Isn't she just adorable? She's such a little ham nowadays. Oh how we love her!

Prayers Needed

I am so thankful to have a happy and healthy child. I think sometimes we tend to take this for granted. I recently found out that an old dance friend of mine has a young niece who is dying. It is just an absolutely heartbreaking story. If you believe in the power of prayer, then please pray for this family as they are going throughout the unimaginable. You can visit little Anna's website at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annamckinney

I think that dealing with my mom's illness has made me more sensitive to other family's battles with illnesses. We had no hope and someone how our prayers were answered. I really hope that everything works out for this family. It's just really weighed heavy on my heart lately. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Crazy Mommy!

Here is a video that Jason took the other night. Grace is always doing something funny, but we never get it on video. We were playing before bedtime on Thursday night and finally Jason was able to capture it. Enjoy!

Grace Walks! + Halloween Dress Up

Really been slacking on the posts lately - but here's a couple new videos... Grace was a lamb for her 2nd Halloween (go figure). She didn't mind the costume too much surprisingly... We walked her around the block, but didn't go to any doors for candy... thought that would be a bit weird - but maybe next year as... she started officially walking last Saturday!

I was playing with her downstairs and stood her up in the middle of the room away from her shopping cart, and she walked right over to it (about 7 steps)! She's still trying to get a real hang of it, but is doing much better, especially when she wears her boots upstairs. She has only "ran" a couple times, but I'm sure that will be soon... we're in trouble, she is extremely active as it is!!

Anyways, enjoy the videos!

Update

On Monday my mom went in for a CAT scan to see if the chemotherapy is working. She had a scan of her lungs and her abdomen. Today she went in to receive the results. Fortunately, the cancer is stable. The cells have not grown or spread anymore. This is terrific news for now! Her doctor would like her to receive two more rounds on chemotherapy, then they will perform another CAT scan.

We do not know about the progress of her brain tumor yet. They will have her go for a scan of her brain in December. Apparently it will take that long to determine whether or not the radiation therapy has worked or not.

The doctor did say that she would like Peej to gain more weight. A few weeks ago she visited her lung doctor and he said that she should stay inside this winter. The cold is not very good for her lungs. Hopefully she will listen! We are just doing our best right now to stay healthy and keep mom healthy. Since I work with 5,6, and 7 year olds, this can be a bit difficult! Thanks for all of the prayers. We really appreciate them!

Grace's 1st Birthday

I have really been slacking on our blog lately. Everything has just been so hectic in our lives and I finally decided this weekend that I need to reprioritize a few things. Anyways, here is the long awaited post about Grace's 1st Birthday party.
We were so thankful that we were able to have such a wonderful 1st birthday party for our little p-nut. We could not believe the number of family and friends who were able to celebrate such a wonderful day with us. What a blessing! It was an absolutely beautiful day in the 60's and sunny just like a year ago when she was born. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Here is a beautiful picture of Grace and Daddy.

Grace enjoying her new wagon with her lambie.

Here's Grace's classic Grandpa Johnny face.

I decided that I would like to make Grace's cake every year as a tradition. This was the first time I have ever done anything like this. It was slanted, but it turned out pretty good.

Here is Grace not enjoying her cake at all. :)

Visit the gallery for more birthday pictures.

Thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy lives to make Grace's birthday such a wonderful day. We love all of you! :)

Grace Knievel

Since I have been working for the past few weeks, I haven't had time to post about our little Grace Knievel. She has been getting into trouble left and right around here. A few weeks back she figured out how to climb out of the crib. Fortunately, she didn't get hurt, but it was still frightening. We think that she used one of her stuffed lambs to propel herself out of there, so we took everything out.

She has developed quite the fascination with magazines and I often say that she will be a teacher some day. This afternoon Jason looked at the video monitor and he noticed that Grace was having quite the time in her crib. Watch the video and see for yourself!



Needless to say, Grace did not take an afternoon nap today. :)

Happy 11 Months to Grace!

A Graduation and a New Job

Today was Patty's (Stacey's mom) last day of radiation treatments. She was able to take home her special mask and a certificate to show that she graduated from her radiation treatments. We are so thankful that Patty was able to go to The Cancer Center at Unity Health Center. We have never met a more caring, compassionate, and respectful staff. They have been a complete blessing in our lives and we are actually sad that Patty will no longer be seeing them.
Yesterday we met with Dr. Zhang and she said that her partner will be meeting with Patty on September 15th and they will probably do an MRI then to see if the tumor has shrunk. Patty lost two pounds last week, but she stayed at the same weight this week. On Friday she will be meeting with Dr. Fetton to discuss her future chemotherapy treatments. Unfortunately, I (Stacey) will not be able to go due to.......my new job! My brother Brian will be going in my place.
I received a phone call from Spencerport Central School District last week to set up an appointment to meet with the deputy superintendent. On Wednesday I went in for my meeting and I was offered a full year long-term substituting position at Canal View Elementary school. I am very exciting about this new opportunity and I am ecstatic that I will be able to teach first grade again! I will started some new teacher classes tomorrow so that is why I cannot go to the appointment with Dr. Fetton on Friday. We are so thankful for this new opportunity!

Let the Treatments Begin!

My mom and I met with Dr. Zahng on Monday. She seems like a wonderful doctor who is on top of her game. She showed us a picture of my mom's brain scan on her computer. The tumor is about 2.7 x 2.7 cm and it is located on the back left side of her brain. She is surprised that Peej is not showing any signs of any symptoms.
She will be receiving 10 to 15 radiation treatments total. She will need to go for the treatment everyday Monday-Friday. Each treatment will only last a few minutes. The treatments may cause some swelling of the brain so she has prescribed Decadron to help with that. The treatments may cause some side effects such as hair loss, short-term memory loss, and itchy scalp.
Dr. Zahng wanted to start treatments on Tuesday and when my mom set it up for some reason the office person didn't schedule her until next Monday. I questioned my mom about it and she seemed ok with it. Well on Tuesday Dr. Zahng called and said she wanted her to go in then. I was working so she couldn't go then, but she got an appointment for today. I have to say that this really impressed me. I don't think most doctors would catch something like that.
Brian (my brother) will be taking my mom for her treatment tomorrow and then they will be meeting with Dr. Ashbury's partner to go over the CAT scan results and find out when they will start chemotherapy. Dr. Zahng seems to think that they will not start chemotherapy until they finish radiation. I will keep you all posted. Thank you for your wonderful thoughts and prayers!

Bows & Bikinis

Grace has been a very busy little girl lately. She is a little party animal. Unfortunately I've missed out on a lot of the fun due to my work schedule, but Jason has done a great job taking care of her while I am working. Here are a few pictures of Grace after Carrie's (Jason's step-sister) graduation party and Sissy's (Jason's cousin) surprise 30th birthday party.


Grace's hair is finally long enough to put hair bows in it. I was so excited about this. The bows don't bother her at all which is nice. As long as she doesn't eat them, we will be fine. :)
Here is a picture of Grace with her first hair bow.


We finally had some nice weather this past week, so on Tuesday, Grace went in the pool for the first time ever. We had to wait until Daddy got home from work so he could join us. Grace wore her Speedo bikini from Grandma Gina and Grandpa Gerry. She really liked going in the pool even though it was a little chilly at first. We thought she would kick more, but she really didn't. She just wanted to float around. We took her in the pool again on Saturday and she was kicking and moving more. She really liked chilling out in the pool with her shades on. We had a lot of fun.

Here is Grace in her bikini, waiting for Daddy to get home so we can go in the pool.

Grace and Daddy in the pool for the first time. Grace is making her new face. We're not really sure why she does it. It looks like she's mad, but she does it all of the time.

Here is Grace in her bikini from Aunt Andi and her sunglasses from Jan. She is loving the pool and the sun!

Hopefully we will have some more beautiful weather so we can get some more use out of the pool and Grace's bathing suits.

Another Update

We received a phone call from Dr. Ashbury todayat about 4pm. The CAT scan showed a spot on Peej's (my mom) brain. It is about 1 inch in size. They would like to start radiation as soon as possible (hopefully next week). Dr Ashbury also prescribed a steroid for now. Please continue to pray for Peej and continue to encourage her. She really needs it right now.

Update

Thank you all for your wonderful thoughts and prayers. We met with Dr. Ashbury yesterday morning. We really didn't get any new info. It does sound like they are going to attempt chemotherapy. They sent mom for a CAT scan today. Due to the flu she has had twice in the past month, they are going to scan her head, chest and abdomen just to make sure that it was the flu and not something else. She has to meet with Dr. Ashbury next Thursday at 3:30pm to discuss the results of the CAT scan and come up with a plan of action. I will write an update then. Thank you again for your kind words, thoughts and prayers. We really appreciate them! :)

Unwelcomed News

I have been debating writing about this, but I know that a lot of people that we don't talk to all of the time read this so I thought it would be a good idea to get the news out on here. Unfortunately yesterday we received some expected, yet difficult news. My mom had a chest x-ray and some blood work done on Monday to check for cancer. On Tuesday she received a phone call from her doctor's office asking her to go in for the results on Wednesday. We knew then that it was not good news. My brother Brian went with her yesterday morning and they were told that the cancer was back in both lungs now and possibly in her bloodstream. He also said that the could not perform surgery or radiation anymore. She has an appointment next Thursday with the oncologist. Her doctor is hoping that they will at least be able to do some chemotherapy. I will try to keep updating our site for those that would like more information.

Please keep my mom and family in your thoughts and prayers. We knew that this day would come. When she was first diagnosed in 2005 we were told that chemotherapy and radiation treatments would give her about 5 more years at the most, but it is still very difficult to hear this news again.

Grace is 10 Months Old!

Grace passed out on Daddy's lap with her new best friend Elmo!

A close up of Grace sleeping on Daddy's lap.

Grace and Sierra playing together although Grace just liked to watch Sierra play.

Grace eating green beans for the first time and loving them!

Grace's wild hairdo after a nice nap.

We cannot believe that our little peanut will be a year old in just two months. Grace started to do some amazing things this past month. On July 5th she started to crawl like a big girl. The next day she started to go from laying down to sitting up to laying down again. She also started to pull herself up and cruise around. It felt like she literally grew up overnight. It was unbelievable. She also has two new top front teeth which means that she has four teeth total. Her new word is choo choo which sounds more like "ch, ch" right now. Every time she hears a train pass by she turns and says choo choo. It's so cute! Yesterday she started to wave goodbye and we could have sworn that she said bye bye, but we are not 100% positive that she said bye so we will see about that one in the weeks to come. We also weighed Grace today and it looks like she is 17.4 lbs now.

Grace's allergy tests came back negative for everything. We tried some soy formula again a few weeks ago (a different brand though) and she broke out again. We actually just had a sample can in our cupboard and we didn't realize it was soy until we looked at the can a little more carefully. We immediately stopped the formula and of course it went away. We are now convinced that she has a soy allergy although the test said that she didn't. Weird! At least we knew what it was and we were able to stop it pretty soon this time. We also believe that she is allergic to carrots. I'm pretty sad about this because she enjoys eating them and they are super easy to cook for her.

Grace does have some new favorite foods now. She loves Cheerios. I think she would eat them all day, every day if we let her. She also likes green beans. It seems like her appetite is picking up some which is great! Hopefully Grace will have continued health and success throughout the next month~

Food Allergy Update

I talked to the nurse at Genesis Pediatrics yesterday and it looks like the test came back negative for all of the previously mentioned food allergies. Dr. Wells was a little concerned with one of the test because something did show up although the test still came back negative. He is requesting that the lab redo this test again. He is also concerned with the dip in Grace's weight gain now since the tests were negative. He said that usually when baby's have a dip in their weight growth it is due to food allergies. She had the dip, but now it doesn't look like food allergies is the cause of it. We will hopefully find out the new results on Thursday and if I don't hear anything, then I have to call back on Friday. Until then, they would like us to continue with the Alimentum formula and the solid foods that we are already feeding her and then try to introduce a new food each week. The nurse also said to try and really push those solid foods with her (which is easier said than done with Grace). Hopefully we will have some kind of answer soon. I'm just glad that the doctor is looking into it a bit more and not completely writing me off as some crazy, psycho mommy.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy ever! I love you!
Love, Grace

9 Months Check up

Grace had her 9 months check up this evening. We were able to make an appointment for 6 pm so Jason and I were both able to go. Luckily, Grace did not need any immunizations today, but by the way she was acting you would have thought she had about 4 shots today. She was definitely not happy to be there. We can't complain though because she usually never gets cranky when we are out and about. I think she just didn't like the change in her schedule.
Here are some of her stats from the appointment:
Weight = 16.5 lbs. (11th percentile)
Head circumference = 17.5 in. (66th percentile)
Height = 27.75 in. (60th percentile)

Dr. Wells said that Grace is doing very well developmentally and she is right where she should be. We talked about everything that has been happening with Grace's bowel movements and rashes. Dr. Wells suggested that we get her tested for food allergies. We really wanted to hear this so we are happy that Dr. Wells suggested it. We are not looking forward to putting P-nut through it, but it will be helpful to know what is possibly causing all of these things. Tomorrow I will be taking Grace to the lab to have her tested for the following allergies:
Milk, soy bean, egg white, egg yolk, wheat, peanut, and corn
She obviously won't be eating peanuts anytime soon, but since we are having the test done and she seems to have some food allergies, Dr. Wells thought it would be a good idea to have it done. We definitely agree with him on this. We should have these results within a few days.
As you can see from the stats above, Grace's weight is still a little low. It's within normal range, but due to everything that has happened this past month, we will be watching it closely.
Well, thanks for reading if you made it this far. I will write an update when we find out what's going on with Grace.

Museum, Parade, Carnival and a Visit to the Beach

In the past week and a half Grace has experienced many firsts. On Saturday, June 6th we took her to the Strong National Museum of Play for the first time. Uncle Brian and Jason wanted to go visit the Videogame exhibit so Grace and I tagged along.


This past Thursday Uncle Brian and I took Grace to her first parade. Unfortunately Jason was not able to come with us. I was a little nervous about how Grace would react to the loud noises, but she loved it. I tried to cover her ears, but she wasn't having it. It did start to rain after a little while so I was not able to take any pictures.
This past Saturday we took Grace to the Spencerport Carnival. She loved watching all of the people. She won her first prize (a fuchsia doggy). We also took some great pictures by the canal. Here are a few:

We stopped home for a quick nap and then we went down to Charlotte beach for some dinner and a walk on the beach. We ate at Harbor Hots which was pretty good and then took Grace for her first walk on the beach. We were able to make it just in time for the sunset and we got some great pics.

Healthy at Last!?!

It seems as though Grace is finally healthy again. Her bowel movements have slowed down and her bottom is just about healed. Thank God! Jason was right! I was a crazy, overreacting psycho mom. Oh well! Haha. We're thinking that it just took her body a few extra days to regulate itself and get the rest of the soy protein out of her body.
Due to Grace's health, I didn't get a chance to write up an 8 month post. She has really started to entertain us this past month. I spend most days after work watching her in her Around-We-Go. She is hilarious! Orville usually barks at her to play with him when she is in the Around-We-Go. She usually ignores him, but yesterday she realized that he was barking at her and she just started laughing and then proceeded to zoom around.She has also started making this gasping noise. At first is really scared us because it sounds like she is gasping for air. We are used to it now though and it seems like she does it when she is upset about something.
We started turkey and chicken this past month. Since I make it myself it is a little difficult to get the texture perfect. She just gagged on the turkey (probably due to the texture). I mixed the chicken with sweet potatoes and she wasn't a huge fan so I added some butternut squash to it and she seems to be pretty happy with it now.
Grace really enjoys play time on the floor now. She is starting to scoot herself backwards when she is on her belly, but she hasn't started going forward yet. She do it when she is ready!
I know we have some new pictures and video, but I'll have to ask Jason to post them for us. It probably won't be until Wednesday or Thursday due to his softball schedule. We hope you all have a happy and safe week!

Update #2

Well it looks like things are not getting much better. P-nut's bottom is very red again. She had about 6 bowel movements yesterday. I called the doctor's office this morning and they said that it is still a little concerning, but if there is texture to it then it should be ok. They said that if it is watery, then I should bring her in with a sample. It does have texture, but it still bothers me that she is pooping this much. As the day progressed she seemed to be doing better (2 bowel movements). Later this evening I went to give Grace a bath and I noticed that her left nipple was a little red and slightly swollen. Jason thought I was kind of overreacting and maybe it was just from him holding her (Grace does tend to have pretty sensitive skin). Well after her bath I noticed that it was still there. Jason thought that we should just wait and see how it looks tomorrow morning. Well at about 9:00 pm I changed her diaper and it was still looked exactly the same. Maybe I am overreacting, but this is just really starting to make me nervous. I tried to do some research online and I was not able to find anything. I just wish our little P-nut would get better. Thank you for all of your prayers. We really appreciate it! Please continue to pray for P-nut's health. Hopefully we will have great news.
On a side note, I landed a summer/part-time job at Target. I will be working in the Starbucks located in their store. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. I can walk/ride a bike to work everday. I also love coffee!

Update

Our prayers seemed to be answered. Grace seems to be doing much better now. She was able to drink most of her formula yesterday. She also slept in until 9 am which she hasn't done in a long time. She took two good naps too. She still pooped more than she probably should be, but hopefully that will stop once the new formula gets in her system and the old stuff gets out. Her bum also looks a lot better so hopefully it will continue to heal.

Breast really is best!

I haven't been able to bring myself to post about this because it was pretty heartbreaking. I had to stop breastfeeding at the end of April because Grace decided that she wanted nothing to do with it. I would try to feed her and she was just sit and scream on my lap. She would literally just start arching her back and and pull away from me. It was pretty stressful for both of us. When she first started to do this I thought maybe she was teething or I just wasn't making enough milk. I tried everything I could think of to increase my supply with no progress. I researched it and still nothing helped. Finally after about a week or two of this Jason and I talking about it and decided to stop nursing Grace. I tried to continue pumping, but I was only able to make about 3 ounces a day.
We continued to feed Grace soy formula which we were already supplemented with. She was doing really well at first and then on May 5th she started to get a really bad diaper rash. We went and bought special (expensive! $29.99 for 16 oz.) cream called Triple Paste. It cleared it up for a day and then it came back. We tried taking out some different foods from her diet and nothing helped. We also noticed that her sleeping schedule was a bit off. She's been walking up at about 5:45 am everyday (she usually sleeps until 7). She naps for about 3 hours straight some days and then other days 45 min. Then she started pooping more frequently. We noticed that the rash was always worse after she pooped.
I finally took her to the doctors on Monday and really didn't find out much. They said to increase bananas in her diet and decrease other fruits such as peaches/pears. They also wanted us to give her rice cereal, but our poor baby girl's belly can't really handle it. If this didn't work then they said she most likely has a soy protein allergy (apparently if babies have a milk protein allergy then they most likely have a soy protein allergy).
She seemed to heal well on Monday and Tuesday with this new approach and then Thursday she pooped 8 times. Yes 8 times! Needless to say her poor bum was raw! Well I called the doctor's office back yesterday and they called in a prescription of Nystop powder for her bum and they put Grace on Alimentum formula (hypoallergenic - $25.96 per 16oz can). Well I tried to give Grace this new formula this afternoon and she seems to hate it. She just kept spitting it out.
I have never been the type of person to push my beliefs on others, but now I am going to encourage every person I know to breastfeed at all costs. I can't tell you how many people thought I was crazy for breastfeeding even with the thrush and stuff, but I personally think people who formula feed are crazy. At least we only have 4 more months of this. Please pray that our baby girl gets better and takes this formula and her bum heals.

Lilac Festival

Here are just a few of the pictures from our wonderful morning!

Above is a picture of Grace in the tulip garden. She's so small so you can't really see the tulips behind her.

Mommy and Grace next to the lilacs.

Grace chilling by the white lilacs.

I love the lilac bush above and these tulips. This lilac had a mixture of blue and purple in it. I thought they were beautiful. I lso love the orange and pink tulips above. They were awesome.

I think they are fantastic! Jason did an awesome job!

This morning Jason, Grace and I woke up bright and early so we could venture on down to the Lilac Festival. Some of you might be wondering how I was able to get Jason to go to the festival with us. I'm not really sure how I did it this year, but I was really excited when he decided to go with us. When I was younger I used to dance at the festival every year. I think that's why I love to go there so much.It was absolutely beautiful this morning! The sun was shining and it was about 76 degrees out. One of Jason's coworkers was gracious enough to let us park in her driveway. This allowed us to park for free and enjoy a short walk to the festival.
By the time we arrived at the festival the parade had already started so we decided to walk through the gardens and view the lilacs. Grace seemed like she had a great time listening to the marching bands and looking at the beautiful flowers. We wanted to venture over to see the different craft booths, but we couldn't get across the street. We only stayed for an hour, but Jason took many beautiful pictures. Unfortunately, he didn't get in any of the pictures with us. :( We were going to go back to the lilacs to get a picture of Jason and Grace together, but we ended up forgetting about it until we got home. Thankfully we got home just in time because he started to pour out and it when down into the 60's.

And Grace's First Word is...

DADA! Jason and I both missed it unfortunately. While we were at work today she said "Dada". Grandma Peej (Stacey's mom) thought it was just a fluke, but she kept repeating it throughout the day. I can't believe how big she is getting. I never would have thought she would be talking already.

And here's the video! Jason was able to capture her on camera last night as she was playing in her crib, whispering "Dada" over and over to herself. There are 6 different videos in the "Grace's First Word" Series on YouTube you can check out, but you can hear the "Dada" the best in this one (you'll have to turn up the volume on your computer pretty loud to hear, sorry!).



To check out the rest of the Grace's videos, visit Grace's YouTube Channel! You'll find some videos from Easter, her in the bath, and more - all available in HD!

Spring Break and a Sick Baby

I was able to enjoy a great week off with Grace last week due to Spring Break. We were so busy that I didn't get a chance to write. Daddy finally found some time to download some of our pictures. The rest are posted in the gallery. On Friday we took some lunch to Uncle Brian's work for him and his coworkers. This was Grace's first trip to the ice rink and I think she really enjoyed it.


The weather was kind of all over the place last week. On Saturday it was 85 degrees out. Poor Grace was sweating away so we let her just wear her diaper for a while and she was loving life. Here is a picture of "Super Grace".

We tried to take some pictures of Grace's new teeth on Saturday. It was a tad difficult to do. This picture is not the best, but you get the idea. I think she has a new one working its way up on her bottom gum.
Grace was definitely tired out by our busy week. Here's a picture of her taking a nap.

Apparently we did a little too much last week and now more Grace is sick. We think it's a combination of a cold and teething. Hopefully she will feel better soon! I will keep you updated.

7 Months Old

Grace is 7 months old today! We cannot believe how fast each month goes by. It seems like it goes by faster with each month. It also seems like each month gets better and better as Grace learns new things.
She has started to sit up on her own. We still need to sit next to her so we can catch her if she begins to tip which happens sometimes. Last week she still needed a lot of help with this, but today she was able to sit for a few minutes without tipping. It's amazing how fast she learns new things. As I reported earlier this week, Grace's first tooth arrived. You can see it a lot better now. We think that another tooth is poking through now too, but Grace won't let us get a clear shot of it.
She is eating lots of different foods now. We introduced butternut squash, acorn squash, avocados, peaches and pears this month.

Grace is also becoming quite the noise maker. She loves to hear herself cough so she will usually spend a lot of time doing this during the day. Apparently when Jason and I leave for work, Grace likes to screech. We are started to notice that she really seems to enjoy music. We have always played music every night while sleeps. Every time she hears music she turns her head towards it and listens intently. She also likes to play the keyboard on her "Around We Go" toy. Another new thing that we have noticed is that Grace is starting to developing seperation anxiety. If I leave the room while she is playing she will usually start to cry until I return. I have also noticed that if I start walking towards her she will smile, but as soon as I turn away she starts to cry. She has also started crying when different family members try to hold her.
Last week, Grace had her first "photoshoot". She was quite the little ham. The photographer asked us if we take a lot of pictures of Grace and we said "Oh yeah!". She said that she could tell since Grace was so comfortable in front of the camera. We are supposed to pick up the pictures on Friday so we will try to post them when we get them.

Grace's First Easter

Here are some pictures for Grace's First Easter. She was true champ considering the fact that she was teeth combined with all of the running around we did over the weekend.

Grace with her new ducky from Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Pizzoli.


Grace showing off one of her Easter dresses.

Grace and Mommy at Great-Aunt Andi's house.

Here's our little bunny!

This was actually a Halloween costume that my mom bought for Grace, but she couldn't wear it because it was way too big for her. We saved it in her closet because we thought maybe we could use it for something else in the future. A few weeks ago my mom was going through Grace's closet and she stumbled upon it. We finally thought of a purpose for it. A photoshoot! She just woke up right before we took this picture so she was in a bit of a daze.

We have a tooth!

I believe that I mentioned a bump on Grace's gums during the 6 month update post. Well, that bump just turned into a tooth today. All weekend she was chewing on this like a little crazy woman and the drool was just pouring out of her mouth. We also noticed that she was acting a little cranky which is unusual for her. We figured her tooth would pop out of her gums any day now and sure enough it did. There was nothing there this morning and when I got home from work today my mom mentioned that she got really cranky around 2pm and she had to give her some Tylenol because nothing seemed to cheer her up. I put my finger in her mouth and sure enough I felt a tooth. I mader her laugh and there it was. I don't have a picture yet because there really isn't a whole lot to see yet. I will make sure I post a picture when you can see the tooth a little better.

Grace Diggin' "Big Whiskey"

~ 6 MONTHS, 18 DAYS ~

OK, so I've had this posted on YouTube for a few days [with already 180+ views!] and figured I'd throw it up here as well...

Story behind this video... Grace was on my lap, I had my laptop out and was letting Stace hear the newly released "Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King" (upcoming DMB album) clip. The music starts to play and Grace turns her head towards the screen and just stares, listening to the music. I must have played the clip 15 times, every time it stopped she would hit the computer like she wanted it again, and I'd play it again and she was still mesmerized each time. Finally I had Stace grab the camera to film her - of course she got a bit camera shy, and then the dogs flustered her concentration, but you get the idea...

Back end to the story is before she was born, she attended 3 DMB concerts in the womb - she was a fan before she even knew it and this was just music to her little ears!



Some other exciting news to report (technology related of course), we're getting a new HD video camera - (should be arriving tomorrow, thanks fantasy football!!) - so we will no longer be posting grainy video from one of our digital cameras... can't wait! The other video camera we had was lost somewhere in the transition from Vegas to NY. We have a couple other videos that need to be posted as well - Grace's new favorite thing, splashing in the bathtub, and a couple others - Stacey will get them up when she gets time. Until then, hope you enjoyed!

Happy 6 Months!

On Thursday, March 19th Grace turned 6 months old. It is amazing how fast she is growing and changing. On February 16th, she rolled over from her tummy to her back for the first time. She is able to grab toys and put them in her mouth on her own. She can sit up with a little help from Mom and Dad. She is babbling and giggling up a storm. She just started to show some signs of separation anxiety last night. She absolutely loves her jumpy chair. She will bounce in that thing forever. She loves to eat sweet potatoes and bananas (separately). She does not seem very interested in apples. Grace also loves to watch the dogs. Most of the time you can find Grace laughing and smiling at the dogs. For some reason the dogs love to run around when she is eating which makes it very difficult to get her to eat because her head is constantly turning from side to side. Grace is also sleeping through the night, which is awesome. Last night she slept from about 9:30 pm to 8:45 am! :) Grace also has a tooth that is about to pop through. She has a little red bump on the bottom right side of her mouth. Dr. Wells said that you can also see a little white slit so it is about to pop through. Maybe it will be in by the end of the week? We shall see.

Below are her stats from her 6 month check-up today:
Height 25.25 inches 31st percentile
Weight 14 lbs. 11 oz. 24th percentile
Head Circumference 16.75 inches 52nd percentile

Dr. Wells said she is developing very well. So far she is just like any other 6 month old. She did have to get two more shots and I must say that it was even harder this time than it was last time. It really broke my heart today. At least she won't have to get any shots at her next visit (9 months).