And then you were one… July 12, 2008

My big girl Grace,
Mommy can finish telling your birth story another day, but before your big day is over, I want to tell you twelve things that I love about you on your first birthday, and it certainly won’t be hard to think of twelve!

1. You are absolutely beautiful.  People say on a weekly basis that you look like a porcelain doll.  But to me you look like Grace.

2. You are full of life.  Unlike a porcelain doll, you have no capabilities of sitting still.  There were some days when I wished that you would just sit and snuggle and cuddle with Mommy, but then you wouldn’t be YOU!  It is really sweet though when you come to me for comfort after whatever accident has just occurred. 

3.  You do NOTHING in slow motion.  You crawled like lightning, and now you walk at the same speed!  Your little legs move you so fast, and you are very difficult to keep up with! 

4.  You are very confident and determined.  Sometimes these attributes get you into sticky situations or cause you to hurt yourself, but I know that they are certainly positive qualities to possess.  I know that you will never be a quitter!

5.  You are learning to obey.  I am so glad that you know the word “no” and that sometimes, most of the time, you choose to obey.

6.  Your smile becomes cuter with each new tooth that pops through!

7.  You laugh more often now.  Even when we don’t know what you’re laughing about, you get so tickled, and your laughter is sweet to my ears.

8.  You love food.  Enough said…

9.  You know one word, “uh oh,” and you use it appropriately!  I love it!

10.  You recognize your extended family now and squeal with delight when you see them.

11.  You love stuffed animals and love to cuddle with them.  I love watching you plop down on Ruffs and bury your face in him and laugh and laugh and laugh.

12.  One of the most special things that I am loving about you right now is that you love to go to church.  You quickly realize where you are once we get there, and you definitely recognize familiar faces that you associate with church.  Even though right now it’s just long open hallways for you to roam down, you will soon grow to appreciate everything that your mommy and daddy love about our church.  Never stop loving church, baby girl.

You are my best girl.  You are now my best big girl.  I love you so much that sometimes I get so overwhelmed with you that I get a lump in my throat.  I love that God chose me to be your mommy because you are so unique and one-of-a-kind that I wouldn’t trade my job for a six-figure salary. 

I love you, Gracer Racer!

Mommy

A year ago today…(June 10th) July 11, 2008

One year ago today, I was a complete wreck.  Knowing that I would leave that evening as just Stephen and I and would come back a few days later with a third person I’d never met was overwhelming to say the least.  The control freak that I was decided to look up and research everything that my doctor told me was going to happen through my induction which included the use of a drug cytotec. What I found was discouraging, but I decided to trust my doctor and ultimately trust God (and I’m so thankful that my doc is such a strong believer!) and leave everything in His hands.  We were also making last minute decisions to change our delivery location from one hospital to another. If you’re from around here, you’ve heard the stories about Polly Ryon (aka “Probably Dyin’), and then Oakbend became “Croakbend.” Exactly what you want to here about the place where you will bring life into the world…

Nevertheless, a decision had to made, so Croakbend it was…I checked the bags several times to make sure that I had everything I needed. Stephen brought home lunch from Chick-fil-a, and I’ll never forget having a meltdown because he brought a fruitcup for me instead of waffle fries (which to me is the only reason why you would go there in the first place). I had such a breakdown that he left and went to Moore’s Doublehorn Grill (in Fulshear) so that I could have some fries, but they weren’t the same as Chick-fil-a. But what a gesture! He then proceded to mow the yard before we left, and I remember thinking, “how can he do something so mundane when I am about give birth!” My husband is always able to get me out of whatever mess (literal or figurative) that I create, but I knew that there wasn’t much he was going to be able to do over the course of the next twelve hours to help me get out of this mess! 

We were told to be at the hospital to check in at 7:00, so we left the house and got some Sonic and then went to Oakbend.  We soon found out that we would be waiting an hour for a bed, so we left and met my parents at Luby’s before heading back.  When we got back at 8:00, there was still no room available, so we waited in the waiting area while my family tried to do things to distract my anxious mind.  One thing we did was fill out Grace’s baby book…I can’t believe I thought gas was expensive then!  I guess it’s all relative…

Finally we went into a room at about 8:45.  The nurse sent me to the bathroom to put on a gown that was slightly unglorious to say the least.  It certainly didn’t resemble the gown that Mommy wore when she was made!  Then she told me climb into the bed so that she could strap me up to all these monitors.  At that point, I lost it and broke down in tears, uncontrollably.  My blood pressure and heart rate went noticeably higher, and the nurse became concerned.  I told her that I was just nervous because I’d never been in the hospital before, and she proceded to leave the room to call my OB/GYN without my knowledge.  In the meantime, my parents and some friends came in to visit, so I tried to compose myself.  While everyone is there, I get a phone call directly to my room, Stephen answers the phone, and it is Dr. F himself.  He let me know that we could leave if we wanted to because the induction had not officially begun yet, and we could wait and see if I went into labor on my own which didn’t seem likely to happen any time soon.  I reassured him that I would be OK, and he told me to tell everyone in the room to be quiet while he prayed for me over the phone.  Yes, he’s that awesome!  My family and friends left shortly after that, and Stephen curled up on the couch and fell asleep.  Then the induction officially began. but I’ll spare the details.  I settled in for a long night with my two companions, my crossword puzzles and Sudoku book.  Thus began a VERY long night…

To be continued…

8 Months Old March 14, 2008

My Sweet Gracer Girl,

 Two days ago we were officially 2/3 of the way to a year!  Mommy is already thinking about what kind of party you would enjoy.  You have changed so much just in the last week, especially since Sunday! 

Here are some things that Mommy is loving about you right now:

1.  You can move from laying down to sitting up!  I was shocked when I went in to get you from your nap the other day, and you were sitting up in your bed! 

2.  You have favorite foods.  You are like your daddy because you love Mommy’s mashed potatoes.  You also are like your Pawpaw because you love prunes.  You should let your Pawpaw change your lovely diaper after you eat them because Mommy doesn’t like that part.  You can eat prune kolaches with him when you get bigger.

3.  You survived your first illness, a double ear infection!  I am glad that you are better, but I sure did enjoy cuddling with you and lovin’ on you.

4.  You will make your mommy a fortune as a carpet inspector/eater.  I don’t know how you manage to pick those tiny fuzzies up and get them in your mouth.  Why do you get mad at Mommy when she takes them out of your mouth?  Do they taste good?  Surely not…refer to #2.

5.  You look for things that you know are there, but can’t see.  For example, you know that Mommy has a necklace around her neck.  Mommy’s smart and has been tucking it inside her T-shirt, but you’re no fool!  You go digging around inside Mommy’s shirt to look for it, even when it’s been hours since you last found it!

6.  You are having attachment issues.  I’m sure at some point your attachment to Mommy will become a hassle, but I love that I can’t be replaced in your eyes! 

7.  You are my Sidewinder as Mrs. Mona affectionately named you today.  Your crawl is very unique and has taken your mommy and daddy by surprise.  I was not ready for this, and neither was our house!  You are a fast little booger!

8.  You clap for yourself!  You should clap for yourself because you are learning so many new things and are getting so big!

Although I am a little sad because you are growing into such a big girl now, I am LOVING the fun stages you are going through right now.  I remember when you couldn’t get anywhere without me or Daddy taking you there, and now you just go wherever you want!  Thank you for entertaining me throughout the day!  You have given me the greatest job ever, and I wouldn’t trade it for any paycheck!  You’re still my best girl!

 Love, Mommy

7 Months Old (A few days late…) February 16, 2008

Dear Grace,

This past month, your seventh month of life, has flown by.  I can’t believe how close we are getting each day to your first birthday.  Since Christmas, you have been changing too fast for Mommy, and this month did not disappoint!  Here are seven things that Mommy is loving about you right now:

1.   You sit up like a champ!  Your confidence in sitting up seems to have happened over night.  Just about a week and a half ago, Mommy was still having to support you and pick you up often when you fell over, but now you don’t fall!

2.  Your laugh!  I love listening to your laugh.  It may be the sweetest sound I have ever heard.  Even though you’re laughing at how silly your daddy and I are, we don’t mind.

3.   You are beginning to recognize more people, other than just your mommy and daddy.  I love how you smiled and squealed at the picture of your friend Tori, and then when Mommy doubted whether you really recognized her, you proved her wrong!

4.   You are showing interest in crawling.  It will only be weeks, baby girl, and then Mommy will have to undecorate her house so that you don’t redecorate it!

5.   You stand holding onto furniture.  Like I said before, this month did not disappont.  You are getting too confident in your physical strength! 

6.   You LOVE food!  Your mommy cannot feed you fast enough! 

 7.   You are so smart!  (See pic below.)

Every month I have to think of more things that I love you, and let me tell you, Gracie, that it is not difficult to do!  In fact, I want to tell more, but I’ll save them since I have to come up with EIGHT in March! 

I love you, sweet girl!  You continue to bring more joy and more life into our home.  I love how I know that you love me and your daddy even though you can’t tell us yet! 

Love, Mommy

Six Months Old January 13, 2008

My Gracer Anne,

Your mommy is a day late in posting your six month old blog, so please forgive me.  She’s a little pooped out what with all the Upward basketball going on and her slightly unexpected emotions that she’s experiencing with your turning HALF A YEAR old!!  I can’t believe that we are now closer to your one year birthday than we are to the day you were born!  So onto the good stuff…here’s six things that Mommy is loving about you right now…

1.  Your beautiful pearly whites!  I love watching you smile because your two new teeth make you look so much older!

2.  You’re sitting up!  I can’t believe how fast you are changing.  Yes, I know that you would prefer to stand though.  You’ve made that very clear.

3.  Watching you perform on your new Superstar Sing Along Stage from Christmas.  I love how you get so tickled at yourself in the mirror and how you dance and move to the lights and the music.  I sure hope you love music!

4.  Knowing that you recognize Mommy and Daddy and that you prefer them to anybody else in the world.

5.  That you’re big enough to go on overnight trips to your Grammy’s house so that Mommy and Daddy can go out on a date and have some alone time…but not too often because I miss you so much!

6.  That you and Mommy were able to make it to Mommy’s goal of nursing you until you were six months old!  I didn’t think we’d make it at all at the beginning, and now I’m in it for the long haul!  Thank you, Gracie, for putting up with your crazy mother’s subbornness and frustrations at the beginning.  It was worth all of the tears though! 

What a true treat you are!  I love that every day I wake up and somehow find something new to love about you that I didn’t know before!  I hope that you know that you are loved beyond measure!  Thank you for making this the best Christmas ever, and I can’t wait for future Christmases because I know that you will enjoy them more and more!

Until seven months, Mommy

2007 in Review January 7, 2008

I know, I know…I’m about 8 days late to post a “memories of 2007″ blog, but I need to do this for my own sake.  Perhaps having a blog for the entirety of 2008 will serve my memory well.

 January-I turned 25.  We also took a blood test that told us that our baby (gender yet to be known) was growing and healthy. 

February-We find out that we are having a GIRL, and we decide that her name will be Grace Anne Wilcox.  I become obsessed with little girl clothes, specifically with the Carter’s store and their AWESOME sales!

March-My grandfather, Pop, passed away and went to be with his Savior.  This was my first close experience with death.  It was a very bittersweet experience, but honestly, it was much easier than I thought it would be.  Perhaps that is because I know now that he isn’t suffering in heaven as he did on earth, especially toward the end of his life.  I register for Grace’s gifts at Babies R Us and Target.

April-My wonderful friends at Bowie throw my first of baby showers.  What a great experience it was!  Much better than a wedding shower!  Our friends Jon and Kristy in Grand Prairie welcomed their little girl, Kylie, who is Gracie’s friend!  Stephen finishes Grace’s nursery which is the cutest nursery ever, but I’m not biased!

May-The school year ends, and I leave the classroom for an indefinite amount of time so that I can stay home with my children.  It was another bittersweet experience!  Meredith graduated from high school in the top ten percent!  This was the first special event since Pop’s death, and his presence was really missed.  I continue to grow…

June-My dear friends at Calvary throw me another really special baby shower.  I continue to grow…

July-Stephen and I celebrate our very first anniversary on the 8th.  Three days later on July 11 (with a little help from some Pitocin and a few other drugs) we welcome the greatest miracle and blessing that we have ever experienced together-the birth of Miss Grace Anne Wilcox at 12:09 p.m.  She weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 inches long.  Our lives are forever changed…

August-Grace spits up, and spits up, and spits up, and you get the picture.  She is officially diagnosed with GERD and put on medicine to help her.  Oh yeah…and she smiles for the first time.  Her sweet smile was definitely worth the wait!

September-Grace undergoes x-rays to reevalute her difficult gaining weight.  GERD is confirmed, and we change her medicines.  We take our first family vacation, an overnight trip to Kemah!  Stephen works his last week at Klotz.

October-Stephen begins working at Costello, Inc. in the Hydraulic and Hydrology department.  Grace turns three months old and celebrates her first Halloween.  She also begins “talking” which is so sweet.

November-Grace rolls over from tummy to back.  We celebrate our first Thanksgiving with her which was so very memorable.  My family and Stephen’s family celebrated together at the Wilcoxes new home in Bryan.  Whoop!  Speaking of Whoop, the Aggie beat the Longhorns for the second year in a row at Kyle Field!

December-Grace turns five months old and perfects the sport of rolling over both ways.  Baby’s First Christmas festivities begin, and Grace receives every toy that Fisher-Price manufactures.  I was a little sad when the big day was over, but I know that they will just become more and more enjoyable each year as they mean more to her. 

A year ago today…

This is more for my own benefit and memory than for others, but you might enjoy hearing this if you’ve never heard it before…

It was exactly a year ago today (November 1st in case I don’t get this finished before the end of the day) that Stephen and I found out that our little one was on the way.  I had been feeling kinda weird for about a week.  I felt like I had a head cold and had been pretty weepy and tired for several days.  I remember that we would be watching “Everybody Loves Raymond” which is one of our favorite sitcoms, and I would just start crying for no reason whatsoever.  Without going into too much detail though, it was still to early for me to be suspicious about being pregnant.  I just thought I was sick.  However, as I approached the “event” that would reassure me that I was not pregnant, of course, I began to have more and more doubt, but it was still too early to tell.  So the day before “the event” should’ve taken place, I sent Stephen to the store on his way home from work to pick up The Test.  I was still about two days early, and so I decided to wait.

The next day, November 1, was the day of our church’s fall festival.  Stephen and I had a meeting with our pastor to discuss the possibility of working with the children at our church on a volunteer basis.  I didn’t know at the time that I was pregnant, but I did know that God was calling me away from teaching for a season.  I just didn’t know why… Before I left church that night, I talked to my friend Vicki about what I was experiencing, and she, of course, encouraged me to take The Test.  I was so anxious that I couldn’t decide if I wanted to know or wanted to keep wondering.  However, on the way home I thought about it a lot and knew that if I was, indeed, pregnant, I really needed to start on a prenatal vitamin ASAP because I currently wasn’t on one.  So the entire way home I replayed the last few days over and over in my head and the symptoms that I had been experiencing trying to convince myself that I was not pregnant.  I think that Stephen was tired of hearing me wonder out loud too!  So I got home and asked where The Tests were, and Stephen handed me the box.  I think that he thought that I was just taking them to put them up in the bathroom for future use.  So I had the urge to use the restroom, but I was still, in fact, a day early before the blessed event should have occurred.  I decided to take The Test anyway.  I read the instructions, which are actually not that complicated, and then took The Test.  You are supposed to put the cap on it and lay it on a flat surface, but before I even go the cap on it, I saw two lines appear.  Two.  Dos.  I didn’t even have to refer back to the box because the manufacturers of The Test are so kind that they put the reference manual directly on The Test itself.  See for yourself…

That’s right, folks.  I peed on that.  You think that’s gross??  Consider this…I still have it!  As you can tell, two lines=9 months of waiting for an infinite amount joy that is specific to being a mother. 

So back to my story…at this point I had to figure out where to go from here.  Well, I knew I had to go somewhere because I could not stay within the confines of our small toilet room any longer.  I had the biggest news to share with my husband, and I figured he should probably know since, you know, he was equally responsible for the results of The Test.  So I got up, reclothed myself, and picked up The Test and headed toward the living room where I knew The Culprit would most likely be.  He didn’t even know that I was taking The Test.  I saw the aforementioned Culprit in the kitchen, and he could tell by my face and reaction that I had “failed” The Test (still not quite sure whether I failed or passed it…).  According to him, he could tell by my face’s lack of color what the results were, but he was more concerned about the fact that his child-bearing wife was about to collapse on the living room floor in a location that was dangerously near the fireplace which has tile in front of it.  So he rushed to my side to literally support me, and we made our way to the couch where we sat in silence for literally at least 2 minutes.  I didn’t know what to say so I just handed him the test so that he could interpret it for himself.  For those of you who wonder what profound words came out of my house, here they are…

“Oh my gosh!  We’ve got to clean our house!”  You see, we had moved in after the wedding and were pretty much just occupying the downstairs part of the house and were using the upstairs bedrooms for storage while we dragged our rearends getting things in order.  So, now you know what my priority was.  After that sentimental thought, a flood of emotions from every end of the spectrum filled my head and my heart.  Yes, I went back and forth for the next several months (and even to this day sometimes) trying to decide about whether to teach the next year, but it was right around that moment that I realized why God had been putting a burden on my heart to move out of the classroom.  I didn’t realize that it was because he was moving me into my home (does that make sense?), but I knew deep within my soul that a longing was growing and taking root within me to stay at home with my child. 

So, Stephen insisted that we take another test…you see, my cost-efficient husband bought a three-pack of The Tests and was quite proud of himself for getting the most bang for his buck; however, they expire.  And let me promise you that they will, in fact, expire before they are needed again.  But he insisted that we use another brand of The Test to confirm our results.  I also needed to get some over-the-counter prenatal vitamins as well, so off we headed to Walgreens, the closest drug store.  Let me tell you that this was one of the weirdest moments of my life.  I felt like I was walking around with the biggest secret in the world (not that the package of The Tests and the bottle with PRENATAL VITAMINS didn’t give it away), and that no one knew my secret except for me and my husband.  I honestly can’t believe that I didn’t call my mom and tell her before my husband because my mom pretty much knows everything about me.  So we drove home and discussed when the appropriate time would be to tell our parents.  In the mean time, I took the other test.  It’s a good thing that two positive tests doesn’t mean twins!!

And somehow that night I went to sleep.  Perhaps it was the fact that from this point on for the remainder of the first trimester I became best friends with anything flat and at least 6 feet long that I could sleep on.  And so began the greatest adventure of our new life together as husband and wife and now as Mommy and Daddy.  The Final Exam came on July 11, 2007 at 12:09 p.m.  Here is my grade…

I’d say I aced The Test.  Don’t you?