28 Weeks Old

28 weeks old today!!

I just purchased Grace's first ever school pictures.  I must say, they are adorable!!!  She was a trooper and smiled for every one!  Here is a collage of her three poses:

This Saturday  one of Grace's little school friends, Bella, celebrated her first birthday and we headed over to celebrate with her.  It was a costume party and let me tell you, her and Bella were absolutely adorable!  Unfortunately I did not take my camera... I know; shocker!! LOL.  Here are a couple pictures of Grace before the party though.  She is our little sunflower and what a beautiful one she is!  Grace and I both had a wonderful time!  After the party, I headed over to my parent's house since it was kind of on the long drive home; that way I could see my mom and sister and so they could see her in the costume that they helped me pick out for her.

Sunday, Garrett, Grace, and I headed over to my home church for service.  It is just so nice to get back to what I consider my "home" church and to see my family there.  I practically grew up in this church, so I love going any chance I get.  We also went out to eat afterwards with my family and just had a wonderful time all together.  So happy to get to see them when I can too.  Here are some cell phone pictures from throughout the week (quality isn't quite as good because they are from my cell phone).

I love to lay and just look out the window, Hey daddy you look like me!,
I will climb over anything (including Maggie), I even get stuck sometimes,
Ready for a new day w/ mommy, all smiles in my costume w/ Aunt Goober,
At daycare enjoying my first time feeling pumpkin,
I was all tuckered out before school.

27 Weeks Old

This week our little girl is 27 weeks old and all smiles :)  At her 6 month doctor appointment last Wednesday  she weighed in at 15lbs, 15ozs (49th percentile) and 26" long (51st percentile).  He said she is doing great and is looking good!!

Saturday Garrett, my mom, and I took Grace out for her first little fall outing... we met some alpacas, fainting goats, rabbits, turkeys, and saw pumpkins, friendly faces, and just had a wonderful time!  Grace absolutely loved it and loved watching all the animals.  She even tried to make conversation with some of them.

Love my family so very much!!

I think it is safe to say that the alpacas got her excited

Talking to the pretty Goat :)

All tuckered out after an exciting day

She is getting so big and is so smart.  She constantly amazes us.  She is starting to move more too!!  She isn't really crawling in the normal sense of the word, but she is close!  She gets up on all fours, but instead of going forward, she has mastered pushing backward.  She will push backwards or roll to wherever she wants to be.  I guess that means it is time to start baby-proofing the house a little bit more :)

Baby on the move... kind of :)

She will get anywhere she can, whether it is under chairs, tables, etc.

Trying her best to watch the TV, lol

26 Weeks Old

Grace Lynn is 26 Weeks Old today... holy moly, where has the time gone?!  That means tomorrow (the 17th), yep, she will be 6 months old!!  Her eyes are a little red and swollen in this picture because she is just getting over a slight cold (had a fever of 103.8, poor girl :( but thankfully God answers prayers and her fever has broke, so she was able to go to school today).  She is still a cutie!!

This last week I had my birthday and it was absolutely wonderful!  My recipe to a great birthday is:
A 'dash' of present opening with my baby girl.
A 'pinch' of a first birthday text from my mom.
A 'dash' of a first birthday call from my best friend Stephanie.
A 'teaspoon' of lunch with my wonderful mother-in-law.
A 'splash' of a visit from Grace's Great Granny and Great Papa.
A 'tablespoon' of time with Nana, Papi, and Aunt Goober.
A 'cup' of Cowboys for a date night with my handsome husband.
And, ENDLESS (there is no amount that is ever too much) love from my wonderful family!

Great Granny stealing kisses from Grace and
having a yelling contest, LOL

Snuggling with Nana while Mommy and Daddy
have a date night :)

Thank you all so very much for the birthday cards and birthday wishes this week.  It really meant a lot to receive kind cards from my grandma, aunt cookie, and grandma gardner in the mail this week!

This was my first birthday as a mommy and definitely a great one.  Any day I get to wake up to the beautiful face of Grace Lynn and my handsome husband Garrett is a great one, but this being the first birthday with the both of them was so special!  And, Garrett bought me a very nice digital picture frame for work that I LOVE!; however, it is very distracting! LOL.

The same week that I celebrate a birthday, Grace Lynn gets to celebrate her half-birthday!  Wow, I can't believe she is already half-way to a year.  She is growing up way too fast, but is growing up absolutely beautiful into the most precious girl I could ever have hoped for.  Happy half birthday baby girl (tomorrow).

25 Weeks Old

25 weeks old today!!

25 Weeks Old and teething...
Everything (including hands) into the mouth

This last week was so much calmer than last.  Grace Lynn got to go back to KinderCare since she is not contagious and I got to go back to work.  She was very happy to see some familiar faces (her friends and teachers!).

This weekend I actually got out and ran for the first time since Grace was born... yep, I know I've been slacking :(  It is just so hard to find the time between work, house chores, and spending time with family.  Thank you so much Erin though for running with me and for the encouragement!!  It wasn't easy to say the least, but I survived!  Now, I just gotta get back out there and do it again... I am so wanting to get back into shape!

Well, Garrett survived his last day at his old company; it was a bittersweet day.  He has been working there for about 7 years and Thursday was his last day.  They have been good to him, but he was offered an opportunity elsewhere  and we do believe that it was God opening another door for him.  So, Monday was his first day at his new job.  So far, he enjoys the people he works with and the company is a good company.  I cannot wait to see how he grows with this new company and thank God for this opportunity.  We have been praying about his job situation for a while and this just affirms many of our questions.

Grace Lynn also went to the doctor for another follow-up this week.  Thank you all for all the prayers... they are being answered!  She's been using her inhaler for several days now and her bronchialitis is showing signs of improvement.  The doctor was very impressed with her progress and said that she is doing well!  She goes back again next week for her 6 month physical and for another follow-up... so, we will see then how she is doing, but so far, all is on the up and up.  She is one happy girl and is moving like crazy... we do believe she will be crawling in the next week or two... only time will tell.  We aren't rushing it though because time is already going by WAY TOO FAST!

Loves her cereal!!

Can I have more pretty please???

Our little squirmer!

She loves to roll and turn herself around

You never know how you will find her :)

24 Weeks Old

This week has been a crazy one, hence the lateness of this blog entry.  Here is baby girl at 24 weeks though :)

Before I get into the craziness of this week, here are some good things from this weekend;
Grace, Garrett, and I went to the Starks baby reveal Friday night and we are so very happy to say that Grace Lynn will have a little girl friend at church now.  Courtney and John will be welcoming Haley Marie in February and we couldn't be more excited for them!

Team Pink and Team Blue; Yay for Team PINK!

Saturday, Grace and I went to Jenny's baby shower for little Tanner.  We had a wonderful time!  That is going to be one blessed little boy and we cannot wait to meet him in the next couple months!!  Fingers crossed that he lets you get through your Christmas staging rehearsals first though Jenny :)

Grace and I with mom to be and great friend, Jenny

Then that evening I stayed the night at my parents while Garrett was hunting.  It was nice to have my family help with Grace and we did some fun birthday shopping too.  Yep, Garrett had his birthday this last week and we showered him with love and some gifts.  I think his favorite thing about his birthday though was getting to hunt all weekend and catch up on some sleep :)  Sunday morning, I went to my home church; always great to see my church family there.

Now to the craziness... Grace Lynn has been coughing the last week, but it had gotten significantly worst by Sunday evening; so I took the following morning off to take her to the doctor.  While there, I learned that it was worst than we had expected.  She was not breathing too well and was wheezing a lot.  They told me that she had bronchialitis (just another way she takes after her mama I guess... luckily she got it a little later than when I had it as a baby; so her body is able to handle it a little better).  While at the doctor, they did some nebulization treatments and monitored her oxygen level.  When her level read 90% and was not coming up, they had me take her to Pediatric Emergency at Florida Hospital.  She was there all day and they monitored her oxygen levels, took some x-rays, and nasal swabs.  Fortunately and thank God, all of the tests came back negative for any major respiratory viruses.  And her condition did not worsen.  They therefore let us go home that evening.  Prayers really are a powerful thing and God is good.  I know several family members and some friends had Grace in their prayers all day Monday and those prayers were definitely answered.  It could have turned out much worse.  Thank you all so much!!  Grace has since had a follow-up appointment and another nebulization treatment; she has another follow-up on Monday.  Until then though, our baby girl has to use an inhaler 3 times a day to help with her breathing.  And, we just have to monitor her to make sure her breathing doesn't get any worse.  I'm not sure how long she will have to use an inhaler, but hopefully we will find out more on Monday.  She is definitely one little trooper though and is ALL SMILES!

Love my little girl... what a trooper she is

Playing while at the hospital and getting some love from daddy

Her hospital band, resting after a long day,
using her new inhaler, sleeping some more,
the dreaded nebulizer, loving on Maggie after a long day