Down for the Count

It's been a constant amazement to me just how quickly Gracie has learned new abilities.  New skills have debuted at a furious pace of late, all appearing out of the blue.  When I hold her, she can smoothly and rapidly turn her head all the way to the right, then to the left and back again.  At the doctor's last week, she was on the table and rolled over for the first time.  Just the other day, I was holding her binky until she pushed my hand away, grabbed it, spit it out and put it back in her mouth on her own.  And last night, she showed off her most impressive talent to date.

Empty Nest Syndrome

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but it's been a crazy couple of weeks, and Carrie and I have been busy readjusting to big changes at home.  Baby Grace is growing up quick and took a huge step, moving out of the bassinet and into her own place.  Of course, her own place is her own room just across the hall, but still, I'm already dreading the day I help her move into a dorm.

Sleepytime: A Retrospective

First nap, first smile

Mommy bed

On the couch after a tough day

Lounging on the Boppy

Baby burrito

Daddy's little doppelganger

Up close and personal

How sweet is life?!

Lights out

Superbaby!

Unwakeable

In lieu of representative UFC
violence, here's some puppies.

While Grace often has a tough time falling asleep, once she's out, she is out cold.  I'm talking UFC, Bisping after Dan Henderson's Mortal Kombat Finish Him Punch out cold.  She's been to two parties in her life, and both times slept through the entire thing.

The first time, a couple of weeks ago, Grace continued a longstanding family tradition of passing out at a kegger, dozing through my sister's annual backyard birthday party/salute to binge drinking.  Unimpressed by the yard's Drunk Olympics, Baby Grace barely made it out of the car seat for the three hours we were there, dozing straight through the revelry.

All dressed up for a 4 hour nap.

Last weekend Grace pulled off an even more impressive feat, sleeping through a 100 guest Communion party that included being held by a bunch of newly met aunts, uncles and cousins to the sounds of a blaring DJ.  My daughter's comfortable with people, and likes nothing more than being held, so the former challenge was no threat to her rest.  The latter though, was remarkable.  You try taking a nap to jet engine decibel dance music. 

Most babies wouldn't have stood a chance of sleeping in such an environment, but I have an explanation.  Grace has been trained to handle loud, terrifying noises from the womb, due to my then pregnant wife's high volume completion of Bioshock 2 on the XBOX, not to mention exposure to a steady stream of prenatal Law & Order SVU.  Chalk one up to desensitization!

Dozing with Cousin Scarlett