17 months!!

With the huge milestone of 1 year since G's botulism diagnosis only 5 days before she turned 17 months old, this month was very emotional and bittersweet for me. I watched her so much, from the way she walked, sat, "talked", ate, smiled, everything about her. She was like a newborn in many ways a year ago and to see her now, running and laughing, lifting her arms and legs, it's amazing!

she's 17 months old here, via iPhone.

the SD card hadn't been located yet

Gracelyn is doing so much these days! So much of it so cute (or we think so anyway!)

She claps often. When I open her bedroom door to get her out of her crib, after I sing her a song, read her a book, turn on a toy, give her food.
In the morning when I ask how she slept, she says "dood" (good) She picked that up from her brothers.

Her appetite is decreasing. She eats about half of what she used to, which still may be alot for others.
She's finally decided that she likes to have her teeth brushed. We are very thankful because the battle just was not pretty.
Gracelyn is battling her 11th ear infection since last Spring. We meet with an ENT a week from Friday to discuss tubes.

Gracie is so girly. If her hands get dirty she holds them out and will not do anything til we clean them off. She cares more about shoes than she does clothes. She picks out the shoes and I choose the outfit from there. teamwork already!

She can make all three big brother cry in record time. With Brandon she loves to destroy huge Lego creations and books that are left out and she hijacks toys of Blaine and Britton, which just devastates them but leaves her smiling.
And she has this look down very well...

The past year has taught us so much and brought us together like never before.

1 year

It's been a year. 1 year ago today we were not sure the fate of our daughter. She woke up Thursday, March 11, 2010 limp and unresponsive after not nursing for 2 days and being very fussy. I rushed her to the pediatrician's office where she called an ambulance to rush us to Children's Hospital. We spent the entire day in the ER and after blood test after blood test and CT scans and even a spinal tap there were still no answers. Gracelyn was admitted and moved up to PICU, where the doctor on call, Dr. Mo, came in and after evaluating her told us that he was pretty sure she had c-botulism. What a Godsend he was, he was supposed to be at a conference that week but it was canceled unexpectedly. No other docs in the unit had ever seen botulism before. She received an immune-globulin which stopped any further destruction on her nerves. The damage that was most noticeable was a weakened body, her head had to be fully supported like a newborn, she couldn't lift her arms and she wasn't able to suck.
By God's grace she went home much sooner than the doctors ever predicted. By God's mercy she only underwent 12 weeks of PT instead of the 6 months they predicted. By God's love she is, a year later, a healthy toddler full of energy, smiles, spunk, attitude and is a miracle.

I made a video for Gracelyn's first year, in lieu of scrapbooking because this took less time. The first year video is quite long so here is just a portion of it, her battle with botulism.