News

Some more great pics in the following folders:

• Trip with the boys to Galveston beach


• Neo's June 2009 folder (more to come in this one I'm sure!)


• Charlie's June 2009 folder

Labels: Charlie, Neo, vacation

Boy, do I have a few updates!!

I know it has been a while. I hate it when I let these announcements stack up. We have done so much in the last couple of months, I think I will just let the photo galleries do the talking:

• First "entire family" camping trip at Huntsville State Park


• Neo's Cub Scout Wolf Badge Ceremony (sorry for the low light)


• Charlie's visit to Armand Bayou


• Cub Scout Crossover Ceremony


• Charlie's April 2009 folder, including a video of him vacuuming


• Neo's April 2009 folder, showing him dressed up for school


• Charlie's May 2009 folder, including 2 videos of him dancing

It's been busy. And it's about to get even more busy! End of school. Vacation trips. Summer activities. Work on the house. Good stuff.

Labels: camping, Charlie, cub scouts, Neo

There are quite a few events to report on!

Neo and I had two camping trips this month in the new tent. The first was just him and I. We tried out the tent and had fun fishing and hiking. The second trip was with the cub scouts. I think Neo had lots of fun both times. I went ahead and combined all the pictures from both trips into one folder in the Events section called "2009 - March camping trips". Highlights included seeing snakes and alligators, Neo getting a corn snake laid around his neck (his favorite part), Neo catching way more fish than me, noisy armadillos, sneaky racoons, campfires, and amazing breakfast meals like this one:


Also this month, Christian took the kids to a local farm to pick strawberries. You can see all the pictures here.


And lastly, we made a trip to the park and had a picnic. That was a fun day. Pictures from that are here.


We are looking forward to more of this weather so we can spend more time outdoors!

Labels: camping, Charlie, cub scouts, fishing, Neo, vacation, weather

Wow... weekend after weekend has been packed.

Many "thank you"s are in order. Thanks to those who helped in watching the boys during my high school reunion and Christian's, and during Christian's jewelry events. Thanks to everyone who got such wonderful gifts for the boys for their birthdays. Thanks to everyone that attended Neo's birthday party. A huge thank you to those who helped us set up, manage, and clean up Neo's video game party (it was a huge success!!).

For Neo's party, we needed to do something on a small budget. Doing it at home was an obvious choice, but we wanted to avoid renting a fun jump or entertainment. We came up with the idea of a video game party and things sort of flowed from there. Christian made some awesome invitations that looked like a Nintendo DS. When opened it asked the kids to bring their Nintendo DS and a Wii remote if they had one.


At the party, we had 4 video game rooms. Two rooms were Wii rooms playing Wii Sports and Mario Kart. The theater room became the XBOX room, playing on the big projection screen with the loud surround sound. Neo's room was the Nintendo DS room where multiplayer Mario Kart DS sessions of up to 8 were taking place. And outside, was a craft station for each kid to make their own "Mii" magnet. They picked their shirts, pants, nose, eyes, and colored everything and made a Mii that they could hang on their refrigerator. Kids were divided up into teams and rotated. I must say... it all went off pretty well, and the kids had a great time.


Pictures of Neo's video game party are here. Christian did a really great job with preparations and decorations. One kid said "this was the funnest party I ever been to". Another didn't want to eat his Wii remote/Wiimote cookie because he wanted to keep it. All signs of success I think.


There are also some great pics of Charlie and his 1st birthday party in his October folder.

Thanks again to everyone.

Labels: birthday, Charlie, Neo, thanks, Wii

Neo and Charlie's birthdays are here. Many of you have asked what they might like for their birthday.

We have a list up in a published google document at the following link:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc3n5jzg_13dgsqf4dk

Let Christian or I know if you get something on the list so we can scratch it out.

Thanks guys!

Labels: birthday, Charlie, Neo

Oh lord.... get ready!



You can download the high-res version of the clip here.

Labels: Charlie

Got some new pics up.

There are some new pics in Charlie's July 2008 folder showing him being cute, and even a few videos showing him racing around in his walker.

Also, there are some pics in Neo's July 2008 folder showing him with his new glasses. We think he looks pretty sharp!

There are also some pictures from the July 4th parade, and some from the day at the beach.

Labels: Charlie, July 4th, Neo

I know I haven't posted an update in the while. Surprisingly, it's not because I don't have time, like you might think.

No, it's actually because we have set our machines to sleep/hibernate to save electricity. We have saved lots of power.

But one interesting side-effect is that since my machine is usually off, and I have to deliberately turn it on, I use it less. And since I use it less, I tend to get a few things done before I'm called away, and then it goes to sleep again.

So, I have had time to post, but just have been doing other things instead. Somehow, that feels like a good thing.

But, to get you up to date:

• Charlie is in to everything. He is crawling, pulling himself up, and walking along as he holds on.


• Neo went on vacation with Nanna and Poppa and a couple of other families. He had a really great time and came home with a pet hermit crab that he named, "Hermit".


• Christian and I made a do-it-yourself Earthbox. An earthbox is a pretty neat little invention for growing produce that uses minimal water and fertilizer and requires a minimal amount of tending to. I'm really excited about it and how easy it is. We have started some cucumbers, tomatoes, and jalapenos. If you would like to learn about the earthbox, check the website here. For a version you can build youself, just search on google. We made one in about 30 minutes.


• Neo and I have been playing Zelda on Wii. Neo is really good. We managed to work through the entire game/story. The game involves lots of reading, which was great summer reading practice for him. We just finished the game this morning with Neo beating Ganon. It was really exciting.


• There are some new pictures in various folders. Just click around.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Things are really good around here.

Labels: Charlie, gardening, Neo, vacation, Wii

Lots of new pictures on the website. There was the concert in the park. Also the mom's group meeting where the babies played together. Other pictures are in Charlie's May 2008 folder and Neo's May folder.

Labels: Charlie, Neo

Big news... Caleb is here! Congratulations to Brent, Emily, and Kam! I've heard that mom and baby are doing well. I will give more news as I get it.

Also, I want to apologize for not posting this earlier, but a very special thank you Christian's mom for coming in and helping us with the baby. It REALLY helped. Thanks to Mr. Troy as well for those long car trips. We appreciate it guys.

I will post some pictures of Brent and Emily's new addition when I get some. Also, there are a few more pictures of Charlie in his January 08 folder.

Congratulations again to Brent and Emily!

Labels: announcements, Caleb, Charlie, congratulations, Emily, thanks

"I can't put my arms down!"

Labels: Charlie, Christmas

Things are still going well around here. We had visits from my mom and Christian's mom which helped out a ton! Thanks guys! Christian posted a nice thank you note on her blog as well.

Charlie is doing well although he has problems with gas and diaper rash occasionally. I swear he passes wind like a 65 year old man sitting in a recliner watching sports does.

I got sick this morning with some sort of bug that is going around. Now we are doing our best to keep me away from the baby, but I'm afraid he might pick it up since I was walking with him last night. We'll see.

Charlie's October folder has more pictures. Also, some pics of maw-maw playing the Wii with Neo are in Neo's October folder.

Also, Happy Birthday Neo!!! Neo's birthday party is coming up and he is very excited.

Labels: birthday, Charlie, Neo, visits

We're home!!! And... happy birthday Christian!!

At home, we've started to settle in. When we woke up this morning, we had a big birthday breakfast for Christian with banana pancakes, sausage, eggs, and fresh orange slices. I think she enjoyed that.

After 4 days in the hospital, we finally made it home Saturday afternoon. Luckily, for most of the time we had some really good nurses, including one named Suellen. She was really awesome and did a great job of not only tending to Christian medically, but listening to her and making the time there a little more bearable.

After we left the hospital, we picked up Neo from some friends (thanks John and Laura!), swung by HEB to fill Christian's prescription, grabbed some food, and finally made it home. The good news is that Charlie was comfortable in the car the whole time. Hopefully that will continue for other car rides.

Neo is doing a great job with helping out with the baby. He has been a retriever for stuff - "Neo... quick.. get a towel!". He is also a good diaper changing assistant and a baby soother. He likes to say "Look at brother!" while we are changing Charlie to calm him down.

Overall, things are good. Happy birthday Christian! We love you.

A few more pictures are available in Charlie's September folder.

Labels: birthday, Charlie, Christian, congratulations

Well, he wanted to take his time and make a grand entrance. And he did.

We would like to introduce Charlie - "Charles Anthony Graffagnino" to the world.

Charlie and mom are both doing wonderful.

Christian started having contractions Monday afternoon, but they were not consistent. We talked with Dr. Abbott that afternoon, weighed our options (no pun intended) and decided we would like to schedule a C-section. It was scheduled for Wed at noon.

But throughout the day Tuesday, the contractions started getting more consistent. By the afternoon, they were below 15 minutes apart. As night fell and the full moon rose, the contractions quickly went to 7, then 5, and then at one point, 4 minutes apart. At that point, I called the doctor to have the get ready for us at the hospital, and had a friend come over to pick up Neo. Then, we headed over to Clear Lake Regional Medical Center.

When we got there, we had the help of a wonderful nurse named Melinda. Melinda asked how Christian rated her pain, with 0 being no pain, 10 being the worst ever, and 5 being bad enough to want medication. Christian rated her pain at a 2.

What was funny was that when Melinda did her first exam, and saw that Christian was 8 centimeters dilated! She was bragging to the other nurses that Christian could have had that baby without flinching. The exercises, the vitamins, the diet, the relaxation techniques, the reading... all of those things really paid off even though we decided in the end to have a C-section.

And, when we heard the weight - 9 lbs 2 oz - we knew we had made the right decision. Charlies was 21" tall. Melinda did a great job of helping me to keep Christian calm and talk her through the process. Charlie's APGAR rating at 1 minute was an 8 and was an 8-9 at 5 minutes. Awesome!

Dr. Abbott did an amazing job. She said the surgery went perfectly with no problems. Of course, there are still risks in the recovery, but thankfully, everything is going extremely well.

We are getting to know our new little bundle and settling in with feeding and sleeping at the hospital. We expect to be going home Saturday evening, but that is just a guess.

Thanks for all of the prayers and support. We look forward to sharing little Charlie with all of you. Special thanks to "Mr. Borland" for looking after Neo for us.

Here are the pictures we have so far. Since I don't have internet access at the hospital, my next update might not be until we get back home.

Labels: announcements, Charlie, Christian, congratulations