Have A Little Faith: Baby Time!

I have a new niece!! Well, my only niece! Sweet baby Grace Riley Hargrave was born last Wednesday, April 17th at 11:35pm. She's such a beautiful little girl and I love her so much! I'm so excited that my sister in law is on maternity leave for the next 11 weeks because that means that I can pop by and get some good lovin' from that sweet babe any time I want {well, any time that Ryan says I can ;)}! Stella of course LOVES "bay Grace." She knows good and well how to say "baby" but when she says Grace's name she leaves the last syllable off "baby" so it comes out "Bay Grace." I'd be lying if I said that it doesn't make me have a slight bit of baby fever...but all in the Lord's time. I don't want to rush things :) I know baby's are born all throughout the year, but it just seems like I know an unusual amount of people having baby's right now and I'm loving seeing all these precious newborns!

{Blake pretending to "catch" - he seriously torments his sister}

{Precious baby Grace}

{Visiting the Hargrave's in the hospital}

{Is this seriously not the most precious face?!}

We now have 7 baby calves and counting! The joys of springtime! They're so, so tiny and wobbly! And their mama's are QUITE protective! Blake got rolled up by one mama cow last week while tagging her baby and he was pretty sore for a couple days. I'm dying to get back on my horse since it's been several weeks since I've ridden. I'm hoping and praying that the weather will cooperate this weekend and maybe I can get a ride in! Blake is saying that I may get to help them when it comes time to work the cows and wean the babies so I gotta brush up on my skills....which actually means I gotta figure out what the heck I'd be doing since I've never done it before!

{Kind of dark - but you can see a couple of the calves}

Stella is doing fantastic as we plow ahead into the "terrific" two's. I'm going to try and put some positive vibes out there and hope that her second year is more terrific than terrible! We're still definitely having dramatic tantrums and she seems to get frustrated SO quickly. We're also trying to teach her manners, which she's great at "please" and "thank you," but we're also trying to do "yes mam" and "no mam" etc. And also trying to help her learn not to interrupt when others are talking...but that one's been a bit difficult!
Before church on Sunday, Blake and I were telling Stella again about how Jesus lives in our hearts. She listened intently, but one just never knows what sticks in their little brains and what doesn't {although, I venture to say most things at this point are "sticking."} After church, Stella rode with my parents back to their house while I followed in my car. My parents were asking her if she learned about Jesus at church today and she looked at them and said, "Heart!" and patted her little chest. I was pretty excited when we got to my parents house and they told me that because that meant she was really listening to Blake and I that morning. I love teaching her things and I love how quickly she's grasping them. We've sung the ABC's probably 20+ times this week and she's doing SO well! She pretty consistently has A,B,C,D,E...G...K,L,M,N,O,P...S,T,U,V...X...Z. There are times when she's not really in the mood and it takes a little more prompting. She can sing most of Ring Around the Rosie and a teensie bit of Jesus Loves Me. We've been practicing counting 1-5 and depending on the day she can usually do it. Although, when teaching her, I would always start with "one" and she would jump in with "two." So, I'm having a little trouble now getting her to start with "one"! She's also started asking for medicine for her boo-boo's since I put some neosporin on a scratch she got the other day. We're picking up speed again with the potty training since we kind of put that on the back burner just because I felt like she was still so young. The nursery ladies get so excited because she'll usually go potty once or twice for them when they keep her! Ok, I know I've babbled on and on about my kid...but I just have to record this stuff because I will NEVER remember it come two weeks from now :)!

{Cracks me up...I can only imagine what she's thinking.}

{KiKi the kitty is still getting lots of forced kisses}

{Not so sure about that bow in her hair}

{Bluebonnets!}

{Melts my heart}

{She wouldn't really stay still for very long!}

In other news - I finally got to see the musical, WICKED! Saying it was amazing is an understatement. It was glorious {I know I sound lame, but it was seriously so cool!}. Definitely becoming a musical fan and will probably try and go again next summer! And I also got to meet up with my two best friends from high school and have dinner! It was Ashley's birthday so I met her and some of her friends at Mi Cocina to celebrate. It had been ridiculously too long since the three of us had been together and it was so nice catching up!