Brief update... (sorry!)

Okay, I've been terrible about the blogging. We're just so busy. Gracie especially! She's talking up a storm.... it seems like everyday she picks up a couple more words. She signs still though when she says a lot of things or will sign instead of saying stuff. She is a total ham. She stands n front of the mirror posing and making faces. She cracks herself up ( well, let's face it... me too!) She's very cool in her shades. She likes to wear them EVERYWHERE. She wears them for long periods too.... and she just looks like she knows that she is sooo cool.

She is also obsessed with brushing her teeth. I have never seen a kid love to brush their teeth as much as she does. She asks to do it a least three or four times a day. She very into hygiene apparently!
She's super independent. And no longer allows me to feed her. So after a few tries with the yogurt... we gave it up. She drinks kefir now instead! She knows a large majority of her body parts. And is super pleased with herself when she accurately points at them. It's pretty cute.
And she is super into trying to help me. Here she is "mopping" the floor. She may make the apartment look like it was hit by a tornado most days... but she does like to make it look like she at least TRIES to clean up : ) We're going to Texas tomorrow, so hopefully we'll have lots of cute pictures to post when we get back!

Woah...

Woah, this kid is growing up so fast and keeping me soo busy it's almost hard to keep up! I hardly even know where to start about all her new cute Gracie-isms!

She's been hiding in the closet! And thinks it is pretty funny. She'll laugh hysterically if I start going where is Gracie? She watches me from the crack in the bend of the door and if when I pretend to look everywhere BUT the closet she starts really cracking up.




I got her a giggle and shake Elmo chair... and it is her favorite new place to perch herself. She's been weaned off the bottle except for at bedtime.. but that'll happen soon too! She's started to really start playing pretend even more ( I think she must be extremely advanced... 1 1/2 seems to young to play pretend!) She carries her baby around with her and tries giving her old pacifiers or their bottle. And is so gentle with them... It's pretty darn cute. She pretends to eat the toy food from her kitchen ( and of course wants me to do so as well!). She plays so well by herself when I am studying. She is really learning to be gentle with babies and dogs (FINALLY). And when she sees her "uncle" Zack and "aunt" Chloe she kisses them and is just so interested in them.

Gracie is just such a happy baby. She was playing at the library and approached this little boy who was probably 3 or 4. He turned around and slapped her across the face and ran off. I, of course, was stunned and worried about my babe... but it didn't even faze Gracie she just smiled and continued playing. At church, she goes into the daycare there during the service. She LOVES it there. And most of the people in there know her by now. And they have been telling me how she can get plowed over or fall and she just gets up and keeps on going! I knew she does that but to hear it from someone else, kinda struck me as " whoa... I guess that is kinda unusual!" Or is it? She is saying some words... like"No", "Yeah", "D" for dog.... and she is learning more and more signs. I hardly ever used the bath sign with her and out of nowhere everytime I ask if she wants to take a bath or a shower she starts doing the sign! And boy, this kid LOVES to take showers with me! She spends the whole time laughing and trying to splash in and out of the shower stream! She also has started climbing some. Which is a discovery that makes me kinda nervous. And of course now I have to be extremely more careful. She pulled open my kitchen cabinets and climbed up the shelves to get to a knife I had been using on the counter. SCARY! This kid definitely keeps me on my toes! She never ceases to amaze me!

Girly Girl

I haven't blogged in forever... so there is just soo much to gush about! Well, first off Gracie is quite the dancer. I think I'll definetly be putting her into a dance class in a couple of years! She is constantly dancing. And if she is in one room occupied with something and she hears the Elmo song come on... she goes running... and dances all at the same time. She's completely entertaining. She's currently getting her 4th molar and has been quite the pistol! But sooo loving all at the same time giving tons of hugs and kisses... go figure. I haven't been able to put her in any hard soled shoes because none of them fit her right. So, we went to a kid's shoe store... and they told me that her foot is abnormally shaped. She has an extremely wide foot, an extremely high insole and her foot is really fat. ( Hey what the sales girl said, not me!) So after trying on 7 pairs of shoes that fit these specifications we found 2 pairs that fit her right... 2 out of 7.... : ( So I got her a pair of over priced tennis shoes. And it was like she was learning to walk all over again! She wanted to hold onto me and furniture at first with every step. But she's pretty used to them now and loves to stomp her feet on hard floors because of the noise.

I gave her large crayons for Christmas and she carried them around with her until I finally took them away from her ( I suddenly realized the trouble she could get into with them!- Although a little too late because I've found that she colored on her little house and my entertainment center : ( Oh well...) But during supervised coloring times she's so serious. Every "scribble" done so carefully. She loves it!

She really plays with more than this tent/house... but I just think she's so darn cute in it... that I've ended up with tons of pictures of her in it!



She has been amazing me at what she can get into lately. She reaches up onto counters and yanks anything and everything off. She comes out of the pantry with stuff that was so out of reach I cannot begin to imagine how she got it. She came out with a bag of cheetos the other day, took the clip off and started walking around the house munching on them carrying the bag. She finally came over to the TV turned it on and plopped down in front of it chowing down on her Cheetos. It was actually pretty cute. I am constantly reminded of how quickly she's growing up : (

My boss gave her their old play kitchen. And I thought Gracie would probably not pay any attention to it really because she's a little young. But she ran for it when she saw it set up in her room. And played with it ALL day! She was almost knocking the thing over trying to turn the "water faucet" on! She talked on the phone, emptied and filled the microwave and oven. She LOVES it! She's such a girl!

Gracie has been carrying her dolls. It's adorable because she takes the dolls into her little tent/house and feeds them. One of her dolls cries sporadically and if she is having trouble giving the baby her bottle she'll frantically search for me so that I can help.




Gracie really has sooo much fun in the bath. She loves playing with the running water. She has a bunch of stacking cups and she has figured out how to stack them. She also loves to fill them up and empty them. Over and over. She's such a little fish. She lays on her belly and sticks her face in the water and comes up laughing hysterically. Our bathroom is usually completely damp after her baths from all her splashing. She's so funny to watch in there. That's all I can think of for now, but I will sincerely try not to take so long to blog again : )

Christmas 2006

I know, I know, these pictures were a long time in coming. We had a FABULOUS Christmas. We were super busy but had sooo much fun! Gracie opened many of her presents herself which was fun to watch. And she got sooo many great toys and even some super cute clothes! She loved the "hustle and bustle" of the season as well. I had soo many good pictures I couldn't choose just a couple so I've narrowed them down the best I could! I can't even imagine how much fun next year will be when she can at least sorta get the Santa part!







And a special thanks to Jen for finding Gracie's them song: Gracie by Ben Folds! It is Gracie's new favorite song... actually more like her theme... it's like she knows the song is about her! When she hears it she starts dancing like a maniac and flapping her arms around and clapping. TOO CUTE!!!!

Lil Miss Grown Up!

Gracie loves to help with anything and everything. Last night she wasn't happy unless she was right with me, which was making it difficult to make dinner! So I pulled up a chair and she watched for a little bit and then started whining again. I gave her a spoon and let her stir and she was happy as a clam! She stirred and stirred! When I was done having her stir and took the bowl away she was so upset she was on the floor staring up at the counter screaming at the bowl because she wasn't done! She's such a good little helper!

Gracie LOVES talking on the phone. She's talking to Grammy in these pictures.

Gracie is getting over a cold, and has no problem laying down on the couch with her bottle watching TV! She just keeps seeming older and older. Ahhhh! I want it to slow down!!!

Leaps and Bounds...

Okay, okay... finally some pictures for everyone. I had them ready to do... just have had a very busy month. Gracie is really getting soooo much personality. She's such a happy baby, almost always smiling. Very social with not only other kids but adults as well. She has become a dancing maniac. She is always dancing. And if we are listening to rock she is head banging (well, kinda). And after watching Papa dance, now she lifts her little legs up to do her dancing sometimes. It is pretty darn cute. I gave her my old cell phone and she carries it around constantly lately. Jabbering away.


Earlier this month we went to the children's museum in Ann Arbor with Anthony and Rosana. It was mainly too old for them, but they still had a lot of fun. They get along really well.

She is imitating like crazy. she pretends to comb her hair, tries to put clothes on ( she has figured out zippers so she likes to unzip anything she's wearing and can even get a jacket off. ) She even helps get her toys out of the tub before she gets out by handing me them one by one. She also helps unload the dishwasher, mainly just the silverware, but she stands and hands me it piece by piece. Looking ever so proud that she is such a good helper.

I had to include a picture of her with her bathtime mohawk. Plus the expression on her face is pretty funny. I can't get over how fast she's growing and developing! She can even fit circle and triangle puzzle pieces in one of her toys. She's such a smart cookie! Now if we could just slow down this whole growing up thing.....

Halloween!

So, a couple days before Halloween, I tried a couple different costumes on her. First I put on Pooh, and she was in front of the mirror and just stared and smiled. Then, I tried the princess costume. And she SCREAMED and cried! So, I didn't have to decide... Gracie did! She has really been good about letting her opinions and wants be known.


( yes, i know that is a scary picture of me... but gracie looks way too cute not to post it!)

Well, it was not Gracie's first Halloween, or first time getting dressed up, but it was her first time trick or treating. She even held her own candy bag.... and had some chocolate... she LOVED it. We went with Rosana and Anthony. Anthony is Gracie's age... and they were VERY interested in one another. It was pretty darn cute.
We went to the allergist yesterday and my suspicision that Gracie is allergic to eggs was confirmed. She is not terribly allergic though so she just can't eat plain eggs. She can still eat most things with eggs in them. The dr. even said that she would most likely outgrow the allergy. And the less things she eats with eggs in them the sooner that will happen.
Gracie also surprisingly enough loves tomatoes and portobella mushrooms. She shoves tomatoes in like it's nobody's business!