Joy, Relief, Remembrances, and Celebration

Summertime and the living is easy...

This will be a fragmented post. My apologies.

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For all of you who have been keeping RH in your thoughts, I'm happy to report that we have the results of her MRI. (Yes, I'll write about the MRI itself, once the trauma has worn down.)

She does not have a cord tether.
And she does not have brain cancer.

She'll still be getting physical therapy, starting next week I hope, but in the meantime we can relax and stop worrying about it.

Because she's still doing great.

This kid? She knows how to freak me out. She seems to WANT to freak me out once in a while. So she waited until right before that MRI, and what did she do?



That's right. She crawls. And it's adorable.

Unfortunately, now that I've started saying things like, "Oh no! RH is escaping!" as she makes a bolt for the door of whatever room we're in, DD and SI have started giving her brand new opportunities to escape.

Like opening the front door to our apartment so that she can "escape" down three flights of stairs.

Fun.

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Did you know that May is ALS Awareness Month?
I have a blogging buddy. She lost her mom to ALS last year. It was a long, excruciating process. This post is heartbreaking, and it puts this disease into perspective for people who might not realize what ALS is, what it does. For one agonizing, horrific weekend we were terrified that M might have ALS, and that the diagnosis "brain cancer" was a comfort should give you some idea. Please take a moment to learn about ALS this month.

And maybe consider donating to an organization that helps ALS patients.


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Did you know that May is also Jewish Heritage Awareness Month? I had no idea this was even a thing. And so here are what I think might be my most raw posts about my Jewish Heritage.
What's In A Name?
Day of Remembrance


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Poppa and SI at the zoo

Tomorrow, the family is heading off for Iowa, to celebrate Poppa. He's receiving an honorary doctorate from his alma mater. At first he thought that this would be a sweet gesture on the part of his old college, but it's sort of snowballed. There will be 14(!!) of us there to cheer him on, he'll be delivering a speech at commencement, and he'll be joining a fairly prestigious club of honorees. There were a couple of presidents, Martin Luther King, Jr., you get the idea.

I think he's starting to freak out just a bit. I'm sure he'll be great. His hair is... fine.

And so, tomorrow the motley crew and I will pack ourselves into the minivan and drive to the middle of nowhere.

DD and SI have recently learned that only ONE of them can actually see RH at a time in the car. They fight endlessly about who gets to make faces at the baby. This is a five hour drive. With no functional DVD player in the car.

Should be a blast. :)