My Job Drives me Nuts!

Alright, so I was supposed to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and then between holidays and vacation days I was going to have off until January 5th. Then January 5th I am scheduled to have this baby!

Well today I get a call from work, I happen to be working from home since we lost our computer access at work yesterday and there were a few things to do online. Then tomorrow we were going to finish cleaning up our project office and life was to be great. Well now it has been decided that all of the paper copies in the file need to be scanned and linked in our data entry system, well I obviously don't have time to do all of that before baby but I will be working next week now to get things organized for whoever the lucky person/people are that get to do the scanning and linking of what hasnt' been linked already.

So much for my vacation/family time before new baby. Thanks work! I hope this baby comes early so I can just be done. My job is driving me nuts with all the last minute changes they are making. SOmeone told me I didn't plan this baby very well, I kindly let them know that I was supposed to be done working no later than Dec. 1st, (6 weeks before this baby was due!).

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho, its off to work I go!

Pictures

This is how we found Grace one of the first mornings after she started sleeping on her big girl bed. We still find her in all sorts of positions but for the most part she stays in her bed.

This was in Sept. at an Apple Orchard in IL, we went to visit some friends and we had to take an outing to the orchard.

Grace is showing just how much of a girl she is! She loves to talk to Mima and Bipa on the phone during snack time! I think we are in trouble when she gets older.

Bonkers is known for head butting, so Grace is just returning the favor.

We are really hoping that this is not a glimpse into what is to come with her new baby sister. We haven't seen her sit on a doll in awhile but who knows what she will do with the baby.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, I will try and do better in 2009 just like I said I would do better in 2008!

Sorry for the Delay!

So I have not been good at keeping up with the blog and that is because of several reasons:
1) it is too darn cold in our basement where the computer is so I don't spend too much time down there.
2) By the time Grace goes to bed I am beat and can't function enough to update.
3) Every night for the past week I have been timing contractions hoping that they continue to come at the constant rate they are for them to only stop coming and leave me still pregnant!

Things are going well in the Vrieze household. If this baby waits until after Tuesday to come I will have made it full term (37 weeks)! So far no issues with my blood pressure or anything like that. I am beginning to show some signs of having some issues but nothing that anyone is really freaking out about. For the past week I have had pretty strong contractions and on Friday I really thought I was in labor with how painful they were all day long but then they went away and come back sporadically. I am ready to be done and am hoping that I don't have to live like this for another 2 weeks before my c-section.

Grace is growing like a weed. She had a follow up assessment with the Physical Therapist last month and it was determined that she was still behind so we had to start going every other week again. However, in that time Grace has made incredible strides and is really catching up. IN fact I think my child just knows how to work the system so she can play with all the fun toys the PT has.

Grace is now 2 years old. ITs hard to believe that she is 2, it seems like just yesterday we were holding a newborn baby! Now she is 2 weeks away from being a big sister. She sleeps in her big girl bed (an air mattress on the floor) like a champ and is even beginning to climb onto the furniture on her own, which will be nice after the c-section.

See my next post for pictures. These pictures will be from the summer until now. Hope you enjoy and please forgive me if I don't get on here again until after the baby is born. I will post pictures ASAP when the baby is born I PROMISE!

How Embarrassing!

So yesterday I took Grace in for a simple check of her SMO braces. (The ones she wears on her feet.) By the way that child screamed and carried on you would of thought I brought her in for amputation without sedation. The dr. had no more than opened the door and she started losing it. She has never done this before so I couldn't figure out what was going on, all this dr. does is touch her feet to take shoes, braces and socks off but Grace can not handle it at all. Whether she is in my lap or not, whether I am the one who is taking the stuff off or not, she just can't handle it. Best part the appt. is no longer than 10 minutes long. As soon as we walk out of the room she is happy as a clam! I felt so bad for the dr. and I kept apologizing for her actions but I also couldn't help laugh because it all seemed to so ridiculous since we put shoes and socks and braces on everyday and there are no issues with it! The only thing I can think of is she doesn't like Dr.'s with bald heads!

I had my 28 week appt. today. All is looking good, I got the lovely privilege of doing the glucose test today, the nurse in the lab gave me the drink and I drank it fast "and she said boy you must really want to get this over with!" I said, "no sense in prolonging the inevitable!" Then one hour later she took my blood and I was off to see the Dr. My blood pressure is still looking good but I am not getting my hopes up yet as problems with my pregnancy with Grace began to happen between 28 and 32 weeks. I will start going every two weeks now until delivery just so they can keep an eye on my blood pressure. I also had the privilege today of getting the flu shot, which I have never had before and was quite painless, and also the Rhogam shot, for those of you not familiar with this my blood is Rh negative so I need to get this shot so my blood doesn't attack baby if she is Rh positive. I felt like a pin cushion but I am done for a little while now with the poking and proding, next comes the Strep B test and then then spinal for the C-section!

Update Minus pictures for now!

So I broke my promise to you about updating with pictures last night. We did not get the pictures off the camera so therefore I do not have any to post. That is number 1 on my list of things to do tonight.

The Vrieze's have been going, going, going. In August we took Grace to see Sesame Street Live in La Crosse and I was quite amazed at how well the show held her attention. I wasn't sure she would make the whole show but she did and she LOVED it! I can't wait for next year. Over Labor day weekend we celebrated my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary and my dad's retirement! I still can't believe I am old enough to have a parent who is retired!

In September we had a wedding for some really good friends of ours, Scott was in the wedding and thankfully that was not only our last wedding of the past year but the last one for a long time that Scott will be in. From Sept. 07- Sept. 08 We had 7 weddings and 3 of those Scott was in!

We also spent a nice weekend camping with some friends. Thankfully we picked a nice weekend to go camping as the weather was not too cold but quite comfortable. Grace loved being outside and was a wonderful wake up call to all the people at our site! They say they are ready for kids but after that weekend we shall see.

At the end of Sept. we went to Pekin, Ill to visit some friends. While there we visited an apple orchard and the kids had a great time exploring the pumpkins and visiting the goats. We went to this same orchard last year when we visited them.

Last week we made a last minute trip to Indiana for my grandfathers funeral. He passed away Sunday October 5th. Grace did really well at both the visitation and the funeral and made the drive quite easy as usual.

I think now we are home for awhile. We have lots of work to do in the house before this baby comes and work has gotten quite busy so trying to do things after work doesn't always work. For those of you who are curious as to what we are having....We've been told its another girl. They are quite positive it is a girl as we have had 2 ultrasounds and the baby has had no issues showing us the between the legs shot. We may have our hands full with this one.

Other than that all is well. Grace is growing and learning by leaps and bounds. Her vocabulary has really started to take off and its fun to hold conversations with her. We enjoy watching her take in the world around her and learn what things are. (now only if we could get her to realized that an apple is small and round and usually Red and the big orange thing on our steps is a pumpkin we would be good!!!)

Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.

Update and Pictures coming tonight!

An update with pictures is coming soon, we have been unbelievably busy that I have not had time to sit down and blog. we have been on many adventures over the last few months. I will have Scott download pictures tonight and will get the blog updated. Sorry for the delay!

Update on Life!

Life is good. The vriezes have been very busy!

August 9th Grace and I threw a surprise birthday for party. He turned 31 on the 31st of July so I thought he deserved a party. I actually was able to pull off the surprise! He thought I was going to take a nap while he went golfing!

Grace is growing by leaps and bounds. She is talking so much more, a lot of her words the average joe couldn't understand but we know what she is talking about and boy does she understand what we are saying. It is so much fun to watch her giggle and play and torment the cats!

The pregnancy is going well. I am still on medication and it is still working. I have my bad nights but for the most part its all good. Next week Tuesday we have our big ultrasound hopefully the baby will cooperate and we will know what we are having. Scott and I are having a rougher time coming up with names this time around so at this point I can't even tell you what we are thinking.

I have lots of pictures that i would love to post but they are still on the camera. I am not real good at getting them off the camera so I leave that up to Scott and I keep forgetting to ask him to do it. So hopefully by weeks end i can get some pictures on here so you can see Grace!

Test

Just a test to see if my comment spot returns I will update blog later today when I get a chance.

Where is my comment spot?

So I am having trouble figuring out what happened to my comment area. If you know what to do please let me know. Thanks!

We're Having a Monkey...I mean baby!

Yesterday was my first OB appointment. It went really well and I LOVE the nurse practitioner we saw, she is awesome and I am looking forward to working with her through this! She answered all of our questions and even had other info to give. Asked me about how the meds were working and if we needed to up them and I asked if we could up them and she put me on a whole different med and can I say that ZOFRAN is the WONDER DRUG! I have felt like a normal human being all day and have only had to take one pill. I am trying to hold out on taking another one, which has been no problem at all so far, until this evening.

At our appointment yesterday we also had an ultra sound done, I guess they routinely do them at the first appt. now. It was an internal ultrasound which is not the most comfortable but you get a good picture of the baby. One of our pictures we got was a close up of the baby's face and I think it looks like a monkey. Now Scott hates it when I call it a monkey but I kid you not it looks like a monkey. If I can get it to scan in a way where you can see it I will post it to the blog.

All is looking good and baby is measuring right on. The NP said she was going to watch me like a hawk since my Pre-eclampsia started at 29 weeks before that gives me greater than 50% chance to get it again.

Crummy, Crummy, Crummy!

No this is not a post about the weather lately. This is a post about how I have been feeling lately and if you haven't already gotten the point, its crummy! I finally called my OB on Monday and asked for some meds. I was having a hard time keeping things down and having energy to do anything throughout the day. They gave me the same med I was on last time and this time it doesn't appear to be working as well. We shall see, if it still isn't working well by next week I will talk to the DR when I see her.

Grace is doing really well with her braces. She walks so much better with them on, I will try and get pictures of them up soon. She is learning new things all the time and now that she is for the most part caught up on her Gross motor skills her vocabulary is starting to take off. Her new words this week are disco (along with a little hip motion) & bubbles. If she is in the right mood her dad can get her to hold up on thumb and say "A". Its kind of cute.

18 Months

We had Grace's 18 month appointment yesterday here are her stats:

Weight: 23 lbs (35%)
Length: 31" (25%)
Head: 18 3/4" (85%)

Grace is following a funny curve on the charts as one appt. she goes up on the charts and the next she goes down, but no one is concerned so I won't be either.

We also visited the orthotic Dr. who casted Grace for the braces on her feet. We are getting the braces called SMO's and they will only go to just past her ankle and they should help to keep her feet straight when she walks. We get the braces on June 2nd, we are hoping it won't be long before she walks in them as when she is walking in her braces we don't have to go to PT as much anymore.

That is about all from here. I am still not feeling the best and infact feeling worse as they days go on, I am hoping that if I do have "morning sickness" that it does not last as long as last time. For right now 8:30pm is a great bed time!

More News!

Yep you read that right! Grace is going to be a big sister.

My due date is January 13th so that makes me 5 weeks along. Now before you chastize me for speaking too soon about being pregnant I would like to just point out that I would rather you all know then having to explain to you that I was pregnant and I lost the baby.

I am feeling pretty well, very tired and somewhat nauseous. Being pregnant with grace was hard but being pregnant with a toddler is hard as well. But the nice thing is, is there is a great distraction to how lousy you feel. I will keep everyone updated as I know more.

The Best Mother's Day Present

So I am sure you are all wondering what the best Mother's Day present could be, well it is when your 18 month child decides to walk! Yep, Grace did walk a few weeks ago at PT but she hadn't done it since until Sunday morning at church where she discovered she could get around. It was so nice and Scott got to see it too before anyone else did!

The big question now is will she still have to have her braces and I believe that answer is yes but we may be putting it off a little bit, I guess we will find out on Thursday.

And She's Off!

Well Idon't have any pictures or video to prove it but Grace took her first unassisted steps this morning while in Physical Therapy. The first time she took 4 steps the second time she took six and the third and final time she took 10! She really thought she was hot stuff and I admit I did too! I was so excited I almost started to cry, I know what a sap, but to know all that we've been through in the last year and a half its nice to know she is almost caught up with her skills. We will try and get pictures tonight so that I can post for you, I really wish i had a video camera so that I could show you a video of it.

A Growth Spurt

When we got Grace dressed this morning the first outfit we had on her was alittle short so we switched it to a pair of jeans. They were getting short but I figured we had a little more time with them. Well I guess I didn't pay close enough attention because when she got home today from Daycare she was playing in the living room and her pannts were about 1 inch too short. They looked quite funny, however, I was really excited because that meant she was growing and a lot in a short time period as we had those jeans on last week and the week before and they fit! Maybe she will take after her daddy and be tall!

I'm A Little Behind

So its been awhile since I have blogged. I can honestly say its not because nothing has been going on. This month has been crazy with all sorts of different things going on.

We got our new carpet in the basement and it looks wonderful!!! It is so nice to be down there now and play with Grace. We have been out of town two weekends one weekend Grace and I went to La Crosse to see my parents and one weekend we went to Appleton to see some friends.

Grace had her 4th or 5th ear infection adn the urgent care Dr. started talking about tubes. I guess that will be a discussion with the pediatrician when she has her 18 month appt. Grace also has gotten the diagnosis of having Reactive Airway Disorder (RAD) or as most people know it Asthma. So far this year it seems to be only triggered by upper respiratory infections so hopefully that is the way it will stay. I did find out from the Dr. though that it is not uncommon for kids with low muscle tone to also have asthma, so we shall see what happens.

I will have to upload pictures later when we get them off the camera.

Carpet At Last!

Okay, we don't technically have our carpet yet but it is coming on Friday and then we will finally be able to put our house back together after 6 loooooooooooooooooooong weeks of having our house in shambles. I wonder if my mood will be better when I can finally feel organized again!

***Also, change to post about Grace and her braces. She will actually be getting fitted for them in May not this month. Everyone involved decided to wait a little bit longer.***

My Child is What?

So if you read my post below you will see that I made mention of a nurse at our Dr. appt. on Wednesday. I am not sure if this nurse doesn't know much about kids or was just trying to be nice.

She had to do a weight and height check on Grace. So since they don't have a non-standing child's scale she had to weigh me holding Grace and then me. I told the nurse she was about 22 lbs and the nurse did her math and Grace was 22 lbs. Her comment was "Wow what a big girl!" So then we go back to the room and she measures Grace and she is about 31" long. She again exclaimes how big Grace is and says "so what is she wearing 24month clothes?" I really had to hold back my laugh. I kindly told her no that Grace was still wearing 12 month clothes. She then proceeded to tell me that it must just depend on the brand. I just kindly nodded and thought in my head, would you like ot come look at the closet and the dresser and see what size clothes we have in there? But i refrained.

Never since day 1 has anyone told me that Grace was a big girl, its usully just the opposite.

The Decision Has Been Made!

What a confusing two days! Grace's pt asked us to consult with our pediatrician about what her thoughts were on bracing Grace's feet so that she doesn't pronate so much (roll her ankle inwards). So Monday when we were in for a pneumonia re check I asked her. She told me she didn't really have an educated answer but knew who we should see. So she referred us to a Dr. in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitaton. I called Tuesday morning to make the appt. figuring it would be several weeks out before we saw her. Well they had to call me back and called me Tuesday afternoon and asked if we could be there Wednesday afternoon at 1:40, after I got over my shock I said yes we will be there!

So Wed. we went to see this dr. (remind me to tell you about the nurse) She was a great lady and really knew how to work with kids and young kids at that. She knew just how to distract or talk to Grace so she would do what she wanted her to do. She was quite impressed with how well grace handled all the poking and prodding and stuff and I said " I think she's used to it its been happening for over a year now, different Dr's same thing!" Anyways she told me that yep Grace was going to need braces but still questioned as to when, as is the PT, which is why we went there for another opinion. Well she decided that Grace could wait and we would see her in 2 months and then go from there. She told me not to expect Grace to be walking in that 2 months but she could be wrong. So we set up our appt. for two months from now, knowing that would be the time we get the referral for the orthotics.

So fast forward to this morning, we go to PT and am telling the PT about our appt. yesterday and she was very surprised we got in so quickly! Well becuase the appt. was made and finished before we saw her again, she had decided to get Grace fitted for the braces at our next appt. in two weeks! So I told her what the other dr said. So after some discussion we decided to go ahead with it for several reasons: 1) It will take awhile for the braces to come in 2) Grace is going to eventually need them and her feet aren't growing in leaps and bounds so her growing out of them is not a worry, 3) I am just ready for this part of the process to be done. We have been going back and forth on the brace issue for months now and I am just happy that we finally ahve a definite answer that YES she will need them. The only cons to her getting them now is that she may regress in her gross motor skills because the braces will make things harder to move around in but she will quickly learn how to redo everything with them on!!!!

I put in a call to the DR we saw on Wed. to see if she was okay with us bracing Grace at this time, so that if she is not I can contact our PT and have her cancel the appt. with the orthotist. I have to say that our PT was kind enough to schedule the orthotist to come to our PT appt. and the orthotist was kind enough to come to our 7am PT appt. so I don't want to wait too long to cancel.

So that is the update on where we are at with Grace. I keep telling myself that someday this will all be over!

Give Me a Break, Give Me a Break, Break me off a piece of that....

Yep I am once again asking for a break. I was home from work today as Grace has pneumonia. She's been coming down with a cold the last few days and today we happend to have a recheck for her ears so they just checked her all out because she had such a nasty cough and wheeze. Well 1 1/2 hours later we left with a nebulizer and antibotics and the knowledge that Grace has pneumonia in her right lung. We go back for a recheck on Monday, and I am praying that it is gone.

We finally got to go and start looking at carpet last night. We are waiting for some samples and hopefully then we can make our decision and then we can get our carpet by the end of next week and this whole ordeal will be done.

Despite being sick today Grace learned that she can open the kitchen cabinets so as I type this Scott is installing the child safety latches so she can't open the doors to get into what is in the cabinets. Her favorite is the cabinet with pop cans in it! Not the most pleasant sound when they all topple to the tile floor.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The title says it all. We have been very busy the last few weeks and this week we are finally calming down.

Our Easter was very good. We spent the afternoon with Scott's family, Grace got a great Easter Basket from her Uncle Troy and Aunt Michelle she really loved the bath toys and we can't wait to use them in the tub.

Grace is officially pulling herself up to a standing, YEAH! Now we just need her to walk but that should come soon I hope! Her PT is starting to talk more strongly about putting a brace on Grace's left leg for sure as when she stands she really rolls her ankle. I asked if we would see the same Dr. we saw for the helmet and she said no we would actually see his brother. I thought that was kind of funny. Not sure I would want to work with my brother but to each their own. I hope he is as nice and friendly as the helmet Dr. was.

Nothing else really new. We are still waiting to get our new carpet in the house so we have been living in a mess for almost a month now, its getting old and I can't wait to have new carpet. Hopefully we will get it next week.

Sorry for the barage of pictures, I hadn't posted any for awhile. The first few are from our trip to Disney World in January and then enjoying her sledding here in MN.

What Does God Have to Do With It?

So I received a comment to my last post that basically told me that God had nothing to do with my being able to pay for my sewer pipe seeing as I only received that money back because I don't know how to fill out my W-2 form.

I commented back saying that God has everything to do with our being able to pay for the pipe and get everything taken care of. If I had filled out my W-2 differently so that I didn't pay as much tax as I did and our return was not as large as it was there was no way we would be able to have paid for that pipe. God totally provides and you can rationalize it in any way you want to but I totally see God's hand in this whole situation. As disappointed as I am that we weren't able to do the things we wanted to do in the house I am so glad that this happened when we had the money in our account. God is great and really takes care of us and we need to give him the glory for these things. So to whoever annonymous is I do pray that you can get over your anti-God feelings and realize that he has provided so many things for you.

As for me and my family we do praise God for all this and for the fact that we work, we paid too much tax so we could get some back and that we were foolish enough to fill out our W-2 incorrectly.

God Bless your Day!

If One More Thing Breaks...

I tell you the last week has been terrible. So we've had water for a few days now and its been wonderful and I finally don't feel like we live in a garbage dump! Grace has thus far escaped getting sick from me but she is teething quite badly. Then this morning as we were already running late for work the garage door wouldn't shut. The gears are stripped. Luckily that is covered under our home warranty stuff and we only have to pay $100 and if it needs to be replaced they cover it. I wish that was true of our sewer pipe! I could use that money back.

Anywho, I just really feel like God has it out against us right now and in fact my whole family as my brother is having the millionth issue with his hernia surgery. But at least in our case I also am very thankful to God for providing as we received our tax return on Friday and were able to pay for the repair of the pipe and such. So as much as I want to blame I need to praise God for once again providing for our needs.

Well I need to get to bed. I shall write more later.

Water, Water Where For Out Thou Water

So for the past 48 hours we have lived without water at the Vrieze household. On Friday when we got home from work we noticed that there was a build up of water in our basement bathroom and then we noticed quite a bit of water in the laundry room. We had no idea what it was until one of us flushed the toilet and it all came rushing out! So at 6pm we called Roto Rooter to come and fix our leak well at 11pm they broke the news to us that it was a broken pipe outside in our front yard and it would need to be repaired but they couldn't do it until Monday. SO here we sit with little to no water for the weekend.

So what have we done you ask, well we have been showering at Scott's folks place and using as little water as we can while we are at our home. We use the gas station down the street for a bathroom and we havne't cooked anything so as not to add to the mess we already have in the house.

While I am thankful this has happened after we got our taxes back and have the money to pay for the repair I am sad because that money was going to be used to do some remodeling in the house. OH WELL! I will try and update you all tomorrow while they are here fixing our pipe. If I can I might just add some pictures!

Who Are You and What Have You Done With My Child!

YIKES! Grace has turned into a terror.

She hasn't been napping at daycare, she has decided it is much more fun to play in the crib. So when we get her home she is absolutely a terror. Last night we had a quick dinner and then let her play in the bathtub for a long time so we could make it to 7pm and then we got her to bed by 7:30p and she was out like a light. This is getting exhausting and i want my happy go lucky child back.

Also need advice, how do you teach a toddler not to hit? She has been hitting me and Scott lately and nothing is working.

Whoever you are PLEASE return my child to me!!!

15 Month Stats & More

We took Grace for her 15 month appointment on Monday.

Weight: 22lb 4oz (40%)
Length: 30 1/4" (50%)
Head: 18 1/2" (75%)

She is finally growing into her head! I was surprised to see she had passed the 22 pound mark as 2 weeks ago when we had her in she was 21lb 8oz fully dressed. I think she went through a growth spurt though because she has been eating quite a bit.

We may be potty training early! Just kidding! On a fluke Grace went poopy on the potty on Saturday afternoon. I was giving her a bath before we went to our friends wedding and she started grunting. I didn't really want to clean out the tub so Scott said to put her on the toilet so I did and amidst her crying because I took her out of the bath she went poopy! We haven't done it again since and probably won't for awhile but for the moment the crisis was averted!

On Sunday morning when Grace woke up she was quietly playing in her crib, I think at one point she was yelling at her stuffed animals but thats for another day. Anyways, when she started to sound a little more restless I figured I should probably go and get her up. When I walked in there she was staring right at me. Yep! She was kneeling at the side of her crib and she got to that position all by herself! So she officially can now pull herself up to a kneeling position. She won't go to standing yet but everyonce in awhile it looks as though she is trying to figure out how to do it. So soon we may be seeing that as well.

Other than that things at the Vrieze household are going well. In a few weeks we are going to start some work around the house, new carpet, new interior doors, painting cabinets, etc. So we will have a buys spring but I am sooooo looking forward to a new look.

What could be the cause????

Well we took Grace to the Dr. this afternoon as our daycare provider called and said Grace had a huge blowout diaper and that she was super crabby. So Scott went to pick her up and I met them at the clinic.

By the time we got to the clinic she had broken out into an awful rash. So the Dr. was leaning towards the fact that she had roseola like she had around her 1 year birthday. Well he checked her throat and it was red so he did a culture just to be sure. He didn't think it was strep but wanted to check. Well guess what..... it was strep. So now we have some antibiotics and I am hoping that Grace will start eating and drinking again soon. She has already lost a pound in the past week.

We shall keep you posted on how she progresses. But for now it looks like this mother is going to miss yet another day of work!

One Drink Down Hopefully Many More To Go!

Well after much fighting and cheering Grace did drink a 6 oz bottle this morning. I haven't called daycare to see if she has had anymore but at least she got those 6 oz. in her.

Take a Drink Already!

Grace has decided that she doesn't want to drink. It doesn't matter if its water, juice, milk, drinkable yogurt or what not. She has been under the weather today so even more the concern that she is not drinking. Anyone got any suggestions on ways to get her to drink. We've tried sippy cup, bottle, regular cup and cup with a straw.

Nothing else new here to report. Just a cranky clingy child and I am soooo looking forward to going to work tomorrow. (does that make me a bad parent???)

I hate New Year's resolutions!

So, in a previous post I mentioned that in 2008 I was going to get better about blogging so that everyone can be kept up to date with the happenings at the Vrieze household. Well seeing as I only blogged twice in January I am not off to a very good start. We shall see what February holds.

Well this past Tuesday we had the appointment with the Neurologist for Grace. What a waste of time. I wish I could get paid the big bucks for a 5 minute appointment that tells the patient nothing they didn't already know. So anyways he just confirmed that Grace has what is called Low Tone (hypotonia) in her muscles so they are weaker than normal which is why she achieves her gross motor skills so delayed. We just need to continue with PT and keep her moving to build up those muscles.

You know I was chuckling the other day, in March of 2007 when our Pediatrician referred Grace for PT for her Torticollis she didnt' think we would be in PT very long. Then when we met with the PT she didn't seem to think we would be there that long either. So here we are in Feb. of 2008 and we are still doing PT every other week. Someday we will be done, I am guessing now it won't be until she walks and that could be awhile!

Well I still owe you guys lots of pictures and I will get to them soon I promise. I just need to remember to have scott download the pictures since I can't seem to do it right and I don't want to lose the pictures.

14 Months and Two Trips to Disney World

Yep! You read that right, Grace is 14 months old and we just completed her second trip to Disney World. We have kindly told her we are not going back until she is 14 years old. It was an excellent trip and Grace was a wonderful traveler. She really enjoyed seeing all the characters and wasn't even afraid of Beast from Beauty and the Beast. I thought he looked a little creepy but she didn't seem to mind. I will post pictures when we get them downloaded.

Well we have reached a few more milestones with Grace, she is finally crawling on all fours and not just doing the army crawl. She is still getting the hang of it so she goes pretty slow but she is starting to realize she can get places that way. As I said in my previous post I thought Grace was starting to sit up on her own and sure enough she is. She does it the sit up style so she is already working on her abs but she gets from laying down to sitting up and really thinks she is hot stuff!!! Today she pulled her self up to a kneeling position by pulling on my shirt so I guess we are in for some changes at our house.

Well I am extremely tired so I must go to bed.

New Year's Resolution

So one of my New Year's Resolutions was to get better at blogging. I barely ever write on here and am sure that people have stopped reading by now. So hopefully some will come back and see what is happening in the Vrieze household.

Last week at PT the therapist gave Grace an assessment for her Gross Motor Delay. As I had suspected Grace is at about the level of a 9 month old. So this weekend Grace decides that she is going to start doing some new things. I am almost 100% positive that she went from laying down to sitting up this weekend. Even though I never actually saw her do it I am pretty positive that twice when I left the room she was laying down and when I came back she was sitting up!!! Then Sunday morning Scott put her behind her walking toy and she took a stroll across the living room, mind you the living room is not all that big but she still walked and we didn't have to hold the walker so it didn't go to fast! I guess all Grace needed was to be told she was behind to get her butt in gear. Or else they were all flukes and she won't do them again for a while!

I also have to let you nkow that I am a little concerned about my child's pain threshold. We discoverd over the past month that most of her teeth have decided to all come in at the same time and unless myself or grandma hadn't stuck our fingers in her mouth we would have never known! Thats really got to hurt. But then the poor girl bumps her head and cries I just do'nt get it!

Well I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Year and that you are able to hold to any resolutions you made.