So Thankful

So it's official - I am a stay at home mom and I couldn't be more thrilled, excited and thankful that I get to spend my everyday with my sweet little boy.

I mean let's be honest...who wouldn't want to hang out with this guy everyday??! 

I gave my notice to Fossil a few weeks back and my official last day in the corporate world was 9.24.2012.  It was definitely a bittersweet day and while I can say there is a part of me that will miss what I had been doing for the last 6 years - I wouldn't change my decision for anything in the world (even on the days where he get's up several times during the night, fights me every time I try to get him to nap, spits up all over me or worse - use your imagination:).  

These first few months have truly been a blessing and more rewarding than I could have imagined.  What I am most surprised by is how fast time is moving.  I can't believe how much he has changed since the first day we brought him home.  He is turning in to such a little man so fast I'm afraid if I blink I will miss something:)  This week we are working on rolling over and pushing up with our arms...he hates both of these things but we have his four month appointment coming up in a few weeks and mommy and daddy want to make the Doctor proud!  

I will say that before becoming a mom I really had no idea how busy life would become.  I kinda thought that babies slept all the time and more of my day would be filled with catching up on TV shows, shopping on line, etc. (obviously I was a bit naive.)  Contrary to what I THOUGHT it would be like - my days are VERY full.  Outside of my number 1 priority of taking care of Graham I also have been helping my dad with designing a barndominium, have taking up cooking (this is still a work in progress although my supportive husband would never admit that) and managing the Tappan family budget (insert evil laugh here HEHE.)

Something else that I am thankful for is that my parents live so close.  Since Jake travels with his work it's nice that I can pack up the boys (Elvis and Graham) and head over to Emme and Popi's house for the week.  I know they love it too - I think my mom goes into a bit of withdrawal if she goes more than a week without seeing her grand babies...Here are a few pics from our last trip out to their house when Jake was in Montana...

Emme playing airplane with Graham

Emme and Popi hanging out on the 

couch with the grandkids before bed

Some of Graham Graham's First

Some of Graham Graham's Firsts - In no Particular Order :)

As you can see from the date of this post today is September 14th which means Graham will be 3 months old in only 4 days - so as you can imagine there have been LOTS of first since we brought him home in June.  Seeing that it has taken me almost 3 months to write this post (and not many hours of sleep in-between) you can imagine the details may be a bit foggy.  Nevertheless I will do my best to remember and use this post to finally get up to date!  

First Trip to the beach.  Okay or we could say mommy and daddy's last vacation for a while.  Lord knows I love a vacation so of course when I heard of a baby moon I said yes please.  These next few pics are from our trip to West Palm Beach before Graham arrived.

First hug from his brother Elvis.

This is actually Elvis laying on my belly giving Graham what I can assume is a hug.

too sweet.  

First manicure from his Emme.  Graham came home from the hospital with the
sharpest little nails and neither mommy or daddy were brave enough to try and cut them.
Luckily Emme was at the house and got him taken
care of so he would stop scratching that sweet face.  

First ride in his swing.  Look how tiny he is.  He seemed to like this okay but definitely

haven't gotten a ton of use out of it.  Oh well it was just one of those things new parents

NEED along with the million other things slowly taking over our home:)

First present to me from Graham!  LOVE LOVE LOVE.  This was actually push present and birthday present and probably christmas and every birthday for the next 10 years! One was from Graham and the other from Elvis.  I have five words for daddy to take note of here...The Bar Has Been Set!  Ha! 

First time in his crib.  Does he look happy here?

My bet is no and 3 months later he is still not a fan of sleeping is his beautiful crib.

Graham in his snugga bunny!  Yes that is the name of this little life savor.  Graham loved this sleeper and to this day is still the only thing that he will sleep in.  Not sure what we are going to do when the day comes that he grows out of it - which is getting closer and closer as I type!

First bath!  Well actually first sponge bath (which he screamed the whole way through.)  I mean really who wants to be placed on a large sponge on the kitchen counter...doesn't sound real fun to me.

First big boy bath.  This was Graham's first bath in the tub which he LOVES.  We have bath time every night and he inches his was further and further in the water because he likes it zoo much.  I can't wait until he is big enough to sit up and play with all his rubber duckies.

First time out to dinner.  This was taken with my folks at some Italian rester aunt.  Food was blah but I guess that is because the pediatritian recommended I cut out all food and food products to help with Graham's tummy (okay just dairy, beef and soy - but lets be honest what dairy free entree on the menu at an Italian food restaurant could possibly be worth paying for?!)  Regardless it was a nice time out and sweet boy slept the whole time for us.

Graham and his Emme who just loves him so much she can't go a week without seeing him!  This one was taken one week when Jake was traveling for work...Graham and I stayed at Mom and Pats house and Graham go LOTS of kisses.

First safari hunt.  Just kidding - this was just a cute outfit from Emme and quite frankly I just wanted to make sure you were still paying attention:)

First SWAG outfit.  We have Aunt Lisa to thank for providing Graham with his first real SWAG.  I think he is sporting it rather nicely - she would be proud.

First kisses from Elvis!

First time is his green chair.  Well maybe he wasn't quite ready for this one yet but if anyone knows me I am very competitive and I will have him sitting up before you know it

First time meeting Nana B!   Nana, Aunt Lisa, Bubba,  A & O all drove to Dallas to meet Graham.  Graham currently misses Nana and can't wait to come visit her in Brenham!

Graham hang in with Emme.

Graham meets Miller Knapp - future BFs

First Holiday - 4th of July.  Walking outside to take this pick was the extent of our celebration this day.  Actually to be honest this was probably the only time we even left the house...Oh well :)

First date night out for mommy and daddy.  We had a blast - delicious meal at Lonesome Dove and then dancing at the Lee Brice concert in Fort Worth.  Graham stayed at his Emme and Popi's and from what I hear was an angel.  

Tummy Time with Emme.  I think Emme was as tired as Graham.  At some point she fell asleep as well and I decided I needed to prop pillows all around them...just in case...:)

First tennis shoes!  How freaking cute is he in his baseball jersey and shoes all set to watch the Texas Rangers play!

Graham and Hunter Stockstill (also future BF) chatting it up in their snugga bunnys.  Actually it looks as if Graham is chatting and Hunter is snoozing...must not have been an interesting conversation. 

Graham meets Pops!  Well this was actually the 3rd visit counting the one in the hospital but unfortunately I don't have any of those pics :)

Graham hangin with his Granmom.  He sure enjoyed the visit!

First double kisses from mommy and daddy!  Don't worry there will be PLENTY more of these to come sweet baby!!

We're Not in Our 20's Anymore

Well let's face it I'm officially not a 20 something anymore and it feels...you guessed it absolutely no different.  I do feel every bit my age but then again my hate for exercising etc. could be a contributing factor - hopefully I get motivated soon...

So to back it up a bit Graham's initial due date was somewhere between June 19th and June 22 - the later being just 6 days before my 30th.  And as I heard with many first time moms - there is a good chance your baby will come late and I really didn't want to spend my big 3.0. in the hospital (although what better gift could I get than sweet Graham Graham.)

Luckily as you already know he came on the 18th and we were out of that hospital in plenty of time.

I celebrated my birthday with my parents, Jake and of course Graham and big brother Elvis.  Mom was already staying with me that week to help out and Pat came over that weekend so we could all celebrate together for dinner that night.  BUT before that - I got to get out of the house for a few hours while mom and Pat babysat and Jake and I went to my FAV little wine bar and had some MUCH needed and I think deserved vino!  Then we came home to some festive decor and ordered cheesecake factory which was so good!

Oh and of course since it was my b-day I wanted to get all cute - which proved to be harder than I anticipated seeing that absolutely nothing other than t-shirts and yoga pants fit me - entirely not appropriate for my brief stint out of the house for a mini date and wine.  (I guess that is one big lesson I learned - you don't simple bounce back to the same way you were before you got pregnant minutes after you have your little one) - call me naive but I thought it would be really fast :)  S0 mom - being the great mom she is stopped out and bought me a dress while she was running some errands.  Of course it didn't look good so she went out YET again and sent me back pics from her phone until I saw one I liked.  Here's some pics from my birthday festivities in my birthday dress (oh yeah and princess crown that she also thought was fitting - and let's be honest it kinda is right?!?! :)