Guess Who

God bless...

2012-02-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Grace has a new interest, prayer. She is asking to pray at all times during the day, is very specific in her word choice and is so sincere. I am so proud of her! Though some of the things she is choosing to pray for are down right hilarious. I can not help but giggle as we sit on her bed and listen to this child "talk to Jesus".

Here are just a few of the things she has prayed for or said during prayer lately starting with tonights prayer,

"God bless me, and the people who bring the pizza.."

"....and thank you for my candy for when I poop"

" mommy I want to pray for your school ok?... Now you pray for mine"

"God bless that and that and that and that and that"

"God bless my name, my music, and my mirror"

"Thank you God for Mickey Mouse and those Bubble Guppies.."

"We gotta talk loud so Jesus can hear us.."

"Hush momma and bow your head.."

"I wanna pray for my G. R. A. C. E."

" Will you pray for me?"

Is that not the sweetest thing you've heard today? OH and she is OFFICIALLY 2 1/2 this week!

What's so wrong with one?

2012-02-05T18:37:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of research lately about raising gifted children, positive parenting, natural parenting, and most importantly parenting with prayer. Mike and I have spent a lot of time talking about our family... what we want it to look like, where we want to live, when's a good time to buy another house, and also Grace as an only child. So recently, with the influx of comments like "When are you guys having another?, Grace would be a good big sister, You need about 2 or three more of those (kids), are you pregnant?" also gritting my teeth as I listen to the critical comments when I answer with "Oh no... just one for us", I started doing a little research on only children families. There is so much information out there about this.. most just as critical as the random person, but some very informative :). I am looking for POSITIVE stories of people who could only have one child...MEDICALLY.

When people ask me about "When am I thinking about another" I want to wear a BIG SIGN around my neck that says ... "I HAD A MISERABLE PREGNANCY...DO NOT ASK ME IF IM HAVING ANOTHER" Now, anatomically..I can get pregnant whenever I want to.. Mike and I are perfectly fertile. PHYSICALLY is another story. I KNOW God had a plan for us with Grace. I had packed on about 15 lbs prior to my pregnancy, making me the HEAVIEST I have ever been. So when my body started rejecting food that 15 lb "cushion" was a life saver.. literally. When I went on medically leave at 10 weeks, my Mom's living situation allowed her MOVE IN WITH ME . Mike and I had recently moved into an inexpensive duplex that did not require my salary to pay bills. I know God was watching out for us. I also like to think that her being a "surprise" to us at our young age was a gift from God. Younger is healthier.

I do not feel that I have to explain to anyone my reasons for not wanting to be pregnant again. At this point in my life I don't want to. Their are many, many,many, many, reasons why Mike and I have chosen this for our family. Some are realistic and practical, some are selfish, and the majority lie in the fear of the "unknown" of what a second pregnancy could do to me... even more to us. I was researching a little tonight and come across this article, it was a really good read. Who knows what the future holds.. we will let that lie in the hands of God. But for now this "blogger" sums it up for us in her last line ..."Whatever we decide, we're all going to be O.K!"

this site was a huge help to me, and is very informative on severe hyperemesis gravidarum

http://www.hyperemesis.org/

WHY IS IT A CRIME TO HAVE AN ONLY CHILD?

By NATALY KOGAN

You know those moms who are easy-going and just take parenting in stride?

I am not one of them.

From the day my daughter was born, four and a half years ago, I’ve been a little obsessed with doing the right thing, parenting-wise. For example, when she was three months old I went back to work, and, even though my milk began to dry up almost immediately, I spent 45 minutes, three times each day, connected to the loud monster (a.k.a. breast pump) in my office, my assistant watching guard outside and some male colleagues making cow jokes in just-loud-enough voices. My doctor, my friends, my mom, my husband and my assistant, who was probably getting tired of the daily watchdog routine, all told me to just chill and give it up. No way. I had this artificially made-up goal to make it to six months and I was going to do the right thing and get there.

I tell you all this to show how hard I try to be a good parent. But apparently, my husband and I are completely messing up our daughter’s life anyway because we’re thinking she might be our only child.

The questions from, well, everyone, began around the time when our daughter turned three. I’d meet another mom who would ask me, a few minutes into our conversation, when we were having another. (It was usually “when”, and rarely “if”.)

“Oh, I am not sure, we might just have one,” I’d say, only to see the other mom’s face turn into one of disbelief, at best, and instant negative judgment, at worst. This would be followed by a range of comments, from the passive-aggressive “Are you serious?” to my personal favorite, “I’m sure you’ll change your mind soon.”

I got the same response from an OB GYN I visited recently, after we moved. When I said we might have just one child, I was given a look that made me feel like I’d just announced I planned to leave that child starving and alone in the house for days. I switched to a different OB, but I kept running into women who made it sound like having an only child is borderline criminal parent behavior.

This is probably a good time to tell you that I am an only child.

If you’re conjuring up images of a self-absorbed narcissist or a total loner without any friends, I’m going to disappoint you because while I have my quirks and “issues,” I’m actually quite nice. I like people; I am pretty good at sharing, unless it’s a piece of delicious dark chocolate for which you might have to fight me; I love my parents dearly and don’t think they ruined my life by not “giving” me a sibling. O.K., I’m a bit of a perfectionist and can’t sleep if the house isn’t clean, but I have enough friends from large families who are the same.

The other day I told a friend that I am getting really tired of the presumptuous “more kids” comments and she told me to just ignore them and do what’s best for our family.

She’s right. But first I have to figure out what IS best for our family. As much as my husband and I have talked endlessly about the reasons why we think having one is best, this is a ridiculously difficult and emotionally charged decision, and I obsess about it all the time. I hear a friend talk warmly about visiting her sister and I immediately think about how nice it would be for my daughter to experience that warmth when she is older. I see my daughter play with a little baby at the park and my eyes almost tear up as I daydream about her playing with her own sibling. I go through the good-things-about-having-siblings checklist in my mind, and come out convinced that yes, we should definitely have another.

And then I remember all the reasons why we think we may just want one. Some of them I hesitate to share here, but most have to do with worrying about maintaining our sanity, our relationship with each other and our daughter and having any time for horribly selfish things like our non-family and non-work interests.

It isn’t that I don’t think those reasons are good enough, but that I am struck at how many others don’t seem to think so. Sometimes I wish that I had a more “acceptable” reason to give them. If I were older I could say that, well, we’re too old to have another. If, like during my childhood spent in the former Soviet Union, we lived in extremely difficult conditions and literally didn’t have enough means for another child, I could use that as a justification. But we’re young, we have the means and, on top of it all, we appear to have gotten this parenting thing under control – we’ve got no “excuses.”

Which doesn’t mean, of course, that anyone has any business telling us what horrible parents we are for raising an only child or for well-meaning folks to give us endless insight about how great our daughter’s life will be if only she had a sibling. (This always makes me want to start telling them about all the people l know who don’t get along with their siblings, hate their siblings, don’t talk to their siblings or swear that their life would be so much better if they didn’t have to deal with their siblings. Last I checked, sibling love isn’t guaranteed.)

Like other parenting decisions — to breastfeed or not, to let kids cry it out or not, to go back to work or to stay home — figuring out how many kids to have is an extremely personal process, but it’s also one that causes others to share advice and opinions without much invitation.

My daughter recently asked me why we don’t buy her a brother or a sister. I tried not to laugh at the buy comment and asked her if she wanted one. “Nah,” she said, “I like being with you and Daddy.” And for that little moment I had no doubts — whatever we decide, we’re all going to be O.K

Look who thinks she's grown...

2012-02-04T20:00:00.001-08:00

"let's say amen"

2012-02-02T19:43:00.000-08:00

Our sweet girl made us so proud today. Grace goes to parkway baptist w.e.e school in college station everyday, and so far we have had way more positive experiences than negative. She goes to Spanish class, chapel, dance, and music with brother Bob weekly. But twice a day the center joins together in the main building to pray together as a group, this is my absolute favorite thing about this center. Today when I picked grace up from school her teacher was so excited to tell me that Grace led the group prayer and her note said " it was awesome!" my sweet little 2 year old sassy pants spoke loud and clear to pray for each person in her class by name and then said " and thank you God for everyone in the room" . I'm so proud to be her momma today :)

Going against my gut... For convenience

2012-01-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

So you all know I'm a control freak when it comes to things I'm passionate about.

1.my child

2. My teaching

With Grace I am fierce about everything, I can not seem to relax about anything! Food, allergies, asthma, sleep, potty, clothing, hair, manners, learning, I think about all that constantly.. As I'm sure most mothers do too. ( I hope ). Anyways during Christmas break our sleep schedule got all out of wack, we laid with her to fall asleep, we rocked to sleep, we let her pass out in the car, and the worst one was watching tv and movies in her room till she was asleep. The movies were great at first.. Sleep timer for thirty minutes and she was out.. Then it turned into an hour, then we started hearing " mamma, back up my movie!" oh my goodness we realized we had a problem the night she watched "Annie" twice all the way through.. And was still up!!! So, my wonderful husband brought me back to "momma's in charge" mode. He reminded me of my own words, that we didn't need to create a crutch for a child that has never needed anything but a quiet room and a soft blanket to get to sleep. So back to bedtime routine we went Sunday night. 7 :30pm came along and we started her music sat with her for about five minutes until she was relaxed, gave kisses, and said our safe words " we'll check on you in just a minute" and she did just fine. Its Tuesday and she went down easy. She also had a great day at school. She's been having quite a few accidents at school the last few days because of the bad constipation and then because of the laxatives.. But we had a no accident day today! Woo hoo! I bet it's because of the good nights sleep!

Mom and Dad=1 Grace= 0 haha

Look how big she's gotten! AND Look how big she WAS!

2012-01-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

So, I went to the doctor this week for my annual and did the dreaded step on the scale, and my doctor brought to my attention that I had lost 10 lbs this year, and last year at the same time I had lost 10 lbs! Soo from the first picture to the last is a 20 pound loss. I love looking at progression photos of miss Gracie too! She has gotten so big so fast! Though, her 2 year gain is somewhere around 10 lbs :) I'm excited that I can see the slow trim down in photos!

Secret to my success

1. A toddler who needs something every time I try to eat.. ( for all you dieters out there, you can rent her for a small fee (: ha)

2. A health conscious husband

3. A fabulous appetite suppressor called "STRESS" ha.

My goal for year three is to actually "move"..... I hate exercise.

HOLY $#!T (Reader beware of poop)

2012-01-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Ok... so I haven't blogged in a while

Well, I never saw this coming... never.

Grace has always been a "regular" girl. Mike calls her a "ten o-clocker". Meaning, her "bowels" have always moved right along. I never had to bribe her to potty train, she was "poop" trained months before the other, and she even tells us to "SHUT THE DOOR" when its her time to go. SO I partially blame myself for not paying attention to my poor child's "lack of potty". She didn't ask to go and I didn't remind her, and daycare didn't notify us... so long story short, my sweet girl went 9 DAYS WITHOUT A BM!!! It took 7 for me to even notice!! OMG!!! We took her to the doctor on Saturday because she was afraid to go and wouldn't even take a bribe. They massaged her tummy.. said she was literally "full of $#!t" and prescribed VERY LARGE doses of Miralax.. we got home.. she freaked out (and in a lot of pain) passed something that looked like a brick. By Tuesday she still had not gone potty by on her own, so we had to do the "baby fleet" (google it) within seconds we got her going, still very traumatic and scary.

Soo my anxiety "clicks" on in a situation like this.. and I start making up impossible scenarios

1. my child will never poop

2. she will have a psychological fear of pooping

3. she will regress in potty training..continue to #4

4. i'll have the kid that is in diapers in kindergarden

and just as I have convinced myself that my kid will never be the same and that life as we know it is over.. We got home from dinner tonight and she says "umm I gotta go poop before my bath"

PRAISE GOD!! just like that.. this whole mess is over!! Wooooo HOOO!!

SOoo Busy..

2011-12-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

I haven't really blogged is a loooooong time. Work has been so busy, Mike has been traveling with work (too much if you ask me), and Grace is an extremely active, mommy addicted, 2 year old, who rarely sits still. SOO I am blogging watching HBO as Grace is asleep and Mike is in Austin, yet again.

Let me catch you up on Gracie Goo.. She is 28 months old :) and changing so much everyday. I know that sounds cliche but my goodness, she is changing. It's crazy how you look back and think I just THOUGHT she was talking, or I just THOUGHT she had personality. She such a young lady now.. I'll explain.

She has started to really love to pretend play. He favorite game is "nap time" this is where she pulls out all of her baby blankets, lays them on the floor, turns on her night light and fan, and puts all of her babies to sleep. She explains to whoever is playing with her that, "We have to be still, ok?" "We are soo tired" then she pops up and says "Ok we are awake now, its sunny outside"

She is coloring and drawing for longer amounts of time now. We finally got the "grip" down on the pen/crayon/marker, and this kid CAN WRITE a LETTER G!! it is CRAZY! She also loves to draw rainbows, clouds, and smileys. When you ask her what she wants you to draw, 9 times out of 10 it's a fireman... I have no idea where this came from.. She also LOVES to draw with a pen, and she is showing some "daddy" personality and making sure she "clicks" the lids closed on all of her markers after she uses each one.

She is such a lady. She loves to look pretty, sparkle-y, clean, and matching. She insists on the style of her hair in the morning telling me " just one pony today... over here... I need 2 bows," She prefers sparkle-y shoes over tennis shoes (I mean who doesn't?) and we are having a few arguments in the morning over "not those pants MOMMA!" When she eats she insists on a wet rag with her plate to wipe her hands and face, (Sorry folks no funny spaghetti sauce faced pictures of this kid), and she says "Oh no, sorry momma I spilled" even with the smallest drop of food or liquid.

She is still our picky picky picky eater. I could go out on a limb and say this is the worst it has been yet. No veggies on their own, I am still hiding them. and THANK the LORD for those organic/fruit/veggie squeeze pouches. She eats very simply, she likes real cheese, crackers, turkey and chicken, yogurt, fresh fruit (not canned), applesauce, fruit leather, dried fruit, cereal, tortillas, toast, and pasta, and tomato sauce, and that is about it. We give her a multi-vitamin and a TUMS (for calcium) everyday. Eating is not enjoyable for her, she doesn't understand why we have to sit and eat... and then eat again. My theory is that she is a super taster!! HA. She was ALMOST 25 lbs at last weeks doctors appointment. ;)

She is in LOVE with the Cinderella movie, she likes to talk you through each part, especially when the step sisters tear apart Cinderella's dress. :) She says " Oh my gosh...They are soo mean to her dress, She's NOT in trouble! poor Cinderella"

She is counting well and can count up to 6 objects like " I have 5 cookies!"

She loves to have her fingernails and toenails painted, to wear jewelry, and hairbows.

And my goodness she is talking and singing non stop. There is no use me telling you all of the things this kid says. I could go on for days... hopefully you have had the pleasure of a conversation with her. She also is following directions really well from adults, like she is really concentrating on what she is supposed to do.

As tired as she makes me, she also makes us laugh soo hard. And she is really starting to be a daddy's girl... though she is stuck to momma most of the time :/

We are looking forward to more firsts and laughs this year with our sweet girl!

For sweet Paige!

2011-11-23T11:41:00.001-08:00

"Let's just pretend she's three.."

2011-10-05T18:50:00.000-07:00

So last week I posted about Grace being the "mean girl" at school. When I talked to her about being mean to her friends she would say things like " I can't like her.." or "She cries.." or " He takes my toy." When you ask her what she did she says " I push (name of small child)" or "I bite ____". This situation was really pushing me to my stress limits for MULTIPLE reasons.

Reason #1: my child is MUCH too cute to be mean :).

Reason # 2: Biting is an EARLY toddler issue that starts because of teething or language frustration... both of which do not pertain to my child. (she has all of her teeth and says things like "You know better than that..")

Reason #3: I can not stand the thought of my child not being "liked" by her teachers or causing frustration among other kids.

Soooo I went a little "mommy psycho" and set up a meeting with the director and her teachers. Her teacher wanted me to pretty much "get over it" that she was 2 years old and kids act out and Grace was only acting out when she was frustrated with another child not responding to her previous words of warning. If you know me, which most of you do, I am not one to sit back and be "cool" with someone else's advice when it completely goes against what I want. I will not ever be "ok" with Grace being mean. So we started brainstorming. They hooked a teether to her and told her to use it to bite instead of her friends.... I hate this technique, it's confusing.. it sends the message don't bite your friends, but hey.. bite this thing. so we scratched that. THEN we started punishing. Talking about what we did and not doing some of her favorite daily things.. getting a popsicle, watching tangled, riding her scooter... you get the picture. EPIC FAIL. THEN we started rewarding good behavior and building her up for a prize (bribe) .... this worked for 2 days. Day one: "GRACE!! Today.. if you are sweet to all of your friends we will go get a SLUSHY!!!" success. She talked all day at school about a slushy, told all of her teachers and made a CHOICE not to be mean, "smart little stinker" The next day, we used chocolate as the bribe, when we picked her up she had a good day but asked for a popsicle instead so we went with that reward. Day three was paint our fingernails. She did good until 4:45pm then attempted to bite, she was caught without any injuries.

So here is the consensus.. Grace is too verbal to be in the 2 year old room. She is getting frustrated with kids not wanting to "play" with her. She wants to pretend, and play house, and sing songs, and dance, read books, and color. She does not enjoy fighting over a toy, she doesn't put toys in her mouth, and she wants to use objects for their specific purpose. SO after the director observed Grace in her classroom for a while she also did a little pre-school readiness test with Grace. Grace was able to verbally describe 3 pictures one happy, one sad, and was able to tell the director what was happening in another. She had book orientation, she knew which way to turn the pages and could find the front and back. This last meeting with director was really optimistic. She told me " Lets just pretend she's three, she may be two but she sure doesn't act like it." They moved her to to three year old room and she LOVES it. She is talking about all of her friends, she told me that they learned the "pokey turn around" dance, and today she said " I don't bite my friends". Relief. I am so hopeful that this is going to work! She is adjusting well and seems to really be worn out when we get home from all of the activity. SO glad she is happy!

"that's so mean..."

2011-09-26T20:07:00.001-07:00

I am in need of some serious seasoned advice OR pitty :). My sweet 23 lb 2 year old, who says things like "how you doing today?, you good?" Or "ummm I would lie a blue popsicle please.." Is terrorizing the kids at school. All of the sudden she is pushing, fit throwing, and worst of all BITING. She is by far the smallest, but is doing some damage. I have no idea what to do. She is so good in public, follows instuctions easily, and really enjoys to play. I'm concerned that there isn't enough structure in her room or that she is frustrated. I'm really stressing about this. We've talked to her... Got on to her... You name it. Tomorrow we are going to try rewards for increments of time with good behavior, who knows. I'm trying to stay positive!

I've repeated the same phrase to her about biting, now when you ask her about it she says "thats soo mean, I won't do it ever again" yet tada! I pick her up and she did it again...

Cheerweeder

2011-09-26T19:58:00.001-07:00

Grace is an honorary cheerleader this year! She had a little uniform made, and she loves to stand on the line with the girls! She thinks she is something else, kicking, jumping and cheering. Go lobos!

2 year check up

2011-09-01T15:06:00.001-07:00

Today Grace went to the doctor for her two year check, she's right at 25 months today :)

first question:
does she know at least 10 words?

Me: with a laugh.."yes"

Right as grace says: "mommy I need to go potty.. Get up mommy :)

Haha! She pointed our every color for dr. parr, and was overall really good

We graduated to a few inhalers instead if the nebulizer meds, thank goodness! I know grace will be thrilled about that!

She grew an inch and a half since her last well check. She is 34 inches tall, which is about 50th percentile. She had lost about a half a pound also, and weighed 24lbs on the dot. But she looks great. We are taking her off milk and soft dairy to see if it helps with tummy troubles and asthma :)

She is happy and healthy :)

Its official!

2011-08-25T19:00:00.001-07:00

Grace has completely graduated to panties! I had been holding off and keeping her in pull ups at school because of inconsistent teacher schedules and mommy schedule. But now that we are back to school we decided to just go for it! 7 days in panties and only 1 accident! Way to go Grace! She is so cute about it too!

Posing for the camera!

2011-08-21T09:27:00.001-07:00

Grace got a "chicken" for her birthday

2011-08-11T19:03:00.001-07:00

Graces G and Cha cha bought her a cute little vintage style pink wooden kitchen for her birthday.... But if you ask Grace they bought her a "chicken" haha we have laughed soooo hard at her mispronounciation... And can't correct her it is too darn cute. She says... "let's go play in my chicken! Or "my chicken is like mommys!" Haha.. I love all this talking from our sweet girl.

Totally unrelated.. This morning I turned on tv to dora.. Which I don't usually because I can't stand dora.. After about 5 minutes, grace says "moommmmmaaaa! Wanna watch Tangled movie.. I CANT LIKE DORA!" HAHA thank goodness!

Talking

2011-08-05T21:24:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSW4VwmkODg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Happy 2nd birthday sweet Grace!

2011-08-04T20:40:00.001-07:00

What a blessing we have been given with this sweet girl. She is sassy, spunky, dramatic, outgoing, inquisitive, and oh so loving. She loves to pretend, dance, play outside, and watch her favorite movies.

We have been working hard this summer on a couple of things with her that she has done soooo well with. She can count to ten.. She can sing her abc's all the way through.. She can name these colors, red, blue, green, orange, purple, pink, black, and yellow. She can draw a circle and a straight line (working on those prewriting skills) she can point out her name.. Say her full name, my name, and her daddies name.

She is sleeping in a big bed, mee mee's addiction is kicked :).. And most importantly POTTy TraINEd!

What a big girl! I can not believe this is the same sweet baby who kept me in the hospital for weeks.. Out of work for months.. And at birth too fragile to hold. She keeps us laughing!

Pretty Girl :)

2011-07-01T21:23:00.001-07:00

the potty..florida..the big bed.. and more!

2011-06-30T19:01:00.000-07:00

Wow.. we have had so much happen in the last month or so :) I'll blog in chunks tonight!

Potty Time!!

I am going to say that Grace is 90% potty trained. We have been working on the potty for the last 6 months or so, and she has gone when we placed her on the potty or randomly asking, but this last 2 week she has flipped the switch from potty training to potty trained! We have WAY more hits than misses. She stayed dry DAY and NIGHT from friday to monday while we were on vacation :) She is such a big girl :) We stayed in panties all day today and she was able to run in the restroom, undress herself, and pull her panties back up :) THOUGH one time she came out inside out and backwards.. but I'm not complaining :). She says "Gracie do it HERSELF!!" I can't believe my baby isn't a baby anymore.. :(

FLORIDA!

We took Grace to Florida to visit my dad's side of the family in St. Augustine. We left on Friday and drove to Houston where we flew straight shot to Jacksonville Florida. Grace did pretty good on the way there. She definitely knew we were in the air. She sat sooo still when we first took off and told me to "Closa window momma." She didn't like to see us "up high". She kept asking to "Put it down". She only panicked when we were landing and experiencing a little turbulance :) Daddy calmed us down and held on tight.

She was the most well behaved kid EVER in florida.. She listened, stayed close, was flexible, napped in the car, LOVED the beach and the sand and the water and the sun and ALL of the family. She fed the turtles, rode in a horse drawn carriage, dug in the sand, collected shells, ate pizza, danced to a band, and slept in between Mommy and Daddy at the hotel. We got so many complements on how "good" she was, and of course how cute or little goober is.

It was SOOOO great to see all of our Florida family and for Grace to spend time with her G and Cha-Cha.

"NO MORE BABY BED"

So we get home from Flordia and Grace sleeps perfect in her crib that night. The next day, I put her in her crib for nap and she starts fighting immediately. She is fussing and whining and then all of the sudden I hear blood curdling scream.. I RUN in there and my sweet baby has her leg stuck in the top and is hanging by her leg! I pulled her out and checked her out.. no limping, just and ugly bruise on her knee and thigh. She napped on the couch, while I called Mike to prep him for us having to move Grace to the bed that night. We had a rough first night. I take all of the blame for that.... I underestimated her and completely changed her routine and patted her to sleep. Big mommy no-no. She woke up PANICKED about 12:45 that I wasn't in there. I quickly switched to my nanny mode and just sat at the end of her bed until she was quiet... then I stood in the doorway... then in the hall, until I saw her flip on her tummy (3:35am) then I went to bed. She slept till 8 the next morning. The next night we went back to the original night time plan, which is GRACE puts GRACE to sleep.. no rocking, no patting, no holding, no laying down with her. Harsh huh? Don't judge, I'm growing a self soother with great sleep habits and no bedtime fears :) Mommy and Daddy read her a story, we gave our kisses and hugged all necks, we turned off the light, turned on the music and I sat at the end of the bed facing away from her. after 2 minutes I got up and stood in the doorway, after 2 more minutes I left. DONE. No crying, no whining.... she slept all night long. Tonight, so far so good. We did the same routine, and she was asleep before I even left the doorway :) Praying it stays this smooth :)

We are planning our little Goobies 2nd birthday party :) she is getting TOOOO big!!

So grown!

2011-06-18T13:54:00.001-07:00

Grace has started using a "big girl cup" This week and is doing really well! They are moving her to 2 year old room July first and they only drink from a regular cup soo we are practicing! She did sooo good with it last night drinking her "lemmyaid" hah.
Ok soo little miss sassy is becoming more and more independent. She wants to do everything by herself. She tells us "Gracie do it HERSELF!" From holding her cup, wanting to mop, button her pants, you name it! Though, mike did ask her to throw something away this morning for him and she told him "Daddy do it himself" HAHAHA. When she plays with her blocks we hear non stop "ooo watch this! look at this! watch mommy!" Our little chatterbox is doing really well with talking in full sentences. She is struggling with the "f" sound.. using "tsss" insead. But that will come in no time. She is using the potty really well, even waking up to tell us in the middle of the night (uhhgg for mommy).

She wants to be a BIG GIRL soo bad!! Haha, our neighbor Madison is her all time favorite person. When we go outside she immediately asks "Where did Mad-ni-son go?" :) We will celebrate her 2nd birthday too soon!!

How could you resist that sweet face?

2011-06-16T19:15:00.001-07:00

We are thoroughly enjoying our nightly evenings outside in our little pool. Just look at the joy on that angels face!

The many faces of Grace

2011-06-11T21:20:00.001-07:00

The kissy, the sweet smiler, and the ticklish giggle. Enjoy.

A year ago....

2011-06-11T20:22:00.001-07:00

Look at that sweet face last year in june :)... My sweet baby girl.

Summer time!

2011-06-09T11:22:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Sweet girl.. Rough day

2011-05-23T19:18:00.001-07:00

Sweet baby had a hard day at school today... Started of the afternoon with a phone call that she was crying, they were thinking teething pain because she had 6 teeth coming in :). Jill brought her tylenol and she did better. Then at 4 they called to say her eyes were swollen and she had sensitivity to light.... Off to upa where we found out she had a laceration on her corneas, from what? who knows? So we have an eye patch for a little while. I swear this child knows how to stir my nerves everytime we get ready to go on a trip! Praying for a quiet,uneventful, tylenol induced sleep for miss priss. :)

posted from Bloggeroid

We went out!

2011-05-10T19:29:00.001-07:00

Did I tell you we went out?! We had fun!

posted from Bloggeroid

Cheese!!......litterally.

2011-05-02T18:29:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Stories of a toddler

2011-04-26T16:57:00.001-07:00

My child is developing an amazing sense of humor! Tonight she had a while conversation with me about a dead spider in a high pitched squeel!

"Momma! SPIDA! You kill it? Pick it up! Kill it? It dead?! Pick it up! Spida!!" When we flushed it she said "bye bye spida! He dead"

Then her and mike were rolling the ball and it went under the tv cabinet she said " daddy! You get it!?" Mike told her to reach under herself and she said "NO! I hit me head!, Daddy do it!" Haha

posted from Bloggeroid

Easter

2011-04-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Powersports

2011-04-19T19:42:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday Noah!

posted from Bloggeroid

Little bitty pretty

2011-04-15T20:28:00.001-07:00

I am kicking myself for giving away all of graces summer clothes from last year. She its all of 3lbs bigger than she was last summer and I would bet money her legs and arms are thinner.... She's just taller! Went shorts shopping for grace this week and we had to buy 6 to 12 month sizes to fit her little butt without that diaper to keep it up! I'm going to have to alter her panties to keep them on her :)

Its alright to be little bitty :)

posted from Bloggeroid

Hi

2011-04-13T21:11:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

She is officially talking!

2011-04-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our child has been "talking" for a while now. Repeating words, naming items and people, and saying animal noises was pretty much the norm for the last couple of weeks. But all of the sudden, she has gone from limited verbal skills to flat out talking. She is saying anything and everything, repeating anything you ask her. She is speaking in sentences, using phrases like "Come on, lets go, Get in the car, Put on shoes, Where's my daddy?, Wanna go outside?, throw the ball, turn on light, watch me, you see me?, You hear me?...." She is also telling us that she needs certain things. "Need a snack, Need to potty, Need my toys, Need some juice". I love that she is asking us to share with her. If she is eating she'll say " Mamma want some?" "Wanna bite?" She is also using the "Me" and "Mine" alot especially at the dogs. If she is eating she gets super mad at Jack and Willie for intruding on her food "ME food". She also gets mad at the dogs if she is on the potty and they come into the bathroom. HA. She'll tell them "NO SIR, GET OUT, STAY, or WAIT" Today at Target we were walking up and she got so excited to see the big red balls out infront of the store she said "Please balls?,TOUCH IT!! Please touch it!!" We also picked out big girl panties to start potty training. Mike was in another section of the store, the called out the whole time we went to find him "look daddy! See? PANITES!" so cute!! haha. She is getting so big!

What is that?

2011-04-05T19:08:00.001-07:00

Grace came home from daycare today with the left size of her face swollen and raw...... We have no idea what it is and we are open to suggestions. Allergy? Poison ivy? Rug burn? Sun burn? Pink eye? Slapped? Fell? Rubbed raw? Daycare didn't have an answer, so she got benadryl, ibprophen, pink eye antibiotics, and some vaseline to coat. Who knows, pray its fine tomorrow. I'm flat out tired and completly drained.

posted from Bloggeroid

My kid is nutty... :)

2011-04-03T10:21:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=zrgUIuyXXR8

posted from Bloggeroid

Hi!

2011-03-31T20:57:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Practicing my Easter egg hunting skills...

2011-03-27T09:46:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Crawfish :)

2011-03-26T21:44:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Ice cream!

2011-03-25T20:07:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

Grace is counting :)

2011-03-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

It sounds like this
Me : one...
Grace: twooo......reeeee....four.... Ife!

Haha sweet smarty pants !

posted from Bloggeroid

A little Grace...

2011-03-21T18:53:00.001-07:00

posted from Bloggeroid

This week :)

2011-03-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

This has been a very long and stressful week, but thankfully we were able to end it with a trip to Gruene for the weekend. We stayed at the Wyndham Resort on the Guadalupe River with our great friends Sara and Brian. We ate at the Grismill on Friday, spent Saturday SHOPPING and revisiting Texas State, and just flat out relaxed! It was a great way for us to celebrate our wedding anniversary that happens Tuesday :).

Grace stayed with her Dee Dee and they celebrated sweet baby Erica's 1st birthday, Grace says "Happy Bir-day, kakaka" hah.

Grace's new favorite phrase this week is "allRIGGGHHT"

and the winner is...

2011-02-21T19:29:00.000-08:00

OK first of all... we just THOUGHT we had hit the terrible two's.. O----M----G. Lord help us, this child is fiesty! Getting distracted....

SOO the reason for my post, super stupid, super simple, but an accomplishment none-the-less.

MY CHILD..... ready?..... ATE.... an ....... ORANGE.

A REAL ONE.. not in syrup or popscicle form.

phhheeeww... a step in the right direction.

18 months old :)

2011-02-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

Grace had her 18 month check up today, she hits 19 months march 4th. We had a few concerns with this visit but other wise our little monkey is doing so great developmentally! She is talking in 3 word sentences, repeating just about everything we ask her too, starting to sing songs, and even telling stories. She is so cute walking around saying "Here yago Momma" , "Hi my Daddy" "Come on, Willie" ... what's even sweeter is that she trys so so so hard to say some things and they come out all kinds of jaberwackied! Our favorite is the simple "STOP" Grace yells " POTS!" and as hard as she trys she can not say Elmo (who is her favorite) she says "LALO" And when she is talking about her "toys" she says " play TEES" "TEEs please" She just started doing "pretty eyes" last week.. which is the all too darling batting her eyelashes, such a stinker.

She weighed just over 21 lbs today and was 31.5 inches tall. She's been on the same growth line ever since she was born... 55th percintile for height and less than 10th percentile for weight, no worries as long as she stays on her little line :) They gave us a neat piece of information today.. that little girls, at 18 months, are half as tall as they will be fully matured! So they predicted Grace at 5'3-5'4 tall!!! I'M EXCITED, because as you know I am 4'11 HAHA... So taller is taller is taller. Boys can't be predicted until they are 2ish.

We are dealing with some asthma issues right now, we are blessed that it is nothing more serious than that :) Nothing a couple of steriod rounds and albuteral treatments can't fix :)

We are FIGHTING this child to eat.... I pray for her appetite every day. She lost almost a pound in the last 2 weeks , but she had the flu.. so that can be attributed to that. We cant get her to eat willingly anything but cheese, yogurt, snack crackers and puffs, and those baby "superfood" pouches (which are like capri-suns but fruit/veggie/grain/omega-3 mix). I might lose mind soon. She wont eat any raw fruits or veggies except the occasional banana. She will only eat chicken with ketchup or lunch meat turkey, and we have to give her those by themselves or she'll eat the other whatever it is we gave her first. My goal is to get her eating raw foods by the end of the summer.. those of you who really know me, know that if I don't get my way it only makes me work that much harder to get it! Fight the good fight, ya know?

Its TAKS crunch time with my 8th grade math kiddos.. So I pray that I have the strength and motivation to motivate my kids to have strength and motivation!

I have a good friend at school who just gave us a TON of such great hand-me-downs for Grace, and we have had so much fun playing dress up!

Our little jibber jabber

2011-02-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

Grace is starting to have conversations... About nothing, with nobody. Worried? Nahh.

This chick is a hoot, she cracks us up! These are some of the things we are hearing coming our of this wild child?

Looking for willie "willie...are you?!", talking on the phone"dee dee, hello, bye" all the time "hi my daddy" "hereyago momma" "outside.... Coooooooollld" and if she's hungry she said all of her words "eat snack food please" haha

Her favorite thing to do now is listen for my "talk to you later cue" when I'm on the phone and she yells "byeeeee"

The flu and a little snow

2011-02-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

Grace came down with the flu monday... so we spent this week indoors recovering. Jill picked her up early monday, I stayed home Tuesday, Grandma Wednesday, Daddy Thurdsay and FRIDAY SNOWDAY!! She is much better today and full of energy! She is desperate to get out of the house, I'm sure we'll find something for her to do in this cold weather.

Jesus loves me.....

2011-01-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

A lot has changed in the land of Grace lately, verbally anyways :) I just want to share that Grace has started singing... And her new fave songs to sing are "this little light of mine","ring around the rosie","old macdonald", "the b.i.b.l.e", and her favorite "jesus loves me" which sounds a little like "me me me me,yes me me yes" haha what a funny little face :)

Over 150 words, most of them with attitude...

2011-01-20T18:27:00.001-08:00

Oh my.. Its been a while since my last post, mostly because Grace keeps us so busy, and secondly because I got a fancy smart phone and don't have to be on the computer for internet. But anyways, this child of mine is becoming a little stinker! Precious..... But a stinker none the less. Oh we have entered the land of tantrums, extreme energy, screaming, and believe it or not, talk back attitude! We sat down and thought about her words this week, over 150 (we quit counting... But most of them lately are ugly! "no, mine, help" and we are constantly intercepting tattling! She wants to whine about everything... Where did my sweet little baby go? We can't help but laugh at her wild personality.who knows where she gets it from, haha

Christmas Morning :)

2010-12-27T20:53:00.000-08:00

Our little artist!!

2010-12-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

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....

2010-11-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

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?

2010-11-23T18:26:00.000-08:00

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

New words this week!

2010-11-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-11-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

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 :)

2010-11-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

One week after tubes

2010-11-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-11-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2010-10-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Say.....

2010-10-18T17:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Grace's new tricks!

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

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

too funny!

I love you

2010-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-04T18:28:00.001-07:00

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..

2010-09-29T19:12:00.000-07:00

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

5 Generations

2010-09-21T07:02:00.000-07:00

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

Cutie

2010-09-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

I'm a Gummy Bear!!

2010-09-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

"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! :)

2010-09-08T18:17:00.001-07:00

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!!

2010-09-04T18:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

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

Blessings

2010-08-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2010-08-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

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??

2010-08-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-08-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

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?

2010-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey folks!

2010-07-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-07-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2010-07-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

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 :(.

Happy 4th!

2010-07-03T21:24:00.000-07:00

Celebrate BIG!! Eat, Drink, and be MERRY! We had a great time out at the lake watching fireworks tonight! Grace did great, and LOVED the fireworks. Watched in awe throught the whole thing, fell asleep just as they finished! My little firecracker!

Watch OUT!

2010-07-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

She's on the move! She's walking the length of the room now, She met Daddy at the door today, he handed her a stack of mail, and She brought it (walking) to me in the living room! We are really encouraging her when she walks by herself without prodding, "big girl", "yay!" and clapping. She seems to be enjoying herself. :)

Oh and our new word tonight is "milk", Super cute! she says "mmmmlick"

Shake your Coconuts!

2010-06-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Hawaii! It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be leaving Miss Grace. The Grandma's both came and stayed a few days each with Grace at our house. So she didn't have to be taken off schedule or sleep anywhere new. :). She did great! I'm sure they were wore out though... :) BIG thanks! Our Flight left for Honolulu Wednesday morning and we got back this Tuesday morning.

This was at Cheeseburger in Paradise! Yum!

We found a little place that served fresh coconut water and pineapple Juice, so we took advantage, as you can see from Mike's Lei, we added the rum ourselves :) "Put the Lime in the Coconut" :) OH and thats Hank's Haught Dogs behind us! They were on the FOOD network on Diner's Drive-In's and Dive's. WE LOVE that SHOW!!

We took a day trip out to Pearl Harbor, an experience not to miss...

One of the recovered anchors.. Say CHEESE!

I got Leid in Hawaii....

What a great trip!!

Bad Bad Bad..

2010-06-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

I told Grace she was "Bad Bad Bad", she was getting into something she shouldn't. NOW she won't stop saying "bad bad bad" :) Goofy girl..

Silly Grace

2010-06-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sweet smiley!
Drinking from my big girl cup! No more bottle for Miss Gracie!

My dad ROCKS!

Having too much fun in Willie's bed!

We love monsters!

2010-06-16T09:09:00.000-07:00

Grace is absolutely infatuated with sesame street! She can even recognized the commercials that lead up to Sesame Street, and she starts to bounce around. She LOVES the Muppet Monsters! She loves Abby Cadabby so much, I'm going to have to find her a stuffed animal or something :) For those of you without little ones, this is Abby.

I'm going to get on my soap box..

2010-06-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

New Cancer research article-

Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size. Prevention is key.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made
with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute
would be Manuka honey or molasses, but only in very small
amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in
color Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the
gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting
off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer
cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based
diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little other meat,
like chicken. Meat also contains livestock
antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all
harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole
grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into
an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked
food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live
enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to
cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance
growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building
healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most
vegetables including be an sprouts) and eat some raw
vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at
temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C)..

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high
caffeine Green tea is a better alternative e and has cancer
fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or
filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap
water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of
digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the
intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic
buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By
refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes
to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the
body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system
(IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals,
EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy
cancer cells.. Other supplements like vitamin E are known
to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's
normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or
unneeded cells.

15. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated
environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to
get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen
therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer
cells.

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave..

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well. Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital , was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Good Weekend!

2010-06-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

She is soo close!! She is standing and taking a step or two. She's showing off her new walking shoes :)

We had some visiters on saturday morning, My cousin Amanda, and her 2 sweet little girls Kelsi and Kiley(1 week old). Lets just say Grace was not as enthusiastic about the baby as we were. Little Miss Jealous Pants... She did not want her Auntie holding the baby. I can not remember Grace that little, sooo sweet!

It's crazy how the little things they do really get you excited. She has figured out how to reach into things and pull out what she wants. She is also just talking up a storm, repeating all kinds of sounds and noises. This weekend she was so cute! Mike would whisper in her ear really quietly to "say hi to mommy" or "tell them bye" and then she would think about it for a second, then wave really big or say Bye! So stinking cute. I'll try to get it on video :)

Look up!

2010-06-13T14:39:00.000-07:00

OMG look at my little Grace's 1st birthday ticker.... It is AWFUL close to one... I need to start planning parties!

9 month visit a little late...

2010-06-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

Today we had Grace's 9 month check (she is 10 months). He doctors office is always booked. Anyways.. She looks great! She weighed 17.4 lbs and was 29.5 in long. That is the 15th % for weight ( nothing new) and 75th% for height which is a HUGE jump for us... She was in the 45th% at the last well check. Tall and lean the dr. said :) She has hit every milestone that is appropriate for her age, plus more! We got one shot and a finger prick. Her little stitches look really good also! This is just a video of her behing her... :)

update on the bottle

2010-06-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Day 5: Still no bottle... Happy as a clam :)

She is YELLING "BYE" with the cutest little twang.. "BIIII" and waving really big. She is saying Snack "nack" and puppy "puh puh". My big girl...

2 Big Milestones all in 1 day!

2010-06-06T18:25:00.001-07:00

1st milestone:
As most of you know, my child despises a bottle. It has been a struggle to get her to take enough formula every day ever since I stopped nursing. She is 10 months old and WILL NOT hold it herself for more than a couple of seconds. Recently she has really enjoyed using a sippy cup, last night I wondered what would happen if we threw out the bottle and just switched to the cup. SUCCESS!!! she went all day long today, HOLDING her cup and taking plenty of formula, water, and juice!! What a relief! Bottle = trash.

2nd Milestone:
SHE WALKED!! Well she tried anyways... she cruised along the entire TV stand, stood at the end, LET GO, and took 2 wobbly steps to me! Ahh what bliss! She thought it was hilarious and continued to "take off" for most of the day. She gets a little excited after the 1st step and falls forward, but we are inching our way toward mobility! Give her a week!

Oh and HAPPY SUMMER!!

Peekaboo Kisses!

2010-05-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Grace loves to be read to. This book "Peekaboo Kisses" is one of our favorites :) While we read it we go through and pet every animal, and then give them kisses! I'm so proud of my smart girl! What's super cute is that she's not just kissing the page, she is kissing the animal on it's face. She doesn't perform on camera so I had to hide it, thus the shaky start :) Enjoy!

ouch!

2010-05-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

If you haven't had the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with Grace, she is probably one of the most energetic 9 month olds you have ever had the pleasure of meeting. She is lightning fast on her hands and knees, has mastered cruising the furniture, can go anywhere she pleases with the help of a walker or push toy, AND has started to climb. Soo it was no suprise that she got herself in a BIG mess on Friday morning.

Jill has been keeping Grace for me the last week because of some daycare issues, and she has been driving everyday out to my house to watch her. On Friday I offered to bring Grace to her so that she didn't have to drive or get up as early. I dropped Grace off with her autie about 7:30am, Jill was cutting up strawberries for her and Grace's breakfast and Grace started playing on the floor with no problems. I pulled out of Jill's driveway and turned into the McDonald's across the street to turn in a Red Box movie. I got in my car and Jill called that Grace had an accident and that we may need to go to the emergency room. You could hear Grace screaming in the background. THANK GOD I was just across the street and not on my way to work. I had maybe been gone from the house 3 minutes.

Grace pulled a cast iron griddle (the kind that lays flat across 2 stove burners, about 6 lbs) that Jill and Nathan keep standing on its end, tucked in between their stove and cabinets, down on top of her hand crushing 2 of her fingers and doing some damage to both finger nails. We put Grace in the car and went straight to the ER. The ER was great, the got us in really quickly and started working on Grace. No broken bones. :) They did a conscious sedation for Grace and started tending to her hand. They removed both crushed fingernails, and stitched up all the lacerations. 3 stitches in one finger and 1 in the other. Grace fought them every second of the procedure, never really calming down. It took 2 nurses and daddy to keep her still. One of the nurses was a bigger man, and the woman nurse told him "How does it feel to get beat up by a little girl?" HA. They put her in a little cast to immobilize her hand/arm. We have put a sock over it so that she doesn't pull at her fingers.

The nerve block for pain lasted about 3 hours and they sent us home with a prescription for Tylenol with codeine. Friday night she sparked a high fever (103), probably from the trauma, that lasted about 5 hours. But it came down fast and has been normal since about 3am. Today she doesn't seem to have too much pain we are alternating her Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours. She gets really groggy, and hasn't wanted much to do with a bottle, but is taking water/juice from a cup just fine. She's one tough kiddo! Her are a few pics of her in her little cast :)