Grace Ana Patmore

Life sure moves fast. It’s been two months since I’ve last updated Grace’s blog, but there has been so much life to enjoy that it didn’t make sense to stop it all and post. So here I am in August with an 11 month old baby that is growing up day by day. Before I get into her milestones let’s go back to where we left off.

Grace’s Christening was held on July 25, 2010.  As is traditional, Grace’s godparents, Javier and Jolene, came over before the ceremony to dress Grace in her Christening gown. It was very special to see her all dressed up in the gown that was once mine as a baby close to her age. Even more special is that my mother made it. I hope this becomes a family heirloom passed down through the generations.

Once Grace was dressed and pictures were taken, we headed off to the church. Our family and friends joined us to watch Grace join the family of God. It was fun to see all the other teeny babies next to our 10 month old girl. Grace was full of personality, attempting to sing along with the priests litany of the saints, running her fingers across her lips to make funny noises.  When it was time to dip her into the baptismal font, Grace tossed herself backwards and laughed as if she was being played with. It was incredibly entertaining.

I’m waiting on pictures from the ceremony, and I hear there is a great video of all her antics.

Afterwards we headed to my mother’s house for a celebration. The afternoon had been hot, and just when the guests started to arrive, so did a downpour. That didn’t stop the party. People rallied together to bring tents and some just sucked it up and got wet.  When the rain stopped, the sun came out and the air was cool and refreshed. The night was wonderfully fun, and was an awesome success.

Since the party Grace has been making incredible strides. Her vocabulary has increased exponentially. Where before she was only saying monosyllabic words, now she’s upgraded to two syllables. She says “Mommy”, “Daddy”, “Bah Bye”- with a wave, “Car”, “Ba Ba”, “Hi”- with a wave, “Ay Ay Ay”- as in Ay ay ay mi cabecita, she pats her belly and says “pa pa pa” -which is pat pat pat from Little Einsteins, “team” -while touching fingers,  ”hat” and “baby”.  She’s very close to saying “nena”, and she is very quick to say “ahm” during a meal.

She started to take a few steps here and there, but when we watched her walk from one parent to the other, we decided it was time for her Padrino (who found her first tooth) to buy her walking shoes.

I have shoes!!

Do you like my shoes?

The four of us went to the Stride Rite in the Freehold Mall. Grace got her feet measured and fitted for her very first pair of shoes. She was calm and allowed the nice lady to take all the measurements with fussing at all. In fact, she was incredibly curious as to what was going on with her piggies. Once we’d picked a traditional set of white shoes with pink flowers, and got them on her feet, she was so excited. She loved the sounds her new shoes made on the floor and wasn’t shy about trying them out. We also got her a pair of mary janes for special occasions. The day after her shoe trip she walked across her “baby corral” all by herself. It was like witnessing a miracle.

She’s got quite the personality, our little Princess. When we get up in the morning she’s thrilled to see us. She waves and says “hi” and jumps up to greet us.  She’s learned to blow kisses, but isn’t the kind of baby that does tricks on demand, so a blown kiss is a treasure for anyone on the receiving end.  She’s formed an attachment to her Abby Cadabby doll.  She sat in the front room and cuddled her “baby”, and has begun insisting that we bring Abby along with us on trips.

In the mornings she loves to stand on the couch and watch the cars drive by with Daddy, whispering “car” to him. She’s learned to listen to directions, which is amazing. I can tell her “no no no please come this way” and she’ll freeze in her tracks and come back. She loves to dance when she hears music, not only doing the typical baby bopping up and down, but also loves to “shakey shakey” left and right. She loves her toy rocking horse and dances while riding. Most of all, Grace loves to read. The other day she was having herself a poop when she grabbed a book and read it while she was doing her business. It was such a grown up moment that I took a picture.

Abuelita spoils her little girl. Recently she bought Grace a foam alphabet puzzle mat. While we were playing I identified the letter “x”, “m” and “g” and was shocked when she pointed at them when I asked her where they were. She is such a little smarty pants it tickles my soul! Thanks Abuelita for such a fun and educational toy.

Speaking of pointing, Grace has become quite a pointer lately. When she wants something, or someone she’ll point at them. Last Friday her Padrino came over, and she refused to sit with anyone else. Both of us parents were pretty jealous. Even when we took her away to sit with us, she pointed at her Padrino to go back.

She loves to say “hi” and wave at people. She thinks that all people are intended for her entertainment. In public she doesn’t hesitate to wave and say “hi” to anyone near her, mostly men to my chagrin. In a restaurant, while trying to get the attention of a man at a nearby table she began waving, saying “hi”, and blowing kisses. I told her that she had plenty of men in her life to blow kisses to for now.

So I’ll leave you with a trademark Gracie pose, as she says “bah bye” for this post.

Hi...bye

It’s official. Grace has spent more time out of me than in me. She is nine months old and is speeding through her milestones like a Ferrari on the autobahn. Not only does she clap, but she’s starting to figure out pon-pon-pon, a song where she claps one finger into an open hand. She is saying “hat” when she takes off her Daddy’s hat. She has increased her standing by herself from a quick second to 18 whole seconds without falling. She is eating yogurt for breakfast every single morning, and is still the happiest baby I’ve ever met.

Last week she was cleared by her Doctor to eat chicken, nothing bigger than 1/4 of a grape. As you can see she was a little skeptical at first, but really enjoyed it and tried to gobble up several pieces at the same time.

What is this?

Yummo!

One major milestone was that my Padrino Noel bought Grace her very first Yankees cap! She isn’t into keeping hats on for too long, but this one lasted more than a few minutes, and she really likes to play with it.

Ay Ay Ay Is there anyone who's silly enough NOT to like the Yankees?

Grace continues to have weekly, or bi-monthly playdates with her bestie, Alexa, who is 14 months old. She is such a cutie and put on a show for us as she fed her kitty doll. Later on while I was feeding Grace her bottle Alexa came over to share her toy bottle with her friend. It was super duper cute.

I'm feeding my kitty!

Grace has become very verbal, and is good at independent play. Here is a cute clip of her talking quietly to her toys. Crank up the volume and you’ll hear how she spends her time in her playpen.

Grace’s christening is coming up quick. Most of the invitations have been sent out, but I won’t put them up until we’ve gotten closer to the event. Let’s just say Grace is the most beautiful little angel in the world.

Wow. It has been an insanely busy month! I haven’t even had time to keep you posted on Gracie’s growth.  The months started out pretty awesome with an unexpected visit from Gracie’s Tio Ray, aka Bella’s Daddy. He used his well practiced Daddy skills to send his niece into peals of laughter. She had a really good time and can’t wait until she gets to see him again.

A visit from Tio

Tio makes me laugh!

Earlier that day Grace shocked her Daddy and I by standing on her own for the very first time ever! I even got a snapshot!

Look Dad, no hands!

Then Mother’s Day came around, and we had a wonderfully lazy day complete with a visit to Abuelita’s house and a trip out for sushi. Grace loves to play with her Abuelita.

Playing with Abuelita

This month has also included the sprouting of 3 teeth. I noticed her left front gum was very swollen, and during a routine inspection I came across a very sharp left lateral incisor. She hadn’t even been fussy at all, but that soon changed when the left front tooth began to make it’s journey outwards. A week after that one cut, the right front tooth made it’s debut. So now Grace has five teeth and packs a pretty serious bite.

Memorial Day weekend marks the last weekend in May, and was packed full of firsts for our little buggaboo. On Saturday we went to visit Grace’s Uncle Mark. He lives in Point Pleasant, perhaps a full block away from the beach. On a whim we decided to walk down to the ocean. However, as is typical for the Jersey Shore, they were charging to get on the beach. We were certainly not about to shell out money for a few minutes of sand, so we plopped ourselves down in front of the stand and hung out in the sand.

Grace was not sure what to make of the sand. She gave it every test she had, including a taste test. In the end she decided that it was too dirty for her to be actively involved with. Uncle Mark, however, was a different story. He sang her a few songs and she was sold! She loved him and squealed in delight just at the sight of him.

Grace loves her Uncle

Sunday was the opening day party at Tio Orlando’s house.  It was the perfect moment for Grace to take her very first swim.  She was a big hit in the pink tutu bathing suit her Daddy picked out for her. The water was nice and warm and Grace really had a great time. She swam around with Greg and I in the little pool (aka the hot tub), and then joined the rest of the kids in the main pool. She didn’t last too long before getting very tired, but all in all it was a fantastic time for all of us.

A dip with Daddy

Come on in, the water's warm!

We rounded out the last day of the month with a Mommy-Daddy date day, which means Grace got to spend a whole day with her Abuelito, Abuelita and Padrino. She had a lovely time, and when we got home she got a very special visit from Tio John! She seem to really like him and his facial hair.

It was really a great month, with tons of great pictures and lots of good times with our families. June is now upon us and before you know it Grace will be a whole year old, and welcoming her two new baby cousins into the world!

Check this out!

A new milestone today! I can’t really take credit for seeing her do this the first time. This morning Greg went into Grace’s room and Grace was standing in her crib with no hands. Later, when I got up with her Grace was crawling and cruising around the living room when suddenly she decided she wanted to go from the coffee table to the couch. It’s at least one baby step between the two, so she turned towards the couch, let go of the coffee table, stood for 2 seconds ( I counted) …and fell down. Of course I had to test if this was a fluke or something she’d really learned, so I picked up my camera and pushed the coffee table away from the couch.  Camera ready, I asked her to “come to mommy” and she repeated the skill until I finally got a picture. She stood on her own, albeit a bit unbalanced, for a second or two each time before falling. All she has to do is start moving those pretty little feet and she’ll be walking!!! Greg and I could not be more proud of our baby genius! She is only 8 months old and is on her way to walking! Here is the picture I captured of her new trick!! The best part is that Tio Ray is coming to visit tonight. He hasn’t seen Grace since she was a month old. I’ll bet she wanted to learn this trick to impress her Tio :0)

Look Daddy! No hands!

pigtails and squeals

As you can see our little sprite has sprung some adorable pigtails.  One of the best parts of having a girl at this age is getting to dress her up and do fun things with her hair. I didn’t anticipate how baby hair grows in so sporadically. It’s longer in some spots and wispy in others, and for a a while I just didn’t know what to do.  On a whim I tried to put her hair in pigtails on the back of her head, and the results weren’t great. A day or so later I tried them atop her precious head and voila, instant cute! Add a headband and she’s perfectly prepared for her public.

There aren’t a ton of updates. She is still clapping up a storm and babbles all day long. I love to hear her tiny voice, and even her not so tiny screams. She’s even started singing for Greg. He says, “sing la-la-la-la” and she will make some sound that sounds like what he was saying. It’s so cute, but not a repeatable skill quite yet. I also think kisses are coming soon. I know for sure that there is a top tooth getting ready to make it’s debut in Gracie’s gums.

With all ego-stroking aside, Grace continues to amaze us and delight us every day, and this weekend I’m looking forward to celebrating with the angel that made me a mother

Enjoy the pictures!

smiley girl

cutie pie in blue

cruising along the doors

This has been an exciting week.  This past Friday, April 16, Grace began to say “ma-ma-ma-ma”. I’m not really counting it as a real word because there is no connection with any meaning for her. She is just learning how to make sounds. So “ma-ma-ma” is just the noise that came after “na-na-na”, but I still love to hear it, and love to think that she is calling my name ♥♥

Today we went for Grace’s 7 month well visit.  She gained a whole pound, weighing in now at 18.1 lbs and putting her in the 50-75th percentile range.  She didn’t gain any height, but that is ok because of last month’s growth spurt. Apparently he didn’t tell us that she was in the 90th percentile for height! The big growth spurt that did occur this month was in little Gracie’s noggin. She jumped up to 44cm! The doctor says this makes sense because before babies start crawling the backs of their heads are slightly flattened. Once they are on their backs less often their heads round out and then the measurements are more accurate, but bigger. This measurement, however, only slipped her into the next level, 75-90th percentile. Her growth curve seems to be almost right along the 75th percentile which is just perfect.

Grace has added a couple of new tricks to her repertoire. For starters, she’s figured out how to alter the sounds coming out of her mouth by moving her fingers over her lips. Her newest trick, which really impressed her doctor, is clapping. Check out below for a clip of baby claps.

We’ve also added finger foods to Grace’s diet. Today she had her very first yogurt too! She really liked it. Grace is eating 3 meals with solid food a day where she eats 4 oz of veggies and/or fruit mixed with a little bit of oatmeal for thickness and fiber. She gets 4oz of formula at each of these meals, and 8oz solo first thing in the morning and before she goes to bed at night. She’s a good baby.

Stay tuned for more teeth. I think the top two are threatening to make their debut.

A few weeks ago we were delighted to receive a visit from my Madrina Janice. She brought with her a gift that Tio John had gotten from one of the craft shows he sells at. He always brings home such cool stuff. Well, as usual he sent an awesome present to Grace–a hooded towel with a unicorn head!!! I won’t lie, I put it on and so did Seth. The one who really counted, though, looked the most divine in it. After bathtime I wrapped Gracie up in her new towel and couldn’t resist snapping a few shots on my phone.

All clean

I love bath time!

In other news, Grace began her 7th Month of life yesterday.  We decided to share the day with our good friends Amber and Alexa. It was really interesting to see the girls together. At first Grace crawled over to Alexa and sat there looking at her. Alexa gave her a couple of impressed “ha”’s as if she was impressed and saying, “nice, you were barely sitting up the last time I saw you”.  Soon they were doing there own things and playing together…but apart. Grace is still too young for group play. Alexa crawled around and collected items to put in her cart while Grace launched herself down the hallway to get Alexa’s favorite red ball. Alexa was excellent about sharing her toys with Grace.

The Girls

cutie pie

What I found remarkable was the differences between the girls. They are almost the same size, but Alexa is older than Grace. Besides the size the age difference is amazingly apparent. Grace has a very infantile expression and is very rounded. You can see that there is less experience behind her eyes, whereas Alexa is clearly more mature. She isn’t as easily impressed and seems to have much more experience than Grace. She clearly has higher levels of dexterity and coordination. If you check out the pictures it is so clear who is the older friend. That was so amazing for me because it kept me in perspective. As big as Grace is, she is still a baby and has lots of learning to do.

When babies attack

After being well fed and changed the girls hit up their strollers and took us for a walk. Alexa was alert and babbly the whole time. Grace, on the other hand, took advantage of the weather and the movement and took a nap. It was a decent walk and the weather was awesome. By the time we got back we were pooped…and out of food.

Later that night Grace had her very first finger food! Amber had give us a box of Rice Rusks that Alexa can’t eat anymore. We were told we had to wait until she was 7 months old to start fingers foods, so yesterday was the day! She really seemed to like it and was amazed that we were handing food for her to eat. We are so proud of of our little lady!

Next stop? First words or first steps? Stay tuned!

With the warmer weather making its way back into our lives, there is a lot more to do and much more fun to be had. Everyone looks forward to a weekend, but I’m not sure anyone loves a weekend more than our little Gracie. Not only is her Daddy home all day, but each weekend means time with her big brother! This Friday Seth came home and entertained the whole family with fairy tales.

Hey come on listen to this story!

can you believe it, she slept for 100 years!

The next day we enjoyed a family breakfast and a lazy afternoon. I dressed Gracie in an outfit that anyone who knows me would be sure to recognize as my style of dress, and she had a blast with Seth bouncing all over, crawling and trying to stand up.

Later on we headed over to Tio Sean’s 21st birthday party. Grace took a picture with her birthday Tio to commemorate the moment, and to have something to look back on. When she turns 21 Tio Sean will have turned 42! A little perspective with that cake?

Happy Birthday Tio!

Finally, we’ve gotten lots of requests for the sound of our little Princesa’s constant babbles, since she tends to be quiet out in public. People don’t believe that she spends a good hour or so a day stretching her vocal cords, and doing this very odd panting thing.  So at long last here it is. We’ve partially baby-proofed the coffee table, but I think there needs to be a little more padding on the legs and shelf. Enjoy!

It has been a very eventful week. Grace can now add sitting up by herself to her list of mastered milestones. We are so proud of our little girl! I must say, however, that the standing up thing is a bit tiring. Instead of napping, sometimes she’ll stand up and cry out to me from her crib. When I get to her she looks like she’s in jail and it breaks my heart…that is until I see her smiling up at me. What is really cute is how she’ll sit and play in her crib when she wakes up. Oftentimes we’ll hear her softly speaking to her toys in baby babble.

This week my Madrina Janice came to visit from North Carolina with the twins, Reagan (my goddaughter) and Jacob (my mom’s godson). While it was a little hectic in the beginning, it was a welcomed change of pace in our lives. Grace loved the funny faces Jacob was making for her, and it seems Reagan and Grace were destined to be family. The love between them was not missed.

My babies!

Thursday night we hung out with them, and on Friday Abuelita came home! We had a fun day shopping for an Easter dress and in the end came home with two. Sofi took a trip with me to gear up for the babyproofing that is to come, and in the evening Grandma brought Seth home along with another TWO dresses.  To mitigate the dress situation we had Grace put them ALL on in the next few days.

Saturday morning we went to Abuelita’s house so Seth could dye Easter eggs with the twins. She looked adorable in her yellow dress with purple accents. Later on we put her into the cute pink chiffon dress Seth picked for her, but Grace spit up all over it and we ended up changing her into a pink strawberry shortcake outfit, complete with matching bonnet that Grandma bought her.  In the evening we spent some time with Grace and Seth’s OG, Aunt Arlene and Uncle Bobby. Then Seth went to his mother’s house so he could celebrate Easter Sunday with her, and Grace went to spend the night at Abuelita’s so Greg and I could have a night out with the cousins.

Easter Sunday was another fun day with Madrina and the twins.  Grace put on her official Easter dress, that she picked out, and spent the day smelling the wonderful ham and corn pudding cook.

Pretty baby!

My girls!

The weather was so beautiful we all went outside and there was even some dancing. Gracie loved dancing with her Abuelita. She really likes salsa!

Salsa girl

She was so tired at the end of the day that she conked out in her own crib. Happy to be home!

In other news, last week we all got the relief we were hoping for when Gracie cut her first TWO teeth. The second one cut a day later than the first. In a new twist on the Patmore tradition, her Godfather(usually it’s the Godmother) spotted the teeth and will be buying her first pair of walking shoes.  This morning I even got a picture.

Teeth!

This week’s agenda? Nothing! Mommy and Grace both need to recover from all the busy!