Gracie Girl!

After skimming over our past posts and pondering how much I blogged about MaryKate over her 2 year lifespan compared to Grace, I have come to the conclusion that she is already being neglected! Ahh! How does this happen when I swore as the 6th child with only 5 baby pictures that I would never do that to my own kids?! Well, this post is all about you, Gracie Girl and only you!

Grace is 5 months & 20 days old and is sooo much fun! She is all smiles... except when something is truly bothering her,
in which case she screams like someone is sawing off her limb with a butter knife.

She loves to:

Jump in her jumper. She was born active! She has no desire to be strapped into a swing like MK did. She wants to be jumping, standing, rolling, & moving.

She also lovers her bouncing exersaucer, especially if Big Sissy will come and play with her while she's in it. I tried to stop MK from climbing on it and bothering her, but I realized how happy it makes Grace to have her playing with her that I no longer intervene.

Grace also loves her kick toy... endless fun. Why don't they make these things for adults? I might burn some calories if they did.

She loves bath time, especially if she gets to take it with MK. Are you noticing a theme? They play so well together! This is a picture of their first bath together over New Years and MK insisted that I should leave them alone so they could have fun without me... umm, No!



Grace loves to giggle. She loved her uncle Todd and cousins Evan & Maddie

She also loves reading. If you recall MK's reading movie when she was an infant, she was crazy about reading too. They both seem to have this passion for books in common.

James' 2 sisters had baby boys right close in age to Grace. All 3 babies look much more like their dads than their moms so we thought it was appropriate to take a Daddy picture. We hope Jasper, Sam, and Grace all become close friends.

MaryKate's Merry Magical Christmas

MK realized that she could see herself in the glass ornaments. Oh, what joy that brought! When I first put up the tree she tried to blow on every light to extinguish them like candles... Moments later she turned to me with deep concern in her face & said, "Oh, no Santa's going to swipe our tree!" (Yes, we've watched alot of Dora & she thought Santa sounded alot like Swiper). She grew so attached to the tree that she cried real tears when I took it down.

Santa brought Dora stuff! Toothpaste in the stocking made her so happy and it made Mommy & Daddy happy. Less candy and better oral hygiene!

Other than Dora all she wanted was a puppy... a small stuffed one like her friend has. He's so soft & barks/pants. After visiting James' sister Dawn, Puppy is now named Molly after their dog that she loved so much. She sobbed when we had to say bye to Molly. So MK named her puppy Molly in her memory.

Of course no Christmas is complete thus far for MK without Elmo. This year she got a TMX Elmo that walks and does tricks... thanks to a $3 garage sale find.

And last but certainly not least, MK got a little Cinderella makeup bag with "lipstuff" in it. She always begs for my chap stick or lip gloss and so I thought this .99 cent gift would rock her world. It did and like all you seasoned parents out there know, it was the gift we soon hated that we gave her. She doesn't eat it. But she rubs it all over her face, pokes her finger in it, and insists on carrying it around everywhere she goes. Bad idea for a gift.

We spent Christmas with my brother and sister's families which was heaven for MK because it meant lots of cousin time! She loves them all. My mom & most of my other siblings came the day after Christmas so we all had a blast! MK's favorite is probably "Benji-Ben" (Benjamin). They loved their baths, especially with Elmo color tablets. (sorry for the immodesty...just too cute to pass up)

Her favorite pass time was playing with Becca's enormous collection of Littlest Pets. Here Ben & MaryKate decided to climb into the Tupperware tub of pets together. Just two peas in a pod.

For New Years we drove to Duncan to visit James family. It was so fun. One day we walked in to see MK doing this. She said, "I'm feeding Molly like Amy!" My friend Amy breast feeds and although I do not, she still picked up on it & wanted to give it a try. Ha!

This is what happens when you let a little girl fall asleep with her barrettes & pigtails. Oh, we love you MaryKate! Thank you for making this Christmas so magical for us all! We can't wait for Gracie to join in the fun next year. We hope everyone had an equally happy, magical holiday season.

Tis the Season to be Sick...Fa La La La La!

There is a reason we have not posted in a long time. No, I haven't been out shopping and making delicious holiday treats. Instead,we have been soooo sick! The good news is that we are finally all well, other than a few lingering coughs. The bad news is I am sure the virus is passed on to some other poor, unsuspecting family. If somehow we have passed anything on to you, I am deeply sorry. It all began right around Thanksgiving. Grace woke up vomiting and the rest of us woke up with a killer cold. After 3 days Grace got better but then got the cold. MK's cold turned into horrible asthma which caused a huge asthma attack resulting in a trip to the urgent care and us up for nights checking on her. Then I came down with strep throat which flattened me. Then Grace's cold seemed a little dangerous so we had multiple whooping cough tests done... and for a period of time were quarantined to our home. During which time MK started vomiting and got a seriously violent case of stomach flu, which she then passed to Grace and to James. I possibly got a mild case of it too, but someone had to stay well... so shear determination kept me from some of the worse symptoms. But now we are all well! Grace's tests came back negative for pertussis and both girls are back to sleeping through the night! Halleluiah! There were moments when I thought it would never come. To all those who are ill during this Holiday season and to all mothers who have ever been repeatedly puked and pooed on, my heart goes out to you! I think I understand at least a little bit.

(Sorry for no cute pictures. I am not the mom who takes pictures of kids in their yuck! More will be coming soon... I promise!)

My Favorite Halloween Yet

Picture this... A warm evening in Utah (no jackets required), colorful fall leaves coating the sidewalks, the sound of friendly neighbors chatting and laughing as they eat their hotdogs, sip their hot cocoa and gather around fire pits in the center of the cul-de-sac, warm homemade melt-in-your mouth donuts and large candy bars being handed out to all, and best of all 2 adorable little girls in our arms... one who had been practicing for weeks for this special night. It was a dream! Our little neighborhood is truly euphoric and watching MaryKate knock on doors and say "trick or treat" and "thank you!" and beam with pride and excitement was as good as this holiday gets. I am not a fan of the bloody, dark, spooky Halloween but after this year, I am in love with Halloween. The concept alone is a magical dream for small children...go on a family walk, wear dress-ups, see friends, and get offered candy at every house! Yes please!



We went to the Zoo for Trick or Treating on the 29th. It was fun, but super crowded! MaryKate wore her Elmo costume and got to ride the elephant on the carousel... her dream come true! (side note: I had to practically fight a mom for it. Sorry... first come, fist serve! Don't worry, I was polite.)



On Halloween we first went to our shopping village around the corner that has nearly 50 shops that pass out candy and gifts to the kids... love it! By the time we were done with that MaryKate wanted Elmo OFF and would not put him back on after dinner for trick or treating. She wanted to wear her Hello Kitty dance leotard and be a ballerina... fine by us, even though people probably thought she had the lamest, simple costume. She loved it and was so happy in it.




Grace was a little tiger. It was MaryKate's 2 years ago and Grace fit it much better. I was really lame this year and did not make a single costume and had no family theme. The truth is I feel cheap and I've been making 40 costumes for our church Nativity... so I am sewed out!

Kiddo!

Dear World,

A Questar maintenance man just came to my door. He was a nice older gentleman and as he was leaving he said, "Thanks Kiddo!" Bless him! Bless him! It was such a lovely reality check. Although I may have so many gray hairs coming in that I can't take the 30 minutes it would require to pluck them all and although after Grace the only weight I am losing is coming from the hair-loss on my head and although my memory is getting so bad that I lost my wallet twice this week, I am still a kiddo!!! Little kids look at me like I'm Methuselah, but older people see me as so young. I love that.

I think I'm going to go help myself to a fruit snack and dance around the living room to MaryKate's Chipmunk version of Single Ladies!

Love,
Kathy the Kiddo

P.S. Halloween pics are coming soon. We had such a great time!