Adios Paci:)

Well, today is the big day!! I made the decision yesterday that the paci would be no more starting TODAY!! As you all probably remember, right before her 2 year old Birthday we worked on getting rid of the paci and it was SUPER hard for her. She got SOOO furious when we cut a whole in her paci that she kept climbing out of her crib and hitting her head on the floor. It was like she would stop at NOTHING to get our attention that she was NOT ready for that. It was SOOO traumatic for her. So at that time, with the direction of our pediatrician, she recommended giving her the paci back to only have when she sleeps and just work on the adjustment to a toddler bed. She said the paci can come later after she gets past adjusting to a toddler bed. So that is what we did, and she did great after that adjusting to her Dora toddler bed. Since then, we have had excuse after excuse to wait a little longer; travel, big event, etc. etc. But I felt like she was ready now at 2 and 1/2 years old, she was starting to realize that pacifiers are only for babies and she is not a baby. We have been talking about it for a while now and it is like she almost felt guilty using it knowing she is a 'big girl' now.=)

So this morning we talked about it and I told her we need to get her pacifiers and put them in the mail and send them to another baby that needs a paci. We talked again about how she is a big girl now and she could share her paci with a baby that needs a paci. She said "okay". So I thought, here's our shot!! So I got her 2 pacifiers and I let her put them in the envelope and we addressed them TO: BABY, FROM: GRACE. We let her stick it in the mailbox and we put the flag up. She was very happy with what she did and kept talking about how sweet it was to give her paci to another baby:)

So nap time today, she started to ask for her pacifiers but we reminded her that we mailed them off and she was okay with that. We put her down and she talked for a little bit and then she started crying some. I went upstairs and had to explain to her about her pacifiers again and I comforted her a little by singing to her and rocking her a little bit (because she asked). It was starting to get hard for her:( So with a little more encouragement, she is ASLEEP after an hour of mostly talking with little crying. I heard her upstairs telling her babies in the bed with her, that "I'm alright, I don't need my paci, etc. etc. Very cute!!

We will see how the night goes but as of right now I am happy with how strong this little girl is!! For Mommy, it is actually sad to see this chapter close in our lives. That may sound silly, but that was her LAST 'baby' thing that we have clung to. It makes me realize that she is REALLY not a baby any more! Over all, I am very HAPPY to see it go though, because this is something I have worried about off and on for a long time, because I knew the day would have to come sooner rather than later.

I will keep you all updated on her progress!!:)

Accidents Happen-- TEETH!

On Sunday, we came home from church that day and as we pulled into the driveway our neighbors had just got home. Grace spotted our neighbor's kids (Andrew and Mattie--she just LOVES) and HAD to go play with them for a minute. They always have fun chasing each other. Grace started chasing Andrew around and FELL trying to run up our neighbors driveway and hit her tooth that had JUST BEEN CHIPPED 4 months ago. As soon as she fell and hit her mouth she started crying and said MY TOOTH!! I immediately knew she had done something to her bonded teeth. She DID!! One of the two that had been fixed broke AGAIN! The filling/bonding material broke off when she fell! Me and Adam were both SICK and Grace was upset about it too because she remembers VERY VIVIDLY what she went through BEFORE to get them fixed. I was at first concerned about the money to get them fixed again but I later realized that the pediatric dentist had said 4 months ago, if they break off in the next 6 months we could bring her back and she would fix them free of charge. I still wasn't sure because of how it happened. But we called on Monday morning and they stated they would do that and they worked her in to have it done THAT DAY!

So off to the dentist we go on Monday morning. We tried to prepare Grace by telling her every thing they were going to do. When they called her back she started crying and esp. when she saw all the 'sights' behind the door. She buried her head in her Daddy's chest and cried at first. She was just scared! She ended up being a TOTAL trooper and actually got calm and was still most of the time until the Dentist ran the drill to smooth out her tooth. She was still very tense as they did it. It is TORTURE to her and her Mommy and Daddy, to see her like that! They don't sedate at this office and I have wished they would but they were also a lot cheaper too.

SOOO, she got them fixed but Adam and I are not completely happy with it. Last time, we had to take her back a second time for them to fix them good because they do it so fast and rush it. I am determined I am not putting her through that any more right now while it is so traumatizing to her, being so young. They kept leaving a bigger gap between her teeth than what was there before. The last time her teeth were fixed (the 2nd time) they looked GREAT! This time, they look A LOT better than a corner chip out of them but the tooth is not exactly straight and they should have filled in a little more in the middle.

I still get a knot in my chest thinking about it, because I am still disgusted that it happened and I feel like a better job could have been done. Although, I was looking at some of her early pictures before the chip incident, and the gap actually looks more like what it originally looked like.

Thankfully, they are just baby teeth and I have recently been reminded that we could have a WHOLE LOT worse problems with her. She is healthy and I can praise the Lord for that ALONE!!!

We are so proud of her, and she got some prizes at Target for doing so well. She keeps saying "I was good at the Dentist:)"

Compare.. you can click on them and zoom in to see better


Before any chipped teeth..


After getting them fixed good the first time she chipped them..


Now

A Weekend of Festivities!

This past Saturday we went to a Birthday party for Kendall Smith. Her parents were friends of ours since we first moved to Louisville. Kendall turned 3 this past Saturday and let me tell you they had a great party! TONS of people came and Grace was just trying to take in every thing that was going on. We all spent some time outside while the kids played and then the kids made a craft (crowns) and they even fed us! It was fun!






Leaving the party..Grace got a ring pop and here is the crown she made=)

On Saturday afternoon I had a baby shower to go to. I was for Jane Dunn. They go to church with us now and we have really grown to LOVE them! We love to hang out with them and always have so much fun together. This is their first child so they are super excited too..


The cake:)


We were playing the diaper game with the chocolate candy bars in the diaper and you have to guess the candy bar by smelling.. Christy was having a little extra fun with it:) Funny game!


Highview VS girls/ and great friends!... me, Jane, Jessica, and Christy

Pumpkin Carving...

We carved our first pumpkin with Grace this past week. Grace really thought it was neat especially when we put the candle in it and lit it up. We took some pics of Grace with our newly carved pumpkin:)

Change Of Plans.. Halloween Costume

As I had said in the last post, I had bought Grace a Cinderella costume. Well, that costume really WAS beautiful but I ended up taking it back. (I know, I know, I have been so wishy washy with this costume thing;) I decided to do this because she really is not even in to the real princess theme yet, still a little young. Lately, she likes for me to read her the Cinderella book and likes to look at the princesses but doesn't really understand it. She also looked to 'growny' to me in the costume. Like a little girl instead of a toddler:) so I decided for this year it would be better if she did some kind of cutesy costume and save the princess stuff for next year of the year after when she is REALLY in to that. SOOOO, we ended up swapping it for the Minnie Mouse costume! Grace really likes it and it is really cute. You will have to wait to see the pics..;)

Around the House.. potty and play..

We have been working on potty training some this week. I am a little OCD to try to go directly to panties to make her use the potty. I am told that she won't like the feeling of being wet so she will start using the potty with in 3 days that way. The reason why I don't want to do that, is because of the mess:). I can't imagine having to clean up pee pee from our carpet, floors, and furniture all the time. (Since we don't have hardwood floors). We also recently cleaned our carpet before putting our house up for sale. So my compromise is to try putting her in panties with a pull-up on top. This helps her to feel that she is wet but the pull-up will keep it from making a mess. We have just started with this and she has done pretty well with this. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been very consistent yet. I haven't really wanted to deal with it when we go out, so I have just put a diaper or pull-up on her when we go out, etc. etc. It's definitely going to take A LOT of time, but nonetheless, we are working on it!!!!;)

We have spent some time just playing outside with our neighbor some and working on finding Grace a Halloween costume. She was being a little difficult about finding one, because every thing I showed her she said "I don't like that one". Today, we finally found her a Cinderella costume from the Disney Store that she loves. It is just beautiful. I am very proud of this because it is so pretty and I got it on sale since I waited to buy it. I figured it would be a great investment too since she can use it for the Fall Festival at our church, Halloween and for dress up for a long time!!! Just wait till you see her in it:)

By the way, The Disney Store is one of our new favorite places to browse. Grace just LOVES going in that store too:) It's a little princess' dream store..

A pic from the other day..

Alabama Part Two-- Great Friends and Two Big Events

A great friend of mine Shea Johnson has been pregnant with her first child. We have been friends with her and her husband every since the two of them met about 6 or more years ago. We have been friends with Shea's husband since high school. So this couple holds a very special place in our heart. We have great memories together and we always love getting together with them when we come to AL because it's like we never left when we get around them. We know each other backward and forwards and still love each other:) So when I found out Shea was pregnant I knew I was going to come to AL for the shower.

Then a couple of months ago a childhood friend's mom emailed me and told me that my long time friend, Valerie Brunson was getting MARRIED!! She wanted my address to invite me to her wedding. Valerie was in my wedding and I have wonderful memories of her too as a child. Every year for her B'day, they would have the biggest slumber party for her that was usually 10-15 girls. They also lived on the river so it was a BLAST! She later went off to Auburn (Boooo!;) for college and I never saw much of her. We have reconnected through facebook but nevertheless, I knew I would like to go to her wedding too!

I knew both occasions would be in Oct. possibly and I thought, "wouldn't it be awesome if both the wedding and shower could be in the SAME weekend so I could go to BOTH?!" Guess what?! It was, they both happened to be scheduled for the same day.. Oct. 2nd, one at 3pm and the other at 6pm. How cool is that?!? So, I made plans to go..

Mom went with me to both on Saturday and Shea's shower went GREAT! She got every thing she needs plus some.. and she was stunning! Valerie's wedding was outside at a golf course (Silver Lakes) and it was GORGEOUS! It was right on the lake there at about sunset.

Valerie looked beautiful, just like she always is, and I was happy I got to go. The reception was great and the Grooms cake was really cute too. Her hubby is a HUGE Bama fan and any body that knows Val, knows she and her family has always been HUGE Auburn fans. So the grooms cake was a AU and AL stadium split in half but the table was decorated in AL since that is his team! Very cute!

Alabama Part One- Family and Friends..

Grace and I took our first trip alone to AL which included flying for the first time with just Grace and I. (Adam couldn't take off work since he has a new job but ended up being sick the whole time with a BAD case of laryngitis.) Grace was VERY good on the plane going and coming back home. It was great that she could actually walk through the airports this time instead of having to be held.

We arrived on Thursday. My Mom and Step-Dad Gary, picked us up at the airport in Birmingham and they even brought my niece, Emily with them (she is 4) and Grace was SOOO happy to see them when we got off the plane and met them at the airport. It was so sweet, she took off running towards them and just giggled and giggled!:) That day also happened to be the day that my step-sister Tracey was celebrating my nephew John-Curtis' birthday so we got to go to his BIRTHDAY PARTY!! Grace was super excited about getting to see all 3 of her boys.. Andrew, Aaron, and John Curtis. It was also a special day for her b/c she got her own cupcake at the party:). The next day my Grandma came over to my Mom's house and visited with us for a while. Emily also stayed home from preschool to play with Grace. The weather was great and we even spent time outside playing. Later that day my Uncle Jerry and Allison came over to visit. It was great to see them too!

Saturday was a busy day. We decided to go to Andrew and Aaron Upwards Soccer game that morning. We left there and went by my Mom's friends-- Marti and Dave's house and their grand-daughter (Mallory) was there visiting. This is the first time we had been to their house and Grace had SOOO much fun there. She just LOVED Mallory (who is 6 yrs), they played so well together. They live on the Coosa River and Grace has never been so close to the river like that and they even have a sand bar where she got to play in the sand and feed the ducks, and see REAL fish in real life:). She really liked it! We soon had to run on though and went to Adam's parents because Grace was going to stay with them while Mom and I went to Shea Johnson's baby shower and then to Valerie Brunson's wedding. She was super excited though to be greeted by her Granny and Papa! They had a day planned with Grace of quality time. Her cousin Vann and Aunt Carey and Uncle Brandon also came over later to visit and Grace finally got to play with Vann! This time Vann could actually play and they were too sweet together!!!

When we got back from the wedding that night, Grace was having the BEST time with all of them. She was all excited and her and Vann were chasing each other around the house and just giggling like crazy:) VERY CUTE!!

On Sunday we went to church and lunch with Mom, Gary and my step-sister, Kelly, and then after naptime we went back to Carey's to spend more time with them since I really didn't get much time to see Vann since we had to get home for bedtime. Vann is SOOO sweet and we had dinner with them that day. After dinner we left to get back and see Emily because she had been gone all weekend to her Daddy's. Grace couldn't get up the stairs fast enough at Nana's house to see Emily. They were all so sweet.

We really enjoyed our time. Leaving Nana and Paw Paw at the airport was a little sad for Grace when she realized they weren't coming with her but she was SUPER excited to see her Daddy! When she met her Daddy at the airport she went CRAZY! It was the BEST! We are glad to be home but thankful for our time there..

We just arrived in B'ham..



Grace and Emily holding hands in the car:)


L-R Andrew, Emily, Grace, Aaron, and John Curtis



John Curtis is 3!!


Grandma and the girls


Mallory and Grace

Mallory showing off the fish she caught:)


Playing on the sandbar


Awww.. cousin Vann



Nana and Grace


Grace loves her Aunt Kelly


Grace and cousin Vann.. is that not the best!!


Aunt Carey reading to them:)


Cousin Emily and Grace


Playing Nana's organ for the first time:)


The sunset was gorgeous..



So happy to see Daddy...