30 weeks

Today is 30 weeks and 1 day! I now have doctor appointments every 2 weeks... getting close! Baby Marion is so active. While I thought Grace was wild in the womb, she was relatively calm! With Grace I felt strong kicks and punches. Marion makes my whole stomach toss, turn and wiggle! Jeremy has nicknamed her "squirmy," because we constantly feel her squirming around. I don't know if she's spinning, flipping or what, but it sure feels (and looks) like something major.
I measured 33 weeks at the doctor, 3 weeks ahead, although I really don't feel bigger than I was with Grace. We'll see, I'll be back for another appointment next week!

ho ho ho

November 22nd and we've already made visit number 2 to see Grace's number 1 man!

All I can think when I look at this picture is... "She's getting so old!!!" I know, she's only 2 1/2, well, almost 3, but it's going by too fast!

the school party

Last week Grace had this invitation in her folder...

Her first school party- and notice the part that says "entertainment provided by your preschooler!" Grace and I were both very excited!

I promised Grace I'd bring a cookie cake...

Hmm, looks like "Thanksgiving" has become 2 words! It's crossed my mind to submit this to the Cakewrecks Blog, but I decided that it's the whole story of this cake that gets me so hysterical!

...little did I know what a total pain that would be! I ordered it the day before from the cookie place at the mall and was told it would be ready by 10am yesterday. I arrived at 10, it was still cooling and undecorated. I was told to come back at 10:30, that it would surely be ready by then. I approached the counter again at 10:30 and received this explanation for why my cake still wasn't ready...

(while pointing her finger at her about 7 year old son) "HE decided to be bad at school this morning, so I had to go pick him up, you're cake is almost ready."

Yeah, blame the kid! I'll spare you the details of how many teeth were in the mouth that these words came out of.

At 10:45, I had my cookie cake in hand and headed to the preschool. When I walked into the building there was a video playing of the children at music class last week practicing for the big day. The preschool director explained that they taped it to show us that the kids really did know their song and dance routines, just in case they underperformed under pressure! How'd they know!? The first song was "Gobble Gobble Turkey Talk," which Grace did many stunning renditions of for me at home! I'll give her her fair credit, she did sing out loud, which was more than most of her classmates did, but the enthusiasm wasn't at an all time high!

After the performance, it was time to eat. We had cornbread muffins with butter that Grace's class had made during the week! Supposedly, they added salt to whipping cream and shook it, tossed it and rolled it until it made butter... at least that's the story I got! It was actually really tasty!

Grace enjoying a cupcake!

Grace and I both had a wonderful time at her first school party. I'm looking forward to Christmas!

boots!

I think it's genetic... my two and a half year old seems to get as excited about shoes as I do! Today we scoured the mall to find her first pair of boots. It was love at first sight for Grace... it was also our conversion for the rest of the day...

"Mommy, can I wear my boots to school?"
"Mommy, can I wear my boots to go see Santa?"
"Mommy, can I jump in puddles in my boots... or will they get dirty??"
"Nana, I got my boots at the mall!"
"Mommy, my boots are very comfy!"

Boots, boots boots! It's all I've heard all day! I suppose she can wear them to school tomorrow, but I may have a battle Wednesday morning- because they surely won't go with the outfit she's wearing for her Thanksgiving performance at school. Sorry Grace, but wearing them to see Santa is not happening either! Here she is, ready to go to dance class...


A little more from dance: Ms.Lori let us watch the girls at dance tonight! Here are some shots from the cell phone...


Our conversation on the way home...

"Grace, Mommy is very proud of you. You are a beautiful ballerina! What does Ms.Lori call it when you put one leg in the air?"
(silence from the back seat)
"Grace, is it called an Arabesque, is that what Ms.Lori says?"
"No Mommy, Ms.Lori says, 'You're the best!'"

Ms.Lori says "arabesque" and you hear "you're the best!" Grace, you crack me up!

and we've been shredding paper ever since

On Wednesday, Grace had her visit from our Parents as Teachers contact, Jasmine. A main focus of the visit was sorting, which Grace can do quite well. Jasmine then pulled out an old magazine and a pair of scissors and asked Grace to go through it and cut out pictures of food.
I became slightly confused/slightly panicked... Scissors?? And cutting out specific shapes?? I don't know if Grace can do that! Really, I don't think she can! It was the first time Jasmine had ever asked Grace do do something that I didn't think she could do, and it really bothered me.
Grace isn't very able with scissors, and I can totally take the blame. Honestly, I've discouraged them. Not only do they create quite a mess, but a few months ago she sliced a hole in the dress she was wearing before I could stop her. We do lots of crafts around here, plenty of painting, coloring, glue and chalk; but no, scissors are not my favorite.
So I asked Jasmine, "Should Grace be able to cut out shapes from a magazine??" She responded with a quick and sure "Yes," leaving me no room for doubt.
Well, needless to say, I've been feeling pretty guilty and our house has looked like this since Wednesday...
I've been working with Grace on how to hold the scissors correctly and how to cut out specific shapes. Maybe she can be back on track by the time she turns 3! ;)

from the pantry door....

From the pantry door... some schoolwork from their unit on "A is for Apple"

Apple Tree

Practicing the Letter A

A is for Alligator

A Snowy Number 5

ouch!

Grace visited the doctor today for her flu vaccine. The mist version seems to be the thing this year, I actually don't think any of her friends got the shot. I let Grace choose which she wanted, a flu shot, or flu mist sprayed into her nose. She overwhelmingly went for the shot! She had been bragging to everyone for 2 days that she was getting a flu shot and today was the day.

First came the nurse, who whispered, "You want the mist, right?"

"No, actually, I gave her a choice and she really wants the shot."

"Really!? Well that's a first!"

Grace was sticking to her guns, and when the nurse returned with the syringe, Grace pulled up her sleeve and confidently told Ms.Nurse exactly where she could put it! Then it happened.... the sting... Grace had a look of total shock on her face. She winced in pain, but there were no tears or crying. Poor baby, it wasn't as glamorous as she had thought. The whole way home she repeated, "I don't like my flu shot. My flu shot hurt." She wasn't even amused by the round purple Tweety Bird band-aid, which she would have thought very cool under other circumstances. I did ask her if she would like to get the spray in her nose next year instead of the shot... the answer was "I don't want nose spray and I don't want shot." Well, she has a year to decide.

Grace waiting for her flu shot, still very excited about it!