Friday Fun Times

We had lots of fun today and because of that, I'm exhausted, so here's a quick recap of our Friday fun times.

We started off our day with Grace somehow knocking over the baby gate in the hallway. If you look carefully behind her, you'll see it on the floor. This is the facial expression I got when I called her name using 'the tone'. She seemed mighty proud of herself.


We enjoyed a nice Mongolian BBQ lunch with Grandma and Grandpa. Grace showed that she is definitely not a shy baby when she walked around the restaurant waving hello at all the customers. If they were lucky, she even threw in a little dance and gave them 'beautiful eyes'.


After lunch we made a little trip to the jewelers to get Grace's bracelet resized. The girl is only nearly one, but her bling is quickly adding up. There were quite a few customers in the jewelry store, but I don't think they minded the wait too much since there was such fabulous entertainment provided by Grace. She danced and talked and pretty much charmed all the people there. She was so enamored with the jeweler's dog that when he went behind the counter for some refuge, she was determined to follow him. She was quite disappointed when her plans were once again thwarted by her mean mama.


Finally, Auntie Jess came over to visit with Grace and read her bedtime stories. I let Grace stay up way past her bedtime since they were having so much fun together.

Thursday Mishaps

I like to think I'm a pretty optimistic person. Unfortunately, that optimism didn't help prevent some of these Thursday mishaps...

I promised Josh that I would make him dinner this week and when I woke up to a cold and drizzly day, I thought Chili Con Carne would be perfect. So after making a grocery run, I started cooking. Halfway through the process, I realized that one of the key spices I bought was not in the grocery bag. I sent Josh to go see if it fell out in the car. He said he couldn't find it. I went out and searched because, afterall, he is fourteen and they're not known for doing the most thorough job (Sorry, Josh). I still couldn't find it. I had no choice but to run out to the store to buy it again. The whole ride to the store I was fuming at the bagger for not doing his job properly. I came back home- cold, wet, and miserable- and finished cooking the chili.

Later, as I was putting away Grace's baby food, I found the darn spice I was looking for. I immediately felt guilty for mentally cussing out the bagger boy.


As the chili was simmering, I went upstairs to put Grace down for a nap. When I came back downstairs an hour later to check on the progress of the chili, I found this disaster. I must have not closed the cupboard all the way and Lucky dog found a way to get to the trash.


When it was time for Grace's evening bath, I found that the tub in our bathroom wasn't draining properly so to make things easier, I decided to bathe her in Lola and Lolo's soaking tub. It turned out to be much harder than I thought. She didn't enjoy the experience and I pretty much ended up taking a bath with her. I know this is such an unflattering picture of me, but my goal is always to document it all- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

But even before the bath incident, there was a diaper incident. Josh was my bath time assistant and as I was putting Grace into the tub, I handed him what I thought was just a wet diaper, but it turned out to be a little more than he bargained for. Unbeknownst to me, she had left a little present. A present that rolled off the diaper, landed on the floor, and in his shock at the surprise, he accidentally stepped on.


Being the optimistic type, not EVERYTHING was a mishap today. I tried to give her whole milk for the first time since she's just a few days shy of being a year old, and she actually drank it. I had nightmares of her rejecting milk and having to nurse her until she's five. Nursing has not been my favorite thing; it's one of those things I do because I know it's best. I've been looking forward to the time when I can start weaning her off, and I'm hoping that her taking the milk is a sign that the transition will be a smooth one.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

For the past couple of days, Grace has slept in until ten, taken long afternoon naps, and hasn't fought me at bedtime. It must be something about Virginia Beach. When we were here last summer, she pretty much slept through the night and I mistakenly believed that pattern would continue, but when we went back to Japan, and even now in Jacksonville, she still wakes up several times during the night. So if this is just a temporary thing, I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

When she's not sleeping, we spend our days reading and chasing Lucky, our 18 year old family dog, around the house. Maybe this tires her out more than I think and it's the reason why she's been sleeping so well. If we lived in a place that had a yard, I would seriously consider getting her a dog. She loves them so much!

I'm finding it more and more difficult to take good pictures because she just won't stay still long enough.

I'm not too fond of this furry vest because I think it makes her look like the Abominable Snowbaby, but when Lola put it on her at Old Navy just for fun, Grace loved it so much she refused to take it off. At least it was on clearance for only a couple dollars.



Lolo and Lola trying to teach Grace how old she'll be.

Hard to Be the Baby

There are certainly plenty of benefits to being the baby of the family, but sometimes, it's just plain hard too. Like when you're dying to play with your Uncle Josh but he has homework to do.




Josh came home from school and Grace was so excited to have someone other than her mama to play with, but when he said he had tons of homework, I immediately sent him to his room to finish it before anything else. Grace followed him down the hall and when he closed his bedroom door, she was just completely heartbroken.

Sometimes, Daddy Knows Best

I knew I'd be making the long drive to Virginia Beach so we could celebrate Grace's first birthday with our families. The question was whether I was going to do it by myself or with someone to keep me company. I was adamant that I could do it by myself since I really didn't want to inconvenience anyone with having to come down to Jacksonville, only to make a ten hour plus trip back up. But Mike was nervous about his girls going all alone, so my brother, Carl, was given the task of keeping us company.

And thank goodness he did because as it turned out, there were a few little hiccups along the way where I was grateful to have some company.

We set out on Sunday morning, a few hours later than planned. Grace must have been super excited to be going to Virginia Beach again because she stubbornly refused to sleep the night before. It was nearly one in the morning and we were still locked in a battle of wills. Out of sheer desperation, I brought her into bed with me, and less than a minute later she was snoring away. Literally.

Needless to say, I decided getting a later start to the day, but feeling rested, was better than trying to drive tired. For some insurance though, Carl and I made a quick run to Starbucks for a jolt of caffeine. We were feeling optimistic and excited about the drive since the rain had stopped and the sun was finally peeking through the clouds.

Our next stop before getting on the highway was the gas station to fill up the tank. As we're crossing the parking lot to get to there, we get into a fender bender! Seriously! An elderly lady backing out of a parking space ran right into us. It was such a strange feeling- it happened so quickly, and slowly, both at the same time. Once I saw what was happening, I knew her car hitting Ruby was going to be inevitable, yet at the same time, I felt like time was going so slowly that I could almost prevent it.

Thank goodness there wasn't any damage at all to either of our cars. The sweet grandma was shaken up and very apologetic, but I was still kind of in shock at the whole situation that I couldn't even reassure her that it was okay. I'm so glad Carl was with me at the time. Had he not been there to talk to and laugh with about the whole thing, I would've probably headed straight home, unloaded the car, and started planning a birthday party for two, Grace and her mama, since surely that was a sign for me not to make the drive to Virginia Beach.

For a while, the trip went smoothly. Especially since Carl hooked up the DVD player Lola and Lolo gave Grace. I felt slightly guilty about letting her vegge on videos for countless hours, but it totally worked. If she wasn't sleeping, she was entranced with a Baby Einstein DVD. I promise I will only use the DVD player as a tool on long trips. It will still be a no-no otherwise.

We made it to Georgia without incident. We made it to South Carolina without incident. Then we hit North Carolina and the tire pressure warning light popped on. I pulled into the nearest gas station and Carl checks the tires. Another reason why I'm grateful he was there- I have no clue how to do this! Please don't judge, I know I should know how to do this, but I don't. The tires were fine. We drove on and the light goes off. Thirty minutes later, the light started blinking again. The manual said that if that happens, it could be a fault in the warning light, not the tire pressure itself. I prayed that this was the case and continued driving, but I was slightly nervous the entire time the light is on.

We made it the rest of the way without incident. I don't know what I would have done without Carl there to keep me company. He was my baby assistant and personal DJ who played all kinds of old school music to keep me alert. I hate to admit this, but sometimes, Daddy really does know what's best.

I'm so very happy to be among grandparents again. I'm sure Grace is happy to be with her favorite spoilers too since she got her first ice cream cone at lunch today. Her mean mama only let her have a few licks before the ice cream cone was mysteriously replaced by one without ice cream.

Our Bags are Packed

Before the sun even comes up tomorrow morning, I hope to be on our way to Virginia Beach. My brother, Carl, flew in today to keep me company on the 10 hour trip. The bags are finally packed and ready to go and now I'm off to get a few hours sleep.

The pictures below show why it took me so long to pack. For every one thing I'd put in the bag, Grace would take out two. And then scatter them all over the house.

A Lotta

Here's what happened today- a lotta mess (of course), a lotta clinging, a lotta whining, and a lotta bows ripped out of the hair. But there was also a whole lotta giggles and laughter and that outweighs everything else.


The other thing I want to remember from today are Grace's attempts at intense and dramatic conversation with me. Recently she's been coming up to me babbling, complete with hand gestures, and then she'll look at me expectantly like I should totally understand what she's talking about. I fake my way through and hope that my response was appropriate to what she just said. I would love to be able to read her little mind and see exactly what is going on in there.