Happy Halloween!!

time flies!

Grace is now two months old! She loves to show off her new talent of smiling and can switch from crying to smiling and back in a flash. We are having lots of fun with her- her smile is so captivating and she almost giggles here and there and is definitely making googley baby talk. She is nice and portable right now so we've been out and about downtown to the RiverWalk and to the Spanish missions with Uncle Ray and Aunt Mel, to the pumpkin patch and the town of Bandera, the 'cowboy capital of the world'.

Like mother, like daughter... This was my dress when I was a baby and Grace looks about as thrilled as I'm sure I was (or still am) to be all dressed up. Much happier up above!!

Uncle Ray
Aunt Mel

The Spanish Missions

Chillin' with big brother

the munchkin

fun with dad

uncle ray and aunt mel came to visit


mohawk girl

sleepy head

go longhorns!!

Grace was happy to see her team win the Red River Shoot Out over Oklahoma today! Another Saturday football afternoon...

more pics

Here are some more pictures of Grace along the way!

the first month

Here we are, Grace is already one month old today! It's amazing to see how much she has changed already in just a short time. We are enjoying every minute of it, especially the fact that she is only waking to eat once each night now. She has a little personality that is starting to show and has become more interactive even just in the last few days. She has been making squeaky sounds for some time and is starting to coo. She's been on her belly doing 'tummy time' and has to use her entire lower half as leverage to lift her head-quite cute. Sometimes she gets frustrated that her head is just too heavy to lift and starts to cry. One of Grace's favorite things is to 'watch' football with Dan while sleeping on his chest. We've been going out walking with the stroller most every day and Baxter is grateful for that.

Its funny that life has finally slowed down for us AFTER having a baby. Dan is into his routine with coaching and working out of his home office during the day. I am definitely enjoying this time at home being a mom. So far she has made my job pretty easy, and even when she's crying we still think she is cute.

I think I can officially say that all of our boxes are unpacked now and there are even pictures on the walls. This house feels like home already and the area will continue to do so as well. I feel like I am a little removed from the city now that I don't go out so much but there will be plenty of time to explore in the future.

Grace Marie

Our baby girl has arrived!! And she decided to come on her own time schedule: 1 1/2 weeks early, arriving on the day we were supposed to close on our house! Oops! (more on that later).

She was born on Tuesday, August 26th at 5:52 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz, 19 1/2 inches long and with a full head of hair!

Here was our first lesson that you can't count on plans much once you have kids. Things started happening Monday night about 9:00 as we were doing the last packing of boxes and I was getting ready to go to work for Tuesday (Dan planned it that way so there was no way I could try to do any of the moving). I was feeling achy in my low back- no big deal, right? Then I started to notice crampy-type feelings that were seeming to come and go.... sort of regularly. I was in such denial that there was any chance that this could be labor- we're supposed to make it into the new house first! Dan was encouraging me to call in to work. No, let me see what this really is. Well 7 minutes apart, hmmmm..... Ok, called work, called the midwife and the doula. I guess I'd better pack my bag for the hospital rather than for work. We left for the hospital when the contractions were 3.5-5 minutes apart. I was already halfway there when they checked me at the hospital at 2:40 a.m. Wow! Everything just went really fast. Dan was awesome in helping me through the contractions and our doula was great in helping both of us. The midwife checked me again about 4:45 after my water just broke and she announced that I was complete. I said, "Are you kidding me?!" She said, "I don't joke about that- you're ready to push!"

What an amazing experience to bring life into the world. I'll let you look at the pictures rather than you having to listen to me gush about the experience.

Meanwhile, Dan left in the middle of Tuesday after Grace was born to sign papers for the house and then coordinated the move to happen Wednesday instead of Tuesday. And just like he said he had envisioned, I left the apartment to have the baby and brought her home to a new house (just a couple of boxes needing to be unpacked.....) Thank goodness for family! Patti stayed with me in the hospital on Wednesday and Ron and my mom helped Dan coordinate the move (Yes, we had movers!) Piece by piece we are getting the house settled and learning how to be parents. It seems (so far) that we have a baby with a laid back personality- we are glad! She's had plenty of opportunities to learn how to cope with stress while along for the ride inside of me!

I'll keep you posted!