So much going on!

Blog, I've been thinking about you but haven't had time to update you in the last few days. I'm sorry to neglect you.

Saturday, we hadn't quite recovered from our disastrous Friday night party, but we packed up and headed to my best friend Mindy's house for an overnight visit at their new house. We had a short visit, and Nate was a wild man, but we all really had fun.

Mindy's mom got this pumpkin hat for Georgia. How cute is that?

Then Nate had to try it on.

That started a game Nate called "Pumpkin Ball." Blake, Scott, and Nate threw that pumpkin hat around for hours.

Of course Nate had a terrible time trying to get to sleep with all the excitement, then he didn't want to leave the next day. :) Oh, this was cute--On Saturday night when we were saying our prayers, Nate asked to pray for Mindy and Scott's doggies. :) Then Sunday night he asked to pray for Mindy and said he was going to dream about playing at Mindy and Scott's house. Sweet boy.

We got home and almost immediately started getting ready for our Halloween party at Greenhill! They dressed up the horses and had a parade! This only shows about half of them. They had a buffalo, a devil, a unicorn, a skeleton, a circus pony, a farmer, the tin man, and an Indian. And all the kids got pony rides. I have a new level of respect for Nate's therapist, because I had to hold onto him when he was taking a ride on Mickey, and he was flopping everywhere.

So, cutest little Minnie Mouse you've ever seen, right?

All the kids were saying, "Look, there's Thomas!"

Nate didn't want to leave this bouncy house.

So it was a big, fun weekend, then we had a big Monday! We headed down to Nashville for Nate's annual Spina Bifida Clinic. When we got there, we went up to the Children's Cafe for lunch with Janie, who was there because Bob was in the hospital. Of course we all have runny noses and coughs, so we can't get anywhere near Bob, who is immuno-deficient because he is undergoing chemo and a stem cell transplant, and we tried to not infect Janie. Nate had such a great time with his Memaw (that's who he asked to pray for last night, along with Bob, who we always pray for).

Then we headed upstairs for a renal ultrasound (of his kidneys and bladder). We told him they were going to put jelly on his belly and take pictures of inside his belly with a magic wand, haha. He was looking at the screen to find his pizza from lunch and stuff. The urologist and the nurse came in to speak with us in the ultrasound room--how's that for service? Of course, everything was fine on the ultrasound, as it always is. I told the uro I was thinking about starting potty training, but Nate is showing no interest whatsoever. The uro advised me to just wait until he wanted to try it. It's probably going to take longer anyway (we're not sure if he feels when his bladder is full), so it's going to be an uphill battle if he's fighting us on it. Honestly, that was a relief for me to hear her say that because I don't think he's ready. So we will wait.

Next we went up to the clinic, and on the way saw Mary and Tracy, our MOMS nurses who became like family to us while we were living in Nashville after the prenatal surgery. It's always so good to see them, and it was nice to show them how Nate is now walking and to introduce them to Georgia. Mr. Nate WALKED into clinic for the very first time ever. It's one of those moments we've been waiting on. A big milestone. I was so mad at myself because I forgot my stupid camera at home, so I took pictures on Blake's cell phone, and Mary took some pictures for me too. I just need to get those pictures from both of them, and I'll post them.

Dr. Tulipan, the neurosurgeon, saw us first. We like him because he is an awesome surgeon, but we also resent him because he devastated us the first time we met him by telling us Nate would definitely need a shunt whether he had fetal surgery or not and that he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was in high school. We take great satisfaction in proving him wrong. :) Dr. T asked us a few questions about Nate's walking and cognitive function, then said, "Well, you guys don't really need me, so I'll leave."

All we had left to see was the ortho, Dr. Mencio, but he had had surgeries all day and was running late. So Nate did about 30 laps around the halls of the clinic. It's so hard for a kid to wait like that, and I'm so glad he's walking now because at last year's clinic we finally gave up and let him crawl down the hallway. Yuck! Eventually, Dr. Mencio showed up and approved of Nate's braces and looked at him standing and walking barefoot. Unlike his PT's, who have told me to not let Nate walk barefoot at home very much because it could potentially damage his knees, the ortho wasn't concerned about that and said he could walk barefoot as much as he wanted. Not sure who to believe there. He said bracing is very "fluid" and as Nate gets bigger and stronger, he may need to go up in bracing (meaning taller braces, AFOs) or he could go down (like a shoe insert). Of course we're hoping for the latter.

Both kids slept the whole way home, which was nice until about midnight when they were both awake and fussing. Then I was up bright and early to go to my scheduled massage!!! Some of my friends gave me a gift certificate to Aveda salon and spa when Georgia was born, and I used it for some much-needed relaxation this morning. It was fantastic. And I still have enough left on the gift card to get another massage when I start feeling tense again.

By the way, my headaches have gotten so much better. I think it's a combination of the daily medication my doctor gave me and the fact that Georgia is sleeping about 7 hours at a time these days! It's amazing what good sleep can do for you!

Speaking of that, it's past time for me to go to bed. We have PT at 8 am tomorrow!