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!

Merry Christmas 2009!

The Grahams’ Annual Report

Quarter 1- January-March 2009
• We attended our college friend Paul and Rachel’s wedding in Georgia in January.
• In February, we made a trip to CA to see Doug’s sister Dawn and her husband Nate (and their dog Bailey). They live near Monterrey, and we enjoyed hiking, many rainbows, the Aquarium, and kayaking with Dawn, sea lions and sea otters.
• At the end of February, Daru impaled herself on something during a jaunt in the woods. After emergency surgery and a long night, she was basically back to normal; the vet said she was a lucky dog.
• In March, we made maple syrup from our 3 sugar maples. Doug hauled the sap up the hill daily for us to boil. We made about 12 oz.; we’re not sure we will repeat it, but it was fun to try once!

Quarter 2- April-June 2009
• We had a great time in May with Robin, Steve, Matthew and Ellie at ImagineRIT, the innovation fair at RIT, and we also made it to the Lilac Festival this year!
• Rebekah graduated with a PhD in mathematics from the University of MT in May as well, so we attempted to attend her graduation. After missing our connecting flight, we spent a night in Denver, but we did get to attend the celebrations afterwards with the Johnson and Yates families.
• In May, we also made some trips alone. Doug went to the AAPA conference in San Diego and met up with some friends from MUSC there while Rachel went to NC to watch Dee and Shan’s kids while they went to a conference.
• At the end of May, we attended the wedding reception for Rachel’s cousin Joshua and his wife Karis in the Adirondacks. It was a fun celebration and we enjoyed seeing the area as well.
• At the end of June, we sadly said good-bye to our friend (and pastor) Allison who moved to Seattle for a new job which suits her well- but it was still sad!

Quarter 3- July- September 2009
• We took a roundabout vacation in July starting with the annual 4th of July weekend at Delta with the Grahams. From Delta, we travelled to NYC to meet up with some friends from SC. Next, we spent a few days camping at Ricketts Glen in the Poconos (well worth the trip!), and then drove to DC for a night to see our college friend Danielle and Grace. From DC, we went to WV to Rachel’s cousin Laura’s wedding to Ryan, and on our way home from there, we stopped to see our friends Michael and Mindy and their week old baby Molly!
• We hosted the annual Lee family reunion in July; we were all happy Grandma Lee was able to come!
• In August, Rebekah and Ryan moved to Houghton and we helped in the moving process at this end.
• Rachel celebrated a milestone birthday this year after a weekend gathering with the Houghton gang. She celebrated her actual birthday with Doug, Ryan and Rebekah at the Strong Museum of Play.
• Rachel taught 5 labs a week this semester starting in September and took on the role of advisor for the math and science club. It has been fun to help them get involved with events like making a float for Roberts Homecoming.

Quarter 4- October- December 2009
• At the beginning of October, we attended Houghton’s homecoming with Rachel’s family. The following week, we traveled to Tully to see Doug’s parents so that we could tell our families in person that we are expecting a baby in April 2010. Baby Micro (gender unknown) will be the first grandchild on Rachel’s side and the seventh on Doug’s side. While we are excited, we are starting to feel the realities of impending parenthood, and we can’t even begin to explain to the dog and cat what is coming! Micro will be getting a new cousin at the end of April, as Dawn and Nate are also expecting their first baby.
• This quarter has been full of many house projects-- from getting a new furnace, to painting, to getting new carpet. We are grateful for a lot of family (read: free) help!
• We celebrated Thanksgiving in Houghton with Rachel’s family and one of Rebekah’s students. We are still working on Möbius (their cat) and Daru being friends, but we are making some progress.
• Doug celebrated his birthday in early December. He continues to enjoy his work as a PA in the surgery department (most days). We have both been thankful this year for steady jobs which we enjoy.
• We have been blessed in many ways by the love of family and friends this year. We appreciate the many opportunities we have had to share experiences with family and friends from near and far! As we look ahead to the many changes coming our way in 2010, we are most grateful for an unchanging God who is faithful in all situations. We pray that this season you will know the peace that comes from knowing He is in control.

With love,
Doug, Rachel, Micro, Daru and Kina Graham
137 Glenview Lane
Rochester, NY 14609
doug_graham77@yahoo.com
rmjgraham@gmail.com
updated occasionally (like today): rachelanddoug.blogspot.com

Turkeys in the trees

Thanksgiving Eve we saw a bunch of turkeys in the trees but it was too dark to get a picture, so when we got up on Thanksgiving, we saw them still there. I didn't get a great picture obviously, but we scared them away when we took Daru by and at least 12 flew off the branches of different trees.

On the trestle with a train

We took a weekend trip to Letchworth State Park with the Math and Science Club and headed up to the railroad trestle. When I heard the train whistle blow, I ran off the bridge, but Doug and some others stayed on with the train.

Rock Star

A while back we had a Rock Band, chocolate cake and sausage party with our young adult group. We discussed wearing costumes so we would be like rock stars, but only some of us (read: the Grahams) took this idea seriously enough to carry it out....Doug is on call tonight and is still at work and has 2 cases to go so he can't prevent me from posting this rock star photo ;)!

Young buck

My aunt said when we moved here that we would grow to hate the derr, but I don't feel like I do yet even though they do like to munch on all things green. I watched this spike eat our tree for awhile until Daru scared him away.

Hiking the M

The University of Montana is the only college with a mountain on campus so they put a big concrete M in the middle of it, you can hike to it and then buy a t-shirt that says "I hiked the M" though I suppose they would not prevent you from buying the t-shirt even if you didn't hike it. Last summer, some kids had started a fire near the M so we couldn't hike it because the trail was closed, so we finally had this experience this year. Here you see part of the M and part of Missoula.

The Pinata

We tried in vain to break the pinata with a frisbee but ended up resorting to the field hockey stick method.

See we were there!

Doug and I were a little underdressed for the event...

Where did May go?

We had a crazy busy May with lots of travel adventures and family activities and fun. In the middle of May we headed for Rebekah's graduation with a PhD in mathematics. While our airline adventures (don't travel with us!) did not allow us to actually make it to the graduation, we arrived right after it was over and recreated it to simulate the experience minus the speakers and all the other graduates.

Everything's coming up lilacs

This week marks the beginning of the festival season in Rochester with the most famous festival- the Lilac Festival in Highland Park. We took a picnic there to see the lilacs, and I must admit I was impressed by the variety of types and colors.