Deployment II

As some of you may know, Tom left last week for his second deployment. This one is different because he is on a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit), which means he will be sailing around the world on a big ship for the next 7 months stopping at ports and helping out with any situation that may arise. They have already been tasked with helping out with the relief effort in Haiti. Grace and I already miss him so much, but we are planning on staying busy and enjoying the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Tom sent me some pictures of his flight and his room, so I have posted them below.

Tom flying over Haiti.Tom in his stateroom. He's holding the calendar I made him with pictures of Grace.

6 Months Old

My beautiful baby turned 6 months old on January 7th. And, as always, the time has really flown by!! She is so happy and loves to give everyone lots of smiles:) She is doing a good job of sitting up with the help of the B0ppy, is eating her cereal like a little pro, and likes to listen to anyone sing "Ba Ba Black Sheep" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" which are her favorite songs. We are working on saying Dada so I can record it and send it to Tom. She just loves her Dad so much. I can't wait to see what these next 6 months will bring!

Grace's Baptism

When we went down to Florida for Tom's pre-deployment leave we decided to have Grace baptized. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to have as much of our family there as possible. Grace was a little angel throughout the whole ceremony and didn't even cry when the water was poured over her head. She is just too sweet.

Grace and Mom during the ceremony.


Grace and Grandma afterwards.

Grace with her parents and Godparents.

Tom and I with the Deacon who performed the ceremony.

He also baptized Brittany when she was little.

Everyone after the ceremony.

We all went back to Tom's parent's house for barbeque and cake. Grace loved getting a handful of that icing. I can't wait to see how she does with the cake on her 1st birthday!

Happy New Year!!

We had a great time partying at the Whiting's house in Niceville for New Year's. We played the Wii, ping pong, beer pong, cornhole and had fireworks. What a fun time!

Eating like a big girl...

At the end of December, we decided to begin giving Grace some rice cereal to see if she would like it. And like it she did! She does pretty well eating the cereal and getting most of it in her mouth. I definitely wanted to do this while Tom was still here so that he could participate in feeding her. She sits up great in her Bumb0 and has a lot of fun!

One of the first bites

Most of it got in her mouth:)

Tom and I decided to make a gingerbread house together this year for the first time. He got it all set up and I added on the candy. It was quite a mess and only stayed up for a little while.

Grace had a front row seat so that she could watch Tom put it together.

She had fun sticking her hands in the frosting and tearing off the chimney. It went to the trash can pretty soon after this. Too sweet, even for me.

Welcome Gabriele!

Congrats to the Tagliere family! Gabriele Owen was born on December 22nd 09. He weighed 7 pounds 6 oz and was 19 inches long. We look forward to meeting him soon!

Visit with Santa

Tom, Sue and Brittany stopped by this weekend for a few days on their way up to NY for Christmas. We had such a great time visiting and catching up. They hadn't seen Grace since we went down to FL when she was just 8 weeks old, so they were quite surprised at the little girl she is turning into. We had a chance to visit with Santa while we were shopping at the outside mall on Sunday. Grace was such a little sweetie and just smiled while she was sitting on Santa's lap. I've been told that it probably will not happen this way next year, so we are enjoying these wonderful pictures.

Not quite sure what is up with Santa's headband and matching belt, but Grace looked super cute in her little red and white dress with matching hat!

She has a smile for everyone:)