First Six Months in a Nutshell

Now that I have started blogging, I figure I might as well backtrack and give a quick summary of Graham’s first six month.  This will probably be the longest post I ever write.  So, here we go…

Once upon a time in a small little town called Santa Barbara, a baby was born. 

Well, I guess I can backtrack a little further. 

Nick and I got married on July 27th, 2008.  (We put together a wedding website that has stories and fun pictures from our engagement – www.nickandtammy.com):

We spent our 1 year anniversary in Bora Bora on our babymoon! (20 weeks pregnant):

Graham was born on December 23rd, 2009.  I had a dream pregnancy.  I never felt sick and I was able to jog until 39 ½ weeks along.  I was 4cm dilated for weeks before giving birth and I was expecting to have an easy delivery.  Well, let’s just say it didn’t work out that way.  Nick and my best friend Alethea were with me for the entire labor and delivery.  None of us had ever seen a birth before and I think we were all a little shell shocked by the experience.  My water broke at home.  I had painful but manageable labor for about 15 hours but couldn’t seem to get past 6cm.  Apparently my water hadn’t fully broken, so after a 2nd ‘breaking’, labor became MUCH more intense.  At about hour 20, I was still stalled at 8cm with no end in sight.  The labor was excruciating but I thought I was too far along for an epidural.  They said I could still have one so 15 minutes later I got an epidural.  The pain went away, but the contractions also stopped.  After a much needed 2 hour break, I agreed to get pitocin and simultaneously decreased the epidural dosage because my legs were feeling numb.  The contractions restarted because of the pitocin but so did the pain because with the decreased dosage the epidural wore off entirely.  I was told I was too far along to re-increase the epidural dose so I felt the entire rest of Graham’s birth (another 5 hours or so).  OUCH!  Oh and let’s not forget the 2 blood patches that followed over the next week to combat the spinal headaches from the epidural (accidentally injected into the intrathecal space).  But, 6 months later and all is forgotten.  Funny how nature works.  Graham didn’t have any health concerns during labor and delivery and the next day the doctor gave him an A+, 100% healthy rating!


First picture of Graham:

Graham’s birth team:

First time Nick held Graham:

Little Toes:

Graham Nicholas Moe Millington – 7lbs 15oz, 21 inches:

Hanging with Daddy at a day old:

Gazing into Mommy’s eyes:

Heading home from the hospital:

Our sweet baby's nursery, complete with a jungle/nautical theme and handmade picture and mobile.  We didn't mark the exact date, but our best guess is that Graham began sleeping exclusively in his nursery at about a month old:

Here is what our boy has been up to over the past 6 months…

Graham’s first bath (2 days old):

First nail trim (3 days old):

First family walk (4 days old):

Taking a nap in Daddy’s arms (4 days old):

Our little burrito, loving the swaddle from birth (8 days old):

Posing for the final week-by-week shot (10 days old).  I took pictures throughout my pregnancy, showing my progression.  Here are a few of them (at 5 weeks, 26 weeks, 33 weeks, and 40 weeks pregnant):

Even though he just sleeps, Mommy and Daddy can’t stop looking at him (23 days old):

Graham proud of Mommy after her first post-baby race (1 month, 15 days old):

Graham is a VERY good and super mellow baby, but even he cries sometimes (1 month, 17 days old):

First hike with Mommy (1 month, 21 days old):

Daddy and Graham reading – the first time was at 3 days old but this is a little later (1 month, 21 days old):

Daddy teaching Graham how to smile, during our first overnight trip to Cambria for Valentine’s Day (1 month, 22 days old):

First hike with Daddy (1 month, 29 days old):

Looking very handsome as he tries to sit by himself in the bumbo chair (2 months, 5 days old):

St. Patrick’s Day with the PEP babies (2 months, 21 days old):

Our little Blue Devil.  Nick went to Duke so I have become a huge Duke basketball fan.  This year I won Nick’s work NCAA championship pool and I made sure Graham was part of the March Madness every step of the way:

We left Graham for the first time.  Alethea and Mark came over to babysit for a few hours while Nick and I went to a friend’s birthday party (3 months, 18 days old):

Graham has done very well at the doctor’s office, but he sometimes looks a bit concerned before going in (3 months, 24 days):

Graham getting comfortable in his carriers:

Visiting with family:

Our boy is a swimmer:

Graham flipped from his back to his tummy!  First he did it at night in his crib while swaddled (4 months, 23 days) then he was able to do it unswaddled (5 months old):

Showing off his new trick.  Look Mommy, I can stand:

Graham’s walking buddies (‘the boys’).  We have been meeting up with baby Lee (Mommy Grace) and Rylan (Mommy Natalie) for a weekly walk since Graham was 2 months old:

Our little baby got his first cold (5 months, 1 day old):

Graham had a tight neck so he went for a visit with the PT.  I’m happy to report that he has been given a clean bill of health (5 months, 4 days old):

Boys will be boys.  I can’t believe I let Nick push Graham down the hall at top speed (5 months, 5 days old):

We have celebrated our first Mother’s Day and Father’s Day:

Nite Moves!  Graham has been jogging the 5K with me every week.  For some reason he always seems to cross the finish line right before me.  I can’t seem to catch him.  In these pictures, he is smiling after his first finish, hanging with the Nite Moves gang, and posing in the Elvis wig of the Nite Moves director (on his 6 month birthday):

 

Our big boy's bottom two teeth are coming in (5 months, 8 days old):

Not quite a crawler, but definitely a mover so we needed to graduate to the enclosed playpen (5 months, 10 days old):

After months and months of being swaddled every night and for every nap, we quit cold turkey and our little boy slept unswaddled through the night:

What a tease.  Sure looks to me like he is just about ready to crawl (6 months, 4 days old):

During these first 6 months we have gotten to know Graham.  He is such a sweet baby.  He smiles all the time (especially when he meets new people or after waking up).  He loves songs and stories.  He is very mellow.  Don’t get me wrong, that boy has a set of lungs on him (which he uses to both scream and operatically squeal with joy) but he only cries if he is hungry or tired (we are currently working on him being able to transition from tired to sleep on his own) and once those things are taken care of, he is back to his mellow self.  He enjoys moving more than snuggling and bouncing time on his exercise ball or in his sling will always calm him down.  He gave us his first laugh at 4 months old and we are still working on hearing that sweet sound more often.  He lets us enjoy dinner together while he watches from his swing.  He has been our champion sleeper and was sleeping through the night within his first month of life.  He spends his days on playdates with babies from my mommy groups, at music classes, in the pool, enjoying his play gym and now playpen, working on his various bootcamps (tummy time, yoga – for flexibility, ‘say Dada’ bootcamp run by Nick, and sitting), walking or jogging in his stroller, reading stories, playing the piano with Daddy, or running errands.   He is currently a 16 pound, 26.5 inch, green eyed, reddish-brown haired baby, but he is changing every day.  What a whirlwind.  He is an absolute joy.  So adorable and so good.  We couldn’t be happier and we love our little boy!