Five Months

Merry Christmas and happy five month birthday to Grace!

We took her picture a few days early this month since we are in Nebraska for Christmas.  This baby is getting HUGE!  She is really growing up.  She can now sit up on her own for very short periods of time, she loves her bouncer and can move herself around in it, her hair is really starting to fill in and she is turning ibnto a true blonde, she has discovered the joy of toys (she played with them a little before but now she stays very entertained), she has learned how to ride Cletus, and the big one this month is that she has started to eat solid food!

She really wasn't so sure about it at first, but now she is a super eater!  She can down a bowl of cereal in just a couple minutes if she wants to.  Other times she is distracted and it can try mom's patience.

She seems to grow up a little bit more everyday.  It is crazy how fast she changes but we are having fun watching her learn and experience new things.

Thanksgiving

We had originally planned to stay home for Thanksgiving this year since we are going to Nebraska for Christmas and just have dinner on our own or with some friends, then Eric's parents and sisters decided that they would all come to our house for the holiday (Eric and I know it was really to just see Gracie).

Kirstin and Nanette came from Utah and Eric's parents drove over from Nebraska so everyone was here by Monday night.  Kirstin got here on Sunday night and she and I just hung out on Monday, very exciting I know.  We did some planning and grocery shopping on Tuesday and some more shopping on Wednesday and mostly just spent time together and played with the baby.

Last year when we were in Nebraska for Thanksgiving we had planned a Thanksgiving morning 5k (I think it ended up being closer to 2 miles since it was freezing) so this year Eric's sisters thought we should do another one and we even made race t-shirts.  Kirstin has the group photo of everyone in their shirts, sorry I don't have one to share.  Anyway, we decided to do our "5k" at Riverside Park in Beloit, WI.  After we mostly walked it was time for the "kids" to go play in the playground, it was awesome!

Here we all are on the turtle.

And on the play yard.

I got a lot done since Grace was being held most of the time.  Here she is napping with Grandma.

I tried several new recipes this year and for the most part loved them.  But to be honest I had no idea how much work it was to put together a Thanksgiving dinner.  Gracie and her bumbo were our centerpiece, I mean what could be cuter :)

And here she is in her Thanksgiving outfit, cute as always!

It was a fun holiday!  Everyone left on Friday so Eric and I were able to get our decorations up and get some chores done and even managed to do some Christmas shopping.

Four Months

I know I have a lot of catching up to do after not blogging anything for the whole month of November, but I am just going to start with the fact that our little Grace is now four months old!

She has grown up so much this last month.  She has gotten so much bigger (I won't know how much exactly till Wednesday, but I swear she is huge these days!).  She has really started to do this with her legs, like kick at her play mat toys and she even helps me change her diaper by moving her legs to where they need to be and when.  She is starting to help me out a little by holding her own bottle some of the time.  She is learning how to use her voice more which translates to some really high pitch noises, but it is fun to see her learn new things.  She thinks that she is ready to sit up on her own and constantly tries to, I don't think it will be long until she succeeds.  She loves her toys these days and puts everything in her mouth!  One of her favorites is her taggie blanket, but really she loves to play with any toy.  She officially grew out of her three month clothes and some of her six month ones are already starting to get a little small. . . . and one of my favorite things . . . she has started to giggle :)  It is SO CUTE!!

  

Happy Halloween

I had a hard time finding a baby Halloween costume that I liked this year and I spent a lot of time looking.  Then I ran into a cute onesie at Walmart and decided I could make something cute out of it.    So, for Halloween this year Gracie is a little witch.  (Don't mind the hat, it got pressed flat and I could not manage to get it to fluff up again).  At our ward trunk or treat on Saturday night she really enjoyed trying to eat her tutu but she was not a huge fan of the hat on her head.  Still, I think she is super cute!

Cletus is a turtle this year.  I have a hard time finding costumes for him since he has a little bit different build than most dogs, but I saw this one and had to get it.  Really it is just good for a laugh if you need one.

I pulled out Cletus' Halloween scarf from last year since it is simpler to wear than the turtle costume.  He hates this scarf since there are bells on it and they make him crazy.  He let me put it on no problem, but he sat there just like this until I finally took it off.  He was not willing to move at all, apparently he remembered it better than I thought he would.

Three Months

Our little Grace is three months old today.  She is growing up so fast I can hardly believe it.  I love all of her little rolls and her full cheeks.  I really just can't help giving her tons of kisses.

This past month she has mastered the art of grabbing anything she can reach and putting it all in her mouth.  She is really starting to enjoy her play mat and all of her toys.  She loves to sit and talk to me and has such a big adorable smile.  I love this baby!

(Don't mind the scratch on her face . . . she seems to do that a lot lately)

What I Do During Naptime

My little Gracie takes a few naps everyday.  We are on a somewhat flexible schedule depending on what she feels like that day.  As much as I should be, I am no napper so I don't ever really manage to catch up on sleep during the day.  So what do I do?  Usually work around the house but I don't always feel like doing that so I spend a lot of time on craft blogs and just looking for projects to do.  If you check out my guest room the whole bed is covered with some of my works in progress.

Last week I found this tutorial online.  Sounded like fun and pretty easy.  I like to sew but I am not one for complicated projects these days.  So when I was out and about this past week I found a cute onesie on clearance for $2 and some lace on clearance for $3.50/yd so I decided to give a shot and see how it would turn out.

Of course I complicated the whole 10 minute onesie dress idea by a: using lace and b: making the skirt 2 tiered, but I think it turned out pretty cute.  And I was able to get it all done from start to finish during a short morning nap.  Now onto either finish a project or find a new one.

My Little Helper

So I needed to work on those carrots this afternoon so I did what I always do and put Gracie in her bumbo so that she can see me work (only way to keep her happy if I am occupied).  For a little while she was happy and playing with her elephant.  

Then I noticed that things got a little quiet so I looked over and this is what I found.

Guess that is what happens when you don't get an afternoon nap.