Lotsa Videos

I finally loaded up all the videos off the camera and am making time to upload videos from Grace's first 6th months. It has been so much fun looking back at her when we first brought her home...she was so tiny! I can't believe how much she's grown and I look forward to how much she'll change in the next 6 months. There's lots here, so feel free to skip most of them, but you'll want to check out the last video - Vocal in the Exersaucer...it is so cute and was just taken a few weeks ago.

Just hanging out at home - December 4, 2010

Enjoying my play mat - January 10, 2010

Smiles, a sneeze and a yawn - January 21, 2009

Morning Happiness - January 26, 2010

Learning to love her Kick & Play...and talking! - February 28, 2010

First Solids - March 26, 2010

Cousin Truman's Baptism - April 4, 2010

Rolling Over for the first time - April 14, 2010

Drying off after bath time - April 29, 2010

Playing with Daddy - May 9, 2010

Vocal in the Exersaucer - May 10, 2010

Grace's Baptism

We celebrated Grace's Baptism into the Covenant today. My mom made her a beautiful gown, she looked so lovely I almost cried putting her in it...it was so special to have her in something handmade by her Grandma. Wow, it was so much more emotional than I thought it would be. Seeing God's grace for us literally poured out on our daughter was just amazing. I was doing fine with the vows and the charge until Jim said Grace was our long awaited miracle. I lost it then and cried through the baptism. After the service, I told Jim he got me with that and he said that it was ok to cry happy tears. :)

We had all our parents as well as David's oldest sister Carol and her family with us to celebrate. In addition our friends the Drehers & Crabbs joined us to celebrate. Afterwards we rented a pavilion at a park for a celebration picnic. There was a field on one side and a playground on the other, it worked out wonderful as the kids were able to play hard and enjoy themselves which was great.

We are certainly blessed to have such an amazing group of friends and a wonderful family. Grace is surrounded by so many people who love her so much, she is a blessed little girl. Here are a few of the pictures from her big day.

Our familyThe whole groupAll Grace's Grandparents3 GenerationsWith our Dreher FamilyGrace loves her Uncle PaulieGetting SprinkledI love this picture of Grace & Jim. She is looking at him like he's crazy, too funny. :)
We had alot of family who couldn't be with us today, so Carol took a video for you so you can enjoy her baptism from afar.

6 months already?!?

Grace turned 6 months old yesterday, I can hardly believe it! There are times when I look at her and she seems so grown up, and other times that she is still my precious little baby. She is growing and changing every day and it is my pleasure to get to watch her mature. That said she still falls asleep in my arms and cuddles with me and I realized even today that those days are numbered. Before I know it she will be an independent toddler and too busy for cuddling with mommy.

I teared up a little today as she laid in my arms asleep before her nap. I wish I could freeze time, but realizing that's not possible I try instead not to rush on. I let her lay asleep in my arms a few minutes longer before I put her in her cradle. I let her play with my necklace a little longer than usual when she woke up today even though her pulling was irritating the back of my neck...she loves it so much it's worth it. I love how she looks up at me when she's playing and how she grabs my face, pulls me close and gives me a huge mouth open wide kiss on the lips. As we played today I laid down with her on the floor and kissed her all over as she giggled and cackled so loud it hurt my ears, but overwhelmed my heart with joy. I love making her laugh.

I know the common thread of this blog is my gratitude for this precious girl, but it really is the common thread in my heart. I have always been thankful for my family. I love my husband more than words, and now having Grace in our lives I am overwhelmed by God's blessings. I truly am more grateful than any words can express.

Whew, before I start bawling here or stop writing to run upstairs and check on her despite the fact that the monitor beside me assures me she's sound asleep...let me stop and tell you about our girl. We had her 6 month check up today and and that meant more shots, yuck. I can't tell you how proud I was of Grace. She didn't flinch with the first prick, just stuck her lower lip out with the second and started to cry with the 3rd for just moments until I had her in my arms. She is so brave and because she did so well, I didn't cry! Once again Dr. Matthews assures me that she is perfect. She is 14lbs, 14ozs and 25 inches tall which is the 25% for height and weight. The only concern she has is for her super fair skin tone. She is ghost white, just like her mommy. Unfortunately that means she'll be white or red her whole life, but I'm going to do my best to keep her from getting sunburned as long as possible. Pray for us!

So that's it for now. I'll post more pictures soon.

Swagga Wagon

We all know that I love minivans. It's not a secret. As a matter of fact if my husband hadn't made up a rule about needing at least 1 kid to have a minivan, we'd already have one. While I'm an Odyssey lover at heart, this is just hysterical.

Exersaucer Fun!

About a month ago Grace was finally big enough to get into her exersaucer. She loves it, particularly the noise maker thing. It plays animal noises, says their names and plays classic compositions. She hits it and hits it over and over again as hard as she can. I love watching her play in it. Just in the last 2 weeks she has grown tall enough to reach the bottom without a blanket and now she scoots all around it, playing and cackling. I need to upload the videos, but for now here are a few pictures of her having fun.

Mothers Day Photo Shoot

The weather was so pretty on Mother's Day that we had to take a few pictures of our beautiful girl in her pretty dress on the frog quilt my Grandma made her. She wasn't into it, but we got a few good shots. Here are a few of the highlights...

I'm bored...I just love this one.

Bieber Fever

This made me think of my friend Scott who is, lets just say, not a fan of Justin Bieber's music. We get a kick out of the hoopla via The Soup but when I saw these 2 clips on Ellen, I had to repost them. I needed a good belly laugh today and while Ellen usually delivers, this is a belly laugh that just keeps on giving. So this is for you Scott - enjoy!

Mae's 4th Birthday

On May 8th we travelled up to Dayton, TN to celebrate Mae's 4th Birthday with the Bilbo family. My Dad & stepmom have been with us since the 27th, but Dad was down south golfing for the weekend, so Linda came with us. I had made Mae's cake - a Cinderella cake as requested. She loved it and we were so glad to get to be there for her special day!

It was the first time that Grace had really interacted with her cousins since she was only 6 weeks old the last time we were together. Mae thoroughly enjoyed making Grace laugh and squeal by tickling her, making faces and giving her lots of hugs and kisses. I am getting excited about our time together in June in AL where she'll be with all her cousins. I am still trying to figure out how to juggle taking care of Grace and being a photographer, so there are just a few pictures to share. I'll have my video camera with me to capture Mae & Grace next time we're together.

Time with our Trumbos

I finally got a decent nights sleep last night, so I am taking advantage of feeling a little more alert to blog a bit.

On April 15th Grace and I headed up to Pinehurst, NC to visit with our Trumbo family. It was so great to get to visit with Lacey and the kids and get to spend some QT with Jane Dare. Plus, Gracie got to meet her Auntie Lacey and cousins, whom she just adored. It was hysterical to watch her watching the kiddos play - she constantly looked like she was "talking it all in". Ryan was in TX for a class so it was just us girls and the kids. The trip SHOULD take about 5 1/5 hours, but with my cranky girl it took me nearly 8 hours to drive up. On the way home we stopped in Greenville, SC for lunch with my dear friend Court and her kiddos. It made the trip back much more enjoyable and even with a 1 1/2 hour stop we made it home in 7 hours...much better!

We had a great visit. I always try to get up to visit Lacey when Ryan's gone and with 5 kiddos, I was beat. I am definitely in awe of my BFF and her ability to keep up with 4 kids under 5 every day solo. She is a remarkable woman! We did get some time to just visit and chat after all the kids were in bed, which was wonderful. It's hard not living in the same area, so we treasure any time we can get together. David & I want to try to get up there sometime this summer/fall to visit again when Ryan is home. Here are a few of the highlights from our time together...

Jane Dare & GraceJane Dare giving Grace a kiss square on the lips - it catches Grace a little off guard...too funny!!A turtle the kids found while exploring for Bamboo for Pong (Pong is Jake's "class pet" and he got to take him home for the weekend. We had lots of adventures with Pong besides exploring for Bamboo that included going to CFA and to a carnival/summer fun event)Jake with Pong and the TurtleReid wanted his photo taken, but wouldn't look at me, silly boy! Such a cutie though...My sweet AinsleyGiving Gracie a hug goodbye!More hugs...Friends Forever

Mothers Day

I owe lots of blog notes and pictures, but lately I have been absolutely exhausted. No, I'm not pregnant :) I am just tired ALL THE TIME. I think its from the med I was on to increase my milk supply that I've been off of for almost a week. Hopefully I'll see a difference soon.

Anyway, I couldn't let today go by without noting my gratitude for my precious girl. This is my first Mothers Day with my baby in my arms and oh what a feeling! I am so blessed to be Grace's mother. My heart overflows with joy when I hear her babble or squeal, when I see her smile or feel her hold me tight. Every moment with her is an adventure and I am enjoying seeing the world through her eyes. She is my beautiful, wonderful daughter and I am grateful for her more and more every day. I love her so much and I look forward to a lifetime of mothers days and every days with her.


David asked me what I wanted for my first mothers day and my response was nothing. The gift of staying home with my Gracie girl is all I need. I'm not being noble or anything, I just am truly grateful to get to stay at home. We scaled back alot in order for me to stay home and raise our children and it is truly the best gift he could give me every day, so thank you my sweet Prince - I love you too!!