Family Values

My cousin sent me these wonderful pictures of my grandparents! My best guess is that these pictures were taken around 1935, In the the pictures with their friends, my grandparents are both on the left.

Resident Foodie

Our little man has started on solids, and he loves them! He currently enjoys rice cereal and sweet potatoes. He absolutely LOVES both of these things. Now that we are past all of the tummy troubles, he seems to have a big interest in food. When we are eating, he mimicks the motion of chewing and reaches for our plates. We can't wait to see what other foods he loves as we continue to give him new things!

For Love of a White Cat

This photo is nearly 3 years in the making!! Linus has loved Prue since the first time he saw her across the family room. Prue has not felt the same way. While she tolerated him, she would not snuggle up to him no matter how much he tried. Well in the past week, things have changed! Several times in the last few days I have found these two snuggled up next to each other on our bed. Linus' persistance has paid off!

A Hair Raising Tale

Fantastic Five!

Graham is five months old!

He doesn't love to ride in his car seat, but looks so cute all bundled up in it!

He LOVES to stand!

His first time riding on Papa's shoulders. He's not quite sure about this yet!

It looks like he just might get his Mama's blue eyes!

He loves spending time with his Uncle Zach!

He loves eating his rice cereal. He has really gotten the hang of eating off a spoon and starts opening and closing his mouth the second we put him in his high chair and he sees the cereal bowl coming over.

Happy 5 months buddy, we love you more and more every single day!

Future Cake Boss?

My first attempt at baking a cake! I really do like to bake, but I usually do pies and cobblers and things of that nature. However, when I saw the recipe for a rainbow cake on a Facebook friend's wall, I new I had to try it! Here's the different colors of batter. Look how pretty! The batter has been mixed into the pans to create a rainbow effect. Time to bake. Piper loves to lay on the stove when the oven is warm

The finished product. I'm horrible at cutting those nice wegde slices, as evident by the mess on my plate.

I Can Do It Myself, MOM!

When I went to give Graham his bottle, he grabbed it out of my hands and decided that he would be holding it himself. He held the bottle in the perfect position throughout the entire feeding. Way to go little guy!
(And my apologies for the quality of the pictures. They were taken with my cell phone, which does not have a good camera)

These Are a Few of Our Favorite Things

My mom asked me the other day if I felt like everything we had gotten for Graham was worthwhile, or if I could do it all over again, what would I decide I didn't need. That got me thinking about the baby gear the Pretekin family loves. So in true Mom fashion, I'm going to spend a little time giving kudos to our favorite baby gear. Feel free to stop reading if you care nothing about baby products!

Lovies: Graham received many Angel Dear lovies (7 to be exact). Graham cannot get enough of these things. He is constantly hugging them and sucking on them - sometimes two at a time. They wash up great and are super cute. I'm also sort of obsessed with them and want to collect all of the different animals. I mean, just in case he wears one out or we lose one, we will always have another, right?

Bouncy Seat: This thing has been a lifesaver in so many ways. Graham is content in it when we need ot put him down for a few minutes. It has also saved us when he has had a cold, as it helps him sleep more upright. I didn't have a bouncy seat on the registry for a long time and added one at the last minute. Luckily someone scooped one up for us, and I'm so glad that they did!

Blanket: We got a Pottery Barn Kids blanket as a gift. We all refer to it as "The Softie." This blanket is the softest, most cuddly blanket I have ever seen. It has stayed in perfect shape through many washing. I seriouly wish they made these blankets in bigger sizes for adults.

Cloud B Sleep Products: We have the sleep sheep, the sleep girafee, and the turtle night light. The sheep and giraffe play soothing sleep sounds. The turtle is a night light that puts constellations on the ceiling in the color you choose. I wasn't super into all of the sleep stuff (especially the sound machines) at first, but I have been converted! The sheep or giraffe goes with Graham whenever he has an overnight somewhere.

Other things we love: Manhatten Toy Winkle, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes, large swaddle blankets, activity gym, cloth diapers (the BEST burp cloths by far), California Baby products, car seat bundler, Baby Trend Expedition Travel System, Fisher Price space-saver high chair, and warm-mist humidifiers (life-saver when you have a baby that a cold and/or cough).

Things we could have lived without: Bumbo, Boppy, all nursing products (I should have tried it before I bought these), swaddlers, sleep sacks, and baby carrier (I like the Baby Bjorn, but should have tried them out first because now we have 3 carriers).

Things I'm Glad I Never Wanted: Bassinet (our pack'n'play and bouncy seat worked fine to have him sleep in our room), wipe warmer (total waste of money), bottle warmer (warm tap water is just fine), a sling (just another carrier I probably wouldn't have liked), and an infant sleep positioner (these still don't make sense to me). And no post is complete without a picture of the little man who made it possible for us to have endless amounts of gear in our house and our cars:
Notice the lovie and the foot of the sleep giraffe...

A Terrific Tuesday

After getting over bronchiolitis last week, we are doing much better and becoming very interested in attempting to hold our own bottle and spoon!

Four (and a little more...)

The little more is because I am a few days late posting this. Last Friday, Graham was 4 months old. He spent part of his evening having a nap with dad. Last Tuesday he had his 4 month checkup. Graham weighed 14 lbs. 2 oz., doubling his birth weight. He was 24.75 inches long. He continues to be in the 40th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. We got a great report from his pediatrician, saying that he was growing perfectly and meeting all of the necessary milestones. We also got the ok to start giving him rice cereal. It should be no surprise, since he's had so many eating issues, that his first go at rice cereal was not very successful. However, since then we have given it to him a few more times, and he has taken a liking to it, even finshing the bowl I prepared for him this afternoon.

First try:


Today:

He continues to be on Zantac and the hypoallergenic formula to help with his reflux. Fingers crossed, he has been doing very well.

One of my students made these awesome hats for Graham and I! I wanted to get a picture of us wearing them to write a thank you on for him, but this was the best pose Graham would give.

Guess he's still not a fan of hats. He probably doesn't want to cover up his awesome hair. It looks pretty slick when he's been sleeping and rolling around on it!
Lately he has been much more aware and has really enjoyed playing with his toys. He has also begun to show an interest in the cats and watches them closely when they are near him and even pets (ok, pulls their fur) on occassion. He grabs at everything, but his favorite seems to be my hair. Thank goodness I am not an earrings person! He continues to smile, coo, and laugh almost constantly. He is such a happy little man!

What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago today:


Today:

Super Baby!!

E-Trade Baby Auditions

Charmed, I'm Sure

On Feb. 12th, I celebrated my 29th birthday. On the 11th, we went over to Michael's parents house for a wonderful dinner. His mom remembered me admiring her charm bracelet months ago, so they started me out with a Pandora charm bracelet! I absolutely love it and am excited to continue adding charms to it. On the night of the 12th, Michael and I enjoyed a nice dinner at Morton's and got to sleep in, as my parents watched Graham overnight. On the 13th when we went to pick up Graham, we went out to dinner with my parents at this fun restaurant that overlooks the lake in Evergreen. What a fun birthday weekend!

3 Months Old!

Our little man is 3 months old!!

Tummy Troubles

"After switching to a different brand of bottles about a month ago, feeding time has gone much more smoothly. He is still eating the soy formula and doing well with that."

~Posted on Jan. 27, 2011

Boy, did I ever jinx us with that post. A few days after I posted that, Graham started throwing up quite a bit on a regular basis. I immediately recognized that it was when we first switched him to formula all over again. Luckily, this time I felt like I knew what to do and reassured myself with a quick call to the pediatrician. Graham's next few bottle were Pedialyte, so that he wouldn't get dehydrated and we could flush his system out. I made the decision to switch his formula to the hypoallergenic kind, as I really felt that he had developed a sensitivty to the soy. We were told when we first moved him to the soy that many kids who had the milk protein sensitivty also had a soy sensitivity and it could take awhile to manifest. While the hypoallergenic smells awful, G seems to like it and has been doing much better. Hopefully this will help with some of our feeding issues - fingers crossed.

Despite having tummy issues, Graham was the happy baby that he always is!

Untitled from Jenny Pretekin on Vimeo.

Family Resemblance

Everyone always comments on how much Graham looks like Michael. While I defintiely see the resemblance, I couldn't help but notice that he has some of me in him too when I saw these baby pictures of myself. The top pictures are of me - on the right I am 3 months and on the left I am 6 months. Graham is underneath for comparison. Also, look back to this post to see how M and G look similar!

All About Graham

Graham is almost 3 months old! I can't believe how time is flying! It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny baby and we were bringing him home from the hospital. Here's an update on all the latest in Graham's world.

He smiles all the time and is starting to laugh a little bit. He is also starting to find his voice, as he has been making a lot more noises.

He can easily roll from his back to his side and enjoys sleeping on his side.

He can wiggle himself all over his crib - top to bottom, side to side. We always find him in a different place when he wakes up. We recently stopped swaddling him when he sleeps (I was nervous about doing this, because for a long time it seemed to be the one thing that kept him asleep through the night) and it has been a huge success. He doesn't fuss when we put him down and continues to sleep through the night.

He LOVES tummy time and can hold himself up pretty well. He has excellent head control and will start to wiggle his butt when he is on his tummy and try to push with his feet. He is definitely trying to find ways to be mobile.

In the past few days I have noticed that he intetionally grabs for things (his lovies, his pacifier, toys) as opposed to it just happening to end up in his grasp.

He continues to LOVE bathtime and getting his hair washed. I have accidentally gotten water in his face a few times, and he doesn't mind at all. I can't wait to take him swimming this summer!

After switching to a different brand of bottles about a month ago, feeding time has gone much more smoothly. He is still eating the soy formula and doing well with that.

He sucks on anything and everything: his pacifier, his hands, his lovies, the collar of his shirt, my shirt.

Daycare is going well for him, and he has only really had one day so far where he was fussy and didn't have a good day. He seems to be happy there and is getting excellent care. Graham is the youngest of three babies! The other two girls are both about 2 months older than him.

Graham is such a wonderful, happy little man. We enjoy him every day and look forward to each and every new thing he does!

The Happiest Baby on the Block

Our little man is all smiles!

Daddy's Mini Me

Graham looks so much like Michael did when he was a baby! At this point it seems like he got his hair color from me and his eyes. At least the shape of his eyes. For now they are blue (also like mine), but that can change as his eye color won't really be determined until he around 6 months.



Graham looks so much like Michael did when he was a baby! At this point it seems like he got his hair color from me and his eyes. At least the shape of his eyes. For now they are blue (also like mine), but that can change as his eye color won't really be determined until he around 6 months.

Graham & Grandpa

With Grandpa Pretekin


With Grandpa Dozeman

2 Months Old!

Graham is 2 months old today! This afternoon, we went to his 2 month checkup. He weighed in at 11 lbs. 8 oz. and was 23 inches long. Way to grow little guy! He also received his first round of vaccinations and came through like a champ. I think it was harder on mom than it was on him.