Therapy Day!

Today Grace had her first day of Physical therapy with her new therapist, Brad.  It was just an evaluation, and she did pretty well.  She kinda freaked when he laid her down on the massage table because she thought she was at the doctors office, but he went quickly enough (she was doing situps) that it was over quick as a flash.  There was a long list of things he's still got to teach her, so we'll be with him for a while.  He also does pool PT every other week, so we're going to get started on that as well.  The only thing he said is that both of her feet roll to the side (outward so her big toes on either foot are in the air), so he's going to talk with Stacy (the home PT we had/have, she will come 1 time a month now) and see if she will need to cast Grace's calves/feet for a mold, and then get shoes inserts for her feet.  I'm kinda "eh" on it, only because I'm nervous about the casting, but I'm also wanting her to have her feet straightened like they should be.

Speech went well.  I don't go in with her because she focuses more when I'm not there, but since I'd followed PT, I figured I'd follow speech too for an update for the blog!  She did well.  Talking up a storm, and she really had control over the whole situation!  It was cute!  He made her say every single thing she was supposed to before she got to have/touch/play with anything, and that's what we've also been doing at home.  We've started on colors, yellow and blue specifically, but it will be a long road for colors.  That's ok though :)  We've got a pace set for little miss and that's her pace that she chose, so we're cool with it!  She played in the ball pit about 4 times!  A couple times he threw her in, which was super cute!  She LOVED IT!!  And they played with farm animals and she got the sounds, without help, for the cow, horse, sheep, dog, and chicken.  Isn't that awesome?!  She got distracted when he got to the pig, which she doesn't know anyways, because she was fascinated with the farmer toy.  It's so cute too, that now Grace is talking more, she's pretty much non-stop.  On our way home from therapy, she saw Arctic Circle (fast food with play area), and as we drove by she said, "play?  No no...no play.  No play."  I'll bet you $100 she was signing play back there too!  She also does that with McDonalds!  It's so darn cute!  Oh, and every single park we drive by!  But with the park, Porter Park especially, it's, "play? Play?  Wee?  Wee?...no wee.  No play."  AH!  SHE'S AMAZING!!

Can you believe she had that long of day with just a 45 minute nap.  Crazy girl woke herself up and decided not to go back to sleep.  Shew!  She was zonked by the time bedtime came!  Her eyes rolled more during dinner than I've ever seen, they were as pink as a pig, and she did NOT want a bath tonight.  She just wanted her BED!

Funny little snippet before I go...We went to the college library to get a book on IEPs.  I was leaving the third floor (which is the group work floor so it's kinda loud anyways), and right as I'm in the doorway, like seriously, one foot in the library and one foot in the 3 floor stairwell with tons of people milling about, she decides to SCREAM AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS!!  Not a scared scream.  The scream she gives when we're in ANY room that has an echo, which the stairwell did!  AH it was SO funny!  I had to discipline her, but as we were going down the stairs, she and I burst into laughter, and then I charged down the stairs while bouncing her with each step because it just makes her laugh so much!!!

Fun day, fun evening, and now that homework and blog is done, it's time for some TV.

Amanda

Grace's Backpack!

I'm going to make this backpack for Grace!

I got the idea from this blog! 

So cute right?!  Also SO HARD!  But I won't rush.  She doesn't start preschool until September, so I'm hoping to have it done by then!

Amanda

 

  

 

 

 

Pretty Girl!

I've been wanting for SO long to have Grace fit into something I wore when I was a little girl, and finally...today was the day!!  I'm so excited to finally see her in the skirt I used to wear!  I remember seeing a picture of me wearing this at Disneyland with my parents and brother :)

First picture of course has to be Miss Grace acting super goofy, and still with bed head!!

 Cutie Patootie playing with her best pal Elmo!

 She was making him dance!

 Climbing up on Daddy, her rock and support when Mommy makes her mad!  Just kidding...he's her favorite person :)  I really really really love this picture.

 Looks like they're both gazing into the future...huh?  This was the best one I got of the two of them together.  The others?  Daddy drunk eyes, Grace drunk eyes, Grace white as a ghost, and Daddy funny face :) 

 And lastly, little Miss.  Precious face pick and you know what the best thing is?  The eyes are almost 100% aligned.

Beautiful pictures from a beautiful girl.  An angel from above, a blessing with blue eyes and blonde hair.  One that will definitely put her name in the history books of this family.  She's overcome so much and she's only 2 1/2 years old.  I can't wait to see what else Brad and I have in store to learn from her.

Amanda

Out With the Old, in With the New.

Once again I have to change the blog up!  I just can't keep it the same very long :)

 So here's the old welcome picture...

...and here's the new welcome picture!!!

Super cute huh?  It's not my picture taking skills, it's just the fact that she's gorgeous. :)

Amanda

Fun Morning with Dr. Grace!

First of all, one of the funnest things about having Grace in a toddler bed is wondering what you'll open her door to in the morning!!  This morning...this is what I saw.  Now, not as bad as usual, which was weird.  Wanna know why it wasn't worse?  Because as I peered around the door to the right (she'd not realized I'd opened the door), she was busy playing with the oil heater!!  She was rubbing it with her hands.  And you know that look a person gets when they KNOW they've been caught doing something they shouldn't be, and it's like that..."AH!  YOU CAUGHT ME SO I'M GONNA RUN TO YOU AND GIVE YOU A HUG AND BE SUPER SWEET!"  She totally gave me that look when she realized I was there!  It was so cute I wish I'd had the camera so I could have captured the face!

 Well, here's the bed for little miss.  I wanted to put a picture up so everyone could see what she's graduated to!  Can you believe it?  In a weeks time I think she got out of bed all of 10 times when she wasn't supposed to.  And that's 10 for the ENTIRE week!  We have the most awesome girly, don't we?  I know, be jealous of her happy demeanor, priceless smiles, and good behavior!

 And then we get to meet Dr. Grace Hildreth!  See, doctors never stop working, even in the morning with bed head, dora Jammie bottoms with a kitty top, and the most cutest slippers in the world (which are homemade by my grandma's friend!)

 Of course she has to try to run away from the camera :)  Silly goose.  You pull the camera out and while it's off, she's all about "cheese, cheese" and right when she hears the "beep, beep" of it turning on, she's OUTTA THERE!

 "Hm...does my eye have a heartbeat?"

 This was right after she listened for her heartbeat.  You know your child's been to the doctor too many times when she knows exactly where to put the stethoscope and how it works...I'm hoping that will decrease as she gets older (the dr. visits I mean).

 Do you see Minnie?  Grace was sad about getting a diaper one morning because she wanted to see "Ehbo" instead, so I showed her that even Minnie gets a diaper on!

 "WOO WHOO!" She was SO excited to have the stethoscope!

 "Hey Mom?  Can YOU HEAR ME?!"  It was more like..."HEEEYYYYO?"

 Mama and Grace...Grace is gorgeous.

 This is what I get when I try to change her...she just thinks that it's a PERFECT time to stretch!

 ...and read...This is usually how I find her in the morning.  One day I peeked in without her knowing, and she was kneeling at her shelf that you can barely see behind her head, and she was throwing every book off of it.  There's about 15 hard books.  And then she'd sit in the middle of them and read them, talk to them, sign the animals or things she knows.  Super cute!

 She was grumpy because I told her it was time to get dressed for the day...

 ...so instead, she got a couple minutes to play with her Dora book...Thanks Dado and Papa!

 And then...AH!  She found the stethoscope again!

All in all, a super cute morning.  I'm glad we found another toy we can put in her toy shelf, and hopefully, she'll keep her hands off the heater.  I'd also noticed she turned the knob all the way up, so I don't know when she did that, but it wasn't this morning thankfully.  Probably after afternoon nap when the thing was off already for the day.

HAPPY BED HEAD!!!

Amanda

Toddler Bed

Well I am extremely excited to announce that it's been a week...or more...since Grace had her crib changed into a toddler bed and she's doing GREAT!!  She has completely transitioned over without a problem.  The past two naps she's not even gotten out, and bedtimes we don't even sit by her door and wait to see if she stays in or not!  I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful child :)  I'll bet so many people are just in fits of jealousy because she's just so rockin' awesome!!


Great job Grace!!  You are the most fantastic daughter in the whole world!


Amanda/Mom

Some Super Cute Pictures of Grace!

 We had a beautiful day and so we decided to go to the river to walk around..piddle diddle as my grandma would say.  We didn't stay too long because Grace was still a bit sick.  She was SO excited to get out though!!

 Doesn't she look super cute in her glasses!  I'm so happy that she left them on too!  When she was younger, she just kept taking them off.

 Watching the rushing river.  She was definitely scared to go too close for fear that the water might get her!

" Daddy helping her since she was close to the water."

 "Definitely want to touch the water Daddy!"

 "AH!  COLD!!!"

" I'll just watch, that was just too cold!  Look at how red my hands are!!"

 Andnow some showing off.  Brad and Ryan went to Brad's dad's house to work on two bookshelves, a hutch/computer desk, and an entertainment center.  And by work on, I mean buy the wood, draw a design, and build it themselves.  If they could have had time to cut the trees down themselves, they would of.  I mean, how do you think the cabin was made?!

 So this is one of the bookshelves.  6 feet tall, holds TONS of books, and we've got a second one on the way that I'm worried will be empty!

I'm loving it!  I'm loving that I can tell anyone and everyone that 4 pieces of our furniture in the house has been homemade.  Brad and Ryan have to go up and help finish the hutch part of the desk, and the drawer faces for everything.

Exciting stuff!

Amanda

Grace's IEP meeting

So I'm super excited to announce that we've got Grace's transfer to the Madison School District meeting coming up!!  It's on May 16th, and I'm just so happy that's finally here.  Now, this isn't the one where we discuss WHAT is on her IEP, but we are discussing what her diagnoses are, what tests she's taken/needs, where she is on development, and then scheduling her IEP meeting.  I'm really excited because this is just one step further to the "big school" for her!!  I'm also super excited because I don't want to be railroaded by people who know the school system better than me.  So I'm going to research IEP's, the states legislative laws/codes about school systems and special needs, and the school's specific special needs program and qualification system.  I'll also be updating her binder with the latest paperwork, making copies of the "7Q36 Gene Deletion" information packet (the only information ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD about her deletion), and getting another copy or getting my old copy back of Grace's medical files from her Oakland doctor, which is all her MRI, ultrasound, surgery information.  I made the mistake of giving it to her spina bifida clinic doctor WITHOUT telling them to make a copy of it for themselves and then giving it back, so I have to do that when we go in a month!!  Granted it will be too late for the meeting, so I'm hoping to call and have them shoot me a copy in the mail in time.  Grace gets to go, so I'm hoping they will all love her and she won't be scared.


Imagine...I will advocate for her in front of the entire school board...AH!!  Deep breaths, lots of preparing, and lots of educating myself, and I should be fine.  May 16th, and I need to find a good suit to wear...and a nice hair style.  Hm...I might have Kailyn help me out with the hair style. :)


Amanda

PS.  I'll keep you updated on how preparing goes, and then about the big day.  Technically, the real big day isn't until we put together the IEP, but still, this is big for me!

Sickness Update

We both went back to the doctor yesterday to get rechecked by a new doctor because neither she nor I were getting any better.  The doctor put Grace on a 10 day medication, different from the one she had, and put me on a type of penicillin for my sinus infection.  I can definitely tell this one is breaking up all the mucus in her lungs.  I just wish she knew how to spit it up!  The doctor also said her ears were clear, one of which is clearer than the other. 

So, she's still got the nasty cough, even a worse runny nose, but that's good at this point because it's getting out of her, and she's not quite as tired.  And HURRAY!  We had a night without her waking up!  Oh yeah!

So, we are both on the mend...thankfully.


Amanda

Little Miss Sick...again

We had the worse night last night that we've had in a long time!  She went down normal, which made me hopeful that we'd have a quiet night.  There are a lot of nights that she gets up for a hug, or a sip or two from her sippy cup, but this was NOTHING like that.  She was up at 10:30, didn't want milk, didn't want crackers (which is crazy because she ALWAYS wants crackers!  So for about an hour I went crazy trying to find what she wants, and then I gave up and walked into the shower with her.  Fully clothed, both she and I, because I didn't have enough time (mentally) to take off our clothes! That helped her be happy, and so I got relief!!  Shew!  After about 10 minutes in there, she came downstairs and watched a movie with us.  After this, Daddy put her to bed, but then she started crying once again.  Ug.  So I grabbed her out of bed, and we snuggled together in my bed :)  I acted like I was sleeping and she laid there with me for about an hour.  At this point, I was SO excited to have chosen her to come to bed with me because she was SO CUTE!!  Kisses over and over, soft strokes on my arm tons of times, and stroking my hair.  She was so soft, so precious, acting like she was a mommy to me.  I mean, seriously, she'd lay there with me for about 5 minutes, and then scoot her face right into my face, stroke my arm, and give me a super long kiss on my cheek.  Over and over she'd peck my cheek.  I felt SO LOVED!!!  After about an hour she climbed off the bed, so then it was time for bed :)  She did great the rest of the night and woke up happy!!

So, I'm REALLY hoping this won't happen again.  But any time throughout the day, she can give me all the lovin's she wants!!

Amanda

Little Miss Sick

Darnit she's sick yet again.  Since Saturday night she's had 104 degree fevers...we found out today it's an ear infection and bronchitis.  I am SO glad I took her in today!!  It's so amazing how happy she can remain with such yucky diagnoses...I hope she'll get better soon because Toddler Lab starts next week!!

Amanda

Furniture From the Best Handiman in the World

This is why the boys were away for a week.  Brad's father is an absolute genius with woodworking, and absolutely has a gift.  These pieces aren't done yet, but they are here so that Brad can sand and stain them.  Then they (the boys) go back to his dad's house again to finish the faces of the drawers and the top of the desk.  They are going to look GORGEOUS!

 This is the bottom of the desk.  All the drawers have an extended pull out, and the one on the top left has a chopped of side so that when we have the printer in the drawer, we can fold down the paper holder without having to take out the printer.  This has a big top that will go on top of it will more cupboards, and a roll up/down computer cover.

 This is the entertainment center.  As you will see below, the drawers have separators to hold CDs and DVDs.  The middle will have the Wii, the DVD player, and the double doors will have glass in them so we don't have to have them open in order to use the devices.

 See the separators?  Aren't they awesome!  You can even take out the two and put in just one for more DVDs.

 These are bookshelves.  Other than sanding and staining, they are done.  :)  Aren't they beautiful!  6 feet of awesome goodness!

And here are the handymen!!!  3 generations of strong, courageous, protective and hill climbin' men!

I will update with more pictures later :)  Thank you so much dad for all that you do for us.

Amanda

Getting the Garden Area Ready

  We have a huge spot in the backyard that for some reason was covered with wood chips from the last owners.  CRAZY!  So we've been clearing off all the wood chips, all the weed guard, and will roto-till it when we order one.  Shew it's been a hard job!  I cleared about 1/3 of it before the guys got home, and we kept going at it.  I'm hoping to get it done by this weekend so we can till it and plant!!!

 Here we are busy at work :)  Grace LOVES standing right by the wheel barrow, but of course she gets dirt in her eyes.  Every so often she picks one up from the ground and puts in in the barrow...sweet girl!!

 Brother is de-thatching.  For those of you that don't live in snow country, that is where you rake off ALL the dead grass so the new stuff can come in.  We ended up getting a de-thatching machine for $15 for one hour.  Ah, much better than working our backs off!

 Grace had to help keep all the wood chips in... she thought this would be the most perfect job!

 We are dumping them all along the house where the flowerbeds are lacking in the wood chip area.  You're supposed to have 4 inches and we've only got one inch.  So I'm glad we are emptying the section for a garden! 

 There Brad is taking up the weed block.  Oh yeah!!  Muscle man!  I'm hoping we can plant in-ground, but we've been told it's ALL clay and tons of rocks.  We'll see what happens when we till. 

 Grace had to check the tire to be sure it was strong enough to carry another load!

 Now she's telling Daddy where the wood chips are supposed to go because Daddy might forget if she doesn't!

 "UH!  UH!"  Grace LOVES to grunt when she's trying to help with something she thinks is heavy :)

 Working hard!  Grace is dictating, and making sure Daddy doesn't forget anything along the way.

 Shew!  Grace has to take a break!  It's hard work telling everyone how to do their jobs.

 Well, now it's time to help Brother because he's just NOT gathering it the way she thinks it should be.

 Well, this is the next day but that's ok :)  Today, actually.  But that's ok, I'm just throwing them in for some fun!  Isn't she so stinkin' cute?  This is her with a fever, nasty cough, and runny nose.  Wouldn't tell, wouldya?

 This is the first time in about...9 months, that I've put a clip in her hair...a clip from a VERY special friend no less.  But...it was out within minutes of taking this picture.  I said, "I want to take a picture of your clip Grace."  Out it came!

And last but not least, the tree I painted while the boys were away!  Isn't it beautiful?!  I am going to put pictures of the six kids in each of the frames.

Fun stuff!

Amanda