Natalie's first drawing

This is the first time that Natalie's spent any significant amount of time coloring a picture. She's getting much better at holding a marker in a way that allows her to actually draw on the paper. For the longest time she just couldn't coordinate her hands well enough and she would give up quickly. Interestingly she used only her left hand for this picture. She tends to be better with her left hand when using a spoon too so she may just be a lefty.

Bouncing on bridge before hippotherapy

Tonight was Natalie's last night of summer session hippotherapy. More pictures will be posted soon of her on her favorite horses, Shorty B and Apache.

After stitches

Natalie fell again last night and had to get stitches in her chin for the 6th time.  The last time was on June 5th and I don't even think I remembered to blog about it since it's becoming just another regular event for her.  This one looked particularly deep but she didn't even cry(although I almost did when I saw it).  We were at Cook's house for dinner when it happened so we decided to try out the new Urgent Care by her house that just opened that day!  It was a good experience overall and I think I'll take her there again if needed.  Considering that they are just a general urgent care I was very impressed with how they handled a child.  Natalie actually did much better than she normally does at Children's Hosp ER and the wait time was shorter (in and out in under 2 hours!) However, she did not hesitate to wave goodbye to the nurses when we left!  

Before stitches

July

July 2009

I can't believe it's nearing the end of July! The summer is going so fast and Natalie is getting close to turning 5!  I still have updates in my head dating back to May or earlier that I plan to eventually post.

This week, however, I was at work and found myself looking at this 2 year old picture of Natalie (above). It's one of my favorite pictures of her so I've left it up on my desk at work even though it's outdated. Seeing it over the past two years has made me alternately happy and sad. It was taken on the Fourth of July weekend in 2009. The day I took the picture was a happy day and it was at a time when I was starting to feel more positive and confident that our lives would be fine, and that Natalie would be fine, despite her Cerebral Palsy diagnosis. Natalie has had a love for books since a very young age. On the day of this picture I found her during a quiet moment, "reading" her new Backyardigans book. I remember thinking that she looked like such a big kid and feeling so proud of her.

Up until that year, July had, for the most part, been a happy month. As a child, July meant no school and fun summer activities. I got engaged in July of 1997 and was busy planning my wedding in July of 1998. It was in July of 2006 that I was finally pregnant and an ultrasound revealed that both a boy and a girl would be arriving later that year! So, in July 2009, about a week after that picture of Natalie was taken, I was completely unprepared to be told, by the man who I had been with since we were both teenagers and married to for 10 years, that our marriage was over. For a long time after, that beautiful picture of Natalie just made me sad because it reminded me that one minute you can think everything in your life if going just fine, or even better than fine, and a week later everything can totally change. What I realized this week is that I am glad that I never took that picture down. I discovered that I can look at it again and not feel sad anymore. While it does still remind me of changes in life, I know that change, even unexpected and unwanted, can turn into happiness. This year, Natalie and I are having a very happy July and I expect that there will be many more to come.

Happy Natalie

Heather took this cute picture of Natalie recently. That Aunt Hez is soo funny!

Josie Renee

I am so behind on blogging, but I wanted to be sure to document the birth of Natalie's new friend here on the blog. On June 16, 2011 my friends Amy and Brian finally had their much anticipated baby! Josie Renee is a beautiful and healthy girl. I am looking forward to my Wednesday nights in Columbus when I get to snuggle with this sweet girl. Amy and Brian are already proving to be great parents. I definitely owe them a lot of hours of babysitting time from a few years ago when they helped me out so much with Natalie (and kept me sane by visiting when we couldn't leave the house for months that first winter)!