Six months? Seriously?

Here is the journal entry in Grace's baby book for her 6th month:

November came and went (very quickly), and my little personality is coming out more and more. I babble and blow raspberries and I tug and grab at anything and everything within reach. I smile easily and often, especially at Mommy and Daddy, and my face just LIGHTS UP when I see or hear my Bubba! We were able to spend lots of time with family this month. I enjoyed my first Ivanhoe and getting to meet all the new people! I was especially fond of Papa Otis!

For Thanksgiving, we had TWO celebrations. The first one was at the Ivans’ house with the Swartzs, and Grammy & Granddad. Uncle Brad, Aunt Jess, and Addison joined us LATE that night and we had a second Thanksgiving at home on Friday. We moved ahead with solids throughout the month, and as anyone who knows me could have predicted, I was not a big fan to start out with. However, by Thanksgiving, I was really getting the hang of it (maybe I was inspired by everyone else enjoying their food so much!). So far, I’ve had rice, wheat, and oat cereal (mixed with a bit of apple juice) as well as sweet potatoes, squash, pears and bananas. Mommy is trying her hand at making all my food and it’s going pretty well! I still nurse 5 times a day, every 3 to 4 hours; my bedtime is around 7 o’clock, with Mommy waking me before she goes to bed to feed me one last time. I had my 6 month appointment on November 20th. I weighed 13 pounds, 8 ounces and was 24 inches long. Mom thinks some of these measurements must be off, though, because the nurse said I was 24.5 inches long at my 4 month appointment…. either I'm the incredible shrinking baby, or somebody's notes are not quite right! The last thing I have to report is that I am SITTING UP!! It happened really fast. At the beginning of Thanksgiving week I couldn’t do it, and by week’s end, I was a pro! Somewhere in the middle of that, I also started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Mommy keeps saying I need to slow down, but I know that freedom is just a crawl away and I can taste it!

Here is a video of Grace being Grace. I don't know what you would call this... growling? Yelling? She does it all the time, happy or sad. Ben was trying to get her to blow raspberries, but she wasn't really interested. If she ends up talking half as much as her brother, I'm going to be deaf by 35. I think I'm in trouble!

The Gored Snowman

I think it was the Christmas of 2005 (pre-Ben) that Brian and I were window shopping on Main Street in Boerne. We ran across these little snowmen made of out different painted gourds. I commented on how cute I thought they were, and my wonderful, attentive hubby had one tucked away under the tree on Christmas morning!





That year, as we packed up the decorations, I tossed Brian the snowman's box and asked him to label it. To his own amusement (he cracks himself up) he wrote "Gored Snowman" on the box, instead of Gourd Snowman. I probably giggled, but I know I recovered quickly enough to shake my head and roll my eyes.

Now, as I unpack the Christmas boxes each year, I am subjected to Brian's humor. I pull out that box, and I picture what might be tucked away inside: a snowman, stabbed through with a spear, or a tusk, or maybe a pool cue.... I don't know... what would be the weapon of choice for assaulting a snowman? Then I giggle... and shake my head... and roll my eyes.






This year, as I was putting it out, I showed it to Ben. Hey buddy, look at this little snowman. "No, Mom, it's a snowLADY. Look at her eyelashes." Okay, so he's right, it is a snowlady. He walks away, losing interest, then pauses to look back over his shoulder at me and adds, "Actually, it's a squash." I giggled, and shook my head, and rolled my eyes.