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!

If anyone knows how to keep a three year old still, please let me know! The girl did a pretty good job, but it’s just hard to play when you have to keep your head and bum at the same level!

The most exciting times were the 5 times she got to sit up for 30 minutes! The girl played with the dollhouse and spent time in Nonnie’s spa getting a pedicure! Mommy found the girl’s favorite color nail polish…White!

One of the hazards of having to lie down for such a long time is tangles…the girl had the biggest mess I’ve ever seen. Some of our spa time was dedicated to working out the tangles. Before:

Success!!!!

We are thankful that the girl continues to get stronger and that two weeks is really a short time…relatively speaking! Of course, the time is shortened by friends who visit, and all of the fun things people have shared with us.

Today has been very busy!! All of the neurosurgeons rounded this morning and came to see the girl. Everyone agreed that she was an awesome patient and ready to go home! The girl got to sit up for the first time around 10:00. She thought that it was fun, but she felt funny!

At lunch the girl got to try to walk! She had a fun time, but was pretty wobbly.

She had pizza for lunch and her buddy removed the IV.

Finally, Daddy made it to the hospital and it was time to go! Our nurse carried the girl to the car, and she got to sit up for the hour ride home.

Now we are home. Trying to recover from the lack of sleep

The girl had a great day! After a little headache in the morning, we hardly needed any pain meds. By late afternoon her IV was gone! The girl never saw her roommate, but felt like they were friends. (I should mention that her roommate was less than a year old and was asleep most of the day.) The girl sang to her for about an hour through the curtain, colored her a picture, and invited her over for a play date. When we found out that we each had to move to new (different) rooms, the girl sobbed for about 30 minutes…she has hardly cried this whole week, and it was saying goodbye that brought on the tears, not a needle! The girl’s new friend gave her this really awesome toy

Daddy came after work and took the girl on another wagon ride. This evening the surgeon visited and we got the great news that tomorrow the girl gets to sit up….and drumroll please…go home!!!! I hope that he doesn’t change his mind!

We moved out of constant care last night and into a room! Family Life brought some fun movies and coloring supplies. This morning we had a fun visit from our Church friends. The girl had so much fun singing and making goofy faces!! We will have fun later with the game and books too!!! After a very fun visit, we got to leave the room via WAGON! The girl barely fit in the wagon, but we had so much fun riding circles around the ward.

Then we spent some time making sure Mommy’s heart is ok!

Now maybe we will eat? Sleep? Nah…who has time when the wagon is parked and ready for another ride.