Happy New Year!

2012, what a year!  It has been a year of change for us.  You, Grace, have grown and changed so much!  I looked at you the other day and started tearing up because we no longer have a little baby any more but a little girl.  Of course you will always be my baby!  You are learning so many things everyday, you never cease to amaze me. 

Christmas week just finished and it was spend with our family.  We started by celebrating with Great-grandpa Berg at his house, had Christmas Eve at Great-grandma Hahn's, had Christmas dinner with dad's family here at our new house, went to Gpa and Gma Miles house the next day, and finally spent the Saturday after with my family.  It was crazy week but fun! 

Happy Birthday!

Cody was right, I did need to post again about your birthday.  It was a fun relaxing day followed by a busy weekend celebrating.  For your birthday, I stayed home with you and then we traveled to Kewanee.  On Saturday we had your birthday party.  All of our family was there in addition to a few of your great aunts and uncles.  You enjoyed your cake (but not too much).  Then on Sunday we had a baby shower for Bella and Aunt Rebecca.  You slept through most of it after greeting everyone.

Some things you are doing:
*you weigh 20 lb. 6 oz.
*you receieved 4 shots at your 1 year check up.  you got a high fever due to those but are over that now.
*you say dada consistently and sometimes mom.
*you have started to wave Hi
*you have also started standing next to things without assistance
*you can get on all fours but haven't figured out how to move
*you can "army" crawl across the room
*you have started to get from your tummy to sitting
*you continue to eat well, are willing to try anything we give you
*you are drinking actual milk, no more formula
*you are wearing 12-18 month clothing
* you are working on getting your 6th tooth
*you love to study your toys
*you LOVE story time, you cry when we stop reading each night
*you also LOVE anything that has to do with the computer

We love you tons!

Happy birthday Grace!

Well your 1 year old birthday has come and gone. We already had one party for you and we are planning another one on Thanksgiving with Mom's side of the family. You have been going through different phases either saying mama or dada. You are now saying daddy every once in awhile too. I got down to play with you a couple of days ago. I was looking into your eyes and you said "dada." My heart almost melted when that happened. Your mom and I have been packing boxes and getting ready to move. I had foot surgery a little over a month ago so I'm getting back to daddy's normal self again. We are also starting to feed you normal milk now too instead of baby formula. Well I know mom will be posting on here soon so I better let her have something to talk about. Daddy & Mom love you so much. We can't wait till we move into OUR house.

12 months (early)

(This post is a day early but I feel inspired to write it now.)

Grace,
I can't believe that I will be telling you "Happy Birthday!" in a day.  I can remember the day you were born so clearly, it certainly doesn't seem possible that it has been a year already.  The day you were born I received the best gift ever!  I also received the best job ever!  I became your mom and have felt so blessed each and every day.  There is not a day that goes by that I am not so grateful to have you.  You are a true blessing to us and we love you more than you can imagine!  You are so sweet, curious, easy going, fun, just plain perfect.  Each day you learn something new or discover something new to explore.

Some things that you are now doing:
* You say "dad" all the time.  It was for the longest time "ma" but now I rarely hear it.  We also think that you say "baby", "Hi", "Hey".  I also think that you make a noise to sounds like an elephant and kitty.
*You survived another ear infection.  Thank goodness we took you to the dr. when we did so that you didn't end up with a double infection.  Once you had medicine, you started to get so much better right away.
*You eat anything that we give you.  We are trying to get you to use a sippy cup.  I think that you are being stubborn and don't want to give it a try.  This is the third time that we have tried it, you'll get it eventually.
*After lots of working with you, you can now scoot across the room on your belly and stand with assistance.  You also get on all fours and will stay there a few seconds.  All of these things started happening within a few days and we are so excited to see you develop these skills.
*You can wave but only when it is you and me.  You don't do it on command but again, I know that you will eventually do it to everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

I was just thinking about last year and how at this time then I was laying on the couch trying to avoid going into labor, more so than I already was.  I had full intentions of going on the school Halloween parade walk but our little one had a different plan.  So glad that I didn't try to go as I might have gone into full labor on that walk!

Grace,
You have changed so much in the last week or so!  You have survived another cold/ear infection, thanks to the doctor prescribing amoxicilan (probably didn't spell that right!).  You are babbling so much and really are starting to understand the difference between "ma" and "da".  It is very apparent that you know who is who.  You are a little bit of a mama's girl right now.  You sometimes have made dad feel bad due to crying when you have been with him.  You are eating anything we give you.  I think that you will not hesitate when you are given a birthday cake to smash!  We took you to the physical therapist last week to be evaluated.  She wants you really work on crawling to strengthen your legs.  You have started to stand though with our help which makes me very excited!  We welcomed your newest cousin last week, Bella.  You really don't know what is going on but it will be fun to watch you two grow up together.
You are a little elephant for Halloween this year.  We choose to have you be that because your great grandma loved elephants and collected them.  You really are adorable!

 

update

I had to "jot" some things down....
* You have gotten another cold.  So far it is a stuffy nose and a slight cough (one that never really went away from the cold you had a couple of weeks ago).  I hope that it goes away soon!
*You had your one year pictures taken yesterday.  You were such a good girl!  You didn't cry at all and were very cooperative.
*You are such a good baby and we are so blessed.  You always go with the flow and enjoy life!
*We have tried to get you to drink out of a sippy cup but you just don't have any interest in it.  We will try again in a couple of weeks.
*You will be evaluated by a therapist this week due to your lack of standing.  I know that it is not unusual for you to not to crawl or walk yet but I worry that you will need therapy so that you can bear weight on your legs and stand.
*We are planning your birthday parties which I can not believe that it has been a year already!  You will have one party at Grandma Cilla's and another at Grandma Pam's on Thanksgiving.  It was just too hard to find a date where everybody could come at the same time.  Next year when we are in our new house, we will have one big party!!

We love you tons!!

11 months!! Yikes!

Happy 11 months!  (a few days late)  Yikes!  I can't believe that we will be celebrating a year in a couple of weeks.  Where has the year gone?  I have to make this post short, it is late and the dishes are calling my name to be cleaned.  I didn't want another day to go by without documenting some 11 month things...
*you continue to roll all over and have started following us as fast as you can.  You are the only baby I know that can roll so fast and get to where you want by turning or pushing off of something as you roll.
*you enjoy playing with anything and everything, especially any new toys like the tupperware cupboard things.
*you chew on everything!!  including furniture!  in fact you left teeth marks on the bottom of the bookshelf.
*you have started eating lots of table food, mashed up or cut up into bite sizes.  you haven't found a food that you don't like.
*you pretty much skipped wearing 9 month clothes and are mostly wearing 12 month
*you survived another cold, even though the cough is still lingering, it is not too bad though
*you weigh approx. 19 pounds
*you haven't started standing yet so we will be getting you evaluated by Easter Seals to find out if there is something else that we can do to help you
*we are moving into a house!
*you had your first non-grandparent babysitter last night and did super!
*you love to empty the bottom shelf of the DVDs
*you say "ma" clearly and I am pretty sure you know what it means
*you love the computer and watching videos

Until next time, we love you tons!

Daddy is still here

As you can see I haven't wrote a lot of posts Grace. That doesn't mean that I don't love you as much as mom. I just don't blog as much as mom. I'm sorry if you wanted me to blog and write more about what has happened since the last time I wrote. Please forgive me. Well I can't remember where I left off but here I go.  My have you grown since you just came home. I remember when you first started rolling. Now this past Friday you literally rolled into every single room of our apartment. You kept dad busy that day. You always have to know what is going on. You love to grab things and immediately put them into your mouth. O it doesn't matter what it is. You grabbed the bathroom mat and tried to stuff that into your mouth. ha ha. You love pretty much anything you can get your hands on. We wish you would start crawling now but I don't know why you haven't yet. I think you are going to be a video gamer like your dad. Whenever I am playing you love to watch me. Also if you get a chance you grab the controller and I let you play a little bit. Well until next time, Dad loves you tons. Just can't wait till you say your first words and know what you said. Love you.

Daddy

10 months!

So much has happened since I posted about Grace turning 9 months.  It doesn't seem possible that she can be this old already.  How am I going to feel when she is 16?!?!  I love every minute of being a mom and getting to raise our amazing daughter, we are so blessed.  Cody and I often say that to each other.  
Some of the milestones in the last month...
*You eat almost anything that we give you.  You have tried many table foods and are now eating stage three foods.  You continue to drink formula and juice from a bottle.  You have tried a sippy cup but aren't quite ready for that.
*You love playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  You have so much fun being with the other kids.  In fact, you have decided that you can't miss out on anything so you have only been taking one nap for the past week and a half.  I am not sure if this is a phase or if this is what you are going to be doing now.  I didn't really think that you would only need one nap this soon, thought it might happen closer to your first birthday.
*You like to play peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. 
*You love to empty the DVD shelf.
*You have figured out how to make more noises with your mouth by moving your fingers on your lips.  You can mimic what we are doing too.
*You love to be read to.  You fuss when we are done reading to you each night.
*You enjoy getting your teeth brushed.
*You sit up really well and continue to be a rolling expert.  We are working on standing, you just don't have any desire to do this.
*You wear 9 month clothing and some 12 month.

*You survived two weeks of being sick with strep throat and an ear infection.
*Every time you see Grandpa Dick, you beg to have a ride on his scooter.

We love you to peices!!

the adventure continues...

So during the past two weeks the adventure that we have been on with Grace continues.... I went back to work on Thursday, August 16 (two day institute).  That Saturday night, Grace started coughing, nothing major but kept her from a sound sleep.  We attended Madison's baptism on Sunday, still nothing major.  On Monday, my first day with students, Grace went to day care at Grandma's.  By Monday afternoon, I called the dr. office and they told me to do some things to help with her runny nose and slight cough and if it got worse to call again and schedule an appointment.  During the night Monday night, Grace's cough got tons worse and woke Tuesday not feeling well at all.  Cody ended up taking her to the dr. only to be diagnosed with strep throat!!!  I couldn't believe it, how can a 9 1/2 month old get strep?!?!  Especially since she hadn't been around anyone sick.  I felt awful, guilty, broken hearted, helpless.  It was a blessing though that Cody hadn't gotten a full time job and was able to stay home with her a couple of days while on the first doses of the antibiotic.  By the weekend she was feeling some better and we went to Kewanee to Rebecca and Mike's wedding.  She did great and was super cute!  She still had a cough and runny nose though.  She finished the medicine on Thursday morning and I thought she would have been all better.  I called the dr.and they told me to bring her in to be checked.  So off we went!  This time she was diagnosed with a double ear infection!!  Again, I couldn't believe it and all those same feelings came back.  We are on day three of the antibiotic so hopefully Grace will be back to "normal" very soon!

Only 3 months to go....

                                                          Such adorable PJ's!

                                                       Playing with Uncle Aaron

                                                         Braden is so much fun!

                                                                 Cousins

                                                                I love graham crackers!

                                                                Happy 9 months!

                                       It is so much more fun to play under the bouncy seat!

                                                                   I love to laugh!

                                                               

                                                                 A hot day at the fair

Can it really be that today Grace is 9 months old which means that there are only 3 months until her 1st birthday?  Yikes!!  I am sure everyone feels the same way when a child is growing up, how time flies!  We are loving every minute watching her learn new things and become the beautiful little girl that she is.  She has quite the personailty, sometimes it is very goofy while other times she is sweet and serious.  Amazing at such a young age that we can tell that already.  She loves to roll around, an expert roller, and play or get into things.  She has started to follow us around the apartment, just by rolling.  Grace has made no attempt at crawling or scooting any way.  She may just roll to get places for the rest of her life!  Ha! Ha!  She does sit well now, not wobbly anymore.  I love to watch her discover things.  We have not bought her any new toys but she always seems amazed at them, she will hold them above her head and study every detail.  Grace is a good eater now too.  There haven't been too many things that we have given her, baby food or solid food, that she hasn't liked.  Her favorite is a graham cracker, she will devour that very quickly!  I suppose her 4 teeth help with that!  Today for the first time, she tried using a sippy cup that has a straw.  She didn't know what to do at first, of course, but soon figured out how to use it.  Such a big girl!