So much going on...

And let's face it - I'm lazy when it comes to this business of blogging. Or does it sound better to simply say that I'm not sure how anyone has time for all this online business of blogging/facebook/myspace/flickr/youtube...etc. etc.? It's a lot of work! How is one expected to keep up?

Well, I'll try to catch up on some of the things we've been doing since my last post in June. It was a very busy summer and we spent the 4th of July in OR with my parents and sister. It was a lot of fun and Gracie adored being adored by my family. Towards the end of that month, Luis had a procedure called a "mini maze" on his heart. It sounds much more innocent than it actually is and involved him being in surgery for nearly 5 hours and then spending one night in the ICU. He did very well initially with the surgery and they were able to correct his a-fib but, unfortunately, we've just found out this month that he's developed a new problem. He'd been on a heart monitor for a day when the cardiologist called to tell us that his heart is apparently skipping beats. They removed him from one of his blood pressure medications (apparently hoping that that particular medicine is causing the skipped beats) but we'll have to wait until the end of this month to see the cardiologist to find out how they'll fix this. It could possibly involve installing a pacemaker so this looks like we're going to be dealing with this problem for awhile. It's such a bummer because we'd really hoped that we were getting to the bottom of his problems and had had it solved. It's terrible to go all through this and find out that there's a new problem involved.

The good news is that we did do some traveling before we found out about the bad news on his heart. We spent about a week in SoCal and took Gracie to Disneyland for several days and then visited with my sister at her house for several days. We really had a great time and watching Gracie have fun at Disneyland was the best form of entertainment. Luis and I were able to spend one evening in the park by ourselves because I actually hired a babysitter to come to our hotel to watch Gracie. It was expensive but sooo worth it and the babysitter turned out to be amazing. Gracie had a fabulous time with her so it worked out really well.

Luis and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary on October 24th. Hard to believe that so much time has gone by. I look at our wedding photo on our bedroom wall and wonder who those folks are on a daily basis. Not only have our bodies changes so completely but our lives are so different now too. Having a child does change everything... in so many amazing ways.

At 3.5 - Gracie is so darn bright, funny and irrepressible... apt to break out into a song of her own composition at any minute. The first song she wrote was "I'm a Beautiful Princess" and we've moved onto a second composition called, "Sweetheart. I love you." Amazingly enough, both songs sound very much the same except for the respective titles and both are continually moving targets in that they change with each performance. She loves attending her new dance class and is in the same class as her friend Maci and watching them dance each week is a real hoot. She may not be all that "Grace" ful but she's earnest and works hard at watching what Miss Sandy does so that she can do it too. She loves the show, "Dancing with the Stars" and begs to watch it each week and to dance along with us. No one is allowed to sit while that TV show is on in our house. Everyone has to DANCE!

She's most definitely a girlie-girl and we've known that for awhile. However, it wasn't until Halloween rolled around that I realized just what that meant in Gracie terms. She had two perfectly lovely costumes to choose from to wear on Halloween night. Her Sleeping Beauty dress and a new Tinkerbell costume that my sister bought for her. Luckily for her, she also had several opportunities to dress up prior to Halloween. We were invited to Anna's house for a costume party and then we went to a Family Night Out with my mom's group and she got to dress up the too. The day before Halloween, we asked her whether she wanted to wear her Tinkerbell or Princess Aurora costume and we were treated to an eye roll and an attitude I'd expect to see from a 12 year old - but not from my three year old! She said, "Oh Daddy... I can't wear my Tinkerbell *OR* my Sleeping Beauty costumes because I already wore them for parties this week. I need a *new* costume for Halloween." We nearly died... after we stopped laughing anyway. And for those who would agree with her line of reasoning, rest assured that we did indeed come up with a new costume. Pieced together from stuff I already had in her closet but it made her happy and she skipped merrily around the block with her cousin Kyle and I collecting candy and unabashedly soliciting compliments on her "Fairy Princess" costume.

So now we're all the way into November - it's hard to believe that so much of this year has come and gone. My parents are here visiting for a few days and will be heading to SoCal to leave for Mexico for a couple of weeks. We'll see them again for Xmas as we're planning to head down there ourselves on the 26th.

My darling Gracie couldn't let them visit without trying to squeeze them for whatever she could get though so when we visited them in their trailer on Tuesday night, I immediately noticed that she proclaimed herself "cold" upon returning to the trailer after dinner. My suspicious mind swung into action because I knew where this was headed. After my mom put on a pot of coffee and turned up the heat, Gracie again complained about the cold. When that inspired no further action, she felt finally compelled to do something about it and finally told my mom that "some hot cocoa would help her feel warmer." What a little scammer! She forgets nothing... how I'm supposed to stay ahead of this is beyond me. And I'm fearful that if this is what she's up to at three, then what are we in for when she's 13? God, help us... it's going to be an interesting ride. But then, I suppose every parent can say that.

Mostly, I'm left with an overwhelming thankfulness. That's she's happy, growing, healthy and so full of life, love and energy. It's really all I can ask for.