Gracyn's Hospital Visit

Gracyn spent the first part of this week in the hospital--not how I intended on spending the week of Christmas. :( She had been sick for about 10 days. I took her to the Dr. when she first began to feel bad and she ended up having an ear infection and her Croup was back and borderline Bronchitis and she had a rash. Well, the rash didn't go away but got worse and she started running a high fever again on Sunday, so I took her back to the Dr. Monday morning. The Dr. had another partner look at her and they found that she had swollen lymph nodes all over her body. They told us to take her to the ER immediately. When we got there, they wanted to admit us and told us that they thought it could be something called Kawasaki Disease. The effect of this disease is heart damage, so they were overly cautious and watched her closely. They ran a lot of tests and did various cultures and everything came back good. She showed several symptoms, but never developed all of them and thankfully they ruled it out. It turns out, they think she had Strep Throat that caused the rash and the antibiotic from the ear infection caused her rash to break out worse. The one ear never got any better and then both ears got infected really bad. So, her body was trying to fight all these things and caused her lymph nodes to swell up. This was one sick little girl! It broke our hearts to have to sit and watch our baby get poked and prodded and scream in pain. I hope we never have to go through this again!Well, Wednesday morning at about 11 they told us we could go home. As we were zipping up our bags to leave, Gracyn fell off the bed and hit her head on the floor and then she threw up. (All over me I might add.) So, after 6 more hours of observation and a CT scan, we were FINALLY able to go home. I have never been more excited to be back home in my life!! When I left the house on Monday morning, I never dreamed I wouldn't be back until Wednesday night!! So, like I said, not exactly how I planned on spending the week of Christmas, but we are SO thankful that Gracyn is feeling better and getting back to her self again!

New Ride

We turned Gracyn's car seat around on her birthday and she couldn't be happier! She LOVES it! She didn't know what to think at first! She kicks her feet and squeals in delight when we get in the car. She gets such a thrill out of me turning around and looking at her. She loves to clap her hands and dance to the music!

Gracyn's BIG Surprise!!!

Look closely at Gracyn's shirt.....SURPRISE!!!

So....we had Gracyn come out at the end of her party in this outfit. EVERYONE was shocked--Amber was the first one to get it. Needless to say, I think I was the most surprised! I was already 7 weeks when I took my first pregnancy test. (I ended up taking three and they were ALL positive! :) I really didn't think it could happen since we needed help to get pregnant with Gracyn. We had planned to start trying again in June...instead we'll be having a baby then! My C-Section is already scheduled for June 25, 2010. (My doctor is going on vacation, and we're doing it the day before she leaves.) I'm not about to go through (or chance) what I went through to have Gracyn. I have been SO sick though-- ALL day and ALL night long. It's awful! I wasn't sick at all with Gracyn. So, my babies will be 19 months apart....a bit closer than I'd planned, but then again--I'm not the one in control (thank goodness) and isn't God's plan always better anyways? :)

Gracyn's 1st Birthday Party!

Happy 1st Birthday to Gracyn!! I didn't really want a "theme" for her party, but decided to do an orange & hot pink party. We had a great time celebrating with family and friends. It was so great to have Grandmom and Granddad here all the way from D.C.! We so wish that Nanaw could have made it too!

Here are the invitations to her party.

Opening presents.....she LOVES her new wagon. Thank you Nanaw!!Mimi made her birthday cake...which she just LOVED! She had a little help from Ava too!

Here is the table and some of the decorations.

A Year in Pictures.....

I can't believe that Gracyn is already a year old!! It has FLOWN by! She has changed so much throughout the year. Here's a walk down memory lane....

One Year!!

Wow!! Gracyn is one! My little baby is growing up so quickly!! She is the most amazing gift that Drew and I have ever received! We are blessed to be her parents. I love this age....the way she looks and us loves on us...it's precious! If you ask her for a hug, she'll wrap her arms around your neck real tight and say "ahhh". Then she'll pull back and look right into your eyes and do it again. She's just the sweetest thing! She also gives open mouth kisses...beware of slobber...and blows kisses too. She's such a cuddly, lovey little girl! My other favorite thing she does is when I'm rocking her to sleep, she pats me on the back. Love it! It's so funny to see her walking/teetering all over the house. She's getting better at it and faster every day! She's growing up too fast!!! Happy 1st Birthday Gracyn Kate!! Here are her stats:
Weight: 21.7 lbs 65%
Height: 31 1/2 in. 97%

New Hiding Place

Gracyn loved to try and get between the two couches. We moved them closer the table so she couldn't get back there. She would get half way in and then cry because she was stuck. Whenever I'd hear her whimpering, I'd pull her out and distract her with something else. Well, she finally figured out how to get back there. She backs herself up and gets in there to play now. I keep finding all kinds of things stuck back in there--books, toys, the channel changer! She's such a fun mess!!!

Dinner Time!

I LOVE Spaghetti!!!This girl sure can put it away!! She gets it everywhere though...even in her ears!! Good thing she loves taking a bath! Drew has to clean the tub right after she gets out though because the water has an orange tint to it!

Hanging out at Mimi & Pop's

We went over to Mimi & Pop's to celebrate my dad's birthday. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of him with the kids and I only took a couple of pictures. I can only blame it on me being a baby hog and holding Towns the whole time. :) Cousins!

Mimi reading to the girls.

Drew's Mini-Me in Training

Gracyn LOVES being with her Daddy when he comes home from work. He lets her crawl up in his lap when he's on the computer. He made the mistake though of letting her play on the keyboard and type away......we're currently missing the "CAPS LOCK" key because someone typed "banged" a little too hard. Lesson learned....but she sure did have fun though! :)

Gracyn's First Slumber Party!

My college roommate, Kristen, and her 3 kids came to visit us. Gracyn didn't know what to think with many people in our house! Every time she woke up, she looked all around for them. Gracyn had a blast playing with Ben, Hannah, and Emily. We had Emily spend the day with us while Kristen and the older two went to Sea World. By the end of the day Gracyn was saying, "Emeh" and following her all around. SO CUTE!!