Thursday, February 24, 2011

Visiting Grace's birth dad's family

Back in January, we went to visit Grace's birth dad and his family. We had so much fun and it's so wonderful to see how much love this little girl has.

Grace with her birth dad and birth cousin. Her birth cousin just ADORES Grace! :)
Birth dad and Grace walking. She will be anybody's friend if you help her walk. Lol.
Checking out birth cousin's hair. I think Grace is jealous. :)
Getting smooches from her birth cousin. He loves Grace too and kept asking me to put her on his lap. :)
Grace with Birth Grandma (Nana Glenna), Birth Dad, and Birth Grandpa (Papa Pride)
Grace with her birth dad, birth aunts, and birth uncle.

Open adoption is so amazing in my life. I love having all of these wonderful people there for me, for Robby, and especially, for Grace. I'm so glad she will have this part of her heritage and she will always know that she is so loved by this family (as well as birth mom's family).

What Grace has been Learning

Grace is growing like crazy. Every day it seems like she is so much older. She is constantly learning and amazing me. Here are a few of the things she has been learning. :)

How to give kisses. She loves giving any of her toys kisses. It takes a little more coaxing for Robby or I to get a kiss, but she will sometimes submit to being kissed. Lol.
She is learning to blow kisses. This is pretty much as far as it goes. She doesn't understand the whole blowing the kiss. I think she just likes kissing herself. Lol.
She is learning to crawl on her hands and knees. She's been scooting on her belly for over 3 months so it's about time! :)
Here she is crawling some more. She gets really excited when she does. It's still really slow but she's starting to get the hang of it. She still scoots on her belly when she gets frustrated though.

She's learning to feed herself. These are one of her favorite foods. Peas. She also loves Broccoli, carrots, butternut squash, and cauliflower. She loves anything that we are eating. But her favorite food by far, Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus. Weird, I know. :)
Checking out the peas. She's definitely working on that Pincer grasp!
And Grace just being her cute little self. You can see her bottom teeth in this picture. She's also just had 1 top tooth poke through last week and her second middle top tooth will be poking through in the next week. And she is definitely, like her shirt says, a Princess. :)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Time Passes Quickly

6 years ago on the 17th, I said Yes to one of the best questions ever. "Will you marry me?" It's been a crazy ride since. A little over a year after that, we started going through infertility. 4 years after that, this happened. It's been exactly 2 years since that day. I've been feeling really depressed thinking about it. It's been really hard the past few weeks. I keep having this feeling that I want to be pregnant. I blame it on hormones and being a woman. ;) I'm trying to remember that it's ok to want that. Even if it will never happen. (Side note: Found out from one of my adoptive mommy friends that only 7% of women who adopt then become pregnant. Everyone just happens to know someone in that 7% so it seems like it's more). I'm trying to remember to continue to allow myself to grieve that I won't get to feel the little kicks on the inside of my tummy. I won't get to read the "Pregnant" on a little white stick. I won't get to have them rub that goop on my tummy and hear the words "It's a..." And it's ok to be sad about it, as long as it doesn't consume me.

I was then going back over old posts and found this one and this one. I am so incredibly blessed. I am so grateful that our infertility led us here. I have an incredible daughter. She is truly my light and my joy. She is my saving grace. I count my blessings every day for her. I'm also blessed with two amazing birth families that love her and love Robby and I. It is so incredible to have so many people who love this one little girl. She is such a miracle and I wouldn't trade any of my experience for anything. She came exactly the way she was supposed to. She is sealed to Robby and I for time and all Eternity. Just as if she had come through birth. I love her as much as if she were my flesh and blood. She is a miracle.


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Bath Time

Grace is really starting to enjoy bath time. This coming from the baby who screamed the entire time during a bath for the first several months. She now splashes happily for at least 10 minutes and gets a little upset when I take her out.

Grace with her Tinkerbelle toy.
Grace thinks it's hilarious when I put a cup on her head.
She loves trying to catch the water in her hand. She will even try catching it with her mouth sometimes. Lol. She has started swimming like a little froggy on her belly too. She is definitely going to become my little fishy this next summer as we enjoy pool time. :)

Valentine's day

Here's Grace in her Valentine's outfit. I couldn't find anything I liked (and that was her size) that was Valentine's related so I found this cute little thing. She is a little Princess and I hope she doesn't have to kiss too many frogs. ;)
Grace pulls herself up on to everything nowadays. I think it shows off the cute little ruffles on her pants too. :)
Tried to get Grace to help hold the Valentine.
Grace with her Bear. She is so big and keeps getting bigger.
Checking out her Valentine. :)