10 Months Old, and getting an attitude!

Today is Grace's 10 month birthday, and it's amazing how much she has changed in the past few months!  We went out to dinner tonight, and she showed off her lungs!  I guess a new phase is beginning.  Oh what fun we are having!

Check her out!
Stats: 21 pounds, 6 oz, 29" long, still in the 90th percentile
Words: Mama (finally!), Dada, Bo (our dog, and her first to correctly assign all the time), Ba (ball)
New Skills: Pulling up to a stand, walking while holding our hands, moving independently from furniture to furniture, waving bye bye and giving kisses on command (without having to gesture to her), rolling a ball back and forth with us.
Eating Schedule: 4oz Bottle bright and early, around 6 am, then breakfast of oatmeal with fruit mixed in; mid morning 4oz bottle, 4oz Lunch Bottle with oatmeal cereal and vegetables, afternoon 4oz bottle; large jar of baby food meat and veggies in the evening with juice or water, and then a bedtime 4oz bottle.
Sleeping schedule: Bedtime at 7pm, wakes around 6am, generally two naps during the day of anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours each.
Daycare: Grace's last day at St. Aloysius Child Care Center was July 1.  Jojo is keeping her this week, we are going to Florida next week, and then she'll start at FUMC's Early Learning Center on July 18th.  We are excited, but it was so sad to leave SACCC and all of her sweet teachers and friends!

We spent the Fourth of July weekend at Lake Bruin, and as soon as I get pictures from MeMe (Blake's mom), I'll be sure to post them because they were PRECIOUS!  She had a great time in the water and with all of her cousins.  We're leaving Saturday for the beach, and we'll be sure to post plenty more!

First Trip to the Zoo!

Today we had our first trip to the zoo. The day didn't start out quite so great, as Grace woke up congested, and did NOT like my attempts at suction! She was pretty grumpy, and we put her down early for a nap, because we had a big day ahead of us! We were going to the zoo! She woke up in a great mood! By the way, she is now officially a sitter!

After she woke up, we packed up and headed over to the McAnelly's where we picked up Taylor Nikolaus, whose parents were packing up for their move to a new house! Jim and Kristin had their 3 year old son, William, too, along with their 2 year old, Kaitlin, and 12 week old, Jacob. I bet that was a fun car ride to the zoo! Our other friends Carmen, Ben, and their daughter Allie met us there. All of the kids were great. We saw everything you're supposed to see at a zoo, tigers, monkeys (to match Grace's outfit), zebras, giraffes, a really ugly warthog (the Lion King makes them out to be much cuter), elephants, and many other little creatures! All of the kids were great, and all of the babies, Grace included, did a little napping in their strollers.

Our little monkey!

Allie P, catching a few ZZZZ's!

William and Kaitlin, riding in style in the wagon (a must for toddlers)!

Taylor, whom I hope my kids grow up to be like! Such a great kid!

After we left, we went to Sammy's Grill for boiled crawfish, which was excellent. I'll add here that since the suction episode this morning, Grace was the model child the entire day. Never fussed, took a few little catnaps, laughed through bathtime, and was asleep 5 minutes into her last meal of the day, and has been ever since. We dropped her crib down tonight now that she's sitting, and it's a long way to reach down with a sleeping baby!

There's really nothing better to me than a day like this, with my precious little family, great friends, sunshine, and all topped off with a little crawfish and Abita Strawberry. Here's to hoping we get a repeat very soon!

"Da Da Da"

One of the best firsts ever:

(Disclaimer: Do not watch this if you can't stand the Mommy voice. I apologize for how ridiculous I sound, and I wish that you could just hear her without hearing me, but you can't, so brace yourself...)

You'll also get a chance to enjoy some growling, courtesy of Grace. Still cute.

First visit to the camp!

We decided to take our first trip out to the camp this past weekend. It was such a beautiful weekend and we all had a great time. Grace and her daddy got some extra hang-out time when Mama ran back to Baton Rouge for a massage at Bumble Lane! The whole time I had a nagging feeling that I had forgotten something. Did I forget clothes? Nope! Grace was so happy to get to wear her watermelon bubble! OK, so maybe it was Mommy who was so happy...
Did I forget my camera? Nope! Check out my loves!


Did I forget the exersaucer? Nope! And Grace LOVES that thing, so we bring it everywhere we go!


Did I forget to get a picture of Grace with the river in the background? Nope! We'll forever remember her first trip out to the camp!

Ahhh, that's it. I forgot the hat! And although it was great weather, it was very sunny, and we didn't want the first trip to the camp to also be the first weekend with a sunburned scalp, so......

Check me out in my Great-PawPaw Gerald's hat!

I love bath time!

Lovin' on Bo-Man

Who doesn't love a big, furry playmate?

Kisses all around!Someone loves her "brother"!

Weekend Photoshoot

Last weekend Grace woke up in the best mood, so we did a photo shoot in her favorite outfit - nothing but the diaper! They turned out really cute!

We're back!

After a 5 month break from the blog (we'll call it maternity leave), we are back!

To get you up to speed:

Grace was born on September 7, 2010. At 4 days overdue, we decided to go ahead and induce because she was an estimated 8 lbs 8 oz on Friday, September 3, her original due date! We went in on Tuesday morning at 3am, where we discovered I had been having contractions all day (so that is what those little cramps were!), but not really progressing much. At 12:22 pm, Grace entered the world weighing in at 8 lbs, 10.5 oz, and 22" long. Wow! Soon enough we brought her home, introduced her to her brother (the canine brother, Bociphus - more about those adventures later), and settled into our new groove. Since birth, she has remained in the 90-95th percentile in both height and weight, and she is doing great! I'm going to do some posts in the next few days to catch you up from birth until now, and then I'll try to be better about documenting her life.

If for no other reason, when I'm old and gone and she's wanting to hear stories about when she was little (like my sister and brothers and I ALWAYS asked our parents), she'll have a first hand account preserved for a lifetime!