Losing It

It finally happened.  Brighton lost her first tooth.  I've been dreading this day for a while now.  Not because I don't like the blood or anything.  I just always felt like if she still had all her baby teeth, she was still my baby.  Silly, I know.  But alas, time stops for no one and she is growing into a sweet, older child.  It makes me sad because these important moments are fleeing from me so fast, but excited to see what's in store next.  Anyone reading this must be thinking, "It's just a tooth for Pete's sake!"But I remember when my baby teeth started falling out and how grown-up I felt.  She's already experiencing that!  Where did that little baby go?  Everyday she's doing things that make her seem older and more mature and I guess I don't notice it until she experiences these rite of passages, making her become an older girl.  Anyway, someone just tell me to get over it because she's still only 6 and it's just a blasted tooth.  Why am I freaking out?  I hope I don't have a meltdown every time she loses a tooth because with all those teeth in her head, that could make for a lot of tearful evenings.  I guess we'll just wait and see what tomorrow holds because her other bottom tooth is loose now too.Wish this toothless girl and her weepy mom good luck!

Week 46

This week squishy face has been a happy kid.  He is all over the place lately.  He has been standing on his own now and thinks it's the best trick.  He gets so excited that he's doing it, that he falls right on his bum after about a second.  It's pretty cute.  He is getting so active and crawling all over the place that laying down is the worst form of punishment for him, so major distractions have to be made in order for this little stick to stay put for these weekly photos.  I honestly can't believe it's almost over!  Graham will be 1 in a few short weeks and I am trying to deny this fact.  He has been such a sweet little baby and I just want him to stop growing up!  But such is life, so I guess I better cherish these last few photo active shoots while I can!  

Art Fair Friday

The kids and I did this fun project with coffee filters, markers, and water to bring in the fall season.  They were pretty proud of their leaf creations and I must admit it was pretty fun to do together.

Week 45

This week's shoot could be described with one phrase:  Not amused.  Graham has gotten to the point where I can do anything to try and make him laugh and he is uninterested if he's laying down.  Any other time he's rolling with laughter, but on the ground, life is just not as fun. Poor kid.  He just wants to play and all I want do is constrain him.  Oh well, he'll just have to live with it for a few more weeks.  In case you didn't catch that I said few more weeks.  I can't believe in a little over a month he'll be 52 weeks!  Where did that year go?  I'm so glad I've documented it so I can actually look back and see what I feel like breezed by way too quickly.

The Allusive Achilles Enemy

Graham's way of getting around on our tile floor is this walker.  He loves cruising all over the place in the thing.  And we love watching him zoom by.  The only down side is that the green plastic part where the wheels go is the exact height where your achilles heel is.  So when he flies towards you and doesn't stop, your heels get it good.  Many tears have been shed due to this achilles enemy.  In fact, the kids have turned it into a game by running away as fast as they can while Graham chases them.  Luckily the kids are faster than little Graham is in his cruiser, but I don't know for how long, so I guess we'll just have to be on our guard until the allusive achilles enemy strikes again!

Week 44

Graham has been doing better this week and he's just about back to his old sweet self.  Things are going well for everyone else around here too.  Brighton is loving school and Porter and I are finding a groove being on our own together.  Doesn't it look like he's giving the sign for more in this picture?  I guess thats kind f representative of his personality as well. Now that he's not only eating baby food, but real person food, he's an unstoppable force.  The second he sees some sort of food product in your hand, he's staring you down with his big goofy grin, chomping at the bit.  It makes for interesting dinners.  We love all these new little steps he's taking and it's fun to experience it with the whole family.  Brighton LOVES giving him new foods now and thinks it's hilarious to watch him try new things.  We love our little guy and can't complain about life at week 44.  

Horsing Around

Some friends here told us about the horse parade they have every year in Lubbock.  Basically, it's exactly how it sounds.  There are just a bunch of horse groups riding down Main street.  The kids loved it.  They even got to see the Masked Rider which is the mascot of Texas Tech University.  It was the first cooler day of the fall time and since we haven't experienced an actual winter in over a year, they felt the need to bundle up.  Anyway, we all enjoyed ourselves and are starting to like the way Lubbock feels. 

 

Leverage

I walked into Brighton's room the other day to find this...  She had put Graham in her old bathing suit.  Honestly, she's never helped put any type of clothing on him so I was pretty impressed that she got the whole thing on.  Well, I had to laugh when I saw it and grab my camera.  I'm sure Brighton will use this as leverage when they are older, but as for now, she just thought he made a cute baby girl.

Passing Through

A little while back, on our way to Lubbock we stayed in Midland to visit our old stomping ground and see some great friends.  We stayed at the Atwoods and they even threw a party for us so we could see all our old friends there.  It was so nice and really needed.  When we lived in Midland I always felt like I couldn't wait to get out of there to move on to the next phase of life.  Going back there reminded me that we really did have a great life there.  I actually missed it!  It was such a good time in our lives and we made a lot of great friends that were really missed.  Anyway, thanks to everyone who made our trip to Midland so fun!  And it's only 2 hours away from Midland so hopefully we'll be able to see these friends again at least once before we move!

The trampoline in the backyard and the giant bubbles in the frontyard were a hit with the kids.

Just a few of our great friends.  This was the 

only shot I got of any adults.  Lame, I know 

but I had to document it.

Tali (one of my young women) and me

Right before we moved from Midland, Camden 

moved in and Brighton and her the little buddies.  

It was like they picked up right where they left off 

when we saw them. It was so sweet.

Porter new obsession:  Razor scooters

Week 43

I've been going on and on about how great this baby is all year.  Well, this week he turned the tides a bit.  He's caught a cold and on top of that has been bumping and bonking around everywhere while trying to pull up on things.  Don't get me wrong, he's still been a good baby, just not as happy as we're used to.  So this is as good as it gets for week 43.  Let's hope week 44 treats us a little better!