Thursday, July 7, 2011

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.


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

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.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

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!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Piper is 7!

Happy birthday (tomorrow, on the 28th) to Piper, who has plenty of cat-titude!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Gated Community

The baby gates went up a few weeks back, but now that G is everywhere, we have actually had to close them.

The cats aren't too sure about these gates and are still figuring out how to get around them.

They do however keep them "safe" from an over-eager little man who has not learned how to pet gently quite yet.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Daddy's Day

This past Sunday Michael celebrated his first Father's Day!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011