Daddy's girl

This pretty much says it all.

San Diego totally rocks, dude!

Grace actually stood up and danced for the mariachi.


Ah, yes, THIS is the life. I really needed a vacation!


Grace would have been perfectly happy to play with her cousin Eddy the entire trip. He was incredibly patient, but already has a girlfriend.


Aunt Terry was a big hit, too. She has a little experience with kids, I think.


Some guy offered to shoot the whole gang. (With the camera.) People are so NICE here! Maybe because the weather is perfect EVERY SINGLE DAY. Tina, being a local, knows this and is smart enough to wear sunglasses.


Last day. Compare this one to... (see below)


...this one! That's my mom and me on my second birthday. Note the orange gingham dress. Sadly, I didn't have a matching outfit for the recent picture, since I don't sew Grace's clothes, or mine.

The new do

Grace loves her haircut. And who knew she'd have all those curls?

Can someone bring me a latte?

Grace got her first real haircut (other than bang trims) and stood there looking like a supermodel who was SO bored by having to go through hair and makeup every day.

Kickin' it

Naturally, we feared the worst -- that Grace's feet would take after John's rather than mine. They were pretty weird looking at first, but they seem to be getting prettier as time goes on. It's a good thing, because if Gracie loves shoes as much as I do, she won't want her feet to look anything like her dad's!

Blind date

In an attempt to embarrass Julie at her bachelorette party, I stole an idea from my friend Ella and brought along a six foot inflated penis. (A little backstory is in order here: I had to call party favor stores, novelty shops and, finally, sex toy boutiques and ask, "Do you sell big inflatable penises?" The good people at Spartacus were able to accommodate me, and since they were so near John's office, I asked them to set one aside for John to pick up. Naturally, John walked into the store and said, "I understand you're holding a penis for me?") Then came the inflating bit, which John gamely took on while I tried to get pretty. I found him in the guest room, blowing into this tiny hole, dripping sweat onto the penis. (I admit, I took no small amount of pleasure from this.) We finally inflated the fella, and off I went. Then there was the matter of the restaurant manager's request that, since it was a family restaurant, I try to be discreet. She was cool about the whole thing, but how does one exercise discretion while carrying a giant penis down Broadway into a restaurant? I went with the trench coat. I was embarrassed; Julie was NOT, nor were her mother or her grandmother. Everyone in the restaurant got a laugh, and the manager on duty insisted we all pose for a picture in the lobby on our way out.

EVERYBODY HAS THEM

One day we were at the park and as I looked around the playground I realized that EVERY CHILD BUT GRACE was wearing Crocs. I can't say that I see the appeal, but the situation was obviously unacceptable and immediately corrected. She dug them, and they turned out to be pretty practical.

Shower of awesomeness

Grace's godmother, Julie, got married this summer. We had a bridal shower at the new house to, you know, break it in.


Also, I'm quite fond of her.


Julie and I chose a ginger cosmopolitan we dubbed the "Till Death Do You Partini." I think most of us were buzzed within half an hour.


I finally got to meet some of Julie's friends I've heard about for years...


...and spend some time with my girls...


...and Todd.


Only problem was, it was so hard to tell if Julie was enjoying herself.

Why have you been keeping this from me?

When we bring in the mail, the catalogs go directly to the recycling bin. Really. But somehow this one slipped through, and the look on her face is probably a lot like mine when I walk into a bookstore. Total overload.

Girls gone wild!

Okay, so the Washington coast in March is no place to lift one's shirt. Grace and I visited Grandma at the beach house, and introduced her to the ocean for the first time. When we got out of the car she held my hand for about three seconds, then let go and headed DIRECTLY towards the water. We got wet, we got sandy and we had a blast!

Little bug

Honestly, I don't know how she got so cute.

How much for the kid?

The Stinsons (John and Vicky) visited for the first time since we moved into our new house. They are two of our favorite people in the world, but Grace couldn't stand them, as you can see. Seriously, they charmed the crap out of each other.

Lovin' the camera

At some point, she got tired of me dressing her up in outfits just to take pictures. That's probably best, since we don't want her to get a big head. (We did when she was born, actually, because her head was so small it was off the charts. It's average now.)

Hello there, 2007!

John and I paid an obscene amount of money for a babysitter so we could go out on New Year's Eve for the first time since we stopped hosting the parties and started wishing each other a weak "Happy New Year" as we fell into bed at 9:00. It was worth EVERY PENNY.


I'm loving Julie, Grace's godmother, for getting us invited to this fun party. I'm just a little bitter that she won't be getting up at six the next morning.


John has a go at the Wii. Yup, his eyes were really that glassy.