A date with 'Doh

I know I have shared with you Grace's short attention span with anything crafty, but occasionally we have a good time. This normally involves a lot of work or effort on my part, and not much craft on Grace's part.

Case in point, last week we spent about a half hour playing with play-doh. The catch? Grace doesn't make anything, she requires me to make toys for her. Her most requested toy is a baby.

What's funny about this is that she doesn't play with baby dolls. Given the choice between a toy doll and a car, she will 95% of the time choose the car. But somehow a play-doh baby fits in a different category... a category where she becomes the mother.

She always asks for a blanket for the baby. As I was making the blanket, she ran to the tupperware drawer to find a crib. She cuddles the baby, gives it hugs.

And carefully puts it in (and takes it out and puts it in and takes it out of) the crib.

Sometimes she sings a nice lullaby... or marching song to the baby.

Eventually her curiosity or boredom get the best of her and she squishes the baby.

Then requests a new toy.

It's fun to see her play so gently and motherly with the play-doh doll. It makes me wonder why the play-doh gets the mother treatment, but no other toy does.

Tulips everywhere

By the end of this week, Grace and I needed a good escape to uplift our spirits. So we caught the leftovers of the Tulip Festival that officially ended a week ago.

As I suspected, Grace's favorite parts were the water features, splashing and throwing rocks


And feeding the fish.

When I looked at the hundreds of koi fish climbing on each other for the food pellets, I felt like I was watching an M.C. Escher drawing live.

Grace called this her "castle." Below she's beckoning me to join her.

We played ring-around-the-rosie over and over again in the castle.

One of my favorites of the 16 different gardens we visited is the secret garden. Here is Grace trying to close the door on her way out.

Tulips were everywhere. It was fantastic, breathtaking, and refreshing.

Grace really knows how to soak it all in.

We ended the day chillin' by the waterfalls. It was a great day.

So Big

I think I'm incapable of going to sleep before midnight when Scott is out of town. That being said, I thought I'd share with you some pregnancy stuff. I know, your favorite :)

Today I got my first comment EVER about how big I am. I never even got that with my first pregnancy, but in retrospect, there were unfortunate reasons I was small. The comment went something like this:

Neighbor - "You're so big! You're not even six months yet, are you?"
Me - "No, I'm around five months"
Neighbor - "Gosh, you must be having a big boy."
Me - smile with a slightly perplexed look on my face.

Her comment didn't bother me, because I'm really not that big yet, but it got me thinking. I assume I'm bigger this time around because it's my second pregnancy and hopefully the baby is growing normally, which wasn't the case with Grace.

So I took a photo of myself (I'm at 22 weeks) and compared it to my Grace photos.

I'm about the same size I was at 24 weeks with Grace. Pretty much right on schedule. Plus I just had an appointment today and everything is right as it should be.

I decided that maternity shirts make you look bigger. I was wearing one today.

Barefoot, pregnant and running

Like my shoes? They're like running barefoot. I decided to run with them in a 5K last week, before I get too big and it gets too hot outside. Here is me, running 5K at (almost) 5 months pregnant in honor of the 5 of May-o.

The day was perfect! It was one of the exceptionally few perfect days we've had this spring. Scott took some pictures of the area while I was off running.

Perfect, right? That little head running along the path in the above photo is Grace. She likes to run, too.

Running was a great experience. I felt like a rock star as I crossed the finish line at exactly 30:00. While pregnant. That's my not-pregnant time, and I know I've been running slower at the gym. I was actually shocked when I realized I had maintained a 10-minute mile the whole time! The location was awesome, running on shaded blacktop paths along a river. The sponsor was awesome, organized, and good at psyching everyone up, and the whole event was treated like a fiesta. We even ran alongside the three amigos! We got serenaded with "My Little Buttercup" around the first mile when they passed us. (We passed them about half a mile later when they started walking.)

I had a running buddy, too, which made it even more awesome. At the end of the race, they had a feast with overflowing platters of fresh fruits, vegetables, tortilla chips, a salsa bar, virgin margaritas and other drinks, tons of churros and candy. Then, to top it all off, during the awards ceremony (which was treated like a party) we won 18-holes of golf at a nearby club, a ball and frisbee for Grace, and a voucher for two theater tickets.

Probably the funnest 5K I've run. I think I'll try it again next year.

Happy Mother's Day...

...to my dear, compassionate mom and all my beautiful sisters. Thanks for coming last week for Women's Conference and Grace's birthday. I loved being all together, wish we could do it more often. Can't wait 'til next time!

Easter recap

Ready...

Set...

Go!

Collecting Easter Eggs

Riding the 4-wheel tractors

Going down the big slide(s) with daddy

And the highlight: Petting the animals!

Grace worked hard to try and pet or hold every animal within her reach. She loves animals.

"C'mere, chicken"

She tried and tried for that duck, but he was a quick rascal.

So she settled for watching the baby ducks and chicks.

By the time Scott caught the hot commodity, the baby lamb, Grace was getting too tuckered out to care. But Scott looks pretty cozy holding a baby lamb.

So we went for some lower-key fun: The animal train!

Again! With Daddy.

Finally, the hayride where Grace partook of the spoils of her egg hunt treasure. Hurray for a Happy Easter!

Eggs!

I still struggle through the days (especially cold or wet ones) trying to figure out activities that Grace and I can do together that don't include running a lot, wearing me out, or watching a video. With the coming of Easter, I was excited to try to dye eggs with Grace.

I talked all about it, trying to psych her up: when we got the supplies at the store, when we were cooking the eggs, when I was preparing the table...

Side note: Grace doesn't really care for crafts. Coloring keeps her attention for .2 seconds. Play-doh keeps her attention for 3.5 minutes. The closest we've gotten to enjoying crafts is dragging fingers through spilled milk. I think that can last over five minutes.

So why did I think this would be a fun idea? I don't know. I guess I'm delusional. Right from the start, when I took out the dye pellets, Grace thought they were candy and wanted to eat them. As I put them in the glasses of water, she thought they were juice and wanted to drink them. She proceeded to get very mad and cried the WHOLE time, asking for a drink of "that juice." I tried to get her to color on an egg. She took the black crayon (her favorite color, btw), made one line, then threw the crayon and cried "all done."

When the first egg came out of the dye, she hesitated for a second as she noticed the color change, then cried that she wanted to eat the egg. I finally gave in, cracked the egg and got a plate for her. She refused to eat it, calling it a "yucky egg."

It seems about two weeks before her birthday, she instantly changed into an irrational 2 year-old. I used to be able to talk her through her frustrations, but not anymore. This is a whole new level of parenting that I am having a hard time dealing with. I've read books, I've heard advice, but you don't really know what your into until you go through it. And I'm just starting...

Wish me luck!

Two years of Grace

Grace turned two on Sunday! She lucked out with lots of cousins and aunts and a grandma all at her birthday party! She's been singing "Happy Birthday" to herself for a month always ending with a comment about blowing out the candles. When the time finally came, she smiled big as everyone sang, then hesitated after the song. Luckily, we have a plethera of older cousins who are happy to help out.

We didn't get very good birthday photos, but we did get a good one of all the Erickson sisters and cousins! It was so fun to have us all together!

I think this is the first time we've all been together in about fifteen years. We had a full house! Here's a video my sister took to scan the room (after Grace went to bed) so you can get an idea of the fun birthday chaos.