Merry Christmas 2010

We can divide 2010 into two sections pretty easily: before Lydia and after Lydia.

Before Lydia highlights:

• We took a weekend trip to Corning Museum of Glass, made our own blown glass items and spent two days at the museum.
• We had 4 baby showers- one in absentia since we were both sick, one at church and one thrown by Rachel's work. It was fun to get ready for Lydia's arrival with family and friends! Our Houghton friends surprised us with a shower after Lydia was born.

After Lydia highlights:

• 
  Lydia Nancy arrived on Easter Sunday (4/4/10) at 4:59 PM, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz and measuring 19.5” long. She was the 5^th baby born on Easter at Unity and the 4^th born between 3 and 5 PM! Grandma and Grandpa J., Aunt Rebekah and Uncle Ryan, and Aunt Robin and Uncle Steve all came to visit that day followed by various friends and Grandma and Grandpa G. in the next few weeks. Daru and Kina have adjusted well to the new addition.
• We all attended and participated in 3.5 weddings between April and September- 2 Houghton friends {Charles married Sherry then Kristine married Daniel} and 2 of Rachel's cousins {Jason married Bonnie, then Jake married Chelsy}. The ½ wedding was because the wedding was actually on Labor Day so we only went to the pre-party since Rachel had to work on Labor Day!
• We attended two family reunions- Rachel's dad's side in VA in June and Doug's mom's side in NY in July. By the time Lydia was 10 weeks old, she had been to 10 states!
• We flew to CA in August to visit Doug's sister Dawn and Nathan and Lydia's new cousin, Caitlyn, who was born on May 8, 2010. We had a lot of fun with 2 babies!
• 
  We enjoyed two weekends at Delta with the Graham family and Lydia had her first boat ride with Grandpa Graham driving.
• Lydia was dedicated on November 7^th, with members of both sides of the family and many church friends present. We are thankful for all the friends and family who are with us on this journey of parenting which is both delightful and daunting at times.
• We took a five week curling class at the Rochester Curling Club and enjoyed learning the basics of the sport- yes, it does require some athletic effort!
• We spent Lydia's first Thanksgiving in Beaver Falls with Rachel's parents. Even though they have lived there for 6 years, it was the first time we had been there for Thanksgiving.
• We both stayed in the same jobs. Doug still works in the surgery department as a PA at Unity Hospital where Lydia was born and Rachel went back to work at Roberts in the fall after spending most of April-August with Lydia. Grandma and Grandpa J. came to watch Lydia for a week while Rachel taught a summer biology camp. We are incredibly grateful for God's provision in child care as Amanda, a friend from church, watches Lydia at our house. Lydia loves Amanda and she gets to hang out with her friend Evelyn twice a week as well!
• In December, Dawn and Caitlyn and Doug's oldest sister Deanna came to Rochester so we had an early Christmas with the Graham family- what fun to see cousins playing together!

Being parents at Christmas for the first time also gives us a new appreciation for the story of Christmas and a new awe that Jesus came to earth as a human baby. How amazing that He chose to be Emmanuel, God with us, and how thankful we are for that! We pray that you will know the joy and peace that come from knowing that God is with us. Merry Christmas and happy 2011!

With love,

Doug, Rachel, Lydia, Daru and Kina Graham

137 Glenview Lane

Rochester, NY 14609

rmjgraham@gmail.com, doug77@gmail.com

www.rachelanddoug.blogspot.com

Cloning

We like Lydia so much we decided to clone her.

Lydia's Dedication

Lydia was dedicated on November 7th. She was well behaved except for trying to grab the mike from our pastor. She had prepared a short speech of course ;)!

Dear carrots, I don't like you. Love, Lydia

29 weeks

Lydia with Elmo at 29 weeks

Curling

We finally achieved our dream of becoming Olympians- well at least learning a sport that we are not too old to go to the Olympics in =)! We had our third curling class on Sunday and my parents came to watch and they took some pictures for us. Top left- Doug is in the hack getting ready to throw; top right- I just released the stone which was probably hot or short since I can't figure out how to throw with the right weight; bottom left, Doug throws from the other end; bottom right, I am sweeping and Doug is acting as skip- actually I didn't have to sweep that stone, but I am holding the broom and walking with the stone ready to sweep at the skip's command.

Hanging out

Lydia enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Ryan and Daddy at the Penn State Arboretum a few weeks ago.

But Mom...

They taste so good.

Pumpkin

Lydia liked playing with the pumpkin and the fall leaves today. She managed to have them in her mouth only 95% of the time...she also tried to eat the pumpkin. But she is showing off her sitting up alone skills!

Jump, Jump, Jump

Lydia loves hanging out (literally!) in her Johnny Jump-Up. Usually she is bouncing with her mouth wide open, but she must have tired herself out for this picture.

This baby is trippin'

At the Aquarium, Lydia enjoyed watching the schooling sardines in the circular tank. One passerby said after watching her, "That baby is trippin'!". Maybe not trippin' but she does have an appreciation for sea life =).

Puffy Wuffy

Though almost everyone claims that Lydia looks EXACTLY like Doug, she has my chubby cheeks...

Lydia 2.0

Though she has not yet doubled her birth weight, Lydia is making a lot of changes in the last week or so. She consistently sleeps 8-9 hours a night, she consistently goes 3 hours or more between feedings during the day, and she would like you to pay full attention to her if she is awake and will let you know more dramatically if she is not happy. She still is a pretty content baby overall, but she is starting to show some of her stubborness. She loves to be standing and she likes to talk with you. She is more interested in real people now than in pictures too.

Oh deer- again!

Though some of our pictures are not great, we have been fawning over the neighborhood deer this spring/summer. These first pictures are from our yard and the second pictures are from our neighbor's driveway.

Happy Father's Day!

A picture of Doug and Lydia on his first Father's Day...

Lydia at 10 weeks

This is the smile I get to see in the mornings now when she wakes up!

Happy birthday!

Happy 2 month birthday to Lydia today- though this picture is a few weeks old. She weighed 11 lbs and 10 oz at her dr. appt this week!

Sunday clothes

Lydia is all dressed up for church, but she has to keep wearing long sleeve onesies under all her cute spring/summer clothes since it is so chilly here!

Lydia Nancy Graham

Lydia Nancy Graham arrived on Easter Sunday at 4:59 PM at 7 lbs. 11 oz and 19.5 inches.  We named her Lydia because we wanted a Biblical name and a name that had 2 or more syllables since Graham is only one.  Lydia was a seller of purple cloth in Philippi when Paul and Timothy came to preach there.  She welcomed them into her home and was the first European convert to Christianity.  Nancy is in honor of both her Grandmas since my mom and Doug's mom are both named Nancy. 

Lydia is already growing quickly- last Thursday she weighed 9 lbs. at the doctor.  She is a mostly content baby, and Daru and Kina are adjusting to life with an infant.   

Micro's room

Doug has worked hard to finish Micro's room. He painted the chalkboard wall and made the frame to make it look like an aquarium and painted the starfish and fish border. I had trouble getting a good picture of it with the sunshine coming through the windows...2 weeks and 3 days!

3-D pictures

Here are some of the 3-D pictures they took last week- still sideways!

Micro is macro these days...

Two weeks ago, when the dr. measured me, I was 3 weeks behind, so she sent us for another ultrasound to make sure Micro was growing appropriately. As of the u/s, Micro weighed 4lb 15oz. which is in the 56th percentile. Less than 5 weeks to go before we meet him/her! Sorry I tried to turn the pictures, but it didn't work I guess- sigh!