Wouldn't It Be Easier?

Grace still wants to wear the Dora pull up diapers we bought her months ago when we thought she might potty train early. When we say "you have to go pee po in the big girl potty to wear Dora", she goes to the potty and sits. Then she makes a noise with her mouth that sounds like her going to the bathroom. She then stands up, claps for herself and says "Grace wear Dora". SO not the idea.

So instead of wanting to potty train, she helps change her diaper. When she wants a diaper change, she gets her wipes, diapers and changing pad and lays them out. Then she lays down on the pad and either waits until someone notices or she tries to do it herself. The other day, the whole new pack of 100 wipes were in the floor individually. Obviously she had a lot of wiping to do.

This is her waiting for us to take off her stinky diaper before her bath. Thank you.

Nice Winter Day

Yesterday and today the temperature was in the high 50's, so we played outside a little. This is now the ball she wants to throw into the pool.

We visited a southern style restaurant tonight in Troutman (about 10 minutes north). We had fried chicken, creamed potatoes, green beans and biscuits (I had okra). It was a nice homecoming.

Spooky Ghost

Grace can now open every door and drawer in the house, which she does constantly. One of her favorite things is to go round and round in the guest bathroom and bedroom. There is a door from the bathroom into the guest room and a door from the bathroom into the hallway. Grace comes into the bathroom, shuts the door, opens the door to the guest room, then goes through the guestroom door into the hallway and opens the door back into the bathroom. She will do this over and over. Every time she opens the door to the bedroom, she looks for the happy ghost. I have no idea.

Room of Her Own

The room over our garage is Grace's playroom. Whenever she wants to play here, she says "upstairs". She went up and played by herself the first few days, but now we have to go with her. She is back to not playing alone again. She has become clingy again after we dropped her off twice at Playdate, a child care room where you can leave your kids without an appointment. We tried to get her to play by herself at a supervised play gym this week, but she kept calling for us.

She has met a friend who lives down the street. Alicia has an awesome tree house with heat and electricity and she has a trampoline. Grace is in heaven. But, of course, now she wants to go to Alicia's all day, every day. Alicia is 10 and she has an 11 year old brother. Their family moved here from Western Canada five years ago. As we already knew, no one who lives here is from NC. Most moved here from the North.

New Home

Here are a few pictures of the house as we have it so far. We are still working on curtains and paint for the living and dining rooms and master bedroom.

SNOW?!

Tonight and tomorrow we are supposed to get a few inches of snow. We're sure everyone will be in a panic. The high tomorrow is 30, so at least it won't be horribly cold. By this weekend it is supposed to be back in the high 40's low 50's.

Grace and I both have colds. She started a gymnastics class Thursday, and I think she caught it there then gave it to me. Of course, she seems to feel much better than I do. I would make millions if I could bottle her energy. With a stuffy nose, coughing and sneezing she still sleeps 12 hours at night, takes a one hour nap and plays all day without sitting down for longer than 3 minutes, except to eat. She is a miracle!

Power Outage

A few days ago we had a cold night and the power went off around 6:30am. Grace sleeps with a sound machine in her room, so when it got silent, she woke and started calling for us. We put her in the bed with us (to keep her warm), and she started talking as usual. She cracked us up when she whispered "turn on the tv". Then she started giggling when I let out a big sigh. She kept sighing and giggling for 5 minutes. Around 7:20 the power returned, and we put her back in her bed. She has not slept at night with us since she was weeks old. She wants to play too much and will never go to sleep. We would love to sleep next to her some time, but we know it is better for us that she wants to sleep on her own.

Our well also froze that night. Never having a well before, we had no idea what to do. When we called for repair, we were told to wrap it tight with blankets and apply a heat source to it. Interesting...now we know.

Our New House, For Real

We closed on the house Friday, January 2. Everything got a little crazy at the end but was sorted out by closing. We started getting Grace's room ready right away. It is painted a lime green with the same border on two walls, as in the old house. We moved the furniture in Saturday morning and went about getting things settled for the next two days (we are still working). We spent our first night in the house on Sunday. Grace slept all night, so we think she is comfortable in the house. She still calls it "new home".

The following weeks we have emptied 3/4 of the boxes, and Dan can get his car in the garage finally. The house finally feels like a home despite all the decorating we still have to do. Grace is sleeping well and taking regular naps, so she must like everything. She loves her toy room upstairs, where she has most of her toys.

Our only problem is her obsession with wanting to throw balls in the pool. The pool has no cover, so she always wants to see and and throw something in. She will cry if she doesn't get her way. AHH, this pool is already a concern.

One More X-Mas To Go

After our return to NC, Grace had one more night of X-mas surprises. We opened presents at Jim and Char's.

Grace got a real cooking set that she used with her playdough to make cookies in her kitchen. She got so many great things, that we will have to put some away and bring them out again as new in a few months.

The Day after Tomorrow

The rest of the week, we played with Parker and enjoyed the end of the season. After this week, we would be back into the daily grind. It was nice to relax with family and enjoy the nice weather.

Grace does want to go "home" often. We keep telling her she will be going to her new home. We hope the holidays helps to make the transition easier.

Merry Christmas!

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To all our family and friends. We wish you a happy holiday season

Christmas DAY

Grace was so cute seeing all of the new toys for the first time. I think her words were "oh my goodness". She got a vanity set, Hello Kitty cloth house, a Pound Puppy and a Little People school from Santa. She also got an easel, shopping cart, laundry center, more Little People sets and so many more things. She played all day and night. She blow dryed Grandmother Maggie's hair, painted Daddy's nails and feed milk to her Pound Puppy.

Happy Holidays!

When in town, we go to Mamaw Grace's for X-mas Eve, and this year Grace and I got to go. Of course she received great gifts and played with everyone. It was nice to be there again for the holiday. We got to see Uncle Kevin, Aunt Donna and Parker for the first time this visit. They started playing right away

Dan drove in that night, and we started working on setting up for Santa's arrival. We placed most gifts around the tree and all put together. Then we went to bed to anxiously await the big day. Of course, Grace was up all night crying. Too many sweets I think. It was a long, big night.

Off to Grandma and Grandpa Whaley's

This weekend Dan drove us all to Dalton. Grace and I stayed for the week, but Dan had to go back to NC for work until Christmas Eve. We played, played, played all week. Sylvia sent Grace clothes, which we always love, and inside the box was a bathing suit. Of course, Grace grabbed it right away and kept trying to put it on. For three days she would go into the box and pull out the suit and say "ready to go outside and swim." Dan finally took the box back to NC with him. She will be in her pool soon enough.

Week Two Since Move

This week Dan started his new job. Each day he got up a little later in the morning not knowing how traffic would be leaving his Dad's house. By the end of the week he was getting up at 7:00. This was later than the 6:30-6:45 he had to wakeup in Buffalo. It was so foggy a few days this week. We took a boat cruise on Lake Norman one night to celebrate my birthday. My luck...we were on board with a senior citizen group...just us and them. We went expecting a party atmosphere, so the peace and quiet was nice. The weather was a little cold but clear.

Baby played all week. We tried to take her shopping, but she wanted to ride the Merry Go Round (which she saw as we entered the mall). She whined pretty much the entire time until she got to ride it. Then she rode it again. So much for the shopping.

First Days Since Move

We have been very busy since our move on Dec. 5. We drove to NC first with Dan, Grace, Mom, Blue, Prissy, a Uhaul Trailer and me. We met Donna and Kevin in SC two days later to return mom (she took the cats). Dan had the week off, so we mostly worked on X-mas and new house issues. We took Grace into Downtown Mooresville to see Santa and ride on a wagon ride. It was cold, but she didn't mind. The next day we visited the Botanical Garden an hour away. Again, it was cold and she did mind. Instead of enjoying the lights, she wanted to play in the water exhibits. Not a fun thing for Mom and Dad on a cold, cold December night. Baby cried most of the time.

Last Pictures in Grace's First Home

I do miss the old house, but mostly I miss the neighbors. I hope we can meet nice ones here.

Belated Thanksgiving Photos