Thank you Lauren Williams!

Just got Grace's nine month professional photos back from our friend, Lauren Williams, and they turned out beautiful! Honestly couldn't be happier. Lauren has done an incredible job capturing amazing shots of Grace (no matter what her mood of choice that day may be, or how stressed out Mama is preparing everyone for the session). I was overly anxious this day in particular due to terrible planning on my own behalf when I scheduled to pick up Zach from Midway Airport an hour beforehand. As we all know, that hour quickly turned into two and we missed the first part of the photos. Thank goodness for Grandma and Papi Livingston who took care of Grace, and all the details, while we inched our way through Chicago traffic. Thankfully we made it back for a few great family shots before Grace decided her posing was complete for the day.

Thanks again Lauren for all your time, hard work and talent! We are so, so appreciative. Here is the link to Lauren Michelle Studios if anyone is in need of a fabulous photographer, or just plain interested in checking out her work. The best!

Happy 10 Months (and 7 days) Grace Mack!

Happy ten months Miss Grace! How could we possibly be two months away from the big one year birthday fiesta?! I can't help but feel a little nostalgic that our baby girl is quickly approaching her biggest milestone yet. My pinteresting has even taken a drastic turn to crazy-town with all the ideas and decorations for her big day floating around in my head! No worries - we aren't those parents. But I see no harm in a small get together complete with an adorable cake, a few banners and entertainment of some sort for our babe and her baby buddies :)

The latest exciting news in Grace's world is accomplishing the pull-to-stand! This is another huge step given our Torticollis setbacks. She started with a magazine holder, progressed to the bath tub and coffee table, then today tackled the crib railing! We officially need to lower her mattress to the very bottom setting now. Super exciting, and so proud watching her face light up once she makes it to her feet. Think we're still a ways away from walking, but definitely making progress in the right direction. New words include an attempt at "duck", "hi dad", "bye bye" and "grace". Saying her name is obviously super difficult, but we've heard the "s" sound come out when asking her to repeat it. Try, try again of course! 

We've been keeping our weeks busy with physical therapy on Tuesdays, swim lessons on Wednesdays and music class on Thursdays. We're meeting lots of wonderful people through her few classes and our daily strolls, and squeezing in playdates here and there as well. Kingston is quite the conversation starter as well. Birmingham is full of dog lovers! He receives a good amount of TLC, and treats for that matter, nearly every walk we take. He's happy here to say the least :)

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Hugging Grace and Zach a little tighter these past few days given the Aurora, Colorado incident that is in all of our nation's hearts and minds. Deeply saddened, sickened and just plain angry that evil like that lives in our world. Think it hit home a little harder processing this horrific event from a parent's perspective now. Praying continuously for the victim's, their families, for justice and for a safer world for our children as years pass. Hoping you are all doing the same. 

Romans 12:9-21

July Happenings

Wow - what a busy July we've had! I know, I know.. everyone is busy. But I have a few additional excuses for not blogging until now: 1. I've had to collect photos since I have been slacking on my photography skills 2. I have a super active and sassy 10 month old and 3. My computer's hard drive has officially hit capacity... yep... a 2007 MacPro is actually "old school" in this techno savvy period of time. The past week or so I've tearfully forced myself to bid goodbye to old love letters, college papers and New Years resolutions. The not-so-tearful goodbyes? The various cover letters, job-specific resumes and interview preparation materials I spent hours upon hours preparing for internships and positions that I probably didn't even want to begin with. Their loss.. of course :)

With that said, here's a quick update as to everything our family has been up to since the end of June! 

We celebrated Mimi's 80th birthday in Union City with our entire extended Livingston family.

My beautiful grandmother. 

Adorable grandparents, Mimi and Papa.

Our part-fish daughter enjoying a quick swim at the Gelhaus home. 

Dad sneaking away for a quick nap with our pooped out babe.

Even Kingston had a blast swimming and playing with his dog cousin, Charlie!

We celebrated the 4th of July in Lake Geneva with the Ullrich family.

Happy birthday America!

We missed you LG.

Gracie's first boating experience! Life jacket made for a rough start, but eventually the waves put her right to sleep :)

Opa and Nani with Grace Mack. 

The whole family out to eat at Popeyes.

We even made it to our (approximate) 28th Dave Matthews concert at Alpine Valley. Pathetic or awesome? I'm not sure. Funny, however, how for the past two years I've continued to say, "This will probably be our last time....ya-da ya-da ya-da". Ha! I obviously didn't realize at the time that marriage and a beautiful baby would bring out the best in us.

Our gang. 

Hubby and I.

The girls.

The newlyweds!

Uncle Brock and Carolyn

Tailgate coming to an end....

And on our way in! Not sure what exactly is happening here..

On our way home from Lake Geneva we picked up Grandma Jenny for a quick visit to Birmingham.

We played in fountains.. 

And swung on swings... and walked around town.. and shopped, and shopped, and shopped (for groceries and Gracie items that is). Miss you already Mom.

Despite the crazy heat (hit 103 degrees a few days ago.. yikes), it's been a wonderful summer thus far. Looking forward to many more trips home, multiple weddings, Michigan shenanigans, and future visits from friends and family.... and of course Emily Maynard handing out the final rose on Sunday's Bachelorette finale :)

Miss you Chicago. Hugs and kisses from our sassafrass!

Hooray for Visitors!

We were thrilled to finally have our good friends, Elizabeth and Eric, visit our new home as well as have an excuse to attempt a few restaurants with Grace downtown! Notice my emphasis on attempt there. Going "out" with Grace is soon to be a thing of the past since sitting still is becoming harder and harder for our little one. The Shorts made the trip from Buckeye town on Saturday and stayed the night (despite Eric's deep hatred for the state of Michigan and all that it entails.. haha). We opted for Mexican at Barrio's Tacos and Tequila, then enjoyed vino on our patio while Grace slept soundly at home. The next morning was brunch at Toast and absolutely delicious.

The husbands.

Roomates and teammates in college!

All the girls :) 

Great friends - love you guys! 

Such a fun weekend. Can't wait for our next get together at a Buckeye football game!

Having visitors finally motivated me to start researching babysitters in the area. The luxury of both grandmas no longer being a 5-10 minute drive away has unfortunately sunk-in. I realized that with Zach's traveling and entertaining it is essential to have a few people in the area I trust with Grace that could help out if I'm ever in a pinch, have an appointment, or if Zach and I ever want to go on a date again! Luckily we've had a few great recommendations, and interviewing a few other girls throughout the week. Feels nice to be on the other side of "interviewing" for a change :) 

Happy 9 Months (and 7 days) Miss Grace!

Weighing in at 17 lbs 3 oz and 28 in long, Grace is growing up right before our eyes! She has stayed consistently in the 25% for weight and 75-80% for height since birth. As you can see from the previous posts and photos below, she's finally sitting on her own, army crawling and scooting everywhere, drinking from a straw and eating solids at normal meal times. She seems to get into everything she's not supposed to, and finds interest in the oddest things (i.e. doors, vents, shoes, loose wires, and dustballs... gross I know). Amazing all the money that goes into toys when we could just set her down next to a door to play with for hours on end! We are currently working on weight bearing on her legs and using her knees for crawling and pulling to stand.

While I would love to report that her torticollis has disappeared forever, we're still battling with weekly changes in her neck tilt. The past 2-3 weeks she was looking near perfect, and we had a wonderful progress report from our physical therapist at CDH back home! However, torticollis has proven to be one of the oddest and most frustrating things we've dealt with as her tilt will reappear on any random morning and decide to stay for days at a time (despite consistent therapy). Our new pediatrician has referred us to a Pediatric Rehabilitation Specialist in the area so we can get a closer look at Grace and more detailed treatment if necessary. Loving the initiative our new doctor has taken with Grace, and confident she's the right person to help us kick this for good! We'll also be starting physical therapy here (finally) next week at Beaumont Hospital.

Aside from a cute neck tilt, we're learning quickly that Grace has a rather large personality! She's quite the chatter boxer (or screamer for that matter) and super social. I am somewhat fearful of the quickly approaching toddler years as I'm rather confident we have a little sass on our hands :)

Michigan Shenanigans

Trips to the Detroit Zoo, first Father's Day memories and BBQ with the Stowell's, hot summer days in our penguin pool and park dates with the Scheidt's sum up our past few weeks in the Mitten!

First time to the Detroit Zoo! We attempted a group shot here. Our awesome photographer obviously didn't think Grace and Hank were worthy of the shot. Not cool lady, not cool... haha

Carrie and her boys! 

Hankster.

Loved watching this lil' guy enjoy the animals.

Obvious excitement.

Babes.

Happy first Father's Day superdad! We love you to the moon and back! 

Framed NIU and Wheaton football jersey's for Dad's gift!

BBQ with the Stowell Family on Father's Day! 

Keeping them on the blanket for .2 seconds was a bit of a challenge.

Jack!

Miss Grace with adorable Aiden!

We love his red hair, but still not sure about this "M" hat... haha We are teaching Grace that "M" stands for Mom :) 

Giving high fives. 

Scoping each other out!

I could eat him up! So cute. 

Park fun on the swings.

95 degree day = lots of penguin time.