HaPpY 1st BiRthDaY, GrAhAm!!

Just a a few thoughts on our fun little boy, in no particular order...

Our sweet, silly little Graham has come a long way in one year's time. I guess it's only to be expected that he'd grow and change during his first year, but sometimes it's still hard for me to believe that a year ago today we had an 7.13 lb infant fully dependant on us. And although Graham isn't officially walking yet, he's taking steps and keeping up with his 3-year old brother quite well.

Many have made comments that they've never seen a 1-year old play quite like Graham...he plays like he's 2. He's very dexterous. I remember when he was 5 months old and I saw him grab his pacifier and pop it back into his mouth, I thought for sure it was a fluke; but sure enough, he has done that consistently since that day.

He zooms around with cars and trucks just like Will, and the two of them love to wrestle each other. Graham is such a little tease. In fact, as I sit here working on the laptop, he keeps coming over pushing buttons and giving me this big mischievous grin. He has the most contagious belly giggle I've ever heard...it just melts me. He's definitely a social little bee...he wants to be where the action is.

At this stage in the game, Graham is most definitely a mama's boy...he doesn't like to let me out of his sight. If I need to leave his side for any reason, he'll often take it personally and start crying. He also currently enjoys attaching himself to my pant legs. I'll be working in the kitchen trying to make a meal, or put dishes away, and he'll be clinging to me; which, as you might imagine, makes it quite difficult to get much accomplished :) And although I find myself getting annoyed at times, I know those are the very things I will miss as he gets older.

Unlike Will, Graham is both a blankie and a paci baby. He loves to take blankets and rub them in his face...so cute. And although his personality is more fiery than Will's, Graham, surprisingly, is more of a snuggler than Will ever was...and I eat up every minute of it...even when he wakes up too early ;-)

One more thing about Graham right now that we just think is the cutest thing, is how he crawls. In the most adoring way possible, we sometimes refer to him as "peg leg," because when he crawls, he'll push off with his left foot. For some reason we find it very endearing...sometimes we'll even catch Will calling him, "peg leg." Oh, and just for the record, we don't typically endorse name-calling, but in this particular case we find it to be oddly adorable.

You may recall in one of my previous posts that I made the prediction that Graham will one day to grow up to be an engineer, and I still stand by that. He loves to open and close drawers, cabinet doors, roll our dishwasher rack back and forth, basically anything with hinges or tracks, he wants to play with. He's also an excellent burper...yes, I said, "burper." If we held a contest with grown men, he would win hands-down. In fact, Dave just informed me that at dinner last night, Graham let out a belch, Dave laughed, and Graham kept trying to burp more because he apparently found it funny as well.

Our little man has certainly brought a lot of joy and laughter to our lives, and we're so grateful the Lord has blessed us with him. We continue to pray that both of our boys would "grow in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man;" that they would "love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that they would love others as themselves;" and of course, above all, that they would come to know the Lord at a young age. We pray that our boys will live long, healthy lives fully devoted to the work of the Lord. We love you, Graham...happy 1st birthday, little buddy :)