Graham’s school photos are this week, so he needed to get his hair trimmed up around his ears. We went to a true barber shop; Eoin went first, and Graham followed. Graham did really well! See below for the photos from his first haircut.
Graham sitting in dad's lap getting his first haircut.
Graham getting the hair above his ears trimmed.
Graham's mohawk!
For our Valentine’s Day, we wanted to something fun as a family. So we all jumped in the car and drove west to the New York Aquarium. Graham wasn’t very interested in the sea lion show, but loved all fish in the large tanks. He especially liked shark tank and the round floor-to-ceiling jelly fish tank. He would watch the fish go by and point to them; he would tap the glass like he wanted to try to touch them and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t able to. All in all, we all had a great time. We had a blast running around the aquarium with him, and can’t wait to go back in spring. Many of the exhibits were outside, and we weren’t as prepared as we could have been with the cold, snowy weather. We bought a membership to the aquarium, which also allows us to visit the Bronx Zoo, the Central Park Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the Queens Zoo, so we’ll be heading to a lot of zoos this spring, summer and fall! And back to the aquarium again to see all of the animals that didn’t want to come out. One of the zookeepers said that the only times the penguins come out in the winter are during feeding time. I thought that penguins liked the cold weather, but apparently not these penguins!
Following our trip to the aquarium, we walked down the Coney Island boardwalk. It had several inches of snow, so it was tough to push Graham’s stroller. Eoin pulled him along so that Graham was backward and Graham was laughing up a storm. Everything was boarded up for winter, but we saw a bunch of members of the “Polar Bear” club going for a winter swim. (Perhaps they could have a talk with those recalcitrant penguins!) We also saw the Cyclone Roller Coaster and all of the other Coney Island boardwalk amusements awaiting their summer debut. They say that the Cyclone is the most famous attraction in all of Coney Island and one of the most famous roller coasters in the world!
We then headed to Nathan’s Famous for lunch. It’s known for the holding the annual hot dog eating contest on the 4th of July every year. (Last year, Joey Chestnut retained the title by eating 68 Hot Dogs in 10 minutes! That is a LOT of hot dogs!!!) Eoin had a hot dog topped with grilled onions, which he enjoyed. Graham had a plain hot dog, but he ate so many snacks at the museum so he took his home and munched on it later. And I don’t eat hot dogs, so I had a chicken sandwich. (I know…boring!) But we also got cheese fries, which I loved!!!!
So that is all that is happening in our neck of the woods. We hope you had an equally fabulous Valentine’s Day!
Below is a Valentine’s Day heart to you from Graham.
As a funny aside…Grandma Lois picked up some pickles for Graham to eat. He loved them so much, we packed them for him to have as a snack at school. He enjoyed them immensely, but his teachers commented that they make him incredibly thirsty!
Graham's Valentine's Day Heart - Feb 2010
Hanging out with Great Uncle Chris
Great Aunt Peggy, Great Uncle Chris & Me
Great Uncle Joel, Great Aunt Terrie & Me
Nana and Me
Great Aunt Marg and me playing on the hotel room floor
Me with Nana and Great Grandma Foley
On New Year’s Day, we had a wonderful visit with our friend, Wendy, and her parents. They made a delicious dinner, and we had a great time catching up with each other. I (Jessica) have known Wendy since high school, so we go way back. Her parents have seen (and experienced!) each of our many transformations. Graham was in one of his pre-growth spurts and was filling up on all of the delicious food they had prepared. We were amazed at how much he could fit into his belly!
Since then, we’ve been doing some traveling. Two weekends ago, Eoin had a seminar in Philly, so he dropped Graham and me off at Uncle Chris’ and Aunt Peggy’s house in New Jersey. Aunt Peggy was awesome and had prepared the house for a very curious boy. She moved everything around in the living room for Graham so that he could run around without getting into everything. We stayed in one of their bedrooms on an air mattress and Graham loved bouncing on that. Eoin and I also brought along some of Graham’s favorite toys, including a tent and tunnel that my parents bought him for Christmas. Peggy and I could not stop laughing at how silly Graham looked when he crawled into the tunnel and played peek-a-boo in the tent. Uncle Chris joined in on the fun when he came home from work.
The party got even bigger on Saturday; Eoin joined us after his conference and Aunt Terrie and Uncle Joel came up from Virginia. Eoin and I were so pleased to be able to introduce Graham to Aunt Terrie and Uncle Joel. The seven of us had a great time – good food and even better company! After brunch on Sunday, we all went our own ways, and it was sad to go. It was a really special weekend for the three of us.
This past weekend, Eoin, Graham and I went to Pennsylvania for my college friends’ annual winter get together. We had a great time relaxing and catching up with each other. The most exciting news is that our friend, Grant, officially announced his engagement to his girlfriend, Terri! The wedding will be in July, and Eoin is going to be one of the groomsmen. (Grant was in our wedding, too; he stepped up to be a groomsman for Eoin since his brother Matt could not make it home in time for the wedding.) Grant knows how to do parties, so I anticipate the wedding will be a great time! We can’t wait!
For the past two weeks, my folks have been in Italy. We’ve missed them tremendously, especially all of the help they give us with Graham. We especially miss their help with the small things, like watching Graham while one of us goes down to the basement to put a load of laundry into the washer. We’re picking them up from the airport this afternoon, and look forward to hearing all of their great stories.
Sending you much love,
Eoin, Jessica & Graham
This photo was from a while ago, but we thought you might like it. Graham plays hard, but sleeps harder!
Graham napping on the floor
Thanks, everyone, for all of the good times, thoughtful gifts and warm holiday wishes. Below are some photos of Graham from over the holidays. Wishing you a happy and healthy 2010!
Love to all,
G,E&J
GNG with Santa at the fire department Christmas party
Graham saw the big pile of Christmas gifts and decided to go "present surfing"!
Graham opening a gift with his daddy!
Graham with his Great-Grams and Grandma
Graham trying to open the package of trucks Uncle Brendan and Cousin Emma bought him for Christmas
Pop helping Graham ride around the living room.
Just a short note to update everyone that we survived the snow! We received approximately 26” of snow, and spent a good part of Sunday clearing everything out. My father got a chance to break in his new snow blower. (The snow blower is super cool. It’s very powerful, and came with all of the accoutrements including heated handles! I don’t think our old snow blower would have been up for the task of the amount of snow we had, so good job Grandma Lois and Pop for anticipating the snow this winter.) Eoin and my dad made a great team. While I watched Graham, they cleaned out our very long driveway and made paths all around the house and office for us and the tenants; then they did the driveways of the neighbors across the street and around the block. They did great work; when I went out to work on the driveway this morning, it was 95% dry! The roads were another story. The secondary and tertiary roads were pretty treacherous. Graham had the day off, so today was his first official snow day!
We did get a chance to join the annual Gingerbread House Making party on Saturday before the snow caught up with us. Who knew – but the little guy really enjoys gingerbread cookies! Last year he slept through the whole party. But this year, he stayed awake throughout the whole party, including a chance meeting with a jolly red man named Santa.
In other news, Graham is currently sporting a black eye. He was running at school on Friday and fell into a cabinet. Plus, he had his first big bleeder at home today. He fell and hit his mouth on the coffee table, busting his gum and his lip. We’ve been keeping an extra eye on him because it seems as if his balance has been off since he was sick a few weeks ago. In addition, he got his first-year blood tests last week and the doctors reported that he is a little anemic. Nothing is insurmountable, but these are definitely areas of concern for us.
If we don’t get a chance to speak directly with you, we wish you a very happy, healthy holiday season! 2010 is sure to be filled with many more exciting adventures!
Love to all,
Graham, Eoin and Jessica
We’ve had a couple of exciting weeks. Graham’s first birthday was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, when we went to pick him up at school, he had a 104 degree fever. We called the doctors office and they were closed for the day, so we decided to monitor him rather than bring him to the emergency room. His temperature went down with some ibuprofen. (We did bring him to the doctor’s office on Monday and they said it must have been some type of virus.) On Graham’s birthday, we had sausage for dinner because they are one of his favorite foods. Then, we sang him happy birthday and had cupcakes (instead of a big cake.) He got his cupcake everywhere, but seemed to enjoy it. It’s probably the most sugar he’s had in one sitting! Graham received many great gifts from friends and family, and has enjoyed playing with all of them.
The next day was Thanksgiving. We watched the Macy’s Day parade on television while the turkey was cooking. We had talked about going to see the parade in person, but with Graham and others unwell, it was a wise decision to say home. Several hours later, we had a delicious dinner with all of the fixings. We told stories about years past and remarked about how we brought Graham home for the hospital last year just as the turkey was being placed on the table. Graham fussed through dinner last year; I left the table to feed him, so Eoin ate the plate I had fixed for myself. Eoin was so tired (he had stayed up with Graham the night before at the hospital) that he almost fell asleep in the mashed potatoes. We were both so exhausted then. We’re tired now, but a different kind of tired.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we bundled everyone up and went to the farm and picked out our tree. I don’t know if you remember me mentioning it last year, but we always get a live tree with balled roots; after Christmas, we plant the tree on our property. Our tree selection often depends on what the local nurseries have in stock. This year’s tree is pretty good looking. It’s symmetrical with a full body and straight top. We had the tree delivered and it will stay on our back deck until Christmas eve. We’ll have a yummy Christmas eve supper and then decorate the tree. I can’t wait! I just have to get all of our shopping done before then!
Sending you lots of love,
Eoin, Jessica, and Graham
PS Graham is starting to do arts and crafts at school. He brought home a turkey (that was made from his handprint) and his first crayon drawing. Eoin and I are proud of our budding “artiste”!
As you might remember from our last update, Graham was diagnosed with croup and had missed some days of daycare. He is on the mend, although he still has a slight cough and a runny nose. Graham hates to have his nose wiped; when you come in with a tissue, he tries to hide his face and ends up getting crap all over your shirt. Nobody ever told me about the number of clothing changes I would have to go through as a parent! As a young baby, it was not unusual for him to spit up all over me. Thank goodness Graham stopped this a few months ago. This must be a Gregory tradition. When Aunt Peggy visited us, she said that her kids did that all of the time but stopped by about one.
Graham’s first birthday is the day before Thanksgiving, so we are getting excited for his big day next week. I am not sure what we are going to get him yet, but we have several ideas. And with Christmas soon after, anything we don’t get him for his birthday, we can get him for Christmas. I am not sure what kind of cake he might like, but I can assure you, he does like sweets. My Mom went to visit my Grandparents two weekends ago and came home with a home-baked apple pie. My mom was having some pie for dessert and offered Graham a bite. Well, a few bites later, my mom had to go back for her own piece because Graham ate her whole slice!
Graham, my mom, and I went to Pennsylvania this past Sunday for a surprise visit with my grandparents. (Eoin was bummed that he couldn’t join us, but he was at a weekend-long seminar.) The three of us had a great time with my grandparents. They were upset that they didn’t have any advance notice so they weren’t able to make us another apple pie. (Graham was upset too. Just kidding!!!) While we were in the area, we also visited my friends from College – Becky and Joe and their little girl, Fern. Actually, we didn’t give them any advance notice either, and we ended up crashing Fern’s first birthday party. Fern is super cute, and Becky and Joe are great parents! While we were at the party, Fern was opening gifts in Joe’s lap. When Fern saw Graham, her eyes lit up and she gave him a huge smile. It was awesome! I am convinced that babies have a special wavelength where they communicate with only each other.
This week, we’re going to get Graham’s first birthday professional portraits. The only problem is that he has a BIG blue goose egg bruise on his forehead. We received a call from his day care last week and they said that Graham tripped over a toy and hit his head on the floor. They took him down to the nurse’s office and she put ice on it. (This makes me really glad that we selected this day care facility, because most of the other ones in this area do not have separate nurses’ offices.) He’s fine and doesn’t notice that it’s there, but I guess it goes with the “little boy” territory. With the photograph technology these days, they might be able to photoshop it. We’ll see! Wish us luck and keep your fingers crossed for a smiling and happy Graham.
Until our next update, take care!
Love and hugs,
Eoin, Graham and Jessica
