Graham is six months old!

Hi, Graham! We love you so much!

Graham is seriously, for real, the easiest baby ever. EVER. He is a gift from Heavenly Father, pure and simple. He never makes a fuss, he sleeps like a dream, he is happy and smiley all the time... he's just an angel and we love him. 

Graham sleeps from 9am-10am, 12:30 to 3:30, and 5pm to 5:45. Then he sleeps from 7:00-7:00 or 7:30. He is ridiculously consistent. He does tend to sometimes wake up and talk to himself at around 5am, but he will usually just go back to sleep or we will put his paci back in. I debated weaning him from the paci completely, but he's so close to the age where he can put it back in himself that I am just waiting it out. Plus, I've been waking up at 5:30 to go running each morning, so I just put his paci in before I go if he wakes up. I think I just need to feed him more solids throughout the day, but sometimes I get sidetracked and forget. 

He has four bottles each day and three servings of solids. He is doing great! He loves to eat. He is 50th percentile for height, 30th for weight, and 40th for head. Calvin, at this age, was 7th for height and weight and 75th for head. Haha! They will be the same size soon, I think. :) It's funny about his height, because I was expecting another short baby; he was only 19 inches when he was born. But he's turning out to grow pretty fast! I'm not used to a baby who fits into the clothing he's supposed to fit into. :) 

Graham loves people. He loves me most. :) His entire body smiles when he sees me or Daddy. He makes loud squealing sounds all the time - he's just so happy, it bursts out of him! He is zero stress at church. His love and laughter are absolutely infectious. You cannot be sad while holding this sweet little boy. He loves to be tickled, kissed, pinched, talked to, whatever. He's just happy to be along for the ride! He's gotten better about being in the carseat. The only time he's not very happy is when he's missed a nap. He doesn't really know how to sleep anywhere but his crib, so we have to kind of just keep him happy if we're out and about. He's missed his third nap a few times and ended up alright, but still a little grouchier than usual. I think he'll need his third nap for a while longer than Calvin did. He can roll from his back to his tummy but not the other way around. He is sitting, too! All by himself. 

He loves his brother, and his brother loves him (most of the time). Calvin isn't aggressive toward Graham, but doesn't really know how to be extremely gentle with him yet. The few times he has hit or thrown something at Graham, I'm not sure he completely knew what he was doing. Calvin gets in huge, gigantic trouble when he does that, so maybe he is starting to know better. :) Anyway, I am hoping and praying they will be playing together soon because Calvin desperately needs a playmate.

We love you, Graham!! You are such a blessing to me!! Don't get any bigger, okay??

Calvin turns TWO!

My little sweetie pie is two years old. How did that happen?? We love this spirited toddler. He's a lot of fun and has a really funny personality. He's definitely strong-willed, but I can't tell if it's just his personality or if he's just your typical two-year-old. He's smart and cute and sweet, but also hates change and isn't good with transitions. For example - he really doesn't like coming into the house after being at the park. Or leaving McDonald's after playing there. I think I probably just need to get better at distracting him. :) He still isn't great about going to bed happy - he'll cry every time - but if I tell him over our monitor to stop crying and go to sleep, he does! So at least there's that. 

I'm just going to write what comes to my mind about this cutie pie to give him a proper update since I'm horrible about writing in my blog. I've been getting a lot of freelance writing work lately, which is a huge blessing, but it takes up my evenings and nap times. 

Calvin wakes up about 7am every day. He is happy to see whoever gets him from his crib and starts talking right away. "Light!" "Tree!" "Beffast!" (Breakfast.) He eats toast or wheat pancakes or cereal with yogurt and fruit. He eats with a spoon and does really well! When we're done, he plays with me until Graham's nap and then goes into his room to play for a while so I can get ready. He loves these little busy bags I made him a while back - I need to make some more. He doesn't really understand them all that well, but it's something new and that's all that matters! 

He is fantastic when we go on errands. He doesn't cry in the cart and loves to see the new sights and sounds. He isn't upset if we pass the cookie aisle and doesn't get anything, even though he asks for it. "Treat?? TREAT?? Cooooookie? Cookie?!" He says cookie like Cookie Monster does. :) He loves Sesame Street! We watch it every day. If you ask him to do his impression of Oscar the Grouch, he says, "He he he.." in a menacing little voice. He will also do impressions of Cookie Monster and Grover. It's extremely cute. He's learning so many words! He's doing well with his shapes and numbers and says the letters he sees when we're out and about. He randomly knows who Elsa is, so that's interesting... we've only watched Frozen one time. Good job, Disney marketers!

He goes down for a nap around 12:30 and usually sleeps for 2-2.5 hours. Sometimes I'll get a 3 hour nap, but not often. When he gets up, we play downstairs and watch Sesame Street. Then we go up and make dinner together. He's a great little sous chef! He likes to be a part of the action. He pushes his little stool over to wherever I am so he can sit up like a big kid and cook with me. I think he's a chef in the making! He does well with eating and is doing great with his veggies as long as they're mixed with a little ketchup. :) 

He is perfect for Nursery on Sundays. He LOVES it. His leaders say he is the best kid in there; never a problem, always low-maintenance, shares his toys, isn't bothered when some other kid takes his toys, etc. I hate that he's bullied already. TJ and I saw him playing at an indoor playground just recently and some of the other kids were pushing him around. He didn't seem to know what to do; just stood back and stared. Poor little guy. He did once tentatively reach out to try to hit back, but only I would have known he was "hitting" - it wouldn't have looked like a hit to anyone else. TJ and I are seriously enrolling him in Krav Maga classes when he's four. Yep! Seriously. He isn't even on the growth charts anymore. He's dipped to the 1-2 percentile. :( But what I love about Calvin is that he's tough. He has a feisty little personality. He's independent, smart, and isn't phased easily. He doesn't come crying to me wanting comfort very often at all. He is pretty resilient! So I think those personality traits will serve him well should he ever be confronted later in life. He's got the Zinn spark. Zinns are tough as nails, extremely successful, very charismatic, quite stubborn, overly confident, and resolutely independent. I hope I know how to help Calvin harness those traits in a positive way. :)

I am so proud of my little man. He's a great kid. He's a challenge at times, but I know Heavenly Father will guide me in how to raise this strong little kid. Plus, he's so cute and funny, it negates the tantrums. :) 

We celebrated his birthday in Mountain Green with the whole family! It was so fun. I sure love these people. They are so warm, wonderful, loving, kind, and accepting. Calvin loves them, too. 

Presents!

Kami can get this little kid to sleep every single time! She's got the magic touch. :)

He was scared of his candles. 

Dishes with Mom! He's a great helper. 

He loves to "push" the cart! I hate pushing this thing around, though. It's HUGE and really hard to maneuver. 

Selfie!

Forts and Sesame Street - my kind of afternoon!

We went to Gardner Village during Halloween and it was so fun. They have adorable little shops! It was all decorated and cute for Halloween and Calvin had a great time. TJ... didn't. :)

Haircut! These ladies are amazing. He didn't even cry.

Dad, do I HAVE to watch this show??

Getting lost in the maze! He loved being able to run free. 

TJ made him do this. :)

Twick-o-tweet! Such a cutie. He LOVED it. I was so happy he was finally old enough to get what was going on. 

He ate candy for dinner. :) Oops! We brushed his teeth afterwards. I love this kid so much. No one makes me laugh like he does. I think my biggest challenge will just be keeping up with him. He gets bored instantly and needs lots of new things to do/explore/look at/play with. Always. I've even divided all his toys into bins marked for the days of the week. He can only play with that toy bin for the whole day. This way, he doesn't get as bored. It's been working great so far! I just hope it lasts. :)

Calvin is so special. He is an amazing little spirit. He is a born leader and I know he will look out for his little brother. He is a huge blessing in my life and is my little buddy every day. I love him so much! I can't wait until we are reading chapter books together. I can't wait! He already loves books so much. Harry Potter... here we come!