Being Grace's Mom: Tuesday Full of Grace

So what was this great, wonderful thing I got to do today?!

Spend the entire day with my daughter, of course!

Monday, I just decided that I needed a Mommy-Grace Day, so I asked my boss for Tuesday off and being the wonderful person that she is, she agreed. I didn't have to work at my second job today, I just had club volleyball practice this evening. It really was a perfect day!

First, Daddy brought Grace into our room at about 8a when she woke up and wanted her bottle. It's always more fun to wake up to my baby girl than to an alarm!

Daddy left for work, and Grace and I talked about what we wanted to do today. Our day.

We plunked Grace in the bath tub and she soaked for about 20 minutes. That girl loves her baths!

If I had all these toys in my bath, I might stay in there for 20 mintues too!

Then we got all dressed in our Tuesday finest and raced out the door for our first destination: Starbucks.

I'd forgotten how hard it was to get a non-blurry picture of a 13 month old baby!

We don't have a Starbucks in my town. The closest one is about 15 minutes away in a neighboring town. I don't go there all that often, it's out of my way. My usual one is closer to work, about 35 minutes from home.

Anywho, the baristas really took up with Grace, and got a big kick out of watching her walk all around Starbucks. Grace had a short sugar-free vanilla steamer and a butter croissant. Mommy had a grande nonfat caramel macchiatto and a butter croissant.

Delicious.

We found a short table that Grace could stand at, but she wasn't really having that. Mommy was sitting in a comfy chair, so Grace wanted to sit in a comfy chair. She ate her croissant and drank her "coffee" just like Mommy does! If only she had a little blackberry constantly in her hand...then she would REALLY be my shadow!

Sitting in a big-girl chair, waiting for Mommy to hand her another piece of croissant.

We ended up having to purchase this weird fruit-drink thing they have at Starbucks because Grace found them and carried one around and around, dropping it occasionally and really putting some wear and tear on the packaging. Small price to pay for such a perfect little girl on her first Starbucks outing!

Actually, this is not Grace's first time in a Starbucks - one time she went to work with me and therefore she went to Starbucks with me, but this is the first time I have ordered something for her.

Then, since Poppy (Grace's grandpa) works right down the road from Starbucks, we decided to pop in to see him. Poppy works at a very large motorcycle shop. The other day, Nana told me that Grace has started to call Poppy "Bop-po." As we were walking in to the shop, she started to whisper, "Bop po. Bop po. Bop po." I still find it hard to believe that my little girl is using the right words in the right context. Most of the time I think it is either a fluke or coincidence. But really? This was QUITE the coincidence if it was one!

Just as we walked in, Poppy told me he was having a computer problem and snatched up Grace to go show her off. I headed to his office to start working on his picture dilemma. My father is quite cute when it comes to computers...until recently he didn't know how to send an email to more than one person at a time. He would get a funny forward, and whoever was his favorite that day would get an email from him!

I didn't get any pictures of Grace at the motorcycle shop, but I do have a few from last May when we went to visit Poppy on Nana's birthday.

May 2009

We left the motorcycle shop and headed back to our town, but we had to stop at the school district office to pick up a Relay for Life Online Chair Handbook. That's right, you are reading the blog of the new Relay for Life Online Chair!! I am very excited to be getting involved in this program. But I'll leave that for another blog.

In the twenty minute drive from the motorcycle shop to the district office, Grace took a power nap. I knew it was only a matter of minutes before she would need the real deal. I had a few more things I wanted to do, but I reminded myself that this day was about Grace, and pushing her to her limit was not something I wanted to do today!

So home we came, and Grace proceeded to take a three hour nap! And lose a pony tail holder. And completely drench her blanket in sweat. Yet another way that she is like me! We are hot sleepers.

She woke up and I made us some lunch - she got left over risotto and some french bread - my baby girl loves her carbs! I made teriyaki chicken and couscous. This was my first time eating couscous, and it did not go over well. It tasted like play-doh to me. I tossed it before my husband could come home and make a big deal out of how bad it was. It's not like I messed up the recipe, it just had a rotten flavor.

After dinner Grace helped me finish up a couple of cleaning projects and she made a few "calls." She LOVES phones, and she took mine and walked down the hall, holding it to her ear with her shoulder, saying, "Eh? Huh? Oh. Uh oh. Eh?" And so on. I couldn't take a picture of it because she had my phone!

She wants to be a blogger, just like her mom!

I did, however, snap this final shot of Grace playing with her dad when he got home. I am so blessed to have such a happy little girl - she is so easy, and I wish I had more days like this to spend with her, but I know that it's because I don't that I am able to cherish every minute like I was today.