Got Pediasure?

Update: Since I last posted, Grace is not a fan of any more than a 1 to 5 ratio of milk to formula. Getting up to all milk in a week is going to be tough! Good news: I tried giving her vanilla Pediasure in a sippy cup this morning, and she drank an ounce and a half! That's not a ton, but it's a start. Hopefully, when the formula runs out next week, I can at least get her going on Pediasure and then try to transition to milk from there. Plus, the Pediasure has a TON of calories (30/oz), which is a good thing. Thanks to those of you who are praying for Grace's transition to whole milk! :)

Got Milk?

Grace is nearly 13 months old now, and it's time for her to start drinking whole milk! The main reason for this is that the insurance company agreed to cover her EleCare formula until she was 12 months old. We got a month's-worth case from the pharmacy just before her birthday, and it is nearly gone. My plan was to gradually add a little more milk to her formula so that she would get used to the taste of it. However, she has had a couple of bad colds and ear infections this month, so I just continued to give her the usual formula, mostly so she would be getting sufficient calories. (It has more calories than milk.) Now, we have about a week's-worth left, and I am getting nervous. I made a 50/50 mixture tonight, and she DID NOT like it! She has made so much progress and has gained so much weight, and I don't want anything to set her back. Please pray with us that she would decide to like whole milk in the next week!

Grace is ONE!

Happy birthday to Grace! On Thursday, November 4th, Grace celebrated her first birthday...

In keeping with tradition, she was served a number one pancake, even though she's not a huge fan of pancakes. (It's hard to make a pancake out of rice cereal or baby food.) She did eat a few bites, though, and I think she appreciated the candle and the singing :).

She had a lot of help opening her presents.

Such a big girl! Now, we're hoping that she might actually learn to walk if she can push this stroller.

She got Chick-fil-a for her birthday lunch! Again, she's not quite ready for the chicken nuggets -- only two teeth and a little behind in her feeding development -- but, she really enjoyed her french fry!

Her mommy likes owls, so I'm sure Grace does, too, right? I love making my children's birthday cakes, and this one was no exception! (After I made it, I decided maybe it should have said, "Hoooo's 1?")

Knox and Owen were really excited about cake. I mean really excited. Owen had actually been crying off and on the entire day because he could see the cake but was not allowed to have any. Knox loved singing happy birthday and helping Grace blow out her candle.

Precious birthday girl!! She liked the hat and the attention but started crying when we brought her the cake and started singing. I will refrain from posting those pictures on such a happy post.

...she warmed up to the idea of birthday cake pretty quickly, though! She didn't make a huge mess. I'd say she gets 2nd place after Owen in the first birthday mess contest. She had a big handful of icing but didn't get too much of it anywhere else. Can I just say how thankful I am that she was able to eat birthday cake?! I have been concerned about this moment ever since she came home from the hospital in August!

Birthday love from Daddy :).

Miss Jessica, our RUF intern, stopped by to help us celebrate, too!
(Grammy was also here, and I failed to get a picture! :( Grammy, I'm so sorry! You may not be as upset as I am, but I wish I hadn't made such an oversight!)

Look at our growing family! Now, the kids are 1, 2, and 3. It's hard to believe they are all growing up so much!

I could write a long post about the significance of this birthday, but I think most of you know how significant it was. We are so, so, SO thankful that Grace is healthy and that we were able to celebrate this special day with her! God has been so good to us in the midst of a really hard year, and I am looking forward to what the next year will hold. I have a sense of relief and hope as Grace's 2nd year of life begins. Happy birthday to our precious, precious baby girl!

Twitter Feed

My baby girl is ONE today! Happy birthday, Grace! Thursday, November 04, 2010 10:35:50 AM via Twitter for iPhone

Had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Found my kids eating Halloween candy for breakfast. Tuesday, November 02, 2010 8:12:44 AM via Twitter for iPhone

Pray for Gracie-poo. Fever, runny nose, not eating/drinking as much last few days. Has lost a few oz. Pray that she gets well SOON!! Thanks! Monday, November 01, 2010 6:10:52 PM via web

One kid down, two to go...I know it's only 6:00, but it's been a LONG DAY! Monday, November 01, 2010 6:07:54 PM via web

Grace is 17lb 3oz...4th percentile! Yay for being back on the growth chart!! 11:05 AM Oct 18th via Twitter for iPhone

While discussing fall break plans, Knox asks, "Do they have a nice potty at the hotel...to poop in?" 8:28 AM Oct 9th via Twitter for iPhone

Grace update: Eleven Months and improving day by day! http://t.co/VD4qtES 11:14 AM Oct 5th via Tweet Button

Eleven Months

Our little pumpkin is eleven months old...

And, she is getting big and round like a pumpkin, too! OK, so she's not really that big, relatively speaking, but she has made some big gains. After our trip to Vanderbilt, Grace really turned a corner. Although the nutritionist gave us a few suggestions (mainly to thicken her formula to 27 calories per ounce), I really think Grace's body has just gotten back on the right track. In the last three weeks, she has wanted to eat more, and her weight gain suggests that her body is doing a better job of absorbing what she is taking in. We have also been able to let her sleep through the night again, which has been a major change for the better for all of us!

As of today, she is 16 pounds, 9 ounces, just shy of getting back on the growth chart. We are so thankful to see this kind of progress! Our goals now are to get her to take in more calories by food and less by formula and to transition her to whole milk.

Development-wise, she is catching up -- she is still crawling on her belly, but she is fast! She's attempting to pull up and has been successful from the sitting position. She is developing quite a temper and is sure to let us know when she is not happy about something. Something tells me that Grace is going to continue to keep us on our toes and demand a lot of our attention... :)

September was a hard month, and we are still not quite caught-up from August. We are hoping for a happier and more restful October, enjoying the last month of Grace's first year. One more month and she will be ONE!

Thanks to those of you who have continued to ask about Grace's progress and pray for her!

Twitter Feed

I am so thankful for the good days that follow really hard days. 3:05 PM Sep 28th via Twitter for iPhone

Grace is up another half pound since last week and has gained length, too...almost back on the growth chart! 3:13 PM Sep 21st via Twitter for iPhone

Knox, in the car: "Now, Mommy, when we get home, I want you to go straight to my room and get ready for bed." 6:11 PM Sep 18th via Twitter for iPhone

Grace met her calorie goal again today! Yay for sleep! :) 8:38 PM Sep 16th via web

Knox: "Hey Owen, do you like your train track? Say 'Yeah.'" Owen: "Yeah." Knox: "Hey Mommy, Owen likes his train track!" 2:48 PM Sep 16th via Twitter for iPhone

Grace slept all night! And, she is having a great day so far. I think we may have turned a corner! I am so thankful. God is good. 12:09 PM Sep 16th via web

Grace is just 1/2 calorie away from her daily goal...and it's only 8PM! Will definitely be taking a break from the late night feeding. Yay! 7:03 PM Sep 15th via web

PTL! Encouraging visit @ Vandy 2day. Grace gained 1/2 pound this week! Nutritionist thinks she is on right track, tweaked the plan a bit. 10:39 PM Sep 14th via web

Heading to Vanderbilt Nutrition Clinic tomorrow with Grace -- update and prayer request http://goo.gl/b/xMQk 9:00 PM Sep 13th via web

Vanderbilt Bound

Tomorrow, Grace and I are headed to Nashville for her appointment at the Vanderbilt Nutrition Clinic. Please pray that her nutritionist would have wisdom concerning Grace's situation!

So, what is the current situation, you ask? Thankfully, since we arrived back home, Grace has not had any issues with throwing up or diarrhea. She seems to have returned to health in that regard. Our struggle has been getting her to take in enough calories every day. We have had some great days and then some really not-so-great days. We've had some setbacks like getting sick from eating puffs, and constipation from her new, thicker formula mixture. She typically has about 7 feedings per day, at least one in the middle of the night. It has been very tiring and sometimes discouraging. She is generally happy and seems to feel well but just doesn't always want to take in enough calories. So, we are really anxious and hopeful to see if the nutritionist at Vanderbilt will be able to help us get Grace back on the right track and hopefully get our lives back to normal!

I will try to post an update sometime later this week. Thanks for praying!

Twitter Feed

The apple juice worked! 8:16 AM Sep 8th via web

Poor Grace can't win...now she's constipated! (Sorry if that's TMI...poop is a part of daily conversation here.) Hope the apple juice works! 8:30 PM Sep 7th via web

Exciting day! Preschool open house for boys, good weight check for Grace -- up 6 oz! Chick-fil-A and Soybean Festival parade tonight! 11:28 AM Sep 7th via Twitter for iPhone

And, here's a new old post from last week...So Happy Together http://goo.gl/b/142n 11:27 PM Sep 5th via web

Update: Grace is 10 months old! http://goo.gl/b/SYR7 11:21 PM Sep 5th via web

Ten and Too (Cute)

This sweet girl turned 10 months old yesterday...

And, we think she is too cute!

It's good to see 10 months! Grace celebrated her 9-month birthday in the hospital, so sick we hardly had time to remember that it was her birthday. But, this birthday was a good one! She is working hard to catch up on her crawling and talking, things that she didn't really get a chance to practice for almost a month. She is army crawling faster and faster and getting up on her knees and rocking every now and again. She is vocalizing more and more, and especially likes to say "dada." We are still having to work hard on getting in enough calories every day, and we are hoping this will get easier. She's getting her calories but only because someone is waking up in the middle of the night to feed her (Justin or me). We hope this will end soon!! It is tiring having a "newborn" baby again...especially because she takes up more of our energy during the day than a newborn would. She has an appointment at the Vanderbilt Nutrition Clinic on the 14th, and we are looking forward to getting some more help with all of these persistent issues.

We're glad Grace didn't spend this birthday in this hospital, though she tried! That little stinker...Thursday night, she picked up a cellophane toothpick wrapper off the floor and decided to eat it, which landed us in the ER for about 3 hours. I am not even kidding! It's a long story...we thought she had put something in her mouth but we weren't sure what, looked, did a finger sweep, found nothing -- she just kept coughing and gagging off and on for about an hour, so we thought a professional needed to take a look. They couldn't find anything either and finally decided to send us home because her symptoms seemed to be subsiding. We decided it must have just been something little that worked it's way down. But, as we were waiting for the discharge papers, lo and behold, she spit that wrapper out of her mouth! OH. MY. GOSH. I am getting the feeling that what they say about girls bringing the drama might be true. Grace has certainly brought her fair share of it into this house in her short 10 months!! Needless to say, we are so glad she's ok and that it was nothing worse. And, needless to say, I will be vacuuming much more frequently now.

Can't believe my baby girl will be ONE in two months!!!

Twitter Feed

B'ham nutritionist gave new plan: make higher calorie formula. Now has 30oz/day goal. Hoping we can cut out these 3am feedings! 11:44 AM Sep 2nd via Twitter for iPhone

Early morning meltdown because we can't have ice-cream for breakfast. What a way to start the day. Need coffee now. 7:22 AM Sep 1st via Twitter for iPhone

Weight check today 6.59kg. (14lb, 8.5oz) Up 2.5oz from last week but not as good as the doc had hoped. Will see nutritionist at Vandy 9/14. 1:39 PM Aug 31st via web

Hoping Grace drinks over 30oz today. Don't want to set my alarm for a 3am feeding again. It's like having a newborn. So sleepy. Need coffee. 7:28 AM Aug 31st via Twitter for iPhone

My kids are crackin' me up. Owen is crying, insisting that I wear a certain pair of shoes. Apparently, I stink AND have poor fashion sense. 4:16 PM Aug 30th via Twitter for iPhone

Knox just scooted up next to me and said, "Do you need to poop, Mommy?" "Um...no." Not sure what I should make of that. I did shower today. 3:41 PM Aug 30th via web

Whew! Just drank 5oz, which puts her up to 25 for today. Will have to wake up in the middle of the night for an extra feeding, though :(. 10:28 PM Aug 29th via web

Mostly positive update and a prayer request...Pray for Grace: They're Baa-ack! http://goo.gl/b/HIXW 9:40 PM Aug 29th via web