Twinkle Lights

In preparation for our trip to visit my family this Christmas I told Will that the only thing outside of family time was that we must take Grace to see that twinkle lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake. We made it and what an adventure it turned out to be. Grace as you can see looks like a pink marshmallow in her little snow suit. Poor little girl is not used to that cold of weather and by the end of it was not at all happy and even had another fall. Toddlers sure know how to make those falls happen.  After we got home to my brother Hanks place, Grace stayed the most still I have ever seen her when it came time for her warm bath. She is really all over the place most of the time but I would not have it any other way. We love our little girl and hope that the cold will grow on her since she is no longer our LA baby. We have loved seeing family and feel truly blessed and look forward to seeing more twinkle lights in the future.

Moving

Little Grace on Moving Day

We have moved for our apartmen in Los Angeles. Our move has take us to northern California, specifically a city named Livermore. Will has family here which is nice and he seems to be enjoying doing his graduate work at the Livermore National Lab. Our new place is duplex and is larger then our place was in LA and has a back yard. I am looking forward to using it when there is warmer weather, and may even pick up gardening. I have had a hard time adjusting to this move because I really loved our life in Los Angeles. Outside of living with my parents my time in Los Angeles was the longest I had ever lived in a city.  Pictures are on the walls now.  This is our home now and I hope to be the kind of friend that so many have been for me to those I will meet here. Life is good because I have my little family with me and would not want it any other way.

Cousins

This weekend I went to visit my sister Nada. Grace loved having time with her cousins and mostly enjoyed the cars she got to share with her cousin Ander. Grace is one curious little girl. I hope to post more soon to catch up on a few things that have happened this summer.

Music to my soul!

I just love it when a song really hits you.

Here is my newest one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGghkjpNCQ8


I just love it when a song really hits you.

iPhoto

I have run out of room on my computer. Forcing me to make some choices about photos I have been putting off. The plan that I have begun is to delete 50 photos a day each day for some time to get through them all and to stay on top of all the new photos. I am going three days strong!!!  I can't believe how many bad photos I have.

What do other do to keep on top of digital photos?

Cars.

For several years I have wanted to go the the Peterson Auto Museum. We made it happen this past Saturday and it was quite fun. We go to see so many amazing designs and learned the history of automobiles through the history of the backdrop of Los Angeles. My favorite was that we saw a 1981 Delorean (Back the Future car). The pictures I love the most are of Grace in the little fire truck push car. We went with Gwendolyn Wyne and her two kids and I think we all had a good time.

Swimming and Summer.

The past month seems to have already happened and I just felt like it started. The beginning of summer has brought many changes for everyone. I am reminded about the excitement of what it was like to finish school and think of long lazy days and swimming. Speaking of swimming, we joined the local YMCA here and in LA and have been taking Grace to lessons for the past three months. She has taken to the water quite well and get excited when we go the pool together. Both Will and I take turns and have enjoyed getting to know other parents with children close to Grace's age. We hope to keep this up! It sure is fun seeing your child discover the world around at this age.

Wyoming

As I was washing dishes today I couldn’t help but miss my childhood. I remember just how simple things seemed and how I was never let in on the worry of making ends meet for our rather large family. We just had what we had and made do with it. I think I was maybe 5 when I received my first brand new outfit from the store. My mom would make us all sorts of colorful summer outfits. Matching top and bottoms. I miss her and would love to talk about so many things with her today. The attached photo is of my mother's parents from 1984. This is how I remember them. Grandpa Shumway died four years after this. I am looking forward to sharing the beauty of where I was born with Will and our little Grace one day.

Those Eyes

This morning I woke up first thing as I always do to feed Grace. She was making some noise when I came in to get her and after I opened the door It was the most adorable thing to see her pop her little head up to look at who had coming to see her. Grace is a bit social and seems to cry out the most when she realizes that she is alone. After her morning feeding it is comical to see that way she takes a look at the world around her as if she is it for the first time. The wonder of seeing everything around her that causes me to reflect on the joy in life.  We could all go with looking at things in this fresh sort of way.

My Baby has a lot of hair.

I am still amazed at how much hair little Grace arrived with and how much it has grown. I thought I would never post a picture of her in the bathtub but this one is pretty priceless.

Mom

I am a Mom.

Wow.

I wish I could explain to my dear little Grace just how much I love being her mom. She has this way of making me feel so special and seems to know exactly how to make me feel centered in the craziness that may be going on around me. No matter what happens in life, I am so glad to have her to keep me centered.  I can’t imagine a day without the joy of teaching her and seeing her understanding grow. Everyday she seems to grasp more and more of the world going on around her.

Upon thinking of the moments I have had with Grace since she arrived, my focus is helping her know during each moment that I will always love her. Among the lessons I would like to share with her, I want her to learn: to face life’s challenges with confidence, to see outside of her own life by helping those around her, to listen to her heart, to be bold in her dreams and goals, to have faith to know that her Heavenly Father loves her and hears her prayers.

It is pretty exciting to now be celebrating my first Mother’s Day as the mother to my dear little Grace.  It causes me to reflect upon how my own mother must have felt about her own children.  She has been gone for 17 years, and not a day goes by that I don’t miss her.  I want to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, and for her to know how grateful I am for the opportunities and lessons that she gave to me.  I hope that I can be as good of a mother for Grace as she was for me.

six months.

Lil' Miss Grace is now six months old and I feel like I am so not ready for all the things that are next. She is grabbing at everything in sight and wants to put it all in her mouth. I find it funny how she can be so entertained by something as simple as a white plastic hanger. She played with one the other day for several hours. What a joy she is and how she is keeping me on my toes.

Discovering

Grace is discovering so many new things and keeps us on our toes already. She is at the point where she rolls over from front to back and back to front but has yet to figure out how to move around much more then that yet. She especially determined to roll over when there is a toy just out of reach. Sometimes she gets the toy and gets so upset then gets upset when she can’t get to her back again. Right now her top toy is one that her Nelson Grandparents gave her for Christmas. A plastic slinky. Random. The look Grace gives while trying to figure it out is price less. Discovering toys is one thing but discovering yourself is another. Many times we put Grace in front of a mirror of some sort and she is just fascinated with seeing herself. I caught just a few of those moments to share. We sure love this little girl.

The Weekend!

I am always a little sad when the weekend is over. We worked so hard all week to get to the weekend and when it is here I soak it up. Some of the highlights from this weekend where having the missionaries over for dinner on Saturday night. Will took some time on Saturday to make them a homemade apple pie which was the favorite for everyone. It has been so long since we had them in our home and it was fun to see how Grace enjoyed our visitors. We also went for a walk at the temple grounds here in LA and Grace grabbed at anything she could reach. Will put Grace up close to one of the flowers and she pulled it apart..opps. My favorite moment was when Will tried to teach Grace to fly. I long for Weekends when we get to spend time like this together.

Goodnight Moon

I have been reading the same book each night for the past couple of months to Grace. Many of you out there have likely heard of it, the book is titled Goodnight Moon.

Tonight as I read this book again to Grace I can't help but hope she will remember this book when she grows up. In the book: I always think it is funny that there is a picture of cow jumping over the moon and this old lady whispering "HUSH", however the rhyming is great and the colors are wonderful for such little ones like Grace. Well.. I also can't help but now love this book as I have read it so many times. Will can stick to reading her a poem and maybe one of these days I'll change books but for now this one is pretty special to share with my dear Grace. I wonder what other books I should start to read to her. If anyone has any recommendations let me know.

With so many stories and so many things to explore out there I am reminded of how much I have to still discover myself. Life is full of so much that we all need to do our best to enjoy what matters most to us by never missing the chance to participate in it all. Moments with Grace each day remind me of this.
"Goodnight Noises Everywhere"

Bumbo Face!

This is my new favorite photo of Grace. The Bumbo is one of her favorite spots.

My Little Music Maker!

Grace has started to go to a music class at our church on Monday called music makers. Young infants and toddlers all get together and someone leads various songs and activities and all the kids end up being able to get the wiggles out. And let me tell you that oh boy does she enjoy watching the other children. My little one is quite observant. Grace will arch her back if you don't have her in the right position to see things but with so many kids running around she is so entertained and hardly moves the entire time except for the " I am tired or hungry" stuff. I have to admit that I am also entertained by the kids. I will have to take some photos of this maybe for next weeks post.

It is quite fun to see how much Grace loves to hear music and to be sung to. I pulled out an old children song book and attempted to sing songs. Mind you, I would likely get a good laugh if I was to audition for American Idol, but as long as Grace likes my singing that is all the matters to me.

Changing Table

This week has been quite a funny one for the Farmers.

Will seems to have witnessed Grace rolling over twice, and I have yet to see this happen. It frustrates me that I have missed it, and I have refused to believe that it actually happened; more because I don't want to miss any moments like this and less because I think Will is actually lying. What a joy it is for those that witness Grace's growth and development. Hopefully, next time, I can be one of those people.

This week we made a lists of the things that Grace has done within each of the last three months for her memory book. One of the items we listed for this month was her happiness at the changing table. There have been times when she's been crying, and the moment I put her on the changing table, she stops.

Grace has also started to spit up all over me during a feeding. This is new. Will had to rescue me on Thursday because I was covered in spit up, and I needed to shower. What makes it even more frustrating is how pleased Grace looks after spitting up all over mommy. She gives the biggest smiles. How can a parent be mad when your child melts your heart with one of those smiles? Finally, she has begun talking to herself. It's mostly gibberish, but I love hearing her conversations with herself. I also love the fact that this week, she discovered her lips as you can see in the video I've posted.

Grace Marilyn Farmer.

How wonderful it has been to see so much family in the last few months of 2011.
With the new year, we are finally somewhat in a routine with Baby Grace. Now, if we could only figure out all that napping stuff. She sleeps at night, but refuses to during the day. There's just too many exciting things to look at! And if you put her in a position where she can't see, she'll definitely let you know that her view is blocked. The other day when someone asked me how old Grace was I could hardly believe it when I said she was 12 weeks old. Each day is new and humorous.

The post today is mainly start me on the habit of writing about random moments here with the Farmer Family. One of my resolutions if you will for the year.

Hear are some photos from the day of her blessing. It was such a wonderful experience and I feel very blessed to be her mother. Grace and I spend of good amount of time together and the moments of smiles and cooing and cawing are so joyful. I love her more then I had ever hoped for.