Lilian at 3.5

How in the world did our baby girl get to be so big! She is three and a half years old this month, so incredible! It amazes me so much how much they grow, change and learn each and every day. Especially now having Graham with us we realize what a big girl Lilian has become in a blink of an eye. She definitely is full of personality!
Things we want to remember about sis at three and a half...
She is all girl. Every morning she asks if she can wear a dress. If we are going to the park or somewhere where she cannot wear one, the second we get home she will ask to put one on! She loves jewelry, brushing her hair, checking herself out in the mirror, asking if her outfit is beautiful...you get the idea, total girly girl!
Obsessed is the best word to describe her feelings towards her brother. If Graham is in the room, she is right by his side, practically on top of him! She constantly wants to touch him, check on him, try to make him smile, etc. if only she would feel that way in the years to come. It is amazing watching the pure joy he brings her...love in such a true form!
She is every bit of three...very stubborn and strong willed. She definitely tests the limits and always wants to have the last word. Hopefully that is just part of being 3!
She will stay up at night in her bed talking to herself and her stuffed animals forever! Listening to her  play with her barbies and dolls is one of our most favorite things. Often times she will repeat things Brian and I have said to her or something she has heard on television. She has such an imagination and is so fun to listen to.
Speaking of tv, she loves the Brady Bunch which is hilarious to us. Brian's mom let her watch one in Iowa and ever since she has been hooked! Some of her other favorites include: Peter Rabbit, Sophia the First, and all the Disney princess movies.
Her favorite foods: cereal (would eat this all day if we let her), all fruit especially watermelon, bananas, pineapple, and cuties, pasta, turkey, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, soup, and broccoli are some of her faves.
She wears size 3T clothes and can still fit in some of her 2T outfits from last summer. She has been fully potty trained since Christmas break and rarely has any accidents.
She starts pre-school this August which blows our mind! We are excited for her to learn more and meet new friends. Our sweet girl is growing so fast. I just wish time could stand still. She brings us such joy each and every day that we get to be her parents!

Two Months

Happy 2 Months, Graham!


Graham is two months old already! It's hard to put into words how much joy he has brought to our lives in his short time here! We could not love anything more. He is the perfect addition to our family. We had his two month check-up today. Here are his stats...
Height 24.25 (87%)
Weight 13.3 lbs. (78%)
Head 16 (62%)
Just as we suspected he is tipping the charts! Dr. Diaz said he is a healthy, growing boy and since he was a big baby from birth his growth is right on track. I was happy to see that his height and weight were in sync with each other. She checked him over and said he is meeting all the developmental milestones this far. He also had his first round of shots which is never fun! He, of course, cried, and I always make Brian do the dirty work of holding him. I can never bare to watch! He did great though and was sleepy afterwards and took a marathon nap!
At Two Months...
He smiles which melts our hearts to no end.
He also is cooing and trying to "speak" to us. We cannot wait to hear what his little laugh will sound like in the months to come.
He has pretty great head control during tummy time and can move his head well from side to side.
He eats every 3-4 hours (breastfed) we try and give him a bottle a few times a week too to keep him used to taking them.
He wears size 1 diapers and size 3 month clothes. It probably won't be too long until he is in 3-6 months clothing...crazy!
He loves to look at the fan, being on the floor and looking at us and Lilian (and the fan!), he enjoys his swing, his play mat that plays music, and being held! His favorite position to be held is lying horizontally across our body and rocking back and forth (we have that down to a science). He loves his pacifier too.
Things he dislikes...the car! It makes for very long car rides because unless he is asleep before we put him in he usually cries! Poor guy, it will make for a long life if he doesn't get past this stage!
He is sleeping in his crib as of this week, up until then he was in the bassinet in our room. He is still swaddled as well.
As far as sleeping his longest stretch is usually 5 hours but he did go one night for 8 hours, we keep hoping more of those nights will come our way! He goes to bed around 9, wakes up around 2, and then goes back down until around 6 or so.
His dreaded rash is looking better too, thankfully!




The many nicknames we have for Graham...teddy graham, graham cracker, buddy, buddy boy, buster, bobo, g, g unit, g dog, gramikins...the list continues to grow!
We are enjoying every moment with our precious little man! Happy 2 months, buddy!!

Bike Rider

Lilian received her first bike (princess of course) for her birthday from my parents but being a winter birthday had not had much of an opportunity to use it until now! This summer it has become one of her favorite things to do outside (for about 15 minutes at a time, the attention span of a three year old is not much!) She is slowly getting the hang of it and enjoying her new skill!

We love Grandparents!

We had a fun mid-week surprise for Lilian...a visit from grandma and grandpa! We don't dare tell her until right before they get here because she does not quite understand when they will exactly arrive...we would get the questions of when will they be here a hundred times if we told her in advance, ha! We all went to lunch at Applebees and played at the house for the afternoon. Brian and I had plans to go to the Royals game that night so they were sweet enough to watch both kiddos that night. Lilian loves them so much, as do we! Thanks for visiting!

Lilian's First Book

Lilian has been working hard on reading this summer. Enjoy her reading her first book! We are so proud of her!

Graham's Smiles

I took this video this morning of Graham on his play mat...it's one of his favorite activities lately. He loves the music! You can see some of his sweet smiles and how he is starting to use his voice! Love this growing boy so much! Oh, and as a gift to mommy and daddy this morning...he slept 8 hours last night! 8 weeks old and 8 hours of sleep, blissful! If only that could continue, we can hope!

Birthday Fun

Saturday night Brian and I enjoyed a fun night out to celebrate my 32nd birthday with friends and family. It was our first night out as parents of two! My mom was sweet enough to watch G and L at our house (they did great for her!) while we enjoyed a long awaited night out! We went to Summit Grill and enjoyed appetizers, drinks, and good company. It was a wonderful birthday and I was reminded of how blessed we are to have such great friends and family!

Rash, Rash, Go Away!

Our poor boy has a rash all over his face! It came about right at 5 weeks. We still are not completely sure if it is baby acne, a rash, or some sort of allergic reaction to something....super frustrating to not know what it is or what is causing it because we can't help our poor buddy! We took him to the doctor on July 5th but it was not much help. They suggested changing his soap to dove and to start washing everyone's clothes in a free detergent. We have changed both his soap and our detergent with no relief to his poor skin. We know it itches him too because he will bury his head in our chest and try and scratch his face! He goes back to the doctor next week for his two month check up so we are hoping for a second opinion and some more ideas of what could be causing the outbreaks and how we can help him. Other than the rash he is a pretty happy boy! He has started to enjoy his swing which is awesome, however, he still prefers to be held for most naps! We are not having much success with having him nap in his crib yet. You cannot spoil a baby, right?! I keep telling myself that when I continue to hold him for naps, ha! We are planning to transition him out of our room and into his crib in the next few weeks. It seems like a big step past the newborn baby stage once he is in his room full time so I am enjoying these last few weeks. He is still sleeping for about a five hour stretch at night. He has been going to bed around 10 (he gets a little fussy before bed letting us know its time for night night!) and gets up somewhere between 2 and 4 most nights, eats, and goes back down until 6 or 7. They say five hours of consecutive sleep is considered sleeping though the night so we are pretty happy about that. It is definitely nice that we both are home for summer so we can't complain too much about the interrupted sleep since neither of us have to get up for work in the morning right now. He has been giving us some big grins too lately. That chubby baby smile melts our hearts! He has also been finding his voice and making funny noises. Lilian thinks its pretty hilarious and will shout, "he is talking," yes, in his way, he sure is! Here are some recent pictures of graham. You can see his poor rash in the first few.

Bath time and bottle

Until this week graham hated bath time! We had been just using his inclined bath seat on the sink and bathing him that way. He literally screamed the whole time and his poor little face would turn bright red. Early last week we decided to put the seat in the actual tub and see how he liked it. We also put Lilian in there for a distraction and something for him to look at...it worked wonders! Of course, Lilian was so excited and wanted to help with everything! We compromised by having her in charge of cleaning his feet now at bath time. She asks if its bath night every night now! So, we are happy to report bath time is a much more pleasant time now for everyone! Another first occurred this week...Graham took his first bottle (of breast milk). Our pediatrician recommends introducing a bottle around four weeks after nursing has been well established, so it was time for us to do just that. Brian was able to feed him a bottle and he took it like a champ! Was there ever any doubt, this boy loves to eat!! He took the whole four ounces even which surprised us! I love that Brian gets to have some special time with him now that he can feed him as well. We will try and give him a bottle three or four times a week to keep him used to it so once fall rolls around and he is back at Michele's he will be a pro.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

brian and lilian attended their second annual daddy daughter date night at chick-fil-a on thursday. I truly have a love affair with chick-fil-a...this is another reason why! they invite daddies and their daughters for a special evening at the restaurant where they have reserved tables set up with flowers and tablecloths, take their picture together, and make them feel like daddy's little princess for the evening. they went last year so lilian was so excited to go back this year. to add to the fun, drew and amelia also went so they enjoyed a little double date! what's better than that, right? we love you chick-fil-a! lilian and brian had another memorable date night...what a sweet tradition.