Swim Lessons

During the months of May and June Gracie took what we called swim lessons but were actually water safety classes.  Instead of teaching Gracie how to kick and doggie paddle these classes teach babies how not to panic when they fall into the water accidentally.  We felt these classes were very important given Gracie’s grandparents both live near water.  While the ultimate goal of the class is to teach the baby that once fallen in to roll over and float on their back or swim to the wall, Gracie became very fluent in being submerged and not panicing (which is very important as most children drown in under 30 seconds because they panic and inhale water) and holding onto the wall.

We had a great time taking her to class, even though the first couple weeks she cried the whole time.  Once daddy was able to join us at class and show Gracie that swimming is fun she really began to enjoy it.  Now, she wants to go swimming in her pool in the backyard and at LaLa and PapPap’s all the time.  LaLa was nice enough to come to her last class and take some pictures.  As you can see Gracie is crying in a few pictures as another kid was crying that day (she’s very sympathetic) and her daddy wasn’t there.

Trip to Olive Branch

For Father’s Day weekend we went to Olive Branch, MS to visit Brad’s family.  We went to the Memphis Zoo which was so much fun.  Gracie had a blast seeing the elephants, polar bears, monkeys, pandas and tons of other animals.  You can tell by her face that she was shocked to see animals that big.  We also went to visit Grandma Case at the pool she manages and Grace had a great time swimming with the family and showing everyone what she learned in her swim lessons.  Papaw even wore her favorite shirt!!!  Enjoy the pictures!!!

!!!Breaking News!!!

Gracie began crawling today!!!  Pictures and video soon…

First Trip to the Zoo

Today we had the first Fair Family Fun Day of the summer.  In the morning we went to Gracie’s swim lessons and in the afternoon we went to the zoo.    Gracie loved seeing the animals!  She called them all “dog”  which got the other patrons at the zoo really laughing.   Gracie loved the meerkats the most and was a little unsure on her ride on the carousel. The zoo even had a petting zoo with LaLa’s favorite GOATS.  Gracie liked the goats too as you can see in one picture she is going down to give it a kiss (Gracie has yet to master the art of closing her mouth when giving someone or something a kiss).  Enjoy the pictures!!

Gracie and Stella: Best Friends?

Anyone that has spent time with Gracie in the past month or so will tell you about her fascination with all things dog and dog related.  Gracie’s first word was dog and she loves pointing them out whenever she sees one whether they are alive, stuffed, or in a book.  Gracie’s favorite dog by far is Stella.  Whenever Stella comes around Gracie gives her a hug a kisses her (Gracie now gives kisses sometimes upon request but only voluntarily to Stella and other dogs).  I captured a series of photo that I believe demonstrates their relationship perfectly.

Stella comes to sit by Grace

Gracie notices her

Gracie petting Stella

Gracie shows Stella birds

Stella decides she’s not interested and walks away

Playing on the Swing Set

Gracie’s Pap-Pap and LaLa bought Gracie a swing set for her birthday and boy does Gracie love swinging and going down the slide.  Gracie and Kailey (the nanny’s little girl) play outside almost all day when it is sunny.  Below are some pictures of Gracie’s outside play area in our backyard and some of Gracie being a big girl on her favorite toy!!

VIDEOS ARE BACK: Better Late Than Never!!!

Loyal readers of The Place for Grace may have noticed there haven’t been many videos added in quite a while.  This was not due to lack of videos but rather that Google Video (our video hosting service) quit operating and I was not quite sure where to upload videos that would make them confidential.  As I am sure you are all aware of the creeps that roam the internet and I did not want them to stumble upon Grace’s videos.  At last, YouTube has started a Private Function where videos uploaded can remain private and only viewable by permission from me.  So all that said, here is a video of Gracie eating her birthday cake on her actual birthday.  As you can see she LOVES it!!! 

Gracie and Tess: BEST FRIENDS!!!

Today Mommy, Gracie, and Karen went to Knoxville to visit Mommy’s best friend Tara and her new baby Tesseri Ann Mallison.  While Tess is to young for them to play they did wear matching outfits and Gracie tried to hold her hand and patted her on the head.  Gracie had a fun time in Knoxviille but cried most of the time in the car as carseats are not her friend.  Below are some pictures of our great time!!!