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!