no secrets

We have discovered that Graham talks in his sleep. Last night, Ryan went in to steal the pacifire out of his mouth. You know those orthodontists and how they feel about that sort of thing, Graham is just lucky I stalled Ryan from taking it away completely. Otherwise he'd be without since Christmas. Anyways, after Ryan plucked the paci Graham sort of stirred a bit, rolled over on his back, still asleep and says "mmmm. . . teetah"

Toodles

My sister, Savanna came to visit over the weekend. Ryan had a conference in Michigan, so I convinced her to come help with Graham. I am feeling better than I anticipated, but it still is a huge help to have an extra set of hands. Plus, I just hate staying by myself for very long if I don't have to, and was so glad to have her here. She and Graham had so much fun. They played in the park while I was busy, but their favorite game was to throw the basketballs up and down the stairs over and over again.

We worked really hard on getting Graham to say her name, "Auntie Toodles" is what we decided on. Toodles is a nickname dad gave her when she was Graham's age, and even though, most of us call her Nanna, we are dubbing her Auntie Toodles because it is so cute, and mom had at one point wanted to be "nanna" instead of Deara. But, since we were all so used to that being Savanna's nickname, it didn't stick. But Toodles it is, unless Graham decides on something else, which very likely could happen, he rarely calls anything by the name we give it. The closest Graham got was a couple of times saying "tootah" which is very close to "teetah" meaning snack. Graham became quite attached while she was here, once she tripped and fell down a couple of stairs making a big noise. He was horrified and cried his little heart out, calling out "hurt, hurt." We were all sad when she had to leave, Graham again cried a sad, sad cry when he realized we were leaving her at the airport, it took me all the way back into Nashville, and a dinosaur song to cure his broken heart.

Thanks, Savanna, for coming!

Not to repeat

Many of you are aware that when choosing Graham's name, Ryan and I never even THOUGHT about how close "Graham" sounds to "Grey". We didn't realize the confusion that could occur until poor Bob and Judy, Ryan's parents, came to visit and it became quite apparent that switching the 2 back and forth would be a struggle that could occur for the rest of the 2 young cousin's lives. I tried calling Graham "G", but that didn't seem to catch on. So, it looks like the boys will be "Grey" and "Grey- . . (awk. pause) -Mmm" for eternity.

Now you wouldn't think we would repeat the similarity, would you? But, I swear to you, that during this pregnancy, I have said these names outloud, as possibilities. You tell me if you see any problems that could occur.

Benton
Jack
Colton
Greyson

Considering the child has 1st cousins by the names:
Ben
Jackson
Cole
Grey

I think we will do our best to stay away from these! Good grief. Let's hope I can regain some sense before I have the sleep deficiency to add to our troubles :-)

G is for Glam

The last time Graham's hair was cut, it was somewhat of a disaster. Ryan held his head while I choked back the tears and snipped away his beautiful curls. Graham kept squirming, and screaming, and after we kept scolding Graham saying "this isn't hurting you", I did the inevitable of snipping his little ear. It was a sad experience for all of us.

When I couldn't hold Ryan off any longer, I decided to try something different for this time around. I had seen a little place in downtown Franklin called "just for kids" and last Thursday Sara, G's babysitter, and I brought Graham to the kiddie salon. He did an exceptional job, he didn't freak out, he just drove his little jeep, and watched the movie while the stylist quickly trimmed him up (while still keeping enough body for those baby blonde curls to spring) Isn't it a darling little place? I have no idea how they stay open because his haircut was only $12. What a great place!

I had such a fun day that day, Sara usually comes over on Thursdays and I had planned on just browsing through downtown Franklin and making Graham an appointment for a different day. But, since downtown Franklin isn't just around the corner, I thought it might be better to see if we could walk-in for the haircut. But, that situtation is far from ideal. I had hoped to browse some stores for winter sales and Graham isn't the easiest to take into boutiques, but I didn't necessarily feel like taking him back later for the haircut, and honestly, I was slightly company starved and wasn't totally pumped to look around by myself. So it dawned on me, I should ask Sara to come along. It was so much fun for me, exactly what I needed. We browsed stores, laughed and talked, had a Starbucks, went out for lunch, and she efficiently helped me with simple but HUGE things like getting G in and out of the car, entertaining him so I could try on some pants, etc. It was the kind of girls day I had been aching for. And I was thinking of how much fun it would be to do this more often.

Later on I was telling Ryan about the delightful afternoon and in the middle of the story, I had to stop so we could both laugh at the predicament. Here I was talking about my great day with girlfriend/pal, Sara and I all of the sudden realized, I had stooped to a new level. This wasn't necessarily a girl's day, I now pay people by the hour to be my friend!!!

little bundle

I cannot even communicate how much this little guy means to me, to Ryan. He takes my breath away, makes my heart swell . . . all the cliche's. We took this picture a couple nights ago and I love it, because he looks little, wrapped up like a baby. And there are few moments like that anymore. When he's getting stripped down for his bath at night and running around in just a diaper while the water runs, I cannot believe he isn't even two yet. He looks so much bigger, he has grown like a weed in the last few weeks. It's especially obvious in his little legs that are long and lean, and his back and shoulders that flex to pull his entire body up on to a chair, a table, he has turned into quite a climber. When I see Ryan pick him up, Graham takes up so much more space than before. His legs dangle past Ryan's arms while he is perched up there dictating his preferences in monologue that we are still trying to learn to decipher. Sometimes it's concern that the bath water could be too hot, other times, like last night, it's rounding up all the "Shoots" (balls) and bringing them into the tub with him.

Valentines Day

This was an especially nice Valentines day. Ryan and I both put a little thought into it. Previously, it was our trend to wait until the last minute, be unable to get reservations anywhere, and grab Panera's or something simple like that. But, this year Ryan told me that we were going somewhere nice, and to wear a dress. Well, I don't have any maternity dresses and only have one skirt to choose from, but luckily it worked out, even though, the skirt kept sliding down the slope of my belly and baring my midrift (something neither one of the colleges I went to would have tolerated) But, I managed to keep it together for the most part. He also got me the heart necklace shown in the photo below. I'm normally not even a big fan of heart jewelry, but I absolutely love this one, maybe because he found it, but I also think it's special and a-typical. Our friends Zach and Velvet came to pick us up and we headed to Zola's, a quaint little place on West End that I had always eyed, but never tried. It's always great to see the two of them, and I think I appreciate them now more than ever as I realize how sweet or time in Nashville is. I will really, really miss them after we head to South Dakota. I hope we can see them often even after we move. That's all about that because I really don't want to get emotional this early.

For Ryan, Graham and I made Valentine's Day cupcakes. Or to be more accurate, Graham ate strawberries and licked the batter while I made the cupcakes. Then, we found where Ryan had parked that day and I placed little hearts with clues of where to find his gifts. We put new "tough" floormats on the floor, a Johnny Cash CD in the player, a Gillian Welch CD and the Wedding Crashers DVD in the glove box, and a message for him with his truck's recorder. It was fun to surprise him, and I had a hard time waiting with my plans and keeping it all a secret, as well as hiding the monstrous box his floormats came in.

My confession is that I did NOTHING for Graham. I wanted to buy him a Laurie Berkner CD, but just ran out of time. So, a huge thanks to all of you who thought of him and sent little gifts. He loved them. I would tell him he had a present in the mail and his mouth would open in a huge "oooohhhhh" and he'd throw his arms in the air, as if to say "hooray." You all are the best, and made him feel so special. I'd tell him who sent the gifts and cards (which by the way, he loved the cards too, amazingly enough) and I could see by his expression that he could remember who everyone was. I can't wait for him to see you all again.

swell

I took out my earring studs for a few days, and now I can barely wear earrings! I don't know, but I suspect that it has something to do with pregnancy. Either my body is completley growing new skin, cartilage, EVERYTHING at such an amazing rate that my earring holes are nearly gone, or it is just another part of my anatomy that is SWELLING. Has this happened to anyone else?

curious george

Today was such a fun Saturday for us. Last night was supposed to be a major snowstorm in Nashville. (TWO TO FOUR INCHES, PEOPLE!) Ryan had to stop by the store on his way home from work, and he said he saw people literally running back and forth in a panic, frantic to get their groceries. They must have thought they were going to be holed up for days. Well, nothing accumulated, but we went to explore the little snow there was by taking a walk around Radnor Lake. Graham enjoyed this, although, we made the mistake of letting him out of his stroller to walk a little earlier than we should have, of course, he never sat in it again. He was on full alert for deer and turtles the entire time and constantly told us about the water. It sounds a little like (aaah-er) So, you have to have a trained ear to pick it up. Actually, he really is imitating so many words now, if I listen closely, his jibber jabber is telling a story. A few days ago we were driving, and all of the sudden it dawned on me that he was saying, "sun", "up high" "hot" and then later "night-night". All about the sun being up, and his concern that it was going to get dark and he wouldn't be able to play outside anymore.

After Graham's nap he was in for a big surprise, the "Curious George" movie is out, and we took him to his first matinee. (excluding the shows we took him to as an infant, which were not as child appropriate) I was interested to see his reaction to the big screen, it doesn't take much for a movie to be too intense for him. Nemo is way too scary, so we stick to Baby Einstein, and Veggie Tales. But, he LOVED it, and we loved watching his facial expressions, at one point he hollared out "no-ooo" to the man with yellow hat, who was in danger of falling in to the ocean. He sat on Ryan's lap rhythmically grabbing more popcorn and motioning for me to give him his juice, with his eyes glued to the screen taking in this monkey, george, who's fiasco's remind me of little Graham and his toddler ways. Absolutely adorable. After the show we took these photobooth shots.

A sidenote to the movie experience is that I had my first official celebrity sighting in Nashville. Clint Black took his wife and child to Curious George as well. I think they may have thought we were stalking them, we parked near them, then followed them up the parking garage stairs, stood in line for tickets, chose seats behind them, then walked out to our cars basically together. All pretty much coincidence, although, I did choose the seats behind them somewhat purposefully because I wanted Ryan to see him (since I didn't realize who it was until 1/2 way through purchasing the tickets) It really wasn't too life-changing, neither Ryan and I are people who get too star struck. Although had they invited us over for coffee and chocolate after, I may have accepted. But, they can't be blamed, how were they to know that we all could have been best friends and travelled the country together in their custom bus.

A fun day was had by all.

Plans

Right now I am in the middle of about 57 projects. I have attendancy to start projects, buy the supplies, never finish them. Ryan loves that about me, especially since this little quirk tends to accumulate baskets (if I'm even that organized, piles may be more accurate) of junk that I have a hard time parting with. Now that I'm starting to explore so many incredible blogs with craft ideas, shopping ideas, baby ideas, you name it, I'm so inspired. Ryan should be scared, very scared.

One of the projects that I'm trying to be very serious about, however, is switching all of the print projects in Bob (Ryan's dad's office) to include Ryan's name. For anyone that doesn't know, Ryan is going into business with his father after he finishes his Orthodontic training this June. I've pretty much finalized a logo for them, and you'd think the rest would fall into place, but it's a lot of work to get it all together, add the fact that I have commitment issues to logos that I personally need to LOVE.

DESIGNER PAUSE: (I'm using the script zapfino for a piece of the logo, for any designer readers . . . do you have any other suggestions, I'm wondering if the zapfino font is tired and overused, please feel free to suggest any fonts that you have seen and liked that may be appropriate, I believe they may need to be available in postcript, but I'm not even positive about that)

But, I'm excited about giving the paper pieces a fresh look. I'd also like to take the logo and make a 3-D wall piece for them to hang in the office.

All of this to get to my main point. When will moving become "real" to me? When I'm in SD it seems natural to be there, but when I return to Nashville, this feels so normal too. Plus, with this little baby on the way, it's all I can practically think about, (the baby coming to Nashville). Getting ready in Nashville, buying things to use in Nashville, baby-proofing in Nashville. Maybe it's a coping mechanism, or God, to block my mind from realizing that it will be a very fast 2 months after baby-time to Move out of our home, across the plains, to a home yet to be found in SD, deal with Ryan taking a brand new position with all of the stresses of a new job including but not limited to developing what that position entails, etc . . . all incredibly tight to post-partum (sp?). I barely think about it. Am I ridiculous, or should I just stay in naiveity?

Anyways, some day I'll take photos of the projects I finish. But don't hold your breath!

personality

Graham is becoming absolutely hilarious. And more and more of a handful. Every day I am a mix between exhausted and completely amused. I thought this photo of him kind of displayed the life behind his eyes that have both Ryan and I in complete adoration.

One of the funnier quirks of Graham's, is his made-up words for things. He rarely refers to anything with the noun version of the word, but rather by the sound it makes or the verb of how that thing is used. For example, Dogs are "foofs" (after the roof-roof barking sound) trucks are "brrroom" (no explanation needed there) balls are "shoot", and treats/sweets/anything enjoyable to eat is "teetah" (but, I have no idea where the phrase came from).

Last weekend was beautiful weather, he and Ryan were playing outside in the play house. (which he can now climb by himself all the way up to the loft window, yikes, so glad Ryan taught him that one) He spotted a cat, and tottered off after it. The cat nimbly jetted just out of reach beyond the chain link fence separating our back yard from our neighbors, and layed down in a patch of sun.

Graham paused for a minute, puzzled at this predicament. Ryan said that you could almost see the wheels turning in his little mind. Then he looked up at Ryan in excitement for what he must have thought was a marvelous idea. He ran to the garden, pinched a little piece of dirt in his fingers, and inched toward the cat hoping to convince the cat to come within reach of those grubby little hands, calling ever so sweetly "teetah, teetah".

There she be

Well, here it is. I was going to post a picture without the full-flesh belly, but Ryan didn't think I looked "big" enough if you can imagine that. Here I am 28 wks, and it looks like I could go any day now! I try not to ever complain, though, I have it relatively easy to so many other pregnant women. No morning sickness to speak of, no bed rest. My biggest concern right now is that I am suspicious that my ankles are starting to swell already!!

We haven't done much in terms of preparing for the new little one. Mostly, we've been trying to get Graham settled in to his new-stage, so all of the "new" purchases have been for him. I wonder if this will be something that continues throughout the baby's life. I'll have to be careful that he doesn't ONLY get hand-me-downs. It has been important to us, though, that Graham be comfortable with his surroundings pre-baby, it will be a couple tough transitions for him: first the baby, then a move from the only home he's known . . .

Anyhow, this is life for us right now. It's hard to think about much else when your body is exploding in front of your eyes. Plus, a number of other symptoms that are hard to ignore, how could you NOT obsess!