5 months of Grace

Happy 5 months my sweet girl! What a fun month this has been with you...

Physical

You may find this hard to believe, but those of us who live with Grace think that her cheeks got slimmer this month. I know, I know. She still has much to offer in the cheek department. But it seemed like overnight she looked different to all of us. She is growing more hair on top, but still not enough to style or hold accessories ;). She also has had a bottom tooth that I have been able to feel for about a month that is not coming through, but with which she likes to bite things.

Eating

Mommy's milk is still her main food, but we ended up starting solids this month! She just all of a sudden seemed interested in our food, and we thought, what the heck? It was much less emotional for me to start solids for Grace than it was for Jonathan. First time moms are weird. Anyway, she loves eating. She's only had sweet potatoes and bananas so far (oh, and that one spoonful of peanut butter I talked about last post), but she has been eager for whatever we offer her. She's getting the hang of it too, opening her mouth when I hold the spoon up and actually swallowing what goes in her mouth. Oh, and this time around, I have just blended up food that we had at the house, instead of buying baby food, which has been nice. Nice to know what is going in her, nice to not have to buy 100 little jars, nice to be able to modify the textures easier. Nice.

Looking suspicious

You want me to do WHAT with that spoon??

Surprisingly satisfied

Sleep

Bedtime has moved from 5 or 5:30 to 5:30 or 6. Woot! Wake up time is between 5 and 6. Shooting for 2-3 feedings during the night, doing some CIO if necessary to get her to go at least 4 hours. We get the hang of things for a while, then we have a couple funky nights. She's napping 3-4 times throughout the day. I haven't gotten the hang of a schedule for her during the day yet. I think that happened around 6 months for J, so maybe it's coming for Grace too. We've noticed that she's now better able to sleep during her "hard" times, like late afternoon (which has allowed bedtime to move back) and early morning. She can also stay up a little longer at a time, sometimes making it 2 or 2.5 hours between naps. Again, woot!

I took a phone survey about Grace recently and they asked about amount of TV viewed in the past week. I answered about 10 minutes, max, because truly I thought she had never even watched TV.
Then I saw this pic on my photo stream. Two words: Daddy Day. 

Personality

Jon asked the other day, "Does Grace ever cry?" Ha! Certainly she does, but you wouldn't know it unless you shared a room with her. She really only cries when she is tired. She is so happy and sweet and adaptable and excited about life. She has become much more aware of her surroundings, and will crane her neck to see what is going on in the room, even when she is latched to her mother. Usually what is going on in the room is Her Brother, who is very interesting to Grace. I'm finding ways to make her giggle more, but she is still less generous with the laughs than J was. Also, we find it hilarious that she forgets to smile when she is laughing. She makes the giggling sound, but kind of winces her face like maybe she is in pain? Maybe she is. I just love love love seeing her sweet little personality come out more every day. I so enjoy her company and her easy disposition is a good example for me.

Hm what should I do with this train on my belly?

Bite it, definitely.

Development

Grace is interacting more with toys, but won't really reach for them yet. She also still hates tummy time and lately has taken to just laying her head on the floor rather than even attempt to hold it up. She is close to sitting on her own. Her babbles are taking the form of syllables, like bababa and mamama. She knows who we all are, and if you say, "Grace where is Mama/Daddy/Jonathan/Susu" she will turn and look at the correct person. She also is getting better at mimicking our sounds or sometimes silly faces like sticking out your tongue.

I LOVE the faces she makes while she's having a conversation:

She tries to imitate blowing raspberries, but sometimes it takes her a while to get the hang of it:

Sibling stuff

Today she was smiling and laughing at Jonathan more than she has before. I love watching their relationship grow. They certainly aren't actually playing together yet, but I can definitely see them interacting more and more, with her being more interested in what he is doing. So far they get along great! :)

Grace was contentedly doing cute things on her playmat, until of course I turned the camera on. Then she just stared at it. But she gets excited again as soon as Jonathan comes over:

Cuties riding in the wagon. 

Mommy time
The word Grace has been a significant one for Jon and I through the years. It was the theme we wanted for our wedding, since the grace of God had been so powerful in our lives up to that point. And of course it continues to be, so much so that we both loved Grace as a name to bestow upon our daughter. Sweet girl, do you know what your name means? It means patience. It means forgiveness. It means acceptance and love. I can see you growing into your name more and more. You are so patient and forgiving of Mommy when I just can't figure out what is going on. You accept all of us just as we are. You seem to accept yourself too, and seem so comfortable in your own skin already. You are an example to me, my Grace, of knowing who you are and being very ok with it. I love watching you grow and become the Grace you are meant to be. And you are only 5 months. Just wait until you are 5 years or 15. Yikes. Mommy gets teary thinking about watching you grow that long, so I better stop this post. I love you so much. 

4 months of Grace

Happy 4 months to you baby Grace. Here is what life is like for our girl these days...

Bundled up in her cute coat and bonnet from Grammy

Physical

We went for Grace's checkup on Friday and found that she weighs 15lb 4oz, or roughly 150% of her birth weight. Yikes! She's around the 70th percentile for weight (same as 2 months) and now the 40th for length (up from 14th at 2 months-ha!). I think she was 24 inches.

We've discovered that Grace has an exceptionally long tongue, which she likes to stretch out as far as it can go.
She also likes to grab onto it with her fingers. That's talent right there.

Eating

Still nursing on demand when I'm home, and 3-4 oz from a bottle when Jon or Susan are with her. She has been sleeping longer stretches which I can definitely tell impact my milk supply, so I'm trying to be extra careful about pumping more at work, using mother's milk tea, nursing a lot when I'm home, etc. No solids yet, and we weren't planning on starting until way closer to 6 months, until we went to the pediatrician who told us about new research saying to start peanut butter BEFORE 6 months to prevent allergies. I always feel like a real genius when I don't know these things at her check ups. So I'd like to read this new research, and we will decide about starting solids in a month or so.

Sitting in the high chair, just for fun. 

Sleep

Longer stretches at night make me happy. Her bedtime is now between 5 and 5:30, which is super early but she does so much better with it. She usually wakes twice in the night to eat, and is up for good around 6:30. Naps are still 30min - 2hours in length, and aren't on any schedule just yet. She still gets tired after 60-90 minutes of being awake, and I hope that changes soon to spread our naps out over the day better. 

Hey bright eyes!

Development

Baby girl totally failed her tummy-time test at her check up. Ha! She hates being on her tummy, and would not even lift her head up 1 inch for the doctor. Again, I feel like a winning mom and a fabulous PA. But we've been practicing this weekend and she's getting better. She will hold a toy and wave it around and put it in her mouth. She won't really reach for one yet. She is actually quite stable will sitting up, and has sat on her own for a few seconds at a time. She's totally aware of everything going on the room, and still likes sitting back and watching Jonathan run circles (literally) around her. Lots of talking and babbling and screeching too :).

Giving Lily a kiss/eating Lily's face.
Favorite toys include Lily the Cat, ducky rattle from her brother, and her playmat. Obviously.

Personality

Still such a content, happy baby. Lots more smiles and even giggles! I am kicking myself for not capturing her giggles on camera yet. The most effective way to get a laugh is to pump her arms up and down while she's laying on her back and make a silly noise while doing it. Embarrassing for mom, adorable for Grace. 

"Ummm Mother why are you making me wear this hat?"

Sibling stuff

They took their first bath together and were adorable, Jonathan pouring water from his boat into her tub, Grace just sucking her thumb and soaking in the neck-high water while watching him. 

(see above paragraph)

Warm bath. Thumb in mouth. Life is good.

Mommy

This girl just makes me smile. Going in and getting her after her nap is definitely the best, when I get a big "I missed you!" smile. This weekend I have been sick and whiny about not getting to rest, but man holding and cuddling this girl is so worth it. I love you my little darling. 

Aforementioned "I missed you!" smile :)

Grace at 3 months

Happy 3 months to our sweet girl. I will probably use the word sweet about 38 times in this post, because that is what she is: the SWEETEST. We are loving life with her.

Physical

The girl is growing. She chubbed out early in her newborn days and has remained a roly-poly ball of deliciousness ever since. At her 2 month check-up, she was almost 12 lb, so I'd put her around 13lb these days. She wears 3-6 or 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers (we still haven't switched her to cloth--eeek!)

Eating

See above paragraph if you want to know whether she is a good eater. The short answer is YES. I don't even know how many feedings she has per day or how long she nurses per side or any of that stuff... I just know she eats when she is hungry and stops when she is full. She now can more consistently nurse on both sides during a feeding (her spit up was so bad earlier on that I would stop her at one side or else she would puke up the whole second side anyway). 

Little love has a sensitivity to dairy in my milk, so it's been no ice cream for me for a few months now. It seemed like she was just more spitty when I had dairy, but then I had some cookies with a butter topping a few days in a row and the poor girl got bloody stools in addition to the major pukes. So, I will continue to cut out dairy for the next several months, and see how she does if I add it back around 6 months. She is a trooper.

Sleep

Grace rocks at going to sleep. I can lay her down, swaddled up, just about anywhere and she will fall asleep if she is tired. We've put her down at a Christmas party, during Thanksgiving at a friend's house, and during several dinners at friend's houses. What she doesn't quite rock at is staying asleep, but that is another matter. She does 3-5 naps per day, ranging from 30 min to 2 hours. She gets tired after about 1.5 hours of being awake. We are trying to get some bedtime routine down, but sometimes her bedtime is around 5, and sometimes it's 8. 

Development

Last week we had two days where she was smiling all the time. Now, she is back to being more stingy with her smiles (probably has a lot to do with her cold). She is talking all the time though, and will sometimes mimic our sounds back to us. She has pretty good balance and can sit up just holding onto our hands for indefinite periods of time. No hints of crawling yet (thank goodness) and rolling is a rare occurrence. She starting to reach for things she sees. She can follow anybody or anything around the room with her eyes. She also is starting to like books and will sit on our lap long enough to read a few. 

Personality

Sweet. Chill. Adorable. Eager. Happy.

Sibling stuff

Life is tricky for a baby when there is a factor called: older brother. See above reference to inconsistent bedtime, usually caused by that older bro factor. But mostly, these two kids are crazy about each other. Jonathan will play peekaboo with her from behind the couch while she's nursing. While he hides, she is looking for him with wide eyes; then when he pops up, she gets so excited. Yes, this is while she is nursing. Fun for mommy :). Jonathan is so sweet with her--showing her toys, teaching her things, talking to her all the time. I often overhear them while I'm in the kitchen or something: "Grace, it's nice to meet you. How are you doing today? What do you think Mommy is doing, Grace? Grace, this is a truck. Do you know what a lion says, Grace? Ooooh Gracie Gracie girlie girlie goo oooh Gracie Gracie!"

Mommy

I'd say the transition to two kids has been pretty smooth. I feel like I fell in love with Jonathan all over as I fall in love with this girl. It is the best thing ever to feel like love is exploding out of every part of you :). I go back to work on Monday. While I know it will be easier this time than with Jonathan, it definitely won't be easy. I will miss her so much. She's my girl. Grace, you have made me so happy in the past 3 months of knowing you in person. You are a delight to me. I don't even have the words to tell you how much I love having you as my daughter. You are the sweetest.

These two

Grace is 6 weeks old and getting cuter and sweeter. 

Jonathan calls her "baby Gracie girlie girl."

Our girl

Our sweet girl, Grace Katherine, is here!

Born on Saturday 9/7/13. 6lb 5oz. 

She came almost two weeks early which we were thrilled about! :)

We are loving our sweet girl. She is just doing so great.  

Jonathan is adjusting well too and is a great big brother. This series of photos cracked us up as we were taking them....

Grace was sleeping comfortably in the kitchen while we were making dinner last night, but Jonathan thought she looked a little lonely. So he brought in two chairs to sit next to her to keep her company. 

Just checking to make sure she's ok.

Well, maybe I don't want to get too close.

Actually this is kind of boring.

I'll try to post more pics of our girl later this week for all the family to see! :)

35 weeks

Well here we are at just over 8 months pregnant with baby girl.

Still feeling good. Feeling big for sure but not awful. Had a brief stint where she was breach around 32 weeks, but thankfully she has flipped and has embraced my liver as her new kicking target. [Just realized I wore this skirt in the other pregnancy picture I took. I do not wear this skirt every day. Maybe I should because I look cute in it.]

We've been doing lots to get ready for Grace to arrive!

Jonathan moved into his big boy bed, which he is very proud about. 

We've been practicing singing lots of songs to teach Grace.

We've been maintaining our limber-ness by doing some stretching.

We've been cleaning and organizing old baby things and finding some really fun new "toys", like this paci which Jonathan used for about 30 seconds when he was a baby. The afternoon we found it, he walked around the house with it for about 2 hours, giggling the whole time.

We've been going to Chick-Fil-A so that it becomes Grace's favorite food. Sometimes we wear silly hats when we are there so Grace doesn't think we are too normal.

30 weeks

Baby Grace is growing and growing (and as Jonathan likes to say "moovin and groovin"). See the nice belly below for evidence of her growth. It's funny that at first in this pregnancy I felt HUGE, like my body went straight to looking like 5 months pregnant the second the stick said positive. But now, I don't feel that big, mostly because I know that the reeeeallly big is yet to come!

Here's an attempt at getting Jonathan in the picture too. He's been telling everyone that "Baby Grace is my wittle sister. I Baby Grace's big bruder." He also thinks that when Grace is born it will be Christmas. There's a lot to keep track of.

And for your enjoyment, a clip of our attempt at taking this picture. 

Baby girl will be here before we know it! We can't wait to meet her and welcome her into our family and smother her with love. Jonathan can't wait to share ALL of his toys with her. I have a feeling I will find her under piles of trains frequently. 

Happy weekend!