Big Girl Bed

Last week, we took a leap of faith and switched Grace over to her new toddler bed (for night-time sleeping). I gotta admit--I was a little nervous. I wondered: Would she wake up and be scared? Would she constantly be trying to leave her room? Would she just play with her toys all night? Would this be a majorly rough transition? But all my fears were unfounded. Grace has done absolutely GREAT! There has been no opening of doors, no playing with toys (though she does play with her window shade, silly girl!), and way less bedtime sadness!

She was (and still is) SOOOO excited about her new bed!


In fact, the first night in her toddler bed, she pretty much shooed us out the door after we finished her bedtime routine (which was super impressive since her usual practice in the crib had been to cry when we leave), and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half bouncing on and happily talking to herself in bed before falling asleep.


And now her bedtime routine takes place in her bed. When reading scriptures and stories, we are requested to sit next to her on it ("Mommy sit on bed--a right titder (there)"), and during prayers, she kneels on it and has us kneel by it (since we can't all fit on it). And she still shoos us out the door. Where as before she wanted several songs and for us to hold her (and NEVER put her down), we now have to ask for our hugs and quickly sing a song before she declares "Lay on bed!" and says "Love you, bye!" To be honest, part of me is a little sad and misses the "old" Grace who would cry because she wanted me to hold her one more time or sing another verse of "I am a child of God." But, at the same time, I'm proud of my "new" BIG girl, and excited to see her be so successfully independent. We love you big girl!

28 weeks and...

Drum roll please...
Today I enter my seventh month of pregnancy AND my 3rd and final trimester!! I have to say, after going through all this early nesting, it's nice to reach this big milestone, and know that our baby really IS coming soon!
In "What to Expect" (my, how I love that book series!), it says that "this week, (my) amazing baby has reached 2 1/2 lbs and may be almost 16 inches long." Also, that she's now blinking and dreaming (aww!). She sure is growing fast!
And so is my belly! ;)


As if on cue, right when I was about to start my 3rd trimester, my belly hit the "uncomfortable any way you sit" phase (so. much. fun.). I've also recently lost most of the amazing energy I've had lately, which makes me very grateful for the things I've been able to accomplish the last couple of weeks (like buying the last big item on our "baby needs list"--a double stroller, pictured below). Now, I just have to hope that I'll get a second nesting wave a few weeks before the baby comes to help me finish up the final preparations!


I can't wait to wheel my two girls around in this baby! (Grace has me wheeling just her around in it already.) ;)

Post Catch Up

As you all know, our blog experienced quite a lull in posting activity from (let's say) February through June, and while there may be no excuse for it, I'm going to blame it on something I like to call "first trimester syndrome" (aka pregnancy nausea and an all-around feeling of "blah-ness"). However, now that my second trimester is in full swing and my energy is back, I'm happy to say that I'm back in blogging and am making up for lost time! So, keep reading to find not only a recent post of our day at Huntington Beach, but also (catch-up) posts of our late winter/spring/early summer adventures: Summer Fun, Birthdays, Christmas Story House, Happy Easter, The Great Singing Grace, and Holloway's Visit (and soon to come: Nauvoo and Travis' 50 Mile Race). Thanks for stopping by!
Note: All of the new posts have been back-dated to when the originally should have been posted (right after the events), so you might have to look back a few pages to find them. :)

Huntington Beach

We declared today a family day and headed out to Huntington Beach with our friends, the Miskins (Kory, Elizabeth, and Conner).
For the first time in a LONG time, my inner photographer emerged...and it felt SO GOOD.
As a result, I took LOTS of pictures and will be posting LOTS of them here. :) So, enjoy!

Huntington Beach:


We walked and walked down the beautiful beach...








...until we came to our (perfect) spot (and can I just say, Travis can sure pick 'em!):


We set down our things and set off to play!


Here we are playing with the Miskins:




Grace and Conner are pretty much BFF. ;) Too cute!


Elizabeth and Conner catching some waves:


Grace and Conner LOVED playing in the sand! (It was a good thing we both brought lots of sand toys!)
Conner:


The Grace girl:








(I love her sweet face!)


Grace thought it was so neat to run her hands through the sand (or "dirt" as she called it; probably because playing in the dirt isn't typically encouraged by mom):


She could have played in the sand all day :)


Travis and I...
In the usual self-portrait:


And the not-so-usual feet photo:


And Grace, with lots of smiles...






...and a few funny faces:




This is often how Grace comes to us when we call her. SO funny!


Speaking of Grace walking...doesn't this totally look like a big foot pose? Grace the Sasquatch!


We played, then had a nice picnic lunch, and played some more!

Grace & Travis (she just LOVES her time with dad):


Daddy-daughter footprints :)




:)




Playing in the sand together:


Grace & Me:


Holding hands :) (Melts my heart!)


After some long, hard test weeks, it was SO nice to have a family day together. (Thanks Miskins for joining us!) We loved our time at the beach and can't wait to go back again next summer!

Summer Fun

Poor Travis has had a super busy summer this year with boards (a BIG medical school test) in mid-July (and weeks beforehand to study for it), and more school tests at the beginning of this month to study for and take. So while he's been hitting the books hard, Grace and I have kept ourselves busy with playdates and library story times (it's a pretty rough life, huh? ;) But we have sure missed having Travis along on our adventures :( ).

Anyways, we are so blessed to be in a ward with lots of other great podiatry student and other young families, and Grace and I have enjoyed getting together lots with them this summer!
Our most regular adventures have been going to library story times on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and play dates at the park with some other moms and kids from the ward on Thursdays.
On June 29th, our little park playgroup went to Preston's Hope Playground (in Beachwood).
We had gone here last summer too, but now that Grace is super mobile, she enjoyed running all around the playground by herself!
Taking a break from exploring to swing with mom:


She's really become a great climber lately, and climbed up the stairs...


...and onto the dinosaur all by herself!


The sandbox was a big hit with all the kids:


Grace having fun on one of the rockers with "friend Grace":


Big smiles!

We LOVE getting together to play every week with our friends!

We decided to buy a Zoo pass this summer, and it's been SO nice to have! We've been at least 5 times already (whether it be just Grace and I, as a family, or Grace and I with friends). We love the whole zoo, but our favorite exhibits are the bats, fish, wolves, birds, sea lions, turtles, and elephants. We're excited to use our pass in the fall and winter too!

Watching the birds in the Zoo Rainforest:


Last time we were there, the same pink birds from the above picture jumped down and walked around by us! We thought it was pretty cool!


The beautiful foliage outside the Rainforest:


On July 29th, we headed to the Memphis Kiddie Park for some fun with our friends Elizabeth and Conner.
Grace was super brave and went on the boat ride all by herself. I was SO proud!


She loved "driving" it and ringing the bell (and eating the string):


Grace opted out of the carousel ride, but Conner had a couple of great rides on it:


The big hit ride of the day (for Grace and me) was the train ride. I just loved snuggling my girl as we took a ride (or two ;) ) around the park, watching all the rides and people go by.


Grace and Conner both decided to be brave and try the car ride together.
Cuteness!


Riding away together. :)

Their feelings about the car ride were a little mixed, and a few tears were shed, but they finished it and Elizabeth and I were proud of them!
Thanks for sharing the morning with us Elizabeth and Conner! We had a great time with you!

On Monday (this week), our friends Courtney, Luke, and Leo invited us to join them at the Museum of Natural History. (Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera :(, but) Grace had a great time with Luke and Leo coloring, "digging," and playing with blocks, puzzles, and dinosaurs, and I enjoyed watching Grace learn and explore, and having girl talk with Courtney. :) Thanks again guys for bringing us along!

And this past Wednesday our good friends Misty and Grace invited us to play with them at one of our favorite places: The Great Lakes Science Center. We always love getting together with Misty and "friend Grace," and had a great morning playing and talking together there!

Grace checking herself out in the funny mirrors:


Grace LOVES playing in water, and had so much fun playing in the (new-to-us) outdoor portion of the kids area:


The Graces :)


Checking out the touch and feel wall:


Grace thought the ball-sucker toy was pretty neat...


...so neat in fact that she thought she'd stick her arm up in it to learn more about it :)


Ahhh...a kid-friendly computer. Grace loved it, and I loved being able to let her have free reign on a computer (for once)!


The Grace's experimenting with the headphones. The cuties!


We had SO much fun! Thanks again Misty & Grace for letting us join you!

It's been a great, busy summer. And it's really flown by; I can't believe it's almost over! So, here's hoping we'll have a nice, long fall, so we can enjoy more fun times with our friends (and now Travis too)!