Gracie walking and drinking

Apparently just walking isn't challenging enough. Now she thinks she can walk and drink at the same time, something I can't even do
successfully at times.

My sweet Sadie

Sadie on April 11, 2010

My sweet Gracie

Gracie on April 10, 2010

Food photography

Sweet potato cake

Zucchini and pea risotto

Sweet sausage rigatoni

Fish tacos

Easter cupcakes

Blueberry cake

I've been wanting to become a better photographer. I have a decent camera and I love to cook and bake so I've combined my two passions. Here are some recent shots.

Gracie turns 6 months old

After a meal of rice cereal and milk. Yum!

I guess it's time I learned Gracie's name. I keep calling her Sadie. But then again, I call Sadie Gracie all the time. Thank goodness we don't have pets. I'd never get any of their names straight.

Gracie turned 6 months old on March 22. I can't believe it! She's rolling over, sitting up and is so much fun. She's really a great baby. We started cry it out a few nights ago. And while it's difficult in the short term, it's so worth it long term. We did it with Sadie and she sleeps like a champ. The doctor says we should get Gracie a helmet to correct her misshapen head. The doctor does not recommend this for most patients, but she's encouraging us to go see a specialist. Once Gracie gets some hair, you won't even notice her head not being perfectly round, but I guess it can cause problems with her jaw. So off we go. With the hottest months coming up, I'm sure this will be a blast!

Her stats: 17 pounds, 1.5 ounces; 25.5 inches tall and a head circumference of 43 cm.

Gracie's sitting up!

Sort of.

Sadie turns 2

Sadie on her second birthday.

I know this is a bit late. It's mid-March and Sadie turned 2 at the beginning of February. However... her stats: 35.5 inches tall, 28.4 pounds and a head circumference of 49 cm. She's in the 90th percentile for height and the 70th percentile for weight. I'm not sure where she gets her height. Some say that if you double a child's height at age 2, that's how tall they'll be when they stop growing. That puts her at 71 inches or 5 foot 11. I'm a little skeptical, but I bet she'll be taller than I am (5' 6").
She just started potty training about 4 days ago and is doing very well with a few successes already. So proud... And so excited to not have to buy diapers for two members of our family.
She still has some trouble at the dinner table. She just won't eat sometimes. But the doctor says to provide healthy options and if she doesn't eat, she just doesn't eat. "Don't be a short-order cook," she said. And another article I read in the paper said that my job is to make sure she gets a wide variety of healthy food and that's it! The rest is up to her. I've never heard it put that way. It takes a lot of pressure off. She almost always finishes her vegetables. So I guess she'll eat the rest if she's hungry.
Otherwise, she's a healthy, happy girl and is actually starting to take an interest in Gracie or "Gracie Olivia" as she likes to call her.
I keep hearing from her daycare teachers that her pronunciation of words is really great. We still have to ask her "what did you say?" a lot. Most of the time she answers "thank you" or "please" thinking I've asked "what do you say?"
She's going through a mommy phase right now. It's kind of nice, but I'm fully aware that the daddy phase could be just around the corner. I guess I'll just hold on tight to Gracie Olivia then.