Gracie's First Christmas

We took a trip to the old courthouse on the square in Lawrenceville to visit Santa. Grace was quite taken with Santa and couldn't figure out just what to make of him. She sat on his lap for a while, just staring at him. She hung her stocking and anxiously awaited him to come fill it for her first Christmas. Luckily, Santa didn't disappoint! We now have our own exersaucer for the house and don't have to bring Grandma's home with us each Friday! Gracie also won a doll bed that matches the one we bought ourselves (in king size!) for our Christmas present to each other. It even has a real doll bed sized mattress! New toys abound as well as clothes. We are having to weed out the things she has outgrown to make room for all the new stuff.

Our Lil' Pumpkin!!

To celebrate Halloween, we took a trip to our local pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day for taking pictures and Grace wore her ghost onsie. She was way more interested in grabbing the straw and licking the pumpkins than smiling for the pictures! Most of the pumpkins were bigger than our little pumpkin!

Three Months Old Already!

It's hard to believe that more than three months have already passed. Gracie is growing like a pretty little weed. Sometimes I think she grows overnight! She weighs over 11 pounds now and her hair continues to look like it might just turn out to be some shade of red. She is definitely a morning person, waking up full of smiles and talking to us. She's just recently discovered that she has a thumb on both hands and is quickly perfecting the art of getting just her thumb, occasionally both at the same time, into her mouth. I woke up the other day at 4:30 am to the sounds of her smacking and sucking her thumb coming over the baby monitor! She knows just where to find the cute baby in the mirrors on her toys and she loves to talk and flirt with that baby! She has just started to laugh and finds the oddest things amusing, such as the dog's wagging tail or the picture of the sun in one of her books. But not matter what makes her laugh, it is the sweetest sound around!

Yesterday, Gracie got to meet my grandmother, Amy Phillips, who is Gracie's great-grandmother. Gracie is Granny's 19th great-grandchild! With my mom and I there, we had four generations in one room!

I go back to work in just over a week. Gracie and I cuddle up each morning after her 5:30 nursing. One morning, John found mommy and Gracie asleep in the bed in the exact same position, flat on our backs with arms thrown over our heads. Or, the "Gracie Pose" as we call it!

My mom and dad are providing the best childcare possible for us and it is truly a blessing! While I'm not looking forward to going back to work, I know that Gracie will be in the best hands possible and will come home each day spoiled rotten!

More & More Baby Stuff

With a baby comes lots and lots of baby 'stuff'!! At times we feel like our living room has been taken over by all the various baby things, like the swing, the bouncy seat, the play gym, and lots of burp cloths, pacifiers, and the Boppy. However, the animals love the addition of all these new things for them to sleep on! I can only imagine what they will do when we add bigger toys!

GO BULLDOGS!!!!

Football season is here and Grace attended her very first collegiate game this past weekend when The Citadel Bulldogs played Clemson. We loaded up and headed to Death Valley early Saturday morning, ready to tailgate with friends and then go to the game. Little did we know our seats would be only 6 rows from the very top of the stadium!! It was a hike up just to get to our seats in the 90 degree heat. Grace was decked out in her Bulldog blue onsie and ready to cheer on her team, but naptime interfered with her viewing the first half. She roused herself for the halftime show and then Mommy and Gracie headed back to the rv for the rest of the game. Sadly, the Bulldogs lost but they did put up a good fight, scoring 17 points. What is truly amazing is that Grace kept to her regular schedule, awake for socializing and napping at her normal times. She even stayed awake in the car on the ride home until her normal bedtime! But just to be fair, she gave equal time to Mommy's alma mater the day before the game!!

Grace is Growing!!

We plan to have Grace photographed once a month for her first year, so we can really see how fast she is growing. In just the 4 weeks since out last sitting, Gracie has learned to hold her head up on her own and shows us more of her personality each day. She's got a strong will, which will come as no surprise to any who know her mommy and daddy well! She's grown to 10 pounds, 9.5 ounces and almost 23 inches long. She loves being naked, taking a bath, and kicking her legs in her bouncy chair. She wakes us in the best mood, just like her daddy! She talks a lot and when she smiles, her whole face lights up! John and I are always amazed at how lucky we are to have her in our lives!

Newborn Pictures

We took Grace for her first portraits at 2 weeks. We wanted to capture just how small she was at only 6 pounds, 11 ounces and 18.5 inches long. These are just a few of our favorites from that sitting.

It's a girl!!!

After visiting the doctor twice in one day, we were told to check into the hospital on Tuesday evening, July 1st. After several hours of pitocin and one excellent epidural, Grace Lee Bridges entered the world at 1:45 pm on Wednesday, July 2nd. She weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces and was 18.5 inches long and had a head full of hair. She came out with an excellent set of lungs and spent the first 30 minutes of life exercising those lungs. Both sets of grandparents were on hand to see her, as well as Aunt Beth and Allison. Grace ended up developing jaundice, and we had to spend another 3 days at Children's Healthcare so she could spend time under the bili-lamps. We were glad to finally get our little girl home for good almost a week after she was born!! And now the adventure really begins!!