Friday, September 30, 2011

Just Can't Sleep

Gracie had a good day at school yesterday and she returned her book to the library, only to get another one about Fall and pumpkins.  I can't wait to read that one.  Jeff read it to her last night and said it was pretty good.  Gracie had a good day at daycare, but wasn't hungry and didn't eat much for lunch.  She did play outside after naptime and enjoyed the day, even though it was pretty windy.

Gracie and Jeff were on their own last night while I was off getting some pampering at the hair salon.  First they checked out a couple of restaurants around town and went to talk to them about their food allergy info and if they make accommodations for severe food allergies, could they tell us the ingredients in their foods, etc.  They found a new pizza place and they tried it out.  Gracie LOVED it and ate three pieces of pizza!  I guess she was making up for not being hungry at lunch. 

Jeff and Gracie also took a drive and ran into their friend Wayne. So they went to Wayne's house and visited for awhile.  I understand that Gracie was a very good girl.  When I got home, Gracie was very happy to see me and was in a good mood.  It wasn't long before it was bedtime and she looked tired, yet it took her a while to fall asleep.  Then at 1:30 a.m. she awoke and stayed awake until 4:30 a.m.  She tried to fall asleep, and occasionally she would for 5 minutes here or there, but she would always wake right back up.  She fell back to sleep around 4:30 a.m., but was still very restless.  Jeff came and layed down with her when I got up at 5:00 a.m. and at 6:00 a.m. she was sound asleep, there was no waking her.  Finally at 6:30 a.m., I began dressing her while she was asleep.  We have to leave the house by 7:00 a.m., so we needed to hurry.  She awoke during that and was in quite a good mood.  I hope she stays that way through the day.  Not sure if I should wish that she has a good nap this afternoon or if I should wish she wants to go to bed early tonight...I know I do! 

Have a great weekend.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie wide-awake girl

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Lots of Outdoor Time

It was a beautiful day yesterday and Gracie got to enjoy a lot of outdoor time at daycare.  They went to the park and she enjoyed playing with her friends.  She did get a little grabby at one point, the frustration of not always being able to express herself comes out in this way.  So she got removed from playtime for a bit. 

Jeff picked her up at daycare and wanted to go for a walk, but she wasn't in the mood yet.  When I came home I was disgusted to see a squirrel had brought another walnut to our house and deposited the debris on our driveway -- the very driveway that Gracie likes to sit and use sidewalk chalk on.  So I swept up the chunks and will have to soap and scrub the area yet.  I am so not happy with these squirrels thinking our house is the walnut party place.  GRRRR. 

After supper Gracie was excited to go for a walk with Jeff and I and after that we put her in the stroller and went for an even longer walk.  I hate that it gets dark so early.  It cuts into our outdoor play time at night. 

The night was pretty uneventful.  Gracie slept well until the wee hours of the morning and then had a more restless time where she kept waking up, but continually fell back to sleep.  She was grumpy when she woke up for the day.  I made her go back in her room and I snuggled with her a bit to get her in a better mood.  That helped immensely.

Today is a school day and she had to return her library book.  Kind of a bummer because we really like this one about pumpkins crashing out of a wagon and the main characters having to make pie out of them. 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Very Tired

So yesterday Gracie decided she didn't want to go to school.  She decided she wasn't going to allow her shoes to be put on and she wasn't going to go out to the bus.  The bus was waiting and just as our daycare provider was about to hit the button on her phone to call me for my thoughts, she decided she would go.  I sent a note along to school for her teacher to let her know she had a rough night and she might be tired.  I received a response back that they could tell and that she did not want to participate in many of their activities.  After she returned to daycare and had a nice nap, she was a new child and the world was a happy place again. 

Gracie was in a good mood when Jeff picked her up at daycare and had a nice evening.  She enjoyed her bath big time and really enjoyed splashing Jeff.  She was a little upset that she couldn't go outside after her bath, never mind that her hair was wet, it was cold out, and it was 8:00 p.m. and just about time for her to go to bed. 

After we read a book (her library book from school about pumpkins - we are really enjoying this one) she was more than ready to go to sleep and it didn't take her long to fall asleep, me either.  I didn't wake up until 3:30 a.m., which is virtually unheard of with my little restless sleeper girl.  I awoke to Gracie's head laying on my lower stomach, applying pressure to my full bladder!  After a quick trip to the restroom and a diaper change for Gracie who was now very awake with a very full diaper, I walked and bounced her for a bit and thankfully she fell asleep again at 4:00 a.m.  She kept having dreams that would disturb her though and she would cry out.  I would reassure her that I was right there and then she would go back to sleep.  She snuggled with daddy from 5:00 - 6:00 a.m. so I could get a shower in and get ready for work.  When I tried to wake her up at 6:15 a.m., she really didn't want to get up, but once she did, she was in a very good mood.  She was very happy at daycare and the smiles she flashed me and the eager wave goodbye told me that today will be a good day for her.  I think they were going to head to the park and enjoy the mild day.

Hope you have a great day too.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Monday - Neurology Appointment

Gracie started out her day on Monday at daycare giving our daycare provider the cold shoulder.  We think it had to do with the fact that she was gone on Friday.  Didn't make it easy on her going to the bus for school, didn't get off the bus easily, but then after that all was fine.  She is such a funny kid.

She did have a fun day at school, they did some new things on the smart board and also had gym class.  I'm told that Gracie loved gym time.  I'm not surprised.

Jeff picked Gracie up a little early and we headed to the clinic for her three month neurology appointment.  Gracie loves going there, loves everyone she comes in contact with, and pretty much considers it her second home.  She loves taking her friend Rachel around the desk area for walks and she loves Dr. N., her neurologist.  She always has a hug for her and sits on her lap to draw, talk on the phone, or play on the computer.  Gracie was very verbal and active.  Gracie has been doing so well since being on brand name seizure meds, her negative behaviors have improved greatly and we have had no seizure breakthrough, which is a first.  So Gracie is 6 months seizure free with the brand name meds.  Now if our insurance company would only acknowledge the fact that she needs these and let them go against our out of pocket maximum we would be very happy.  We are still in the appeals process for that request. 

At one point during our appointment, Gracie had just finished a drink of water and burped very loudly right in Dr. N's face.  Dr. N. is so great with her.  She just asked her "What do you say?"  And I think much to Dr. N.'s surprise, Gracie didn't miss a beat with her reply of "Excuse me."  It was so cute.

We walked away from this appointment really feeling good, that we have things well under control...seizures, behaviors, and validation that we are handling any negative behavior appropriately.

Gracie had a good evening and slept great until about 1:00 a.m., then she became very restless.  She tossed, turned, and coughed til about 2:30 a.m., when she totally awoke and stayed awake until about 4:00 a.m.  YAWN.  I think she may take a nice little nap after school today.

Gracie was in a good mood when I took her to daycare and was happy to see her daycare mom again!  :)

Have a great day.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, September 26, 2011

The Weekend

For those wondering...Gracie had a great time with her friend Aubrey on Friday.  When Jeff went to pick her up, Gracie and Aubrey were dancing around and had a famously wonderful day!  She was in the best mood that night too, so that is always a good sign.  On Friday night she also told me she had to go "poop" and when I took her to the bathroom, she did!!!  So we had a big celebration about her going to the bathroom on the toilet.  We have to get her trained soon, she is outgrowing all the diapers.  I ordered her some youth diapers for special needs -- they have to get better options, they are huge and ugly and can't be comfortable.  I'll smoosh her into the size 7 Pampers for as long as I can.  Do you think I could talk Pampers into making a size 8????  :)

On Saturday we got up bright and early and took a drive to Grandma and Grandpa B's.  Gracie was a little shy at first, but it was so nice for Gracie to have G&G to herself.  Usually we are there for family gatherings so there are so many people to play with.  We had lunch with them and stayed until mid-afternoon.  Gracie had lots of kisses for Grandma & Grandpa and was a busy little body exploring their house.  We had a great time.  On the way home she even fell asleep for about 30 minutes and that was the extent of her nap for the day.  We played outside in the evening and we all enjoyed the mild fall day.

On Sunday, we had a lazy day.  We went to church in the morning and took Gracie to Sunday school.  Gracie didn't want to have any part of that, but Bonnie, a wonderful woman who is awesome with Gracie, slowly coaxed her to stay.  She enjoyed listening to music and dancing and had a good time.  The rest of the day was pretty low key.  Gracie took a 90 minute nap (so did I) and then we spent the rest of the afternoon outside, just walking and playing. 

Gracie was very verbal all weekend!  We heard a lot of three word sentences!  She talked about Grandma and Grandpa a lot.

Today it is back to school and we have her routine Neurology appointment this afternoon.  I don't suspect much for changes, other than a possible seizure med increase with her growing as fast as she is.

Have a great week.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Friday, September 23, 2011

"I Love You"

Gracie had a good day at school yesterday and a good day at daycare.  She came home in a great and silly mood.  We had a very fun evening just playing and when it was time to go to bed, I way laying next to her when she said "Chicago".  I asked her if that was where daddy went.  She agreed, then verbally said "airplane".  Yes I agreed, he went there on an airplane.   Then she verbally and using sign language said "work".  Yes, I agreed, he went there to work.  I then said that he's home now and she smiled and said "daddy home" in the sweetest voice.  We then snuggled in and this little voice said "I LOVE YOU!"  I melted.  She doesn't verbally say "I love you" very often, she usually signs it, and it is always in response to it being said to her.  But this time it was all on her own, unsolicited and it made my heart melt. 

Gracie had a pretty good night, but was quite agitated after being awake for a little while.  I'm not sure what was wrong, but she just fussed and fussed that she wanted to be held and close.  So I picked her up and just held her close and walked and sang with her for about 5 minutes and then all was fine. 

Then we headed to daycare, today her friend Aubrey was there to play with her and it was Aubrey's mommy (her normal daycare mom's sister) that was taking care of her.  She loves to play with Aubrey and Aubrey's mommy is great too, but Gracie was very unsure that she wanted to stay.  I think it has to do with that love of routine.  I'm sure she will be fine and have a good time. 

Have a great weekend!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Good Week

Gracie has been having a really good week.  She seems to be really enjoying school and gets all smiley when I tell her it's a school day.  She also has been extremely verbal this week.  I'm hearing a lot of 3+ word combinations this week.  I even received an email from her school speech therapist/pathologist commenting on how Gracie is really becoming a verbal communicator at school.  I love it. 

Gracie has missed Jeff this week, but I think she has been coping a lot better having gotten to take him to the airport.  She also got to Skype with him a couple of times.  One of the biggest stressors for me when Jeff travels is getting a shower in.  I've started the practice of gating everything so that Gracie can only travel from her room to the bathroom (which also has a gate at the door).  I put a slippery Tinkerbell sleeping bag (a sensory delight for her) on the floor in front of the bathroom door and her piggie pillow pal, as well as some books.  Gracie just hangs out there if she is awake.  However, when she wakes up after I'm already in the shower and discovers she is alone she used to have a big ole fuss.  This week, she has started to get up and go lay on the sleeping bag, but I don't hear a peep out of her.  When she hears that I am out of the shower, she just gently taps on the semi-closed bathroom door.  One less stress for both of us...YAY! 

Jeff arrived home from Chicago yesterday and was home when we got home.  She was so excited to see Jeff and pretty much didn't leave his side all evening.  I heard "daddy, daddy, daddy" all night long.  It was great to see her so happy.  She was having so much fun playing with daddy, that we barely got her to eat any supper.

Grace has been learning about girls and boys at school.  Just the labeling of them and so last night she was talking and said "girl".  I told her that she was a girl and she got her little comedian face on and said "no, boy".  Then she laughed when I of course told her that she was a girl.  What a little goofball!

Gracie likes her routine, really seems to need her routine at times.  When I pick her up at daycare I always have a glass of Gatorade for her to drink in the car on the way home.  I learned early on that this saves us a major meltdown and the drive home is much happier.  I always use a certain type of sippy glass that holds more liquid, otherwise she drinks it down and wants more immediately...while I'm driving.  So last night, all of those specific glasses were in the dishwasher waiting to be washed, so I used just a basic type of sippy cup that we use at home regularly.  She became very distressed about this and kept insisting she wanted juice, but not that cup.  An all out tantrum was beginning, so I said to her and showed her "Gracie, look it is the same juice."  Then I continued "Mommy is so sorry, I know you like the other glasses better, but they are all dirty and they are in the dishwasher and we need to wash them.  How about if we wash them all up tonight so we can use them tomorrow and tonight you use this one?"  Now just a few months ago, she would not have listened to this explanation, she would have had an all out tantrum, would have thrown the juice, and the ride home would have been screaming and flailing.  She is growing up so much and her listening and reasoning skills are getting so much better...and to my absolute surprise she agreed to use this cup this once.  We had a pleasant ride home.  To those of you thinking that I'm spoiling her, I would argue that you come hang out with a special needs child who has a very hard time regulating emotion and self-soothing techniques, and you would probably come to the same conclusions I have.  You don't parent a special needs child the same way you would a child without those challenges.

Gracie awoke in a good mood this morning and was so excited to see her daycare mom this morning, she ran to the house when she saw her through the window and had a big hug for her.  I think she's going to have another good day.

I hope you have a good day too.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Zoo, The Weekend, and a Five Word Sentence!

On Friday, Jeff and I both took the day off of work and headed to the zoo.  Gracie had enjoyed it so much for her birthday, that we decided to go back on a cooler day.  It was in the high 50's, low 60's, but with jackets on it was perfect and Gracie enjoyed herself immensely.  She was running everywhere and really was in her glory.  We got down to the family farm/petting zoo area and ended up not being able to go in as they have a requirement that you if you were out of the country within the last 7 days, you couldn't go in.  This is to prevent hoof and mouth disease or something similar.  With Jeff just back from Paris, that eliminated our ability to visit that portion of the zoo.  Gracie has about a 4 hour window to enjoy the zoo, then begins getting too tired.  Since the zoo is only an hour away, we ended up buying a membership (this is a deal if you plan to visit more than once a year) and will just plan to visit more often, it's so big we'll just see it all in parts.  Gracie's favorites were still the fish, sharks, turtles, and pretty much anything in an aquarium.  She also loves to ride the monorail or as she calls it, the "choo choo".  We had our seats picked out for the dolphin show, but it was evident that Gracie was too tired and she began hitting, scratching, and pulling my hair.  That was my queue that she was done!  So we headed to the car and drove home.  She was very good on both the way there and home. 

On Saturday we were supposed to attend a wedding, but Gracie had the explosive diarrhea just as we were ready to leave.  There was poop all over her dress, her legs, her hands, so we sent Jeff to the wedding without us.  I took Gracie straight to the tub.  She took a good long nap and acted like she didn't feel good for a good 4 hours and then she got her second wind and seemed to be fine for the rest of the weekend.  We went outside Saturday evening and had a good time until we decided to go to Gracie's slide and swing playset.  Just as she was climbing up it I spied walnut debris.  A squirrel had decided to use Gracie's playset for a dining area.  This would be no big deal for most kids, but it IS a big deal for a child who is severely allergic to tree nuts.  So Jeff had to remove a very upset girl from her playset and I set about the work of removing all the nut debris and then scrubbing down the whole playset with soap and water.  It was a mess.  I think this squirrel needs to learn to be a cleaner eater. 

On Sunday we took Jeff to the airport and got to go up and wait with him for awhile so Gracie got to see some airplanes, although she was mostly thrilled at seeing a little motorized cart down zipping around the airplanes.  Then we headed to Target and home.  We spent the morning just hanging around the house as it was a rainy day.  After a 90 minute nap, we were going a little stir crazy so we went to the mall.  We got a couple of new books for Gracie and we also got to ride the escalator which is cooler than anything in Gracie's mind.  Later we went home and read and played.  Gracie was sad that she couldn't go outside.  We watched a little bit too much TV too, but at least they were educational videos.  At one point, we were reading books and I had to go to the bathroom.  I told Gracie to start reading the book and I would finish it when I got back.  Usually she just sits there and looks at the pages, but lately she has begun to talk as if she is reading it, sometimes intelligible words and sometimes not.  I about fell over when I heard her pretending to read and she said "Once there was a boy".  It pertained not at all to the book she was looking at, but I was thrilled to hear a five word sentence!

Gracie had a great night last night and slept very well!  She was off to school this morning.  When I told her it was a school day and she got to ride the bus she was all smiles.  This is a good sign.

Have a great week.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Daddy's Home & Appointment with Developmental Pediatrics

Our most exciting news is that Jeff is back home after his travels to Paris, France.  It was a long 8 days for Gracie, she sure missed her daddy.  Gracie and I had just arrived home when the taxi dropped Jeff off.  I took Gracie to the window to see him and she was mondo excited, then she ran to the steps, jumped into Jeff's arms for the biggest hug and she was not going to let go!  For the rest of the night she was daddy's girl.  She started to refer to him not as just "daddy", but "MY daddy", big emphasis on the "MY"! 

That evening we went outside for a walk and to play and she chattered the whole night long.  She was so happy.  At one point she wanted to swing on her swingset.  She looked at Jeff and said "swing baby swing".  That cracked us up. 

On Wednesday morning, she did not want to go to daycare.  Jeff was going to drop her off and she had a major meltdown, she layed on her bed and cried and cried.  Finally, in his infinite wisdom, Jeff realized that the day he left for Paris, he was the one that dropped her off at daycare and then he of course disappeared for 8 days.  So he sat down beside her and asked her if that was why she was so sad.  Of course it was.  He told her that he wasn't going to leave, matter-of-fact, he was the one that was going to pick her up that day.  It took a minute and all of a sudden all was well.  She has so much going on in that head of hers, and unfortunately with her speech delays, she can't express it.

Yesterday afternoon we met with a new developmental pediatrician and we love her.  Dr. S. and I sat on the local IEIC committee together so we knew each other, but not well.  She is only with our clinic for a year, but we will see her one more time before she leaves and we are welcome to contact her with any questions.  This visit was to see where Gracie is at developmentally and to see if we are on track with the right interventions and assistance for her.  Gracie performed beautifully at the appointment and really gave Dr. S. a true sample of her abilities.  Her language skills were assessed at a 2 to 2-1/2 year old developmental age, as were her gross motor skills.  Her inability to be able to jump brought her down on that a little bit, but she is doing quite well there and we were all ecstatic at how much progress she has made in both of those areas.  We will be meeting with a speech pathologist for a consult as Gracie has the words, but the pronounciations aren't always understandable to others.  I can understand her the majority of the time, but others cannot.  So that is scheduled for early November. 

Gracie's skill level for fine motor skills is really where her challenges are.  Although she can do many things she wasn't able to do a year ago, she still has alot of difficulty in that area.  She was assessed at a 14-month old level on her fine motor skills.  We talked about having her start back up in the occupational therapy program again at the clinic, but Gracie was very resistant to this when she was in the program and the one-on-one therapy frustrated her.  With the frustration level being so high, she became very resistant to do anything that was asked of her.  So essentially this boils down to it being a waste of her and our time.  She is more cooperative in the school setting when she is doing these activities next to peers, so we'll continue that.  We'll also continue to push more of those skills at home, although she does get resistant with us when we push those too hard. 

The appointment was a great validation for Jeff and I that we are handling behaviors correctly, that we seem to have a good handle on her development and know what we need to continue working on.  Gracie was her charming social self and loved all of the attention.  She even politely said "Excuse Me" when she let out a big burp! 

Today was picture day at school and for some reason I had a really hard time deciding what to have her wear.  The shirt that I decided on was new and hadn't been washed, even though I thought it had.  With her sensitivities she doesn't get to wear anything without me washing it first.  So I had to go to Plan B -- actually Plan C (as Plan B might have been a bit too colorful), which was a solid pink baby doll type top.  She did look adorable.  We practiced our smile, so now I'm anxious to see the photos. 

Have a great day...it got into the 30's last night here.  BRRRRRR!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Monday/Tuesday - School Day

Gracie had her second day of school and I think it went pretty well, although she was one tired girl last night.  Her cold doesn't help matters.  She got on the bus again with no problem, but our daycare provider had to get her off the bus again.  She had a good afternoon with a short nap, but when I arrived to pick her up she was on Mandy's lap in tears.  She was playing nicely and then started hitting her playmate.  When she was removed from the situation and told that it was not nice to hit, she started with the uncontrollable tears.  I think the fact that she was mondo tired just escalated the tears and sobs. 

We had a very mellow evening.  She ate some supper, although she refused the casserole I made, ate all her fruit, and then opted for a peanut butter sandwich.  The rest of the night I just let her play with her iPod and watch videos.  She needed to just veg out. 

She slept great last night and was all smiles to hear that daddy will be home from Paris tonight.  She has missed him alot.  She's been good as gold for the most part, but you can definitely tell that daddy is missed.

Today was another school day for Gracie.  She loves to show me the pictures or projects she brings home in her backpack.  I say "Gracie, should we see what you brought home from school?" and she runs to get her backpack and smiles the whole way.

Have a great day...it's cooler here...a welcome cool.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, September 12, 2011

Catching up...

First of all and most importantly we have seen no seizure activity from the Hepatitis A vaccination.  I was a little worried one afternoon when she had a lot of jerky actions in her sleep, but I haven't seen anything since so I'm hoping that was just a coincidence. 

Gracie had a great first day of school on Thursday, she was in the best mood when I picked her up and was all smiles and positive head nods when I asked her about school and riding the bus.  She got on the bus at daycare with no problems, she didn't want to get off the bus, so our daycare provider had to go on the bus and get her.  This doesn't concern me too much, Gracie has transition issues and getting out of a vehicle can sometimes be traumatic for her.  She was also very hot as they didn't take off her sweater at school and it had gotten quite warm out.  I've since talked with the teacher and she will make sure that happens in the future.  At 4 years old, I think we assume that she could take it off herself if she was too warm, but that is not the case with Gracie.  She has just mastered removing her socks on her own.  Which she loves to do!

Gracie is missing her daddy big time, but we got to Skype with him a few times over the weekend, so that has helped greatly.  We also are marking off the days til he comes home on the calendar in her room, so I think that helps as well.  Gracie has been so good the last couple of days.  It's like she knows she has to be on her best behavior.

On Saturday we went to visit Aunt Sheila, Uncle Chris, and cousin Jason.  Gracie was in the best mood and had a great time playing "chase" with Jason.  She also liked when puppy Sandy licked her fingers.  She also wanted Sandy to "shake" and to my surprise she did!  Aunt Sheila made us a yummy supper and we went home with very full tummies.  Cousin Kayla is off to college and I could tell that Gracie missed her.  She kept pointing to her picture and wanted the piano open.  Gracie would only play a key or two.  Gracie loves when Kayla plays the piano for her and Kayla is an awesome piano player.

On Sunday, Gracie's head cold came on full force, so we just hung out at home for the majority of the day.  We did make a quick run to Target as we were running out of food.  We read a lot of books, she played with her iPod, and just did quieter things all day.  She did want to go outside, but sat on the swing for less than 5 seconds, slid down the slide once, then took my hand and lead me to the garage, indicated she wanted the door open and then took me to her stroller.  She didn't have the energy to play, but wanted to be outside.  So I put her in the stroller and we took a long walk.

This morning Gracie was quite disgusted with me because she wanted me to take her to daycare in daddy's van instead of my car.  I would have agreed, but I had the car loaded up and we were running late.  She kept saying "daddy's van".  When I told her we were going in mommy's car, she quickly changed it and said "no, mommy's van". 

Today is a school day for Gracie, so I hope she is able to enjoy her day despite her cold. 

Have a great day.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Thursday - The First Day of School

Gracie had a good day yesterday and we've seen no seizure activity thus far from the Hepatitis A vaccination.  Thank you God! 

Gracie had a good day yesterday and was silly when I picked her up at daycare.  I love her silly days.  She was so excited to see daddy's van parked in the garage when we got home and her first comment was "Go See Daddy", but alas daddy is still travelling and was not home.  This made for a sad girl. We had the windows open last night and every noise that she heard, she was just sure it was daddy coming home. 

Auntie Cheryl Skyped with us last night and that was a big hit.  Other than that our night was pretty low key, she ate a big supper, and had a great time splashing in the tub.  Gracie's big discovery of the night was that she learned how to make the bathtub faucet switch to the overhead shower, she found this particularly amusing since the first discovery of this got mommy (yes me) soaking wet!!!

Gracie had a much better night last night.  She did wake up a few times but she would fall right back to sleep.  At 4:00 a.m. she woke up (sort of), said "Go See Daddy" and then promptly fell back to sleep.  So I'm pretty sure she is dreaming about daddy too. 

Gracie awoke in a good mood and I think she was looking forward to her first day of school.  We got her all dressed up in a little pink striped dress and pink leggings and she looked very cute.  I'm hoping all went well for her. 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Lots to Say

Have I really not posted for almost a week?  Well here's a snapshot of what's been going on with Gracie over the last week:


On Thursday night of last week Gracie started having the diarrhea.  Her appetite subsided a bit, but she was still eating and had plenty of energy.  This continued once a day through the weekend.  So although we had thoughts of going to my parents for a visit, if it was a bug, I didn't want to pass it along.  We stayed pretty close to home for the weekend. 

On Saturday, Jeff had some projects he was working on, so Gracie and I went school clothes shopping.  She has grown out of pretty much everything from last fall, so we had to replenish her closet.  She is in size 7 or 7/8 for most of her clothes right now and for most stores that is the start of big kid clothes.  The styles are much too old for the age of 4, so I've been struggling a bit in trying to find her cute age appropriate clothes.  I found that Kohls has a line of store clothing that is from 4 - 7, so we were able to get her some fun things there and what they didn't have in stock at the store, I was able to order on line.  I think we'll be good for fall and winter now...we may have to add a few sweatshirts once the real cold weather hits. 

The rest of the weekend was spent playing outside.  Gracie is absolutely loving the cooler weather.  On our walks, she has been walking about a 1/2 mile before she gets tired out and wants to ride in the stroller.  Her favorite games are "racing" and "hide-and-seek".  So we've been doing a lot of both.  She has been a major daddy's girl lately, until bedtime...then I get my girl back again!  :)

On Tuesday, Gracie had a 4-year old well child visit.  We have a new provider for Gracie, a nurse practitioner that I am thrilled with.  Gracie's two cousins have gone to her for years, so when Gracie's pediatrician transferred to a new job, we begged for her to take us on.  Gracie loves her too.  Gracie had a good appointment, we'll continue to keep an eye on her eyes.  Dr. D. noticed what I've been commenting on and feels that it is a good idea to continue to have her followed in Ophthalmology on a yearly basis.  The developmental pediatric program at our clinic closed for awhile, they are back open and operating and we'll be seeing them again next week.  I'm very glad as I want to make sure we are on the right track and getting the right amount of services for Gracie. 

Gracie had her second Hepatitis A vaccination yesterday.  To those of you who know me well, this has been a worry resting on me quite heavily.  We are pretty certain that Gracie's Infantile Spasms started as a result of her DTaP vaccination at 15 months, coupled by epilepsy that wasn't well controlled at the time.  I've been very nervous about any additional vaccinations since then and have limited the ones we've given her since then.  She was supposed to get the Hepatitis A (part two) at her 2 year well child appointment.  It was just too soon in my book after having her I.S. under control. I've procrastinated this vaccination for 2 years, but with her being in school, knew that we needed to get it taken care of.  So we did.  Gracie sat on the exam table afterward saying "OW" every few seconds.  I think she said it at least 20 times.  So now I hope and pray that we don't see any adverse affects from it.  She had a horribly restless night from 2:00 - 5:00 a.m., to the point that I didn't sleep at all during that time as she needed to be constantly reassured.  She would fall back to sleep only to become restless all over again.  I don't know if there is any relationship between this and the vaccination or if it was just a rough night.  Jeff is travelling for work, so I know Gracie is missing him big time.  Perhaps that was a factor as well.  Because of the time difference, Skype isn't a great option for us this trip, but Jeff did videotape himself reading some of Gracie's favorite books and that has been a God-send.  She loves watching him on the computer and even reads along with him. 

Tomorrow is Gracie's first day of school.  I think she is excited.  Every time she sees a bus, she points it out to me. 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Potty x3

Our excitement for yesterday (Wednesday) is that Gracie went potty (and poop too) on the toilet three times.  She told Jeff in the morning that she had to go.  Mandy at daycare got her to go on the toilet once and then last night I could tell she had to go to the bathroom and went potty and poop on the toilet.  So slowly but surely we're getting there. 

Gracie had a great day at daycare yesterday playing with her friends.  I am told she said a 4 word sentence, she also was very interactive playing with the other girls.  They played "ship" and she said "all aboard" with them and really got into the game.  They must have pretended that there were tickets, because last night Jeff and I were sitting in her playset with her outside and she kept handing us "tickets".  I didn't even know she knew that concept. 

We went to meet with the school nurse yesterday to drop off Gracie's epi pens and all of her medical forms.  I was told twice that we should come during meet the teacher time.  Only problem is the nurse wasn't there during the preschool meet the teacher.  GRRRRRRRRRRRR.  So we left the paperwork and epi's with another staff member who was going to lock it up for the nurse and I'll follow-up by phone.  Since we had already met the teacher earlier this week, we only stopped in to Gracie's classroom for a few minutes to pick up some paperwork and go see where Gracie's locker was.  It had a frog on it again this year.  Gracie likes frogs, so that was fun. 

We also went to the shoe store as Gracie's tennis shoes are just about too small and we wanted to be ready for school.  Gracie got to pick from a ton of different styles.  There was this one really loud purple and orange shoe that I thought she would pick, but would you believe she picked the exact same style that she already has only in a bigger size.  I didn't mind, I really like that pair too and they hide dirt very well. 

We've been spending most of our evening time outside and getting Gracie to bed a little later than we should, so she's been having a hard time waking up in the mornings.  We'll have to be better about that, especially next week when she starts school.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie