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.
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 :)
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| Loving it when Daddy throws her in the air! |
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!
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| A baby, or a crab? |
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| The girls in the outfits my sister made for them. |
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| I'm not too sure about these fireworks.... |
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.
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| Beach Babes! |
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| On Grace St. in Wilmington. Ironically, it came right after Princess St. |
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 ;)
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| 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!
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| 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)!
