Update for Aunt Janice

So I've put making a post off for quite a while. I guess you could say I've run out of things to say lately. I'm not exactly sure why. Gracie has definitely not stopped providing us with new and exciting milestones weekly. Maybe my brain has just been tired. I've been keeping up with video posts and pictures though. You can always check those out here:

photos
videos

I think Gracie's brain must be tired too. She just has more energy than me so she keeps right on using it to do amazing things every day. In the last two months she has hit several milestones and experienced many firsts. Here's the condensed version:

5/21 - rode in a shopping cart without her baby carrier
5/22 - Sat in a restaurant high chair
6/3 - tried whole peas (and hated them)
6/9 - first bad reaction to food (it was a gerber Hawaiian smoothie and the clean up was no fun)
6/13 - started crawling army style
6/27 - started getting to a sitting position by herself
6/29 - pulled to her feet
6/30 - crawled on all fours
7/2 - started saying "Ba-ba-ba-ba..."
7/6 - starting using M's and N's
7/9 - starting using pincer grasp to eat her puffs
7/13 - Top right tooth coming in

We also took a trip to the zoo. She did more people watching than animal watching and fell asleep in her stroller before we left but I think it was a pleasant trip.

Last week Matt's family came to town and we had fun hauling the two babies (Gracie and my niece MacKenzie) around Indiana. We went to the Children's Museum, did a lot of shopping and a lot of playing. It's always neat to see two little one's interact. They were definitely born with little personalities.

It makes me wonder what Gracie will be like as she grows up. Right now she's quite calm and seems very contemplative. She's constantly watching people and things as if she's trying to figure everything out. She laughs and smiles but not at the drop of a hat. Strangers in the grocery store really have to work to get her to smile (this secretly pleases me). We'll find something that makes her let out one of her deep chuckles but the next time we do it it's old news and not nearly as entertaining.

Just recently she has started laughing at Preston (our dachsund) when he scurries over to eat anything she's dropped out of her high chair. One tried and true practice that gets her giggling is a game I call One-Two-Three. I put her in the middle of our king size bed sitting up and stand at the edge of the bed. I swing my arms big as I say, "One...Two....Three" and I launch myself (gently) at her on the three. She's thinks it's wonderful. I wonder how long this will amuse her. Only Gracie knows.