Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Pneumonia

We've had a crazy couple of days.  Gracie was running a fever when Jeff picked her up at daycare on Thursday.  He stayed home from work with her on Friday and her fever would come and go.  On Friday night her temp spiked to 105.  I was quickly on the phone with the nurses line.  They told me everything we were doing was right.  I didn't feel terribly comfortable with that knowing our little pumpkin.  She was burning up and shaking uncontrollably from the chills.  She also had very labored breathing.  We finally got her temp down a bit, but she was so restless.  She finally fell asleep about 11:00 p.m.   On Saturday morning at 6:00 a.m., it started all over again.  Jeff had to work, so I packed a quick bag and headed to the E.R. with her. 

At the E.R. there were so many trauma patients, that they put us in the intensive care area...not because we needed to be there, but so the doctors could be close to us and their emergent patients.  I was relieved when 8:00 a.m. came and the pediatrician (who I really liked came in)...that's when things started to happen for us.  She sent us for a chest x-ray and sure enough it came back positive for pneumonia.  She also gave Gracie a red popsicle for being such a good girl.  Gracie ate it like a big girl, but you just can't help the drips, there was red popsicle everywhere...including the floor of the x-ray area. 

So they gave us some antibiotics and sent us home.  Our weekend was pretty low key.  Gracie didn't have a lot of energy and her fever continued to spike and then come down with ibuprofen through Monday.  By Tuesday we had the fever under control, but the coughing is pretty nasty.  She's been a trooper though.  Since Jeff had to work on Saturday, went to a family event on Sunday (Happy 50th Anniversary Ann & Denny - so sorry we missed your special day), and I stayed home with her on Monday and Tuesday, she has been missing daddy and constantly tells me that she wants to see daddy.  On Monday after her bath, she took her medical alert bracelet and pretended she was reading it.  Here is her interpretation of what it says:

"Dear Mommy, I love you.  Love, Gracie.  Dear Daddy, STAY HOME!" 

And I thought it said "seizure disorder and allergic to tree nuts".   She is a little comedian sometimes...and of course since I laughed, she's been going around the house saying that alot!!!!

Gracie is back at daycare today.  She was a little hesitant at first, but was definitely ready to see her friends.  It was so sweet, after she settled in there was a three girl hug with Gracie in the middle.  It was priceless. 

She's still a bit tired and has coughing fits if she does too much of anything, but is happy and fever free.  Now if we can only keep her cool in the heat today.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie the germ fighter

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Healthy Again!!!!

After 14 days with the diarrhea, I am happy (overjoyed actually) to say that Gracie is healthy again.  She went back to daycare on Monday.  Her friends were very excited to see her and she was pretty happy to see them too!

Here are a few updates:

  • Every 4 months Gracie has an appointment with her pediatric neurologist to keep an eye on seizures, as well as neuro development.  We recently had this appointment and Gracie was incredibly verbal and her neurologist was thrilled to see all of her new verbal skills, as well as listening and attending skills.  Seizures are well controlled, but due to growth (Gracie is now 4 feet tall and 62 pounds) we did increase her seizure med dosage.
  • Gracie knows all of the capital letters of the alphabet excluding three letters.  We are also working on being able to sign those letters and she is doing great with that too.  She doesn't always get perfect hand formation, but she tries very hard.  
  •  Yesterday at daycare, Gracie approached a little boy who was playing trains.  She asked him "Gracie play?"  Then she sat down on the floor and began trying to put some wooden tracks together, she didn't quite get that, but kind of stacked them and then ran her train over them.  Gracie doesn't usually engage in too much actual play with toys, she moves them from one place to another, so we were pretty excited about this.
  • Today at daycare a sea life exhibit will be there.  I'm told there will be fish, starfish, sea horses, baby stingrays, and much more.  I'll be anxious to hear what she has to say about her day.
  • Gracie has been having very restless nights lately.  She's been talking in her sleep a bit too, so I suspect she is dreaming.  I did ask her this morning if she had lots of dreams last night and she said she did.  I asked her if they were good dreams or bad dreams and she said "bad dreams".  What do five year olds dream about?  Hmmmm.  I do know that when she does seem to be having a bad dream and I rub her back and tell her that mommy is right here, it does seem to calm her.
  • Gracie undressed herself for the first time the other day and was quite proud of herself.  I was putting some clothes away in her room when I came out to the living room to find a very proud girl with only a pull-up on and her dress in her hand.  
  • Gracie has a great love of Bill Cosby and has started doing impressions of him, much to our amusement.
  • I registered Gracie for the Young Athletes Program through the Special Olympics for October and November.  It's a neat program where occupational students volunteer their time to work with 2 to 7 year olds with intellectual disabilities to learn to enjoy sports.  I'm anxious to see what Gracie thinks of it. 
We are loving the cooler weather!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Monday, August 6, 2012

Gracie is 5!!!!!

Gracie is officially five years old and that age seems to agree with her.  Gracie had a great birthday....we extended the fun to have a few celebrations.  We took cupcakes and Mickey and Minnie Mouse treat bags to daycare for all of Gracie's classmates there.  That was a big hit. 

On the Sunday just before Gracie's birthday.  Gracie's Godparents and family came over to help us celebrate.  Gracie had so much fun and was loving all of the attention. 

On Gracie's actual birthday, Jeff and I took the day off of work to spend it with her.  We took her to the swimming pool and she got so excited to see it and had a great time swimming and playing.  That night Grandma & Grandpa D. came over for pizza and cake to help celebrate. 

It was a great birthday...so many awesome cards, gifts, and good wishes.  Gracie definitely knows she is "5".  She shows us a whole handful.

The evening of Gracie's birthday she began having the diarrhea...and here we are over a week later and she still has it.  No fever, no vomiting, she's eating and drinking, but we can't get rid of the nasty stuff.  Jeff and I have been swapping back and forth staying home with her.  I suspect a bug of some sort from the pool.  I talked with a pediatric nurse today and we'll plan to take her to the doctor tomorrow. 

Since Gracie is sitting on my lap....and wants attention.  I'll keep this short...but will add some pictures to help tell her birthday story.

Who knew 5 years could go by so fast and one little girl could wrap herself around our hearts as Gracie has.  WE ARE BLESSED!












Love,
Lisa, Jeff, & Gracie the 5 yr old