First weekend of Summer!

Banging on the drum at music class

Here in Minnesota, Memorial Day weekend definitely kicks off the summer season...school is almost done for the year, cabins are open and people are out on the lake as much as possible.

Lucy's ECFE music class that we've been in all year finished last week - it's amazing how much the kids grew from September to May! We've been spending weeknights outside as much as possible and we spent most of the weekend of north, at my parents' house on the lake.  Lucy got a fishing pole from grandma and grandpa for an early birthday present and caught her first fish!!  She also invited her first friend to the park - our 4 year old neighbor boy - so sweet! :)

Racing up the slides!!

Swinging on the big girl swing!!  

On Friday, we are going to Colorado to see some friends and go to a NICU reunion!! I can't wait to see some of the kiddos and moms that we were in the hospital with and be able to take Lucy to some of our favorite Colorado spots!!  She has made such incredible progress in the past 2 1/2 years since we took her home from the hospital.  What an amazing little girl! Lucy is mainly excited for the hotel pool and the airplane ride! :)

Her next dilatation is scheduled for early June, almost 5 months after her last one!!  It will be very interesting to see how open her esophagus as stayed.  Her eating is going well.  I feel like just this past week I've noticed a few more "stuckies" than normal - but it's possible she's just been eating fast...lots of outside play time tends to increase the appetite, right?

Driving grandpa's boat!

Patiently waiting for a fish...

Got one!!

Happy Mother's Day...and School Evaluation

Selfie with Mama!

First off...Happy Mother's Day!  What a fun job it is to be a mom to Lucy!  I love it!  My two requests for today were for Lucy to make me something and to have French Toast for brunch.  Thanks to a wonderful hubby, I got both my wishes!

What a good artist!

Lucy had a pretty exciting week.  Jason and I wen to Charleston (South Carolina) and Savannah (Georgia) to celebrate 5 years of marriage together.  So, my mom and dad came to our house and spent 4 nights watching Lucy for us.  It was wonderful to get away with just the two of us...5 years of marriage isn't really that long but we've been through a lot in the past 5 years so it was nice to slow down, relax and reflect on how blessed we are to have each other and to have Lucy.  HUGE thank you to my parent's for helping us feel so comfortable leaving her for such a long time.  We knew she was in great hands and she clearly had a blast while we were gone!!

On Friday, Jason and I met with Lucy's special education team that has been coming to our house over the past 2 years to evaluate Lucy through the 0 - 2 school district programming.  They had been out a few extra times over the past few months to evaluate her cognitive ability, language and motor skills according to standardized tests.  It's pretty tough to have a 2 year old take a standardized test, right?  So much of the results are about mood at this age.  Can Lucy stand on one leg?  Yes.  Does she want to do it with 3 adults staring at her? No...that means she gets a zero for that test.  However, she did GREAT and her results were all normal or above for cognitive and language, but slightly behind for motor.  We knew this...she wasn't an early walker or crawler and she can't button things by herself yet.  Nothing of any major concern and we feel really great with the progress she's made.  To think that she spent 4 months in a hospital when she was first born, and then had to be hospitalized TWO times this fall to get that feeding tube out...she is doing AH-MAZE-ING!

Enjoying the sun!

Because of her shunt and her eating issues, she will have a medical care plan on file with the school district to ensure the school nurse and teachers, etc. are aware of her diagnosis.  She will also continue to have access to school district therapists from the ages of 3 - 6 and then will be re-evaluated in about 3 years to see if any of these three areas are of concern again.  We feel reassured about our decision to find a home in this school district that has such great Early Childhood programs!  In addition, Lucy will officially start preschool in the fall!  I can't believe it...she is way to little!  She'll just go for 2 1/2 hours, 2 mornings a week..how fun!  She's been home with us, my mom or a nanny her whole life so the social aspect of preschool will be so good for her!

So...from our house to yours...hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day, celebrating your moms or being a mom!