My wee buster!

We're beginning to think Grace was the wrong name for our wee one! She is so active, and curious, and into everything and everybody! The daycare girls agree that she is more of a Buster than a Grace.

Last week she figured out how to pull herself up to standing. She does it at every opportunity - even in her cot, much to my horror. She's even started "walking" along the furniture to reach a particularly fine toy - or remote control or phone! Her sixth tooth has just come through, and seemed to cause more wails than all the others put together.

Active and nosy - that pretty much sums her up at this point. She LOVES to know what is going on everywhere in the house - I'll be feeding her and she will be looking over my shoulder to see what Daddy is doing, or Katie the dog. She is definately going to be an outside girl - loves standing at the ranchslider and looking out. Rupes is in the middle of building a new fence so we have a safe play area for her without the continual tempation of the water at high tide or the mud at low tide. Somehow, I don't think she'd have a preference.

Life is busy. Rupes is away for a couple of days, my job just got a whole lot more involved, but so far all the balls are up in the air and we are juggling quite well. Miss Grace is babbling more and more, clapping her hands, and generally doing all the right things - though I think Katie is getting a bit tired of being used as a large living soft toy! In just a few weeks we will be off to Perth to celebrate Catherine and Troy's wedding - I can't wait, though am dreading the 7.5 hour flight. It will be so good to see the family though, and have some down time - our apartment has a pool so I think Grace and I will be spending a fair amount of time in there to beat the heat.

Nine Months...

Nine months today! She celebrated by throwing up her morning bottle of milk ALL over the bed and me. She's got a cold so she is a little bit grizzly but hopefully is over the worst of it now.

I look at her and wonder just how this all happened. She is growing so fast, and learning so much. She is really just a wee miracle. We are so very blessed to have her - life is busy and tiring yet there are these moments of pure joy and laughter that make it all worthwhile. Happy 9 months little Gracie!

In and Out

Today Grace is 39 weeks old - which is pretty much exactly the same amount of time she spent inside me! How funny is that...just made me laugh to think about how slowly the pregnancy went, and how fast her babyhood is flying by. Makes me kinda sad too.

It has been a really busy few weeks. Rupes went away, I got the flu, Mum came down to help and had a great (if tiring) time helping out with Grace so I could get some extra hours in at the office. It all worked out pretty well but it has become apparent that I need to have a third day at the office. It used to be much easier when she had a 2 hour nap so I could do some work from home - now we are lucky if we get 45 minutes, and I end up staying up late doing stuff when Rupes gets home from work and when Grace goes to sleep. So, Mondays are being added to the daycare days - she really loves going, and gets all excited when I pack her daycare basket, so I think it's good for her.

We had our Plunket check up this week - she is now 9.61 kgs and 71cm - doing all the right things and the nurse noted how active she is. This child hardly sits still for a moment - another reason I think daycare is so good for her as she gets so much stimulation and lots of new experiences - and socialisation. Which I think may be one of the most important things for Grace - she is quite a determined wee girl, and loves to touch/feel/hit everything - she will need to learn some boundaries :-)

In other news we have taken the drastic step of not using her safety sleep to hold her in place in the her cot. Mum thought it was annoying her and that's why she was waking up in the early hours - wanting to roll over but unable to. The first night was awful - I slept upstairs with her and literally got about 2 hours sleep all night. She keep scooting up to the top of the cot and pressing her face against the bars and then crying. The next night Rupes was upstairs with her and it was a little better and then he had the bright idea of safety pinning her sleeping back to the bottom of her mattress. So now, she can roll, wriggle and get on her tummy - but she can't get to the top end of the cot and push her head against the bars. Last night - oh bless - just one 3am wakeup cos she lost her dummy. This of course, may have been a coincidence given a very busy day at daycare, but we shall take it as a positive sign!

So...at 39 weeks Grace is still commando crawling, rocking on her hands and knees, climbing over people/dogs/pillows, waving hello and bye bye when she wants to, babbling away when she is in the mood, brushing her teeth (kinda), eating HUGE meals, and such a happy lovely wee girl that we both feel very very lucky.