Carrots...

So I have no idea what is going on with my kiddo lately. OK, maybe I have a few guesses. She is either needing more food in the evening or teething or in a growth spurt or in a combination of any of the three. Let's just say that my usually sweet and agreeable baby is a little... umm... discontent in the evenings. She is always sucking or chewing on something, and I can't tell if she is teething or hungry. I have never experienced either situation really, so I don't have much to go on. I have really tried to hold off on the rice cereal thing until she seems "ready." But I am not sure what "ready" means exactly. When she seems extra hungry at night I will give her a little rice cereal. Sometimes she eats a good bit, and other times she is totally not interested. I never really  push the point and always just give her as much as she seems to want and call it a day. Yesterday I decided that she really might be hungry and ready for real baby food. So Grace and I went to the store (which could be an entire post on its own dealing with the subject of how normal everyday shoppers turn into crazy people around the holidays) and picked up some carrot baby food! Below is the video of the evening's main event... narrated by my wonderful husband. 

There were two more new events that were not caught on video:

1. Carrot spit up and 2. Carrot poopy diaper

Can you say grooooosssssss!!!!

So even after the baby food thing I am still not sure what is going on. My guess is that she is teething, and since I can see no sign of the itty bitty pearly whites yet my fear is that we may just be in for a good long bout of grumpy baby syndrome. Just in time for the holidays!

The Longest Post Ever!

This has to be the longest blog I have ever written. There is so much to fill you in on!!! 

First of all, I have to say that I uploaded the pictures in the wrong order, so you are getting our most recent happenings first and then we will work our way back from there to when we were still wearing shorts and spending great amounts of time outside everyday :)

The big news of the week around here is that Grace is sitting up!!! She does a great job of sitting with a little help and does a pretty good job of balancing by herself for about 15 seconds or so before she topples over or I catch her or she falls forward and catches herself on her hands. It is so exciting to think that she might be sitting up well enough at Christmas to play on the floor with her cousins and her toys! 

She has also been talking up a storm! She has now mastered the "words" ba-ba and my personal favorite ma-ma! She really is a funny little thing when she talks. She speaks with such purpose and conviction like she is really really trying to get a point across. It is hilarious.

Grace is also getting to be more inquisitive... if that was possible. She is very very interested in absolutely everything that she sees. Life is going to get interesting around here when she figures out how to move herself around.

Did you notice her little onesie? It was our souvenir from our extended stay in Memphis... the Memphis airport that is!!! Grace and I are now expert fliers, and I am now over my nursing in public phobia. Grace and I made a trip to Arkansas this month for Jenny's wedding. It was a whirlwind weekend but we had a wonderful time! 

Here is how our travel schedule went:

Thursday AM -  fly from Louisville to Memphis - Memphis to Ft. Smith. 

Thursday PM - shop shop shop and eat eat eat

Friday AM - drive to Magnolia

Friday PM - rehearsal and shower for Jenny

Saturday AM - meet Aunt Debbie, Aunt Jody, Cousin David, Cousin John and see Granny and Papa

Saturday PM - Wedding Fun!!!

Sunday AM - Drive to Ft. Smith

Sunday PM - Visit Great Grandmother Mitchiner

Monday AM - Fly to Memphis

Monday PM - Fly to Lexington???

Yes, that's right, Lexington. We were supposed to be back in Louisville by 11:20am, but after a delayed flight out of Ft. Smith, then a delayed twice and then cancelled flight out of Memphis the airport wanted us to fly to Atlanta at 7:00 pm and then fly us into Louisville around midnight. I was seriously about to cry when I noticed that there was a flight that would get us to Lexington at 9:00. The nice lady at Delta helped us and Jonathan came and got us at the bluegrass airport!!! We were all asleep in our beds by midnight! Grace was such a trooper the whole time. She was actually very content what with all the different things to look at and people to see. She never cried at all the whole time. The only really scary thing was that I was down to 2 diapers by the time we got home. Whew! I am now an expert Mommy traveler :)

It is sooo cold here. I always forget how cold it is in the winter and then we have a couple of weeks of cold weather and it all comes back to me. This morning the wind chill was in the teens and our high today was 36. I have had to warm up the car every morning this week before heading out to work. I am always having to cover Grace up with blankets when she is downstairs. She doesn't really seem to mind. Thank goodness my mom got her all those warm fleece footie pjs! We are gonna wear them out this winter!

Grace has even experienced SNOW!!!

You can't see the flakes in the pictures, but do you see the one on her pants!!! We have had flurries about three times so far, but this time they were heavy enough to be legitimate. I bundled her up and took her outside. She did not really seem to notice the snow... I think she was a little concerned that she was having to sit in her chair outside in the cold. We only had about 1/4" on the ground the next morning and it melted as soon as the sun came up, but nothing will put you in the holiday spirit like a little snow flurry or two!

Grace does not have enough hair for real pig-tails yet, so we just had to get her a hat with pig-tails. Not really, but isn't that hat (and the baby wearing it) the cutest thing you ever did see! In my opinion a hat never hurts the cuteness factor of a kid. Needless to say there are lots of cute kiddos here in Louisville in the wintertime!

She fell asleep like this on the way home from church last Sunday. I took a picture and then turned the hat around so she could breath... sleeping with a hat over your face seems like a complete violation of every SIDS warning out there.

One of the great things about the weather being so cold is that there is an abundance of snuggle  time in our house. This morning Grace Jonathan and I stayed on our bed under the covers for an hour just playing and talking. What a great way to spend a wintry Saturday morning.

Here are a couple of pictures from our visit with Great Grandmother Mitchiner (my grandmother). She loved getting to see little Grace, and we had fun getting to see her!

I love this picture. We are actually all looking at the camera and smiling!!!

Grace smiling in her PawPaw's arms... too sweet.

Jonathan took the next couple of pictures one morning while I was at work. I LOVE them. Notice the incredibly happy baby and the - how shall I say it - interesting wardrobe ensemble. Pants pulled up over an un-buttoned un-tucked onesie, and sweater buttoned twice and positioned little awkward-like. Hey, at least it all matches! This is Grace in a classic state of Daddy time. Daddy time is the BEST!

Remember at the beginning of this blog where I said the pictures were in condescending order. Well, here is where we enter the "boy, shouldn't Abbie have blogged about that like a month ago" part of the post. And yes, I should have blogged about this about a month ago, but alas, the pictures were still on my camera until this evening. What can I say, we have been swamped lately.

We really took advantage of our park this fall. We went at least once a day, some days 2 or 3 times!!! Now that it is cold, we are having to make other arrangements in order to get the kiddo some out of the house time every day. These winter time excursions are in general not as healthy or cost effective as our wonderful walks in the park. I mean, it is so hard to take a stroll around Target without picking up at least one thing that you really do need. Ahhh, spring will be so wonderful!

Maggie enjoyed our very frequent outings!

Grace with the pretty fall leaves.

A "family shadow" portrait of us on "our" swing. This is the swing where I would sit and talk to all of y'all on the phone! 

Grace and me in front of the pretty red trees!

Our street in the fall. I love our little neighborhood.

This was taken at the beginning of the month when Grace was just starting to sit up well with support. 

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! 

I have a voice!!!!

Can you hear me!!!!! 

I hope you enjoyed The Longest Post Ever. Hopefully I will do better about updating from now on, but honestly with the holidays coming up I may have to add volume 2 to this title....

Nap Time With Paw Paw

This one is just too sweet not to post.

Pee-Pie, Babble, and Bubbles

So I know you all are just dying to hear the little kiddo's sweet little voice... Well, here you go!!!
Minutes 2-3 are when most of the good action happens.

Grace's Little Red Chair

Here is a little video of Grace playing in her red chair. I really thought that she would use this chair all the time, but we don't seem to use it that much. She always tries to grab things that are on the floor around her, and she usually ends up getting stuck half way out of the chair in mid reach for a toy she just can't quite seem to get to. She also arches her back and gets upset because she can't move around like she can on the floor. Anyway, she seemed to be enjoying the little toy that attaches to the tray on this particular occasion. Enjoy!

Not Rolling Over

I have so many little videos to share that I am going to try to put up one new one a day till you have seen them all. I have been pretty sporadic in my blogging, and this is my attempt to be more regular... ya know... to keep you interested and coming back! And it always seems like the typing takes me forever. Now I just have to insert a video and give a little explanation. I promise to take up typing again in the near future... once Jonathan is done with all his school work that is occupying our laptop (the computer with all the pictures on it). But for now video it is!!!

This first one is of Grace in her room when I thought she was going to roll over for the camera, but she never did. Instead it is just her playing on the floor. I must warn you that this is not for the faint of heart. I am talking a grand-parent length video. But it is one of my favorites cause you can really see how she plays and squirms around, so I thought I would start off with this one.

Don't forget to turn down the volume if you don't want to hear me baby talking to Grace.




Hopefully there will be more to come tomorrow.....

More Movies!

Fall is officially here. I can tell this not only because of the changing leaves and changing weather, but also because of our completely hectic schedule. It seems like things always get crazy starting in late October and stay hectic until mid-January when they then come to a screeching halt and you realize you have nothing to do but stay indoors and wait for spring to finally arrive. I love this time of year. There is so much to look forward to with all the fall festivals and family gatherings and of course the good food. Last weekend Grace and I made the trip (by plane) to Arkansas so that I could be in one of my good friends weddings in Magnolia. We had a great trip and it was so good to see everyone! We spend so much time with my mom and dad. They really enjoyed getting to see their grandgirl and we enjoyed seeing them too! It is always so so hard to come home after a good visit, but we will get to see them again in a couple of weeks at Thanksgiving. Grace even got to meet her Aunt Debbie, Aunt Jody, Cousin David and Cousin John. It was only a very brief meeting, but we had a great time... despite the face that she was a little overwhelmed by the whole experience and cried whenever anybody but me tried to hold her :( She and Cousin David hit it off particularly well. He was so so sweet with her, and he even wanted to sit by her at lunch (Backyard BBQ mmmmmm....)! I see a close cousin frienship in the making. He is very excited about all the things that he is going to be able to teach Grace. She also go to meet a lot of my good High School friends. One of the neatest things though was seeing her with Megan, the little girl I babysat in high school. Megan was the flower girl at my wedding and is now in the 6th grade! I can't believe it! Grace really liked Megan, and if we ever move back to Arkansas, I think I know who I will call to babysit for me :) The other little girls in the video are Alexandria and Brianna, my good friend Kayla's kiddos. They are the absolute sweetest little girls you will ever meet, and we always love getting to see them and thir brother and sister... and of course their mom and dad! I know that kids now days seem to get a bad rap and everyone says that they are all terribly spoiled and badly behaved, but I would like to state for the record that my friends kiddos are all extremely well mannered and thoughtful and I would be proud if Grace were to turn out half as well as any of them. I am definitely going to have to put in a call or two to Kayla over the next few years and find out how she has managed to raise such wonderful kids! Well, I could go on and on for hours about our little vacation to Arkansas, and I am sure going to try and fill you in on more in follow-up posts, but that's about all I have time for today. Here are a couple of videos for your viewing pleasure :) The first is of David holding and singing to Grace (too sweet!) Dad just got the end of the song though. And the second is of Alexandria, Brianna, Megan, and Grace at Jenny's reception. Enjoy! Oh, and before you watch, I must make the point to say that I am not very fond of the way my voice sounds in video... or anytime actually, so once David has finished his song please please turn down the volume so you don't have to hear me. Thanks!

Missing my girls

So, it's been a while since we put up a new blog. Abbie and Grace are in Arkansas this weekend and I'm here in the mid-west all by myself. It's odd to spend an entire day without talking to another person. It's really weird to spend an extended period of time away from my little girl. This is the second time we've spent time apart, but this is the first time I've been here by myself. Every over-priced, made-in-china, plastic children's item is full of memories. Grace's swing has been still for a full two days. The most recent memory of this swing is the absolutely massive blow-out she had on Monday. Wow. Let's just say that we're all glad that the fabric is washable.

Maggie is moping around too. I never really noticed it, but I guess she got attached to Grace over the past 5 months (today is Grace's birthday). It's so odd that I've only known this little girl for 5 months, but she's such a HUGE part of my life. We've been blessed more than I can say to have such a sweet and healthy little girl. I'm counting the days until I get to pick Momma and Baby up at the airport. I've got about 4 days worth of hugs and kisses waiting for both of them.

Flip Mino... Here We Go!

My B-Day gift from Mom and Dad this year was a Flip Video Mino! I had never heard of it before. Actually MOM was the one who discovered this neat little camcorder. It is about the size of an ipod and takes 60 minutes of video that you can upload directly to your computer through a built in usb drive. I have had it all week, but just figured out how to get the video on my computer tonight. It really is pretty easy. The software will also keep your videos organized, allow you to edit, and get your video ready to post on the web. Then all you have to do is upload it! It only took me about 30 minutes to figure the whole thing out. I bet from now on it will go even faster! So all you bloggers out there... this is a neat little gadget you should add to your Christmas list this year!

And here you go.... the first video (with sound) of Grace Elizabeth complemets of my new Flip Mino!

She kept on taking her paci out of her mouth and then trying to put it back in. The problem was that she could not seem to get it back in the right way. It was always backwards :) Eventually she would get upset and I would turn it around for her. This went on for several minutes and was so cute that I thought... "Hey! I should try to video this!"