Maelyn's 2nd birthday and Gracie's (and Sara's) first Circus!

Saturday morning we went to Maelyn's 2nd birthday party at Central Park! It was fun to hang out with our friends, and for Gracie to see all of the kids. Brandi and Mark did a GREAT job decorating the picnic area to look like a fairy wonderland! Gracie got to swing with Daddy for the first time, and I took her down her first slide, too!




Sunday we went to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey's Circus at the AAC. It was so much fun! I think I went to some little shriner's circus when I was in middle school, but this totally beat that! Gracie slept through most of it, but I loved it! I can't wait to go again in a few years when she's older!

What a fun weekend!

Much-needed Gracie update!

Sorry, we've been just going non-stop the last couple of weeks. There are a lot of employee and system changes going on at my job, and I've been putting in quite a bit of overtime. David is working hard at his job, too, and we both try to spend every free moment playing with Gracie.

Here is what she has mastered in the last few weeks:
1. Pulling up: She pulled up for the first time when she was 6 months old, but she now just pops up on anything she can get her hands on. We bought her an activity table that she pulls up on, and stands to play with the toys on the top.
2. Crawling: She just tears across the room, even follows us around. She keeps a leg hitched up under her, so that she can sit up at any moment. It's very cute.
3. Sitting up from tummy position: She has become very good at this, and no longer seems helpless at all when she is on her tummy. She just sits right up and either takes of crawling, or reaches for something to play with or pull up on. In fact, it seems that her tummy never even touches the floor at all!
4. Walking around furniture: She pulls up and just walks around to get whatever she wants, sometimes only holding on with one hand! This has progressed very quickly, just in the last week or so. This has also made us very careful of what we place on the coffee table! (;P)
5. Rolling! Finally! Just over this last weekend, she FINALLY started rolling from her back to her tummy! With all the strength she has on her tummy, I was starting to get a little concerned because she was just helpless on her back, which may have explained some of the troubles we had with her sleeping. I think she would wake up and not be able to move or do anything, so she would get upset. She started rolling to her side and would sleep that way for awhile, but inevitably would roll back to her back and wake up mad again. We worked with her aggresively on soft surfaces first (i.e. beds, sofa, etc) and then on the floor. She finally just started rolling all over the place! And she seems to be sleeping better, for longer periods of time.
6. Finger foods! Dr. Len suggested that we wait until she was 9 months old before we started finger foods, so that there would be less chance of her choking, but I found these Gerber puffs that dissolve in her mouth. We started giving her a few at a time, and she caught on pretty quickly! Now she has a handful with juice a couple times a day as a snack, and she is great at picking them up with her thumb and forefinger and getting them into her mouth. They are a handy distraction to place on her highchair tray while we're eating dinner. We also started putting frozen pieces of fruit inside these little mesh bags that she can chew on. The bags allow her to get the juices of the fruits, while preventing her from choking on larger pieces. The cold seems to feel great on her teeth!

Speaking of teeth, the top ones are still a no-show at this point, however we can see them underneath the gums, and she is a maniac biter, so it really, finally, should be any day now.

Her hair is so long! Still holding onto that blonde color (thank goodness! ;P), but it is long enough that I have been able to get a couple of bows and clips to stay. They are precious!

It's official: she has brown eyes. They are a very rich brown, though, and very pretty.

She babbles non-stop, all the time. Her favorite sound-combination seems to be, "Hi-ad-ad-da-da-eeeeeee!" So we like to say that she's saying "Hi, Daddy!" Haha, nothing official, but it is very cute.

Well, that is all I can think of right now! It has been an extremely busy month for Gracie, and we are extremely pleased with her developmental progress, as well as the bubbly personality she has that becomes more apparent every single day! We don't want to miss a moment, as she is discovering more things now that she is on the move!

Hope everyone has a great week!

We need your help!

I am starting to plan Gracie's first birthday party already. I know it's early, but I don't want to do it last-minute, since that is already a stressful time of year. One thing that I would really like to do (it's a surprise =P) involves a bunch of very large cardboard boxes. If you happen to buy a new refrigerator, dishwasher, any other large appliance, or anything else that involves a large cardboard box, please save it for us. Call to let me know that you have one and I will come get it from you. This will be a really neat and fun project for Gracie and will be a great activity for the childre at her birthday party.

One thing I will tell you is that the theme of her birthday party will be Western! I wanted to have a bubble party, but since her birthday is in December, I thought the weather would not be suitable for that. We will have everyone dress up as a Cowboy/Cowgirl, and have a great time celebrating Gracie's 1st birthday, Texas-style! If you have any neat, cheap ideas for decorations, games, food, etc, please share them with us!

Remember to keep your eyes out for some big boxes over the next few months! Thanks!

We're baaack!

Well, we made it back! We had a great time, just relaxing on our vacation. Enjoy some pictures!

Playing with Daddy at Great Grandpa and Great Grandma's house

Visiting Great-Grandpa at the hospital

This steakhouse is great!Such a big girl in the highchair!
Playing with the Red Raider mascot from Great-Grandpa
Driving to San Antonio
Sweet sleeping baby... too bad that didn't last...
Shopping in Fredericksburg
Trying to get a good picture with the sign
Dinner that night on the Riverwalk
Playing on the big bed
Rivercenter Mall
The Alamo Goofing around at the hotel pool

Climbing on Mommy
Best nachos on the Riverwalk
Gracie slept through them A canal boat tour

Lazy morning
Trying tortilla pieces for the first time at Mi Tierra
Strolling around Market PlazaDinner at Tony Roma's! YES! =)
Last evening on the Riverwalk

We love this car... over 400 miles on this tank and gas light still hasn't come on!

7 month pictures

We had Gracie's pictures taken at Studio One to One today. Go here to see the album of our favorites: http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?myphotos?a=527930&b=26

Last-minute vacation!

David put in for a week of vacation a few weeks ago, but it was looking more and more like it wouldn't be approved due to some project scheduling difficulties at work. Then, as my co-workers and I were working on our work schedule for the next couple of months, I realized that the week of July 14th-18th was the only chance that I would get to take a few days off, as the other girls are taking their vacations in the coming weeks and then start back to school in August. David and I threw some ideas around for some possible vacations, and decided that we wanted to pretty much just get out of town, park the car, and relax for a few days. I spent some time in San Antonio a few summers ago, and realized that the Riverwalk would be a great place for a family vacation! We are also excited to finally get the perfect opportunity to drive to Abilene to visit my step-grandparents, Gerald and Mary, who have never met David or their Great-Granddaughter Gracie!

We couldn't set our plans in stone until David was able to get it cleared with his work, but the approval came through yesterday and we are off to Abilene Tuesday afternoon! We will stay the night there Tuesday night, and then set out for San Antonio on Wednesday afternoon. Then we will spend Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights at the Riverwalk Plaza hotel (I found a GREAT deal on Travelocity) right on the Riverwalk! Then we will come home Saturday afternoon and have one more day to relax at home before getting back to the grind on Monday.

We are SO excited, but I think more relieved than anything. We really really need this time, as a couple and as a family, to get away from the daily routines and demands and just spend several days bonding as a family and appreciating each other. We are parking the car at the hotel when we get there and not driving it again until we leave for home! Walking everywhere, seeing the historical sights of San Antonio, sleeping in every morning, and of course... TONY ROMA'S one night! =) You know I have to have my ribs fix...hehe. We are excited to take Gracie on her first vacation as well! She has proven to do very well during long stretches of time in the car, so we are confident that she is ready for such a drive. We will take it slow, we know, and make plenty of stops, but that will just mean more time to enjoy each other's company. The route from Abilene to San Antonio is not as busy as I-35, so there will be more things to see along the way!

When we get to San Antonio, we are turning off our phones. We'll check for voicemails at night, but if you can't get ahold of us during the day, now you know why. We really want to relax as much as we possibly can, and feel this is something we need to to do accomplish that. We will turn them back on maybe Sunday evening, after we've had a chance to get settled back in at home.

Don't freak out, everyone (although that plea is pointless because I know you will), but I am getting my first tattoo in San Antonio! I'm not divulging any more details, but I just wanted to let you all know in advance, since I learned the hard way that surprising my family with big news is not as pleasant or easy as I thought (i.e., breaking news in early May of 2007). So there is your warning, and no, you can't talk me out of it.

Have a great weekend!

Gracie's doctor appointment

She's had a very croup-y cough for the last couple of months, so we bought her a humidifier a month ago. It hasn't seemed to help, and in the last few days she started running frequent low-grade fevers, so I decided to make her an appointment. Dr. Len examined her today and diagnosed a sinus infection. She gets to take Amoxicillin twice a day for the next ten days. If she hasn't gotten any better in the next week, I'm supposed to call him and let him know so we can try something else. She is still eating well, breathing just fine, and although her sleeping pattern has been irregular lately, that is most likely due to her aggressive teething and a growth spurt she is going through. So we will keep an eye on her, but she seems to be okay.

She weighs 19 lbs and 8.5 oz! Can you believe it?! A whole pound in less than one month! Goodness... Dr. Len is still not concerned however, because she is 27 and 3/4 inches, which perfectly balances it out, as usual. He was impressed with the strength in her legs, and in the fact that she is pulling up so strongly. He said her lungs and heart and eyes and just everything are absolutely perfect! He is standing by his earlier opinion that she will be a tall girl, just like her Mommy! =)

I will keep everyone update on her sinus infection. Thanks for all your prayers!

Gracie's First July 4th!

We had a great time, visiting with family today. We hung out at Gran's and then watched the Lewisville fireworks on our way home (Gracie slept through them this time!). All in all, a fun day, and we are looking forward to the rest of a relaxing three-day weekend!

A very vocal Gracie, lol

Kisses from her "uncle" Dash (=P)

Sacked out with Daddy after a huge lunch

Gracie's First Texas Rangers game!

My family has a tradition of going to the ballpark every July 4th to see the fireworks, however, since the Rangers will be out of town on the 4th, they had fireworks last night instead. So we decided to go to that game, and it was Gracie's very first Texas Rangers game! We came a little late, since we weren't sure how she would do for the entire game, but she did great, even through the fireworks! She just sat back and watched them, and made little noises at the really big ones. =) She even had her picture taken with the Rangers mascot, Captain! Enjoy some neat pictures and a video!

Watching the fireworks

Gracie's little pool

I got Gracie a little shaded pool to put out on the deck and play in, since she loves the water so much. We tried it out this afternoon, and she loved it! I finally found a swimsuit big enough for her to wear several times (size 18 mos!)... hopefully it will last the whole summer!

Splish-splash!


Her little swimsuit is so cute!