Bedtime Stories

Every night before bed Alma gets to cuddle with us while we read her a bedtime story. She is just starting to get into story time. Sometimes when we read stories during the day she giggles and laughs all the way through. This is also the time she is most likely to lay on her tummy without crying because she is so entertained. And yes, I am reading her a Thomas the Train book. We have more train themed paraphanalia than anybody I know. . . including a hundred pieces of wooden train track that Alma will probably not touch for at least another year. Sometimes I wonder if the toys are really for Alma or if they are for her Daddy.

Thanksgiving Dinner

This year we spent Thanksgiving dinner with our friends the Jarolimeks. It was an absolutely delicious meal and a whole lot of fun. Alma was happy the entire day, so much so that she never really took a nap. She enjoyed hanging out with her buddy Neil as well, at one point she even did him a favor and chewed on his fist for him. It was a great time! Dan, Brian, and Neil hanging out after a giant meal.

Alma hanging out in her buddy Neil's walker. She LOVED it.

A quick family photo. Notice the giant wet spot on Dan's shoulder - that is the norm around here now that Alma is teething.

Yummy - Brian and his delicious pumpkin pies.

Alma and baby Neil sitting at their first Thanksgiving dinner table. Alma looks awfully happy!

Alma's first solid food

Today was a big day in the Graves-Funke household - Alma ate her first solid food. It was just a bit of rice cereal but we thought we would give it a go. It didn't go extremely well, but her first solid food experience didn't go terribly poorly either. Alma and Daddy with her first box of cereal.

Mixing the cereal nice and runny so Alma can eat it.

Trying to get her to eat it through a bottle after the spoon didn't work out.

All pooped out after a big meal and a good snuggle.

Another Birthday

This year to celebrate my birthday Dan bought us tickets to see the Lion King and it was incredible. The costumes were amazing and the music was great. The best part were the young kids who played Nala and Simba, they were only eleven years old and unbelievably talented. After the show Dan had reservations at the Clinkerdagger complete with red roses on the table. Of course, this was on Saturday before my birthday, on my actual birthday Dan made me dinner and Alma gave me a card. Dan even put Alma's handprint on it for me - he was so sneaky about it I never knew. It was a good birthday.

Alma and her Elephant

Alma's favorite stuffed animal is her elephant - she really likes to chew on the trunk. Too cute!

She's Going Huntin'

We saw this trapper hat, and we couldn't resist. It should go well with the gun Uncle Matt keeps promising to buy her for her first birthday, and keep her ears warm in the meantime.

Carving Pumpkins

This year Dan and I made a whole night out of carving pumpkins - we even ordered a "pumpkin pizza" from Papa Murphy's for dinner. Alma got to wear her pumpkin onesie that GG bought for her, and of course, we took lots of pictures. Dan carved his pumpkin to look like a Dementor from Harry Potter. I carved mine to match the pumpkin face on Alma's outfit. Alma is saying "Hey you, Mommy, put the camera away!"

Three adorable pumpkins all in a row!

I really like this picture because Alma has such a sweet smile on her face.

I really wanted to put her IN a pumpkin, but alas I was too cheap to buy one big enough.

I am sure Dan looks forward to the day when he gets to carve a pumpkin for EVERY member of our family. . .

Homecoming Parade

This year Halloween happened to be on the same day as the U of I Homecoming game. We invited the Jarolimeks to join us for the Firehouse Pancake Feed and the Parade. We had a really great time, and I especially enjoyed baby Neil dressed up like a dinosaur. After the parade Gretta and I enjoyed mimosa's while Dan, Bryan, and Harper set up Dan's electric train set in the kitchen. Good times were had by all!

Alma's Costume

For Alma's first Halloween we thought and thought of costume ideas, but none of them seemed great. . . but then one day it hit me, we should dress Alma up as a snowboarder. So we did. We put her in some fleece pants with a beanie hat, and Dan made her very first snowboard (out of cardboard of course) and we tied it to her braces. It was awesome. We took her trick-or-treating at a few family members houses and Mom and Dad enjoyed eating the candy. All in all, her first Halloween was a great success.

Thanks Aunt Rissie

Before Alma was born my sister painted these awesome picture frames to go in Alma's jungle bedroom. Ever since, I have been thinking about what I wanted to put in them and the other day I had a great idea that I should take some pictures of Alma with all her Jungle animals. Dan and I posed her with her animals, and got some really cute shots. It turned out really well - Thanks Aunt Rissie!

A Wonderful Sunday

This past Sunday Alma gave her mommy and daddy a very special treat - she slept in until almost 9:00. It was amazing, and even more amazing what you can do with your day when you have had a proper night sleep. To celebrate, we stayed in bed until 10:00 snuggling with Alma, since first thing in the morning is when she is the most happy. Then we got up, cooked a big breakfast complete with fresh bacon and eggs. Then we headed out to Deary for a visit with the grandparents and great grandparents and a long walk in the woods. I love Sunday's.

The Moby Wrap

Before Alma was born my best friend Jenny bought us a Moby wrap. She had been using hers for several months, and they loved it. At first I wasn't so sure about the Moby, for those of you who have seen them they have about 17 yards of fabric that you wrap around your body a certain way to hold your baby. We tried it when Alma was first born but it didn't work out very well because of her casts. A few weeks ago I pulled it out thinking I would give it another try, and now I am in love with my Moby. It is perfect because you can take Alma in and out of it really easily, she is very comfortable, and I feel like it is very secure. It also has several different holds for different moods. Right now Alma loves to be facing out and we go on long walks every day so she can look around and take in the scenery. It's getting a little colder, so we have to bundle her up but she stays pretty cozy so close to your body. We took these pictures specifically for Aunt Jenny - thanks for the Moby! On another note, this hat is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Everywhere we go, people stop and tell us how cute the hat is. I don't just mean some people - it is ALL people.

Walking almost always puts Alma to sleep. After she gets her fill of fresh air she just conks right out and sleeps until we get home. Sometimes walking in the moby is the only way I can get her to take an afternoon nap.

Dinner Party

This past weekend we had two of our couple friends over for a dinner party. Since there were going to be a lot of people and we have a tiny dining room we decided to serve nothing but appetizers. We made some delicious sausage dip that my mom gave me the recipe for, as well as some yummy cheese and crackers, apple bacon tartlet, avacado dip, and fruit dip. Since there were going to be a lot of kids here (Harper - 3, Orion - 2 1/2, Everly - 8 months, Neil and Alma - 4 months) we thought we should have a fun activity to keep them entertained. Well, mostly just Harper and Orion. Those two are crazy! Since I had just read about my nieces decorating giant pumpkin sugar cookies I thought it sounded like a great idea! I baked pumpkins, ghosts, candy corns, and haunted house cookies. The boys had a great time decorating and each got to take a plate home for their families. Neil was born exactly two weeks before Alma and we have enjoyed watching them grow up together. We like to think they are having play dates, but really they just lay around next to each other. Here they were just hangin out, chewin on some fist.

Dan had a really great time - Alma spent most of the night sitting with us observing the chaos around her. I think she really likes people, because she was so enthralled with them that she didn't eat for almost six hours. This made me think, hmmmm, why can't she go that long at night without eating???

Four Months Old

On October 15th Alma turned four months old! Four months old is just the right size - when I lay her down on my lap she is as long as my legs are wide. I feel very ambivelant about Alma getting older, on the one hand I am very excited to see her grow and develop but on the other hand I am sad that she won't be a baby forever. We took this picture of her (below) to commemorate the day - Dan thinks she looks grumpy, but I thinks he was just tired. I also wanted to take a minute and write down what Alma is like at the ripe old age of four months. When I asked Dan to describe Alma he responded " the sweetest, most cuddly cutest, intelligent baby ever. In the entire universe." I think he is a tad on the proud side. If I were to choose one word it would be curious. Alma is a very observant baby - when she is interested in something she looks and looks and you can see the wheels turning! One of her favorite things to do is go for long walks. If you put her in a front facing carrier and start walking she won't make a single sound, she will just look around and take it all in. She also really likes to stand in front of the window and look outside. I think she will be a great outdoorsperson when she gets older.

Alma also really enjoys laying on the floor and rolling around. She started rolling over at 6 weeks and she just keeps getting better and better at it.

She is still enjoying her boppy time. In the mornings she sits in her boppy on the couch with me while we watch Jon Stewart.

And, of course Alma still loves to snuggle and sleep. We love it when she is sleepy because she gets really cuddly and just nuzzles right up to you. It is hard to put her down when she is being that sweet!

GG and G Pa

Two weekends ago my parents came to Moscow for the long weekend. I like to think they came to see me, but I am pretty sure they came to see Alma! We had a really nice time, my mom and I spent a Friday in Uniontown visiting antique shops while my Dad and brother went golfing. On Saturday we went to the Market, did a bit of shopping, and my mom cooked a ton of delicious food. Sunday morning we all went out for breakfast before my parents had to leave. It was a short but nice visit and I can't wait to see them again at Christmas.