Eight Months and Christmas

Note: the photo uploader was giving me trouble so see the post after this one too view more pictures!

December was an eventful month. Trent went to Haiti for several days while Gracelyn and I stayed at the Gautney's in Kansas City. He had an incredible opportunity to travel with several others to help distribute Christmas boxes to children at a school. It sounds like it was a great trip and Trent and I dream about taking our family there again before too long. A week after his return we traveled to Beaumont for Christmas with my family. Two hours before boarding the plane, we went to the see the doctor...Gracelyn had been running fever for two days and was definitely sick. Ended up being an ear infection, pink eye and some viral thing. That was on December 21st and she is just now back to being happy and carefree. Before it was all done, she ended up having a few nights with a very croupy, scary cough and slept in bed with me, kicking daddy onto the floor, for several nights. We are so thankful to God for healing her.

It was such a special Christmas with my family. Lots of wonderful memories. And unfortunately, I forgot my camera so no personal pictures. :( We had family pictures taken by a professional photographer. I made Gracelyn's nose bleed in an attempt to clean up the green goop so in many of her pictures she is sporting a bloody nostril. She was cranky and ready for a nap before we were able to get her an individual photo shoot. But fortunately we were able to catch some priceless pictures of her sleeping on a quilt made by her great-great grandmother. We had an awesome time playing games with my family and just lounging around. The weather was incredible...in the 50s most days. Ashton and Emma have grown so much and are so fun to talk with. They are growing up into beautiful, charming little ladies who have so many talents and so much love. My sister had surgery the week prior but the Lord was so gracious to see fit that she had energy and minimal pain so that we could hang out and stay up late. Although we stayed almost a week, it seemed like just as Gracelyn was getting comfortable with everyone, it was time to leave. One of my favorite memories is when Gracelyn was waving at my mom and Mom started crying happy tears at the sight. Trent and I even got to go on a date while my parents watched Gracelyn. We had an awesome seafood dinner and were headed home when we got the call that Gracelyn was ready for us. Mom and Dad sent Gracelyn a radio flyer red wagon in the mail before Christmas and we just got around to putting it together. We drove her around the house today and she absolutely LOVED it. We will have loads of fun for years to come!

We came back home to snow and crazy cold weather. It was a slow ride home but we were so happy to be back. The next day Trent's family started coming in and stayed for three or four days. We had an incredible time with them. All the beds were taken and the kitchen was full of food from the beginning to the end. Instead of the traditional meal, we made it a Mexican fiesta with flowers in our hair and somberos and five kinds of salsa. We went to the skating rink and played card games. We were blessed with several gifts but the greatest joy of Christmas this year was the chances we had to spent time with our families. I am so completely grateful to God that all of our family members love Jesus and want to follow Him. It's nothing that I can boast about and I can only praise God for His immense blessings.

Quick update about Gracelyn. While at the doctor, she weighed close to 18 pounds. We are still complexed by the foods that she can eat. She seems to have lost some interest in eating just about anything now although for a few weeks she did great with baby food fruits and vegetables. Every now and then, I panic and wonder if she will be a "milk baby" and want to keep nursing for years and reject all table food. But then I remind myself that she is only eight months old, I'm reading some good material and praying that God will lead her gently as she is ready to take on different food. In the meantime, we have started her on a multi-vitamin with iron supplement that makes her sweet breath smell bad. Her one and only word is "mama" and she's a pro at saying it. It's one of the sweetest sounds to hear her call my name... and then I realize that it seems to be her generic term for "hey parent" cause she calls out "mama" to her daddy all the time too. We are working on this. Gracelyn is a pro at lounging in bed with us in the morning. She lays for a while, sings and then after a bit starts crawling all over us. She will look up to the ceiling and wave as if she is saying Hi to God. As of two nights ago, Gracelyn is back to sleeping in her crib. The time just seemed right although Trent and I both admitted that we missed not being able to hear her sweet breaths as she slept in our room. We are so proud of you, Gracie. You fill our lives with so much joy!

Now some pictures...

How sad is this...Gracelyn had just spent an hour throwing up everything she ate after having a few Cherrios for the first time. Apparently, she has a grain intolerance. :(

Feeling better


She was so goofy after waking up after an evening nap. And somehow her hair went crazy too.

Christmas with the Willhite side. All the grandbabes.

Everyone together!

Gracelyn loves her Uncle Todd.

Michael in his snow tunnel.

Emma getting frostbite.

Eight Months and Christmas...con't

After a couple hours in the snow, Steven's cheeks are so red.

Thanks Grammy for the stroller walker. Everytime she plays with it, the first things she does is throw the baby out of it :)

Chillin'

Everyone looks so tired and in the media zone.

Steven's happy!

Sweet Kado cuddling with Sarah who loves hanging with the lil' cousins.

Me and Julie

Emma is literally falling on her skates during this shot.

Soooo pretty.

Joni and Hope

Cool Brad. He won almost every game at the roller rink..."name the artist of this song" and Limbo....well, not Limbo.

Joni feelin' the 80s hits.

Grant dressed like his father.

Gracie playing with daddy and Uncle Beau.

Most beautiful girl...

Sleeping on the couch with mama and holding hands.

Snotty nose.

Playing with her new drumset from Uncle Paul and Aunt Jamie.

Dancing with Daddy. I love when "Oh How He Loves Us" by David Crowder Band comes on the radio because Trent picks up his girl and dances with her...and sometimes grabs me too :)

Dreaming of snow.

Gracelyn was in a crazy mood this particular night after eating some baby food. I love this girl.

Seven Months Old

Gracelyn is seven months and one week old today. Somehow seven months sounds years older than six months to me. And with all that she has learned in the past few weeks, life has changed quickly. Gracelyn started crawling the day after Thanksgiving. We have made some adjustments to our house but are also trying to train Gracelyn to know what is off-limits. Using the word "no" with her has brought out some interesting responses in our little peanut. She has a bit of a temper and we are trying to reign her in early before she's two and throwing tantrums in the grocery store (although there's no guarantee that this won't happen too). It's easier in some ways to be lazy, let her do what she wants, ignore her screaming and mini-tantrums in hopes that it will just all go away. It's nice in some ways to believe that this is just a phase and she'll grow out of it. Or that there's no need to tell her no and just believe that she's too young to understand what mommy says. But what is easy isn't always best. And what I want to believe isn't always true. In many ways I am in training as a mommy. Even if Gracelyn doesn't understand all that I am saying, it's important for me to start standing for what I feel is important and finding the words I want to say to her. I am amazed at what she can understand already. I pray that our efforts at parenting will be blessed by the Lord and will be a blessing to her and our family. Discipline and training is a discipline for me.

Gracelyn had a tooth poke through yesterday on the bottom. I think this explains some of her crankiness lately. Her gums are all swollen and she can't seem to get enough fingers in her mouth. It's got to hurt. We continue to struggle with cereal. I've tried about four times with different varieties of cereal and at different times of the day. Each time she spent the next several hours projectile vomiting and lethargic. I hate it for her and if she didn't need the iron I would quit all together trying. I'll give it several more weeks before trying again and in the meantime I plan to ask some very knowledgable people for ideas. As for baby food, she doing great and loves all the new flavors.

Onto fun stuff. At her last appointment, Gracelyn weighed 16 lbs 15 oz (50%) and was 26 7/8" long (75%). She waves from the across the room or when someone greets her. I love how she uses her hands...when she moves her hand like she's knocking on the door or folds her hands together. She squeals, she screams, she laughs, she whines, she sings, she talks, and she has been calling to "mum mum." Last Sunday in church, she was singing during hymns so loudly that the song leader stopped between verses to encourage everyone to try to sing louder than her. She is pulling up easily now onto furniture and her crib. She takes most of her naps in her crib and I can lay her down before she is fully asleep (this is a big accomplishment for us :) I love watching Gracelyn and Trent playing together. It seems like they are always laughing and doing something silly like exchanging the pacifier back and forth in their mouths or singing "Five Little Deer." And then there are those precious times when he slow dances and sings her to sleep or when she just really wants to be with him. I grow more and more in love with her everyday and I am so proud of the little person that she is becoming.

Now onto some pictures...

Kisses for daddy

I love her hand on his face!

I have a new affection for leg warmers and tights.

Playing in the sun

Bows and ponytails

Thanksgiving pics

She loves playing with Grammy

Somehow I missed getting Todd's face. Good friends over for Thanksgiving.

Julie and Darby

Kado sharing his cars with Gracelyn

Ready to eat Turkey!

Hope, Sarah, and Emma--my fun, sweet nieces

Steven. I love this picture of him!

Michael & Sarah playing Cranium in the basement. The girls found items in the closest and decorated the basement. It was very cozy!

Gracelyn's friend, Gentry. They are so intrigued with one another.

What a cutie!

Gentry is three months younger than Gracelyn and weighs a half pound more than her.

How do I get on the floor?

Cuddling with daddy after throwing up all day long :(