May

Grace started sitting by herself for just a few seconds at the beginning of May. It opened up a whole new world to her and she looked like the cutest baby gorilla!

On May 1st, I tripped over some bags of mulch in the garage and banged my head against the edge of our ping pong table. It immediately started bleeding like crazy. Thankfully I wasn't holding Grace when I fell, Mason was home from school to help with her, and Alan wasn't at a track meet so he could come right home. I couldn't actually see the gash and didn't think it was that bad until Alan took this picture and convinced me to go to urgent care. I wound up with 13 staples in my head that evening. It never really hurt much at all until I had the staples removed about a week later. That wasn't very fun. If I have a scar, my hair covers it and I can't see it. 

Alan's brother Geoff had given us two DNA kits for Christmas last year. We hadn't gotten around to using them when Grace came and realized that it would be awesome to use them for Mason and Grace since we didn't know anything about their biological family history. Mason was SUPER excited about it and was hoping to be Japanese and Irish. Haha! No Japanese, but he was very happy with his high percentage of Irish.

Grace's results seemed to verify the only thing we had heard about her birthfather (that he is Latino) since we know Lily is white. 

Those kits turned out to be the perfect Christmas gift for us this year!

Trying out the Bumbo chair for the first time. We never wound up using it much.

6 months old! Doesn't her little, round face make her look like a Cabbage Patch Doll? She is the cutest!

Gracie weighed about 16 lbs at 6 months. She started babbling a lot more that month and loved playing with her feet and spending time outside on a blanket on the grass as the weather got warmer. We spent a lot of time hanging out in the yard in May.

May 3rd was also the day of Spencer's District Track meet. The younger kids and I didn't go to many track meets this season but I knew we needed to go to this one since Spencer had a good chance of winning his JV race. The meet was in McMinnville (about a 45 minute drive) and it was a miserably wet day. We got there just in time to see Spencer run the 3000  in the pouring rain and he did win with a PR of 9:28:31!! It was so fun to watch!

The fun didn't last though because Grace started screaming bloody murder almost as soon as we started driving home. She often fussed in the car at that age but that kind of screaming wasn't normal. After about 10 minutes of screaming, I pulled over and got her out of her seat and calmed her down. It was still pouring rain though and there wasn't anything I could do but keep driving though. Poor Grace continued screaming for all she was worth until she wore herself about eight minutes before we got home. Mason was in the back seat with her and was scared and crying because Grace's face turned purple. It was totally miserable and slightly traumatic and Mason still refers to that meet as "the meet of bloody murder" six months later. 

First time sitting in her booster seat! She wasn't very stable yet so we had to prop her up with a towel on each side. 

Mason had a couple of days off school for parent teacher conferences. He rode his bike while I pushed Grace in the stroller and went to the library and McDonald's one day. Hooray for nice weather!

I let Mason have this big box from some baby item and he was super excited to spray paint it. It got lots of use as a pirate ship and rocket ship and lived in our backyard all summer.

I know a lot of babies don't like the texture of grass on their bare feet but it never bothered Grace a bit. She loved it!

Mother's Day 2024. Oh the conflicting emotions that this day has carried for me. Despite being extremely sleep deprived, this Mother's Day was one of my most joyful. God had intervened in our story again and brought another miracle baby to us. I feel so very blessed to be a mom to these three very special kiddos!

Up until this point, Grace had still be sleeping swaddled and mostly sleeping either in her bouncer seat or car seat - all of which were big no-no's according to her pediatrician at her 6 month appointment. We knew that but were just desperate to help her sleep better so we could too. After that appointment however, we resolved to help her transition out of the swaddle and get her sleeping flat on her back. We had some very rough nights with very little success until Alan tried putting her down on her tummy one night while I was gone. She went to sleep immediately and slept well all night. Six-month-olds aren't supposed to sleep on their tummies either but we knew she could roll over both ways if she wanted and weren't too worried about it. From that point on, Grace's sleep improved dramatically and we were all much happier. The depression I had been feeling vanished as I began to catch up on sleep. It was wonderful!

Spencer had to take an AP Physics test at the district office one morning. The test lasted about 3 hours and then he had another hour before he had to be back at school so I took him to lunch at Panera. It was fun to spend a little one-on-one time with him. We don't get to do that often anymore. 

Final piano recital with Sister Cichoski. Spencer played a difficult piece called Rocktata and was presented his certificate and gold cup for passing level 8 of Syllabus. He did a great job!

Kristen had told us that she and Brent would be moving to Alabama clear back in January so we had lots of time to prepare but it was still a sad goodbye. Spencer had been taking lessons from Kristen since he was about 10 and took from her daughter Lizzy for a year before that. His piano skills improved SO much over those years and Kristen was such a positive influence on him in every way. In addition to pretty much requiring him to learn to play the organ, she gave often gave him church music pieces and encouraged him to perform musical numbers in Sacrament Meeting. She was always positive and loving but also challenged him. She was even so kind as to help us find a new teacher for Spencer and Mason since we were just wanting to get him started with someone besides me but I was bummed that Mason would never get to experience taking lessons from her. 

I first met Kristen at our wedding reception and Alan knew her from when he was home for a few months right after his mission. I have always admired the light she emanates with her testimony of our Savior and her optimism, grace, and strength. She will be deeply missed!

Alan turns 44! His birthday fell on a Monday this year so I made his birthday lasagna and German chocolate cake the day before.

Grace helped me wrap his presents by holding onto the bows.

Alan, Grace, and I went to Killer Burger for lunch on his actual birthday.

May 21st was a super special day because Grace's adoption was finalized with Judge Kelly Larmarr in the Washington County Courthouse. Alan's Aunt Teri was so kind to come to celebrate with us and take pictures. Our attorney, Scott Adams, was there too. Scott also helped us with Mason's adoption and had been a great resource and support during the few potential adoption opportunities that had come along over the past five years. 

Grace's adoption ceremony was much lesson formal that Mason's was 9.5 years ago. Before the signing the certificate of adoption, Judge Lemarr invites families to create two handprint crafts: one to hang in her courtroom and one for a memento for the family. It was sweet. Then she signed Grace's certificate, we all admired Grace's cuteness, and took a lot of pictures. We finished the celebration with dinner at a Mexican restaurant by our house. These pictures aren't all in order because I was combining photos from three phones and my good camera, but you'll get the idea of what a happy, happy day it was for us! It meant Grace was legally and irreversibly ours and that we could now be sealed as a family in the temple. 

First solid food: watery rice cereal. Yum! Haha! She wasn't quite sure what to think of it but didn't seem to hate it.

Alan took Spencer to the track awards night while I stayed home with the younger kids. Spencer lettered for his great times in the 1500 and 3000 meter races though. Woohoo!

Spring band concert. Sherwood's band performances are always impressive and this one was no different. Spencer enjoys band a lot but I think it's more for the social aspects than the actual music. I'm glad he found such a supportive and positive community! My picture turned out terrible, but Spencer received an award for Outstanding Musicianship. His clarinet skills have come a long way since he first picked it up two years ago.

Mason and Arya's "restaurant." The sea grass was amazing! ;) It is such an amazing blessing to have a next-door neighbor who loves playing pretend as much as Mason does!

Memorial Day (and Grace's first) barbeque. Hooray for bbq season!

Getting better at eating!

Our 21st wedding anniversary! This is not the season of life for long or fancy dates. We were lucky to get out of the house by ourselves at all. We picked up our favorite Thai food, ate it in the car because it was a little chilly for a picnic, and then went on a long walk together. It was nice to have some time to just talk. I am so grateful for the amazing partner and support Alan is, especially the past few challenging months. He he taken almost equal turns getting up in the night and is so good to play with the kids and let me make dinner and clean up the house when he gets home in the evening. We don't have much time for romantic dates right now, but I know that won't always be the case.

Beach day for school! Not sure what all of these items have to do with the beach, but Mason was thrilled to have an excuse to wear them. Haha!

Mason came home with a certificate for Self-Control one day. He didn't know why he got it and no one else ever explained so we still don't know. Good for Mason though!