A first time for everything...

So, a couple of days ago, Grace surprised both Jacob and I when she managed to take her own diaper off and then proceeded to take it over to the trash can, open the lid, and throw it away. I guess this shows how she feels about that. Cute smiles in front of the Christmas tree.
Just in case you were wondering... She has her bad moments:)


Grace and I put together our first Gingerbread house. We got it put together with only a few bites out of the walls! She loved pressing on the candy pieces into the frosting!

14 Months!

Grace turned 14 months yesterday! Life is just so much better with her in it.

The Latest

Sorry for the lapse in posts! Here's some recent pics of our sweetheart being silly with some free stickers from Trader Joe's and doing one of her favorite things-- digging through our flower pots! Everyday Grace's personality shines through more and more. She's full of life, energy, joy and determination. It's amazing to me how well she understands and communicates. When I told her this morning that it was time to change her diaper, she stood up from where she was sitting in the front of the house and walked all the way to her bedroom and reached up to her changing table (and this is a girl who Hates getting changed). Grace needs constant projects and tasks to keep her occupied. So, I send her on regular missions like "can you please take this to daddy" or "can you please throw this away" and "Grace why don't you pick a snack out of the cupboard" and "go pick out a book." Giving her a task can divert even the worse temper tantrums. I even put "accidental" spills on the floor so she can wipe them up with a paper towel. Her favorite toys these days are her Beauty and the Beast tea set and her Leap Frog refrigerator magnets that play music (lovingly given by Ben and Mary). Sometimes when she starts to get fussy about something I just tell her to go press "Farmer Tad" a character on the magnet set and this cheers her up 9 times out of 10!

The Sugar Plum Fairy Visits Glendora

Last night the Sugar Plum Fairy made a special appearance in Glendora and won the hearts of the city over as she graced the Glendora Harvest Party in Finkbiner Park with all of her splendor. Grace was too cute for words and seemed to love every minute of her Halloween romp. She went and went and didn't want to take her costume off. Abigail and I both commented how it was probably one of our most fun nights as her parents thus far. Such joy, and such beauty!

A trip to the patch!

Gracie's Birthday Week on Video

The past week has been a whirlwind of birthday bliss for the family. Grace was celebrated from Glendora to Brighton, and loved every minute of it. Take a look at some of the footage!

Gracie's First Birthday

We can hardly believe that our little Gracie is already a year old! What an amazing journey this has been thus far. A year ago today God gave us this precious gift that we have been marveling at ever since. She is more fun and more loving that we ever could have expected. We are so proud of who she is and who she is becoming. As she reaches one year, she is now fully on the move (walking and trying to run), she's speaking new words each day and is still as determined and fun-loving as ever.

Tonight Grace had her first birthday party. Grandma and Grandpa Aldrich, Uncle Ben and Aunt Becky, Ruth, Sebastian and kids, along with Aunt Karen were all present for the big event. Below you'll see some of the action, including the letter "G" cake that she enjoyed while donning her party hat. She now looks forward to another party later this week in Michigan as she goes to visit Nana and Papa Gaines, along with all her Uncles and Aunts in the Midwest.

Lil' Miss

This is how Grace lets us know she doesn't want to eat something on her tray these days-- She stacks the unwanted items on her water cup. Today, it was peas and strawberries.













She now sports 18 month clothes! She's enjoying her new walking legs more and more each day and I think is realizing the independence from Mom and Dad they bring. But thankfully, she's still always up for the opportunity to hold mom or dad's hand while she strolls and the little extra support it brings!







When we get our produce, Grace loves to carefully go through the box and investigate each item (not to mention talk to them).

And so it begins...

Today Grace Glory took her first official steps! Jacob and I are so proud of her, but I think she's even more proud (and if you know Grace I think you'd understand why:). And we're off!

11 Months and Counting!

So Grace is now 11 mos. and 2 days old and is in what I'm calling the "figuring things out" phase. She's always been determined, but her ability to focus on a task at hand and execute it until she's satisfied with her results is impressive. She'll climb up in her chair and get out of it over and over again until she's figured out the best way to get her feet back onto the floor-- Sometimes she steps out forward, other times she'll turn around and try to scoot out of it. But she doesn't stop until she's got down the fluid movement she desires. It's fascinating to watch her dangle her shoe in the air and then try to manipulate her foot into it. She either eventually gives up and then returns to it later, or stays focused until she's satisified with the outcome. In this figuring things out phase she's also become an expert copy cat. From brushing her hair and teeth to clapping and laughing to playing peek-a-boo with her blanket, she enjoys doing just about anything that we might be doing at the time. She even raises her hands during worship at church:) And of course her latest venture is walking! She's sooooo close. She stands freely with a big smile, raising her hands and clapping as if she, too, knows that she's close, but she just can't seem to put one foot in front of the other yet. Any day now! We'll keep you posted!

Grace's August Whereabouts

Grace has had a packed August beginning with her friend, Ian's, first birthday party. Then, taking off to Tahoe for a Gaines-Lampi reunion at the Aldrich cabin-- 15 adults and 5 small kids! Next, it was off to Florida for a visit with her Great Grandpa. Grace was a wonderful traveler. Here's a couple of snapshots of the past few weeks.Grace in her party dress at Ian's first birthday. I think she ended up enjoying Ian's presents just as much as he did.
Beautiful Tahoe! This is on a hike to Floating Island Lake.
Snoozing on dad on the long hike.
Grace had a great time with all of the other kids... Especially cousin Cash!

The whole Gaines-Lampi Gang! The Lampi's our very close friends of the Gaines' from Michigan. The two Lampi sons grew up with the four Gaines boys and were all best friends. As adults their friendships continue to remain strong and now even all of the wives and children are like family. We hope to make get togethers a tradition!

Grace was absolute perfection on the plane to Florida to see her Great Grandpa. Both going there and coming back she was amazing. Not one tear or fuss! We were so proud! Grace has a way of bringing joy everywhere she goes. She has become very flirtatious with people around her, laughing and smiling at them until they respond back to her. She demands attention and once you give it to her, you just can't help but smile along with her.
Great Grandpa Hunkele by his house in Sarasota.
Unlike the freezing cold Pacific, Grace loved the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Daddy and Daughter

Quite a Mouthful

It's been quite a week for Grace in more ways than one. Earlier this week while I was off getting some supplies for a home project, Abigail called ecstatic because Gracie was crawling towards a ball and actually saying, "ball, ball, ball." Grandparents were called and the words were authenticated. Now, I must say as her father that she has been saying "da da" for quite some time now, but we're not sure that's directed towards me because she'll say it to Abigail as well.

After uttering her first word, Grace kept it going by cutting her first tooth. We've been waiting for months with teething gel in hand. She seems to be taking it pretty well, with not much fussing, though we've had some long nights of late.

All in all, summer's going well with a lot of daddy and daughter pool time at the grandparent's. We swim every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and she absolutely loves it! We also had a successful Jamba Juice field trip this week where we split a Banana Berry smoothie... actually Gracie slurped most of it and I had to fight it away from her clutches to get a sip. So, in the end, I got her her own little Jamba cup. Smart dad!

Snapshots

Grace discovered drinking out of a straw a couple of months ago, so by 9 months she's got it mastered. Needless to say we can never drink out of a straw now without her wanting to get in on the action. Her newest craze is Jamba Juice! Sometimes when we don't feel like sharing we hide it behind our backs and then sip when she's not looking (it's always nice to know you can outsmart an infant).
Grace likes to get herself out of her carseat (high chair, stroller, etc.) we think she's really liking the new car.Everytime we open the refrigerator Grace makes a beeline for it. The other night as we were making dinner we didn't notice she actually got her hands on something until we turned around and saw that we she was helping herself to a piece of bread (Harley had already snuck his share of the loot to the living room).
She's such a cutie!

She's Back!

Those of you faithful Grace Glory blog followers may have noticed a slow down in the updates, which I can assure you has not been due to a lack of Grace doing new and exciting things. Rather, our camera's been in the shop for the past couple of weeks and it's been driving us nuts!
Grace is quite the firecracker and has amped up the anxiety levels in us times 10 over the past few weeks. She's constantly on the move, scaling furniture, mom and dad's legs, walls, and anything else she can manage to grab a hold of. Not to mention her particularities... Such as, only really liking foods she can feed to herself, never wanting to get dressed, having melt downs when you take a shower and don't bring her in with you, and night crawling around her crib which inevitably wakes her up and causes her to want to stay up and play (usually around 2a.m.). She's keeping us on our toes to say the least. And then there's the tender moments like her giving kisses on the lips, trailing you around the house so as not to let you out of her sight, and the big joyful welcomes when you get home from work (she actually claps now when I come through the door). I love it all because it's what makes her her and her uniqueness shines through more and more each day.
She's been spending most of her summer days hanging out with dad (as he's on summer break from teaching), going on walks to the park, and daily pool trips at Gramma and Grampas... It's such a hard life.

Gracie Gets Her Crawl On

Well, after weeks of lunging and not quite getting it right, Gracie has finally taken off and now there is no turning back. Take a look!

In a Conundrum...

Now that Grace has started to crawl, she is finding herself in sticky situations-- backed into corners and stuck in between furniture. It's fun to watch her explore her new found freedom, but also a little nerve racking as we are quickly finding out what is baby safe and what isn't!

Family Pics

Yesterday, Abigail, Gracie and I spent 2 hours with an amazing photographer named Jules Bianchi from LA who capture the essence of our daughter on film. Click here to get a sneak peak of some of the better ones that she's already posted on her blog. We are in awe!

Gracie's First Dip

Last Sunday, it was warm and sunny so we decided to head over to Gramma and Grandpa Aldrich's and let Gracie experience the pool with her new red bikini. As you'll see on the video, she rather likes to swim!

Memorial Day Skinny Dipping

We kicked off the first unofficial weekend of summer with quite a splash. After a late afternoon trip to Pooch Park in Claremont we had a BBQ at Gramma and Grandpa's where Gracie decided to take her first dip in the pool. She first started by dipping her toes in, and then wanted to go all in so shed her diaper and as evidenced by the photos below, she absolutely loved it. With the heat coming sooner or later, looks like we'll be spending lots of afternoons at the pool with our little guppie. She's also starting to try to crawl, so we're on borrowed time as far as that goes.