8 months

Eight months, what a beautiful time! Grace is nearly independent with sitting up and looks so tall and official when she does. Quite the beautiful posture she has! She adores her cousin Braden’s Exersaucer (we now call it her sit ‘n’ spin) and she entertains herself with her toys for quite a while now. She loves being swung in our arms and giggles, giggles, giggles. She has yet to laugh with belly zerberts, but she religiously pulls those feet to her mouth at the changing table (sound familiar, Aunt Mindy?). On her play quilt she will rotate around on her belly and scoots herself backwards. It is fun (and anxiety provoking) to see her start to move around. I’m afraid we’re going to have to look for baby gates here pretty soon! We are now working on saying “mama”, “dada”, and “baba”. “Rock Chalk Jayhawk “ will come after that!

Christmas was a most wonderful time. It is amazing that Christmas takes on even more meaning with a new one around. We decorated the house fully (for Grace’s enjoyment) but also because we were celebrating her first. Grace had her 4 grandparents around to spoil her during the 5 days of being snowed in over Christmas. It was a wonderful gift for all of us. She also had visits from her Uncle Jed and Aunt Tammy before Christmas (another round of spoiling) and went to Colorado to visit Aunt Mary and the Gang (an additional round of spoiling). She and I flew from Omaha to Denver, where her Daddy picked us up curbside and whisked us away in his big truck. She enjoyed watching the skiers at Beaver Creek, but we did our best to shelter her from those unruly snowboarders.

Grace continues to love food, especially homemade baby food. Blueberries, pears, carrots…. Bring them on! The verdict is still out on bananas and avocados, but that’s ok! We did a trial with rice cereal, but she developed a rash up her backside, expressed the grumpies and had loose stools. We stopped that pretty fast and all cleared up within a day! Whew!

We are starting to make plans for her 1 year birthday and baptism. They’re already approaching! Other parents tell me how quickly things go by, but this is a bit ridiculous! Oh well, what can one do besides enjoy those moments while they’re here? Happy 2/3 of a year, Miss Grace!

1st Christmas