Saturday, December 31, 2011

Recap 2011- December










Recap 2011- November







Friday, December 30, 2011

Recap 2011- October

October started out with a quick trip to the big city for Ian's birthday. We ate at On the Border and Texas Roadhouse, and walked around some stores. It was a good weekend away and a great chance to celebrate 25 years of Ian!


Grace continued wowing us with her ability to sleep through the night, a new skill she finally learned in the previous month. She sleeps with two tiny little burp rags and two pacifiers, that usually get flung from one end of the crib to the other.

We celebrated Grace's six month birthday with a photo shoot in the local park and family time. I can't believe she's already 6 months old!

We spent alot of time with our friends, B and A, and despite what this picture shows, Grace sure does love them!

Grace started on solid foods this month, with carrots as her first food. SHe kind of gags and gets the shivers from them, but she keeps on eating!

Grace also got her ears pierced this month! (in retrospect, what a busy month October was!) She did a wonderful job and only cried for 20 seconds, tops. She has never messed with them and hasn't had any problems. I cleaned them for about a week, but, honestly, I forgot to do it regularly after that.

She finally fit into a onesie that my parents sent from the Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN. We did a cooking inspired photo shoot to commemorate the day.

AND she finally fit into a tutu/Princess outfit from Ian's parents so we captured that moment as well!

October came to an end and we were looking forward to the beginning of Grace's first holiday season!

Recap 2011- September

September could be described as Arabic, Arabic, Arabic.

And that's just about it.

I was surprised to see in my files that I only had pictures of Grace this month. It seems that we didn't do any family events besides school and study time.

Enjoy some Grace cuteness....







Thursday, December 29, 2011

Recap 2011- August

In August, we had our first family vacation and it was a big one!

We headed to Montepelier and Paris, France, for two wonderful weeks of friends, exploration, and relaxation!

I loved getting to see my good friend B and her family!

Her girls are so precious to us and we wish we could see them more often.

While in France, Grace snuck a bite of her first food, lemon sorbet.

And posed in front of a lot of famous monuments!
We had a wonderful trip and although it was at a crazy pace and a little hectic at times, I'd do it all over again to have those family memories.


At the end of August we geared up to start our third semester of Arabic language study and our last year in our current city!

Recap 2011- July

July was another long and slow month for us, as we avoided the heat and tried to survive the long summer.

I was still in class, but Ian wasn't, so we had a simple routine of school, homework, housework, relax, and sleep!

We took a trip to see our friends in Muscat, Oman, where Grace had several firsts.

She had her first trip to the beach and her first swim in the ocean...
She celebrated her first Fourth of July....
And she swam in her first pool!
Our baby girl turned Three Months old this month and we started to see her little personality blossom.
I got to skype with a lot of family and friends in July and got to talk with some loved ones that I had not talked with in a long time!

We had a lot of family snuggle time this month, watched alot of movies, and read a few summer reading choices.
We really just tried to enjoy these early days of Grace's life and our life as a family of three!




Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Recap 2011- June

In June, we finally went to Abu Dhabi for Grace's passport appointment. It was HOT and poor baby sweated alot that day.

We took alot of pictures,
even some funny ones,
and again with the humorous pictures,

and Grace attended her first ballet recital of some friends.

We said goodbye to some dear friends who were moving away,

and went out on our first date for our 3rd anniversary!

We even got a picture from her babysitter to prove she had a great time!

Grace, not the babysitter, that is.

We house hunted for some new language students,
Enjoyed Grace's bath time,

And practiced sitting up!
June was a slow month, with high temperatures and very little to do. We survived though and are glad that June of 2011 would be our only full June stuck in our little town!