First Steps!

So for about 3 weeks Graham has been taking little steps, but none that I really felt were worth saying he is really on the move. He still doesn't do it too often, but we do have some video of some good first steps! He seems to be motivated by his favorite food, bananas! In this video he does two sets of about 3 steps. I think the most I have counted is 5...Any day now he is going to realize he is good at this and keep going!

Baptism and Birthday!

So it's been almost a year, and we still hadn't had Graham baptized. Once it became obvious that this was going to take place in the second half of his first year, we decided to combine it with his 1st birthday party. Graham's birthday is January 2nd, but we had the party with our family on December 28th after the baptism. It was a fun day, Graham was exhausted! Pat's parents came down to celebrate, and Graham's godparents were able to come into town.
Graham with his godmother, Auntie Jen!After the ceremony, Graham was so ready for a nap, see picture below! He never uses the binky out and about anymore, but the poor guy was missing his nap and getting so sleepy!
The Tylers, Graham's godfather Justin Morseth, Auntie Megan, Sander, and Auntie Jen

The water made him laugh!

Sander hanging out in Graham's chair, he gets cuter all the time!

Back home, after a good nap, it was time to party! Graham had his own cake, which he really didn't eat. He loved sticking his hands in it, and tasted it, but really wasn't a fan. He certainly was entertaining though! Notice his really cute "1" t shirt..and how wet it is from all his drool! Graham now has a different riding toy for every day of the week.

What a fun day! Thank you to all of the family and friends who made Graham's birthday party such a special day!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun, Graham and I had matching jammies:) He loved all his presents, and even sat in snow for the first time. He wasn't too thrilled with it.
Riding his new rocking horse.
Santa also brought Graham a wheely bug to ride. So far he enjoys pushing it!
Laughing with Daddy.
Testing out the snow.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve night in Michigan was a lot of fun. Graham got to see a lot of his Tyler cousins that he hadn't seen since he was a little guy! Though, again, he was not a fan of Santa, but he liked the toy laptop he brought him!

At Pat's parents house Christmas Eve night.
Taylor, Graham, and Anne. We wished they lived closer, they would be excellent babysitters!
Elizabeth, Hannah, Leigh, Sarah, and Graham. He had lovely ladies with him all night, lucky guy!
Happy before the big guy in red appeared. And then.....
Santa..take two. Same reaction as before! Poor guy!
Graham quickly forgot about Santa as he played with his new toy!

Holiday Fun!

Today was one of those days that you forget about all the things that keep you up at night. We simply took time to enjoy the holiday season, and to enjoy each other as a family. The day didn't start out so perfect, Graham dropped a glass bowl and it shattered in the kitchen. I then spent the next hour on my hands and knees trying to find every last shard of glass. He meanwhile ate about a pound of cheerios in the highchair (the only place I have to restrain him these days!) to keep him occupied as I tried my best to clean up. You may be wondering how he got a glass bowl in the first place, but all you need to know is I was being a bad mommy and enjoying my coffee while someone was exploring. Enough said.

Anyway, we then took Graham after his morning nap to see Santa! The picture isn't the best, it's a picture I took of the 20 dollar photo we had to purchase of Santa terrorizing our little boy. Still, it's clear enough that you get the idea, Graham was not a fan. After the scary Santa episode we went to lunch were he quickly forgot about the old man with the beard as he enjoyed his favorite, blueberry pancakes!

After Santa and lunch, we came home for a nap (the boys napped, I ran around!) and then once everyone was awake, the guys hung out on the couch....

Then we fed Graham an early dinner, and bundled him up to head out to see the Zoo lights. I have been begging Pat to go all season, and in the spirit of our family day, he agreed. The best part was getting Graham bundled up. I was debating what to put him in, then I remembered something special! Pat's mom gave me Pat's first snowsuit! Check out Graham all bundled in his vintage snowsuit circa 1977. Thanks Ginny!

This was great, he fell over and couldn't move....


....then laughed!

Finally, we were off to the zoo. Check out the cool slideshow I made below. Thanks Kate for the idea! Kate is my blogging coach :) (you can see her blog to the right, Lord Family Adventures) So, it was a fun day, Graham was exhausted, and I can truly say we have been truly blessed to be able to celebrate the holidays with our little guy.

Nemecek Christmas

Last weekend we all got together to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family. We also celebrated my dad's 60th birthday! We even took a picture of all of us using the timer on the camera. Nick figured that out, I had no clue. It turned out pretty decent!

Graham got a little battery powered 4 wheeler. Video of him on it to follow later. This was obviously a gift from Uncle Nick. I think we will save it for warmer weather outdoors, as my white baseboards took a beating!

Graham wasn't really into opening presents, but he was interested in some of his new toys, especially these little balls that make noise....
Notice the dog on Graham's sweater. It is a shout out to his buddy Lola. Actually of our two dogs, Lola is the least thrilled with Graham, as evident in the picture, we couldn't get her to sit well for a photo op. Still, I couldn't resist the sweater..too cute.

A decent family picture! Maybe the third one ever of all three of us!

Lastly for tonight, this picture is just plain cute. Graham crawling out of his pants!

Nap update...

For those of you who are interested in the nap schedule...here is an update. Nothing has changed. I had grand plans of trying to eliminate the morning nap because I thought little guy was ready. He isn't. Turned out that he was playing games with me for a few days, because he went right back to his normal schedule, napping at 10 and 2. So, I think we will stick with it for a while. Though, he never sleeps more than about 50 min. in the morning, which I like. It's just enough time for me to get myself pulled together and get us ready to get out the door and do something (anything!) at 11.

Our next thing to tackle is weaning from nursing. More on that later, I'm too tired to go into it now. I took the first step and bought whole milk for Graham. Though I bet it will expire before I use it. Oh well. It was an emotional hurdle for me to jump over. I literally have stared at the milk the last four times I have gone to the grocery, trying to decide if I should buy it or not. This last time, I finally made my big purchase. I even gave Graham a bit to try in his sippy. He spit it out. So I guess he is going to make this a little more challenging. Sounds like a project for 2009.

Away in a manger....

Graham was the lucky recipient of his very own nativity set from his grandma Ginny. He played with it for a little bit, then started to throw baby Jesus around. Something about that just seemed wrong, so we put it away. The next day we tried again, and when Graham went to bed and I was doing my nightly toy round up, Baby Jesus was missing! Of all the little people to be missing, that was the last one I wanted to lose. I looked for baby Jesus for an hour. Finally found him tucked in between some books in his book bin. Graham is really into putting his toys into small little hiding places! so to keep me sane and save baby Jesus, I think we will wait a bit to play with it until he can sit and play..instead of hiding all the pieces!

Busy, busy!

Well, I'm back. Or should I say, my computer is back. It was a drama I won't go into, but at least it is back and fixed, yay! I have a lot of cute pictures to post, we have been busy! I think I'll start with our tree. On December 5th we headed out to get our first tree as a family. It was even cold as heck, and snowing, the perfect winter morning! Graham had a good time!All bundled and ready to go!

Pat and Graham with the tree (actually it's not the one we brought home...I changed my mind after we took the picture!)

Standing in the snow!

Break...

My laptop is in need of a little repair...so I may not be blogging for a few days or so until it comes back. Don't worry, I haven't given up after only a few days, just waiting on the computer to come home! If I get really gutsy I may try to update via my iTouch...hmmm, may not be ready for that!

Work that sippy!

So as we near a year, the nursing will most likely come to an end soon (again, more on that later..it makes me soo sad) So, Graham needs a new way to drink! I am hoping to not have to break out the bottles, so we are practicing really hard with the sippy. He has been pretty good with it since about 7 months. But he seems to know it's called a "sippy" because that is really all he will do-sip! I am working on getting him to actually drink a few ounces of water out if it..he is getting more interested. Or just more thirsty after having tons of salty stuffing over the past few days!
Check out his blue eyes!

One handed sippy!

Too cute!
Or maybe he will go to the bottle afterall:)