My life as I know it

I can't believe that when the month of July started, Graham wasn't crawling at all. Now here it is, halfway through the month and not only has he perfected the crawl, but he's now pulling himself up on furniture and walking alongside of it. It is amazing how quickly these developmental milestones happen. Such a fun, scary and exciting time in our parenting quest. It's fun to see him mobile and to be able to call his name and have him crawl to you. In fact, it melts my heart every single time. Life in the Robinson household is very different, that's for sure. On Saturday, I was in the bathroom getting ready and Pat was in the kitchen. Graham spent his time crawling back and forth between the two of us (and seeing what trouble he could get into in between). We had to keep yelling to one another "He's coming your way." I love the new noise he makes when he crawls now. That is new just this week. You can kind of hear it in this video I made. Now i...

The ninth month mark in this parenting game has been the most interesting yet. In the beginning it took six weeks just to get a smirk, now I blink and Graham is crawling or pulling himself up or even standing on his own for a few seconds. Gone are the days when he laid still for diaper and wardrobe changes. Now it's more like wrestling an alligator just to get him changed. A screaming alligator at that. Although he has less teeth, he does bite. Oh yeah, that's another new development. Now that he has both top and bottom teeth, you have to be on high alert when his mouth is anywhere near your skin. He bit me for the first time at a funeral home when I was talking to the family and wasn't paying attention to him. And it wasn't a quick bite, his jaw was still clenched on my shoulder when I squealed and caused a scene. That wasn't the only scene he caused at the funeral home that night. He also pulled my shirt down, exposing the entire left half of my chest. Lucki...

Graham crawled for the first time tonight. He has taken a few forward motions here and there, one knee in front of the other, but for no more than three crawls at a time. Tonight, he went the distance. All he needed was a worthwhile prize at the finish line: His daddy. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly these milestones happen. All day today he was trying to crawl, would give up and then resort to the army crawl. Then all of the sudden, it just clicks and he's crawling. I was fortunate to get his first crawl on video, which I'm quite excited about. You will notice in the video that he could have kept going if he didn't get distracted by the large piece of mulch on the floor. He loves to find random objects that don't belong on the carpet. It's a really fun game we play. I vacuum, Grady drags the mulch in on his paws, Graham finds it and tries to eat it. Repeat. We are very proud parents at this moment. Proud and nervous. We fully recognize this is a gam...

Via Party in Graham's crib last night at 3:30 a.m. Those onesies have a whole new meaning to me now and I don't quite find them as humorous as I once did. When I went into his room to see what his deal was, he greeted me with a huge smile and continued to smile at me the entire time I changed his diaper. I think he really was hoping for a party. And the "party" wasn't over until about 5 a.m. Needless to say, mamma and papa Robinson were a bit tired on this hump day. But I can't complain. Since he was six weeks old, this is only the third time we've been up in the middle of the night. He is a really good sleeper and I know we are lucky (although I'm convinced it isn't just about good luck. Sleep training must play some role, too. I highly recommend BabyWise and/or 12 hours sleep by 12 weeks old). So why did he wake up? While of course we don't know for sure, we suspect it has something to do with the fact that it was 74+ degrees in hi...

Someone asked me recently how I'm adjusting to being a mom. The answer to that question is an easy one. I love every single second of it. It is hands down the best and most meaningful job I've ever had. Nothing in this world makes me happier. From the moment I held Graham in my arms for the first time, I forgot about what life was like before he was here. Everything has more meaning now and I am overwhelmed every day by how much I love him and love being his mom. That being said, five and a half months into this gig and I still have no idea what the heck I'm doing. If a "mom of the year" award really did exist, I do something on a daily basis to ensure that I would never receive that award. HEADLINE: Inexperienced parents pinch son's leg in car seat, cause scene at wedding People (namely my father-in-law and my husband) had been telling me for a while that they thought Graham's car seat was getting a little too snug. I knew that he is supposed to f...

Wow. I'm terrible at blogging. I wasn't awesome at it before having a kid and now with the kid, I'm even worse. I started this blog after my first week back at work, so over a month ago, and never finished or published it. So while Graham is napping on this Sunday afternoon, I made it my mission to finish it. ***** I'm not going to lie, I definitely shed a few tears on my way to work on that first Monday morning. It was not easy to leave my baby boy. One of the positive aspects of having a 45 minute commute is that I have a lot of time to think (this can also be negative, too, depending on my mood). I had 45 minutes to talk myself out of feeling sad and talk myself into feeling really lucky and blessed. So I did. And it worked! And the glass half-full attitude lasted all week long. And to be honest, it wasn't a stretch because I really am lucky and blessed. I was feeling a lot of emotions on that first day back to work but some of the emotions I wasn't ...

My baby boy is three months old today. I would say, "where did the last three months go?" but I already know the answer to that since I spent them attached to my pump. But I'm sure they would have gone by quickly no matter what. And now the day has come when I must return to work. I won't say that I've been dreading this day because it wasn't until recently that I even realized how very sad I would actually be to leave him. I've always said I could never be a stay-at-home mom because I enjoy working and the adult interaction. I'm learning there are a lot of things "I've always said," before I became a mom which turn me into a hypocrite on a daily basis. My new mantra since becoming a mom is, "never say never." The truth is, your perspective on just about everything changes once you become a mom - at least that's the case for me. I was never going to give my kid a pacifier. That is, until he was screaming in the middle ...

Graham is two months old now and he gets cuter every day, in my (not so) humble opinion. A lot has happened over the last two months and I'm not sure where to start. Let's start with his sleeping habits. I told myself I would transition him to his crib at four weeks. Well four weeks came along and he was still sleeping in our room and I just wasn't ready to move him yet. Not only was he still in our room, but do you remember how I referenced keeping my bedside lamp on that first night we were home from the hospital? Well, I must confess that it wasn't just a one night thing but instead I kept that light on every night for the entire first month of Graham's life. I know, I'm nuts. But it just made me feel more comfortable being able to roll over and see his face. And it wasn't that bright of a light. I have good news. One night I decided it was time to start sleeping in the dark. But that seemed a little too drastic so I switched to only turning on t...

Graham was born a month ago. I cannot believe it. The good news is, we're all still alive. But I have no idea where the last five weeks went. Time is going by so quickly and it probably will never slow down. Next thing you know Graham will be getting married and having his own kids. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. But seriously, time is flying by! The days fly by, too. I feel like I blink and it's time for Pat to come home from work already (and usually this is when I realize that I haven't brushed my teeth or showered all day). But finally I can say I’m feeling like I might be STARTING to get the hang of this whole parenting thing. And my energy is back which is great. Now I just feel the normal exhaustion that all new parents feel from being sleep deprived (will I ever sleep eight hours in a row again? EVER? What about 4? Or 5? Or 6? Or 7?). We might actually be getting on a little bit of a routine, too. And by routine I mean I am a slave to my son and he cal...

I don't remember anyone telling me how hard the first two weeks of being a mom would be. And if they did, maybe I blocked it out. I guess I was expecting nothing but rainbows and butterflies when bringing baby Graham home. Heading home from the hospital Turns out it's more like baby boot camp coupled with raging hormones and parents who have no idea what they are doing. I was actually terrified to leave the hospital because I wasn't sure how we were going to do this on our own when walking to the bathroom felt like running a marathon for me. But alas, we were home. Ready or not...we were on our own. Within 5 minutes of walking through the door Pat changed a blowout poopy diaper and was peed on. The next day I let Graham pee on his own face while trying to change his diaper. Since then he has peed on himself or someone else at least once a day. Today, he is in his third outfit already and it's only noon... Our first trip out together was for Graham's do...

There are people who believe in miracles and there are people who don't. I've always been one who doesn't. The problem I have with miracles is that when you believe one happened in a situation with a positive outcome, you have to wonder why one didn't happen in situations with bad outcomes. As I sit here typing this, with my two-week-old baby boy sleeping next to me, I am seeing the subject of miracles a little differently. Maybe it's becoming a mom that has changed my opinion because let's face it - from conception to birth, everything about bringing a child into the world is miraculous. To say that Graham's birth story turned out a little differently than I had ever anticipated is a huge understatement. But knowing what I know now and how very much worse it all could have been, I believe the story is nothing short of a miracle. Let's start from the beginning. Thursday, September 27: I was sitting at my desk at work when I started getting really weird ...