bumps and bruises

Wow, learning to walk has been quite the ordeal! So many bruises and bumps and scratches and general "ouch!" moments. We also got some new magnets for the fridge. Grace loves playing by taking them off and walking all around the house holding them! Eventually they find their way back on the fridge.

 

This is a rocking chair that Mama used when she was little. Grace loves to climb up and down and up and down. She also loves to hear stories in her chair!

This week we had another appointment at Duke for Grace's hemangiomas. Currently the plan is that she is back on timolol which is the topical ointment that gets rubbed into both her nose and her back. We go back in February for another look. There is this really great garden area right by the hospital and we spent some time letting Grace get out energy. It is amazing trying to keep up with this kid. She is getting so quick!

This weeks educational activity was putting a string on an empty shoe box. Talk about free entertainment! She loves pulling this thing around and filling it up with toys!

 

We also tried another art activity. This is just flour, water, and food coloring. It lasted about... 10 minutes and then she kept trying to eat chunks of it. I probably shouldn't do this kind of craft so close to dinner time! hehe

 

Raleigh's Christmas Parade! We had so much fun watching the Christmas parade. Grace LOVES the drums and the music. She watched in awe for about an hour, then we decided it was time to go. We missed Santa, but hopefully we will get to see him soon!

Mimi and J-pa have arrived for Thanksgiving! Grace is so in love with her Mimi. I can't believe how she just immediately wants to be held and cuddled by her! I absolutely love seeing these two together!

 

Dear Grace,
Thank goodness you are getting more comfortable on your feet! Mama could not handle all the falling. You don't seem to be too bothered by it, but wow it totally stresses me out! Now that your forehead looks normal and your nose is healed I am loving your "not banged up" look! You amaze us sweet girl. This week you said "Cracker" "Cheese" and "Open" VERY impressive! It is amazing to watch your vocabulary grow.
All our love
xoxo,
Mommy & Daddy

Our Little Love

We have started a new life group that meets on Tuesday nights from 6:30-8. They provide childcare at the house we meet at which is a great fit for our family. Several of the moms are SAHM so we invited them over to play in some of our leaves! It was great to see the kiddos and their Mommies outside of group.

Grace is really exploring everything! Often when Mommy is trying to get things accomplished, Grace is checking out her space. She opens cabinets, pulls things out, gets into baskets, pretty much everything and everywhere! She has been getting lots of bumps and bruises lately as she is getting more confident of herself, perhaps prematurely...

 

 

We got our baby swing back this week - we had loaned it out to a friend and they are done using it now. I can't believe my 13 month old can fit into this swing! haha. She asks to go in it daily now which cracks us up! She walks over to it and says "up, up" She also loves to push all the buttons on the back and make the music play loud!

 

More exploring this week.... Love this little one. She is busy getting into everything. Check out her pants! We were drawing with chalk shortly before this was taken. True artists are very messy!

 

Favorite picture of the week - taken with Uncle Taylor's i-phone and saved on his background. What a great Uncle he is! We are sure lucky to have him. This is a cool little place up in Durham close to where Uncle Taylor lives called brightleaf square.

Sweet Grace,
Your little face is covered in bruises this week! You keep falling over. I sure wish you would learn to catch yourself with your hands instead of with your face. You have precious brains in there child!!! I love you more then you could know. I love you all the brick squares at brightleaf times all the falls this week. You are my sweet girl.
xoxo
Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Halloween & Mama's Birthday!

Wow are we so blessed to have a friend who takes amazing photographs! We got a chance to capture some of our family moments and a ton of Grace at this amazingly adorable stage of life. Here are a couple of our favorites of our family and Grace. There were seriously dozens that I could have posted, but I tried to limit myself. hehe

 

We got an e-mail this week from Grace's friend Fletcher's mom saying that they were carving a giant pumpkin to stick Fletch in and that we were more then welcome to bring Grace over.... of course we said YES! Who wouldn't want to stick their kid in a pumpkin? We took a lot of screaming pictures to get these two amazing ones, but we had a really great time laughing with friends.

Officially  Halloween. Grace went as a bumble bee and Mommy went as a "mama bee keeper" and Daddy went as a "daddy bee keeper" We went to Park West Village which is a shopping plaza by our house. Each of the stores had candy for trick or treating. It was perfect for Grace because we got to go into each store and warm up! Uncle Taylor was able to come with us and so were some of our friends!

 

It was also Mama's birthday this week. The big 27!!! We continued our family tradition of bagels with egg and cheese in the morning on the "you are special today" plate and putting up our Christmas tree in the afternoon! Grace says "woah, woah, woah" We also put out a little fisher price nativity scene. Grace loves to play with all the little characters. Her favorite thing to do is hold the pieces over the edge of the table, say "uh oh" and then drop them. I think she gets the concept of the uh oh now! We just need to work on that uh oh comes AFTER something drops, not before. hehe

 

Sweet Grace,
Uncle Taylor got the best birthday gift for Mommy ever! A whole wall of Grace! We have been looking for something to put on the wall behind the couch and I love, love, love it! Sweet girl you are starting to move so fast! You can now walk all over the place. You have gotten up a couple times by yourself in the middle of the room, but you are still much more comfortable with pulling up. I just find you amazing.
All my love
xoxo
Mommy & Daddy