We had a great Christmas and Graham made out like a little bandit. We spent the afternoon of Christmas Eve with Dean's family at his mom and dad's new house and Michelle, Al and Adam joined us. We had some lunch, exchanged some gifts and had a great time. Dean was under the weather, so we didn't make it to church and came on home. We opened a couple presents before bed and then Graham went to bed and we prepared for Christmas morning! Graham slept until about 730am! We whisked him in to the kitchen for breakfast and then took him to the tree, he was in awe of his ball pit that Santa left and almost under his breathe said "BAWWWWWL!" He jumped right in and remained in it the entire time we were opening presents and opened all his presents while sitting in it! It was too cute!

After all the festivities were over at our house, we headed to my parents house and had Christmas with my parents, Kenneth and Granny. Mama fixed a big lunch and we ate and ate and then headed to the tree for gifts! Graham again got so many neat fun things and lots of clothes too. It was a fun day! He had another big day and slept all the way home!

I was off the rest of the week and Dean headed back to work. Graham and I had three busy days! On Wednesday afternoon, we went to visit another Honeytree daycare location that we are going to transfer to in mid-Janary. He is scheduled to graduate to the next classroom at his current center in January and since Dean and I have both changed jobs since picking this location, we decided to go ahead and move him to a center that is on our way to work, instead of quite so out of the way. So, we met the kiddos and some of the teachers and Dean stopped by and visited as well. Of course Graham fit right in, played hard, had snack with them and cried when we had to leave. He was so tired when we got home!!!! We went back again on Friday morning to meet another teacher and play some more. He really seemed to remember it already and jumped right in. We are sad to leave his current center, they have been so good to us this past year, but we look forward to a shorter commute time coming and going and more time at home!

On Friday afternoon, Steve, Seung and Kierson came from Richmond for a visit! They had never met Graham and we had lots of fun. Kierson is 3.5 and made a great playmate for Graham! They spent the night and went home on Saturday. It was great to see them!

We had a great Christmas Season and look forward to the New Year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

We are very excited about Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We have a full schedule! We will be with Dean's family on Christmas Eve and then go to the 6pm service at church and then Dean, Graham and I will spend Christmas morning at our house and then we will head to my parent's house to spend the rest of Christmas day! A very busy two days!

Graham came down with the 24 hour type stomach bug on Tuesday afternoon at daycare. I left work and picked him up and he was mostly done throwing up, but very very pale and weak. He drank a little bit before bed and slept all night. Dean and I both had busy days at work on Wednesday so Mama came down and spent the day with Graham to give him a chance to rest up before going back to daycare. By the next day he was fine and in a couple days, his appetite came back in full force!

On Saturday, Graham and I had a full day of visiting and Christmas celebrating! First, we went to Mama's and she hosted us, Carol and her kids and Stacy and her girls. We had lots of fun and it is hard to believe that our annual get together is 6 kids strong now! After that, we went and visited with Zerna, Stephanie and Adam and got to meet Miss Lydia, who was a little doll! Then, we headed to Christiansburg and spent the evening with Brad, Kelly, Grey and Reed. Graham definitely started getting the hang of opening presents and got lots of new goodies!

On Sunday, we had our Christmas program at church, Dean had a nice solo and all the music was very pretty. Then, we headed home and started preparing for the big two days! I am way behind on pictures, I will try to work on that later this week. Graham and I are off all week, so we very much looking forward to that time together!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

The Christmas celebrating is in full force now. We spent Sunday afternoon and evening with Mama and daddy and Tammy and Mark having dinner and Christmas and lots of fun. Graham got very very spoiled and got lots of new toys, books, blocks and clothes. He seemed to get the hang of the unwrapping, but doesn't like how long it takes to get all those toys unwired from the cardboard!!!! I will get some pics loaded in a few days. I did finally finish loading all the recent pictures and pictures of the decorations around the house, so check those out.

On Thursday night, Dean and I went to a Christmas party at my boss' house and Tammy and Mark picked Graham up and took him out to dinner and back to their house for the evening, so that was very nice and everyone had fun! Monday, he had lots of fun playing with mama and daddy while he and I spent a day at home. It was a good catch up day for me and a good play day for Graham and his grandparents.

The Claritin that the doc had us start using last week really did the trick for his cough and congestion! We went back in on Wednesday for some shots and he had already gained four ounces back, putting him back at 25 pounds even and his appetite is stronger than ever. It is really amazing how much he eats and all the different things that he eats. I think he surprises everyone who watches him! His teeth didn't seem to be bothering him quite as bad, so maybe they are all done bothering him until time for those two year molars! We are all getting very excited about Christmas and cannot believe that it is only a week away! Graham and I are going to be off all week, so that is gonna be lots and lots of fun!!!!

We finally got all the Christmas decorating done, now I need to get through the house and take some pictures of Graham admidst all the decorations! I am off on Monday and Mama and daddy are coming to spend the day with me and Graham, so maybe I can do that then!

We had busy week and weekend. On Saturday, we went see Dean's parents at their new house. His mom was home from the hospital and we helped them with some more unpacking and put up their Christmas tree, so that was lots of fun. Graham enjoys sitting and watching all the hustle and bustle while we busyily work around the house! We had fun and got a lot done and it was very nice to see his mom out of the hospital!

Graham's cough that was leftover from his cold was still lingering and occasionally he was having bouts of coughing so hard he would cough back up his last meal or cup of milk. So, after a big spell of that on Sunday morning, right before church, we decided that Graham and I would go to the doc and just have him checked out. He had a spell of being awake and really fussing on Saturday night, so we also wanted to make sure his ears were okay. So, ears and chest were all clear. The doc basically said it is the allergy drainage in his throat that gets him coughing and told us we could start giving him Claritin. It was the first time that a doc went ahead and addressed his symptoms as allergies, although we suspected that has been what he was dealing with several different times. So, hopefully the clartin will do the trick and probably down the road, we will see about some further allergy testing, since his daddy is full of allergies and still on the shots! He had lost a little over a half pound, dropping just below 25 pounds, I guess from a combination of all his running around now and the few coughing spells of loosing some meals, so hopefully that will turn around soon! Also, the doc pointed out that his top two molars are on the final stretch of being all the way in and are probably causing some of the discomfort. He has all 16 of his baby teeth now, all that is left is his two year molars! He was a teeth cutting fool!

On Friday evening, he went with me to see Ms Rachel to get our hair cut! Even though he doesn't have much on top, he was getting a stringy nappy mess on the back of his head, so Rachel trimmed him right up and gave him a big boy do! She aslo said it will come in faster and more even now! So, that is great! Anyway, he was happy to be there, until she put the cape on and came towards him with the scissors, but after the five minute ordeal, he was happy as could be and sat in his stroller and watched as she did my do! Anyway, I, of course, documented the official first haircut in pictures and have the locks of hair for his keepsake box!

Graham continues to be super active, walking and running all over the place and playing ball or whatever game / toy harder than ever! He seemed to kick his ear infection and just has a little lingering cough from his cold, so glad it didn't go into his chest! So, on the road to recovery! We go back on Thursday to see the surgeon about his chest, most of time it is almost non-existent now, but occasionally looks a little pinkish. Dean is hoping the doc says we can stop the cocoa butter, the combo of Vicks Vapor Rub and the cocoa butter made for a crazy smelling nursery at night last week!

On Saturday, we went to see Santa Claus. My office has a guy who is a great Santa and they take free pics for employee's kids and you can bring your own camera too. This year, they did the photo shoot at the transportation museum. Graham was all decked out in one of Christmas sweater outfits and we were so excited. We got there and he walked up to Santa and seemed fine initially, but the moment that I took a step back and left him on Santa's lap - he wanted down, no part of it. We even tried with me sitting on Santa's lap, but he wouldn't sit on my lap either! So, we got a couple shots, but not what we were hoping for. Oh well, maybe next year!

Afterwards, we went to Chrstiansburg and visited Dean's mom in the hospital. My parents also came to visit her so Graham got to see all his grandparents at one time! Hopefully, his mom will be going home this week. She was in a regular room this time, so Graham could visit her, so that was nice! She said he was good medicine!

On Sunday, we had fun at church, Graham wants to explore all over the whole church and play with everyone. When it came time for communion, he practically ran up to the alter and on our way back to our seat, he stopped at each pew to visit. Needless to say, that took a while! But, everyone loved it! After we got home, we started decorating! Graham enjoyed seeing all the activity and liked hearing Dean play christmas songs on the piano while we decorated the tree. He loves to dance to any and all music. He went up and touched the tree a couple times, but was actually more interested in going over to the piano to play a few tunes! So, that was interesting! Anyway, we didn't get quite all the decorating done, but once we do, I will get some pics loaded up! I cant believe Graham's second Christmas is almost here!