Thanksgiving

Gracie had a great first Thanksgiving! We went to Randy's parents that morning to fry a turkey (YUM!) to take to his Grandma's, and we had lunch there. Then we went back to Randy's parents to fry another turkey to take to his Granny's, where we ate dinner. Gracie got to meet a lot of new relatives, and tasted several traditional Thanskgiving foods: cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, ham and stuffing. It was a nice day!

We are also proud to announce that we have almost finished our Christmas shopping! A lot was done last week, and I have the majority of the gifts wrapped as well. We have a 4.5 foot fake Christmas tree that we put on our coffee table in the corner of the living room- so far, Gracie has not pulled it down. We got everybody new stockings and have decked out our front porch with lights. We're all Christmased-up!

Gracie has also been practicing her walking, but still prefers to crawl. She's getting a little better about her walking attempts, though. Won't be long!

7 steps

Gracie took 7 unassisted steps tonight! Randy had plunked her down on her feet in the middle of the living room, and she stood there for a while, then decided, on her own, to walk to the couch. It was at LEAST 7 steps, and she made it without falling! You go, girl!

Signage

Gracie seems to be catching on to the signing thing. We now think she is doing "milk" and "more". Tonight at dinner she was going to town with the sign for milk, which she has done before, but we always just figured she was waving. But she was pretty fussy anyway, so when she kept at it, we gave her some juice in a sippy cup (which she promptly sucked down), and she never made the sign again! She was also doing "more" today. We are suprised that she's doing milk, because we haven't really done that one a lot recently, though we used to do it all the time. And we didn't give her "milk" tonight, but if she wants to use that sign for drink, fine by us! I want her to be off the bottle totally by a year- I just don't want her to get so attached to it, like some kids seem to do (Suri Cruise?!), and she still doesn't hold it by herself, so I think we'll be able to do it. She goes to town with her sippy cups, too. Getting rid of the wubbies is going to be harder.
We went to see TransSiberian Orchestra last night- it was great! The first half was a kind of "story" and some of it was a bit slow, but the second part was awesome- very theatrical with pyrotechnics and energy galore. Those are some talented people. And it actually got me in the mood for the holidays- before Thanksgiving, even!
In other news, our TV is broken. =( It's only a year and a half old, but the other night it started making this scary popping noise, and the following day it was REALLY making the noise (all this despite the volume being muted since we use our surround sound) and then it started emitting this horrible buring smell. So something is fried in there, and we have to take it to Best Buy to get fixed, and they have to send it off, so no telling how long it will take. We have our smaller TV in the living room now, but it is kinda pitiful in our TV spot. At least we have a backup.
Also, it looks like I am going to get to student teach in the spring! I have made arrangements with NCCU and Harris Creek to work with a first grade teacher for 5 weeks, and that teacher's TA will be covering the lab. Everything is go from the HC end, and so long as NCCU doesn't pull any of their typical crap, I should be good to go. Finally.
We got most of our Christmas shopping done today, and we got a fake Christmas tree. We didn't want a real one because Gracie would just eat the needles, so we got a little 4.5 foot tree (it's actually really pretty!) at Target, and we're gonna put it up on a table so hopefully little sticky-fingers can't do too much damage to it. We had a pretty successful weekend. And I'm off work next week- woohoo!!

MORE!

We *think* Gracie signed at us tonight! More! She's recently started clapping (with one hand closed and one open) and will clap back if you clap at her. But tonight at dinner, she was doing a similar thing, but we think she might actually have been doing the sign for more! We started doing it back, then giving her more, and they we'd just ask if she wanted more, without doing the sign, and she did it! So maybe she's getting it. We were very excited, and hoping it wasn't just a fluke. We're going to step up the signing now- nothing like a little positive reinforcement, huh?

Madam Crankypants

We had one of those rare nights of Gracie crankydom tonight. It started off on a bad foot when I picked her up from Grandma's, as she had evidently chomped down too hard on a hairbrush she was playing with and hurt her mouth. She was upset from that when I put her in the car, and thus didn't really take her drive-home nap. She fell asleep as we were pulling in the neighborhood, so I sat in the car and let her sleep about 15 minutes when I got home. Evidently, that wasn't enough. So she was fussy and agitated all evening. Nothing was good enough for her, nothing entertained her for long, and she kept trying to get into stuff she shouldn't be into, so I had to keep redirecting her. Sheesh. And getting PJs on her and ready for bed was more of a battle than it normally is. I ended up stuffing her bottle in her mouth as she was mid-cry, which is just not a good way to end the night for me. Poor kid. Oh! And we think she's full-time teething again, which doesn't help. I sure hope tomorrow is better. Most nights we barely have to look at her to get her to laugh, but we heard very few giggles tonight. Sad. =(

This pic wasn't tonight- it was a couple nights ago when Grant, Sherry and Olivia stopped by to play. Evidently in this pic Olivia had pawed at Gracie and pissed her off, and Olivia started crying because Gracie was crying. But this is indicative of how we all felt tonight...

They're even cute when they're mad, though!

10 months old

Gracie just turned 10 months, and I cannot believe it. She hasn't hit any new milestones recently, with the exception of:
*pointing- we're not real sure why she points at some things (like the rafter at the RBC Center), but she does it.
*standing- she can stand indefinitely now, and "dance" in place a bit without falling over. She's taken several steps, but they're very unsteady and uneven.
*cruising- all OVER the place. She also pulls up on everything, including pant legs and the cat.
I really want to read to her, and have several board (and other) books, but I can't get her to sit still and listen to the story. She'll watch as I point to pictures, but as soon as I try to read, she's got ahold of the book and flapping it and chewing on it. I wonder when she'll start getting interested in me reading to her.
I don't have any 10 month pics yet- but she hasn't changed a whole lot since 9 months, to be honest.
We're looking forward to the holidays, but trying to take them one at a time. We're going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra this weekend- Randy got us tickets. I've never seen them before and am excited- it is supposed to be a neat show.
Not much else going on. I've got to work this week, but I'm off the whole week of Thanksgiving. Can't wait for that!

Finally!

We went to the hockey game again today and guess what? They actually WON! In a shoot-out, nonetheless. It was a good game, if a bit of a nailbiter. Gracie was more wiggly today than she has been, but we survived.

A lull

Not much going on around here. We went to another Hurricanes game today. A whopping loss. They have GOT to get their game together, and it would help if Staal would get his ass in gear and stop standing around. Meh.
Gracie did well at the game. We ended up getting her a gray and pink jersey (in a bigger size so it fits her much better) to help keep her from being identified as a boy.
I am getting very excited about the holidays. I want to take them ONE at a time, however. The carols on the radio already are KILLING me. And the fat man in the red suit is ALREADY taking orders at the mall. Poor Thanksgiving. A holiday that all Americans can enjoy together, regardless of race, religion, creed, etc., and it just gets totally shadowed by the 3 months of Christmas. Sad.
Gracie is working hard on her walking skills. She can stand by herself pretty much as long as she wants. She's tried taking a couple steps, but they have been less than successful. At least she's trying, though! She still doesn't wave reliably, or clap, or sign. But boy can that kid crawl! And eat! She's eating us out of house and home. I'm constantly looking for healthy meal ideas of things she can feed herself, so please send me any suggestions!

President Obama!

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

Now- bring on the change, Super Brother Man!

Gracie's First Hurricanes game

We went to a hockey game today! We've been wanting to take Gracie, but needed an afternoon game. Randy got lower level seats from someone at work, and even though the 'Canes lost, we had fun! Gracie enjoyed looking around, and only got fussy a couple times- nothing some snacks wouldn't fix. We'll definitely go again. Here's some pics: