Enjoying Gracie and Being a Family

The excitement is overwhelming. Gracie likes the slide oh, so much more.

A small birthday party for Gracie after we arrived home. She is a neat girl--she didn't want to just grab the cake with her fingers, so I had to feed it to her with a spoon. She loved the cake, though.

Gracie with her great-grandmother. It was so special to have all four generations together for Thanksgiving.

An early Christmas present from Grandpa John and Grandma Carol. She loves riding the elephant!

Thanksgiving turkeys;) Gracie also loves her cousins-Ethan and Katie!


We have recovered from our infections and are now on good sleep schedules. I have learned that this is critical. It took about a week for us to get on Dallas time and another week to get our naps figured out. She now sleeps through the night (95% of the time)and takes 2 naps. I think that is wonderful. I know that will change soon enough as she grows up, but it is hard being a mom! I am laughing now because the rewards are wonderful, but right now Gracie is what some call "velcro baby"--she sticks to me. According to all the literature I have read, that is a great thing--it shows she is attaching.

We have had such fun with her the last couple of weeks and are excited about Christmas. Every year we have said that once we have our girl home we would do extra decorations, sing songs, go see the lights, etc. etc. And now that it is here, we just can't seem to get things together, so we set aside this weekend to get a Christmas tree and decorate the house. Plus, we have figured out that with a 1 year old, it will take two adults just to keep up with her! It is always a new adventure. We hope you have fun adventures and we wish you a very happy holidays!

Jennifer