Gracie Lynn Who & Melting My Heart

Do you remember Cindy Lou Who from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas?  Do you remember how her hair was a little on the wacky side?  Well, I decided to have a little fun with Gracie's hair since it has gotten so long and it is so hard to get out of her face.  I just thought it would be fun to do.   Although I accomplished putting her hair into pig tails, it did not go with out a fight and the some big tears.  She hated it.  She usually does not ming mer messing with her hair, usually she just sits in my lap.  Now she cries everytime I get near her head.  The little rubber bands I have seem to be pulling her hair and I am on the look out for ones that are not so hurtfull.  I was unable to get a picture of little Gracie Lynn Who.  I thought you would Even though I have no  but I have one of Cindy Lou Who.

Cindy Lou Who

On a side note. 

Troy and I have been working on different things with our little Gracie.  I will not disclose now due to the close timing in our travel to Kansas for Thanksgiving and it will be fun having them see it first hand.  Anyway, Friday we were showing her how to blow kisses.  This morning when I dropped her off at daycare, I waived at her and blew her a kiss and she did it back.  Not only once but twice and of course I was so excited and her teacher started clapping and telling Gracie what a good job, which made her stop.  But I loved it!  And will try to keep pushing that one for all the time.  What a way to melt your mommy's heart!

The Big Transition

Gracie has been going to daycare at Wonder World since she was 3 months. Those ladies have made me feel so comfortable with leaving Gracie there. They love her to pieces, have given me great at advice and love on her when she has not felt good. Now that Gracie is one she will be leaving those ladies that I love and will be gone into a new room. I am sure Gracie is very happy about that all of her friends have been moved over in the last couple of months. She stands at the little door and yells over at them. Miss Natalie went over last month and Lo goes over next week. Gracie will be the oldest in her class and it seems a lot of new infants have come in and she has been on the move. Monday will be her first transition day. This means she will go over to the other class room for maybe an hour in the afternoon to play and then will come back over. This will continue until the end of November. Each time she will stay for a little bit longer to get use to the teachers and to get familiar with everything, so that they are no over whelmed. I think I will have a harder time then she will. Dodie, Nancy, Brandy, Marie and Barb are the ladies that have cared for her and loved her and I love them. The have been such a blessing, and I will miss having them with her everyday.

This picture is really old, all those trees are much taller now but isn't it cute!

Gracie's 1st Birthday Bash

I made Gracie's invitaion, it is much cuter in person.

My parents came in on Thursday and Friday to help with Gracie’s party. It was a busy couple of days but we got it all done. Saturday night we hung all the decorations. When I came down stairs Sunday morning Gracie was sitting in the dinning room and she pointed to the flowers hanging from the ceiling, she seemed too love them.

Gracie’s Birthday was a blast. It was a color them of pink, aqua and purple with a candy bar full of the same colors. I am not really big into character parties and she does not really know any so I just did colors, I am sure this may change as she get older. With bouquets of chocolate covered pretzels, rock candy, candy apples, sugar cookies, m&m’s, chocolate covered marshmallows, jelly bellies, cake and much more. There were plenty of goodies to go around.

Sugar cookies cut into 1's, G's & S's, I hung
a ribbon of pictures from 1 month thru 12 months,
and all different items on the candy bar.

Gracie had just gotten up from her nape when some of the guest had arrived and I got her dressed and ready. To my surprise she did not move much at all. She pretty much sat there looking at everyone. It was a lot for her to take in. There were a handful of people she did go to comfortably but other wise she was pretty shy. And, if you know my Gracie she is usually very out going and will go to anyone, but not on her birthday. Besides that we had beautiful weather it was in the 70’s which was nice for Troy who was doing all the grilling which is where most of the guys seemed to congregate.

Gracie in her Birthday outfit. 

I made the tutu and her Auntie Kristen gave her the shirt.

Gracie had a smash cake which she seemed to poke at and picked of the little pink sprinkles. Everyone suggested putting her hand in it to show her what to do so I did. Nothing, she seemed a little disgusted at the idea. We finally fed her a little piece and she was good to go. Her face was covered in chocolate even though she did not really put much of a dent into the little cake I had made her.

Gift time was most interesting and embarrassing, well at least for me. Gracie did not seem to like all the people she just could not get over it. I was helping her open some of her gifts and at some point she crawled away and was completely uninterested leaving me to open her gifts for her which was so awkward. We tried to get her back but she had found some she liked to holder her instead so she could watch. Oh, well it was her first and she did not understand completely what was going on.

The Proud Parents

Once everyone left she was all over the peoples. She was putting them in the little doll house/bookshelf. She loves it! It is so funny to watch her play with her toys and get so excited about them. It is quit apparent that the little toys we had were pretty boring to her.

Chocolate Cake Face

Earlier this week I wanted to take some more pictures of Grace with just her in a diaper and a cake. She did pretty well, she seemed to go straight for the icing and cake but she was not as messy. She actually got some on her foot and she just kept holding it up in the air. She does not seem to like being dirty too much. She even tried to shake some of the icing off her hands at times but then went back to eating.

Over all it was a great party and I think everyone had a good time. Lucky for Gracie she gets to celebrate her birthday again at the end of the month when we go to Smith Center to see Troy’s parents. I would like to say cake is off limits for the next year but I do not think that will happen yet.

Gracie playing with her little book case

which we consider a little doll house

Party bags to fill with candy to go

I will try and add all the pictures to

facebook here in the next couple of days.

Happy Birthday Gracie!

This past year you have learned to smile, sit up, roll over, talk, crawl, stand and now walk. These milestones are a big deal and have been so fun to watch. I can not believe you were once so tiny and dependant on us and now you move freely thru the house. Gracie you have been such a blessing to us and we love you with all our hearts. You can light up a room with your joy and laughter. You are such a good baby, you eat pretty much anything and you love being around other kids.

Although sometimes being a parent can be challenging trying to figure out, what to teach, how to discipline and what in the end is best for you. I view parenting as a mission trip, you are there to teach, help and make an impression in people’s lives and at the end you find that they have blessed you and taught you just as much during your experience. Parenting is the same way, I am blessed by you. After 20 years I know that from this experience I will have learned so much.

I am excited for you and all your new discoveries to come. We are proud parents and love you so very much! You are truly the light in our eyes.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

If you want to see more pictures her Auntie Kristen put some up.

It must be in the water...

So it is officially public news and a lot of you already know but I can officially be excited. I am going to be an Auntie again in 2010. My brother Steve and his beautiful wife Kassi are expecting.

Steve texted me late one night and told me he HAD to talk to me and wanted me to meet him on iChat. It was 11:30 my time, 8:30 in Cali….I thought I can call him tomorrow. But then my phone rang and I was up. My brother is such a wonderful support to me that I knew I had to at least talk to him if he was upset about something. As soon as I answered he noticed I had been sleeping and felt so bad. He then says "well we can talk more about this later I just wanted to let you know real quick that we are going to have a baby." I was up, smiling and laughing. I was so excited for them I pretty much pushed Troy off the computer so I could talk to both of them live. Needless to say I was so excited I barley could go back to sleep. So much fun! My vote is they are having a boy, he will be adorable, blue eyes and dark hair, can’t wait to see him, I hope he has tons of hair when he is born.

At this point I will become an auntie 2 times next year and I am very excited for all these new babies. This makes for a very busy 2010.

In Date Order:

Kristen & Kyle – Due January 22 (sister-in-law) having a boy

Kassi & Steve – Due May 15 (sister-in-law) don't know yet

Obviously there is no way it is the water one in Kansas in the mid-west and one in Cali on the west coast. Unless they are all drinking the same bottled water there is no possibility but it does seem like baby season is here to stay, at least for the next couple of years....anyone else need to make an announcement out there???

Kassi when she was little

Steve when he was little


Just for fun...

Kristen when she was little

Kyle when he was little

I am going to have the cutest nephew's or niece.

Prayerfull Snippet

You know those times in your life when you look around and realize everyone is getting married or everyone is having babies. Well, I feel over whelmed by the number of people having pregnancy problems and health issues with there infants. Now for the sake of my loved ones that are all expecting and read this I am going to be vague. I just think that we need to by consistently praying for these little ones and the fight they have for their health. It is a hard thing being a parent and having no way you can help. You have to trust that the Lord will protect them. But everyone’s prayers count and help those precious babies.

Thursday Snippet

A mother's biggest fear is if something were to happen would I protect my child? Will I be quick enough, will I lean in front of them or be able to keep them from harm? Or will I be too late and will my mind just shut down? These are at least some of my thoughts. One of my biggest fears is if I went down the steps and fell with Gracie in my arms would my arms go flying, would I hold onto her and protect her? Yes, these are the kind of things I think about and play out how I will handle them, almost like practicing, hoping that when the moment comes I will be ready. I know it sounds horrible but I think God lets these things happen on purpose, and I am completely ok with this. It gives me those moments to practice my reactions and how quick I think in those moments, it gives me the confidence that next time I will handle it even better then the last and I will do a great job. So, that being said, that is what happened heading to the basement to check the laundry I slipped and went down the steps. Thankfully I held on to Gracie with my right arm, I have no idea what the left was doing....I think trying to stop us, and my right arm/elbow seemed to take the brunt of the fall is it got banged over and over again going down. Of course there was crying, first by Gracie who was so scarred and I immediately go into a repetition of "mommy is so sorry" and checking her body over to make sure there were no injuries, then mommy started crying. What a rough moment, one that I am glad she won't remember.

After a situation such as this, well you can be a little emotional for the rest of the day. Example I went to the car to look for my camera and pulled on a string under the seat that I assumed was the camera case and I found my Istanbul pouch that I keep my gift cards in and I started crying. It may not sound like a big deal but I have been looking for it for over a month at least. I had been given a lot of money for Old Navy from the company I work for and it was to buy some new clothes for winter. They were happy tears for sure.

This is a picture of the beautiful colors on my arm

2 days after, bruised and throbbing in some areas.

After that interesting note, here is an adorable video of my Grace. I was able to capture a number of my favorite things she has been doing. Just a note the first little thing is how she reacts right now when she has been sad or in pain from her teeth, just a little dramatized, you will notice with this there is not a single tear. So funny....

Faces of Grace from Candace Schenk on Vimeo.