The 'Grace Face' saga continues after MUCH delay. Obviously I've realized I am not a blogger. It seems daunting and tedious to me to come update this page, as much as I liked the idea originally. However, this face of hers (which is a frequent occurrence) inspired me to at least create a post today. We recently went to SF Zoo and Grace was very concerned about the owl you can see just behind her. There is a book we read to her where and owl is disturbed by a woodpecker while it's trying to sleep. She has internalized this story and associates it with all owls. Btw her word for owl is 'HuHu' which she was stuck on a loop repeating while making this priceless face. I'd truly love to get inside of that brain of hers. She is hilarious. Growing up and learning two languages...in addition to her own bizarre language which resembles neither English nor Swiss-German this kid has a full brain, let me tell you.

As for Savannah Banana, she is becoming a teenager. It is more and more rare that I can even take a picture of her without protest and eye-rolling. She is still a fantastic student, kid, and big sister. I'm proud of her. She's been trying out for various school teams and has a strong spirit regardless of the outcome. She is loving and funny. It's kind of strange to have a teen and a toddler, if anyone has experience and advice for that I'm all ears! Fortunately Savannah still likes to spend time with us for the most part and I just have to remind myself that she's differentiating from us and that's a good thing!

I feel like a very lucky person the majority of the time and a big part of that is my family. I'm grateful to have these people in my life. On a political note, anyone that doesn't consider us a valid family is clearly backwards in their thinking! Equality!!!

'Christened' x 3

Despite the title, this has nothing to do with church. Savannah has really embraced her role as a big sister. She loves Grace so much she can hardly stand it. In fact, for her first writing assignment in school this year Savannah did an essay about getting a baby sister...but I digress.
Savannah will be the first to tell you that there have been some challenges to sisterhood. Other than jealousy, I didn't really anticipate issues between these two. However, Grace has now christened Savannah without her permission 3 times and in three different ways.
Savannah is a girly girl for the most part. She likes to be clean in the sense that she doesn't want anything sticky on her. You can probably see where this is going :). So the first christening occurred when Savannah was bouncing a fussy Grace. She wanted to make her baby sister happy and was putting a lot of effort into the bouncing. Grace promptly rewarded Savannah by sending a little something out of her belly and into Savannah's hair. The funniest part about this was that Savannah didn't notice until Danielle asked her what was in her hair. The look on her face was priceless! I had never seen that child move so quickly to hop into the shower.

The second 'incident' was equally funny. Grace seems to already possess a comedic sense of timing. As I was preparing her bath I asked Savannah to get her undressed and bring her into the kitchen. Savannah did as she was told, talking to Grace the whole time in a very sweet way. Then she said 'She better not pee on me.' Famous last words! No sooner than she uttered that phrase did Grace decide it was time to release her bladder. Savannah's loving disposition became a frantic mantra "She peed on me! She peed on me! Mom, help!" This again, warranted a run to the shower and many complaints for the next couple of days to me, Danielle, Grace (as if she would be remorseful), and anyone that would listen.

So this leads me to the 3rd, most recent, and most traumatizing welcoming to big sisterhood. There is no eloquent way to put this. Grace pooped on Savannah. I know parents of infants are constantly talking about poop and they seem to be obsessed. This is not like that. This is just pure entertainment! To set the scene, I was making dinner and Savannah was taking care of Grace. Savannah has learned to put Grace on her hip, hold up her little head and walk/bounce with her. This almost always seems to keep the baby fairly happy. Savannah had wandered into the kitchen with Grace to find out what was for dinner. She had one hand near Grace's thigh and she said "My hand feels wet...OMG Mom, I think Grace pooped through her diaper! She did. Eww!!! Mom, she POOPED. She pooped on ME!! Take her!"  I was laughing so hard at this point I could barely take the baby. But I did. Savannah took stock of what damage had been done and realized that the poop not only got on her hand, but onto and through every layer of clothing she had on...and then dripped down her leg. To say that she was disgusted would be an understatement. Truly she was horrified. I am still laughing to myself as I type this. Savannah made her token pit stop into the shower (maybe I should start paying Grace for getting Savannah into the shower without having to be asked 10 times). 

Dinner was going to have to wait. I put Grace on the floor on her changing mat and went through the motions to get her all cleaned up only to realize that there was no diaper within reach. I hesitated a bit, but knew there was only one option: Go get one, and leave Grace diaperless. Naturally, she peed all over the floor by the time I got back.

P.S. Savannah still loves her little sister, see?

The Origin of 'The Grace Face'

So the name of this page is about the extent of my capacity for silliness. I like things that rhyme, they appeal to my sense of sound or melody I suppose. Maybe it's just all of those nursery rhymes I've heard over and over. Anyhow, 'Savannah Banana' didn't really come from me. It was just one of those things people thought was cute to call her and ended up being quite fitting. Note the pj's below:

'The Grace Face' is all mine though. This baby has had a particular frown since her first moment outside the womb, scratch that, even in the ultrasound pictures. It is a very persistent frown that has become loved and adored by us. I'm not sure if she is a big thinker, or just grumpy (maybe a little of both) So without further ado:

Test Post

Little Sister

So this is my first time blogging and I figured I need to see how this works and if I'm going to be able to maintain it. I love to write and I love my family, we'll see if I can combine the two in an interesting way that is worth sharing! So here are my girls, you know them already if you're reading this. Look for updates to come :)

Big Sister