Surgery Update

So it looks like Grace will be having her next surgery on Wednesday, November 4th. We don't have a time yet as Dr. Oliver is not an official pediatric doctor at Children's so he has to fight, if you will, for surgery space and time. We likely won't know the time until the day before as her surgery will go in as an "urgent" case to get a room. So, no matter what keep Grace in your thoughts and prayers on Wednesday.

On another note, I got another snow day yesterday (sadly Brian had to work) and Grace & I played all day. Grace has been full of smiles all the time lately. It has been great! She even has a little giggle now. Of course when I brought out the camera to capture them - she stopped - the little stinker! She also tried out her exersaucer yesterday and seemed to like it. I am sure she will spend many hours in that thing down the road. Pictures to come of her playing.

Have a great weekend!

Snow Day!

Well today is Grace's first big snow. So far as of 2:30 this afternoon we have around 8 inches of snow here at our house. We are supposed to get another 3-6 tonight and another 3-6 tomorrow. Both Brian & I got to come home early so we are now enjoying some family time and Grace likes watching it snow. Here is a photo of her checking out the snow.

Grace decided it wasn't so fun to watch it snow so we went and played.

Brian & I are hoping for another snow day tomorrow! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Finally a good day...

Grace appears to finally be getting used to daycare. Yesterday she drank about 9 ounces which is pretty much twice as much as she normally drinks during the day and she smiled at our daycare provider Margaret for the first time and was talking (cooing and such) to the kids for the first time as well. We are so happy that she appears to finally be adjusting to being with Margaret all day now - 3 and half weeks later, but hey at least it's happening!

A couple of weeks ago we had Grace's 3 month photos taken and couple of family photos. If you want to see the photos here is how you do it.

Go to:

http://www.tameraeagarphotography.com/

Click on Client Access

Enter 10172009 as the password on the bottom right corner and the gallery should come up.

The photos came out great and the photographer even captured the one smile Grace gave us. Grace our little stinker always stops smiling the second a camera comes out so at least we have one documented. Enjoy the photos and let us know what your favorite is as we figure out what to order.

Here is a cute little picture of Grace after bath time for your enjoyment.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Monday marked Brian's 33rd birthday. Here he is in his new favorite present from Grace & I...

That's right Iowa Hawkeye overalls. I really wanted to find baby ones to match Brian's, but all of my google searching came up empty. Brian & I went out Saturday night with some friends and Brian celebrated the Hawkeye win by showing off his new favorite outfit. Doesn't he look great?!

Who is cute, adorable and loveable?

That's right - little Gracie. Check out some new photos.

Sleeping at Grandma's house.

Posing with Pooh for my three month photo. I'm getting so big!

Baby Mohawk

Playing on my tummy is hard work.

Surgery Rescheduled

So since Grace has had a cold the past week the anesthesiologists at Children's Hospital are recommending that we delay the surgery for at least 4 weeks. So, no surgery tomorrow. I will keep you updated on when we reschedule the next one.

On another note we had Grace's 3 month photos taken on Saturday. We think the photographer got one or two of her smiles, but otherwise she was pretty serious as usual when the camera comes out. I hope to have a link to share the photos with you soon because I know I'm dying to see them! With any luck the photographer will have them up for us this week. Stay tuned...

Have a great week!

Happy 3 month Birthday Grace!

Grace is 3 months today. We can't believe she is 3 months already...here are a couple pictures of her playing today. She loves to bring her hands together now and watch them. She is growing up so fast!

A week of firsts...

Well this week Grace saw her first snow and got her first cold. Thankfully this cold is just a cold and not the flu, but she is cranky all the same - it's rough when you are three months old and it's hard to breathe.  She is slowly getting better and now Brian & I are fighting this cold too. And thankfully the first snow was just under an inch - we aren't ready for winter yet!

Here is a picture of Grace checking out her first snow.

A few weeks ago Grace had her first outing to 3 Jacks (where Brian & I met) to watch some Bears football. As you can see she found the game very exciting.

Brian & I had a lot of fun showing her off to our friends and enjoying the game. It is nice to know that she travels well.

And finally an eye update - we found out today that her next exam under anestehsia will be on Tuesday, October 20 at 1:30 pm. Hopefully the doctor just goes in and makes sure she is healing fine and finds no other problems! Keep her in your prayers that day. We will let you know how it goes.

Welcome to our blog!

So Brian and I thought an easy way to keep you updated on the happenings of our growing baby is to start a blog that you can check out when you have time. It is our goal to update this about once a week with Grace updates and even maybe a little about mom and dad. Life is busy right now so if we miss a week, don't get too mad! We know you will enjoy seeing great photos of our little one and hearing how she is as we continue our long road of getting sight in her right eye. So please bookmark this site and come back for updates and fun pictures of our little Grace who is Growing up Olson!

Mom's current favorite picture of Grace - she looks like a little Gerber baby!

Speaking of updates - Tuesday we went and saw Dr. Oliver (a retina specialist) who did Grace's last surgery. This appointment was a one week post-op check. Grace is healing quickly and Dr. Oliver was happy to see that she reacted to light being shined into her eye. This is a good sign that she can hopefully get some sort of vision out of that eye. The most recent problem they found is called Persistent Fetal Vasculature Syndrome. Click on the name of it for more information and explanation. With this new problem and since they found she had a detached retina, it is going to be a long road of seeing if she can get sight in her right eye. Our next step is another exam under anestehsia to check how the back of her eye is healing. The doctor can't see the back during a normal exam so back to Children's Hospital we go for yet another surgery. We don't have the for sure date yet, but we expect it will be the week of October 19 sometime. Please continue to keep Grace in your prayers as she heals.

We just got back from a fun road trip to Omaha, Chicago and Burlington. Here is Grace riding along in her carseat with her shades on.

Grace was a trooper on the trip and only gave us a few fits. She did pretty well for only being two months old. This week Grace started daycare and I started back to work. We are all adjusting to this new schedule of having to be out the door at a certain time! Grace seems to like Margaret our daycare lady and has gone from hardly sleeping at daycare, to sleeping all day to now taking some normal naps. I am sure it is a big adjustment for her, but she seems to like to watch the other kids (anywhere from ages 1-4) and I expect she will learn a lot from them. And I am surviving work, but I sure wish there were naptimes here!

Stay tuned for more updates and fun pictures. Next weekend we are going to get some family photos taken and Grace's 3 month photos, including her in her Halloween costume - I can't believe she is three months already! It feels like I just had her.

Here is one last picture of Grace today hanging out in her Bumbo seat in her cute overalls that I just had to buy her. Enjoy!