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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 - "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

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

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

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 - 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

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

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

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

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

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