A Real Update

I can't even count the number of times I have started to write a real update on Grace and then either said forget it and gave up or just posted a picture.  I'm pretty sure that my sister and maybe 1 friend are the only ones who read the blog still but I like having a place to write down milestones and events etc.  It's kind of like a virtual journal, even if it's not as detailed as I would like. 

So, overall, things are going really well for us.  We were having a rough go of it several weeks back and I think a lot of it had to do with Grace not having enough time with me.  So after a lot of soul searching and a long talk with co-workers and my very supportive boss, I switched to a new work schedule.  I am still full time but I am now working 4 extended days and I have Thursdays off.  I started the new schedule three weeks ago and I think it's working out great.  Grace seems to do fine Monday through Wednesday, but come Thursday and Friday we had more tantrums, more clinginess when I bring her to my sisters and more sobbing and holding onto my leg for dear life.  She's generally fine within 15-20 minutes of my leaving but when I got home she was even more clingy and wouldn't let me out of her sight.  When I was figuring out what day to take, Thursday worked out best work wise but I also thought it might be a nice break in the week.  So far it's worked like a charm but we'll hope it keeps up.  I signed us up for a music class at the local boys club and it's been great. She loved it and was dancing and singing and clapping.  The teacher started singing Old MacDonald and she looked at me and said, "mom, he knows dis song. I know it too!" 

It's amazing how fast she's growing up. She is really playing well independently and it's so fun to watch her.  A couple of days ago she received her first two barbie dolls from a dear friend of mine.  She got Princess Tianna and an African Disney Fairy, whose name I don't recall because I forgot to look again before I threw out the box.  She will sit on the coach and play with them and come up with this little dialog.  She loves those barbies.  The fairy came with butterfly wings and she when she saw that she said, "hey mom, I never my whole life have a barbie with butterfly wings.  This soooo Awesome!"

We're really looking forward to Christmas.  I am off from today until January 3rd so I am really looking forward to the extra time together.  She has really enjoyed just about everything involved with the Christmas season.  Our tree has been up since Thanksgiving but every time I turn on the tree lights she says, "oh, mom, that's soooo amazing!" She is excited for Santa to bring toys but if you ask if Santa is coming to her house she says "Oh nonono! Him no come my house!" I guess she figures he'll just leave the toys at the door.  Everything is just so much more fun with her.  It's really fun to look at things again from a two year old perspective.  Snow globes can be magical, decorating Christmas cookies with cousins is funny and messy and a treat, every Christmas light display is met with wonder and amazement, no matter how many times we see them.

 I leave you with some recent holiday pictures that we took. She was in a great mood and we got some fantastic photos.


Gracie and I wish you and your families a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year!

Two Years

Two years ago today Grace and I landed at Logan Airport as a family of two.  It was one of my best days ever.  After years of  and waiting and agonizing, my dream of being a mother finally came true.  Now truth be told, it's not always easy. The terrible two's have been terrible.  The tantrum's seem to be subsiding now that her language has exploded but I'm hoping the three's bring a new calmness to our lives. We've had our ups and downs but the ups outweigh the downs by leaps and bounds.  She's an amazing child.  She is smart and observant and rarely misses a thing.  She's a little shy and it takes her awhile to warm up but she is loving and affectionate and funny.  Her newest thing is to tell knock knock jokes. Of course, all the punch lines these days seem to be " you have a potato in your head" so I think we'll have to hold off on the comedy tour for awhile. She has just amazed me at how resilient and loving and strong and sassy and stubborn she is.  I can never seem to come up with adequate words to express how much I love her and how lucky I feel to be her mother.

It's amazing to look back and see the difference in two just two years.  My baby is no longer a baby.  She is 100% little girl.
 
Our family day falls on Monday and I can't take the day off so we will spend the evening eating Spaghetti, garlic bread, broccoli and the special Christmas cupcakes we picked out at the bakery.  We will also have our gift tradition of two ornaments and one of the gifts I brought back from Ethiopia.  Sounds like the perfect way to end a day.

December 2009



December 2010



December 2011



Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Halloween

Gracie was Uniqua from the backyardigans.  She had a blast running up and down the street yelling Happy Halloween.  We hope your Halloween was filled with more treats than tricks!

Gracie's arm seems to be healing well.  We went for a second follow up yesterday and it seems to be healing the way they would like it to.  We go back the week after next but it seems like she won't need surgery which is great.  She's really been a trooper about the whole thing. She has figured out how to do everything she did before, she just does it a bit differently.  And she loves having people sign her cast.

Since her cast is waterproof we were still able to take swim lessons.  We're three weeks in and truth be told, she doesn't really seem to like it.  She loves being in the water and playing with me but she's not so into the doing what the class is doing thing.  That's not really surprising as she's incredibly headstrong but I guess I was hoping that something would take over her body and she would become incredibly compliant in this one aspect.  I know, I'm insane but a girl can dream.  She isn't disruptive, she's just afraid to do some of the things and then just refuses to do a few more.  For instance, she is afraid to be on her belly and kick because she is afraid I will let go.  That I can understand.  She already knows how to blow bubbles in the water but she just won't do it.  That I don't get.  Anyway, I'm enjoying it even is she isn't.

I took last Friday off and one of our errands for the day was to go to her hair salon for more hair products.  When we go I always ask them to look at her hair to make sure I'm using the right products and to make sure it's healthy.  They said it looked great but she needed a trim and they could do it right there.  I panicked for a second because when we had her hair braided over the summer it took a year off of all of our lives and that was with preparing her for two days before it happened.  There was no prep time for this one but turns out, that might have been for the best.  She sat on my lap and except for one small whimper she let them cut it without any screaming or crying.  It looks fantastic!  It was her first hair cut and it they took a lot off but she still has a ton of hair and it has such a nice shape to it.  I have been loving having her wear it natural.  It just goes to show you have much she can mature in a just a couple of months. 

Before Haircut

After Haircut

Her transition to her big girl bed went great.  I got her up from one nap and found her asleep in her time out chair inside her closet (nope, no clue why that seemed like a good spot for a siesta) but other than that it's been going pretty well. The only real annoyance is that she has discovered that her cast makes a nice loud noise if she bangs it on the wall next to her bed.  That wall of course is on the other side of my bed so that's a pleasant sound to wake up to at 5:00a.m.  I thought I fixed the problem by pulling her bed away from the wall so she couldn't reach the wall.  Then this morning I heard the banging again and I went in her room and she was sitting on the floor between the wall and her bed knocking her cast on it.  So it's back to the drawing board for me. 

My aunt and uncle from Arkansas were visiting this past week and one of my cousins had a bunch of us over so we could see them.  I was a little nervous since Grace can get overwhelmed in bigger groups, especially if she doesn't know everyone well.  It was at my cousin Erin's house and we see her and her kids fairly often and Meghan and Jake were there too so I was hopeful but she did better than I expected.  She stuck next to me for a few minutes and then she was off to play with the cousins.  She had a blast!  She would check back with me every once in a while but she was really at ease and I was able to visit with family so it was a win win for both of us.  She had met most of the family before but only once or twice but she handled it all really well.  It's nice to see that new places and situations are becoming easier for her.  I love that she looks around to make sure she knows where home base is but that she feels safe enough to move around a bit.  She's really come so far. 

All in all things have been going great.  We did some apple picking a couple of weeks ago, have had some birthday parties and are just enjoying the fall.

 

Big Giant Owie

We've been pretty lucky so far with Gracie's health.  A couple of ear infections early on, a small cold here and there but that was about all until....today.  Today Gracie broke her elbow.

I got a call from my sister about 10:00 this morning letting me know that Gracie fell off the couch.  Usually pretty harmless but this time she kept saying her arm hurt and when my sister tried to touch it she screamed bloody blue murder.  She waited a couple of minutes to see if the shock would wear off but it became clear that she was hurt.  She thought maybe her shoulder was dislocated but by the time we met up at the pediatrician's office a short time later she was pretty sure it was her left elbow.  They sent us down for X-Rays and man, that was traumatic.  She was in so much pain and they made me hold her arm out straight so they could get a good picture and the look on her face just said, Really, mom, you're helping them make this thing hurt? I felt like a criminal but it had to be done.  They sent us back upstairs to the pediatricians and they told me she broke her elbow.  My poor sister burst into tears.  She felt terrible but really, it was an accident.  It could easily have been on my watch.  So they sent us off and we went home for a bit and then off to the orthopedist where we spent the next two hours.  I was fine for the most part until we saw the doctor and she told me she wanted to get another X-ray because the angle they had on the previous one led her to think she might need surgery.  Well I just about lost it.  It took everything I had not to break into tears.  Luckily she doesn't need surgery at least at this juncture but she might.  I guess they will know for sure in a couple of weeks but I am hoping for the best. 

After the new X-Ray we got prepared to have the cast put on. Gracie chose Orange as it's the color of Tasha from the Backyardigan's dress and her favorite flavor of jello. And no, I'm not making this up. I chose a waterproof cast for my sanity. She screamed for the first couple of minutes but once they put it back into position she started to feel better and stopped fighting them. All in all, she was a trooper. And she is rocking that orange cast. Her cousins have already signed it. She is feeling much better and I think I am too. Man, seeing your child hurt is the worst. I just wish I could have waived my wand and made it all better. Instead, she ended up with an orange cast, a bunch of stickers and a chocolate milk.

Big Girl Bed

Tonight we made the big leap from the beloved crib to the "Big Girl" toddler bed.  I have to say, it was a little emotional for me and I wasn't expecting that.  I was taking off the bumper pads and the bed skirt and it was hard to believe that just about two years ago I was putting those bumpers on in anticipation of the baby girl who would sleep in that crib.  It was such a happy time and it feels like it was just 5 minutes ago.  But here we are two years later and she is no longer that tiny baby.  She's a "Big Gurl" as she tells me daily. 

To be honest, I could have left her in the crib, probably until college, and she would have been happy as a clam.  She loves her crib and she's never even attempted to climb out.  But cousin Jakey has grown out of the toddler bed and into a twin bed and since his old bed was available now seemed like a good time to switch.  I talked it up for a couple of days but she didn't quite understand.  When I told her she was going to have Jakey's bed she said, "yes, I share Jakey bed, I talka him at nigh nigh".  Boy was she unhappy to learn that Jakey did not come with the new bed.  So we took down the old crib tonight and she cried for a couple of minutes but then we set the new bed up and added her blankets and "Big Gurl Pee-low(Pillow)".  When I put her to bed she complained for a minute but I haven't heard a peep yet.  We'll see where she is when I go get her in the morning.  There is a part of me that is nervous about her being more mobile at night but this is part of life. My punkin sure is growing up fast!

Two Years Ago Today

I saw this face for the very first time.

Everyone that I had talked to that had received a referral told me that the call always seems to come when you least expect it.  I thought that was impossible because I felt like I was expecting it just about every day for months.  But when it actually happened, it was a complete surprise.  As I posted here I really was not prepared for the call on that day.  I knew it was coming soon but it was a shock when it actually happened.  I remember it as if it just happened instead of two years ago.  After I got all the details from my caseworker and learned that she was a 4 month old, tiny baby girl, I went directly to my e-mail to look for the referral e-mail and sure enough, there it was.  I took a big breath and clicked on the first picture attachment and could not believe that after months of paperwork and 14 months on the wait list, I was finally looking at my child.  She was stunning.  I never heard of anyone else receiving a referral of an infant who had so much hair that they could put it in ponytails!  I remember looking at her and thinking, yes, you are exactly who I was waiting for and yet, I had no idea until I saw her picture.  It's the first time I really believed in love at first sight.

Fast forward two years and here is how that tiny baby has changed.

She is smart, sassy, stubborn,dramatic,sweet,loving,independent and the joy of my life.  And I thank my lucky stars each night that I get to be her mommy!

Braids

Today Gracie got braids, real braids, not the ones mommy does, or at least tries to do.  The end product...delightful.  The road to getting there...paved with disaster.  She was great while we waited and kept talking about getting her hair done and looking at the ladies in the salon.  Then the second the stylist touched her hair is was like bride of chucky replaced my beautiful daughter.  She screamed like they were pouring acid on her and not just combing the hair. I tried every trick I had.  I brought an old cell phone for her to play with.  That worked for a couple minutes.  Well, long enough for her to pretend she was calling her grandfather to tell him she was "ready a  go!" I tried a little hand held video game and that worked for a minute.  I tried the game she loves where we sing a song but I mess up the words and she corrects me.  I tried a lollipop which was a bad idea.  It was great at first but then she got a second wind and her lollipop hand was flailing all over and she covered herself, and my hair in it. I tried promising her a chocolate milk on the way home if she stopped crying.  I tried talking about every toy we would play with when we got home.  Again, it distracted her for a second and then she was worse.  Finally, I held her in a bear hug facing me, I hummed to her and about 9 minutes before it was done she surrendered.  In hindsight, I should have waited until she was closer to three.  In my mind, the prize was getting the hair braided so we 'd have a couple of weeks of not fighting every morning over the hair.  Unfortunately, I didn't foresee that the prize would be so hard fought for. She was so upset and while I love the braids, and it will make our lives easier, it wasn't worth the panic it caused her. As soon as it was done I stood up to go pay and she saw a glance of herself in the mirror and said "oh Mumma, Look a me! Look a me! Gracie have braids, Gracie nice braids".  If only she could have processed this earlier on in the appointment.  So while I'm still traumatized by it, she is delighted with the final product.  When we saw my sister she walked up to her and did a little dance and sang, I love my hair, I love my hair, just like the little girl in the Sesame Street Clip. She loves it s much that she agreed to wear her sleep cap to keep her braids pretty, which is a small miracle.  I felt so badly about how hard it was for the stylist that I gave her a 45% tip.  I figured that will at least help cover some of her future hearing damage. 

I know she's skittish about the hair, I just thought she would cry for a minute and then we'd be on our way. I actually felt pretty badly when we first left.  I felt like I put my need not to fight over hair over her anxiety.  I didn't set out to do that but I obviously miscalculated what she was ready for.  And now I learn from it. 

Here are the before and afters:

While she didn't stop screaming, she still got the chocolate milk and a victory bagel.  To be honest, we both needed the treat for having survived it!

Things about Gracie

I know that Gracie is getting taller.  What I didn't consider is that would mean she would now be able to reach things that can cause some extra work for mommy.  On Saturday I spent an hour and a half looking for my phone charger.  It had been on the counter in the hallway where I always keep it and I thought it was far enough out of reach.  Gracie is fascinated by it so I was pretty sure she played a part in the great phone cord disappearance of 2011.  I finally gave up and resigned myself to getting a new charger but when I talked to my dad that evening he suggested I look in her toy box.  I did and it wasn't there but then I thought, could she had hidden it under her crib?  Of course, the answer was yes!  There it was all the way against the wall.  She crawled under and got it and I said Gracie did you hide mommy's phone charger?  She said "yes, I naughty?"  I said yes, a little bit!  Then about an hour later she was playing in her room as she often does and I walked into the living room.  It was quiet for about 3 minutes and I went back in to check on her (her room is right off the living room) and she was rubbing something into her little princess chair.  I touched her hands and they were sticky.  I said Gracie, what did you do?  She said "I wash chair's hair."  Turns out she was able to reach the hair detangler which I thought was too high for her to reach (she must have really stretched to get it off the changing table) and "washed" her princess chair.  I dabbed it with water but honestly, what else can you do about that.  I've had that chair since my niece Meghan was a baby so it we need to toss it we can.  So on Sunday we walked around the house and I pushed back or moved just about everything I thought she should reach that I would prefer for her not to.  Well, if nothing else, she keeps me on my toes.

We have had a great weekend.  I was off on Friday so we have 4 days together.  It's mostly been the two of us which has been so much fun.  She's gone from a baby to a little girl so quickly and her speech is changing rapidly.  A couple of weeks ago if she dropped her sippy cup and spilled a little on the floor she would say "oh no, cup fall down".  Now she says, "oh, sorry mumma.  I dropped the cup.  I clean up."  Yesterday I went in to get her out of her crib when it became clear that a nap was not in her future.  I walked in and she was in the corner of her crib talking but none of her babies were there.  I said Gracie, what are you doing?  She said "oh, the Backyardigans come Gracie crib, come play Gracie."  Then she named them all and sang their little song. 

Now that we've skipped spring and gone directly to summer here in New England, we got a little wadding pool.  We blew it up on Friday and she and the cousins had a fantastic time.  They played for two hours in it and I had to pull her out kicking and screaming.  Yesterday she was running around saying  what I thought was "I want baby youp".  I could not figure out what she meant and every guess I made sent her into hysterical laughter.  I finally asked where the "baby youp goes and she said "my belly." So I think oh, of course, she wants some kind of soup so I go take out a can of Dora soup thinking that must be it and she yells "no,no,no!  No youp!  I want baby youp!" It takes me another 2 or 3 minutes before I realize she is saying bathing suit.  Yeah, I'm a quick one. 

I'll close with some pool and dancing pictures.  Gracie is a dancing beach baby.  Among the things I like least in life are beaches/pools and dancing.  I guess I'm going to have to develop a new respect for each.