MA TV

Mary Allison may protest this post, and I may be forced to remove it later. So view while you can. I for one think it is one of the best You Tube videos out there.

PS. Our next post will be via our family vacation to Arkansas!

A Busy Week Already

Grace and I had a very busy day yesterday. Grace had a hip ultrasound done in the morning at Kosair Children's Hospital and then we went to the orthopedist at Norton Suburban in the afternoon. I think we were both dizzy from driving at very low speeds in what seemed to be endless circles in the parking garages! Her hips have improved some, but not as much as the doctor would like to see. So guess what... we have to do this whole thing again in another month! We are going to have this routine down pat. Next time if there is not substantial improvement Grace will have to wear a brace on her legs so that her hips develop correctly in their sockets. Poor kid :( At least she won't be able to remember if she has to wear the brace. So I will let you know in a month how she is doing.

Needless to say, our "routine" was pretty non-existent yesterday, and Grace had a hard time winding down last night. I put her down in her bed at about 10:30 and I don't think she went to sleep for an hour. I would hear little grunts from her room peek in to check on her and she would be looking around in the dark room, eyes wide open. She must have slept well because this morning she was extra happy! She has been taking great naps today. I took these pictures as she was waking up from her morning nap. She had not sat in her bouncy seat in about a week because I am trying to get her used to taking naps in different places (for our family vacation to Arkansas) and I think she was glad to sleep in it again!


Huge Yawn!!!


What a happy baby!



So cute when I wake up.



"Hi Mom!"



After I fed her she took a bath. I think she almost fell asleep in the bath tub. It is funny how relaxed she gets when she lays in that warm water. She is also doing a lot better about not crying when she has to get out of the tub. I don't think she has cried the last three times.

All clean and dry

Now she is napping for the first time in her pack n' play. It took her about 20 minutes of laying there to get to sleep, but she has been sleeping great so far. I am pretty relieved because this is what she will sleep in on our trip.

Another Fun Week

This was the first week that Grace and I had no place pressing we had to go. We pretty much stayed around the house and played. It was great! Next week we both have to go to the doctore and then we are driving to Arkansas to see my family, so we tried to enjoy our week of relaxation while we could. Of course I took a few pictures that I will share. I tried to take pictures of us doing different things since it seems that all of the pictures I post are of Grace in the same location in our house doing the same thing etc... but lets face it, Graces daily activities don't vary that much. So here ya go!!!

Grace has always loved looking at Mr. Zebra while having her diaper changed downstairs on the playpen changer. She is sometimes fussy when she has to lay down there (cause she is not always a fan of having her diaper changed) but when she sees the zebra she stops and stares at him until she has forgotten that she was upset. Hooray for Mr. Zebra!!!



We usually get up at about 6:30 in the morning and that gives us just a few minutes of play time with Daddy before he has to go to work. This particular morning Jonathan put his hat on Grace while we were playing. She did not really know what to think about that. Her facial expressions were pretty funny as always.



Sometimes after I feed her first thing in the morning we have a little chat time. She stays in bed with me and we talk... well, it's mostly a one sided conversation right now. I talk and she stares at me. But she is responding more and more every day. Now she is full of smiles and has even started cooing back at me. If I say ooh, she says ooh. If I say ahh she says ahh. (ok, maybe every 10th time, but hey, it's still awesome to me). She has also started to look at her hands and feet. I don't think she knows that she can control them yet, but she sure does love to look at them.




This week I took pictures of Grace in some of the gifts people have given her so we could send pictures out. It was the one time I wanted her to be good and really cute while I was taking her pictures, and the pressure much have been too much cause it was the one time she was really NOT into having her picture taken. But these came out ok, and I thought the little outfit was so cute! Her gown says Mommy's Angel:)
She even has wings!!!



And of course we played on the floor in her room. This is my favorite thing to do with Grace, so we do it very very often. That is why you get all the floor pictures... because we are always down there playing and then she is super cute and I have to go and get the camera and start taking pictures! Oh my, there is no way our poor second child will have this many pictures taken.

My Condolences

This is a post especially for my good friend Stephanie.

I know that you are deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Estelle Getty (otherwise known as Sophia from the Golden Girls). She was such a part of our lives during our days at Louisiana Tech. We spent so many hours being entertained by her when we should have been doing our statics homework (like it really made a difference) and when we were waiting on Yomi to play a little DDR (oh, we were so cool). Although she is no longer with us on earth she will always be with us in re-runs. Well, maybe she will be with you... Jonathan and I only have basic cable now and the Golden Girls is not on our programming line-up. So farewell Estelle, and thanks for the memories. And Stephanie, I am truly sorry for your loss.

Staying Inside

Well, it is only 12:30 and the heat index is already at 99. Whew, it is HOT. We have been spoiled here in Kentucky until now. Compared to Louisiana the summer here is pretty mild, but we do have a few weeks of stifling hot weather, and I think this week is one of them. The crazy thing is that it is cloudy and there are thunderstorms. In fact I think that we may be in store for a hail storm here in a couple of minutes.

So Grace and I are staying home today. We decided to take some pictures this morning during play time since we couldn't go anywhere. At the end of our "photo shoot" I decided to try to take some pictures with her. She was So Happy!!! It was like she was so glad I was down on the ground doing the same thing that she was. Now I wish I would have done my hair and put on makeup cause honestly, I look like the mother of a 6 week old here. The kid thrives on 3 hour stretches of sleep, but I could use a little more before taking a picture with no makeup:)

Do you think we favor? I just don't know.
I think she is looking more and more like her daddy.

Sooo Happy to play!

I love this face! (the baby's that is)
And the crazy baby hair cracks me up. It just sticks straight up no matter what I do.

Sweet Mamma kisses

And a picture with her Teddy Bear. We still have not come up with a name for him. We named her elephant Elliott. Jonathan things Theo might be a good name for the bear, but I am not convinced. Maybe we will wait and get Graces opinion on it.

Well, the hail is hailing and the winds are blowing! I better end this post before we loose electricity! I am Glad Grace is a sound sleeper!

6 Weeks Old

Grace turned 6 weeks old on Saturday! Saturday was a pretty good day, but today was a great day. She has been so sweet all day long. Jonathan had to lead worship at a church in Indiana (yes we live that far north) so Grace and I went to church alone for the first time. I was a little nervous, but she did great! She sat in my lap and looked around during the music and then went to sleep for the sermon. She stayed asleep until we were almost home and got stopped at the train tracks by a train that was going so so slow. Then there was a little screaming but once we got home and she got fed she was a lot happier. We then went out to eat and all took naps. Later Grace and Daddy hung out while I went to Target and the grocery store.

Here are some pictures we took today of Grace in her cute sun hat.

More Poop!

This morning Grace woke up at about 6:30, but never really cried. Usually I wait until she cries to go and get her out of her crib. By 7:30 she still had not cried and I knew she should be getting hungry so I went in to find her smiling and looking around, content as can be, just laying there in her crib. I put her on the changing table, changed her wet diaper and was standing there talking to her and making faces at her when she had a very large dirty diaper. I went ahead and changed it, and not 5 seconds after I had the new diaper on her she pooped again! So I changed that diaper and then fed her. And of course she had a very wet diaper while I fed her, so I changed her again! Wow! 4 diapers in 40 minutes! And she was so cute the whole time that I did not mind changing them one bit.

Fun Days

Saturday Grace will be 6 weeks old! I can not believe it has been this long already. At the same time, I cant really remember what it was like to not have her around. It seems like every week with Grace gets a little bit easier. Jonathan and I are figuring out her likes and dislikes and I think she is learning the same about us. She loves to be held on my shoulder so she can look around, and she still loves to go outside. Recently she has become fond of sitting on my lap. She loves to be able to look around. She has trouble falling asleep sometimes during the day because it is bright and she wants to look around at everything. Evening is still a grumpy part of the day for Grace, but it is getting better day by day. I think that she gets tired of being with me all day (and I must admit that I have been taking really long showers every night while she hangs out with her daddy to have alone time of my own) because if she is grumpy I can give her to Jonathan and he will sing or talk to her and she calms right down. Morning is when she is happiest usually. You can count on lots of smiles from her first thing in the morning. Grace and I have a lot of fun together during the day and when Jonathan gets home at night we make it a point to all play together for a while. We read her books and show her some of her toys. This is my favorite part of the day. She is liking baths more and more. I gave her one today and she just loved sitting in the warm water. I think she would have stayed in there for an hour if I would have let her. On the same token, she still does NOT like getting out of the bath. She cries and cries and almost always sleeps very heavily after bath-time what with all the excitement it entails. She likes to listen and watch Jonathan play the guitar. She also likes to listen to music. We sing to her all the time. Jonathan is great at making up funny rhyming songs. I think she will learn to appreciate his wit as she gets older and can actually understand what he is saying. My sister and I used to make fun of my mom for all of the cheesy, high pitched kiddie songs she used to sing with us and the kids in her classes. Now there is one more way I am turning into my mother because I sing all those goofy songs to her all day long!

Growing Like A Weed

Grace had her 1 month well visit today. She is doing great! Here are her stats...

Length - 21.5 in Percentile - 50%
Weight - 9 lb 1 oz Percentile - 35%
Head - 14.9 in Percentile - 60%

She also got her second Hepatitis B shot. She was definitely NOT happy with me for allowing that to happen. By the end of the doctors visit she was so upset that she actually cried tears. I don't think I have ever seen her do that before. But she is doing great right now and finally getting a little sleep. I am really not looking forward to the next visit when she gets 4 shots and one oral vaccine. Yuck.

Her first band-aid (Bugs Bunny). I am sure there are countless more to come.

I thought I would also show you this picture of the growing kiddo. I love the expression that is on her face. She really is so sweet. I can not believe how God has blessed us. Everybody always described parenthood as the hardest thing you would ever do, but something that is totally worth it. They were all so correct. I have never been this tired or worked this hard, but I have also never felt so much fulfillment from something or loved doing something this much.

All Smiles... Well... Some

Grace is finally smiling at us. I think it's on purpose. If not every time, at least sometimes. The other day when she first smiled at us she had been crying her head off the night before. It was like she knew that she needed to be extra cute to make up for all the frustration she had caused us the day before. Well, she made up for it. I had no idea how great it would feel to have her smile at me. Since then she has been smiling more and more all the time. Here are some pictures of our smiley little girl smiling :)

Brown Bear Brown Bear is by far Grace's favorite book. She loves to look at the pictures. I read it over and over and over. 

Apparently she was really happy to see the red bird today!

She is always pretty happy to wake up. She was extra happy this afternoon.

But its not all smiles all the time. This is Grace's I'm about to start to cry face.

*****

Now for other news. 

I think Grace is loosing her hair. Our poor 1 month old seems to have a receding hair line. I have also noticed that some of her hair is left on blankets when I pick her up. The short hairs that have grown since she was born are really light. So maybe she will have curly hair after all. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

*****

Grace has also been pushing up and moving her head from side to side during tummy-time! I took some pictures for y'all.

Woo-Hoo! Look how high I can get!

Going...

Going...

Gone!!!

4 Weeks Old

Here are some pictures that I took today of our 4 Week Old Grace Elizabeth. 

I would write more, but she is fussy and I am tired. I know the pictures are what you want to see anyway:)

Still Makin' It

Sometimes I wonder what she is dreaming while she is sleeping.

Well, Grace and I made it through our first week home alone. All-in-all things went very well. We got out of the house just about every day and have established a pretty good routine. Here's how our days usually go... We wake up about 6:30 and I feed her. Then she sits in her bouncy seat while I take a shower and get dressed. Then we usually have some play time on the floor. Next she takes a short nap. After nap time she eats again and usually does not stay awake for a very long time before taking another good nap. If I want to run an errand now is the time of day I do it. She loves to sleep in her car seat while we drive around. After she wakes up and eats again we have more play time and then another short nap followed by more eating and sleeping. Jonathan is usually home by the time she wakes up again and after I feed her they hang out for a while while I do some work around the house and get a shower. Then she takes another nap before waking up for another feeding around 10:00 or so. Then she sleeps until about 3:30 when she wakes up to eat. Usually she goes right back to sleep until 6:30 when we start over again. Even though we are just doing the same things over and over I had no idea that my days would be so busy! I can not believe Grace will be four weeks old tomorrow. Time has really flown by. She already seems a lot heavier and a lot larger to me. I have really enjoyed our days together, but I must admit I look forward to Jonathan getting home so he can handle baby duty for a while in the evenings.

Check out the way she fell asleep this morning. She must like having her arms free to move around. The only problem is that those arms wake her up!

*****

Grace had her first bottle today! Mommy was super excited that Daddy can take over some feedings now. I think Daddy was excited about being able to feed her too! Maybe next weekend Jonathan can do that 3:30 am feeding for me:) She did great and took to the bottle right away. She did even better once I realized that we had the wrong size nipple in the bottle and changed it to a size 1. Oops! Learn as you go... I think that should be my motto from now on.

The expression on her face totally cracks me up.
It's like she is thinking "How can I be eating if Mommy is way over there?"