The Office!

There has been a lot going on around here these last few days. Jr. first because he is the first. His imagination is back. He loves to draw and demand that you draw all kinds of robot/animal/monster/pirate/dragon/horse/fish combinations. Then he tells great stories. I love his stories, they are filled with hand gestures and sound effects. What a man. Just as soon as I start in on him being a stinker, he turns crazy sweet. Smoochy huggy lovey crazy sweet. Today we made up a song about his Aquadoodle and he danced through the whole house especially for his brother.


Graham reaches out, grabs his toys and puts them into his mouth. He loves to sit up and stand up. He has a wide range of vocalizations. And cheerful, boy oh boy. The best part about this long weekend was that his dad busted out THE OFFICE! He loves it! YAY - TOYS! His very own toys that aren't his brothers. Plus it provides a ring of safety around him. He sits up so straight and looks around for his whole family even Selma. He really likes her. She has yet to notice him as he doesn't have any food to drop on the floor.



Oh and then there was Thanksgiving #1 and #2. They were both fabulous and delish. Jr. loves being with his grandparents and he really liked skyping with his Florida Grandparents. Graham turned on some serious charm for the holiday.



We should have spent the long weekend packing, but we didn't. There were lots of naps and tons of fun in the house. We didn't go out much even after the temperature jumped above zero - shame on us. I don't know what the deal is, but on the weekends it takes FOREVER to get our sh*t together and then all of a sudden Grahamm is sleeping and we haven't gotten out of our sweats. Lazy Colemans. It bothers Ed and I, and Jr. a bit, but Graham doesn't mind at all. He loves to snuggle.


I was looking back at Jr. at 4 months old and I noted that he was so big that he was now in his 9 month clothes. So is Graham, or at least he should be, I hate to unearth yet another box and bring it into this house right now, so his poor little feet are scrunched into his jammies and he is Mr. Highwaters during the day. He is so seriously plump it makes you laugh.


I love comparing the two boys. Their likenesses and differences never cease to amaze me. How could two boys made from the same genes be so fundamentally different? Their attitudes are so different and they look so different. They are alike in size and appetite. Graham is a sleeper, Jr. was not. Graham will go to just about anyone and smile, coo and laugh. Jr. only wanted one person and one person only, his momma.

4 months

Hi, my name is Graham and I am 4 months old. I have two new teeth. I am a good sleeper, I am super chubby and I love to smile. I laugh at everyone especially my brother. Beware the photos below, it will melt your heart.



Where are photos of his brother? Well, um we don't have any from this last week. 1. he won't let me take any photos, they all look like this.

And 2. it is rare to find him in any other position than a temper tantrum. Okay, I may be exaggerating, but seriously, if we make it from the time he wakes up until 9 AM without a temper tantrum, we consider ourselves VERY LUCKY. Not only is he taking the terrible twos to a new low, he quit going to bed at a decent hour. It is currently 9:27PM and he is pitching a fit in his crib. Ed just looked at me and said, "we are going to have to buy a second crib." I mean we would have liked to move him to a big boy bed by now, but he is no where close to being ready. He would just get right back up and come down here and scream at us.

I did try to poop him out tonight by letting him box with me on the Wii. At one point he was yelling "I am going to knock you down Momma!" I was just trying to burn off some stink, it is 13 below zero and we have to work hard to get that kid moving to tire him out.

There are some sweet moments though. He is very good with his brother. His love is a little rougher than we would like, but he is all about love. He calls his brother "little boy" in a sweet voice and this morning he told me that he needed to go color on the floor so Bay Gam could watch him. Baby Graham loves to watch him play, dance and run around.

Sweetest Kisses

This last weekend in Whitefish my mom claimed that Ed Jr. was giving her kisses. I kind of didn't believe her, but then again, lately he has been grabbing my face and putting his open mouth on my cheeks or chin, sort of like a kiss, but more like he is trying to eat my face.

Well, low and behold, it was true.



Apparently it only works in the mirror, and only works with his nanna, although I get one or two every so often.

I don't know if the video adequately captures the sweetness that is Ed Jr.

The Reason

The reason I may never fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans again.
Damn you Ben, Jerry and Willie.

YouTube is lame

I am trying to post what is possibly the sweetest video of all time, but no youtube is off line for a while. Suck.

"NO MORE CAR!"

Ed Jr., Nanna and I traveled all of the way up to Whitefish's Big Mountain this weekend so that I could attend a board meeting. Let me just say this. Whitefish's Big Mountain (I refuse to call it the Resort at Whitefish or such nonsense) is really really really far from Helena and traveling really really really far over the course of two days is a lot for a four month old. With that being said, Ed Jr. was a champ.

On the drive up there, we made it almost to Seeley Lake before he had the diaper blow out of all time. We had been on terror poop watch for two days and had reached a threat level of orange, apparently the rice cereal can cause constipation (who knew?). Well, the subtle vibration of Montana's open roads sure cleared that up. I used an entire packet of wipes cleaning that mess up. I am not going to lie to you here, that kid pooped up a storm. He was pretty charmed about it too. I have never seen someone so happy to be covered (armpits to toes) in poop.

The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I learned to nurse while hovering over a car seat while trying to maintain some sort of physical composure while my mom drove up the Seely-Swan.

During my two day meeting, Ed Jr. was sweet and hung out with his Nanna. He even tolerated a small portion of the dinner on Saturday evening. Sunday was more of the same, very sweet, very loving to his nanna and my fellow board members.

Then came the ride home. I HONESTLY thought he would sleep the majority of the drive home since he had been awake much of the day. Oh no he said. Despite my best efforts to contortionist gravity defying nursing, he was not going to nap. That being said, he was pretty peaceful up until about 30 miles outside of Helena. Somewhere near Avon, he loudly declared, NO MORE CAR! Oh but we did not listen, we kept on driving. He clearly stated again, "Didn't you two hear me, I SAID NO MORE CAR!" No we did not listen.

We finally got home, fed him, bathed him and put him to sleep thinking it was all over. Then the next night, we tried again with the car. He was not having it. Not one bit. Today, same story, no more car. "When I say NO MORE CAR, I MEAN NO MORE CAR!"

I am going to try to take a few days off of the car for both of our sakes, but I kind of wanted to go to GF this weekend to see more of GG Marnie, but frankly, Ed Jr. has me running scared. A solo trip to GF would not allow someone to sit in back and *try to* soothe him and I don't know if I can handle 1.5 hours of NO MORE CAR.

Great Granny

Ed Jr. LOVES his great granny Marnie. It means so much to me that Ed Jr. will get to know two of his great grandmothers. I knew three of mine and I was quite fond of them all. Today we spent a few wonderful hours with GG Marnie. Although Ed Jr. was a little pissed off by the soreness in his mouth or constipation, or both, he still made a serious love connection with GG Marnie.

While she was here, we speculated about what my grandfather, Ed, would have thought about Ed Jr. GG Marnie said that he would have just loved him so much. I agree, I just know that my grandpa Ed would have been out of his mind about Ed Jr. I often think about my grandfather and wonder if he is looking down at me and I wonder what he thinks of my life. I know he would have adored Ed Sr. and Ed Jr. and I hope he is proud of me. I love(d) him very much.

Campers Pampers II

Oopsie -- forgot to post photos of the camper.

See - like I said, campers, not RVers. I also feel compelled to explain how important it was for Ed Sr. to get his family outside for some camping adventures. With this camper, we can keep Jr. warm and dry.

Denver Broncos Baby!

Ed Jr. helped me root for the Denver Broncos on Monday night. He joined his sweetest girl Adrienne and his uncle Jon in cheeering the Broncos to a decisive victory over those terrible Oakland Raiders.

Ed Jr. is on his way to becoming one fine Denver Broncos superfan! So cute!

Campers Pampers

Last weekend we met Jr.'s Uncle Justin up Rock Creek for our first camping adventure in the camper. Ed Sr. informs me that we are now RVers. I refuse to be labeled as such, I insist we are Campers.

Ed Jr. did quite well, he was pretty happy and enjoyed taking long walks and being held while he watched the fire.

I am sure we will have many more amazing camping trips in the future.

Ed Jr. in jumparoo wearing his awesome hat that his great granny made him.
Snuggling with his momma watching the fire.

Wearing his awesome Notre Dame fleece. Warm!

Uncle Justin and Jr.

SHOTS!

Poor baby boy had his 4 month shots today. He cried and cried. It gave both of his parents a huge shot of anxiety too.

Since we have been home, he has been either sleeping or crying. He is snoozing in my lap as I type.

Some good news though, he is all in the 95%+ on height, weight and head circumference.

18 lbs 13 oz (although, we think the nurse was a little off.)

27 3/4 inches tall

Big 4 month old boy in his 9 month old clothes. Blue and brown shirt with green pants and red shoes, that is all his dad.

Pajama Time Is A Happy Time

Everyone wants to hear more of Pajama Time Is a Happy Time.

Some photos from the labor day weekend. First it was hot. . .

Then it got cold.

4 Months

On Saturday Ed Jr. celebrated his 4 month birthday by hanging out with Adrienne and her mom all day (Ed Sr. and Adrienne's dad were rafting). I am not going to lie to you and tell you that it was the most joyous of all days. It seemed that as the day grew on, when Ed Jr. wasn't fussing, Adrienne was, and back and forth it went. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was that we pushed their limits by tromping them all over town. Plus Ed Jr. puked ALL DAY. A lot. I don't know if anything stayed down at all. By the end of the day both of our clothes were soaked with sour milk.

Sunday was a much better day. Hardly any puking and a major baby milestone. Rice Cereal!

We also celebrated Miles (14) and Grandpa Bill's (58 million) birthdays. Miles and Selma got a bone, Grandpa Bill got a new BBQ. It is his birthday and christmas present, but at least it is big enough to hold food for the whole lot of us that are always chowing down over there.

Rice cereal - great at first, but like all things new and exciting, ended in crying. The first few bites he kept spitting it back out, and his daddy wanted to give up, but I kept on until he was figuring out how to swallow it. I am sure next time will be much better.

This last photo is for his Auntie Liesel who can be seen here dropping in to some pretty big whitewater (use the single arrow to advance and see all of the action).