4 Months

Wow - so here we are again - celebrating yet another month!
Gracie is keeping us rather busy but we are loving every second of it.

Biggest milestone this month would have to be her sleeping through the night! And boy oh boy were we ever so happy to celebrate that one. We have also graduated from a 3 hour feeding schedule to a 4 hour feeding schedule. That may seem slight to some but I cannot begin to explain what an hour can mean! It's been great.

Gracie is still loving her hands and I have had numerous people tell me they think she's teething. We haven't seen any tooth "buds" as they call them but I've read that teeth can make their appearance as early as 4 months so who knows...she may very well be preparing for their arrival!

Lots of adventures for Ms. Gracie in the last few weeks! We celebrated our first Valentines Day and then Nana Guiffre came to visit and spent a week with us. She really got to enjoy some one on one time with Gracie and it was fun to watch them interact. Here are some pics from that visit:

Following that visit Uncle Greg, TiTi Jen, Cousin Anthony & Uncle Nick came up to see us all!

While they were here we embarked on our first of many trips to Washington, DC. Gracie enjoyed riding the metro and seeing some of the major DC attractions - such as the White House & National Monument.

We visited the Smithsonian - Museum of Natural History and spent quite a bit of time admiring the fish in the beautiful saltwater aquarium they had there. Steve and I are almost convinced to get another fish tank...we'll see. :)

Here's a collage of pics from this month:

Amidst all of the visits, Gracie has been coming to work with me but I am finding that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get anything done. In addition, my new studies here at Hopkins will require me to be out of my office more & more which means I would be needing care for Gracie. Steve and I had begun the very difficult childcare search when randomly my neighbor offered to watch Gracie! What a blessing! While we did locate a center we loved and know that Gracie will love - we are relieved that we don't have to enroll her quite yet. We are thinking we will enroll her closer to her 1st birthday or maybe right after and that way enable her to have more one on one care. I hate having to leave her at all but if I have to I feel much better about this option versus the full time center care. Plus it's right next door! Super convenient! :)

Here are some firsts from this month:

First time in high chair = NOT A FAN :)

First St. Patricks Day

First time in Bumbo seat....she's acclimating herself to it slowly but surely

First pair o' jeans!

First taste of the frozen teething ring

SO much excitement & undoubtedly LOADS more to come! :)

Our 4 month visit with the pediatrician is on Monday...shots :( and discussing possibly starting solids! Very exciting! I'll do a quick update then to let you know what Gracie's new "stats" are.

In closing - a few more random shots of Ms. Gracie Anne Michelle - for your viewing pleasure! :)We hope you all enjoy this as much as we clearly are...thanks again for sharing in the joy that this little gal has brought us...Love to all!

3 Months

Gracie is now 3 months old!

Hard to believe that 12 weeks have come & gone already. SO much is happening with Gracie and has happened in that period of time - it's quite a task trying to keep up with documenting each and every precious moment! Month two Gracie spent quite a bit of time getting to know her hands. It was so much fun to watch her catch them out of the corner of her eye. Then with everything she had, she'd work so hard to study them and then of course maneuver them to her mouth. She has moving her hands to her mouth down pat now and therefore spends much of her time snacking on them.

Just recently she started pulling her legs up and reaching her hands out to them - hard work but she practices everyday and soon enough she'll master it I'm sure. We do lots of talking now and there are some new noises to be heard.

She even likes to chat when she's cranky-pants. :) She is still very curious about her surroundings and gets mighty upset if being held in a position that doesn't allow her to look out at everything. Here she is checking herself out in the mirror:

This curiosity also prevents napping as she doesn't do much of that for fear maybe that she'll miss something...who knows. I can get her to snooze occasionally - and when I do - I'm quick to snap a pic.

Mommy just wants to know where all the sleeping that babies are supposed to do during the day is....?? Speaking of sleeping - Gracie is doing lots more of it at night thankfully! She gave us several 6 hour stretches last week and I thought maybe that sleeping through the night switch that I hear people speak of had finally been flipped but maybe not. The last couple of nights she's been waking more frequently. Could be a growth spurt though and hopefully she'll be back to blessing us with those 6 hour stretches again!

Her hair seems to be growing by the day...it is not growing in as dark as it was when she first arrived. Not quite sure what color yet but thinking light brown or dirty blond maybe...it's awful cute right now though - fuzzy and soft. Her eyes still seem blue-ish. I say "ish" because right in the middle they look more hazel. SO many differing opinions as to when the eye color is set but that's what they look like for now. One thing's for sure her smiles are still captivating and her eyes bright & bubbly. She's been lots of fun so far and undoubtedly the days will just get better as she grows a little more and is able to interact more.

Movin & Shakin :)

Daddy and I did manage to get out for an evening. Steve's birthday was February 1st and we went to dinner. It was lovely to get out and spend some time together just the two of us but we did find ourselves missing our little lady...she did great though and the babysitter said she'd watch her anytime...whew! Success.

As I'm sure most of you are aware - we just got hit with what 2 huge snow events in Baltimore - snow events that evidently made history! We saved the front page for her memory box...

We're trying to make the most of being "stuck". We've spent a fair amount of time shoveling but we are taking time out to see friends and enjoy the time together. Here are a few pictures of our snow event:
Helping our neighbor Stacy play cards...

I have been in my house for 6 consecutive days and I'm starting to feel the not so gentle effects of cabin fever! Steve has made it out to work a couple of days this week but I have not. = (

I'm actually starting to miss work! UGH. It has been beautiful but I am VERY ready for spring and all that spring brings. It will be so nice to be able to get out of the house with Gracie so she can finally see the outside!

That's about all we have to report for now. Next month Gracie gets her passport and Uncle Greg and family come to visit! WooHoo! Lots to look forward to. Until then - Love to all!

Rolling Over

And we're hitting yet another milestone! Here's our big girl rolling over from her belly to her back! WooHoo!

2 Month Stats

She is growing and everything looks great!
Ms. Gracie is now a whopping 9lb 13 oz, 22 inches long with a head diameter of 15cm!

Grow little girl grow!!

Shots went as well as can be expected. She got 3 shots total and cried for a hot second and then she was fine. She will get her next set of shots at 4 months.

That's it for now. See you next month.
Love to all!

2 Months!!

It's pretty crazy to think that already 8 weeks have come & gone. What a busy beautiful 8 weeks it's been! Lots of firsts and so much fun! Let's see - where to begin!

It has been fun watching Ms. Gracie discover her surroundings and herself...she's finding her hands and starting to reach for and grab things...oh that's what those are for! :)

We had our first Christmas together as a family.

This also involved us making our first road trip! Everything went really well - packing with a newborn is lots of fun! haha. Needless to say it requires A LOT of "stuff" and that in turn requires a lot of car room...add Tabi in there & the Jetta was at capacity! Little snug but we made it and she travels VERY well. Just like Mom - soon as you get comfy and the car starts moving - OUT. This is awesome since Steve and I do a fair amount of travel by car. So great that she likes the car - I have heard horror stories about some children and car rides...whew!

Here are a few other pics from Christmas

Candy Cane - thanks Grandpa!

Gracie's first pair o' sunglasses - Thanks Mel & Greg!

How is Gracie changing physically - well, a little everyday it seems! She lost a good bit of the hair she was born with but she hasn't gone completely bald and it seems to be starting to grow back again - and it's dark! Who knows though - could fall out again...we shall see. Her eyes are still blue but with a hint of brown in the middle...so maybe hazel?? I've heard differing opinions on when a baby's eyes are really set...some say 2 months and if that's the case then we have a blue-eyed girl. They are open a lot more and she's certainly curious about her surroundings. Squiggly little thing! Cranes her neck to see everything and funny enough seems to be completely infatuated with the surround sound speakers on the ceiling in our living room. She stares & stares at them. Hysterical. She coos & gurgles & we coo & gurgle right back...our greatest talks happen in the morning. She's at her best in the morning & definitely got that part of her from Daddy! :) She likes to talk to her stuffed animal friends, Elmo especially!

We now get full face smiles that just melt you. Smiles like these:
Sleeping is going a bit better. She will give us a good 3 hour stretch followed by 2 hours - usually. We are down to 1 feeding a night which is awesome! Definitely makes getting through the day a little easier. Although getting up & being up at 5:30/6am is still an adjustment for me! I am NOT a morning person though I am trying very hard to be for her sake! I am now back to work full time which I noted on my last blog. It's going really well and she enjoys being with me...I think :)

Here's Gracie at work talking to her "friends"

Best part is I don't have to miss out on anything nor do I have to worry about where she is - who she is with or what's going on. I would be a disaster I am sure and a total menace to whoevers poor soul we had watching her if we had to do so. Thankfully we don't!

Gracie is still not a huge fan of tummy time which is funny since she hates being on her back! She has started lifting her leg while on her tummy and teetering...this marks the beginning stages of her learning to roll over. Unbelievable how quickly they progress! She likes to blow bubbles and loves to snuggle. So do Mommy & Daddy :)


Life since Gracie arrived has been hectic for sure. In a matter of hours our whole world changed, got flipped upside down and all around and it's been a whirlwind for sure. Wouldn't change it for anything though. Steve and I are finding little moments to spend together and in those moments what do we do?? Talk about Gracie of course! :) She truly has become our entire world but we are enjoying everyday with her and both feel closer to each other than ever before. Having the right partner makes all the difference in the world...

So what's next? This past weekend we had our annual ski/snowboarding trip with our fabulous friends. We had such a great time with our friends. Traveling with Gracie is different but do-able. She does really well out & about and everyone seems to enjoy her company. :)
Here are a few pics/videos from our weekend away.

Tummy time on the boppy is much more successful!

Steve took a video of me boarding down the mountain - SO much fun!

And here's a video of us riding the ski lift back up

Today is her 2 month visit with the doctor and along with that comes her 2 month shots! Thankfully Daddy is coming along for this...I may need him to hold my hand. I will do a quickie update on here with her new 2 month stats later today or tomorrow

:)

All in all, Life is good - and we are blessed. Love you all!

BACK TO WORK!

So...today was my first day back to work after 6 blissful weeks of maternity leave.
OK - so blissful might be a bit of a stretch but it was awesome to be home with Gracie one on one for awhile. We've gotten to know each other pretty well and now we're ready to greet the rest of the world. Or so Mommy says. :)
The day went well! Gracie slept fairly well last night and our morning was pretty relaxed. We actually wound up going in a tad early since we found ourselves ready to go with time to spare. Amazingly enough...
While we didn't accomplish a ton of "work" - as we spent a majority of the day catching up on the latest office gossip - it was great to be back. It's an amazing thing that I can bring Ms. Gracie with me - I cannot imagine leaving her with anyone at this stage in her life. I feel super blessed and I am so thankful that I don't have to miss out on anything with her.
Starting tomorrow we are back to full days. I think she likes the outing and Mommy most certainly does!
Plus it's always nice to hear people ooh & aah over your little one - lets be honest!
I'll have more pictures & news next week. Weekly updates at this point are a bit much for me to keep up with but rest assured I will be doing Monthly updates. And that means next week there will be a new post since she will be 2 months old next Thursday!!
Holy my goodness I cannot believe it! :)
Love to all!