Cute Pic Post -- January 2013

We had a very fun and very full January.

Graham really started interacting with us (Austin especially), using his play-gym and otherwise smiling and having a good time. He's smiley the majority of the time so we thought his 3 Month pictures would be all smiles. But the guy barely got one smile the entire session! It's a good one, though, so I'm pleased. He also rolled over front to back for the first time and started sleeping longer stretches like 9-3/9-5/10-6. We've been doing the neck exercises and he seems to look a lot more easily to the left (so much so that I nearly forget it's a problem), but his head still seems a wee bit flat on the back on one side, so we'll see what happens with that at his 4 Month Well Child visit next month.

Austin got a Haircut by Momma mid-month because his bed head was too out of control (as you'll see below). I just got the trimmers out and gave him a long buzz cut. And then Seth trimmed up by the ears a little so it looked alright. It's started to grow in a little now and it looks much better. Austin continues to be sweet to his brother and is always asking to hug or kiss "baby!" We have gotten him to say his own name "ah-ten", Graham's name--"grum", "Nonnie" and Gramps --"gmps". It's been a big month for him verbally and we're thrilled to be able to communicate so much better with him.

Enjoy!

The ducks were in full-force at Kim & David's one day so we let Austin feed them. He didn't quite understand what we were doing. !

You can't see that he's crying here, but I kept saying "Well, that's what happens when you put your leg in your basketball hoop."

He is his father's son in this picture if not elsewhere. I swear there's a picture of Seth as a little boy making this exact face. (Heck, there's probably one of him as an adult making this face. Spofford men always seem to make funny faces for the camera!) I might go hunting for that just to prove how similar they look.

A case of Terrible Bedhead. It was basically a messy mohawk.

All clean after a bath.

Time to stop swaddling! (Not that it ever worked very well or that he ever liked it very much anyways.) 

"What?" (said in a lower gravely voice)
Just a man and his remote.
When I saw him sitting there with his arm up, remote nearby, I just had to get some photos of it.

A lesser smile, but a smile nonetheless.

The next four photos are me trying to teach Austin how to smile without the over-the-top crinkled-nose Cheese! face he makes:

 I give up.

He has gotten into a dress-up mode a lot lately and loves putting his hats on. He was so proud he was finally able to get this one on by himself. lol 

It's hard to see, but Chuck is carrying a load of Cheerios. 

Of all the ways to play with this new (free!) toy. eyeroll.

I took about 14 pictures of them, trying to get them both to look at the camera, and the best I got was them both sorta smiling and looking at Seth. Sweet Brothers...

We pulled some clothes from the next-size-up tubs to see what Austin could wear (what would fit appropriately) for several up-coming events. And. I. Got. These. Next. Two. Photos. They kill me they're so awesome!

Our own Risky Business interpretation? He was just standing there posing for me. TOO adorable!

I love how lit-up his eyes are here, shows he was truly excited and happy and smiling. (and moving very fast)

First time Graham was in the Bumbo.

15 minutes later Austin decided to give it a try.

Another one of those times where I tried and tried and tried for a good photo. This will have to do.

"You want tickets to this gun show?"
I bought Graham this dumbbell-looking rattle and he loves it. It's surprisingly the only one we have that has a straight, thin handle to grip.

Which one is your favorite?

Any ideas of photo shoots I could do with them? I'm having fun with having two to dress up and pose...

Graham Rolls!

Graham rolled over today for the first time! On his 13 week birthday. :-) We were hanging out at a friend's house and he just finally got his weight shifted enough to make it all the way over (he's been very close to nailing it for the last week or so). After about the third time, I finally pulled out my phone to take a video--I had to send Seth the video since he's in Chicago this week.

Graham's Progression Photos -- 3 Months

Here is a selection of Graham's 3 Month Progression Photos.

Graham had about had it with posing him for photos. He gets a real big lower lip when he's about to cry.
As my mom would say "Gonna have to take out a new zipcode for that lip!"

At this point we have been doing the neck exercises for about 3 weeks and have noticed improvement. The strangest thing was that the way he laid in the crib (for the majority of the time) should have already prompted him to look more to the left. But it didn't. UNTIL we gave him his Glow Worm for Christmas. The light and sound of it make him look to the left pretty much all the time while in his crib now. This has helped his looking every which direction while up and about. We nearly forget about the neck issue entirely! Unfortunately, he still has a flat spot on the back of his head. We're hoping that goes away (or is minimal enough) by his 4 Month Well Visit next month that we won't need that dreaded helmet. Please keep praying with us.

He continues to be chatty, smiley, and have nearly all his head control. Looking forward to exciting things ahead!

Click here to compare to 2 Months.

Click here to compare to 1 Month.

Click here to compare to 1 Week.

Design Dilema

Hi there! 

Thanks for reading my blog posts. I come to you today with a question. A design dilema, really. 

I LOVE a good stairway photo collage. See these four examples:

This is from Home Alone. I tried to find an image of the stairway from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, but couldn't. If you've seen the movie, picture that gorgeous staircase.

This is a bit too busy for my tastes, but is a good example. 

This is my favorite of the four images. Sigh. Wainscoting...

But, as you might (or might not) know, we live in a 1-story ranch house built in 1959. This gorgeous stairway photo collage is not gonna happen. Not in this house, anyways.

So I'm trying to make my own version of this. In our hallway. Our small, many-doored, short-ceilinged (I can touch the ceiling while standing on my tiptoes) hallway. There isn't much room for a bunch of design elements as the space seems too cramped for tons of visual fun. 

This is our hallway:

Under this light is where we'll be hanging the photos. 
Centered for now. Until we have more to add to the mix. ;-)

Here's where you come in... 

Do we 
1) put large, 10x13 matted framed photos of the boys in there. These photos would stay the same--not change with the years, but stay a picture of them as babies (6 months).
OR
2) put 8x10 matted framed photos of the boys in there. These photos would change each time a new photo is taken (3, 6, 9, 12, 18 months, 2, 3, 4 years etc.).

Currently both of Austin's versions (10x13 and 8x10) are on the built-in in the family room. I'd like to move one set out into the hallway now that there will be Graham's pictures to add to the mix, but I just can't decide if the family room should have the baby-staying-the-same pictures or if the hallway should. Help.

Chinese Lanterns

I bought a Groupon for half-priced tickets to the Chinese Lantern Festival at Fair Park. When I bought the tickets, it said they expired January 20th. Soon after buying them, they sent an email saying that they in fact expired January 6th. That was pretty frustrating because I wouldn't have bought them with an expiration date so close to all the holidays. As it was, though, I was adamant that we would use that $19 I spent and tonight was the night.

Holy. Cow. There was some sort of incompetent parking person directly traffic and we sat forever never moving before we even reached the gate to get into the park! (I found this incredibly frustrating.) Once we finally made it to the gate, the parking attendant was moving at a snails pace. And then when we got parked and up to the entrance, there was a faux line created and it took us forever to realize they weren't even trying to go in so we finally jumped out of the line and went in. And then there were the tripods. I've never seen so many people stopping and setting up tripods and their cameras at a family event like this! That and smart phones and pads of all kinds, people stopping and taking pictures, just blocking the sidewalks everywhere. We had the boys in the stroller, so there were several moments where we couldn't do anything because we weren't able to go around. (Seth found this incredibly frustrating.)

Having said all that, it was cool and I AM glad we went (though I'm not sure Seth can say the same). Here are some pictures I was able to get.

I just love walking through lit archways... so soothing or something.

These ones were made with little pieces of colored glass or plastic whereas most everything else was made with thin fabric.

The big pink things opened and closed.

This dinosaur freaked Austin out. Looking at this picture (and knowing that it was both roaring and moving) I don't know why I didn't see that one coming!

Some of their heads moved back and forth and Austin was afraid of these as well. 

Again with the lit archways... ahhhhh.

Lessons we learned:
1) Anyone under 4 or 5 needs to be in a stoller or a carrier. Too many people--too much chaos, really--for it to be safe for them to be loose. We were VERY thankful we had strapped Austin in.
2) Get there right away, aim to arrive early, before it opens, and you will have a much more enjoyable time. The line to get in the entrance was about a 1/4 mile long when we left. People just standing there, waiting to see something!
3) Don't pay full price. I enjoyed it more than Seth did, but even still, it's quite small and the walk around the whole thing wouldn't have been worth the hassle if we'd paid full price.
4) Expect people, strollers, tripods, cameras, never ending stopping and going and stopping again. It. was. nuts. Pack your patience.
5) Not all little boys are super into dinosaurs. There were some moving ones that even made noises and I suggested that Seth wheel over to them so Austin could see them (expecting some sort of excited response out of Austin) and when I leaned down to him and said "Isn't that cool?" He starts sharking his head and shrieking "No! No! No!" on the verge of tears and I shout at Seth to get him moving before he has a full break down (it was outside and noisy, I wasn't "yelling" at Seth). (He also did not appreciate the moving Longhorns we saw later. We put the hood down and I walked between him and them to block the view.)