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Yes, you are looking at it correctly... we are PREGNANT.

Gracie will be a big sister in September.
No, this was not in "the plan", but never-the-less a baby is always a miracle from God and we are delighted and grateful, (although I am not looking forward to being pregnant over the summer). So far the pregnancy has caused just a few problems for me- some nausea, being tired all the time, and never getting enough sleep.

This is an ultrasound picture at 8 weeks gestation. The blob in the middle is the head then the body curves off to the left, and upper top, left to right, is a leg and foot! Isn't it just amazing what can all happen in 8 weeks. At this age the baby is 1.66cm long and the heartbeat was 162. We could see the heart beating on the ultrasound screen... what a miracle!

The next two pictures are a 12 week ultrasound picture, which we had this last Wednesday. Doctor said everything looks just fine. The baby is about 2 inches long now. It has hands, feet, a mouth... just about everything... those private parts are just being developed right now.

This picture above is the head and if you look closely you can see the baby's hand, kinda in the middle of the screen. The thumb is not quite in the mouth, but right on the outside ready to go in!This picture is the head and body. On the bottom you can see the legs curve around. The baby is sitting. Sorry about the glares on the pictures... I just took my camera and took a picture of the picture, which didn't turn out to bad actually.

Naughty, Naughty!

Well, Gracie has discovered the toilet paper.
I left her alone for like 2 minutes... and this is what I come back to.
Pulling the toilet paper off of the roll isn't enough,
she needs to also shred the paper into tiny little pieces.

On another note, she has been standing by herself without hanging on to anything for like 15 seconds. Sometimes she tries to take one step and then she falls... but this morning... she did it!! She took like 3 complete steps before the fall. I think the walking is just around the corner.

Gracie's Day

This is a day in the life of Gracelyn Malecek:

I think I will be so nice and help Mommy fold clothes.

Folding clothes gets kinda boring... and Mommy just keeps taking them away from me anyways so I think I will go on to picking out the perfect book to look at, but first of course I have to pull several of them off the shelf. Pulling one off the shelf just isn't good enough.

So now it is nap time... Mommy thinks she is smart by leaving me in my room all by self with the door closed... little does she know that when she leaves, I just get up and play! No naps for me.

Well I guess since Mommy is kinda upset with me for not taking a nap I will try to be nice and help her cook supper. I'll get out the pots and pans for her!

Note from Mommy: Even though she is a little stinker sometimes and gets into EVERYTHING... one look at that adorable smile and it all melts away!

Busy, Busy

I know it has been a while since I put any pictures up... it has been busy, busy at our house. Three weeks ago Gracie was sick and a week ago I was sick. Luckily Marty has been pulling through with not even a sniffle! He just gets to listen to me complain and wipe Gracie's runny nose! Lucky guy! Then school for me is in full force... so every night I am trying to catch up on something, and still try to make supper, and do laundry, and keep the house clean (which is getting trickier with toys everywhere) and spend time with Gracie (and Marty!), and the list never ends. I sure am glad I am almost done with my Graduate program.... so I can do more fun stuff then! As for Marty the cold weather always makes working on a farm a challenge so he is busy to, working long hours. We are also so fortunate to have Marty's Mom and Dad next door to help out with Gracie so much and make us the occasional meal (which is always delicious!). So hopefully soon I'll get my pictures downloaded and posted and life will be less chaotic (Does that ever really happen?) As for today I have a date with this computer and my homework! Hopefully Gracie takes a big long nap!

Birthday Party!!

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY JESSE WALTER!

Baby Jesse turned one year old on Jan. 30th!! Shelly and Jesse had his birthday party last weekend with all the cousins in attendance. He is no longer baby Jesse. He is now toddler Jesse. And that he certainly is. He is quite the cute boy.

To think last year at this time Shelly was just experiencing her first moments as a Mother... and I was getting big and plump, with 10 weeks to go till little Gracie was to be born.

Gracie thought this party hat was pretty cool, until she took the elastic string and snapped herself... then we saw some tears.

Gracie and Maddy

Mommy and Gracie

Jesse opening some of his presents with the help of his Mommy (and some cousins).

Gracie and Jesse playing with the big lego blocks.

Jesse has it figured out...

No need to use his hands... just dive right in with his mouth.

Time for clean up after eating that yummy cake.

Jesse (1yr), Paige (2yrs), and Gracie (9 1/2mo)

Jesse and Gracie

Cousins: Maesee (5yrs), Maddy(4yrs), Paige(2yrs), and Gracie

They are pushing Gracie around in the dolly stroller.

Gracie loved it.

Random Pictures

Here are just some random pictures we have taken in the last week.

Gracie seems to like to play in Willie's bed... poor dog he has to share EVERYTHING!


Willie has finally found someone to give him treats!
and Gracie has discovered Willie likes to eat whatever she drops.

I no longer worm around... I crawl everywhere I go.

Sweet baby Grace ready for bed!

I like to read Mommy's newspaper. (Mommy gets kinda upset at me when I read it... I don't really know why. I take real good care of it, and return it just how I found it.)

9 months old

Gracelyn is 9 months old as of January 6th, 2008.

In the last couple of weeks we have hit some new milestones as far as development goes...

She can now bring herself to the standing positions.

If it is something she can grab onto... she will...

such as chairs...

highchairs...

.

her grocery cart walker she got for Christmas... she can make it move too
.


and this standing thing can also really get her in trouble...

Marty and I thought we better put this screen in front of the fireplace so she doesn't get burnt accidentally... well it took her about 1 minute to outsmart us on that one!

By 9 months she has also learned to really play with her toys... she pulls them all out of the nice little basket I bought and then goes on to play with something else! The little stinker!

She can also crawl and dance. I can't quite capture the dancing with a photo.... but let me tell you it is the cutest thing ever. She hears the music and then her little legs and bottom start to wiggle and bounce! It is the most adorable thing ever.

Also she has learned her name. When we say it she now turns and looks at us! She can wave bye-bye and clap her hands (she has been doing that for awhile). And lastly, she has gotten Tooth #3, which is a one of her top front teeth! It sure was a bugger to get out.. it causes so much pain and unhappiness for that little gum.

We had our 9 month doctor check-up on Friday. She is only 15lbs 11 oz!!! She is in the 3rd percentile (out of a hundred babies she ranks # 3)... We knew she was petite, but we didn't know she was that petite... So our goal for the next visit (12 months) is to gain some weight.

We can't wait to see what else she learns to do in the next three months... or maybe we can?

Get-togethers with Friends

Marty is part of a Fantasy Football group with 2 of his buddies Nick and Huey. They have been friends since elementry school and have been doing this for years and years. In August the 3 men get together to hold their preseason "draft" and then in January they get together again to hold the "superbowl" and to distribute the earnings to the winning team. Each person has 2 teams (total of 6 teams playing throughout the season) and the entry fee in $20 a team. This year the champain was Huey.... so he also bought the pizza for the superbowl party. The superbowl was hosted at Marty and I's home this year.

Besides eating pizza, playing a little Texa Hold'em, and talking about the great season of FANTASY FOOTBALL we got to meet Nick and Tracy's 2 1/2 month old little boy Sean. After seeing him and holding him I have given Gracie permission to have her first boyfriend! Sean is soo cute! He about matches her with the amount of hair on his head.

(from left to right) Nick, Huey, Gracie, Tracy, and Sean -

Gracie is showing them all how to play with her toys!

The day after Christmas we also got the joy of visiting one of my college friends, Jina, and meeting her little girl, Keala who is about 3 months old. Jina lives in California and was home to see her family for Christmas.

It was lots of fun getting to see her, as I don't get to see her very often =(

Most of the babies we know are boys... so it was a treat to see a baby girl! To think the two are only 6 months apart... boy they sure do change alot this first year... they grow up so fast! Seems like so long ago that Gracie was that small.