nature baby

Our family just returned from a week long camping trip at Roaring River in Missouri. It was Gracelyn's first. I actually hadn't been camping since last summer when we went there and I was 7 months pregnant with her.
She did pretty well. She didn't sleep much, but that's no different than at home. She never sleeps. She did really enjoy watching all the boys run and ride around. Another family in town has a family, exactly the same number as ours. Their oldest is a day older than our oldest with 2 more boys, like us and then a baby girl born exactly one month before Gracelyn. It's uncanny. So there was plenty of action for her to take in.
She did have some firsts on the trip. She drank from a sippy cup and enjoyed teddy grahams, broken in 2.
I was hoping somehow nature would help with her bowels but it didn't. wishful thinking.
She was a trooper though. She lasted on a mile long hike in a backpack carrier and only fussed a couple of times. She sat in the stroller watching us slide down a water slide and relaxed in the hammock, stroller or on the pallet while her mom and dad fixed supper for everyone so that she could eat her food. I was proud of her for that.

the first morning, in the tent!

looking through the tent screen at Gracie with her friend Emily and Emily's mom, Kathy

she absolutely LOVES looking at herself.

mom and G on mom's birthday

yes, that is Gracelyn, in her tub, in the great outdoors.
She loves baths anyway but she had so much fun.
She was pointing at Berkley, our lab.

ready for the mile hike to the caves!
She just recently started waving and she was waving to me!!

drinking from a sippy!
I don't know if it was just because she was so thirsty but I have been offering her a sippy for a couple of weeks now and she's had no interest.
She acted though like she had been using a sippy for months, no problem whatsoever. And the cup had a filter so she had to really suck, which I have been concerned about those muscles because she still seems weak there.

family picture, post hike!
Gracelyn did excellent in the backpack carrier!

G ready for the waterslide.
and NO she did not participate,
she merely dressed for the occasion and acted as our cheerleader.

I've been saying this for weeks but I really think she is teething.

while the big boys went to the swimming hole, the little ones were left with 2 wash tubs to play in. They had fun. Some may call it a redneck pool, we call it improvising.

at the snakes show.
It was way past bedtime and I think she was in a state of deliriousness.

the hammock was a favorite hangout of hers

she loved the pallet for a few minutes each time before army crawling to the side and grabbing a handful of grass, root and all and eating it. Then she threw it up. lovely.

Gracie having a blast in the hammock with her dad and 2 younger bros.
The boys only enjoyed her activeness for a few minutes before asking me to get her.

Gracelyn NOT looking thrilled to get in her car seat for the 6 hour drive home.
She did really well though. It helps that she can see her brothers since she sits in the middle row.

PT, nearing the end

Gracelyn is getting very close to graduating physical therapy! It's amazing, fantastic, and most of all, a miracle from God! She is a little over 8 1/2 months old and has pretty much met all the 6 month requirements, in a MUCH shorter time than was ever predicted.
For me though, it's bittersweet. Obviously I am elated, I mean completely over-the-moon, excited to see the progress she has made and how well she's done with all hurdles she's barreled through. She began immediately after being discharged from the hospital, not even able to hold her head up or put weight on her legs when being held to now moving across the floor, army crawling, sitting unsupported for as long as SHE wants, sitting and reaching for objects, initiating steps when you hold her hands and she's so close to getting up on all fours! I am also a little sad. The entire staff has seen the progress that we, as her family has. From the limp baby girl who could do nothing now the baby girl who is unstoppable. They are truly family to us. Even though Gracelyn only sees them once a week, she loves them, even Mr. Derrick who makes her work sometimes against her will. Gracelyn Paige is my sunshine. She has taught ME so much.

Mr. Derrick wanted her to transfer her weight to the table.
She wouldn't without help.

She is standing better.
She still is unsteady and her belly moves all around, I call it her "hoolla-hooping dance!"

Mr. Derrick helped her climb on his legs and she thought being taller was so much fun!

look at that form!

real love.
Mr. Derrick, checking for teeth...
none.

initiating steps on her own!!

She's a ROCKSTAR!

Gracie was a ROCKSTAR today at physical therapy!

her onesie says "Rock Me"

She has struggled with leaning over and grabbing objects since last Wednesday, when her therapist began working with her on it. She just flat out refused to. I continued working with her this past week and still had no success.

Today, Mr. Derrick, her therapist was gone so she worked with Ms. Sharon and she DID IT!! She leaned, from a sit, and grabbed a toy and sat back up!! several times!!!

(I wanted to use so many pics so I made them small but you can click and enlarge to see her expressions, which I personally LOVE!!)

LEANING!!!!

~and she GOT IT!!

Look what I got Mom!!
~And now that she has 1 toy, she goes for another! Such a showoff!!

Now her area in which she is able to do this is in front of her around halfway. Ms. Sharon put the toy out to the side and when she leaned over she couldn't push herself back up. She's doing fantastic, she will get there in no time!!

she loves that flower and she'll do just about anything for it!

I think she knows somehow that the bottom is a sucker!

I am so proud of my girl! She is so strong and has such determination!! She's taught me so much.

I L.O.V.E. her pose!
She poses all.the.time.
I think she's used to people watching her since she got sick so when she does something she will roll back on one hip, throw her arm on her side and look at you!
such a princess!
I love it!

Blaine got to help with G's therapy today because his speech therapist didn't show. He had a blast and she adores her bros!
I love how she is looking at him and he was talking so sweet to her and giving her a huge grin!

She stood some and is gaining strength in her legs!! She also took a couple of steps, while holding onto Ms. Sharon of course, AND actually initiated the steps! AMAZING!!

ready to call it a day but Ms. Sharon was making her take steps and she wanted her paci so she bent over and picked it up!
~she loved Ms. Sharon playing with her feet!

She wouldn't be where she is without God working through her. She is a miracle!

PT= pretty tiring

PT this past week was exhausting for Gracelyn and brought lots and lots of tears and required her pacifier much of the time (when it wasn't being used as leverage for her to do something.) Mr. Derrick made her work and work hard she certainly did.


He held onto her while she took steps. She did better than she has ever before, actually moving her feet twice each foot, without him having to move them for her.


Derrick also worked with her pulling up to a stand and then making her stand for as long as she was able to several times.

this picture cracks.me.up!
She wants her paci so bad, she has her mouth open, tongue out, eyes closed like she can taste it, she is READY!

Gracelyn did really well standing for about a minute each time! Her paci and all the toys were up on the table so she kept entertained and had a reason to want to stay up there!


Then he wanted her to reach from a sit and pick something up (her paci.) She is incredibly stubborn, which comes naturally from her mother (yes, I admit it.) so she sat there for a good 10 minutes just crying and refusing to reach over for her paci or the toy.


Gracie won't intentionally go from a sit to the floor in order to move. I think it's because she knows how hard she has worked to gain the strength to sit. Mr. Derrick had to pull on her (not hard of course) several times throughout the hour session to get her to stand or reach or lay on her belly from the sitting position. She wasn't a huge fan of that either.


I've continued working with her since therapy last Wednesday and she still isn't budging on reaching for things from sitting or transitioning from her bottom to her belly. I think it's a majority of stubbornness but I tease her that she is such a little princess!

8 months down!

Gracelyn is 8 months old now! I cannot believe that in 4 months we will be celebrating her first year of life, and now the tears are forming....


OK, so specifics on G!
I have made so much baby food so she has tried a lot of foods and really only disliked green beans, carrots unless they are mixed with a fruit, pears unless they are mixed with another fruit and she can take or leave squash, depending on her mood. I did try yogurt per a good friend's suggestion and she L.O.V.E.S. it! I still have to give her daily suppositories. I was hoping that the introduction of prunes would help but no such luck. She also loves the Gerber Puffs. We are working on fine motor skills because she is unable to get the puffs in her fingertips and get them to her mouth just yet.

she really wanted off the bench

Developmentally, she is still inchworm crawling AND has started the motions of army crawling!!! She doesn't really have all that down yet to actually move forward but it will be no time before she does. She is getting really vocal, saying "da da da da da da" and a few other sounds! I love it! She squeals when she gets excited. It's adorable!
Gracie is able to sit unsupported for long periods of time! We have to sit her up and she will sit there until she can no longer and then will fall over and get moving!


She continues to be my sunshine! We all absolutely adore her and everyone she meets comments on her HUGE smiles!! She loves people! She also loves being outside which makes me so excited for our upcoming camping trip! I know she will do fantastic!

12 weeks of PT...

and so much to show for it!

she sat, unsupported for nearly 20 minutes!!
what a BIG girl!

Gracelyn is still scooting (her little inchworm method) like crazy!! She can really G-O!

Mr. Derrick, her PT, made her travel the length of the mat.
It's about 8 ft...

along the way, her pretty little head got heavy
(she had just sat for almost 20 minutes)
so she had to be bribed with Mr. Derrick's badge.

she made it!!
and she made sure to let him know just how upset she was at having to work so hard!

I am so proud of her, she is such a hard worker at therapy (even if she only does it for the attention that she gets from everyone there, because she gets ALOT!)
Gracelyn smiles so much, is such a happy girl for the most and I am thankful to God beyond words, for the work He is doing in her.

She has met almost all the 6 month requirements in physical therapy so within the next 2 weeks, she will be forced to graduate. She is 8 months old on Wednesday so depending on what our doc says we may look into another therapist for her.
I still have to give her suppositories daily and I pray that the more mobile she gets, the more it will ease her bowels somehow.
Our other main issue right now is Miss G's tongue thrust, it's not getting any better, even after the couple of months that she's been on solids. She cannot eat off the spoon well so I have to thin her fruits and veggies so she can slurp them off the spoon. Blaine is attending speech therapy for stuttering and Ms. Janet, his therapist, is looking into it for us to see if she can help in any way.

Another week of PT and Gracelyn update!

Gracelyn's PT session last week was not as exciting as the week before. For the first half hour she just laid on the mat as if she was glued to it. Mr. Derrick finally got her motivated to work a little when Michael Jackson's Thriller came on and they danced! He told me that as long as she wasn't going to be consistent in what she did at home and at therapy, then she wouldn't be able to graduate from PT. We have since had a little mother-daughter pep talk and I hope this Wednesday will prove more productive.
In other Gracie news, she is still doing well with foods, loving them and eating a lot, as long as her brothers aren't around to distract her. She would MUCH rather watch and laugh at them, namely Britton. She really only has eyes for Britton and his feelings are mutual! Gracie is babbling a lot, which is absolutely adorable! I could listen to her babble all day long but she stops when I try to record her!
The mirilax that I put in a bottle with Pedialyte is no longer working to soften her stools and her little tummy is rock hard so liquid suppositories is what each day brings. no fun at.all, but it helps her feel so much better. I just feel so bad for her.
On top of the daily suppositories, I believe she is teething. No teeth have poked through yet but she is drooling a lot. So between teething tablets, tylenol and motrin I am doing my best to try to keep her comfy. She is very mobile now, as long as she can roll there!! The little boys have no idea that she is about to invade their toys!

Thriller!
her warm-up routine!

sitting, while barely supported!

look at that arm strength!
AND head control!

working with her to get her to move FORWARD!

after pull-ups, while sitting, she and Mr. Derrick performed "head, shoulders, knees and toes" She stopped mid-song for a chew on the fingers!

she was soooooo tired.
Mr. Derrick made her really work and she was looking at me for a little sympathy!

she is DONE!
I love how her eye is all smushed to the mat, she was t.i.r.e.d!