Milestones with Video

Grace has been changing so much over the last 6 weeks! I can hardly believe she is over 7 months old already. Here's a quick summary of some of her most recent milestones:

• She has her bottom 2 front teeth (they both came in within a week of each other at the first of June)
• She has moved into her big girl car seat (more for Mommy than for her!)
• She was sitting up on her own (if we put her down sitting up) and on Sunday she sat up on her own
• Immediately thereafter she got her first bump on the back of her head when she fell backwards.
• She is scooting/army crawling around
• She spent time in the beach for the first time and LOVED it (not a surprise since she loves the pool so much, but still exciting. :)
• She has been going to the nursery at church
• She had a babysitter for the first time with her cousins while on Vacation
• She has moved into size 3 diapers
• She is LOVING her solids and is even feeding herself cheerios, puffs and yogurt melts.
• She loves fresh fruit, so far her favorite is watermelon (just like her mommy!)
• She isn't a huge veggie fan, but as Grandma figured out, if you mix anything with peaches she'll eat it.
• She loves to jump in her jumperoo
• She loves to play with her toys, on her own or with mommy or daddy.
• She give the best open mouth kisses!

I know there is more, but that's the major stuff anyway. I've been shooting lots of video, so here's a few of the best ones.

Fake Cough - May 9th

Playing while sitting up & Glowworm CPR - June 20th

Just Playing - June 29th

Teeth, Toes & the Hiccups - June 30th

Sitting up & Scooting - July 1st

Making Progress

What an active week! On Friday we had to move Grace into her 3- 6 month clothes. Purely for length, but it was time. She woke up Friday am and had busted all the snaps open on the bottom of her sleeper - she is just too long. So I spent Friday washing and swapping out all her clothes. It's been fun to see her in even more big girl outfits and she is one well dressed baby girl, much in thanks to her cousin Maggie who passes down all her clothes. We love hand me downs! I'll have to get some pictures of her in some of her rompers, which are by far my favorites.

Friday night we had our friends Viv & Eric over to play Rock Band on the Wii and their 2 year old daughter, Adrianna, was all about Gracie. She was so cute saying "my baby" this and "my baby" that - we had alot of fun together.

We went back to Lactation yesterday and my milk production has more than doubled - praise God! She is getting 3ozs per feeding now and only needs 4, so we're almost there! All the hard work is paying off and we're gonna keep on nursing/pumping/supplementing for each feeding for another 2ish weeks, hoping she can get that last ounce. While I was there my consultant mentioned that I might consider becoming a Lactation Consultant. I'm definitely passionate about it and I think I would enjoy it...something to pray about for the future.

Yesterday was a big development day for Gracie too. She has been able to roll from her back to stomach 3/4 of the way for a while, but yesterday she rolled over no less than 5 times! She still needs a little help getting her arm out from under her, but not every time (I find if she's mad, she can get it out a little easier, lol.) I'm going to start taping her anytime she tries so the first time she intentionally rolls over and can get her arm out from under her I'll have it on video. :)

She also held her bottle yesterday. She has been getting closer and closer for days, but yesterday while David was feeding her, she held her bottle by herself! She is only 4 1/2 months old, I think that's pretty stinking good.

Tomorrow Grace & I are heading off to Lacey's house and she can't wait to meet her Auntie Lacey and her brood of cousins. I can't wait either - I haven't seen the big kids since Lacey's shower in August and I've only got my hands on Jane Dare once at my shower which was 6 months ago!! It will be so nice to be able to spend time with my BFF and all the kids. Plus, it will be research for Carol to see how 5 kids fit in the Odyssey, lol. (For those of you who didn't know, David's sister Carol is expecting baby #5 in late September.) Lacey now lives in NC, so the trip will be a long one, so say a prayer for us as we travel solo. Grace is such a wonderful little traveller, but as anyone would, she gets a little tired of being confined to her seat after a while.

Anyway, I promise lots of pictures when we get home. Until then - here are a few random photos for you to enjoy.

David came home with an awful Migrane on Friday. He laid down with Grace and she had her bunny - I had to take this photo, it was too sweet.Random closeupsIn her sweet Easter dress that she didn't get to wear on Easter Sunday since the service was SO early. She wore it on Sunday though and I had to get some pictures of her with her Easter basket from Mama & PapaGrandma got her this froggy book and she loves to eat the legs and crown!

Can alot really happen in a week??

I'm finding with a newborn the answer is absolutely yes! Here are just a few of the changes we've had over the last week or so.

Grace has finally grabbed the panda hanging from her play mat, as well as all the other toys that hang up there. If she could talk I'm certain she would have screamed "sweet victory!" the first time she figured out how to grab and hold on! LOL. She can now hold on to her rattles too, and probably most exciting of all - she has found her feet! She LOVES her feet! It's been warm enough that we've been able to have her in pants and tops where her feet are bare all day and she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES it! She is constantly reaching for her toes and smiles so big when she reaches them. This makes changing her clothes or her diaper a little more of an adventure because we have to work around her holding her feet, but that's ok. She thinks it's a game, so we go with it and play while changing our sweet girl.

She has also found the "baby in the mirror". I need to get this on video because it is just too cute! We have a massive mirror at the end of our closet and when she is sitting with me on the bed, she'll look in the closet and start chatting it up with the cutie in the mirror. I've taken her up to her reflection, but she doesn't like that as well. She loves to sit and talk to the baby and to the mommy in the mirror and it is just priceless! There are many times that David & I just stop to watch "The Gracie Show" and this is one not to be missed. I love her little voice and how sweet her sounds are as she tries to talk. I have a feeling we'll have a chatty cathy on our hands once she learns to speak, but I'm ok with that. :)

She seems to finally be over her congestion which is wonderful. Now of course, after putting her back into her swing so she could breathe and sleep, we once again get to re-transition her into the cradle...what fun! At least I know she'll get used to it if we stick to our guns and hopefully she'll take to it much quicker this time around. Hopefully it won't rock her "sleeping at night" boat too much. She has been sleeping 8-11 hours a night since the 3rd. I can't believe it! I feel like I have a whole new lease on life and can get alot done while she's sleeping. She's still sleeping quite a bit during the day as well, napping for 30min - 2 hours between feedings and is eating about every 4 hours. Hopefully she'll learn to self soothe quickly in the cradle so she can still get the sleep she needs.

Since I know ya'll come mostly for the pictures, here are a few photos for you to enjoy. :)

John, one of my dear friends from high school, cross-stitched Grace this adorable hooded towel! It has 2 monkeys and a lion on it and we love it! Thanks John!!This one shows the detail of the towel more and I just LOVE her face - too funny!

Standing Tall!

This week we had Grace's 2 month check up which included her first round of vaccines. I am not afraid to admit I cried when she got her shots, it was so sad! Thankfully the nurse was fantastic, we are really pleased with our Doctors office, they are all wonderful. Grace did great, she cried during, but mostly becuase she was being held down. She calmed as soon as I picked her up and cuddled her. I on the other hand was still upset when we left the office, so David took me to get a CFA Cookies & Cream Milkshake to make me feel better (it worked).

Anyway, she is up to 9lbs, 10ozs and Dr. Matthews was surprised to see that I am still nursing with that weight gain (it was due to her eating every 2 hours up until a week or so ago, not my caloric intake :). She is getting so big...bigger and bigger by the day. I can't believe it.

She is also starting to show her personality. She is such a happy baby. She smiles and coos and is just super sweet. She has 3 distinct cries, 1 for sad, 1 for I need something and 1 for when she is just pissed off. That last one usually only comes out at night when we turn the lights off for bed. She LOVES lights and will find the lights in the room and stare. It's quite traumatic when we turn them off for sleep and because of this obsession I have to have her nap in the dark at home. She's flexible when we're out and about and sleeps like a champ in her car seat just about anywhere, but at home she needs it to be dark so she isn't distracted. Too funny.

She has shifted her schedule on her own. She is now eating every 3 hours (I still feel like I have a ton of "free time"), and she is going to bed between 10 & 11 and sleeping until 4-6am. I can't ask for more than that. Hopefully soon she'll sleep straight through the night. AND she has successfully slept several naps and nights in her cradle. I still use the swing when she gets over exhausted, but as long as she's flexible and not tied to her swing, I'm ok with it for now. :)

Here's just a few photos from the last few days for you to enjoy.

Grace & I enjoying a lovely afternoon nap together. :)Grace moved into her 0-3 clothes this week which means she has "real outfits" now. On Wednesday I put her in this sweet outfit that she got from her Mama for Christmas - she looks like such a big girl! Standing Tall! Grace is so strong. She can hold her head up really well and has recently started standing with just balance assistance. It's so strange to see such a little girl stand up nearly on her own, even if just for a second. I can already tell she is going to grow up far too fast...Posing for a photo op with Daddy

My Big Girl

We went to the Doctor yesterday for Grace's one month checkup and she is up to 7lbs, 15ozs and has grown 1 1/4 inches!  With this weight gain, she has leaped into the 20th percentile for weight, up from 10% at birth.  Dr. Matthews was really impressed and said it was fantastic for a breastfed baby to have gained so much weight in such a short time.  I was so relieved to hear that...it's nice to have confirmation that she's getting enough.  :)

Our annual Church Retreat

February 20-22, 2008 we headed up to Rome, GA for our annual church retreat. It is always alot of fun and relaxing with lots of bonding time with our church family. David & I always splurge on the nice King Size suites up at the Winshape Retreat Center where we enjoy good quality sleep so we don't come home exhausted - which is always nice. ;0)

My leg had been bothering me so I chilled most of the weekend and enjoyed lots of girly time with some of the ladies I don't know so well at church. After hanging out with them, I am looking forward to more of that in the days to come! I also got to spend alot of time chatting with Leigh-Ann (she is the wife in the couple that lived with us 2 summers ago) which was also really nice. It was great to catch up without the husbands.

David spent most of his time playing sports with the guys and youth and did the rock climbing wall on Saturday afternoon. Since I was in full gab mode at that point I didn't venture over to watch, but from what I heard everyone had a great time. Saturday night a full on game of Bunco ensued led by Leigh-Ann & Anthony...I took pictures of all the fun. Here's just a few highlights for you to enjoy from the weekend.

Family Worship TimeLydia CrabbJim, our fearless leader?...maybe

our Friend & Pastor...definitelyMy friend Elizabeth (and Jim's wife ;0) - I love this picture of her!Leigh-Ann & IDavid playing Bunco

The theme of the weekend was Faith, Hope & Love. Our speaker was Mark Taylor and he did a great job of teaching us about our relationships, both with the Lord & each other. On Saturday he gave us a chart with 5 circles similar to this one I (very roughly) recreated:

We were to categorize our relationships from people we had connected with over the last week or so into the appropriate circle. The outer circle was for strangers, and moving towards the center: acquaintances, friendship, personal & finally intimate in the center. After we had completed that portion, he posed this question: "Would the people on your chart put you into the same categories?" That was easy to answer for the most part, but there were several friends that I had to carefully examine.

Last week was particularly difficult as I struggled through this task. I have consistently been classified by my friends as giving and caring. I try to be a good friend and I carefully (probably more so than I actually should) select those I welcome into my personal circle. I have been burned alot over my lifetime by broken trust, so it takes me a while to move a friendship into a more personal realm. I hate to say it like this, but I start with small things and work my way up testing to make sure I can trust them. It can take a long time for someone to move into my "inner circle". What pains me is when someone moves out, often without my knowing, into an "outer circle". It is really hard for me to see relationships change that I long to keep. I can see the friendship slipping away and the distance growing, but I'm helpless to stop it. The coffin was closed on one such relationship last week and I had a hard time letting go. I don't begrudge someone the opportunity to move on, but it doesn't make it any less difficult when they choose to go and you have to let them.

So that was me last week. I'm still working through the hurt and disappointment, but it will pass as time goes on.