The H Family Christmas

One final Christmas post. We spent Wednesday with my Dad's side for a fun family Christmas. Everyone was able to make it except my sister's hubby. My grandparents have 2 sons, 4 granddaughters (and their hubbys), 4 great granddaughters, and 1 great granddaughter due in May. Besides her 2 sons my grandma always says the only way she gets boys is if they marry in. So I guess in the H family we can say that girls rule:) I'll leave you with a picture of the grandparents and their granddaughters.

Matt's Family Christmas (Part 1)

We spent Monday morning thru Wednesday morning with part of Matt's family celebrating Christmas. Some of the family was traveling out of country so we will conclude our Christmas with his family in January. We had some wonderful food including but not limited to ham, cheesy potatoes, eggs benedict, and sloppy joes. We also got some fun presents, enjoyed great company, and played several rounds of what I think is becoming the family game, Bananagrams.

Grace and Grandma going through her stocking.

Grace and Aunt Rachel.

I had to thow in one of Matt and me since we hardly ever post ourselves on the blog. Plus I like how our outfits coordinate. That's Matt's Uncle Scott in the background:)

Growing Baby - 4 Days to 8 Months

Every once in a while I am just completely amazed by how much Grace has grown. I took a picture of Grace with her Uncle Brett yesterday that reminded me of one I took when she was a couple days old. The way he is holding her looks so similar yet she is a totally different baby. I couldn't resist posting this on our blog.

Look how much she has grown (and Brett's facial hair has grown too)...

Snow!

We took Grace outside to play in the snow for the first time today. She couldn't really do much all bundled in her snowsuit but I think she kind of liked it.

Anne's Family Christmas

The day after Christmas my family got together and had a great day. We started out with a yummy brunch and proceeded to eat the rest of the day until a mid-afternoon meal. Grace was napping when everyone arrived and ate brunch so as soon as we were done we had to wake her up to open presents. I think everyone did a great job picking out and giving gifts. Some highlights were a new quilt my sister made for me, a cool picnic table my brother-in-law made for us, the digital camera my parents got for my Grandma, and some of the fun toys for Grace. After eating dinner we realized that because the weather wasn't great we all needed to leave at once. So we kind of rushed to get everything packed up and left in a hurry. Below are some pictures of the day.

Anne, Laura, Grace, and Grandpa

Grace is playing on her new toy that Matt assembled.

Cool picnic table Brett made with placemats and napkins that Laura made. It all folds up into a bag about the size of a camping chair.

Grace and Uncle Brett looking at his new screwdrivers.

Christmas Day

We started off Christmas Day waking up in our own house and doing our own gift exchange. Matt and I have traditionally bought each other stocking stuffers with a $50 total limit. The first time we did it we did a great job keeping to the rules. Now we cheat a little. I actually stayed close to the budget and all but one thing I bought fit into Matt's stocking (and it was really close to fitting). Matt on the other hand did not do a good job with the rules this year. He bought me a new wool winter coat. I really wanted one so I'm not complaining that he broke the rules but it was funny. A coat is no where near small enough the fit in the stocking:) We decided not to buy Grace presents this year but she had a fun time playing with my new spatulas. Around lunchtime we headed over to my parents house to relax and watch TV all afternoon before the rest of the family came in the next day.

I love this picture. She looks guilty because we caught her snooping in the presents.

Christmas Eve and Tang Dynasty

I'm going to blog about Christmas in a couple of installments just to avoid bogging our readers down with too many words. We started our Christmas celebration with our church family. We had a great worship service and then headed out to eat with some of our friends who were in town after church. Of course our choice was Chinese food at an excellent restaurant in town. Our friend Celina (and family) always goes out for Chinese on Christmas Eve and she has been with us both years. I think because of her we are starting a new Christmas Eve tradition. If we go next year I will say it actually is a tradition for us. I didn't take any pictures at church but below is one from dinner.

Merry Christmas

"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor." -- Isaiah 61:1-3

There is a lot of stuff mentioned in these 3 amazing verses from the prophet Isaiah. The summary is clear to me: Jesus came to save us. Thank God for Jesus!

So to the internet world and to the entire planet earth and even to our neighboring planets....from all of us at Pennyrile, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!

8 Months Old

Here is our 8 month report for Grace.

Eating: Grace is a great eater. She is still nursing 4 times a day and I still love that schedule. She is still eating solids for breakfast and dinner. We usually do fruit for breakfast and veggies for dinner with cereal at both meals. Some new foods she has tried this month are avacados, bananas, peaches, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, and green beans. I will add lunch in a week or two. I'd like to use lunch to practice with finger foods and try lots of new foods. She started doing really well with Cheerios this past month and seems ready to eat finger foods. I'm also going to start her on meat soon too.

Sleeping: No big change since last month. Grace takes 9 am and 1 pm naps with bedtime around 7. She has struggled a little with waking in the middle of her nap and pulling up in her crib and crying. I was having a hard time deciding when to go in a help her down and when to just let her cry. I put her down for a nap a few minutes ago and watched her through the crack in the door pull up and get back down so I know she can do it. I guess my struggles are over and maybe hers are too:)

Crawling/Pulling Up: I have posted a couple of times this month Grace's big accomplishments in this area. She started crawling a few days after she turned 7 months old and hasn't looked back since. She literally took off. She likes getting into things that are not hers but she's been fairly easy to manage. Then she started pulling up a couple weeks ago. She became less content just playing and just pulls up on everything. I know it is a stage and she is practicing her new skill but it has been a little wearing on me. I feel like I can't leave the room for a second because she is still learning to get down and she can find some of the strangest places to pull up. So we have employed the excersaucer a little more often lately. Sometimes days would go by without using it but now she is in it at least once a day.

Other Random Things: Grace has really taken to clapping lately (video below). She started out just banging her fists together and has now progressed to clapping with her hands open. I think it is adorable. She is also getting bigger by the hour. I have noticed several of her 6-9 month clothes are too tight or too short and have started packing some of those away. She is comfortably wearing 12 month clothes and hopefully she won't grow out of those before the weather gets warm this spring.

Why I Hate the Dentist

Even though I have had a great track record with the dentist it is still one of my least favorite places to go. I've never had a root canal. I only go occasionally for a cleaning. I've never had anything weird ever happen to me at the dentist but I hate going. I really have no reason to hate dentist just that I always have and today while I was getting my teeth cleaned I came up with a list detailing why I hate it.

1. I can't talk for 45 minutes straight.

2. That scraping thing they use grates at my nerves.

3. The dentist always tells me to get my wisdom teeth out. He is just waiting for the day to say, "I told you so" when I have to get them out.

4. Whenever the hygienist flosses behind my permanent retainer I think all of my teeth are going to pop out.

5. Drool. Things are a lot better now that they have a sucker but it's still annoying.

6. It hurts. Nobody wants their teeth messed with for so long.

7. The shame of explaining why you haven't been to the dentist in x months or years always is hard on me.

8. Brushing and flossing like crazy a week or two before the appointment is annoying.

9. Dry lips. I hate how dry my lips get while they are cleaning.

10. The wort part about the dentist to me is the wait. You sit there in silence while the hygienist cleans. Then the dentist comes and taps away. And finally 45+ minutes later you hear the results. I generally stress most of the time that they are finding multiple cavities. The funny thing is in my mouth they never do. But I feel like it is comparable to waiting to get your score on a big exam, finding out if you're accepted into a college or program or waiting for a job offer.

And that is why I hate the dentist.

Time Travel

I have been pondering the science of time travel over the last several days. Ok, I haven't really been thinking about it that much but after recently watching a lot of shows with time travel in them (Star Trek and Lost) I have come to the conclusion that time travel is very confusing.

But with all that to say if I were to travel into time I think I would go to the future. I'm not sure when but I'm don't think I can handle the past. I rely on too many modern conveniences.

Pulling Up

Grace has gone and pulled herself up. I was actually really surprised that she did it even though I knew it was the next thing on her "to do list". She had already pulled up on me but I didn't expect her to pull up on her toy and then my laundry basket. She is still working on the couch because it is kind of fluffy and she can't get a good grip but I think she'll have that figured out soon.* I'll leave you with some pictures.

First time pulling up on an object and not me. She didn't really know what she got herself into.


Pulling up on the laundry basket. The socks were such a tempting toy and she got one. She was proud of herself this time as she had been practicing pulling up on her toy for the last few days.

*10 minutes after posting this Grace pulled up on the couch. So I guess she figured it out really soon:)

Grace's Christmas Outfit

I've been working hard to make a cute little outfit for Grace for Christmas this year. I think it turned out adorable! It was hard since it has been a while since I've made clothes especially with ruffles, sleeves, a hood and tiny little seams. But, I had fun making it and think it turned out well. I couldn't wait to take pictures of Grace in it so here is a preview. I'm sure I'll post again with her wearing the outfit:)

Free Holiday Card + Postage

One of my friends has a great blog with lots of deals and coupon tips. She posted a link the other day about sending a free card from gmail. Go HERE and you can send you own card to anyone you want (in the US). If you don't have anyone to send the card to send one to an American Solider at this address by Monday, December 7th.

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456*

*I originally posted an address that the US postal service doesn't accept mail for anymore. This one is accurate.

eBay: The Thrill of the Fight

Where in the world have I been? Not on eBay until a day ago. And now I am addicted. I have always been a little bit skeptical of eBay in the sense that I was convinced everyone is out to steal my money and not actually sell me things. Yes, this is a bit irrational but we are often irrational about things we don't know. Over the course of the last several months I have gotten to "know" eBay a little bit more through observing other people say with pride, "I got that on eBay." By "that" I mean really cute kids clothes. Because eBay is over saturated in this market I believe it leads to some pretty good deals. So, yesterday I signed on and began a bidding war. I won 2 pairs of super cute brand new tights for Grace and feel very confident I will actually receive them in due time. I have also learned the art of watching and item. This way I never actually have to purchase it but I can think about in my head what I might be willing to pay and pretend bid. In the end I think this will save me a lot of money. But, I know I will always turn to eBay to do some shopping in the future. Well enough blogging I need to see what is happening on eBay!