Christmas at the Lowery's!

This year we went to my (Willa's) parents house from the 23rd through the 26th. It was a nice little get away and we enjoyed the time we were able to spend with our family. Unfortunately Graham & I both came down with colds and weren't feeling the best on Christmas day, but overall it was a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from the time there:

Graham a bit tired since it was well past his bedtime & overwhelmed by all the commotion:


Porter drinking his milk:


We think Suzanne liked her dollhouse :)

All of the kids playing...not together, but at least nicely!

Graham & Grandma

Grandpa

Our Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas as a family the Saturday before Christmas this year. We knew we'd be out of town on Christmas (at my parents), so we wanted to have a special day just for our family. It was a great time to spend together, relax and just enjoy each others company. We baked a breakfast casserole and enjoyed watching Graham play with his new toys.

We kept it pretty simple this year. Eric & I always exchange gifts, however we usually do something practical. Eric needed a few new things to spruce up his wardrobe and I knew that I could use a few winter maternity clothing items. So, that's what we got for each other. Graham got a couple of 'fun' things, however we tried to keep them fairly practical. His bigger gift from us was his basketball hoop. We love that he can play with it now, however it will continue to grow with him for several years. He enjoys putting the ball in the basket and then clapping for himself! :) His daddy also had to buy him some golf clubs...but, we found those clearanced in the fall so it was a perfect addition to his presents.

Here are a few pictures....
Graham seeing the living room for the first time with the gifts.


Stockings all ready to go (Eric & I get candy for each other...Graham got a spoon & fork set & some goldfish....Sammy got a bag of cat treats & a new toy mouse!).

Checking out his new fork & spoon.

Noticing the basketball hoop for the first time!

Grandpa Armstrong sent money and asked us to buy something for Graham. We decided upon a tricycle. It is a bit too big for him now, however this summer he's going to be flying around on it. He loves to sit on it or push it around already...and both him & Sam love the tassels on the handlebars!

Playing golf with Daddy!

15 Month Check-up

Today was Graham's 15 month check-up. The Doctor was very pleased with everything he's been up to lately. She was happy with how good his motor skills were, how well he's walking and how much more he is talking. He showed off a good bit for her, at least he didn't lay on the ground and lick the floor (a new very cool trick...or so he thinks!). They gave us a list of things we should expect to see between 15 and 18 months and he's already doing most of those things! His current stats are as follows:

Height: 32 inches - 75th percentile
Weight: 25lbs 4 oz - 50th percentile
Head Circum.: 47cm - 50th percentile

Some of his favorite activities at 15 months are reading, taking baths, playing with his cars and helping mom with whatever she's working on. He's spends a lot of time reading his books each day. He's very active, but that's the one thing he'll sit still for. He's able to point out lots of things in pictures now, such as a mouse, cat, ball, train, car, etc. He knows that a cow says 'moo' and a sheep says 'baa'....or at least he'll tell us those two, I'm sure he's learned more but just not vocalizing them yet. He loves Sammy, the cat. He laughs up a storm when Sam is playing with one of his mice or a ball. He likes to try to pet or grab Sam. Sammy, however isn't a big fan of that. However, he always comes around for more.

We love you little guy...and it's been such a blessing to watch you grow and learn!

Little Chef

Graham loves to play with the pots and pans in the kitchen. He pulls them out almost daily, places the lids on them, puts toys in them and pretty much just has a blast playing with them. It won't be long until we're having him cook us a meal!! I can't wait! :)

Eating Lima Beans

Tonight for dinner we had lima beans. Graham eats them fairly well, although tonight for some reason he was having problems keeping them from slipping from his fingers. I gave him my fork to use and this is how he proceeded to eat his lima beans:
1.) take lima bean off of plate and place it on his high chair tray
2.) use the fork to stab the lima bean
3.) lift up fork once lima bean was secured
4.) remove lima bean with opposite hand
5.) eat lima bean out of hand
It was quite humorous to watch. He was pretty proud of himself for getting his lima beans unto the fork.

Sorry for the recent lack of updating our blog. We've had a busy couple of weeks and things are starting to settle down. I still have plenty of pictures from Christmas and over the past month to post.

First Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie

Graham recently was allowed to taste his first oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. This is his mommy's favorite type of cookie, so we have them every once in awhile. This particular evening some were offered to Daddy fresh from the oven and it wasn't long until someone was successful in begging a few bites. He LOVED it!

Reading

Graham has really started to love to spend time reading. Every morning one of the first things he'll do after getting up and having some milk is to grab one of his books and bring it to me to read to him. We end up reading most of his books at least once everyday. For Christmas he got the book pictured below, 300 First Words and Pictures. This is currently his favorite book. The first half of the book is all pictures & words involved with planes, cars, trains, emergency vehicles & tractors. What boy wouldn't love that? :)

He's learning a lot by reading as well. Currently when asked he can point out the hot air balloon, helicopter, apple, canoe, crane, pay loader, mouse, cat, dog, goldfish (or other fish), porcupine, ostrich, tricycle, ball, duck, crib, fork, cookies and a several other random items. He continues to add things to that list each day. He has also started saying a few words. He now will say ball and bye bye. He will even point out the ball in his books and tell me what it is. We're continuing to work on trying new words...but he'll say them when he's ready!