Zoe Turns 3!

We had quite an eventful weekend last weekend!  Zoe turned 3 and we celebrated...and celebrated...and celebrated...

Jay's sweet parents, Papa and Gramma came in Friday night while I was still traveling in from San Antonio. (I was fortunate to go and hear the Lovejoy Varsity Women's Choir perform at TMEA!!!  Wonderful trip, fantastic music-making, and just a lovely time! This is the group that achieved such an honor while under the direction of Bethany and myself! Such a proud moment!!!)  Anyways, we hit the ground running Saturday morning to prepare for Saturday night's party with family and Sunday afternoon's party with some neighborhood friends!

We had a surprise visitor Saturday afternoon, sweet Ruthie from church!  She is Zoe's aide on Sunday mornings at Prestonwood.  Then, Gramma and I iced cupcakes and survived a minor lavender icing catastrophe while doing so :)  Practice makes perfect I guess!  Zoe's sweet family started coming in that evening for her Rapunzel themed party Saturday night.  We had cupcakes, pink margaritas, and celebrated by launching these amazing lanterns.  If you're familiar with the movie "Tangled," then you know exactly what I'm talking about!!  We lit and launched about 36 lanterns into the Murphy sky Saturday night.  We texted a few neighbors and ended up creating a bit of a crowd with strangers driving down the street pulling over to see what these UFO's were all about!!  It was exciting, special, and quite memorable for all.  Keep a look out for a potential article in the local newspaper.......more to come!

Sunday morning started out way too early...someone was VERY excited to be turning 3 and woke up especially early ;)  We prepped for about 12 kids between the ages of 18 months old and 11 years old to come over for Zoe's Pinkalicious party.  Everyone was encouraged to wear pink, pink, pink!!  We were just blown away by everyone's kindness, support, and love of Zoe.  I'll let the pictures tell the rest.

Zoe and Ruthie...yes Ruthie dressed up for the occasion!!

Now Zoe has a matching tu-tu!!

First attempt at homemade cupcakes!

Yes, the Rapunzel braid from Halloween made an appearance for the party.

Mama, Zoe, and Jenna!!

Aunt Missy, Abby, Zoe, and Grammy

Zoe and Megan getting ready for the launch!

Still waiting!!!  And freezing!!!

Anticipation...

AMAZING!! 

Party #2

Cookie station

Pink, pink, pink!!

Tiara and visor decorating station!

Glitterfied and nail painting station

Our lovely assistants...Cousin Rachel's besties!

Rachel!!

New favorite gift!!  A sand and water table

Yum yum!!

"Joel hearts Zoe!"  Love this kid.

Best part of the entire party was when Jay read Pinkalicious to everyone :)

Did I mention Zoe turned 3?!  Well, she did AND started a new school the very same week...she wasn't too sure about it the first day, but she hung in there.  PPCD is going to work out wonderfully for her.  We are going 2 afternoons a week, and starting on Tuesday she is getting picked up by a SCHOOL BUS!!!

Wasn't quite anticipating the emotion that came with this moment, but it was a bit overwhelming to see my little girl following directions, wheeling down a hallway of an elementary school, not crying AT ALL when I hugged her good-bye.  Silly because I know it's just for 3 hours, but seriously...where did the time go?!  So proud of her. (sniff, sniff...)

As if I didn't have enough going on and Jesus loves me

So, as most of you heard on Tuesday, we had an interesting visit with the ENT.  Yes, that was when the nurse inserted her foot in her own mouth when she asked me, "Does Zoe sleep walk?" Wow.  Still laughing about that incident.  I'm sure she's still kicking herself for that.  Anyway, ENT was great and has told us her tonsils are medium sized so he sent us down the hall for an X-ray of her adenoids and a prescription for a couple of nasal sprays to help decrease the possible congestion at night, potentially causing the snoring.  That was a crazy run-on sentence!  We are going to try this for a few weeks, and if we see / "hear" an improvement in snoring, we will follow it up with another sleep study.  Yay us!  Kind of.  So I learned from our brief conversation on Thursday that anything above 2 sleep disturbances during REM for a toddler is definitely not OK.  Well, Zoe has ... drum roll please ... 23 sleep disturbances during REM.  Bless her heart!!  That means her sleep is not restful whatsoever.  I'm desperate for improvement.  Anything to help her feel better, eat better, have more energy, and be less argumentative.  I don't care, just give her relief!  Hoping it's as minimally invasive as nasal sprays, but I'm quite skeptical.  Jay doesn't even think any of the sleep study results are valid.

So, as if I didn't have enough going on with my billion rehearsals right now...anything from UIL solo/ensemble rehearsals, to ACDA, to private voice lessons, to recording sessions, (wait, didn't I just resign to stay home?)  Well, I've turned into one of the busiest non-working, stay-at-home moms ever I think.  Which is why if I'm choosing to add one more thing to my plate means it's something I truly believe in!  I was given a 5-day trial of this new anti-aging skin cream, Nerium. It worked wonders for my skin. If you haven't heard about this product, take a moment to learn more.  Visit my website and read more about this amazing product.  I fully believe in it and can't wait to tell you about all of the benefits of this wonderful new discovery.

http://brookegrall.theneriumlook.com/cp/129

And this was today :)  Have a great weekend!

Great news and not so great news

As some of you heard earlier today, we had successful MRI.  The fluid pooling in her spine is completely gone, and her back and brain look great.  The pressure is off her her neck area, and the rest of her back is "normal," for her anyway.  Dr. Swift was very pleased.  He did mention wanting an X-ray on her spine soon just to check out the curvature.  She's curving to her left more and more as she grows so he just wants a better look at that.

So the not so great news...the sleep study results.  I thought for sure they would be inconclusive as Zoe had a semi-sleepless night during the study, but they did find that Zoe has obstructive sleep apnea.  From what I am learning, there are two types of sleep apnea, central and obstructive.  Central sleep apnea is a condition in which your brain stops sending signals to the muscles that control breathing, causing you to actually stop breathing temporarily.  Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition in which the airflow pauses or decreases during breathing while you are asleep because the airway has become narrow, blocked, or floppy.

If you didn't already know, Zoe is quite the snorer.  We have to turn the monitor down to the softest volume at night and turn it away from our bed because we hear her so loudly...I'm sure she would love that I'm sharing this with the WORLD right now :)  Common problems are sleepiness and low energy during the day, unrestful nights (waking up groggy), and Dr. Swift suggests her low oxygen levels during the night may be an indication of her heart working overtime.  There are several reasons why anyone might have this type of sleep apnea, but he suspects that she either has really large tonsils (that's an easy fix, right?!) or perhaps she has a very weak or floppy throat.  There's also a procedure for that.  He's instructed us to see an ENT to get that fixed.

We have known about her throat for awhile now and how desensitized it has become.  The surgeries have helped, but not completely corrected the lack of feeling in her throat.  Throughout her feeding therapy sessions, she has become a safer eater, but her issues are not completely resolved.  Obviously, we know she's two and she's gonna be grumpy and irritated and irrational a lot of the time, but I would like to think that some of her "emotions" and "firey" attitude could be contributed to not sleeping well.  Ever.  Of course I'm sure Jay would disagree and say she's just my daughter.....hahaha

Anyway, let us know if you have any amazing or not so amazing ENTs you would recommend or not recommend :)  We have zero experience with that.

Sorry if this was TMI...

Grateful

I just wanted to brag for a moment on my sweet husband, Jay. I am so grateful for him in my life. The same guy that "forgot" to get my number the day we met was the same guy that proposed just a short 8 months later. He's the same guy who never went to a choir concert in his life until me. (Since then, he's been to more rehearsals, musicals, concerts, and musical venues than he ever anticipated.) He's the same guy who rode on many a school bus...be it a field trip to CiCi's pizza or whatever concert we were headed to.  He's the same person that has always stood up to me and other people when something is not right. He's the same guy that made me buy 3 pregnancy tests and take them ALL the day we found out I was pregnant with Zoe. He's the same man who laid there right beside me and wept with me when we received the disturbing news of Zoe's diagnosis.  The same guy who promised me "you're stuck with me" when we were told the divorce rate of special needs parents was 80%.  The same person who has literally stuck with me through the ups and downs, the highs and lows, and the good and the bad. And he has loved me unconditionally throughout my crazy career transformations. He's the same guy who makes the effort to get home early enough for dinner time with Zoe so that she can eat dinner with her whole family...just to turn around and go back to work after her bath.  Again, I just wanted to brag on him and give thanks FOR him. I couldn't have gone through the last 6 years without him.

We are also grateful for you. All of you who pray for us, love on our sweet Zoe, and help out when we need a break.

We need your thoughts and prayers...Zoe is undergoing an MRI early Monday morning.  Standard follow up procedure from her laminectomy back in September.  Unfortunately (but actually fortunately), we've always discovered the need for another surgery when we have an MRI.  We are hoping for a good (aka boring) report Monday. Love you all and have a fantastic Sunday!

Hope

We are having a wonderful time with sweet Madison while she is here in Texas.  So glad she made it, even if it was a day late!  Thankful she still got a flight and came to spend her Christmas break in Dallas.  Hoping she cherishes these times as much as we do.

I'm officially calling 2012 the "year of the unexpected."  There was absolutely nothing predictable about 2012.  From Zoe's two very significant surgeries, to selling our first house, to moving in with my parents just to move again 6 weeks later, to quitting my teaching job and beginning an adventure of being a stay-at-home mommy, to training and running a marathon, you name it, nothing was anticipated or planned on ...I'm still amazed I don't have a single grey hair yet, at least that I know of anyway.

Even just one of those events named above could send anyone into the looney-bin...glad Jay hasn't locked me up yet.  Even though we are still navigating our way around this one-income thing, even though our child hasn't decided she wants to walk yet (or is physically capable of walking), even though Jay still doesn't feel he has "arrived" at his perfect dream job just yet, God has provided everything as we have walked through this year together.  We have so much to be thankful for and SO MUCH to hope for in the upcoming years together as Team Grall.

Recently, Jay set a record for the number of hours he's logged in a week at work...drum roll please......105 hours.  Yep, that's right.  During that week, I was in and out of rehearsals and concerts, Zoe was in between baby-sitters and mother's-day-out, and Jay was in a concrete vault, ALL in the week leading up to Christmas.  We ended up one night at Toys R Us at 10:30 shopping for Zoe's Christmas presents consisting of sequin dress-up clothes, a marble maize tower thingy, and a Rapunzel tower, and had the best time...because we were together.  Our time together is so precious...whether it's 5 minutes shopping for Christmas gifts or 2 hours sipping hot chocolate.  I'm glad I ended up with someone who works hard for his family, is diligent to the Lord in his work, loves his daughters with all his heart, and still finds ways to make his wife smile.

I'm hoping that 2013 will be a little calmer; hoping we can catch our breath, for a little while at least;  hoping Zoe's transition to public schools and private therapy will be an easy one; hoping for a surgery-free year; hoping for a miracle; hoping for a family vacation; hoping (and expecting!) a few date nights along the way; hoping for my family to draw nearer to the Lord; hoping for first steps; hoping, just hoping.

Here are a few things coming up for the Gralls this year:

Zoe has a sleep study and a follow up MRI this month.  We have also started feeding therapy back up again due to several different components, mostly she's just not improving in her ability to eat.  She will be transitioning to public school for PPCD and we will be looking for a new private therapist. ECI is for children birth-three; therefore, we need to find someone between now and February 17!  We are also looking into lots of fun and new challenges for her including hippo-therapy, swim lessons, and ballet!

Jay is considering adding swimming and biking to his work out regime and might start experimenting with the triathlon.  He is also going to keep doing an awesome of job of spiritually leading his family by taking us to church and hopefully find an area of service in his "spare time."

Brooke is still figuring out this whole stay-at-home mommy thingy and is taking on too much of a work load (go figure!).  I'm still trying to master the art of saying no...I will hopefully have another race in my near future after a quick visit to the doctor to have my foot looked at.

Maddy is being "confirmed" this year in the Catholic church!  So she has a very big March.  She will also start high school in the fall.  She's still interested in continuing soccer and tennis.

Thank you for keeping up with us and for all of your prayers!  Happy new year to you and yours.  Enjoy 2013.

Did all of this really happen in just a month?

I'd like to take a moment and update you about the last few (5 to be exact!) weeks, but I think an update in pictures would be just fine...

Had a lovely week with Jay's parents here during the week of Thanksgiving;

Hosted our very first Thanksgiving with the family;

Visited Santa Claus and told him her "secret" wish for Christmas (haha that's a good story)...Still TBD;

Watched LOTS of Gift of Christmas :)

Visited Aunt Beffy and Christina and wore silly hats at Lovejoy;

Giggled a lot and saw lots of Christmas trees;

Ate LOTS of cupcakes;

Spent lots of time with sweet friends;

More sweet friends at church;

Sang lots of Christmas songs..."Frosty the Snowman" in particular;

Went to work with Mommy and wore lots of silly things;

Ran a marathon;

Gift of Christmas;

Wore lots of pigtails;

Spent time with my favorite person in the world besides Daddy, Beffy;

Saw the Nutcracker with Gramma and Papa;

Visited the beautifully decorated Gaylord;

Saw Choo-Choos with Papa;

Opened Christmas presents from Santa;

Found a temporary replacement (a very LARGE, blonde, girl version) for the Baby Jesus who got lost at some point;

Declared her fairy wings were not fairy wings at all, but ANGEL wings;

Got matching pajamas;

Swam in the snow with our cousins.

We have done quite a bit of first's as you can tell!  We are still waiting on "Sissy"(Madison) whose flight just got canceled today.  She will be here tomorrow night now instead of today, so the next 10 days should be more partying, hanging out, vacation days for Jay, and resting. For now, Merry Christmas and more updates to come later!