HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Well, one year ago today at this exact time actually ( It's about 10:00pm) my water broke. I was moved from antepartum to labor and delivery and my labor began. And just 16 short (ha!) hours of labor and one hour of pushing later the beautiful Gracianna Patricia was born! It is so hard to believe it's already been a year. And yet we have gone through a lot this year. She was in the NICU for 5 days, where she was poked more times than I care to remember. At Christmas, she was "failure to thrive".. and once again poked more times that I could stand to watch ( but of course did....). Then there was the neurofibromatosis thing... which now isn't as scary to me..... but still a little..... But look at her... she is definitely thriving at a whopping 23 pounds! She is doing so well with her weight that I pulled a muscle in my back lifting my little sugar plum! She has travelled to Texas three times! She is doing well developmentally... at least I think so! She is soooo verbal, not that surprising considering who she spends most of her time with : ) And she is HAPPY! When I was pregnant that's all I really wanted was for her to be happy and healthy. And she is.... In one year, she has had one bad cold accompanied by an ear infection and one VERY mild cold that lasted two days. She has an awesome immune system, because I was sick quite a bit and she caught nothing from me! I am just so proud of her and so in love with her! Okay, enough gushing... although I could go on and on....















I would just like to say that yes that is a picture of her kissing the vacuum. She makes it nearly impossible to vacuum lately. She is not scared of it at all but goes straight for it wanted to kiss it, climb on it, or just sit right in front of it. Making it very difficult to actually do anything with it! It's just so funny! She loves books and being read to... which I take as a very good sign. And she loves to music and to dance. She will actually cry in the car if you turn the radio off. As soon as you turn it back on, she's fine..... she really is developing such a strong personality.















After next weekend Gracie will have had 4 celebrations for her first birthday! She is one loved little girl! Her first party, at my dad's, was a couple of weeks ago... and Gracie was probably the most tired I have ever seen her. But we still had a lot of fun and she knew just what to do with her cake! Later that week we had a small birthday dinner with Gma Sharon and Gpa Pierre. And today we had a little birthday dinner with her dad, her Grandma Pat, and her Aunt Stacey and Aunt Michelle. She had so much fun! Next weekend my mom will have a little party for her too ( I'll make sure to post pictures.. I know I've been bad about it lately!)! If only she knew how lucky of a little girl she is to have so many people that love her!



Gracie still really enjoys taking her bath. And now loves to try to "catch" the running water. She is absolutely fascinated by it. She's so funny about getting out of the tub too. She'll pull her little leg up and over the side of the tub! As if to say, " C'mon mom, I'm DONE!". She took her first steps earlier this week. She doesn't do it much and can only go about three steps at a time... but it's progress! I just REALLY have to coax her.

She is really doing well feeding herself. Though some have said she makes too big of a mess (Yes, you know who you are). But I figure that's all part of the learning process. And I don't mind cleaning up the mess. So it works for us, and at times it is pretty hilarious.

And Miss Gracianna has a thing for throwing her hands up to her head. She'll put one up to the side of her head everytime I say "Aw, man!"She does it on her own at the funniest and often very appropriate times. She really is becoming quite the character.

We went to the neurologist this week. He didn't really say anything new, just that she seems like she is doing very well so far. It was a pretty optimistic visit. He said that if she isn't diagnosed by the time she's six, we'll do an MRI. We just have to see the geneticist when she's two and keep seeing the opthamologist once a year to keep an eye on it. So I'm feeling pretty optimistic about it all.































Just the cutest one year old EVER! And no, i'm not bias... of course not!

Fun, Fun, Fun!!

Okay, so we're back from Texas. Gracie is turned 11 months a week ago! And she had sooo much fun with her cousins! Leanna and Emily both fed her. Emily was really into playing with Gracie! Leanna was not so sure about her though. She would yell at her to go away and was very possesive of anything Gracie may have been going after. When asked if she like Gracie, you were given a firm "No!". But by the time we left Leanna was saying she liked Gracie.

Alyssa loved helping out with Gracie too, she even babysat her a little! We went to the zoo, went on the train, went to the beach at the zoo, went to Sea World ( including the water park) and went swimming at Cricket's. Gracie is like my lil fish. She really seemed to enjoy the water park at Sea World. And she is really starting to notice animals at the zoo ( and Sea World). But most of all she just really loved having her cousins to play with!

She's still not walking, but she is doing so well with feeding herself ( other than her cereal and yogurt).

I Know, I Know....

Okay.... So I'll admit I have been slacking on the blogging.... It has just been a pretty boring month!! Gracie is still crawling and cruising... No first steps quite yet. But I don't think it will be long. She has four teeth now, two for the top and two for the bottom. I have been trying to get a good picture of her top teeth but she won't cooperate!
She started her Kindermusic class and loves it. She loves being around the other kids. She is the youngest one there ( as am I!). She is super friendly and just crawls up to all the other moms and will start climbing on them. She has no stranger anxiety to speak of, what so ever! She weighed 23 lbs at her last doctor visit! So she is off formula already and just drinking milk. Soo much cheaper! She also eats mainly all table food with a few exceptions like her cereal before bed and in the morning.
She is so funny with her toy "box" lately. She pulls the whole thing down and pulls almost EVERY single toy out. It's so funny. She crawls into it to get ALL the toys out! Well, we leave for Texas tomorrow and will surely have lots of things to write about when we get back. Not to mention good pictures!

My First 4th of July!!

Well, we didn't do much during the day but we had a very fun evening! Gracie took an early evening nap and then we walked to the park for fireworks! Unfortunately, I was unaware dusk was as late as it is so we were kinda early! There were tons of people there though and Gracie didn't seem to mind the wait at all. In fact, when we first got there before we got a spot she started kicking and laughing with excitement about all the activity and people. And then she had fun just crawling all over me and the blanket! The picture above was taken before the fireworks started...
















I was nervous that Gracie may get scared by the loud noise of the fireworks. But fortunately, she didn't mind at all! The above picture on the top left was taken right when the fireworks started. She just layed back in my lap and took it all in. They must have made her nervous though because she suddenly stood up, turned around and clutched on to me watching the fireworks over her shoulder. So I put her up on my knee, gave her her blanket and wrapped my arms tight around her and she was happy once more. There were times when I looked at her where she just had these wide eyes and her mouth hanging open! The fireworks kept her attention for an amazing 20 minutes ( which is an extremely long time for something she is only watching to keep her attention!) Then she got distracted by a water bottle, but she did watch the finale! All and all a great first 4th of July for Gracie I think!

Cruising

It is hard to believe Gracie is already 10 months old! And how many new things she has learned to do in such a short amount of time. She has really started cruisin along. She can climb a couple steps ( though once there she has no clue how to get back down!). She drinks well from a sippy cup and is pretty good at self feeding. She is ALL over the place. She loves dogs and is fairly gentle with them. And a couple days ago she started saying mama ( though not really in relation to me... but she refused to make the mmm sound until now!) And she's hilarious playing peek a boo . Yesterday she even ducked behind my shoulder playing. We don't have much news to share but just wanted to share some pics of her playing with the doggy and playing peek-a-boo with mommy. ( I had to include a pout picture in there b/c she is always smiling so much... variety!)

Another Day at the Zoo

So we tried out the zoo again yesterday and it was by far the most fun we have had there! Gracie was actually interested in a few of the animals, though still not that many of them! She was especially intrigued by the kangaroo exhibit. They were only a few feet from us and were just the neatest. Gracie was kicking her legs and smacking the tray on her stroller with excitement!

She had so much fun and saw so many new things. She is really interested in peacocks. And looked a little puzzled when we went into the butterfly house. She even got a little ice cream! And by the end of the day she had of course, fallen fast asleep.


On other news, she has started eating a little bit of table food. And she LOVES cheese! She shovels it into her mouth faster than you can put it on her tray! She's not too interested in pasta, but loves any kind of bread. (But certainly not more than she loves cheese!)
Yesterday she started clapping!!! And last night she started "cruising!", which (for those of you who may not know) means she started walking around holding onto the furniture! Which is also the step right before walking!!! Everything is happening so fast and my baby is getting so big!

Crawling!!!

Okay.... so early last week Gracie was sitting on the other side of the apartment from the bathroom playing in her toy bin. I went in the bathroom to brush my teeth ( which probably only took a minute or two ) , came out and literally tripped over Gracie. Yes, she decided she had had enough of being in only one spot and decided she was ready to crawl! And now she is crawling all over. She can even crawl up a couple of steps! It is so amazing how she went from being content to sit in one spot for long periods of time to just moving all over. She didn't even give me any of the signs that she was ready like th physical therapist that evaluated her said she would have. She's my little genious who just enjoys surprising us!

So, in the past few weeks we have had multiple evaluations from the school district. Because if Gracianna is diagnosed with the neurofibromatosis, it is likely that she may have learning disabilities. So we have had a special ed. teacher, a physical therapist, and a school psychologist come to evaluate her. And all said she is looking pretty good. They keep calling her a preemie though and are going by her " adjusted age" which is SO irritating to me because she was obviously full term- my OB was just an idiot!! But for her "adjusted age" she is dong well and she is still doing alright for her chronological age. Which is very good news! They will come back out in the fall to re-evaluate her and then there will be a meeting to decide where we go from there. If things continue to progress as they have been then they will just keep on eye on how she is doing but she won't have to be in the program. We will be going to see the neurologist again soon as well... I know it's still so early but I am really hoping that she is just a really birthmark-y kid and will not develop any other symptoms!

Her hair is getting so crazy. And the hair on the back of her head is finally starting to grow in! Her hair is super curly (surprise, surprise!) and it's funny because the hair on the top of her head is like mine but in the back it's like her dad's! She has "two-tone" hair! It'll be interesting how it turns out!

I signed her up for Kindermusic sign and sing class this summer! I am so excited to see her interact with a group of kids in a setting like that! And we have planned another trip to visit her cousins! This is going to be such a fun summer for her!

All Over the Place

It has been so interesting checking on my sleeping Gracie lately. She keeps getting into variations of the weirdest position! Besides the fact that now that she is all over the crib!
Gracie is really starting to move all over. Of course she isn't crawling around the conventional way... but she has her own unique style of getting around! She loves crowds of people and is just so social!

Here is a picture of her playing with her friend......

She gets along so well with other babies. And is so happy just to get to be around them. She studies them and then tries so hard to interact with them!

And here is just the cutest picture of her in just about the strangest tub position!

A Whole New Baby!!!

Well, it has been an extremely eventful long weekend. Saturday morning in a matter of an hour, Gracie figured out how to go from her belly to sitting and how to really pull herself to standing-- she was doing it before but only if I helped a little!! BUt she was sitting in her crib playing while I picked up her room and grabbed the bars and pulled herself up. She looked so proud! ( HEr crib did get lowered two rungs by the end of the day though! I'm not taking any chances!) And ever since, she is like a whole new baby. She is all over the place. She may not be crawling, but she sure is starting to climb and scoot more. She is starting to make more and more sounds as well. It is almost like she has all of a sudden really started developing a much stronger
personality.





She went swimming for a first and second time as well. I think she's going to be my little fish! She seems to feel the most secure and have the most fun though if you are on the steps and she can feel a bottom. But she loves to splash around. She also took her first shower with her mommy and loved it. I can't help thinking that maybe she was just excited to see what it is that happens behind that shower curtain. She always sees me go back there but probably didn't really know what I was doing. Maybe not, but it's funny to think about!


















I am really working on clapping with her too. I clap everytime she goes from her belly to sitting or stands... or really any kind of accomplishment. I clap and cheer. And slowly but surely she is starting to try. Right now she mainly uses one hand to clap and closed fist, but she is getting the idea. Besides, the proud look she gets makes it near impossible not to do it!! I'm so proud of her!! And she's got two little teeth half sprouted on the bottom! She is starting to used her little jaws to mash things when eating . So, I've been giving her some table food here and there. And she's drinking out of her sippy cup splendidly! Ahhhh, my baby is changing sooo much!!!

Stuck and Standing

Gracie is finally getting her first tooth!! It is very exciting... she does not seem to really be in any pain. And she seems to be handling it very well....

She is getting to be extremely social and is thoroughly enjoying the warm weather. Our schedule has been a lot busier and she has been adapting beautifully.

She is holding her own bottle now too! Which actually makes being so busy a lot easier. I can now give her the bottle in the car when we are on the go....
Her newest problem: She keeps getting her poor little legs stuck in the bars of her crib! She has woken me up a few times in the night to be freed from the bars.

But in this particular picture the only reason I even discovered her like this was because I was just peeking in on her... She wasn't even complaining! In fact, when I walked in, it looked as though she was completely defeated. She had actually fallen asleep stuck like this, lying on top of her blanket. Poor Gracianna.....

Her biggest new achievement: standing.

She was standing before but now she is starting to pull herself up to standing. She is also able to remain standing for a considerable amount of time... sometimes even daring to go one handed! (Such a daredevil!)

I'm beginning to think we may skip crawling altogether and go straight to walking. She does walk to me if supported. She doesn't really want much to do with being on her belly.... I guess we'll just have to wait and see what she ends up doing!

Scootchie Scootch

Well, my little peanut has begun scootching all over the place. She puts her little bum up in the air holds herself on her arms and inches forward. It's pretty darn cute if I do say myself.

She has also started waving "bye-bye"! And is SOOO vocal. I think she will be talking our ears off (just like her mom!).

She's been loving the nicer weather. We went to the zoo again and she stayed awake this time! She wasn't too interested in the animals. She merely glanced at the giraffes and rhinoceros'. But there was a peacock walking down the sidewalk and she couldn't take her eyes off of it. I am determined to have her love the zoo as much as I do by the end of the summer!
She is super interested in standing. She likes to stand now as much as possible. She can't quite pull herself to standing yet. But boy, does she try! She keeps climbing all over me in the quest to get herself to standing. So I am figuring it won't be long! She is getting so much personality. She's just so funny!