Much Better...

and other random thoughts.

• I know I am totally going to jinx myself by writing this but Grace has been doing much better since Monday. She has been going down for naps no prob as well as going to bed at her normal 7:30/8 and sleeping until morning without standing in her crib. YAY! Thank the lord she has always been a good sleeper because man I could not handle sleep deprivation and a full time job without losing my mind.
• Has anyone seen the show "Wipeout"? OMG it is hilarious. I was literally crying it was so funny. These contestants go through a timed crazy obstacle course. There is play by play commentary too that makes the show. They have these things called the big balls that just get me every time. I know all you gymnasts would love it. Maybe that's why I think its so funny- I was always the one laughing when someone straddled the beam- HAHAHA. Tues @ 8 pm.
• We have fallen in love with a house. It is a foreclosure in the perfect location. I am seriously considering calling a realtor and putting our house on the market. How impulsive is that?
• We are on our way to the lake this weekend. I think we are going to stay both tonight and Saturday night and the Duck Lake Garage sale is on Saturday. Who-hoo! Fun for all!

Have a great weekend!

Crawling

Here it is, 10 months in the making. Ladies and gentlemen I present: CRAWLING...

"Houston, we have a problem..."

Last Thursday, I went in to get Grace up in the morning and found her like this. Standing in her crib. She was so proud of herself and I thought it was the cutest thing ever.

Fast forward to the weekend. NOT the cutest thing ever. This child has not slept in 3 days! She started crawling (finally) a week ago and also pulling herself up on everything and cruising around furniture. She has this OBSESSION with walking. Its as if she can't control herself or she is afraid she is going to forget how. I am at my wit's end because the kid WILL NOT SLEEP. The only naps she had all weekend were in the car when she was strapped in a car seat and forced to stop moving for a second!

I put her down, she is standing in her crib screaming 20 minutes later. Repeat oh about 4 or 5 times until she ends up slumped over in the sitting position FINALLY asleep. She has always been a good sleeper but it's as if she can't make her body be still enough to catch up with her brain and go to sleep.

She is an absolute disaster without naps and she isn't falling asleep at night until 9:30 or 10. She looks exhausted, acts exhausted, mommy and daddy are exhausted....

AAHHHHH! Help!?!

More Duck Lake

Chill-axin' in the lake. She is so buoyant!!

Crazy Lexi, she was telling me all sorts of stories about crabs and catching minnows....Reading together in the morning. Gracie likes to turn the pages... Check out those elephant pjs- LOL.
Lexi is like, "Hands off dude". A moment later Gracie toppled out of the chair on her head. She sported a nice red spot on her forehead the rest of the day.

Ally in her super cute swimsuit ready to swim in the lake and turn blue with Alexis...
Luke wasn't so sure about the water but he sure did look cute in his hat and those swim trunks!

Then there is my bathing beauty. Until my big head popped in the picture and ruined it. She likes to lick the sunscreen bottle. Yummy. ---p.s. does anyone else love love love the way water babies smells?

Back to the Real World

We had the best weekend. We finally made it out to Duck Lake on Saturday and Sunday. It was so nice and relaxing. Like being on a mini vacation. Today my family joined Adam's for dinner and we celebrated Father's Day together. Ally and Lexi had so much fun swimming and Luke even took his first dip in the lake.

Saturday Grace tried out the water for the first time and she loved it! It was freezing cold but she cried every time Adam lifted her out of the water. She was such a happy baby at the lake. She was content as could be just sitting on a blanket outside or motoring around in her walker on the front porch. She is our Duck Lake baby!

Friday night we celebrated Scott and Nicki's 10 YEAR anniversary with dinner and a Tiger's game. It was really yucky weather but it cleared up just in time for us to see a great game with awesome weather. We stayed the night in Detroit so we could stay out late with no kids and sleep in. So nice!

More pics to come... too tired to post any more tonight...

Happy Father's Day!!

Weekend Wrap-up

Besides the 5 hours I spent working on stupid administrative stuff for my job today I had a great weekend. Okay, so maybe if I didn't procrastinate it wouldn't take me so long. Whatever. I was only doing expense reports from April- eeeek!

Adam went 4-wheeling up north with "the boys" on Wednesday and just got back tonight. So it was just us girls for the weekend. It was kind of nice actually. Friday night I went scrapbooking in Chelsea. I got 5 pages done, a record for me- LOL! I think I enjoy the socializing aspect of this night more that anything. The best part was that I took Grace to my mom's and she spent the night so I got to sleep in on Saturday!

Saturday Scott, Ally, Luke, and my mom came over after Ally's swim class for Jimmy John's subs on our new table and chairs on the deck. My dad was also out of town this weekend on a golf trip so after that Nana took Grace to the Toy House to get some new books. I think she bought her 7 books and a few toys to stay at Nana house. My mom is a sucker for books.

Today, we went over to my mom's house for dinner and I caught up on some magazine reading, got started on some work and visited with my mom. Adam got home about 4 and Grace was so happy to see him, I think he really missed her.

Mr. Grant

Okay so it only took me a week to post these pictures. Sorry Steph! Here is some pics from our visit with Mr. Grant last weekend. We did get one decent shot of Grace and Grant (G squared- how cute!). Just give her time and she will beating up Grant just like all the other boys in her life.

Speaking of, she is surrounded by boys! Her cousins Evan, Luke, Noah, and now Grant! She is going to be such a tomboy.
This is why you don't have them this close together. Grace is like "Uh, excuse me that is my mommy".

10 Months

Everyday I look at her and she is less of a baby and more of a toddler. Today my mom told her cousin Ally that in two months Gracie was going to be one. Ally burst into tears and said she doesn't want her to be one. I kinda feel the same way.

• She has added waving and pointing to her bag of tricks. This is especially fun when she does it to strangers and it makes them really uncomfortable
• She LOVES her Papa and has him wrapped around her little finger. I guess that explains how I turned out the way I did :)
• Just today her new work is "Doo-doo" for Dooley. I am not sure she knows she is a human baby. She might think she is a Scottie Dog.
• She eats her cheerios or puffs in her high chair like this: one for me, one for mama, one over the side for Dooley and Sydney
• Still no news on the crawling front. I am told not to worry and to enjoy the immobility while I can. She continues to stand and cruise around furniture
• She is obsessed with books. She can turn the pages by herself and she points to the pictures. Her favorite is to find the teeny tiny lady bug in "The Grouchy Ladybug"

Sex in the City

Leslie invited me to a fabulous girls night out on Friday. We went to see the much anticipated "Sex and the City" Movie. It lived up to all the hype and more! Novi Emagine Theatre was an absolute mad house and there were gobs of women everywhere!

We went to Bahama Breezes before with Leslie's cousin Kristin and had some Bahmaritas. I think maybe there were two guys in the whole restaurant. Crazy!

Today we went to visit Drew, Stephanie, and baby Grant. We brought them dinner from the Olive Garden with enough for leftovers the rest of the week. They are doing so well. He was a week old yesterday and just as cute as can be (will post pics soon). They are the calmest new parents I think I have ever met. We all took a walk and as we were walking down the street with a stroller, a baby carrier, and two dogs I was thinking, "wow- how cool is this that we have been friends since high school, through college, marriage, and now as parents". Those kind of friends are a treasure.

NYC Sunday May 25

Auntie Mere and Grace on her first train ride, the Long Island Railroad to Penn Station in NYC!

After we dragged all of our luggage through town we dropped it at our hotel, the Grand Hyatt New York, which is located near Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building (which you can see in the background).

We then walked the short distance to Rockefeller Center where we had a wonderful lunch at an open air restaurant. This is where the Today Show is.
Grace was not impressed......She wasn't feeling the stroller so I strapped her in the Baby Hawk Carrier and off we went!She actually fell asleep in the middle of Times Square. She slept for over an hour on my back at the most exciting place in NYC!We were really tired after that so we went to Ben and Jerry's for some ice cream. It is Mere and I's goal to go to every Ben and Jerry's around the globe. So far we have made it to Washington DC, California, Florida, Michigan, London, Paris, and Dublin. This is our second time to the NYC one. Hey, it's good to have goals!This was Adam's first time to NYC and I was so excited for him to see everything. But, we only had one day and you can't even begin to experience NYC in that amount of time. We will have to go back without a 10 month old and stay for a week. Someday....

We did end up getting tickets for a Broadway Show that night. While my dad stayed at the hotel with Grace Adam, my mom, and I went to see Spamalot. It was sooooo good- and hilarious! We met up with Ann, Luann, Carly, Matt, and Chet who were seeing the show as well. What are the odds that family would be in town that same weekend!

The next morning Adam, Grace, and I had breakfast at Bryant Park. It is next to the library and it was relaxing and beautiful. We didn't want to go home!