the Thomas movies, he describes himself as being "cross" when he's upset). He is pretty sure there are lions and tigers behind most fences. He LOVES Baby Graham and is constantly helping him. For instance, he fed Graham his first food. We were coming home from the airport and Graham was crying uncontrollably. Suddenly he stopped, and we thought he had gone to sleep. Actually, Kaiden had just shared his Chips Ahoy cookies with him, as evidenced by the brown mush all over Graham's mouth and the half cookie on his shirt. The next morning, Kaiden tried to pick him up to quiet him and he ended up on the floor. We now keep a pretty close eye on both of them. :)
We've been to the playground, we've gone fishing, and we've been shopping a few times. Here's a video of their first fishing trip last night, which didn't quite go as planned:
Kaiden refused to come within 10 feet of the fish (especially the catfish, or the "one with the mustache"). He got extremely upset when I took Graham to see it and cried most of the time until they went to the playground. Will's only comment was, "I'm glad we didn't plan a whole morning for this."
They'll be here for one more week and we plan to do a few more firsts before they leave. More stories to come...
Yes, that's right, ladies and gentlemen. Graham can grasp. He had been hitting the toys on his playgym with his fists, but now he can actually hold on to them, which opens a world of possibilities when it comes to circular playthings. As my dad would say, "Excitement plus!" Of course, he wouldn't do it for this video, but his talking just cracks me up:
He'll be 3 months old tomorrow, and he seems to be developing right on schedule. I never understood until now how parents can be so fascinated with their kids, but his cooing and smiling just make me melt. He still wakes up to eat sometime between 1am and 3am and again 4 hours after that, which makes for some long (or short?) nights, but Mom told me not to try to make him grow up too fast, and I think she's right.
We've been enjoying the nicer weather by going on some walks in the jogging stroller. Here's a picture of him with all his Personal Protective Equipment:
And because I'm so proud of it and it's just going to be destroyed, here's a picture of the pinata I made for my niece Risa's birthday party:
Rebecca's coming to visit next week! Can't wait!!!!
Seems like "Memorial Day Weekend" is a bit of an oxymoron, doesn't it? Anyway, we visited with Will's family and had a great time. Here are some pictures from the weekend...
Will & Joe practicing ladderball from 6 inches away:
Three girls watching from the deck, the only safe place to be:
Collecting sea glass on Sunday night:
Graham hanging out with Aunt Kim:
Who knew he would need this much stuff? We used to get by with 1 suitcase.
Thanks for having us, Joe & Gwen (and Nathan)! We had a great time!!!
As promised, here's a video of Graham playing with his friends...
Unfortunately, Graham got his first cold this week, and I think it was from some culprit at church. He can't breathe very well, so we propped up his crib and have been running the humidifier all the time. I feel so sorry for him, especially as I'm starting to get the symptoms and know how he's felt the last few days. Poor kid! Hopefully he'll recover quickly...
