Change is coming.....

And I am SO not ready yet!! I've got SO much to do, and the weeks seem to by flying by! (Only 8 weeks left by the way!) We totally changed our minds on what we were going to do with the rooms, but at least we have a plan. If only I could just light the fire and get things moving!! Drew seemed confident that we could knock it all out in one weekend. But, when I started listing all the things that need to be done....I saw his confidence fade just a little. My dad has been out of town for the past 2 weeks and his trusty little side kick can't work without him. :) I feel like I'm waiting around for a lot of things to be done...and I just wish that I could do it myself so I can cross things off my list!! I've got lots of projects to start working on, but it's hard to get started when there's no where to put them yet. I'm hoping we can get the room started this weekend. Here is his pile of stuff....hopefully I'll have a "finished" picture of the nursery to show soon!The dining room is where Hudson's chair and ottoman are for now. We can't move it upstairs until the room gets painted. Gracyn has really enjoyed climbing up there and rocking in it.
Things to do:
*Paint the ceiling white
*Paint the walls light blue
*Install the ceiling fan
*Put crib together
*Put dresser together
*Move chair & ottoman upstairs
*Hang things on walls
*Make curtains & hang
One weekend.....hmmmm....I'll let you know how that goes! :)

17 Months!

(I started this post when Gracyn was 15 months old and never posted it....and have been adding to it over the past 2 months now. I just wanted to keep up with where she is and have it documented, since I've totally forgotten about her baby book.)Gracyn is a little chatter box. She's babbling and singing all day long. I just thought I'd write down all the words she's saying now. At her 15 month check up the Dr. asked if she could say at least 5 words....she just wrote down 20+ because we started listing all the words she's saying. She picks up new ones everyday....yesterday she started saying, "oh, well" after hearing me say it. She was walking around saying it all day. It was hilarious! Some words only we can understand and know what she's saying. But, as the Dr. says, they still count! :) Looks like she taking after me in some ways after all. If not with looks, her personality for sure!
Mama, Dada, Mimi, Pop, Ma-Grandmom, Ava, Baby, Nana/Nanaw, Mickey Mouse, banana, tortilla, beans, pizza, peas, carrots, potatoes, chicken, cookie, cheese, apple, water, strawberry, pineapple, cake, egg, cookie, elephant, zebra, lion, bear, giraffee, dog, woof, meow, baaa, roar, bird, pig, frog, bug, butterfly, bye-bye, hi, hello, Amen, yes, yum, yea, Oh Well, on bottom (she says that in the bath tub and on the couch when she stands up), wow, around, up, more, all done, hot, bus, ding-dong, beep-beep, airplane, car, phone, diaper, "pa"paci, "ba" blankie, bow, balloon, boo, book, ball,button, flower, kids, heart, chair, star, go, get, bath, outside, block, swing, "wee"-slide, tree, night-night, shoe, sock, hair, bracelet, ring, elbow, ear, nose, eye, hand, teeth, bellybutton, knee.

At her last check up, she came out in the 97th% for height and the 25th% for weight. We'll go again next month for her 18 month check up. She's gotten to be such a skinny little thing. Her little fat rolls are long gone! We were hoping that she'd out grow her dairy allergy, and that seems to be the case. We've started giving her more dairy and she rarely has a break out anymore. She LOVES cheese though and can't get enough of it!! :)

She's really becoming more and more independent. She loves trying to feed herself with a fork or spoon. She makes quite a mess...but it's a learning process--she usually ends up with it all over her hands, and of course in her hair too. She also loves to try and put her shoes on by herself. She even likes to try and put shoes on top of the shoes she's already wearing. Gracyn is becoming a pro now at walking up and down the stairs--with our help of course. (I'm trying to get her ready for when the baby gets here.)

She has 14 teeth now. She just got her newest one last week. She's working on getting her eye teeth in...still waiting for the top two to break through. She always gets her bottom ones first.

Gracyn's gotten really good at kicking a ball and following it around. She's also really into dancing these days and loves to twirl around. I see a future ballerina and Drew sees a great soccer player. Only time will tell... :)

She's still taking 2 naps a day. They're only about an hour to an hour and a half long. We tried to go to one nap a day, but she didn't sleep any longer than her usual time and it made for a LONG day with a grumpy little girl.....not a fun combination! :) She usually goes down between 7:00-7:30 p.m. and wakes up between 6:30-7:00a.m. Her naps are around 9 & 2.

She's such a friendly little girl--never met a stranger. :) She doesn't have any hesitations when approaching other kids....no matter how old they are. She thinks she's just as big as anyone else and tries to join in on the fun. When we're leaving a store or restaurant, she'll wave to each person she sees and tells them "bye."

"Yep....I'm 17 months old!"

Viva Fiesta!!

Fiesta is a week long of celebrations and parties here in San Antonio. In fact, yesterday was a local holiday and all schools were out and city government was closed for the "Battle of Flowers" day. I thought Gracyn should celebrate it as well in her little dress! Viva Fiesta!!She was dancing around here.

Filthy Little Girl!

Now that Gracyn is playing outside...she is filthy! I never knew she could get so dirty! I've found dirt creases on her neck! Now I know why kids have "play clothes." My dad said that being dirty is proof that they had fun. Gracyn is having boat loads! :)She finally got brave enough and ventured off the porch into the yard. She likes to walk around and just check things out.

Little Vandal!

The Easter Bunny brought Gracyn some sidewalk chalk in her Easter basket...and she LOVES it. The problem is, she LOVES it on EVERYTHING! She's turned into a little vandal....writing on anything and everything! I let her play outside on the back porch while I made dinner and she went wild! She even colored herself! She was covered in pink chalk! We're going to have to keep a tight reign on crayons and markers in our house....I'm afraid of what the future holds!So, she's had her chalk taken away several times now. When I'm outside with her, she colors on the ground, but as soon as I turn my back and head inside, she starts coloring all over everything. I watched her do it--she looked around for me after I went inside and then started coloring away on whatever was closest to her. As soon as I said her name, she looked at me with those big, brown eyes and started coloring on the ground again and clapped for herself. What a little stinker! I've got my work cut out for me with this one!! Funny enough though, when I told my mom the story, she said that it sounded just like me. I guess you get what you give! :) She may look just like her Daddy, but she's definitely my daughter.This was as far as she got on the ottoman before I said her name. Little turkey!Check out the side of her face....COVERED in chalk!

More Cheeses Please!

Last Sunday when we were getting ready for church, I was talking with Gracyn about going to Bible Class and what she would do there. I asked her if she wanted to go to Bible Class, and she said "Bible." Then I started talking about all the things she would do there. When I said pray, she said, "Amen!" But when I started telling her she was going to learn about Jesus and how much He loved her, she shook her head yes, and said, "Cheeses." I thought she was saying Jesus back to me and again, I told her how much He loved her. She said, "Cheeses" again and then said, "More" and signed please. It was then that I realized that she thought I was saying CHEESE and wanted to eat some. We got a good little laugh out of it. The girl LOVES cheese though....and we pray she will love "JESUS" just as much and more! :)

Boy oh Boy!

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and everything is going well. I'm 27 weeks along. We had a sonogram too and got to take a peek at the little guy--it's still a boy! I had her check that first thing. :) He's a feisty little guy...he would NOT stay still and kept kicking her. We got some great views of his little foot! I can't believe that he'll be here in just 11 weeks! YIKES! He's measuring a week ahead....which is no surprise to me since Gracyn did too. He's already 2.9 lbs. The fact that he's already measuring big confirms to me that having a c-section is the way to go. Gracyn has started patting my belly and saying, "baby," but I don't think she really has any clue what's going on. She gets distracted with my belly button while she's patting. :) We've decided on his name....Hudson Ryan.

Play House!

Gracyn LOVES her new play house! She was so excited when Drew was putting it together. She was checking it all out--and was really in the way, so we went to take a bath.

She loves the little built in chair. She'll sit down and say "chair!"When we were done with our bath, so was Daddy and she had a BLAST playing with it! She got up first thing this morning and wanted to go back out there to play. We spent all morning with the back door open for her to go in and out.
She loves to close doors, so this is right up her alley! It even has a working doorbell. She loves to ring it! She says, "Ding Dong" after she rings it and laughs. She's such a riot!
Hello there!
It also came with a phone that rings--her favorite thing!

More Easter Pictures...

Here are some more pictures from Easter. My dad just sent them to me, so I thought I'd post them.She's yelling "Ava!" Can you tell how excited she gets to be around her cousin?! :)Drew went out with the girls to the back yard while they played....looks like he was really "watching" them. :)

This was my baby doll when I was little. Gracyn just loves to play with it!Hunting for eggs.Ava gave the Easter Bunny her last paci, and he brought her cross earrings. She got her ears pierced yesterday and LOVES how beautiful she looks and the way they sparkle. But, she's really missing her beloved paci. Mr. Towns....such a happy baby!

Easter Sunday!

We had a great Easter Sunday....celebrating our risen Lord and spending time with family. Unfortunately, someone wasn't very cooperative with taking ANY pictures. This was the best we got before church.

So, I thought after her nap, we'd have better luck.....think again!! "Happy" Easter!This is seriously the best we got. So much for our cute Easter family picture! All the kids had matching Easter outfits....too bad there isn't a picture to prove it....The Easter Bunny made his first appearance at our house. Surprise, surprise....Gracyn LOVES M&M's!! She doesn't however like Peeps. But, the sidewalk chalk sure was hit. It didn't take her long to really get into creating a masterpiece! Her big present was a play house and that didn't get until here Monday night--she LOVES it though and I'll post about that later on.We had an egg hunt in my parent's backyard.Nana helping Gracyn spot some eggs.Love this face....not sure what she's looking at or thinking....Checking out our loot!Someone wasn't too happy about sharing my lap with someone else. She's in for a rude awakening!