Grace Recommends... (part 2)

Here's the latest in our series of posts on books that Grace is loving right now (and which we are sick to death of reading but keep reading because we'd like to encourage her to love books and reading).

Really, Grace likes just about any of the Dr. Seuss board books, but won't sit still long enough for any of the longer ones, so those will have to wait. In the meantime, her current faves are:



The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
A wacky book of opposites

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? by Dr. Seuss
All kinds of fun sounds













Now for the audience participation segment of this post -- what are/were your kids favorite books? What are/were your favorite books to read to them? We're looking to extend the library beyond board books, but aren't entirely sure where to begin, so any suggestions are welcome!

A Fall Photo Shoot

Vic and I realized months ago that there was a hole in our family photography. We had pictures of Grace, pictures of Vic with Grace, and pictures of me with Grace, but very few of the family all together. So thanks to a bartering swap of services (graphic design for photography), we recently had a photo shoot with Dawn Hayes of Lifelong Photography. Here are some of the shots of the family, and a few of Grace as well.

Grace's Favorite "Toy"

In search of toys for Grace, who loves to push buttons, my mom recently picked up a small battery-powered radio with a light. Bingo! Instant favorite. We keep it in the car, and thankfully Grace has not yet figured out how to turn up the volume on her "wiwo". The light seems to be her favorite part though. Apparently, despite the ladybug Halloween costume in the photo, Grace is part moth.

I Don't Feel So Great

extreme fatigue

recurring nosebleeds

dry, itchy skin

shooting leg pain

migraine headaches

lack of appetite

shortness of breath

trouble sleeping due to restless legs

digestive problems

If you weren't feeling at all well, and you had one, several, or all of these symptoms on a near-daily basis, you'd be pretty concerned. These are not normal or healthy. A visit to the doctor's office would definitely be in order.

And if you were pregnant, the doctor would look at you and say, "Hmm, yep, that sounds about right." Not exactly what you were hoping for.

Here's to things (eventually) going back to normal.

Leavenworth Getaway

So about three weeks ago, my wonderful parents

agreed to come stay with our beautiful daughter

so Vic and I could enjoy a relaxing getaway.

We chose to go somewhere close so we could make the most of the time, and the destination of choice was Leavenworth. I'd never been there anytime other than winter, particularly the Christmas season, and it was absolutely lovely. Despite the fact that it was the weekend of the Autumn Leaf Festival, the leaves really hadn't started turning colors yet. No matter. The town was fun as usual, the crowds were quite small, the accommodations at the Abendblume so comfortable, and the food delicious.

Ta-Da! The New Baby Is...

A boy! We're excited that Grace will have a little brother, although she doesn't seem particularly excited one way or the other.

Guess we'll have to clean out the three boxes of cutie pink shirts, flowered onesies, and poofy dresses with bows.

Here are our little buddy's latest ultrasound photos. Oh, and let the name suggestions begin!

a profile shot



who doesn't love baby feet?

Grace Recommends...

We apologize for the long break between blog posts (Melinda has not been feeling well with this pregnancy), and as a gift to our regular readers, we introduce a new feature.

Our peanut loves books. Initially, she loved to chew on them. Then she progressed to flipping them over and over. She now enjoys being read to and helping by turning the pages. In our new blog feature, we will showcase the latest book Grace is reading in case you have young children or just to help you catch up or fill in the gaps on your juvenile literature experience.

So going back a month or two, Grace recommends:


Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton
Watch out for the unexpected plot twist at the end!

And Grace's current favorite:


Clifford's Bedtime by Norman Bridwell
By the time we read this one seven or eight times (as Grace requests), we're ready for bed ourselves.

Happy reading!

Late Summer Days

We've been absolutely loving the weather around here lately. Cool mornings and evenings, with warm, sunny days in between. Light fog to start the day, long rays of sunlight to end it. And on one such sunlit evening, an adorable girl who had to be captured on camera. (If only we could locate our video camera in a box somewhere.)

Announcing Our Second Peanut!

Vic, Grace, and I are happy to announce that a second Lipsey peanut is on its way! We will (hopefully) know whether it's a girl or a boy in October, and he or she will arrive in March. There's already been one photo session, during which the newest Lipsey wiggled like crazy, and this is the best shot:


For those like me who are ultrasound-photo-challenged, the baby is the light area within the dark. Its head is at the top, legs at the bottom, and a little hand is up by its face.

Other than increased queasiness and tiredness, I'm doing okay, and the doctor says all is going well with the little wiggler, so we're very thankful. Given the increased queasiness, we had some thought early on that there might be more than one baby getting comfy in there, and the doctor enjoyed teasing us about that possibility. Newborn twins and a one-and-a-half year old. Wow. But it looks like just one, and, for the sake of our sanity, we're okay with that.

We look forward to preparations for this new little one. There are decisions to be made about names (watch for a poll to be taken here on the blog), space to be cleared for the baby bed, things we'd like to finish on our house, and at some point we hope to sell my VW Golf and get a slightly larger car (one car seat and stroller fit just fine -- two won't). For now, we're just taking one day at a time and enjoying the end-of-summer weather, a relaxing weekend here and there, time with friends and family, and Grace's laughter.

Melinda

What to Do with a Cupcake

Grace before

Grace after

Happy Birthday to You!

Today marks one year of Grace in our lives. We're thankful for this little girl who makes us smile, and pray that the coming year will bring lots of growth and learning (for her and for us).

Happy birthday, Peanut! Your cupcake is on its way...

Is This Odd?

Some people like the idea of having enough money to literally roll around in.


Grace apparently has no such aspirations. Diapers will do nicely, thank you.

A Seven-Year Doughnut Drought

Yep, when you realize that you'll need to eat wheat- and gluten-free in order to feel good and be healthy, doughnuts are a thing of the past. It's not like they were my favorite thing -- I only ate one maybe two or three times a year. But they represented something I couldn't have, which, of course, made me miss them.

Well, not anymore. I had a dream last night about cinnamon sugar doughnuts, and woke up motivated to try making some. There are numerous recipes online, so I chose the one that seemed most likely to produce the closest thing to a wheat-full doughnut. Turns out doughnuts are not very difficult to make. I even made the holes.

Result? Yum.

**edit** For those seeking the recipe, it can be found here.

Melinda

Summer is Here

Well, it's finally arrived. It's definitely summer. Sunshine beams into our home, making us smile (and open the windows to cool off). Our grass is mostly brown because we can't remember which days we're allowed to water. My parents have arrived from China. Salad instead of soup is on the family menu. The popsicle man (with his music-box, can't-get-it-out-of-your-mind music) passes by daily. Grace wakes up from naps all sweaty. And, strangely enough for Seattle, it's been dry for long enough that we've stopped asking whether we should take a raincoat when we go out.

We continue to work on the house, although we took a week-long break to fly to Texas for a Lipsey family reunion and for Vic's parents' 50th anniversary celebration. We had a great visit! It was great to see everyone, to meet new people, to catch up on each others' lives, and to introduce everyone to Grace. (On the way down, Grace was the crying baby no one wants to be near on the plane. On the way back, she was decidedly less fussy.) But we're glad to be back where we can't fry an egg on the sidewalk.

Some of the latest photos of our little peanut...

Melinda

Grace's First Hike

Vic and Grace gave me a much-needed break yesterday, and hiked up Rattlesnake Ridge near North Bend. Great afternoon hike -- not too long or strenuous, but enough to work your muscles well and give some great views at the top. It sounds like Vic and Grace enjoyed the time outdoors, and I certainly enjoyed the time puttering at home.

(Pardon the cellphone picture quality, please.)

Still During

With a before-and-after story, there are usually the before photos and the after photos. We have lots of during photos. The bad news is that things are still quite messy at our house, both with unpacked boxes and with undone projects.





The good news is that we've found our memory card reader and can share the mess with all of you. Alleviating the mess is what we've been up to (and up to our eyeballs in). Eating, sleeping, wiggling, and splashing is what Grace has been up to.

Grace gave me tulips for Mother's Day

Keeping cool on a hot day
aka, the obligatory "baby in a tub" photos

Grace loves pancakes

Where's the Camera?

And where's the memory card reader, and the cable to plug it into the computer?

We'd love to post pictures of how things are going, but how things are going is messy. We're moved into the new house, and fully moved out/cleaned out of the old house, and we're happy about that. Things with the move went pretty smoothly, even down to Vic doing some pretty sneaky sneaking back into the old house to get a part for the stove that we mistakenly left behind. The remodeling of the new house isn't complete, which is slowing the settling in process, but we know it will all be done at some point and we'll be able to put things away.

So everything is here at the new house. But bless me if I can find anything.

Melinda

I Don't Do Windows

Actually, I'll happily do windows. The household task I most dislike is ironing. We're pretty wrinkly around here. But that's beside the point.

The point is that the windows at our new place -- not to mention the floors, walls, cabinets, mirrors, and every other part -- could use some cleaning before we move in. So I say we make it a party! Next Thursday, May 14, in the morning. We'll scrub, vacuum, dust, wipe, wash, and maybe even paint. Then we'll lunch. Right now the forecast calls for a cool, rainy day, so maybe a crockpot of chili.

Who's in?

The During

Work continues on the remodel at our new house. Our friend Ian has done the bulk of the serious work, we found a guy on craigslist for the hardwood floors (they did a great job), and we've hired a couple of other friends for this and that.

So the walls are torn down, the floors have been replaced, a kitchen island is in place, and all the downstairs moulding is new. We also have two new windows in our master bedroom (it was a bit of a cave before), the wallpaper border in Grace's room has been removed, and tile is laid and grouted in the entryway. The kitchen cabinets are midway through the process -- they've been sanded and we'll paint them this week, we hope, along with painting the entire downstairs (living/dining/kitchen/entry) and two bedrooms (Grace's and ours). Once all of this is done, we'll have a cleaning party (more info to come) and have the carpets upstairs cleaned. Whew.

Here are some photos of the house taken during the last week.

Nine Months

When you get to be an adult -- not when you turn 18, but when you're firmly planted in the grownup category and cashiers refer to you as sir or ma'am -- time seems to fly by, and the space of nine months is nothing. Consider, on the other hand, what it looks like to a kid, or in this case, our kid.

Grace, 18 months ago

Grace, 9 months ago

Grace, yesterday