3 More Days!

I have 3 more days 'til the end of the school year! WOOHOO! I am very excited. I'll have a month off, then start a new year on July 7th. It is looking like I will get the job I want for next year as the computer lab monitor/teacher. I am quite excited about that- it will be a great job for me and a nice change from what I've been doing.
Gracie seems to be doing better- still snotty, but not bothered by it at all.
Not much else going on. Kinda boring around here for now. Kelly and Sherry are getting close to d-day- can't wait!!! New babies!

Gracie's First Cold

Poor Gracie! She has her first cold. She's all snotty and coughing some. She's handling it quite well- just as happy as ever. I keep using the snot sucker (aspirator) on her, which she hates. It works pretty good, though. Luckily she's still sleeping just fine- we have the penguin humidifier in her room and I think that really helps. At least she's not running a fever or being cranky.
I have the worst headache today. It started around 3:00 this afternoon, and it let up for a little while after dinner due to some Excedrin, but now it is back. I need to get in the bed. Nighty night.

New Pics

As promised, my feeble attempts at Gracie photography. We'll get some professional ones done soon.

New Toys

We bought Gracie a playmat/gym last night. This is the one http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2744546 . It was expensive, but it got really good reviews. She seems to like it! Right now she's flinging the little flower mirror around and chewing on one of the toys. I like that it has walls you can fold up- might help keep the pets from walking all over her when she's on the floor.
So, we got the go ahead for rice cereal. Oy. Not so much. We tried it the other evening and it didn't work so well. See video. This is the video in which she isn't crying. She cried in the other one. NO food got past her mouth, which I know is par for the course. I've gotten all kinds of advice, from putting cereal in her bottle (which won't help us teach her to eat off a spoon which is my goal) to waiting a couple weeks, to trying every couple days, to giving her something sweet. I think I'm gonna try every couple days- it is probably going to take her a while to get the hang of it.
I have been trying to recycle more recently. Either Kelly or Erika said a while ago that they typically have more recycles than trash each week, and that is awesome! We produce SO much trash for 3 people. So I got a little carry-basket and keep it next to the trash can. Formula bottles ALONE take up a huge amount of trash, so its great I can recycle them. I've been doing well, I think. We have a really easy recycle program here that lets you mix just about everything up in the same bin.

A couple cute pics

Here are some photos from Mother's Day at Randy's Granny's house:

Gracie and Grandpa

Gracie and Great-Granny

4 months old!

Today is Gracie's 4 month birthday! Bless her heart- she had her checkup today and got 3 pokes to the leggies! Poor kid. She did ok though, screamed for a little while then calmed down. She was so cute with the doc- he was an older guy and reminded us of Bill Cosby. He was sweet, talking to her and playing with her. He even kissed her little head at the end! He's my favorite doc we've seen so far, as far as personality goes. Really calm and gentle. She checked out fine- is growing appropriately (50% for weight, 75% for height and 35% for head circumference). He advised us to go ahead and start rice cereal anytime now. I think we'll start later this week, after she recovers from her shots. I've kept up with the Tylenol and she hasn't been all that fussy or anything. I went today about bought some rice cereal and oatmeal cereal, and some little bowls and spoons. This ought to be fun! I hope she does ok with foods- nobody we know of in the family has allergies or anything.
Katie got to babysit Gracie for a while today- I was off work but I had a meeting to go to, and Katie volunteered to watch her, and she said Gracie did great.
We have 14 more days of school left. This week is EOG testing week for track 1, so it is sure to be crazy. I'll be glad when this week is over. Then, one full week, a 4 day week and 2 days! Yahoo!
I will do some 4 month pics later this week hopefully, and maybe a video!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy day to all the moms and moms-to-be out there! This is my first mother's day and Gracie sure has been a sweetie today (of course, she is most days). She got me what I wanted- a digital camcorder! So I can take precious videos of all the cute things she does, and share them here!! So, be prepared for lots of cute videos, as the camcorder is insanely easy to use. Now, let's try to post a few here and see if it works... Hmm. It is loading. It looks like it will take a while. I hope the quality ends up being better than the other video I posted a while back.

It is getting close to Gracie's 4 month birthday- Tuesday. She has her next round of shots that day, which I understand might produce more of a reaction than the first set. Joy. I was reading in the baby book that just when you think they can't get any cuter and more endearing, they do. And each day she certainly gets cuter. She's really working on the hand-eye coordination. She likes to hold onto those links, so we bought a big pack of them and she is going to town with them. I also bought a sippy cup, and tried it with her last night, but she didn't get it very well. I don't know why I want her to use a sippy cup, besides to give her some control over something. I haven't started solids yet, and don't know when I'm going to. I think her tongue-thrust reflex is still too strong. We'll talk to the doc about it.

Not much else going on. We have 3 weeks of school left. Wee!