Growing Grace

Things change quickly around here. In the past 3 months Grace has learned to sit on her own, army crawl, say "mama" and "dada" on occasion, look for Jack, sing along with the music, eat most solid foods, feed herself finger foods, click her tongue, and drink from a sippy cup. It's hard to believe what she'll be doing in another 3 months.

Swinging at the play park in our neighborhood.

I don't want to forget this time--sweet Grace at almost 8 months--so here's a snapshot of our lives now, with a few pictures from the past 3 months sprinkled in.

Grace was dedicated at our church earlier this month. It's our way as parents of thanking God for the blessing of Grace, and committing to raise her according to God's Word and God's ways. Such a sweet time for us and our families.

Grace is an enthusiastic eater and enjoys feeding herself. Her favorite food, hands down, is cheese. But she happily eats Cheerios, peas, cantaloupe, chicken nuggets, veggie burgers, lima beans, mac and cheese, and so on. She typically doesn't like sour or tart foods like strawberries or oranges. At mealtime, I pile an assortment of food on her tray and let her eat for 30 minutes while I fix dinner for me and Joe. It's great to have such a self-sufficient eater. Jack likes this new era of finger food too. He's always hanging around under the high chair waiting for scraps to fall.

Here's Grace with her Nana Anna during a recent visit to see my grandma Meemee in rehab. Thankfully, Meemee has recovered and is home again!

We're settled into a solid nap schedule. Grace naps in the morning for about an hour, then again in the afternoon for 30 minutes to an hour. She's still sleeping 12 hours at night, but is much more flexible if we are out past her 7:00 bedtime.

Don't you just want to bite those cheeks? :) Summer is coming, bring out the sunscreen and sun hats.

It's fun to watch Grace's personality emerge. As long as Grace has Mom or Dad close by, she loves new people, going places, groups of children, dogs, and being outside. She loves music and will "sing" along with me excitedly. At this stage in her development, Grace prefers verbal interaction to physical activities. She would much rather sit and babble with me than practice crawling or grabbing a toy.

Grace still loves riding in her carrier. What's the weight limit on this thing?

Joe and I have come up with an assortment of nicknames for Grace. I'm not sure I want any of these names to stick. :) ME: Grace Love, Grace-A-Roo, Sweetness JOE: Sweet Baby Girl, Sweet Tater, Pumpkin Tater, Vicky.

Mealtime.

What's next for us? Crawling! Grace has made it on all-fours, but has yet to start crawling. I try to tempt her to crawl by putting toys just out of reach. So far, this seems more frustrating than motivating. For now I enjoy putting her on the floor to play and not having to worry about her getting into things.

An updated family picture. Grace was ready for bed, and we ran outside to get a picture in the warm sunset light.