checkup and babylegs

Grace had her nine month well check this morning. Praise the Lord we didn't have to suffer thru any shots! She is definitely lengthening; off the charts for height (30 inches) and 50th percentile for weight (18.2 lbs.) I was a little surprised at her weight, but she has lost so much baby fat lately and doesn't have a lot of interest in solids so I suppose it makes sense.
She is pulling up on EVERYTHING and has started walking along the ottoman and couch. She started babbling again (she went thru a grunting/squealing/rainman phase) and is so close to saying mama it's not even funny.

In unrelated news, I am in love with babyleg leg warmers. Not so much for the leg warming as the knee protection while little miss crawls to and fro. And she looks absolutely adorable in them, if I do say so myself.

9 month shoot

Alisa took Grace's 9 month pics on Monday- isn't she amazing? Hope you enjoy!

Nine Months and a New Tooth

We have a tooth people! Let's get excited! It broke through yesterday morning and I noticed it at breakfast.
I don't have a picture yet; G is not keen on the idea of opening her mouth so that I can take a picture, but trust me, it's there. And thanks for the tupperware lid idea, Em! It worked wonderfully!
She has been such a joy this month, despite the teething and sleepless nights. (Last night was super fun- up every hour from midnight until 7. Good times.)
A few pics and updates:

Getting super long and losing her chunkiness. She doesn't look as squishy and baby-ish anymore. Insert sad mama face here.
She loves to eat solids, but on her terms. The high chair must be in front of the barnyard baby einstein and she fights and fusses if we put her at the table. I suppose her father and I are not as interesting as hand puppets and children dressed up in awkward animal costumes but whatever works, I guess. She is still on fruits and veggies only, but I hear the Dr. is about to start her on meats, oh my! She thinks that whatever we are eating is for her too, so I hope I am not breaking any baby rules by feeding her from the table. So far this month: string cheese, oatmeal, milk from Dan's cereal bowl, french fry, pickles, and a tortilla. She is a milk girl though, and is still eating 5-6 times a day.
Her favorite, the cow. Notice how she is sitting up and grabbing the table. She LOVES that thing. She squeals and squirms and holds her breath when he comes on!
She is crawling EVERYWHERE, including underneath our leopard ottoman. She gets under there and then tries to sit up and gets so frustrated. I am a mean mommy for running to grab the camera, but it was too funny. She could not figure out how to get back out from underneath it and was unimpressed by my attempts to teach her a problem solving lesson.


She has been such a mamas girl lately, but she still has strong feelings for her daddy, as evidenced by this picture.

Playing outside in the pool with cousin brooke. Grace can only hope to have such a head full of hair one day!
She is a little ham when the camera comes out.
She plays with everything but her toys. They hold her interest for a few minutes and then she wants whatever is around; my make-up bag holds particular interest for her, the remotes, books, lotion bottles, cups, etc...
We see the Dr. on the 28th so I don't have height and weight stats yet, but I am excited to see how much she has grown. Alisa is taking her 9 month pictures tonight, so those will be up soon!

dallas trip

We had a lot of fun in Dallas this weekend spending time with my family and helping with three of Amber's showers. I cannot believe the wedding is in two weeks! Grace did fabulous flying and we even flew by ourselves like big girls! I was so lucky on the way to Dallas; Judy Gerlt from church was on the same flight so she sat beside us and helped me entertain my not tired, wanting to crawl everywhere baby. She even held up the blanket so I could nurse her during take off! Even if they aren't yours, grandmothers are wonderful!!! The way back was pain free as we were able to take the entire back row and she ate and slept the whole way home. I am so grateful she makes flying easy on me!
We spent a lot of time with family and friends and even though Grace was off her schedule, she did pretty well.

Playing with Zach and Kaitlyn, the kids Amber is a nanny for. They love Grace and ask Amber when they get to see her all the time!





Our motley crew. Nate just had knee surgery and had to spend the weekend in bed, Kyle had an upper respiratory infection, Amber is still fighting a six month stint of mono, and I was exhausted from all of the tom-foolery we got into at her bachelorette party on Friday night.
Shower at my Aunts house on Saturday. We don't look too awful for falling asleep somewhere around 4 the morning before!
Shower on Sunday afternoon. She got so many great gifts and should be set up very well in their new house!
Hanging with mimi. Aren't grandmothers the best? What would we do without them? I love you mom, thanks again for all of your help.
We are driving to Dallas next Wednesday for market and staying the week before the wedding. G's 9 month pictures and updates are soon to follow- I am sure you are all holding your breath in anticipation!

Let's do this

I'm a go big or go home kind of gal. I'm only one week into my couch to 5k program, but on the advice of my many running mamas and my impulsive spirit, I decided I need a goal. So I went to the Susan Komen race for the cure website and was going to register for the race. Well I got a little excited and started a Ribbons and Bows team! So come on and join me! Let's have a goal together and race for something important while we are doing it!
Just click here and then join an existing team. Type in Ribbons and Bows and get to registering!!

something had to be done...

this post has a two-fold meaning:

the first has to do with this picture:

I went into Grace's room this morning and found her sitting up and trying to pull up in her crib. as cute as she was, it scared me to death (but I wasn't so scared that I couldn't run in the other room and grab the camera!) remember the episode in june where she fell off the bed? I am not about to have a repeat! so tonight dan pulled apart the crib and lowered the bed. it was no simple feat, but it was accomplished before miss priss had a complete meltdown.


the second has to do with this picture:

see me to the right? no, you really can't, because I cropped myself out. I hate my legs and my new mommy figure and since I refuse to crop myself out of pictures anymore, I put these on

(well, not these shoes exactly) and started the couch to 5k program. my rockstar husband had the awesome idea to come home and run with me at lunch instead of running on the treadmill at the gym, and I knew it was the perfect reason to start. he has no problem with motivation (mr. four times a week at bodyworks) and I am grateful he is helping me get started. I have been making excuse after excuse for the last three months and decided that today it was time to put my feet on the pavement and get going. so we did, with grace in tow, and I survived!
so to all my running mamas out there (georgia, micah, emily, jordan, traci, allison) I need help staying motivated! I am the best starter and the worst at following through with things, so keep giving me reasons why I love to run!

We are MOW-BILE

Please explain to me how my child can go from face-planting one moment to scurrying across the floor the next? In keeping with her usual way, I blogged about Grace not crawling and the next day she started. Up on all fours, one knee and hand in front of the other. Amazing. Last Wednesday night she moved her knees and hands "twice" before falling, but I decided it didn't count. So the next night she proved me wrong and did it four times. By Friday night she was really moving and tonight I had to scoop her up three times because she almost knocked over the speakers, grabbed the fireplace poker, and hit her head on our metal legged table. Oh heavens! Not the best quality pics, but here she is in action!
(official crawling date: July 16th. Living room with daddy, mommy, pappy, and uncle kyle.)



Yes, that's a gallon of blue bell at the top of the picture. Don't judge, it was a rough week.


This one has nothing to do with crawling, but I had to post it! She is so funny. And I must (carefully) say that she looks just like her daddy in this picture. Her face, that is.

Good gravy, Grace is eight months old. It's time for the monthly barrage of pictures and updates!
No crawling yet, but she is definitely trying. She crawls backwards, scoots, and will even get on all fours, but it is mostly a no go. When she is on all fours she will reach out and stretch as far as she can to grab something and then face plant into the ground. I have a hard time deciding when to pick her up and console her rug burned face and when to teach her to keep trying. Does an eight month old really pick up on those kind of life lessons?
Still no teeth, but no complaints from this nursing mama. I'm not ready to have blood drawn when I feed her anyway. I really had no idea teething would be this long of a process but I went back and read and the teething symptoms have been dragging on for FOUR months! We bought stock in infant tylenol and teething tablets and are trucking along until one of those little daggers decides to make its debut.
She pulled up for the first time on Thursday morning. Right before I left for work she was pulling all over my leg and shirt and she grabbed my collar and yanked herself up. She was so proud of herself. She is getting close to pulling up on her crib and our chair, but hasn't done it yet. Knowing her timetable, she will start walking, crawling, pulling up on everything and talking on the same day.
The summer has been wonderful so far. I have had a few rough weeks where I have to work waaayyyy more than I would like, but they even out with weeks like this one where I might work 15 hours. I am having a harder time taking Grace with me to the store. She is in "hold me, hold me, don't walk out of the room or I will cry" mode, and with her dropping a long nap a day, there is only so much I can do with her while we are there. Gone are the days of laying her in her pack and play for two hours and then her playing quietly in her bumbo seat while I work!
She is into EVERYTHING and wants to eat everything, which poses a problem at the grocery store and restaurants. She especially loves remotes and cell phones and even called me tonight when she was with Dan. We call her squirmy worm because the child will not sit still. Even when she is eating at night her hands and feet are constantly going.
She is eating pretty much every fruit and vegetable we can find that's organic. Pears, applesauce, bananas, peaches, carrots, sweet potatoes... The two things she hates so far are green beans and apple juice. Weird. But she loves her water and sippy cup. She grabs it with one hand and will tilt her head back and chug it like a German beer guzzler. Then she will slam the cup down all out of breath with water running down her chin. Too funny. She also loves to "drink" water out of my straws. She gets so excited and starts squealing right before I put the straw to her mouth.
As you can tell from the pictures, she is a little comedian. It is amazing to watch her personality develop and see both Dan and me in her. My favorite times are laughing with her in the mornings. The sillier I act, the louder she laughs, and I love it!


I love this somber stare. We don't get it often.

Fourth on Broadway. She would not take a nap all morning and was driving me crazy. The minute I got on stage to sing and hit my first note, she turned her head to the side and slept the rest of the set! Too funny.

Abuelo's Friday night

For those of you who don't keep up with my facebook...It's that time again! We are playing tomorrow night from 6-10 at Abuelo's. I will be the sweaty one up front with the tamborine and loud voice. See you there!

it was a good day...

Sunday was a great day. I bought Grace a little pool (late much? it is july) and an umbrella-ella-ella for the backyard. She had such a blast splashing around in it.


And she wore the cutest little outfit ever! She is getting so big.



I love this surprised face she keeps giving us lately. We are just in love!