Don't fence me in!

Bonnie's newly discovered talent has opened up a whole new world of search and discovery for her. And a whole world in general for yours truly. A couple of nights ago, it took me 1 hour to make what should have been a 20 minute meal. OK, a 15 minute meal. Obviously, I wasn't making anything gourmet. The point is that I kept having to stop every second or so to prevent Bonnie from inflicting serious bodily injury upon herself.

So, I had a brilliant discovery. I remembered that my best friend, Ceylese, went through the same thing with her "more active and curious second-born child" and her solution was to purchase a "fence" of sorts to contain him. I immediately called her and before I could even finish explaining my situation to her she said, "You need my fence. I'll have it to you by 1:30 this afternoon." What an angel.

I put Bonnie inside that fence (I should mention that it takes up nearly my entire den so she has plenty of room to crawl around) with a basket of toys whenever I need to accomplish things like making dinner for my family or vacuuming Cheerios off the floor.

So far, so good.

That is, until she's ready to get out ;-)

Lazy Days

On our way home from running errands this afternoon, my car thermometer registered 102 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm pretty sure it's too early to call these the dog days of summer, but seriously, 102 degrees? I got home being very thankful that I'm not 8 months pregnant now like I was this time last year.

We've spent the last few days just being lazy. Corey took Grace to the pool a couple of times over the weekend, but their trips were relatively short due to the heat. They also tested out Grace's new Ariel slip 'n slide. Bonnie and I stayed inside in the air conditioning.

We had another movie night on Saturday and this month's feature was Toy Story. All of a sudden Grace is obsessed, or as she says, "assessed" with the Toy Story trilogy, specifically Toy Story 3. Until Saturday, she had never even seen any of them. Not sure where this phase is coming from, but we'll go with it. That is, until she starts making us buy her every Woody and Buzz Lightyear figurine she sees at Target.

Speaking of "assessed", Grace told me on Sunday that she is "assessed" with mermaids right now. Then, she told Corey that he is "assessed" with World Cup Soccer. Where in the world does she hear such things?!

We traded our usual popcorn and hot chocolate for s'mores and milk this time. I thought that Grace would like the s'mores a lot more than she did, but I guess in her defense they were pretty messy and our little girly girl does not like to be dirty. But Bonnie on the other hand would have loved to have gotten a hold of one!

I mentioned in my last post that now that Bonnie is crawling, she is into everything. Everything. She rips cords out of the wall, tries to pry off the electrical outlet protectors, and she can open the fireplace doors. I'm definitely getting plenty of exercise now that she's on the move. I'm seriously thinking about suspending my gym membership (that I never use anyway)!

Bonnie has become very attached to her "snuggle puppy". As soon as I put her in her crib for nap or bedtime, she grabs Snuggle Puppy and pulls him right up to her face. And every time I go in to check on her that puppy is nestled underneath her arm and one of his ears is by her face. It is very sweet.

She is also starting to imitate sounds. She pants when you ask her what a dog says, and tries to make a tic-toc sound when you ask her how a clock goes. She's growing up so fast!

Go Bonnie, Go!

Recently, I posted a picture of Bonnie where she appeared to be crawling. Well, she wasn't then...but she is now! She officially started crawling a couple feet at a time on June 6th and now, just six days later, she is a pro and is into EVERYTHING. It's a whole new ball game with 2 mobile kids in the house!

Check-ups all around

This morning we took a little trip to the pediatrician's office for Grace's 3 year check-up and Bonnie's 9 month check up, respectively. Both girls are healthy and thriving, which is everything a mom could ever ask for.

My favorite part of these visits is always when the nurse gives me their stats...so I'll get right to the point.

Grace

Height - 37 3/4 inches - 68th percentile

Weight - 27.4 pounds - 16th percentile

Yes, I was a little concerned about Grace's weight, but Dr. Jeff reassured me that she is just fine and that she's just tall and skinny and one day she'll thank me for her high metabolism. That is, until she turns 30 and said metabolism hits the breaks...hard!

It was this one's turn next, and I absolutely could not wait to get her stats.

Bonnie

Length - 28 1/4 inches - 65th percentile

Weight - 20.3 pounds - 67th percentile

Head Circumference - 18 cm - 88th percentile

I laughed the entire way home thinking about how there is a 2 year, 7 pound difference between these girls! :-)

Another thing that I can't stop laughing about is that tonight for dinner I made meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans and both girls cleaned their plates. I'm still in shock!

Grace's birthday party and Granddad's visit

Saturday morning, Grace woke up to the video camera in her face and her parents and baby sister singing Happy Birthday to her. Then, she walked downstairs to find a pile of presents waiting for her on the fire place. As soon as she saw them she gasped and said, "What did Santa bring me?!" I can understand her confusion :-)

Then, we celebrated her 3rd birthday in style...with a party at none other than KangaZoom! This is a place where kids can slide down 15 foot slides and jump around in "bounce houses" until they puke their brains out. Fortunately, that didn't happen at Grace's party.

She had such a blast playing with all of her friends at one of her most very favorite places. I know Corey and I had as much fun as she did, too!

After the party, we went home to open MORE presents...and play in her very own bounce house! Corey and Granddad rushed to get home before the birthday girl to get it all set up in the backyard. When Grace saw it she yelled, "Oh my! Oh my-hy! What is this this?!" I think she liked it just a little :-)

We had such a great visit with Granddad while he was in town from Oklahoma. The girls LOVED having him here and Grace has been asking when he's coming back!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Gracie!!!

Happy 3rd birthday to our wonderful, adorable, sweet, precious big girl! We love you so much and hope you had the best birthday ever! Stay tuned for LOTS of pictures of Grace's party and other fun stuff from her special day!

Grace's 1st Trip to the Dentist

I remember my first time ever going to the dentist. I wore a white shirt and a jean skirt with pears on the rear-end pockets. I was 3 years old.

I can't believe that today I took my own (almost) 3 year old daughter to her very first ever dentist appointment! We've talked about her visit a lot this week, but I was still a little nervous as to how she would handle everything. As soon as we walked into the building she said, "It smells like a doctor's office in here." She was right. There was, in fact, a doctor's office on the floor below us.

After we got checked in, she started asking for Leona. Leona is our dental hygienist that, at the time of her request, Grace had not yet met. The girls behind the front desk got a big kick out of that. I've been talking Leona up a LOT in hopes that would ease her anxiety about having her teeth cleaned.

Apparently it worked.

My little chatterbox climbed right up in that dentist's chair and opened her mouth wide. Then she asked if she could watch television. They have very nice flat-screened TV's hanging from the ceiling over each patient's chair.

Gracie let Leona count all 20 of her teeth and then let her get them all polished up, "super shiny." She did such a great job and everyone was so impressed with what a big girl she was! She even sat semi-quietly and watched more television while I had my turn. :-)

I am also proud to report that neither of us has any cavities! :-)

After Grace received her Certificate of Bravery, which entitled her to an ice cream treat, we made a bee line for Chick-fil-A. She loved sitting at the high table so she could be "big like mommy!"

Better late than never...

I was so exhausted after the long weekend that I didn't blog about day 3. Well, suffice it to say it was just as great as the first 2 days. Corey and Grace hit the pool, where Grace apparently swam the length of the pool, with swimmies on of course, all by herself! Corey was so proud of her and she was mighty proud of herself, too.

After naps, we headed over to my parents' house to see our relatives from Indiana that have never met the girls. My Aunt April, Uncle Bill, and cousins Jake and Erin were passing through town on their way to the beach and stopped to stay with Mimi and Gramps for the night. They did the same thing last year and I was supposed to bring Grace over to see them (Bonnie was still a bun in the oven), but Grace decided to get sick instead and we spent the evening at Children's Healthcare. We were so excited to get to see them this time, though! We had such a great time and I think cousin Erin has found a friend for life in Gracie :)

Uncle Dan and Aunt Karen were there, too, and I'm bummed that I didn't get pictures of everyone!

It was also my brother's birthday (36)...whew!! I feel like we were just kids ourselves and now we both have kids of our own. Love you, big brother, and your beautiful family, too!

Dave, Baby Ellison, and Mimi