Almost 1000

We added a counter at the end of our blog that counts the number of hits from different computers (vs. counting the number of times the blog is visited). This means that our blog had been visited by 989 computers. I am not sure if I should be happy or scared! Hey, if you have not signed up to be a follower, please do. It is located on the right side of the blog.

Merry Christmas

This was the day before we left. I put Grace in her walker wagon that she got for her birthday from Uncle Tom and Aunt Shannon. She LOVED being pushed around in it (not was it is used for, but she appreciated the break from walking).

It was a wonderful Christmas this year... We have so much to be thankful for and visiting with family tops the list. We ate really well and I realized that every celebration was centered around amazing food. We loved seeing Grace experience (I mean REALLY experience ) Christmas for the first time. Seeing the pure joy in her eyes brought me right back to my childhood. I only wish that the holiday season lasted longer so that I could prolong all that fun!  Today I started packing up Christmas decorations and organizing.. and it really made me sad.

I think the highlight of Grace's trip was my parent's cat Simon. Every single time he walked in the room she was kick her legs and says things in excitement.."Hi! Hi!" she would scream. I was unable to get any photos of this, mainly because Simon was afraid to be in the same room with her longer than a minute. Every morning Grace would look around for him and stand up and peek out the window and try to find him.  It never got old and was hysterical to witness.

Pre-Christmas

We arrived in Northridge on Wednesday after a 5 and 1/2 hour drive from San Bruno. Grace did really well on the car ride and we were happy about that.  We took Grace to see the Christmas lights near my parent's house. She was in LOVE!  She could not get enough of the lights and sounds. She kept pointing and shaking her hands as if you say, "Do you see what I am seeing?"

all warm and toasty in her stroller

Grace got a Christmas cookie that she ate after dinner. The only other time she has had sugar was on her first birthday, so this was an experience for her! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

 

Christmas Eve

We began the day with a delicious Egyptian brunch hosted at Dan and Dalia's house. The food was amazing- fool (Egyptian fava beans), Maggie's falafel, a layered buttery flatbread that Dalia's Dad brought back from Egypt (soooo delicious), feta, and eggs. Is so  Grace's highlight was seeing her cousin Siena and playing with Reggie. She laughed and screamed every time he came near her.

For dinner we made a red velvet layer cake (a new family tradition) and had the most delicious meal- radicchio salad with roasted cauliflower, shaved peccorino and fried capers, whole roasted red snapper, greens (from dan and dalia's garden) braised in brown butter, roasted potatoes, and Semmifreddi's rustic sourdough (from SF).  We toasted Nonna, who would have been 101 this year. We sure do miss you Nonna.

Siena woke up from her nap and gave Grace a really big hug (well, as big of a hug a six month old can give)

Siena and Grace played on the rug with Siena's toys, Siena seems worried what Grace is going to do with her things!

 

Grace decided that standing up on Siena's exercise mat was the way to go.

Grace could not get enough of Reggie

Christmas

Opening presents with two babies is so much fun!  Grace decided that she could not wait any longer for Christmas and woke up at 6am (much to our dismay).


In the evening, we had a big family gathering with my Mom's side of the family- 26 people to be exact. Todd's parents drove down from Arizona and came to celebrate as well. Having all the second cousins running around the house was fun (and loud).  After everyone left, we played Texas Hold Em while my Mom stayed up until 12:30 to clean up. I usually stay out of these games because they last into the wee hours of the night, but for once I decided to play a bit. I WON!  That was pretty exciting as I have never made it until the end.


As I was loading my pictures on the computer, I realized that I had none of my folks or my sis and Brandon. I am actually surprised that we had any of our selves. These days, the camera is full of babies. I hope someone else's camera caught things that we seemed to ignore.

Here is Siena opening one of her first presents. Look how excited she is!

The wrapping paper is more fun than the present itself!

"Let's see here... clothes? anything else?"

"That's more like it!"

Gracie got in her birthday suit after presents.

More playing...

"Don't tell any of my secrets!"

Great Grandma Sally so happy to see Grace

Isabella, Olivia and Sammy coloring

Jonah, Olivia, Isabella and Grace reading Christmas books

Post Christmas

We went with Todd's parents to the Getty on Saturday. I had not been for awhile and it was fantastic! It seemed like lots of others had the same idea. The best part of the Getty is the outside and the gardens. Even in the dead of winter the gardens were groomed and blooming (something to strive for with our own garden).

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Tom

Fountain at the Getty

 

Palm Springs

We went to Palm Springs to see my Grandma, Aunt Flo, Uncle Jay and my cousin Matt for Christmas. We had a wonderful time there- the weather was perfect. We ate Grandma's Manicotti, Ceasar salad and spiced chocolate lava cakes (delish) for dessert.  I was so glad that we got to drive out for a visit and I wish that the visit could have been longer. Grace had a ball chasing Spencer (my aunt and uncle's Yorkie) around.. they were like two best friends!

Sadly, the end of our trip ended in Grace and Todd getting the stomach flu. This was the same experience last year, so it did put a damper on the end of the visit. When you get sick you realize how great it is to have good health. We were thankful that we had my Mom there to help take care of Todd and Grace. I don't think I could have done it on my own.

I hope everyone's holidays were as good as ours. I am excited to enjoy what is left of my vacation and my time with my precious daughter who teaches me to love life a little more each day.

May 2010 bring you much joy and happiness!

I could not resist posting these last pictures. This is how Grace sleeps EVERY night. She seems to make it out of her blankets with her bottom in the air. So funny.

Brace Free

We have felt like the last month of our lives was a long one. Getting used to life in a brace is very difficult. Gracie's first few weeks in the brace were the hardest. She was still in a significant amount of pain and that made everything simple more challenging. We felt lucky that Todd took 2 weeks off to help care for her and it could not have been more perfect with the timing of Thanksgiving and the time off for both of us. Diaper changes are very hard when you can only remove one side of the brace to get the diaper out. And baths (a favorite for Gracie) were the WORST! If you can imagine a screaming child for 10 minutes while to try to wash her with a washcloth. Needless to say, she got bathed every 3-4 days as to avoid the emotional meltdowns for all of us!

 our first method for meals was to cover her with plastic and let her go to town

Eating, well, that was a marathon of sorts. After we realized that putting her on the ground was easier than feeding her in the infant carseat, it took on a whole new meaning! Food all of the floor, while the baby tries to get away.. not easy!  But we all managed, even when I had to go about it alone when Todd went back to work.  It was a messy, messy business! Thank goodness for splat mats!

My parents came up the first weekend after Grace was in her brace and that was huge for Gracie (and us). She loved having the extra attention and love and it was helpful to have an extra set of hands around the house. We even managed to drive up to Petaluma to spend the day. We have felt so thankful to all our our family and friends who have sent presents, cards, emails and letters. The support has been a god send and we really appreciated all the love.  Grace would get very excited every time a new card would come for her. She had her shrine  on the mantle, and would laugh at the cards and eat them.

As Thanksgiving was approaching we were unsure if we could even manage to fly to Phoenix (our plans to spend with Todd's folks) with Grace in her brace but we made the decision that it would be best for Grace and Pam and Tom (not being able to see their little grandbaby would be too hard). We had been looking forward to this trip for months and the thought of canceling it seemed too hard. I have to admit, I was extremely anxious about traveling with her on the plane. Gracie seemed to improve daily and actually the traveling was quite easy. She was a real trooper on the plane, and slept for most of the plane ride.

Thanksgiving could not have been more special for all of us. For the first time I put Grace on her stomach and she crawled!  She is such a tough cookie, managing to use her arms to pull herself around. She would use her right leg as leverage and then let her left leg sort of drag behind her.  During that time she also learned to sit up on her own by balancing her body in her brace. This was significant because it meant that her pain was not there like it was days earlier. Grace enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal- vegetarian style. Mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberries and sweet potatoes-- a carb-a-licious meal that anyone would love-- and she did.

Here she is crawling for the first time!

all pretty in my Thanksgiving dress

yum... sweet potatoes

This is what happens when you do not get bathed very often!

On Friday we took her to a farm in Phoenix that has all these animals that you can feed- donkeys, goats, a pony, chickens and dogs. As you have read in previous posts, Grace LOVES animals. At the Zoo, she laughed when the goats attacked her for food. Here, she liked the animals but was VERY afraid of the donkey. I am not sure if it was his teeth or just that she has felt more vulnerable since she got her brace. She held onto my shoulders very tightly and would do a laugh/cry every time the donkey would come.

I don't like you very much

Okay, so his teeth are pretty scary!

 

 

Last Wednesday we had an appointment for her to see the progress that she had made. The build up to this appointment was emotionally taxing.  Todd was shocked when the doctor said that her bone had healed nicely and we could remove the brace. What?!  There were a few stipulations:

-Babies who are in braces often have difficulty removing it. It is purely psychological. We had noticed this. At the hospital she would not let us or the doctors remove her blankets from her legs and would scream when we did. Since the injury, she would hold on to us so tight that her fingers would dig into your shoulders... The doctor said that it could take a few weeks to get her completely out (um, no way that was going to happen). When we brought her home and changed her diaper we decided to give it a whirl.. and let me tell you, it was like she never had it on the first place.

standing up minutes after her brace was removed

rediscovering the Christmas tree. Five minutes later, we had to remove all the ornaments at her level.

First bath- so happy to be clean again!

eating panettone for the first time. she would say, "yum" after every bite.

-Grace will most likely walk funny for a bit, since her muscles have atrophied and the position her legs were put in. It also might take longer for her to walk on her own but there is not concern that it won't happen.

We could not feel more happy or excited for our little girl. It was the best Christmas present we could all ask for and we feel blessed each day for her resilience and spirit.