9/11/12 18 MONTHS OLD TODAY

We don't have cute monthly onesies anymore ... but I remembered a monthly photo shoot!!!! I cannot believe my Graham bear is 18 months old!!! He's so fun and sweet loving! He has a wonderful memory and studies everything we do (even when we don't know it!) Every night when my parents leave I do the exact same thing (yes OCD, I know!) Shut the garage door, close the door, lock it, set the alarm, close the alarm door, then shut off the light! Recently Graham started to reach out and do my EXACT routine!!! He didn't miss a beat, and he knew exactly which buttons to hit to set our home alarm!!!! This is just one example of how much he learns from watching us ... I mean everything we do he has started to mimic with his actions!!!! It's crazy! So needless to say, we are trying to be on our best behavior with actions LOL! He talks ALL the time ... not always sure what he's saying, but his awesome eye contact and hand motions make me think we are in a deep conversation ;) He loves loves LOVES to be around people. In fact I'm recently having a hard time engaging him in a solo activity. As soon as I leave the room he's whining for my return. This means I could simply step into the kitchen (where I can see him in the living room) ... but the distance is just too much for him right now! SO I figure who cares ... he has his entire life for solo activity, and I'm livin up all our time together!;) This makes house chores difficult but oh well! He also is loving being held lately. I get tired of people telling me to 'put him down, he can walk, let him be a big boy' ... I figure here pretty shortly he won't want to be held, cuddled, and carried ... so I'm going to enjoy every little second that I can! We had a rough FULL month of going to sleep at night ... all of the sudden my decently "good" sleeper was TERRIFIED of me putting him in the crib! It was close to torture, and I was at a loss of what to do! But I slowly waited it out, and just did whatever felt right at the time. If that meant I rocked him until he passed out, then fine (which didn't really work, because he would manage to keep his eyes WIDE open the entire time in fear I would lay him down!) Anyway ... I "waited it out, gave it time, let it pass" like everyone always encourages me to do ... and it sure enough worked! Caleb came home from the rig and all of the sudden Graham had no issue going to sleep! Weird! Sometimes I feel like Graham gets confused about our life of shift work, but he will learn more as he grows! Graham doesn't eat AS much or as easily as he used to ... but he eats enough to be full I guess! He still LOVES to be outside and I am so ready for Fall so that we aren't dripping sweat after 10 seconds outside. The rest is same ol' same ol' ... bigger diapers, bigger clothes ... weighing heavier ... etc etc! Conclusion is ... we are healthy, happy, growing, and enjoying every second together!:)

"I'M ONE!!!!"

Check out WHAT A DIFFERENCE 1 YEAR MAKES!!!! Here is Graham in his pumpkin pj's just last Fall!!!! Granted ... I am SO ready for Fall that I bought pumpkin pj's even a little earlier this year HeHe!!! ;)