Conga Line, one more time

A few people said they weren’t able to view the “Conga Line” video from my earlier post. I’m posting again via You Tube.

Rock Star

Here’s Jack’s rendition of “Rock Star”

Conga Line

We have one of those car/walker things for Carson but I’ll be honest, I put it to the side because it was causing more frustration for Carson…and back pain for us. Today I got a note from Carson’s teacher saying he was doing really good with the walker (they have the same one at school) and that it doesn’t get away from him too much any more, but he still gets frustrated when he gets stuck. So tonight I pulled it out of the corner and sent Carson down the hall to Daddy. He LOVED all the attention. I grabbed the camera and told Paul to send him my way…this is what we got.





We laughed soooo hard at Jack's response...completely on his own he decided to jump in line!

Jack is 100% into the Christmas Season! He loved getting all the christmas decorations out and decorating the tree. Our magic elf "Doc" has returned and as if Jack didn't already wake up early, he's in our room at the crack of dawn every morning asking where we think Doc is hiding. It's precious. He is obsessed with singing "Rock Star" from the Shrek movie. I just can't even tell you how many times a day we hear..."she was lookin' kinda dumb with her finger and her thumb in the shape of an L on her forehead". The rest of the words are a jumble but it's so cute.

Carson is so sweet these days. We took him for his 9 month check up yesterday and he's doing great. It's funny because we've said all along that we feel like he is bigger than Jack, but when I compared their height & weight at 9 months, Carson is only a few ounces heavier than Jack and is actually a quarter of an inch shorter than Jack at 9 mos! And of course as you've seen...he's everywhere! He's babbling a lot and loves to get in the cabinets and drawers. He is finally on a regular routine sleeping from 7 to 6am. It's been a LONG time getting to this point and we are so thankful!

6th Anniversary

PS...I still haven't figured out the best way to display pictures which is why they're always jumbled at the bottome!

A mid-week update…

I took Carson back to the ENT doctor on Tuesday. Murphy’s law…after waiting 2 hours and having the audiologist, Nurse Practitioner AND doctor see him, all three said his tubes look great! Praise the Lord!  He was wonderful given it was nearing lunch time and even slept on me for 30 minutes or so. I thoroughly enjoy the snibbits of snuggle time he gives me! Both the ENT and my good friend who is a pediatrician said the fever Carson had on Monday screamed flu…which is probably how Jack ended up with it just a few days later. Regardless we’re all feeling pretty good. I hope I’m on the tail end of my cold, which I do not think was the flu.

During lunch today a few Mom’s from school went to visit Joshua’s parents David & Amanda. They removed his breathing tube today and were slowly waking him from sedation. They are still awaiting several test results but they are surrounded by their family and great friends daily. PLEASE remember them in your thoughts and prayers. All of the classrooms are taking up donations for the family.

Jack had his weekly gymnastics class tonight. On the way there he said “Mommy! I just saw a chair like on Nemo!”  After he described the scene where the fish jumped out and the guy is getting his teeth cleaned (not in such a clear order) I finally realized we had passed a dentist’s office and since it was dark, he could see the dental chair through the window in the lighted office. What a clever kid!

Carson got a new tooth this week! Sunday night I heard a strange grinding sound as he was in the highchair. I couldn’t see/feel anything until Monday morning, but there it is…a top tooth popping through!

Hope everyone had a good hump day!

So Blessed ~
Jill

Prayer Request

I’ve shared this with a few of you, but I wanted to take a moment to ask you to pray for Joshua Vincent. Joshua is a baby in Carson’s class. He’s only 9 months old and was diagnosed with neuroblastoma one week ago.  Joshua’s big sister Julia is Jack’s age and has been one of his classmates for a while.

I cannot even begin to imagine what they are walking through right now. Fortunately they are surrounded by a wonderful church and Sunday school class. So I want to extend that prayer as much as I can…it’s all we can do right now. You can follow Joshua’s progress at:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joshuagvincent

-Jill

Too long since my last update!

I knew when I started this blog that I would have to be diligent in my updates! If you don't stay updated, people will stop checking the blog!

Let me see if I can sum things up since my last post:

Friday- 10/30 we surprised our friend and babysitter Alyssa with a surprise going away party. Alyssa was Jack's teacher when he turned one and she's been our babysitter and good friend since then! We are sad that she left B'ham to move home and work on her Master's Degree, but we wish her lots of luck...and we know we'll be seeing her soon!

She thought she was coming to babysit!

Marci, Alyssa & I

10/31-Halloween. We got together with the Carney’s once again! The boys had a great time!

Our Woody & Buzz

The following weekend Paul and I enjoyed a weekend away for my friend Beth’s wedding. She lives in Wisconsin so we got to visit 3 new airports and a new city. We had a wonderful time!

Paul and I in front of the State Capitol Mary Kate, me, Beth, Debra & Tami

And that kind of gets us to now…

Last Saturday night Carson started running a fever. By the time we returned Sunday evening he still had fever so Laura and I took him to the doctor on Monday. We were told he had yet another ear infection so we started him on antibiotics <again>! Tuesday was a rough day. I took Carson to the sick care facility at work, which I hated to do, but work is really busy right now for me and Paul both. By Wednesday I thought for sure he was on the mend. Unfortunately JACK was the one with fever! Luckily Paul was able to take him to the doctor since I had two meetings I couldn’t reschedule (I have been working furiously on a website that was to go live this weekend!). He called me an hour after the appointment to tell me Jack had H1N1. My company has a policy that if we are directly exposed, we have to be out for 72 hours. BAM- I had to go home! The pediatrician started Jack on Tamiflu and gave us a Rx for Carson in case he spiked a fever. By the time Paul picked him up that afternoon, his fever was 99.9 so we went ahead and started him on the Tamiflu as well. So…it’s now Saturday evening and I’m pretty sure the boys are on the mend and I’m feeling just a little puny…but no fever!

I’ll admit these last few weeks/months have been a little rough for us. We’ve been very sleep deprived because it seems once we get Carson sleeping, Jack starts waking for some reason and then vise versa. And poor Carson…as soon as we get his ears cleared up his reflux acts up, or he’s got a tooth coming in or he gets a cold. We both feel like he’s had a rough month and Paul and I are both praying that we can start backing him off of his reflux meds as he is growing and eating more table food. I’d like to ask all of you prayer warriors to please keep our little Carson in prayer. Pray that his ears would be healed, that his reflux would go away completely. He’s such a sweet baby but I feel like he can’t catch a break! We decided to take him back tot he ENT on Tuesday.

So I think that catches you all up…for now anyway. I have another update I’ll post tomorrow, but I’ll give your eyes a break for now! :-)

View Full Album

End of a long week

*First off-Happy Birthday to my nephew Peyton !!

It's the end of a long week at the Graham household. Long because Paul has been in Colorado all week. Boo! We don't like it when Daddy is gone!! Thankfully my Mom has been here to help me which has been great! It's also been an emotional week. The Dad of one of my childhood friends passed away. Things like that quickly remind me how short life is and how blessed and lucky I am.

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us. More updates and pictures to come. But here are some from this past week.

Pulling up on everything!
Carving Pumpkins...hard work

This is Carson's new thing- that's his tongue sticking out under the passy

Jack was very excited to get started

Carson's first trim

His shirt got stuck like this, looked like two big ears!

Playing together...so sweet!

Monday again...and half way through October!

Where do the months keep going? I'm amazed that October is almost gone and Carson is already 7 months old! I still haven't gotten all the pictures off of the camera from our trip to Canada, but I did want to update the blog and posts are no fun without photos!

Paul being silly with Dad.

Carson and Grandpa...is he a Graham or what? Still haven't figured out what to do with Carson's hair. It grows STRAIGHT forward!

Grandma Viv & Carson. He was back to his normal happy self by the end of the week!

This week is yet another busy one! Paul has been working in the yard like crazy trying to get everything cleaned up. He's still got lots of wood to split, but the yard looks much better! And that's a good thing because we're hosting my friend Callie's baby shower at our place this Saturday! Thank God for Mom! She's coming this week to help me and will stay through next week since Paul will be in Colorado for the entire week.

Then next weekend we're going to a halloween party ;-) and then trick or treating on Saturday! Jack is going to be Buzz Light Year and Carson is going to be Woody! The costumes are hysterical, I'll definitely take lots of pictures...but here's a sneak peak because I just can't resist!

He immediately starting posing and saying "To infinity and beyond!"

So, I guess that's it for today. Lots of things coming up so hopefully I can be a little faster with the photos and updates.

We're here...in Lindsay

We arrived yesterday as planned and are enjoying our time with the family and the beautiful colors!

We had planned to leave Birmingham between 3-4 pm on Wedesday but didn't get on the road until around 6pm. Carson has had a fever virus so Paul and I split the workday and he had several things to finish before we could leave. The drive over was fine and Carson slept the entire way which meant he was WIDE awake when we arrived at the hotel. We had a bit of a rough night with him up on the hour, but we are still glad we went over the night before.

the boys at the hotel

Our flight was great! The airport wasn't too busy and our flight was even early! We had a great flight attendant, Joe, and we sat on the front row. (the camera was in the overhead so pics of Carson's first plane ride will have to be taken on the return!)

Finally out of the car!


Beautiful weather & great walk outside

The leaves are just starting to change...the walk was beautiful!

Heading down the road

More to come...

Carson on the move

Just a quick video of Carson on the move.  Little by little he’s exploring more and more. Tonight while I was making dinner I thought he sounded a little closer than normal. As I came through the dining room I saw him sitting near the front door, chasing Frank. This was the first time he has come all the way out of the den!  He will also pull/push up on ANYTHING!  He pushed up on his little drum this week. They call him the dare devil at school.

I took him for his ENT follow up  this morning and they said his ears & the tubes look great!  We also had his hearing retested and he passed with flying colors. Only bad news is that he has a bad case of thrush. Poor thing, we get his ears better and now his mouth hurts. I’m also certain he’s got another tooth (or teeth) coming through. He’s FINALLY sleeping through the night…praise God!

Jack got his hair cut tonight. I always hate to cut his beautiful curls, but as the humidity goes away, it doesn’t curl quite as much and it was very long. We’re going to Cate’s birthday party tomorrow so I’ll try to get some pictures. Next week starts our month of craziness so I’ll be doing good to get posts up!

Another week...

Another week and weekend have flown by! It's been a busy one...here's a recap:

Tuesday morning I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off to get the boys dressed for school pictures. Since it's technically "fall", I had them dressed in cords & jeans even though it was 80 degrees! Jack complained the whole time (probably because he was hot!). I walked in to school and it hit me...pictures aren't until THIS week. Oh well, trial run. *Carson also slept really well.

This weekend we went to a birthday party at "Pump it Up" where Jack got close to a black eye. It's a good boo-boo, but the whole eye didn't turn black thank goodness. We also had several trees cut down in the back yard so it looks very different. Neither of us wanted to cut them down but the two largest trees had a fungus growing in/on them and were getting a little risky. Saturday night we enjoyed a cookout with our friends and all the kids.

Sunday, THE BEST PART...EVERYONE IN THE GRAHAM HOUSEHOLD SLEPT TILL 7:30! IT'S A TRUE MIRACLE!!! If you know anything about our kids (JACK) he NEVER sleeps past 6 or 6:30. The rest of the day has been great. Church, groceries, park, great pot roast and 7 or 8 loads of laundry!

Carson is all over the place crawling and pulling up on us. He's sleeping much better and is such a happy guy unless he's tired or hungry!

Here's our week in pictures:


Jack got Slinky Dog from Toy Story. He loves him. Notice the bump under the eye.

He wrote the letter "J"all by himself!!!

The boys playing together. It's so fun to watch Jack share with Carson and he loves it!

The worst of the trees in the backyard.

What a mess!

Carson in the jump-up, not jumping! :-)

Tubes before Beach

It's taken me all week to get this post up...


Carson's tube procedure went without a hitch! We were getting a little nervous because we arrived at 5:45AM and they said he would be first (6:30) since he was the youngest baby there. 6:30 came and went and Carson was getting a little fussy since he had not eaten since 11:30 the night before. They took him back a few minutes before 7 AM and he was back in the room 15 minutes later. So far so good! He's still not sleeping through the night, but we feel certain we're getting closer now!


We had another wonderful time in Ft. Walton, can't thank the McKay's enough for letting us use the house! Friday Paul and Jack surprised me with a beautiful mum and a cake. Paul and I had a nice dinner out (just the two of us!!) and went for drinks on the bay afterwards. It was wonderful, just what I wanted!

Jack playing in the sand. He LOVES the beach!

Me & my boys with Birthday cake!

Matching pj's...so sweet!

Jack helping Paul with my birthday cake.

Carson, drooling up a storm chewing on Grandma's purse strap!

Carson in his hospital room before tubes.

Carson is getting tubes!

9/16 Update: They were able to get Carson in sooner so he'll actually have the procedure tomorrow (9/17). We'll head to the beach later that day as long as he's feeling well. If he's at all like Jack, he'll be raring to go!

As many of you know sweet little Carson has already endured four ear infections. Well we finally got our referral and met with the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor this morning! They did a tympanogram, hearing test and then we met with a nurse practitioner and the doctor. The tympanogram was completely flat indicating fluid behind the hears…which was not a surprise. They also did a hearing test on him (which isn’t 100% at his age) and the audiologist said he was at the “very low” end of normal. Both the Dr. & Nurser Practitioner said his ears were very “gunky” so…………..he's getting tubes! Yay! Finally! Right now we’re scheduled for next Thursday at 5:45 AM, but nurse/scheduler is going to call if they have something sooner. We’re scheduled to go to the beach Wednesday night through Sunday, but if they can get him in this week, we’ll move our dates around a little.

Although we're happy that there may be an end in sight to all of the antibiotics and ear pain he has had, it is still scary when they have to "go under" anesthesia. I'll send an update later but will ask everyone to keep him in your prayers next Thursday morning (if not before).

Down we go!

Yep...down the crib goes now that Carson pulled up for the first time last night!! Paul took him upstairs and put him in his crib while he got the bath water ready. I walked in a few minutes after him and the picture below is how I found him...happy as a clam! We had already lowered the crib half way when he started sitting up in it, but I wasn't expecting him to pull up already! He's growing TOO fast and I fear he's going to be walking much earlier than Jack! Maybe not walking, but he's certainly going to be much more mobile very soon! He gets on all fours, and rocks a lot but hasn't quite mastered a true crawl. He's now 17 lbs, 4 oz! We meet with the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor tomorrow at 8:15 to discuss tubes since he's already had 4 ear infections.

It's going to be a short week for us in the Graham household! We are heading to Ft. Walton Beach Wednesday night for our annual family trip. This time we are lucky that my mom will be joining us to help with Carson since he is still a little young for all day at the beach! Jack is very excited and Paul and I are SO ready to relax on the beach!

This was the first shot of him standing...see how excited he is!!

Down the crib goes!! (in case you're wondering, yes, the crib is at a slant because he still sleeps with a wedge in there to keep him propped up. Every time we take it out it seems he has another ear infection!)

He's VERY close to crawling! Goes from this position to sitting like a pro!

Reading "How I Became a Pirate" to Jack's class at school...LOL, just realized you can't even see the kids I was reading to. There are about 18 in his class.

Aunt Laura & Carson at Iguana grill; his first time in a restaurant high chair. Such a big boy!

Sweet Jack

I just had to share this...I got an email this morning from the Mom of one of Jack's school friends. Jack & Bella have been at Bright Horizons together since they were newborns but they're now in different classes. Bella's mom emailed me this today:

"Jack just gets cuter each time I see him. When I got out of the car this morning, he said, “Hi, Bella’s mommy. My mommy is coming back at 4:30 pm. She says that is not a long time.” So sweet….."

This was after Jack followed me from inside the playground gate and kept telling me he was going to miss me and I kept saying "4:30...not long I promise!".

These are the little things I never want to forget!

Love,
Jill

Houston...we have a problem.

Yep, the knob on my oh-so-gorgeous faucet broke yesterday. You're lucky I'm even letting you see this beauty! Our bathroom is off limits to those who have never seen our house....it's where the money ran out. Our vanity is a lovely shade of butter but since it's circa 1981, it's extra long and not worth replacing since I want to rip everything else out as well!

I'm just wondering how long it will stay this way since I live with Dave Ramsey. (Love you honey!)

*Oh and I just want to add that the sink is actually clean. Unfortunately this is what it always looks like.