Week of Firsts

This past week has been a week of firsts! Graham pulled up for the first time, and he has now mastered that skills. At first when he was pulling up in his crib, he wasn't able to get back down on his own and would fall. This was terrifying for me because I was sure we'd end up having a baby with a concussion. After a few falls and one minor head bump, he quickly learned how to get himself back into a sitting postion. This past week he has also started to get himself in and out of a sitting position on his own. Graham is also cutting his first tooth! I had sort of given up on this happening anytime soon, so I hadn't been checking his mouth. Monday night he put a piece of carpet in his mouth, and I went to get it back out. As I was feeling around for it, I felt a little poke on his bottom gum. he wouldn't let me look in his mouth then, but eventually I got to. The top of his bottom left front tooth is completely out! Here are some pictures from today:

I was grabbing the towel and turned back around to find this:


We got undressed:


Finally we're in the tub!


After our bath, we found the mirror on the back of Mom and Dad's bedroom door:

Standing Tall

Graham has been pulling up! He did it for the first time last week, and we have seen him do it several more times since then. Mostly he has been pulling up in his crib. Yesterday, my sister and I watched pull up, fall down, pull up, fall down many times over on the baby monitor. He also showed Cookie, Grandpa Roger, and Mew Mew his new skill today. I haven't captured him completely up on his feet yet, but here are a few shots of him getting ready to pull up. Please excuse the massive amounts of drool on his onesie. Hopefully all of the drooling will lead to FINALLY cutting some teeth...







And notice my efforts in baby-proofing the pointy edges on our bed!

Under the Sea

Yesterday my sister Angie, Graham, and I went to visit the aquarium. None of us had ever been, and we had a great time! We saw quite a few neat fish and for some reason, the aquarium has tigers. Graham really enjoyed the tigers. Angie was carrying him and had him right next to the glass as they walked by. She said he had a huge smile on his face. Did he recognize them as a larger version of something he sees four of at home every day? Unforunately I did not get a picture of Graham looking at the tigers, as I was around the corner of the enclosure at the time. I did get some great pictures, though!

With Aunt Angie (Abe, as we like to call her)


Lunch time!


That flash is bright, Mom!


G couldn't get enough of all of the decorations hanging down from the ceiling.


The ceiling in the restaurant.


Shark attack!




The purple sea urchin really caught G's attention.


Enjoying one of the exhibits.


Tired!


Here's some of the cool things we saw:

When It Rains...

...it pours. That has certainly been true for Colorado this past week. All over the state, we have been experiencing pretty severe storms that include torrential rains, dangerous lightning, crazy flooding, and strong winds. Last night the storm out our house was intense. It was most definitely the strongest storm we have had in the nearly three years we have lived here and one of the stronger storms I have experienced in my life. The lightning was pretty scary. In fact, the house four down from ours was hit by lightning and the attic caught fire. There were many, many emergency vehicles in front of our house dealing with the fire. Luckily, everyone who lives in the house got out safely and the fire seems to have been minor.





The storms continued today. You can see in the pictures how fast the water started to build up in the school parking lot and on the baseball field - these were taken less than 10 minutes after the rain started.











The storms took a little break, but as the sun set, the wind started up and it began to rain again.

We're From Out of Town

We went on our first family vacation! We traveled to Michigan to go to the cottage my grandparents own. It is on Big Star Lake near Baldwin, MI. When I was growing up, my family went there almost every summer, so it was great to bring Michael and Graham there!

We left last Thursday morning. Graham had woken up with a runny nose and seemed very stuffy. This made me even more stressed about how he would do on the plane (we had a 45 minute drive to the airport, flew to Milwaukee, then Grand Rapids, and then had a two hour drive to the cottage). As always, Graham was a champ! He slept on M's lap for over half of the first flight. We were sitting in the first row, so we had some extra leg room. After he woke up, we laid him on the floor between my mom and I so he could kick and stretch. He loved it! He was definitely more restless the second flight, but happily demolished a magazine while sitting in my lap. When we got to Grand Rapids, we headed to get the rental car. My dad had rented a car sear with the car. The car seat turned out to be sort of a nightmare. They only had two seats, an infant seat and a toddler booster. Although he has moved out of his infant seat, he hadn't hit the weight limit on the one they had, so while not ideal, it would work. We had a tough time getting it into the car. They did not have a base for the seat, so we were going to have to install it using the seatbelt. Michael and I have never done this, as all of our seats use the LATCH system. The rental car company did not have directions and did not have anyone to help us put the seat in. Luckily M was able to watch a video on his phone and install the seat. In the future, I will always travel with our own car seat.

We finally made it to the cottage! While we were there we drove the jet ski, swam, and Michael drove the speed boat. My mom, grandma, and I did a little shopping in town as well. On the 4th, we watched a great fireworks show. Many of the boats drive out and park on the lake to get a better view of the fireworks. My grandparents' cottage happens to be in the perfect spot, so we just have to sit on the deck. We had nice weather. The first day was cloudy, but very warm and humid, so we were still able to get in the water. Graham really enjoyed being in the water. He liked to float in his little inner tube and be carried around by Michael. He also enjoyed trying to eat the sand. My grandma had borrowed some toys from a friend of hers. We found out that Graham REALLY likes cars. There was a blue car that he took almost everywhere with him.

The trip home was easy. Graham slept for most of the flight again, which was direct this time, and just played in our laps when he woke up.

We had a wonderful first family vacation! We were able to relax, spend time together, and just have fun!

Michigan Trip from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

Eight, well it's great, of course!

Graham is 8 months old! He has mastered his army crawl and has been starting to get up on all fours and do a full-on crawl. However, he usually gives it up pretty quickly as he is very fast and efficient with the army crawl. He continues to love to eat his solids. Recently we have been giving him Puffs after lunch and dinner. He doesn't quite get all of them into his mouth, but he sure does get excited when we shake them onto the highchair tray. We recently found that he LOVES to drink water, and we are continuing to practice with a sippy cup. He is constantly babbling, and I swear one time he looked straight at me and said, "Mama." Graham is a great sleeper. He easily sleeps through the night and takes good naps during the day - his need for a lot of sleep is definitely something he gets from his mom. We still do not have any teeth. Not even the hint of a tooth - no red or swollen gums, nothing. He enjoys playing with his toys. While he loves to play and interact with others, he is very much able to sit on the floor and entertain himself with his toys and crawling after the cats. He continues to be the happiest baby there is, giving out smiles to almost everyone. No stats for this month, as his next well-check will be at 9 months.

A Boy & His Toys

G and I are just hanging around on a Tuesday afternoon. He loves his toys, especially this bear rattle from Great Grandma Dozeman!





Look at those big blue eyes! Graham is definitely a mini-me of his dad, but he did get my blue eyes!