March: In like a lion

Wow I can not believe that March is already half over! How did this happen? Where is the time going? This sweet girl continues to amaze us every day. We are blown away with how fast she is learning new things and how independent she already wants to be. I can't believe this tiny 6 lb 8 oz baby we brought home from the hospital is now 17 months and ready to take on the world. We are so in love. Have I mentioned that before? hehe

 

 

 Papa Joe (Gabe's Dad) came to visit us on his way back home from his travels to Florida. We made play dough, went to marbles, and hung around the house. Grace LOVED the play dough. She helped us mix it all together and then had a great time squishing all the balls Mama made.

 

 

We are continuing to work on more "educational" things with Grace. We are trying to teach her a letter a week. We just finished the letter C. The first week we thought she was picking it up soooo fast! She was identifying A's everywhere! Then we tried to introduce B and realized she thought all letters were called A. We have had to work hard to show her that letters are all different, but she is getting it. Today in the bath she showed us the letter A and the letter B and identified them correctly! woohoo! Then she looked at a 4 and went... A? I love how she can show inflection in her voice already!

 

The little gym is still a favorite! She is now one of the oldest kids in her class. What a change! It feels like yesterday that I looked at all the big kids and thought "How is Grace every going to learn to clean up or follow directions" Now the teachers are constantly using her as the example child saying "Grace is one of the older kids so watch how she does it" Oh my. I love this girl.

Mama is still working with Ben on Saturdays and Sundays. He has become a part of our family. Grace absolutely loves when she sees him and immediately starts calling out "ben ben ben" until he says hi to her. We have also been working really hard on getting our back porch area ready for spring. We want it to be a safe area for Grace to play and learn. There is now sod down on all the dirt and it is looking good!

 

 

Hanging out at the park with Caleb! It is unbelievable to see them really interacting together. Caleb is 5 months older and you can still see a difference in development at this age, but the gap is shrinking. Its amazing to think that their 5 month difference will soon be like no difference at all. How does that happen?

Here are some random pictures just so we can look back and remember how wonderful these days were. How much we laughed and played and how free it felt to just enjoy one another.

Sweet Grace,
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. I still sing this song to you at least once a day. You will reach up and touch my face gently and say "mo, mo" you love listening to the song. I find you unbelievably amazing. I have always thought you were beautiful and capable to be anything you wanted to be, but now that your little personality is coming through there are some other words I would use to describe you. Fearless, brave, curious, strong, friendly, outgoing, energetic, amazing. I love you sweet girl. You are so grown up, but no matter how big you get, you will always be my baby girl.
xoxo
Mommy & Daddy

February Part 2

February ended as beautifully as it began. We are so blessed in our lives to be surrounded by opportunities that enrich us both as individuals and as a family and to have people who love us deeply for just being us. We have continued to love the little gym and the friends that we have made there. Grace is so excited at the mere mention of the name.

 

This child has a personality that is bigger then life! We knew from the moment she was born that she was not going to be a wall flower, but wow. Each day we get to see more and more of who she is on the inside and buckle up friends, it is going to be a crazy fun ride. She loves raising her eyebrows and looking around saying uh oh. She has also learned how to make the "i dont know" hands and raise up her shoulders when she hears a new sound or doesn't know the answer to a question.

 

Music has continued to play a big part in her life. The moment it comes on she stops everything to stare and dance. She would like for me to continually sing songs at home if I had the energy. :)

 

Uncle Taylor still makes time in his very busy schedule to come see us once a week and this month we headed to chipotle! Grace loves drinking out of big people drinks with straws and I would continue to let her do it at home if she didn't purposefully dump it all over herself every time. Apparently she loves being soaking wet!

Oh the brain on this child. She has figured out the baby safety locks.... we are in for it now.

And then there is nothing more beautiful then a sleeping baby. Especially one who is so high energy most of the time. We absolutely adore her spunk and it just  makes the sleeping part that much more exciting!

 

The beautiful backyard. Part of the reason that we bought this house is that we loved the backyard! It has this great staircase that leads to this big open section and a fire pit. Obviously we have not been able to use it as much recently with a small kid that wants to get into everything.... but what do you know. I think she may be finally ready to enjoy it! So far this month we have gone up and down these stairs at least 50 times and going up she is starting to do like a big kid instead of crawling. It is amazing watching how much physical development still happens even after they can walk!

 

Bubbles, still a favorite. She would literally spend all day trying to pop them!

 

Our Marbles class is officially over now but WOW did we LOVE it. We already signed up again for May and got the last spot! It is so nice to have everything already set up and ready for us, and then magically cleaned after we leave! Tuesday's go by so quickly! We will miss them next month for sure!

And finally a few random pictures from this half of the month.

 

 

Grace Jacklyn,
You make my heart sing little one. You have so easily adjusted to daddy being in and out of the house at random times during the day now that he has his new job. You love to tell him "bye bye" anytime he walks out of the room you are in now, but you never worry because you know he will be back soon! We love you sweet girl.
xoxo
Mommy & Daddy