This & That

It's been a busy month and a half since I last blogged here. Perry does a lot of basketball reffing in January and February, and that means many nights, it's just the three of us hanging out. While we would rather have Daddy home, it has been good for me to learn how to care for the kids on my own.

A couple of weeks ago, on one of Perry's few days off, we made a trip to a "special pool" in Stanley. It's the Ina Mae Rude Aquatic Center, and it's a wonderful heated pool. It's really sad that Minot doesn't have one, but luckily, Stanley isn't too far away. So, on that cold February day, we packed up and headed to Stanley--along with Auntie Carolyn, Cousin Meredith and Grandma Lori. It was a really nice afternoon, and the aquatic center is fabulous. Natalie LOVED the warm water--it's 92 degrees--and the pool includes a jetted tub area that Natalie really enjoyed. She spent the whole time smiling...how precious! We'll have to go back soon...and next time we'll have to make sure the whole family can make the trip.

It's been a long winter in North Dakota---and typically by March, we're enjoying temperatures above freezing and watching the snow melt...not this year, though. It's been frigid here, and we're all getting a little stir crazy. The one saving grace is that we have a big window in our house that faces south...so every day we set up the pillows and soak up the sun. If we close our eyes, it almost feels like summer. Opening them reveals the harsh reality that there is still three feet of snow in our front yard. Bummer. By the way---the bottom window isn't fogged over, that's the snow bank in our front yard. :(

Natalie does a really good job of sitting in her wheelchair now. We often have her in it in the house these days---it gives her great support. We're so thankful that we found a home with such an open layout so that using this wheelchair is a possibility!

The biggest bummer of all is our latest round of illnesses in our house. Natalie missed a week of school thanks to this cold virus that kept her up coughing at night. We were really worried for a while that it was RSV, but a quick trip to the doctor revealed that it was just a run-of-the-mill cold. It's making its rounds around the family, but hopefully it'll be gone soon.

Meanwhile, Natalie is doing great in school. It's hard to believe, but there are really only a couple of months left until summer. What?!?

Before then, we'll meet another new doctor. Natalie's neurologist in Fargo, Dr. El-Zind, left for Indiana in December, meaning the closest pediatric neurologist is now in Minneapolis or Sioux Falls. Since we have family in Sioux Falls, we're headed there at the end of the month! I love North Dakota, and I love Minot, but living here is not very convenient when you have a special needs child who needs to see an array of doctors. We'll hope this new doctor is as good as Dr. El-Zind--we look forward to meeting her.

Here's a video of Natalie and Calvin I took last night. They are so cute together; Calvin loves to nuzzle up to Natalie, and Natalie loves all of the noise Calvin makes. (Note Calvin's cough--as referenced above!)