Happy Birthday, Grace Olivia

March 30, 2009

March 2008

March 30, 2007

Laura and Aydah

I have a friend named Laura.

In high school, we were inseparable.  As in, we were never separated.  Well, except during math class, for a few hours at night, and during our mile run at volleyball practice (I was always waaaay far behind Laura running the mile).  But during math class we wrote notes to each other, so we were at least together in spirit.  We never did figure out how to write notes while we were sleeping or running the mile, but we would have if we could.  

It's not like that anymore.  We grew up and got hitched to boys and moved away with them. One thing we still have in common, though, is cute baby daughters, and we were all together at my house yesterday! Grace and Leah were napping for most of the visit, so Laura and I spent most of the time taking pictures of Aydah.

Laura took this one.  Look!  THERE'S A PICTURE OF HEATHER ON THIS BLOG!  Thanks, Laura!  

Here's Laura and Aydah together.  I think this is such a sweet picture.  Logan, do you read my blog?  Do you like this picture?  

More pictures of Aydah are on my photography blog.  Thanks for the visit, Abbott girls!

Seven Months, and Lovin' the Feet.

Mmmm, Leah is so edible!

She is, plain and simple, a sweetie pie.  She has the darlingest cheeky, bright-eyed smile; and it takes almost no effort on our part to make it appear.  And those sparkly eyes.  Mmmm.  I could go on and on with the sugary-sweet adjectives...

Leah is seven months old on Sunday.  She is still in no particular hurry to eat a lot of baby food, sit up by herself for long periods of time, or try crawling when she's on her tummy.  No, she's content to stick both arms straight out and wave her hands in the air (so cute), pick out toys to chew on, giggle at Grace, suck on something, say mamamama a few times, and look around.

So far, she's tried eating oatmeal, rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, bananas, and peas.  The pears are the favorite (and I use that word very loosely).  

At her recent check-up, Leah weighed in at around 14 and a half pounds!  She's dropped from the 50th to the 20th percentile, but considering the number of feedings I'm still giving her the chances are she's just destined to be a petite little thing.  Grace weighed 14 lbs. when she was 4 or 5 months old.  I am trying to stuff in some extra calories, so we'll see if she tips the scales at her 9 month appointment!

I took many 7 month pictures of Leah Anne, and there are some more over at the heather grace photography blog, if you'd care to visit and take a peek.

She Picked Out Her Own Clothes Today

Steve's (Very) Belated 27th Birthday Party

Or maybe I should title this post, "GRACE at Steve's (Very) Belated 27th Birthday Party.  It looks like she was doing most of the gift-opening and candle-blowing and scene-stealing that night.  I don't even think I was there, there's no photographic evidence of it.  I just can't help aiming the camera at our kids!  

The birthday boy received some fun tools (I'm not sure what they are or what they do), and an iPod docking station.  The cake was made by his mom-- a childhood favorite and very appropriate for a February celebration!

Happy Birthday, Steve!

The Band-Aid Makes it Better

A few weeks ago, Grace went through a very traumatic experience.

She had to have some routine blood work.

She and I went to a nearby lab to have two very tiny vials of blood drawn.  After Grace charmed the waiting room and the secretary, we were led back to the exam room.  Grace sat on my lap, and the nurse proceeded to FAIL at getting the needle in her arm not once, not twice, but three times.  Poor Grace was a mess.  She kept crying "No, no, no...." and "It hurts!"  

Rip my heart out!!

Finally we got someone else to prick Grace's finger and draw the blood that way.  That was so much easier, and Grace handled that very well.  She even managed to smile at the nurse and say thank you after it was all over.  But best of all, Grace got a Dalmatian sticker and a "kitty Band-Aid."  

Kitty Band-Aid stayed on for the rest of the day.

Flu

We're dealing with the flu here in the Deterding household-- so far Grace has been the only victim, and we're praying that little Leah is spared!  I've been walking around the house with Wet Ones, Clorox disinfectant wipes (citrus scent, my favorite), Lysol spray, and hand sanitizer; I've done 5 loads of laundry; we've watched "Elmo Visits the Firehouse" DVD 5 times in the last 24 hours; and I changed my outfit 4.5 times yesterday after failed attempts to keep liquids in Grace's tummy!  

I am happy to report that she's almost back to normal this morning...she's had a whole banana and some apple juice and some lemon Gatorade so far today.  

I thought I'd share this picture I took at lunch time in January.  We love it when Daddy joins us for lunch, and this picture makes me laugh every time.  Grace always tries to eat off Steve's plate, and it looks like Leah's asking for a bite, too.