Celebrating 10 Months of Graham

Double digits!!

I know we say this every month but holy cow 10 months old, how did this happen?

Graham, you make waking up every day so much better.  The minute we lock eyes, you are excited, kicking, smiling and blowing raspberries.  After a quick head butt of a hug, your ready to take on the day.  While you are not yet crawling you certainly have little problem getting around whether spinning on your bum or slowly and meticulously scouting to what you want.  You have also discovered the world of pulling to a stand and tonight you figured out how to go from a lay down to a sit.  Needless to say you are very proud of your new skills.  

You have had a very busy month.  You flew for the first time.  You visited Florida and the ocean for the first time.  And while we had a great time, you spent the last half of vacation pretty sick:(  But you still managed to really enjoy taking in all the sights, warmth, and even managed to see a few dolphins!

  You now weight 18 pounds and are a great eater.  Although I will say you much prefer to eat finger foods than anything we puree for you.  Graham, you love food and will eat just about anything.  Although when we were in Florida we did quickly find out that you ARE NOT a fan of grits, at all!  Otherwise you don't discriminate.  You love fruits, veggies, yogurt, any meat, and LOVE pasta.  Your bottles are a struggle, but I think more just because you don't want to slow down taking in the world to actually sit and drink a bottle.

Graham you absolutely adore your Daddy and brother.  After not seeing them all day nothing brings a bigger smile to your face than when Daddy and Reece come home.  You love to watch Reece dance, play basketball, or simply just be in his presence.  10 months ago I had no idea who you would be but I certainly dreamt and hoped for the moments I am able to watch you light about or talk with Reece.  It is so much better than I could have ever imagined, you adore him and he adores you, my heart explodes every time!!

Your a pretty happy and busy little guy and only really complain when you are tired, hungry OR on the boat.  YIKES, this is certainly going to be something we need to figure out.  Other than the boat, you love to be outside.  You love to be sung and talked to, and then sing and talk back to us.  You love to pull up to a stand.  You are quite the observer and really enjoy just checking out the world.  You are becoming quite silly and love to laugh when you and Daddy chase Reece or Presley around the house, or we find one of your ticklish spots.  

I had no idea how you would so complete our family 10 months ago.  We love you so much and look forward to watching you continue to grow!!

Being Mom

It's been a while since I have posted and while I have so many reasons, I spend tonight reflecting upon this amazing opportunity to be a Mom.  Anyone who has had the opportunity to be a Mom, Mommy, Mother or even to love a child know the conflict between protection, love, support, and growth.

 As a Mom I want to see my boys succeed and struggle when they struggle.  There lies my problem.  Reece is a great student, his teacher tells me often how easily he picks up on things.  His strongest area is math by far, and he is constantly surprising Gregg and I , not only with his ability but with his desire to continue stretching and challenging his knowledge in math.

With that said writing and reading are the complete opposite.  Yet I find myself succumbing to"Mom I'm too tired to read tonight" or "Daddy is going to just read one of my chapter books tonight!"  This is clearly one of his tricks in his "backpack" to avoid working through something which he struggles with.  Ugh, I know full well in my heart that while reading and writing are not his strong suits the more I allow him to not practice every night, the more he will struggle.  I know full well that it is my job as a parent to help provide my boys with the resources to ease their struggles.  Furthermore, I am a soon to be teacher specializing in language arts with many tricks in my own "backpack" which help struggling readers.  Shoot, we have read books to Reece every night since the day he was born.  I get it, I understand the importance of literacy and here I have a child who not only struggles with it but also doesn't enjoy either. 

While after school usually consist of little free time and rushing to get the boys dinner, baths, and bed time, Gregg and I made a concerted effort that we would tackle this together and as soon as Reece gets home from school he writes a few sentences in his journal, and completes his homework, including his 15 - 20 minutes of nightly reading.  Well here it is May and the journal hasn't been touched in easily a month and we find ourselves letting Reece read a shortened amount before bed when he's exhausted.

So I began this post Mother's Day night thinking wow I am really failing in my efforts, but now two days later I ease up a bit and realize that life happens.  Sure we are busy, but that is really just an excuse to not pushing through.  As a teacher I know that the long term struggle is fair greater than the small tugging which Reece is clearly capable of working through now.  It is my job as his mom to continuously help and encourage him not only with his strengths but more importantly with his struggles!!  Raising children is no easy task and I find myself constantly needing to remember to turn off the cruise control and refocus.  This is certainly one of those times!