She's Sick

So we had taken her to the doctor's office on Tuesday, and they told us she had a common virus that would go away on it's own.  Now, after she's been up for 4 hours (it's 4:22 am), I've come to the conclusion on my own (you did know I was a doctor, right?....just kidding) that she's got bronchitis.  Symptoms?  Fever, cough, wheezing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, runny nose, along with leftover diarrhea, and REALLY pink cheeks.  It's pretty upsetting to say because we are supposed to be headed to Montana for a family get together for Labor day weekend...as WELL AS HER BIRTHDAY PARTY.  36 hours from now.  I want to take her in to the ER right now just to get her started on treatment.  But I know what Brad will say..."Just relax, she's fine at this point, not doing bad enough to rush her in.  The doctors office will be open in 3.5 hours."  And he's right.  But I just worry SO MUCH!

So here I am.  I just put her to bed, and now I'm waiting to make sure she falls asleep and doesn't just sit in there talking/playing/banging the wall.  

You want to hear the funniest thing?  *(SO NOT THE FUNNY THOUGH)*  She's not been sick in months, and you want to know why?  She's not been going to nursery!  She went this past Sunday...AND BAM!!!  She's sick!  That's obviously saying something...

Amanda

Getting Ready

We are almost ready to head to Montana for the family Labor Day get together!  I am happy to say that we are having our friends come with us!  All 6 of them!! (Mom/Dad, 4 kids).  And maybe 2 horses and another 4 wheeler too!  The time is flying by, and in 4 days Grace will be 3!!!  At 2:09 am on Sunday she will have turned over the clock to another year of life.  I have been preparing everything we need for her party, for my day of meal cooking, for her decorations, and for everything else you can imagine, and it's getting kinda tense!  I want to be sure I have everything I need, so I go through lists over and over!  All her presents are wrapped in the cutest Elmo wrapping, her hair pretties are made, the table decor and "Happy Birthday" sign are all in a bag, the food is stacking up next to that, just a few more things need to be bought for the trip...and little miss needs to get better.  She has a gastrointestinal bug bothering her, which presents itself as low grade fevers and diarrhea.  The second one is gone, but she woke with a fever of 99.6.  Not much to be worried about though, so that's good.  Brad and his friend (the dad) might be leaving Thursday night (LUCKY!) and me, Grace, and the rest of the gang will leave the following Day after all the kids get out of school.

What are we doing today?  I have no idea.  Daddy and Grace are snuggling up in the recliner reading a book together, I'm here enjoying the morning breeze while typing, and I am wondering what the heck we will do today!  Walmart for sure to grab the last few things, and then making sure I have all the clothes we will need for the weekend.  

Well, I better get going.  I have 8 sister partners that I need to get visiting teaching reports from before I leave...I hope the call me!

Amanda

Grace's 3rd Birthday Early Present!

We got a fun package in the mail today from Me Ma!!!  It was pretty fun to get a package since we haven't gotten one in so long :)  So, without further adieu, here's the goodies!

We were opening the present, and then I realized...

AHHH!!  It had a bunch of the sparkly confetti strings in it!!

So I put my hands down on it super fast so Grace couldn't get to it.  Seeing that that only fueled her excitement for it more, I closed the box and had Brad hold it closed while I ran for a plastic bag to put the stuff into.

Here is Grace running back to the box while I chase her!

Ok.  Shew!  Now we can open the box.  There were lots of random (and good) things for Brad and I, and then Grace's stuff was on the bottom :)

First we read the card, which had a lovely note in it from Me Ma.

I had to close the box to get her attention :)  She's SO Excited because she saw what was actually in the box.

WOW!!  BOOK!!!  But it was with a T and the end...whatever :)  Anyways, she absolutely loved her book! 

And as I checked out my "school Days" book from mom, Grace had fun flipping through the pages of her "First 100 Words" book!

See how much she's studying it?  She's getting smarter by the second!

And here I am contemplating how I'm going to fill this book up with goodness!  Oh!  And it's an awesome book because you can record her voice every year!  That's what those buttons are on the side :)  That's SUCH a great idea!

And last but not least...all the goodies for Brad and I.  See the "Breathe Right" strips and pink earplugs?  Can you guess who gets what of that?!

All in all, a wonderful gift from Me Ma!  "tant u Me Ma!"

Thanks Mom.  Super cute :)

Amanda

Busy Saturday

Wow, today was a great day!  This morning we went on our walk, and then played inside for a little.  Then we went on another walk and ended up playing in the court beside us with a bunch of little friends!!  Around 11 we went home for lunch, then naptime, then another walk, Sesame Street, and then from 5-8 we went to a church barbeque!  She had such a great time!  A cheeseburger, baked beans, noodle salad, watermelon, and lemonade :)  There was a rock wall, a bounce house, and a SUPER LONG slip n slide.  We watched the slip n slide for quite a while, then watched the rock wall, and after wandering four about an hour, we hoped the bounce house was empty...but it wasn't.  But the bishop saw us check it for being empty, and turning around because it wasn't, and so he said, "Does Grace want to jump?"  And I said, "for sure!"  And so he took us over there, whistled super loud into the bounce house, and told all the kids to sit on the sides so Grace can jump :)  A nice teenager helped her jump for just a few minutes, but she was so happy!

A wonderful day and night.  And now she's tucked into bed.

Amanda

Mean Girls

Children are such mean creatures. Grace isn't even 3 and she's already being taunted and finger jabbed. A stupid little girl was jabbing her and pushing her saying, "you're not cute. Get away from us." I became mama bear, and after barking at her "she's cute AND YOU'RE MEAN" I had to restrain myself from doing anything else. Thank Heavenly Father for my knowledge that she doesn't understand or comprehend. How come children have to be so mean?

 

 

Amanda

Little Girl Growing Up

I took some random pictures of Grace on the 20th and I can't believe how old my little girl looks!  I will have to take more pictures to capture the moments that she gets more sophisticated, because I MUST be missing something!

 She found this stick and was twisting it around like a sword.  She had some pretty good moves too!

 She hit the tip on the ground and was checking to see if it broke or anything!

 Isn't this the most cutest profile picture?!

 All smiles with my little girl.

 And petting the kitty.  She's learning to be softer with her.  Can you tell the kitty is ticked?

Now it's a little better.  She was stroking her rather than grabbing her paw, so the cat agreed that it was ok.

My sweet girl.  The sweater she's wearing is a 4T.  And the pants are a big 2T.  Big sigh...she's growing up.  I can't wait to see what's going to unfold in her life, but I'm glad she's taking it one day at a time!  

Amanda

Grace's Hairbows

I made some Elmo hairbows for Grace's birthday!  My plan?  Two back pigtails with the bows on either one!!  I'm sure hoping she will keep them in.  Here they are below!

Cute right?

Amanda

Countdown to her birthday: 11 DAYS!

Celebrating Youth!

I can't wait because today is going to be a great day!  There is a fair going on to celebrate all the students going back to school, and it's all FREE!  It goes from 2-9, with game and prizes at booths, entertainment, dinner from 4-6, and raffles!  Can you believe that it's all free!  What an awesome fair to have.  Another reason I'm so glad to live here!

Let me tell you what...there will be tons of pictures!

Amanda

Sick

I am hoping that she's not sick!  I haven't seen a runny nose for 2 days, so my fingers are crossed that she's doing great without any problems.  She has therapy today, and if I don't see a runny nose or temperature, she will be going for sure.  Right now she's outside going for a walk with Daddy so I can check all my internet stuff without her trying to type her own messages!

Amanda

Is she Sick?

Well, we are on watch for sickness.  Grace has a bad runny nose, and I'm hoping it's nothing.  I would love for her to remain sick free for as long as possible.  I think it's been almost 2 months!  And I'm also hoping that IF she does get sick, we take care of it pronto so we don't miss out on our Montana trip coming up for her birthday!!  That would be so sad to miss it!!! 

Amanda

Montana!

 8/10/12-8/11/12

Some day, I will get to writing a blog about our awesome trip to Montana with a friend of ours...but until then...here's a sneak peek!

It was so fun!!!


Amanda

Cutie Patootie!

Today we found a box that had tons of clothes in it that fit...right...now!!!  It was in the garage.  And then we started cleaning out the closet, and what else did we find?  Another giant box of clothes that are too big.  I mean...were too big!!  AH!  So now she's got about 7 new dresses (everything is used/donated), 20-25 shirts, 4-9 pairs of pants/skirts/shorts!!  Here's one of the outfits that she has.  It was too cute NOT to take a picture of!

I know.  I've got a super duper cute kid!!!!

Love you Grace!

Mommy

The Only Outfit That Survived

So throughout my entire childhood, I saved this one outfit.  The only reason it was saved is because it was on one of my dolls...a raggedy ann doll to be exact.  And so I took it off her so I could give her to charity, saved it in a box, and now Grace is big enough to wear it!!!

Here's me...

And here's her!

Isn't she just adorable?!


Amanda

BYU-I Supporter

I have the cutest and most darling supporter in the whole WORLD!!!

SO CUTE!!!

Amanda

BearTooth Mountains

Daddy is coming home today!  He should be here around 2-3 pm, which of course is when we will be at therapy!  Darnit!  He left from Billings about 7 am this morning, and has a lot of fun stories he's just bursting to tell!  I can't wait!

Amanda

Busy Busy

Boy it's been a crazy busy week/weekend.  That's why I haven't been able to post.  I watched my friends daughter from Thursday until Saturday and during that time me, Grace and her daughter went to Montana!!  We were bored in Idaho so we wanted to take a mini vacation!  We rode the four-wheeler, she got to drive it with me AND by herself because she did so well, we went to an Uncle's house and visited with them before he stacked hay, we had smores, and we just had a great time.  On Saturday morning before we left, we saw (all on the same road, and on the way to the said uncle from before) 3 whitetail deer about 10 feet from us, a cow moose and her calf.  We both spotted the deer and the moose together, but on our way out we were looking for some horses to go visit (they'd disappeared though) and my friend's daughter saw the fox high-tailing it out in the field!  She's got an awesome eye!  Then later we were out riding around, no where in particular for about 2 hours, and I spotted our second fox, but she didn't get to see him before he went over the ridge.  We left for home about 4 o'clock, and then she went home and Grace and I relaxed.  We both went to bed early, got up super early so that she could take an early nap today (church starts at 1:30 so I put her down for nap at 11) and then that's where we will be until 4:30!  It's really quiet around the house without Brad, but I know he's having a great time with his brother on a Beartooth mountain hike, and know that I will have lots of stories to listen to when he returns, so we are basking in the quiet!  And I get to water the garden every night, which allows me to see all that is growing!  TONS of onions and tomatoes, our cauliflower and purple cabbage, and artichoke, a pepper, a watermelon (about the size of a mango), our broccoli is doing great (not producing yet but pretty big plants!) and the carrots are really popping up everywhere!

Oh!  I forgot!  I got my friend's daughter to trim some bushes around the house!  She wanted to so bad, so I let her!  She did GREAT and she's only 10, AND it was her first time!!

Well, a fun week/weekend, and a great way to spend some time while Brad's out having his fun.

Amanda

PS: Pictures to come but I have the computer in the bedroom, and not where the cable is for camera hookup.

Katie Beckett!

We just found out Grace still qualifies for Medicaid, and not only a year, but 3 YEARS!!!!  I'm so happy!!!!  So, some happiness to brighten my day :)

Amanda

Hot Days

Well yeah, as you could tell by the title, it's been crazy hot around here!  And crazy busy too.  Brad left for a hike with his brother, and so it's just me and Grace!!!  WOW!  I wonder what we are going to do all by ourselves.  We've got someone coming in about 10 minutes to do, yet again, ANOTHER evaluation of Grace so we can re-qualify for Medicaid, even though we shouldn't have to do that in my eyes because we just did an all around one for Infant Todd Program.  Ug.  Not a good day right at the moment because our renter has a clogged toilet, and rather than unclogging it themselves, they want a plumber, and they want it on our tab.  But I called our agent and griped to her message machine, so we'll see what comes of it.  

Amanda

Shew!

It's been a busy end of the week!  Therapy for Grace, friends over for visiting, and yesterday we had our friends kids over to hang out, have dinner, watch movies, and have ice cream!  Today I get to help my friend clean an office building and then who knows what's coming of our afternoon :)  Hopefully something fun!

Amanda

FIRST DONATION!!!

I am so excited to say that Grace's fundraiser has had it's first donation of $20!!  

I don't know if the person wants to remain anonymous, so for now I'll keep the name secret, but this person knows they've done a wonderfully helpful thing by helping Grace!!  

Thank you so much sweet donator!

Amanda

Grace's SIB-R Adaptive Behavior Testing

Grace's functional independence is limited; her performance is comparable to that of the average individual at age 15 months.  This is within the very low range of scores obtained by others at her age level, as shown by her percentile rank (0.1) and standard score (42).

Motor skills (gross/fine motor proficiency): Grace's motor skills are limited to very limited.  They are comparable to that of the average 15 month old.  Motor tasks below 12 months of age will be quite easy for Grace, and those above 20 months will be quite difficult for her.

Gross motor: (balance, coordination, strength, and endurance) will be very difficult for her
Fine motor: (hand-eye coordination using small muscles of fingers, hands and arms) will be very difficult to extremely difficult for her.

Social interaction and Communication skills (interactions with others in various social settings and her understanding and communication of information through signs, oral expression or written symbols).

Social interaction and communication skills (comparable to 19 months)
Tasks below 14 months will be quite easy, those above 25 months will be quite difficult

Age level:

Social interaction-will be very difficult.
Language comprehension (understanding signals, signs or speech)- will be manageable for her.
Language expression skills (talking and other forms of expression) - very difficult to extremely difficult for her.

Personal Living Skills (Adaptive behaviors related to eating and preparing meals, personal hygiene and appearance, and maintaining an orderly home environment).

Personal living skills: limited to very limited.  Comparable to 14 month old.
Tasks below 10 months old will be quite easy, those above 20 months will be quite difficult to her.
Grace eating and meal preparation are very limited.  These will be extremely difficult for her.

When presented with age level tasks:

Toileting skills: Very limited to negligible.  Will be extremely difficult to impossible.
Dressing skills: Limited to very limited.  Will be very difficult to extremely difficult.
Personal self-care skills (basic grooming and health-maintenance): Will be very difficult for her.
Domestic skills: Will be manageable for her.

Community Living Skills (use of community resources, performance in employment, assuming other social and economic requirements encountered in community settings *time and punctuality, money and value, work skills, and home/community orientation*).

Skills are comparable to a 9 month old.  Most easiest: below 9 months.  Tasks above 19 months will be quite difficult for her.

Time and punctuality: Limited. Will be very difficult for her.
Money and value skills: Limited. Will be very difficult for her.
Work skills (Work habits and prevocational skills): Limited. Will be extremely difficult for her.
Home and Community orientation skills (getting around home, neighborhood, or traveling in community): Very difficult for her.

Greatest Strengths: Social interaction and communication skills.
Lowest scored: Community.

Based on levels of functional independence and any problem behaviors, Grace will need frequent support, much more than others her age, primarily because of limited adaptive behavior.

Overall Measure of Adaptive behavior:  Comparable to that of an average individual at 1 year 3 months (15 months).  Functional independence is limited.

So based off the scores we got from this test, at this point, the future is going to be Grace living with us throughout her life, with support with community life and personal care.  This could change, but with all the different problems that she's having in 12 different areas, this is what we are seeing based off the limitations.