Gracie's two month pictures

We had Gracie's two month pictures taken over a month ago and I've been meaning to post them..

Gracie wasn't too happy about being moved around at this point, but overall she did fantastic. Ryan and I are very pleased with how they turned out.

We can't believe how big she's getting!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Monday, September 15th was my 28 (ugh!) birthday.. Ryan was so sweet and invited some of my friends over to celebrate on the Saturday before my special day. He had a Fajita and Margarita party for me and it was so much fun!!

Tiffany and I
Rachel and I

My wonderful husband, Ryan and I

Matt and I

Gracie, Natalie and I (Jesse her husband arrived later when he was off work)

Payton and I

Me and Emily

Ryan also bought me a Coldstone Ice Cream cake. So yummy!! He thought he would be funny and have it say "Happy 22nd ? Birthday Melissa". I was telling everyone that I was turning 22, so he decided to include that on my cake..

Emily brought her daughter Allison and Natalie brought her daughter Jordan, which was so great for Payton to see her friends too! Here they are doing "Ring Around the Rosey".

It was so cute, the three of them were doing somersaults all at he same time and would occasionally bump into each other with their bottoms! Silly girls!

On my actual birthday, Ryan and Payton made me Belgium waffles with whipped cream and strawberries for breakfast. My waffle maker is Mikey Mouse, so I couldn't resist taking a picture of the waffle on Payton's Mikey Mouse plate.

My birthday was so fantastic and it was wonderful to hang out with my friends. Thank you Ryan for being the best Husband EVER!!!

Making Music

Yesterday Payton had her first Mini Music Maker class. It's every Thursday morning for 45 minutes for the next 10 weeks. Out of the ten kids, we are one of six who know each other. The class is so much fun and Payton really enjoyed herself!

The kids danced to the music while playing with scarves. They would dance until the song told them to freeze.

They also played with instruments and Payton really liked the bell. She kept pretty good beat!

Gracie was really good during the class. I'm sure she enjoyed the music as well.

Payton was pretty shy and didn't really talk. I would catch her smiling quite a bit.

Here's Payton, Jordan, and Allison holding hands one their way out to the car. It was so cute. We're both looking forward to next Thursday!!

Headed to the lake

Tomorrow morning the girls and I are headed back to the lake to stay with my parents for 6 days! We're packing up the car tonight and leaving first thing in the morning to make the drive over. Unfortunately Ryan won't be going with us, next summer for sure though.

This is what we get to wake up to every morning. I'm looking forward to having my morning coffee and conversation with my step-mom! However, I'm not looking forward to sharing the bed and getting kicked throughout the night by my little "monkey" Payton!! ;)


Here's what we'll be enjoying during the day..

.. and what we'll be climbing to get back to the house from the boat! Thank goodness it will get me more in shape with ALL of those stairs!

I'll try and keep updating our blog while we're away.

We'll be back next Tuesday.. so long for now!

Laryngomalacia

Last Wednesday Gracie had her two month check up and we're happy to report that she has gained two pounds and grown an inch. She is now 11.02 pounds and 23 inches long. Our little girl is healthy and happy, even after having two shots and an oral vaccine.

While we were at the appointment, we mentioned to Dr. Haugen that Gracie is a loud breather, chokes quite often when she's eating and tends to gasp for air. Ryan and I have mentioned it before to both pediatricians while we were still in the hospital and also to Dr. Haugen at Gracie's previous appointments, but everyone had said not to worry and she sounds fine. But that still didn't sit well with Ryan and I. So, we mentioned it again, and Dr. Haugen listened to Gracie breathe one more time, and said that it sounded like she has "Stridor" which is floppy cartilage in Gracie's throat which causes the noises when she breathes. To make sure, Dr. Haugen referred us to Children's Hospital to meet with a specialist.

Thursday afternoon Children's called and said that they wanted to see Gracie ASAP and for us to come in on Friday morning. Ryan thankfully was able to get the day off, even at such short notice. First, Children's Hospital is FANTASTIC!! We had been there before for Payton when she was 4 months old. Children's Hospital is full of super friendly doctors and nurses and definitely make you feel comfortable, not scared.

In order for the doctor to see what was causing Gracie to have noisy breathing, they had to put a scope up her nose and down into her throat. Gracie sat on my lap while the doctor inserted the small camera. She did really well considering how uncomfortable that must have been! She cried towards the end, but thankfully it only took 15 seconds.

Well.. Dr. Haugen was right, Gracie has Stridor, also known as Laryngomalacia. When Gracie breathes in, there is floppy larngeal tissue that blocks her opening of her airway. The collapse of the tissue into her airway causes non-smooth air flow which then makes her have a low-pitched fluttering noise. Thankfully it's something that she should grow out of, but if it's still happening later down the road (18-24mo), they can do a simple surgical procedure to remove the excess cartilage.

With the Laryngomalacia Gracie sucks harder to feed, which causes her to swallow more air, produces more gas which makes her vomit and be more spitty. This also is often associated with acid reflux. So, we need to keep Gracie laying at a 45 degree angle when sleeping and keep her propped up after feeding. All of this now makes sense on why she loves to be sitting up rather than laying and why she gets so fussy towards the end of the day with all of that gas! The dr said that's probably why she loves to sleep in her swing or carseat since she's propped and not acid-y.

click on the picture to enlarge

Here's a diagram on what's happening inside of Gracie. Poor girl! She's still a happy little girl and we're glad we know that her breathing will become easier as she grows!