The House of Big Laughs...

Most of you know that Jen has an amazing, infectious sense of humor. Graham is pretty funny too, funnier all the time. These days we all hang out trying to make each other giggle.

Bath time is excellent for peekaboo, splashing games, and general silliness.


Nothing makes Graham happier than the swiffer, the one thing he loves as much as the vacuum, and the sight of him with it makes me laugh every time.


Jen and Graham are a perfect match. They can laugh at/with each other all day.

Walkin'

Did you know that Graham is walking all the time now? I'd heard stories of kids who just one day stand up and run, but it's been more of a gradual progression for G, as he still prefers to crawl when excited or upset. I think it takes a lot of concentration for him to stay upright, and anything distracting sends him right back down to the floor.

Poor guy's been struck by another cough/cold; now I know why parents dread flu season. It sucks. I'm going to install a sanitizing shower in our foyer. Think the other owners will mind?

Post-Christmas Post

We had a really nice Christmas this year with Graham up in Vermont. Jen's parents (Kiki and Granddad) take good care of their houseguests. Really, you should call them up and ask to be invited. Here are some of the highlights.

Graham and Granddad share their thoughts on vacuums, table saws, and politics.



Graham is more specific in his demands for books these days. I'll comply until my hands drop off. I find Sandra Boynton's book the most fun to read 5 consecutive times.


This picture captures a kid's experience of Christmas, especially the fact that he liked the box at least as much as the toys inside.



Graham and Kiki hung out a lot. He thinks she's great (as we do).

We're having a good time in Vermont, doing all the things you would expect: eating, show shoeing, chasing Graham up stairs, eating. We bought a new camera as our family gift to ourselves, and it's been great to just hang out and take photos, though I think Graham is developing a "Please, No Paparazzi" sort of gesture.

This week in photos

G is obsessed with the camera (uh, mebbee because I take pictures of him every day), so yesterday we played around with self-portraits. The result? Confirmation that we have exactly the same color eyes. Weird.



Today G.'s pal Flora came over for a play date (and to save me from crawling the walls, as it snowed. Again.). They had a great time digging through the basket o' books.




Lastly, tonight, we put Graham in his snowsuit and took him outside to meet a snow drift. He was not pleased.

Snow Day, Part Deux


Gentle readers, we've had another storm. It's not even winter yet, not officially anyway, and I confess to feeling a little wall-climby. This morning, we celebrated the snow with french toast.

Here, Graham worships the maple syrup container, an image that should warm the heart of any Vermonters reading here.

Here, Graham worships his Mommy's (Whitney's) french toast, a worthwhile endeavor (as any who've tasted it well know).

Big Snow

Jen made it home before the worst of the traffic issues, but we have neighbors who had a 2, 3, and even 5 hour commute yesterday (all drivers, I might add). Once all snug, we hung out and watched the snow, made dinner, and got to work catching up on all that sleep we lost last week. 

Our best snow day activity: dump out a bowl of cheerios; eat some; put the cheerios back into the bowl (one at a time); repeat. Totally unsanitary, but excellent fun.

The snow, seen through our dining room window (and no, we don't live in the country, but, yes, that house you see is really old, like 180 years or so). 

Graham is walking more and more. He's now really interested in surfaces he couldn't easily access before, like the table tops. Time for level 2 baby proofing, I guess. 

Thanks...

Thanks to everybody who sent get well wishes. G is feeling much better today- and I'm feeling very thankful for modern medicine.

In other news, we are in the midst of our first big snow storm. Cross your fingers for a snow day tomorrow.

Notes from the Sickbed


I can't begin to describe how badly the past week has sucked. Honestly. G's croup became an upper respiratory tract infection and then 2 (count 'em) ear infections. No one (except the dog) has slept more than 2 hours at a time since last Friday.

Funny, we were just congratulating ourselves on our awesomeness as a family- we had a great time at the birthday party and, you know, just couldn't avoid some "we're through the first year, and isn't he fantastic?" sort of back patting followed by some hypothesizing about baby #2. Ah, to be humbled by the universe. Anyway, our once clean house is now a wasteland of sick-baby apparatuses and mama detritus.

We're counting the *seconds* until the antibiotics kick in.

happy birthday: here's some croup

G was up all night barking like a seal. Turns out he has croup. A little birthday present from the virus community, I guess.

Happy Birthday, Graham

Here's what we got on December 6th 2006:




Here's what we have now, exactly one year later, pictured eating his birthday blueberry pancakes (Check out those chompers!):






We love you, Goosey. Hope this day is the first (well, second) of many wonderful birthdays together.

Your mamas

Birthday Week Happenings

Two things:

Graham is now tall enough to see out of the windows in our house. There's no greater thrill than spying on the neighbors yard, my friends.



He's got his first real cup. It's trial and error at this point (often more error than trial), but he loves to work on this new skill.

Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Graham yesterday afternoon. Before you go feeling miffed that you weren't invited, you should know that the guest list was limited to the under-two set (plus parents). It was a small party, which was good, because G got a little overwhelmed by it all. He did not cry when we sang, since we've been desensitizing him to "Happy Birthday" for a week.
The cupcakes were divine! They were Jen's mom's carrot cake recipe, which we chose since I had carrot cake for my first birthday. Plus, carrot cake is AWESOME. Anyway, the actual big day is Thursday so expect more birthday post surprises this week....


Before the party (clean! clean house! Cleanest ever!)




Graham went down for a nap 25 minutes before the first guests arrived, so he was a little out of it for the first hour or so. Here, he gains momentum with his present from Kiki and Granddad. In a sidenote, this picture shows the growing evidence that G has inherited a genetic tendency towards awesome arched eyebrows- inherited from me and my mom.



So. many. cupcakes.




Everyone gets a cupcake (or three)