Poop and Pictures

I know I am a mom and I am supposed to think that Grace is cute... but OH MY GOSH SHE IS ADORABLE!!! Her smiles are occurring more often and she melts our hearts with every single one of them!! She has always been a very vocal baby, but she is talking a lot more now, and she has this little high squeek that is so fun to listen too. Her legs are also going a mile a minute.. she wants to run out of here, but it will be a while yet.

Funny inncidents this week... My sister Chris and I were visiting our friend Stacy Valory and Grace was on my lap and I heard (and felt) her go poop. Well, I lifted her up immediatley and still felt warmth on my lap... I look down, only to find my legs full of yellow warmth.... yes that right, she pooped all through her pants and all over her mama!!! Totally disgusting, but cute none the less. I can't get mad at her because she is a baby, and because mama had a bean burrito, and 2, yes, 2 chili dogs!! I was not thinking at the time apparently.

This week my sister Chrissy, (she hates being called that, I am the only one that can get away with it....) came to visit for 4 days and it was really nice to have her there spending time with her niece (and to give mama a little help). Chrissy was so happy to see her smile and really could not get enough of her, I really think that Gracie forgot I was her mommy because she sent so much time with Chrissy.

On a sad note, Stephen's uncle died a couple days ago, and though we just got back from Bakersfield on Monday, we are headed to LA now for a couple days for the funeral. Stephen took it hard, he did not have a dad growing up and his Uncle was one of his only male influences in his life... Pray for him! We just give him extra hugs and kisses and some more alone time. Let's hope Gracie does as well on this road trip as the last one.... Then next week Grace and I are headed on the longest road trip yet, we are driving to Washington with my parents to see my Grandaddy on his 90th birthday.... Wow, hope she loves that car seat!

Our friend Wendy Russell called and wanted to come take pictures of Grace, below are some of the pictures she took on Graces 2 month birthday.... SO CUTE!!!

Fast Cars and Freedom!

So, our little one is just about 2 months old now!! Can you believe it?! I can't either. We decided that 2 months was old enough to take her on her first road trip all the way to Bakersfield to meet her Grandma Baillie for the first time!!! What a special time that was, Stephen's sister Alicia also met us there and all the Baillie's were together for the first time since Grace was born!! Grace did great on the ride, she slept all 4 and 1/2 hours that we were driving. We stopped in Paso Robles the half way mark to eat (her and us), and then kept trucking, and she awoke for that, then went right back to sleep. I wish it will always be this easy, but I am not naive, times will change, we are just going to take advantage of how well she travels now.

Alicia brought Grace up one of the coolest presents we've seen, and little red convertible!! It is a little big for her right now, but we put her in it anyway and she looked so darn cute!!!

The first time that Grandma Sue saw Gracie, and I think it is safe to say that her heart was melted. Grandma watched her for 6 hours which was a wonderful treat for Stephen and I to have some alone time for the first time in a long time!

Aunt Alicia holding Gracie and spending some quality time.

When we got home we had a nice BBQ at our house with our friends Juan, Shelly and their baby Olivia (who happen to live across the street) for Labor Day. Our other neighbor bought Grace and Olivia matching red, white and blue outfits for the holiday and below is the attempt of us trying to get a picture of them both together. Olivia is 7 months old and if we let them alone will clobber Grace just out of curiosity.

We are having a great time with our baby girl. She is still a delight, sleeps 7-8 hours at night, smiles a lot and is growing like a weed!! She is pretty much out of her 0-3 month clothes and is only 2 months old!! I try to play dress up with her as much as possible so she has a chance to wear everything!

She also loves, and I mean loves being outside. I take her out on a walk everyday around the forest of Mt. Hermon and she is alert as can be looking everywhere. Aimee, my sister and I go out daily and try to get our exercise in, and if anyone has been to Mt. Hermon before you know it is a lot of hills, so our legs and butts are starting to look good!!! ( the previous sentence is a glimpse into the future...)

Bottom line, all is well at the Baillie house, we are happy, blessed and just enjoying the time we have with her and each other!

Wedding and Baptism!

A whirlwind of a weekend!!! Below is the lovely Mrs. Nicholas... the day after her wedding, looking relaxed... she had to get up early to be the Godmother of Grace!!!

The extended God Family... Amy is Godmother, Chad the Godfather... Josh is now Amy's husband and Jen is now engaged to the Godfather, and Karina is the daughter of Jen.... ahhhhhhh... You will get it somehow. We are blessed which such a loving extended family.... this picture is taken right after her baptism.

Chad taking her to her first communion. She was sleeping, we tried to wake her up before, but she wasn't having it... we had to pry her mouth open.

This is a picture of Gracie that Amy took in her baptismal gown, next to my wedding bouquet. This is the most beautiful picture that I have ever seen. I am going to blow it up and frame it! Thanks Amy!!!!!!!!

After this weekend we all needed a nap!! The wedding was amazing, I am waiting for pictures from it, it was an all out celebration of love!! Since I was the in a nice dress I didn't want to breast feed all the time, so I pumped before and Stephen was able to feed her a bottle all day... She was one of the most popular attractions at the wedding, there was literally a line to hold her all day!!!

The next day at 8:30 we had the baptism, and let me tell you, it was soo hard to get out of bed, but totally worth it, she only cried when she got dunked, and proceeded to pee all over Chad and the floor!!!

Selflessness, hard thing to get used to!

So, I have been a mom for six weeks almost now, and am to the point where I miss being able to do stuff!! Everything from going to the bathroom, making dinner, grocery shopping, taking out the trash, cuddling with my husband and eating has to be perfectly calculated around our beloved daughter. It is a hard transition from being able to do whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to do it for the past 29 years of my life, well at least the last 11.

I love my daughter with all that I have in me, I just miss being able to go to a movie, do errands... eat something other than fast food when I am able to be out and about! I know what you are all saying.... "get used to it Amanda, this is your life from now on" and I know that, and I would much rather have her than not, it is just something that I am getting used to.... this whole selflessness thing....

Today I have to go to San Jose to get a few things, and I am nervous about her feeding. She eats every two hours, so I can feed her right before I go, drive 1/2 hour to get there, and have an hour there before I have to drive back... well I want to stay for longer. Where do I feed her? In a fitting room? In a hot car? Do I take a bottle that I pumped before? We shall see how it unfolds....

It is going to take me a while to get used to this whole mom thing.

5 weeks of love!

Wow, how time flies! Gracie is 5 weeks old already and we are so blessed to have such a wonderful baby. She is just starting to smile a little bit, and boy when she does it just melts our hearts. She is getting to be so much more alert, hopefully the pictures below show how wide her eyes are getting.

This is going to be a big week for Gracie, she is going to be a flower girl at her Godmothers wedding on Saturday and then she is going to be baptized on Sunday!!!! Oh my gosh her baptismal gown is so precious! She is going to wear the same one for the wedding and the baptism and she just looks like a doll. No worries, there will be plenty of pictures next week.

Momma is not having good luck trying to find a dress for the wedding. I am the maid of honor and still do not have a dress and the wedding is in a week!!! My body is just a weird size after giving birth and trying to fit into dresses is really hard!!! Not to mention the fact that I can't just go shopping for a day looking for one, I have this little baby that likes to eat every two hours, and who is hard to fit her stroller in the changing room with me....So, I go to the Internet and order dresses, try them on, get depressed, then send them back!!! I'm getting extremely frustrated, but know that hopefully I will find something.

Our house is almost all unpacked and feeling more and more like home. I can't tell you how nice it is to be close to my sister and her family. Marina likes to go to errands with me to help with the baby which is a total blessing. Zach comes down to help move heavy boxes, and just having somewhere to go hangout is so nice.

Aimee also gave us a chance to go out on a date for the first time since she was born! I just saved some breastmilk so she could feed and gave her to my sister for a couple hours and Stephen and I had a very romantic dinner downtown, something that was sooooo needed. It was nice to feel like a wife again rather than just a milking mother!! I look forward to more dates to come!

Her own music

If you turn your volume up you can hear her constant cooing. She is soooo precious!!! Maryfaith thinks that she will be a singer... if she is anything like her mom and dad, she will sing to her hearts content, it just wont sound that good:( Anyway, I will try to get better audio at a later point

We moved!

This last week has been crazy!!!! We moved out of our apartment in Santa Cruz to a house in Mt. Hermon, and I am sooo happy! I am down the street from my sister Aimee, only a 3 minute walk, across the street from our good friends Juan, Shelly and their little daughter Olivia and just in trees again, something I missed terribly.

Moving with a newborn wasn't the easiest, well at least for Stephen, I was pretty much out of the picture, but we had tons of help from some friends, but cleaning the old apartment was a lot of work for my man, took 8 hours all by his lonesome. I love him, and really wish I could have helped!! Pictures to come of our house. Gracie loves it, so much windows and light, she stares for hours out the windows, it makes it a little easier to start unpacking... but she still demands a lot of my attention.

She is still a wonderful baby! Sleeps 6-7 hours at a time at night, feeds, then sleeps for another 3 or 4. Her eyes are getting wider, and she just loves making noises... all the time!! Sometimes too many noises and I wake up all the time thinking that she is waking up, but she just coo's away. She has grown out of a lot of her newborn clothes, which is not very hard being that newborns clothes go up to 8 lbs, and she was born at 9. She breastfeeds well... bottom line we are just completely blessed! Mommy just has to watch what she eats, she does get gassy and very uncomfortable often... So far I know that she doesn't react well to beans and fried foods...

Mama and her love of loves!

Stephen and Gracie on their way to see his softball game. She is sitting in a glove....

Gracie after a bath, super alert and bright eyed! Look at her blue eyes!

Sometimes all you can do is cry!