"Oh Toodles" Grace is 22 months!

Double date with/courtesy of the Easterlings to the Wake-Duke basketball game.  Lots of fun!

There is Sarah Easterling!  This picture was from her son's 1st birthday party this month.

Fellowship group (Wednesday night small group from church) at a trampoline park?  Okay!  Everyone isn't pictured but we all had fun!

I already posted pictures from our snow day but wanted to put one in this post to reference for later.

From "C" week...my little chef!

She uses both hands when drawing/eating but is better with her right. Oh and no, she didn't write that C, haha.

Our furry babies :)

1st nap on daddy's chest (since she was a newborn).  She was a sleepy girl this day.  Jimmy was in heaven...he loves to snuggle but Grace and I, not so much.

Playing at Vivienne's

Meeting baby Clara (Vivienne's sister).  Grace was VERY interested in Clara's face/eyes/nose/mouth...it was cute.

My little Picasso

My little piggy!  Finishing off the Super Bowl bean dip.  Holly's recipe :)

My sleepy little lady...this girl LOVES to sleep and her parents will never complain about that!

Weekend away to Augusta, G.A.  Katie, Liz (PREGGO!) and I.

Sure do love these girls...still going strong 5 years later.  Well, Beth and I go WAY back, of course.

Me, Liz, Katie and Beth (left to right)

Memere came up for a visit...Valentine's gifts came with her :)

Happy girl with her new favorite stuffed animals. I think her Nana and Grandpa in Florida are proud of this new Mickey love!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A homemade card for daddy

As far as Grace was concerned, these balloons were gold!  Thanks Alison for letting us keep it!  

Grace enjoyed volunteering a her first ever event: the Salem Widow's Ministry Valentine's Party.

Aunt Lulu has two nieces, Hannah and Hayley.  Hayley is pictured here and Grace LOVES both girls!

22 months old...so close to TWO!

Residency Update: Jimmy finished the ED and we can honestly say it was a nice rotation!  The shifts were 8 and he usually finished his charting while he was working or was home soon thereafter.  He got to see Grace a lot which always makes things easier for him.  Jimmy started the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) this week and we have already seen some long days.  During the week he works 6:30 a.m.-5 p.m. and Friday-Sunday he works 6:30 a.m.-7 p.m.  Yeah.  Long days.  BUT he successfully intubated a 6 pound baby last night so that made the long day worth it.  I can honestly say that even though Jimmy has worked some rough rotations/shifts, he really seems to the enjoy being able to do procedures (good thing since he is going into anesthesiology) and taking care of patients instead of watching like he did as a student.  The blessing inside of this rotation will be next week as he has Monday-Friday completely off!  Residents get 2-3 weeks of vacation a year and next week happens to be one of his weeks.  We were going to go out of town but decided to stay home and relax.  Maybe we'll make a day trip somewhere but the two of us are home bodies so we are looking forward to it.

You know I'm honest if you read this blog so it won't surprise you when I say something like this:  Jimmy and I have a great marriage and it has been very easy... up until this year.  I could blame it on residency, busy lives, having a toddler, etc. but the fact of the matter is we need to make more time for each other and communicate better/nicer.  This next week will be really nice to have him home and we even have a late Valentine's date planned for Monday.  God is gracious and provides for his children and we are very aware that we need to put in the work in order to make improvements.  If we keep all of our struggles private as humans then things will get bottled up and usually conflict is much harder to resolve once that happens so I have no shame in sharing this with, well, anyone I guess!  Accountability makes you humble and is very much needed.

Grace Update:
FALSE ALARM with the whole terrible twos thing: Jimmy was gone one weekend and I had Grace all to myself.  I am not sure if that is what it was but that was the only weekend I witnessed some out of ordinary behavior.  Ever since that weekend she really has been a doll.  Of course we take trips to time-out and she doesn't obey all of the time but overall Grace is a very well behaved toddler.  Praying hard it stays that way!
Interests: M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!  "Watch Mickey?" is her new favorite question.
Firsts: Making Valentine's cards, Mickey Mouse TV show which quickly turned into he 2nd, 3rd...sorry Elmo!, mini BuildaBear (thanks Aunt Lulu), Weekend with Daddy only; well, it was the second, Volunteer opportunity (Widow's Ministry-see blog post) and 1st nap on daddy's chest since she was a newborn (Jimmy was so smitten by this)
Words spoken:  Can't break this down anymore because the girl doesn't stop talking from the moment she wakes up until she goes down!  Grace has especially become more verbal this month.  She is stringing together phrases up to four words.  She is more clear when speaking as well.  Okay, I lied...she is quiet when Mickey is on...maybe that is why I let her watch so much of it :)
Developmental Notes for future reference:
Letters: Grace knows all of her letters and will site them out of order with her flashcards
Numbers:  I held up the number flash cards (in order) and Grace said them as I held them up.  I haven't had her do them out of order in awhile but it seems as if she is starting to recognize the numbers by sight!
Shapes: Does well with all of her shapes but still gets a square and rectangle confused.
Little Learners curriculum:  We are on week 7 right now and is has gone incredibly well.  Check my recent blog postings for the weekly updates.