Getting SO Big!

Grace is really growing up! She can recognize all of the letters of the alphabet and knows their name/sound. She is a GREAT helper, especially when it comes to throwing something away or putting something in the dirty clothes. She also LOVES to help load/unload the dishwasher but that is a task that I would rather do when she is busy with something else. I am not so sure if the dishwasher can hold all of her weight when she climbs in :-) She helps sort the laundry on Sunday mornings and she can put some things away on her own. I have just decided I better get used to the dish towels being crammed in the drawer since she will often unfold them before she puts them in.

Dustin took a few really cute pictures of her last night so I thought I would share them!

She has been practicing being a good big sister by taking care of her babies.

Do you like her little pig tails??

A couple of weeks ago she was wanting to play in her crib and when I walked into her bedroom she was climbing on the outside of the rails. I put her in and sat with her for a few minutes but I needed to check on the dinner I was cooking so I told her I would be right back. Not a minute later she was fussing and wanted to get out and come find me. I walked back in her room and her leg was over the crib and she was trying to climb out! We decided that since she is pretty fearless and is also a little monkey it would probably be wise to take the rail off before she fell out trying to climb out. After about a week of her rolling out of bed onto the pillows on blankets we had in the floor we finally put up the bunk beds we were planning on saving until she moves into her new room in our new house.

She loves her new bed!! She got so excited after I had the bottom bunk set up with her Dora sheet on. She likes to play in her bed and run from one end to the other.

She has a Dora pillow that she now has to sleep with. When we go to check on her she is normally laying with almost her entire body on the pillow!

Expanding Vocabulary

Grace's vocabulary has been expanding pretty quickly lately. Just today we were walking to the gym and I was letting her pick flowers. She saw a rock and picked it up to show me and said "ROCK" I was pretty impressed because we haven't talked about rocks since last weekend!

I am going to list the words that she says now pretty regularly, or at least all of them I can think of!

Rock

Flower

Bird

Dog

Go

Wow

Hi

Bye

Ball

Hat

Help

Up

Down

Paci

Hot

Cold

No

Elmo

Dora

Cup

Water

Wet

Bert

Ernie

Car

Boat

More

Amen

Slide

Outside

Banana

Chip

Cookie

In

Shoe

Ew

I am sure there are more that I am just not thinking of now. But one of the cutest things she says is yesterday we were on our way home and I kept asking "Who is your best friend?" and every time she would reply "MAG!" That is how she says Maggie. At the gym this morning Maggie kept pointing to herself and asking Grace "Who is this?" or asking me to have her say Maggie. She would laugh every time Grace would say her name which made Grace keep repeating herself!

Reaching New Milestones

Today Grace rode in the car facing the front for the very first time ever! We needed to take my van to get some things fixed so we could get the JCI done (we passed the inspection today!!!) so Dustin took it in and then I drove his car to pick him up and take him to work. I did not like how Grace's infant seat was in his car so I took her big car seat out of my van and put it in his car. It won't fit rear-facing unless the front seat is folded forward so I just put it facing forward since she is now over 1 year old. At first she thought it was pretty funny to be riding in her seat and looking up front. As we drove down our road she kept giggling! She is really growing up!!

{in her big girl car seat}

After we dropped Dustin off at work we went over to her friend Maggie's house to play before heading out to get pedicures. I kept telling Grace that when she learns to sit still she can get a pedicure too. Maggie does such a good job sitting still while they paint her toes. Today she chose a design with cows! I can't wait until Grace gets to go with and pick a design for her toes. It will probably be a lot more fun than having to sit on my lap for an hour and a half.

This afternoon we went outside to play and she learned a few new tricks!

{going down the slide all by herself}

{going down again and again!}

{and climbing UP the slide! She can do this with just a little bit of help, and she can get up the side that has the climbing wall}

{and she likes to JUMP, JUMP, JUMP!}

She has also told me "it's stuck" and "help" today.

It has been such a fun day! Right now Dustin is out picking up pizza and we are having a game night with James and Kelly. Grace is already tired since she did not take a much of a nap. She fell asleep on the way home from picking up my van and woke up as soon as we got home. Maybe she will last a little longer so she can show Maggie all of her new Christmas toys.

Happy First Birthday Grace!

One year ago we welcomed this precious little girl into the world.

December 10, 2008 @ 6:05 AM.

You weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz. and were 20 1/2 inches tall.

Look at how much you have changed over the past year.

{1 day old}

{3 months old}

{6 months old}

{9 months old}

{1 year old}

We love you baby girl!! Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow Grace will be 1.

Where did the time go? Last year at this time we were waiting on her arrival and now she is walking and talking and making messes! It is amazing watching her grow up and learning new things. She is learning how to tell us exactly what she wants and her babbling is starting to turn into words!

Here are a couple videos taken this week

learning to paint - I think she enjoyed rubbing the paint brush on her face the most!

She is walking all on her own now!!

A Present a Day...

After Grace's party on Saturday we decided that we would let her open 1 present a day until her birthday and then she gets to open the rest of them that evening. Her birthday is just the day after tomorrow! We are going to take 1 year & Christmas pictures that morning. Then we are planning on meeting Dustin for lunch at Chili's so they can sing to her. That evening we will let her smash her cake and open all the presents she has left.

Why did we decide to let her open a present everyday? Well, a dozen presents at one time may be a little overwhelming for a one year old.

So far we have been doing this for 3 nights and every single present has been a book! And she has loved every single one of them too!!

And guess what Grace is doing new?? She is walking!! All on her own. She doesn't even think about holding onto things anymore. We have been waiting for her to do this since she took her first steps at 9 months old.

Party Prep

Grace is turning 1!

We are getting things ready for her party. Today and tomorrow are being devoted to her cake and a few errands today. Tomorrow we have no plans other than decorating her cake which will probably take a good portion of the day. It should be a fairly short day for Dustin tomorrow so I think he is going to take Grace to the park and then maybe bring pizza home so we don't have to cook. Her cake is going to be so cute!! I will be sure to put lots of birthday party pictures up!

In other news, she is growing up but is staying about the same size at the same time. We had her 12 month check-up yesterday and she has not gained weight in a few months. Probably all the running around she is doing! In the past year she has grown 8 1/2 inches taller and has gained 9 lbs 7 oz.

Long week...

I am sure some of you are just dying to see new pictures and videos of Grace since it has been over a week since I have posted anything so I thought it was time for a little update.

{sorry Grandma, I decided I like your Christmas sooo much I wanted to keep it!}

This last week was altogether too long and the weekend just seemed way too short. Dustin was very busy at work planning his battalion's ball. It took place Friday night and was a success! Grace wasn't feeling too well last week and was a little on the cranky side but has a new tooth as a result. She had a really difficult time sleeping during the day and just wanted to be held and rocked a lot. But this week she seems to be feeling quite a bit better, although I think there may be another tooth trying to pop through sometime soon. I am taking a ceramics class on-base. I won up to $30 off the class fee and this one was less than that so all I have to pay for is my supplies. I am making a pagoda and a Christmas teddy bear! It has been way more time consuming than I thought. I have already spent several hours there the past 2 Sundays in addition to the normal class hours of 6-8pm on Tuesdays. Hopefully after tonight I will have something to bring home!

{don't you think it looks better on me anyways??}

Grace is just getting so much more fun and changing so much every day. She is constantly blabbering about something! She has decided that she is too big for baby food most of the time so she mainly eats table food now. I try to sneak a little baby food in for breakfast sometimes while she eats her cheerios and watches cartoons. Some of her favorite foods are: broccoli, pasta, turkey and cheese quesadillas, and grilled cheese. Last night she had roast, potatoes, and carrots and I think she liked it! I wonder what she will think of Thanksgiving dinner??

{I am ready to go shopping!!}

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we are going over to our friends' James & Kelly (and Maggie's, of course!) for lunch. We made a list of things we want to eat and divided it up and are going to have a huge feast! I am making the pumpkin pie now and tomorrow night I am going to make the dough for the rolls. I am also making mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (since Dustin is pretty picky about his sweet potatoes and this is the one and only dish he just has to have), and the gravy. Mmmmm!!! I can't wait!!

{I try to clean up my messes, I really do}

After Thanksgiving we will be putting up our Christmas decorations. I get so excited to put up our tree each year. Christmas is my favorite day of the year! We have already moved our furniture so we have room for our tree. We will have to go with the fake tree again this year. Getting a live tree when we are back in the states is one thing I am really looking forward to! Here, after about 2 days, they look like what your tree normally looks like when you take it down. We will just put our pine scented wax in the tree so it smells real :-)

{Precious Moments Nativity snow globe that we got as part of our "I'm Thankful for.." gift from Papa Bill. The other things we got were 2 Christmas DVD's for Grace and a stuffed animal that sings a Christmas song. THANKS!!!}

{listening to it play "O Holy Night"}

I will try to put some of more videos on here tomorrow. I can't do it now because Grace just woke up and we have learned that it is not so smart to hook the camera up while she is awake. Last time it was charging (and it has to be on the charger to transfer videos to the computer) she pulled it off the desk and then picked it up and threw it. She has a pretty good arm!

Maybe sometime soon I can get a video of her walking. She can do it but she thinks she has to be holding onto something... even if it is just carrying a toy in each hand!

Toes??

I have been trying to teach Grace where her nose, eyes, ears, etc. are. So occasionally I will ask her something like "Where is your NOSE?" and normally I will end up tickling her nose and telling her that is her nose.

Yesterday I asked her where her nose was and she bent down and touched her toes. I just corrected her and told her where her nose was and that those were her toes.

Later I asked where her toes were and she bent down and touched her toes.

When Dustin asked her where her feet were she bent down and touched her feet.

If we ask where her eyes/nose/mouth/ears are she does nothing.

How does she know her toes and feet when we haven't been working on those?

Since she was itty bitty I have always sniffed her feet and told her how stinky they were. She loves it! It goes something like this *sniff* "Shoooo weeee, you have stinky feet!" and then the giggles erupt.

And what about the toes? That is a game we play to get her to sit in her highchair when she wants to do something else. We tickle her toes and tell her we are going to get them. It usually brings a big smile to her face.

I guess learning through fun and games is the best!

Miss Independent

Grace has decided that sometimes she is too big to be fed. She wants to do it all by herself! So we went shopping for things that are pretty soft that she can eat. First we tried a scrambled egg. She liked that. Then she had some small pieces of string cheese. Yummy! And some pita bread which is pretty good too!

But best of all was the chocolate chip cookie she stole from me at church last night!

Tonights dinner consisted of table food for Grace.

On the menu was cheerios and shredded cheese as an appetizer. Hey, she got hungry before dinner was ready. And then the main course was peas and chicken. For dessert.... no, not another cookie.. biscuit with apple butter. She loved all of it!

And after she was finished we let her try to spoon feed herself some of her baby food. She loved that she was in control of the spoon!

Here are a few videos from yesterday

Eating eggs for lunch yesterday

Giving Puppy hugs!

Watch out world!

Grace is on the move!

She can take a few steps on her own (she has been doing this for about 2 weeks or so). And she can go anywhere if she has her stroller or is holding our fingers.

But lately she has really taken up cruising. She will cruise around the coffee table, along the dining room table, chairs, and her high chair, from toy to toy to bookshelf to toy. At the gym she was walking all around the room holding on to the wall, toy boxes, etc. If she wants something she is going to get it!

The other day I put her down to play and ran to the kitchen to put away 1 sack of groceries and when I came back 2 min. later she was sitting under the desk in the living room. So I move her back to her toys and 30 seconds later she has pulled up and pushed her rocking horse into her spilled basket of toys and fallen over.

But just tonight she figured out how to scoot around when there is nothing around her to pull up on so she can cruise. We call it her "one-legged crawl." She gets one one knee and two hands with her other leg bent in front of her crawling knee so she can easily go back to sitting on her bottom.

She just got another tooth so that makes 3 now. I think #4 is on its way pretty soon.

AND... she just learned how to stick the letters on the side of the bathtub!

She is pretty cute!

Shiny New Shoes & an Old Clunker

Grace is getting closer to running! She took 4 steps for the first time last night. Today she has been consistently taking about 3 and sometimes 4. She has even taken 5!

So we had to celebrate! We bought her her very first pair of Nike's. They are just so adorable!

She also started standing up in her crib. I went to check on her after I put her down for a nap this afternoon and she was standing in the corner of her crib looking at the door. So this evening we lowered her mattress again. This time it is as low as it can go.

Now for the old clunker.... Dustin decided that we should sell his car and get something different. Do you remember what we did back in April? We bought ME a new car. What is the deal with us? When we got my new car it was quite the upgrade. For Dustin, it will be a very big downgrade. And I mean BIG. Why downgrade? For starters we cannot get a carseat in the back of Dustin's current car. It isn't very good in the rain. That and he said he is just tired of his little sports car. He started looking at the classifieds online and found a little junker for $700. So now we just need to sell his car and then we will get this thing when the current owners leave next month. The biggest plus, when we leave we can drive this thing up until our last day here and if we can't find someone to buy it for a few hundred then we can just junk it! He has been excited ever since we went to look at the car.

We didn't take a picture (I will be sure to put some on here when we get the car) so I will leave you with this picture of Grace. This was taken right before we left for church yesterday. Don't you just love her tights?

Peek-a-Boo!

Grace loves to sit and play with her toys while I take a shower. After a while I will stand her up (the rail of the pack-n-play is still out of reach while she is sitting) and she plays peek-a-boo!

She is growing up so fast! I can't believe in just a week she will be 10 months old.

Random thoughts...

I decided I needed a new toothbrush. Now when it comes to toothbrushes and toothpaste I am extremely picking. Weird, no? I will only use Colgate products. So at the BX there is pretty slim picking for someone as picky as I am. So I pick up a Colgate toothbrush that I think looks pretty cool and decide I will just get that one. It was actually just the first Colgate toothbrush I saw. Upon closer examination I found out it is SCENTED! Yes, that's right. I bought me a toothbrush that smells like fresh mint toothpaste.

We had a great weekend. With our trip to Okuma before the weekend it really felt like a week long vacation. We went to the pool, shopped at the great sale they had at the BX (additional 50% off all clearance clothing plus a lot of other things were 50% off as well), played with lots of toys, and did lots of cruise research.

Did I mention how much Grace is growing up? She took her first step over the weekend, and she now says Ma-ma several times a day, although Da-da and No-no-no-nooo (complete with shaky her head) are still her favorites. And, on Tuesday when I dropped her off at the Co-op at the gym she waved good-bye to me and then she started clapping her hands on the way home!

Now it is Thursday and we are already planning our weekend.

I think we might take a trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday Maggie came over to play. This is always a treat for Grace! Here they are watching Elmo's World.

This is a toy we have had sitting in a pile of stuff to get rid of. We just realized that maybe the reason Grace never liked it much was because she was too little for it! The piano turns so that when she could sit and play it but she never really liked that. Now all she wants to do is stand up and play!

P.S. We bought a new video camera. I am not too impressed with the still shots but they will work and it makes it very handy to be able to switch between video and photo. And it is all digital so we won't have tons of tapes. But what do you think? These pictures are some of the still shots and the videos from Okuma are with the new camera.

Transition...

Not only do we have a new look, we have a new address. We now have our own domain name!

www.mcgriffadventure.com

In the process of changing the address I lost my list of blogs I follow. It is almost back but if you are reading this and have a blog and I don't have your link on my sidebar leave me a comment and let me know.

Now lets see how long I can keep this layout before I get bored with it :-)

P.S. I have to mention Grace... how could I have to posts in a row without talking about Grace??

She took her first step tonight. All by herself!

Big girl!

Grace is learning about money. She was really good and only tried to put it in her mouth a few times but listened when we told her "no" When her piggy bank gets full we will have to roll all the money and take it to the bank and let her start collecting change again!

Grace is also really growing up. I wish I could just keep her this size forever but I know tomorrow she will be doing something else new. For about the last week or so she has been practicing standing up and she is getting really good at it! She will be walking before we know it!!

New Stuff!

First off, Grace had a big new milestone today (and, no, that tooth has not made its appearance yet). While on our way home from the gym today Grace was talking away. She is quite a vocal little girl! But today she had a few new sounds. At first I was hearing a-ba a-da and then a-da-da! Since then she has said DA-DA quite a bit. She even managed to say it quietly while on the phone with her Daddy and then said it a few times while we were out to dinner with a friend.

Secondly, I posted yesterday about the toys Grace got from Toy's R Us. Here is a video of her playing with one of the toys she went crazy over at the store.

Lastly, I realized I have never posted pictures of our new house. I took some shortly after we moved in but the lighting wasn't good, all our pictures hadn't been hung, and Grace's room wasn't finished. Well, I never did go back and take pictures again and I never did take pictures of the bathrooms, our bedroom, or the guest room. But I will at least post the few that I have.

Living Room

Looking from the dining room to the entry area

More of the living room (also taken from the dining room)

Dining Room - I thought I had a picture of the kitchen but I guess I don't.

Grace's Room - before anything was hung on the walls. She was asleep in her crib when I took

this picture.

Our huge balcony

The other side of our balcony

The view

Beautiful!

You can see another island in the distance

Signing the Lease

Dustin signed a lease today. We are going to be moving into the Blessing Hill apartment sometime next week most likely! Now we need to start getting ready for the movers to come and I have no idea where to start. Tomorrow is our pre-inspection for our base housing. Then we will take all of the receipts from the housing agency showing we paid all the move-in expenses and set up a date for the movers to come and our final inspection. I am going to assume that pretty soon we will be without internet for a day or two and until then we will be pretty busy trying to figure out what we want to move and what we want to sell, trash, or give away so I might not update on here very much for a while.

In other news, Grace had her 6 month well baby appointment today. She got her 3 shots and was so brave! She is right on track with her growth - 15 lbs 9 oz. and a hair over 25 inches. Developmentally she is doing very well also. She has found her toes (7 month achievement) and can sit up very well. We will also be getting her 6 month photos done pretty soon. My mom has made arrangements for us to go with a professional. I guess my snapshots aren't good enough for 6 months pictures ;-)

Grace can....

sit up!

Dinnertime!

We decided to go ahead and start giving Grace a little bit of rice cereal at dinnertime. She loves it!! After 4 days of just giving her a couple bites we mixed up a little more tonight since last night she seemed to want to keep eating when her bowl was empty. She is becoming a little pro with the spoon. I think pretty soon we will start letting her have cereal at breakfast too!

Here are a couple pictures and videos of her first few bites