Goodbye 2010

I can't believe today is the last day of the year. Thinking back, I believe Graham had a pretty darn good year. He was a lot of fun since he turned 1. Learning and picking up things so fast and it certainly made our lives easier since he can "understand" us. However, since his birthday on December 19, things started to change. I'd have to say that ever since he turned 2, the terrible 2 came right along with him. I didn't think he could be terrible but boy oh boy...he can. He's starting not to listen to us, doesn't want to sit in time out, loves to throw things when he's angry... God help us in year 2011! I really really hope we can have another good year with him, so please pray for us!!

So on a different note, here are a few things I'd like to accomplish starting tomorrow:

1. Start a 365 project where I take a picture of Graham everyday for an entire year so I can put an album together at the end.

2. Decorate our house little by little (whatever I can afford at the time)

3. Keep my (hopefully pretty) house clean every day.

4. Stop complaining PERIOD. (this will be hard)

5. Spend more time with friends.

I wish everyone out there a Happy New Year!

Graham's Elmo Party!

Another year makes a huge difference in how much Graham has changed. He was able to enjoy it this year and understand what's going on. He loved his cup cake and cake pop as his birthday cake! He played with all the kids but wasn't too nice about sharing his own toys... we'll have to work on that. Over all, we all had a great time celebrating his 2nd birthday. I shall update more but wanted to share some pictures from today!

Almost 2!

We're just a few weeks away of Graham turning the big 2! He's learning so much and talking A LOT! Miss Ashley (his teacher at school) tells me he's one of the more social ones so they put him with a group of kids that are the same so they could carry a conversation and have fun with each other. I'm glad to find that my son is the "social" one (just like his daddy in law school, haha)!

Since he's almost 2, I'll let you guys catch up on what he's doing lately:

1. He knows all the colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple (his favorite color at the moment), Black, and White.
2. His best friends names are: Hunter, Ethan, and Piper
3. He absolutely adores Elmo and some of the Sesame Streets Characters: Abby, Big Bird, Ernie
4. Loves to help mommy and daddy with whatever we ask: Taking things to the trash, handing me a hammer, sweep the floor with a broom, putting up his toys...
5. Still loves puppy, he goes everywhere with him. Though teachers at school have told me he can go without puppy pretty the whole day (puppy sits in his cubby)
6. His favorite word right now is - NO
7. he says bless you after you sneeze.
8. He knows the following people by pictures: mommy, daddy, aunt Gloria (aunt ge-ya), uncle cole, uncle Carl, ah-ma (max's mom), ah-gong (Philip and my dad), gran-pa and mimi (Pam).
9. He can spell his name!
10. Everything is in the quantity of 2 (ie how many apples do you have? the answer is always 2)
11. He can count to 10
12. Loves to dance and sing
13. He will come hug me and follow it with I love you, mommy.
14. He knows most of his ABC's.
15. He knows who Santa is but is still afraid of him
16. He loves to hit Millie and Boswell (in his eyes he's petting them)

We're now planning his second birthday and hope it will be a good one for him. Can you guess what the theme of the party will be? Yep, ELMO! :)

i heart christmas

I really do... so I decided that I was going to stay on top of things this year and actually had all Christmas decorations up the day after thanksgiving. That includes a Christmas tree from Home Depot! Our Christmas cards were also sent out Saturday after Thanksiving! I have never sent our cards out on time!! I also really enjoy seeing our neighbors homes and see what they've done on the outside! It's the most wonderful time of the year!

So tonight, Graham looked really cute sitting in our living room and I started snapping pictures and captured a few good pics of him. He normally doesn't like the camera (since I take so many pictures of him) and will usually say, no mommy.... but for some odd reason, he actually liked it tonight! :) I know it's been a while since I'm posted a blog so I hope you like the collage I put together from some photos I took!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sickly Graham

This was expected since he started school last week. The illness of all sorts begins.

2 days after being at Odyssey, Graham came home with just a runny nose and ends up with a fever, cough, and TONS of congestion! You should hear this baby when he talks... all horsed and scratchy. :(

Papa usually keeps him on Mondays and he goes to school Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But since he's still sick, mommy stayed home today and will also take off tomorrow for Graham to get well. This of course is an evil cycle because he most likely will come home with other germ of some sort.... Oh well.... We can do it!

So, I've taken lots of pictures since Graham and I get to spend some quality alone time. Here's one to share!

Bitter Sweet...

Max got a JOB at Maynard, Cooper and Gale!!!!!! Got the news this past Friday and we're so excited!! We've been waiting for this day to come for a while now.... It's only a contract position but if he kicks major BUTT.... It can turn into something great!!

So the bitter sweet part is that Graham has to go back to school at Odyssey. Graham hasn't been back to that place for a little over a year now. How is he going to adapt to a new place? He's been at home with Papa and dad this whole time. We're both nervous for him but we also think with his personality, he will do just fine (after a few days....). I'm going to stay with him for a little while tomorrow because he usually does better at warming up to strangers if one of us is with him. Once he's comfortable, he wouldn't care if I was there or not. Well, not that doesn't care but he would be alright without me. Plus, he will get to be with other children which is something he's never had. Learning things with other kids.... (See how I'm trying to be ok with all this.... I'm a train wreck right now!!) I'm going to cry like a baby when I leave him tomorrow..... anyway.....

Wish us luck this week with Max starting a new job and Graham starting school, again! :)

Mommy's 30th Birthday

Sweet Picture of Graham

This photo was taken by our dear friend Brandon Ku while he was visiting a few months ago. He called it in the rain....

Here's his flicker account if you want to check out his work. He is AMAZING!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bku/

ALMOST 1 1/2 years old!

It's been a while so we believe it's time for an update!

Graham has been learning all sorts of things lately. It's amazing how much a little kid can learn in such a short time! Check this out.


When you ask him where his tongue is, he will stick out his tongue over and over again.
When you ask him where his nose is, he will point to his nose.
When you ask him where his eyes are, he will blink his eyes.
When you ask him where his ears are, he will tug on his ears.

He learned all these above in 5 mins! (Maybe 10 min...)

Graham is also starting to repeat words after you... So that means mama and dada need to watch what they say around him..... umm hmm....

We can tell the following words he says that only WE can understand...
Basketball
Gloria (Aunt Gloria is very happy about this)
Dog
Bird
Car
Apple
Bubble
Banana

On a bad note, he's starting his terrible 2's a little early... We have no idea what happened to our little angel. Anytime you take something away from him, tell him no.... You can expect "HELL". Screams like you've never heard of before and kicks that will hurt if you get close to him. We have been working with him to let him know that he doesn't have to act that way to get things. We've been talking to him and think that it's working a little bit. I think with time, he will get out this terrible stage!

Overall, he's still the most amazing kid and we love him to pieces! We will be posting some cute videos of him soon, so be on the look out for those!

Bath Time = Good Time

I had to post these right away because he was so adorable the entire time! He was giving me the best smiles (with the camera on him!!) He kept bashing those eye lashes at me, it made me laugh so hard! We had a good time during bath today!!!

Pictures by Grethel Van Epps

Do Dah Day

Graham's first Do Dah Day -- at Highland Park 5.16.2010

Pool Time!

Graham 6 months old at the pool

Birthday Party

Graham was invited to his FIRST birthday party for a little girl name Elaina. Her mom and I became pretty good friends through work (she is a patient of ours). The party was held at Gymboree in Lee Branch and it was the first time for both me and Graham there. I was excited for Graham when I received the invitation and couldn't wait to see him interact with other kids. I've heard great things about the place and that I should have Graham's birthday party there next and boy were they right. I'm definitely having Graham's 2nd birthday party there. Graham had so much fun and smiled pretty much the entire time there. We're still working on "playing" with other kids. He's kind of a loner right now because he hasn't been around kids. He will walk away from the kids if they get close to him.... I've talked to a friend who's a teacher and she said that was normal and we just have to work with him. Schedule playdates, mommy's day out.. etc. After the gym, we all headed into the a room where they set up a table and had every child sit around the table. Handed them juice boxes and gave them all birthday hats to wear. As I stood back to watch him sitting there with the other kids, I suddenly realized how much my son has grown... He's a little toddler!!! No longer my sweet tiny baby.... It was bitter sweet though, he was well behaved, didn't throw a fit like some of the children and just sat there quietly. Can't say I had anything to do with that, he's just a great kid! As he was sitting in that chair, I had remembered one of my birthday parties when I was little that he looked just like Gloria in one of the pictures my parents took. It was amazing to see the resemblance in the "Gwo" family. All in all, it was a very sucessful birthday party and we both had a great time there.

Here are a few pictures of him at the party.

This is the picture where I thought he looked just like Gloria

my handsome boy -- always have to have balls in his hand

Grandpa at the park

Grandpa decided to come see Graham this past week and boy did he love all the attention. Here are just a few pictures to show on much grandpa loves him.

Spring is near... I can feel it

One Saturday Afternoon...

Bath Time

Park and Slide

He's been to the park several times but this is the first time where he has not been scared of the other children running around and actually enjoyed playing with other kids. He surprised me by coming down the slide the first time I put him up there. It seemed so natural and his smile said it all. I thought to myself, my boy is growing up.... He was copying what the other kids were doing, following them, and simply admiring them. The cutest thing was when this little boy (1 1/2 years old) trying to climb back up the slide. Graham took one look at him and started climbing up the slide too! The last picture above was him attemping it and unfortnately unsucessful. I really enjoyed being with him at the park by myself. It was a nice mommy and son time... since it's so rare for me to have moments like this! I love my Graham, I truly truly love him!!! Please stay sweet like you are forever!!!

After Nap One Afternoon

We have to be the luckiest parents ever! You know how people tell you it's wrong to have your baby sleep in bed with you? Well, Max and I have been doing that since he was born and have loved every minute of it. I read in some magazines that it's ok to let them sleep with you, it actually builds their self esteem.... I really don't see why it's wrong to begins with. Anyway, because we've been letting him sleep with us, we as parents have NOT been sleeping well. Solution? Transition him into sleeping in his crib. We thought it was going to be a long process because he was probably used to sleeping with us... boy were we wrong. He has had no problem sleeping in his own bed! Sleeps through the night just like nothing has changed. We truly has been blessed with the best baby ever! It's truly amazing! I hope when it comes time to potty train it will be just as easy. A girl can dream right?

So here are a few pictures of Graham after a nap during the day. He woke up just talking to himself, laughing.... so when I went in there, this is what I captured.

Graham Playing Ball

The weather has been great these past 2 weekends and wanted to take advantage of it. I'm currently taking a photography class taught by Grethel Van Epps and wanted to practice on the "lighting". We broke out the T-ball set and Graham had a fun time. He enjoyed more about hold the ball then hitting the ball though. I guess it will just take some time for him to learn to use the baseball bat. I decided to take some pictures of him playing while practicing with the light. I hope you like the pictures.