Grace thinks it's great fun to read the Sunday paper with daddy. Why the Sunday paper? All those ad inserts. She goes to town on those things flinging them around, tearing them up. She is positively giddy with happiness to destroy and eat paper.
I have to admit its the only part of the paper I read too. You gotta know what's on sale at Target!
Allison Jane turned 5 on the 25th. I can't believe she is 5 already. 5 going on 16. OMG this kid cracks me up. She has always been crazy and I love it. She has this laugh that is just contagious and she is so super smart its scary. I feel so lucky that Adam and I have such a special relationship with her.
Grace says, "Gimme some of those presents..." 
Evan and Grace. They are both sitting up and enjoyed poking each other and stealing away toys.
Ally and Grace have matching dresses from Hanna Anderson (cutest little girl clothes ever). They also have matching UGGS. Ally insisted that they wear matching outfits for her "princess party".
Natalie got in on the action too. Getting the three of them to sit still was quite the feat. "One of these is not like the other". Where did the kid with dark hair and eyes come from?- LOL
Ally loves Grace and Grace is equally enthraled. Is this picture not the most precious thing ever?
Grace went to her first gymnastics meet on January 11th. 5 1/2 months old and she was watching the girls run down the runway- we were amazed she was so entertained. God help me if she is a gymnast.
After the meet Grace tried out some moves of her own. Here she is on vault. Papa thought it was real funny to joke that she looks a lot like her mommy did on the vault.
Chalking up before her bar routine.
This is a very difficult mount.
Auntie Mere spotting.
Beam, her favorite event of course. Hopefully she won't break mommy's school record.
And her final event of the night- floor. She really finished with a bang.
I say she deserves a perfect 10.0!!
...or just Grace slamming her legs down in her crib. My beautiful baby girl doesn't wake up and cry anymore (which is nice) but talks to herself and does some feet stomps (not so nice at 3 am). See our "recreation of actual events" video below. p.s. How about that hairdoo :)
Adam and I recieved a Wii for Christmas. Yes, we are 27 years old and still want toys from our mom and dad. Adam got "Guitar Hero" and thinks he is a rock star. He has spent hours perfecting his technique, I love the look of concentration in this pic.
Grace also enjoys Guitar Hero. Here she is with her Elvis face.
Baby's First Meal! Grace started solid foods this week. We started with a little rice cereal mixed with a lot of breast milk. She spit most of it out at first but now she is starting to get it and swallows most of it. This has to be the most confusing developmental milestone we have reached so far. There is so much conflicting information out there: start as early as 4 months, wait until 6 months, introduce cereal for a month, a week, four days. Introduce veretables before fruits, fruits before veggies, buy only organic, organic is a waste of money. Me being the huge nerd I am have to read an entire book on the subject called Super Baby Food. I'm not kidding 574 pages on baby food. Really, do you need a Phd to figure out how to feed your kid?
So here is the plan. Cereal for a month while we introduce formula (more on that later). Then sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, bananas, avacado, and applesauce. Apparently is is better to start with veggies and then fruits but the verdict is still out on this one too. Any advice?
Grace also refuses to take formula. Little miss drama queen believes that it is crap and prefers the stuff that comes out of the boob. Not that I blame her, I tasted it and it doesn't taste any better than it smells. We tried Nutraminagen first becasue she is sensitive to when I drink milk and it is hypoallergenic and milk protein free. She objected quite loudly to that one but it was also on Christmas when she was overtired and starving. Yesterday we tried Similac Advance. She took about an ounce before making a face and refusing any more. Today my mom mixed one ounce formula with 4 ounces breast milk to get her used to the taste. She broke out it hives. From ONE ounce! So now we are going to try the soy formula and hope she gets used to the taste before I go to California for 4 days and leave her with daddy and grandma.
We got this Bungee Baby Bouncer from the Toy House for Grace for Christmas thinking our active little baby would love it. It attaches to the molding of a door way and is supposed to be more ergonomically correct than the bouncers of old. She hasn't quite figured it out yet but she likes just hanging out in it. She looks like a little puppet on a string.
I am a little behind on the blogging and I know you all are holding your breath in anticipation of a Dawson family update (HAHA) so here it is. Grace's first Christmas was interesting to say the least. We had a lovely Christmas Eve with my in-laws, went to church, went over to Ann and Allan's for some chicken wings, shrimp, teenie weinies (why the menu you ask- keep reading). About 3 am that night I wake up and my stomach is killing me. Me to Adam: "Do you feel okay?" Adam: "Uhhh" me: "I feel like I am going to throw up" Him: "Uhhhh". Five minutes later all hell breaks lose from BOTH ends. It was THE worst. So Grace wakes up about 7 as usual and I stumble out of the bathroom where I have been sleeping on the bathmat to nurse her. Merry Freaking Christmas. I managed to stay up for the hour in a half it took to open presents and then I climbed back into bed until about 1 o'clock that afternoon. I didn't even care it was Christmas I was so sick and I missed EVERYTHING. Adam took Grace to Grandma Dawson's and our parents houses. Then he got home about 5 pm and he came down with it. My dad had to come over becasue I was still too sick to even pick Grace up. My mom and Ally had it on Christmas too, Scott and Nicki a day later and finally the last man standing: my dad. Somehow Grace managed to stay healthy- THANK GOD. That breast milk is good stuff. Here she is with her very first stocking- it's bigger than she is. It was filled with stuff to start solid foods and a "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament. I think I will continue this tradition of a "theme stocking" and a keepsake ornament.
I swear we didn't punch her in the face. She was just getting tired and was rubbing her eyes.
