Celebrating TEN!

From the moment that she started getting ready for school until the moment she fell asleep, Miss Gracie knew the day was all about her! She had so much fun celebrating at school and loved that when she got home in the afternoon, Nana and Papa were here to help us keep the fun going.

Gracie's goodies for her classmates and teaching team

Make a wish, pretty girl!



Having so much fun opening her gifts!
Miss Thing got an entirely new spring/summer wardrobe, some flashy sunglasses and new books.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, enjoys cake and ice cream she can't actually "eat" better than this girl!

TEN

Dearest Gracelyn Marie,

Today you are ten. TEN. Double digits. The "fun" ASL number. I am amazed by this. Amazed that ten years have passed since you entered and changed this world. Amazed that they've gone so quickly and so slowly all at the same time. Amazed that, with all you've endured, you are here... and sassy, sweet, silly and totally ready to celebrate. You are keenly aware that today is going to be all about you. I am amazed at how saying that you are "ten" takes my breath away a bit. Amazed, more than anything, my sweet girl, by you. You are our miraculous, courageous, spunky, spirited, brave, smart, resilient, loving, funny, popular (serious "likes" for anything about you on facebook! LOL!), beautiful girl.

This journey you are on (and that we are on with you) is certainly not one that Daddy or I would have chosen.  The challenges you've faced and will continue to face, the daily pain and discomfort, the hell you've been through on so many levels... these are not things that any parent chooses for their child.  To say, "I wouldn't change a thing" is an outright lie.  I would change all of that... take all the bad away in a heartbeat... if, and only if, you would still be you.  If, and only if, we could still look at life in the same way that we do being your (as you are) parents.  If, and only if, your warrior spirit and spunky personality would be totally intact.  But, we know this is not possible and, therefore, I wouldn't change anything. 

You have, in your ten years, endured more than most people endure in their entire lifetime... and you do so with such Grace.  It is our honor and privilege to be your parents.  You are our greatest teacher, our inspiration, our living angel and reminder to take each day, each moment, by breathing in and living in the moment.

Happy 10th birthday, sweet girl.
All my love,
Mommy

Looking back on birthdays...
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine

Gavin (Month 14)

You continue to be such a sweetie pie, Gavin.  You have a gentle, loving disposition and are rough and tumble at the same time.  I could spend the entire day staring into your big, beautiful, soulful blue eyes.  Here is a look at you in pics over the last month...

Taken March 18th (in your Rangers onesie from Kim Clayton... BUT you're a Giants fan!!).
 I love your sweet expression and that you're right next to the table so I can see how big you were then!
(You outgrew that onesie by the end of the month!)



After waking up early, I brought you in bed with me.  You were so comfy cuddled up with my Elmer, I hated to wake you to take Preston and Gracie to school! 



On Easter, with the obligatory Swann Family "Easter Ears"



Eating a "Peep" and trying to decide if you really liked it.
You never ate another one!



One of my favorite pics of you and Bubba following one of his baseball games.

Bubba blowing bubbles inside for you and Gracie.
It was too cold and windy to do it outside.
This was the first time you were able to partake in the joy of popping bubbles.
Now you go to the drawer where they're stored and ask for them!

Bubbles!!!

Lookin' so cool and BIG in your Giants gear at Preston's game.

Hanging in the stroller for a snack break on Gracie's birthday outing.

Hello there Mr. Sweet, Soulful Eyes!



Rocks in each hand... pockets, too!

Fairyland Family Fun Day

As a fun family outing to celebrate Gracie's birthday, we went to Fairyland in Oakland. It was a beautiful, warm (but not too warm) Sunday and everyone had a wonderful time. So thankful to Nana for the great suggestion... it was a perfect day for Gracie.
(It can be really difficult to plan a party for Gracie as her health is so fragile and unpredictable. We decided that we'd do a family outing that she'd enjoy instead of hosting a party that could, quite easily, fall right in the middle of a migraine cycle for her. It wouldn't be about her if we were having a big shindig that she couldn't/wouldn't enjoy or would cause her undue stress!)
 

Our beautiful birthday girl!
Gracie thoroughly enjoyed all of the varieties of plants, shrubs, flowers and trees at Fairyland.  She spent a ton of time inspecting leaves and flowers as we strolled through the many gardens on the property.

Hilarious to me... Preston was being a ham after watching me take a gazillion pictures of Gracie with a dandelion in the parking lot before we'd even entered the park.

All three kids loved the old, small carousel.
Gavin is not pictured as I couldn't manage to hold him and take a picture at the same time!

Snippets of the Gav-man enjoying Gracie's birthday outing.
It just so happens that the baby girl in the top left picture shares the same birthday as him.  Gavin was trying so hard to talk to her about the "mama" aka, Snow White.  He was adorable looking at the various character and animal statues.

Gracie enjoyed the magic show for about ten minutes.  Unfortunately, the first ten minutes were mostly really corny jokes and, by the time the action started, she had totally lost interest.  Preston, however, had a blast. I'm not sure who had more fun, Preston watching the magic show or John and I watching him while he watched the show.
At one point he terrified us by moving seats when the man was about to juggle "blades" and told the kids in the front row to watch out for their lives.  He moved so fast that it took us about three minutes to realize where he had gone... still near the front, but way over to the side!  LOL!  He LOVED the juggling and fire-eating.  His facial expressions were priceless!!
 

'Nuff said.  We have to get better about making sure we are in pics with the kids! 

 

A picture is worth a thousand words... so here are several thousand about how much our girlie loved her special day!

Gavin... all smiles with rocks in his pockets, rocks in his hands, rocks in his mouth... that about sums up what's going on anytime he is outside right now.  Well, that and one of his brother's hats if he can get his hands on one!

If it can be climbed up and jumped off, Preston will find it!

Dessert Before Dinner

Tonight we had dessert before dinner
... because I said so
... because the first week of spring break has been a bit of a dud
... because it's the little things.

"We're going for a walk," I declared at 4:00. It had been a lazy day with Gracie getting over an abdominal migraine, Gavin fussy from teething and not enough good sleep the night before and, aside from a few stolen moments playing cars alone out back with Preston, a rather boring day. Everyone (including me) needed to get out, crabby or not! So, I piled the "G" children in the BOB, Preston hopped on his bike and I gave directions as he kept questioning where we were headed. Once we walked toward the shopping center where his favorite fro-yo shop is, he was ecstatic. Then I told him he couldn't eat it right away! Ha! "Where are we going now?" he asked. Again, I led him with directions and we ended up at a park he has been wanting to explore. Two hours later, full of frozen yogurt and happy from the fresh air and playing with new park friends, we headed home... all four of us more content than we'd been all day.

Taking snapshots in my mind

Today was one of those days where I literally took pause and made a conscious effort to record in my mind and on my heart what happened.  If I'd had my cell phone handy, I would certainly have snapped a couple of pics, but it was in the car and, well, maybe that was best as I likely could have disrupted the authenticity of the moments.

I took the kids, along with Gracie's nurse, Girlie, to the recently refurbished Veteran's Park.  It has a fully accessible playground and is only about a five minute drive from our house.  All three kids had a great time exploring - - Gavin is content anywhere he can walk and pick up pieces of "trash treasure" and hand them to me; Preston enjoyed running amok with a group of boys his age and exploring the skate and BMX park adjacent to the playground; Gracie loved that there were ramps to different playground features and slides for her to enjoy.  It was a nice outing for all of us.

But these moments, for me, won the day:

At one point, Gavin stopped playing with his push car and walked over to Gracie's wheelchair and tried turning her wheels.  I redirected him to the backside of her chair and showed him where he could hold on.  He immediately started pushing her chair for her (while Girlie helped control the steering).  I will remember it forever... just like I remember when Preston started helping push Gracie's KidKart many years ago.  It is, of course, fun for Gavin to push her along, but his determination to be involved and help her was obvious and so very sweet.  He says her name now, "GeeCee," along with his sign approximation of her name.  He is so loving and sweet to his big sister and, today, showed me that he will, like his big brother, be her helper, too.

A while later, he was back playing with his push car and found a little friend, Lucas, who is 19 months.  Gavin walked up to him, touched his chest gently and then wrapped his arms around him and gave him the sweetest bear hug.  Little Lucas just stood there.  Then Gavin pointed to his car, said, "vroom," and gave him another hug and a kiss.  Lucas climbed into the car and Gavin started pushing him!  It was so adorable and I (along with all of the adults around) was literally drowning in the cuteness that we witnessed.  Such a sweet display for Gavin's first impromptu and independent social encounter.

Leapin' Leprechauns!

While Gavin napped and Gracie had  a vest/nebulizer treatment, Preston and I decided it was prime Leprechaun Trap Construction Time!!!  (This was not my idea... he talked about making a trap every day after school for over a week!)

With his completed trap.  He insisted he was going to stay up all night to try and catch a leprechaun with his bare hands! 
He lasted all of 20 minutes while I read to him!

Much to Preston's dismay, the trap was empty this morning. 
However, a Leapin' Leprechaun visited in the wee hours and left behind a few chocolate coins, turned the toilet water green, left green footprints all over the place and even made our milk green!  Preston would NOT drink the milk... he figured the green toilet water was pee... so he feared the Leprechaun peed in the milk.  (Guess mama should have considered his thought processes a bit more before coloring the milk!)

Gavin (Month 13)

13 months exactly
We went on a long walk and happened upon a group of people flying kites.  You were mesmerized by the 20+ kites whipping around in the wind.

Your "monthly photoshoot - - this time, outside, at the park, without a chance of getting a picture of you still!  As it should be, big boy!

Gav-man... you had a big month.
You are changing right before our eyes, literally.

"Nobody puts baby in the corner,"
...except himself!
This is you two days after your birthday.  You went and stood in the corner and Nana and I cracked up! 
(Less than two weeks after this pic, you were walking!)

Sweet, happy boy hanging in the stroller

You were playing with Papa and hamming it up!

Your vocabulary (sign approximations, attempts at talking) has grown exponentially in the last thirty days.  I need to sit down and take inventory of your communication... it's pretty impressive.




A snapshot from the video we took of some of your first steps.
You are now a pro!

You started walking... and completely stopped crawling.  On March 1st (the same day that Gracie had a rough outpatient bronchoscopy... it was as if you knew that we all needed some cheering up that day), you walked about five feet.  I was the only one who saw you and couldn't believe it.  Then, about a half an hour later, Preston saw you.  Then you did it for Daddy.  Within a couple of hours, you were walking across the house!  Now, you walk holding your sippy cup, carrying a car in one hand and a ball in the other (which freaks me out!), you navigate small step-downs at the park and attempt "running" on the grass.  You even walk along kicking balls.  We think you may have been secretly practicing - - you never really took itty bitty steps - - you just decided to walk.

Preston showing your new car - - a birthday present from Nana and Papa.
LOVE this of the two of you!

 

You wondered if Chloe's Daddy would allow you to pick her up in your new ride. :)
You even picked a couple of morning glories for her!

 

Someone said to me the other day... "Holy cow, all of the sudden he looks like a big boy!"  She was right.  You're still a baby - - my baby - - but you're throwing balls, walking, talking... doing all kinds of big boy stuff!

You don't love naps. It's hard to get you down about half the time (unless you're in the car).  This is you... crashed... ONLY if I was holding you.  That day, I decided to snooze with you as it was the only sleep I'd had in almost two days.

Here is the "diaper bib" fashioned by your daddy.  He taped this around you as a solution to the massive amounts of drool you had and and the fact that you'd gone through four bibs in eight hours.  Only your daddy would do this!

This cracks me up! 
 

You and Papa walking around at Preston's baseball jamboree.
As usual, you found "trash treasure" and willingly handed it over.

You love cars, balls, books and bath time.  You spot cars everywhere and have preferences when we are driving or walking through a parking lot as to the types you point out.  You push your toy cars (and your brother's) around on the floor like a big boy (and have, pretty much since you started crawling).   If you're not playing with cars or balls, you're picking up a book (or two or three!) and carrying it over to me, Daddy or Preston and shoving it at us while saying, "buh," which is your way of asking us to read it to you.  During the day, you will often sit through about half of a book before getting up to grab another.  And, at night (or when you're tired), you'll sit quietly through three, turning pages, pointing to pictures and telling me the sounds certain animals make.  Your current faves are "The Very Busy Spider" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"
At bath time, you love playing with all the boats, sharks and cars, but your most favorite toy is a cute little mermaid (a castoff from your sister!).  You call her, "meh may," (which is a pretty darn impressive pronunciation of "mermaid") and hold onto her while in one hand while you play with the rest of your toys with the other hand. 

"Panty Raider!"
About a month ago, you started going into Preston's underwear drawer and grabbing a pair to carry around!  Now that you know we all crack up at this silly antic, it has become standard practice for you!

You are a ham. A total ham.  And such a lovebug.  You delight in making others smile, you laugh along with anyone who is laughing and sweetly offer up all kinds of love.  I adore hearing you say, "mama" and sign it with increasing precision.  You do the same for daddy, "GeeCee" and Bubba.  All signs mastered (to the extent of your fine motor abilities at this point) and so adorable.

Star of the Week (or "Best week EVER!")

The week of February 25th was, according to Preston, "the best week EVER."  (Except, of course, for some not so great stuff for his sissy.  More on that soon.)

On Friday the 22nd, he learned that he had been chosen as the "Star of the Week" for the following week.  This meant that, over the weekend, we had an "All About Me" poster to work on and the entire next week would be filled with special little things for him to do at school, including a special chair to sit in, special privileges and special duties.  He was beyond excited.

Here is the poster, which now hangs in his room, that he presented to his class on Monday:

On Tuesday, he got to fill the guessing jar with items.  The class had to guess/estimate how many of that item was in the jar.  He chose jelly beans, so after they guessed, they got to eat them! 
And, that same day was the pizza party that the class earned from their teacher!  For filling the marble jar three times, she treated them all to pizza, juice and cookies. 

On Wednesday, he received his Star of the Week award and sticker... and ... during the awards ceremony for the second trimester, he received a Shooting Star Award for excellence in AR (Accelerated Readers).  We are so proud of him!

On Thursday, he took in a favorite book to share.  This was hard for him - - he had so many he wanted to take in and finally narrowed it down to a Captain America book because "it talked about some things we are learning in class."  (Not Captain America, specifically, of course!)
Thursday was also John's 40th birthday!  So, birthday cake was on the menu and that is always a good thing!

On Friday, he got to bring in a treat to share with his class.  He took in cookies.
It was also the day the class celebrated "Read Across America" and Dr. Seuss' birthday.

Preston with some of his classmates wearing crazy hats and socks to celebrate Dr. Seuss.

And, he was also chosen as "Coyote of the Day" on Friday which carries its own special privileges.  He thought he was pretty darn cool to be both at the same time!

AND... Gavin took his first steps.
AND... Preston got to bring home Clifford for the whole weekend.  (Clifford goes home with each star of the week and gets to participate in all family activities.)  We had to report back to the class what he and Preston did over the weekend.  This is the page we added to the book about Clifford's travels:



A fun, busy weekend for Preston and Clifford!
(The ranch trip was also Preston's first hands-on gun safety lesson and target shooting... all in the presence of many law enforcement officers, so he couldn't have been taught better!)
 

ONE Snow Day (Gavin's birthday, part two)

On Sunday, February 17th, we took the kids to the snow. It was a beautiful, spring-like day and perfect conditions for our crew. We expected Gracie to have the least amount of fun (she wasn't feeling 100%), but it turned out she likely had the most fun overall! And, miraculously, she seemed to feel fantastic the entire time we were there. As I mentioned in part 1 of Gavin's birthday post, we took 331 pictures that weekend. So, once again, this post is all about the photos we love from our snow day!

Love them!

Gracie with her "men!"

Celebrating ONE year of being a Flock of Five!

Preston having fun!

Love this... not posed... both of them genuinely happy to be sledding together.
His grip on her got really tight as they started down the small hill... he wasn't going to let anything happen to his Gracie!

LOVE!
 

Gavin... in the snow for the first time... and, of course, he ate it!

One of my most favorite pictures of them together... ever.

 

Lookin' so very pretty in all the spots where she posed and relaxed!

 

Sledding with my boy!
He giggled the whole way down.  So did I!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Pensive Gracie!

Rockin' her coat and posing like a true diva!

Daddy and Preston sledding (and spinning!)

Mommy and the big boy!

Gavin with Nana and Mommy
She comforted him after his hands got too cold from eating the snow!
(He was not interested in mittens!)

 

LOVE the pure joy on our faces!

My handsome "big" boys!

A snowball fight between Mommy and Preston... hilarious!

"Um... there's a little tree right there!"