14 months old brings independence

Gracelyn Paige is 14 months old today!!

She is quite independent (or so SHE thinks) these days and she's also pretty dramatic. If she doesn't want to do things, get in her carseat, leave her brother's room and especially get dressed, she'll arch her back and storm off. Her 3 brothers were really only a smidgen like that.

Gone are the days of cuddles or wanting to be held. Now she wants to be down, playing, walking and, most recently, running! She does bring books to me to read to her all throughout the day (which I totally love because her oldest brother Brandon did that at her age and is a little bookworm now at the age of 8!)

Gracelyn is so much fun. She still makes her animal sounds, a gorilla and duck. G loves to play peek-a-boo and will play so well by herself or with her brothers. Even at "school" in the gym, she'll go get on the teeter-totter with the bigger kids and will play on the sit and spin (which she can spin on by herself!)





Gracie is a professional at making faces, which is pretty adorable. She squints her eyes and smiles really big, which is my favorite, and is given most often when you give her food! Food is the way to her heart. G can go from happy and laughing to throwing a fit in a matter of milliseconds, even if it's over a cracker she wants. The girl does love her some food and can snack all day long.


She is sleeping so much better these days! (I actually started typing this post about a week ago and I should change that last sentence to "not so much" BUT I think she's teething so I'll blame the lack of sleep on that.) We lay her down after she nurses and she puts herself to sleep cuddling her blanket and watching her seahorse.
Really the only issue we have is constipation. We use suppositories are are up to 2T of mirilax in her sippy a day.


Miss G is talking a lot, really all you can understand is "mama" "dada" and her newest is "this" pronounced "dis" It's really adorable but she says it as she points to every.single.thing. I know I say it all the time but she adores Britton, adores him. She loves her other bros but Britton loves her and shows her affection anytime.anywhere. She calls him something but I cannot decipher it.

13 months old!

Gracelyn is 13 months old now! It actually seems like the last month hasn't gone by so quickly, unlike the month leading up to her first birthday. probably because so much happened in the last month with camping and her youngest-big brother's birthday party on top of our "normal" craziness.

she wants to be front and center

Gracie is doing very!!
She is eating very well and loving pasta, grilled chicken, turkey, pancakes, eggs, bread, cheese, fruit, most veggies and is a champ at feeding herself! G loves water and I've actually been able to get her to drink 1 ounce of whole milk so far before she throws her sippy down. I'm adding 1T of mirilax to her sippy cup each day.
Miss G is walking all over the place, still a bit unsteady but getting there. Her daddy wanted so badly to make her Frankenstein for Halloween because she still walks with her arms out for balance. (I vetoed it.) As long as she is not sleepy or fussy, she takes the trips and falls pretty well and will jump right back up.
Being a girl, she isn't quiet, she jabbers constantly, but as far as actual words, "mama" is the main word and "duck" has been said a couple of times. Her daddy pleads with her to say "dada" but she laughs and growls at him. Animal noises are plentiful from Gracelyn, what do you expect with 3 big brothers?
Despite the top pic, she is still a mostly happy girl. Gracie absolutely adores her brothers, adores them! In the morning when I get her out of her crib she points to the door to go find them, and they all light up when she comes in the room.
G is doing pretty well in CDO. She is getting less fond of me with the other babies and will want to sit on my knee if another baby is in my lap. I am so impressed with her ability to share with her friends Taryn and Ellie. The girls do very well sitting and playing together! I think it's comes from having big bros that sort of "take charge!" so they are pretty used to it.

at CDO, she loves the baby dolls!

G's 1 year stats

Gracelyn went to the pediatrician Friday!

The doc was very happy with how well G looked, and said she was right where she was supposed to be! She couldn't believe how happy Gracelyn is and how well she is walking! Gracie was all smiles, as always and walked back and forth between the doc and me.
Our only concern is constipation. Of course all the foods G likes at this point don't help with the issue so we are upping the Mirilax in hopes that it helps!
Gracie tipped the scales at an even 22lbs and measured 29 3/4", both in the 75 percentile!
The appointment took longer than normal Friday because the pedi and I reminisced on the past year with Gracelyn. mainly Thursday, March 11, the day I brought her in limp and having no idea what was wrong. We shed tears together and group-hugged Gracie, who had absolutely no idea what the water works were all about! Her seeing for herself how far G has come after how far she was set back made her day!

NOW PRESENTING.......

Gracelyn the WALKER!! She has tackled, head-on, ALL of the hurdles in her way since she was diagnosed with botulism. Now, she is walking, walking 2 months sooner than any of her brothers! G is actually walking steadier than the video portrays, she was anxious to get across the floor to the camera, which she loves, imagine that!

and, because she is so cute, our little Indian Chief!

Gracelyn is ONE!

RM Photography once again did a phenomenal job taking Gracelyn's 1 year pictures. Rebecca is so patient, even with a certain 1 year old that begins crying after less than 30 minutes into the shoot and wants her paci (that totally clashes with her outfit and this mom cannot locate the purple paci) And Rebecca is so super creative that as soon as we finish I am so anxious to see what she captured. If you are in OK or even if you aren't, you should contact her, she has camera, will travel!

Gracelyn is lots of smiles these days and I'm talking huge, expressive smiles. She is one happy girl and we L.O.V.E. it! G does love her pacifier and lights up when she sees it and will snatch it from you and pop it in her mouth. I won't paint a picture of a 24/7 pleasant baby because she is can be full of drama and will throw her head back and squint her eyes and make a really pathetic whimper or wail at times. All in all, she is our princess, the boys, all of us treat her as one.
Miss G is very picky with foods right now. I sometimes can get her to eat yogurt, sweet potatoes, several fruits but it depends on her mood. One thing that Gracie does love, pancakes and will gobble them up!! She is a snacker, just like her mama and does enjoy graham and animal crackers, cheerios. and vanilla wafers.
As far as development goes, as of her 1 year birthday, the 16th, Gracelyn had taken 3 steps with no assistance! She is saying "mama" and "dada" and she does call her brothers something specific but I cannot tell exactly what it is. G can sign "more" and "all done" and "drink"
Gracelyn is sleeping sooooooo much better at night!! She wakes every 3-4, which is quite an improvement over every hour! And sometimes it's just because she lost her paci!! Naps are hit and miss, especially at CDO where they average about an hour long, but that's just fine because she is sleeping at night!
Gracie looks very healthy but I have no idea her stats as her 1 year well check was supposed to be this Friday but instead it was moved to next Friday. I'll post them after the appointment.
Gracelyn Paige, our miracle baby, our princess: mom, dad, Brandon, Blaine and Britton love you greatly. You light up our lives, make us all smile and have taught us so much about determination and helped strengthen our faith.

Happy 1st Birthday to the Princess!

Gracelyn Paige has turned 1!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Saturday, October 16 was her 1st birthday as well as her 1st birthday celebration! Our princess had a princess themed party fit for a true princess and because so many people love her we hosted it at the upstairs of our bank. Everything was so perfect and so pink and purple!!
Gracelyn had 2 onesies to go with a purple tutu and a bow and pink sparkle Tiny Toms to match. She was excited about her friends and family being there and smiled a lot! She enjoyed the icing on her cake but not the strawberry cake so I gave her a piece of white and chocolate from the main cake. She loved both of those flavors equally! Gracie helped a bit during the process of opening presents but because I requested mainly clothes, her attention drifted. She is one blessed little girl who is loved by so many! We are all blessed to have her.

11 months have flown by

11 months! Just thinking that in ONE short month Gracelyn will be ONE makes me cry. As quickly as this year has gone by, so much has happened.


Gracie is doing well.
I have started introducing her to table food. Up until the last few weeks the littlest pieces of food that were not pureed would make her gag. She's had small pieces of banana, grapes, potatoes and carrots. She loved them and handled them pretty well. Yogurt and mirilax help her bowels, which makes it very nice to not have to give her suppositories every other day!!
G is saying mama and has said dada a couple of times and still loves to wave!! She also gives open-mouth, super wet kisses, mainly to Britton, but occasionally to me as well.


She is also a full-time crawler, no more army crawling for her! With that also comes little red, chapped knees, which are so precious!! Gracelyn in the couple of days before turning 11 months began standing for almost 1 minute! I think in the next few weeks she may just try taking a step!
Her bottom 2 center teeth are still only about halfway in (10 weeks later) and in the meantime the top 2 on either side of the center have cut and the top center 2 are in the process of coming through. Teething tablets are plentiful at our house!

so in the middle of the photo shoot, the chair falls to the side and Gracelyn remains standing!
She stood for a good minute and I was just snapping like a paparazzi-crazed mama! (of course I'll admit that's what I am anyway!)

I'll also admit that these pictures were taken today at 11 months and 1 day because there was literally no time yesterday. life these days is insane so I'm afraid that posts just may become few and far between.

our little walker, with a walker!

Gracelyn is walking now, with assistance!!! She does well most of the time. She gets going really fast and wipes out but most of the time will stand back up and go again! Miss G can pull up to her walker and start and even transfer her weight from something TO the walker and take off!!
She is not going to let anything get her down!

peek-a-Gracie

I have been playing peek-a-boo with Gracelyn for awhile now and she thinks it hilarious, which makes me think it's hilarious too!

Up until now, she would always pull the blanket (or shorts while changing her diaper) off her face after I covered it. As of today she will raise the blanket up to cover her own head and take it off, all on her own. (In the video she only does it once because we had been playing for quite some time before it finally dawned on me to video her.) It's a lot of fun because she will play and interact more and more each day. She still isn't a fan of patty-cake so we partake in a lot of peek-a-boo and singing.

What's even funnier about this video is that she is playing with Britton's beloved "bay." She loves how soft it is, or maybe that she knows she isn't allowed to touch it. Either way, it was handy and he was off playing with Blaine so he had no idea that his "bay" was be touched by someone other than himself. He watched the video after I uploaded it to YouTube and he was none too pleased to see it in the arms of his sister.

G's 9 month, um, I mean 10 month stats

Gracelyn had her 9 month well-check Friday. It was a month and 1 week late, partly due to my tardiness in scheduling it and the pediatrician being on vacation. It's kind of what happens when you have 4 kids, at least in our world, and according to my dear mom friend who also has 4 kiddos!

Miss G weighed in at 20 pounds, 10 ounces and is 27.5 inches long! That puts her in the 50th percentile for weight and 50th for length.


Doc thought she looked great!


I mentioned to her that Gracie wasn't sleeping and hadn't really since we got home from the hospital in March. She said it was perfectly understandable. Just as I was having difficulty letting her out of my sight (and hold,) so was G with me. She called it a form of separation anxiety. It made total sense as we are pretty much a package deal. It's not like Gracelyn wants to be held all day. she gets down and plays a lot, but pretty much always knows where I am in the house.


Gracie also received her 6 month shots. I opted out of them at 6 months. For me it was too soon after she was discharged, even though the Botulism Treatment Center in San Fransisco that supplied the Baby BIG immune-globulin to treat her botulism said that vaccines were fine, as long as they were not live virus vaccines. I was still and still am leery of them knowing that the serum is still in her system, helping to protect her from any further botulism sickness for the next few months. There is no way to be absolutely certain that nothing will counteract but this is where I have to trust God, turn my anxiety to Him. For He is the ONLY one who knows and can comfort and protect her.

Can you tell that she is adored???

crawling cutie

better known as a "Rockstar!!"

So I wrote the other day that Gracelyn was getting up on all fours and crawling one movement, meaning moving one hand forward and one knee and then belly flopping. I promised that I would catch it on video but was honestly having difficulty because with only one quick stride, she was done before I captured it.

Today Miss G proved yet again, how she is my miracle baby. She army crawled herself to the kitchen where I was preparing lunch and as the boys were making their way to the table she went from a sit to all fours and crawled the ENTIRE WAY TO THE TABLE! I'm talking like 6 feet! I just stood there with my mouth touching the floor. Even the boys commented. Britton pointed and said, "Mom, Dadie (his version of Gracie) crawling." The first time she goes from one crawl to that!! She had sat herself right at her brothers' feet so I ran and got my phone and knelt down and called her over to me. She started to come to me but opted for a detour and made a sharp left turn to go to the living room.

Gracelyn is truly our rockstar. She has scaled the hurdles and is making such progress! It's awesome and something that I can really only thank God for. It's with Him that she has done the things she has.

Even though she is capable of crawling now, her preferred mode of transportation is still the army crawl. She is quite speedy so who can blame her? I have also noticed that, so far, she only will crawl on our kitchen tile. Of course she has only crawled long distances three times now but as soon as she gets to the carpet, she drops.

The next milestone I would LOVE to blog about would be Gracelyn sleeping! The girl does NOT sleep. ever. even in the day I'm lucky if she takes a 30 minute nap. She wasn't sleeping through the night before she was diagnosed with botulism but she was only up once in the night. Now it's every 2 hours, if not every hour and it takes a good 20 minutes to get her to go back to sleep, at least.

Just Cruisin'

another new milestone, as of last night!!! this video cracks.me.up because it shows how my little Gracelyn can go from happy, to sad, back to happy, in just seconds! She really doesn't let anything get her down for long before she is happy and on the go again. Her incredible recovery in such a short amount of time speaks volumes to that! Gracie is definitely a determined little princess!

10 months down....2 to go

Gracelyn is 10 months old, as of Monday, the 16th. It's more of a countdown now to the big first celebration, seeing as I am in party planning mode. I'll go ahead and confess that I have been since she was born, maybe not physically purchasing items for her party back in October but mentally preparing. Her cake is ordered, has been for months and her "party wear" is too. What can I say, she is my princess and that is exactly the kind of party Miss G will get!

Current stats on Gracelyn Paige...

she is all over the place now. She scoots, one arm over the other, and really can go go go! Since Monday, she has gotten up 3 times on all fours and crawled one movement!!! I'm trying to catch it on video but once she starts, she immediately realizes how much quicker her army crawling is, so she belly-flops and is gone! Gracie is pulling up to a stand to pretty much anything and does it very quickly! She just sits right up from her belly now too. It's hard to believe that it was such an issue for her before.

I have been standing her up, unsupported, for about a week and she would last a couple of seconds and then fall either to the front or back. (I catch her of course!) Monday night, she stood balanced for 32 seconds! She was so excited (or possibly distracted because we were all cheering wildly) that after that she immediately fell over and over again!!

G said "MAMA" and reached for me Sunday! Talk about heart-melting!

I'm working with her on kissing but when I say "kiss" to her she won't, BUT will pucker and smack randomly throughout the day, when I am not mentioning it.

She is fussy fussy lately, my little "Grumpy Gracie." I think it's teeth related so I give her Tylenol and teething tablets. It's sad/funny how her face lights up when she sees the teething tablet bottle. As a result of her gum pain, she isn't eating much, which doesn't help her sleeping issue, or better yet NON-sleeping issue. I can only get her to eat a tiny bit of food but she will eat cheerios and puffs by the handfuls. G is a pro at her two hand

teeth!!

Her HUGE smiles that she gives us often are absolutely beautiful! Among her fussiness in a day, she can just light up a room with her grins, just because of something as simple as saying her name or seeing her brothers and them talking to her. precious precious.

she has really grown in length. I couldn't tell you exactly how much. she goes for her NINE month well check on Friday, yes at 10 months and 1 week of age.

Where's G's Teeth?

I spent the day trying to come up with a witty title similar to "Where's Waldo" since Gracie's little stubby teeth are among so much slobber. Unfortunately I failed.

she is squinting at me.
not sure why.
she is all about funny faces these days
and will do just about anything for a laugh or applause from (us) her adoring fans!

Gracelyn's first tooth cut 4 weeks and 1 day ago and the second 2.5 weeks ago. They are coming in very slowly. She spends much of her day biting/chewing on cold teething rings and frozen pacifiers!!

happy girl

Gracelyn has a second tooth coming in, on the bottom, right next to the first one that still isn't even halfway in, after almost 3 weeks. She is such a trooper though. Nothing seems to help ease the pain but not every day is full of crying. I think mostly because physically she is able to do more things now.

Miss G is able to sit from her tummy (which I have yet to capture on video) and can pull to a stand, which she does at the very very end of this video...



and even cuter, she absolutely L.O.V.E.S. to wave now. I mean if she even hears you say "hi" to someone else and she is just nearby, that arm will start moving and a HUGE grin spreads across her beautiful face...


the video ended because I promptly removed the blanket that Britton placed on her head.

Nine is Divine!

As of last Friday, the 16th, Gracelyn is 9 months old now!!

I believe I said this last month but WOW. where had the time gone? She is ¾ of the way to one year and she's is doing so much now!!
A month ago her tongue thrust prevented her from eating solid foods without me watering them down for her to slurp off the spoon. It's no longer the case anymore! She's still on very well pureed foods but it's fantastic! Miss G is handling her sippy so well. and speaking of handling, her fine motor skills are improving greatly! She can pick up her little Gerber puffs one at a time, off her tray and put them in her mouth! She actually will pick up anything and put it in her mouth. another thing she couldn't do last month! Gracie's still army crawling but now she is an ATB, all-terrain baby. She tackles anything and anyone! if she sees something she wants and an object or person is in the way, watch out because she charges over or through to get to her goal. It's awesome! She so very close to sitting from her tummy, she gets halfway there! Gracelyn is standing better. She still has the hoolla hoop action going on, not nearly as much though AND she is starting to move a foot. She's yet to take a step but you can see in the picture below where she moved her right foot back! G is standing for about 5 minutes now!
She's jabbering and laughing, cracking up and blowing raspberries constantly. I don't have to give daily suppositories anymore either, it's every 2-3 days now!!! YAY!!!

raspberries!

Her main battle right now is her tooth. The tooth that she began cutting a week from last Saturday, um, she is still cutting it. You can finally see it now but just barely. It's so sad and such torture for her. Poor girl, she's in pain and I've tried everything to help ease it. She sleeps even less now though. like waking up hourly and taking 20 minutes to go back to sleep, only to sleep about 30.

Last Friday, when she turned 9 months old, Gracelyn had her first swim!

She wasn't much of a fan, which surprised me. She preferred observing...

...and playing with her friend Emily!

Emily turned 10 months old that day. They just have so much fun and smile and laugh at each other!!

teeth hair and laughs

Teeth: Gracelyn will be 9 months tomorrow and started cutting her first tooth last Saturday. I have been anticipating this for months. I honestly think she was teething back when she was 4 months, before she was diagnosed with botulism. Her 3 brothers were all early teethers and she was showing all the signs then. I think, and her therapist agrees that late teething is just another symptom of the toxin. Another part of her little body that was paralyzed. This first tooth is taking it's toll on her. You still cannot see it yet, only feel the top of it, still a week later. It's been a rough week.


Hair: Another victim to the toxin. Poor girl has had no hair growth and it is finally starting to fill in! on the top first. that bald spot that a lot of babies have on the backs of their heads, yeah she still has hers. hopefully it starts filling in on the back soon too! It's exciting though because sooner than I thought I will be able to do more things with her hair!!

I don't think you can tell but she does have a lot more hair now

Laughs: Her vocal sounds have been gaining in the last month. Her voice was a major casualty of the botulism. She started jabbering a little over a month ago, which is music to my ears and my heart and recently started giggling. But today she was cracking up, a laugh that I have not heard from her. Boy did we all need it and God knew it. With her teething and not feeling well because of it, she has screamed a lot and not been eating and actually wanting to sleep (which she hasn't wanted to at.all since she got sick) BUT she wants to sleep in the DAYTIME! not cool. On top of her teething, I had already decided to start potty training her littlest big brother (who is incredibly strong willed) and that has been a challenge, to say the least.



she is sitting in my lap, which explains the crazy angle and movements and she was cracking up laughing at Britton, who will probably be the only one, for at least a little while who can get her to laugh like this. she adores him.

the graduate

Gracelyn had her first graduation last Wednesday. It was not an official "ceremony" or even a graduation common to most babies but one that was filled with tears from me, her mother. After 16 weeks since she was discharged from the hospital and began therapy, Gracie graduated from physical therapy!!

she army crawled over to me and they tried to get her to pull up on me.
She didn't but they stood her up and gave me this adorable face!

It was definitely not a surprise. I knew it was quickly approaching with how incredibly well she was doing AND was told that Monday (before leaving on our camping trip) she would just come in last week for a sort of "check."

a pep talk from Mr. Derrick when she wouldn't do anything.
she looks like she's really listening but she wasn't!

Once again, she blew us away. Mr. Derrick laid her on the mat and she immediately got up on all fours. She paused there for a moment and then laid back down. PHENOMENAL! She amazes me!

LOOK AT THAT FORM!!

It was almost as if she knew this session was it for her because she didn't really listen all that well. And aside from the crawling position stance she performed right off, that was the extent of her tricks. She ignored Mr. Derrick and crawled toward me and also posed often for all her admirers. She got up on all fours a few times throughout the session just to show-off but that was it.

posing

He really tried to get her to either sit from a lay or attempt to pull up but she wasn't really interested in either idea. Gracelyn is very close to sitting up from the floor and he predicted her to be crawling by this week. Now that I am just blogging about her graduation and it is a week later, I can report that she is not sitting up from the floor or crawling on all fours.

the light up flower is tempting but not enough...

I might have mentioned a time or two, or twenty, she is a miracle. In 16 weeks she has made so much progress. SO.MUCH! To go from a 5 month old baby that was truly at a newborn level to an almost 9 month old that is close to an almost 9 month old level, WOW!! It makes me cry and gives me chills.

I will miss the staff at Jim Thorpe sooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. They mean so much to me and to Gracie and have worked so hard with her. I can not thank them enough.

Mr. Derrick.
he pushed her like I never did and made her mad like I never did but she really does love him. (despite how she looks in the picture, it was naptime!)

Gracie and Ms. Bev!

Bev is the glue that holds that place together and keeps those boys as in line as she possibly can! We love her so much!!!

last but definitely NOT least, Mr. Rusty!
He is a goofball and no matter what Mr. Derrick was making her do, if Mr. Rusty walked by or Gracie heard or caught sight of him across the room, she stared and smiled.