This girl has been running nonstop since last Wednesday! I’m very behind in posting, but we really haven’t stopped moving since the moment we walked out of the doctor’s office.

Playing with friends has been so much fun.

The girl had a very special friend play with her last week! They played in the sand, decorated the swing set, and had a good time! My girl loved being a “big girl” for the day.

The Memorial Day Parade was especially fun! The girls had a great time screaming and waving. My girl was nearly moved to tears by the bass drum.

After receiving the good news, we were off to celebrate with a ride on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel! She’s been asking to do this since January. It was the perfect afternoon. From this:

To this:

We are not done with the journey, but I think the worst is over. We return to PT tomorrow, we have another urodynamics test in September (shhh! Please don’t tell the girl!), and another MRI in December. That’s the plan for now. I’m going to keep the blog going too, but I’m not sure where it will take me.

More later, but we just saw the neurosurgeon and The Girl has been released from the couch!! Off to celebrate!!!

We got chickadees from a friend and a letter from some chickens today! What fun!

Who gives a kid a marshmallow and then expects them to nap?

Got away with it this time!

We are so thankful for all of our friends. Everyone has been so encouraging. We are overwhelmed by your thoughtfulness and prayers! We had a great weekend. Of course, being able to recline helped. We also had lots of fun visits and things to do. The girl had a very fun morning with her friend/PT. they played with princess stickers and chatted.

Other friends visited and brought more plants for The Girl’s garden.

Church friends (teachers) visited and brought lovely greetings from all of her Sunday school friends!

We also had a lot of fun making music this weekend! Thanks to a friend who visited last week, we have a budding Blues musician on our hands.

The weekend ended in a celebration of a good friend’s birthday! The Boy had a car-themed party (super fun). We were so happy that The Girl was allowed to go! So much fun racing cars, playing in tents, and being allowed to walk around!!!

Good news today!!!  We heard from the neurosurgeon via his nurse that the girl can now recline….or “recine” as the girl says it.  We also found out that we can see the doctor next week rather than waiting until the 30th!  I think that this means that we can start getting back to normal a week earlier than we thought when we left the hospital.  To celebrate, the lovely AJ helped the girl plant some flowers during one of her 30 minute “sit up” times!

She is stronger every day!  We are so thankful!

We seem to have found some balance in our days. The girl enjoys her “sit up times”, and isn’t as upset when she has to go back to the couch.

We have had so many fun visitors!

Thanks to a table that fits against the couch perfectly, the girl has found new ways to play…cars, dollhouses…

A wonderful surprise in the mail has spurred an interest in reading:

All of this means one happy girl!

“this is a bunny” “this one is a little girl with pigtails walking down the street”

…and this is Amos, our new puppy (he comes home in a few weeks)

His mercies are new every morning!  That’s what I was thinking last night.  Yesterday was hard!  I heard, “Mommy, you are making me frustrated!!!”, more than once.  Life on the couch is harder than it looks.

There were lots of really good things. The girl was able to sit up 5 times, for 30 minutes each time.  Those “sit-ups” were saved for visits from friends:

Chocolate cake with gooey pink icing!

…and BANDAIDS!!!  They are so much fun.  Don’t let the picture scare you.  There is no injury under these bandaids.  The girl was just having a lot of fun playing with them.

Today has been amazing!  We spent our first “sit-up” time walking around in AJ’s garden.  She’s so nice to the girl and encourages “picking”

Riding in the stroller is the best way to spend time!  We get to be outside and “flat” at the same time!  One one of our trips, we found a ladybug:

It didn’t make it back to the house, so now we spend our walks looking for a new ladybug!  It’s the little goals we set that helps to get through the day!