Hello

Grandma Cheryl came in from AL yesterday for a visit to see Grace. (And I guess us too) She is loving spending time with Grace. She is able to get A LOT of smiles from Grace! We are enjoying our time together. We plan on going out to eat later and going shopping sometime while she is here. The weather has been unseasonable cooler. Yesterday we sat out on the deck in the afternoon and when the wind was blowing it was a little cool, esp. to Mom and I. We all also went walking last night, and the weather was perfect for that. It was in the 70's yesterday and this morning the temperature was 70 at 9:45am. I'm going to post a few pictures. Some are from this past Sunday when we were going to church.

As you can see the sun is a little bright for Grace!

Grace smiling at Grandma Cheryl!

Grace Speaks!

3 Month Photos!!!

We had these taken yesterday at Portrait Innovations. You get your pictures the same day! These are great and we're sending everybody's pictures home with Cheryl in a week and a half or so. You can see how much she has grown and how good she holds her head up. She has also started 'talking' a lot the past few days. If she is like her Daddy she'll start and never stop! BTW- we scanned these to the computer so if they look not perfect when enlarged that is why. Enjoy!

Thankful!

I didn't realize how much I would miss Grace when I started back to work. People would tell me that it will make me even happier/thankful to be with her and see her when I get off, and it is true! I come home from work in the mornings after working all night and I just cherish being able to hold her in my arms and talk to her, look at her, kiss her, etc. I don't even want to go to bed and get sleep because I want to be with her. I have to though, because I know I will not be able to take care of her well if I don't take care of myself! And it could be unsafe! I don't feel like I miss too much though because she is sleeping most of the time while I am working and then she usually takes a long morning nap while I am sleeping.

I have to remind myself to be more thankful! Sometimes I am dreadful about going to work, but then I realize that I need to be thankful of the type of job I have and the flexibility of my schedule, etc. that allows me to only have to work 2 nights a week. It also allows me opportunity to be around "worldly" people and the opportunity to reach out and be a witness to these people. As I have said, it also allows for me to cherish the time I do have with Grace and it allows me to help provide a good life for Grace. As I was going down the road the other day on my way to work, the Lord really convicted me on my attitude and showed me how I need to be more grateful. I thought about other people, other families, other kids, etc. that have all kinds of problems, including health problems, etc. and the Lord put a new peace and happiness in my heart. I am doing a Wednesday night bible study now from the Women's Ministry at church and it is about contentment. It is a study in Ecclesiastes. It helps us be content in the Lord and the Lord ONLY and not in our circumstances, etc. I think it will be great! It is something we have to constantly work on!

Some recent pics!

Grace smiling at her Mom!!!

This is Daddy being goofy! Her hair was sticking up after she had been asleep and Daddy had to get this funny picture!

These pics are from today. She was enjoying being in the floor with Mom and Daddy playing with her.

Happy 3 Months!!!

Grace is 3 months old.! Time flies! She and momma are napping right now (Holly is working her weekend). Grace does new things all the time. The past few days we have noticed her playing with her hands a lot more. She will sit in her swing and just play with her fingers! I want to get a picture of it but haven't been able to get it yet. Last night she weighed 10lb 14 oz. So we're pretty much at 11 lbs now! We had a lot of play time in the floor this morning on her back and belly. It can be hard to get her belly time in with her reflux. You have to wait until its getting close to her next meal. I want to hold her all the time but I know she'll never learn to roll over or crawl while she's in my lap or even in her swing, etc. Thanks to everyone who keeps up with and prays for Grace as they read the blog. The next 3 months will be an adventure for us all!

This is Grace and me at the Josephus Bowl at the Seminary (Boyce Library in background)

Here is Momma and Grace behind Honeycutt/Norton Halls


I found this picture of miss Emily, ain't she cute!

Head Control and Random

Grace is really working on her head control. Just in the last week we have really noticed how she is able to hold her head up a lot more. It has really improved over this last week. She doesn't have total control yet, but definitely has improved. We have been still trying to give her time on her stomach and back down in the floor or in her crib, etc. She doesn't like being on her stomach though, she looks kind of pitiful because she doesn't like it but she can't do much to change it because she can't get out of the position. I know that this is how she will learn to roll over though!

All three of us went up to the seminary to go walking. It is very pretty there, the landscaping and buildings are just pretty to look at when all of the flowers are bloomed, etc. and it is also very pretty in the Fall (and in the Winter when snow is on the ground). We have been wanting to do this. I am posting a picture of Grace in her stroller, as you can see, she took in the sights and smell briefly, and then she was off to "LA LA land"! When we were about through walking this girl from Korea maybe, stopped us because she saw we had a baby and said that she has a two month old. She talked to us about everything from breastfeeding to getting your baby to sleep. She just opened right up to us! Adam said " it's funny how people from some countries are just so friendly and will open right up to you when they don't even know you"! I would say we as Americans are lacking in the friendly category as compared to other cultures! I'm posting a couple of pics from the day.

We are going to get her picture made again for Grace's 3 month pictures at Portrait Innovations next week. A lady at work told me about them and you get your pictures after 15 minutes the same day! I thought this was really nice instead of having to wait 2-3 weeks for them and they have that $9.95 deal with one pose and reasonable with the other prices too. We'll see!

I am also posting some pictures from her bath time last night. She really likes her bath time now with the exception of when she is really hungry or really tired. We put the bath tub on the bathroom counter and she has also discovered how to watch us and herself through the mirror!

You can see in these bath time pictures how she is holding her head up by herself!

Grace Looking BEAUTIFUL In Her Bow

4th of July Celebration

Grace and I went to a friends for the fourth. Adam had to work unfortunately! It was me and Grace and three other couples and Kendall, Evan and Leah's baby girl. We all hung out for a while and then went to a 4th of July Festival not far from Evan and Leah's. They had different booths set up selling things, and food vendors, and bands playing, etc. The weather was cloudy and everything was kind of wet due to off and on rain. We didn't stay too long, but it was nice to put our babies in the strollers and go outdoors for a while and walk around with our friends. We then went back and had dinner at Leah's. We all brought different dishes, etc. and just spent time together. It was nice to get out and enjoy our 4th!

This is Kendall with Grace. Her mom, Leah made them 4th of July outfits which was very nice. Aren't they cute! Grace didn't know what to think of Kendall though! LOL

This picture is blurry because my camera was in manual focus instead of auto focus but I think it is funny because it shows how Kendall was very curious of Grace and didn't quiet know how to be around her. She wanted to climb on Grace! Funny! (She's 8 months old)

Leah, Me and Christina at the festival. Christina is 5 months pregnant and is having a girl!!

This is Nikki holding Grace. Her and her husband came later after the festival and ate and hung out!

Just Chillin'

I caught Grace in my chair again! -Adam

Diaper Time!

Video, dark, but Video!

The Journey so Far

I thought I would put together a group of pictures showing how Grace has grown, not exactly week for week, but close. Enjoy! -Adam

Loving Life

I've been trying to get some video to post on the blog but our first video that we made was really too dark and the other video is too large of a video to upload. We are going to keep trying to get some video and I'll put it on here ASAP.

We had some friends over on Saturday night for a cook out (Evan, Leah, and Kendall). (You can see their blog on the sidebar.) Kendall is 8 months old and it is so entertaining to watch her because she is SO curious right now. She is constantly going from one thing to another exploring! Leah kept having to watch her constantly because she might get in to something that she don't need or hurt herself. She is crawling all over the place and pulling up! She is really cute. Leah was even keeping her from coming real close to Grace because she thought Kendall might accidentally hurt her. I wish I had some pictures from this. This just reminded me of what we will be experiencing with Grace soon enough!

All is well here! Grace is making more sounds all the time. ("Goo" sounds). One of the girls in the nursery yesterday said "she is such a talker"! LOL

Grace likes to look in the mirror and she spotted herself in this one!

Here's my cutie!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to show this because this shows Adam's personality! This is how I get my plate in the morning when he brings me breakfast. I have been eating a bagel with cinnamon and turkey bacon!

Double Digits

We weighed Grace this morning and she is at 10 lbs. 1 oz.!! Normal weight gain is 4-8 oz. per week, so this is right on track from her 2 month check up on the 12th where she was 9 lbs 1 oz. Praise God! She is going down for her first nap of the day now. Gotta go C Yall later! - Adam

Alert and Happy

I am posting some pics to show how Grace is really so alert now of her surroundings and is happy! She really enjoys watching toys, anything bright, things that move, likes looking in mirrors, likes watching Praise Baby, etc. She gets totally distracted by sights around her! Adam and I have also noticed she likes being kissed now and hugged/ cuddled! She will just smile when you kiss her on the cheek! Of course she is growing too. She is almost 10 1bs now! It was really sweet, when I got home from work she just cuddled up to me and started to go off to sleep with me in the recliner. Dad has been doing a wonderful job with her when I am gone!

We Love You Grace with all our heart and soul!

As you can see Grace is smiling at the rings hanging on her carrier

Daddy liked this because it was a closeup! LOL

You can see in these two pictures how Grace is mesmerized by watching Praise Baby- God of Wonders that her Grandma Cheryl bought her.

We had to take the toys off the front of the tray because looking at them are too distracting for her to be able to see the TV! LOL

New Strides

Grace slept in her crib last night for the first time! She has been in our room in her bassinet this whole time until Tuesday night we moved her into her room but she still slept in the bassinet. Yesterday she took a nap in her crib also. We have had her in our room as long as we have because the Doctor said we may want to wait till she is 8 weeks old to move her out especially with all her reflux problems and spitting up, (I was concerned she might spit up a lot at night). (This is better by the way, we still have the crib slightly elevated like we did the bassinet and we keep her upright after meals for a while.) and with her room being upstairs and we are down stairs. Adam and I was also concerned she may not sleep well in her room because our room is a lot darker and her room has a lot of light coming through the window during the day and then the street light at night. She also likes to look around at everything a lot in her room. Even her mobile and a lot of things in there are stimulation to her! Anyways, we had to get rid of some of the light and she has done really good so far. Last night she slept from midnight till 8:40am this morning. She is also taking her second nap today in the crib now. It felt really weird moving her out of our room. We had gotten so used to her being there. Tuesday and Wednesday night Adam and I slept upstairs in the guest bedroom just to "feel closer" to her but last night we made the leap to sleep back downstairs in our room! LOL Adam went to put up the bassinet last night since it is no longer needed and he said "it feels like we are turning a chapter in Grace's life!" I said "yea", "you can say that"!

I believe the site is about to go down for maintenance. I will post a couple of pictures from the other day.

Pics

Here are the pics I told you about. I don't know why it turned the cake sideways?

Grace on Father's Day. Ready for church.

Dad and Grace on Daddy's First Father's Day

These two are Grace in her sun outfit that her Granny Brown got her. They were taken yesterday.

First Father's Day

Adam had his first Father's Day yesterday. I hated he had to work but we did get to go to church as a family and he got his Father's Day wish. He wanted a chocolate cake for Father's Day. Isn't that funny!! (He also got some clothes too before Father's Day.) He loves just a plain boxed yellow cake and store bought chocolate fudge icing. That is his favorite! I will post of picture of what I did. I wanted to decorate it somehow but I knew I didn't have much time (plus, I'm really not great at cake decorating anyway) so I bought some edible letters and just put "I Love You Daddy" on it so it would look like it came from Grace. As you can see my cakes are not the most beautiful things!! LOL . We also had our first experience helping in the nursery yesterday morning during the AM service. We had the younger 1's and must I say, it was CRAZY! Adam and I was going to be the only 2 in there (the other lady didn't come) with 15 one year olds!! They ended up getting us some help with another lady and then a young girl. It was so funny though. It was truly like a circus. We ended up spending most of the time going through and checking all of their diapers to make sure they were clean before their parents came. We also spent half the time looking for things that they lost. One boy we couldn't find his shoes and his diaper bag wasn't labeled with his name so we weren't sure if the shoes in his bag were really his and another boy and girl lost a shoe and then this one girl kept taking off her panty hose and shoes. This one boy's shoe that was missing we couldn't find the entire time until after his parents came and Adam FINALLY found it. Another girl lost her bow and we didn't find it till after the parents left. A couple of the kids started going through my purse too, and I learned real quick that you HAVE to keep things out of their reach at this age!! They were so cute though! Their were of course some that wanted to be held the whole time, etc. It was funny because about half way through the service Adam said "I'm ready to just go get my baby girl and go home!" LOL. Grace didn't seem so bad after all those one year olds!!! Our church has SO many kids it is truly amazing!! They are wanting to split the kids up more but they need more space according to our preschool director.

Well, it is not letting me upload pictures right now. I'll try again later to post some pics.

2 month checkup, AL visit, God's Grace

Adam, Grace, and I went to AL this past weekend through the first part of this week. Many people got to see Grace this weekend that haven't yet including her uncle Greg, Great-Grandparents, Great Aunts and Uncles, cousins, friends, etc. It was a very nice visit. We were very tired though, esp. Grace. She did really well though considering. I'll post more pics.

This is Great Granny Brown with Grace and Joanne

Great Granny Cason sees Grace for the 1st time. Granny Brown is holding Grace

These two are Shea and Eric with Grace. They are wonderful friends from home.

I couldn't pass this up to not post a picture of Grace's step cousin Emily. She is 2 1/2 and she LOVES Grace. She has been waiting on her to come even while I was pregnant with Grace. She always talks about her and wants to see her. She frequently looks at her pictures on the computer, etc. She's a darlin!! Her mom even told us that she prayed for Grace and Grace's Mom and Dad the other night during her night time prayers!

I will be going back to work a week from Saturday. I will work 4 hours that night and then start working every Monday and Tuesday 2 (12) shifts on night shift, the following Monday (with the exception of working every 3rd weekend (Fri and Sat). In a way I don't mind going back to work for the adult interaction, and for what I do, and of course the paycheck!! But, I am already thinking about how it will feel to leave Grace for the first night. I know I will be wondering constantly how she is doing.

I am very happy about having a set schedule. I can finally get more involved at church. I plan on going to Thurs. morning Bible studies for women when the start back in the Fall. Also, they are having preschool play days at church this Summer. We got to go to one last Tues. morning. Since Grace is so young now it is mainly an interaction for me with other Mom's. They had another one today but Grace had her 2 month checkup.

About her 2 mo. check-up. She weighed 9 lb 1 oz and was 21 1/4 inches long. The Dr. said her weight and height are perfectly symmetrical. Everything looked good. She recommended us placing Grace on her belly some to help her develop her muscles in her neck and shoulders etc. and to help her learn to roll over.

It is truly amazing Grace is 2 months old today. We've come a long way by the grace of God! Hence her name Grace. The word "grace" means so much to Adam and I. We know that EVERYTHING that comes to us is by God's grace. We are saved by HIS grace. All of us should go to Hell because we are naturally rotten sinners. Romans 3:12 says "there is none who does good, there is not even one". The Bible says "there is none who seek for God" in Romans Chapter 3 verse 11. By his Holy Spirit he draws us to Himself. Don't you wonder why?? When we are constantly letting Him down!! It is by His grace he forgives us of our sins and glorifies His name. Praise God!! (I could go on an on about this!)

I pray that anyone reading this has been saved by the grace of God/ has a personal relationship with the Lord. Here are some verses to think seriously about: Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. So if you haven't been "born again", "changed", or saved and living for the Lord, then all you have to do is believe in what Jesus did on the cross as in John 3:16 and ask God to forgive you of your sins and tell Him you want Him to be LORD of your life. You have to turn from your sins and seek Him constantly to help you and guide you to live a life pleasing to Him. You will be changed forever!!! Let me know if I could talk to any one of you more. With love----Holly