Slacker!

Dang...am I a slacker or what? I keep thinking of all of these wonderful things I want to post, but never do.

Gosh, where did we leave off...

We had a great Thanksgiving home alone. We like it that way for the most part. We had our now traditional dinner at Maggiano's. Then, we spent the weekend preparing the house for Christmas. Jeff did our wonderful outdoor light display. And Nolan was so excited to see sleeping Baby Jesus on our planter.

Nolan started therapy in December and that has certainly kept Jeff and him busy during the week. Jeff is able to take him to his appointments in the morning, spend time together, then head off to work and daycare. Nolan's therapists are just wonderful to him and us. I really think it helps when there is a good trust established between patient and provider. Nolan seems to be adapting well to his new schedule and Jeff is doing a great job coordinating everything.

Jeff started a new job in December working part-time for now, hopefully full-time soon. He is home with Nolan and I on Monday and Tuesday nights now and we love it! I love eating dinner as a family.

Christmas was so wonderful this year. We went to Houghton Lake on Christmas Eve to spend time with my family. Nolan was immediately drawn into my old Fisher Price Little People house, school, hospital, etc. We couldn't peel him away from them. The dogs got to go with us. We all stayed in hotel which I think Nolan liked, the dogs not so much. Nolan went to his first Mass with Grandma and I on Christmas morning. He only made when one peep when his Hot Wheel fell under the pew in front of us. He was amazed at all of the Jesus' in one spot! We got to use the pool at the hotel which Nolan called, "The beach with the horse." We're not sure where he got that from, but after being there he called it the blue rectangle. He's so literal, we can't get over it. Everything is accurately described with a color and shape. We left on Sunday and headed back home. We were sad to leave. There something special about Christmas at home.

Before we recovered from Christmas, it was time to head to Grandma and Grandpa D's house to celebrate with them and the family. Nolan was in heaven as Grandma has a huge play house that we couldn't peel Nolan away from. Nolan was spoiled by his grandparents...again...and we got to enjoy the day with the family.

The first week of January brought a lot of great news. Nolan had all of his follow up appointments. His physiatrist has graduated him from appointments every 8 weeks to every 16 weeks. His ophthalmologist moved him from every 6 weeks to every 6 months. His neurologist had already moved him from every quarter to once a year.

Then today, we found out that Nolan was accepted into a special pre-school at his rehab clinic for speech-impaired children. The biggest blessing is that we received a scholarship for the majority of tuition. We feel so blessed that he will have this opportunity. His therapist believes that if he can go for three semesters that he can go to mainstream kindergarten and not need services.