Not the greatest blogger

Oookay so as you all may have noticed, I haven't been the best at keeping up with this, but these past two months have been pretty busy and just flown by! So, let me try to catch you up on our summer! First let's back up a little bit to the end of June... Gracie made her debut at her first Jubilee Day. Although it was ridiculously hot that day, she managed to stay cool and even came home with an Amish made Eagles hat! Here's a few pics from the day (and a few more that I just couldn't resist posting b/c they're so darn cute!!)

Yea, I hold my own bottle now

Mom why are you always taking pictures of me?

4 Months Old!!!

Well we had Gracie's 4 month check up on July 2nd and as usual, she took all her shots like a champ! We were also excited to find out that she was finally over 10lbs! (11lb 10oz to be exact, still only 13th percentile for weight). She was 24in long (43rd %) and had a 16in head circumference (43rd %). The doctor told us that we could start solids whenever we felt comfortable, and given that she was still so tiny, we decided to start her on some cereal. Initially we just started with a small amt of rice cereal once a day and a little in her bottle at night (which seemed to help her sleep a little longer). She's starting to enjoy time in her exersaucer and is doing much better at sitting up in her bumbo chair. She tries reaching for objects, not always successfully and of course everything goes into her mouth. "Rolling" seems to be her primary mode of transportation these days and bath time has become more fun as she's discovered how to splash with her legs. Gracie's 4 month "birthday" also happened to be her first 4th of July. This year was pretty low key though, no fireworks, just time with Grandma and Grandpa and a date night for Mommy and Daddy.

Star Spangled Baby

Although we weren't happy about the circumstances for the visit, we were excited to have a surprise visit with the Yinglings. It was interesting to see how much Gracie and Abby have grown in the two short months since we went to visit them in Michigan. They are both about the same size now. Here are a few pictures from their visit, along with a few other random ones. Dave has gotten really good at picking out outfits and accessories for Gracie, so I thought I would show off some of his fashion sense too.

She looks so mad in this one, but we think it's hilarious!

The puppies are keeping guard while Gracie plays

   During the first week in August, we enjoyed our annual trip to the cabin with my parents. They were in their glory being able to have Gracie all week, and they loved showing her around the cabin and taking her for boat rides. She of course was not wild about the life jacket, but as soon as the boat was moving she was passed out! While we were there, we also decided it was time to start on something more than cereal, so we made our first attempts at carrots, which seemed to go considerably better given that she'd had a month to practice with cereal. Overall the trip was very relaxing, but as with all vacations, it was waaay too short!

1st attempt at carrots & Daddy's 1st attempt at feeding Gracie

Sleepy baby

Not sure if I've talked about this before or not, but Petunia (what Dave and I call Gracie) gives us "The Lip" when she gets upset. This is the first chance I've had to actually get it on camera, but needless to say as pitiful as she looks, we think it's adorable!!

5 Months Old!

Well it's hard to believe we are at the 5 month mark already, and in honor of that, Gracie has 2 teeth that have decided to poke through! Although she's been a little fussy, we feel very lucky that we haven't had too terrible an experience with teething. The unfortunate thing is now when she bites us, it actually hurts! This is one small part of why we've decided to start weaning her from breastfeeding. She's figured out that it's easier to drink from a bottle than it is from me, and therefore it has become more of a stressful experience for each of us, rather than a bonding one. She also doesn't seem to be getting enough from me when she does actually nurse and we end up having to give her a bottle anyways.

Otherwise, Gracie has been growing by leaps and bounds this past month. We weighed her at my parents and believe that she is close to 15lbs now (I know! Took her forever to get above 10lbs and now she gains 4lbs in 1 month!?!) It's so awesome to watch her grow though. She's constantly reaching and grabbing for objects, she LOVES spending time in her exersaucer and rolling around on the floor. Ruxin has become her best bud and doesn't seem to mind that she likes to pull on his jowls, ears, pretty much anything she can get her hands on. She's fascinated by colors, sounds and textures (Daddy's beard is especially fun to pull on). And we've even gotten her laughing and giggling now too.

Cocktail hour with Pappy

Gracie also had some fun family activities this month so far. Sherri (Dave's sister) and her husband Wallie, their daughter Jessica and granddaughter Ruby came to visit Sandy and Dick and both Dave and Gracie got to meet Ruby for the first time. She and I also attended Jana's (Dave's cousin) baby shower and we are anxiously awaiting baby Lane's arrival. Gracie also got to meet cousin Denise for the first time at the shower too.

Meeting Cousin Denise

Grandma Sampson, Gracie, Ruby, and Jessica

In the past two weeks or so, we've been excited to see Gracie improve on her sitting skills. She went from leaning all the way forward constantly to actually being able to sit up on her own (although we usually put the boppy around her just in case). As far as eating goes, Gracie has been doing excellent! We have gone through pretty much all the vegetables and she now is eating carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, and green beans. Grandma and Grandpa Sampson just got a jumperoo and Gracie absolutely LOVES it! So much so in fact, we plan to buy one to have at our house too.

Okay well I think I've finally gotten you caught up on all of our activities over the past two months (phew!) and I'll try to do better with my blogging in the future! I have a bunch of videos to add, but I haven't figured out how to add them from my phone yet, so hopefully you will see them soon!