Make-A-Wish

In January of this year we filled out all the paper work for Gracie to get a wish from Make-A-Wish. We debated whether to wait until she was older and could really wish for herself, but we felt that now was the right time. By May we met with Gracie's wish granters Annie and Brian, and in July her wish was granted!!!

Though Gracie would have loved going to Disney World, we decided to wish for a playset. Gracie absolutely loves to swing and what better than her own swing set so she could swing whenever she wants, for how long she wants.

Anyways, a couple weeks ago, Annie emailed me to tell me that the company they were getting the playset from were going to install it on July 8th. I was so excited because, July 8th was the day after Gracie's 3rd birthday. How exciting to have her wish granted for her birthday!

We surprised Gracie with a big party to 'unveil' the playset. We invited all of our family and friends, Annie and Brian brought a cake and balloons and we had an AMAZING time!


Annie and Brian even surprised Gracie with a special birthday present, her very own car!! I have always wanted Gracie to have her own power wheels car so that she could be able to play like others and keep up. Grace absolutley loves the car, we just have to teach her how to push the gas, but once we do, I know there is no stopping her. Now, though, she is perfectly fine just sitting in the car, listening to music.




The Make-A-Wish organization is amazing. I am so grateful that Gracie was given the opportunity to wish and find some hope and joy admist all she has to go through. I love that Gracie can go into the backyard and have fun and not be judged or looked at because of her differences. I hope that one day Jason and I will be in a position to fund another kiddo's wish

Gracie's 3rd Birthday!!

Thursday was Gracie's 3rd birthday!!! She was so excited to have a birthday party, which we combined with her Make-A-Wish party on Friday (I will post about that later). So Thursday we kept it kind of quiet, since Gracie doesn't eat or have a favorite meal we decided to just take them to the local carnival. Gracie loved it! We disconnected her from her oxygen tank and I took her down the big yellow slide, she is such a thrill seeker.

Turning 3 has been a bittersweet milestone....every birthday Gracie can celebrate is a miracle, but it also means that we had to say goodbye to all of our therapist who have helped Gracie get to where she is today since she aged out of Early intervention. Each therapist has made such an impact in our lives and we can only hope that we will stay in touch with them.

Developmentally Gracie is doing amazingly well and is catching up. Verbally we can understand about 95 % of what she says. Gracie is always singing, it is the cutest thing ever. Her favorite song is 5 little monkeys (I should post a video of her singing it). Gracie is walking now! Granted she isn't doing it consistently, but can take about 15 steps independently. She cruises all the time now and is so much more brave on her feet. All I wanted was for her to be walking by her 3rd birthday and she is!

Health wise Grace is doing great. She hasn't had any major illnesses and seems to be doing ok from a cardiac stand point. We go back to cardiology in September and then we will have a better idea as to how soon her next surgery will be. Gracie tires quickly and gets bluer with more activity, but she is just amazing!

In the fall Gracie will be going to school. It kills me to think of her being any where without me, especially riding the bus to and from school on her own, but I know she will love it. Since she is still so far behind she qualifies for the school district preschool, which means she'll be going 4 times a week.

We love our Gracie so much, she is such a miracle and example to us!

Yeah!!! I lost access to my blog for several weeks and today I tried to log in and it worked! I have so many things to blog about; the kids, our new house, Gracie's Make-A-Wish, but for now I will leave you with some pictures and a promise that there will be a new post tomorrow!

The girls on the wooden pony at the zoo.

Our beautiful blue eyed boy!

So I realize that it has been over two months since I have updated the blog and frankly that is just too long!! Though not much has happened I do feel like there is still so much to update. I thought instead of doing one huge post, I would update with three different posts, one for each child. So this post is going to be all about about our little man, Ryan.

Ryan is now 5 months old and is such a sweetie. His smile and laugh just melt our hearts. He absolutely loves his jumper and though there has been several times where he has successfully rolled over from both his back and stomach he still isn't doing it consistently. Ryan can sit up on his own for about a minute before he topples over and loves playing with his sisters.

One of Ryan's favorite people is his older Morgan. Though Ryan is 5 months old the novelty has not run off for Morgan and she cannot leave him alone. Usually Morgan can make Ryan laugh at the drop of a dime, and though there are many times she freaks Ryan out by picking him up and rolling around on the floor with him he still squeals as Morgan plays with him.

Ryan loves when Gracie will come close to him and play, but this happens very rarely because Ryan is teething, hence drooling like crazy, which freaks Grace out.

We love our little man and can't believe how fast he is growing...I wish we could just bottle him up and keep him this little.

Some Videos

Saturday afternoon I was playing with Ryan and Gracie and was able to get some of Ryan giggling on video. Ignore my awful singing and just allow yourself to melt while you listen to the precious laughs of a little one.



Gracie has come a long way with Ryan and I was able to get her to hold him for a few seconds. I find it hilarious what Gracie does when she is done holding him.




This is what Gracie is doing all the time. I love that she just wants to be up and is realizing more and more what her feet and legs are for.

Our Mr. Man

Ryan is affectionally known as out little Mr. Man and I can't believe he is two months old, my how time flies! He goes in for his two month check up on Friday, but I am sure he is close to 12lbs! I honestly can't believe how big he is, Gracie has always been small, and Morgan was never a really big baby either...so it must be a boy thing.


Mr. Man is smiling like crazy these days and is trying so hard to "talk." His personality is so mellow and easy going, which is such a blessing to us these days. It is so amazing how much you can grow to love something so tiny in such a short amount of time.

Gracie update

Gracie being silly and hamming it up.

Oh my finding time to update the blog is next to impossible. I have many post ideas going on inside my head, but just can't find the time to actually sit down and post them. Girls are in bed, Ryan just ate and is asleep so hopefully I can get this update done.

Morgan and Gracie on Halloween--too bad the rain kept Gracie in the house.

Gracie has been up to so much lately that I just want to share how much this little one has been developing and progressing. We go back to Cardiology in December and are anxious to see what the doctor thinks of her. She is weighing in at 23lbs and 12oz, I'm thrilled but it makes carrying her and her oxygen and a newborn so difficult when we have to go out without Jason. I am so happy that I switched her to the blended diet...it has worked miracles in our Gracie.

Grace is talking up a storm these days, though a lot of what she says is hard to understand, she is communicating more with words then by crying. Here is a list of some of her most used phrases:

I sit

Bite peas---I want a bite please

Mo chi---More chip

Bouh----Book

Minnie mou----Minnie Mouse

Ousid-----Outside or Einstein

Mommy

Daddy

Mimi---Morgan

Ninitee----Night Night

Ride----Slide

Neigh neigh----horse

As I type this I realize this list is actually quite long...so these are some of our favorites.

We still have physical therapists coming 4 times a month and will be adding a speech therapist next month. We are still going to motor skills class once a week as well. (The thought of her aging out of the Early Intervention Program in July just freaks me out.) Grace has also started a therapeutic horse riding class called Courage Reins, where she gets to ride a horse for 20 minutes once a week. The idea is that horse riding helps improve confidence, strengthens different muscles, works on sensory issues and so much more. Gracie absolutely loves it!!

This is dark, but I wanted to show her and all the horse.
We are just amazed at how far Gracie has come and what she is doing. She is learning to love to stand and is trying so hard to pull herself up, but she still isn't strong enough, but she'll get there.

Gracie practicing standing on Morgan's scooter. She loves when we push her around and she gets to go for a ride.

Check out these videos of what she is working 0n now, I just know that once she masters it, we are in trouble.