Hard to believe Graham is 10 months old! The biggest developments this month are his growing hair and steps on his own. I did a little collage so you can see the progression throughout the months. You can really tell a difference in the length of his hair from 9 to 10 months:
Graham is still not a full-fledged walker (although he wishes he was). He has taken some steps, usually about three in a row before he falls forward. Evidence:
Graham's most favorite thing to do is to walk while holding onto someone's fingers. He gets so mad when you have to let go and sit him down again. He has gotten pretty steady at walking with only one finger to hold onto.
Graham is still a great eater and is starting to take after his sister whereby he puts too much food in his mouth at once time...let's call it "overzealous"? He still has four 5 oz bottles a day and two naps.
He makes all kinds of noises now, with his newest being an "ooh" sound. It kind of reminds us of a monkey, so cute.
Graham has three teeth working their way in right now, all have broken the gums, so I guess you could say he has seven: four on top and three on bottom. The teeth have definitely been bothering him so he's been getting a dose of Infant Motrin at some point on many days.
So bummed that this one is blurry because it is a classic Graham facial expression
We just returned from a wonderful visit to Colorado. The last time we were there Parker was just about the same age that Graham is now. The weather was amazing (sunny and 40-50 degrees), particularly compared to the sub-zero temps that were happening in Rochester. We stayed with the Chalfants, such wonderful hosts!! Fallyn turned 4 in January and Cambria is just five days older than Graham, so each of our kids had a buddy. We chose to fly into the Eagle/Vail airport which saved us from a 2.5 hour drive up from Denver, but required a layover in Newark and thus a long flight. Newark to Vail was 4 hrs 20 min. We were so lucky that the flight was only a quarter full so Graham & Parker both roamed around freely when allowed.
We had arranged to meet up with some old friends also visiting from Wisconsin right when we arrived, so Julie and Craig met us at the Chalfant's for a quick visit & lunch. The 2015 Alpine World Ski Championships were going on while we were there, so there were lots of fun activities to do. We went to a free concert in Avon that evening and then out to mexican dinner.
The next day Greg went skiing at Beaver Creek and Jill and I took the kids for a walk up the street to feed the horses.
Then we went to the Avon Rec center, which has a great swimming pool for the little ones. No pics of this, but the shallow pool and lazy river were so much fun for all. That night, the Chalfants were gracious enough to host a little party so we could see some of our old friends.
Thursday was our big ski day. We had a babysitter for Graham & Cambria all day, Fallyn went to school, and Parker went to Vail ski school.
She kept saying she didn't want to go all week when we talked about it. Then finally that morning she said "Mommy, I am going to be nice to my ski teacher because I want her to like me". So we were in! We expected Parker to be upset when it was actually time to leave us and she did cry, but we are sure it was short-lived and she had an amazing time the rest of the day. For three year-olds, they only ski for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. Parker was there from 9:45-3:00. We were lucky to have a friend of Jill's working that day (someone I knew back in the day and who has a daughter of her own named Parker) so she took Parker under her wing and even took this video of her.
Parker has pink helmet & blue coat on end
Jill, Dan, Greg, and I had so much fun skiing that day. Beautiful weather, good snow, and great company was all we could ask for!
After we picked up Parker, we took for a ride on Gondola One, which she loved.
On Friday, we took the kids up to Beaver Creek to watch the men's Giant Slalom race. We saw the first runs of the day, including Ted Ligety. He was in fifth place when we left at lunchtime and went on to win the gold after the second run in the afternoon! It was such a well-orchestrated event and so amazing to see all of the spectators from around the world.
Friday night was our big night out. We had two babysitters come to watch all four kids and headed into Vail for the Matisyahu concert. Many of you may know his most popular song, "One Day".
Due to the powers of Facebook, we discovered another old buddy (Coach Betti) & his family were in town and swung by for a quick visit on the way to dinner after the concert.
The next day it was time to leave. We had to do some rearranging of our flights due to cancellations out of Newark, but after a long day we made it home. Parker was such a great traveler the whole trip. Graham was great until the last 20 minutes of our flight into Rochester, when we had baby meltdown. But I can hardly blame the guy, not only does he have three teeth coming in, he was getting a cold and had been strapped in a car seat, stroller, or held in someone's arms for 11 hours!
The whole trip was amazing, but most important was spending time with our dear friends. We look forward to many more visits and vacations to come!!
Some other random photos from the trip and a shot of what we returned home to:
