Marvelous Monday

We enjoyed gorgeous weather today- lower 70's and plenty of sunshine. I finally feel like spring is on it's way. That's wonderful for many reasons, but the most important being we'll only be one more season away from Mike's homecoming.

One of our errands for the day was to make a quick stop at the bank. Right after lunch is a great time to go because the bank was completely empty. Grace had the undivided attention of all the ladies who ooh'ed and ahh'ed over her little sandals. She got passed around like a baby doll and she loved every second of it. Apparently they all had sons or grandsons so a petite little baby girl was a novelty for them. I think Grace would have been content to stay and play with those sweet ladies all afternoon long.

After I managed to get her to say goodbyes to the bank ladies, we spent the rest of our day out window shopping. Then even though I had dinner started already, the lure of a Chick-fil-a on the way home was too much to resist. We pulled into the drive through and ordered our dinner, promising to save tonight's planned meal for tomorrow. And if I have to be completely honest, I ordered a strawberry milkshake too. But I shared it with Grace because Operation Weight Gain (for Grace) still continues.
Trying to keep her busy in the dressing room.

Mama

Today was a great ending to a very challenging week. Grace is feeling much better, is eating again, and is even getting better at taking her medicine (no more spitting it out on my face). She took a short morning nap and a long afternoon nap. We even went to Target where Grace was very patient with me as I walked around aimlessly.

But the thing I want to remember most about today is the way Grace has started to really call me mama. I was getting ready for church while Grace was playing in the living room when I heard this sweet little voice calling out, "Mama? Mama?" When she finally found me, she ran towards me and hugged my leg. It just melted my heart to hear her calling out for me. I wanted to play hide and seek all day just so I could hear it again and again.

Believe it or not, I've never actually heard her address me as mama. Sure, if you show her a picture of me and ask her who that is, she'll answer, "Mama." But this was the first time I heard her really calling for me. One of those sweet moments I want to remember always.

Then while we were at church, she started banging on the glass wall so I pulled her back and told her to stop. She looked at me, growled with her eyebrows furrowed, wagged a finger at me and said, "Mama- no, no, no!"

Not exactly as sweet a moment as earlier, but I was still secretly happy that she knew to call me mama.

Grace wouldn't stay still long enough for me to get a decent picture of her. This will have to do for today.

Grace's 1st Love Letter

We had another good mail day. Yesterday it was a new puppy and today it was love letters- one for me and one for Grace. I'm so grateful her daddy had the forethought to write her a love letter too. Someday she might get love letters from other guys, but at least her daddy gave her the very first one. What a treasure! It's definitely going into her keepsake box.



Reluctantly modeling her new Gymboree outfit. Because my girl is so petite, the capri pants are way too long on her. I suppose that just means she'll be able to wear it for a longer time.

New Puppy

We had a disastrous time at the DMV this morning. Grace had a dirty diaper moment, the restroom didn't have a changing table, our number was up next so I was afraid of going out to the car and changing her there for fear of losing our spot after waiting over an hour. Then it turned out we had plenty of time because even though our number was next, it still took quite a long while before we got called up. Finally I was told by the lady that I shouldn't have waited in line and that the lady I checked in with at the door should have known not to let me wait. I felt the tears threatening to fall at the cruelty of it all. It's been a rough week and the stress of trying to corral a one year old at the DMV for over an hour and getting pointed stares from people at the dirty diaper stench was almost too much.


But when we got home and checked the mail, there was a nice surprise waiting for us. A new puppy! My dear friend, Jackie, and her sweet baby girl, Olivia Rose, sent Grace her new love. Grace has been kissing on it all night and the moment I pick it up and try to hug on it, she runs over and takes it away from me. I guess it's time for me to start teaching Grace about sharing.

Me: Grace, can I see your puppy?
Grace: No.

Grace's Favorite Word

For months now, Grace has been saying no by shaking her head back and forth. This week she has finally mastered it verbally. She answers any question I ask her with her favorite word and this exaggerated expression. Sometimes, for effect, she'll even say it three times while shaking her head.

The battle to get her to eat continues. It's very hit or miss. At breakfast, she loved toast, which I slathered with butter for extra fat content, and sliced bananas. She ate it all up and I even sliced up extra bananas because she wanted more. Then at lunch, I offered her basically the same thing except I made a grilled cheese sandwich. She refused to eat it. She just mushed it all up and made a mess. Seriously? A grilled cheese sandwich is pretty much toast with a slice of cheese! But she wouldn't have any of it.

So I quickly made her toast the exact same way as this morning, but nope, she pushed it around and it all ended up on the floor.

Then I made her chicken nuggets, which she gobbled up yesterday. Apparently today, she didn't love it as much because she took one bite and threw it on the floor. Now, I refuse to be a short-order cook kind of mom, but it's hard not to succumb to that during times like this when you're worried about her being sick and not eating.

The one thing she does like, without fail, is nursing. I was on my way out of that. I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I had her nursing only at naptimes and bedtime and I was starting to cut out the nap time nursing. But now we're back full force because I can't deny her that resource when she's barely eating her food. Once all this is over, we'll start the weaning process once again. (Sigh) I was this close.

Operation Weight Gain

I am on a mission to get my girl to gain some weight. I can tell she's lost some weight from her weekend sickness when she refused to eat hardly anything, and she didn't weigh all that much to begin with.

She's very slowly starting to eat again, although it's a struggle. Yesterday morning, I was hopeful at breakfast when she finished most of her food, but lunch time left me crying tears of worry and frustration when she refused to eat anything I tried to give her. I really think that her gums are hurting her because they are so swollen right now with her molars trying to come up.

Dinner time was better, but an hour after I put her down to bed, I checked on her and she was running a temperature. There went my sleep for the night. I can never sleep well when Grace is running a temperature.

By morning she had a low grade fever and no appetite for breakfast, but I tricked her into eating a little by distracting her with my silly performances. I'd sing a nursery rhyme, she'd smile, and I'd quickly try to shove food in her mouth. But despite my best efforts, she threw it all up within 10 minutes.

So back to the pediatrician we went today. Her ear infection had gotten worse instead of better. My poor baby. An ear infection plus cutting her molars are not so fun.

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing at home. Thankfully Grace took a long afternoon nap so that I could do the same. I was dead on my feet after a sleepless night. The house is a complete disaster and that is no exaggeration. But Grace ate her dinner and is now nibbling on her snack and I didn't even have to perform a single song. She's smiling and happy at the moment and I'll take that over a clean house any day.

If she would eat her food with as much gusto as this picture of me and Mike, we'd be good to go.


Thank goodness Lola gave Grace this cute raincoat. It's come in very handy with these random little rain showers we get here. This is the only picture I could get of her in it though. She's like a little puppy- open the front door and she bolts!

Petite and Healthy

Unbelievably, this is the only picture I took today- Grace anxiously waiting at the pediatrician's office.

Actually, she had a great time playing while waiting, but I just didn't get a chance to capture it on camera. For whatever reason, the one picture I took looks like she's terrified. That actually didn't come until later.

The nurse that called us into the back happened to be a guy. I have no problems with male nurses since a male nurse, who later became a very good friend of ours, helped bring Grace into this world. But apparently, Grace didn't feel the same way because she screamed bloody murder when he tried to get all her measurements. I felt so bad. I didn't know who to reassure first- my baby or the nurse. He was so young looking and he looked horrified to get such a reaction.

Grace was still screaming when he lead us into the exam room. Just as I had gotten Grace to stop crying, he knocked on the door and asked if he could weigh her again. But the scale read the same thing it had on the first try. Maybe he just couldn't believe she was really that little.

Height: 28 inches
Weight: 17.5 pounds

Hovering between the 5th and 10th percentiles for both.

According to her pediatrician, Grace is petite but very healthy. Her troubles over the weekend were due to a minor ear infection, but even that was on the way to clearing itself up so no antibiotics needed.

What a wonderful blessing to have a happy, healthy, petite baby!