Gracie month to month: month 7

Trying to take a good picture of a wiggly 7 month old is not easy. Especially when that wiggly 7 month old is in a chair and sitting next to a chalk board that just so happened to take you 30 precious minutes to get looking decent. :) But, my oh my are 7 month olds fun?? I know Gracie sure is.

This has been a big month for Gracie. She started out this month rolling all over the place then moved on to scooting backwards. Now she can get into a sitting position from laying down and do the army man crawl to get to any of her big sisters toys.  Her newest trick is rocking on all 4's and trying to lunge forward. ha! You know what all this new activity means, right? It means my precious, mommy loving girl is gaining a little independence and deciding it's perfectly okay to spend some time out of momma'a arms and on the floor. :) We still get plenty of snuggles in, though.

***a little photography trick I learned this week...black and white makes an over exposed picture look not so over exposed. ;)***

Gracie made her daddy one proud Papa this month by saying "da da"! Now she's just a babbling all day long, calling her "ma ma" and her "da da" and saying something like "nah nah nah" and "bah bah bah". As you can imagine, we can't get enough.

Gracie was not very interested in looking at my camera....

Thanks to her big sister, Ella Claire, I got a few glances my way. And, even a few smiles, because Gracie thinks big sister is the funniest thing in town! (and sometimes she is!)

Whew, what a month! It's busy, busy at our house with a crawler and a toddler, but so much fun! I'd be telling a story if I said I wasn't absolutely pooped by the end of the day (actually, it hits me about 6:50 every morning since I'm still up 2-3 times a night), but I wouldn't trade these days for anything. I love being mom to our sweet girls and I'm so thankful for them!

Gracie at 6 months
Gracie at 5 months
Gracie at 4 months
Gracie at 3 months
Gracie at 2 months
Gracie at 1 month

friday night ramblings...

It's 11:38 pm on Friday night, and I'm sitting on the sofa trying to find the motivation to get up, walk to my bedroom and go to sleep. I couldn't find any, so I decided to blog! When I say blog, I really just mean share a bunch of pictures. :) 

I am oh so proud to announce that I shot all of these pictures in full blown MANUAL! Yep, that's right. No mo' auto! Now, don't look too closely, I have a long way to go. I also have no editing software to clean them up and make them real pretty. But, I am thrilled to be learning how to use the settings on my camera.

And, yes, Ella Claire is wearing a Christmas shirt. I found it in the back of her closet as I was moving all of her winter clothes to the front and it looked so small. I tried it on her and she wouldn't take it off. She has become very opinionated about her wardrobe lately. She either refuses to wear it, or refuses to take it off. I think she is going to be a little strong-willed like her momma. We might have a long road ahead of us!

Don't worry, I don't allow her to jump on her bed. She is my fearless dare devil and has to be closely supervised at all times. She was climbing on all sort of things (our kitchen table and our extremely high bed, included) at just 16 months old.

We took family pictures last Saturday and the photographer kept telling EC that Minnie Mouse was in her camera. So she now thinks minnie is in my camera. :)

I have to interrupt and say that as I am sitting here typing away on the sofa, hubs is tucked nicely in bed. He has to work tomorrow. For about the 5th time now, I have heard this LOUD buzzing sound coming from our room. I went back there to see what it was and the alarm on the clock we have sitting on my nightstand keeps going off. EC pushed a few buttons on it this morning and she must have accidentally set the alarm. We've never used it as an alarm clock and I guess Jeremy keeps hitting snooze!

anyway, back to pretty pics of my babies. :)

I caught a sneeze...

Ok, time for bed! If you have any photography tips that you would like to share, I'm all ears! Have a wonderful weekend!

Introducing......

Gracie Joy Stephens

September 18, 2011 at 2:58pm

7 pounds 12 ounces

21.5 inches

wedding showers and baby preparation

So sorry for my lack of blogging lately! I seem to be apologizing for my absence every time I get on here. Life is so busy, but so fun right now. Besides the anticipation of our baby girl, I will be getting a new sister in about 5 weeks! My brother Brian, is marrying his best friend, Jessica on October 8th and we are busy, busy with wedding preparation. We have so many exciting things going on! Besides hosting a lingerie shower next weekend, I am helping my mom, along with my 2 sisters, with the rehearsal dinner, attempting to build a new office at work, and celebrating Brian's birthday, Jeremy's birthday, my dad's 60th birthday and Ella Claire's 2nd birthday, all before the wedding, and all while hoping I go into labor at any time! :)

I'm 36 weeks and I feel and apparently look (thanks to so many kind comments, mostly from strangers), like I am about to pop! :) According to my ultrasound yesterday, Gracie is weighing in at a whopping 6lbs 12oz, and that could be off by 1/2 a pound either way. Ella Claire weighed 6lbs 6oz at 36 weeks and weighed 7lbs 10oz at birth at 38 weeks and 1 day. I'm getting a little nervous that I might have a large baby if she doesn't come early! Here is a picture at week 36.

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned moving Ella Claire into her big girl room. She is officially moved in and she loves it! I am so thankful that she adjusts so well to change! She loves her new bed and is sleeping so much better than she did on her crib mattress. She does wake up occasionally during the night, but I just go in her room and tell her it's still dark outside and when the sun shines through her window she can come get into mommy and daddy's bed...AND IT WORKS! She goes back to sleep no problem! As soon as I am officially finished with her room, I plan on posting pictures. It's not quite ready yet.

Last weekend, Jess had a wonderful shower hosted by my aunts and cousins. They always go above and beyond, and this one was no exception!! It was such a nice shower and Jess looked absolutely beautiful! She got some really great gifts too!!

Ella Claire was being a silly goose with her cousin Caylee.

Yes, I got two of the mini quiche', they were that good!! And those spreads at the bottom of my plate, those were different flavored homemade butters. I could have literally eaten them with a spoon!

Jess was so sweet to ask the little girls to come help her open presents!

I didn't get any pics of Anna Lauren and Ella Claire at the shower, but I got these later that night at my grandmas house. Anna Lauren fed Ella Claire some yogurt; she was Ella Claire's bff after that! :) My girl loves yogurt!

In preparation for baby sister, I have finally pulled out my embroidery machine that Jeremy bought me early this spring after we found out baby #2 was going to be a girl.

I have monogrammed some things for Gracie...

And, I couldn't leave out Ella Claire. She was in desperate need of bigger panty covers. Hers now look huge next to the newborn ones for Gracie!

I have washed and folded all of our baby girl blankets.

The bedding for the cradle should be finished this week. I am so excited to see it!!

Ella Claire has been helping get ready for baby sister too. Keeping her car seat warm. :)

I found her baby in the bouncy seat the other night. :)

Our favorite book these days is "sister book", as Ella Claire likes to call it.

I promise she does have clothes!

Just a few sweet pictures of Ella Claire sleeping before I go.

I'm planning to be back soon to share some pictures of someones first haircut! Hope your weekend is just swell!!