"gheeee"

one more thing before I go to bed - Grant's just *the cutest* around Grace recently. Since Gracie is now so vocal and interactive, Grant is really liking her "talking" to him. When she starts cooing and making her little baby noises, Grant will go over and say "ghheee" and "ooooh" back to her in his cute little 2-year-old way. It's so sweet. I'll always remember that at around 51/2 weeks, when I was wondering if Grace was really socially smiling or not, her first smile was definitely to her brother.

tired! tired, and more tired!

Stayed up way too late last night surfing while Matt listened to the Purdue game, and then got up early with Grant and Grace! We played hard today, though - at the playground this morning and outside here this afternoon. Grant played with the "water hose" (the garden hose) and thoroughly soaked himself but loved every minute of it! He just loves playing with the hose!

It was weird to have Matt gone on a Sunday! Made for a lonely Sunday afternoon with out him. It was also weird to not be at church together...

speaking of which, I'm getting very excited about next Sunday! It will be good to go to church and be able to meet everyone and get a feel for their ministries. We're not taking Grant with us (don't want to quite yet terrorize the nursery with our separation-anxiety-plagued 2-year-old!), but I'm still trying to think about what to do with Grace. I know she'd sleep in the sling, but I don't know if I want to wear her the very first Sunday we're there. She also likes for me to walk around when I'm wearing her, and I don't know if I want to walk around in the back of the sanctuary the first Sunday while Matt's candidating! I could just hold her, or possibly even put her in the nursery, if they have swings - she'd at least sleep quietly in the swing. I'll have to think about her!

Might be coming to an end..

So, the days of Grant being confined to his crib might be coming to an end! He was making a weird noise about 15 minutes after he went to bed tonight, so when I went up there I found him stuck on the top of his crib! The back of his knees were balanced on the crib rail, and he was kind of hanging on to the side/corner of the crib! He climbed out of the pack-n-play at my parent's house for the first time last weekend, but since then he hasn't tried getting out of his crib. He was really scared/freaked out being "stuck" on the top of his crib, so hopefully that freaked him out enough to not try again. We're hoping to hold off to the "big boy room" until after we move. (which, of course, is dependent on Matt's job situation - only one more week until he candidates!)

I am so surprised that it took 2 1/2 years for Grant to climb out of his crib, though! So many of my friends seem to have kiddos that climb out at like, 18 months! I'm thankful it's lasted this long - after he can get out on his own, it's a whole new ballgame!

Another Beautiful Morning!

Grant, Grace and I enjoyed another beautiful morning! I went to Starbucks (grande nonfat latte), and then we went to the playground. he LOVES the slides at the elementary school's playground, so we went there since we can't use them during the week during the school year. there are 2 BIG slides, and he probably did them 2 dozen times. We then ran to Target to get a few more groceries (and diapers! someone is always out of diapers! we have GOT to work on PT'ing soon!), and I bought chicken for a GREAT price - Target will now price match Meijer's sale prices!

Beautiful Morning!

Grant, Grace and I just had a wonderful morning together. It was so beautifully cool! We got ready and went to a new playground, which Grant just had a blast at! It was a little "big" for Grant, but he still had a great time - he *loved* the big, twisty slide - he probably climbed the stairs and went down the totally-enclosed slide 30 times! He went down fast and would always come out all staticy-headed and laughing. I played with him, wearing Grace in the sling, all while sipping my non-fat latte. Just a beautiful morning!

Crazy Short Night!

What a crazy short night it was! Grant always seems to know when Matt's gone and decides to freak out over night. He was awake at least 3 times, just crying. I had to just rub his back and stay with him for a few minutes to get him to calm down. And then he woke up at 6 o'clock, saying "out! out!" I was thinking that there was NO way I was starting the day that early. So, I gave him his stuffed duck to get him to lie back down and hug his bumper, which he did, and slept for another hour and a half, thankfully.

And, the baby woke up 2x over night to eat, which is unusual - she's been down to just one feeding around 5am for awhile. So, between the 2, I slept in about hour increments! *yawn*

Off to get more coffee!

Sunday Evening

I'm all hot and sweaty after a good run - I'm still ridiculously slow, but, hey, I'm faster than if I were sitting on the couch, right? I did 3.3 miles in 35 minutes. whew! I can definitely tell I'm getting my groove back, though, post-Gracie - doing 30 minutes of running is fairly easy, instead of having to kill myself step-after-step to reach 30 minutes!

Off to get in the shower before Grace wakes up to start her night time feeding jig!

Answered Prayers

Recent favorites...

I just LOVE this one of Grant

Tuesday Evening

I'm showered and clean after a good, easy run of 2.5 miles - and, I cannot believe that I think 2.5 miles is "easy". But, it truly was tonight - I felt like I just went out, cranked out 30 minutes of running (yes, if you do the math, you'll see that I'm ridiculously slow...but, it's okay, I'm running!), and came back in!

So, now I'm showered and getting settled in for my evening nursing marathon session with Miss Grace. She goes about 4 hours during the day, but starting at about 7 she eats on and off for a couple of hours. Cluster feeding to the T! I don't mind, though-it gives me lots and lots of snuggles with her and gives me an excuse to sit on the couch all evening and watch reality TV. America's Got Talent, here i come! ;-)

Up Early...

Up Early this morning, enjoying a rich cup of coffee with half-and-half. Gracie's still asleep, and Grant is eating toast and raisins (his choice!) in his high chair. Hopefully a good start to the weekend!

-anna

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Sugar Cookies!

So, these are the sugar cookies that our favorites so far! They're super good, and relatively easy. They stay very fluffy, and are just excellent!

roar!

I was trying to get a picture of grant in his new jammies and when I pulled out the camera he decided to be a dinosaur!

Grace at the mall!

How Grace does the mall. :) We both love the sling.

Grant and Matt after a Sunday morning brunch outside.

Cookie Update

Someone commented on my previous cookie post about how to make fluffy cookies - and she's totally right - I discovered that you need a recipe that uses shortening instead of butter. The butter spreads too much, apparently. (Thanks to Alton Brown's article about the science of cookies!) However, the new trans-fat free shortening can leave an "off" after-taste, so I used butter-flavor Crisco sticks. I found a recipe that used 1/2 shortening, 1/2 butter, and some sour cream, and the cookies were just fabulous - nice and sweet and fluffy! (And, believe me, I am NOT a good cookie baker, so I was thrilled that they turned out! :D)

It's weird, too, because I usually don't care for shortening in stuff, but this recipe was SO GOOD. Not healthy *at all*, but good. I have one more recipe that I'm going to try, but I the one I made the other day was definitely a keeper. I'll upload some pictures of my next batch.

Old Friends

Today I got together with some of the "girls" from my pledge class - which, crazy enough, was 10 years ago this fall that we pledged together! There were 17 of us in the pledge class, and about half of us got together today. Some of them I hadn't seen in the 7 years since I graduated, so it was just so fun to catch up! The majority of us are SAHM - there were toddlers running around everywhere!

It was fun, though - we laughed as we revisted college memories - talking about the guys we were dating, the classes we shared, and the pledgeship we survived together. It was a fun, fun afternoon, and hopefully will spark some more get-togethers, especially as several of us are SAHM's in the Indy area.

Here's a picture of some of us - I'm wearing Grace in my Peanut Shell sling, which I just love.

3 Months...

I'm determined to write more about the day-to-day happenings with Grace, as after having Grant I know how quickly I forget stuff I thought I'd always remember!

So, at 3 months old Grace I'm still just so in love with my Baby Girl. Quite honestly, it's hard for me to "get" that actually have a baby girl, I'm not pregnant any more, I don't have to worry about clotting any more (hopefully!)...just seems so surreal, still, after so long of worrying about her health and my health.

From month 2-3 she pushed her bedtime back a little bit...she used to go to sleep around 8-9, then awake 1-2x over night to eat. Well, she now sleeps from about 11-5 am or 6 am, eats, then goes back to sleep until 9 or 9:30 in the morning! She sleeps in her crib in her miracle blanket, which we used with Grant and fell in love with. After she wakes up at 6 or so to eat she sleeps in her swing until 9 or so.

She's definitely becoming more awake and aleart - more intently looking at you and focusing. She loves her big brother, and gives the smiles the most readily for him. She had her first "real" smile around 5 1/2 weeks - to Grant. She's now smiling a little easier, if you work with her. :)

She also flipped herself from her stomach to her back for the first time this month! wow!

She's just a happy, easy-going baby, and I'm so in love. We're beyond blessed.

Happy 3 Months, Grace!

Recipe #1...

I'm on a mission to try to re-create those thick, fluffy sugar cookies you can buy in the bakery section at the grocery store. We LOVE them, but all the recipes for sugar cookies I've tried are thin and flat, or cripsy...none of which we like in sugar cookies! So, I'm on Recipe #1 to try to make thick, soft, fluffy ones!

Thursday Morning

Goodmorning from Grant!

(These are some of my new favorite shots of him!)

Grace!

Some of recent pictures of Grace - she's even smiling in some of them! :D









Big Smile!







Look at all this tongue!


And, she's asleep...I think she's beautiful in this picture!

New Recipes

I really like to cook and missed doing it regularly when I was pregnant. So, here are a couple of my recent new favorites:

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes
We just had them as the main course, with some roasted asparagus on the side! A great vegetarian dinner, though they'd be a great complement to a meal, too.


Ingredients:

* 3 sweet potatoes, even in size and scrubbed
* 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
* salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

* Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

*Place sweet potatoes on sheet tray and bake for 1 hour or until soft. Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle.*

* Split potatoes and remove the flesh to a medium sized bowl, reserving skins. In another bowl add butter and cream cheese and the all of the spices and mash with a fork or rubber spatula.

* Add the butter and cream cheese mixture to the sweet potato flesh and fold in completely. Add the filling back to the potato skins and place on a half sheet tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

* During the last 5 minutes of baking, sprinkle the brown sugar on the top.

*I totally baked the sweet potatoes in the microwave! sooo much faster and didn't have to have the oven on as long in the summertime!


Roasted Cauliflower

Ingredients

* 1 head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into bite-size florets (about 8 cups)
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 2 teaspoons roughly chopped fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Toss the cauliflower with the olive oil, garlic, and red pepper on a baking sheet; sprinkle with the salt and thyme and toss again. Roast until golden and tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

*I used dried thyme and also generously sprinkled Parmesan cheese on the cauliflower before roasting!

Valentino

I caught a few minutes of Oprah yesterday where she was interviewing Valentino, the Italian fashion designer. Towards the end of the show he said that he felt like he could do 3 things really well - those three things were:

1) Designing a gorgeous dress
2) Decorating a fabulous home and
3) Hosting a dinner party

After I heard him say that I was like, those are 3 pretty awesome things to do well!

Girls Day Out!

Matt and Grant are gone for the next couple of days, so it's just the girls here!

Monday Night

Whew! It's 10 o'clock and I am SO tired - I guess that's what happens when you've been up since 5 with only a 30-ish minute nap. Here's the rundown for the day -

1. Grace is such a sleeper! She slept from 8 pm last night until 5 this morning! We always thought Grant was such a good sleeper and easy baby, and Grace is definitely a better sleeper so far and seems even easier! I keep holding my breath, waiting for her to "wake up" and start crying all night or something, but she only keeps getting better at night! Wild.
2. However, we have definitely learned that Miss Grace *needs* her Zantac! The couple of times she hasn't gotten a dosage, or she's spit up the dosage, she's definitely gurgly and in pain. A super high percentage of preemies have reflux, so it's just the "preemie-ness" coming out. I'm soooo very thankful that it's easily controlled by the Zantac, though!
3. We had such a great day yesterday! We went up to church on the north side, and called my brother and SIL afterwards to see if we could just stop by to say hi - we hadn't seen their new house yet! So, our "stop by" visit turned into 3 hours, but it was a lot of fun. Grant had just the best time playing with his cousin, andwe had a great time visiting with them.
4. And, we borrowed my brother's carpet cleaner, so Matt spent Grant's nap time cleaning our living room carpet today. It already looks SO much better! Great job, Matt! The living room also looks so big and clean with everything moved out! But, I'm ready to get things moved back in, though - hopefully it will be dry tomorrow morning.
5. My legs are soooo sore tonight after running another 20 minutes. I did 2.1 miles 2 nights ago, but could only do 1.66 tonight. Just one of those "off" runs - but, hey, at least I was out there, right? Faster and further than everyone sitting on the couch! We're doing a 5K over Labor Day weekend, so I gotta keep running! I'm trying to remind myself that I had a baby 2 months ago, but I'm SO ready to be back in the shape I was in last summer! slowly but surely, right?
6. Well, Grace is asleep finally, so I should go to bed, too!

Happy 4th of July!

It rained all afternoon here today, so thankfully we (Matt!) did our grilling-out yesterday! We had a fun lunch - Matt's dad was going to be stopping by on his way through town, and it happened to be his birthday. So, we had a birthday/4th of July luncheon! :D Grant was so.ridiculously.excited about the cake, and as soon as Matt's dad pulled in the driveway, Grant ran out the door saying "Pawpaw! Pawpaw! Birthday candles! Birthday candles!" - (after which we noted to ourselves not to rely on a certain 2-year-old to keep any secrets ).

It was really fun, though, and my father-in-law loved it, saying it had been his best birthday in awhile. We had So-Easy BBQ Glazed Chicken, which was just *fantastic*, caprese salad, baked beans and corn-on-the-cob! And, of course, birthday cake! Since I was the baker I got to pick the kind of cake, and chocolate praline cake sounded the best to me! The cake really was fantastic, though, and I'll try to get the video to upload of Grant "helping" blow out the candle. :)

I think we should return it!

I checked out The Family Stone from the library a couple days ago, and I think we should just return it! It has a lot of big names in it, but it's just slow - we've watched parts of it for the past 3 nights in a row, and we just end up stopping it. I've renewed it twice because we weren't done with it! I should just stop renewing and return it! Even with Diane Keaton, Claire Danes, and sarah Jessica Parker, it's just slow!

Mommy Goes Potty

Here's a good laugh for the day!

Mommy goes Potty

A 3-year-old tells all from his mother's restroom stall.

By Shannon Popkin

My little guy, Cade, is quite a talker. He loves to communicate and does
it quite well. He talks to people constantly, whether we are in the library,
the grocery store or at a drive-thru window. People often comment on how
clearly he speaks for a just-turned-3-year-old. And you never have to ask
him to turn up the volume. It's always fully cranked.

There have been several embarrassing times that I've wished the meaning
of his words would have been masked by a not-so-audible voice, but never
have I wished this more than last week at Costco.

Halfway, through our shopping trip, nature called, so I took Cade with
me into the restroom. If you'd been one of the ladies in the restroom that
evening, this is what you would have heard coming from the second to the
last stall:

"Mommy, are you gonna go potty? Oh! Why are you putting toiwet paper on
the potty, Mommy? Oh! You gonna sit down on da toiwet paper now? Mommy, what
are you doing? Mommy, are you gonna go stinkies on the potty?"

At this point I started mentally counting how many women had been in the
bathroom when I walked in. Several stalls were full ... 4? 5? Maybe we could
wait until they all left before I had to make my debut out of this stall and
reveal my identity. Cade continued:

"Mommy, you ARE going stinkies aren't you? Oh, dats a good girl, Mommy!
Are you gonna get some candy for going stinkies on the potty? Let me see
doze stinkies, Mommy! Oh ... Mommy! I'm trying to see in dere. Oh! I see
dem. Dat is a very good girl, Mommy. You are gonna get some candy!"

I heard a few faint chuckles coming from the stalls on either side of
me. Where is a screaming newborn when you need her? Good grief. This was
really getting embarrassing. I was definitely waiting a long time before
exiting. Trying to divert him, I said, "Why don't you look in Mommy's purse
and see if you can find some candy. We'll both have some!"

"No, I'm trying to see doze more stinkies... Oh! Mommy!"

He started to gag at this point... "Uh - oh, Mommy. I fink I'm gonna
frow up. Mommy, doze stinkies are making me frow up!! Dat is so gross!!"

As the gags became louder, so did the chuckles outside my stall... I
quickly flushed the toilet in hopes of changing the subject. I began to
reason with myself: OK. There are four other toilets. If I count four
flushes, I can be reasonably assured that those who overheard this
embarrassing monologue will be long gone.

"Mommy! Would you get off the potty, now? I want you to be done going
stinkies! Get up! Get up!"

He grunted as he tried to pull me off. Now I could hear full-blown
laughter. I bent down to count the feet outside my door.

"Oh, are you wooking under dere, Mommy? You wooking under da door? What
were you wooking at? Mommy? You wooking at the wady's feet?"

More laughter. I stood inside the locked door and tried to assess the
situation.

"Mommy, it's time to wash our hands, now. We have to go out now,
Mommy." He started pounding on the door. "Mommy, don't you want to wash your
hands? I want to go out!!"

I saw that my wait 'em out' plan was unraveling. I sheepishly opened
the door, and found standing outside my stall, twenty to thirty ladies
crowded around the stall, all smiling and starting to applaud...

My first thought was complete embarrassment, then I thought, where's the
fine print on the 'motherhood contract' where I signed away every bit of my
dignity and privacy? But as my little boy gave me a big, cheeky grin while
he rubbed bubbly soap between his chubby little hands, I thought, I'd sign
it all away again, just to be known as Mommy to this little fellow.


(Shannon Popkin is a freelance writer and mother of three. She lives
with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she no longer uses public
restrooms.)

ZZZ's

Grace has always been a really great sleeper - her usual pattern has been to go to bed for the night anywhere between 9 and 10, and then she used to wake up at 2 and 5 am to eat, then sleep to about 8. After about a month of that pattern she started sleeping until 4 am, then 7 am.

Well, last night she slept from 10 pm to 6 am! Way to go, Grace! We always thought Grant was (and still is!) a good sleeper, but Grace has him way surpassed - she's definitely sleeping more, and is easier to get to sleep, than Grant was at this age! Matt and I were talking last night and were wondering if we really got this lucky with 2 great sleepers! At first I thought Grace was sleeping this well just because she was a preemie, but she's 4 weeks adjusted now and *still* sleeping well! Here's hoping that it continues!

Thomas!

Matt took Grant to ride Thomas the train last week - Grant had so.much.fun! Here's a picture of them before they left.

Testing the new template!

Yes, once again I'm changing templates. The other one, though I loved all the colors, kept locking up my computer whenever I'd view my blog. So, I'm testing this one out. :)

Only 9 Weeks Old...

and we're already losing accessories! I cannot find Gracie's white headband - the one she's wearing in the last picture I just posted of her in her chair. I have searched the house over, and it is simply not here. At least I know it's got to be in the house somewhere and we didn't lose it when we were out, since she had it on in that picture. I think losing accessories at 9 weeks doesn't bode well for the teenage years!

Happy 2 Months, Baby Girl!

Sweet Baby Grace is 2 months old! I am just amazed at how fast these past 2 months have gone, especially compared with how incredibly mind-numbingly slow the last 2 months of her pregnancy went!

I was shocked at her doctor appointment when they weighed her! I was expecting 8 or so pounds - she weighs 10 pounds, 14 ounces, and is 21" long! Holy weight gain, batman! She's doubled her birth weight in 2 months! She's in the 25th% for height and 50th% for weight on the unadjusted growth chart! She's also doing everything a full-term 2-month-old should be doing - smiling socially, holding her head up some, and starting to look around more purposefully! Yay for Grace!

One of my friends gave me the idea of taking a picture of Grace in a certain spot on her birthday each month - so, here's her 2-month shot in the chair in her nursery. She looks thrilled to be taking the picture, doesn't she? :)

Bath time!

Apple Juice, Amigos!

At our garage sale Saturday, we had several Hispanic families shop. I never want to insult their English ability by automatically switching to Spanish. however, when I heard one family speaking Spanish on the way out, I told Grant, "say adios!" Grant proceeded to enthusiastically wave bye-bye and say "apple juice!! apple juice!" I guess I could see how "adios" could sound like "apple juice!"

So, "Apple juice, amigos!"

To My Dad...

Dad,

You're one of the most generous people I know. Thank-you for loving me so much...thanks for doing stuff like grocery shopping late at night to make my favorite icecream. Thanks for all the breakfasts, all the cups of coffee you've made me, and all the fun shopping trips! I love you!

Happy Father's Day!