stay tuned....

This week the Goverts will potentially have some pretty big news.....

Grace Meets More Goverts

Some of the Texas Goverts were up for Thanksgiving, so Bret, the kids and I drove up to his Aunt Linda's for a pre-Thanksgiving get-together. It was Grace's first time meeting her Great Grandma Rainey

Deep in conversation...

Cuddle timeEvan was also super excited because Aunt Linda is also a grandma and has a house FULL of toys like his Grammy. No video on this one, but Grace thought whatever E was doing was hilarious. No one can bring out the belly laughs in her like Evan. Although, Grandpa Jeff did get some good ones right before we left Aunt Linda's house...Samantha had the magic touch on getting Evan to relax and slow down right before we left...didn't hurt that she also had an iPhone complete with his favorite game, Angry Birds.

Snow and Racing Cars

Since our freezer was being overtaken by frozen meals (kind of obsessed with making dinners in bulk and freezing them) and milk for Grace, Evan and Bret surprised me with a freezer. I'm now kind of obsessed with the freezer and how spacious it makes our fridge's freezer look! You also don't have to duck and dodge when opening the freezer to avoid being hit by bags of milk that tumble out : ). Of course Evan benefited from this purchase as well because we turned the box into a giant racetrack for his cars (his obsession). like evan's shadow? tillie sticks to e like glue whenever he is on the move with a snack
it was snowing!

Grammy and Packaw's

While Bret was out of town last week, the kids and I spent some time with Grammy and Packaw. One of the first days we were there, Grammy and I took the kids on a walk. Tillie decided to turn our walk into a jog which of course was very intriguing to Evan who immediately asked to get out of the stroller and run with Grammy and Tillie. He ran off and on for a bit over a mile...is that normal for little guy that is just two and a half?

The next day, he went for a run with Packaw.....The home stretch.... Since Daddy was away, we sent him lots of pictures...

Evan being a goof ball like normal!! Why play with some of the toys out of the toy box when you can play with all the toys inside the toy box

Grace doesn't look as content in the picture as she really was...I came downstairs to find her cuddled up with Packaw and listening to Christmas music. This little girl LOVES music, and the entire week, if she started to fuss, Evan would say "mommy, she is sad. she needs christmas music. that will make her happy".

4 months...time flies

Grace had her 4 month appointment recently (10/28). If possible, she hated her shots even more than she did before. She was chatting with the nurses, and then, a few minutes later, she was wailing and screaming. Poor girl! We found out that she is 15 lb 5.3oz and 25" long. Evan was 14lb 9oz and 26.5" at four months, so I guess Grace not spitting up anywhere near what Evan did makes a difference in the weight category! She still has her brown hair, although it does appear to be getting lighter as it thins out a bit. Her eyes also appear to be turning brown. They are still mostly blue, but around her pupils, they look like they are turning tan. So, it looks like we might have a blond hair/blue eyed boy and a brown hair/brown eyed girl!

Here is the best clip that I have of Grace's giggles. She hasn't fully commited to a belly laugh, but her little chuckles are pretty cute

Stroller Rides...while we still can!!

It was sunny and a bit on the colder side, so we went out for a walk and spent some time running around at the playground while Grace napped (in the stroller).

E ready to go! This was also the first day that he let me put him in front facing out and not facing Grace.Grace ready to go! Opted for using the infant carrier attachment today because I thought it might keep her warmer...and she is out. this girl LOVES sleeping on a stroller ride.

while grace slept, i did my best to wear him out! this was 2 seconds after he declared that he needed to pee, and it is half blurry because i was set to start running back home and half blurry because he is flying down the slide. when he says he needs to pee, that doesn't mean that i somewhat need to pee, but i could probably hold it for a few more minutes. most of the time, that means, i need to pee RIGHT NOW...as in if I'm not already halfway to the bathroom, i'm more than likely going to be peeing down my leg. the good news is that this time, he actually did wait until we got home to pee.

My Chin

From Day 1, every person that met Evan told us that he looked just like my side of the family. But, with Grace, we haven't had any one person that says she looks exactly like either side. Bret and I thought she looked a lot like Evan as a newborn, and I see glimpses of Evan, my mom and my sister in her every day. We get that she looks like her cousin Zoe. Every one says that Zoe looks like her Daddy - my brother-in-law, so go figure! However, someone (absolutely cannot recall who) recently said that Grace had my chin.

After looking at this picture (I'm the younger one on the left), and looking at the picture I took of Grace today, I would say that I agree. I still don't know if having a person point out that we have the same chin is a good thing or a bad thing....

Beautiful Day for the Zoo

On Wednesday, Evan, Grace and I had a blast at the Zoo with two DPU mommies and their kids...Emily and her daughter Macy (just a few weeks younger than Grace) and Kristen and her daughter (due in February). I think Kristen's daughter really got the most out of it ; ).

Kristen helped me tremendously when I went back to work for my fun filled 3 weeks. She and my mom took turns watching the kids, and during that time, Evan became totally crazy about KristenThe girls watching the dolphins. This picture doesn't even do their expressions justice...I think if we would have spent any more time the colors and sounds would have lulled both to sleep instantly. Looks like Macy enjoys eating her bib just as much as Grace enjoys eating her blankets.It was crazy how active and close all the animals were. It was high 60s, and I guess they loved it! The lion on the right kind of creeped me out though...she was pacing back and forth, and I'm pretty sure she was contemplating escaping and eating us for her dinner.

The Paci Fairy

Evan had an addiction...something he was completely obsessed with...his paci. The disappearance of the paci has been happening since he was a little over 1. He used to have it attached to him like an appendage. Bret and I had them stashed every where because it was traumatic if we didn't have one ready. So, we started phasing out the paci by taking it away in the car...this was a week that seemed like forever and was a nightmare. He would scream and cry the entire way to and from daycare...EVERY DAY FOR OVER A WEEK. This is a drive that is no more than 15 minutes...it seemed like 4 hours, and by the time we got home, both Evan and I were crying. Then, we took it away for every time except naptime and bedtime..that somehow was less drama. For the last couple of weeks, we had been talking about the paci fairy who comes and takes the pacis (giving them to little babies that need them) and gives the big guy a special gift. Evan requested a big choo choo from the Paci Fairy on day 1, and he never wavered on that request.
On Oct 31, we had E collect all his pacis. He watched a few paci fairy clips on YouTube. We wrote a note and crossed our fingers she would come with a big choo choo. He fell asleep quickly and didn't ask for the paci once. That night he woke up screaming and searching for his paci twice but only asked for a paci briefly the 2nd time. The next night was a bit of a power struggle, but he finally fell asleep after an hour or so of coming out of his room repeatedly. Each time he said something different....i'm hot. i'm cold. i'm thirsty. i'm done now mommy, here's my cup. my belly hurts. when he exhausted his list of comments he would start over. My favorite was when he couldn't remember if he had said hot or cold the previous trip and said "i'm haah..cold" He woke up once. Last night he gave up on excuses but did come out a few times before throwing in the towel. He didn't wake up once. We will see what tonight brings!

His big choo choo! The empty container is what we had him collect his pacis in. The Paci Fairy left the empty container with a note for Evan

The next morning when a tired Evan came downstairs to see if the paci fairy left him anything and took his pacis