Take a Look

Jay and I always get comments about who Grace looks like. The resemblance can’t be based soley on hair and eye color because all three of us have brown eyes and brown hair. It seems like the “She looks like Jay,” comments outnumber the “She looks like Kate” comments by a slim margin. (Regardless, everyone agrees she's a cutie as you can see : )

Here are some other themes:

Newborn -->Infant: Personally, I think she looked more like me when she was a newborn and is starting to look more like Jay now.

Features: Another comment is that the top half of Gracie’s face is all Jay, and the bottom half is all me.

Mood: The resemblance seems to shift depending on what mood she’s in. When she’s thoughtful and contemplative, she looks like me. When she’s laughing and mischievous, she looks like Jay. (This isn’t based on just my opinion, but I can’t divulge my sources : )

Speaking of family resemblances, I did this Yearbook Yourself thing that has been on a few friend’s blogs. If you haven’t seen it, it puts your photo into yearbook photos of different eras. Quite interesting and such a good use of my free time, I might add. A few photos were eerily familiar because they looked so much like relatives, especially my mom. Others also showed me what I would have looked like if I’d have developed my styling skills in high school.

For your entertainment:

Bet that some people (i.e. Jay) would say the glasses in this photo (1966) aren't that much different than ones I acually wear today.

This looks a lot like my mom at that time, or so I think she did, since I wasn't around in 1966 : )

And finally, this (1990) is how I would've looked if I could've ever gotten the hang of how to use the dang curling iron. Truely a skill I've never mastered.

And that might be for the best. That said, I was the recipient of many a perm in the late 1980s, so I'm not sure that's any better. I'm hoping Gracie never learns what the perming experience is all about and I'm crossing my fingers that she doesn't ask her mom for curling iron tips.

The Perfect Storm

A disclaimer: I still realize that we are super lucky and have a great baby – and we are so fortunate that she’s as good as she is, especially when it comes to sleeping. That is why when she was difficult to get down last Thursday night, it took me off guard. This sleepless trend continued and intensified over the weekend, through Wednesday.

We started off with a fun "girls' night" (Jay was in Vegas). As you can see by the photo, Grace was fine during the day, but come bedtime – yipes! She’d be near sleep or fully sleeping as we placed her in the crib. But when her head hit the mattress those eyes flew open and the yowling began. Since she’s been so good, we hadn’t heard that type of cry since before we moved.

I realized that a number of things were going on in her little world and caused what I like to call (dum, dum, dum): The Perfect Storm.

Here’s thoughts that might have been going on in her cute little head:
* My daddy’s out of town.
* I’m eating a green food with a funny texture (green beans).
* Everything around me is sooooo fun to look at (pug) and grab for (pug).
* I fill my pants right after Mommy puts me in my crib (perhaps because of that weird green stuff she feeds me).
* My Grandma Patti is visiting me this weekend! She’s fun. She gave me a cow and sings to me.
* I’m went to a party (happy adoption day Dominic!) with two big dogs, four kids, one baby, many toys and many adults.
* I like my mommy and I kinda like to know where she is at all times. Mommy?

It’s a lot for even an almost 7-month-old to process! Given that Jay and I tend to be analyzers/overthinkers/obsessers, I wouldn’t be surprised if Grace had that trait too. Maybe she just had a lot going on in that little noggin and wouldn’t let herself go to sleepyland.

Then Sunday night I discovered another factor that contributed to (dum, dum, dum) The Perfect Storm: A tooth pushing through. Aha! She’d been fine when her first two came in, but apparently this one was different.

On Monday night, Jay was introduced to the bedtime struggle and we discussed when/if we’d try any cry-it-out options. We decided if the sleep struggles continued after this tooth came through, then we’d give them a chance. I warned Jay that I might need to leave the house. I don’t deal that well with Gracie’s yowling. Crying I can deal with. Howls that sound like “Mommy!” … not so much. This was obviously tooth pain, so we gave her some pain reliever and added a few things to the bedtime routine – a book and a fella we like to call G. Raffe. (He's been mentioned and pictured in previous posts.) We read/gnawed on a book. Then when we put her down, her giraffe stuffed animal accompanied her. After a bit of wimpering she grabs G. Raffe and drifts off to sleep. Whew.

Is that another tooth I see coming through? Good thing we can count on baby Tylenol, Oragel and Mr. G. Raffe to help us weather this storm.

Way To Be Tall

We went to our new pediatrician for the first time a few weeks back and wouldn’t you know it – Grace is in the 97th percentile for length. She’s thriving according to the doctor.

Speaking of being in good health, as some of you know, I recently got motivated to try running/jogging/moving on my feet faster than I would by walking. I’ve been trying the “couch to 5K” workout – yes, that’s actually the name of the program – which eases you in to the whole thing. The program's advice says to not rush the process and that’s fine by me. My last experiences with running were ones from track and field week in high school, and they involved searing sideaches and intense wheezing. To make this go around more favorable, I’ve taken Grace with me on at least one “run” a week. It’s a great motivator to look down at that little grinny face. Sometimes she even appeases me by grabbing on to the side of the stroller as if to say “Whoa, mommy. Slow down! You’re running so fast that I have to hang on for dear life.” My own little personal trainer!

The runs I’ve gone on alone are those that I've done around our house. Those have been fun, too, but for different reasons. The first time I gave it a go I had just walked around the corner of our driveway in time to see a doe and fawn crossing the road about 15 yards away. And then a few nights ago I was going to go out for a jog close to dusk. Then I heard a grunting sound coming from the wooded area around our house. Ummmm. Right then seemed like a good time test out our elliptical machine that we just got set up in our basement.

Regardless of how I do it, it’ll be good to get myself into shape because soon I’ll be chasing Grace around the house. She’s accomplished the freestanding sit and I imagine the crawling and walking will be here. In this photo she look likes she's trying to transition from the seated position to one of more mobility. Her face seems to say, "But Mommy, all the other babies are crawling!" Not so fast little one ... not so fast.

Dive In

A few weekends ago we were once again reminded how lucky we are. We were in for a long day on a road trip to St. Cloud for Grace's baptism. We were on the go from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m and Grace didn't fuss for more than a few seconds throughout the entire endeavor (thanks in part to Grandma Jane whose job it was to keep her occupied during our drive … something tells me she didn’t mind the “job” too much.)

Grace didn't mess her beautiful dress (photos coming soon) and looked so cute with her little barefeet kicking about : ) She also did great afterward, being passed around and hanging out with family. She was especially interested in hanging with Uncle Adam. It was an eventful day as she sampled some of the sweet and sour things in life -- some lemonade from Grandma Patti and a taste of frosting thanks to Grandma Michelle.

Even though she tends to have a devilish little grin on her face most of the time (see photo), Grace was an angel during her baptism ceremony. She was especially intrigued by the basin of water and looked like she wanted to dive in and splash around.

Speaking of water-based adventures. Grace loves baths now. We stopped giving her baths in the plastic tub we had over the kitchen sink and transferred the event to a inflatable bathtub that we place in our master bathroom. It makes for a funny site – a big jet bathtub with candles placed around it, complemented by an inflatable rubber ducky tub in the center of everything. We made the transition because she’d gotten so splashy and grabby in the sink that we had more water on us and the floor than we had in her tub. Now she can splash away to her heart’s content.

No wonder Grace found the baptismal basin so appealing.

Girl Power

We have one strong little girl. Strong in many ways. For one, she’s strong when it comes to pain tolerance, as she produced two teeth with ease, something that we really appreciate. That said she isn’t very attune to how to eat with them. When we sit down to have rice cereal meals, she sprays food all over her new feeding chair. Even with the mess, she looks like such a big girl sitting at the table with us.

Grace is also quite physically strong and uses her little fingers to pull hair and pinch the heck out of my arm. In fact, I had little baby finger-sized bruises on my arm for a bit. It’s hard to believe the girl with this sweet little face can do that.

Then there’s the strong voice. She likes to do a shrieky sound a lot, especially if she’s encouraged to do so. (Jay’s not a big fan of this sound, but I’m guilty of cheering her on : ) The other week she decided to shriek through the grocery store … just because. A sound Jay’s a bigger fan of is Grace’s hearty laugh. She’ll do it if you tickle her or amuse her in just the right way. For awhile it was by grabbing her knee or tickling under her chin. Then it was when she played tug with a burp cloth and most recently it was when Jay tickled under her arms.

Grace will make both the shriek and laugh sounds when she watches her favorite pal: Ella. She really likes Ella a great deal and that makes Kate very happy. Ella still isn’t totally chummy with Grace, but will lick her every now and then. She will also appease Grace by sitting while she pets her. She always looks like she’s just tolerating the little tyke. Grace will win her over soon enough. Once those Cheerios begin flying they’ll be the best of friends.

Online / In line

Part of the reason we moved to Menomonie (other than Jay's great job offer, of course) is because we realized we wanted a simpler, less hectic lifestyle, We are very happy with our choice. That's not to say there haven't been some growing pains during the past month. One is the lack of Internet until now. Jay and I are both people who have become accustomed to checking online for many things: email, weather radar and most recently, Facebook updates. When we had to resort to dial-up for a few week or so I decided to postpone most online activities. To be honest, it wasn't that bad, especially when you have a 5-month-old to keep you busy : ) That said, I still did a little dance when we got reconnected.

I became aware of the second smalltown adjustment when I was in the checkout line at the grocery store. The lines are definitely shorter so I thought I'd be just zipping in and out. But then I noticed that the cashier got into conversations with everyone that went through. This was something that I hadn’t seen in years. Definitely not what we’d experienced at Cub or even Byerly’s in the Twin Cities. At first I could feel myself getting frustrated, thinking “C’mon, c’mon. Let’s go!” But then I remembered that I was really not in any hurry to get anywhere and calmed down. I didn’t even flinch when each person in line in front of me pulled out their checkbooks to pay for their groceries. Again, something we rarely saw in the metro. Now I’m used to, and even appreciate, the slower pace.

So now I know you’re probably itching to know what’s new with Gracie. Well, a few things. She’s gotten a taste of some food – the wonderfully tasty rice cereal mixed with breastmilk. Mmmmm. When I try feeding Grace, Ella gets so excited and begs for the cereal (she does love rice and cereal so it makes sense : ) So, I look at her and say, “Ella, you don’t want any of this, it’s yucky.” Then I turn to Grace and say, “Want some of this? It’s so yummy.” So I’m lying to one of my girls. Grace hasn’t really gotten the hang of the swallowing thing yet, especially when she’s distracted by Ella as you can see here:



And now for some breaking news, Gracie’s first tooth is coming through. Tonight she wasn’t really interested in eating and so I put my finger on her lower gums and sure enough, a little bit of tooth was poking through. So far, she’s a teething trooper … but the night is still young.

Out with the Old, In with the New

We're officially living in Me-no-monie. (We're really residents of the town of Spring Brook, which I call a suburb : ) Everyone's adjusted well. Gracie is growing so much and doing new things every day. I don't see her much on the days I work. That's hard, but it makes me enjoy those late-night feedings more. Plus I get to spend much quality time four days a week and I can't ask for much more than that! We thought you'd enjoy seeing one of the fun activities she's taken up lately -- sucking on her foot.

Here's a little recap of our lifestyle changes:

New house: We love it! The great room is truely great. Everytime I walk into our living room/kitchen/dining area I smile.

New electronics: We "needed" (I should take the quotes off of that, because we did need these items) a new TV, new speakers, new satellite dish ... all of which make the place seem even more like home. The "local" television stations are still Mpls./St. Paul so we can watch our regular evening news and most importantly (to the head of our household) the Vikings games. The main issue we're struggling with is internet access (one of the reasons I haven't posted in so long). No broadband available, so we're going the wireless route right now and that's been inconsistent. It's a hard shift for a couple who's gotten very used to highspeed connections.

New neighbors: We haven't officially met our real neighbors, other than chatting with them for a minute here and there. But I'm talking about our other neighbors - the wildlife. There's a family of rabbits that we see a lot which I find to be very cute. But I know if I attempt to do any gardening they'll become not so cute. Then there's the tree frog that I found on our deck. I thought he had passed on to froggy heaven, but nope, he was just sleeping.

New commutes: Jay's got a nice drive to Eau Claire where he says he sees more cows than cars. I see my share of cars on my drive to St. Paul. It hasn't been too bad so far. Not sure I'll say that in winter though. The new iPod set up that Jay's promised me should help too.

New child care: We now have a nanny. We loved our in-home daycare in Apple Valley and were especially sad to leave that behind. But we had the idea (actually Jay's reminds me it was his idea) of hiring a nanny for the summer to help us transition into our new schedules. It's been working out very well. She happens loves doggies too so Ella's super happy.

Usually people are remiss in posting to a blog because there's nothing new to say. Not the case here! There's been so much to say this past month, but so little time to say it.