How Sweet it is!

This is my first attempt to upload a video. Hope it works.

Getting close to sitting up

I sat her up today just to see how close we are. She's getting there, but that is one long torso she's going to have to support. (Sorry baby, I think you get that from me!) I barely snapped this picture before she dove for the feet. Oh, to be that flexible! Jeffrey is ready for her to be able to crawl, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for my baby to be that mobile. She's just now able to roll several times with ease. It's so fun to see how far she can go!

Whoa baby, that's some hair!

Good morning! This is how I found Gracen Tuesday morning on her 5 month birthday! Gotta get a hair cut!

Let's try a spoon

Had to post these pictures: thought they were hilarious!

Cute passy's at last!

I found some cute passy's that had been given to Gracen, so I thought I'd see if she'd take one. I hadn't tried one since she was a newborn. And when I did, she gave me the "What is that nasty thing?" look "Give me back that ugly green thing". Well, she took it without hesitation. Yea! Who knows how long ago she could've been styling. Mama's been holding her back.
Gracen's sweet Daddy surprised us both with roses for Valentine's Day. He got me a half dozen and her the baby roses (for obvious reasons). He scored some major browny points from both of us. Normally he couldn't tell you that Valentine's Day is in February. I tried to tip him off that it was coming in a couple of weeks, and I guess he was listening.
Gracen's cousins Lillie Kate, Sadie and Jase came over Saturday to play. She loves to see her cousins. They are crazy about her. All I hear is, "Can I hold her? Can I burp her? Can I change her diaper? Can we give her a bath?, etc" Followed by an, "I asked first!" They can't get enough of her. Looks like we had Gracen at the perfect time: the cousins are going to be fighting over who gets to babysit first!

She's off the Charts!

We went to the doctor yesterday for Gracen's 4 month check-up. She was 15 pounds (around 70%) and 26 & 1/2 inches (off the chart for her age)! Several of my friends have commented on how long she is, and they hit the nail on the head. She's just getting big so fast! Everything else went well. She got her 4 month shots, too. She did great, and I did better than last time. No tears were shed on my part anyway. She was smiling at the nurses before we left the office. When she smiles, she smiles with her whole body. She lights up. She's so happy and so much fun!

I am so thankful everyday that I'm able to only work 2 days and be home with her the rest of the time. I have a whole new appreciation for all you working mothers. I worked for 5 days in a row a couple of weeks ago, and it nearly wore me out. It's tough to get anything done around the house and get to spend any quality time with you husband and children. I don't know how you juggle it all, but hats off to you!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

But the Giants beat the Patriots

This is the theme of my tennis team. We just got bumped from 2.5 (where we should be) to 3.0. It wouldn't be so bad if everyone on the other teams would've been bumped, too. But they didn't, so we are the major underdogs! I think we may have T-shirts printed with "Giants" on the front. I think it would be very appropriate. We really have nothing to lose, so we're just going to take this as a building year. Building our skills and our humility. But hey, if the Giants can beat the Patriots, who knows what else can happen!

We've turned a corner

Gracen has really turned a corner in the last week or two. She is no longer that sweet little baby that just lays around and smiles at me. Now, she's the sweet little baby that interacts with me. She is so aware of her surroundings! When she hears Jeffrey talking, she starts looking for him. And when she's nursing, she will pause for a few moments, smile at her Mama and then get back to business. She's experimenting with new sounds. When she's talking, she has this high sigh that's so sweet. The other day, she was trying to grab something that was just out of reach, and she made the cutest noise out of frustration. I'm amazed that she's already to the stage where she sees something she wants and tries to grab it. And most of the time she can get it. She can pick up her pacifier and put it in her mouth. It may not be the right way all the time, but she enjoys chewing on all sides of it. I told you that she could grab her foot. Well, we quickly moved straight to grabbing both feet and at least one in the mouth. As soon as I lay her down, she grabs both feet.

She is getting so big. Several of my friends have commented on how long she is. We have a really big carseat, and her foot is nearly hanging over the edge. And she's only four months old! She has a toy in the car that hangs over the back of the seat that plays music and flashes lights (everybody needs one of these!), and she can hit the button with her foot. I don't know what we're going to do if she keeps growing like this. She still has 8 more months in this carseat.For the last few weeks, she's been sleeping through the night wonderfully! She'll wake up around 6am wanting to roll over. I flip her, give the paci, and she sleeps for at least another hour. We're still trying to figure out our new routine. She used to be on a very predictable 10-2-6 schedule, but now I'm never really sure when she's going to wake up. Yesterday, she woke up at 7:20am. This morning she slept 'til 9am. It was wonderful, especially since I got to sleep in with her. I just thought she looked so precious in these pictures and realized that I hadn't shared any of her in her bed. She likes to sprawl out as big as possible. This morning when I went in to flip her and give her her paci, she had made a 180 in her bed. I guess she turned while she was trying to roll over. It was quite a surprise to me!