Wordless Wednesday

WE DID IT!!!!

We raised over $2,200 for the Spina Bifida Association of Illinois Walk and Roll tomorrow! We are truly amazed at the outpouring of love and support we have received for this year's walk. I am still in awe of it...we were so successful last year that I thought it would be hard to beat-but here we are! THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

We are equally excited to be meeting up with three families who I have been keeping in contact with through my babycenter chat group as well as Facebook. We have been fortunate this year to have met up with a couple other families and it has been such a blessing. It's going to be so nice to meet these mommas and little ones in person and get to know them better. We can't wait. Pictures to come soon!!!

PS-if you would still like to donate, it's not too late! Click here to go to Team Nate's fund raising page.

Just because...

...I'm always the one behind the camera. And this time I wasn't.

That's right

My kid's "Happy Meal" comes from Chipotle. I don't even think he chewed his taco tonight-just swallowed it whole. You know it's bad though, when you drive by one and he's in the backseat saying "Yeah, eat!" What can I say, the kid knows good food!

Sweet treat

We went for ice cream the other week for my 30th birthday. It dawned on me sometime before we left that Nathan had never had his very own ice cream cone before (this is partially because he has been hot and cold with ice cream-sometimes he likes it and will eat it, other times he won't touch it- and also partially because I can not stand him being a sticky mess). I decided to let go of my fears of sticky hands and clothes and let him have at it. And boy, did he ever. He ate THE. WHOLE. THING. and was in heaven. See for yourself!

Baby steps

We got a loner walker today (and the one we ordered through insurance should be in very soon). We are armed and ready for Wednesday's PT appointment where Nate will hopefully start learning how to use his equipment to WALK. We realize that this is going to be a slow process and, although he is two, we will be taking baby steps. It's still exciting all the same. Nate seems to be excited, too. If he sees his RGOs, he will point and say "legs" which is what we have been calling them. Then he'll say "Put legs on." I'll follow with "What do you want to do when we get them on?" and his reply is, "Stand. Walk." He is so patient while we put them on and doesn't seem to mind them at all! Here are some pics of daddy helping him walk (we aren't so good at it just yet-you can see how much he is leaning-but we're working on it!)

Wordless Wednesday

Lake County Fair

I've got so much to catch up on. Last month we attended Special Abilities day at the Lake County Fair. It was H-O-T so we didn't stay long. Nate got to ride the carousel with daddy and see some of the ponies. He also went fishin' and got to pick out some duckies to win a prize. I got to play with my camera. :)

Watch out, world!

Here is Nate using his "wagon" as he likes to call it. He is really starting to get around in it. He actually used it most of the night tonight and we can see that he is building endurance. He happily wheeled all over our family room (on the carpet which is harder!) and played with toys. We are eternally grateful to our PT Toni and her husband for making it for him. Every time we see him in it, we can't help but think that he is REALLY going to take off when he gets his chair! (It was officially ordered Aug. 20th and should be in the middle of October!)

Real

I recently applauded a friend for being real on her blog and writing about not just the good and the bad, but the ugly, too. It's always been difficult for me to be 'real' in my writing because I just don't think I can write like that. Or maybe I am afraid to put it all out there. And as real and open as I am about Nathan's special needs I realized recently that I have never posted 'real' pictures of him. Most are pictures of him smiling or doing something cute. I think as real as I have gotten is posting pictures of him using some of his equipment and even then his adorable face is usually the main attraction. But there is a very raw and very real side of him that we see on a daily basis that I've never really shared before in pictures. Thanks to some very good friends who have gotten real lately, I've decided to share, along with the good and the bad, the real. And real does not have to be ugly. On the contrary, real can be beautiful.
























His scars are a reminder of just how much he has endured and how far he has come. And to quote my friend Joanna, who writes beautiful words about our miracle babies on her blog,

scars are the most precious things to me -
they are a glorious statement that says -
I am alive.
I am a miracle.
God made me.
And I am wonderfully made.

And a Psalm that I have leaned on since Nathan was still growing in my tummy,

"I praise you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well."
Psalms 139:14

Oh yes, real can be beautiful. And the beauty of our little boy, the joy he holds and the way he makes my heart want to burst with love is so very, very real.