Graham was very excited about his upcoming birthday party all week long and asked me if it was here yet, most every day. He definitely got it this year. We were all very anxious for Saturday.

I took off early on Friday afternoon and went and got his Thomas cake and big Thomas, James and Percy balloons and then picked Graham up early from school right after nap. He was even more excited when he started seeing party "stuff" appear. He was very excited by bedtime on Friday night!

On Saturday morning, the excitement was definitely in the air. We got all the decorations set up and surprisingly, he didn't try to mess with his packages a bit! My parents, Dean's parents and Kenneth and Baby Lillian came early for lunch with us and we tried to do some pre=party photos. Graham was semi-cooperative.......not so much in to the posing! Tammy, Mark, Brad, Kelly, Grey and Reed joined us and the present unwrapping began! He got so many wonderful gifts, lots and lots of books and puzzles, movies and clothes and just a few toys! He wanted to stop and get in to each thing, or read the books, but we kept urging him to keep going. He was very in to playing and playing when he was done, but we did get him to stop for cake and song. He was so cute while we were singing to him, he just stood very still with this cutest little smile on his face!

Everyone trickled out and he was much to busy playing to see anyone out. He literally sat in the same spot playing with his new lego trains for about 3 hours! Needless to say, there was no nap! So, we headed up for an early bath (with new Thomas bath toys) and he went to bed with his new Thomas pillows and was out cold at 8pm!!!! What a big day he had!

He was wide awake at 730am talking all about his party, remembering every detail! We headed to church and he was a very very good boy at church, so that was great! He even napped on the way home. The house still looked like a bit of a party zone and we spent Sunday working new puzzles, watching new DVDs and more playing with legos! Of course, Graham also thinks it was his actual birthday, so he might be a bit surprised when we celebrate again at school on Tuesday with cupcakes with all his classmates!!!

We had a pretty routine week. Birthday season is definitely in the air, Graham knows that his birthday is getting closer and closer. We also got invited to a birthday party for one of his classmates, so he was looking forward to that on Sunday and we talked a lot about her party and then his party being next.

On Friday, we planned to attend Adam's high school football game. It is his senior year and plays nearly the whole game, both offense and defense. We went out for Mexican after work and then headed to the game, an away game for them, but close for us! Graham was very excited to see Cousin Adam play ball and to eat "corn," like last year! His little memory is just amazing! He was so in to the game, cheering, eating, watching and narrating what was going on. It was so neat. One time he yelled out, Go Adam, you can do it! No clue where he heard that! He was a little perplexed about the boys falling down so much though! We headed out right as the gamed was ending (sadly they lost!) just before 10pm and Graham was very very tired! He fell asleep in no time after we headed home and Dean carried him in the house and put him to bed in his clothes and he slept right through until morning and woke up talking all about the game!

On Saturday morning, my mom arrived early and she and Graham and I headed over to Lynchburg to do some shopping, which we stretched out all day! Graham did excellent riding in his stroller and cooperating (without a nap!) We got some new things for him for fall and some maternity clothes for me. We got him the CUTEST Big Brother shirt and he was quite pleased with that! He got to ride some "riding things," at the mall, so that made his day. We headed home late afternoon and he napped all the way home and then some.

Mom stayed the night and while Graham was sleeping and after he went to bed, we pulled all Graham's clothes out of the newborn and 0-3 totes and could not believe how much stuff he had and how new it looked. It is hard to tell how the seasons and sizes are gonna match up beyond that, but at least this initial batch should work, lots of sleepers and gowns and onesies, etc. I still need to find little brother (still no name......) an outfit to come home from the hospital in, I want him to have something new for that (you know, for the photo shoot, ha!).

On Sunday, we had another big day. Mom headed home and we headed to church. Graham did great until right at the alter, he didnt like where we were standing and wanted to move down and that wasn't an option and he threw a little fit on me, so needless to say, we went right out after communion! So, with Dean back in choir, we are one and one! He fell asleep on the way home from church, for the first time in a very long time and then slept right up until time for Zoe's bday party! He was very excited though to wake up and go to her party. It was at the Science Museum and nearly his whole class was there. Most of the parents didn't know each other, but all the kids knew each other and us and would say who was who, so that was cute. It was so cute to see them all sitting at the table, having pizza, cake, getting their goodies and being so good! I guess they felt like they were at school! Graham was very excited to give Zoe her present and help her open it. We also got to spend some time in the museum and pet some live creatures that visited the party (Lizards and turtles!) We called it a day and headed home!

Here are some shots of Graham at the football game, we hope to get to go to another game in a few weeks!

We had a short work week after a fun family day at home on Monday for the holiday. Graham is starting to understand about the days of the week and which days are school days, lake days, church days and this week learned about Monday being a "holiday," so that is cute! He is fully settled in his puppy classroom and talks about all his friends often, mainly the girls, similar to his early classroom, he is one of just a couple boys! But, he doesn't seem to mind, ha!

He has his music class every Friday morning and I guess in the spirit of football season, he has learned the Hokie Pokie, it is quite entertaining to watch him go through the whole song and hand motions! He sings all the time all different songs, he even does his numbers in a scale format. Dean says right on cue most times! And, he still loves playing all his various music instruments including playing his scales at the piano. I think he has gotten Dean's musical gene!

On Saturday, we stayed home the first part of the day and did house projects. Dean did some major organizing and cleaning in the garage, which lasted in to Sunday and concluded with pressure washing the floor. He had finished up the final touches of paint on the nursery and the bedding had arrived on Friday. We went with a transportation theme of - helicopters, airplanes, sailboats, fire engines and trains. It is very very cute! So, on Saturday, I dug in and got the room put back together from the painting and put the bedding out and brought up several totes of Graham's baby goodies from the basement and completed the transformation for little brother. Graham played in his room so good while I was working on the nursery and when I was done I took him in to see and he said - This is Nice!!!!! He took it all in and now he likes to talk about how when he was a baby slept in that room and now little baby brother is going to sleep in there!

On Sunday, we headed back to the regular church routine and Dean went back to choir. Graham had a little visiting girl to play with in the nursery and he showed her the ropes and when she cried he told her that her Nana would be back to get her! Such a big boy! He was an angel during church, when we went in for communion, at the alter and when we sat in the pew for the final prayers! He seems to have turned a corner, which is wonderful!!!!! We headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon / evening at home, relaxing and finishing up our weekend projects. Graham didnt really nap either day and the last two Mondays he has not napped at daycare after his weekend nap schedule was off. He stays on his cot and rests but doesn't sleep and then falls asleep in the car on the way home! I have a feeling this Monday will hold the same thing. We mirrored his weekend schedule to his weekday schedule for a very long time but it is a little harder these days!

It's a BOY! That was the highlight of our week! We hit the doc office first thing Wednesday morning after dropping off Graham and got right in to see the ultrasound tech. She spotted "boy parts" pretty much right off the bat and then checked off everything as being right on schedule and healthy and on track. He was quite active, even did a couple flips for us and then finally decided that he had had enough and buried himself face down and said that was it. She was trying really hard to get a full frontal face shot in 3D and even called in another ultrasound tech and no luck! So, we only got a couple good photos. I looked back and saw with Graham that he was already his usual posing self and we got quite a good shots of him, so Graham will have to teach his baby brother a thing or two about posing for the camera! We made lots and lots of phone calls, emails, texts over the next half hour or so while we were waiting to see Dr Keene and then she called us back to go over all the photos. She said she will go ahead and schedule another ultrasound in 8 weeks at 28 weeks to get some better shots. He weighed in at 10 ounces, just under a pound!

We decided to explain to Graham at bedtime right before prayers about his baby brother. He always ends his prayers with "the little baby in mommy's tummy," so we told him that the baby was a little boy, a brother. Then, we went on to tell him all the things they could do together, trucks, trains, legos, etc and he was taking it all in and then said - and I can read him books! It was very very sweet! He clearly remembered the conversation the next morning and even told his teacher that the baby was a BOY! He exclaims it so proudly, it is just so sweet! We are so truly excited and so happy to get a good healthy report!

On Sunday, we headed to early service one last time before choir resumes next Sunday and we will back to attending the 11am service every week. Graham was great in church today, very very quiet and calm, so that was great. Hopefully, he has settled down a good bit from how hyper he had been!