The Grace Family Blog

New Occupation for Amy

2010-03-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

My sis-in-law works for the local paper and emailed me a link asking for volunteer bloggers for a new mother-aimed social networking site, called Momaha.com. I saved the link and the email for about two weeks and thought to myself, "I might get around to it." The week that all applications and writing samples were due, I decided to fire something off and apply. I didn't expect to hear so soon but got an email from my now editor, asking me to be part of the team. That was in November.

Almost 5 months later, I am the regular Friday blogger for the Omaha Mom Team and I am getting paid to do it! Ok, so Kelly isn't turning in his resignation yet but it's nice to actually be paid for something I love to do. I have received tons of feedback on blogs and much support from my friends, family and acquaintances. It's been a treat to be part of something like this - well except for the mug shot that they took before the site launched - none of us members look like we do online or in the paper!

Keep checking out www.Momaha.com on Fridays (and any other day!) to see what I have to say. Thanks for reading and commenting. Pass on the link to your friends and family!

Another few funnies....

2010-01-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

So we were recently talking about the newest little member of our growing family, Anna Claire Helton. Kelly was asking Jack if we should have a little sister in our family... maybe try for a girl? Jack emphatically shared his thoughts on the matter - "NO!" When Kelly asked him, "why not?" Jack replied, "I want to keep Grant!"

Today was one of the first days that it was warm enough (20 above zero, if you must know!) for Jack to go out to play in the snow. He and Kelly went out just before dinner time to dig a snow fort and clear a path for daddy to get our trash out for pick up tomorrow. As we were getting Jack bundled up, he says "Let's have a little hot chocolate after the fun!" I absolutely had some hot chocolate waiting for his cold little self after he was done in the snow!

Kids Say the Darndest Things...

2009-12-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

I just had to get a few of these in "print." Like a good parent, I try to correct Jack's verb tenses whenever I can. I mean, I don't want him to grow up speaking improper English, right? Here is a recent short exchange:

JG: I don't have nothing good to eat!
AG: I don't have anything good to eat.
JG: I don't either!

It's possible that the learning moment I was trying to create, went right out the window when I laughed hysterically.

Here's another one. I returned home from doing a little bit of Christmas shopping recently. Jack always rushes to greet us at the door when we come home and usually gives us a brief synopsis of what's been happening. Last night, he informs me that he's been playing trains and Grant was getting his bottle. He says, "Daddy had to feed it to him because he's been sort of freaking out a little bit." I'm not sure which one of us he's quoting with that expression but it could really be credited to either!

And finally, speaking of mimicking... one night Jack was talking incessantly, as usual. After 15 straight minutes of him rambling and asking every question in the book followed by "mommy, mommy, mommy...," I said, "Jack you are driving me crazy!" Innocently and without disappointment he said, "Again?"

I love that kid.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

2009-12-09T08:21:00.001-08:00

How did I spend the first snowstorm of Fall '09? Well, the baby woke up early, as usual, at 7:45am. About 2.25 hours earlier than I was ready to wake up. But I was tired of half sleeping while he made his strange, new sound... It's not really a cry and not really a gurgle sound either... sounds like an old car trying to start up. Or better yet, an old car in a cartoon. So I got up and poured myself a cup of Coconut Cream Coffee Mate with a dash of coffee... God, I love that stuff!

Grant and I headed for the basement because Kelly was embarking on the longest day of his professional life to date and we needed to be scarce. Grant tore through a bottle while he and I watched a small portion of the Today Show. I still have a mild crush on Matt Lauer after all these years so I like to check him out each morning for fun. Shortly after our descent, Jack woke up. I brought him down and took his breakfast order, as I do each morning... raisin bran in a bowl, with a spoon, no milk. Then he proceeds to eat only the raisins while he leaves a bowl full of bran, which I always throw right back into the box. It kind of sucks for the person that gets the last bowl!

I started to tackle a few of the days priorities while my children were being simultaneously raised by PBS. Momaha.com was launched so I was eager to see the site live! If you haven't heard, I am now part of the momaha.com team and will be blogging every third Friday. I'm really excited about the new "post," pun intended. I did some other less exciting things like laundry, decorating the tree, sorting through medical bills, calling customer service at Blue Cross Blue Shield.

I wanted to make something fun for lunch but I seemed to be missing one ingredient for every dish I considered making. In the end, I made a very tasty quiche Florentine with bacon bits... NOT BACOS, just precooked, salad topping bacon and Swiss deli slices diced - yes you can dice cheese slices! Luckily, I had one Pillsbury pie crust waiting in the fridge, as well. Don't mistake me for a "foodie" because I usually just cook because I don't have a personal chef or out of boredom. Yesterday, it was both.

As I was searching for the aforementioned ingredients, I noticed we had about 1/3 of a bottle of champagne and a few slurps of orange juice. Is it too early on a week day for a Mimosa? Do you have to have an event, or better yet a weekend for a Mimosa? It's not like I was going to be driving anywhere... it was almost nap time. In the end, I decided not to indulge but today is another day of NOT leaving the house and spending EVERY waking minute with my 2 boys. I may consider it more seriously this afternoon.

After lunch, my 3-year-old usually takes a marathon nap. We lay down in his bed, read a couple of books, tell the story about Goldlilocks and the three bears for 10, 000th time and then drift off to sleep. Usually, I'm following him right into dreamland but not today... the baby took his own marathon nap all morning and into the early afternoon so about the time one was entering REM, the other was screaming for his next meal!

Needless to say, I never got a nap. Daddy worked super late so I didn't get dinner either. The gods smiled on us around dinner time, however, when the neighbors called to see if we'd like to join them for the original "Rudolph" Christmas special and some snacks. We bundled up and trudged through the back yard to our destination. They had invited some other neighbors too and all the kids camped out on the pull out bed in their family room. Afterward, the kids ate ice cream and homemade chocolate chip cookies. The adults had egg nog, coffee and kaluha along with a pre-Christmas Toast. They sent us home with a gift bag full of homeade salad dressing and meat marinade.

As I write this, I'm thinking to myself... it really is the simple things in life. Good friends, snow days, Christmas lights and a little ingenuity in the kitchen when your pantry is not half full. I'm actually really looking forward to today's Snow Day.

Grant Thomas is 3 weeks old today!

2009-06-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Grant Thomas is three weeks old today and is doing great! He has been nursing and taking bottles like a pro, with very few bradychardias or "Bradys," as the NICU staff calls them. He is off the caffeine as of yesterday, which was a stimulant to remind him to breath. The nurses & doctors will be monitoring Grant over the next few days to see if he can remember to breath on his own. Worst case scenario is that he'll have to go back on it. More caffeine? I wonder if his coffee-addicted dad can get that kind of service?!

Father's Day was very special as Jack and I took Kelly to brunch at the very swanky UNMC Nebraska Grill (the on site cafe.) The three of us also visited Grant and took pictures of Kelly with his two boys. We have been taking turns visiting him every day and even got to spend the evening of father's day there together due to a last minute stand-in for Jack by our adorable neighbor, Rachel Recker. We gave him a bath and cuddled him and finally put him to bed together for the first time since he's been born.

I just returned from tucking him for the night and he was up another 2 oz. to 4 lbs, 14.6 oz. It's getting harder and harder to leave every night. When he was first born, I could justify leaving him because he looked so fragile and it seemed scary to hold and cuddle him. Now he smiles when he hears my voice and sleeps peacefully in my arms as soon as I pick him up.

We are hopeful that Grant will be home in approximately three weeks, if all goes well. It'll be a blip on the map once we have him home... we know this but it sure is hard to be patient when you have such a wonderful, handsome baby boy not more than a mile from home!

Stay tuned for more updates and keep your fingers crossed for us!

Amy

Early Bird!

2009-06-11T18:29:00.001-07:00

So it all started with another pregnancy... a healthy pregnancy and one where I was feeling great most of the time. After two busy weekends in a row, I started having a lot of back pain and tightening in my stomach. I could barely stand up long enough to finish our daily stint for supplies at Target!

John, Kristan and Anna showed up at our house for an impromptu dinner on Monday, June 1st. I was feeling terrible and was urged by Mom to call my doctor. The nurse on call told me to start timing my contractions... WHA? Contractions? But nurse, I'm only 31 weeks along, I couldn't possibly be having contractions. She told me that I should definitely be seen.

Jack stayed with his aunt and uncle and Kelly and I headed to labor and delivery. After a long night of continually checking my progress and administering steroid shots to speed up baby's lung development, the doctors were still unable to stop my contractions. 24 hours after my first steroid shot, the nurse gave me a 2nd shot. The doctors talked me into delivering the baby the "old fashioned way" and not by C section as was my initial plan. They assured me I could have an epidural and that a 3 1/2 lb baby would come right out no problem!

We called for the epidural that was unsuccessfully administered after numerous attempts by two extremely inexperienced doctors, one a resident. I couldn't wait any longer and needed to start pushing with or without, as was the case, DRUGS! Almost an hour later, Grant Thomas Grace was born at 1:11am on Wednesday, June 3rd. He weighed 4 lbs and was 15 3/4" long. They whisked him off to the NICU, where he is still growing.

Our experience with the nursing staff at Nebraska Health Systems has been nothing short of amazing. We have had the most awesome care there and Grant is thriving already. His first 24 hours in the NICU proved to be exciting. He pulled out his IV so the staff decided that an umbilical line would be the best way to go. It's now out and he just has a small feeding tube in his nose. He hasn't had to be under sun lamps for jaundice in several days now and Kelly and I have been taking turns holding him on our many daily visits.

Yesterday, the nurses had me bring clothes for baby. Thanks to mommy's friends and family, he has plenty of new preemie threads to wear while he's in the NICU. He has even peed on his first outfit. Even Grant is making laundry for me already!

Jack talks about his brother often and has been to visit him several times. He is definitely showing the "signs" of having a new baby in the family. He is clingy with mommy and likes me to "sleep a little bit" with him when he goes to bed. We are trying to keep his life as normal as possible for now while Grant is getting such good care at the hospital. We know Jack will be happy to have his brother home and to not be shuffled back and forth between Kelly, our family, our friends and myself.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. Thanks for the gifts, the flowers, the childcare for big brother Jack and for all the wonderful meals that have been dropped off.

I will try to be better about updating our family blog so that you can check our progress!

Spring Has Sprung

2008-05-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, Spring has finally sprung here at 617. Jack has discovered the "Great Outdoors" and points longingly at the kids playing on the cherry swing set in the Recker's (our wonderful neighbors!) backyard. We make daily trips to Elmwood and Memorial Parks. Jack points at every truck, emergency vehicle and construction piece of equipment we see. He's obsessed with diggers, which happen to be everywhere. He cries and pleads, "no, no, no" whenever we have to go inside for lunch or dinner.

His vocabulary is getting bigger and bigger each day. He knows some new words but refuses to use them regularly (read ON COMMAND) but we keep trying anyway. "Guck" is still an everyday favorite and actually means anything from my feet are stuck in my blanket, I can't get down or up, I don't want my diaper changed and so on.

We have both made some new friends this year, as well. We started a social group called "Midtown Moms, Omaha" and it's been a life saving experience; I should say it saved mine and so I saved his. We have so many nice neighbors and local friends that join us every Thursday morning for a meet up.

Jack got on our scale at home the other day - he's the only one using it, I think. He weighs 25 lbs in just a diaper and has officially outgrown most of his fall & winter clothes. Unfortunately, on the cool days that we get about every other day, he's wearing "manpris" or floods, if you will. And strangers about town still call him "she" from time to time, so you can only assume that he's still awfully beautiful. **Insert eye roll here, for obvious bias.

Kelly has been traveling often but since he works at home most days, we get to see a lot more of him than some families get to see their dads so we can't complain. Amy is hard at work with her own business, trying to whip the yard into shape and taking care of her boys.

To all of our friends & family, be well and happy Spring!

And so this is Christmas...

2007-12-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

So it's Christmas time at 617. We spent much time and energy on our decorations this year. We decided to have a Christmas party EARLY in the month so that everyone would get into the spirit and mainly so someone would actually show up. We really "did up" the outside, which looked beautiful every day until the day of the party when the lights wouldn't turn on at all presumably from the ice storm that blanketed our fair city that morning. It was a crushing defeat but we did in fact, solve the problem shortly after all twenty-five attendees had gone home.

We promised not to do much shopping for Jack this year because we figured he would be too young to "get it." Need I say that the "promise" has gone swiftly out the window. I bought out the GAP baby sale section for boys (luckily much smaller than the girls) and Kelly bought up an aisle's worth of toys at Target. Let's hope we are not the only ones excited on Christmas morning!

Jack hasn't shown much interest in the Christmas tree. Actually, he's shown NO interest! I guess I should be glad but I was sort of hoping for more validation on my color coordination of the ornaments and silver lamé ribbon that grace each branch perfectly. NO dice!

Jack learned to walk recently. Unfortunately, it was on the day that my sister-in-law and I were trying to get cute Christmas pictures of our children for the grandparents. Need I say that it was the longest day of my life?

The botanical gardens were decorated beautifully with poinsettias, lights, bows, trees and garland galore. They also had several miniature trains running throughout the little Christmas villages. Since Jack adores anything with wheels, he picked that day to chase trains and not pose for pictures. Leah was also too busy to have her hair done and Jack promptly sneezed a long line of snot down the front of his adorable plaid overalls. I'm assuming it was the same elusive booger that I had been trying to pluck from his tiny nostrils all morning.

Any hopes Erin and I had of our beautiful children posing angelically for a Christmas picture quickly faded as we perused through our digital images of flying crinoline and snotty noses.

With that said, our shopping is done and all of our Christmas cards have been mailed and delivered. We have done a little baking and participated in a neighborly Christmas walk. We are looking forward to a family-filled Christmas several days from now and a visit from Santa.

It's our hope that everyone's holiday season is as bright as ours has been!

Little Fish

2007-06-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

Jack went to the pool for the first time today. The water was cold but Jack was brave and kicked around in the baby pool. He stood at the side and splashed his hands in and out of the water. He then laid in Mommy's lap for a bottle snack. The rain clouds came in fast so we weren't there too long.