Formula for a relaxing weekend

Good Friend

+

Good Wine

+

Good Food

+

Good Book

=

Great Weekend!

Last weekend was my first night, make that 2 nights, away from Gracie. Aaron had Daddy Duty and Ang and I were off to the coast for a relaxing weekend. It was AMAZING! We lounged on the couch and in the hot tub, always with wine or coffee and book in hand. We ate things like hummus and crackers for lunch, accompanied by our favorite bottle of red....or white...we don't like to discriminate. We are Equal Opportunity wine lovers!

Mmmm, snack time.

The "BEFORE" shot

The "AFTER" shot. Mind you this was over the entire weekend. I know, those beers just kind of sneaked up on us.

It was so great to get away and be able to sleep in, read, and lounge. We decided to make this an annual trip. I also discovered that hitting the hottub first thing in the morning with a cup of good coffee and a book is a great way to start your day.

While I missed Grace, I was so glad I did it. I knew she was having the time of her life with daddy. Now, they are the best of friends and she calls for him from her crib when she wakes up in the morning. It's so cute! When I got home and she spotted me walking thru the door, she shouted "MaMa!!" and just about threw herself off Aaron's lap to come to me. It totally warmed my heart and gave me a huge smile. She was so happy and it made me so happy!

It's the simple things in life...

It's the simple things in life that bring a smile to my face and make me wonder why we spend so much money on toys!

You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out......

Some of the most entertaining moments of the day, for both Gracie and mom, happen during mealtime. She's also taken to 'lounging' in her highchair. Notice the one foot up. It's like her own little version of the Hokey Pokey.

The World According to Grace

Remember when you could read the newspaper in peace? Those days are long gone. She LOVES to take the paper apart and throw it, piece by piece, on the floor. Here's an action shot.

Grace has really gotten more into reading and even reads to herself on occasion. Some of her favorites are her animal books and she makes the animal noises when she turns the page. It's adorable!

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and got to experience life w/a fussy, teething baby. I secretly think my mom just ate it up because Grace wanted nothing more than to be held. After a long morning of crying, she finally crashed in Grandma's arms and took her second nap of the day (by 9am) with Grandma.

Gracie and Gramps w/ a stoic look for the camera. She was pretty needy that morning since her mouth hurt. You can see she has both blankie and her bear.

Crashed w/ mama in the chair. Boy, I'm now realizing these pictures are an accurate portrayal of life in the Gore house. This girl rarely sleeps but we somehow manage to capture several naps w/ the camera.

Life has been good, busy, hectic, fun and exhausting all at the same time. Gracie just turned 13 months old. She's crawling and walking around and, of course, getting into EVERYTHING. Her new favorite past time is 'helping' me put clean dishes away. This mainly consists of her taking the clean spoons out of the dishwasher, licking them, and putting them back into the dishwasher. I think I've had the same few spoons in the dishwasher since last week. Once she licks them, they just stay in there and get washed again. I swear she picks the same spoons to lick every time.

Everything has been in her mouth lately. She's cutting 6, yes 6, teeth right now and her 12 month molars are on the move as well. That makes a total of 10 teeth trying to creep thru her gums and also makes for one fussy, uncomfortable baby! Several of them have broken thru the gum line, so I'm hoping the worst is over (fingers crossed).

Grace's new favorite game is to take things out of a box and put them back in. She amused herself with my canning lids for about 35 minutes the other day. Just taking them out of a bag and putting them into a box. At least she 'tries' to be tidy! The other day she emptied out my Tupperware cupboard and then proceeded to put everything back :-) I don't expect this to last long. Oh, and she makes up for it by throwing Cheerio's on the floor in every room. Why doesn't she pick those back up? I've felt them smash under my feet and into the carpet more times than I'd like to count.

Grace has continued to fall more and more in love with the cats. I'm sorry to say, they do not feel the same way about her. You should have seen the look on their face when she FINALLY started crawling. They were like "oh crap, that loud baby MOVES too?!". Speaking of Gracie moving, she finally started crawling AND walking IN THE SAME DAY. One morning she crawled across the floor to grab my cell phone and then Aaron stood her up, faced her in my direction and let go. She proceeded to walk over to me and give me a hug like she had been walking forever. She was very proud of herself. I have no idea why she waited so long to do it. I think part of it is because she's a little scaredy-cat and is afraid of falling, so she wanted to make sure she could walk perfectly before revealing her new skill. She still doesn't let go of objects and walk to other toys. She mainly walks to me or away from me, but hasn't totally ventured out on her own yet. She can walk the entire length of the house though, so I'm sure it's just a matter of confidence and time. She has this strange crab walk/crawl that she does on the kitchen floor since it hurts her skinny knees. It cracks me up. As soon as she hits the carpet, she's back down on her knees and on the move again.

In other news, I'm spending a girls weekend away from Aaron and Grace next weekend. I'm both really excited and a little nervous. I've never spent more than 5 hours away from her at one time. A friend and I rented a house at the beach and we're going over there for some R&R. I cannot wait to be able to sleep in, although I'm sure my ability to sleep in has been permanently damaged thanks to the last 13 months of 5-6am wakeup calls. But, even if I'm up at 6, I'm going to stay in bed and read and drink coffee. Ahhh, what a luxury! Aaron will have the responsibility of getting up at 6 and spending a few days with Gracie. I'm not sure he's as thrilled about that weekend as I am, but he's more than capable and Gracie thinks any time she spends w/ dada is a real treat.