Happy 2 Month Birthday Gracie Girl!!

Grace is getting so big already!!

The first, exciting piece of news is that she has already been rolling from her belly to her back!! I have a video of her doing it twice, but it does not seem to want to upload:o( On August 29, I put her down to have tummy time, and for the first time, she held her head up high, and stared at the pattern book, as you can see in the picture! She held her head up for at least 5 minutes, and also giggled over my excitement!
Then!! On September 3rd, after placing her on her belly for tummy time again, she flipped herself over!!
This is not something she does all the time- if she is tired she gets stuck on her arm and just lays there crying very sadly. The day I videotaped her rolling over, she had actually done it 5 times in a row! She has also done it on other surfaces (yes, we tested her to see if this was the real deal or if she was just getting lucky!!). I think she persevered and taught herself because she does NOT like doing tummy time!! Gracie's neck is getting stronger and stronger...many strangers ask if she is 3 months old because of how much control she has! Also, because she is so big!

Speaking of big, we had a Dr.'s appointment today and Grace weighed in at a whopping 11.2 lbs!! She has also grown to 23 inches. This explains why we had to move on to the size 2 diapers at 7 weeks and why many of the 0-3 month clothes are getting a little stretched looking. I think she is going to be tall! Must be from distant relative genes coming through, as Brian and I are both relatively short:o) Also, her HEad circumference is 15 inches...not sure if that is big, small, or normal. Grace got her 2 month shots and I cried because of the sad and painful look on her face. She survived though (even though the pain was revisited at bath time when we took the bandaids off!!), and ended up sleeping 8 1/2 hours overnight.


One little funny thing: We discovered that if we play or even sing (even off key) Nicole C. Mullen's "My Redeemer Lives" to Grace when she is upset, she almost instantaneously calms down!! But, like "Amazing Grace" (as you will read below), sometimes she gets this little lower lip tremble....evidence of an early soft heart for God??? :O) We pray so!!

What else has happened?

Grace went to her first wedding! Looking so pretty and slept during the entire ceremony!


She went to her first Renaissance Faire, where mommy realized that she'd forgotten to pack a hat, so we tried out all different kinds in an effort to find one:


In the end, we just used her burp clothe, as none looked cute enough for our lovebug!

Grace had her first babysitting experience on 9/3. Mommy and daddy dropped her off at the Uchida's home at 5:30, went home, and ate chocolate, drank wine, and watched a movie. I thought for sure that I was just going to take a nap, but by the time we picked her up at 9:30, we both felt so refreshed and relaxed. Gracie didn't do very well for that, but probably because Aletheia wanted to play, and she wanted to sleep! The next weekend, though, Nana and Aunt Kathy watched her and she did great!!

Finally, the weekend of Sept 10th-12th, we visited my family in Williamsport, so she could meet all of her maternal family. Brian and I also celebrated our 1 year anniversary!!

Below are some pics of Grace meeting the various family members:
Cousin Sheree

Aunt Mel
Great Grandma & Pappy

Cousin Sheree and Ritchie
3rd Cousin Brian
silly pic:o)

Aunt Deb
Cousin Samantha

Grace and her "Grumps (Grandpa Long), except she is the one looking a bit grumpy! LOL

Things Grace likes:
Napping with Mommy in the big bed after daddy leaves for work, and napping in general! Grace is a very good napper and sleeper...In the a.m., after waking up between 7 and 8, she will take a couple of cat naps untilo around 1, and then sleep for 3 hours (and would like to longer, except Mommy wakes her up!), takes another evening nap, before going to bed between 7 and 8....and as of 9/10, she has been sleeping through the night from6-8 hours, waking up once around 4/5 am to eat, and going back to sleep until her typical wake-up time (unless mommy accidentally wakes her by sleepwalking into her room at the old middle of the night feeding time, at 1ish)


Playing with, being held by, and receiving kisses from her friends

This is her best friend, Aletheia, who I watch a couple of days a week...Aletheia has been saying "hi" and "giving kisses" to Grace since before she was born (she would pat my belly, hug, and kiss it while I was pregnant, and wave "hello" while I was pregnant)

Grace also has a fan base at church, including Abby, Lydia, and Elliot...more pics to come
(hopefully). This is Abby holding Grace. She always wants to hold her and help me pat her back when church is over:o)



Staring at mobiles and chilling in her bouncy seat


and staring and smiling,in general, at things, particularly her ladybug and butterfly wallpaper:o)
She really likes to talk to the border!


Getting baths!
Every night, as part of Gracie's bedtime routine, we give her a bath using a lovely lavender and chamomile scented soap. We are pretty sure she loves it!! Even if she is really tired and fussing, as soon as we lay her down on the floor to get the tub ready, she instantly calms and starts cooing. We are not sure if its the warm bath she is looking forward to, or the fact that bedtime will be soon after.
Grace might also enjoy getting a bath, because afterwards, she gets to be blowdried! It started when she was about 2 weeks old, and had a really bad diaper rash. After searching online, I read quite frequently that letting it air dry was the best thing for it, and to "hurry up" the air drying you could use a blow dryer set on low. So we tried it, and not only was it helpful (I think, to a degree), Grace seemed to LOOOVVEE the warm air on her butt! She will often fuss when we put her bedtime lotion on, because it is cold, but not if we do it while we are blow drying!! LOL. not sure how long we will keep it up, but she sure is enjoying it now, and so cute about it!!

And finally, after the warm drying session, we cuddle her up in her cute octopus robe, then put jammies on, read a story and pray while she nurses again, and then cuddle until she goes down for the night. Who wouldn't love bath time??LOL





Miscellaneous pics and funny faces:o)


Our happy girl....she loves to smile and giggle....such a joy!!


Pouty face....usually comes out when we want her to wake up and she wants to sleep and sometimes when I sing "Amazing Grace" LOL.

Her mullet has progressed to a "fauxhawk" with a bit of an alfalfa sprout!!

And for those who were wondering about how the NOT swaddling has been going....

We decided to not swaddle her on a night we were both home all day the next day, so we attempted this on Sunday, September 5th. It did not go well to say the least. She would sleep for 20-30 minutes then wake up crying between 6:30 and 9. From then until 11, she cried non-stop. At 11, we gave in, and swaddled her, but at that point, she was so over-tired that she just laid there, staring glassy-eyed until 1:30.

BUT, a couple of things happened:
1) A friend from church recommended ColicCalm, which was a Godsend. So, she stopped battling the swaddling at night...yay! However, she would still unswaddle herself- but be content- until early morning.
2) The problem was that when she unswaddled herself, sometimes it would end up across her face. Thankfully, I would wake up when I heard a weird cry coming from her...so I started wrapping her relatively low, but it was still stressful, so I haven't gotten a lot of sleep, constantly waking up to check on her.
3) The other day we discovered the Miracle Blanket!! She can't get out of it at all!! woohoo! WE tried it on at the store, and as we put it around her, she fussed, but once she was securely wrapped, she was sooooo happy!

During the day, I only swaddle her lower half though, so we can hopefully stop swaddling her someday soon.
Below are some pics of the swaddling mishaps and sleeping cuteness.

sucking her thumb

first day in crib& how she
is swaddled in the daytime


And the one that saved our sanity!!! The Miracle Blanket!!!

That's all for now!! Thanks for reading our blog!!