The Weidmayer Family: June 2011

It is a small miracle that I am even able to find time to sit and write this post. Things have been so crazy here the last few weeks. It's interesting that I became a SAHM so I could spend more time with Grace, and I think I'm busier than I ever was when I was working one job full-time (as opposed to about four part-time jobs, plus one busy toddler!).

The first thing I should talk about is my dad. As most of you know, back in January he had open heart surgery to replace a valve. Since then, they have decided to put in a pacemaker/defibrillator to hopefully improve his heart's function. The surgery was scheduled for Wednesday (June 8th) and I spent the day at the hospital while he had the surgery (it started at 10:30 am and wasn't done until close to 5:30 pm). I was able to talk to the surgeon afterwards and it seemed like everything went well, but on Thursday morning when they tried to program the device they discovered that one of the leads had already migrated and they would have to re-position it. So this morning he had another surgery but is now safely recovering and should be able to come home tomorrow. I'm very thankful that everything seems to be okay, but it has been rough. The other day my dad told me that they have only given him 12-15 years to live based on the condition he has. That's really hard to hear, especially when my dad is only 59. The hope is that either the technology will improve enough that they can do more between now and then, or that he would potentially be able to get a heart transplant. It's just so hard to think that he may not get to see Grace graduate high school or get married. I'm really hoping and praying that my dad is able to beat the odds on this.

On to happier things...Grace is still Grace! The last few days I have learned that people are extremely helpful and generous when you have a really cute baby who loves to flirt and wave to everyone around her and basically force them to love her! We were at Wendy's the other day and a woman voluntarily took my tray to the trash can for me because she saw me struggling with holding Grace and the tray. Of course, Grace had previously been waving and smiling and charming her while we were eating :) When I called the hospital this morning for an update on my dad the nurse was kind of snippy until she realized I was the one who had brought the "adorable baby" yesterday and then she was super-nice and helpful and wanted to make sure I was going to bring the baby with me today. I swear, that kid already has the "it" factor!!

Grace had received some money for her birthday so we bought her a swing set, inflatable pool and water/sand table and she has loved playing in them. It has finally started acting like summer here so she has gotten a chance to use them a lot the last few days. On Sunday we took her to Pleasant Lake to go swimming and she enjoyed it more than Toby did. I think Toby is the only labrador I know who doesn't like to swim. He swam out with us but was crying and hacking and panting the whole time so we made him sit on the shore since he was so worked up.

Grace still isn't walking, which surprises me. The only thing that seems to be missing is the courage/confidence to do it. She can stand by herself for 10-20 seconds at a time and walks really well holding onto our hands but still hasn't gotten brave enough to try it alone. Oh well, I know how much things will change around here once she does start walking! It would be nice to not have to worry about putting her down on the floor in public places though!

Grace now says a form of Toby, doggie, birdie, and a tractor sound. We also think some of the "dada's" are really "what's that?" but we're not sure. Dada is still her favorite word. She has gotten a lot better at drinking milk from her straw sippy cup and is actually fully weaned now. It's weird that after 21 months of housing or feeding her, my body belongs to me again :) She can now fit the circle shape into her shape sorter, but also tries to put all the other shapes into the circle hole! The other day we discovered that she LOVES lasagna and we couldn't put it on her tray fast enough for her to shove into her mouth. She is finally getting another tooth - the next one over from the center bottom teeth.

The other day she threw her first official temper-tantrum. We had stopped at Dairy Queen and my dad asked if he could give her a bite of his ice cream so I let him, and once she had one bite, she wanted the whole thing. So when he wouldn't give her any more she pitched a HUGE fit in her carseat the whole rest of the way home. She was forcing herself to cry and her face turned bright red and she was kicking and waving her arms around like a madwoman. To be fair, it was right around bedtime and she hadn't napped well that day, but YIKES. It scared me for the future. No one can ever accuse Grace of not knowing what she wants! I really wish I had had a video camera with me so I could have taped it and showed her later (like when she has her own kids)!

I guess that's about it for now. Tonight we will be going to visit my dad and hopefully tomorrow we will be bringing him home. Below are some random pics that didn't really fit into the blog anywhere.