Oh Grace,
I cannot believe the year is ending today! I can't believe you're 3! So much has happened in the past few months. We're in Washington now. The two months leading up to the move were filled with last visits with friends and family, chaos, and waiting. The move kept getting pushed back which drove me crazy.
The movers came 10 days before we moved & packed everything up. We lived in a hotel in Milwaukee for 8 days and it wasn't the best stay. The first few days we had fun but then you and I both got very sick and ended up just laying around the room every day. Three hours after we landed in WA, we were in urgent care. You had a double ear infection and the start of a sinus infection & I had a bad sinus infection. We hadn't realized it was that bad until after we landed in WA, then you really started to act sick. We aren't ones to wait on going in, so we took you to the dr right away and were so glad we did. Between us we had 7 prescriptions to fill! Your daddy felt so bad that you were sick and away from what you knew as home, I thought he was going to buy half of the toy aisle at Walgreens while we waited for our medicine! You ended up with a big stuffed animal, a doll, and a ball. Then at checkout you spotted a display of m&ms, took one out & said "thank you." All we could do was laugh...and get you the candy of course! Thankfully, you'd slept on the plane so you never cried if your ears bothered you on the flight.
The house we rent now is awesome. We went from a 1200 sq ft apartment to a 2600 sq ft house and it's wonderful. You have a bedroom and a playroom. I have a sewing studio and your daddy has an office. We even have a guest room, which grandma and grandpa will appreciate. You had so much fun just running around here those first few days!!
Overall, you've handled the move well. You were nearly mute some days we were here the first month but recently you've started talking up a storm! The other quirk you've developed is that you don't like to leave the house. That's slowly changing but it's like you're afraid we'll move again or like you just don't want to go explore this new place. You even hated going to eat suddenly and you've always enjoyed that. We took you out yesterday and you enjoyed your meal. Of course, it came with a free ice cream and you remembered that. You drank your chocolate milk then said "ice cream...ice cream...ice cream." We suggested you try eating lunch first.
You got a lot of smiles today because of your wardrobe. You decided to wear the Halloween costume I made you (Dorothy dress) and the ruby red glitter shoes. You looked sooo adorable! It was funny to see a little girl dressed as Dorothy after Christmas though.
Speaking of Halloween, you had refused to try the costume on the whole time I was making it so the hem ended up being a little long. If I even held it up to you, you'd scream "YUCK!" Thanks, Grace. :) We were surprised on the big day though. We were in the hotel room in Milwaukee & said, "Do you want to go get candy Grace?" Well, for candy, you put the dress on right away. You were pretty good at trick or treating. Daddy had to hold your hand very tightly but you went up to houses with him. You never said trick or treat but we did get a couple thank you's out of you. In the car, the whole ride back to the hotel you said "thank you" to us over and over. It was adorable. Soon after, you fell asleep and poor daddy had to carry you through the whole hotel to our room. He's a trooper though and didn't mind one bit.
We had Thanksgiving here three weeks after moving. You'd been fussy all night the night before but I still had the big meal on the table at noon. You slept through it. When you finally woke up you were so miserable so we took you to another urgent care. We were worried maybe your ear infections or sinus infection hadn't cleared up but they had. The dr. told us you were just sick (as opposed to sick sick).
We flew back to Ohio the weekend before Christmas and spent four days. You had just started talking more. When I got off the plane with you I said we were going to see grandma & grandpa and they were here, right now. You yelled "Yea! Grandma! Yea!" and we ran through the airport together to find them. Oh Grace you are so loved. There's not much better than seeing the close bond you have with them. They played with you in the airport while we waited for our luggage and you had a blast.
We had three Christmas get togethers and your birthday party in just 3 days time. That was a LOT to squeeze in on that trip! You were fussy for a lot of the trip but I don't blame you one bit. We'd just moved, we took yet another big plane trip to OH, there was a 3 hour time difference, lots of excitement, etc. For your birthday party we kept it simple. We filled the living room with balloons (about 80 of them), ate chocolate cupcakes with pink icing & ice cream, had you open presents and we were done. You LOVED the room full of balloons. Your party was a blast. I just can't believe you're three. Thankfully, you still like me to call you baby and hold you like a baby from time to time. I think neither one of us are ready for you to grow up.
Flying back to WA was a bit miserable. We knew how badly you were going to miss grandma and grandpa & I knew I was going to miss them, too. At the airport you held so tightly to grandma's hand. The whole time we'd been in OH, anytime people said goodbye, you'd grab ahold of grandma, grandpa, daddy and me to make sure we were staying with you. We tricked you at the airport & I still feel badly about that but there wasn't a better way. After we checked our bags, I told you "let's go potty." You made grandma come with us but as soon as you & I went into a stall, grandma went out and they left. Your daddy said grandma was just sobbing--we would have been, too, if we'd said goodbye. When we came out, you immediately realized they were gone and threw yourself down to cry. We were right by security though so we cheerfully said "Come on Grace, we gotta go!" and you followed grudgingly. The rest of the day you refused to go anywhere alone with me, nervous that daddy would disappear on us, too. I'm sorry baby. We've seen you say goodbye to grandma and grandpa and at least an hour of sobbing is involved. It really was for the best.
You slept through both flights but when we landed, you expected to see them. At baggage claim, you made me cry because you were calling "Grandpa" and looking for them. You handled them not being there pretty well. I had a worse time with it! When we came in the house, you started crying, angry that we were back here. I wasn't too happy about it myself. We spent the next day hanging out just watching cartoons together until it was time to run to the grocery store. We went there to pick out a cake or cupcakes for your daddy's birthday (it was that day). You picked out the perfect ones for him: chocolate with pink icing. You took 20 minutes to do it! I guess you were just making sure you made the right choice.
We waited nearly 5 days before you Skyped with your grandparents again. By then, you seemed to have accepted things. You told grandma to "come" a few times and broke her heart a bit but playing with them through Skype seems to be ok.
You and I have been sick for the past week. Christmas Eve you were sick so I rolled out the cookie dough & baked the cookies while you were sleeping. Sorry, we didn't want you touching the dough and getting us all sick. When you woke up and saw them, you tried to communicate with your dad by taking a cookie & a box of Cinnamon Toast cereal and pouring the cereal on the cookie. "Momma" your daddy said "Gracie says these cookies need something on them!" I whipped up some icing fast then. We hadn't made those cookies since you were 2 the Christmas before. I couldn't believe you remembered them but I was happy and excited that we had a tradition. We assigned some cookies to you so that we wouldn't accidentally eat your cookies (and germs). You had a blast frosting them, being so careful!
Up until Christmas Eve, we'd read books about Santa, talked about him a little, and watched tv shows about him. We didn't take you to go see him because you aren't a fan of the close and personal visits with holiday characters (Easter Bunny included). We weren't sure if you understood any of it. Well, I got out the Santa plate & asked you to pick 3 cookies for Santa. Oh Gracie, you were so cute! You took your time, carefully picking out two of the cookies I had done then you seemed to think "Wait! He needs one of mine, too!" and thoughtfully picked out one of yours for him, too. You picked out a carrot for the reindeer, too & you were excited! I was excited to show you the empty plate the next day but you were over it by then. You were like "An empty plate? Who cares?"
Christmas morning you were thrilled to see a train table and huge train set. It was an hour before you even looked at the presents. In fact, it was about 8:00 that night before we were done opening presents. You'd open one then play with it for a long time. We all took a 3 hour nap, too. Other favorite presents this year? Grandma & I found a talking doll at the thrift store in OH and you think it's amazing. You loved the wooden pizza set aunt Emily and uncle Brian got you. Matt & Amber got you a doll that pretends to eat bananas from a bowl and you love that, too. You were mesmerized by the jewelry box with the dancing ballerina inside for awhile. Really, you seemed to love all your gifts except for the ones that were clothes. We got you a bunch of board games to play with you and you got some Mon Dough and Play Doh sets that you loved, too.
Uncle Wayne, aunt Alicia and Jacob got you a ton of things, including a Tangled doll. You hadn't seen a princess Disney movie before so we watched that with you while you held the doll & you were mesmerized. You fell asleep before it was over, still holding your dolly.
You and I are just starting to feel better so hopefully we'll start the new year healthy. My new year's resolutions with you are that we start exploring the fun stuff in Spokane together. There's a mom's group we might try and I'm going to check into library story hours. You're talking so much more we've decided to hold off on speech testing so that goal is on hold. We're also going to start doing things together that we didn't have room for in the apartment in WI. One of the first things we're going to do is make our own playdoh. I can't wait! I'm hoping to keep up with this blog for you better, too.
I'm off to bed now. I love you Grace. You're MY baby. You're the sweetest little girl in the whole world.
Mommy
