Sweetie Pie

Grace is the funniest kid. When I picked her up from daycare, Shannon shared she wore a pair of Dora sunglasses all day long. Of course, she had to take them home and she wore those puppies around the house proudly. Like always, the first things she does is point at the Christmas tree..and then says "trrrreee" waiting excitingly for me to plug the lights in. When I do, her fights lights up brighter than the tree. I LOVE how she says "tree." She sticks out her little duck lips when she hits the "r" and annunciates the word slowly and clearly. I LOVE HER!

Of course, she still spends much of her time having a tea-party at her little pink table. She LOVES to go in her room and shut the door. It's a game to her when we knock or open it. Oh boy. What a goofy kid. I guess she needs some alone time once in awhile too. She still talks a lot..in longer groups of babbles now. We had a long conversation during snack time and even though we talked back in forth (and she talked A LOT) I have no clue what she was telling me about. BUT she does fluctuate her tone and her facial expressions change as her words do. Someday she'll have something big to say. I can't wait!

She knows so many words now. It's unbelievable. This kids seriously amazes me.

In Loving Memory

This weekend, Grace attended her first funeral. Bill, a grandpa to me, passed away early last week. I spent many summer days and afternoons after school at Bill and Erny's house eating peanut butter sandwhiches and playing cards. Bringing Grace to the funeral reminded me of a wonderful persective on life. My beautiful baby girl is not nine months old and I am happy to share that every minute we spend together as a family is wonderfully beautiful! We are so thankful for all the love we have for one another.

Grant and Grace

This weekend we drove to the cities to visit Ben, Erica and cousin Grant. Grace and Grant had so much fun playing together. Grace LOVES Grant and gets giddy with excitement when she sees him! I can't wait until they're a bit older and can really cause havic! They are going to be best buds!

Grace looks so annoyed in this picture (but she really does love her cousin Grant! To be fair, Grant did take her toy! She's such a nice girl to share!

Grace loves the new table she's getting for her birthday. Ok, so she got it a little early because I was so excited about it! She looks like such a big girl!

Giggle Monster

Our lovely little Grace continues to be as happy as can be. Tonight she entertained herself by giggling and playing with her toes while dad played hockey and I did homework. She's sitting up for long periods of time now and is confident to reach and move a bit on her bum as well. Tonight she rolled several times to get her basketball but she still can't quite figure out the whole crawling thing. I'm convinced she will skip crawling and go strait to walking. Shannon (Grace's daycare lady) believes Grace will be quite the independent little toddler as she loves to discover and do things on her own. Try helping her turn the page of a book? No thanks - she can do it herself and will get upset if it's any other way.

She recently started biting the spoon when we feed her when we give her things like peas or squash but gets angry when you don't feed her bannas or applesauce fast enough. She's been boppin' to music a little bit lately too. Yesterday when she was on her stomach I swear she was practicing "the worm" :)  I take so many pictures that Grace now smiles after seeing the preflash on my camera. What a darling! She knows just what to do to make mom happy! CHEESE!

Here's a picture of Grace in her pretty dress on Chrismast day.

Our "cool" little chick loves her sunglasses. She's ready for the lake!

Here's Grace enjoying the new toy Grandma Laurine and Grandpa Dave gave her!

Go Vikings!!

Grace LOVES being outside and going for a ride in her sled. It was suc a nice weekend out that we got out several times! The first time we went sledding, it snowed and Grace loved catching the snowflakes on her tongue. Now, everytime we go outside, she sticks her tongue out - even when it's not snowing!

Grace uses her hands a lot when she talks. Here, I believe, she is showing me the backyard where we pulled her around the day before. Here hands are so dang cute!

Yep! Sitting up takes lots of concentration! It's much easier with a tongue hanging out!

7 Months Old!

Today, Grace is 7 months old. We have a picture of her and I snuggling when she was about four days old...she was so tiny! I can't believe it's been 7 months already! Today was such a perfect day. We got to spend the entire day together as a family. Grace watched Ruby and her buddy from across the street play in the snow from the kitchen window. She was mesmorized by the glittering snow falling ever so softly from the sky. She is still lovin' the jumperoo and pretty much bounces herself right out of the seat with joy. Last week (the Saturday of Thanksgiving), Grace wore 12 month pajamas (she's a monster!) and has been wearing 12 month onsies and pj's since. Thankfully we hit up the Albertville mall when we visited Ben and Erica and Audrey and Nate the weekend before Thanksgiving. We are getting excited for Grace's first Christmas. Next year we will hang the ornaments together and talk about her first Christmas and her first ornaments. It's hard to imagine her running around and talking, eating Christmas cookies, anticipating Christmas toys and everything else that comes with an almost two-year old territory. Here's a picture a week or so ago and one in her crib tonight before bed!

6 Month Appointment

Last week (on the 5th) I took Grace to see Lindsay (head of the Follow Along Program) for a quick check up. She weighed 17 lbs. 7 ounces. She is above the 90th percentile for height, 75th for weight, and 50th for head circumfrence. Grace also receieved the season flu vaccine with no tears! She is such a trooper! Today, Jake will take her to the doctor to recieve her 6 month vaccinations and the N1H1 vaccine. This is the first appointment I've missed and I'm currently waiting to hear how everything went.

Just in: I called Jake and he said Grace cried for about a minute after all the shots were done. She has a patchy spot on her head that the doctor said was eczema and is nothing to worry about. He was feeding her when I called so I don't know anything else about how the appointment went. My poor Gracie!

The LOVE I Can't Explain

Each one of my AP students set up a blog site to blog about the literature we read in class. I showed a few students my baby blog and noticed the last time I blogged about Grace was my first day back at work. Life has been busy since I'm teaching again and Grace's blog site was simply put on the back burner. Below are some highlights from the last few months.

In early September, two of Grace's bottom teeth popped in. For weeks her cheeks were rosey and she chewed on anything she could get in her mouth. Most of September Grace felt her new teeth by constantly sticking her tongue out. ADORABLE! We bought a mini-van to accomodate all of Grace's things we need to bring on our trips. I LOVE IT! Early October, Grace rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time herself. She hasn't rolled over on her own since. She's such a laid back little girl she doesn't mind not having something that she can't reach.  We took fall pictures right before the first snowfall. They turned out absolutely adorable.  On the 17th of October, Grace began saying "mama" continuously!  She makes my heart melt everyday with her sweet personality! On the 20th of October, only a few weeks before she turned six months old, Grace ate her first bits of rice cereal. She got so excited! She was grabbing at the spoon and making noises of excitement with each bite! What a doll!

I can't believe how much I adore Grace. She continues to amaze me everyday with her intelligence and sweet spirit. Her happiness and easy-going personality brings joy to my day. When I drive to pick her up after school, I get giddy almost to the point of tears. I LOVE HER to pieces and am so thankful God has lent us such a precious gift.