Gracie Loves Her Daddy

We've started up what's going to be the routine around here. Danilo's gone back to work while I get to be Mom and Gracie gets to be sweet baby girl. And that's exactly what she is, almost all day long. When she's not sleeping, she's making sweet faces and sweet noises as she stares around the room with her big blue beautiful eyes. Around 6:00 everything changes. She becomes a grumpy ornery (yet still adorable) bear for the rest of the night. 6:00 is exactly when Dad gets off work and heads home to his little family. We make the rounds changing and feeding her and when that doesn't work, Danilo pulls every trick out of his hat he can think of. I've felt so bad about being the one who gets to enjoy her sweetness all day long when Danilo's worked all day, and that's why I gave thanks for my husband last night before going to bed. After he'd tried everything to soothe her and nothing had worked longer than five minutes, during our family prayer he thanked Heavenly Father for the blessing of Grace, for the joy she's brought into our lives and into our home. He asked for a good nights sleep so that we could wake up and enjoy being together again tomorrow. And he was sincere. I am so grateful to him for being a good dad when it's easy...and when it's not so easy. The picture above is one of his favorite things to do on a Saturday or Sunday morning, and I love it.

11 Days Old!

WE LOVE OUR GRACIE GIRL SO MUCH!!!!!


















I sent this message to my mom in the middle of our first sleepless night with Gracie. I was an extremely colicky baby (I might have created that word) and have never fully appreciated what that meant until now. However, we've only had what we could really term two sleepless nights since we brought her home. It may be too early to be sure, but she seems to be developing a pretty regular routine of sleeping through the night with just a feeding or two in the middle. I feel like I am so not getting what I deserve!!














Yesterday we were visiting my mom and Gracie started to cry while her diaper was being changed. I laid down on the floor a few inches from her face and told her she was okay. She stopped crying and grasped my finger and looked at me like she knew I was her momma. Moments like this that Danilo and I have with her everyday teach us that the adjustments we're making in our schedule and routine and the anxiety we feel when we sometimes don't know how to get rid of a tummy ache she's got are entirely and eternally worth it!

Gracie's Entrance

I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, July 14 and we were getting very excited. Saturday was Danilo's birthday and we also had a reunion with all my Grandma Parke's brothers and sisters that brought a lot of people in from out of town. We took advantage of having all of my mom's brothers and sisters here by taking a family picture. It's kind of hysterical that this picture was taken two days before Gracie was planned to be born, but everyone that had to go back home was leaving town that night. Wait. It gets better.



After family pictures with the Parkes, we went up to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Achter at their home with my family. My grandpa dished up some ice cream which you can see my sisters and I enjoying on the back deck. My mom suggested it would be neat if my husband, dad, and grandpa could give me a priesthood blessing for the upcoming labor and delivery. It was a sweet experience. Afterwards we talked about Gracie and what a precious blessing she was going to be in our lives. In the meantime, Danilo was having fun trying out a massage on the space between my heels and my ankles. Some friends in our ward had been talking to us that day about how they were convinced a massage like that induced labor.

Ten minutes later for reasons I won't describe in detail, I grabbed my sisters and told Danilo we were going to go find my mom to see what it was like when your water breaks. He follwed closely behind. We met Mom in the front yard with Grandma where we made the decision to rush to the hospital.

Danilo and I had gone up to my grandparents with my family in their car. We dropped off my sisters who grabbed our car to run back to our house and grab my "bag" while we continued on to the hospital with my Mom and Dad and Andrew. It felt like a really fun movie.

There is probably a 30 minute difference between the picture of my sisters and I eating ice cream and Danilo and me checking into the hospital emergency room (where we entered still coordinated for a family picture). Was it the foot massage?


Nine hours later, we welcomed the sweetest blessing of our lives into the world. The rest of this post is for you to take a peek at our little Gracie girl.





This week is truly one where I can say my heart is full to overflowing. From the nurses and doctors in the hospital who cared for us during our stay to my angel Mom whose bringing me into this world I can now more fully appreciate, to Dad and Hailey and Chelsea and Andrew and Mami and Ovy and Cynthia and Nicole, to Grandmas and Grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousins and sweet friends, I have more love in my heart than I know what to do with. I give thanks to my Heavenly Father for the blessing of my precious daughter and for the increased love I have for my wonderful husband who is revealing himself more and more each day to be such a wonderful dad!!