Grace's Birthday Pictures

On the day before her birthday I took Grace to a local portrait studio to have some pictures taken.  It was much more of an experience than I would have imagined it would be.  My typically ultra friendly, super hammy baby totally went blank in front of the camera.  It took a lot of prodding to get her to smile much at all (if you spend much time with her you will know that this is not her disposition at all).

Then, shocker of all shockers, at one point when we have her standing up next to this block, Grace turns to me and takes two steps all on her own to get to me!  Grace took her first steps right then and there!!  I about fell over I was so shocked.  Pretty sure the photo guy didn't know what to do with either of us at that point.  That was all the walking that she did there, but it was amazing!  She did do a couple more for daddy that night so he didn't totally miss out.

North Carolina Vacation

For our summer vacation this year we went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Eric's family.  It was our first attempt at a long road trip with Gracie (21 hours of driving over 2 days).  Poor Grace was teething and not too happy about being in the car all day.  

On the way there we were able to stop and spend the night with my brother Ricky, his wife Julie and their son Jack.  We had not gotten to see Jack yet, so it was fun to go meet him and introduce him to Gracie.  They are only 3 months apart so they are each others closest cousins in age.  This is them right before we left for church in the morning.

We stayed in Frisco, NC which is on Hatteras Island.  While there we visited the Hatteras lighthouse which is the tallest lighthouse of the 5 that are on the Outer Banks.  You can still climb this one, Eric and I did, supposedly it is the same as a twelve story building.  I have to admit I was out of breath by the time we reached the top.  It was a muggy day, but we could still see pretty far.  Gracie hung out at the bottom with Grandma and Grandpa.

Over by the Hatteras beach access there is a large pond that has lots of turtles.  People have apparently been feeding them over the years because when you pull up and get out and walk over to the pond they swim over to come see you.  Here are Eric and Gracie checking out the turtles ... I had no idea what this was leading to.

Another site that had to be seen during our visit was at Kitty Hawk where they have the Wright Brother's Memorial. 

Gracie with Grandpa.

We stayed in a beach house that was just 5 or 6 houses in from the beach.  Grace loves water and decided she loved the ocean and sand too.  Here she is playing in the sand with Grandma.

Grace LOVED the water!!  Here is a fun little video of her running into the waves.

On our last full day there we took the ferry to Ocracoke Island.  Here is our little family riding the ferry ... the car is on the other side of the boat somewhere.

While there we visited the Ocracoke lighthouse.  You can't climb this one, but it was fun to see.  Grace saw it with Grandma and Grandpa.

Eric and I tagged along.

While on the island we went looking for a souvenir.  We introduced her to all sorts of cute little stuffed animals and she just threw them all away.  That was until she found the giant turtle.  She clung to him and wouldn't let go ... she still hasn't ... she sleeps with him now.  

We took a quick family picture before we left.  It was a really fun vacation, Grace learned lots of new things and we got to relax and see some new places (well new to Grace and I, Eric and his family had been there before).

Lucky for us Grace did much better in the car on the drive home.

Eleven Months

I can't believe Grace is already 11 months old, but she is.  One more month and I will have a toddler on my hands.  Grace just keeps growing and getting bigger.  She is SO tall these days!  

She is a very active baby and does not like to sit still at all.  This past month she has mastered crawling, started cruising and won't sit!  She is keeping her mama busy!  Trying to take her picture this month was pretty tricky ... she wasn't having it at all.  She is taking over her feeding and eating a lot more table food and a lot less baby food.  She has been working on her two top front teeth for the last three weeks ... it looks like they are about through which will make this momma very happy!

We had a lot of activity this month ... we got to start going to the water park and Grace loves water!  She just splashes and laughs and LOVES the wave pool!  We just got back from vacation with Eric's family to North Carolina where we spent a lot of time on the beach and she loved that too!  She got lots of attention from Grandparents and Aunts so it was a good time.

Here is Grace crawling to get her crazy laughing dog.

She is a fun kid ... we love having her!

Ten Months

Better late than never, right?

Our little Gracie had her ten month birthday about a week and a half ago.  She is getting so big and changing so much!  At her 9 month appointment, which was at about the 9.5 month mark she was 30" tall and weighed 23 lbs 2 oz.  I moved her into 12 month sized clothes at about 8.5 months and she has grown out of those and I am moving her into 18 month clothes this week.  I can't keep up with this little weed of mine.

She has developed all sorts of new skills.  She rolls all over the place and has started scooting backwards and pulling herself up on things.  She is wanting to feed herself more and more and tries to take the spoon from me at every chance she can.  She has finally mastered the sippy cup and loves it!

I am pretty sure she is working on some more teeth.

She loves to be outside.  Here she is with her daddy and a flower in her hair.  I really love how she scrunches up her nose when she smiles!

This one was from lunch today.  Just in case you were wondering what happens when you let a baby feed herself baked beans.  She is pretty proud of herself.

We love this little girl.  She really has the happiest disposition.  The loves people, and loves to smile at everyone.  She has a polite fake laugh which really cracks me up.  She is the biggest ham I know!

Nine Months

Our little girl is nine months old today.  Time really does fly.  She has gone from being my tiny little baby to becoming a little person with a personality all her own.

She is getting so big (I don't know how big exactly)!  She is so anxious to start moving around on her own.  She jumps while she is in my arms, and try to jump out too.  She still isn't rolling all over the place but she has decided to prove that she can.  She is into everything.  I really have to keep my eyes on her when we go shopping because she tries to grab everything off the shelves.  

She really loves her toys ... her favorites these days are her hippo and her frog.  She just loves to grab and cuddle them and then try to eat them.  She LOVES peek-a-boo and will play it with anyone!  She entertains other kids at the YMCA by showing off her skills.  She even plays peek-a-boo with aunts and cousins via skype.  Really it is her favorite thing. 

She is just such a happy and loving baby!  She loves to laugh and smile.  She is a total ham and knows when people are looking at her and she plays it up.  We love our little girl, she brings a lot of joy into our home!

Starved Rock

Eric had Good Friday off of work so we got all of our work done on Friday and on Saturday headed down to Utica, IL to go to Starved Rock State Park.  When we got there we had a picnic and then headed out for a short hike.  Here is Gracie getting a ride from Dad.  (Eric was a good sport and let me put the moby on him to carry the baby).  P.S I love it!

Gracie sported her cute hat to keep the sun off.  She liked it I think, plus I think it makes her look extra super cute!

Here we are on the high point of Starved Rock (to all my family and friends out west, yes this is a high spot for Illinois, I know, it's sad).  We are on the banks of the Illinois River for anyone who is getting their bearings.  

It really is a pretty area.  We hiked some more trails back in the woods.

Me and my honey :).

Dad and baby taking a look at the gorge next to us.

Not sure why, I thought it was awesome!

Baby is in this picture, she is just behind Eric's head.

We had a good time and it was nice to just get out for the day and enjoy time together as a family and time outdoors.

Pinsperation

I am a confessed Pinterest addict, that being said I don't just look at stuff all day long.  I do make a lot of things, try new recipes, work outs, craft ideas, sewing ideas, etc.  Anyway, here are just a couple example of my recent Pinterest endeavors.  

A few months ago I saw this cute skirt pinned on Pinterest.  It was for sale.  I wasn't interested in buying it, but it gave me an idea.

 

I had this skirt that I friend gave me a couple years ago.  I have always liked it cause it is comfy, but it is a little hard to wear since it is a little short on me and the slit in the front makes it harder.  So I took my inspiration skirt and my real skirt and tried to combine them.

I made a really long pleated strip of fabric and sewed it along the bottom of the skirt.

And to fill in the slit I added the piece of fabric for the handkerchief effect.  I am quite happy with the final project.  And the extra couple inches makes the skirt so much easier to wear!

Second, we have been talking about adding herbs to our garden for the last year and over the winter I found this picture on Pinterest.  I thought it was brilliant and that I could tweak it to make it work for our garden.

Here is our finished product.  Eric and I made it last weekend.  It has six-one square foot openings.  We are getting the soil this week and hopefully it will warm up again so that I can plant my herbs.

Really what is better than having fresh herbs right out your back door!