Happy 5th birthday Natalie

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Natalie is 5!

5 years ago today at 8:20 pm, Natalie Elizabeth was born.  She was so tiny and fragile, not breathing, and not even able to open her eyes.  Statistically she had a 50/50 chance of survival. 

But here she is today, on her 5th birthday, healthy and happy! 

Roller coaster!

My brave girl recently went on her first roller coaster ride and LOVED it(in the front car no less)! Instead of getting scared like I was worried she would, she smiled and giggled the whole time! Thank goodness my friend Heidi is still the only one that I have made cry by taking on their first roller coaster ride (sorry Heidi!)

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