Graham Update 1-12 months

I thought it would be fun to document some highlights from Graham's first year so that they can live on the blog and I can always look back on those first twelve months. In the beginning, I was pretty good about making notes in my phone of milestones to add to his baby book. But as time went on and especially once I went back to work, I wasn't as good as writing things down. I remember thinking some things seemed so little, or I was sure I would remember, and I didn't need to write it down. In hindsight I regret that so much!

The way I had these stored in my phone was like a timeline, so I'll keep that format and break it up by months. Don't mind the inconsistent writing style, it's just taken directly from the notes on my phone to remember these exciting moments in Graham's first year.

July 17, 2018 - came home from hospital after 5 days. 

July 19, 2018 - Graham had his first pediatric appt. He got 1 shot for Hep B and our first walk with the stroller.

July 20, 2018 - His umbilical cord fell off - it was hanging on by a thread even before we left the hospital which even surprised the nurse. Her reaction was not helpful for very tired, new parents!

July 20, 2018 - Newborn photo shoot at 1 week old. I wasn't thrilled with the photos (that's what you get with hiring the most affordable photographer you can find. The way they are edited really distorted colors, but there are some good ones like I shared above. 

July 24, 2018 - Mimi (my Mom) was here until Tuesday to help us. It was the best, we really needed her! We were both scared for her to leave and be on our own, but we did great. I'm so glad Andrew had so much time off work. 

Daddy’s favorite thing is when you wake up from a nap and stretch your arms and are still so sleepy!

August 4, 2018 - Mimi, Papa and Auntie Christine came to visit. We had BLTs for lunch and Mimi and Auntie took turns stealing baby snuggles. Auntie stayed for dinner and helped us get the HUGE booger out of his nose! Andrew did the saline drops and Auntie used the suction to get it out. 

August 7, 2018 - Our first big outing! We went to Proof Lab in Mill Valley. Graham was so happy in the carrier and snoozed on Mom. Then we had a cup of coffee at Equator before he woke up. I nursed in the car, then we went to down town Mill Valley. We went to a really good Mexican place and got tacos, I even shared Andrew's margarita! Graham slept through lunch and it felt great to be out of the house doing our normal things. After lunch we walked around town and went in a few shops while Graham continued to hang out in the stroller. We made it back to foggy and cold SF just in time for his next meal. Such a nice first outing.

August 25, 2018 - Our first visit to the foothills for the weekend!

Phillip, “Mimi when will I be old enough to hold baby Graham standing up? When I’m 10?”

Jospeh: "Baby graham has pretty eyes."

My favorite thing Andrew does is when it’s bed time after story or bath and we swaddle you up, he walks around the house with you so you can say goodnight. "Goodnight Louis, goodnight Mickey, goodnight ducky, goodnight mommy" etc. so cute!

September 29, 2018 - Graham's first Giants game in a suite with family!

October 1, 2018 - Andrew's birthday, we went to Stinson beach but I forgot sunscreen since it was supposed to be cold and cloudy, but it was sunny! We didn’t stay too long but walked around a bit and had lunch.

October 3, 2018 - Daddy got your first giggles playing with your elephant lovey after he went to the gym before dinner & bath time.

November 12, 2018 - loves Daddy’s beard. So many giggles and full of personality

Things you're doing right now:

Started sleeping on your belly

Rolls like a champ

Reaches and grabs things

November 29, 2018 - Moving Day. Incredibly hard and bittersweet leaving our home in SF. A piece of me will always be at 16 Heather Ave. When we got to our new house in Rocklin, Graham crawled for the first time! (an army scoot/crawl).

December 4, 2018 - cut first tooth!!

December 12, 2018 - sitting up (bent forward a little bit still holds for a bit). We use the boppy pillow to help you practice. 

December 2018 - you LOVE when we sing White Christmas to you (the Drifters), gets so many fun giggles. 

January 2018:

You are fast! Crawling so much we love your cute speed crawl. We would always try to get this on video, the cutest thing. And so crazy how fast you are!

Sit up like a champ!

Your nanny, Holly started 4 days a week, and Mimi is with you on Friday's

January 17, 2019 - Was your first flight to Jackson Hole for Shannon’s wedding. We were delayed and ended up waiting on the plane 5 hours in Salt Lake. You were a CHAMP and everyone complemented us on our perfect baby.

Jackson was so fun! Lots of time in the hotel room for naps, feeding and pumping but you did great as it was all worth it. You liked the snow and we had a great time.

January 22, 2019 - your flight home was another 6 hour delay and lots of airport time. You did well considering, but since it went past bedtime it was harder. Daddy was a champ and got you to sleep on him in the airport for a while and on the plane. We learned we don’t need to travel with the stroller next time, especially in snow. 

January 25, 2019- You tried your first solid food and you HATE IT. We tried peas first that Mom puréed. 

We keep trying solids but you don’t like them yet. Even avocado and banana! I thought sweet potatoes for sure, but nope!

February 12, 2019 - we tried avocado and banana again with you feeding yourself and you liked it. I think you’d like BLW but we’re scared of choking so we will do purées and try some finger foods that are soft in tiny pieces.

February 13, 2019 -  Moms first night away from Graham for work. I spent the night with Kenzie and Auntie Nina in SF and had dinner with them and the Elliott’s for Nina and Nikki’s birthdays at Kokkari.

February 19, 2019 - we see your 2 top teeth about to break through (already has bottom two).

February 20, 2019 - it was a big week, tonight you slept in your own room for the first time. And on Friday the 22nd you had peanut butter and had no allergy signs!

February 24, 2019 - This was a hard day for Mom, we started supplementing with formula because I don’t produce enough milk anymore. It was tough in the beginning but we found a ratio that works 2:1 for now. And of course I pumped a lot of milk that day! 

March 9, 2019 - Graham finally decided he likes food! We had a mix of banana, blueberries and green beans. He loved it! Ever since then he has been eating well and interested in food.

March 11, 2019 - We started 2 meals a day in addition to breastmilk and he is enjoying it. He likes to share moms apple sauce with cinnamon.

Baby was first his first official word. (He likes to point to the baby on the diaper box, I think that is where he got it). 

Early June 2019 - I stopped nursing in the morning. You were done and preferred bottles so we’d have to do a bottle after a couple minutes on nursing to make sure you got enough.

June 12, 2019 - One of the cute and funny things you do is that you LOVE smelling flowers in the vase. And even mommy’s fake olive branches for decoration, you make the smell sound and face all day when the branches came on the mantle

July 2, 2019 - You took a few steps to Daddy today! He’s done a couple here and there but not totally unassisted yet. You have been walking along the couch and furniture for months now so we keep thinking it's soon. I suspect you find your speed crawl so efficient you're not interested in walking. 

July 8, 2019 - Stands very stable without help but not walking on your own yet.

July 13, 2019 - ONE YEAR OLD! We had a wonderful Jungle/Wild ONE birthday party, so fun to celebrate you. The rocking horse gift was so special from Mimi and Papa, I cried.

July 14, 2019 - Your new favorite word is UP

July 14, 2019 - Peek a boo, I took the cutest video of you peeking around the wine stand saying “ahh-BOO!” Then hiding again. Totally unprompted as I was pumping at the table. My favorite thing you’ve ever done.

July 15, 2019 -You took a lot of steps today, 1-3 at a time but way more times during day that before

July 17, 2019 - we started the transition to whole milk and you seem do be doing great. 

August 7, 2019 - I stopped pumping, you will officially be done with breastmilk. Bittersweet yet also a huge relief since breastfeeding was such a challenge for me. 

Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

Since over two years have passed since I was blogging regularly, I think we're due for a little recap of all the goings on over those few years. As it happens, they were the busiest, most exciting years so far. I will do my best to keep this a reasonable length, but there is a lot to catch up on!

Shortly after my blogging hiatus started, we found out we were pregnant on a trip to Chicago for our friends wedding. Even though it was planned, it was still very surreal and overwhelming. I think because of the group setting on that trip, it was even more overwhelming. We obviously didn't want to mention anything yet being so early on, so I was stressing out trying to pretend I was drinking and that it was business as usual. While inside I was processing the major life change that was about to happen.

Since we were still living in SF, my family was in the foothills and Andrew's in San Diego, we told everyone separately after the end of the first trimester. For my parents, we bought a children's book and wrote a little note telling them the newest grand baby was looking forward to all the adventures to come with Mimi and Papa. We told my sister and family at Thanksgiving, we gave my nephew an ultrasound picture and had him bring it to my sister. Then for Andrew's Mom, we FaceTimed her and said we wanted to show her our Christmas tree, when we flipped around the camera we had the ultrasound picture sitting in the branches of the tree. And we told Nina when she came over for one of our regular Sunday family dinners.

We waited to announce more broadly for quite a while because we had to wait for some test results. We found out I was a carrier for a genetic disorder, so we were waiting to get Andrew's results back before we felt ready to share the news. If he had also been a carrier, there would have been more tests to make sure the baby was okay. Thankfully we learned that Andrew was not a carrier and everything with Baby M looked great, so were excited to share our news. We had taken photos to use on our 2017 holiday card so we sent those out to close family and friends. Then, on NYE I shared on social media that 2018 would be our best year yet!

We decided that we wanted to wait and be surprised to find out if we were having a boy or girl. It's so funny how strongly people react to that, they either LOVE it or HATE it. It was fun to think about what life would be like with a boy or a girl, I think deep down I knew we were having a boy. But Andrew was sure we were having a girl! We finally narrowed it down to Graham Thomas for a boy, but deciding on a name for a girl was hard. We had gotten it down to two names by the time I went into labor.

We wanted to take one last vacation as a family of two and decided a relaxing week in Maui was the perfect place. Plus it seemed special since we spent our honeymoon there. The weather was a bit rainy during our visit, but were able to totally relax and enjoy the week together.

My Mother in Law hosted a small shower for me in San Diego for Andrew's family as well as Lee Ann's friends who were excited to celebrate her first grand baby. My Mom and sister both flew down and it was such a special way to celebrate baby M. It worked well because a few of my closest friends live nearby and were able to attend as well. It felt like this shower was the kick off for celebrating, and made it all start to feel real and exciting!

While we were in San Diego, we decided to have a maternity photo session at Scripps Pier in La Jolla. I thought it would be fun to have the photos taken where Andrew grew up and on the beach, they turned out so beautifully. I love them!

My sister (and Mom) threw my main baby shower over Mother's Day weekend back home in the foothills. It was the most special day, the shower could not have been more perfect! My sister should really have a party planning business because every detail was so adorable. It was woodland theme and seriously so perfect. I loved being surrounded by all my closest friends and family, everyone there to celebrate sweet Baby M. I wish I had hired a photographer to capture all the details for the day. I'm not much for baby shower games but my sister did the best one. She had Andrew answer various questions about the baby or our life once baby came, and then I had to guess his answers. It was so fun! I should do a post of the shower just so I can share all the photos, it was the best!

I'll do a longer post on Pregnancy overall, but I was so lucky to have a very smooth and easy pregnancy. Besides being huge (I think I gained about 40-45lbs), I felt great. I was tired of course, and slow moving towards the end, but overall I didn't have any unbearable symptoms so I felt really fortunate. I really loved being pregnant especially once the baby started moving a lot. He would be so active in the evenings around 9pm and Andrew would lay down and feel him moving all over the place and talk to him. Although at that point he thought it was a girl and kept saying "Mila" because he was so certain!

Little baby M was in no hurry to meet us! Our due date was July 1, 2018 and I was sure he was going to come in June. I started my maternity leave halfway through June and enjoyed a few weeks of nesting. But then July 1st came and went and I was still waiting with no sign of baby. Our doctor wouldn't let me go past 42 weeks, and I didn't want to be induced so I decided to try acupuncture. The night after my 2nd session, I went into labor, which happened to be the date my induction was scheduled.

Graham Thomas Magliozzi arrived on Friday, July 13th 2018. He was born at the CPMC California Campus in San Francisco, the same hospital my Dad was born in (also on a Friday). The 13th is a special date in our family so I love his birth date! He was born via c-section and a big, healthy boy at 9lbs 90z and 20" long.

After 5 days in the hospital we brought Graham home to our beloved apartment in San Francisco. Thankfully my mom stayed with us for a week to help us survive the adjustment. She helped us cook, shop, tidy up, wash my pumping parts, and do all the amazing things Mimi's do. I will be forever grateful. The first few months were great at home with Graham. He was such a great baby, ate pretty well and slept like a champion. I had a lot of anxiety but Andrew was a saint and helped me gain confidence that first month we were both home from work. When Andrew started back at work, I enjoyed the city as much as I could because I knew we would be leaving soon. I would go on walks all over with Graham and meet friends for lunch, it was simultaneously the best and hardest months of my life.

We knew that we didn't want to raise Graham in the city, mostly because of the cost of childcare and not having family close by to help. Somehow we managed to keep our jobs and start working remotely so that we could move to the foothills and plant some roots. I will do a full post on this eventually, but this transition was extremely hard for me, something I didn't expect at all.

I was so happy to be close to home for Graham's first Christmas. We spent so much time with family and created new memories and traditions as a family of 3!

We also did our annual Christmas trip to San Diego to visit with Andrew's family, and so everyone could meet baby Graham.

Our first big trip as a family of three was to Jackson Hole WY for our dear friends wedding. We had such a great time and learned that while it is hard to travel with kids, it's also so fun and rewarding.

We kept busy all year (2019) with Graham. One of our goals becoming parents was to continue traveling and doing the things we loved. Although travel is definitely a lot of work these days (SO much stuff! And planning) it's so worth it. I already look back at our photos and smile thinking of these memories we're making as a family. Here is a glimpse into our travels this year! We went camping in Yosemite Valley and borrowed Mimi and Papa's VW camper, an ode to my childhood! And I'm so glad we got to take this trip because they ended up selling the van last year. We also went to Mammoth for the 4th of July with friends, to San Diego to see family and friends,  camping in Tuolumne Meadows with Mimi and Papa. Our annual trip, and really special for Andrew and I taking Graham to one of our favorite places. As well as his first trip up Lembert Dome! We also went to San Francisco to stay with Auntie Nina for Fleet Week, spent some time at Ocean Beach and walking around our old stomping grounds. Our last trip of 2019 was to San Diego for the holidays with Andrew's family. We fit a lot into 5 days with our annual brewery tour, the San Diego Zoo, Aquarium, and seeing old friends.

We celebrated Graham's 1st birthday at our house with a Jungle Theme party! It couldn't have been more perfect because our little guy is a Wild One for sure. Full of energy and personality, always keeping us on our toes. Our friends and family came to celebrate with us and it was such a great day! One of the highlights was the gift from Mimi and Papa. They refinished my childhood rocking horse for Graham, I cried when they brought it in. So very special.

A glimpse into the recent 2019 holiday season. It was busy and FUN, full of friends, family and both new and old traditions.

Whew! If you're still reading, I salute you! This was way longer than I anticipated, but are we really surprised?

Now that we're all caught up on the last few years, we can move forward! So happy to be back and have you all here with me. We're a few months in and I can already see, 2020 is truly going to be the best year yet!