"Stinky"

It's official. Grace's first word is "stinky." Not exactly the word I thought I would be writing down in her baby book as the first, but I can't deny it anymore. "Stinky" it is. And, other than "dada," it is the only word that she says clearly right now. But when she says "stinky" it is ADORABLE. She fans out her fat little toes and shoves them into my face (or her daddy's) and laughs. And then says "stinky, stinky." Very cute.

Sure would like to hear mama at some point, but for now I am going to have to settle for "stinky." Not "ball," "book," "duck," "go," or "dog" like the other kids..."stinky!"

Grace is ready for the Easter Bunny!

Cold Day Inside leads to lots of pictures!

So all we could do was to sit, sit, sit, sit














And we did not like it, not one little bit!
In fact, we were climbing the walls...















Thank goodness for the World Financial Center & the Winter Garden - a huge indoor space that is relatively baby-friendly. On a cold and windy day - it works!














What a pretty face!






























Singing "Itsby Bitsy Spide" is fun!

A Visitor!

Thanks for coming to visit Aunt Julie! Come back soon.

Setting the record straight

Apparently, some are of the view that I was expressing a certain level of disappointment with my husband in my inaugural blog. For the record, I was NOT. How can you be disappointed with someone who lessened his out-of-the home workload to stay home and take care of your beautiful daughter? Who gets up day in and day out to greet dirty diapers and endless rounds of "Guess How Much I Love You" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" with a smile on his face? Who works nights, weekends and many a nap time to get his out-of-the home work done but still finds time to make sauce from scratch, pick up a movie and a bottle of wine and create an in-the-apartment while the baby sleeps "date-night" extradorinaire. No, I was not trying to critique B's ability to keep up the graceannperkins.com website - I was and am trying to take a little something off his overloaded plate. So, if I didn't phrase it right the first time, I apologize. Here's to B - the best daddy a little 1 year old could have and the best husband any mommy could ask for.

Good Morning 6 a.m.!

Toddlers get up very early! And with enough energy to destroy the place in 20 minutes flat. See below:

Good Morning, mommy! Put down that cup of coffee and check this toy out!

And my work to this tiny Manhattan apartment is now done:

Toddlers hate being left out of the fun - even when the fun is just a quick shower:

Finally...

Finally Grace has reached toddlerhood and I have taken over the reigns on the picture posting. My husband, Brandon ("B"), has had to shoulder the brunt of the picture sharing thus far, and needless to say, many have become annoyed at his lax attitude about the whole thing. So, I have decided to try and help (not that I will be able to do a better job, but hard to do much worse -- sorry, B). So, I will occassionally put some pictures up of Grace living the life of a toddler and her parents (who are trying desparately to make sure she lives a happy and healthy life and doesn't choke on a "cookie" - aka, sugary nuggets from hell; hit her head on anything and everything sharp or firm; stumble upon some seemingly inocuous weapon of destruction and use it to poke her eye out, etc.). In the end, I will without a doubt fail to amuse you with the stories of our too hectic lives, or forget about this blog altogether, but for now...please enjoy some recent and not so recent pictures of my heart and soul. She's 13 months and counting.















The city girl playing in the hallway.










Playing at Gymboree.











At her first birthday with her Grandpa.










And, Grace at the park "loving" the swing and her mommy snapping picture after picture of her March day in the sun.