I Did It!

I finally signed up for my half marathon.

The Parkway Half Marathon

Saturday May 1st, 2010

Its for reals now.

I'm nervous

really nervous...

Let the countdown begin!!

Broken Record

I feel like a broken record. Like I'm writing the same posts over and over.

However, in this case, I feel that its justified because it completely and utterly boggles my mind. I don't know what kind of baby I expected to have, but I can tell you I wasn't ready for this.

Grace is turning out to be a very daring and mischievous child. I do the whole "I turned my back for two seconds!" bit more often than a parent of a 6 month old ever should.

Exhibit A: The Exersacuer

Apparently the bottom half is just as fun as the top half

Exhibit B: The Chair.

I really should stop putting her in this chair. I'm not sure what I'm thinking will happen, maybe she'll magically stay put one day, but that never is the case.

Exhibit C: The bumbo

I always wondered what happened to cause this label to be put on the Bumbo.

We use the bumbo to feed Grace solids. I put her in her chair turned around to get her bib and I hear a very soft thud sound. This is how I found Grace.

(My heart was racing while I was taking this picture)

I now understand why that warning was put on the bumbo. Grace, however, enjoyed her escape.

I'm thinking a high chair with heavy duty straps is in our near future.

To end on a happy note, here is a hilarious picture of Grace. She is a crack up.

Randomness

I have nothing terribly interesting to blog about. So here are some random pictures I've taken recently.

Grace has mastered using her toes and elbows to get around. She's a sneaky one too.

She'll start here

Appear here:

and suddenly she's at your feet biting your toes.

I'm a little bummed she's scooting already. It only solidifies the fact that she isn't my tiny baby anymore. But Grace is turning out like her Dad, always doing something or on the go and there is no point in delaying the inevitable.

A few days ago Grace was running a fever and the nurse at my doctor's office told me to come in. I was rushing around trying to get ready and out the door. I made it to the appointment in time and after coming home I realized, when I went to put my shoes away, that I wore two different shoes. One brown, one black. I was so embarrassed. How many people saw me? I'm banking on the fact that they look similar so maybe no one noticed...

Aaron and I went out to dinner and put Grace in a high chair for the first time. We were excited about it.

As a first time parent I feel like a tourist all the time. Constantly taking out my camera to take pictures of things that seem mundane to everyone else. I kind of like feeling like a tourist.

Did you know that the last time Aaron and I were in a picture together (from my camera) was in December? Weird. Shocking, considering how touristy we are. But here you go. Us in all our glory. (Dang, I love this guy)

Cheers to St. Patrick

Happy St. Patricks Day

I got an unfortunate text from Aaron this morning reminding me that I needed to wear green. You can tell how much we love this holiday by the fact that we both forgot about it. Thankfully, I own a few green things, but when I went searching through Grace's drawers (which now desperately need to be reorganized), the only green-ish thing I could find was a onesie with a green giraffe and a green bow. Now, if St. Patrick had been more into pink, Grace would have totally been ready.

I feel bad for not being more festive, however, I did get some good ideas from people like Lucky Charms and green milk, shoes that you fill with candy, and dying any sort of food item green. Hopefully next year I'll be more on the ball. Good thing Grace doesn't remember too much.

Cheers to You St. Patrick!

The Results...

Here are the results for the previous "Grace Looks Like..." Post

2 solid votes-- for Aaron

2 semi solid votes-- for Kara

and

2 votes for Aaron and Kara looking like each other

In Conclusion... Grace looks like both, maybe like Aaron a little bit more, and I need to do some research to make sure that Aaron and I aren't distantly related because apparently we look the same. (and only strange things can come from that...)

Does Grace Look Like Kara...?

Here is another side by side comparison to see who Grace looks like. I began writing this post in order to prove that (in my mind) Grace looks just like Aaron. Unfortunately, my efforts were derailed when I put the pictures together and realized that she looks a lot like me too. I figured I'd leave it up to you to decide.

(I had to do two separate blog posts because I don't know how to get three pictures next to each other, so the post below is part of this one as well.)

Or Aaron?

6 Months

Gracie is now 6 months old. Its been bittersweet for me. Bitter because 6 months sounds so old to me, she isn't my tiny little bug anymore. Its sweet because 6 months has been my favorite so far, which is what I say every month but I mean it for reals this time.

Here is a little comparison for you. (Sorry I don't know how to put the pictures side by side). This is Gracie's announcement picture taken when she was a week old.

Compared to the picture I took yesterday of Gracie in the same basket/blanket combo.

We went to Grace's 6 month appointment to gather some stats and get some shots.

Thankfully Scooby-Doo was there to make sure the situation was under control

She is 14.8 pounds- 25th percentile

and 26 inches- 60th percentile

Here is the rundown of Grace at 6 months

She wants to grab and touch everything in sight. Hair, bugs, paper, toys, grass, trash etc.

With that said, she likes to take the above items that she grabs and immediately put them in her mouth.

She is learning how to sit up although she hasn't quite mastered it yet

She is happy 97% of the day

She pokes her head out of her crib to watch me walk out of her room after I lay her down. It cracks me up.

She loves her exer-saucer

(and I love Alie for letting me borrow it)

She is a rolling machine. She spends more time off her play mat than on it.

She is starting to scoot. She'll either get up on her knees or use her elbows to scoot forward a little bit. I feel like its all down hill from here.

Sorry about the terrible picture, it was the only evidence I had.

Oh how I love this girl. I wish there were more words to describe how awesome life is with her in it. I've learned a lot in the first 6 months. A lot about Grace and a lot about myself. I'm excited for the challenges and the joys that the next months, years, etc have in store

By the way, Grace is an official member of the Brown team, her eyes have finally settled on a color.

Out with the Old, In with the New

2010 is turning out to be a very interesting year, one full of changes and choices we never thought we would make.

First: In February our Comcast bill was going to jump from $66 a month, to $150 a month. This jump didn't fit into our newly revamped budget (another 2010 change), so we downgraded to basic cable and internet bringing our bill to $24 a month. I was fine without all the cable channels, I pretty much just watch the basic ones anyway. What we didn't realize at the time was that you don't get a box with basic cable. No box means no DVR. No DVR means no recording shows, no pausing live television, and no freedom to watch your shows whenever you want!

Its been tough...

I've had to change gears in order to keep up with "my shows." Instead of recording them I have to find them on the internet, which isn't too bad, but definitely not my favorite method. I've got a pretty sweet set up going on my coffee table though.

We're giving the no DVR and no Tivo thing a try for two months. So far, one month down...

Second: I never thought I would want/need a jogging stroller. I guess to be more honest, I never thought I could run longer that 15 seconds. I have since proved myself wrong and in borrowing my friends jogging stroller I learned that I enjoy running with a stroller. It was time to get my own. We used some gift card money and, because Aaron is using it too, we were able to get a sweet deal through his job. Out of pocket we spent about $3 (yes, you're seeing that right) to get this bad boy.

Thank you to everyone who gave us gift cards for Grace. This is what you got us, and its amazing. Grace is enjoying it too.

So all my thoughts of owning an umbrella stroller went out the window, and I'm now the Mom that owns the jogging stroller. I can honestly say that I never saw that one coming.

A few big decisions already and its only March. I'm interested to see how the rest of the year pans out. (I secretly hope it involves Tivo)

A Day in the Sun

After a rainy week it was nice to spend a day in the sun

Wearing these

Holding Her

And soaking up every ray of the sun we could

I love the sun.

An Aunt Again

I'm going to be an Aunt again!

My beautiful sister Ashby just announced that she is expecting baby #3

(This is a picture my sister took that I'm borrowing from her photo blog)

I'm beyond excited for a variety of reasons:

1.) This is the first time that I actually know what my sister is going through so I feel like I can be a better cheerleader for her through the whole process.

2.) Grace will have a cousin close to her in age. The closest one right now is Emma who is three.

3.) Newborns are so cute. By the time this little one arrives Grace will be entering the toddler phase and won't be a cute "baby" anymore. Hatchling #3 will totally fulfill my snuggling/baby need.

Yay Hatch Family! I can't wait for September 5th, 2010!!!