Graham Robert: 7 months

Our sweet little Graham is growing up too fast! He likes being in the car more now and has learned to play with his carseat toys which is great. Graham is holding his own bottle!!! Hallelujah! Such a difference and a life-saver in being able to give him a bottle and then do things while he eats. I love having a baby but I definitely feel tied down holding them for 20-30 minutes every three hours to feed them. Once my babies start to become more independent my stress levels and anxiety related to motherhood goes down quite a bit.

Graham officially doesn't swaddle for naps or bedtime anymore which is nice because he isn't waking up due to breaking his swaddle. He is still not sleeping through the night completely, he wakes up around 5:30am and cries until I go in to give him his morning bottle at 6:00am. I seriously hope that we can get him eating solids so it can help him feel fuller longer and hopefully sleep the whole night! Graham is entranced with everything Hilton does and watches him like a hawk. It's clear he wants to be doing what Hilton is doing so I know they'll play well. I am very excited to see how they become friends. We love our little Graham-ster, Graham-man, and Baby Graham (as Hilton still calls him).

Weighs 20.5 lbs

Wearing size 12 month clothes

Wearing size 4 diapers

Takes about three 1.5 hour naps each day or two 2 hour naps

Eats about 6 oz. every 3 hours

Still hates solid foods - no matter what I try he gives me looks like I'm trying to poison him. Any suggestions??

His hair is getting longer and thicker, I love it

Loves to be held or in the jumper - still doesn't love tummy time but can now sit for short periods of time so we're working on getting better at that.

He can roll from back to front and front to back now so he doesn't get stuck on his belly in his crib anymore!

He is sitting up and loves to sit and play with toys on the floor.

Grabbing his toes whenever he's laying on his back and squawks and squeals when you talk to him

Has the biggest grins when I coo at him and responds to the sound of my voice but is definitely a daddy's boy

First ear, eye, and sinus infection this month :( so sad! Thank goodness for a nose frida!

Smith Chicks: New chicks

I did not think chicks grew into chickens so fast but wow! We got our second set of baby chicks and the difference between the two sets is comical.

 

Pictured is Dot - now renamed Anna since she lost her Dot so we can't tell her apart from Elsa anymore. This is Anna (Dot) at just a couple days old.

 Look at how ginormous a little over a 1 week old chick (Elsa and Anna) is compared to a 1 day old chick! I hadn't even noticed how many feathers they had gotten and how big they had gotten. Crazy! It's like when you don't think your toddler is big until you put them next to a newborn and then they seem gigantic!!!

Pictured here is Bucket - Hilton wouldn't stop insisting upon using that name when I asked him what we should name them so I got to name the other two new chicks and he got to name this one. Although I thought my name suggestion for Bucket was much better - Snowflake. To his credit Bucket seems to like him so I think it was a good choice. Bucket is a Silver Laced Wyandotte and will grow up to be white and black striped (kind of) on the ends of her feathers. Google it if that doesn't make sense.

Holding Bucket and Licorice - Hilton is always asking to hold the baby chicks and is definitely obsessed! It will be sad once they're too big for him to easily hold, although probably better for the chicks since he likes to poke them with his nose and squeeze them a little too tight so they start chirping like crazy.

Pictured above are our three new chicks, from top to bottom Licorice (all black - Australorp), Chocolate (brown - Golden Laced Wyandotte), and Bucket (white and black - Silver Laced Wyandotte).

 At two weeks old look at how feathered Elsa (or Anna) already is! They're also already getting their wattles. It seems like it's just around the corner as to when we will need to move them outside to their coop which I have yet to build. Better get started on it!

I was worried about having two chicks so much older then the other brand new ones from what I had heard from other chicken raisers but they have been so sweet together and as evidenced above all sleep together and get along just fine. So far no pecking order here!