Spring has sprung in Kentucky

The grass has just had it's first haircut, the trees are budding, and all I hear from my little peanut these days is "shooo" (for shoes) and "siiii" (for outside). Toys hold no interest now! All she wants to do is walk around outside (for which we had to purchase big girl shoes, hence the fixation on the shoes), blow bubbles, dig in the dirt, and watch for birds and airplanes. She even eats her dinner better when she is outside! I'm wondering if she is ready for her first camping trip...

Once upon a time

Poor child... no one was around to read a book, so she decided to read to herself! She is in my grandfather's chair that was made especially for him in 1966. Pop would be proud that someone else is enjoying reading in this chair as much as he did!

What little girls do when they play

Grace had some fun times with Grandma last week playing with her kitchen and having a carpet picnic. Even Dixie was invited (although I really don't think she enjoyed herself as much as the teddy bears did)!

The law of averages (yawn)

I have accepted the fact that there will be no sleeping in for the next, what, 10 years or so? Yet it still really bothers me that of the two or three times in her life that Grace has slept really late, it always happens on a week day. I'm sure my mathmatical husband could tell me the chances of it happening on a Saturday (I know it is not in my favor). But please, Grace, next time you sleep until 9am, like this morning, could you pick a Saturday morning for your snooze? Thanks, love, Mom.

Got Snow?

Cathryn and Grace,
Just wanted to give you a glimpse of the snow we got yesterday. Dixie is breaking it in for us. Hope you're having fun in Albuquerque!

Blessings of 2006

I think that instead of making a New Years resolution that I already know I won't keep (kind of like finishing this post-in-progress), I will instead reflect on the blessings that God poured out on us in the past year.

1. Grace continues to grow and be healthy, of which I can think of no greater blessing.
2. Erik has continued to be blessed by a good job in a good company with good co-workers.
3. I have been blessed to be able to stay home with Grace to teach, train, and enjoy being her mother.
4. We have a nice roof over our heads, food on the table (usually good, although there are the blunders every now and then) and live in safety and comfort, which is more than can be said for most of the world.
5. We are surrounded by friends who love us enough to laugh with us and yet help us grow.
6. Our parents are healthy, and one set can even be called without a country code being needed!
7. And selfishly, because I was nursing, I could eat more than normal and still loose baby weight. Not a very couth blessing, but it was good for me! :) If only a diet was always this easy.

Houston, we have lift off...

I think it is safe to say that we have a walker now! She took her first steps when Aunt Sara was here before Christmas. She didn't attempt much more. Last week Grace decided to try a few steps a day, and realized we thought that was pretty cool. So then she thought she was hot stuff, and she should keep walking. She still prefers crawling because it is faster, but I can tell she is excited about this newest trick she has learned!

Check out this short video...

A very sticky situation

I am sure that everyone has either seen this or at least heard about this already. But I ran across this link when I was cleaning out my old emails and thought that I should share it just in case you live under a rock like me and miss those big news items. :) This video is an example of people with too much time on their hands! But the entertainment value is worth a minute of your time. It is patterned off of the fountains at the Bellagio hotel. (Sound makes the video even catchier, so turn up your volume.)

http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html

January Baby Boom

I have five friends who have had, should have already had, or will have a baby this month. I must admit that I am really happy right now with just Grace and am enjoying her immensely. And I am still mystified by the concept of grocery shopping with two kids. But with all this baby activity around me, it does make me want another baby (I think I hear Erik shrieking in the background!). I think this baby stuff must be contagious. Repeat after me- we are not ready to have another one yet. I think. I'm pretty sure. Why don't we get back to you on that....

Grace, 3 days old

That's my daughter

While I was on the computer this afternoon, Grace wondered off into our bathroom. She loves to play with her bath toys even when it's not bathtime. I assumed this is what she was doing, but when I walked in, she was using a sponge to "clean" the inside of the tub, something she must have seen me do yesterday while cleaning. I know two things-
1) she is soaking up information now like a sponge (ha, ha) and
2) I know what her chore is going to be on cleaning day now!

Long time, no blog

I always feel like I drop off the face on the Earth around the holidays. This is, of course, for good and happy reasons: I am often having fun with family and traveling. This season would be no different. We had my parents come in to Cincinnati for about a week, and then we all drove down to Charlotte, NC for Thanksgiving with my extended family. Grace did well enough on the long car trip that we are already talking about when we could go back. Here are some pics from the trip.

If grandparents are for spoiling, the rest of the family must be for showing how to really have fun by playing in the dirt. Grace thought it was the best. I'm still cleaning dirt out from under her finger nails... Grace's Great (really, Grand) Aunt Susan taught her how to be Miss Wishy-Washy and give the barnyard animals baths. Grace got how to use the brush on them by herself. It was awfully cute. Now if only she could give herself a bath!

Party Pics

Yikes! Is it really November? I guess that means I am a bit behind on posting Grace's birthday party pictures. Please forgive me!

The party was fun. We had four other families come with their kids and served chili and cornbread. I made the cake (in a shape of a pumpkin of course!) and her smash cake. I was even able to find sweet fall pumpkin plates to go with the pumpkin theme (the invitations said "Our Little Pumpkin Is Turning One!"). For her birthday Grace got her two front teeth. I'm not kidding.

Can I have my cake now, please?

She wasn't sure at first, but once she realized this thing was mushy, she dove in. And once she realized it was sweet, well, there was no going back!

Grace and her friends, all born within 9 months (except the poor little boy at the bottom who's head got cut off!)

She's a ham, alright!

The girl's got style!

I promise to post pictures of Grace's birthday as soon as we get them organized, but I took this picture today and thought it was hilarious. Grace crawled over to my purse and pulled it out from its hiding spot. At the same time she was playing with her toy cell phone. I think she thought she was turning 16 on her last birthday, not 1....

In other news, we are back from a fantastic 5 days in Chicago. Man, we miss living there. We ate too much and shopped too much. Poor Erik had to be in a conference during the day for 3 of those days, but we still got to see him for lunch.

I also have started weaning Grace. It was such an emotional decision! I thought I would get to a year and "woo hoo, I'm done!" But I found I'm not quite ready to give up the closeness and the fact that she needs me several times a day. There are many reasons I am weaning Grace, not just that she is a year old, so I think I am making the right decision. And I must admit it will be nice to be able to leave her with grandparents now for a weekend away! Oh, I think I hear the phone ringing now...

Our Pumpkin Is One!

Happy 1st Birthday, Grace! I remember October 11, 2005 well. We are so happy that God blessed us with you and your sweet spirit! You are a daily blessing to us and are loved by many.

5 Things

I've been tagged by my dear friend Stephanie to post this. I'm sure she thinks I have forgotten since this was weeks ago, but no, this is just the way my life is right now. Ask my husband who is looking at piles of papers from last month. Still on the kitchen table. Just wipe around them. :)

5 Things in my Freezer:
-Four containers of ice cream; I'm concerned I might be pregnant again!
-Two types of sandwich bread because I like mine chewy, he likes his soft and we take forever to finish a loaf off.
-Homemade baby food (I might have caved on the cloth diaper issue, but at least I kept my word on making her food from scratch!)
-A frozen pizza for that desperation dinner
-A frozen teether that we haven't need much because Grace only has two teeth (still)


5 Things in my Closet:
-Shoes (my husband says too many)
-Purses (my husband says too many)
-Panty hose that I never wear (I'm sure they will make the perfect craft someday)
-Some clothes that go all the way back to high school (there's a reason I don't by trendy stuff!)
-Skeletons (well they say everyone has them, right?) <- I stole this from Stephanie because she is too clever

5 Things in my Car:
-A stroller
-Gum, my greatest addiction
-Grace's "car stuffed animal", the softest lamb you'll ever touch
-A very comfy car seat
-A cloth trash bag, because I'm that much of a neat freak (and I'll make you use it, too)


5 Things in my Purse:(did a thief come up with this list idea to decide who to put on the hit list?)
-A very worn wallet with very little cash because I love my Discover card cashback (don't come after me, thief)
-More gum (I said I was addicted)
-A cell phone that sometimes is charged, sometimes not, and everyone knows not to call because I never hear it ring
-A hair brush which is now an emergency inappropriate toy for Grace
-My palm pilot which may as well by my brain

5 Things in my Diaper Bag:
-Can of toddler puffs (if you don't know what these are, they are little nutritionless cereal puffs that kids love and come in flavors from corn to apple to strawberry to sweet potato)
-Grace's soft, washable bunny which has saved the day numerous times
-During the summer we always had her sunhat and sunscreen, and sadly they are still in there
-A few toys which don't really entertain her any more, they are only good for dropping from the stroller
-Diapers, wipes, and rash cream, duh!

Pulling Up!

Here's what Grace learned to do today! She started by pulling up on the chair below her, since it's a bit closer to the ground and then reached up and grabbed the table. What a big girl! She's discovered a whole new foot and a half of world!








She also wanted to try on daddy's shirt. She's got some growing up to do before it will fit.















Mom took Grace to the zoo last week with all of Grace's friends (Grace is in the back right stroller).

Trip to Minnesota

Here are the pictures from our trip to Minnesota to visit Erik's family. We spent two days up at the cabin in Northern Minnesota, and then two days in Minneapolis. On one of those days, a bunch of extended family came by for a "Meet Grace" dinner. It was a lot of fun, and a ton of people dropped in.

Uncle Peter and Grace You can see her two teeth here.

A picture of the great-grandmothers, Alice Johansson (left) and Margaret Lindell (right), and Erik's mom, Beth

Have your cake and eat it too

This is not going to be the picture that you want to see (I promised ones of Grace a "few" days ago), but I took a four week cake decorating class and want to show off my final project. I also made a cute one with clowns on it and another with a rainbow, but forgot to take pictures before we dove in. I took the class with a friend who has already volunteered us up to make another friend's baby's 1st birthday cake in September. I'm thinking she should invest in cake insurance.

Congratulations, Erik!

Just wanted to give a shout out to my fantastic husband for passing his last exam! He found out last Friday. That means he has eight under his belt, with possibly two left to take. He is taking the fall off from studying in order to focus on finishing up his FSA degree (passing exams 7-8 was the first part). He is working on his Professional Development (PD) credits, and once he has those done, he will have received his second degree (he earned his ASA by passing exams 1-6), which is very rare for someone his age to have. Clear as mud? He has been taking exams since we first got married, so to have him "present" more is already wonderful.

We just got back from a trip to Minneapolis. I will post photos in the next few days (sunshine is coming, Susan).

GAC

I'm hoping you'll join me for a gathering of the "Grace Admiration Club". Membership is free, but there are frequent meetings to attend!

When Grace was first born, we took something like 300 pictures in her first 2 months. We didn't have to buy the film- thank goodness for digital cameras- so we went a little crazy. Except then Miss Indecisive (me) wanted all of them printed. How could I weed them out? "That one is cute, too, because it shows a little different side of her face." I am blessed with a patient husband!

Now we have slowed down on the picture taking, but I am obviously still a first time Mom. No one else may think these pictures are cute, but I love them. The first one is Grace's latest trick, standing on her knees. And the little duck on her rear made this picture all the cuter.

The second one is how Grace falls asleep sometimes. Now she sits up in her crib, and even though she is tired, keeps herself awake by telling her bear about what she has been doing the past few hours. I'd give anything to see this happen- she must just quite simply be dead tired on her feet and just fall over!

And finally there are these pictures. Grace did this by herself- she took out all her toys and then wiggled into her toy bucket. I caught her in the act!