Christmas 2012

What a Christmas we have had! Mimi and J-pa got here this week and the celebrating began. We did lots of Christmas crafts this week and went on lots of walks, however there were just too many pictures to post here, so I have cut myself back to under 40 from Christmas itself. Pretty good for me! Santa actually came to our house during nap time on December 24th. Grace was so excited to see all the "Doe-a" wrapping paper! She was amazing at unwrapping presents and really enjoyed getting each one out. Grace also does a great job of making each gift feel so special like it was exactly what she wanted, regardless of if it was silverware, bracelets, or a brand new step 2 kitchen! She loved it all.

 

 

Every Christmas Eve the neighborhood puts out luminaries. It is so pretty to see them all up and down the street! We also had Dada's family tradition of sauerkraut mushroom soup and tortellini with shrimp for dinner. We also had communion to celebrate the real reason for the season.

After bath time she was dressed in her Christmas PJ's and opened one last gift, her picnic basket from Grandma and Grandpa Mac. She loved it! The basket is actually coming with us on our vacation to Asheville that we are leaving on today.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Uncle Tay Tay's loft. We opened more presents and had breakfast/lunch there. Everyone wore our special Christmas PJ's!

 

Our little family headed back to our house for nap time, but as soon as Grace woke up we headed over to Mimi and J-pa's for the last round of presents and Christmas dinner! It was really fun to do a progressive Christmas like this, we got to enjoy lots of different places and Grace was constantly entertained with new things to look at and do. She also got her big present from Mama and Dada here, she got her kitchen!

 

Sweet Grace,

It was so fun to watch your joy and excitement as you pulled wrapping paper off and ripped it into lots of little pieces! You are so smiley and so chatty! I mean seriously Grace, you really have a LOT to say. It just makes me smile to see all your opinions and thoughts about everything. It also amazes us how in tune you are with what other people are doing. The other day you took my keys and tried to reach them up to the door to let yourself out. It is a good thing you are short! I am sure you will keep us even more on our toes in 2013 and I could not be more excited about it. You truly are everything I ever wanted in a little girl. It is amazing how in just 14.5 months you  have completely captured our hearts and the hearts of everyone else who knows you. We. love. you. unconditionally.

xoxo

Mommy & Daddy

Gingerbread Houses!

This weekend our MOPS table made gingerbread houses. It has been such a blessing to be surrounded by these amazing women this year! Everything was so well organized and Grace had fun watching most of the process. hehe We tried to have her be more involved, but as you will see in the picture with Dada, Grace ripped a hole in the table cloth so she was moved slightly out of table's reach. We hope to continue this tradition next year and have her be even more involved!

Grace is getting so much more active and she is needing life to be a lot more hands on these days. One day Grace helped me clean all the toys in her playroom. She stood on the chair by the sink and had fun picking the toys out of the soapy water and dropping them in the clean water. She also enjoyed putting the toys that were drying back in the soapy water as well. Silly Grace.

We are trying to get this girl walking each day. Mama tries to go somewhere new and interesting and we walk at Grace's pace so she can enjoy feeling in control. This week we walked around in our little historic downtown Cary and at one of the local parks. Grace found lots of sticks and leaves which she liked to carry around. She also liked putting them through the bars on this bridge and yelling "dop dop" which is her version of drop.

Errands with Mama to target to get medicine for Grace. The hemangioma on Grace's back was growing at an alarming rate so this week we started our sweet girl back on propranolol which is the high blood pressure medicine. It adds an extra level of stress while she is on it, we have to carry around apple juice all the time, but in the grand scheme of things my baby is healthy and happy so we don't have much to complain about. She has been on the medicine for 2 days now and all ready we are seeing a huge difference in the hemangioma. It is about 1/2 of the size it was two days ago. Truly amazing.

I just love her toes while she eats. They are always up on the tray or on the table. She never ever just lets them hang where legs normally go. So cute!

So.... we bought a dora potty training seat. Grace is in LOVE with the show Dora. We watch it during breakfast to give Mama and Dada a chance to talk and start the day in peace. Grace knows "doe-a" (Dora) and "boos" (boots) and "bapa" (back pack) She loves singing with the show and responds to their questions. We decided to go ahead and get a seat even though we do not expect her to be potty trained any time soon! Dada sits her on it each  night before she takes a bath and she loves just sitting there like a big person and reading books and pointing out all the characters. She also loves taking the toilet paper and pushing it down into the toilet. We had to remove the toilet paper off of the hanger. We thought it would be good just to get her used to the toilet so she is not scared of it someday when we do expect it. Also I refuse to clean those little toilets. (I will probably have to eat those words someday) but for now - I am sticking with it!

 

$1.00 window clings and the girl loved sticking them on the window. I am waiting to see if she figures out how to move them around, but so far she just points at them.

Grace Art. Mama cut the tree out and put glue on the back of the red squares but Grace stuck them on. My favorite is the one way out to the right off the tree. Way to think outside the box Grace! hehe

Dear Grace,
Sweet girl I am so tired! Mama and Dada have decided we need to start going to be earlier so we can keep up with you! Nowadays you want very specific things and are not happy until you get them, and often the specific things are undivided attention from your parents! This evening we blew bubbles, showed you how to kick and throw a ball and you read the book "moo, baa, la, la, la" 3 times (2 times I read it to you, and 1 time you read it to me) You are our sunshine and we love you with all of our hearts. Even when I try and hold your hand and you pull it away and tell me "no no no" it only makes me smile, laugh, and love you that much more.
xoxo
Mommy & Daddy