Posing on Dado's Rock!

12/28/11

I was so excited to see this awesome "posing rock" outside my grandparents house, so OF COURSE I put Grace there and took some pictures! And all of them are perfect to me!

Woo Whoo she says!!

And if that Woo Whoo wasn't enough, here's a bigger one!! OH YEAH!!
Huh? Whadya say mom? Isn't that face stinkin' cute?!
Then inside...her SUPER lopsided hair. I was only going to braid a portion of one side, but then it just kept growing and growing into this. Oh well, she doesn't need it looking OCD right. Just out of her face right :)
SHE CAUGHT THE BALL! Oh yeah! And now she's rolling it up her body, kissing it, and then will let it roll!
Whack! She likes to hit the ball away from herself rather than throw it. It's more gentle guys!

Super cutie for sure. I LOVE IT!


Amanda

Playing with a Friend!

12.26.11

The day after Christmas we got to play with a special friend Preston. We hadn't seen her in SO long! She played at Dado and Papa's for quite a while, and I loved hearing the sounds of Grace's and Preston's screams as they chased each other around the house, Grace fast walking super fast to keep up!

Thank you Amanda for coming over and bringing the girls!

Amanda

Christmas Day at Dado and Papa's!

12.25.11

I think this was the best Christmas I've had for a while! To be with my grandparents, and to have Grace unwrapping her own gifts, to get pictures of Grace with her best GREAT grandparents EVER, and to just feel happy was beautiful! She got SO many fun gifts from Dado and Papa too! A shape sorter, which Grace plays with almost every day! Also, she got lots of stickers, which she absolutely LOVES to play with during church!! Some more books to add to her growing collection (she loves to read, and we can sit through 4-5 books before she moves on to something else), and a super cute outfit of pants and a long sleeve shirt!
Aw, look at my sweet girly!! If we wouldn't have given her the cow puppet, she would have cried :) So she's just absolutely perfect because she wanted her buddy to take a picture with her!
Isn't her background beautiful?! She makes it perfect. Even IF she's now eating her cow puppet!!
HURRAY!!! IT'S CHRISTMAS!! That's what the tongue-hanging-out-of-mouth-fist-pumping means :) Go Girly!!
Aww, what a cute smile :)

Sitting next to...kinda on...her Moose stocking!! She picked it. It was between that one and a princess one! Go nature girl!
We told her we were going to church! YES!! Another fist pump, but double!
Daddy and Grace being super duper silly!
Oh my gosh!!! Santa was here! Do you see what he wrote? "Santa was here" Hurray!!
Opening her stocking. Yogurt drops, 6 tiny jars of fingernail polish, a big girl cup, and 2 preschool meal kits.
Dado and Papa watching over their brood :) They were so cute! I am so thankful to them for letting us come over for so long!
See the meal and the big girl cup!! The big girl cup is extra fun because when Mommy isn't looking, you can soak your ENTIRE lap in seconds!!
Ryan got a scarf that his mom had crochet before she passed away. It fits him like a glove.
Here's Kailyn's scarf from her mama. She looks gorgeous in it...and not with it too!
Presents, presents everywhere!

Mommy opening the card from Dado and Papa, and Grace opening her present :)
Grace saying "tant you!" for all her wonderful gifts to Dado! Of course the light had to be in the way. I didn't see it until I was here, rotating all the photos. Darnit!
Papa and Grace. I'm surprised she didn't yank his glasses off like she usually does! "Tant you Papa!"
Grace playing with her shape sorter, and pointing out her piggy bank from Mommy and Daddy! There's a spot for Mission, Tithing, and Fun Money!
After the exciting day, Grace had to take a rest in Papa's comfy chair playing with her drawing board from her biggest sister. Thanks everyone for everything!!

All in all, a wonderful Christmas. I'm so glad we were able to go. I'm glad we got there safely, that we didn't get kicked out from bothering my grandparents too much, and I'm glad we got home safely.
Amanda

Santa Came!

12/24/11

We are all so excited that Santa figured out where Grace was living so he didn't skip her stocking!! I told her before she went to bed that if she went right to sleep, Santa would have enough time to come all the way to Dado and Papa's house to give her her special surprises! She went right to sleep, lickity split! I am so thankful we got to spend Christmas with my grandparents, and Grace's Grandparents. Moving so far from them was and still is tough, but daily phone calls and celebrating Christmas with them has made it easier! We also put a picture of Dado, Papa and Grace up in Grace's room, and we wave hello every morning to the picture.



I have to say my grandparents have the BEST tree in the world! Fiber optic, fake, and just Grace's size!!! I am really trying to convince Brad that THIS is the best tree to have! But until then... See the book in there? That's one of the traditions I'm starting. We read that with Grace every Christmas, and then write in it on the back when, where and who read!
Santa likes to leave the gift(s) he brings unwrapped so that Grace can see the extra special gifts! He also lays the stockings out on the floor so it's easier for her to get too, which, surprisingly, she didn't even touch until AFTER we came back from church! He left a message for her too, but I couldn't find the picture!!

Amanda

Gifts From "Grandma" Chapman

12/22/11

We have this super special friend, and her name is "Grandma" Chapman. She's not really our Grandma, but she's such a sweetie, and loves little Grace, and has "adopted" her as her granddaughter!! I'm ok with that! Grace can have all the family she wants, blood or not! Every so often, we get special packages and letters from our special "Grandma!" This time, it was a super duper surprise! We were literally packed and ready to leave for California, and I had the feeling to look at the front door, and there was the package! It would have been so lonely there the entire Christmas vacation!

Grace was SO excited to see that she had a package. She's gotten pretty good at opening the paper on presents too!
Here she is tearing into her first one! I wonder what it could be?
Aww, a baby!! She absolutely LOVES babies!! She gave her a kiss, and pushed on her plastic heart, which glows different colors for a few seconds! She now sleeps with it, and it entertains her until Mommy wakes up..and sometimes gets thrown over the crib side!
Another one for Grace?! I didn't get a picture of this one, but it's a princess with changeable clothes! For some reason, she REALLY likes chewing on this one, so she only gets to play with it when Mommy is watching!
And Mommy was so happy to see her gift! A pattern for Grace! That's a good gift for a sewing mama! Thank you so much Grandma Angie!

Amanda

Sledding Outside our Front Door!

12/21/11

I just can't get over that if I want to take Grace on a sled ride, I just go right out front!! She absolutely loved it, and would say "Broom, Broom!" over and over! Of course Mommy had to get into the pictures with her crazy outfit, but hey, it was comfy's day!

I like to super bundle her because I just never know how cold she is! So she was a marshmallow for this trip, but definitely worth it. It was FREEZING out there. Of course the snow quickly melted, and hasn't returned...so we're waiting on some more snow for more sledding!




A beautiful sledding day, with a beautiful light snowfall. What could make it better? Deep enough snow that MOMMY can sled with Grace!!


Amanda

Hair Cut

So Grace's hair has been cut. I don't have any before pictures because, well, because I just found out today that it's been cut. I was doing her hair this morning and noticed the difference. The hair was secretly thrown away and I wasn't told by the one person I figured would know, by 5 times experience, that the first hair cut is the absolute MOST IMPORTANT. At least it is to the mother, obviously. So now I only have the after picture, and no hair to put into her baby book. That sucks. I'm extremely disappointed, and wonder what else will change while I have to leave her at home to go to school.


Amanda

Finally time to Post

I can't believe I haven't gotten any time other than this to post. Little miss was up at 3-6 this morning with Daddy, so she's conked out in bed now! Little stinker getting up early for some reason. Anyways, I've got about 10 minutes before I have to leave for an appointment, so I thought I'd just mention that we're all alive and well. The snow fell the night after we got home but it's been melting since then. This weather is absolutely crazy, and definitely not good for next year. We need the snow build up!! But I don't have any control over it, so I'll just be thankful I can drive around still without slipping everywhere. I guess I better let everyone know of my schedule this year so they can have an understanding as to why it might be harder for me to post regularly, which is sad because I love to blog!!

Monday:
Grace to school 8:45-10:15 which means I'm at school at 8:45
Mommy at school 10:15-3
Grace speech 2:15 Daddy takes her
Family time 3-8:30
Homework 8:30-?

Tuesday:
Grace speech 10 am
Mommy Institute 12:45-1:45
Grace time 2-8:30
Homework!

Wednesday
Grace school 8:45-10:15
Mommy school 10:15-3
Grace OT 3:15
Family time 4-8:30
Homework

Thursday
Grace play date 9:15-11
Mommy homework time during nap
Grace time till 8:30

Friday
Grace pt
Mommy school 12:45-1:45
Grace time

I am trying to not do homework when Grace is up because she is really needy at this point, and doesn't like when I'm distracted with the computer. Of course, this makes things a lot more difficult, but I've got to try to spend as much time with her as I can so she doesn't feel left out.

I'm taking 6 classes, that's 15 units. That's A LOT. In one class, I have to read a novel a week. It's a children's lit class. That's insane, right? There's this book called Beauty, a Retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast. I have to read that and to a test and discussion board by the 7th, but really, for me it has to be by the 5th because we leave the 6th to get to Utah and stay overnight for her MRI on the 7th. So Brad rushed and bought it for me from the store so I could hopefully whiz through 325 pages. After starting my homework last night at 9 pm and finishing at 11:30 pm (Class hasn't even officially started yet! These were all the intro assignments for the online courses) I tried to read but kept falling asleep. I got 21 pages in...hm...I'm REALLY hoping I can do a solid 3 hours of reading today to get it done, and then do my exam.

So, class hasn't started and I'm already feeling the crunch. Being a mommy, and a housekeeper, and a wife, as well as a student is obviously going to be a tough thing. I'm going to try my hardest to keep my head above the water, and my number one priority is to not let it overwhelm me to where I'm stressed and taking it out on the family. Especially Grace. Prayers for more time will probably be numerous, and prayers of added attention as well! In one class alone, the child lit class, I'll be reading about 50 books. For one assignment already I had to read 9 different books and tell which one I liked the best and why. WOW. Thankfully I got that done and turned in last night. I have/had 13 assignments, from 3 online courses, all due by the 7th, and as of today...I have 3 left!! YES!!

Well, little miss is up and I better go wake Daddy because I have to jet off to an appointment at 9.

I'll try to keep up as best I can, and I still owe California pictures and posts.


Amanda

A Quick Post Late at Night

We are home safe from CA. We got in about 12:15 am and now I'm bushed and ready to hit the hay. Tomorrow we'll be buying a heater for our room for sure!!! It's FREEZING! 55 degrees when we walked in the door!

Hope I'll have some time in the next few days to do quite a few updates!

Amanda

Vacation update!

Well, I have time to put a bit of an update, so I guess I should! It's been a fun vacation so far, and I know it's going to end quickly, so I will do my best to make the best of it!

We got here Thursday Evening at 11 pm after leaving at 10 am, which means we made GREAT time! Grace did very well for the drive, played on Daddy's lap every so often to stretch her legs, and we all took turns driving so it went so much faster. Of course my turn was the shortest! The dark just plays tricks on my eyes...makes them close! Anywats. FSaturday we celebrated Christmas Eve with Ciara and her two girls, Allison and Andrea. Grace had a great time playing, and we went out to Olive Garden :) And the evenings were wonderful because I was with my grandparents!!! I am SO glad we are staying with them so every minute I don't have something to do means I get to be with my grandparents. We've played LOTS of games of Dice, which I LOVE to play! It's just never boring with Dado and Papa! Sunday we went to church, saw lots of friends but not all the ones I wanted to see, and just basked in the wonderfulness of being in our old ward. Then we came home and saw what Santa brought!!! There were so many fun gifts from Santa and the grandparents. Grace definitely made out very well!

Monday I had my friend Amanda come over with her two girls, and Ciara and her two girls came over as well, which meant we definitely had a full house for a few hours! I am so happy the girls got to play together!

Now today is Tuesday and pretty soon, Grace and I will be headed to Elk Grove to have lunch and go shopping with a very good friend of mine! Then after that I'll go visit my old work, and show Grace off to them all :) They will definitely be proud that she's walking. After that, we'll eat my yummy crock pot lasagna that I've got cooking for dinner! There's still one friend I'm really trying to get ahold of, but she must still be out of town.

We'll be leaving soon, sadly. But we have to get back and get ready for school coming up. I am just hoping the weather will keep being good so we don't have to cut our trip short.

I have lots of pictures, but I'm going to wait until we get home to post them so I can edit the red eye and everything. Can't wait to put them all up!


Amanda

Vacation

Well, I'm signing off until the New Year. We are leaving today for CA, and I'm oober excited about it!!!! I'm definitely ready for a change in weather. I don't know why ANYONE would want to live where it snows.

Until the New Year!



Amanda

Fun stuff!

Today was a very special day for Grace and I because we bought her first set of scriptures! I'm so excited! I know she's too young to use them, but I will write a love letter to her, as will her Daddy, and we will glue them to the flaps. I will also mark special verses as she and I read together, and as we do FHE and other things. Then she can have them as she goes to Sunbeams and so on! I had them embossed too..."Grace Hildreth (Next line) Mama's Girl" Of course she's mama's girl!! I didn't pick a scripture tote out for her because that's gonna be her pick at Deseret book once she gets old enough to carry them around with her. For now, they will just stay at home!

We also got some fun Christmas things. We bought a Santa head that hangs on the wall, and the fun thing about that is my grandma has the SAME thing! I always loved seeing hers hanging up, and now I can see it every year!

I also bought a sign that will hang in the house. I am really into decor and making the house look "homey" so that's what I'm trying to reach!

I also bought Grace a BEAUTIFUL quilt! A girl can never have too many quilts, right? I just figured she'd put them in her hope chest as she gets older and then take them with her when she moves out (and if she decides to live w/ me forever, I'll be happy!). Just kidding, but in all seriousness, the time starts now to collect for her hope chest. (We will build her one as she gets bigger, or she might decide to do that for her Young Womens project!).



Bread. I love baking bread. It makes the house smell so yummy! Tonight I'm making corn and bacon chowder, so I figured it would be fun to eat the chowder out of bread bowls! Of course the first two bowls I made are a shade darker than I'd liked, but the boys won't know the difference!

I guess that's it. I've packed our bags (mine and Grace's) for California (can't you tell I'm excited to go?!) and am going to start deep cleaning the house so when we get back, it's all fresh for us!

Amanda

Grace's Quiet Book

Shew, we have been out of town all weekend, so sorry there were no updates! Our missionary is home and we are happy he got here safe. The morning after he got home we headed to Montana to visit family, and shot back here by Sunday night so the teenager could go to school Monday morning! Other than the usual cleaning the entire house chore I have on Monday, I got to do some fun stuff!! I baked Chocolate chip/wheat/oatmeal cookies which are FABULOUS!! I also made Grace about a gallon of soy milk with our Vitamix! The normal dinner routine, and then all the laundry finished up just by Grace's bedtime so I could work on her quiet book!!! I'm so excited! I was hoping to have it done by the time we left for California, but I don't know if I can make it! I was so focused on it during Grace's nap time today I forgot about her water therapy today! Darnit! There's just too many things. That's ok though...one week missed won't hurt.

I absolutely love doing laundry, because I have SUCH a great helper! She pulls the clothes out of the washer and transfers to the dryer, can help push the door closed, I help her push the buttons, and when everything is done with their rounds, she helps unload to the basket or move the loads, over and over!! What a great little one I have! She also helps fold the laundry...well, she sits in the basket on top of the clothes and grunts and groans while trying to pull the laundry out from under herself to give to me! Silly girl! And then she really enjoyed dancing with her brother and sister to the Wii "Dance Party" game! It was so cute to watch her!

Alright, onto her quiet book pictures!

The "write" and mailbox go on opposite pages. The "write" will hold the paper/pencil and the mailbox will open to put the letter in. The sun will have velcro rays, and the fish bowl will have plastic over it so she can put the fish in and out.
Mr. Potato head...obvious. He will be velcro (which most will be unless otherwise stated) and the shapes are matching.
The owl has 5-7 different wings Grace can put on and off. I don't know whether it will be button or velcro though.
A purse that will be open to hold necklaces, pretend lipstick, bracelets, earrings, and more goodies! A button will open/close it.
Flower pot with button on/off flowers w/ matching color buttons. The stems will be sewed green.
Gumball machine with velcro gumballs, velcro ladybug spots, the brown square is the puzzle board, the garden with carrots and radishes is on the right that she pulls out and sticks in, and the stop light at the left bottom with velcro.
Stoplight again, the three puzzle sets, and the garden again.
The three puzzles for Grace to put together.

Dress GRACE!!! Interchangeable clothes that I think will be velcro but I don't know for sure. Might just by "lay on" so the velcro won't look weird on the body!

That's it for now. It's 10:30 pm and I'm exhausted, so time for a quick show before I hit the hay. Therapy tomorrow at 10 (speech).


Amanda

Good News

So, this post is about Grace's neurogenic bowel, so I'll try to keep it as clean as possible.

She's been diagnosed with neurogenic bowel, which means that she can't pass her bowels by herself. We were having to give her a laxative every day, and were told that it would be like that for the rest of her life.

Well, we got lucky!! We got SUCH a HUGE blessing from Heavenly Father!! Grace has been laxative free for 1 MONTH, and has been having bowel movements all by herself! Granted, it's not daily like doctors would like, but she's having them, and their aren't hard, and she's not struggling, and she's not getting horrible diaper rash anymore!!! I am so excited!!!

We've found the trick. If she's gone a couple days without having a movement, we have her sit in the tub with pretty warm water. Not like, "OUCH" water, but super comfy warm, and within 10 minutes she's able to relieve herself! It's definitely like...Heavenly Father knows we struggle with all her other abilities, and so we've gotten support on how to "cure" this one in a way!! And I'm SO thankful! I'd rather clean a bathtub then have to have little miss suffering w/ diaper rash because of the laxative!


Kisses on the forehead for Grace for a job well done, and thanks to Heavenly Father for blessing her little body.

What a beautiful life!

Amanda

Help at the Playground

We went to Arctic Circle for dinner, and it was so cute to see Grace playing in the play area! Well, cute AND aggravating. It was cute because there was another little girl about her age but was a little bit bigger, and the two were hanging out by the mouth of the slide. They would do their 2 yr old talk to each other (not really words but noises!) and the little girl wanted Grace to get up on the mouth of the slide. So Grace tried and tried, but it was just too high! So the little girl points again at the slide, which I'm assuming meant "turn around" because Grace did, and then the little girl bends down, grabs Grace around her thighs and LIFTS!!! She got Grace up there!!! You should have heard the two of them laughing when she got up there!! It was so cute, and the girl's mom and I were busting up. I would have cried had there not been so many people!


But then, of course, you have to have the sour apple kids. Grace was standing at the bottom of the climbing structure, minding her own business, and this little twirp of a girl came over and starting yelling at her. I gave the girl a chance to walk away, and when she didn't, I marched over there, all ready with my gruff voice to bark, "DON'T YELL AT HER" when she climbed up and was gone. Dangit. Then of course poor Grace's little face just fell and she balled. She definitely gets scared when people yell, doesn't understand it, and doesn't know to yell right back! My poor sweet spirited daughter! But she got over it after a few minutes, and the brat of a child went to back to her family, which of course was full of bratty people, including 3 other children that had NO manners. Totally figures. Grr...she still upsets me! I'm such a gruff momma bear!

All in all, a wonderful experience. That was a few days ago, and yesterday, we went again, and I was SO pleased to have Grace help me fill my soda! She LOVES pushing the button and watching the pop fill the cup! And when she went to play, she went ALL the way on the big kid side, through all the little tunnels that she's usually scared of, and down the kiddie slide by herself! Daddy was out there with her so I could finish my burger so I didn't get to see it but WOW! And she went down the big kid slide by herself, which was a feat in it's own. It had a 4 inch lip she had to climb up over to get into the slide, and she went face first...yikes. Daddy told me she probably won't do that again as she had the most scared face in the world and had to walk her hands down, rather fast, in order to keep from face planting! Silly girl!

I love watching her play in the play structures!! It's amazing to see her walking, crawling, stepping, and moving all around. What a blessing it is to have the ability to move like she does.
I definitely thank our Heavenly Father for it, because it could have been so much worse.


Amanda