leaving on a jet plane...

well Grandma Carol has arrived and tomorrow Chuck & I get to head out for a quick get-away to North Carolina for a friend's wedding. ironically while we are there...one of Chuck's closest fraternity brothers will be staying at the same venue - talk about a small world!!! :-) so we get to fly across the US, catch up with a bunch of friends that we haven't seen for a couple years and then jet-set back all before the "official" holiday.
I am SO looking forward to the trip...not looking forward to the potential "cankles"...so excited to see friends that are like family...not looking forward to the choas that is multiple layovers and the airline circus...totally looking forward to a day off when we return --- all in all...it's gonna be a fun trip!
pictures and stories to come soon...

Picture update

here's some pictures of what we/Grace have been up to lately:

EASTER 2009:

FUN DAY w/NATALIE:

CADalyst Farm Cow/calf pair 2009:

An even split!

Yup...for those who don't already know - last week we had our ultrasound and found out that the sea monkey is a boy! Everything checked out well, he was very cooperative with "verifying" that there is no doubt that we can start thinking of boy names and buying things that are blue. We also told Gracie, who gets the concept of "baby," but "brother" is not sinking in quite yet. She may have to see it to believe it!
We are due the very end of August, although we will meet with the doctor probably the end of June/beginning of July to schedule the official August delivery date.
And now to jump into the name game....hmmmmm....

little rafter girl

we recently stopped at NRS on a whim -a favorite of ours when it comes to rafting - and while looking around, Grace decided to make herself at home in on of the rafts in the floor display. Too bad we won't get to take a trip this summer...but next year we should be back on track! :-)

Well...it's official...we are in to the *terrible* twos! So far they haven't been too bad, but there's definitely been moments. This weekend Grace had her birthday party and it was fun & the weather even agreed!

Lots of family and friends came over and helped us celebrate & Grace even got to have a sleepover party with cousin Caleb! It was a Dora-theme, since EVERYTHING comes around to Dora with gracie-bean...and boy was that a hit! She even got messy with her cake this year, but really just because that was the only way to get at the Dora doll inside. (Thanks to Sara H. for the great cake idea!)

There's lots more photos of the birthday, and swim lessons, in the new slideshows in the right-hand scrollbar...check them out!

Swim lessons start again!

Well, Grace is back in swim lessons and is LOVING it once again (well the lessons & her new Dora swimsuit!). She had no fear getting in the pool...floating around on her belly in the wading pool, definitely no fear jumping off the edge (still need to work on waiting for her turn...) and surprised us when she didn't hesitate to float on her back or tummy for the teacher while dad watched from another part of the pool. Another bonus, Caroline (grace's friend) is also in the class, so the girls got a kick out of splashing around together. The only tears came when it was time to get out...and now we are getting asked daily if we get to "go to pool and swim?" :-)

Other than that...I'm still fighting off this cold, yup - another one...and Grace did get her first ever ear infection. We felt so bad for the poor little bean...you wouldn't have known she was sick except for a little rash on her chest and every now and then while playing, she'd hit the ground crying and pulling at her ear. We took her in, got some medication and she's doing great on it. It's just a little insult to injury that I got my cold/sickness first and with the help of modern medicine...she'll be better in a couple days and I'll still be waiting out the end of this cold. Uggg...

She's doing great with her potty-training...maybe has one accident a day...and is so proud of herself when she makes it and gets an "M-min-em" treat! :-)

Elmer Fudd...

Well this weekend wasn't super exciting for us...until Sunday. Saturday we ran some errands up in Spokane and stopped to see Auntie Callie. Unfortunately Uncle Brian and cousin Caleb weren't there - but Grace sure tried to find them!

Sunday was a bit more busy - it was the last day of trap-shooting. Unfortunately the weather wasn't super cooperative, but I don't think that's really what kept both of us from shooting very well...but it kept Chuck in form for the *special* award he won. Chuck was recognized with the "Elmer Fudd #23" award - for lowest or most consistent diminishing shooting average for the season. So, not exactly the recognition all the shooters work toward, but as it turns out...the best shooters at the club have all been "Elmer Fudd's" at some point!

Other than that...I tried to watch the movie "Step Up" and boy-oh-boy did Grace love that! We had to "do it again" 4 times for the opening credits because she wanted to dance. What's really funny is when you watch the video - as she sees them do something, just a half a step behind, she'll do her version (the best is when one of the dancers does a funky handstand, then she does a somesault!). Too funny, but we can't deny...the girl LOVES to dance!

out of the mouths of babes...

last night grace had one of those moments...
well to be honest, she's been having one of those weeks - terrible two's and then some! she's cutting molars and her eye teeth are still coming in, didn't have a nap a daycare and wouldn't eat much for dinner...all combined = the perfect tantrum storm!
after mouthing off to daddy and getting told we don't talk that way, when she promptly shouted "NO" back, she got a swat on the butt. Keep in mind chuck is a total softie when it comes to his daughter, so this was really not much punishment...but grace's reaction was a funny-but-don't-laugh-and-encourage-her moment:
she spun around, stomped her foot and pointed at chuck with the meanest expression she could muster and then shouted, "No Daddy! My body!" and shook her little finger at him.
i have to admit he did a good job not smiling or laughing until she wasn't looking, but both of us couldn't believe it and chalked the statement up to something heard at daycare.
Nope.
today when I picked her up from CFCC and told lesley the story, she laughed and said that grace had an obstinate moment before nap when lesley was changing her into pull-ups (in case of accident) and grace told her the same thing.
so now I have to wonder...where did she pick this up? something over heard by adults or was it thanks to something on television? is this a precursor of the heightened awareness her generation will have and won't stand for someone/anyone crossing personal boundaries? or do we just have a pill for an almost-two-year-old? (sorry that extesential off-shoot definitely has to be coming from the "deep thinking" we're supposed to be doing in my master's class this semester) :-)

home sick...again!

Well, I'm home sick again. Upside = I have some time, between naps and trips to the bathroom, to update the blog.

Uggg...it's been a pain & chuck has been realy worried, but we think we finally figured out what was going on. I went to the DR and they ran a bunch of tests & bloodwork, but it was my stepmom who put the pieces of the puzzle together to bring an end to this round of sickness. She had noticed the past couple weeks when she watched Grace on Tuesdays (which she's been doing since I have class and Chuck can't off work early enough to pick Grace up from daycare...incidentally, a Godsend!) that when she got home...the rest of the evening her guts were in a twist. Well I've been that way times 10 for a couple weeks and not able to keep anything in me. The Dr. figured I had some sort of virus or bacteria, but wasn't completely sure what. After Cheryl did a little internet searching of her own, she called and wanted to know if we had changed our fridge's water filter lately. We hadn't. Come to find out, if those filters aren't changed regularly...there is a bacteria that develops and causes all the unlovely sickness that I've been experiencing. And the really sad part is...the concern for dehydration was higher because of the pregnancy, so of course..."Drink LOTS of water!" So I kept drinking and kept staying sick. Perfect. Wonder what kinda karma this is??

So - mystery solved and I'm almost back to 100%, we've got a new filter...but the Brita made it's way back into the fridge - just in case!

Things have been moving along slowly thanks to the aformentioned illness, but still rolling. We got to enjoy the last two home Cougar games - and what freakin' awesome games they were! Grace came to both and had a ton of fun clapping with the crowd, dancing to the band and with the cheerleaders anytime they did something...and of course, watching Butch - from a distance. We also went to the Uniontown sausage feed with friends. We played some close rounds of BINGO while we waited and although we never won, it might have been hampered by Grace's fun marking the cards....whereever she felt there should be color. Oh well!

We're 15 weeks along now...officially due August 30th, but likely will deliver a week or two early (gotta love a scheduled c-section!). Things seems to be going well and mid-April we will know the gender and can start planning and getting ready. Crazy enough, I won't be the only huge, pregnant lady this summer...we have at least 6 friends who are due within 2-3 weeks of us on either side of our due date, so late August/early September is gonna be a big baby time!

think that's it for now...and I'm getting sleepy so need to capitalize on the chance to nap while I can (ie. before I head back to work) so will end with some pictures! Enjoy!

Grace giving some toys a ride! Valetine's Cutie 2009

Playing in mommy's snow boots & posing cute with Apollo

Getting big...can't believe she's almost 2!

Feb. update

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I did an update...slacking, I know (& my sister reminds me too!).
So what's new & exciting...hmmm....
well the last few weeks have been very busy for us - I've been up to my eyeballs in interviews for work...all those students who want to get into vet school, class, a great friend's wedding over on the Westside which also = time visiting Chuck's folks. Then Chuck went to Vegas for a week for the World Furniture Market (oh so he says...but he did come home with more $$ than he left with and won me an ipod shuffle, so I won't give him too much flack!) so Carol came and stayed to help with Gracie. Little did she know that I would get REALLY sick so she ended up with an almost-two-year-old and a semi-invalid/sickie to take care of! She was fantastic and I'm SO thankful she was here to help or Grace and I would have had a pretty rough go of it. Incidentally, I'm doing much better now, but whatever bug I got hung on for almost a week...uggg!
Hmmm.....other news....trying to make yard/landscaping/build-a-deck plans for spring and summer.....what else...still trapshooting....anything else???? Oh yah - we're expecting again! Yup, #2 on the way circa late August 2009. We'll keep updates coming on gender, etc. as we find out, because YES...we will find out. So far we are 12 and a half weeks and I have been sick, tired, itchy, sick....you name it, this go'round has been 180degrees different from Gracie. We'll see what that really ends up "meaning" (so many wivestales and assumptions).
So, I think that about sums it up.... more when there's anything to tell.