Recent photos

Cute sunday outfit...

I've also been working on my "skeelz" lately. Just a lot of messing around and trying new settings, lenses, etc. Here are a few to share...

Red Rock Canyon

Last weekend was Ryan's weekend off! Finally. Once he finishes his test week, there's no new material to study, so Gracie and I get him all to ourselves. Well, he did study for his boards a little bit (coming up in June and July), but on saturday he was all ours. It was wonderful having him around on saturday and sunday!

It took us almost 2 years of living here to finally make the 30 minute drive to Red Rock Canyon. It was gorgeous! The clouds and sprinkling rain only added to the beauty of the red rocks against the snow capped mountains and the desert landscape.

There is a 13-mile scenic loop you can drive (some people were also running or biking it) and several stops to take along the way if you'd like. It was pretty chilly and windy so we didn't get out of the car much. We did stop at a spot where you can see pictographs on the rock wall. Can you see the hand-prints in the middle of the picture?

Grace's view of our excursion... (anyone who doesn't have a mirror on the backseat for their baby is totally missing out. We love ours!)
I mentioned that it was windy... But REALLY, it was windy! So windy and cold that walking into it with Grace facing forward in the carrier was making it hard for her to breath. We kept hearing little squeaks as she was hit in the face by the wind... so we flipped the front part up until we got back to the car.
As we walked up to the rock with the hand-prints on it, these 3 asian women came right up to Grace, grabbed for her hand, and kept saying "ohhh", along with lots of chinese words we couldn't understand. But we understood what they meant! Grace gets lots of attention and compliments. :) It doesn't matter what language it's in.

We had a great time experiencing a new place together. Hopefully soon we can check out the great hikes and other areas around Red Rock Canyon. We know now that Grace loves to be in the carrier which makes it all much easier!

Like father like daughter

Ryan's baby picture on the top - Grace on the bottom. Do you see where she gets her glare from?


The noses and lips too! She totally looks like her dad (in a good way) more and more everyday, even though Ryan claims he doesn't see it.

For the record

Things I will miss as Grace grows out of this stage:

-making "mmm" noises between swallows while nursing

-sucking on her lower lip and her chin getting all slobbery

-watching her learn how to hit the toys dangling above her face

-saying "ohhww" after sneezing (not like "ow" but sort of like a sigh)

-getting super excited when I go in her room first thing in the morning

-smiling the whole time she's in a warm bath

-Sometimes when I say "hm" while cradling Grace against my chest, she will do it back to me and smile (since she can feel the vibration in my chest too). Sometimes it'll keep going back and forth for a full minute.

-makes a smacking noise with her top lip and tongue

-feeling her fingers tickling my side while she's nursing

-balancing completely on her stomach, with head, arms and feet off the ground (I can't even do that!)

-when she's in the mood to, she will coo at me when I talk directly to her, as if we're having our own little conversation

-the high-pitched, little girl scream she makes when I try to put her arms in her shirts (literally, she sounds like a screaming 6 year old instead of a 3 month old)

-she smiles at her mobile as it turns in circles and watches each of the flowers on it with deep interest

-scrunching her nose while she's nursing - I haven't quite figured out if she does it for a specific reason yet (about to poop? the milk is coming too fast?) but it sure is cute!

-watching her toes and feet while she's nursing or just hanging out on my lap. She's always wiggling her toes, or flexing one foot, or pointing her toes, etc

-hearing her contented sighs through the monitor while she's sleeping

The Park

Today was a BEAUTIFUL 70 degree day and some of my friends, our kids, and Grace & I met up at the nearby park, Trail Canyon. I know that most of the country is still dealing with tons of snow from all the recent storms and pretty cold temps, so I am feeling very grateful for our nice weather right now.

Grace loves to watch what's going on and doesn't like to be laying on her back when she can't see what's happening around her. She'd rather be sitting up...

I know she'll really enjoy sitting up on her own when she's big enough to.

Getting a little tummy time... which she usually hates after a minute or two. But it's "Dr. Dad's" orders so she can strengthen her neck muscles.

Some photos of my friends' kids on the playground... These kids are so cute!

We had such a great day and a fun time with our friends at the park! I still can't really believe it's february. I was actually overheating in my jeans and t-shirt while standing in the sun. I gotta admit, this is the time of year that I'm happy I live here in Henderson.

E.F.R. (Especially For Ryan)

There. Are you happy? She's wearing it today...

On a side note... Baby jeans! I love baby jeans. And she's got quite the belly-hang-over going on.

Lots of Love

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day and 3-day weekend! We certainly did. Ryan's block week has started though, so he had to spend a lot of the weekend studying. He's such a trooper! 4 days and 8 tests to go...

On friday, while all our men were studying, some of the other wives and kids got together for a really cute Valentine's party for the kids. Our kids made valentines for their daddies (with help from moms of course), we decorated sugar cookies, and played games.

It was so cute and the kids enjoyed it. Grace slept through most of it, but I sure had a good time. :) Thanks Casie for the fun party!

That night, Ryan's brother Kyle and Katelyn (Kyle's girlfriend) came down to stay with us for the weekend. We stayed up until midnight watching the opening ceremony for the Olympics... and I have to be honest... I was disappointed. I never stay up that late anymore (since I get up in the middle of the night with the babe), so I was hoping that the ceremony would be worth staying up for. It wasn't, in my opinion.

Saturday was another pretty full day of studying for Ryan. Kyle and Katelyn spent some time sight-seeing, and Grace and I went to another Valentine's Day lunch party with the wives - but this time it was geared more for the women so we wouldn't feel lonely on the Day of Love. We all brought a salad or dessert, and Erica (our host) made really yummy Chicken a la King. The food was wonderful, the company was great as always, and we exchanged chick-flicks with each other.

I ended up with Serendipity. I love that movie. :) Thank you Erica for planning such a fun party!

That night the 5 of us went out to a REALLY GREAT pizza parlor: Metro Pizza. The pizza we shared was soooo good. It was half "honolulu" and half "sunspot" (chicken, artichoke, onion, etc). Grace was such a good girl and slept through most of the meal (so much easier that way), and even slept through all the comments from people on how beautiful she is. I never get tired of hearing people tell me I have a cute baby, of course. :) The funny thing was that everyone who walked by us thought that Kyle's girlfriend Katelyn was Grace's mom... so we thought it'd be funny for Katelyn to play along with it. We laughed about it all through dinner!

We had a really great time there and the food was wonderful. We're even going back on the 25th for their "50% off a pizza if you're name is Ryan" deal. Woohoo! After dinner we hung out, played games, ate too much candy, and had such a great time! Actually we did that again on sunday night too. "Poop head" is one of our favorites. We'll teach it to anyone who wants to play with us!

We had a wonderful weekend together and with our fun guests. It was sad to see them go and sad to start another full week of tests and long study sessions. But I have plenty of projects and a sweet baby girl to keep me busy! It'll be friday afternoon again in no time.

Happy Valentine's Day to my wonderful husband who is mine forever.

Thank you for loving me.

And Gracie, you will always be my little sweetheart. :)

Officially Annoyed

Who out there uses one of these?

Anyone?

Now, be honest. Does THIS ever happen to yours?

I don't know what the problem is but THAT always happens to mine!! Ryan and I both have our own mesh sponge (aka "luffa", "shower puff", or whatever you want to call it), and his has never fallen apart. But look at mine! I bought that white one just before Christmas. It was even one of the more "expensive" ones at about $3 instead of the $1 ones I usually get. I know, we're cheap. But you'd think there would be a bit of a difference in how well they're made!... Right? My mesh sponges tend to unravel no matter what I do.

I promise, I'm not scrubbing that hard.

3 months old

Can you believe it?! 3 months already. We're so incredibly grateful to have our baby Gracie in our lives and in our family. She brings us so much joy and so many smiles.

At 3 months old, Grace:

-weighs 10 POUNDS 14 OUNCES!! (we're very excited about those numbers)

-is rocking the double chin these days

-is very vocal when she is ready to eat (not crying, but literally yelling or "talking" really loudly)

-likes to see what's going on and likes sitting upright

-her eyes have continued to lighten up to a beautiful blue

-has to be wrapped up tight in order to sleep peacefully

-has still never been sick, besides her first week of life (known on wood)

-eats 6-7 times a day

-usually eats around 3:30 am, 7:30, 11, 2, 5, 8 and then again around 10 pm. I don't have to feed her more than once a night now! Woohoo!

-gets really happy, smiley and interested when we go outside

-found her hands and loves to look at them, suck on them, or move them back and forth... which makes it look like she's patting her stomach or waving.

-gives us lots of smiles (with dimples in each cheek!)

-is the HAPPIEST & cutest baby when she wakes up in the morning (around 8). That's my favorite time with her. She's so smiley and energetic! She'll kick her legs and wave her arms like crazy and make lots of almost-laughing sounds.

-still takes really great naps during the day. They're usually around 2 hours each time and she takes about 4 naps, sometimes 5.

We love you sweetheart.