3 months!

At 3 months old, Graham is closing in on 12 pounds and is developing quite the little personality.  He will smile and gurgle with glee when we smile at him and kiss his forehead.  He is just about 2 feet long at this point (compared to his bean-pole brother who is 3' 6.5" at this stage).

He continues to work on learning how to use his hands--while he we will still hang on tight to hair, shirts, and fingers, he is starting to enjoy his crinkly cellophane blankets.  He got a few nice rattles for Christmas that we expect he will start clutching and shaking soon.

He has also rolled from his tummy onto his back several times in the past week....he certainly is displeased at being placed on his tummy!  Sadly, he also seems to be continuing to lose hair.  I expect he will end up bald in a few months like his older brother did, and we'll see what color hair grows back after that.  Andrew started out with the same brown hair before turning into a blond!

Here Graham is at 1 month and at 2 months for comparison, and Andrew at 3 months.

Sprinkles

We've been doing a lot of decorating with sugar sprinkles this week.  I am hoping the ants don't get wind of this.

Christmas Outing

Sunday was unseasonably warm here and we ventured into the city for some holiday fun.  First stop was the light show at Macy's, but there were too many people crowded into the ladies underwear section, craning their necks to see flashing reindeer through racks of bras, so we abandoned that activity in favor of a remarkably short line to see Santa.

The path to Santa is filled with an animatronic display of A Christmas Carol.  We hadn't been since Andrew was almost 1 year old.  He was a lot easier to control back then, but he enjoyed the story more this time.

Finally we made it to Santa, where Andrew -- having already informed the orchard Santa what he wanted for Christmas -- apprised him of Graham's wishes.  Let me start by saying that Graham will be receiving a modest collection of the the cheapest baby toys I could find, just to keep up the myth for Andrew.  But this Santa starts suggesting all sorts of things Graham might like.  Seriously Macy's Santa?  It's 3 days before Christmas.  Are you really going to brainstorm with my preschooler specific items that his brother will find under the tree?  Luckily Andrew dismissed all of Santa's ideas and told him that Graham just wants "baby toys and books," which is the narrative we've been sticking with all season long.

After Macy's we headed over to Franklin Square where they have a holiday light show and a carousel.  Here is Andrew on Philly's own, "Smarty Jones."

It was a fun afternoon!  Graham was there too, but just slept the whole time.

Mickey Ds

Somehow Andrew has become very interested in McDonald's lately.  Apropos of nothing, he recently asked me, "Mommy, did you know in Lancaster [home of his grandparents] there's a restaurant called McDonald's?"  The question amused me greatly.  I said that I was aware, and while I did not immediately volunteer the fact that there is a McDonald's 0.5 mi from our house, upon further questioning I admitted this to be true.  Now he is pointing out the golden arches everywhere we go and this morning he suggested we eat lunch at "Farmer Donald's," momentarily confusing the restaurant and the song.

I could live with some occasional "chicken" nuggets and french fries, but what really makes me reluctant to go to McDonald's is the happy meal prizes.  Andrew *never* lets go of a single toy, however cheap and useless.  He still inquires after the New Year's eve horn that I threw out after the mouthpiece became both chewed up and covered in dirt (don't ask) and the cardboard horn was dissolving from spittle. 

Christmas Photo Outtakes

Andrew looking angelic; Graham looking....realistic.

Both boys looking pretty dubious about this enterprise:

Graham flashing his Santa butt:

O' Christmas Tree

We cut down our own tree for the second year in a row.  Greg and Andrew are getting very handy with that saw. 

 
We rode a tractor to the tree field; the little tomato hat poking out is Graham, cozy in his carrier:

Andrew quietly and solemnly informed the orchard's Santa that he wanted a bulldozer, trains, and a dreidel for Christmas.  Andrew's preschool teacher taught the class that if the dreidel lands on a particular side, you get a piece of candy and I can just see the wheels in Andrew's head turning on that one...

Playmat time

2 months old

Here is Graham next to 'Chompers' for his updated size comparison shot.  2 months old today!  See comparison to him at 4 weeks, and Andrew at 2 months.

And here is Andrew getting in on the shot, sporting his new haircut--makes him look so much older!

Smiley Snapshots

First Smile Caught on Camera

Graham has been working on his smiles this week, uncertain as to how his tongue factors into the equation.  He is still sorting that part out, but making progress.

Below I offer further evidence of how much cuter a baby can become in just 7.5 weeks.  :)

Notes from Andrew

Andrew was rifling though his drawers one recent morning as we got dressed.  He considered the cotton waffle knit top below, but decided against it, remarking to himself: "This is my fancy shirt, for weddings."

He has been to one wedding (at which he sported a formal shirt and tie) and since then he has seemed to conflate any sort of large party with a wedding.  He also recently told me that weddings are where mommies grow babies in their bellies, seemingly mixing up major life milestones.

In other news, I got a kick out of this Thanksgiving craft that Andrew made at preschool.  Greg and I are thankful that we made Andrew's list this year.  Better luck next year, Graham.  Maybe by then you'll be more interesting and able to compete with chicken nuggets.

Family Visit

Family get together last weekend, though we missed Colleen, Jimmy, and Benjamin.  We enjoyed some beautiful fall weather and scenery at Chanticleer garden.

Here are the men, captivated by the autumn landscape:

Andrew selected Uncle Neil to join him on the Adirondack chairs

Our favorite rocking chairs overlooking the hillside

Family photos on the world's most comfortable couch.  There is a stone remote control with colorful rock buttons set into the arm of the couch and somewhere along the line Andrew got the idea that the maroon button is the "wine button."  Where did he get this idea?  Maybe it was wishful thinking on his mother's part, accidentally voiced aloud.  

Trick or Treat!

Andrew was thrilled to go trick or treating, of course.

He collected an impressive amount of candy.  I fear we'll be eating it through December.

Earlier in the week he helped carve two jack-o'-lanterns.  Here he is inspecting one gutted pumpkin with his flashlight to get every last seed.

Andrew was in charge of designing Graham's mini jack-o'-lantern.  Here is his concept:

And below is the finished product.  I think I executed it faithfully.

4 weeks old!

Can't believe Graham is already 4 weeks old!  Grammy figured Graham should have his own stuffed animal for size comparison, so here is our transition shot from the Highlan' Coo over to 'Chompers' (as Andrew has christened him) the Alligator.

For comparison purposes, here is the shot of Graham at 1 week, and Andrew at 4 weeks.

At four weeks Graham is looking more like a baby and less like a puffy, red newborn.  He is increasingly alert for longer stretches of time, sometimes staying awake between morning meals.  He isn't terribly fussy or hard to please and is happy to nap for a lot of the day, especially if someone is holding him.  We still have to wake him up during the day to be sure he eats enough.

Andrew remains a cheerful and proud big brother, though eager for Graham to grow up and become more interesting.  We spend about 10 minutes each day discussing how old Graham will be when Andrew is a given age (and vice versa).  Therefore, I am constantly adding or subtracting 3.5 from various numbers, which is about all the mental exertion my sleep deprived brain can handle.

Boo at the Zoo

Andrew did some trick or treating at the Zoo yesterday, while Graham once again took a nap, oblivious to the fact that we were assaulting his dignity with a pumpkin hat.

Andrew declared in August that he wanted to be a frog for Halloween and never wavered.  I have no clue why he picked it, but he looks cute.

The frog visiting his captive comrades.  But don't be fooled, Andrew was entirely uninterested in the animals during this trip to the zoo, focusing instead on where the next treat was to be found.
 

 The frog with a momentarily fussy pumpkin.

Content pumpkin

I want to swing MY way

Just like his big brother, Graham seems to appreciate swinging front to back more than side to side.  After crying his head off in side to side mode I rotate him 90 degrees and now he's much happier.

Back to Linvilla

It's the time of year where we head back to Linvilla (to be fair, this happens many times a year--this time I'm referring to pre-Halloween to pick out our pumpkins for Jack-o'-lantern carving).  Andrew had a lovely time picking out all the pumpkins for each family member (Daddy had to drag 45 lb of pumpkins across the very large parking lot...in the rain), riding on the hay ride to visit the witches house ('they're not real witches, right!?' 'That's right Andrew, they're nice witches that give out treats' 'Ok good.'), and toasting marshmallows at the end of the hay ride.  And of course getting a half dozen apple cider donuts for breakfast the following morning.  Our little pumpkin-hatted Graham slept peacefully for most of the outing, so I guess he likes Linvilla as much as the rest of the family.

Andrew doing his best to imitate his little brother wearing the pumpkin hat

Strange, these pumpkins don't really look much like Andrew

Hayride fun

The requisite hay throwing.  To be fair, the other 20 kids on the hay ride were throwing a lot more hay than Andrew did.

Marshmallow toasting at the end!

Perfectly toasted marshmallows!  Not flaming charred husks, which is apparently what most people like to eat.

One Week Old

In an effort not to stiff the second child, we're going to try to keep up the tradition of regularly measuring Graham against the Highlan' Coo.  Actually, he is already suffering from second child syndrome in this regard, because I fully intended to buy him his own measuring stick stuffed animal while we were on vacation this summer and I totally forgot.  We bought the Highlan' Coo (highland cow) in Scotland when I was pregnant with Andrew.

Anyway, the photo below is of Graham at one week.  He is actually two weeks old today -- it's his due date!  He is still a very sleepy baby.  We wake him up to eat and he mostly naps between feedings, though he has 2-3 brief alert periods each day.  Andrew is doing well and is proudly helping out a lot and likes to hold his brother, but otherwise he is just going about his usual routine.  Andrew is still working on how to pronounce "Graham."  Despite being able to say "graham cracker" and "Grammy" with no problem, his little brother is called "Gran" or "Baby Gran" more often than not.

Just for kicks, here is a link to Andrew's one week old photo.

A Few Pictures

 Smiling

 Tummy time

The three boys

Recovering from first bath

A rare photo of Graham awake

Brothers