Sunday

We started our day by having Grandma & Grandpa over for breakfast. Gracie loves the weekends, partially because she doesn't have therapy, but mostly because of the slow pace. After breakfast, Gracie was eager to show Grandma & Grandpa all of her babies that she hid in her reading tent aka "castle". In the photograph, you will see she is a proud momma!

We later met The Slocums at the zoo. Gracie asked her usual question at least 50 times, "When will we ride the carousel?" We try to save that for last, so it's no wonder we hear that so many times. Good Ole Daddy kept lifting Gracie out of the stroller to see animals as we would stop at the different exhibits. She finally told him, "I do not care about seeing any other animals, so don't pick me up again until we get to the carousel!" She can be so sassy! To keep from getting sick, Doug and I split up the carousel riding, each 2 times. Jenna & I took some cute pictures of the kids together. The zoo is always a great place to snap some fun photos.

Before dinner, Doug and I took Gracie over to the playground at Oak Hill (where she'll be starting pre-K next year). We've been a couple of times this summer. I want to give her the opportunity to get more familiar and comfortable with the playground before she begins school there. My hope is that she will be less apprehensive about using the equipment if she has more confidence in her ability to use the pieces. She's learning. There are some pieces that she simply can't use without help. That makes me so sad for Gracie so I want to teach her how to independently use as much as she can. As we were starting to leave, the sprinklers came on. By the time we got to the car, Gracie was drenched. She ran through them several times and had a blast! (Unfortunately, no pictures of the playground.)

Saturday Fun

Yesterday sweet Lizzy and her mom, Judy, came by for a visit. Lizzy was able to show Gracie some tricks on the Nintendo DS, and Gracie showed off her skills on some internet games. Then we went to Houston's baseball game to cheer for him. He played well and his team won 8 to 1! Gracie enjoyed cheering for him in the short breaks she would take from playing her DS.

A Great Week

This has been an eventful week for Gracie. She has played with friends, spent time with her grandparents, gone swimming, visited her buddies at Woodmont Baptist, attended a day at Camp Ole, and worked hard on her daily therapy activities. Heidi, her other PT, worked with Gracie on Wednesday after not seeing her for 2 weeks. She was happy with Gracie's progress and so surprised about her ability to walk with the crutches. Gracie still tries to talk her way out of using the crutches and tries to "make deals" about how far she has to walk with them. I'm hoping she grows to love the freedom they give her.

A Fun-Filled Weekend

Gracie has been working hard with her arm crutches. Someone has to be right beside her when she walks with them so this keeps us from solely using the crutches for her mobility. She uses her walker when we cannot be by her side. She walked into Cole's birthday party at My Gym on Saturday. She enjoyed the party and knew how to use the equipment because she went through two sessions there when she was younger.

Gracie enjoyed swimming with her buddy Cal on Sunday. She and Cal both mastered swimming with water wings! This was the first time for both of them to even use the arm floats. This was a weekend full of smiles!

Taking Steps

Gracie worked even harder on her arm crutches today at therapy. She walked a long way and Laura didn't even use a belt to help balance her. She did it all by herself! Gracie also practiced taking steps independently. She took about 20 steps and only needed Laura to catch her a few times. We also timed her standing alone. She has increased her standing time to 73 seconds!

Therapy is Going Well

Gracie is working hard on her arm crutches. Laura is ready for her to stop using her walker and use the crutches in its place. We will continue to use the walker for long distances but Gracie will now be using the crutches around the house and for short distances. This is quite an adjustment for all of us because someone now has to be directly behind Gracie whenever she wants to walk, just in case she falls backwards. However, it is so wonderful to see her use the crutches. She is amazing! Doug and I agreed tonight that we could finally picture her walking independently. We've certainly been hopeful all along but we feel more optimistic now, seeing her use the crutches. She is also very proud of her new talent. She has only been using them for a few days and she has progressed from hating them to even asking to use them. We are so proud of her!

After working with her crutches this morning, Laura had her practice walking on large, covered foam pieces. She especially enjoyed falling.

Tonight we met Daddy downtown to support some of his work buddies who swam across the Cumberland River. This was an effort to convince the public of the river's sanitation. Clean or not, it was a crazy site! We enjoyed a stroll on the Shelby Bridge afterwards.

Crutches & Braces

Gracie enjoyed her Father's Day weekend. Doug & Gracie invited Keith & Cal and Mick & Zackery over to camp out in the backyard. They showed a movie and played Wii on the overhead screen Doug attached to the outside of the house. We borrowed tents from my dad, and Doug built a small outdoor fire. I grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for them, and they roasted marshmallows at dark. Because I'm not crazy about sleeping outside, I retreated to my bed at bedtime. Mick & Zack won the Survivor Nashville award. They were the only two to stay in the tents all night.

Over the weekend Gracie practiced walking with arm crutches. Laura has loaned us a pair from Vanderbilt so she can practice even more. Laura thought this would be a good idea to get Gracie to use less of her arms when she walks. It sounds backwards but she relies on her arms less in the crutches than with the walker. It's going well. We just have to persuade her to lean forward. When she feels unsure, she leans backwards. The crutches will catch her if she leans forward.

Gracie's new braces arrived today. Laura put them on her at therapy. She will start out by wearing them an hour a day and work up to wearing them full time. We will watch carefully here at first to make sure the fit is right. If not, the braces can be adjusted. They came with a pair of New Balance tennis shoes. They're cute, but we've been very happy with the way Chucks fit over her braces. We'll try both and see which tennis shoes she prefers.

Working in the Water

Gracie had her usual water therapy yeterday. She smiled and enjoyed most of it, but the hard work came at the end of therapy. Laura had Gracie wear a weight belt as she swam on her front and back. This is what you'll see her doing in the pictures.

After therapy the day's events were decided by Gracie. I was rewarding her for sleeping through the night (first time since the surgery)! Daddy and I were thrilled! It was also great to see Gracie so proud of herself. We went to Border's where she picked out a new book. We stayed there over an hour as she pulled books from the shelves, pushed musical buttons and pretended to read. We are so fortunate that she loves books.

Our other stops included Target, Baby Kate's house and Maggie Moos's where she enjoyed bright red Twizzler ice cream.

A Fun Weekend

This first picture is one of Daddy and Gracie in the waiting room at therapy, reading a book. Daddy was able to meet us Friday for therapy.
We enjoyed time with friends and family all weekend long. We met the Slocums at the Y on Saturday for a cool day at the pool. Daddy talked Gracie into going down the slide with him at the little pool and I talked her into going under the water in the larger pool. I can't say she truly enjoyed either thrill but she was proud of herself for trying and so were we!
The Smiths came over for dinner and fun Sturday night. Gracie "fell in love" with little Henry and found a fellow thumb sucker, sweet Lily Cate.
Grandma and Grandpa joined us Sunday for Wii bowling, Lego building and dinner. It's hard to tell who enjoys the time together more.

Using a Theratog

As of today, Gracie's therapist would like for her to start using something called a Theratog. It is a suit that is similar to a wetsuit that wraps tightly around her chest, shoulders, hips, and tops of her legs. It is a proprioceptive device which means that it will help Gracie become more aware of her body movement and location as she tries new and sometimes scary exercises. We will begin by putting the suit on Gracie about an hour a day and work up from there. Laura, her PT, believes it will give Gracie muscle feedback and even more confidence as she works toward her goal of independent walking. Wondering how Gracie likes it? Just take a look at the bottom picture!

We asked Laura again today how she felt about Gracie's progress post surgery. Her remarks were very encouraging. Laura said that she could already see a world of difference in what Gracie could do in the first PT session after surgery and now. Laura even had to write new goals for Gracie because she has already met all of her initial goals. That sure was good to hear!

Working Hard

Gracie has been working hard. She goes to therapy each day, most of the time at 9:00. She wakes up happy each morning, realizing it's summer and that I'm staying home with her this summer. Then her attitude completely changes as we pull in the parking lot for therapy. She becomes tired and combative. I know this is best for her, but it's hard to watch your daughter struggle with something daily. Gracie loves her therapists, but she knows they require her to work hard, so she asks me daily when she'll be able to stop going to therapy. I'm sure her leg muscles are sore from the daily exercise. The therapists also push Gracie to do things she doesn't believe she can do yet, so she is fearful and frustrated. Currently, Gracie is practicing sitting to stand, standing alone (Her record is 20 seconds!), and taking steps with minimal assistance.
To try to cheer her up (as well as myself) after therapy, I try to do something with her that I know she enjoys. We joined the YMCA last week, primarily for the benefit of the pools. Gracie loves being in the water, so I've taken her there 3 days in the past week. We've also been to playgrounds and parks. I try to think of things she'll enjoy and that won't require too much work from her. Gracie's days really vary right now. She goes from being a strong, confident girl to a fearful, demanding brat. When the latter shows up I try to remember how hard this all must be on her. Thank God I have Doug- for a million reasons, but it especially helps right now to know that he will be home each night at dinnertime to help with Gracie. My daughter is a beautiful, brilliant, capable girl who deserves every ounce of my energy and patience. I'm happy that I remember this even on the hard days.

Playing with Baby Kate

School is now out, so Gracie and I have all summer to dedicate to making her a big, strong girl. She goes through stages of being motivated and being frustrated. She complains very little now about her legs itching. She is still unable to sleep through the night without calling us back at least once, often twice. However, it is getting easier to console her and get her back to sleep each time. The natural drug Gracie is taking, 5-HTP, doesn't seem to make a difference with her bedtime anxiety so we are still giving her 1/2 of a Children's Benadryl at bedtime. We will hopefully be able to stop both of them soon.

Gracie enjoyed some playtime with Baby Kate recently. She loves playing with all of her baby gear, too. Luckily Kate is not old enough to object yet because Gracie often borrows a toy from Kate each time she is around her.