Gracie had another restless night. She awoke at 1:00 a.m. with a nasty bloody nose. I think it caught her by surprise and upset her a bit. It probably didn't help that I yelled to wake up Jeff to bring in a wet cloth and tissues. She went back to sleep fairly quickly but tossed and turned quite a bit.
She seemed to feel better today than she has for the last couple of days, but was a little more moody. I think her sensory system was just a little overwhelmed with having daddy back home. She was very excited to see him, but things seemed to upset her a little more easily. She also had some great times today, she chattered up a storm and was yelling in an excited way and just having fun. She was verbalizing alot today. It's so much fun to listen to her, especially when she is excited.
Gracie's time with mom's undivided attention has turned her into a major mommy's girl. I can't be out of her sight. We went to Target today and anytime Jeff would take her into an aisle without me she would continually look back and fuss that she wanted mommy. I fear that when I take her to daycare tomorrow she is going to fuss big time. While it tears at my heart, it will be good for her to get back in the routine and have kids to play with.
Gracie's great love lately is You Tube. She loves the Sesame Street songs. She is also really liking Winnie the Pooh. It's fun to see her recognize characters and enjoy them.
Gracie is now sleeping, but it is a fairly restless sleep. She's already awoken once. I'm hoping for a restful night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday & Saturday - Still Not Feeling Great
I stayed home with Gracie again on Friday. Her stomach was acting up a little, but she was in a very good mood. She took a 2-1/2 hour nap, which was wonderful since she had a horribly rough night.
Jeff headed to Minneapolis for work so Gracie and I were on our own both Friday and Saturday. On Friday night just before bedtime she began holding her diaper area, grimacing, and bending over while fussing. Not a good sign. I called the nurses line and they felt she needed to be seen, so off to the ER for the second time this week. It was very busy there on a Friday night and there were so many sick people around us, I was scared to touch anything, or breathe for that matter. Scared I would bring home something worse than what we came with. My heart went out to all of these sick people.
As for Gracie, the thought was that she probably had a urinary tract infection. They had to cath her to get a clean urine sample. Let me just say that was quite traumatic for her and she has fussed about having her diaper changed ever since. The initial tests came back negative. I was very surprised by this. We are waiting on a 24 hour culture though. We got home from the E.R. at 11 p.m. and we were both exhausted.
We slept in until 7:30 a.m. this morning and the first thing Gracie signed for me this morning was "hurt", but she couldn't tell me what hurt. She was in a good mood, so that was a good sign. We took a bath this morning, I got her dressed, and we headed upstairs. This was when we had a diaper explosion. Oh my - we had poop everywhere...up her back, down her legs, in her socks. I took her right back to the bathtub for a second bath of the day.
Gracie was a good girl all day. She had moments, but they were few and far between. As I mentioned earlier, diaper changing has become a trying time. Gracie's appetite was a little less today, but not terrible either. I tried to offer more bland things...crackers, pasta in chicken broth, bananas, gatorade, etc.
Gracie's new word today was "silly". It makes me smile to hear her say it as you really have to listen to understand her, but it is so cute.
We read books today and tried to work on skills. The most frustrating one is trying to get her to put shapes in the appropriate shape sorter hole. I may drive myself crazy trying to keep her engaged with that one. Much like other things, one day she'll just do it and make it look so simple.
Jeff came home about 8:00 p.m. tonight and Gracie was very happy to see him. We had to play her favorite game of being on mommy's back and having daddy come chase and tickle her. We also had to take a family walk around the house a couple of times.
She is now asleep, but very restless. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep, we both need it.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Jeff headed to Minneapolis for work so Gracie and I were on our own both Friday and Saturday. On Friday night just before bedtime she began holding her diaper area, grimacing, and bending over while fussing. Not a good sign. I called the nurses line and they felt she needed to be seen, so off to the ER for the second time this week. It was very busy there on a Friday night and there were so many sick people around us, I was scared to touch anything, or breathe for that matter. Scared I would bring home something worse than what we came with. My heart went out to all of these sick people.
As for Gracie, the thought was that she probably had a urinary tract infection. They had to cath her to get a clean urine sample. Let me just say that was quite traumatic for her and she has fussed about having her diaper changed ever since. The initial tests came back negative. I was very surprised by this. We are waiting on a 24 hour culture though. We got home from the E.R. at 11 p.m. and we were both exhausted.
We slept in until 7:30 a.m. this morning and the first thing Gracie signed for me this morning was "hurt", but she couldn't tell me what hurt. She was in a good mood, so that was a good sign. We took a bath this morning, I got her dressed, and we headed upstairs. This was when we had a diaper explosion. Oh my - we had poop everywhere...up her back, down her legs, in her socks. I took her right back to the bathtub for a second bath of the day.
Gracie was a good girl all day. She had moments, but they were few and far between. As I mentioned earlier, diaper changing has become a trying time. Gracie's appetite was a little less today, but not terrible either. I tried to offer more bland things...crackers, pasta in chicken broth, bananas, gatorade, etc.
Gracie's new word today was "silly". It makes me smile to hear her say it as you really have to listen to understand her, but it is so cute.
We read books today and tried to work on skills. The most frustrating one is trying to get her to put shapes in the appropriate shape sorter hole. I may drive myself crazy trying to keep her engaged with that one. Much like other things, one day she'll just do it and make it look so simple.
Jeff came home about 8:00 p.m. tonight and Gracie was very happy to see him. We had to play her favorite game of being on mommy's back and having daddy come chase and tickle her. We also had to take a family walk around the house a couple of times.
She is now asleep, but very restless. I'm hoping for a good night's sleep, we both need it.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thursday - A Fever
Gracie had a rough night again and came down with a fever. She awoke about 1:00 a.m. and the rest of the night she would constantly wake up and you could tell she did not feel well. She ended up sleeping on me when she would sleep. Poor girl.
I stayed home from work to hang out with her today and give her some TLC. She was a happy girl for the most part. More tired, more needy, she liked to be held and bounced or rocked. She also had some very independent times when she just wanted to be down and play. I think that was more when the Motrin was working. At 2:00 p.m. I gave her a dose of Motrin and at bedtime we still seemed to have kicked the fever. The night will tell for sure, she tends to spike at about midnight or 1:00 a.m. Who knows why. I'm hoping for good things.
Gracie was a little more moody this evening, but she was a tired girl. She seemed not to be able to self calm when she was upset and didn't get to do what she wanted. She had a very small appetite today also. Except for when it came to stealing mommy's cookie. I was filling out some paperwork for her pre-school evaluation and was eating a chocolate chip cookie. Gracie was listening to music and just kind of wandering the house. I had one bite left in my hand and was concentrating on the form, when zooooooop the cookie piece was taken out of my hand and put into Gracie's mouth with lightening speed.
Gracie had a hard time falling asleep tonight. I think she was overtired. She had a very large jerk while she was falling asleep in my arms tonight, looked up at me with vacant eyes and hit me in the face. It was the weirdest thing. She then relaxed and fell back to sleep. I hope and pray that jerk had no seizure qualities to it and it was an isolated incident.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a healthy Gracie.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
I stayed home from work to hang out with her today and give her some TLC. She was a happy girl for the most part. More tired, more needy, she liked to be held and bounced or rocked. She also had some very independent times when she just wanted to be down and play. I think that was more when the Motrin was working. At 2:00 p.m. I gave her a dose of Motrin and at bedtime we still seemed to have kicked the fever. The night will tell for sure, she tends to spike at about midnight or 1:00 a.m. Who knows why. I'm hoping for good things.
Gracie was a little more moody this evening, but she was a tired girl. She seemed not to be able to self calm when she was upset and didn't get to do what she wanted. She had a very small appetite today also. Except for when it came to stealing mommy's cookie. I was filling out some paperwork for her pre-school evaluation and was eating a chocolate chip cookie. Gracie was listening to music and just kind of wandering the house. I had one bite left in my hand and was concentrating on the form, when zooooooop the cookie piece was taken out of my hand and put into Gracie's mouth with lightening speed.
Gracie had a hard time falling asleep tonight. I think she was overtired. She had a very large jerk while she was falling asleep in my arms tonight, looked up at me with vacant eyes and hit me in the face. It was the weirdest thing. She then relaxed and fell back to sleep. I hope and pray that jerk had no seizure qualities to it and it was an isolated incident.
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a healthy Gracie.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday - Another Trip to the ER
Gracie had a great night again last night, which means I had a restful night too. She awoke in a good mood and had great fun turning the light off on me while I was in the bathroom fixing my hair. I would say "Gracie, I can't see!" She would runaway giggling saying "can't see, can't see". Then I would ask her to come and turn it back on. She would happily oblige and before I could get the words "thank you" out of my mouth, she would turn it off again and run away saying "can't see".
Gracie had a good day at daycare. Daddy was on early shift today, so he picked her up and they went home and were snacking on some tortilla chips when Gracie began choking. Jeff had her in position to dislodge the chip when she vomited up liquids, the chip must have dislodged, but he couldn't find it. Gracie had some labored breathing that was very concerning and just wasn't acting right, so Jeff loaded her up in the van and headed to the ER. They checked her out and her breathing became normal again. They couldn't see anything concerning in her throat and indicated they could scope her, but since she was doing so good by that time, Jeff declined. Gracie was a very good girl for all of this and was very cooperative. Oh and the consultant at the ER was one we've had frequently and of course knew Jeff and Gracie immediately. I sure hope we get a frequent visitor discount. The nurse also recognized Jeff from his trip there two weeks ago for his ankle sprain.
When I got home Jeff was telling me about her choking and was imitating the sound, well Gracie didn't want to be left out from telling the story, so she had to re-enact the gagging, choking sound. What a little nut.
When I got home Gracie was picking at her supper. She didn't eat much and was very tired. She livened up in the bathtub a bit, but fell asleep very quickly tonight. She is all snuggled in under her Winnie the Pooh blanket.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie had a good day at daycare. Daddy was on early shift today, so he picked her up and they went home and were snacking on some tortilla chips when Gracie began choking. Jeff had her in position to dislodge the chip when she vomited up liquids, the chip must have dislodged, but he couldn't find it. Gracie had some labored breathing that was very concerning and just wasn't acting right, so Jeff loaded her up in the van and headed to the ER. They checked her out and her breathing became normal again. They couldn't see anything concerning in her throat and indicated they could scope her, but since she was doing so good by that time, Jeff declined. Gracie was a very good girl for all of this and was very cooperative. Oh and the consultant at the ER was one we've had frequently and of course knew Jeff and Gracie immediately. I sure hope we get a frequent visitor discount. The nurse also recognized Jeff from his trip there two weeks ago for his ankle sprain.
When I got home Jeff was telling me about her choking and was imitating the sound, well Gracie didn't want to be left out from telling the story, so she had to re-enact the gagging, choking sound. What a little nut.
When I got home Gracie was picking at her supper. She didn't eat much and was very tired. She livened up in the bathtub a bit, but fell asleep very quickly tonight. She is all snuggled in under her Winnie the Pooh blanket.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday: A Good Night's Sleep = Happy Girl
I'm beyond thrilled to say that Gracie had a good night's sleep. She awoke in a less than happy mood, but with a little snuggling, she was soon a happy girl and that was the theme for the day. Gracie likes to tease mom and dad. Every morning after she has her coat on and I'm ready for us to leave for work and daycare, I say "Who wants to go bye, bye with mommy?" She usually just hangs back for awhile and then as I head for the stairs she decides she had better come too and comes running with a smile on her face. Not today. Today she hung back and after I asked a couple of times, she climbed up on the couch and got in a real relaxed position and she was not going to move. So I finally came to get her and asked if she was teasing mommy. Great giggles ensued.
Gracie had a good day at daycare and Jeff picked her up for her afternoon PT appointment at the clinic. She sure was sad when she saw that the clinical assistants were very busy and wouldn't have time to take her for a walk. She was thrilled to see Leslie, her PT, and Courtney the PT intern. Gracie had great fun on the big exercise ball. She used to resist any work with it, now she loves it, the more she can bounce on it, the better she likes it. She asked to ride the tricycle today and oh was I proud. She can do it all on her own. It's very slow going and you have to help her steer, but she was pedaling on her own. She rode it for a long time. We worked a little bit with kicking the ball and that is one of our goals to work on til next visit. The other is carrying a basket or pail of things without spilling the contents. Gracie got to go on the slide and that was a hit. She can get up to the top of the slide herself and is getting very confident in her skills so loves to do it. She stands at the top of the slide and just yells and jabbers in excitement.
Gracie was such a good girl all night long and in a great mood throughout the whole evening. Her new verbal words for the evening were "Grandpa" and "Grandma". She has a family tree that she made at daycare with pictures of both of her grandmas and grandpas on it. She loves this family tree and she went around the house carrying it tonight telling us who they were.
Her night has started out restless, I'm hoping it becomes more restful soon.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie had a good day at daycare and Jeff picked her up for her afternoon PT appointment at the clinic. She sure was sad when she saw that the clinical assistants were very busy and wouldn't have time to take her for a walk. She was thrilled to see Leslie, her PT, and Courtney the PT intern. Gracie had great fun on the big exercise ball. She used to resist any work with it, now she loves it, the more she can bounce on it, the better she likes it. She asked to ride the tricycle today and oh was I proud. She can do it all on her own. It's very slow going and you have to help her steer, but she was pedaling on her own. She rode it for a long time. We worked a little bit with kicking the ball and that is one of our goals to work on til next visit. The other is carrying a basket or pail of things without spilling the contents. Gracie got to go on the slide and that was a hit. She can get up to the top of the slide herself and is getting very confident in her skills so loves to do it. She stands at the top of the slide and just yells and jabbers in excitement.
Gracie was such a good girl all night long and in a great mood throughout the whole evening. Her new verbal words for the evening were "Grandpa" and "Grandma". She has a family tree that she made at daycare with pictures of both of her grandmas and grandpas on it. She loves this family tree and she went around the house carrying it tonight telling us who they were.
Her night has started out restless, I'm hoping it becomes more restful soon.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Monday, January 25, 2010
Monday
Gracie had a really rough night again. She tossed and turned constantly, then totally woke up at 1:45 a.m. and as hard as she tried could not get back to sleep. I walked with her and bounced and we layed down together and snuggled, but it took her over an hour to finally fall asleep again. Then at 4:30 a.m. she was wide awake again. She was very upset when I left to go into the shower at 5:00 a.m., she hung out with daddy til about 6:00 a.m. and then I took her and we rocked. She fell asleep for about 20 - 30 minutes.
Gracie's teacher and her occupational therapist from the Birth to Three program came to meet and work with Gracie today. Gracie wasn't really in the mood to show off any skills that they were testing, but was more than happy to play class clown and take testing items and run off with them. Instead of putting Cheerios in a little container (one of the tests), Gracie decided they were for snacking. She did show off her coloring skills a bit.
Gracie had a good day at daycare and I was just sure she would take a long nap, but I'm told that was not the case. She was in a good mood tonight and had a blast in the tub. She was one tired girl by the time 8:00 p.m. rolled around. She is sleeping peacefully, I hope that continues into the night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie's teacher and her occupational therapist from the Birth to Three program came to meet and work with Gracie today. Gracie wasn't really in the mood to show off any skills that they were testing, but was more than happy to play class clown and take testing items and run off with them. Instead of putting Cheerios in a little container (one of the tests), Gracie decided they were for snacking. She did show off her coloring skills a bit.
Gracie had a good day at daycare and I was just sure she would take a long nap, but I'm told that was not the case. She was in a good mood tonight and had a blast in the tub. She was one tired girl by the time 8:00 p.m. rolled around. She is sleeping peacefully, I hope that continues into the night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sunday - Mommy's Girl
Gracie had a horrible night last night, she tossed and turned and cried out all night. When she did sleep it was with her head on my stomach or chest. It was like she needed to know I was right there. Poor dear. I'm not sure what was wrong, but she awoke in a good mood at 6:30 a.m.
Gracie and I hung out together at home this morning while Jeff lead service at his church. She was a perfect angel all morning. I went to mass via the local TV mass. I find I get so much more out of it these days than battling her at church. So for now this works nicely. Gracie was in the best of moods, happy, content, she even went off and played on her own for a while in her room and would just smile at me when I would peek in to check on her.
Gracie ate a good lunch and then took a short nap...only an hour today and we were able to tell that she should have slept longer. Her mood was not quite as good this afternoon. She had times of being very happy and times of being very upset. We ran out to Menards and Shopko this afternoon and on the way home she screamed at the top of her lungs for most of the ride home. We still aren't quite sure what was wrong. When we got home, I pulled her into the front drivers seat with me and let her pretend to drive the car that was an immediate mood brightener.
Gracie was definitely mommy's girl all day. She did have some fun with dad, but I pretty much could not be out of sight for most of the day. So we snuggled and just hung out and I was happy to take in all the attention I could...for who knows when she will turn into daddy's girl again.
Gracie was so tired tonight. I put her to sleep and just before 8:00 p.m. and she seems peaceful at the moment. I'm hoping she has a good night.
Have a good week.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie and I hung out together at home this morning while Jeff lead service at his church. She was a perfect angel all morning. I went to mass via the local TV mass. I find I get so much more out of it these days than battling her at church. So for now this works nicely. Gracie was in the best of moods, happy, content, she even went off and played on her own for a while in her room and would just smile at me when I would peek in to check on her.
Gracie ate a good lunch and then took a short nap...only an hour today and we were able to tell that she should have slept longer. Her mood was not quite as good this afternoon. She had times of being very happy and times of being very upset. We ran out to Menards and Shopko this afternoon and on the way home she screamed at the top of her lungs for most of the ride home. We still aren't quite sure what was wrong. When we got home, I pulled her into the front drivers seat with me and let her pretend to drive the car that was an immediate mood brightener.
Gracie was definitely mommy's girl all day. She did have some fun with dad, but I pretty much could not be out of sight for most of the day. So we snuggled and just hung out and I was happy to take in all the attention I could...for who knows when she will turn into daddy's girl again.
Gracie was so tired tonight. I put her to sleep and just before 8:00 p.m. and she seems peaceful at the moment. I'm hoping she has a good night.
Have a good week.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Saturday - Home Sweet Home
Gracie had a great night up until 3 a.m. and then she tossed and turned, would continually wake up. This lasted until she woke up for the day at 6:30 a.m. She was quite moody this morning. When she was happy, she was very happy, when she didn't get her way, she was very not happy.
Gracie's G.I. system has been acting up lately and she has been having issues with constipation, so I think that was part of her mood issues and she was acting pretty tired. Once she was able to do some business she felt better.
Jeff left for band practice and some errands around 9:30 a.m. and Gracie and I hung out. She was in a great mood, happy, engaging, and oh my goodness have we seen a burst of cognitive skills with her latest seizure med increase. She had so many new signs today, as well as verbal words, I can't keep up. She also put a number of signs together - "all done" and "sleep" for when she was done with her nap and wanted to get out of bed, "more" and "milk" and there were a few more. She is also pointing more and answering questions correctly. We were talking about hair and she showed us hers, and daddy showed us his, and then Jeff asked Gracie where mommy's hair was and she was able to show us.
Gracie is also quite the helper. Today she helped me sweep the kitchen floor, and she loves to put laundry in the dryer for me. Unfortunately for me, today Gracie started putting some clothes in the dryer from the dirty clothes basket. Oops.
Gracie took a two hour nap today. After 30 minutes of sleeping, she came stomping out of her room with the sleepiest mad face I have ever seen on her. I scooped her up and took her back to bed and layed down with her. She fell back to sleep in seconds. I wish I would have captured that mad face.
Gracie loves drinking out of a big glass and we usually let her at the dinner table at night, knowing there will be some messes to clean up. Tonight we were both amazed as she just chugged the liquid down and there was hardly a drip.
It was a great day at Home Sweet Home. I cherish these days so much.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie's G.I. system has been acting up lately and she has been having issues with constipation, so I think that was part of her mood issues and she was acting pretty tired. Once she was able to do some business she felt better.
Jeff left for band practice and some errands around 9:30 a.m. and Gracie and I hung out. She was in a great mood, happy, engaging, and oh my goodness have we seen a burst of cognitive skills with her latest seizure med increase. She had so many new signs today, as well as verbal words, I can't keep up. She also put a number of signs together - "all done" and "sleep" for when she was done with her nap and wanted to get out of bed, "more" and "milk" and there were a few more. She is also pointing more and answering questions correctly. We were talking about hair and she showed us hers, and daddy showed us his, and then Jeff asked Gracie where mommy's hair was and she was able to show us.
Gracie is also quite the helper. Today she helped me sweep the kitchen floor, and she loves to put laundry in the dryer for me. Unfortunately for me, today Gracie started putting some clothes in the dryer from the dirty clothes basket. Oops.
Gracie took a two hour nap today. After 30 minutes of sleeping, she came stomping out of her room with the sleepiest mad face I have ever seen on her. I scooped her up and took her back to bed and layed down with her. She fell back to sleep in seconds. I wish I would have captured that mad face.
Gracie loves drinking out of a big glass and we usually let her at the dinner table at night, knowing there will be some messes to clean up. Tonight we were both amazed as she just chugged the liquid down and there was hardly a drip.
It was a great day at Home Sweet Home. I cherish these days so much.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Friday, January 22, 2010
Grace and Dad Friday
Hello, and happy Friday to you. Grace was lucky enough (or fated) to spend the evening with dad tonite. Lisa had to do some shopping right after work, so I picked her up from daycare and then she and I spent the early evening hours together.
Everything started out great. On the ride home from daycare, I looked in the back seat and saw that Grace had taken off her mittens and hat. "Gracie, where is your hat?" I asked. She got a big smile and immediately pointed to the floor, exactly where her hat was. This is quite a milestone for us. Mostly because Grace doesn't really like to point on command - and second because she just knows what will make dad laugh. She loves to play tricks on dad, and tonite was no exception. She just loved making it difficult for me to get her out of her car seat. Yes, she does it on purpose, for the sole reason of being funny.
The first hour at home was good, until Gracie decided that mommy should be here too. It then became our mission to call out to mom (who was a few miles away), until she got here. We were a happy girl when mommy finally arrived home. We went on the usual family walks, had back-rides, and the usual smiles and songs.
Since upping Gracie's meds a few days ago. We have noticed how much more vocal she has become. The house is filled with constant chatter (by someone other than me). She is also much more aware of things - she is starting to do the signs on her Sign Language videos before each particular sign is announced - meaning, not only does she know what the sign for cat, dog, horse, etc is - but she knows when it comes on the program. Woo Hoo -this is a big leap forward for her, I do believe.
Anyway - I must be off to bed (where everyone else already is).
Have a great weekend.
Jeff, Lisa, and Gracie
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Thursday - Speech Assessment and PT
Gracie had a great night and slept in until about 6:30 a.m. Then it was time to get up and get ready for our appointment at the clinic with the speech therapist. Gracie was in heaven because she got to go watch the fish in the big fish tank in the waiting room. Personally, I think of it as the germ tank or the petrie dish. It's the perfect breeding ground for all the sick kids to share their germs. Add to that our little Gracie is a thumbsucker, so she touches the tank and then the thumb goes into her mouth. I cringe.
Gracie's speech assessment went very well. In April 2009 Gracie was assessed at a 9 month level for her comprehensive language skills...today, just 9 months later, she was assessed at an 18 month level. Gracie's expressive language skills were at a 13 month old level back in April and today they were assessed at a 20 - 22 month old level. She is making great gains and we were thrilled with the assessment results. Gracie was very happy during the assessment, very interactive, and our dear sweet girl who has recently learned how to blow her nose, decided to show off these skills. She walked over to the kleenex box, helped herself, put the kleenex up to her nose/mouth area and began blowing on her own. I think the fact that she got attention while doing this made it last longer than need be. She also must have felt the room was too bright as she took it upon herself to shut the light off on all of us. I was concerned that Gracie didn't articulate her verbal words very well, but the speech therapist said that was not the case at all, that she was doing very well with articulation. She gave us some great ideas to help Gracie continue to progress and will recommend speech therapy as part of Gracie's school program.
After that we headed home, ate lunch, played a little and then took a nap, a 2 hour and 15 minute nap. She awoke about 15 minutes before her physical therapist came to work with her. Gracie was very happy to see Sandy and was very cooperative. We got some new things to work on with her to help her balance get stronger. Sandy was very pleased with Gracie's progress.
The rest of our day was spent just playing. We really didn't work on anything else. I thought she had done enough work for the day. She had a great time taking her bath and splashing away and then requested that we push her around in her old stroller. So we did. She loved it.
Gracie was such a good girl today and once again was so fun to be around. She was definitely mommy's girl today.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie's speech assessment went very well. In April 2009 Gracie was assessed at a 9 month level for her comprehensive language skills...today, just 9 months later, she was assessed at an 18 month level. Gracie's expressive language skills were at a 13 month old level back in April and today they were assessed at a 20 - 22 month old level. She is making great gains and we were thrilled with the assessment results. Gracie was very happy during the assessment, very interactive, and our dear sweet girl who has recently learned how to blow her nose, decided to show off these skills. She walked over to the kleenex box, helped herself, put the kleenex up to her nose/mouth area and began blowing on her own. I think the fact that she got attention while doing this made it last longer than need be. She also must have felt the room was too bright as she took it upon herself to shut the light off on all of us. I was concerned that Gracie didn't articulate her verbal words very well, but the speech therapist said that was not the case at all, that she was doing very well with articulation. She gave us some great ideas to help Gracie continue to progress and will recommend speech therapy as part of Gracie's school program.
After that we headed home, ate lunch, played a little and then took a nap, a 2 hour and 15 minute nap. She awoke about 15 minutes before her physical therapist came to work with her. Gracie was very happy to see Sandy and was very cooperative. We got some new things to work on with her to help her balance get stronger. Sandy was very pleased with Gracie's progress.
The rest of our day was spent just playing. We really didn't work on anything else. I thought she had done enough work for the day. She had a great time taking her bath and splashing away and then requested that we push her around in her old stroller. So we did. She loved it.
Gracie was such a good girl today and once again was so fun to be around. She was definitely mommy's girl today.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Wednesday - A Medicine Increase
Gracie had a good night's sleep and did not want to wake up this morning. I kind of felt the same way. Once up she was a happy girl. This morning we increased her Topamax (seizure med) in hopes of making sure she has no more absence seizures or seizures of any kind. She did well with the increase and all seems to be going very well.
Jeff and I both took Gracie to daycare and she fussed again as we left. As always, she was fine once we were gone. She got to go bowling on the Wii today and even got a strike. That's my girl. Gracie was spoiled with homemade chocolate chip cookies today at daycare.
Gracie and I had a good evening together - Jeff had to work and then he performed at Hope Lodge after that. Gracie was a happy girl all evening. Very agreeable and just plain smiley. She got to bed much later than usual as we were down to one vehicle and we had to go pick Jeff up this evening. The roads were very icy and slick, so we were happy to be home and Gracie was happy to go to bed.
Tomorrow is Gracie's speech assessment at the clinic. Hopefully that will go well.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Jeff and I both took Gracie to daycare and she fussed again as we left. As always, she was fine once we were gone. She got to go bowling on the Wii today and even got a strike. That's my girl. Gracie was spoiled with homemade chocolate chip cookies today at daycare.
Gracie and I had a good evening together - Jeff had to work and then he performed at Hope Lodge after that. Gracie was a happy girl all evening. Very agreeable and just plain smiley. She got to bed much later than usual as we were down to one vehicle and we had to go pick Jeff up this evening. The roads were very icy and slick, so we were happy to be home and Gracie was happy to go to bed.
Tomorrow is Gracie's speech assessment at the clinic. Hopefully that will go well.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday - A Happy Girl
Gracie had a good night until about 3:00 a.m. and then she got really restless. She kept waking up, would make frustrated sounds, would toss and turn and then fall back to sleep. She finally woke up while Jeff and I were in the bathroom brushing our teeth and she was not happy that no one was there to greet her when she awoke. But after a little snuggling and rocking with mommy, all was well.
Last night before I went to bed, I emailed Gracie's pediatric neurologist about her absence seizure and by 8:15 a.m this morning I had my answer. We will increase her meds tomorrow morning. Have I mentioned how much I love her neurologist? She is awesome! It will be interesting to see if we see any new cognitive bursts with the med increase. We usually do.
Daddy picked Gracie up at daycare and when I got home I could tell immediately it was going to be a good evening. She was all smiles. It was a great evening. She has been so good lately, she is just so much fun to be around. Just a few months ago our evenings were very emotionally draining and all of those issues seem to be disappearing. I give much credit to the guidance we received from the Sensory Specialist on how to get her the sensory input she needs.
Tonight I was reading a book to Gracie and one of the pages has a picture of some cake on it. She kept repeating cake and wouldn't let us turn the page. I think I've got stuck on that page before when reading that specific book. Do you think that is a hint that mommy should bake a cake?
Gracie is now sleeping peacefully.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Last night before I went to bed, I emailed Gracie's pediatric neurologist about her absence seizure and by 8:15 a.m this morning I had my answer. We will increase her meds tomorrow morning. Have I mentioned how much I love her neurologist? She is awesome! It will be interesting to see if we see any new cognitive bursts with the med increase. We usually do.
Daddy picked Gracie up at daycare and when I got home I could tell immediately it was going to be a good evening. She was all smiles. It was a great evening. She has been so good lately, she is just so much fun to be around. Just a few months ago our evenings were very emotionally draining and all of those issues seem to be disappearing. I give much credit to the guidance we received from the Sensory Specialist on how to get her the sensory input she needs.
Tonight I was reading a book to Gracie and one of the pages has a picture of some cake on it. She kept repeating cake and wouldn't let us turn the page. I think I've got stuck on that page before when reading that specific book. Do you think that is a hint that mommy should bake a cake?
Gracie is now sleeping peacefully.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Monday, January 18, 2010
Monday - A Day with Mom
Gracie had another good nights sleep, she awoke at 5:20 a.m., but I snuggled with her and she fell back to sleep for another hour. She awoke in a good mood. Our daycare was closed today, so Gracie and I hung out together. After Jeff left for work, she walked around the house continually telling me "daddy bye bye".
We had many errands to do this morning and Gracie was a trooper throughout. She even got a new pair of shoes. Since Gracie no longer needs to wear her orthotics, we didn't have shoes that were working for her and one pair was questionable. So we headed to our favorite Stride Rite store and they confirmed that her tennis shoes fit fine, but her shoes that we wear with our nicer outfits were still too big. They didn't have what I wanted, but the shoe we got is very cute and much lighter than her normal shoes. We also got to go down a width size.
Gracie took a 1 hour and 45 minute nap and was in a great mood all afternoon. We worked on words and identifying animals in a picture book. We read other books, we played with Gracie's piano, drums, and tambourine, we worked on putting in wooden puzzle pieces (this is not a favorite - she loves to take them out, but doesn't like to put them in) and did a little snuggling too. If I would have let her she would have stood by the cd player and danced to Harry Belafonte all day.
Tonight when Jeff came home, Gracie had an absence seizure while she was riding on my back. I was quite bummed about this as we haven't had one since our last medicine increase in July. We had plans of increasing Gracie's morning dose of meds soon, but were going to wait for her next growth spurt. Needless to say, I'll contact her neurologist in the morning and I think that med increase will happen now. Our goal is to stay on top of the increases without her having any seizure activity at all.
Gracie was a good girl tonight and was very happy to just hang out and play with Jeff and I. She is now sleeping, but seems restless. I hope that is not the start of a restless night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
We had many errands to do this morning and Gracie was a trooper throughout. She even got a new pair of shoes. Since Gracie no longer needs to wear her orthotics, we didn't have shoes that were working for her and one pair was questionable. So we headed to our favorite Stride Rite store and they confirmed that her tennis shoes fit fine, but her shoes that we wear with our nicer outfits were still too big. They didn't have what I wanted, but the shoe we got is very cute and much lighter than her normal shoes. We also got to go down a width size.
Gracie took a 1 hour and 45 minute nap and was in a great mood all afternoon. We worked on words and identifying animals in a picture book. We read other books, we played with Gracie's piano, drums, and tambourine, we worked on putting in wooden puzzle pieces (this is not a favorite - she loves to take them out, but doesn't like to put them in) and did a little snuggling too. If I would have let her she would have stood by the cd player and danced to Harry Belafonte all day.
Tonight when Jeff came home, Gracie had an absence seizure while she was riding on my back. I was quite bummed about this as we haven't had one since our last medicine increase in July. We had plans of increasing Gracie's morning dose of meds soon, but were going to wait for her next growth spurt. Needless to say, I'll contact her neurologist in the morning and I think that med increase will happen now. Our goal is to stay on top of the increases without her having any seizure activity at all.
Gracie was a good girl tonight and was very happy to just hang out and play with Jeff and I. She is now sleeping, but seems restless. I hope that is not the start of a restless night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday - Started Out Rough, Ended Nicely
Gracie awoke at 7:00 a.m. and seemed to be in a good mood, but as we got ready for church it was evident that she either didn't feel great or was still tired. She had many little tantrums over literally nothing. Then she would be fine. Her nose was a constant faucet and she sounded like there was a lot of congestion in her nasal cavity. We were all ready for church and we went back and forth over whether or not we should take her. As the tantrums became more frequent, I decided to stay home with her and I'm glad I did. Her morning was a little rough, but I gave her lots of TLC, some snuggling, and we read books and listened to music.
Gracie took a nap after lunch and that was exactly what she needed. Once she woke up she was in a great mood. Daddy and Grace watched the football game. Yay Vikings!!! I chatted on the phone with my mom and then ran out for a quick errand. When I returned a short time later we headed out to the mall to buy a couple of baby gifts. It was evident that Gracie needed to get out of the house. We stopped and got a smoothie after we were all done. Gracie and I shared a non-dairy one. I got a spoon to give her a bite and she took it, but didn't seem happy about it. Then I offered her a second one and she refused it. Come to find out, she didn't want to be fed it, she wanted to suck it out of the straw like mommy and daddy.
Gracie was in a great mood tonight. We played "chase" and lots of fun action games. Gracie loves this. As she got more tired, she just wanted to be up on my back. So I just let her hang back there with her head all snuggly on my back. Every once in a while I would get a hug. I have made a new rule that she can't get up on my back without giving me a kiss.
Oh and Gracie had great fun today playing with the toilet in her new doll house that she got for Christmas. She kept signing "potty", then when I said the word, she repeated it and kept telling me that was the "potty". As if that wasn't enough, I got sound effects of what it sounds like when someone is going potty. She was hysterical.
She is now sleeping soundly. Sweet dreams.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie took a nap after lunch and that was exactly what she needed. Once she woke up she was in a great mood. Daddy and Grace watched the football game. Yay Vikings!!! I chatted on the phone with my mom and then ran out for a quick errand. When I returned a short time later we headed out to the mall to buy a couple of baby gifts. It was evident that Gracie needed to get out of the house. We stopped and got a smoothie after we were all done. Gracie and I shared a non-dairy one. I got a spoon to give her a bite and she took it, but didn't seem happy about it. Then I offered her a second one and she refused it. Come to find out, she didn't want to be fed it, she wanted to suck it out of the straw like mommy and daddy.
Gracie was in a great mood tonight. We played "chase" and lots of fun action games. Gracie loves this. As she got more tired, she just wanted to be up on my back. So I just let her hang back there with her head all snuggly on my back. Every once in a while I would get a hug. I have made a new rule that she can't get up on my back without giving me a kiss.
Oh and Gracie had great fun today playing with the toilet in her new doll house that she got for Christmas. She kept signing "potty", then when I said the word, she repeated it and kept telling me that was the "potty". As if that wasn't enough, I got sound effects of what it sounds like when someone is going potty. She was hysterical.
She is now sleeping soundly. Sweet dreams.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Saturday - Just Hanging at Home
Gracie had a great night last night and so did I....it was bliss. Gracie woke me up at 6:20 a.m. and was in a very good mood. I talked her into letting daddy sleep a little bit longer. She loves to wake him up. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast -- a favorite. She didn't eat as much as usual. I'm not sure if her appetite is starting to slow down or if her cold is making her not want to eat much, but she sure didn't eat all that much today and hasn't for the last couple of days. Gracie's nose continued to run non-stop, but she is starting to figure out how to blow it. Yay.
Gracie was such a good girl today. Her attention span seems to be getting longer and longer. She sat and played with toys today for small periods of time and was very content to do so. The favorite toy of the day was her kitty piano. She played a lot of beautiful music for us today.
Gracie took a two and a half hour nap today. I thought this was great and even joined her for an hour. This turned out to be not such a good thing when bedtime rolled around because she was not tired. She finally fell asleep about 9:45 p.m. (Bedtime is usually 8:00 p.m.)
Gracie was very verbal today and the word of the day seemed to be "teeth". She likes to show me hers and tell me what they are.
We had a pretty lazy day today just hanging out and playing. That is my idea of a perfect day! Now I'm hoping for a perfect night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie was such a good girl today. Her attention span seems to be getting longer and longer. She sat and played with toys today for small periods of time and was very content to do so. The favorite toy of the day was her kitty piano. She played a lot of beautiful music for us today.
Gracie took a two and a half hour nap today. I thought this was great and even joined her for an hour. This turned out to be not such a good thing when bedtime rolled around because she was not tired. She finally fell asleep about 9:45 p.m. (Bedtime is usually 8:00 p.m.)
Gracie was very verbal today and the word of the day seemed to be "teeth". She likes to show me hers and tell me what they are.
We had a pretty lazy day today just hanging out and playing. That is my idea of a perfect day! Now I'm hoping for a perfect night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday - Tired Girl
Gracie had a much better night with the exception of quite a bit of coughing. She didn't want to get up this morning and I really couldn't blame her as I felt the same way. Once she finally got up she was in a good mood. She got her foot stuck in her blanket as she was trying to walk away from her bed. I told her to stop because she was "stuck". That was the new word for the morning. She headed to the kitchen to tell daddy she was "stuck".
Gracie did very good when I dropped her off at daycare until I was heading back out the door. She had a good day, but didn't take much of a nap and we could tell tonight. She was a tired girl. We rocked and read and just did quieter things.
She did go to her play kitchen, turned on the pretend water and began rubbing her hands together the way we taught her to wash her hands. It amazes me how much she understands and responds too. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we have a little girl in the house, not a baby.
Gracie is sleeping soundly and I am so tired that I need to go to sleep too.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie did very good when I dropped her off at daycare until I was heading back out the door. She had a good day, but didn't take much of a nap and we could tell tonight. She was a tired girl. We rocked and read and just did quieter things.
She did go to her play kitchen, turned on the pretend water and began rubbing her hands together the way we taught her to wash her hands. It amazes me how much she understands and responds too. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we have a little girl in the house, not a baby.
Gracie is sleeping soundly and I am so tired that I need to go to sleep too.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Thursday
Well I didn't get the restful night I had hoped for. Gracie slept well until about midnight and then she couldn't breathe and couldn't get comfortable, so she tossed and turned and got up and down the rest of the night. Surprisingly she woke up in a great mood.
Gracie played boneless girl again when I took her to daycare, but once she saw they had music on she was a happy girl. She blew me a kiss and didn't fuss at all when I left. That was nice. Jeff picked Gracie up from daycare and when I got home she was happy to see me. She was watching her sign language video and wanted me to join her, so she sat on my lap til the end while daddy made us supper. I could get used to this.
After supper Gracie took a bath and for the first time since she was a baby peed in the tub. So we had to give her some rinsing and extra washing. Gracie was in a very good mood for most of the night. She carried her "Big Sister, Little Sister" book around the house for awhile. Do you think she is trying to tell us she wants a sister? Hmmmm.
Gracie is now sleeping soundly and I think I better go to bed too in case it's another rough night.
Sweet dreams to you.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie played boneless girl again when I took her to daycare, but once she saw they had music on she was a happy girl. She blew me a kiss and didn't fuss at all when I left. That was nice. Jeff picked Gracie up from daycare and when I got home she was happy to see me. She was watching her sign language video and wanted me to join her, so she sat on my lap til the end while daddy made us supper. I could get used to this.
After supper Gracie took a bath and for the first time since she was a baby peed in the tub. So we had to give her some rinsing and extra washing. Gracie was in a very good mood for most of the night. She carried her "Big Sister, Little Sister" book around the house for awhile. Do you think she is trying to tell us she wants a sister? Hmmmm.
Gracie is now sleeping soundly and I think I better go to bed too in case it's another rough night.
Sweet dreams to you.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Wednesday - Not Feeling Great
Gracie had a really rough night. She has come down with a cold and couldn't breathe while laying down. She tossed and turned and cried out. About 11:30 p.m. she had a night terror. After I got her calmed from that, she just couldn't get comfortable. I finally propped myself up to a sitting position and propped her up on me and that is how she slept for the rest of the night. I got a few winks, but I'm hoping for a more restful night for all of us tonight.
Gracie was in a good mood on the way to daycare and did have a few tears when I left this morning. She did not feel good today, she didn't have much of an appetite, her nose continued to run, and she was pulling at her ear quite a bit. So we got an evening appointment at pediatrics to check for an ear infection. Thankfully she checked out fine. One of her ear tubes is making it's way out of her ear canal slowly and the nurse practitioner thought the pressure in her ear from the cold was irritating it. Now my hope is that she didn't pick up any other germs while she was watching the fish in the waiting area. Especially when I caught her kissing the fish tank. GROSS!
We picked up McDonald's fast food on the way home for supper. This is a rarity, but since it was so late we thought fast food would be better than cooking and Gracie was hungry....the fruit and cereal bar was not cutting it. I got a garden salad and Gracie insisted on sharing it with me...and loved it. I have to watch her very closely and can only give her small pieces, but she thought she was so cool eating salad with mommy.
She was in a good mood tonight, although a little more impatient. She is now asleep and I think Jeff and I will be joining her very shortly.
Sweet Dreams.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie was in a good mood on the way to daycare and did have a few tears when I left this morning. She did not feel good today, she didn't have much of an appetite, her nose continued to run, and she was pulling at her ear quite a bit. So we got an evening appointment at pediatrics to check for an ear infection. Thankfully she checked out fine. One of her ear tubes is making it's way out of her ear canal slowly and the nurse practitioner thought the pressure in her ear from the cold was irritating it. Now my hope is that she didn't pick up any other germs while she was watching the fish in the waiting area. Especially when I caught her kissing the fish tank. GROSS!
We picked up McDonald's fast food on the way home for supper. This is a rarity, but since it was so late we thought fast food would be better than cooking and Gracie was hungry....the fruit and cereal bar was not cutting it. I got a garden salad and Gracie insisted on sharing it with me...and loved it. I have to watch her very closely and can only give her small pieces, but she thought she was so cool eating salad with mommy.
She was in a good mood tonight, although a little more impatient. She is now asleep and I think Jeff and I will be joining her very shortly.
Sweet Dreams.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
And What a Tuesday it Was
Grace woke up at 5:00 this morning and refused to go back to sleep. Despite her early rising, she was in a good mood for the morning and the ride to daycare. It was only when Mom went to leave (this is dad by the way), that things turned ugly.
We are finding that, apparently, mommy is getting played on the mornings she drops at daycare. This morning, Gracie carried on and did her famous "you can't carry me, I'm a boneless girl" routine. This is a fairly common scenario when Lisa drops her off. On the other hand, when I drop off, the latest reaction has been, "go dad, go dad, I have friends and want to play. Are you still here? Bye dad, you can leave anytime. Bye!" Hmm - what to do about this one? We shall see.
Grace had an appointment today with physical therapy. The first half of the appointment went very well. However, after a while things went south and Gracie was pretty much done with doing what she was asked. She is getting a bit of a cold again and I think she was just tired. Whatever the case may be, she became quite uncooperative.
The "highlight" of the day was - as I was leaving work (to pick up the girlie) I missed the last step or two and fell to the floor (no matter what you do, you just can't look cool while your lying on the floor saying, "oooooooowwwwww"). After falling, I had to get to the parking ramp, pick up Grace, and then bring her back downtown to her appointment. Finally, after the appointment, I went to the ER where I was x-rayed and examined. It's only a sprain (but it still hurts quite a bit). I have been fitted with an air-cast and my very own set of crutches. Yahoo! Well, it could've been worse.
So now, Gracie and mommy get to take care of me for a few days. Grace is most fascinated by the air-cast. She is not sure if it is neat, scary, or just plain weird. Whatever the case, it sure is fun to look at it.
That's about it for now. Grace is asleep. Lisa and I will be headed in that same direction - as soon as I take out the trash (hobble, hobble). Perhaps Lisa will do it, as we don't have enough time to wait for me to do it.
Have a great night.
Love,
Jeff, Lisa, and Gracie.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday - "Goodbye Daddy"
Gracie had a good night, unfortunately I did not. I also learned that Gracie is a blanket hog, leaving mommy out in the cold. Gracie did not want to wake up this morning. Usually she is excited to have the light in her room turned on. Today when I asked her if she wanted the light turned on, instead of the usual big smile, I got an adamant head shake "no". When I finally did turn it on, she wasn't happy. She was in a good mood this morning though once she woke up.
Daddy took Gracie to daycare and she was happy to be there. When I went to pick her up she was snuggling with Barb and just relaxing watching the news. On the way home I asked her what the current events of the day were, but she didn't want to talk about them. She did want music on in the car and didn't hesitate to let mommy know.
Gracie was in a very good mood tonight. At one point she was in the gated bathroom with mommy and she had great fun continually closing the door on daddy who was outside the room and as she would close the door (all 200 times) she would say "Goodbye Daddy". It was really quite sweet.
As always Gracie enjoyed her bath and was a very tired girl afterward. She was laying on the bed and usually wants to be held and bounced until she falls asleep or is close to sleep. Tonight she just wanted to stay laying down. I was only too happy to oblige. That girl is getting heavy.
She is now sound asleep and rejuvenating for an active day tomorrow.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Daddy took Gracie to daycare and she was happy to be there. When I went to pick her up she was snuggling with Barb and just relaxing watching the news. On the way home I asked her what the current events of the day were, but she didn't want to talk about them. She did want music on in the car and didn't hesitate to let mommy know.
Gracie was in a very good mood tonight. At one point she was in the gated bathroom with mommy and she had great fun continually closing the door on daddy who was outside the room and as she would close the door (all 200 times) she would say "Goodbye Daddy". It was really quite sweet.
As always Gracie enjoyed her bath and was a very tired girl afterward. She was laying on the bed and usually wants to be held and bounced until she falls asleep or is close to sleep. Tonight she just wanted to stay laying down. I was only too happy to oblige. That girl is getting heavy.
She is now sound asleep and rejuvenating for an active day tomorrow.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Sunday - Lots of Visitors
Gracie had another restless night, but found some good rest for a couple of hours while laying with her head on mommy's chest and stomach. Usually she uses this position when she has a cold, but she is healthy. Not sure what was up with that. Maybe she just needed to be close to mommy. She did enjoy some extra snuggling and hugs this weekend.
Jeff, Gracie, and I went to my church this morning and Gracie was really good until after the homily. Then she started getting restless. We had quite an active little boy in the pew in front of us, so I think that gave her a distraction as she enjoyed watching him run all over the pew. Am I a bad person to enjoy someone else's child being a little rambunctious in church so my child has something to watch and keep her quiet? Don't answer that!
Gracie had cookies on the way home from church that kind of spoiled her lunch. She did eat her fresh pear nicely, she just didn't want too much else. Gracie and I took a 90 minute nap after lunch, she was tired, but I think I almost needed it more. Two restless nights in a row were catching up with me.
After nap, Aunt Arlene, Uncle Dave, and cousin Brittany stopped by for a visit. Gracie loved taking Britt for walks around the house and showing off her room and babies to Arlene and Britt. Gracie even said "Britt". Then Aunt Kathy and cousins Calvin, Maria, and Josh stopped over. Maria stayed with us while Kathy and the boys went to an event at the civic center.
Gracie was just a nut tonight when it was time to go to bed. She was just plain silly. I just giggled right along with her. What a sweet girl.
Have a great week.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Jeff, Gracie, and I went to my church this morning and Gracie was really good until after the homily. Then she started getting restless. We had quite an active little boy in the pew in front of us, so I think that gave her a distraction as she enjoyed watching him run all over the pew. Am I a bad person to enjoy someone else's child being a little rambunctious in church so my child has something to watch and keep her quiet? Don't answer that!
Gracie had cookies on the way home from church that kind of spoiled her lunch. She did eat her fresh pear nicely, she just didn't want too much else. Gracie and I took a 90 minute nap after lunch, she was tired, but I think I almost needed it more. Two restless nights in a row were catching up with me.
After nap, Aunt Arlene, Uncle Dave, and cousin Brittany stopped by for a visit. Gracie loved taking Britt for walks around the house and showing off her room and babies to Arlene and Britt. Gracie even said "Britt". Then Aunt Kathy and cousins Calvin, Maria, and Josh stopped over. Maria stayed with us while Kathy and the boys went to an event at the civic center.
Gracie was just a nut tonight when it was time to go to bed. She was just plain silly. I just giggled right along with her. What a sweet girl.
Have a great week.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Saturday - A Quiet Day at Home
Gracie had a horribly restless night. She kept waking up and tossing and turning. At 3:45 a.m. she was wide awake and frustrated by it. So I picked her up and I walked and bounced with her for about 30 minutes before she fell asleep. She awoke again at 6:00 a.m. and then dozed on and off until 7:30 a.m.
I just love Saturdays when we have no place to be. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and our little Gracie who isn't a big breakfast eater devoured three of them. I have no clue where she put them all. Then it was into the bathtub and just a lazy morning of playing with mom and dad.
Gracie was so tired and I put her down for a nap at 12:45 p.m., but she awoke 30 minutes later, so I took her back to bed and layed down with her. Thankfully she slept another hour, but was quite restless.
This afternoon we took down our Christmas tree. Gracie was watching a Baby Signing Times video while we were doing this and at one point when the tree was half torn down she looked over and was quite distraught that our tree was almost gone. Once I explained what was going on, she seemed to be okay with it.
Gracie was extremely verbal today and copied words that we said constantly. She is getting very good at letting us know exactly what she wants. She had lots of smiles today and loves to egg me on. She had a cookie in hand and she was told she could have it if she went to sit at the table. She slowly meandered to the living room and down the hall to the bedroom. She stopped just short of her bedroom door. I came out of the kitchen to remind her she needed to go to the table and she was just waiting for me to play a game of chase with her. Once I chased her down, she was more than happy to eat her cookie at the table. She just had to have a little fun first.
Grace was a tired girl tonight and is now sound asleep. I'm hoping she has a very restful night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
I just love Saturdays when we have no place to be. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and our little Gracie who isn't a big breakfast eater devoured three of them. I have no clue where she put them all. Then it was into the bathtub and just a lazy morning of playing with mom and dad.
Gracie was so tired and I put her down for a nap at 12:45 p.m., but she awoke 30 minutes later, so I took her back to bed and layed down with her. Thankfully she slept another hour, but was quite restless.
This afternoon we took down our Christmas tree. Gracie was watching a Baby Signing Times video while we were doing this and at one point when the tree was half torn down she looked over and was quite distraught that our tree was almost gone. Once I explained what was going on, she seemed to be okay with it.
Gracie was extremely verbal today and copied words that we said constantly. She is getting very good at letting us know exactly what she wants. She had lots of smiles today and loves to egg me on. She had a cookie in hand and she was told she could have it if she went to sit at the table. She slowly meandered to the living room and down the hall to the bedroom. She stopped just short of her bedroom door. I came out of the kitchen to remind her she needed to go to the table and she was just waiting for me to play a game of chase with her. Once I chased her down, she was more than happy to eat her cookie at the table. She just had to have a little fun first.
Grace was a tired girl tonight and is now sound asleep. I'm hoping she has a very restful night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Friday, January 8, 2010
Friday the 8th
Hello, Jeff the dad here with you this evening. As both Gracie and mommy are asleep, you are stuck with me tonite.
Grace woke up at 5:30 this morning. She was in a good mood for most of the morning. I dropped her off at daycare and she was fascinated by the baby again today. When I told her that I was leaving, she looked at me with a, "Oh, I didn't even know you were still here," look. I guess it was safe to go.
Grace had a pretty good day. She again was proud to point to her teeth and let us know that they are called "teeth" also. Then she carried around the CD case to one of her discs, shouting, "CD, CD!" She also did yoga at daycare, as well as played with the other kids (naturally).
She used both her fork and spoon tonite at supper (sniffle, sniffle - my girlie is growing up) - and did a pretty good job of it.
Overall it was a good night for Grace, although she did get tired pretty early (must've been the yoga), and fell asleep quickly tonite.
I am headed that way too. Have a great weekend, everyone.
Jeff, Lisa, and Gracie
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Thursday - Our Sweet Girl
Gracie had a good night and awoke in a good mood. Daddy took her to daycare and once she saw the new baby there it was just fine for daddy to leave. She loves the new baby.
When I picked Gracie up from daycare she was in a great mood and was doing some dance moves on the Wii board. As we walked out of the door a blast of snow hit her in the face and she loved it. She likes snow. She was happy the whole way home and was dancing in the back seat in her car seat of course. That made my stressful drive on the snow covered roads so much less stressful.
Gracie's physical therapist and early intervention teacher from the Birth-to-Three program came to visit and work with Gracie today. She was happy to see both of them and was a very good girl.
Gracie was in the best of moods all night long right up to bedtime. She was singing and talking. When she was brushing her teeth, she informed us they were "teeth". She also told us she was a "good girl". Gracie has two baby dolls that are identical, except for one is black and one is white. She carried those two around for a while tonight just talking to them. It was so sweet.
It was a great day for our sweet girl.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
When I picked Gracie up from daycare she was in a great mood and was doing some dance moves on the Wii board. As we walked out of the door a blast of snow hit her in the face and she loved it. She likes snow. She was happy the whole way home and was dancing in the back seat in her car seat of course. That made my stressful drive on the snow covered roads so much less stressful.
Gracie's physical therapist and early intervention teacher from the Birth-to-Three program came to visit and work with Gracie today. She was happy to see both of them and was a very good girl.
Gracie was in the best of moods all night long right up to bedtime. She was singing and talking. When she was brushing her teeth, she informed us they were "teeth". She also told us she was a "good girl". Gracie has two baby dolls that are identical, except for one is black and one is white. She carried those two around for a while tonight just talking to them. It was so sweet.
It was a great day for our sweet girl.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Wednesday - A Wii Girl
Gracie had another good night and woke up in a very good mood. I've found the key to making Gracie in a good mood is to give her butterfly kisses. She loves butterfly kisses. I always get a little giggle out of her with those.
Jeff took Gracie to daycare this morning and she was quite enamored with the new baby there and really didn't have a problem with daddy leaving. Today at daycare she got to play with their new Wii. As I understand it, she had to step up and down and did quite well.
Gracie was a major mommy's girl tonight and was in a very good mood. She ate a good supper, we played, we had a bath, we read a couple of books, and we snuggled. Ahhhh, I love good nights like this.
Sweet dreams to all.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Jeff took Gracie to daycare this morning and she was quite enamored with the new baby there and really didn't have a problem with daddy leaving. Today at daycare she got to play with their new Wii. As I understand it, she had to step up and down and did quite well.
Gracie was a major mommy's girl tonight and was in a very good mood. She ate a good supper, we played, we had a bath, we read a couple of books, and we snuggled. Ahhhh, I love good nights like this.
Sweet dreams to all.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tuesday - A Very Good Day
I knew it was going to be a good day when I started singing to Gracie to wake her up, she rolled over, put her head up and smiled a big sleepy smile at me. She was an angel this morning. When it was time to put on her coat, mittens, and hat she was unusually patient and it wasn't the usual battle. I told her she was a "good girl" and she repeated back to me at least three times that she was a "good girl".
Gracie didn't give me too much of a guilt trip when I took her to daycare and she had a marvelous time playing "get me" with a little boy at daycare. He would run and say "Gracie, come get me!" She was only too happy to do so. I understand there was lots of laughter and merriment. It's one of those moments where I would have loved to be a mouse in a corner watching.
Gracie had occupational therapy at the clinic today. She had a great day and was very cooperative. Gracie's OT noticed that she was much more tolerant when asked to do things she didn't want to do and her attention span is increasing as well. She used a scissors today fully supervised of course. She quite enjoyed this and did really well.
After OT we stopped at a little eating area and had some snacks. Gracie had great fun running all around. When it was time to go home, she decided she wanted to go the opposite way, actually I think she wanted to have someone run after her. We let her go quite a distance away from us and I thought she would turn back as she usually doesn't let us out of sight. She did not come back on her own, so Jeff sprinted to catch her. I've never seen this girl run so fast. She even had lift off on her feet, which we have been working and working on in PT. The giggles that followed were priceless as well.
Gracie was a very good girl tonight at home, even though she only had fruit and peanut butter toast for supper. We discovered a natural gas leak on the outside of our home tonight that had to be fixed and we were advised to not turn anything on...so that meant no cooking. As it turned out, I'm sure we could have, but I didn't want to chance it at the time.
Gracie was a gem tonight. She was happy, silly, and even a little snuggly.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie didn't give me too much of a guilt trip when I took her to daycare and she had a marvelous time playing "get me" with a little boy at daycare. He would run and say "Gracie, come get me!" She was only too happy to do so. I understand there was lots of laughter and merriment. It's one of those moments where I would have loved to be a mouse in a corner watching.
Gracie had occupational therapy at the clinic today. She had a great day and was very cooperative. Gracie's OT noticed that she was much more tolerant when asked to do things she didn't want to do and her attention span is increasing as well. She used a scissors today fully supervised of course. She quite enjoyed this and did really well.
After OT we stopped at a little eating area and had some snacks. Gracie had great fun running all around. When it was time to go home, she decided she wanted to go the opposite way, actually I think she wanted to have someone run after her. We let her go quite a distance away from us and I thought she would turn back as she usually doesn't let us out of sight. She did not come back on her own, so Jeff sprinted to catch her. I've never seen this girl run so fast. She even had lift off on her feet, which we have been working and working on in PT. The giggles that followed were priceless as well.
Gracie was a very good girl tonight at home, even though she only had fruit and peanut butter toast for supper. We discovered a natural gas leak on the outside of our home tonight that had to be fixed and we were advised to not turn anything on...so that meant no cooking. As it turned out, I'm sure we could have, but I didn't want to chance it at the time.
Gracie was a gem tonight. She was happy, silly, and even a little snuggly.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Monday, January 4, 2010
Monday - Back to Our Routine
Monday morning brought the return of work and daycare for us. I was not looking forward to taking Gracie to daycare because I knew she would give me the sad face and be clingy, so I was fortunate that Jeff was working the late shift and so he took her. She was clingy as expected after two weeks of having mom and dad's undivided attention. She did have a good day after Jeff left and I think she enjoyed seeing her friends. Tonight when we got home we were sitting down eating her applesauce and meds and I would ask her about each of her friends at daycare and I got big smiles.
Gracie was mommy's girl tonight and was in a good mood for most of the night. Supper didn't get made fast enough for her, but that was really the only thing that caused sadness. Now mind you I gave her snacks to tide her over...it just didn't seem to be good enough.
Gracie was a wild girl in the bathtub tonight! Gracie was very verbal tonight and repeated a lot of words that were said. We really need to make sure no four letter words slip out of our mouths, although I think we are both pretty mindful of that.
Gracie was a very tired girl tonight and fell asleep quickly. I snuggled her in as it just seems cold in the house tonight, even though we have the furnace turned up and the fireplace on.
Have a good night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Gracie was mommy's girl tonight and was in a good mood for most of the night. Supper didn't get made fast enough for her, but that was really the only thing that caused sadness. Now mind you I gave her snacks to tide her over...it just didn't seem to be good enough.
Gracie was a wild girl in the bathtub tonight! Gracie was very verbal tonight and repeated a lot of words that were said. We really need to make sure no four letter words slip out of our mouths, although I think we are both pretty mindful of that.
Gracie was a very tired girl tonight and fell asleep quickly. I snuggled her in as it just seems cold in the house tonight, even though we have the furnace turned up and the fireplace on.
Have a good night.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Having Too Much Fun to Blog! :)
Happy 2010. We've been having so much fun with our little one that we took a little break from updates.
On New Years Day we went to visit Auntie Sheila, Uncle Chris, and cousins Kayla and Jason. Gracie was a little cranky in the morning, but I think she just needed to get out of the house and this outing did it. She was a very good girl and she was spoiled by all. She was very generous with her hugs, except to Uncle Chris. She found great delight in his exasperation as she would bypass him to hug others. She was totally messing with him. She loves to play their piano and she loves to have Kayla and Jason play it for her too. When Kayla stops playing, Gracie gets a little bossy and takes Kayla's hands and drops them on the keys. We stayed until about 9:30 p.m. (way passed Gracie's bedtime) but as tired as she was, she did not sleep a wink on the way home. She fell asleep pretty quickly once we got home though.
On Saturday, Gracie hung out with Jeff in the morning and then we took her out shopping with us in the afternoon. Our shopping trip was pretty short lived as she was not into it at all. We came home and she was so tired that we put her down for a nap at 5:30 p.m. She slept for an hour and woke up in a much better mood. She stayed up much later than usual, so we took the opportunity to play.
Today, Sunday, we all went to church as a family. Gracie did great when the band was playing, but as soon as the music was done, so was she. I finally took her out for a walk and we walked by the Sunday school rooms. A very sweet lady named Dorothy invited Gracie in to the 2-1/2 to 3 year old room and she had snack with them, made a star ornament for our tree, and went up and down a small slide. I stayed close by and watched. She did very good and would look back often to make sure I was there and she would have a big smile on her face. Dorothy was so patient with her and made her time there very enjoyable. After church she was in the best of mood, giving mommy hugs and kisses galore and she loved getting kisses and hugs too. Gracie and I took a 90 minute nap and then we all played the rest of the afternoon.
Gracie's big accomplishment of the day was walking up the steps all by herself while holding onto the handrail. She can only do it when the handrail is on the left side as her right side is stronger. She was so proud and so were we. I love when she accomplishes things and knows that she has. The smile on her face is priceless. We continue to hear many words come out of her mouth, many repeated after we say them, but she seems to know what they mean.
We've enjoyed our two weeks of having Gracie home with us all day and are a bit sad that we are back to work tomorrow and Gracie is back to daycare. I think Gracie has enjoyed her time as well, but I think she will be happy to see her friends at daycare again too.
Happy 2010. May it be a great year for all of you.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
On New Years Day we went to visit Auntie Sheila, Uncle Chris, and cousins Kayla and Jason. Gracie was a little cranky in the morning, but I think she just needed to get out of the house and this outing did it. She was a very good girl and she was spoiled by all. She was very generous with her hugs, except to Uncle Chris. She found great delight in his exasperation as she would bypass him to hug others. She was totally messing with him. She loves to play their piano and she loves to have Kayla and Jason play it for her too. When Kayla stops playing, Gracie gets a little bossy and takes Kayla's hands and drops them on the keys. We stayed until about 9:30 p.m. (way passed Gracie's bedtime) but as tired as she was, she did not sleep a wink on the way home. She fell asleep pretty quickly once we got home though.
On Saturday, Gracie hung out with Jeff in the morning and then we took her out shopping with us in the afternoon. Our shopping trip was pretty short lived as she was not into it at all. We came home and she was so tired that we put her down for a nap at 5:30 p.m. She slept for an hour and woke up in a much better mood. She stayed up much later than usual, so we took the opportunity to play.
Today, Sunday, we all went to church as a family. Gracie did great when the band was playing, but as soon as the music was done, so was she. I finally took her out for a walk and we walked by the Sunday school rooms. A very sweet lady named Dorothy invited Gracie in to the 2-1/2 to 3 year old room and she had snack with them, made a star ornament for our tree, and went up and down a small slide. I stayed close by and watched. She did very good and would look back often to make sure I was there and she would have a big smile on her face. Dorothy was so patient with her and made her time there very enjoyable. After church she was in the best of mood, giving mommy hugs and kisses galore and she loved getting kisses and hugs too. Gracie and I took a 90 minute nap and then we all played the rest of the afternoon.
Gracie's big accomplishment of the day was walking up the steps all by herself while holding onto the handrail. She can only do it when the handrail is on the left side as her right side is stronger. She was so proud and so were we. I love when she accomplishes things and knows that she has. The smile on her face is priceless. We continue to hear many words come out of her mouth, many repeated after we say them, but she seems to know what they mean.
We've enjoyed our two weeks of having Gracie home with us all day and are a bit sad that we are back to work tomorrow and Gracie is back to daycare. I think Gracie has enjoyed her time as well, but I think she will be happy to see her friends at daycare again too.
Happy 2010. May it be a great year for all of you.
Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie
Welcome to 2010
Hello everyone and welcome to 2010. Surprisingly it's been a full weekend (Fri & Sat), and we've been. We will give you a overview Sunday or Monday.
Basically, this blog entry to is to let you know that there was no blog entry for Friday or Saturday, but we're still here.
Blog to you soon!
Jeff, Lisa, and Gracie
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