Week 20

Remember how I said this kid saves his smiles for certain occasions or special people? Well, all that has changed. He will smile or even belly laugh at the drop of a hat...Literally. You could drop your hat right next to him and he would crack up. His whole face lights up when he's happy and it is seriously infectious. What a treat to have such a little spirit unite a family just by looking at us. We love him and all he does for us. Since he's already 20 weeks I guess I better stop oogling and start actually documenting him. Lately he has blossomed when it comes to being mobile and aware. He has started trying to roll over (he's not there yet but he's on his way!). He also loves to try and sit up, not that he has the capability to yet, but at least the desire is there. At dinner time he stares down our food like he's ready to pounce on it, and he drools and bites (no teeth yet!) like you wouldn't believe. He seems to be a mainstream baby and I'm content with that. As long as he's healthy and happy, we're all one big happy family.

Week 19

I know it may not seem like it, but this kid is just a touch past his 4 month mark. 4 months came and went in the blink of an eye and I'm still trying to gain a grasp on a life of 3. They're all great and lovable and messy and sweet, but this one seems to have stolen my heart for the time being. He is super duper happy all the time. He smiles through his tears. He's got just the right amount of squishy padding on thoughs thighs and cheeks to want to eat up. This baby takes the cake when it comes to cuteness. If all babies were as great as little Graham Cracker, I'd have a dozen more... or maybe just one more. Anyway, since he's 4 months now, I thought I'd write down his baby stats:

Height: 25 inches- 34th percentile

Weight: 13 lbs 5 oz.- 8th perctentile

Head Circmference: 42 cm.- 15th percentile

Graham's Blessing Day

Today Graham was blessed and it was a special day. Since we live far from everyone so we didn't really have any family come but that's okay because it was nice and simple and our ward here is like our second family. Graham was a happy baby through the whole thing and Kyle gave him a sweet blessing. One of the things that stuck out to me during his blessing was when Kyle blessed him to gain a strong bond with his siblings that they may be there for each other throughout the good times and the trials in life. I know Kyle and his siblings are super close and I would love for my kids to have the same relationship with each other as Kyle does with his brothers and sisters so I thought it was special that Kyle was mindful of that and blessed him with it.

I know normally people go home and have a celebration after church but we figured we'd just stay for the rest of church since our kids were begging to go to primary. Kyle took Graham with him to sunday school and priesthood because he fell asleep in his arms. About 10 minutes before priesthood ended, he got my attention in relief society and asked for the diaper bag. I ran out only to find the mother of all explosions in the diaper of little dude. I should rephrase that… in the diaper and the pants and shirt and sweater and socks of little dude. I've never seen him have a blowout of this proportion. And of all the days to do it, his blessing day?! Really?! I thought his blessing outfit was destroyed beyond repair but thanks to Oxi-Clean and some elbow grease, it's like there was never any damage. So needless to say, I didn't get any pictures of him in his blessing outfit and this was the only picture we got of the day, but I think I'll throw it back on him and do a little photo shoot later on this week. Anyway, it was definitely a day to remember. I'm so grateful for Graham and my sweet, crazy family and today I was reminded of the enormous blessings I have here on earth.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I'm one lucky girl to have such little cuties!

And this is what my other little cutie did when I asked to take his picture. I guess it's true when they say that it's pretty much impossible to catch a leprechaun because this one was as hard to snatch up as a four-leaf clover.

Week 18

We're going green this week, and I don't we're being environmentally friendly. Everything in our house is filled with rainbows, treasure, and green leprechauns. The little G man wanted in on the action so you can enjoy him here sporting his St. Patrick's Day spirit. He's definitely my little pot o' gold!

Attack of the Red Ant

When we lived in Texas, our great friends also lived in Texas about 5 hours away from us. One time when we visited them, their oldest girl got attacked by a village of red ants. Now this was not only traumatizing for her (as she had been attacked by another group of ants prior to this as well), but it was a devastating experience for Brighton also. I really wasn't aware of the trauma it left until today as we were leaving church. I told Brighton to get in the car when all of a sudden she starts thrashing around and screaming "Get it off! Get it off!" You could hear the terror in her voice. I was seriously worried that a scorpion had stung her or something. Then I looked down at her ankle where she'd been pointing and kicking it around and she's saying, "It's a red ant! Like Gracie's red ants!" I flicked it off, but not before it bit her. The entire car ride home she's bawling and asking if Gracie still has her ant bites all over. I assured her that they went away and Gracie had a ton more than she did, so she shouldn't be so upset, which kind of calmed her down. After that I just had to laugh to myself because you never know what is going to stay in your kids' brains and the fact that the attack of the red ants (which happened over a year ago) left such a scar on her was pretty random. It'll be interesting to see the things that are happening now in our life that will make an impact on them down the road.

*Did you ever have that fun dip candy when you were growing up? I used to love that flavored sugar but it was always hard to come by in our house. The kids must have inherited my love for the stuff because whenever we see it, they go crazy for it. Today, Brighton's primary teacher gave them some of it and the kids couldn't be happier. After seeing their green-dyed mouths, I now know why my mom hated us to have it.

Mustachioed 4 Monther

Graham is officially 4 months old today. I still feel like we are beginning to adjust to having a third little kiddo in the house. He started out a bit of a difficult baby, but now he is our little mellow child. Maybe we just can't get the newborn thing down or something?! Anyway, we love him and couldn't imagine our world without him. On a side note, our friends sent these super cute binkies which I love and since he doesn't take binks (just like the rest of our kids) I try about once a week to pop it in his mouth on the slight chance he'll keep it in. Graham is such a happy babe that when he smiles his whole face lights up, mouth fully opened and everything, so sticking a binky in is virtually impossible with this guy. Well, today on his 4 month b-day, he decided to let me see the cuteness for about 3 seconds. Then he got too happy and it fell right out. But not before I took my fair share of cute pics. Thank you rapid speed shot-taking camera. My favorite part is that he looks like he's lifting his hands up to curl the ends of his mustache like he's an evil villain in a 1920's silent film. Sorry, buddy. You don't have us convinced. You're too cute to have just tied a shrieking woman to the train tracks.

Week 17

I think we're on the tail-end of sickness in our house. Graham seems to be the only one with the last few symptoms and thankfully, Kyle is almost recovered, as today is the first day of school again (Did I mention he had a whole week off? It was heavenly! We did nothing and loved it!). Kyle caught something the second half of his break and was worried he was going into his last quarter of school (That's right! Only one more quarter until clinicals!) being all sick. But I think we're over it. Anyway, about the little chunk, he is still positively sweet. He's almost 4 months now and is perfectly content with staying on his back. He doesn't really try to move or roll yet, but I forgot when babies are supposed to start doing that. Is that bad? I think now that I have 3 it's almost easier when they don't start conquering those hurdles. Okay I'm starting to sound like a bad mom so I'll keep my mouth shut and just enjoy the time I have with this little chubby ball of goodness.