Christmas Morning :)

Our little artist!!

Grace is having sooo much fun with crayons lately, i'd thought you might want to see her in action! The funniest thing about this new skill is that she talks jibberish the entire time she colors.... it's quite comical!!

What a mess!

My child is a MESS! :) Once again, I can not believe how quickly she is turning into a young lady. She has done some of the silliest things lately!

Her newest developments include:

-Asking to put on her shoes and go outside " shoes, shoes outside"

- As soon as we get home she runs to the Christmas tree and will not move until we turn the

"Rismus lights" on

- telling us specifically what she wants to eat " balala" (banana), "cheese", "snack" (something gerber), "cookie", and most often we hear "che-chup" which means she would like something she gets to dunk in Ketchup. She will stand infront of the fridge until we get up, the entire time repeating her food word of choice.

- When someone comes out of the restroom or flushes the potty.. she claps and says "YAY"

- If she sits on the potty, she asks for candy the whole time..... uh oh.

- She watches Elmo's world so often she sings the theme song "la -la-la la"

- She askes to give "Wih- Wee", aka Willie, her food.

- Mike taught her Feliz Navidad. He sings "Feliz navidad" and she sings "cha-cha-cha" after him

- New favorite song is "head and shoulders, knees and toes" and she gets SO excited for the "eyes and ears and mouth and nose" part that she yells "EYES" after every other word you sing :)

-and the last 2 nights she has asked to be put "Night Night". Taking herself into her bedroom and giggling when we put her down.

What a crazy kid! My little Love.

The Story of the #2....

It was a crisp winter evening at 2722 Silver Oak Drive. The Guess family had just settled in for a comfortable night of pajama's, leftovers, and corny Christmas movies. All of the sudden the littlest member of the family yelled "poo-poo!". Her mother jumped up quickly to check the tiny girl's diaper, as the yelling of such a phrase usually meant that there was some cleaning to be done. But much to her surprise the diaper was dry... "hmmm" the Mother said, "Do you need to poo-poo?" Little Grace ran into her bedroom as if to have her diaper changed. Just then her mother had the most amazing thought! She asked her daughter, "Do you need to poo-poo?" The child answered "YES" in the most sweet tone of voice. The mother placed the child on the potty and ALAS, the littlest member of the family did just what she was asked to do! "HOORAY" shouted the family, and they celebrated with high fives, fist bumps, and Reese's Pieces candy.

FYI.... She has pooped two more times in the potty since this! Once this morning and another time at Cane's for lunch! We were in the booth and she said poo-poo... no poo-poo to be found so we went to the restroom and she went like a champ! Then when we got home she tee-tee'd in the potty!! WOW!!

Want to see a gorgeous kid?

These are a few of the photos we had taken of our sweet Grace! She is just dripping with CUTE!!

New words this week!

she is repeating everything!! But my favorites this week are "finished" and "poo-poo" HAHAHA. She comes and tells us after she has completed a number 2 :)

Praying for serenity!

As most of you know, I am one NERVOUS WRECK about most everything. My mom called me a "worry wart" growing up. I make myself SICK over stuff that doesn't matter in the least. I am aware of it and I have certain things that I do to help it, but the panic is here to stay, that is for sure. SOOO this week my child is adding to my already jumpy nerves!

The little stinker is sick again.

My poor baby just got over a 10 week long ear infection, ONLY to be dealt a nasty cough/fever/vomiting combination. oh joy.

I need a magic button to whisk away all worry and stress!!

Tonight I am praying for tranquility, serenity, and restfull sleep for everyone in my house :)

Love Love

Grace reading her book :)

One week after tubes

Today marks 1 week since we had tubes in Grace's ears, WOW what a difference. Mike and I were talking last night about what a different little girl we have now that she is not miserable.

The MAIN change, I would say, is that her appetite is stronger! She wakes up in the morning and the very first thing she tells her daddy is "food":) She's eating much better at daycare also, and we even received a note home from daycare saying that she has been an "enthusiastic" eater lately. YAY for that!

Another change we are so excited to see, are her verbal skills!! WOW, who would have thought in such a short amount of time she could figure out so many words. At her first birthday, I would say she probably only had 5 words that she repeated " momma, eat, shoe, bath, dad". NOW we are WELL over 25 words, I'll probably forget a few in this list:

"Mommy, Daddy, Willie, bath, eat, bubble, NO, YES, food, juice, milk, hot, cookie, snack, cheese, book, bird(soo cute), MOOOO (at the cow), ball, out, down, play, nose, ear, head, toes, shoe, pants, school (skoo), church (so cute), puppy, "this", uh..oh, please, thank you..." all of these she says ON HER OWN!!

She is also sleeping better and in a much more enjoyable mood :)

Will you marry me?

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treating in the neighborhood :)

First experience in the Jumpy Castle :)

Grace and my future Son-in Law



Girls in thier "cutom made" costumes!

Grace at St. Joseph's carnival

at Noah's Carnival

We had an eventful halloween weekend!! We took Grace to the fall fest at her buddy Noah's daycare on Saturday evening. It was quite a shock for miss Grace, anybody draped in black was terrifying to her. But little Noah was a gentlemen, holding Grace's hand and telling her "it's ok". He even asked her to marry him later on in the evening... no date set yet :).

On Sunday we went to church and then Mom and I met April and Noah again up at the Brazos center for St. Joseph's Fall carnival :) This time she had a blast! I think it was because it wasn't as cramped for space, and she was able to experience the JUMPY CASTLE!! Soo much fun!

Sunday evening, Jill , Nathan, and Mom, came over and helped me take Grace trick or treating. Mike was feeling bad so he had to miss out :(. She loved it! The only problem was that everytime someone opened thier door to give her candy, she tried to GO IN the house!! hahaha!

Tubes :)

We will finally end this non-stop ear infection on THURSDAY! Hooray! She has had this ear infection for 9 weeks, they put her on her 5th antibiotic on friday... which has been "soo fun". Pray this is over... and that the severity of the ear infection hasn't affected her hearing.

Talking in the Tub

Say.....

Grace is getting really good at saying what we ask her to say. In the car we were playing "Say...." and this is what she repeated this weekend!

"Say...."
Pumpkin, church, daddy, mommy (not momma anymore), play, eat, outside, sing, cheese, and after many many many more, Mike tried his luck, noticing a bumper sticker on the car infront of us, and said "Grace say OBAMA" hahaha.. and from the back seat we heard "OMAMA" HAHAHAHAH this kid cracks us up!!! We had a big laugh.

the "puppin" patch

We took Grace to the pumpkin patch down the road from our house this weekend. She loved it! She was so excited to run around with all of the "puppin"s as she calls them. SOO cute!! We brought home 2 pumpkins, a good sized one for carving and a little one for Grace :)

Grace at the Pumpkin Patch last year.....

It is so CRAZY what changes have happened in a year's time... Look at my little pumpkin princess!

funny kid!

Grace's new tricks!

I start counting "one....." Grace yells "TWO"

I say "Ready!" she says "Go!"

too funny!

I love you

I picked up Grace from daycare today and as we were walking to the car I was telling her "I love you" and she leaned in to kiss me. So sweet. We got home and I told her to tell Daddy I love you, and she kissed Daddy. She made sure to "love" on Willie also. We are growing such a sweet baby girl.

She woke up this morning telling Willie "shhh Willie". She told me she wanted "out" of her carseat this morning and blew me kisses when I left. She is saying "Whooa or Uh-oh" when she falls down or drops something. But what is the most enjoyable is that she is letting us love on her longer, she used to NEVER sit still enough to let us sit with a blanket and just cuddle. Now she'll "come sit" with us when we ask her to.

"NO", unfortunately, is our FAVORITE word. She is getting really good at letting us know that she "ain't havin' it". We have been to the Doctors office pretty frequently lately and she straight up told Dr. Parr, "no no no" when he came at her with the scope.

It is so amazing to watch her grow emotionally. Watching her react to sad or hurtful situations, where somebody she loves is leaving or something she wants is taken away really tugs at your heart. Her emotions are changing from fit throwing to visible hurt feelings. On the other hand, she is also comprehending joy. Watching her notice her Dee Dee or waiting for Mike to get home is such a treat, her little face just lights up. Today she expressed so much happiness over getting to eat the "whole" banana, without me cutting it up. Such small victories.

What a blessing it is to get to watch this little person, our little person, become her OWN little person.

Growing up so fast!

Grace is saying these words as she needs them, without any prodding.

- Momma, Daddy, Willie, please, eat, juice, milk, down, NO, bath, snack, toy, shoe, more, ball,

She will say these words if we ask her to, or if she is in the mood to.

-baby, outside, Dee Dee, Bubba, book, up, puppy, diaper, row row row (as in your boat), water, cheese, banana, pretty with an (oooooo)

She is signing these words
- more, please, bath, all finished, thank you, eat

She can point to or find all of these items

-shoes, keys, toys, ball, baby, cup, couch, chair, her room, diaper, eyes, nose, hair, hairbow, GRACE(her name), tummy, belly button, toes, feet, teeth, mouth, pants, blanket, Willie, outside, cup, phone.

She can perform these functions by request :)

-sit down, jump, If your happy and you know it clap your hands (she claps, stomps her feet, and says hooray!) throw something in the trash, go get the...., lets go eat (she goes to the kitchen), Lets go play toys (she runs to her closet), Lets go bye bye (she runs to the back door), Dance, sing(la la la or ooooooo), put our shoes on (she tries), take our clothes off (she tries to pull off her shirt), pat her baby night night, hand me her binky when I ask for it, give kisses or "sugars", and lots more!

I wanted to update on her cognitive growth now before it's too much to remember! My blog is a digital baby book for her also! I found a great site that will put your blog into book form, pictures and all! We will be looking into that for sure!

Starting um' young..

Grace wanted to show you her new duds.. New leather boots, rhinestone belt, and bootcut jeans :) You know she's cute :)

5 Generations

This weekend we celebrated Mike's Great Grandmothers 100th birthday :) Grace was excited to see her Grandma, Great Grandma, and GREAT Great Grandma.

Cutie

I'm a Gummy Bear!!

Grace was sitting with me on the computer the other night and I thought i'd you tube a video she could watch.. I was looking for Mickey's, The Hotdog Dance "she loves that one". After we watched it she was so excited that I started looking for some others, we watched "C is for Cookie" and a hand full of others and this one was on the related video page, some little gummy bear dancing around and singing! Well lets just say, She LOVED this one. I wish I would have pulled out the camera earlier, the video is of the 2nd time she watched it. She was dancing all over the place. Silly girl! Who know where she gets these moves from :) Have a BLESSED week!

Full

"Overflowing "
By Max Lucado
“My cup overflows with blessings.” Psalm 23:5 NLT

Is an overflowing cup full? Absolutely. The wine reaches the rim and then tumbles over the edge. The goblet is not large enough to contain the quantity. According to David, our hearts are not large enough to contain the blessings that God wants to give. He pours and pours until they literally flow over the edge and down on the table . . .

The last thing we need to worry about is not having enough. Our cup overflows with blessings."

New playhouse & Wagon! :)

Grace recieved a play house from her Dee Dee and Bubba (aka Jill and Nathan) for her birthday and she absolutely loves it!! We have it in the garage until Daddy fixes a spot for it in the back yard and it gives her shade until the weather gets cooler. (We just pull it out in the front yard when she wants to play.) SHE WANTS TO PLAY 24/7 :) We can't even get out of the car without her begging to get down "down, down" to get in her house. Thank you Dee Dee and Bubba!

Telling Mommy Hi!
"No mom, you can't come in"

So excited!! and check out that pony tail!! What! what!! My girl is finally getting some hair :) haha

We were also given a wagon from our Bestest Friends and Neighbors as a hand-me-down toy that their daughter Madison used to play with when she was a baby. It is in EXCELLENT shape and Grace loves it so much. Her favorite thing to do is to climb in and out, over and over again. She loves to go for walks, and the best part about it , it that it is a 2 seater so we can have a friend ride with us.

Trying to get her shades on her face :)

Chillin in my G-Wagon :)

New craft project!!

OOOOOO.. I just got the greatest idea for Grace's Halloween costume today :) I can't wait to start to make it. She is going to look so cute! I wanted her to look sweet/cute and "halloweeny" at the same time. BUT, something different than the traditional "princess/fairy/angel". WAIT TILL YOU SEE!!

different baby.. same bow

These are taken exactly 1 year apart... It is so crazy how fast she is changing. She still looks great with a hairbow!

Blessings

grace - a state of sanctification by God; the state of one who is under such divine influence; elegance and beauty of movement or expression; sense of propriety and consideration for others; a disposition to kindness and compassion


Is that not the most beautiful thing to hear? God's Grace is all around us :)

New words and phrases :)

Grace has been so funny lately with what she is saying. Going back to daycare has really thrown everything we have been working on this summer into hyper drive!!

I've been doing baby sign with her since birth (it feels like) but going back to daycare and seeing the other kids doing what I"VE been doing.... It's like a little light bulb went on!! "HEY, I know what that means!!" haha She can sign "all done" (both hands out turning them over and over) "thank you" (hand motioning down from chin) "please" (one open hand moving in circle around the chest) bath( both fists moving in circles on chest), and "more" ( both hands coming together in the middle, fingers together). She is "singing" and doing the motions for "the itsy bitsy spider" (so cute), as well as "singing along" with music.

She can CLEARLY say, on her own these words:
Shoe, Ball, Stop, No No No (always in three's), Dad, Momma, Snack, tickle tickle tickle ( SOO CUTE), Yuck

She is saying these words PARTIALLY:
Banana (nana), Willie (Yi- Yee), Outside (side) and, Shake it, Shake it, Shake it, (shaka shaka shaka)

She can regognize, point to, and go get these objects in her books and in the house by name:
Dog, Puppy, Ball, Shoe, Milk, Toy, Baby, Monkey, Elmo, Mickey Mouse, toes, eyes, teeth, diaper, Eye,Belly button, tummy, outside, book, trash can, bath, shoes, hairbow, cup, phone, lovie, blanket, binky

It is such a joy to watch our baby girl change and grow! We are so blessed.

Fluke or Genius??

Ok.. So my kid SOOO went pee pee in the potty today!!! We stayed home today because she had her 1 year check up and she just so happened to be sick (double ear infection). So when she woke up from her nap "dry" I put her on the potty, she LOVED the potty. Giggling the whole time. I told her to "poop" thats her potty word that she understands. She got that " I'm trying" look on her face and TOTALLY pee pee'd in the potty!! She was so proud of herself. She flushed it with my help, we did a little song and dance, then had an M&M (yumm). Who knows if she really understood what she did or not, It's definatly a step in the right direction! Mom says Jill and I were both potty trained WAY before 2. YAY for GRACIE!! HAHAHA

Birthday Princess!

In her Princess attire! She loves that Tiara!!

Taking a little trip down memory lane... How fast time flies!

3 days old :)

Last year 2 days before Grace was born, 2 days past due!

When did she get so big?

This was before our outdoor picture session was cancelled, doesn't she look cute? She is 100% girl, She wakes up every morning and points to her hairbows on the wall, and says "bow?" like put it in my hair mommy :) When it falls out she picks it up and trys to stick it back on her head. Tonight her hairbow fell out and she took it over to daddy and said "bow?" He told her "baby, daddy can't do bows, Daddy can't braid your hair either :)" She giggles infront of the mirror the whole time I fix her hair. What would I have done with a Tomboy?? :)

I can not believe how much Grace has changed.. My little baby is getting so big :) She is walking so well, and really starting to show more interest in talking. I can't believe it's been a year already!

A little bit of everything!

I know the video is dark, but it is so hard to get her to do something on camera instead of FOCUS on the camera. She is giggling and growling in the beginning but about 2minutes in she starts to listen to us and follow some cute directions! Our big girl!

She can point to other peoples eyes, nose, and "hairbows", she can point to her own toes, shoes, bellybutton, teeth, and her OWN hairbow, She can "bark" like the puppies, and "Vroom" like the truck. She can bring me a diaper, binky, shoe, book, cup, and blanket, all by word request, and she can go "put something in the trash" She can point at the fan, outside, Willie, and the one I'm most PROUD of, her name!! She has big letters of GRACE on her wall in her room, and every day we point to G R A C E. She started noticing other big signs or big letters this week. We were walking into TARGET from the parking lot and she started doing her little finger bounce, like "thats G R A CE" at the Target sign! I was so proud!! What an accomplishment to recognize words and letters! In one of her books, she can point to the dog, truck, and banana and make the appropriate sound to go with it! banana = yummmm noise :)

She is saying "Uh oh", Dad, Mommy, something kinda like Willie, outside, snack, down, and "hereago" translated to "Here you go". Odd bit of language, something she REPEATEDLY says and we cant for the life of us figure it out, We swear she is saying Mahjong... But it might be alldone? or allgone? Who knows, but she says "mahjong" all the time :) She'll be one next Wednesday!

The many smiles of Gracie!

Looking back on the last 2 years, puts me in such a state of shock. I can not believe that this time two years ago,we were living in Kyle, not expecting to move or change jobs. This time last year I was walking around my new neighborhood trying to start labor, and now I'm taking a few quiet moments to blog about my incredibly beautiful, bright eyed little girl.

Mike and I laugh at her all day long, the "jibberish" that she speaks, the way her hair sticks out all over the place, how she dances at music we didn't even notice, how she laughs after she kisses you, how she plays with Willie... My list goes on!

I know every parent thinks their kid is a genius, and I definitely fall into that mold! Everything she does amazes us!! We started Whole Language reading skills and she can now pick out her name and the word "mommy" out of different words. My degree is Early Childhood Development, I KNOW kids are capable of so many different things, but when you actually "See" their little minds working, It really is one of God's gifts. Why would anyone not want to give their child the tools they need to succeed just blows my mind!

Thank you Lord for blessing me today with a beautiful family

Grace walking around the backyard!

Hey folks!

Hey I know my close family reads! BUt my hit counter is up to the 500's!! yay! And I only installed it about 3 weeks ago. If you are reading let me know with a comment! or follow me :) Thanks for reading!

Our little fish!

She loves swimming lessons! We are taking them in the evenings with our neighbors and buddies Keagen and his Mommy Loren :) They are having so much fun! I would post more pictures but blogger upload is starting to irritate me!!

Toddlerhood :)

Climbing on everything. Pushing her stroller around the yard.

She can get on and off of her little truck
Pretty Girl!

We have seen such a huge change in Grace over the last 2 weeks or so. She was 11 months old on the 4th. She is into everything (as usual) but with greater curiousity. She is walking everywhere, and doing much better walking in her shoes, and she wants to get down! I am on the HUNT for better baby shoes. We have tennis shoes, and an athletic sandal, but we "need" cuter shoes!! HA, daddy would disagree.


She is doing great with object recognition and word meaning. She points the remote at the TV. Puts the phone to her eat and says "hello". Pats the baby doll "night night" on the back. Puts the purse or necklace over her head :) She can point to her eye and nose :) If we ask her if she wants "Milk" she starts to look around and say "mmmlick". When someone knocks on the door, she immediatly says "Daddy" really loud. When Willie barks or gets loud, she points at him and tells him "no no". She can say "ssshhhhh". When she sees something yummy, she says "snack" or "mmmmmm". And if she is sleepy I can ask her if she wants to go "night night" she will crawl over to me and put her head down on my shoulder, like "I'm ready mom". You can ask her where the "Fan" is and she'll point to the celing. Funny story, we were waiting on a playdate to show up at chic-fil-a and I asked Grace "where are your friends?" She immediatly pointed up, I said "no silly, not the Fan, your Friends!" The guy at the next table must have been listening and watching and he started cracking up.

We are 100% off of the bottle, starting to ease into Whole Milk, and about 98% real food she loves turkey and chicken, cheese sticks, crackers, little oranges,bananas, pancakes are her FAVORITE, cereal bars, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, potatoes, green beans, fish, rice, and any kind of noodle. She still only has 2 teeth, but she isn't letting that stop her. My dad and I were both really slow teethers, I don't think I had any teeth at 11 months, and I think my dad didn't get teeth until 13 months. I think the "lack" of teething pain has really given her a head start with language development, and a better grasp of what objects are used for, instead all things=teether. Who knows? I hope she continues to teeth slow, so that we don't have to deal with alot of teething pain at once. My friends little girl is teething hard, and poor baby, is always dealing with teething pain :(.