All Smiles

Grace is 8 weeks old today! She is growing like a weed and I think we'll be able to move her into size 1 diapers in the next 2-3 weeks. She is finally fitting into her newborn clothes well, so it shouldn't be but another month or so before she can move into her 0-3 outfits. I'll be glad when that happens since I'll have to many more outfits for her to wear and I won't have to do laundry as often, but I'll be sad to see her grow out of her first clothing size. She has fallen into a schedule on her own which is wonderful and in the last 3 days has started to spread out her feedings from 10 feedings every 2 hours to 7-8 feedings every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Man, what will I do with all this free time? :) I am still going to try to get her out of her swing and into her cradle for at least some of her naps so eventually she will sleep in it overnight, but for now she sleeps so well in her swing, I'm ok with her staying in it for a while longer.

We have had alot of fun and time for relaxing lately. The last 2 weekends we have had no plans which has been wonderful. We've spent lots of time hanging out with Paul & Bethany and sleeping when Grace has slept...we even got to go out to dinner together and she slept the whole time. This week we finally made it back to church and it was great to get to show Grace off to her church family.

Yesterday we met our friends the Carpenters for lunch on their way through town and it was so great to see them! We try to get together quarterly at each others' places (they live in Greenville, SC) so this was a treat. Hopefully it won't be too much longer until we can get together again, but at least they got to meet Gracie.

Finally, last night we attempted to go for another walk. We tried on Friday, but after just a 1/2 mile it got too cold and we had to call it. Thankfully, it stayed above 50 degrees until 6 so we were able to walk 1 1/2 miles. I was thrilled to make it that far since I hadn't walked for exercise since her birth. It sucked that Dr. Hudson finally cleared me to walk at 6 weeks and then it got so bitter cold that it wasn't possible for another 2 weeks. The good news is she said at 8 weeks I could start to push her in her stroller, so I tried it last night. It went well, but I have a pretty bad backache today, so I may have overdone it. I think I'll let David push her for a little longer until my muscles get stronger. At least I'm making progress. :) Anyway, as I know you all come for the pictures, here are a few of us recently. I called this post "All Smiles" because of the video below - enjoy!

I was feeding her one night and David was cleaning the bedroom so the light was on and she was distracted by her daddy. So, I had him cover me completely with this blanket so it would be darker and she would focus on eating. :)Martin was up at David's other shoulder, but when I moved to get the camera, he got up. My poor girl...She had a few spots of cradle cap on her cheeks, so I put this cream that came highly recommended on them and she is apparently allergic as her whole face broke out in a rash. I feel so awful! It's healing, but in the mean time I couldn't resist these super cute faces she was making one morning for me. She is so happy and excited to see me in the morning, I always get the best smiles and grins from my precious girl.Sleeping in her swing...so cozySnuggling with Daddy - he comes and gets her every night when he gets home from work for a few minutes of snuggling.We have alot of video of Grace, but I haven't taken the time to figure out how to download it yet. This video was taken on my point and shoot, so it isn't the highest quality, but she is still so cute I had to share.

Praise God for his blessings...there are lots of good things going on in our family, and for that we are grateful! My cousin Jennifer gave birth to the newest addition to our family, Truman Wallace, today - we can't wait to meet him! AND my brother & his wife had their bid on their first house accepted and should be able to move in March!! We're so thrilled for them!!