Mystic Seaport

learning how rope was made

Watching something with Grampa

On our first full day there, we had the morning and early afternoon to do what we wanted, before we needed to be at the rehearsal dinner for the wedding.  We chose to visit the  Mystic Seaport.  For those of you who don't know, Adam's dad actually grew up in Rhode Island, and was a competitive sailboat racer.  So he knows a lot about boats.  Dylan was excited to see boats as well.  I am not sure when he gained this new found word, or love of boats, but I think we heard " I see boats" about 1000 times while we were there.

The seaport was pretty cool, it reminded me a lot of Old City park. A place we would go to for field trips in school. Dylan saw a horse, got to get in a barrel,  got to climb up on lots of boats, and even got to hear them " toot toot."  He was really sad that most of them didn't toot their horns though.  We also heard "toot too" a lot. 

In a barrel

He was hungry!

Graham enjoyed the ride for the most part.  He had done lots of sitting so was pretty ancy by the time we were ready to leave to get back for nap time.  But that was after lunch time of course.  Adam and I were on a mission to eat as many lobster rolls, and clam chowder that we could.  So that's what we had for lunch! 

The weather was beautiful.  About the time we were thinking about putting on our jackets, our waitress said something like" Yeah, it's starting to get warm though"  I guess that just sums it up.  We weren't in Texas anymore!:)



Capitan Dylan

After naps we headed to Adam's aunts house where we had a delicious authentic homemade Mexican dinner.  It was a lovely evening outside ( I actually wore a sweater, and the boys were in long sleeves and Jeans) I can't wait until the weather cools down here!

The next day was the wedding!  I'll post on that later!

Flying High- Getting to Mystic

The paci for take off, helped him fall asleep!

Well we made it.  We are back from our first vacation with the boys that involved a plane.  I know everyone gets tired of hearing how awesome my kids are, but seriously y'all they were incredible.  On the plane. In the hotel.  Out doing things for the wedding. Incredible.

Being silly



6 Am wake up call. Daddy wasn't ready

Luckily for us, we were flying with Adam's parents, so we had a couple extra sets of hands to help us out.  The boys each had their own seat, so we had the entire row 12.  Graham had to sit by the window because we lugged his car seat.  So it went, Graham, Adam , Me, and on the other side sat Dylan with Grandma and Grandpa.  He loved looking out the window.  Dylan was amazing on the way there.  We brought our DVD player, but of course it was dead, so he just kind of sat there the whole time.  Graham took about an hour and a half nap, and then was pretty OK as long as Adam was paying attention to him. 

waiting on our plane

Once we got to Hartford ( we went to Connecticut for a family wedding) we had about an hour drive to Mystic where we were staying.  I was worried about this because although the boys got their own hotel room ( spoiled much?) they were going to have to sleep in the same room.  That meant going to bed at the same time, hopefully not waking up at the same time.  Well we lucked out in that it was kind of a divided room so we hid them from each other.  It worked perfectly.  When we reached our room, the boys were exhausted since Dylan had had no nap, and Graham only a very short one.  So that night was easy.  Graham woke up REALLY early much to Adam and I's dismay, but luckily he went down for his first nap at about the same time Dylan did. 

What a difference

A year is a long time.  I feel like I know that, but I really notice it in my kids.  Graham wasn't even here a year ago today.  I wanted him to be, but he waited!

First day of MDO- 2012

First day of MDO- 2011

Dylan started "school" again a couple of weeks ago.  It went much better than last year.  He was sad I was leaving him, but walked right into his class whimpering, and then turned and waved bye.  My little boy is growing up way too fast. 

We got a good report from the teachers, I'm pretty sure every day's report has been the same. " Such a sweet boy, great smiles, shares so well" Now, of course I don't know if they would tell me things I didn't want to hear. I know he is such a sweet boy.  Though has his moments.  I hope he keeps it up.  I don't want him to be a "bad boy!"

 
I saw in these pictures, exactly how much my little boy has grown in a year and it blows my mind.  I can't believe he is almost three.

Party Hardy

A few weeks ago, Adam and I were lucky enough to get to spend the night out with friends celebrating a good friends 28th birthday.  Courtney had gone all out for this shin dig.  She rented a stretch Escalade limo, and made plans for us to have a few stops for drinks in Uptown.  It was really nice being about to drink what we wanted in the limo and not have to worry about it.  Though getting home we were on our own.  Luckily, I didn't have too much to drink, I was so full from eating, and tired from playing a soccer game hours before.  Anyway!  Adam and I don't go out to bars hardly at all.  I can only think of once in college and that was Adam's 21sst birthday, and he got so wasted.  I like to drink don't get me wrong.  It's expensive though, and I prefer to do it in my own home. 

I am really glad that we all went though, and got to let loose a little bit.  I think Courtney had a great time, and it's nice hanging out with friends without our children!  We have another birthday celebrating coming up in a few weeks that will involve more Uptown bar hoping.  Should be a great time.

Backyard paradise

Before

We love it! Shelter from rainy mornings

What it would have looked like if we didn't do the stamped concrete

It's done! Well, it's been done for a few weeks, but now it's really done.  We had a party this week to show it off, so it really made us get going. Adam put the TV out there, the electrician came and put up the fan, and new light.



Close up of the concrete

We are extremely happy with how it turned out, and very happy we made the decision to go ahead and do it.  We had talked about it since we moved in, but didn't want to take any play space away from the dogs and kids, so we were going to wait.  Then Adam got the burr up his butt and we had estimates within the week, and then the next week we started construction! 

The TV is a nice feature

I wanted stamped concrete, he didn't. We are both very glad that we did stamped.  It's quite a difference from before and after, and I'll just say we have spent a few nights out there already, eating dinner while the boys play.  I see lots more in our future.  It was money well spent!

This close

Graham is this close to walking.  I didn't think he would do it before his birthday, but now I'm thinking he will.  You can tell he knows that crawling is faster, but he sure is trying to figure out walking today!  I guess I need to go pull out the little bitty shoes!

Graham {11 Months}

My baby is almost a year old. *tear* He is getting to the point where his little personality shows me something new and hilarious everyday.  Graham still continues to be an easy baby.  I am pretty sure we escaped the separation anxiety with him.  I think part of it is that when we leave him with someone, usually Dylan is there with him.  He just adores his big brother.  They are so cute together.  When they see each other their faces light up. 

Nothing really all that exciting happened this month.  Graham can now stand up without holding onto anything, but still doesn't like to stand for long periods of time.  Though we can see the wheels turning on him walking.  He wants to so bad, but his balance isn't there yet.  I'm ready for him to walk, but also dreading it.  I want to be able to put him down in public!:) He has tried lots of new foods, and I'm trying really hard to get him off of purees, but he gets bored of eating.  One positive is that he will eat pretty much anything I put in front of him!  This month he had, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, cauliflower, quinoa, corn, pasta, edamame, he really enjoys Mexican beans and rice. He also had grapes, Mandarin oranges, and goldfish. What can I say, the kid likes to eat. 

Graham still doesn't have any words.  I mean, I guess "mama," he yells it when I leave the room sometimes.  But it certainly isn't on command nor is is frequent. His favorite word, is "bop" I still have no idea what it is, could be up, or ball, or bye bye, who knows!:)  He babbles a lot though which is better than Dylan ever was.  He is trying to say bye bye, because Dylan loves to say it, and says it all the time now.  He will give great high fives, and claps all the time, but still no waving.  Though, just like with Dylan, I don't wave to him hardly at all, because it seems silly, so when I think about it I will.  He just laughs and thinks is funny.  He has really started to like pointing.  If we are reading a book, then he will point to things and I'll tell him what they are.  He also shakes his head "no" Though often he doesn't mean no, he just thinks it's funny!:)  Silly boy!

Graham gained two more teeth this month as well. His two top front teeth. A grand total of six now.  And in the exact order of Dylan.  Crazy right?
Vacation.  That was this months biggest I would say.  We are gearing up for his first plane right here in two weeks.  Hopefully that goes as smoothly as the drive to Colorado.  If they do well, we might be crazy enough to consider taking them to see their Aunt Laura in Australia in February.  But a three hour plane ride is a far cry from a 17 hour one!:)
We have been working lately on being gentle or soft.  He tends to throw things at his bestie Caleb, and well, Caleb does NOT think it is funny.  So hopefully, I can get Graham away from his bullying ways!:) 

Graham is still sleeping really well.  He does great with just one nap a day if we are out and about in the morning, but I try to keep that in there as much as possible so that he won't drop it completely.  I still like to have that time with Dylan alone if Graham will take a morning nap.  I'm looking into a blackout arch shade for his room.  I think he would sleep in a little later if it were darker in his room.  At his grandparents he sleeps until like 9!  I want that at our house!:)

In the next few weeks, I will be gearing up for his birthday party.  I have invitations in my possession, just need to send them out, I've ordered his shirt, a custom bib for eating cake, put a deposit down on the cake, and ordered some supplies.  I have the menu planned and everything in my head.  The next Graham month post will include pictures of his big day! Oh my!

11 Months Stats:

20ish pounds
31ish inches
12 Month onsies

12 month sleepers

4 8 oz bottles plus three meals
sleeping great, 2 naps

Four in Two

Some of you might remember me mentioning that I was playing soccer again. Indoor and outdoor.  My first season started in February, and we are about to start the fall season on Sunday.  I'm really enjoying the exercise, and the friends that I've made by playing.  But I'll tell you what.  I was reminded this weekend that I am not eighteen anymore. 

In high school we played tournaments almost every weekend.  four to five games if you did well in it.  Labor day weekend always has a tourney.  This weekend we played in it.  I learned that I am far to old to play four games in two days.  Granted they were thirty min halves instead of the standard forty- five.  But y'all, it was over 100 degrees.  HOT. Luckily, we have a pretty bad ass team, and we are really good, so I , as a defender, did not have to do much.  We did not get one goal scored against us.  Thus making us the Champions. 

Side note: We were also the champs of the Spring season, allowing only 5 goals, and not losing a game.  We got bumped up a division, so hopefully we will have the same results this season. We will see.