Big News!

For those of you who have not seen it on Facebook yet - I am pregnant!  I am due 7/12/12 and I will be 11 weeks pregnant this Thursday.  This is a little earlier than we told people with Grace, but we wanted to be able to do it before the holidays and I wouldn't be at 12 weeks until after Christmas.  The pregnancy came as a bit of a surprise - I had started taking Clomid again back in June, and we tried in June, July and September with no luck.  We didn't try in August because then the baby would have been due the day before Grace's birthday and I would prefer my kids to have their own special day.  I stopped taking the Clomid after September because I didn't want the baby to be born too close to the start of cross country season and figured that we would start trying again in February or March so the baby would be born after the season was over.  Well, I guess God had different plans because I found out I was pregnant on 11/8 - with no fertility help at all!  I was pretty nervous at first because the doctor had told me (when we were trying to get pregnant with Grace) that Clomid can both help you get pregnant but can also help you stay pregnant because it usually releases a stronger egg (or something to that effect) so I was scared that I might not have a good pregnancy without the help of the Clomid.  I called the doctor right away and they had me draw blood twice within a week to check my hCg values and the increased like they were supposed to but I knew I wouldn't feel good until I had an ultrasound and saw the baby's heartbeat.  When I was pregnant with Grace the doctor had me come in at 6 weeks and I was able to see that the pregnancy wasn't ectopic and then I came in again a week later and saw the heartbeat so I was really hoping that she would do the same thing this time, just for my peace of mind.  Unfortunately, she has a different nurse than when we were there for Grace, and this nurse was not nearly as understanding and kind of blew me off about needing to come in as soon as possible which was so frustrating.  Sometimes I feel like a lot of people in the medical community only see infertility and miscarriages as something clinical and don't pay attention to how emotional it is for the people who are actually going through it.  I finally got in to have an ultrasound at almost 8 weeks (which is about the time they do them for people without any history of problems!) and we were able to see the heartbeat which took a huge weight off my shoulders.  I'm still kind of holding my breath until the 12 weeks are past, and won't be totally comfortable until at least 30 weeks or so, but at least one big hurdle has been overcome.  I have another ultrasound tomorrow so please pray that everything continues to look good on this ultrasound. 

I have definitely not been feeling the same as I did when I was pregnant with Grace - a LOT more nausea and extremely tired all the time.  Thankfully I haven't thrown up at all but most of the time the thought of food makes me want to vomit.  The good side of that is I have not gained any weight yet, which is amazing because of all the holiday food everywhere and this is usually not a good time of year for my weight!!  But it's really hard to be motivated to make any cookies or anything when you always feel like puking.  I love to bake and this is usually my favorite time of year but I have really struggled this year.  It's definitely the hardest time of the year to be unmotivated!!  I am taking progesterone, which is a natural sedative and is part of what makes women nauseous when they're pregnant, so I'm hoping once I stop taking it after 12 weeks I will start to feel better.  If how you feel when you're pregnant is any indication of the gender, this kid is definitely a boy!

Giving Toby a hug

On to Grace...it has been so cute to watch her discover Christmas and all the decorations.  She loves the Christmas tree and will just stare at it for a few minutes after the light are turned on.  She points to all the ornaments (thankfully she's really good about not messing with them) and loves the ones that have bells in them.  I still have a little Winnie the Pooh snow globe that I had as a kid and she loves to shake it and see the snow flying around (although she thinks Winnie is a dog and says "woof woof" whenever she looks at him!).  One of my favorite parts of the holidays is seeing it through her eyes.

I had to move her toys from one side of the living room to the other in order to put up the Christmas tree and it was so funny how all of a sudden she was extremely interested in toys that she has pretty much ignored for a few months just because they were in a different location.  I'll have to remember this at other times of the year!  Her current favorite toys are her Fischer-Price nativity set (see pic above), her beads (which she loves to dump out and put back in the bucket and repeat!) and of course, her kitchen.  She knows who Mary is (and even says Mary but I think it's more "Mewee or Memee") and according to her, baby Jesus cries ALOT because everytime she plays with him she "cries" - it's hilarious! 

Relaxing with a book

She still loves to read (all the time!) and is getting really good at making the connection between what she sees in a picture and everyday things around our house.  For example, in one of her books Santa is sitting in front of a fireplace and when she sees it she will say "hot" and then point to the fireplace in our living room and say "hot".  It's amazing to watch her develop these new skills every day and to see how quickly she learns new things.  She is a huge imitator and the other day she was looking through the Target ad and was licking her finger before turning the pages, probably because she had seen either me or Jeff do it.  It cracked me up to see this little tiny person imitating adult behaviors.  Of course, this means we have to be even more careful about the things we do and say around her!!

Mommy's little helper

A few weeks ago I wore a sweater that had flowers on it and when I went to get her up she saw them, stuck her face in them and sniffed - I couldn't stop laughing, especially because I had tried all summer to get her to sniff real flowers with no luck.  I guess she prefers the fake ones!  I also learned how things can get lost in translation to a 19 month old - we were looking through a book with a picture of an angel and Grace pointed to the halo and said "hat" and I said "halo" and she immediately held her hand up to her ear like it was a phone and said "hello"! 

Coloring with markers for the first time

I think that about catches everything up.  I did finally finish Grace's stocking - I started it at the end of February and finished it about a week ago.  It is counted cross stitch, and everything that is not a beige color is a stitch - it took FOREVER.  But, it is pretty awesome!  I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

It's so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already over and Christmas is less than a month away, and then it will be 2012.  Where did the year go?  I've been looking back at pictures and it's so weird to think that a year ago Grace wasn't crawling or talking or anything - it's hard to imagine her immobile :)



November has been a busy month but that is nothing new around here.  The first weekend was the state cross country meet at Michigan International Speedway - I had one girl and one guy qualify as individuals.  They both ran their best times that day, and my girl athlete placed 20th in the state for Division 3 runners - it was awesome!
The next weekend we headed up to Big Rapids to go to the annual MITCA cross country clinic for coaches.  We were there Thursday and Friday night and Grace did not do well at all in the room.  Both nights she didn't go to sleep until after midnight - it was so frustrating.  At one point I was ready to put her out in the hall!  When we went to NC over the summer she had done really well, but we had paid extra to get rooms that were a little bit bigger and had a sitting area that we put her pack & play in so she was a little separate from us, and that must be the trick because the room we had in Big Rapids was just your standard room. 

On the 18th Manchester held their annual "Christmas in the Village" and there was a parade and then Santa was available for the kids so Grace got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time.  She wasn't scared or anything but there was a long line behind us so I couldn't take a lot of time to get a really good picture. 

We went to Frankenmuth last Sunday night and stayed at Zehnder's watersplash park and Grace loved it!  When we first went to the park she was a little overwhelmed by the noise and the kids and just wanted to be held, but after about an hour she warmed up and probably would have stayed all night.  She went down some of the smaller slides and it was so cute to see her big smile!  We had an awesome chicken dinner on Sunday night at the Zehnder's restaurant.  Grace actually did pretty good in the hotel room (thank goodness!) but I think it was partly because she was so worn out from all the swimming!

We had a triple-Thanksgiving this year - on Thursday we drove to Toledo to have dinner with the Holleran side of the family, on Friday we had dinner with my mom and on Saturday we hosted the Weidmayer Thanksgiving at our house with about 25 people.  I kind of hope I don't eat turkey again for another year :)  Grace was a total ham at all the parties - she provided most of the entertainment!
In the last week or so she has really started picking up a lot of words - she says book, buh-buh (bye bye), neh-neh (nose - not sure why she doesn't just say nose!), momma (really well, and points to me when she says it), grandma, grandpa, coat and sometimes will point to herself and say something that sounds like Gracie.  She is also getting really good at pointing to things in books and either making the sound (if it's an animal) or saying what it is. 
She loves to go around blowing on candles, whether they're real or in a picture and she loves to "blow" her nose with a kleenex.  Her favorite toys are her dishes and spoons and she loves to feed all of us and her dolls.  She has gotten pretty good at feeding herself her oatmeal and yogurt with a spoon with minimal mess.  She also loves to make you laugh and has this hilarious fake laugh that she does when people around her are laughing. 

She has also started recently saying and using "no" in the correct way - I was really hoping this was a word she wouldn't learn for a LONG time!  I can already tell how fun it's going to be if she starts to go through a "no" phase.  Right now she's pretty good at only saying it when she really means it or if she points to something that we've already told her she's not supposed to touch.  I really hope she doesn't start using it for everything. 

She loves spending time outside and picking up rocks from the driveway and carrying them around the yard.  She also goes up to all the dead flowers and sniffs them!  I'm hoping the nicer weather holds out for as long as possible so we can spend time outdoors.

This Thanksgiving has really made me reflect on how thankful I am for everything in my life.  Sometimes I look at Grace and I can't believe she's really my daughter and that I am lucky enough to be her mom.  She brings so much joy to our family and to most of the people she comes in contact with-it's amazing to watch her change and learn and turn into this amazing little person.  I only hope that I can be the best mom I can be for her and that I never let her down.  She definitely has helped me become a better person!

Halloween and Seventeen Months

Here we are again at the end of the month finally posting a blog :)  Happy Halloween, everyone!  The cutest little ladybug lives at our house, although we didn't make it safely to Halloween without an incident.  On Saturday Grace was carrying a toy and tripped over another one on the floor and fell face-first onto the lip of her bucket, scraping both her eyes and leaving some road-rash on the side of her face.  I'm just glad that she didn't end up with a black eye (it was pretty puffed up Sunday morning) and that the bucket didn't crack and cut her. 

Grace has started doing so many new things in the last month.  It's so fun to play with her and interact with her - she's already showing a great imagination and she LOVES reading books together.  She'll crawl in your lap and read book after book after book.  One of the books she likes teaches sign language so she now signs for milk and dog.  It just amazes me how quickly she can pick up on things and how much she learns when we don't even realize we're teaching her things (it definitely makes me more careful of the things I say and do around her!).  The other day she was playing with her toy kitchen and she pulled the lid off one of the pots and shook the salt shaker over the pot just like she was really cooking!  She also loves to walk around with the little bowls and spoons and "feed" everyone and her dolls.  She even does an eating sound effect!  I've also started to let her feed herself her oatmeal in the morning and she's getting pretty good at it but gets sick of it after awhile and hands me the spoon back :) 

Grace's first Red Wings game

She's also started saying more words - "uppie" for both up and down, "all done" (which she also says in church when everyone says amen!), "puh-puh" for pumpkin, "uh-oh" and she also fake-cries whenever you say baby - it's pretty hilarious. 

Let's see, what else...she has started dancing - she's really good at the twist :)  She also comes in and waves to the toilet whenever you flush it (my days of going to the bathroom with the door shut are long gone unless I want to listen to her throw a fit) and she also waves bye-bye to the water in the tub as it's draining.  She "counts" her fingers by touching each one and saying "dah" as she touches them - this was another one of those surprise things that she just started randomly doing one day.  She is also getting really good at stacking blocks and has stacked at least eight of them at one time.  It's just hard to hold her attention for that long!

I have one more week of cross country practice and then I will finally have my afternoons back!  Next Saturday is the state meet at MIS and I had one guy and one girl qualify for the state meet as individuals.  The regional meet was this past Saturday at Lake Erie Metropark pretty much where the Detroit River and Lake Erie meet and it was a total mud-fest.  The kids' backs were covered in mud from their shoulders to their feet by the time they finished the race.  It was a pretty disappointing day - we had expected the girls' team to qualify as a team and they came in 4th by three points (the top 3 teams go to state) and the boys' team had a small chance of going and they ended up coming in 8th.  I'm not really sure what went wrong - the course was slow because of the mud but that affected everyone equally.  It really makes me question what I've had the kids do the last few weeks that all these other teams did really well and we didn't.  It's so frustrating - if nothing else, I figure I will be an expert on teenagers by the time Grace is one!

Modeling daddy's alma mater

Modeling mommy's alma mater -
look how much happier she is :)

Jeff and I have been going through roof leak hell the last three weeks.  Back in May we had gotten almost 7 inches of rain in less than 2 days and a few days after this happened we noticed a water stain appear on the ceiling in our dining room.  Jeff went up to the attic and couldn't really see or find anything, so we just attributed it to the crazy amount of rain we had gotten and didn't think anything of it.  We primed and re-painted the area and kind of forgot about it.  Well, over the summer everytime we would have a heavy rain the spot would appear again and get bigger and bigger and actually started growing black mold.  Jeff would always go up in the attic afterward but could never find anything.  We finally had 2 roofers come out in September and they told us there wasn't anything wrong with the roof, but our chimney had a lot of cracks that could let water in, so we had someone come out and rebuild the chimney where it comes out at the roof.  I was a little doubtful this was the real cause because the spot in the ceiling was over 5 feet away from the ceiling but figured the roofing guys would have told us if we needed a new roof.  After we had the chimney fixed we lined up a drywall guy to come out and replace the drywall.  He came out three weeks ago and was here for three days putting up the new drywall and mudding.  He was scheduled to come out two weeks ago to do the knock-down spray (NOT popcorn!) on the ceiling but we noticed a new spot on the drywall over the weekend that looked like water.  When he showed up that day I pointed it out to him and he thought it was water and cut a hole in the brand-new drywall and a ton of water came gushing out.  I was ready to cry at that point because we still had the stupid leak and the drywall work that had been done was all ruined. Jeff went back up in the attic and finally found a spot where the water was coming through between the original roof and where we had added on 3 years ago.  So now we have a roofer who is hopefully going to come out this week and fix that area of the roof and then we can have the drywall guy back out to re-do what he already did.  I just know this all better get done before Thanksgiving because we are having 30 people over and I can't have my house looking like this!!

September

I figured I'd better try to sneak in a post before the month was over - I guess you can tell when cross country starts to get busy by the lack of posts!
The month started with a visit from my sister and her family.  Grace and Ellie shared some cousin time and were able to play in the baby pool together for a few minutes before the mosquitoes tried to eat us alive.  I was hoping we would get to see my sister a little more while she was here, but there's a chance they may be moving back here as early as November.  Now that both girls are walking really well I'm sure they'll be able to get into a lot more trouble together!

One of my friends from high school held a Labor Day/2nd birthday party and I was able to catch up with some friends and Grace was able to flirt with some little boys :)  It's seems like only yesterday that we were all sitting around the table in the cafeteria together and now here we are with kids!  I can't believe how old I am starting to feel.  Yesterday I found out that the flower girl from our wedding is getting ready to go to her first homecoming dance.  YIKES!

This feather doesn't taste too good!

The weekend after Labor Day we went camping at Holland State Park.  Grace had gotten a cold a few days before we left and did not sleep well at all the whole trip.  We didn't get there on Friday night until 10 pm so that didn't help matters, but she didn't end up falling asleep that night until after midnight.  We took our bikes and the bike trailer and rode to the beach everyday and then after dinner we would ride down the road a few miles and get ice cream.   We had perfect weather the entire time, and of course Grace had a blast at the beach.  On Saturday morning I was watching the people around us and realized that the people about 100 feet down from us looked very familiar - it was Jeff's cousin Jill and her family!  They live about a 1/2 hour away from us and we hadn't seen them since Easter and we ran into them 3 hours from home!  It's funny how small the world is.  We were also able to meet up with my roommate from college who I haven't seen since sometime between 2004 and 2006 (neither of us could remember!).  She now has three kids so it was great to have the kids meet each other and catch up a little bit. 

Last Sunday we went to the Toledo Zoo - we had gone a year ago when Grace was only 4 months old and it's amazing the difference a year can make.  She seemed to be interested in the animals but was mainly interested in the playgrounds and threw a fit when we passed one as we were leaving and she couldn't play on it. 

Toledo Zoo 2011

Toledo Zoo 2010

Wearing mommy's shoes!

It's so funny to watch her personality develop - in general she's a very happy and easygoing kid, but when she decides to get mad, look out!  She is still a little goofball and loves making people laugh.  She has a pink bucket that she got for Easter and loves to walk around putting things into it, but the other day she decided to put it on her head and try to walk around that way.  It was pretty funny!  She started throwing a ball and can even kick it as she walks.  We have a bedtime book that we read pretty often and most of the pages have a moon on them and she can now point out the moon on every page.  Some days I am just so amazed at how many things she knows and what a special little girl she is.  I think this age is definitely my favorite so far - she still little and cuddly but is more interactive and really becoming her own person.  She has started to love on Toby a lot and will randomly go up to him and hug and kiss him.  He tolerates her a little more now, especially since she sometimes carries around food :)

A Busy Girl!

I can't believe my blog is official a year old!  It's funny, I still remember the day I started it.  Grace was sleeping in her swing and I decided I would try to do as much as I could while she was sleeping, thinking I might get about half an hour's worth of work in, and she ended up sleeping for 2 hours!  It's amazing to think of the difference between now and then. 

We have been busy the last few weeks, but that's nothing new.  We got to try out our new camper for the first time 3 weeks ago, and we love it!  We camped near Ludington at a church family's "campground".  The have a bunch of land and set up various camper hookups on it and they also built a cabin there.  We go every year and it's always a lot of fun.  This year Grace had 2 playmates, along with her cousins.  Unfortunately, the trip started out a little rough for Grace.  On the way there we stopped for lunch and when Jeff was buckling her back into her seat he somehow got the chest clip for her seat pinched in her cheek.  She cried and cried and it left a big red mark that later turned into a bruise.  Once we got to the campground it only took about an hour for Grace to have her next big accident.  There is a pavilion with a cement pad under it where everyone kind of hangs out together and Grace had found a little chair just right for her and was lounging back in it and enjoying herself (it was actually really funny how she was sitting in it just like an

It was a rough weekend!

 adult relaxing!).  She decided to get out of the chair and kind of lurched forward and fell face-first onto the concrete.  She had a scrape under one nostril, another under her lip, and another big one at the bottom of her chin.  There was blood everywhere, but she recovered faster than I thought she would since this was really her first major fall.  I was afraid to take her anywhere for awhile since it looked like she had been beaten!  Poor little girl!

We went to Lake Michigan while we there and Grace loved it.  The water was FREEZING but she didn't care.  She would be shivering and shaking but would get so mad when we would bring her out of the water to warm her up.  I wish we had more opportunities to go to the beach since she loves it so much.

Lake Michigan 2011

Lake Michigan 2010

We were able to use our camper again two weeks ago when we held the First Annual Cross Country Camp.  We went to Sleepy Hollow State Park, just north of Lansing, and we had 34 people total who attended.  It was an awesome time and I think the kids had a lot of fun too.  Grace was the life of the party with some of the girls and there was even another Grace there who fell in love with her.  It's so neat to watch her interact with the runners and hopefully this will help encourage her to take up running when she's old enough. 

Cheering mom and dad on
while they play putt-putt golf
in Ludington.

Speaking of running, Grace is walking pretty well now.  She still crawls about half the time, but she really took off on her uninitiated walking in the last week.  The other night I was doing dishes and I looked behind me and saw her walking to me from the dining room table.  It took my brain a few minutes to register what I was seeing since we usually have to put her in a standing position and encourage her to walk to us.  She gets so excited when she's walking that she sometimes throws herself off-balance and drops to the ground :)  She has also started babbling a lot lately, but unfortunately it is at full volume all day long.  It's pretty hard to teach a 15 month old volume control.  Yesterday she was in her high chair and I took a phone call and when I got off the phone she was sitting there with her hand to her ear talking into the "phone".  I laughed so hard because of how she was imitating me and even making hand gestures.  She still hasn't said many understandable words, but she understands a lot of them.  She knows where her diaper is and can also point out chickens and sheep in one of her books.  Jeff gives her a big bear hug at night before bed and now she has started hugging back and going "grrr" like he does.  It's so cute! 

At her 15 month checkup she weighed 22 lbs, 6 ozs and was 30 1/4" long, both in the 40th percentile so she's starting to get up to average!  It's funny to watch her facial expressions when she gets her shots - she had to get three at this appt and after the first one she kind of made a pouty face and looked at the nurse like, "why would you hurt me like that?" but then when the nurse gave her the next one she just lost it and it was like she was saying, "OK, one was tolerable but any more than that is MEAN!" 

Last Saturday we visited my friend Jamie and her new addition, baby Kate.  She had triplets in 2007 that were born at 27 weeks and was blessed to have another baby girl.  We grew up next door to each other and have been friends since we were 4.  It was so cute to see all the kids together and Grace was fascinated with the older ones!

Four little miracles!

I think that gets us caught up on the last few weeks.  My sister is coming up from NC this week to stay for about a week.  Thankfully they were very lucky and even though they were only 30 miles from where Hurricane Irene made landfall they didn't sustain much damage and really didn't lose power for too long.  It will be so great to see the girls together, especially since they are both walking now.  I'm sure they will get into trouble!!

Walking!

So Grace finally took her first steps last night - just shy of 15 months old!  Jeff and I were sitting on the floor and we moved about 5 feet apart and held her between us and she finally took a few steps getting from one of us to the other.  In the past when we've tried this she would immediately drop down to her knees and crawl once we let go of her.  We used the play spoons from her toy kitchen as the incentive :) 


Grace also learned how to unlock the cabinet locks, at least on some of the cabinets in the kitchen.  We have the ones that go on the inside near the top that you push down as you open the cabinet or drawer and she was trying to open one of them and realized that's where the resistance was coming from and reached up, pulled the lever down and got the cabinet open.  Maybe I need to be more specific when I pray for her to be smart?!
We haven't done a whole lot since we got back from NC; mainly just working on getting the camper ready to go on some trips and trying to get things done around the house.  Our garden is starting to produce for us so I've been trying to keep up with taking care of what's harvested.  In the last month I've made 18 jars of jam (bumbleberry, strawberry-rhubarb and fieldberry) and about 10 loaves of zucchini and blueberry bread.  And Jeff just picked 4 more zucchini yesterday....

Going for it....

Got it!

I finally started making a list of all the things that Grace has learned or started doing so that I would remember when I actually sat down to write the blog.  She knows where her ears, hair, toes and tummy are, but not her nose or her eyes (although she did learn that she can stick her finger up her nose....she likes to breathe heavy while her finger is in her nose - not the most attractive look!)  She'll also kiss her toes if you ask her to.

Trying out the bubble mower

I've noticed that she knows things that I don't even know she knows until I accidentally stumble upon it by asking her the right questions.  The other day I asked her where her cow was (she has one of those Fischer-Price barns) and she crawled over and picked it up without any hesitation.  Totally blew me away!  I also figured out that she knows where the apple is in one of her books and she knows where her swingset is - I asked her where her swing was and she went to the door and pointed right to it.  She is also fascinated with planes and birds - whenever we're outside she always points them out to us.
She has started making a "woof-woof" noise and a "moo" noise, although not always when she's sees a dog or a cow :)  She loves to give her baby doll kisses and actually rocked her a little bit too.  Since we set up her toy kitchen she has also started feeding the baby and giving her drinks from the cups.  It's so cute!

Helping mom with laundry

The other day I was working on the computer at the dining room table and Grace was starting to get annoyed with me so she kept coming up to the chair and trying to get me to pick her up.  Toby was laying next to the chair trying to sleep and the next thing I noticed was that Grace seemed a lot taller than usual.  I looked down, and she was STANDING on poor Toby's rib cage to give her a little extra boost!  Toby was so good about - I can't believe he didn't make any noise or try to get up to get her off of him.  Grace is still on the small side, but I would think it wouldn't feel good to have about 22 pounds standing on you! 

Grace LOVES to play on the couch and the bed.  We're not really sure what the fascination is, but she will crawl around and smash her face into them and have the best time just hanging out.  At first we thought she liked looking out the window from the couch but now she just crawls back and forth from one end to the other without looking out the window at all.  She has become so goofy lately - a lot of her personality is developing now and she loves attention and getting people to laugh, but she is also very sensitive to your mood and doesn't like it if you are sad or upset. 

Messy after a dinner of lasagna
and broccoli

I haven't shared a lot of these kinds of stories with you because I feel a little guilty laughing at Grace's expense, but that girl sure knows how to pass gas!  It's actually a joke in the family that the Walter side (Jeff's mom) has a gene that always shows up in at least one of the kids that predisposes them to this problem and it appears that Grace got the gene!  The funny thing is that she tries to force them out all the time and you can tell one is coming if you're holding her because she flexes her butt and then sticks it out and lets it rip!  She will also do it in her high chair - she'll be sitting in there and then clench her butt, which makes her sit up higher.  She's always very proud of herself!  Poor Grace - someday she'll hate me for these stories but I will make sure they are shared with her boyfriends :)

Coloring with daddy

I guess that's about it for now.  Cross Country is gearing up to start every day now - it was so nice when it was only two days a week, but I'm excited to see how the kids do.  I think this year could be our most successful season yet!

Finally Updated

When I created this blog, I really thought that I would post more than once a month - I guess I didn't realize how busy it would get!  I need to start posting more often - it's getting hard for me to remember what has happened since the last time I posted. 

On Father's Day we went to Jeff's aunt and uncles's house - they have everyone over every year to swim in their pool and celebrate together.  This was the first year that Grace was old enough to swim in the pool, and she had a blast.  I think she would have stayed in there all day if we had let her.  The weather cooperated and was warm enough to swim, but not unbearably hot like it has been in years past.



Loving it when Daddy throws her in the air!

The next weekend Jeff and I enjoyed a date night out together to the Tiger's game.  On Friday and Saturday nights they shoot off fireworks from the field after the game, so it was really cool.  We were in a suite so we enjoyed good food and my favorite - the dessert cart :)

The last weekend in June we celebrated my nephew's 2nd birthday and he and Grace had so much fun playing together with his bubble machine.  It was the first time Grace had seen bubbles and she loved them.  It is so cute to see the world through her eyes. 

On June 29th we celebrated our nine year anniversary by buying a camper!  Well, we didn't plan on that being our anniversary present but it happened to work out that we picked it up that day so we decided that it counted :)  It wasn't the most romantic anniversary but it was still good.  We went to Noodles and Co. for dinner and then Cold Stone for dessert and then went to pick up the camper.  I'm not sure if it counted as a date since Grace went with us - maybe she was our chaperone? :)

On July 1st we headed down to North Carolina to visit my sister.  The first night we stayed in Lewisburg, WV, which was a really cute little town with some good restaurants and shops.  We got to my sister's house in Jacksonville on Saturday evening (a lot later than we had planned - the route we took was not the fastest way to get there!) and Grace and Eliana were so excited to see each other!  Every time they get to be together gets better and better.  On Sunday we headed to the beach - after a three hour drive to try and find a beach that wasn't insanely busy we finally got there, only to spend about an hour there before storms started moving in.  Grace absolutely loved the beach - she acted like she had been going there her whole life.  I was nervous about if the saltwater would bother her but she didn't care at all.  She loved "riding the waves" and started crying when we left.  She even picked up a seashell and started digging with it like a professional.  She's never dug in sand or dirt before - it was so cute!

A baby, or a crab?

On Monday we were able to watch the fireworks at Camp LeJeune since my sister's husband is a Marine stationed there.  They had a concert before-hand with the Jane Dear girls and then the Marine band played before the fireworks started.  Grace was a little scared of the fireworks - I think more from the lights than the noise.  She spent most of the fireworks with her head on my chest sucking her finger.  I think it was my favorite fireworks yet!  Jeff and I have been blessed to see fireworks from so many different locations - since our anniversary is so close to the Fourth we usually are on vacation.  We've seen them from St. Ignace, MI, Copper Harbor, MI, Manchester, MI, Maui, Hawaii, and now from Camp Lejeune.

The girls in the outfits my sister made for them.

I'm not too sure about these fireworks....

We went to the beach again on Tuesday, and again we had to leave earlier than we wanted to because of storms.  On Wednesday we went to Wilmington, NC and walked around the town and did some shopping. 
We headed back for home on Thursday morning - it was really bittersweet because I'm not sure when we will see my sister again.  Her husband is being medically retired from the Marines because of injuries he suffered while serving in Afghanistan but no one knows when it will all be processed.  Hopefully he will be done before the end of the year and they will be moving back up here to MI.  It was so great to see the girls playing together and I know they miss each other. 

Beach Babes!

On Grace St. in Wilmington.  Ironically,
it came right after Princess St.

We drove to Knoxville, TN on Thursday and spent the night there.  We drove through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg area and I know that I want to go back there someday and stay longer.  It is a beautiful area with a TON of things to do.  We finally got home on Friday evening and I was SO glad to be out of the car.  I could have gone a week without driving again but my cousin got married in Toledo on Saturday night so it was deja vu driving down toward Ohio again :)
Grace did awesome on the trip.  I had been so worried that she wouldn't handle the car ride well and that trying to get her to sleep in the hotel rooms and at my sister's would be a total disaster since she is the world's lightest sleeper, but she did so good.  The first night at the hotel it took her a little while to go to sleep - she cried some but then passed out after about 10 minutes.  She slept really good at my sister's house and never woke up even when we were sneaking into the room when we went to bed.  She handled the car rides amazingly well and never really got super cranky or had a meltdown.  We did discover that traveling makes her very regular though - that was about the worst part.  We always knew when we had to stop because of the smell ;)

A bellhop this cute would get a lot of tips!

All in all it has been a great month, but very busy.  Grace came down with something on Sunday - she had a low-grade fever Sunday and Monday and then Monday night it spiked to 104.  I took her to the doctor on Tuesday and they suspected it was roseola, which has a high fever with no symptoms and then once the fever goes away after about 3 days a rash develops.  Grace started getting the rash yesterday so now we know.  The good thing is that her fever is gone and the rash doesn't itch or bother her in any way so she is on the road to recovery.  Poor little girl!

I should have known she was sick - I was
able to go in her room and take a picture without
her waking up!

Grace still isn't walking - I guess she doesn't see a need to when she can crawl so fast.  I am ready for her to start though - the wedding on Saturday was outside and she wanted to get down really bad but I didn't want her crawling around getting filthy so it was pretty frustrating. 
She loves to give kisses, blow kisses, wave hi and bye and has started mimicking us more and more.  The other day I screamed because a spider shot down from the ceiling unexpectedly and she looked at me and then screamed too.  It was pretty funny, but I hope she doesn't start screaming all the time now!  She has also suddenly developed a fear of animated toys.  I was cleaning our spare bedroom and there were some stuffed animals that dance in there that she had gotten for Christmas so I put them on the floor for her and she freaked out - sobbing and screaming and clinging to me for dear life.  Eliana has an Elmo that does the hokey-pokey and before I could tell my sister about Grace's fear she turned it on and Grace flipped out again.  By the end of the trip she was okay with it, but I haven't tried the other stuffed animals again.
Eating and drinking are still frustrating - I think I spend three hours a day getting Grace to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack.  It is so annoying!  On a good day she drinks about 15 ozs of fluid and she should be drinking closer to 24.  On a bad day (which is usually every other day) she might drink 10 ozs.  When I took her to the doctor she had only gained 6 ozs in two months, but they didn't say anything so I don't know if I should be worried or not.  I think I am going to have to start feeding her like they do baby cows and stick a syringe of milk in her mouth and squirt it in!

I've been struggling with the monotony of my days lately - I think because this was the first vacation where it really wasn't a vacation because I still had to take care of Grace.  In the past, vacations meant time off of work and a break, but that is not the case when you have kids!  I feel really guilty when I get tired of dealing with Grace since I prayed so long and went through so much to have her, but it can be so tiresome.  I've been trying to find that right balance between being with her and doing things for myself.  It seems like I go from one extreme to the other - I'm either so busy with other activities that I hardly spend time with her, or I have nothing else going on to get "me" time, so I really hope I can find the right balance soon.  Please pray for me (and all the other moms out there)!