The Flu

We almost made it through flu season without getting sick.  Almost.  Last Saturday night Grace had fever.  Sunday morning we got up and no fever.  She seemed fine.  So we went to church.  During the sermon she got really still and then her fever shot up.  As soon as pastor was finished, we headed for home.  102 and climbing.  This would be the case for the next several days.

Monday morning called Children's Clinic and after talking to the nurse, I agreed that it was most likely viral. She acted like she felt fine.  Around lunch her fever began to climb.  Grace has always had very, very high fevers.  The highest was 107 during a nasty ear infection.  Well her temp didn't get that high, but it got up to 104.5.  And I had trouble getting it down.  It took Tylenol and Motrin together to get her fever down.  Put another call in to the clinic.  Dr. Amy was booked, so I left a message for the on call nurse.  Then the fever wouldn't come down.  I did what always works with her...put cold washcloths under her arms.  She was crying so hard and so was I.

Saw the doctor on call who tested her for the flu.  Positive.  Prescription in hand, we set off in search of Tamiflu.  Two pharmacies and two hours later, we have Tamiflu and are ready to head home.  That was Monday.  Her fever became manageable, so I went back to work on Thursday.  I felt so bad leaving her.  I really felt bad on Friday at lunch.  I called to check on her and asked to talk to her.  She began to cry and begged me to come home.  Thankfully it was in service day and there were no students.  Because I blubbered like a big baby.

Her fever finally broke Friday night.  She is still so exhausted and is falling asleep by 7pm.

A Ride in the Ambulance - August 2011

The morning was a pretty typical summer day. At about 10 am we were getting ready to get in the pool. Grace was standing by her bed about to put on her swim suit. And she threw up.

She immediately became lethargic and that really scared me. I took her to the clinic. She laid in Sheila's lap and was unresponsive. So I headed to the hospital. Mom drove while I sat in the back fighting to keep Grace conscious. When we got out of the car you could smell burning rubber from the tires.

She got sink again inside and the took her back. The first thing they did was try to take. Lethargy OVER. She was immediately alert and did not want her blood taken. After six nurses trying with me holding her down they finally got it. That was the first trauma of the day. Dr comes and says it could be appendicitis . He wants to get a CT scan. She is not having that. After a shot of Valium she is still not having that.

Then he says I am going to consult with a pediatrician we have never seen and a surgeon. WHOA! I tell him to call her dr in Jackson and Dr Amy tells him not to touch her. Put her in an ambulance to Jackson. She plays with my phone on the way to Jackson. The ambulance guy gave me the best explanation. Her blood pressure probably dropped when she got sick. The rush of adrenaline that came when they stuck her with a needle fixed things.

We got to Jackson and she was asking for something to eat because she hadn't had anything all day. The dr said if she can keep juice down she can go home. At 9 p.m. we were at Cracker Barrel.

A Visit to the Dentist

Grace has impatiently waiting for her first loose tooth. Well I recently noticed that one was coming in behind her primary teeth. So I booked an appointment with a pediatric dentist. The dentist was wonderful, Grace was not. The assistant had a terrible time cleaning her teeth. When asked to open her mouth, Grace would stick her tongue out.

After examining her the dentist recommended that instead of pulling the teeth now, that we make an appointment and come back and try it with the aid of Valium. Then I told him about the time we tried (and failed) to get a CT scan with the aid of Valium. Since there were no cavities, he decided to wait and see what happens. Her teeth were so pretty and straight. Now I see braces in our future.

We are the Truth

In light of what is happening with Russian Adoptions, the Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCIS) has asked families to celebrate their successes by sharing their adoption stories on their blogs today as part of their “We are the Truth Campaign.”

We are the truth - Grace and I. The truth is a girl in Vietnam made the hardest decision a woman could have to make when she gave up her daughter. The truth is that I am blessed to be Grace's mother and I hope that somehow her birth mom know she is truly loved. She is my rock star. I loved her long before I saw her face. And then I memorized ever detail of her chubby face while I waited to bring her home. It was a bit surreal when we finally met. This is the day I met Grace - December 28, 2006. My girl loves to eat so the bottle was probably a great icebreaker!

The truth is that she is my heart. I love to see her learn new things or try something for the first time. The truth is that she told me no about a hundred times today and she yelled at me when I told her that it was getting dark and when needed to go inside. But I won't remember that tomorrow. What I will remember is how she crawled up in my lap and told me she loved me. I am so blessed to be her mother. That is my truth.

I did not rescue her from life of poverty in Vietnam. She rescued me from a life of ordinary and shows me daily how fortunate I am to be the mother of an extraordinary little girl. Here's Grace holding her referral photo on the third anniversary of her referral.

Who's Your Daddy?

I wrote about this just a bit last post. But this has been a big deal around our house lately. After visiting her friend Reilly and seeing her with her daddy (who is normally at work when we get together) she talks about daddies all the time. Gracie has name everyone's daddy. She starts with friends she sees all the time. Mr. Scott is Reilly's Daddy. Mr. Tony is Emma's daddy. She always has to tell me that Annie's daddy is Mr. Warbucks. It continues until we get to friends we rarely see. Mr. Justin is Lucy's daddy. Gracie has an amazing ability to remember names so this can go on for some time. I wish she would ask about Petunia's daddy. Then we could discuss that her Pop is her daddy just like Gracie's Pappy is her daddy. She came up with that one on her own. While naming people's daddies she said Pappy is my daddy. He was of course elated. She says that Pappy is my daddy, Momma's daddy, Aunt Terri's daddy and Uncle Mitch's daddy. She always comes first but we are just thankful the she includes us! So far I just say that's right and move on.

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT going to go out daddy shopping. I would never change my decision to adopt Gracie on my own. However this whole revelation makes me so, so sad. She realizes that she is missing out on something. She is only 3 1/2, how will she feel when she there is a father/daughter event at church or school? She has her grandfather, uncles, older cousins who she is close to and love her dearly. They are great role models. But they are not a daddy. I guess I am worried that I am shortchanging her in some way. I hope she doesn't feel that way as she grows up.

This is a downer post but I want to remember this and I hope that someday I can read it and laugh.


We have had an amazing amount of snow this year. I feel like I don't live in the South anymore. It was beautiful falling though.

We enjoyed it at first but are really missing playing in the yard and on the swingset. The ground is just saturated with water after all the snow. Grace is tired of it too. She has to settle for swinging in the gazebo and it just isn't the same.

Crazy girl in the bathtub. I keep threatening to cut her hair off because it is like this alot. She is being very resistent when I try to comb her hair. Not tenderheaded, she's just very busy and doesn't have the time.

Diving Back In

Ok I have not posted for three months. Facebook made me lazy. Then when I would think about posting I would just put it off. It had already been so long what did another day make. So this may be a weird, rambling post. But my hope is that if I get that first post done, the others will come easier.

What has Gracie doing? Here are a few things...

• She has had a tremendous growth spurt. One day I noticed her sleeves and pants were looking too short. It seemed to happen all of the sudden. When I measured her she had grown 2 1/2 inches in 5 months! Grace is now 39 inches tall. I haven't weighed her in a while but I would guess she is between 30-35 lbs.
  
• Just before Christmas we went to visit my friend Karen and her daughter Reilly. Reilly's daddy stopped in for about 10 minutes at lunch to pick up something he had forgotten that morning. Scott is normally at work when we visit. Since that day she has had this obsession with daddies. She is always telling me who someone's daddy is or asking me who that person's daddy is. And I mean constantly. Then she'll say "My daddy is Pappy." This is really breaking my heart. I know that she has more fantastic male figures in her life than many little girls and I know she is better off than if she had a "dead beat dad." But it still makes me sad knowing that this is obviously something that she is very, very aware of. I didn't know this day would come so soon.
• Grace still loves music better than anything. Her favorite toys are her piano, drums, and keyboard. She loved her guitar but it sincerely drove me crazy so I hid it. She sings all the time. She remembers lyrics and sings in tune too.
  

I don't want to tire myself out on my first post so here are some recent pics I took. She calls this her puppy dog jacket. It was sweet when she said it, but as I was typing it seemed like animal cruelty! No puppies were harmed to make this jacket.

Doesn't she look grown up? Her legs and her hair just keep growing. She has become a real pain about being still to have her hair combed. Sometimes I want to get her a short haircut with bangs.

We have had a couple of really big snows. Like 6-8 inch snows.

Happy Halloween/Merry Christmas

Grace started talking about Christmas about a month ago. She has had not time for Halloween. Didn't care to talk about it, about costumes, and didn't care to say trick or treat. She is all Christmas, all the time. She wants to listen to Christmas music all the time. And the mail man better watch out. She devours ANY magazine or catalog that has anything to do with Christmas. It doesn't matter if she is looking at monogrammed guest towels. She doesn't care as long as it's Christmas. This week she has started asking about a tree. So I got a Christmas tree costume. I really worried that she wouldn't keep it on because because it's bulky and she had to stick her face out a hole. I had to make her take it off. As you can see in the photo, she even rode Trigger in costume. We went to see some friends and she still didn't say trick or treat. She came out with "Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock."