More trying to crawl...

I just can't get enough of her trying to crawl! Although right now the only thing I can get her to for is the remote :) Oh well... its cute!

Trying to crawl!

She is trying so hard to crawl. She goes from sitting to laying/scooting and laying to sitting. Here is her in action!

Double click on the play button below!

How is this possibly comfortable??

An afternoon at the park

I've started bringing Grace to the park and she loves it. She loves to swing and go down the slide on my lap. She is getting so fun!!! (Oh and in the pics it looks like she is swinging in the dark... I promise it wasn't dark... just how the pics turned out I guess).

My Beach Babe...

We are back from Galveston. Adam is away on business for a couple weeks so Gracie and I headed to Galveston with my mom, grandma, and a few of my aunts. We had a great girls trip and really just enjoyed everyones company. We stayed at my Uncle Doug and Aunt Holly's beach house which is beautiful! Thanks Doug & Holly!!

Grace loved the beach... and loved the sand even more! She got a little taste when I wasn't quick enough to knock it out of her hands, but she quickly spit it out. She loved the water and the waves.... although I was scared she would get salt water on her hands and then rub her eyes so we only brought her in the water a couple times. I brought a baby pool and an umbrella and she just played in it with a few toys (minus the water)... and loved it! Here are a couple pics of Gracie's first trip to the beach.

Hangin' out on the beach. Notice her little area in front of her where she was digging in the sand. It must have felt funny between her fingers!

Looking at the beach... Grace says "Mom lets go in there!".

7 months (well tomorow)

The time has flown and Gracie will be 7 months tomorrow (we will be out of town so I thought I would post today).

This is what she is up to this month:
*She is trying so hard to crawl... she gets on her hands and knees, rocks and then goes backwards!! She does scoot around on her tummy though.
*She has learned to pull up to her knees, but I have only seen her do it in her crib.
*She can go from laying to sitting... workin' out those ab muscles! :)
*She still HATES jarred baby food, but LOVES table food... we are still just trying things slowly b/c I am so scared she is going to choke! So far she has tried... black beans, refried beans, rice, corn, avacado, green beans, peas... I think thats it. She loves avacado the most!
*She is babbling all the time... no true words yet, but she makes a "da" and a "la" sound... unfortunatly no mama!
*She loves the park and loves going for a run with me in the morning. Just loves being outside and finally its cooling off a bit so that we can get out more!

Baby Conner update

I posted a couple weeks ago that our friends, Rob and Kelly, had their baby 8 weeks early. Thank you for all your prayers. Conner is doing great. He is finally gaining weight and has now gotten back to his birth weight plus a couple ounces. He is sleeping in an open crib and keeping his body temperature up. They took him off of the oxygen so he is breathing all by himself!! AMEN! He is still eating from a feeding tube, but next week they are going to try a bottle of breastmilk. Rob and Kelly (and Hannah too!) just can't wait to get him home. Hopefully soon! Of course the hospital wont give them a time... they just say sometime around his due date which isn't for 6.5 more weeks!

Here is a picture of the little man. Just so you know... that is a premie outfit that Kelly tried to shrink... but he still looks like he is swimmin' in it! :)

Workin' Out!

My friend, Lindsay, has made a new blog...

Workin' Out

Check it out!

This is just another motivation for me to get into shape. I posted a few weeks ago about Turbo Jam (which I love) and getting back into shape. Things are going well. I've also started running and I am planning to run a 5K on October 14th. My friend, Lindsay, and an old co-worker, Bonnie, recommended new sneakers... so 2 weeks ago I made my way to Run-On in Dallas and got a pair of Asics that I LOVE! It is crazy the difference what a good pair of shoes that fit you will make. Anyway, check out the new site if you are interested!

I love big girl food!

So we have accepted the fact that Grace doesn't like jarred baby food. I have pretty much given up on them. But we have found other foods she loves!!! Tonight for dinner we gave Gracie black beans and avacados and she LOVED them. As you can see by the picture she had avacado smeared all over her face. We put little chunks on her tray and she tried so hard to pick it up (it was hard b/c avacado is slippery!) but she finally got a few pieces. We helped her out too by spoon feeding her a couple bites. She knew exactly what to do...she bit it with those 2 front teeth and used her gums to mash it up before she swallowed. She is such a big girl!

For my friends that are just starting table foods, the new issue of Parents magazine (p.160) has 52 finger food ideas.... some aren't good until they are bit older, but they had some GREAT ideas.

Mema and Pop Pop visited...

Adam's parents came to visit Gracie. They brought us a riding lawn mower that Grace loves to ride!! (They moved into a new house about a year ago and with a lot less grass so they thought we could use it more with our 1 acre lot... I guess Adam will have to get off his tail and MOW!)

Anyway, here are a couple pics!

Notice Gracie's Aggie shirt... ready for the game on Saturday! :)

Pulling up... oh no!

CAUGHT RED HANDED!!! Well sort of... I heard Gracie playing in her crib after a nap so I went into her room to find her holding onto the railing. She only pulled up to her knees but she thought it was so funny. While I was in shock at first, I told her to wait and I ran for the camera (of course... gotta have a picture!). I just can't believe she is already pulling up. Anyway, I guess we will have to lower the crib yet again. I also took the mobile out of her crib this week because she was pulling on it! I was sort of sad b/c she loves it so much, but I don't want her to pull it down over her or break it.

She survived...

Adam and I left Gracie with the grandparents for 2 nights this past weekend!!! (Well I guess it was really just my first time to leave her, Adam has before when he has gone on business trips). Anyway, Adam and I dropped her on Friday afternoon and headed to Aggieland! We stayed with my Aunt Janet and Uncle Bob and had a blast. Friday night we went to First Yell which was so fun and went to our favorite ice cream place... Shakes (YUM!!). Saturday morning we went shopping for some new Aggie gear and drove around town to see all the changes. WOW... there is so much new stuff in Aggieland. Then Saturday afternoon we went and tailgated before the game (it was soooo hot!, but fun). Then we went to watch the Aggies beat the hell outta the Citadel. Whoop!

This was all really just a test to see how it would go leaving Gracie behind. Adam has been begging me to go with him to Germany at the end of October. He has to go for work, so we would really only have to pay for my ticket! So..... I'm going. Gracie will stay inTexas with both her grandparents while Adam and I will be in Germany for 5 days! I'm going to miss her so much. I called every couple hours when I was in College Station. But it will be nice for Adam and I to have time to ourselves.

The Price of Children...

This is for all my friends that are thinking about having kids... and of course those that already do. Enjoy!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock!? That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down.

It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich."??

Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up.
You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.

* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck.
You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
*coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren.

You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!