9 Months & still toothless

The big changes this month are related to movement (mouth, body...).

• Gracie loves to clap for anything. Her favorites are Patty cake, saying "yeah", and when she is happily squealing.


• This week she even started giving kisses on the cheek. Let me say if she keeps this up she won't have a boyfriend for awhile...which we are okay with. Her kisses are big open mouth smacks on the cheek.


• She has also learned to make some funny faces from her parents. There is a new "Cheesy" smile she likes to give people as well as her head tilt that is her being "Cute."


• Faces, jewelry, glasses, and anything within arm's reach is a wonderful toy in Gracie's eyes.


• She moves all around. When she sees something she wants, she tries to move towards it and ends up moving backwards. Getting her legs under the couch leads to many squawks.


• She is starting to feed herself puffs, peas, and other small food items. It is fun to watch her try to get it in her mouth by all different means. Less and less is ending-up in her chair. Even without her teeth she is trying other foods.


• Now that she knows she can move more she is starting to explore standing around. Very soon I foresee cruising.


• To make Gracie even more happy you can give her two options...one, any two objects that make a fun noise when they are banged together and two, a sticker or name tag that is sticky between her fingers.

This past week we were busy getting things ready for the Peters 40th wedding anniversary luau. Gracie was a party animal and was awake until 10:30. She is just our social butterfly and loved to celebrate such a special day with her Grandma and Papa. Adam's first Father's day included breakfast in bed, gifts from Gracie, church, lunch at Cafe Prague on their patio, and then time at home. Gracie loved spending the day with her Daddy. Her 9 month appointment is on Thursday and we will update everyone soon.

Place your bets

Look at me, I love to pull items apart over my head. I want to be She-ra!

After a long week of preparing for Hillary's visit and my trip to LA, I am finally getting around to updating the blog. It was so wonderful to have Hillary come to visit and take a couple days to be with Gracie. The time is so special and she continues to focus on moving. It seems like after a light turned on she is now ready to get moving and is starting to get frustrated because she can't keep-up with her buddies. Here is a photo to show you who close she is to moving forward since she has mastered moving backwards.

I tell you this is going to be short, she has learned to clap and loves to clap with anyone says yeah. Tomorrow she will be 9 months and I can't believe it! Until this weekend's 9month update, after the party and celebrating Adam's first official Father's day!

Hair raising week

This week was a bit of a blur for everyone. I went on a quick business trip to Atlanta leaving Adam and Gracie to fend for themselves. They enjoyed the time together and Gracie was pretty good for Daddy. I think she continues to be teething and we thought we would throw some diaper rash in for the fun too. Sunday night was a little hard, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Atlanta was good though I broke a sweat running to catch my plane home. It was a closer call then I prefer. Once home we focused on the garage sale we had been talking about for months. After prep on Thursday night , we were in business with over 6 tables of stuff to sell on Friday. Gracie enjoyed the time outside and being with us while we made about $10 in the first 4 hours and that was mostly my Dad's stuff. Needless to say, the garage sale was a bust other then organizing the garage while we waited for shoppers. Note to self, never have a garage sale at our house again. Living almost in Oklahoma doesn't allow for many Denver shoppers. Here is our little sales girl watching all of us put the items in the garage to be donated.

Gracie highlights: She is getting more hair, and the reason for the photo below. It is almost an Alfalfa / Mohawk look. The hair is coming in and making her look adorable. Now that she has seen more of her buddies work on crawling she is starting to move. There is going to be no stopping her soon. She rolls, moves, and pushes herself all over. Now she really likes to be standing too. Adam is starting to look into the baby gates.

This weekend I am heading to LA with Hill and visiting Jessica for her baby shower. It will be my first weekend away from the lady and I am going to miss her!! At least I am taking Thursday and Friday off to be with her and Hill. Wishing everyone a wonderful week! Here is also an adorable photo of our little lady, with her Pinkie (the Black Dog blanket from Adam's Aunt Suzie and Uncle Hal), in our big bed!!

Work weekend

This weekend we were so busy with house work. How is there always something that needs to get done? There were a couple breaks between the prep for a garage sale next weekend, fixing the sprinklers, running errands... Saturday night was Baylor's 1st birthday celebration, which Gracie enjoyed time with her neighbor boyfriend. Sunday we had a BBQ for our friend's the Chous. Grace was able to see Mel and Elijah again but her joy came from her birthday buddy George. They even started talking to each other a bit. Grace in a party dress.

Big changes for Gracie this week:

She now can "click" her tongue, which she loves to do and will make sure she still can right after she wakes in the morning.

She rolled onto her belly when sleeping and for some reason not knowing how to get herself back. Like George, once they are in the crib all usual activity is off and they don't know how to move as usual.

She starts to share and steal. This morning she tried to share her pacifier with Adam and kept stealing George's toys yesterday.

She, I think, has learned to try and kiss people. Her kiss is open mouth slobber love that is wonderful.

She loves ice cream of any kind. We have had it a couple times the past couple weeks and last night she understood if she squawked we might give her more. Here is photographic proof she loved ice cream since she wouldn't let go of the spoon! (it is clear and hard to see)

Finally, she is shy and cuddly. She loves to turn her head to the side and smile at people. She is turning her head at Baylor.

We love our cutie and it is going to be hard to be away from her in Atlanta for two days. I guess I wills survive with photos and calls.

Memorable Memorial Day weekend

What a weekend full of firsts. We took Gracie out East for a family reunion on my mother's side. Cousin Nancy and Aunt Joyce were wonderful hosts as were the whole rest of the family. Happy 70th birthday Joyce & Joe.

Firsts:

• Airplane ride: Gracie had no problems, enjoyed all the people, and slept some too. It did help to have my folks there to help with all the luggage and Gracie!



• Being away from home for a long period of time: Gracie was a wonderful sleeper. Guess it might help that we have a routine for her and she sleeps in a pack n' play at daycare.


• Visiting many family members: She was passed around, enjoyed playing with her cousins, and loved all the attention. Even Nicole said she was a little attention needy when we were back.
  
• Museum: The American Museum of History would have been so much better with fewer people and cooler temperatures. Then the museum out by Dulles Airport for Air and Space. She loved the planes and the ice cream!



• Trip to the Capital: We got one photo because it just wasn't fun to be out.


• Road trip: We drove from Baltimore to DC, DC to Hershey PA, Hershey to Baltimore. 90% of the time she was happy.


• First visit to an amusement park: Though she didn't go on any rides she actually loved to watch the theatre productions. She might be an entertainer if we don't watch it...she loves to see herself in the mirror, smiles when she sees anyone, and loves attention. We are in trouble. Thanks cousin Jason for the tour and Julee for hosting!


• First aquarium: Gracie continues to see more and more everyday. She loved to watch all the fish at the Baltimore aquarium in the very close-up tanks.



• First delayed flight: Both of our flights were delayed though our return flight took the cake with 4 hours. Luckily we were not on the plane the whole time.

The time this weekend was full of some special memories that we will never forget. Being with family reminds me of how blessed we have been our whole lives. We look forward to seeing them soon. The only drawback is that we missed celebrating with Uncle Brad on his birthday. Here are a couple photos from the wonderful weekend. It is good to be back home though to enjoy some time together.

8 Months and growing

My how things can change in one month. As we prepare for Gracie's first plane ride, it is hard to believe how much stuff you have to bring. Every month the items to bring are a bit different, though the amount of items continues to increase.

Milestones:

• Gracie is now sitting up on her own. Her favorite place to be is sitting and seeing the world.



• Still NO teeth. She continues to go through some of the pain and yet the teeth are no where insight.


• Grandma Margie and Papa gave Gracie a Zoo animal toy for Christmas. Gracie has learned if you press the red button music plays and the animals move.


• She learned to like swimming and I am sure this summer she will continue to enjoy the time more.


• There is no food she really hates. You can tell her preferences though by her desire to open her mouth. The opinions are starting.


• The other learned response is if she sees a camera flash she starts to smile. Guess I created a monster with all the photos I have taken.


• Paper will probably be the item she will crawl to first. The other day she did start to move towards some paper Adam has and it is a wonderful toy.
• Here is a photo of our two young ins with their eyes closed.

Now we are off to get ready for our trip.

First Mother's Day weekend, oh my

What a week and weekend it has been. Gracie continues to move full steam ahead in teething with still no teeth. Her sleeping was horrible at the end of the week and over the weekend. Guess what I got, another cold. SERIOUSLY!!! How many times can I run my body down to catch a cold, this is even with my husbands help at night? It was so bad we even missed swimming on Thursday because she had a mild temperature.

For those that don't know, or how haven't heard me complaining, I hated our bed. Since I got prego the thing just fell apart which made my body fall apart. So, I have been looking forward to a new King size bed to fit the growing family. After we learned we were getting a tax refund, we decided to buy a bed. We shopped and found the bed we liked. My next mission, which I chose to accept, was to find a bed with a frame that was reasonably priced on Craig's list. Thursday I hit the jackpot and got a new wood headboard, foot board, and frame for under $200. Not bad and the Shiers were so nice to let us borrow their truck with an hours notice. This laid the ground work for the mattress purchase on Sunday, but I am getting ahead of myself. Friday, after a delivery of 2 dozen roses from Gracie to Mommy, we all headed up to the farm. The original plan was photo day which turned into work day and kido day. It was wonderful to spend time with family, the Penrods, and the O'Reillys. Gracie had so many people to play with. After celebrating Grandma's birthday and Mother's day with the family it was off to bed for sleep that didn't last more then a little over an hour per stretch. This was her happy face earlier in the day.

Sunday we got the mattress and put the room together. Here is the family photo on the new mattress. It was the best Mother's day ever. New mattress and bed set, a cuddly baby, and a supportive husband, roses...who could ask for more? I am very blessed to be Gracie's mother and I would do anything for her. She is the light of our lives and the reason we both look forward to getting up everyday.

Monday was our 7 year anniversary too. What a crazy couple of days. Since I am sounding like Demi Moore, with my sore throat, we decided to forgo the special dinner tonight and instead had left over pizza and soup. Nothing says love like leftovers! While looking through the wedding albums we are reminded of how truly blessed we are with amazing family, friends, and life! We couldn't have made it seven years without you. Enjoy the photos and can't wait for you to watch the next 7+ years together as well.

Here is another photo series we are starting, thanks to Anne's suggestion. Every Mother's day going forward, Grace and I will sit in this chair to see how much she has grown. It will be extra special since it was the rocking chair used on me when I was a baby. How special! Thank you mom and day for being keeping sentimental items along with a few other things.