Traveling...

Editors note: this post is mostly for family. It has a lot of pictures and not much else. You've been warned.
Whew... we are finally home from what seems like a whole months worth of traveling. We spent a week and a half in Dallas for market and my sister's wedding at the end of August, and last week we were in Cleveland visiting Dan's family for Labor Day. Grace has been such a trooper; between airplanes, 6 hour car rides, being completely off schedule and passed around like a hot potato day after day, I am surprised by her ability to stave off a meltdown.
I will start the everlong group of pictures with Amber and Brandon's wedding.

Alisa, (yes that Alisa) took Amber's pictures. How many different ways can I say amazing?)

My stunning sister.



Grace was one of the flower girls- too cute! She smiled at everyone walking down the aisle and sat quietly in Dan's lap for most of the wedding. Then she danced and mingled until almost 10:30! Such a sweetie.

Grace with her papa.


Last Thursday we flew into Cleveland and stayed thru Tuesday. What a great trip! Dan's family hasn't seen Grace since they flew in last November.
She did amazing on the plane ride there. She was a squirmy worm and we all crammed in one row like sardines, but she did great. The plane ride home, however, was a bit of a different story.


Father daughter moment in the Houston airport. Love the belly hanging over the leggings.

Aunt Cheri holding Grace for the first time since she was born.



Just hanging in front of our favorite store in Ohio. It's like a Dollar General meets United meets Goodwill. Trust me, sounds gross, but you would LOVE it! Grace had a blast on the golf cart. She would squeal and squirm and laugh the whole time.
Hanging with the cousins. Dominic and Aidan had were so sweet with her and Grace LOVED them. She let them hold her and basically followed them around the entire weekend.




On Saturday we went to the Geagua county fair. Grace had a blast there and especially loved squealing at the rabbits.


As fun as all of the traveling was, I must say I am more than happy to be home and back on schedule. I was so stressed about Grace being off schedule and in new places, but she did amazing! She really surprised me with what she could handle, and seeing her have a good time made me relax and realize that it's okay for her to be out of her element. She even slept thru the night three of the five nights we were in Cleveland! (I joked about leaving her there. But I was kind of serious. But I'm just kidding. But kind of serious.) I'm getting this worried mommy thing figured out, slowly but surely.

first day of pdo and some updates

Well Grace and I both survived her first day of parents day out at Calvary. If I do say so myself, I did swimmingly. Grace on the other hand, had a bit of a rough time. When I picked her up and asked how she did, the teacher said, "ummmm, well..." Not a good sign. She did not nap (but can you really blame the gal? A well lit, baby-stocked room in a new pack-n-play? Not exactly prime napping conditions) and did not take any of her bottle. So the poor girl ate at 9:15 and not again until 3 when I got her home. She ate her fruit well, but they kept having to distract her and sneak the spoon in her mouth. Clearly, they are not readers of this blog, or they would know that G doesn't eat baby food unless baby einstein is on. Apparrently, another teacher had to walk around with her so she didn't get the other babies upset.
Great.
Now I'm going to be that mom, with that baby, who the teachers see coming and inwardly groan. I don't know why I am so bothered by this news. I have a wonderful baby, a happy baby, cheerful even, so it bothers me they didn't see that side of her. Isn't it interesting how I am already feeling that pressure. I'm sure you've felt it too. The weird, feeling that your children's (babies) actions are a reflection of how you are raising them. And she is only nine months old! Lord teach me to shake off this feeling. It is far too early to be worried about such things!

On to more exciting news:
Grace cut her second bottom tooth yesterday morning! Good thing, because we were up from 3:45-6, and I would hate it to be all for naught. And Sunday, she officially clapped for the first time. (We may be a bit behind in this milestone, but humor me). She has done her own cute "clapping thing" for awhile now, but Sunday evening she put her hands together and copied Dan and I while we clapped. It was too cute.
She has also figured out how to pick up little pieces of food and feed herself. I didn't think about it until we went to her checkup but the Dr. said something about Grace picking up her food and I realized she doesn't do that! I really only feed her baby food with a spoon; she doesn't eat a lot of other snacks or foods and if she does, I have been bad about feeding her. But no more! I was informed she needed to develop those fine motor skills and I was not doing anything to help it. Needless to say, we worked on said motor skills all weekend and by Sunday morning, she was picking up her banana puffs and stuffing them in her mouth. She hits the mark about 6 out of 10 times, and a 60% average is okay by me right now.

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.