11th and 12th Month of Life!

Grace is now over a year old and as I reflect on how much joy she has brought into our lives, I am beyond thankful.  Seriously, I had no idea how beautifully easy it would be to love your own child, to want the best for them always and to see all the hard stuff you face as worth it because they're yours and you wouldn't have it any other way. 

Parenthood has given me a fuller picture of God's love for me as His own child, and a greater understanding of the sacrifice He made for me.  I am immensely humbled as I ponder the truth that the love I have for Grace is only a glimpse of God's great and perfect love for His children, and that continues to motivate my heart in wanting Grace to know Him as her heavenly Father as her dad and I do.  I hope and pray that her namesake would be true of her life: that Grace would experience the fullness of the unmerited grace of God and be adopted into His family for now and for eternity. 

As always, here are some of my favorite pictures from Grace's last 2 months.  I am so behind on this blog so I didn't take the time to edit the pictures at all.  Maybe I'll get around to it, but don't get your hopes up! ;) It was a busy and exciting time for us, having my parents come visit as well as Andy's dad.  Grace absolutely loved getting to have family here and wasn't ready for them to leave!  :)

11 MONTHS:

My parents came to visit for the first time!  This is them wining and dining us at a nice restaurant that overlooks the city.

Grace absolutely loves to swing- she could do it all day every day

Just thought she looked so pretty in this one

Some light reading as we took a bus tour of Waiheke Island with my parents.

Waiheke Island

Grace had so much fun playing with her grandparents!

Family Selfie

My baby and me on Mother's Day.  So thankful to be her mum!

Posing with all her stuffed animals- how can one kid have so many!

Bath Time!

12 MONTHS:

Taking photos at Cornwall Park, a regular event for Grace

Always so happy when Daddy comes home!

She started looking like such a big girl this month

Grace and me

Waiting at the airport for Andy's dad to arrive in NZ!

Papa brought Grace a walker and she didn't need any help figuring it out.  In fact, Grace took her first steps on her own later that month and now at 14 months is a full on walker!

Andy, Gary and Grace

We took Gary to see beautiful Piha Beach.  Grace was just along for the ride ;)

Michelle came too, an American student who was doing an exchange in NZ.  We miss her!

Papa and Grace... love!

Coming soon (I hope!): Grace's first birthday party and other celebrations!

10 Months

When Grace turned 10 months old the reality that her first year of life is almost over really sunk in for me.  It makes me sad to think about how quickly time has gone by, but I really think Andy and I have enjoyed our little baby to the fullest during her first year.  We are so thankful that she is growing and learning and healthy.  This month we had some fun activities we did together from the Auckland Easter Show to a trip to her first NZ farm.  Grace continues to have more and more personality and will and it is so fun to watch her interact with the world around her!  

Always giving such sweet, bright smiles

G is for Grace!

Look how she has changed compared to the picture in the background!  

Looking so sweet in her Easter dress.  

The Auckland Easter Show was basically like a big carnival.  Grace loved the petting zoo!

Petting zoo

Auckland Easter Show

We spent a few days at our supervisor's farm in the Waikato.  It was a restful time, much of it spent without electricity!

Just had to show off her cute baby cankles!  I love everything about this sweet baby girl!

9 Months and on the Move

I am consistently behind now on my monthly baby updates, but to be honest that doesn't surprise me or those who know me well at all!  I am just happy that I am getting them done eventually and can have these posts to help us remember Grace's first year of life!  I actually thought I posted this a month ago but when I went to write Grace's 10 month post, I found this still in my drafts. Grace has just started her 11th month of life now but below are some highlights from her 9th month.

One of the biggest things that happened mid-way through the month is that Grace started crawling! She is on the move and so is her momma!  At first she was slow and still easy to catch, but she has definitely picked up her pace and loves to go after the stuff that momma says is not for her!  She also loves to pull herself up on anything that she can, and she likes to take steps as she holds on to things. Grace also cut her 3rd tooth this month, the top right one.  We love all her big, cheesy, toothy grins!

As always there is lots more to say.  Below is her 9 month picture update which says it better than words can!

My little sweetheart is 9 months old!

Grace loves Phoebe, one of our key students in Navs.  I thought this picture was so sweet!

Family pic at our Nav Paddleboarding event

Check out those teeth!

Still exploring the world 2 pointer fingers at a time!

Grace will eat ANYTHING we give her- she loves to eat.  She is way less picky than Andy and I!

Bath time- so thankful we have a bath tub now in our new home.

Grace and me, the household trend-setters.  Jeggings and slippers are a common occurrence!

Love her sweet face!

Eating her veggies.

Excited about eating!

Skyping with Papa.  So thankful we can call and skype our families so easily!

Pretty Girl- love her rosy cheeks!

You know, cause everyone needs a baby picture in a box.

Grace is so much fun and we love her so much!  I can sometimes be caught watching the day's videos of her after she has gone to sleep- who knew parenthood would do that to you!?

8 Month Pics All in a Day

This blog post is a glimpse of Grace's 8th month of life.  This is the month that we were without a camera so I have very few pictures.  However, a study abroad student who is involved in Navs named Michelle took some impromptu pics of Grace during our planning weekend in Tauranga.  Michelle is a photography student and you can tell- she has some amazing skills!  I am so thankful that she took these photos!  There are also some 8 month photos that I took at the bottom of this post after Michelle let us borrow one of her cameras.  They are technically during her 9th month of life but they are really close to the 8th!

Before the pics, here are some highlights of Grace this month:
-Cut her first 2 teeth, the bottom front ones!
-Loves to babble ALL DAY LONG.  I love it, though it can be hard to keep her quiet at church!
-Really moving!  Rolls all over the floor and shuffles around on her tummy.
-Able to stand on her own while holding on to stuff.  Every time we hold our hands out to her she       grabs on and pulls herself up to standing with our help.  She loves this game- it is so cute!
-We increased the solids and she is getting more and more interested in food every day.
-More opinions about stuff lately- she actually is starting to show preference for things where as she used to just go with the flow all the time.
-Experiencing some separation anxiety.  I'm not too concerned because I know it is healthy for babies to go through this, but I do hope she grows out of it quickly!

Now on to some pics of our growing baby girl!

Family Pic at Karangahake Gorge.  We stopped here for a picnic on our way home from our Nav Weekender.

L&P stop in Paeroa- One of New Zealand's favorite drinks.  It's "Good Lemonish Stuff".  

Beautiful Baby Girl

Love how chubby and happy she looks in this pic!

Grace loves her daddy!

Trying to get the camera

Awesome selfie :)

Thanks for the pictures Michelle!!

Grace absolutely loves this ball- it might be her favorite toy!

Still such a happy, fun-loving girl!

Good shot of those teeth!

My beautiful girl!  Can't believe how fast she is growing!