8 Months Old!

Baby G is officially 8 months old today- that's 2/3rds of a year already! Nuts!  My little boy isn't so little anymore and his developments are occurring rapidly.  We've pretty much flown through the 6-12 month clothing in a matter of weeks and he's fully in the 12-18 month sizes already.  Food is Graham's friend and he hasn't really found much he doesn't like.

He is all over the floor through a combination of crawling, scooting and dragging (this also results in him frequently being covered in Penny hair, poor baby). He knows instinctively to go for the few forbiddens, whether it's the dog bowls or vacuum.  He has started pulling himself up on every surface possible and is generally pretty sturdy once he is up.

He LOVES to clap and it almost seems like he is clapping at appropriate times too. His two bottom teeth have broken through but aren't totally visible unless you are looking for them.  He's going about 7-9 hours at night and I am still keeping my fingers crossed that our early morning visits will come to an end shortly, although sometimes it is nice to get a little middle-of-the night snuggle.

His babble and giggles fill the house with delightful noise and his happiness is contagious. We love you and feel blessed to have such a happy and healthy boy!  Happy 8 months of life sweet Graham!

Clap, Clap, Clap Your Hands

Ready for Fall

Happy Weekend!

Baby Mama

Popped Thru

Graham's first tooth has popped through!  Just one on the bottom for now.

All Over the Place

Graham is totally on the move and can get himself any place he desires through a combination of his arm-drag-pull, traditional crawling and an occasional hop move. I often find him under tables, chairs or stools.

One Last Summer Treat

The fall temperatures are around the corner, so we figured we would treat ourselves to one last summer treat on this warm day.

Fashionista Ballerina

Saugatuck

An Afternoon at the Beach

 

 

5th Annual Talent Show

The 5th Annual Murray-Giles-Elsener Talent Show was a total success.

Congrats to all the participants!

Opening Act: "Call Me Maybe"

Seamus plays hockey

Finn, Brendan and Colin play football

Liv plays the drums

Saoirse does gymnastics

Ellie dances to "Don't Wake Me Up"

Grand Finale: "Cha Cha Slide"

Talent Show Prep Work

Apples (and Donuts)

To kick off our fall weekend in Saugatuck, we headed to Crane's Orchards to pick apples right off the trees.  It was a tough season for apples, so we really had to search the trees and look up high to find some.

 

And once we'd collected our hard-earned apples, we turned the corner to find the line to check-out was over two hours long.  That's when we decided to ditch the apples and go get donuts.

You mean we aren't going to take the apples with us????

 But the cider donuts were delicious,

 and probably even better than the apples!

Carts!

While Liv was at school today, Graham got a new experience all on his own-- riding in the shopping cart!  Usually I wear G and Liv gets the cart seat, but clearly the little man really enjoyed the new view from the cart. Maybe we'll start being the family that uses the giant cart at Target with two seats...

First Day of (Pre) Preschool

 My baby girl started school today, all on her own without me being there!  Liv is starting to go one-day a week to Miss Terese's from 9am-1pm where there are other 2-3 year olds in a school-like setting. I had no fears that dropping her off would be no problem and she immediately started playing with the play kitchen and toys and yelled, "Bye Mama!"

 And according to Miss Terese, Liv did great on her first day! They made playdough, scrubbed a tiger, went to the park and had lunch. Miss Terese even commented on how polite Liv is which makes her mama happy :) I knew Liv would do great and she already is looking forward to go back next week.  Such a big girl!

This was her last year before our parent-toddler class. (Her pigtails were so tiny!)