Well, I finished the school year and have been on summer break for a month, and this is the first time I’ve gotten around to writing a post. We have been so busy and we’ve had so much fun!

Today is the anniversary of a very important day for us. We met Grace two years ago today! Can you believe it? Two years! I remember every detail. I try to tell Grace all about it. I know she doesn’t understand, but I’ll keep telling her about how she made our lives complete. Here is one of the first pictures we took of Grace two years ago.

I’ll go back over the last couple of months the best that I can to catch up!

We had a wonderful Memorial Day. My family all came over for the local parade. Here is my favorite picture of Grace watching the parade. Isn’t she beautiful!!!

Then more of my family and Greg’s family joined us at our house for a barbeque. It was great to have everyone together.

For the Fourth of July we went to my parents for our annual take-the-old-truck in the parade. We have a 1911 Model T. Yes, it really is 99 years old! Grace was so excited. It is all she talked about for the week before and the week after! My cousins were home from North Dakota, so they rode in the parade with us. It was a beautiful, very warm (in the 90’s) day! The next photo is Grace pretending to drive the truck.

We visited some friends who live on a lake and Grace saw her first fireworks show. She wasn’t scared at all. Although she asked several times, “What’s that?” and “What’s happening?” She also frequently exclaimed “Louuuud”.

Grace talks all the time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people say to me, ‘Boy, she’s a talker!’ She’s quite shy at first, but once she gets warmed up, watch out! She has to know what everything is and why it is so. I bet she asks ‘why?’ a hundred times a day. She has gained a great vocabulary. We went shopping and bought her some new shoes. When Greg came home that evening, I told Grace she should show her Daddy her new shoes. She got all excited! Grabbed Greg’s hand and pulled him over to her new shoes. As she’s opening up the box, she says, ‘Daddy, they are kinda awesome!’ Where did she learn that?

She loves music! Almost everyday, we have to put on the music (usually Beach Boys). She hands out instruments to everyone who may be in the room. And away we go with our own band. She is usually on the drum. We have to dance, march, and move around while the song is playing. She loves to sing. Some of her favorites to sing are ABC’s, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rain Rain Go Away, Hokey Pokey, Barbara Ann, Ring Around the Rosie, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Wheels on the Bus.

She is starting to get interested in letters. She’s beginning to understand that there is some kind of connection between letters and words. She’ll point to a letter on a paper and say ‘is that an ‘a’?’ Usually it’s not, but she’s very interested. When she has a pencil and paper, she’ll ask me ‘Want a G?’ Then she’ll write something on the paper. It’s not a G, but she thinks it is. She knows that her name starts with a G, Daddy starts with a D, and Mommy starts with an M.

We have been working hard on colors. I think she’s got most of them. However, when I want her to name a color, she will say the wrong color and then giggle. But I’ll hear her while she’s playing and she’s naming the colors perfectly!

Everyday is something new and special. I just love the Two’s. Don’t get me wrong, we do have some stubborn moments. Sometimes she wants to test us to find out what she can get away with. She can be the biggest staller around, especially at bedtime or anytime when I’m in a hurry. I just know these are all part of being two and learning her own independence and it’s amazing to watch! There are times when I have to remind myself of this!

There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t say how blessed we are to have our beautiful family of three! Grace is a true blessing!

April 11, 2010

Well, Spring Break is coming to an end. It’s been great to be off and to spend time with Grace. Greg took the week off as well, so we were all together!

Last Friday was an absolutely beautiful day! It got up to 80 degrees, almost unheard of for the first part of April in Michigan! We decided it was a great day to spend at the zoo. Grace just loved seeing all of the animals. Believe it or not, I think her favorite was the horses! It seemed that most of the animals were napping and not very active. But the horses were up and running around. We could hardly get her to leave the farm part of the zoo. Here is a picture of Grace by the fountain at the Zoo.

We spent Easter with my parents. I am the substitute organist at my church back home, and I was on for this Easter. I played at the Sunrise service and the regular service. Here are Grace and I at the piano afterward. Then we went back to my parent's house for our annual Easter Egg Hunt. There were 110 eggs hidden altogether. The photo shows Grace with one of them. After a lot of hunting, 104 were found. There are still 6 more out there in my parents’ yard somewhere!

My parents gave Grace a tricycle. Now, that is all she wants to do. Rain or shine, she is asking to go ride her bike. She pedals like a pro and loves to go fast! The photo of Grace on her bike was taken at a very nice park we found in Grand Rapids along the river.

On Monday, we drove to Grand Rapids. We stayed at a hotel with a water park, so Grace (the fish) could “swim”. On Tuesday, we went to the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. There is a butterfly exhibit there now. Grace loved it. There were thousands of butterflies! One landed on my arm and Grace was so excited! Luckily, it stopped raining and we could venture outside into the gardens a little bit. It was still a bit chilly (upper 50s) and misty rain. Grace didn’t mind. She was running around and touching every sculpture and trying every hands-on thing there was. The picture shows her by one of the sculptures there. It was the first time that Greg or I had been there and we definitely want to go back this summer when the weather is better.

Saturday was a pretty nice day. It got up to about 65 degrees. We decided to head to the Farm at Kensington Park. There were tons of baby animals. Grace pet a baby goat and a baby pig. We saw a sheep being sheared. Grace was pretty intrigued by this. We talked about it later and Grace said, “Sheep kicking and kicking. Sheep said baa, baa, baa.” Again, Grace loved the horses. She really wanted to pet one, but they wouldn’t come close enough for us to touch. The last photo is one of Grace at the farm.

Grace continues to grow and thrive. Her vocabulary is amazing. She is now using full sentences with words like probably, attention, and comfortable. With help, she can count to twenty. She misses a few along the way, but overall does really well!

When we are done counting together, she will say “Oh, I missed seven!” I don’t know why she says seven, because that’s one she usually gets! I guess she just knows that she missed something! She is singing more and more songs with the ABC song being one of her favorites. The l-m-n-o-p part is still tricky. It sounds more like lellolello-p. Oh, well, close enough for now! When we are in the car, I usually have the 60s on 6 st

ation on from XM Radio. They play a lot of Beach Boys. Grace loves the song “Barbara Ann”. She will just start singing it when we least expect it. It is so funny hearing a two year old sing a Beach Boys song. Another one of Grace’s favorites to sing is “Bushel and a Peck.” I have been singing this song to her since we met on our first trip, so I shouldn’t be surprised that she knows it. But it’s still funny hearing a two year old sing it!

Another two months since our last post! Boy, time sure flies! Grace continues to amaze us everyday.

We had a Thursday and Friday off in February for my Winter break. We decided to head up to Frankenmuth for a couple of days. We stayed at a hotel that had five indoor pools. Grace loved all of the pools. She is such a fish! We had a hard time getting her to come out.

The HIGHLIGHT of the last two months has been potty training. Grace and I spent last Saturday training a doll how to use the potty and then training Grace. On Sunday, she did pretty well. She only had one accident. On Monday it was off to daycare and I was so worried about what this would do to potty training. (Grace is only one of five at her daycare, but I was still worried). I took her potty chair with us, in hopes that it would make her feel more comfortable. She didn’t have any accidents, but she hardly went all day. Boy, when we walked in the house after work, she went right to the potty!!!! Tuesday was a rough day. She had two accidents at daycare. They went to a play area to celebrate another child’s birthday and I think she was just so excited about it that she forgot all about pottying. Luckily, on Wednesday, she got back on track. No accidents. Thursday continued with no accidents – she even went poo poo on the big toilet instead of her potty chair. In the evening, we went out to dinner and Grace asked twice to go potty. She went each time! The book “Toilet Training in Less than a Day” was recommended to me. It worked for us! I will say that I made a few modifications to the program. Some of it was just a little much for me. But, overall, it seems to have worked! It’s been just over a week now and she’s still doing pretty well. Today, she didn’t have any accidents. We went go out to dinner and she asked to go to the bathroom three times. She actually went pee pee only once. I think she just likes the whole idea of going to different bathrooms.

Her vocabulary continues to grow and grow. We have some real conversations with each other. She can count to five and sing most of the ABC song. She has to do everything herself! And I mean everything! Put on her own clothes and shoes. Pour her own milk. Comb her hair and brush her teeth. Everything takes longer, so we have to allow extra time for everything. But that’s okay, that’s how she learns. Right??? I keep saying that to myself.

Here are some of our favorite photos of Grace over the last two months.

Her first snowman!

Grandpa's girl

Enjoying the pool in Frankenmuth

Reading with Mommy.

I just looked at our blog and realized that it’s been two months since we posted. It’s been a busy couple of months. I’ll step back and fill everyone in.

We had a wonderful Fall of firsts! While we were home with Grace last Fall, she was so young that the typical events were not too special to her. But this year, it was totally different!

We went apple picking.

We went to Maybury Farm and did most of the corn maze. They had a small maze made out of hay bales for the smaller kids. Grace loved this!

She was a princess for Halloween. Perfect for her! She didn’t really understand what was going on, but she was taking it all in. As we walked from house to house, we practically had to drag her along because she was so busy looking at everyone’s costume. She wasn’t scared at all. I don’t think she really understood the whole trick or treat thing. She knew that people at each house were putting something in her bag, but that’s about it!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at my parent’s house. Grace loved being with her cousins.

Greg and I both had two weeks off for the holidays. It has been so nice to just be with Grace. This time went by so fast I just can’t believe it. We were really busy with all of the holiday events. First of all, no we didn’t take Grace to see Santa. I couldn’t think of anything that she would like about sitting on the knee of a man with a lot of facial hair. We spent Thursday (Christmas Eve) through Sunday at my parents. Grace doesn’t understand the whole Santa thing. But she does understand presents! Last year, the focus was on the boxes, paper, and ribbons. This year, she knew that inside those packages was something special for her! Santa came to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Grace had no idea that some presents were from Santa and some were from everyone else! Santa did leave one big gift at home, because it would have been too much to carry back and forth. Grace got a kitchen! This definitely seems to be a big hit. Everyday she is making and serving us coffee, pancakes, grilled cheese, eggs, etc. It is so much fun!

Grace had her first haircut. She did a pretty good job. We went to Carnival Cuts, which had a little car for Grace to sit in while she had her hair cut. At the first sign of tears, the stylist gave her a sucker. This was the first time Grace had ever had a sucker. Apparently, she thought it was pretty good, because she wouldn’t let it go!

Grace is just unbelievable. At her 24 month checkup (which was really at 25 months), she was in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. Hard to believe that one year ago, she was not even on the charts for either height or weight! Her verbal skills are amazing! She is saying new words and putting more sentences together everyday. She is speaking in 6 to 7 word sentences. She says “I love you, Mommy” and “I love you, Daddy” to us all the time. Could anything be more wonderful???!!!

Pretty much everything is “I do it!” Grace is working on becoming very independent! She has to put on her own socks, shoes, coat, mittens, hat, etc. We’ve tried potty training a little bit. She has gone both pee pee and poo poo in the potty. She will tell us as she is going in her diaper. But she has yet to tell us beforehand, so we can get her to the potty in time. I just bought the book “Toilet Training in Less Than a Day.” We’ll see if this gives me some clues to help Grace along.

I think that should get us about caught up. I’ll try to be better at my blogging!

We just got back from five beautiful days in Florida! My cousin got married on Sanibel Island, so we took a couple of extra days and enjoyed ourselves. It was an absolutely gorgeous wedding right on the beach. Allison looked beautiful and her new hubby looked very handsome, too! Welcome to the family, Mike!

Grace had a blast! Give her any body of water and she will never leave. She didn’t want to get out of the pool. Thanks to cousin Nick for being her personal lifeguard. She didn’t want to leave the beach. Thanks to cousin Marcus for building sandcastles with her. She loved getting up in the morning and eating her Cheerios out in the lanai. Picnic breakfast is a pretty cool thing!

She did great on both the flight there and the flight back. The flight there left at 8:30 a.m. So we had to leave our house at about 6:00 a.m.. in order to get the car parked, take the shuttle to the airport, and get through security. We thought she would fall asleep for sure, since she had to get up so early. But she had no interest in sleeping on that flight. She did really well though! We read books, played with toys, ate pretzels, sat on my lap for awhile, then on Dada’s. She was a bit of a squirmy bottom by the end of the flight, but so was I. It’s less than a three hour flight, but I can’t sit that long either! As soon as we settled into rental car, she was asleep in two seconds.

The flight home left at around 1:00, right at her naptime. She fell asleep after about 30 minutes in flight and slept until we landed. Just what she needed!

Grace didn’t do too bad with sleeping during the vacation. She took her usual 2 hour nap everyday that we were there. The nights were a little off for her. There was only one night that she slept the whole night in her crib without waking up. Every other night she woke up at about 2:00 a.m. and didn’t want to go back in the crib. She ended up in bed with us where she instantly fell back to sleep.

Just like here at home, everywhere we went, Grace was the star of the show. She is just so gosh darn cute! Here are a few more photos of Grace in Florida!

With her Uncle Darrin...

Sitting on a big frog...

With cousin Nick...

She’s Two!!!

Yes, Grace celebrated her second birthday last week! Wow, we just can’t believe that she’s two!!!

Grace and I made cupcakes together to take to her daycare. She loved stirring everything together. Boy, that batter was sure stirred well! We also took party hats and ‘squawkers.’ There are only five kids there and Jeanne got some great pictures of the celebration. Here's one:

On Sunday, we celebrated with our families. Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Darrin (who Grace just calls Uncle), Aunt Janice, Allison, Mike, Aunt Diane, Uncle Rick, Daniel, and Thomas all came over. We had Grace’s favorite dinner – spaghetti and meatballs. (She chose the menu). Then we had cake and ice cream. It was so much fun to have our family together.


The ‘Why’ questions have already started. Grace and I were driving in the car together the other day.
She said, “Mommy, where’s Dada?”
I said, “He’s at work.”
She said, “Oh. Where’s Dada’s car?”
I said, “It’s at work too.”
She said, “Why?”
I said, “Because Daddy drove the car to work.”
She said, “Why?”
I said, “Because it’s a long way to work and Dada has to take his car there.”
She said, “Why?”
I said, “Because it’s too far to walk.”
She said, “Why?”
I said, “I don’t know. Just because it is!”

I wasn’t expecting this to come so soon. I guess I had better brush up on my way of answering ‘why’ questions!

Gotcha Day – One Year Later

Wow! We can’t believe that it has been a year! Greg and I have to be the two luckiest people in the whole world. Grace is amazing! That sums it up!

I remember September 29, 2008 so vividly. The director of the baby home was out for the morning, so we couldn’t go there until late afternoon. When you know it’s your Gotcha Day, all you want is to get to the baby home and hold that baby safely in your arms forever! I remember walking into the baby home with all the cakes and the flowers. Then things were a blur for awhile. We gave Grace’s clothes to the caregivers and we were ushered into the Director’s office. We met with the doctor for the last time. The caregiver brought Grace in to us. Pictures were snapped with their camera as well as ours. Then we left! I remember holding Grace so tightly. I remember walking really fast on the baby home sidewalk to get to the car as fast as I could. I remember that first night at the Korvet, she slept in the crib right next to our bed. She slept the whole night through. I didn’t sleep one wink! I kept getting up and just standing there, staring at her. She is so beautiful!

Here is the photo from the Director’s Office on Gotcha Day next to one we took today at home exactly a year later. Can you even believe the difference?

We were so blessed that Grace was so young (eleven months old). We have experienced so many firsts with her. Her first steps. Her first words. No more bottles. All the teeth! She has come so far. She is excelling at everything! She is easily speaking in three word sentences. She is even trying some four word sentences. Two weeks ago, we were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. Greg always sits in the same spot at the kitchen table. Well, Grace wanted to sit in his spot instead of in her highchair. She said, “I sit Daddy’s seat.” The next day Grace and I were in her room getting dressed for the day. She saw her binky (pacifier) in her bed and asked me for it. She only gets the binky at bedtime and she puts it down before she gets up. (I know, it’s time to think about getting rid of it altogether!) Anyways, I told her that she knew the binky was only for sleep time. This logic didn’t seem to work for her, because she kept asking me for it. Greg walked into her room and Grace said, “Daddy get me binky.” Another four word sentence! Since then, there have been several more!

We have so much to celebrate this time of year. September 18 was our one year court date anniversary. September 29 was our one year Gotcha Day anniversary. October 8 will be Grace’s second birthday! We can’t believe she is going to be two. Boy, time is sure flying by.

Here is one more photo taken today.