Our First Family Vacation!!!

I've been so eager to post these pictures of our first family vacation. We had a blast in Pine Island, cruising the water, fishing, visiting Cabbage Key, and watching Grace Louise experience lots of "firsts". Who says all the fun is gone when you have kids?? She made everything more special. Thankfully, though, my mom went with us as a Nanny, which allowed Jimmy and I some alone time to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary!!!

boating.

First ride on the boat! She LOVED it. She is her father's child, for sure!

The boat ride relaxed Grace Louise like I have never seen her before. She was like a zombie, as you can kind of tell from this picture.

Driving the boat! Poor baby- those life jackets are horribly uncomfortable, but she didn't seem to mind as long as we were moving.

This is her second time out on the boat. Now she's a pro. This was the day my mom went home, so we brought her out fishing with us from 10:30am-5pm. She was such a trooper! She napped in the Bob twice and cruised all over the boat. We cornered off part of the boat in the shade, and she was just as happy as could be playing with the fishing poles!

GL and mom on the sandbar (just before I threw my back out swinging her around!...the only downside of the trip)

1.2.3.4.5.6 teeth

This pic was taken going full speed in the boat, headed in after a long day. The wind in her face and sun on her skin put her into a fast slumber. (This is a child who generally wakes up when you sneeze).

fishing.

Jimmy and I went fishing together the morning my mom arrived to watch the baby. Neither of these fish, by the way, were keepers, but its always fun to reel one in! I figured I'd take a picture just in case we didn't catch any more :-) We ended up with some keeper grouper and snapper. Jimmy's friend, Jeremy, came on our last night of vacation and fought a HUGE tarpon in the pass. Didn't quite get it to the boat, though. So much fun!

eating.

Pine Island has one thing going for it... good food! One of the most special places we ate (twice) is actually a separate island- Cabbage Key. The nostalgia is worth the trip, though the food is excellent too! We went one evening for our anniversary and stopped in again one day for lunch to enjoy a cheeseburger in paradise!

View from the restaurant- looking towards Charlotte Harbor.

One of the long-standing traditions of the restaurant is for all the guests to tape a $1 bill to the wall. Our waiter said that they estimate there is around $70-80,000 currently on the wall. The $10,000 that falls down each year is donated to charity. We were excited to leave our stamp on the place and commemorate our anniversary celebration!

"This is a hard life!"

swimming.

exploring.

Mom and I took Grace Louise to explore the island one morning. There is so much rich history in Pine Island, much of which is preserved by the Nature Conservancy. Because it is not a barrier island and is home to many people (including the Florida writer, Randy White), who fight to protect its beauty, Pine Island is real Florida. I love it there!

AnOtHeR LaKe PlAyDaTe!!!

Enjoying the water as much as possible this summer! McKenzie and Taylor joined me, Missy, Trey, and the babies for a beautiful and relaxing picnic at Aunt Cindy's lake beach :-) It is so fun to watch the girls interact with each other as they get older. Grace Louise was all about giving Joanna kisses, all the while trying to claw her eyeballs out. Joanna was the free spirit, forgoing clothes and playing in the sand. They are so funny! Pretty soon they'll be giggling together, running around, and sharing toys.

McKenzie is such a great helper! She stayed with us for a few days this summer while Jimmy was out of town.

"Big Lou" and "Little Lou"

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Not sure what it is about Grace Louise's sunglasses. She's a trend setter.

Everyone wants to wear them...

First Trip to the Zoo

Here are some pics of our trip to Lowery Park Zoo that I promised a few posts back. Grace Louise was such a trooper and loved most of the animals.

Unlike her mother, it appears Grace Louise isn't a fan of goats. Or at least not just yet. She actually screamed for the first time when meeting this goat in the picture. Sad, but funny. And I got it on the camcorder! Growing up I had a goat, "Ellie Mae", who acted more like a dog and walked on a leash. I would love for Grace Louise to have her own little goat one day.

Cooling off at the water park.

Feeding the parakeets.

Talented.

Feeding the giraffs. The best part!

We're Baaaaack...

...And have a lot of catching up to do! The eighth month has been SUPER, fun, and really really fast! Typing that last sentence makes me realize just how much my life revolves around some little girl... and I wouldn't have it any other way :-) Eight months in and she's still amazing. Maybe even a little more since my last post ;-)

Now that I've returned from hiatus, I'm SO eager to post pictures!... organization will have to wait. (This weekend I'll work on posts of some fun things we've done this summer). Since this post is all about randomness, I'll throw in a quick top ten list that I made up while playing with Grace Louise in her room this evening.

Ten new things about you
1. Your eyes are starting to turn up on the ends. So feminine of you! Boys will find that attractive one day. Not too soon, though.
2. You're growing eyelashes and it looks like they are going to be thick (er than your mom's. That's a good thing! You won't have to endure fake eyelash hangovers).
3. You tuck your chin in and grin REALLY big!
4. You have nice, large, healthy white teeth.
5. You're already driving. A red plastic car, that is. And you know just what to do with the steering wheel without ever being told.
6. You eat "holy" (whole wheat) toast.
7. You kick with eager anticipation at the sight of the door. You LOVE outside!
8. You're exploring the many sounds you can make, but prefer the Indian holler.
9. You're most comfortable sitting on your knees. A yogi already.
10. You're growing up too fast...Daddy and I decided that tonight while watching you push around your first toddler walking toy. CrAzY!!!

"You know. Just chillin. Eating a car."

I should frame this, huh? She loves her naked friend in the mirror.

Buddha?

4th of July with BeBe

Cuddling with Uncle Bubba.

Roseola and rib bones

I've been too busy chasing this little monkey around and trying to keep a decent house... blogging was put on the back burner for a couple of weeks. Actually, I've been having computer issues (SOOOO ready for the Mac world). I've been working off of two computers set up next to each other. When one messes up or runs too slow, I switch to the other. Sad, I know. I also drenched my camera last weekend on a kayaking trip, so its been hard to take pictures with no camera. I think I'm depressed about that. Not really. Well, maybe just a little. I will be remedying that situation as soon as possible. No one wants to read my blog without pictures of THE ONE.

The most exciting thing in the past couple of weeks was Grace Louise's first trip to the zoo to celebrate her 8 month birthday!!! Truthfully, it wasn't to celebrate her monthly birthday (that was an after-thought); it was actually a trip for my nephew, Triston. He earned this trip to Lowery Park Zoo for learning his 2-3 multiplication facts! Smart boy! We just tagged along for the fun! I wish I had pics to share, but again... no camera. I did use my camcorder/camera, but haven't figured out how to upload them to my (slow) computer(s).

The most not-so-exciting thing going on in the past couple of weeks has been ear infection #2. Boy, has this been a long, drawn-out recovery! We're pretty sure that on top of the ear infection, GL also had roseola. The rash is gone today and we've continued the antibiotics in hope of clearing the ear infection up once and for all. Lord, please save her from having her mama's ears. Amen. And no more roseola, please.

I do have a few pictures to share from before my camera went for a swim. You might be able to tell... Grace Louise is getting taller and more slim. She only weighs 19.? pounds. At the rate she was growing right out of the chute, I thought she would be much heavier by now. Must be all that crawling around. Before too long, she will be walking. She loves to "cruise" the furniture and will walk all over the place if you hold her hands.

First rib bone. So many members of my family were proud.

She was proud too.

She walks up and down the couch... getting into whatever she can.

More Cousin Love- DuBose Girls

Grace Louise loves spending time with her sweet cousins! Father's Day we got them together for a picture in their matching dresses. Capturing a picture of three girls smiling and looking at the camera was not an easy task (as evident by the quality of the pictures below). You should have seen the goofs behind the camera... now that was funny! "Okay girls...smile! No, no. Over here! Look at the camera, not at me. Grace Louise. Yoo-hoo! Lizzy, stop pulling up your dress. Cheese! You can't go swimming if you don't smile for the picture. Come on, now. Smile!" Click.

Downtown Joy

Sneaking up on an old friend of mine, I discovered that (unbeknownst to me) she has taken up a new hobby and joined the blogging world! (The real blogging world... not the one that I am in). She has officially released her blog, offering readers a unique look at what Jamlando...uh, I mean, Orlando, has to offer. I must admit, I was surprised to see just how downtown savvy she is! She created a site that I thoroughly enJOYed reading and will be adding to my favorites! So if anyone is looking for fun, relaxation, or good food off the beaten Orlando path, you can find the downtownjoy scoop here.

Does sleep really have to be so complicated??

I just laid my baby girl down for the night and can't help but wonder if how she got to sleep is really all that important. I've been thinking and reading A LOT about babies and sleep for over a week now and have come to only one completely conclusive point. It is incredibly important that babies get adequate sleep. A well rested baby = a happy baby. This was my mantra from the time Grace Louise was born and my motivation for using the Baby Wise routine (eat-play-sleep). I couldn't imagine that there might be bumps in the road as Grace Louise approached the infant/toddling transition. Bumps? Surely not! With her growing knowledge has come growing preferences. Who knew? Up until about two weeks ago, Grace Louise was truly the happiest baby I had ever come in contact with... and I'm not saying that just because she's mine!


While cutting her top teeth (she has five total now!) she decided that she didn't want to just rock to sleep, she wanted to now nurse (whereby changing our routine from eat-play-sleep to eat-play-eat-sleep). No big deal... UNLESS YOU'RE THE ONE FEEDING HER! In just one short week, it got so bad that I literally could not put my own daughter to sleep without nursing her (despite the routine we had all been enjoying for 6+ months!). It didn't help that I had become a bit lax on how much sleep time I offered. Overly ambitious about our summer fun, I planned too many outings too close together for my light sleeper (who rarely sleeps in a car seat). The long and short of it... she was one fatigued (and grouchy) baby! One night I fed her 3 times in 2 hours! And rocked all the time in-between. And still, no sleep! CIO method, here we come! With Jimmy's support, I put the crib rail up and let her cry it out. She was asleep in less than 30 minutes. I was in the office... crying.


After being out all the next day with a terribly fussy (sleepy) (poor) baby, I came home a nervous wreck and at my wits end with what to do with her. She was the poster child for fatigued babies and could not go to sleep with or without my help. Sounds torturous, doesn't it? (You're probably thinking I deserve it for taking my baby out all day following such a restless night. Hindsight's 20/20). Sleep had to become a priority again.

Last week Grace Louise and I were little hermits, not straying too far from the house. I held fast to our faithful eat-play-sleep routine with no more than two hours of wake time. I pushed through the first signs of resistance at the beginning of nap time and put her to sleep successfully with rocking and her paci. By the second day I saw dramatic results in her disposition (and probably in mine too!) My happy baby is back!

We let Grace Louise cry herself to sleep four nights. I was never completely comfortable with letting her "cry it out", but admit that she has benefited GREATLY from learning some self-soothing skills. Believe it or not, I think she is an even more secure child because of it. Nap times have been like clock-work, without even a whimper from the sleepy bambino. Since CIO, putting her to bed at night has been a breeze! And she's sleeping even longer hours! I'm thinking this is a Win-Win for everyone!

Night. Night. Sleep tight.

Memorial Day

Sporting Red, White, and Blue! And making sure we have fresh breath before our big day!

Grace Louise outgrew her swing months ago... or so I thought. I've been storing it in the garage, waiting for someone to give it to, when I discovered that it came in handy when working outside or in the garage. I figured out how to sit it up right, and Grace Louise just loves it now!

Spending time with cousins at the lake. I love this picture.

It's fun being 7 months!

Some random pics of Grace Louise enjoying her 7th month of life! I love to see all the new things she's learning to do. She is discovering so much right now... a variety of foods- most recently, whole wheat pasta...what it feels like to stand up...how hard it is to sit back down...putting herself to sleep...what water in her mouth feels like...swimming...playing in the tub...talking in her own language (and a little in ours)...SWINGING!!!

pLaY dAtEs aT ThE lAkE!!! J

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

My Birthday Face Lift

Happy Birthday to me! I've taken a new approach to celebrating my birthday this year. Not sure if I'm feeling a need to appreciate myself a bit more now that I'm a busy mommy or if this is me staking claim on my identity ... whatever the case, I've been celebrating my birth for an entire week! And it feels GREAT! Inspired by some friends, I've made a list of things I would like to do (or eat), chosen something small to do everyday, and prioritized that which makes me happy... starting with a Birthday Week Eve steak dinner on Sunday night. Mmmm...Gotta start things off right! Monday we spent the day with family on the lake and I went kayaking with my brother in the evening. So much fun! Tuesday I got to sleep in and read for pleasure during Grace Louise's nap. Wednesday I got a massage- need I say more??? Today is my actual birthday, and I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, hot tea, and time to browse the internet while Jimmy watched the baby. Now she's napping, and instead of my usual work routine, I've given my blog a face lift and am writing about random things like my birthday week. How crazy is that?!?!

I've got a few more things on my list that I would like to accomplish- oops, I mean enjoy- before the end of my Birthday Week. Supper at my mom's tonight, lobster prepared by my hubby tomorrow, and a hike and tiramisu some time before Sunday. My husband is going to be glad when this week is over ;-)

"Happy Birthday, Dear Emily, Happy Birthday to ... ME!"