Daddy is Home!!!

On Friday, daycare took Gracie to an indoor play facility and Gracie had a great time. She especially loved the merry-go-round that you pedaled and the little cars (which she had to squish her big body into). She ran into a friend from the pediatric floor who recognized her and played with her for a bit.

On Saturday, Gracie and I had a girls day out. We talked to daddy on Skype, then we headed to the mall for some retail therapy. The highlights for Gracie were getting to go up and down on the escalator and having lunch in the food court, where she got to suck a non-dairy smoothie out of a cup with a straw and she got to hold it herself. She was such a good girl the whole time. Then we went home and took a two hour nap...then played and played. At Gracie's request, we watched "Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue" for a while. She loves to snuggle up on the couch with me while we watch it. She can't make it the whole way through, because she gets tired. She's so funny, when she gets to the point that she is too tired, she says and waves "bye bye". That's my queue to turn it off. Then she says "nigh nigh" and we go upstairs to bed.

After being gone for 9 days to Hawaii (for work) daddy arrived home on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and Gracie is happy to have him home. So am I. Gracie was a very good girl the whole time he was gone, but it's just nice to have a second set of hands and Gracie asked about Jeff alot. She loved when she got to talk to him on the computer using Skype. Gracie gave daddy a big hug when we picked him up at the airport, then she wouldn't let him put her down, followed by a big ole headbanging tantrum. I think it was a little sensory overload. Once we got that calmed down all was well.

We did meet a little 3 year old at the airport that has Downes Syndrome. She was a sweetie pie and knew some sign language too. It was funny to see Gracie and this little girl together. Gracie looked like a giant and this little girl is super small for her age...she looked like a little Pixie.

After nap we headed to see Aunt Sheila, Uncle Chris, and cousins Kayla and Jason at their house and to watch the SuperBowl. We were spoiled with lots of yummy food. Gracie needed playtime with her cousins and we enjoyed our time there immensely. Lots of walks, piano music, and playing the drums were some of the highlights.

On the way home I drove as Jeff was tired from his travels. He sat in the back with Gracie, but Gracie wanted "mama". It was a long drive home. By the end she was in such crying hysterics she had problems catching her breath, I was a little scared she was going to throw up. Once mama held her all was well and she fell asleep not long after arriving home. After nine days with mama, she is definitely a mama's girl. Daddy is going to have to spend a little more time with her over the next few days I think.

Gracie awoke at 3:00 a.m. this morning and had a hard time falling back to sleep. She finally fell back into a restful slumber at 3:30 a.m. and slept tight til I had to wake her at 6:00 a.m. She awoke in a good mood and was ready to go find daddy. Every other morning while he was gone she would ask about him and then be sad when he wasn't there.

It's a school day, so I'm hoping she has a good day and learns a lot. Jeff really noticed an increase in speech while he was gone. I, too, have noticed it was a good week with increased verbal skills.

Love,
Lisa, Jeff, and Gracie