Winter Wonderland

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Everyone knows I am a stickler about absolutely NO Christmas until after Thanksgiving. With the snow that we have right now, I am itching to turn on the Christmas tunes. I am refraining, though! Well, it's Grace's first snow, and she loves it. Kevin taught her that eating it is fun, so last night we made periodic trips to the front porch to check on the accumulation and for Grace to grab a couple scoops to eat. How fun! This morning we trekked to the Little Gym and back (that was an adventure!), then played outside for a while before lunch and a nap. Grace did not want to come in, and kept tugging n my jacket, pointing at the snow saying, "please, please, please." Broke my heart, but I was freezing and she needed a nap. It's still coming down out there, so maybe we will get out this afternoon and again tomorrow. I can't wait til she is big enough to understand making snow angels and snowmen! And of course, the excitement and suspense behind going to bed praying for school to be canceled in the morning!

I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this Thursday. So sad to be missing some important people, though (Uncle Danny and Mel!). Kevin and I have started brainstorming our list for Grace, and I am excited about Christmas this year - I think it will be way more interesting than last year for Grace! But, I am getting ahead of myself...the Christmas season starts Friday, silly me!

After a crazy night filled with high winds and flickering lights, Grace and I spent a cozy morning inside today! I am hosting a MOPS brunch tomorrow at my house, so I spent some time cleaning up getting ready for that - Grace enjoyed helping. I am so excited for Thanksgiving, and of course the start of the REAL Christmas season. And I just turned on the news to hear them talking about snow for this weekend - cool!

Last week Grace and I had a cook-a-thon. One day we made homemade chicken noodle soup, then baked zucchini bread, and then a couple days later we made persimmon bread. We added some chocolate chips to one loaf, and Grace LOVES that! Because of her peanut allergy, we are pretty limited in chocolate choices due to cross-contamination in the machinery/facilities, but we have found one local brand of chocolate chips that she can definitely have - and that definitely makes her happy! It is so funny to watch her eat the persimmon chocolate chip bread, more like a treasure hunt than eating. She strategically removes each and every one of the chocolate chips, eats them, then if the mood suits her, she may finish off the bread. So funny!

One of Grace's new favorite things to do is draw/color. She knows to do it on paper which may include important adult papers, bills, flashcards, books, and a pad of paper. At least she knows..... She and Grandma Carol had fun tracing hands and feet and using markers while Kevin and I went to the Symphony on Sunday. This gives us some great Christmas ideas, as I am looking forward to fostering this interest of hers!

Tomorrow we have an appointment for Baby #2 and both Grace and Kevin will be going. Looking forward to what the doc has to say!

Let's Give This a Shot

I have thought about doing a blog for a couple years, but I kept coming back to the ideas that 1) My life just isn't all that interesting; and 2) It would seem awfully presumptuous to assume people would want to read about it even if it were. The turning point came while in the dentist chair Tuesday afternoon. During our standard 20 minute pre-exam convo, Dr. Taggart and I were catching up on family stuff and all the great new things going on with Grace. He strongly urged me to write these cool things down so that one day she would get to read about them. I had always thought I would remember each and every milestone, but 16 months into this thing called parenthood, I realize I don't. I assume it will only get more jumbled as we add a little sister into the mix, so I decided to give this blogging thing a shot. The only problem is where do I start?

I guess I will start by saying what a long and exhausting day this has been. Since Grace is working on the last of her molars, she has been very cranky and irritable, not sleeping well, and clingy to "mama" at all times (unless of course "daddy" is home, then he is always 1st choice!). To kill some time and expend some energy, I took her to the Supermall's play area, which Grace loves so much. It being a rainy Veteran's Day, there were a ton of rowdy school-aged kids running around, but Grace ran right along with them, climbing up on the toys, going down the slide on her own, and crawling through tunnels. We shared a pretzel and walked around the mall hand in hand (Grace loves to hold hands and it melts my heart every time she reaches up for mine). I couldn't believe the Christmas tree and Santa were already camped out in the corridor, but Grace was enchanted by the huge tree with shimmering lights and even waved to Santa. After heading home and sharing grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, it was finally bath time. I am so glad that after barely napping today, Grace went to bed almost an hour early without so much as a whimper, and I finally got to take a shower and sit down to relax.

I hope to update this at least weekly so that Grace, and anyone else that cares to follow along, will have a good idea of what is/was happening in her life and how exciting her growth and milestones have been, are, and will continue to be.