13 Month Checkup and Things

Once again we were about a month late for Grace's wellness check.  This time, though, we went to see her new doctor.  I LOVED it!  Kurt will tell you that I was talking about what the doctor said for the next week!  Unfortunately, Grace was a little stinker for most of the appointment and cried for most of it.  Little did she know that at the end of the appointment she'd be getting 5 shots.  You thought you were unhappy before...!

GRACE at 13 months:

~Head circumference:  18.5 inches......90%

~Weight:  21.7 Pounds.....51%

~Height:  32 inches....98%!!!! 
Once again our little girl is off the charts in height.  I hadn't noticed her going through a growth spurt recently, so I was pretty surprised when they showed me where she ranked.

~Quacks like a duck.  (Love it!)

~Is afraid of the vacuum unless one of us is paying undivided attention to her while it is running.

~Has started saying "Hi" and "Dada."  Melts my heart when she says them together, and she isn't even talking to me!

~Has figured out how to get on and off of our couches. She loves to roll around on the soft cushions. Give her a blanket and she's in Heaven!

~Still chooses to crawl instead of walk.  She almost took a step today...and then took off crawling.

~Is learning the sign language for Lights and More.

We're getting ready to spend a week with my whole family over Christmas.  We'll have 2 toddlers under one roof....Heaven help us!


And now for your viewing pleasure....

We call this one "Why NOT to give your kid caffeine...!"

Halloween 2011

 We had a really low-key Halloween this year.  Since Grace wasn't walking yet, we decided to forgo Trick-or-Treating and just hand out candy at home.  And since we went to Subway for dinner around 7, we only had like 15 visitors!  Which was good, since I discovered that I have a strange phobia of Trick-or-Treaters and refused to answer the door!  I decided it must have something to do with the fact that, growing up in the country, we never had T-or-T'ers and it weirded me out that so many people were coming to the door.  (Let's be honest...I regularly hide from people at the door.  I wonder what that says about me?) 

Grace "dressed up" as a Scaredy-Cat.  Too cute!

Happy Birthday!

We celebrated Grace's first brithday October 29th.  Both of our families were able to make it and we had a wonderful time!  Thanks for making her day extra special, everyone!

Snuggles with Grandma K.

 Opening presents with Mom.

 Cupcakes! I was SO pleased with how they turned out!

"Hey Mikey, I think she likes it!"



One Year Old!!

Grace is one year old! 
I can not believe how much she has grown and changed this past year. 

Kurt and I were talking about how she's not really our baby anymore;

she's looking and acting more and more like a little girl!

GRACE at 12 months:

~Is talking...sort of...!  Her first word with real meaning seems to be "kitty."  Everytime Mo comes into the room, Grace gets really excited and says some version of kitty.  Really cute...although I am a little bummed that I haven't heard her call for Momma yet.

~Is incredibly silly!  She cracks me up with all the silly things she does and the noises she makes as she plays.

~Has started rolling again...mostly during diaper changes.  (See above picture!)  I realize I've been really lucky to have a baby that was mostly stationary when placed on her back, but I've been having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to diaper a baby on the move!  I finally resorted to pinning her down with my leg so I can have a fighting chance to get a diaper on her!

~ Isn't walking yet, but is so incredibly close!  She'll stand by herself, walk holding onto our fingers, but as soon as you take even one hand away, Plop!  Down she goes!  We got her a little stroll-along walker for her birthday and its incredibly cute to watch her walk around the room on her own.

~Is drinking from a sippy cup.  One day she just decided she was ready to do it herself.  I LOVE that she can hydrate all on her own, especially since she's only nursing twice a day now.

~Loves her finger foods.  While she'll still let us feed her baby food, she gets fussy if she doesn't have plenty of chances to do it herself!

~Likes to sit on my lap as she plays.  It doesn't even matter if I'm playing with her, so long as she can sit in my lap!

~Dances! Anytime music starts playing, Grace starts grooving!  She has a really good steady beat, too.

What a year its been!  Love you, Grace. 

11 Months!

Grace is 11 months.  Gah!  I know its been said before, but I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up!  Its exciting and bittersweet all at the same time. 

GRACE at 11 months:

~Hasn't started talking yet.  She seems to recognize that we're "Momma" and "Dada", she just needs to start calling us by name.  She will also repeat things we say, like Hi and Bye, Kitty-kitty and night-night, but I haven't been able to get her to say it consistently. 

~Has finally started smiling for the camera!  No more camera face for this girl.

~Does not do well when her routine is messed up.  She also doesn't settle back into a good sleep pattern very easily, either.  So if she's up late one night, we have to work to get her back to a normal bedtime.

~Likes to walk while holding onto our fingers.  Still no steps on her own, but I'm ok with that.  Since she turned 11 months, she's also been standing briefly all by herself.  Any day now...!

~Waves and claps!  (Technically these happened after she turned 11 months.  Oh well.)  She responds to Hi and Bye with a wave--too cute!  She also started clapping and was so excited that she woke up in the middle of the night to practice.  Dear baby, 4 am is for sleeping, not clapping.

~Is starting to pick up sign language.  During meal times she'll look up at me with her beautiful brown eyes and sign "more."  Melts my heart! 

~Is starting to snuggle.  She's always been so interested in what was happening around her she would never put her head on our shoulders.  Now she does it whenever she's getting ready for or getting up from a nap or bedtime.  I love her sweet hugs in the morning!

~Has started to throw minor tantrums.  If things don't go the way she wants, she'll either throw her self backward or forward onto the ground...where she usually gets distracted by licking the floor...

We love our sweet girl!  I'm amazed how much she has changed this past year.  Putting her baby book together has me looking at pictures of a much younger Grace, thinking "She was never that small, was she?"  We love you, Grace Ellie!

10 Months Old

10 Months Old! 

Grace is looking more and more like a little girl

 and less and less like my baby. 

-sigh- 

Where has the time gone!?

GRACE at 10 months:

~Hasn't started talking yet, but sure does like to babble and she is LOUD!  She's very expressive and I can't wait until she can really say what's on her mind. 

~Loves to walk around the house holding onto our fingers.  Her top half tends to get too far forward, so I don't think she's that close to walking yet.

~Has stopped sleeping well.  Gah.  She got all turned around again and has been waking up for several hours in the middle of the night wanting to play.  And going in to put her back down just makes her MAD.  So we've been going through the torture of letting her cry herself back to sleep.  But I'm hoping it was all caused by...

~Her new tooth!  After months of teething, we finally have something to show for it!  Her top left tooth finally popped through and the right one seems like it might be coming in soon, too. 

Yay for new teeth!

~She has figured out how to show when she wants to be picked up or be held by someone else.  I must say I feel pretty special when she chooses to come to her momma.  ;0)

~Has discovered the joy that is the bottom shelf of the pantry.  After an afternoon spent cleaning up spilled noodles and then spilled oats, I think I have it fairly well baby proofed, but everyday her reach gets just a little longer...  Pretty soon nothing will be safe!

~We've started stage 3 foods, but our little stinker has figured out how to eat the sauce while spitting out the chunks.  But she loves to eat her finger food!  So far bananas and avocados have been big hits.  Peaches and Sweet Potatoes are next on our list.

We find ourselves in awe of how much joy she brings to our life. 

What a precious little girl we love!

9 Month Checkup

Grace had her nine month wellness check last week and she's right on track! I was thankful that she wouldn't need shots this time, but she still cried big old crocodile tears as the doctor examined her. Oh well!

Speaking of her doctor... She's been seeing the same doctor since she was born. Great physician, but a very busy guy. We've been thinking about changing docs, to find someone who has fewer patients and can actually get her in when I call a month in advance. This checkup confirmed the need to find somebody new when the doc walked in and started asking me about my son, commenting that HE needed a haircut. I had to tell him that she was, in fact, a girl with long hair. He tried to smooth over his mistake and asked me several questions about how Kurt and I liked parenthood, but it was waaaay to late for that! If you can't take the time to read the big F on the top of her chart, then too bad for you. Luckily I have another doctor in mind and am very excited to have finally made the decision to switch.

So here are Grace's current stats:

~Height: 29 1/4 inches...still in the 90th percentile!

~Weight: 19.8 pounds...somewhere between the 50th and 75th percentile.

~Head: 18 inches around

The doctor did mention that when you couple her height and weight it actually puts her in the 25th percentile for weight, but since she's so tall, its perfectly normal. Basically, we have a tall, skinny baby. (Where in the world did she get those genes from...?)

9 Months Old

Our sweet girl is 9 months old. Wow! She's fully mobile, full of smiles and cute noises, and so much fun. It blows my mind that she's been on the outside as long as she was inside. =0)

GRACE at 9 months:

~Has discovered how to make the "G" sound. She crawls through the house making a guttural G noise, sounding an awful lot like static.

~Still refuses to smile well for the camera. Makes it really hard for us to get a good picture!

~Laughs hardest when she's playing with Dad. Melts my heart!

~Has figured out how to pull into standing and cruise along the furniture. She'll stand with only one hand on the furniture; one of these days she'll take off walking!

~Is sleeping a bit better. She goes to bed between 8 or 9, wakes up early in the morning to nurse and then starts her day around 9.

~At last weigh-in she was 18 pounds, 11 ounces. (9mth appointment is later this month.)

~Has been been having a heck of a time teething. She was so crabby for about 2 weeks that we took her to the doc to make sure she didn't have an ear infection. The verdict was teething. However, her teeth have not come in, but she's in a much better mood so I won't complain!

~She's really eating solid food! We're on stage 2 foods, eating solid food 3 times a day and nursing before naps and bedtime. It makes me wonder if she was just hungry during her crabby period...

Funny story: Grace has recently figured out the head shake. The other day we were trying to check her mouth for any new teeth (an impossible feat). After much squirming and fussing, we gave up. We were discussing how that does not bode well for future visits to the dentist, so Kurt asked Grace if she was going to like going to the dentist. She looked right at him with an impish grin on her face and shook her head no! We busted up laughing, asked her again and got the same result! Too funny! Gotta love this girl!

8 Months and on the move!

Grace is on the move and I am frantically trying to keep up.

Life just got really exciting around here!

GRACE at 8 Months:

~Says both Momma and Dada, especially when she's having fun. We're just waiting until she realizes what they mean...!

~Is still one of the smiliest babies I know.

~Has completely stopped rolling when she's on the floor...which is nice, because it means mom has a way to keep her in one spot for a while!

~Is an absolute pro at sitting, which has made for one very happy baby! She loves to see what's going on.

~Crawls! She is a baby on the move, especially when Mo is in the room. She had been army crawling and creeping for a while, but she finally mastered the true crawl June 21st.

~Can pull herself into standing, which we discovered for the first time Father's Day morning (June 19th). And her crib was lowered 5 minutes later...

~Is no longer sleeping through the night...sigh. Since returning from vacation, her sleep schedule has been ALL over the place. Bedtime is a crap shoot, as is whether or not she'll wake up during the night. Gah!

~Is finally eating solid food! YES!!! On her 8 month birthday she finally got things figured out and now she eats like no body's business. She's also an extreme fan of puffs.

~Spent her first Sunday in the nursery, which means mom actually got to go to church! Yay!

~Had to go to the doctor for the first time because of a sickness. Boo. After a low fever for several days, we took her in and found out she had viral stematomas, basically little blisters in her throat. We think she most likely picked it up from touching something during one of our plane rides.

~Weighs 18 pounds, according to the doctors office scale!

Life is so fun right now. I love this age!

Her sweet and silly personality is shining through and we're having a blast. =0)

North Carolina

This June we were able to get together with my whole family for a reunion down in NorthCarolina. My sister and her family have lived over there for almost 5 years but we have never had the chance to visit them. But no longer! With both babies getting bigger by the day, we decided it was time to get our families together. Of course there was no way my mom was going to let both grand-babies get together if she couldn't be there, so we Idahoans packed up for a trip to the east coast.

We rented a beach house at Topsail Island for the week and it was heaven!
This is the view that greeted us from our back porch.

Total bummer, eh?

We had a fantastic week sight-seeing, playing in the waves, and loving on these two things.

We went to the North Carolina Aquarium and saw this ravishing creature.

We also visited the Battleship North Carolina,

and found this little monkey hanging around.

And we climbed all the way to the top of this!

I have never enjoyed a vacation more.
So thankful for all the wonderful memories!

7 months old!

Seven months old! We are having SO much fun!

GRACE at 7 months:

~Is starting to babble. I've heard "da-da" sounds and even the occasional "hi"!

~Is trying to crawl! Much of nap time is spent on her hands and knees, rocking back and forth. (One of these days she's just gonna take off and it will shock me!)

~Is sleeping completely through the night. (Yipee!) I bought crib bumpers the other day, since she was getting her arms and legs stuck between then bars, and it made all the difference.

~Is sitting up on her own! Which makes for one happy baby since she can see whats going on around her.

~Manuvered from her tummy into a sitting position a few nights ago, although I haven't seen her do it again.

~Is eating solid food. She's still not wild about it, but she has decided sweet potatoes aren't that bad. We've also tried peas...not as much yummy, apparently. She's still only taking a small amount each day, but its something!

I wish there was time to write more, but we're getting ready to go on vacation.

See you when we get back!

6 Month Stats

We went to the doctor this week for Grace's 6 month check-up. Our little girl is healthy and happy! Here's where she's at:


Height: 27 1/2 inches...only at quarter inch gain since last appointment, putting her in the 90th percentile.


Weight: 17.6 pounds...She weighs more that her cousin, but he's beating her in length! She's now in the 75th percentile for weight.


Head: 17 1/2 inches...I can't remember what it was last time, but now she's in the 75th percentile.


Her growth rate has slowed a bit, but she's still doing well. I'm actually a little glad she's slowed down...for a while there I was picturing a daughter taller then Kurt!


In addition to going to the doctor this week, she also sprouted BOTH bottom teeth on Monday (5/16) AND decided to try to crawl. Right now all she does is get up on her hands and knees and rock back and forth, but its a start! And now this momma is panicking...baby proofing, here I come! ;0)

6 Months Old!

I am having so much fun watching Grace learn and explore. She is definitely all baby now--no more newborn here! I love watching her reach and grab and find new ways to move. SO thankful I get to spend the day with her!

GRACE at 6 months:

~Refuses to roll from her tummy to her back! I know she can (I've seen her do it with both arms swaddled!), but she would rather holler until I help her then do it herself.

~Is getting closer and closer to sitting on her own.

~Is sleeping un-swaddled! We had a week of horrible sleep where Grace would be awake for hours in the middle of the night. We took away her swaddling blanket and voila!, a baby that sleeps through the night! I think she was having too much fun playing with the fabric.

~Height and weight stats are coming...I was slow in making her appointment and they couldn't get us in until middle of May!

~Absolutely REFUSES to eat solid food! We've tried rice cereal, oatmeal, peas and blueberry puffs. She either refuses to open her mouth or gags on the bites she does let in! Sheesh!

~Makes the cutest lip smacking noise! I make it quite often to entertain her and one day she smacked right back. Too cute!

~Has started making "sniffy" faces. No idea why or where she learned it, but she'll wrinkle up her nose and sniff through it. So funny!

As I'm writing this, I'm realizing how much of her personality is starting to shine through. Generally, she's a very joyful baby, content to play on the floor. But she also has ideas about how things should be (just look at everything she's refusing to do!). She has a pretty goofy streak in her, too! Love you Smush!

Grace pulls an April Fools prank.

My sweet girl pulled her first prank at less then a year old! We were in CA on April 1, to help Grandpa Krohmer celebrate his 90th birthday. Grace and I were alone in the hotel room. I had put Grace down for the night in the hotel crib that was located next to our room's entertainment center. As I flipped through the TV channels, I came upon the show Ghost Adventures. I'm a big sucker for that kind of show-it scares the snot out of me, yet I can't NOT watch! As I watched, I could feel myself getting sucked in and freaked out at the same time. All of a sudden, the top drawer of the entertainment center flew open! I about had a heart attack until I realized our wiggly little worm (who wasn't sleeping) had managed to get her feet between the crib bars, under the drawer edge and had given it a kick! If only she knew how many years she removed from my life with that trick...!

5 Months Old

Time has flown by! It has been a very exciting month for Grace-she's transitioning out of the newborn stage and is really starting to interact with the world around her. So very fun!

GRACE at 5 months:

~Spends a good deal of time squealing with glee! It's so cute.

~Her biggest smiles are saved for Daddy. He's definitely wrapped around her little finger.

~Can roll from her back to her tummy at will. We're still working on getting to her back again on purpose!

~Is very close to sitting up on her own. She usually get so excited she just tips over!

~Really likes to stand on our laps so she can see what's going on.

~Is sleeping through the night again, usually on her side and for around 12 hours! =0)

~Just started rice cereal! (23 weeks) She seems pretty neutral-doesn't love it, doesn't hate it, but sure does like to wear it!

~Last time we weighed her, our scale said she was 18 pounds! Not sure I believe it though...

~Took her first plane ride at 22 weeks. She was a trooper!! Slept through most of the flights and had fun playing for the rest of the time!

Madly in love with this girl!

4 Months!

Grace is 4 months old! Wow-wee!

Way too much fun is being had around this place, that's for sure!

GRACE at 4 months:

~Smiles at everyone and giggles like a pro!

~LOVES to have her cheeks tickled!

~Is starting to realize when someone other than Mom or Dad are holding her and protests with a quivery chin and one very sad face.

~Tolerates tummy time again, but still LOVES to sit up tall.

~Rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time yesterday, February 28th! No repeat performances yet, though.

~Was sleeping through the night, but has hit the "4 month wakeful period." Goody.

~IS GOING TO BED AT A NORMAL TIME!!! This is HUGE in our household! We dialed her back 4 hours (without tears!) by moving bedtime up 15 minutes everynight and having a solid bedtime routine. She is now in her crib at 10pm and is usually asleep by 10:30. YAY!

~Weight: 15.14 pounds (90th percentile)

~Head circumference: 14 inches (between 90th and 95th percentile)

~Length: 27 inches (Above the 95th percentile...she's literally off the chart!)

~She's as long as her 6 month old cousin, although she doesn't quite weigh as much.

We went in for her 4 month checkup today. Apparently Grace has a great memory, because the sight of the nurse who gave her shots last time sent her into a fit...and she pretty much stayed there the rest of the appointment. Shots this time didn't even phase her-she was already at her angriest before they stuck her. sigh. I think that whole process is just as hard on Mom as it is on baby! So sorry, Smush. We love you!

3 Months!

It is incredible to me how quickly time has flown by. I was talking to Kurt the other day about how even the memories of Grace as a newborn are fuzzy now. All I can think of is how cute she is that very day!

GRACE at 3 Months:

~Smiles at everything! She has definitely mastered the heart melting smile.

~Has laughed a handful of times and oh, how we love it!

~Has very sensitive skin that rashes regularly.

We've discovered she's even allergic to Burt's Bees products!

~Doesn't sleep until 2 or 3 in the morning, but easily sleeps for 8 hours without waking.

We just wish she'd sleep at more normal times!

~Has been sleeping in her own room since week 12!

~Is happiest when she's sitting up tall. This little one wants to see whats going on

~Weighs over 14 pounds.

She is a great baby. Generally happy and very contented and quite the joy to be around!

We love you, Smush!

And now, for your viewing enjoyment...the many faces of Grace!