Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving didn't quite turn out as planned.  Gracie spiked a fever in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning.  When she woke up, she went to say hello to her dad and vomited and then the diarrhea started.  She also had an upper respiratory virus with congestion and a nasty cough.  So we were very sad to have missed Thanksgiving with my family (we were also celebrating my dad's 90th birthday), but we made the best of it and enjoyed the day with just the three of us.  I did make some turkey breasts, mashed potatoes, gravy, and stuffing.  Gracie invited Dora the Explorer, Goofy, and Mickey Mouse to lunch.  She was happy to sit at the table and pray with us.  Gracie LOVES to say the prayer before meal.  Not surprisingly, she didn't want any food. 

On the Friday after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree and Gracie thoroughly enjoyed helping.  She is so excited about all the lights, decorations, and Christmas music.  I just love to see her excitement.  She also was excited to watch "Frosty the Snowman" on TV.  This was a first for her, as in previous years she didn't have the attention span to sit through it.  She thoroughly enjoyed it this year. 

On Saturday Gracie was in one of the worst moods I've seen her in for a long, long time.  I think being sick and having to stay in the house was getting to her.  Sunday was a little better, but we still saw a few more tantrums than usual.

Gracie was very happy to see her friends a daycare on Monday and had a great day there.  Today she got to go to school too, so I think we'll have a tired girl tonight.

Have a great week.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

Disney Live

We took Gracie to the DisneyLive show at the civic center on Saturday.  We didn't tell her where we were going, just said we were going to a party, so it was a complete surprise for her.  We had considered taking her in past years since she has a great love of Goofy, Mickey, and Minnie Mouse, but were afraid it would be too much for her from a sensory perspective.  This was the perfect year.  Once we arrived we explained it would be noisy and that people would scream, but they were all good screams and that she could scream to if she wanted to.  We also prepped her that the lights might go out, but mommy and daddy would always be right there.  IT WAS A HIT!!!!!  From the minute it started to the minute it ended Gracie was totally enamored!  The show was great, but I couldn't stop watching Gracie.  She was so excited.  She kept telling the lady sitting right next to her and Jeff (she sat on daddy's lap the whole time at her request):  "It's GOOFY!!!!  Goofy!!!!"  At the end she got to get up and danced around as they sang the last song and sent confetti flying everywhere.  She loved it. We did want her to sit on the stage for a picture, but she wanted NO part of that.  No complaints from us, she did so much better than we even anticipated.  We bought her a soft cover program with pictures of the cast and the characters.  She held that book as if it was gold and she has looked through it so many times that it is starting to fall apart.  Not due to abuse...just lots of use!  She is still talking about Goofy, Mickey, Minnie, and Donald!

Gracie has another cold virus of some sort.  She was running a low grade fever last night, then the chills hit, her nose is running, and she has a cough with it too.  Doesn't seem to be serious, just something that has run her down.  She is home with daddy today.  We're hoping she'll be healthy on Thanksgiving so we can spend some time with family.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I'm off to find my most stretchy pair of pants! 

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie

November 2012

A few highlights for the last month:

• Gracie enjoyed Halloween this year and trick-or-treating.  Although she was a very tired butterfly fairy before she ever started her journey through the neighborhood.  At 6:00 p.m. she informed me that she wanted to "do a bed dive".  This is her way of telling us she wants to go to bed, because we make bedtime fun by each taking a dive onto Gracie's mattress on the floor.  At 6:05 p.m. as I got her costume out, she told me "I don't want to".  But by the time we sent her on her way out the door with daddy to go house to house for treats, she was having fun.  A special thanks to our neighbors that checked in with us or were prepared with non-tree nut treats for Gracie's arrival.  That meant alot to us.  As for the other treats that weren't Gracie safe, we did a switcheroo with safe treats for Gracie without her even knowing!

• The weekend after Halloween was an extra special treat for Gracie and our family.  We traveled out of town for a long weekend to attend Gracie's cousin Julie's wedding.  (Congratulations Julie and Brian -- we were thrilled to be part of your special day!)  We got the privilege of taking Grandma & Grandpa B. along and our hotel rooms were adjoined, so Gracie got some great quality time with G&G.  She also had a great time at the wedding seeing all of her cousins and she did really good through the ceremony as well.  She loved the music and would pick up a hymnal whenever the music started and would start to sing.  She didn't know most of the words, but she still shared her beautiful voice with us.  She also had fun waving to daddy across the church while he videotaped the ceremony.  The dance was an extra special treat for Gracie, although it was short-lived as Gracie was very tired and started coming down with a cold.  We try not to let her get too overtired as she's not so nice when she is tired, not to mention that seizure breakthrough is always a possibility too...one were not willing to risk.  

• Gracie's had a cold all last week, into this week.  She's felt pretty miserable, but it's been nothing more than your basic head cold...that is until she started pulling at her ears.  I took her in to see "Dr. Lisa", which Gracie thought was quite funny because she knows I am "Mommy Lisa".  Gracie was good as gold as Dr. Lisa checked her out.  I was surprised to find out she did not have an ear infection, but she did have a retracted ear drum.  There is nothing they can do for this, it has to pop back on it's own, but I'm told it can be more painful than an ear infection.

•  The neighbors have an inflatable snowman, as well as an inflatable Christmas tree with a deer and some other animals in their front yard.  Gracie LOVES this and gets so excited when they are inflated in the evening.  They have some fun colorful lights too and she is so into it.  We've also been singing fun Christmas Carols on our way to work in the morning.  I'm amazed at how many she knows the words too.  I think this holiday season is going to be a fun one.  

Have a great week!

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie the Caroler