Getting to Utah for Grace's Surgery

06/13/2012

Well the day came that I was dreading.  I didn't want Grace to go through another surgery, especially on her eyes.  Can you just imagine what it would feel like to have stitches in your eyes?

 We are in the basement checking out the toys they had.  They don't have very many other than blocks, so I'm thinking about starting a toy run so that I can get some toys for the Ronald McDonald house.  It's sad how few toys they have there.

 I know she's totally blanched out, but this fish tank she absolutely LOVES to visit.  She will point at all the fish, try to touch the snails through the glass, and Daddy loves helping her feed them.

 This is "Eliza's Corner."  There are a bunch of books, but we don't read them because they are paper pages, rather than hard books.

 Daddy was so tired!!

 Grace was having so much fun checking herself out in the reflection.  It was so cute!!!  She actually climbed up on the table and was crawling around on it, but I didn't want to get a picture of her doing something naughty!

 SO CUTE!  She loves having fun with her reflection.

 She just didn't want to let Daddy lay all by himself, so of course she had to join in!

See her little top lip sucked in?  This is what her new smile looks like!  She's so funny how she expresses herself.

So that's that day before her surgery.  She has absolutely no idea whats going on, Mommy's stomach is in knots because she knows what's coming, and Daddy is exhausted from a four hour drive that Mommy slept through.

Amanda

Grace's Equine Therapy

I'm so excited that I was able to take Grace to her first equine experience!!  I was definitely thrilled, and she rode her horse like she'd ridden all her life!!  She wasn't scared at all.

 Here's Grace waiting with her occupational therapist, Jeff.

 Of course you have to say hello to your horsie!This was so cute because she wasn't scared at all.  She tried to hug the horse, but it moved and Jeff had to pull her back.

 Looking up at Daddy SO EXCITED that she gets to ride the horse!  We talked about it all the way over, and she did her super tense up hug to herself and then her scream.

 Getting on the horsie, ready to go!  She wasn't even scared one little bit!  I knew my horse love would be in my blood, and transferred to her!

Off she goes, making a huge loop around the arena.

 She's finishing her loop, and her friend is walking by doing the weaving poles.

 Look at all the pretty horses!

 Working on sitting sideways.  She did AWESOME this way, and it needs a lot more balance so I'm glad she didn't get scared from not having full control.

 Throwing her ball while sitting sideways.  She did great with this!  She had to reach for the ball with two hands, which would make her really uncomfortable and unbalanced, but she dealt with it so well!

 She's hanging out while her therapist goes and gets some more balls for her to throw, because one just wasn't enough for her.

 It was so cute watching her throw the balls because she'd always raise it up super high above her head and say, "two, three, two, NINE!!!"  And then off it goes!

 Side sitting while weaving the poles.  This one took tons of balance practice, but she still, as always, did great!

 She's finished the poles and is ready for the next thing.

 Repositioning to work on the next activity.

 Some more ball throwing!  I told you she loved throwing balls!

 Sitting forward and doing some waling to relax all the muscles she was using with side sitting.

 Waiting for her OT again to get some more activities for her.  I LOVED when she would stop close so I could hear her laughter and see her look at me with a huge smile, like the one below.

 HUGE SMILE!!!  Also, when she was ready to go, she had to say, "Go Horse."  It took her a while, but she fist pumps into the air, and says, "do, orse!"  IT"S SO CUTE!!!

 Now sitting backwards.  She loved this one because she got to draw on the horse's rump!

 Waiting for her therapist!

 And OFF SHE GOES!!!!

 Pretend falling off.  She kept leaning to the side really far, and so he let her go to the side to see if that was what she wanted, which it was.

 This was the most nerve racking one for her only because laying on her tummy sets her off balance on a bumpy horse.  But after a minute she did fine, and worked hard on the next activity.

 And we are all done for the day, and she did GREAT!!!  It's all done time until next week :)

 And what is the first thing she went for after riding?  ROCKS!!!!!

There's my little cowgirl.  My light and my life.  I love you bunches my little munchkin.  Forever.

Amanda

Equine Therapy!

We start horseback therapy tomorrow at 8 am sharp!  I'm super excited, and you better know that there's going to be a lot of pictures. If there are no helmets that fit her, I will be contacting an organization that makes helmets for Microcephaly kids, and I'm hoping insurance will cover the cost!  So heads up for tomorrow!

Amanda

GRACE'S FIRST VOLUME OF HER LIFE!

Today we received Grace's first volume of her life in the mail.  I can't believe it came so fast.  So this is about the middle of 2009-December 31, 2011.  I am so excited to have her book here, and can't wait to add to it every two years with more volumes!

Amanda

Random Grace Pictures

06/07/12

I just love when we can get random pictures of Grace :)  It's just that I want to catch her in every moment of her day and her life.

 Isn't she just so darn cute?  I love this kid no matter how messy her clothes are, or as you can see below, how goofy her face looks!

 I love you Grace!!

Amanda

A Nice Drive, Funny Pictures, and Trampoline!

05/24/12

This was an especially fun day because we went to a river close to us and took some cute pictures, but also some SUPER FUNNY pictures that I'm so embarrassed to show, but will anyways.  :)  Enjoy!  Oh, and by the way, this is an incredibly long post with a TON of pictures!! 

 We're waiting for therapy.  Grace was going without a nap, so of course she's on edge again.  That's why she has my phone.  The only way she gets the phone is if she's acting so crazy that it stresses me out :)

 Aw, how sweet.  Laying on the balls.

On our way on a nice long drive.  We were going to go to a lake, but instead we drove around looking at the beautiful scenery.  My mom loved all the scenery because in California, there are tons of buildings, smog, and too many people.

Here's Miss Cheesy Grace!

 Mom and Daughter.  We ended up at a river, where some goofy pictures came to play!

 We used to do this when we were younger, and there it is again :)

 Oh yeah!  Brad should have been in the middle of us so we could have been 007!

 Another cute one :)  I really like this one because of the background, and then the beautiful rocks we were leaning on as well.

 Oh, poor mom...so short!  It's ok mom, I'm just teasing you!

 And there she is all by herself.  This is one of the ones that will be in Grace's scrapbook.

 Show some spunk...oh yeah!!!  There's some attitude you have in there!

 Mmmmhmmm!  That's all I can say!

 Check out them lips!

 Awww, so cute!  Kisses for my honey!

 Mmm, so cute :) 

 Some more attitude from mom...Me Ma.

 And she did NOT like the cold grass.  She doesn't have her shoes on because she yanked them off in the truck and I was too lazy to put them back on.  Poor girly.

 And then all of a sudden???  I found a GEOCACHE!!!  These are left around by people with lists in them for people to sign as they find them.  They leave the coordinates on the website for geocache, and I'm just so excited that we fould one without even trying!!

 Here are our signatures!

 And then trampoline time!  I was worried about doing this with my mom because I know she has vertigo, and I didn't want her to get hurt either!  We got some air, oh yeah!

 This one above is where I tried to launch her, but instead she fell and my legs buckled!

 There she goes.  Getting some balance, some air, and just gotta keep those arms out just in case!

 And Mommy is showing off.  I did the stand, fall to the back and pop back up trick.  Simple for me in comparison to what I used to do when I was a kid, but this is all for now. 

Grace was NOT happy about Me Ma packing up to go.  I wasn't happy about it either, but the time had to end.

And I know that this isn't the same date, but I just had to show my pretty mama.  Through so much in life, and she's still as beautiful as she can ever be.

Amanda