A is for Apple

We went apple picking this weekend in the mountains. We went on the tail end of the season because we had to wait until everyone was well, etc. John helped Gracie pick an apple and when we asked her to show it to us, she immediately threw it on the ground. :-) We all had a good time.

Trick or Treat!

After several costume mishaps, Gracie was a bumblebee for Halloween (or as she says "Buh-bee"). We went downtown and trick or treated there because most of the people we could visit were out with their kids also. We got a little wet, but Gracie didn't mind one bit. I think she was too interested in all of the costumes she saw. Needless to say, she loved getting to eat some of her candy. I helped her finish off the stuff she couldn't eat. I loved her antennae, which I made a few hours before we left. There was even part of me that wanted to paint a pumpkin right over my baby bump (on a shirt, of course), but I didn't have time.


We dropped by to see various family members during the evening, including her cousins.

Sugar and Spice

We were getting ready to leave for church on Sunday, and I thought Gracie looked so cute in her outfit that I had to take a quick picture. She looked up and gave me the cutest grin. I LOVE this picture!!

On a side note, for those of you who haven't heard, we found out yesterday that Gracie is going to have a little brother. Cooper Jack will be here in February! :-)

Gatlinburg Gal

We recently went to Gatlinburg with John's family. Gracie was fearless at Dollywood and really enjoyed her very first amusement park rides. She only cried when we took her off of the rides. Here are some of my favorite pics from the trip.

Yum!

Why, yes, I DO love spaghetti! It's my favorite food. How did you guess?

It's Raining, It's Pouring

Every time it rains, Gracie gets so excited. She always tries to run out and get wet. These are pics from about 2 weeks ago when I let her play in the rain. She had a ball! I tried to upload them earlier, but for some reason they were giving me problems.

Excited!!

Morning sickness and pregnancy fatigue are to blame for the lack of posting. Sorry.

Can you guess what's Gracie's favorite place to visit?

Random Pics

Here are some pics from the last few weeks when I didn't post.

• Family pic at the zoo
• The mohawk Daddy gave Gracie while playing in the pool (he was very proud of that one)
  
• Gracie playing in her pool
• Gracie and her "twin" camping with Grandma and Grandaddy
• Gracie in her 4th of July outfit

Wheels on the Bus

We've been teaching Gracie the "Wheels on the Bus" song. The verse she tries to help out on is "The babies on the bus go wah, wah, wah." Here it is. I love how she takes time in the middle of her whining to sing. This makes me laugh so hard!

It's a Zoo Around Here

Yes, I know. You are probably asking yourself, "Is she even doing the blog anymore?" Well, truth be told, this has not been a very easy summer for us. We feel like we have been running non-stop. Between John working 10-hour days and me now teaching 4 nights a week (b/c another teacher got another job so I had to take over his class for the rest of the summer), something had to give....and it was the blog. (Ok, it was also not putting any laundry away for about 3 weeks. Hey, if it makes it out of the dryer and into a basket, it's still clean.) Don't get me wrong, we are still very thankful that we are busy and healthy and employed. However, it's hard to watch everyone else go on vacation when the stress level around our house seems to be growing.

Anyway, I am going to try to sit down this weekend and post some pics from the last month and a half. Until then, I will leave you with one of my favorite pics. We were very fortunate to be able to take Gracie to the Greenville Zoo with some friends. She really enjoyed walking around and exploring. She particularly loved looking at the cages with the exotic birds. Here is one of her trying to climb a fence in front of some bird cages. Man, she is getting so big!

Hello?

Gracie loves to pretend to talk on the phone. She has perfected her "L" sound this week, and I LOVE the way she says "Hello." Enjoy.

I've Got Rhythm

Gracie loves to dance to anything that has a beat. In fact, the funniest thing happened the other day. Our washing machine got off balance during the spin cycle and was making this loud noise. When it started, Gracie started dancing like it was a beat to a song.

Here are some bits and pieces of Gracie dancing to some Jazzercise songs. Sorry it's choppy, but I cut out the boring parts.

Interview with a Toddler

What has happened? My little girl is no longer a baby! She started saying chair yesterday, which was really surprising. She got the "ch" sound pretty quickly.

Here is Gracie doing some of her animal noises. She knows a good bit, but this was all I could get her to do. Her dog impression is actually fairly accurate (due to the fact that our dog doesn't bark but gets really excited and moves her head up and down).

Baby, Baby, Baby

Boy, I'm in the mood to post today! Gracie has a baby doll that she will pat on the back and say, "My baby" because that's what I do to her. I love the way she says "baby." I shot this in the car with my camera really quickly the other day. I just think it's cute.

Falling Down on the Job

Now that Gracie is walking, she is starting to get some "battle scars." She had a pretty nasty fall this morning when she tripped on a toy and did a header into the ottoman. She was so upset; she must have wailed for 10 minutes! She hit her chin and then fell so that her face scraped down the ottoman. She has a big red scrape on her chin and two little ones on her forehead. She even has a little one under her nose. (I have to say, the picture doesn't do them justice. It looks worse in person.)

I know it comes with the territory, but I hate that moment when I see a fall coming and I know that I can't react quick enough to stop it.

Putt-Putt Princess

Gracie got her first putt-putt experience this weekend. Her presence definitely made the game more, um, interesting. She did look adorable holding her club, which she held for about 30 seconds. She really loved playing with the golf balls. (That's her Uncle Patrick helping her get her ball out of the hole. I think she is so cute when she squats and pokes her little butt out.)

By the way, if you notice she is wearing (GASP) a UGA outfit, it was in honor of her uncle Michael's graduation from UGA earlier that day.

Sittin' Pretty

We came across this ADORABLE armchair for Gracie at Target. She loved it! People walking by even stopped and commented on how cute she looked in it. I had John snap a quick pic with his phone. We wanted to get it, but it cost $80!!

Monkeying Around

Gracie loves taking a bath, and she loves her monkey towel.

She's Walking!!

Finally, Gracie took her first steps this week! She is still very cautious, but she is already starting to become more confident with her walking. She will walk from John to me and vice versa or from the furniture to one of us. Gracie is definitely getting excited about her new-found independence. She pitched a fit for us to let her walk around Wal-Mart holding our hands instead of sitting in the cart. (The crazy thing is that after the joy of seeing her take her first steps wore off, I got really sad because she's growing up entirely too quickly. Seeing your children grow up seems so bittersweet sometimes.) Anyway, here is some footage of our (it's official) "toddler."

Grin and Bear It

Ok, this is one of my favorite pieces of video from our Charleston trip. We went to Charles Towne Landing and they had a small animal park there. We were really lucky that a bear came right up to the fence where we were. Listen for Gracie (with her Southern twang) saying hey to the bear. Also, I like her response when I ask her what a bear says.

Chocolate!!!!

The result of Gracie's first chocolate Easter bunny...

Down in the Low Country

We were so blessed to have an awesome vacation to Charleston this past week. We saw tons of stuff and I took over 400 pictures!!! Gracie got to experience the beach for the first time, and we got to go to places like Fort Sumter and Patriots Point (where we got to get on a submarine and aircraft carrier).

I have so many pictures from last week. Here are some of my favorites.

Hanging with the Cousins

Gracie's cousins, Hunter and Ryalie, came over last Thursday while Aunt Melanie did Jr. Jazzercise classes. Gracie has so much fun with them! Here is a little video of Ryalie entertaining Gracie by running up and down the hall. I love Gracie's laugh and little squeals of joy.

Fresh Air

Gracie and I just got back from a trip to the park. The weather was so nice that I just couldn't resist getting out in the sunshine for a little bit. Gracie is still too small to do a lot of things there, so we spend most of our time in the swing. I wasn't really sure if she was enjoying it because she just sat there like she was "chillin." However, when I tried to take her out of the swing, she pitched a fit. There was another girl there named Gracie, and her mother kept fussing at her. My sweet little one kept looking and giving a perplexed look whenever she heard her name. She did try to speak to some of the other kids, throwing her hands up and saying, "Hey." (But you know, three year olds can be so cliquish. Haha.) We wish Daddy could have been there, but he has a school board meeting tonight.

By the way, last week the doctor informed us that Gracie is in the 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. She's not walking yet, but she is getting close. We were so excited to be able to finally turn Gracie's carseat around. Now she can see where we are going, and we can interact with her much easier.

Cry Baby

"Oh, she's so cute!" I hear that all of the time, and I completely agree. However, there are times when Gracie gets a little hard-headed. This was the reaction I got when I took something away from her that she wasn't supposed to have. She has definitely become more vocal lately about having things her way.

Stretch Armstrong

Look at her legs. Hmmm, the trip to the circus the other night must have really made an impact. She looks like the contortionist we saw. No, Gracie is not freakishly limber. She was crawling around on the floor and her knee somehow got caught up inside the torso of her suit.

Party Time

Well, we had Gracie's birthday party yesterday. It was so much fun! John, Gracie and I are exhausted. Family joined us for a cookout (John did an excellent job as head chef). The Lord blessed us with some awesome weather, and we got to go outside after lunch and play. Gracie did really good with all of the people and the attention. She lasted for about 3.5 hours and then started to crash, so we gave her some cake to help give her a sugar rush. Gracie liked the cake, although she didn't dive in like we thought she would. I think she was just trying to stay awake. She kept rubbing her eyes because she was tired, and eventually got icing everywhere. The sugar did eventually kick in, and she was good for another couple of hours. It was so much fun having everybody over. Gracie got some great toys and a bunch of really cute outfits.

What Day is It?

I don't know why the previous post is dated on Tuesday. I guess it's because that's when I started it. Anyway, it says that "yesterday" was Gracie's birthday, but it also says that it was posted on Tuesday (even though I posted it on Thursday). Basically, I'm saying that I do know when my own child's birthday is, but blogspot does not. Ok, did you even notice the date? Probably not...and that's a little bit of my OCD coming out.

Happy Birthday Baby

Yesterday was Gracie's first birthday. I can't believe it! This year has flown by (except in the wee hours of the morning when I was up with a cranky baby). Everyone always tells you that it goes by so fast, but you don't realize just how fast until it happens to you. I have to admit, the first few months were pretty tough and overwhelming. I think lack of sleep was the major factor there. However, Gracie has brought John and me more joy than we ever thought possible.

I have mixed emotions about Gracie's birthday. I am so incredibly thankful to the Lord for blessing us with such a happy, healthy baby. But I am also kinda sad that she isn't an infant anymore. What? She's not ready to be a toddler...at least, I'm not sure if I'm ready for her to be a toddler. Gracie is changing so quickly. She learns so fast and shows some new skill every day. My little baby is starting to grow up! She is such a blessing. The Lord has given me an awesome family!

We are going to the doctor for her one year check-up today. I am anxious to see how much she has grown. On Saturday, we will be having her birthday party. I'm so excited!!!! I'll have more pictures up soon!

It's Good!

John is trying to teach Gracie to raise her hands when he says, "It's good!" She'll be ready for football season in no time.