Before and After Church

Another day, another cute outfit. Ready for her first outing to church...

Jonah's finally allowed to hold Gracie again since his cough is gone. It's his latest obsession (his mouth is orange from the cantaloupe he ate for lunch)...

Our new family dogpile photo (taken before Jonah was told it was naptime)...

Saturday Morning Photos

I've been having issues keeping my camera batteries charged, so the pictures have been far and few between lately. I finally resolved the issues this morning, so here are some new photos.

Gracie's eyes are clearing up and definitely turning blue. They are quite a bit darker than Jonah's, though...

When Jonah lays on the floor with Gracie, he always wants to touch his head to hers. I don't know why...

First smile captured on camera...

Jonah insisted on staging a picture of Gracie with all his favorite stuffed animals (Puppy, Little Bear, Texas Tech Bear), and of course, her Build-A-Bear too...

Guns Up

Jonah has been OBSESSED with his Texas Tech shirt lately. He tries to wear it every day, and often insists, which results in huge showdowns when it's covered in popsicle stains. His teacher at school (who has a lot of children to remember) recognizes the shirt now.

Last weekend, Jonah suddenly realized that we were ALL wearing our Texas Tech shirts. For a child like Jonah, who loves to collect things, this was seriously wonderful. I imagine, in the future someone will ask him to go to his "happy place" and this will be the day he remembers.

Michael spent some time trying to teach Jonah to put his guns up.

It didn't quite process...

First Day of School

Jonah started pre-school on August 11th. I took a few pictures, but they didn't turn out great. I'll post some anyway just to help me remember the day.

His teacher told me he did well, but, "he does like to talk". Yes. We knew that.

Gracie's quilt

Jonah really loves the quilt that came with Gracie's crib bedding. He calls it her magic quilt. He regularly drags it from her room to the living room and spreads it on the floor so I'll put Gracie down on the quilt. At his level.

I think he loves it the best because the outer borders of the quilt make a perfect race track for his cars...

and Gracie's cool with that...

most of the time.

Girlie Time

Christel and Kathleen have been visiting from Texas (*girlie squealing*), and yesterday Jonah had his first day at pre-school. While he was yuckin' it up with his new friends in the 3 year old class (pictures to be posted soon), his Aunties and I were having full-blown-girlie-time with Baby Grace. Pink tutus were involved.

Bonding with Daddy

Gracie's starting to spend more time with her eyes open. She smiles more for her Daddy than anyone else. (I think she may have a dimple! I'm not 100% sure.)

Now you see it. Now you don't.

The Build-a-Bear has been mysteriously appearing wherever Gracie is. A couple of days ago I found Gracie in the swing like this...

Bloggerific!

I asked Kelly at Fabulous-K to beautify my blog, and she delivered! I love this makeover so much, I can't close my browser.

If you're looking for me later today, I'll be staring at my blog header.

Funny Baby Tarzan

The Great Powder Spill of '08

I woke up this morning around 7:00 to the sound of my three year old's voice calling for Daddy. Michael had left for work an hour earlier, so I headed to Jonah's room to see what he needed.

The smell of baby powder was strong in the hallway. It got stronger as I neared Jonah's room. When I opened his door, the smell slapped me across the face. I actually coughed. Apparently Jonah calls for Daddy instead of Mama when a mess has been made.

There was powder EVERY.WHERE. Starting here.

all over the floor (that's Llamas in Pajamas covered in powder, in case you were wondering),

across Jonah's pillows that were scattered on the floor,

all over his bed,

and then in a circle around the rest of his room, ending with his rocking chair and ALL is books. *Sigh*

We just spent an hour wiping, vacuuming, and dusting a room the size of a postage stamp. When finished, Jonah and I had a conversation that sounded something like this,

Mama: "You need to say, ' I'm sorry Mama for making this mess. I won't play with the powder anymore.' "

Jonah: "I sorry, Mama. I not play with power 'nymoh."

Mama: "That's right. No more powder."

At that point I lowered the window-blinds and powder exploded in my face. I had failed to see the layer of powder on almost every slat of the blinds! We will now refer to this incident as The Great Powder Spill of '08. At least it wasn't turkey giblets. (Blog about THAT Aunt Christel.)

Baby Einstein Moment

I discovered this morning that Gracie knows all her vowels...

"A"

"E"

"I"

"O"

"Thbbbbbt"

...what, you say? That's not a vowel? Well, then...

"U"

and, yes. I do walk around taking pictures all day long.

Precious Moments

I'm so proud of the big brother Jonah is becoming.


He is working hard to be gentle with Gracie. He wants to make sure she is happy and warm. To the extent that he will share his Nannie blankets with her. I'm telling you right now, people. Sharing your Nannie blankets means true love.


If she cries, he gets a little frantic because he knows she needs something but he's not sure what it is. If she smiles at him, he beams.

When he lays on the floor with her, and I watch them together, I feel like I'm melting. It's probably the most precious thing I've ever seen.