Gifts from the Grandparents

Grace opened her gifts from her faraway grandparents on Sunday morning since they had to miss the party on Saturday.

The Way She Sleeps

Jonathan's Ear

This post is for you if you've been wondering about Jonathan's hearing in his right ear. OK, maybe that's just me, but I'll post anyway. :) We went back to the doc, and his ear looks a lot better. There is a lot less fluid on his ear. The dr. repeated the hearing screening, and while last time he heard 0/4 tones, this time he heard 2/4. He's hearing the high ones but not the low ones. The doctor said that we could do a nasal spray to reduce the fluid on his ear and come back in a month to do another hearing screening. I suggested that, since the fluid seems to be going away on its own already, we let it keep doing that without drugs. Doc was fine with that, so that's the current plan. He thinks the poor hearing is due to the fluid and not a problem he's had all along. So, we'll let his body keep working on that fluid for another month and see how it goes.

Also, I was able to visit my dad last night and don't have any news to share, but it was good to see him. It is very tricky to visit people in hospitals when kids are not allowed there! But, thanks to Jeff for keeping the kids so that I could go and thanks to you who have offered to take care of them for me so that I can go in the future. I appreciate it!

The Last of the Party Pictures

Jonathan loved the puppets and loved entertaining Nathan with them.

Thank you, everyone, for making Grace's birthday special, both those who could come to her party and those who celebrated with us from afar. It's been a great first year with our baby girl, and we're so thankful for her and Jonathan!

Still More Party Pics

How to eat a cupcake.

Love her toes in these pics!

Dad

Just a quick note on my dad, and I apologize to those of you who should have known already but are finding out here. I figured I should post rather than wait any longer.

Dad has still been going through his chemo treatments, but on Sunday night, he went into the hospital because of some bleeding. They gave him four pints of blood and found and treated an ulcer in the duodenum. He's anxious to get out of there ASAP, but will be in the hospital tonight again. I'll post when we find out when he'll get out as well as if there is any more news.

Thank you for your prayers, and if any family members read this and find that I have goofed up my details, please let me know! Thanks!

Still More Party Pics

Sometimes I still can't believe we have our sweet Grace.

What a gift she is.

I love this picture of Jonathan making a party of his own in the background. This is the one picture we have of Grace and her cupcake with a candle.

If you were at Jonathan's first birthday party, you'll remember that he wouldn't try his cake. Grace, as always, is her own girl and loved the frosting...but tried to get rid of the cupcake. Crumb by crumb.

More Party Pics

This is Baby Stella.

Complete with magnetic pacifier. What more could a little girl want?

Perhaps a puppet or two. If you haven't seen the belly laughs the puppets have created, you should take a peek. Especially if your Monday needs a pick-me-up.

Party Pictures

Grace received sweet gifts that were carefully chosen. We so appreciated everyone's kindness toward her and our family.

Pictures from the Party...with More to Come!

Here are some pictures from the actual party. We had beautiful weather all week including the day of the party. We had hoped and prayed for sunshine, and although we don't get a lot of rain around here, you just never know what you're going to get in March. It was perfect, and we were so thankful.

I'm sorry to say that we didn't get any pictures of us as a family, or of Jeff with Grace, let alone pictures of her with her grandparents or aunts and uncles. We did have a really nice time, though. You may notice that a few key people are missing from these pictures: my dad and Jeff's mom and dad. My dad had (and has) been feeling very weak and was too weak that day to make it to the party. Jeff's dad was having breathing issues and rapid heart rate earlier in the day, so the paramedics took him to the hospital. Jeff's mom followed in the car. Jeff's dad was admitted to the hospital briefly but didn't have to spend the night. We missed all three of them very much. Everyone made it to church the next day and got to be at Grace's dedication, so we were thankful for that. Anyway, enough chatting, it's time for pictures! I'll share a few in each post...

The birthday girl and me. For those who think there aren't enough pictures of me in this blog (and I think that's just my sister,) you're going to get more than your fill pretty soon!

The kids got to swing while the grownups ate an early dinner. We scheduled the party to be during Grace's awake and happy time. She got verrry relaxed in the swing! She loves to swing and be outside. She cries like her heart has broken when she has to come inside.

Special thanks to Doreen for lending us the tables and chairs!

Time for gifts!

"More"

More Party Prep

I wouldn't have been ready to host everybody for Grace's little party without lots of help. I love having people over here, and love celebrating the kids, but the planning and cooking and decision making stress me out. Call me crazy. So, I'm so thankful for everybody who helped me: Mom, Amanda, Cheryl, Doreen, and Grandma helped me with food (lots of food,) and Jeff, John, and Cheryl helped with work outside (lots and lots of work outside. The yard looked great.) And if I left your name out of the "thanks" section, thank you!!! Entertaining is not my talent, even though I do love having everyone here. Once everyone gets here, it's great. Getting all the food together makes me nervous.

I thought this was sweet of Amanda and Grace.

We made a lot of pink frosting for all those cupcakes. As it turns out, we made twice as much frosting as we needed. Better safe than sorry, right?

Frosting and sprinkling. We tested a few cupcakes, just in case.

Sweet gifts and sweet refreshments.

Party Prep

For those of you waiting to see pictures of Grace's party, I'm going to start chipping away at it, little by little! Here are some of the decoratey things we put together. I didn't set out to find decorations I could use next year, but that's what I ended up with. Pink will always work, right? And, just about everything came from the Dollar Spot at Target or the dollar store. Favor bags, sprinkles for the cupcakes, craft paper...almost everything. (I am not a big fan of the dollar stores we have here, but I went there for paper plates, napkins, etc. and ended up finding the paper lanterns that you'll see below.)

Here's her birthday banner. I copied the idea, of course, but can't find the link to the idea. When I do, I'll come back here and add it. I'll use it next year without the "1st."

The party favors for the grownups.

Paper lanterns. I ran across these by accident and thought I'd like them more than balloons. You'll probably see them next year. And the next.

Here's what they look like lit up at night. Grace's party was in the daytime, but it was still fun to light them up after the party was over.

New Use for Tinkertoys

"Roasting marshmallows over the fire"

Modeling

Here's Grace wearing the outfit I made. It's a little big, but since we'll have warm weather for many months ahead, she has plenty of time to wear it. Note the beloved lizard she's holding. Karyn, this is one that you sent to Jonathan when Grace was born. Only a girl with a big brother would know already that she loves plastic lizards as much as her brother. :)

And here's the back.

Belly Laughs

Here's another example of a great gift from an aunt or uncle. Amanda gave Grace this puppet for her birthday, which has been a hit with everyone.

Jonathan filmed this one. The cinematography is almost as funny as Grace's laugh.

The Water Table

One of the many great things about aunts and uncles is that they think of gifts that my kids will love that I never would have thought of myself. This was the case with the treehouse. It's also true of the water table. Both Jonathan and Grace love it.

Todd and Corinne gave Grace a water table for her birthday. I propped her up against it, and she played happily, standing up, for a long time. It was a little cool for her to go without pants, but I figured they'd get wet anyway.

Jonathan is learning that one of the great things about having a younger sibling is playing with her toys.

Look at her sweet face, admiring her brother.