Thirty

Dear grace,
Today you bumped into everything. You crawled into your bedroom door, into your crib bars and fell down on stair at grandma Elaine's house. I was a tough day for you, bu you were a champion. You bit through your lip and cried for maybe forty seconds.
You didn't get a morning nap bacause we were playing and having so much fun at grandmas, I've been sewing you a quiet book and I hope you like it. I'm not much talent with the needle or machine, but I'm trying my best to create the fantastic ideas in my brain onto felt and buttons and ribbons and glue.
Tis evening you were adorable, we rocked in your rocking chair and I sang to you, you laid your little head against my chest and hummed along, letting me play itch your curly hairs and rubbing your back. Every once in a while you would turn your cheek and look up at me and smile. I i stopped singing you would sit up and look at me and make some noises to remind me that I needed to keep singing please. You are so very sweet. I can't wait until of can tell me all the things you are trying to say now. You are standing by yourself but you don't know it yet, and you crawl so fast! We got you a little Easter basket that is shaped like a Duckie, you put it on your head and our feet and hands were a blur you were so excited.
I love you so much my little girl
Mom

twenty nine

dear grace,
you are incredible. not new news. you have learned to clap, and sing to yourself, you stand on your own but you dont know it and then when you see what you're doing you fall over. you are such a happy girl, but teething is starting to be pretty painful. yesterday you kind of whimpered all day. it could have been you were tired. we've stopped giving you a bottle in bed because we looked up pictures of bottle rot on baby's teeths and it's GROSS! you've done really well at just falling asleep on your own. we are both so in love with you. you are amazing. you love bath time and you've begun trying to drink the bathwater. the vacuum intrigues you, and the broom is enchanting to you. you bobble your head around like you are dancing whenever music comes on, and i think it's because i sing to you and shake my head as i sing. your dad is finishing up his last semester in college and he is working very hard. i was looking for a job as a cake decorator but it seems like nobody is hiring and i want to make sure if i do get a job it's one that i absolutely thrive creatively in, because i wouldn't settle for anything less to be apart from you for one single minute. if i could get a job as a florist again that would be the very best. we aren't sure if we will be staying in orem for the summer, it is lovely here during the spring and summer and we always go to the sierra water park and that would be so much fun with you now, but i'd like to move to san diego so we can be near my family too! we go to the park every once in a while and you still arent sure about the swings or the playground but you love the slide and you love watching us shoot basketball hoops. we are both pretty awful, but you think it's funny and you sit in our cheap little foldup stroller so patiently and giggle. you are almost impossible to change, you flip over so fast and poo goes everywhere. we have to hold you down with our legs while we change you and you hate that. you have such a devious sweet nature. you love your daddy, and you startle easily. you sleep in a little kidney bean shape, with your knees under you and your bum in the air and your arms flung back with your hands facing up. this morning i walked in on you waking up and you didn't see me. you were facing the wall, and looking at your hands, moving them like they were asleep and just waking up too. and they probably were asleep after how you position them at night. you were just talking to yourself, sweet little coos. you aren't super talkative, but you make sounds and are trying out your voice more and more. you laugh in delight at small things, a toy you are excited about or if you hear us laughing you laugh too to join in on the fun. you love to facetime and pull off the keyboard keys. you put things on your head (try to) and you hold the phone up to the side of your head. you havesix teeth and you bite everything and everyone! you are very ticklish on your neck but you dont like to be tickled too much especially if you are sleepy. i love you my little sweetheart.
love
mom

twenty eight

dear grace
yOU ARE NINE MONTHS! you are biting everything. the other day i came into the kitchen because i could hear a crunching noise and you were there under the kitchen chair gnawing at one of the rungs like a little beaver. you are moving everywhere and eating everything. you crawl so fast and you are very very ticklish. you are a delight. you sing/talk to yourself in the mornings in your crib and it's a wonderful way to wake up hearing you over the baby monitor. you can stand by yourself but you wont, instead you travel from furniture to furniture standing and moving sideways holding on. sometimes you forget to hold on and plop down on your bottom. you hate to be on your back you have to always be on the move, so we've had to forgo the changing table and put you on the ground with our legs over you so you don't flip around while we change your bum. you take two naps a day. you love bathtime still and are becoming slowly comfortable laying down in the tub on your back but only briefly. you have learned how to wiggle your head nod back and forth and side to side and you look like a wriggly fish. you have also learned how to sound like a frog and you like to make that sound as you crawl around. it is really cute when you discover something you know you like and you giggle out loud. you have had a lot of ear infections and i worry you'll have to get tubes put in, but we'll wait and see- it might just be that youare growing a ton of teeth (you have FIVE) and it bothers your ears. a bottle is an inconvenience unless you are going to sleep- you try to eat while you move around everywhere! you are a happy healthy baby girl and we love you.
love
mom