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.

Family of 3

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

This was the eighth Christmas Marty and I spent together, and the fifth Christmas together as a married couple. Wow, that really is a long time. Seems like it was just yesterday or maybe last month we were trying to decide if it was appropriate to invite each other to our separate family Christmas celebrations. And here we are now with our very own family of 3. In years past we have just exchanged gifts at some random time during the holiday, not really making any big deal of it, which was fine because it was just us two. But since we now have our own little family, I wanted to designate an evening to our "family." This evening was the Friday before Christmas, Dec. 21, 2007. We invited over Marty's parents to celebrate with us. I made a nice supper complete with our good chinaware and even opened a bottle of wine! Gracie of course enjoyed her baby food meal of sweet potatoes and peaches, along with a few cereal puffs. Gracie as you will see below was dressed as cute as a button in her Christmas dress.

She had been trying all week to get into these presents...

such a temptation they were for her. Finally she can dig in. And of course playing with the ornaments on the Christmas tree, except now the needles are getting pretty brittle and fall off whenever she touches the tree.
Santa brought Gracie this shopping cart walker. She hasn't really started to stand yet on her own, but with some help she does pretty good.
She does try to get up, but those legs get kinda wobbly when they are on their own for to long.

Grandma Betty (Malecek) gave Gracie this caterpillar, its just like a rocking horse, except it's a caterpillar... it plays music and lights up. It caught Gracie's eye immediately. She is a little small yet, but I am certain in a few months the "rocking caterpillar" will be the source of many hours of enjoyment!

Our first Christmas celebration as a family of 3 was a joyous time. I hope to have many more celebrations to come and fond memories to cherish.

Christmas with the Extended Relatives

Every year since before I can remember we have had huge family gatherings at each Grandparents home to celebrate Christmas. This year was no different.

Last weekend (Dec. 15-16) were the gatherings.

Sunday was the gathering of my Dad's family at my Grandma and Grandpa's Sohre's house. Every year a few more babies are added and amazingly I would say over 1/2 of the entire crew shows up. It gets pretty loud in the basement.

My grandparents have (if I counted and did my math correctly):

• 5 sons


• 5 daughters-in-law


• 20 grandchildren
  
• 13 grandchildren-in-law
  
• 29 great-grandchildren (and probably some more on the way)

To think all this happened because "two people fell in love"

Look at all those stocking on the wall... and that isn't even all of them. Grandma can't keep up!

Above is my Grandpa Sohre... a wonderful man!

Letting the food digest after the big meal.


On Saturday was my Mom's side of the family...

a little smaller, but equally as grand.
This year my sister Christy hosted the gathering.

Here's the stats from this family (again if I counted correctly):

• 3 daughters
• 3 son-in-laws
• 12 grandchildren
• 7 grandchildren-in-law (soon to be 8)
• 15 great-grandchildren (another on the way)

Below: Gracie and Great-grandma

The kids opening presents and giving Grandma a hug.

I think Grandma very much enjoyed the day!

As I see how these families have grown over the years... I wonder what Marty and I's holiday gatherings will be like in 40-50 years. Will both of us be around? Will we have tons of grandkids and little great-grandkids running around? Will our kids want to come home to celebrate with us? Will we want them home with us (J/K)? Will we be happy and healthy? I hope so!

Gracie in College?

For those of who do not know I am working on my Master's degree to become a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Minnesota State University, Mankato. This semester I took an advanced nursing assessment class, which had to meet on campus every Friday morning (most of my classes are online with once-a-month onsite meetings). The last 4 weeks of this class was pediatric assessment. On our very last day my instructor wanted us to bring in some real-live children so she could demonstrate some assessment skills to the class. I volunteered to bring in my Gracie. So Gracie got her first visit to the big University and to go to school with her Mommy! She, of course, did a wonderful job. She let all my fellow classmates look in her ears and listen to her heart. She was a little squirmy when my instructor was demonstrating on her, but overall got an A+ for the day.

Since we were on campus, we of course had to go visit my Mom, who works at the campus Hub. Grandma was very eager and proud to show off her granddaughter. I think we met 50 co-workers in 30 minutes. Grandma showed Gracie how to use the computer! I think Gracie will be able to bypass Kindergarten and 1st Grade... She attended college the entire time I was pregnant and now at 8months old has been in a college classroom!

Our visit was lots of fun...