5 Whole Months!!!

Grace Louise turns 5 months tomorrow, April 1st! And I'm not kidding!!! No April Fool's here! We enjoy her so much... all 16 pounds of her! Wherever we go, everyone seems to just love her... and it is easy to do! She is such a fun and loving little baby, with all sorts of new tricks up her sleeve- most recent is drinking water out of a cup! One more month or so and we'll introduce some veggies!

She finally fits the hiking pack and seems to love it! We're going on our first hike in the Nature Conservancy this week.













Did I mention it doubles as a teether?









Happy Feet!

"I see you!"

Making use of all her toys now. She loves to jump in her JumpARoo!

She's learned to jump, so now she jumps in the ExerSaucer (which is NOT made for jumping)... more like crashing!

Who sits up now? I do! I do!

Equilibrium

Yesterday I took Grace Louise on our first solo picnic at the lake! I had been feeling really overwhelmed, especially by work (and my CRAZY plagiarizing students!) and just needed to get outside and enjoy the weather. I had a "moment" the day before (commonly referred to as a meltdown), and the teeter-totter of life felt completely out of balance. This happens from time to time, when something is taking up too much of my time or thoughts; something unworthy becomes the center of my attention. So, as I told a friend earlier today, meltdowns are really just epiphanies; they're reminders that life is out of balance. Yay! Meltdowns are good!!! Ha- not!

Realizing that so many things were competing with the undivided attention I wanted to give my baby girl, I decided to retreat where nothing could interfere (besides my BlackBerry ;) My afternoon with Grace Louise was precious and it turns out she loves the outdoors as much as her mom! We strolled around Lake Wailes, had playtime under a big, beautiful oak, and she took a nap on a blanket while I read! Doesn't that sound serene and amazing?!?! (IT WAS!!!) Pics to follow...

Knowing where I long for the Center of my life's focus to be, I've committed to sing this first song on my playlist everyday for a week. Hmmm... we'll see!

On the road again...

One of our fave things to do is visit! We usually spend a couple of days during the week visiting friends and relatives, and I'm so thankful to be able to do this with her! Here she is with two of her uncles (who, by the way, are just crazy about her!)

Teeth and other fun milestones

I only thought homegirl was teething before... now she's really gnawing anything she can get her gums on! No teeth yet, but they must be doing something in there to get ready. We experienced Motrin for the first time a couple days ago... a 3 hour nap later, and she was feeling quite spry!

The faces of teething:

And when she's not chewing on the side of her exersaucer, she loves playing in it! She's been "exersaucing" with the support of a rolled up blanket since she was 3 months. Now her back and legs are so strong; she stands up, bounces around, and turns to her favorite toys. It amazes me to watch her in it. She jibber-jabbers to all of her toys and stands up to reach the top of the tall ones, bending them down to chewing level! Most impressive, though, is that she uses the "pincer" grasp (instead of the "mitten" grasp) for one of the toys with small moving parts. Babies aren't expected to do that until 6 months or after!!! In a spot where there is a toy missing in her exersaucer, she bends over and looks down the hole... how does she know that's a hole and that something might be down there?? Who taught her that??? And when she's ready to get out of her exersaucer she reaches her sweet little hands up to Mama. (Reaching- with a preference for her mom- is new...and oh, so sweet!)

Grace Louise had an even bigger accomplishment just today... She sat up on her own!!! Only for a few seconds before slumping over, but still!!! Milestones are more exciting that I thought they would be!

Exersaucer fun:

No Moo for Gracie Lou

Baby Girl just turned 4 months on March 1st! We took her to get her 3 month pics taken at The Picture People in the Brandon Mall (a bit late, but better late than never). Talk about a ham! She was cheezin' it up and looked absolutely adorable in her pink flower headband and sundress. If any modeling agency is reading this (ha!) and would like to use her pictures in exchange for her college education, please give me a call! We didn't order the copyrights, but you can view them at The Picture People website. Username: emily.hurst3@gmail.com Password: gracielou

We finally heard back from the pediatrician about the reducing substances test... came back positive. GL is intolerant to dairy proteins in my milk, so no more dairy for mom. Just tried Silk Soymilk for the first time... not too bad. (Although I don't think I'd want to try it without the chocolate!) Hopefully this lactose intolerance goes away in the next year.

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks.

Big Sunshine and Little Sunshine meeting for the first time!

One of GL's favorite things to do. She really digs this playmate in the mirror!

Jada: "Mmmm this flower smells really nice."

Trying to trick daddy into folding laundry.

Lala is always encouraging the genius in Grace Louise, bringing out toys that are beyond her age. Playing the piano... who knew she would be so skilled?!?!

Going, going...

Gone!

(Crazy Fish was apprently a bit too crazy for her!)