Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

We had an amazingly gorgeous weekend here, so we decided to venture outside. Lucas spent most of one day playing lumberjack, and he finished cutting down the dead/dying trees in our "grove" by the driveway. Now we just have to cut and stack all the wood and burn what's left (I think that will take longer than cutting them down.)

From 20009-2

I packed Grace into her snowsuit, and we went out to see Lucas' progress. She was not so thrilled about the snowsuit as you can see below.

From 20009-2

From 20009-2

Gracie's daddy turned 30 on Monday! He insisted on having a regular day, so we didn't throw a party. We're planning to take-in an I-cubs game with family and friends this spring to celebrate (anyone is welcome to join us). For his birthday, Grace gave him a framed picture of her with her first baseball. She's starting to smile more and more.

From 20009-2

Growing Pains

We suspect our little Grace hit her first growth spurt. In the past week she's taken to eating almost hourly throughout the day. Being the good eater that she is her feeding usually last more than 30 mins and up to an hour. That leaves very little time for anything other than diaper changing and burping. On the rare occasion that she'll go a couple hours without eating she would prefer to be held the entire time. It's a good thing her mommy loves holding her.

Fortunately, Grace still sleeps pretty well at night. Mom may not be getting anything done during the day, but at least we're getting some sleep at night.

Yesterday we became acquainted with the world's handiest baby invention: the BabyBjorn. For those unfamiliar with this modern marvel, I will explain its greatness. This gem is a "front-pack" (as opposed to a back-pack) baby carrier where the baby can ride facing you and later, as the baby grows up, facing out to see the rest of the world. We tuck our little bundle into this masterpiece and I am able to do laundry, clean the kitchen, update the blog and post new pictures.... It's like a free babysitter! She loves it!! We will definitely be taking the BabyBjorn through the airport with us.

Speaking of the airport, we are 12 short days away from our flight back to Bismarck. Grace and I are soooo excited. By the sound in Grandma Jan and Auntie Sarah's voices I would say they're excited too.

Now for new pictures: I've posted a few here, but as usual there are more in the album.

This first one is for Uncle Karl- Grace wanted to show you "Blue Steel."

From Grace

Here Gracie is snuggled with Daddy. I'm sure they're watching the MLB channel and Grace is learning the difference between a split-finger fast ball and a nasty slider.

From Grace

Finally, Grace was surprised by her own strength as she held herself up for the camera. That flash will get you every time.

From Grace

Visitors From the North

This weekend Miss Grace had the privilege of meeting her first aunt and uncle from Mom's side of the family. Uncle Cary and Auntie Amanda fought through windy weather and late night driving to come down for the weekend.

From Grace

We had a low-key weekend of studying, sleeping, eating, movie watching, and diaper changing. Amanda had a take-home test and Cary was studying for his three finals on Monday morning. We were very lucky to have them come.

As you can see from the picture, Gracie fell in love with Amanda right away. They had some great snuggle time and gave Mommy a enough of a break to do the dishes, a little laundry and even take a shower!

From Grace

Uncle Cary taught Gracie a new pose to add to her collection. It's her "I mean business" face.

From Grace

From Grace

We are thrilled that Cary and Amanda were able to visit and can't wait to see them again. Grace and I are planning a trip back to Bismarck in February to meet more of the family. We are VERY excited!!

From Grace

(I've posted some new pictures on the web album, too. Just click on one the photos here and it should take you to the rest of my album.)

Meet one of Gracie's teammates - Adam!

Hi,

I'm Katie, Lucas's first cousin, and mommy to Adam, Gracie's (second? first once removed?) cousin. Adam was born on July 13, 2008, which makes him 6 months old. Adam has met Gracie twice, and although he thinks girls are "icky" (he told me so) he says Gracie's okay. She has the coolest Little People Barn to play with, he thinks her dogs are hilarious, and he really enjoys "kissing" her mommy! Here's Adam playing at Gracie's house on New Year's Eve - before Gracie made her big debut!

Adam had his 6 month check-up today. He weighs 16 lbs and is 27 inches long. He had to have 3 shots, but thankfully, they don't seem to be bothering him this evening. He is a very happy baby, and seems to smile at everyone he meets!

Invitation to Post

All right..... Gracie and I had a rather long discussion today about her blog. Right now I have creative authority, but she is still the star and the producer. She informed me that the blog needed a little more depth and unfortunately Coppola and Scorsese were not available to direct new material. Grace let me know that she would like to know what all of her other cousins are doing.

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

So this is an open invitation for all the cousins to add their own new material. Send me an email if you want to post on here and I will add you as a contributor and help you set up picture storage. When I setup this blog I wanted a place for all the cousins to be able to update us with new pics and stories about what is going on in their world. Hopefully we will have updates from all over the US. Don't feel shy... it's really easy to add an entry!

Gracie Exits the Hospital with Flair

Wow! I now know what sleep deprivation is really all about. My daughter has a most uncanny knack of recognizing her parents sleep status. Everytime we put her in bed she waits until the exact second that we fall asleep and, bam, she starts crying. No matter how much we think positively and hope she falls back asleep it still doesn't matter. At least Grandma Jan is here to help out when Kate and I have had enough.

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

The staff at Iowa Methodist took pictures of her before she left and posted them on a nursery website. We heard a rumor that she may even be enrolled in a "beautiful baby" contest with the prize being $1000.

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

At the hospital yesterday Grace decided that she needed to be as cute as possible to prepare for her arrival at home. She was also preparing for her very first car ride. Daddy had a few words of encouragement for her " do it for your momma."

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

Gracie cooed as soon as she was in her car seat. I think that she takes after her mom and thinks that any seat with a four point harness is for "racing." Kate has been known to kick butt and take names on many a go-kart track around the nation. I heard from one of her old co-workers that she was the "queen of speed." We raced Gracie home as fast as the Iowa speed limits would allow. There was someone at our house waiting anxiously awaiting our arrival.

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

I haven't seen Grandpa George this excited to see someone or something since the 2003 NLCS. Well..... ok maybe he was this excited to meet Mr. Logan Till. Grace had quite a few other visitors that stopped into see her as well.

Katie, Adam, and Aunt Joan

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

Grandma Ede

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

Barb and Lilly (Bill's sister and niece)

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

Brett was a little hesitant, but he proved that even a 16 year old boy loves babies too. Brett also wanted to know what the rental policy was going to be later this summer. This of course after I told him that young girls really digg babies!

From Grace Ryne Goes Home

Grace Gets Visitors

Well it's day two and we have experienced an evening of baby and sleep. It wasn't as bad as I thought.... although our nurse did tell us that she(the nurse) won't be coming home with us, bummer! All the nurses here are amazing and the facility is great. Grace is having a lovely time, but can't wait to get home and meet the dogs... we have told her so much about them. Good thing she gets to meet them tomorrow. She has lots of new friends in the nursery and Kate and I have taken advantage of that to get some much needed rest.

From Gracie Ryne

Grace was excited to see that it was snowing outside. We opened the window shades up in our room and held her so that she could see the beautiful morning snowfall. Not only was Grace excited to see the snowfall, but she was elated when her Grandma Jan walked through the door. Jan had perfect timing to meet Grace just as she had finished nursing and was wide awake.

From Gracie Ryne

Late last night Grace was able to meet her other grandma as well. My mother, sister and brother-in-law got to stop into our room very briefly. Kate had Grace at 7:23 and we had a brief window of opportunity to have visitors from 9:10 to 9:25. We almost had to bar the door to keep the nurses out and finally Melissa (the 2nd delivery nurse) announced, "ok Kate it's time to get you all cleaned up and your first trip to the bathroom." Rose, Lane, and Kirt took the cue and made their exit, although absolutely not happily.

From Gracie Ryne

From Gracie Ryne

Grace got to have some great cuddle time with Grandma before her next visitor knocked on the door. Uncle Tim was able to brave the snowstorm to to bring Grace her very first toy (a really cute plush puppy) and also get in his own cuddle time with our little one.

From Gracie Ryne

Uncle Tim was so excited to see Grace for the first time..... he even declared that he was happy to have another Bielfelt baby to take to all sorts of neat shows. I can only remember a few of the concerts and events that he took me to, but I'm sure they were unforgettable for him. Don't worry Tim I'll gladly buy the tickets and popcorn for you. The best part about having Tim stop in to visit us is that he is a Lutheran Pastor (actually most of you know that.... he married us as well) in Huxley, IA. Tim gave us the best present of all by saying a prayer of blessing for our new family.

We are headed home soon and will update everyone with new stories and pictures soon. Grace is especially excited to meet her new Uncle Bill. She has heard so many stories already and can't wait to get home.