Sick Baby & Video with Friends

When I bought my new camera I planned to post all the time. I haven't managed to do that lately. I have had a sick baby for a week. On Tuesday Grace had a temp of 102 (nothing for her). I immediately called the dr., not panicing just trying to find out if it was an ear infection. The last one was awful by the time she started showing symptoms. She found nothing and said it might be Roseola, to look for a rash in a few days. She said to call her if any other symptoms presented themselves.

Wed. she woke with a snotty nose and cough. She was stilling running temps of about 102,but it was managable. I was impressed to find out that my daughter knows how to blow her nose! I reached down to wipe it and she blew! I called dr. who said that she still thought that the cold symptoms and the fever were unrelated. She said to continue treating the fever and look for the rash. No rash came on Friday, so on Saturday dr. met us at the clinic to check Grace over (it's true a dr. on Saturday, she is a close family friend). She had the beginning of an ear infection in her left ear. Began antibiotics on Sat. and Grace is now fever free.

She is a fantastic dr. and is always right on the mark. I am still looking for a rash. I'll let you know if she gets one. Grace is feeling better that is the important thing. The only problem now is that with the return of her health she is now acting bratty. She has felt so bad that all I have done is hold her and she could't breathe lying down so I would sit on the couch and hold her all night while she slept. Now comes the transition back to the real world. Here is sick Grace looking a little scary. She had butt paste all over her face because it was terribly chapped from the runny nose and the wiping. She had just enjoyed a Pedialyte popsicle.

The video below shows Grace with Nanny, Duck and Bunny. She and Nanny have this ritual with Duck and Bunny. Grace will do one of two things as they play. Sometimes she will sit in Nanny's lap and bounce (see how she turned around and backed up) and other times she will let Nanny hold onto her while she does "the wild jump." Whether sitting or jumping she always does the duck wings with her arms.

It's a Girl

Laurie and Travis have a daughter! The last few days I have been very preoccupied with the baby's impending arrival. Check out Laurie's blog. She is a Supermom. The baby has been born and now I have time to post.

It was a chilly Easter. Grace had to wear a sweater over her pretty smocked dress with the bunnies. I also forgot to take a picture of her in her pretty dress. However I got lots of pictures later in the day.

She was sooo disinterested in the egg hunt. She would just look at an egg and run off to chase the dog. In the picture below you can see how she was distracted by a pretty baby on the porch. She was admiring herself in the kick plate on the front door and blowing kisses to herself.

This is her "Gracie Lou Who" hairdo, courtesy of cousin Kristan

Grace and her cousin Ryan simply adore each other. They both break out in huge smiles when they are together.

I have some great video I will try to post soon. I got Grace with the bunny and the duck, one last dance together. Strangly enough, the bunny and the duck cannot be found anywhere.

Gracie is Growing Up

Grace turned 20 months old on the 17th. I can hardly believe that she is almost two. It seems like just yesterday she was that little baby who couldn't even crawl yet. Now she is a fearless, big girl. So about Grace...

• She has a very extensive vocabulary. Some of her words (especially words with A) often sound the same, so you must pay attention. Lately she has started something new. When she burps, she follows it with a loud announcement - BURP. She did this during church last Sunday.
• She is extremely stubborn. For instance-she can be standing on the furniture and I will ask her to sit down. She will comply only for a second. Then she will stand up slowly, looking you directly in the eye and waiting for a reaction. We do this often, different activities but always the same battle.
• She will eat ANYTHING. I am fortunate.
• I am not exactly sure what she weighs or her height. I am guessing about 23 or 24 pounds. Height who knows, she just keeps getting taller. She can still wear most of her 6-12 mos. clothes from last summer, somethings are too short in the torso or stride. Thank goodness for summer. I don't have to worry about her pants either being too short or falling off of her.
• She has a great sense of humor. She loves to make people laugh. The weirdest things will just crack her up, you never know what it will be. She is always laughing at Ellie.
• She loves music and will begin immediately begin dancing. She loves watching musicals like Annie, etc.
• She HATES going to bed. She will fight to stay awake.
• She is obsessed with phones, remotes and my purse. I went to pick up lunch today and had no money or debit card. They were all in the floor of my bedroom. Thank God I had my Amex.
• She has a mouth full of teeth. She has the new habit of sticking her bottom lip out like she is pouting. She does this all the time. I think she is getting used to all those teeth.

Here are some photos from today. We had so much fun playing outside.









This photo shows the offensive bunny and duck. See previous post for further explanation.

Duck

Grace loves ducks (see the first photo below, there is one attached to her crib). Or maybe she just loves to say the word, I don't know. You can go to Wal-Mart and she will spot every duck in the place. That's tough this time of year! She wants to play them all, because we know all these type toys have to sing a song or do a dance. She is quite adept at finding and pushing the little buttons in the hand, belly, etc. Sometimes she will turn it on for a couple of seconds and then turn it off. She can keep this up for a long, long time. She loves to jump and dance along with them. That is why my mother and sister continually buy more. And she loves them soooooooooo much that I can't bring myself to turn them off. I just endure. She loves her gorilla that both jumps and sings. Very talented gorilla. Being the giving person she is, she often insists that you enjoy them with her. I am looking forward to next week, when a bunny and a chicken that are particulary annoying will diappear. Hey they're Easter toys right?



Ellie and Grace have so much fun together. I have to get video of them chasing each other. You will crack up!!

I still haven't read the manual...

...but check out the pictures. I have no idea what my camera can do, but I have captured smiles. You have no idea how much that means to me. Grace is almost 2 and I have only gotten a handful of pictures with her smile. Kelly the camera is a Canon Xti and I promise to post more! Saturday morning Nanny and Aunt Terri came for breakfast. Look at what fun she is having (with jam on her face). She adores her Aunt Terri whom she met the same day she met me! Speaking of the first people to know Grace, I tried to catch some special pictures for "Uncle" Justin. Uncle Justin is Lucy's dad. Since Grace doesn't have a daddy, Justin was the first man in Gracie's life. While in Vietnam he graciously endured Grace's jumping. She was a wild woman. She still is and I wanted some good photos to show him she still loves to jump. The photos I took did not capture her wild jumps. I did however catch her love of acrobatics. Justin I will continue trying to catch the jumping. Or maybe we will see Lucy and family soon!

Smiles!!!

Now you can see what I see. Big toothy smiles. It always amazes me how many teeth she has, it looks like she has cotton in he mouth when she smiles. Such a big girl now.

Well, I was sick and tired of no smiling pictures so I bought a new camera. My other camera is a camera/video recorder that writes directly to a cd. Real high tech, just a long delay when taking pics. Well this camera will take 3 pics/second. I got smiles. Here she is playing with her Pappy who she thinks is hilarious. I hope to read the manual this weekend so I can learn to use my new camera. More smiles to come.

A Messed Up Weekend

I was looking forward to seeing my friends this weekend. We had plans to travel to Nashville Sun/Mon to see Lucy, Kelly, LilyAna and Susan. However Lucy, Kelly and Kelly's mom are sick. I haven't seen Lucy and Kelly since July and I am dying to see them. Lucy has changed so much. As soon as everyone is well we will set a new date. I really want to make sure these girls all know each other as they grow up. Get well soon!

It is snowing like crazy now. I mean we have a few inches and this is not the norm for Tennessee. That would normally be great. Snowed in for the weekend, have some down time at home. However I work for Boys & Girls Club and we have a benefit tomorrow evening. I have a million things to do tomorrow to set up. I live about 45 minutes from the venue and we southerners are not snow/ice drivers.


Gracie and her beloved Trigger.

It amazes me how grown up she looks with all those teeth.

She really loves to feed herself. She isn't good at getting the food on the spoon/fork, but if you get it on there for her she likes to take it from there. However forks and spoons also make fun toys. After each bite she likes to make the spoon go up and down by moving her mouth. As you can see in this photo, she is extremely talented and can keep the spoon firmly in her mouth while drinking milk! Impressive huh?

I have a climber on my hands. She climbs on EVERYTHING. I am constantly saying Grace get down or Grace sit on your bottom.