Graham is 4 Months Old!!!

It is hard to believe that it was 4 months ago that Graham made his entrance into the world. It feels like it was just yesterday. My cousin Mary Miller just had her sweet little Mary Payton (Feb 28th) and waiting for her to arrive brought back all the memories of Graham's delivery and the excitement of the new little baby. Can't believe it was 4 months ago. We can't wait to meet our new little cousin. Graham is growing like a weed. He is really the happiest baby ever. This week he has come down with his first cold. Every morning as he wakes up, he coughs and coughs and coughs...you would think he was miserable, but he just smiles and laughs after each cough...I think he thinks it is funny, meanwhile Alex and I think he is choking...HA HA HA.

He has almost mastered turning over from his stomach to his back and he is now starting to reach for his toys. Talking up a storm too. Every night when Alex gets home they seriously have about a 5 minute conversation... If only we knew what Graham was thinking. This week we started rice cereal. He seems to like it but only has enough patience for about 5 scoopfuls. Finally, mom got the hint and added apple juice to the rice cereal, now he loves it!!!

We went for his 4 month check up this week. Graham was almost 14lbs (50%) and 26 inches (98%), looks like we have a tall one on our hands. Big sister Ella came this weekend, he was so excited to see her. He just loves looking at her and loves it when she reads to him. Looks like Ella has gotten her daddy's love of reading!!!

It should be a nice, (warm) weekend this weekend. Hopefully we'll get out for a few outdoor shots. I have added my 5 favorite pictures. One at his birth and one for each month. Enjoy!!!

October 26th- Day 2

November 26th- 1 Month

December 25th- 2 Months

January 29th-3 months

February 22nd-4 months

Graham's New Friend

Just wanted to show you Graham's new friend...we call him Big L!!! It is the best stuffed animal ever. You put the bottle inside the stuffed animal and he can hold it and feed himself. He makes it till about the last ounce and then needs a little help. He thinks it is funny and gives Big L and big smile when we get it close to him. What will they think up next?

Look at ME!!!


Seeing eye to eye with Big L

Graham's Baptism

Sunday was Graham's baptism at our church, Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church. This is where we got married and also where Alex and Elizabeth were baptized. Graham wore the Lancaster family christening gown. Six generations of babies in the Lancaster family have worn the same heirloom hand-embroidered christening gown made in England over 200 years ago. Graham is the second of his generation (Sutton wore it) to wear the gown. The gown was made by Graham’s great, great, great, great, great grandmother in England and has been handed back and forth across the Atlantic a number of times to serve various members of the family. The gown is hand-embroidered in eyelets from a point at the center front in a widening panel that extends down the front and in a six-inch border around the entire skirt, attesting to the expert needlecraft of the women long ago. The sweater that Graham wore was made by his late great, great grandmother, Eileen Lancaster Stephens (my grandmother) for other cousin’s christenings. Graham joined his mother, aunt, great-grandmother, great aunts and lots of cousins in sharing the special tradition of our family. He looked so special in it, and as Alex says, it will be the only time my son wears a gown.
After the baptism we went over to Ken and Linda's for a wonderful lunch contributed by all.

Cake made by my favorite cake baker,
Haines Barksdale from For Goodness Cakes, Charlotte, NC

It was fun to get all the cousins together, all dressed up and pretty. This was the first time that Graham really got to meet and see his cousin Sydney, born 3 weeks before him. They loved looking at each other and both had lots of grins to a give to each other. We decided it was time to get all the cousins together for a pic. Not as easy as it seemed, but we had fun trying to get them to smile or at least not cry.





Well that was it, a big and fun weekend. Graham had a blast and was such a good and happy baby...what a good sport he was. Now Tuesday was a different story. Miss Becky said he was fussy baby all day, guess he wanted some more attention, ha ha ha!!!

What a busy few weeks!!!

Hello to all. We have had a fun, but busy last few weeks. Graham is growing like crazy and is such a HAPPY baby. We are having so much fun each and every day watching his grow up. Ella still continues to be such a big help and Graham loves seeing her smiling face every other weekend. Ella is positive that he says her name every time he sees her, it sound like wella, wella, and I think she is right!!! February started off with me turning the BIG 30!! Alex, Ella and Graham sent me beautiful flowers and let me spend the morning at the spa. Bubba came and visited, while Ms. Patsy was at the beach with her girlfriends. Bubba was gracious enough to babysit, while we went out to dinner with a few friends. Graham did great for Bubba, that is he went to bed 15 mins. after we left. Boy did he have it easy!!!
After a big birthday weekend, we had the WHOLE family in town for Graham's baptism. It was so much fun to spend time with the Scott family, the Childress family and of course Bubba and Patsy and Grandma and Grandpa. On Saturday we took the kids to the Aquarium and everyone was loving it.
Even Graham was mesmerized by the fish.
After having the WHOLE family, both sides, over for a nice peaceful, romantic (HA HA HA) Valentines cookout, everyone was worn out. Time to get ready for Graham's big day.

Happy January

Hello to all! Well I am embarrassed that we have been slack on our blog. I have heard from several of you and I am sooooo sorry!!! It is a lot harder to post than we ever thought. Everyone is doing great and Graham is growing like a weed. He has begun to hold his head up by himself and sit in the bumbo with no problem. He even laughed last week. Every morning he is full of so many smiles, it is hard for me to get to work on time, which I haven't done yet!! Work has been good and Graham is loving his nanny, Becky!!! She seems to have him on a great schedule and he is even sleeping through the night, well some nights. Graham is still mesmerized by his big sister and she continues to be a big help. She even feeds him when she is here. Makes me think 6 years is a good age difference, ha ha ha!!! Here are a few pics from the past week. Hopefully Alex will have blog moment soon! For now you get me!!!


Graham holding his head up while loving his daddy.


Precious helping with the laundry!



What a cute frog!


Love my mommy and the bath!


This was his reaction when I told him I was going back to work.


Happy Baby!!!



So serious!

YES, We Know We Are Slack

So sorry we have been so slack on our blog...In our defense our camera broke right after Thanksgiving and we had to beg Santa to let us add it to our list. Luckily, he allowed us to make some changes and we are back!!! You won't find me posting much, but since we are so far behind I thought I would add my two cents. Graham is doing great. He is getting bigger and bigger everyday. I can't believe it has already been 10 weeks. We went to his 2 month check up this past week and he weighed in at a whopping 11 lbs and 5 ounces. He was in the 75th percentile for height and 70th percentile for weight. Most of you will say that he is the spitting image of Alex and I must agree. I look at him daily and try to find something that is me...well I have found it!!! Graham's head is only in the 28 percentile, therefore he doesn't have his dad's head...It is all mine.

I write this post on the eve of my last day on maternity leave. Tomorrow I return to work, boo hoo!!! I am excited to return and see all my friends and students. I am also eager to get back into the real world. Now don't get me wrong, I have loved every minute of my time with Graham, and it is going to be very hard to leave him come 7:15 Monday morning. I will miss our afternoon snuggles, our morning play sessions and our long walks, but I must return to the workforce and help the future of our world. Ha Ha Ha If I have learned one thing while I have been away, it is that I admire all stay at home moms. It is a tough job and one I can only probably manage for 3 months of the year. So I leave you with a slide show of the last 10 weeks, a picture a week. Please keep check the blog, I promise we will update more...and say a little prayer for our family that we survive the first week back and the house cleaning fairy comes ever so often. Happy New Year