11 Months Old!

• This little girl is talking up a storm! She's still very loud and loves to hear her voice! 99% of what she says is mumbo jumbo! :) But it's like she's trying to form sentences already. The boys did that much later.
• She can somewhat say more, but it ends up sounding more like a cow saying "Moo".
  
• She's started blowing kisses.
• Sometimes she'll wave bye-bye, but it's kind of like she's just making an erratic movement with her arm.
• She eats lots of table food now, but for lack of time (hmm, can't imagine why?), we usually feed her baby food first, then give her bites of table food.
• She has 6 teeth.
• She has absolutely no trouble sleeping at night. We rarely ever hear a peep out of her.
• She usually falls asleep after her bottle which makes putting her down for her nap or to bed at night very easy.
• She has become quite the fast crawler!!
• She mastered going up the stairs VERY quickly!
• She can stand alone for a few seconds. It won't be long til she's walking. When she stands, she gets this look on her face like she's ready to take a step.
• The boys love picking her up and carrying her around. Of course, I supervise this.
• Lately when Greg comes home from work, she cries so hard because she wants her Daddy. It's so cute! She also cries when he leaves the room. I guess she sees me too much. She must miss her Daddy pretty bad during the day.
• If she sees a room that she wants to go in (one that I don't want her to go in like the bathroom), she charges for it as fast as she can.
• Took her first steps on Saturday, August 27th. She was in the living room with Greg, and I was in the bedroom. Suddenly I hear Greg say, "She took a step!" So I went in the living room and watched her take another, then another. I think it was like 4 or 5 total. Her brothers approached her trying to get her to walk to them, but she held her arms out straight like she was telling them, "No help needed. I've got this."
  

Will add more later!

8, 9, & 10 Month Update!

Yeah, it has been 2 months since I updated Gracie's little blog! But life has been pretty busy with the move and the boys being home for the summer. I've been blogging a lot about what's been going on with them on our private family blog. But I've kept telling myself that I need to record all the things about Gracie that I want to remember. So here it goes! Let's see if I can remember it all at midnight!

8 Months:

• Gracie began to scoot across the floor. I remember her first starting out where she would just use her arms to pull herself to where she wanted to go. Then she kind of started using her feet as well to push herself forward. It was quite hilarious to watch her do this. Most of the time it looked like her legs were broken so she was having to use her arms to get herself where she needed to go!
• I think we introduced a little bit of table food. I think she tried Fruity Cheerios first. She then tried a Ritz cracker (and watched very closely to see if she could handle it), and she loved it. It's really cute to watch her takes bites of things and chew them up. She's very lady-like when she eats. I would also give her big slices of apple to gnaw on, which she also seemed to love. She tried some watermelon and loved it too. She also tried some bread and is definitely a carb lover!
• I think this is when she began saying something that sounded like mama and dada. Sometimes when she gets hungry I think she's saying mama.
• I think she got her first two bottom teeth at 8 months.
  

9 Months:

• She started crawling a whole lot better. She learned how to do it very quickly and outgrew the pitiful broken leg/arm pull. She won't crawl on her left knee because of the new hardwood and tile floors, I think.
• She started pulling up. She's really good at it now!
  
• Her verbal skills really started to kick in. I taught her how to say "bye-bye" which she did a few times, but now she won't really do it anymore. She loves to watch my mouth move and even tries to move her mouth the same way that I do. I find this very fascinating how girls learn to talk earlier than boys. It's really true!
• She wore size 12-18 months in most of all her outfits. 12 months was very snug.
  
• We had to go to the doctor for a pretty bad double ear infection. So they had her weighed in at 17 lbs 10 oz. We actually ended up skipping her 9 month checkup since we didn't have to get any shots.
  
• For breakfast she eats banana baby food with oatmeal mixed in. Then she plays awhile or sits in her highchair while I feed the boys and eats Cheerios. Then she has about a 6 ounce bottle and is usually ready for a nap by then.
  
• Lunch is usually applesauce with oatmeal, then another bottle.
  
• Nap time is not consistent. Usually she'll take one long nap at some point in the day and one short nap. We're on the go a lot so she'll take a lot of catnaps in the van as well.
• She almost always has to be held to get her to sleep. I just don't have the time to sleep train her, but I'm sure I'll regret that in the long run.
  
• She likes all kinds of vegetable baby food and is not really picky at all. She usually has her last bottle around 8-9 p.m. and conks out after a long day of playing with her brothers. She sleeps all night, and right after we moved in to the new house she was sleeping in our room in her crib. But we've since moved her into her room.
• She began pulling up at 9 months, I think.
• She got to swim for the first time when we went to the indoor pool. I had her in her floatie and Logan on my hip with his swim vest on. She loved it and was trying to get out of her floatie.
  

10 Months:

• 10 months is fun! We've been working on some sign language, but I really don't think it's that necessary since she has no problem verbalizing words to us. She will do her own version of more. But it's really funny when she does it because she usually fusses while she does the sign. "MORE!!!"
• She tried to clap her hands together today. It was really cute. I was showing her how to do it, and then she did it on her own.
• I stuck my tongue out at her the other day and she copied what I was doing. That was really funny!
• Little girl gets around a little too fast! I have to really keep my eye on her since there's so many Legos and toys with little pieces everywhere you look. Of course I try to do my best to make sure they're all picked up if I let her down.
• She's got two teeth starting to pop through her gums on the top, but it's not her two front teeth which I think is kind of odd. I think she has one popping through on the bottom.
  
• Her personality is pretty diverse. At times she'll be growling in a deep voice, other times she's just very happy and smiley. Sometimes if she gets the slightest big hurt she'll cry so hard like it hurts SO badly. I think this is the typical girl drama queen act. She can get super excited and hyper at times as well!
  
• She loves her brothers usually. She'll let them know (especially Isaac) if they're starting to aggravate her by loving on her too much by fussing and crying and trying to get away from them. David and Jason both love picking her up and holding her. Jason loves playing with her, tickling her, and trying to make her laugh. I think they will be close. David more likes to cuddle and hold her. Isaac seems to have a bit of jealousy still, but at times he does still love on her. It's mostly when he's tired or when he gets his feelings hurt that he'll get aggressive with her but nothing bad. I do have to keep my eye on him when he's around her.
• In Atlanta we swam one day at the pool and I sat on the edge with her and just let her kick her feet in the water and she loved it!
  
• She loves her bath time. Unfortunately with all the kids we have to bathe, her bath time is always cut short. But once we put her in the tub she's all over the place and she loves to splash the water. She usually has to take a bath with Logan or Isaac. Poor thing!
• She's been eating a lot more table food like blueberries, grilled cheese sandwich, macaroni and cheese with mashed potatoes in (but she wasn't crazy about it I think because of the texture). She's got to try several sweet foods like vanilla wafers, an apple fritter, pudding, cake (loved it!!), and some others. I am trying my best not to give her any french fries or potato chips.
  
• I've given her a sippy cup a few times, but she'll usually suck on it a little then just kind of play with it. She doesn't have the "hold it up" part down pat yet.
• She still takes a pacifier to help her go to sleep, but that's usually the only time she needs it.
  
• She's very loud!! Greg and I can barely have conversations when she's talking because she's just so loud! I can barely hear myself think!
• Her breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all about the same from her 9 month update.
  
• She really is a sweet little girl. I just love her so much, and I feel so lucky to be her mom and very blessed to have been given a daughter. I can see that the older she gets the more fun it gets. I really enjoy teaching her to talk. It just blows my mind how early she's learning to talk.
  

Some Better Pics...

Miss Cutie Pie (I got her outfit from Sam's for $5.44!)

Look at the drooly chin

Her bow wearing days seem to be over :(

Eight Months Old (An Attempted Photo Session)

"Do what? Sit still for a picture? My sitting still days are over!"

"What's this over here?""Here's a smile for ya, Mom. But I'm not going to sit the way you want me to!"

"These bars look neat."

"I'm outta here, Mom!"

Picture of the day...

7 Months Old!

Gracie turned 7 months this past Saturday. And I tell you, she seems like she's as big as a one year old! I was holding her today while she was drinking her bottle and putting herself to sleep, and I was just in amazement at how long her body is. Far gone are the newborn days, but I am excited about what's to come. Here's her 7th month update:

• She can sit unassisted now for long periods of time. She still can't pick herself up yet if she falls over.
• She loves all her baby food, even her green beans and peas. The only food she's not crazy about is applesauce. I think because it's gritty. She now eats baby food at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
• Her new favorite thing to do is to scream and squeal really loud when she gets excited! She does this when her brothers are around. The other night when Logan was in the bathtub, I was holding Gracie right next to him, and he was doing something, and it just made her scream so loud. Of course Logan liked her attention so he kept doing (whatever he was doing) over and over again.
• She's in 12 month clothing now. 6-9 month clothing fits, but there's not a single inch of growing room left.
  
• She sleeps pretty good at night. Some nights she's only up once and just needs her pacifier. Other night she might need it 2-3 times. I can't complain though. But it is hard on nights when her brothers are up. Those nights seems like we're up once an hour with a different child.
• She's still very smiley at strangers.
• She does this funny thing when she gets excited. She'll move her arm up and down really fast.
  
• We're going to celebrate her first Baptism this upcoming Sunday. My parents will get to be here for the big day.
  
• She definitely has her dramatic moments especially if she's tired. It's like if you do one little thing to her, she just freaks out and cries like it's the end of the world!
• She's also becoming quite the feisty little girl. Miss Priss is going to have some attitude.
  
• She is a big time drooler. I don't even bother with bibs because they just become saturated in seconds. I don't mind changing her outfit a few times a day, he he!

Hawaiian Baby

I managed to take a few quick pics of baby girl today. She's getting so big, and sadly she's almost 7 months old (on April 17th). I've been so busy getting ready for Jason's birthday party because it's this Saturday. It's pretty much consumed most of my day. But I'm trying hard to make it special for him. Enjoy the sweet pics of Gracie!