we do still exist! not sure where i have been maybe trying to finish a quilt i am obsessed with, maybe lost in a good book. either way the schwarz's are still around and i am enjoying my last week in my twenties.
gracie just went in for her 15 month check up here are her stats: 21.4 pounds, 30 inches (in the last 3 months she grew 3 inches and gained 1 ounce but you would never know from looking at her).
last week some time candice mentioned to me that it was exactly one month from the last time i posted. so let me just say, "i am a bad blogger"! as embarrassing as it is to say i won't post, or for that matter look at other blogs, unless my house is clean. so if you have been to my house in the last month then you can agree to why i have not had anything new. so in review of the last month this is what is new at our house:
we had a fun easter:
we had dinner and a easter egg hunt at the forrest's
gracie started talking:
she would say a word here and there, but now she is on the new word everyday pattern. i love it! here are some of the words she can say:
yaddy (daddy)
hi
edi (levi)
bampa (grandpa)
bawh (ball)
uh oh
oh yeah (this one comes out very clear and funny)
ah ssssssssss (out side)
beeezzz (please - she gets anything she wants when she says this)
bahbu (bubbles)
animal sounds: sheep, cow, dog
she also says grandma, but it is a weird mixture of consonants that i can't put together. please note that mommy is not included on this list. one morning i walked in her room and she looked at me and said, "mama", but it has never happened again.
gracie and i have a new job:
yep, i am on round three with employment at the ymca. this time in the baby gym watching kids while their parents work out. i was needing a few doll hairs (as candice would say), so i thought it would be perfect for us because gracie could come with me. at first it was comical. i kept looking around for hidden cameras on the walls because i could have sworn i was going to be the subject on the next show on animal planet. usually they will show the mother bear protecting the young cub, but in our case it was the other way around. if i would hold another kid gracie would cry and growl and take the other kids shirt in an attempt to throw them off of me. she would also stand in front of my making her best attempt to get on my lap and all the while signing eat. i have to give her credit because she figured out the if i got up to go get her something to eat then the other kid would have to get off my lap. i guess she is smarter than me because it took me an extra week to figure that out. everyday she would get better at not caring and today she didn't care how many kids i would hold. she would come over ever once in a while for a kiss and a little hug of her own. i like it that way. i guess i still want her to need me, just not animal planet style.
we found out gracie has a peanut allergy:
this is never a pleasant experience, but it has to happen some time. we were in costco and sampled the uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. gracie had 3 small bites and 20 minutes later we were going 95 mph down the freeway. 95 is big for paul, the guy who will not speed for anything and has never had a traffic ticket. anyways, gracie was swollen, throwing up, coughing, had hives on her entire body and beginning to pass out. i ran her into the er and one epipen, one iv with a bunch of other medication and 6 hours later we were on our way home. as a side note the new centennial hills er is really nice and empty. as we were driving home paul and were talking about how this would change how we would eat. i told him that i thought that we should get rid of all the nuts in the house so she doesn't accidentally get into them. he then very adamantly said, "i am not getting rid of my nuts!" i calmly replied, "i don't think you should either." after a couple of seconds of silence we both laughed the rest of the way home.
please don't feed gracie nuts, even if we are on animal planet!
paul had last week off work. we tried to do something fun each day for gracie, so here is our week in review:
monday: play at the park with levi
tuesday:visit paris (the hotel...we traded in the real paris for gracie, definitely worth it!) and eat crepes!
wednesday: stayed home and let her get into what ever she wanted!
thursday: BIRTHDAY! cake pictures and the shark reef with levi.
sunday: family dinner and party for gracie, angela and my dad. melissa and luke were in town so we had all the larson's over too!
i am really behind on my posting and have a lot of catching up to do, but i thought i should skip some stuff and document one BIG milestone. gracie is walking! last week she would take a few steps here and there. then saturday 3 steps, sunday 5 steps and on tuesday while playing with levi at his house busted into a full across the room don't get in my way walk. today we went to have these pictures taken in the little outfit paul's parents got her for christmas and she wouldn't even let me hold her hand while she walked. i think she might have acquired a little attitude with her new found skill.
we have been trying to teach gracie sign language ever since she was about 6 months old. we finally have succeeded! about a month ago she started her first sign and today she signed the last of the ones we were teaching her. she learned them in this order:
wave (bye bye)
more
all done
clap clap
eat
milk
now that we have the basics of survival down we are going to move on to being thankful (please and thank you). i was motivated to signing with gracie when i was visiting melissa in spokane a while ago and ellery was screaming in the back seat of the car. melissa turned around and asked her what she wanted and she signed 'eat'. she calmed down when melissa told her that we were on our way to eat. i think gracie doesn't have as much frustration now because she can tell me what she wants when she wants it. she thinks she is a big girl now that she can communicate. i love sign language!
this picture was taken about 9 years ago. although i haven't actually seen it for years it is mentioned probably once a month by somebody in my family. pictured are: melissa, zannie, me and notice hayden on the rock to the right of me. he was upset about something so he wouldn't come and get in the picture with us. the photographer, probably april didn't even notice that she was capturing hayden in the background. we saw it after the film was developed (yeah digital was around or at least i didn't have it). so in our family if one of the kids is upset and walks off pouting, but still stays in site to see what is going on then we say, "is he/she doing a hayden on the rock" and we all know what it means. i had to post this picture because i too am trying to get organized with the new year and found it in a box. i was really excited because i thought that the only copy we had of it had fallen victim to the days of zig zag scissors and had cut hayden out of the picture. thank goodness for double prints!
a couple of weeks ago as gracie and i were coming down the stairs i stepped on this box and it went flying out from under me. i tried to catch myself and gracie, but that graceful movement did a number on my ankle. gracie was just fine. luckily i always carry my camera in my diaper bag and since we were leaving i had it with me. so i was able to capture my the view that i had for the next 45 minutes until paul and robyn showed up. gracie was all filled up on styrofoam by that time so she didn't want dinner that night.
gracie has acquired yet another nickname 'buffy' (as in buffy the vampire slayer). a little while ago she had her bottom 2 teeth come in and then all of the sudden she had fangs! this is the best picture i could get of them. i really like how she is doing her i'm gonna get you pose - so appropriate for the fangs.
our friend jeanna took our family pictures over a month ago, but i still wanted to post them. i think she did a really good job and i love the pictures of just gracie. it was pretty cold outside and especially for a certain little gracie who didn't want to keep her shoes on, but she was a trooper. click here to see our family pictures.
gracie's hair is a force to be reckoned with. there isn't a gel that will touch it. even when she is in the bath and i pour water on her head the sprouts immediately start to pop up. i have really come around and started to love the sprouts. they have to lay down eventually, but until then i will love every inch of them (2.5 right now). i started the sprout watch on the sidebar in case you want to keep up with gracie's hair :). the picture above is gracie and levi loving the box they can both fit in. not pictured are all of the new toys from christmas being completely ignored.
