stuff

Trish's youngest son Ryan took his first few all-by-himself steps yesterday. I'm sure I've said so before, but Ryan is just about a month older than Nova would be, and so a lot of the things he is doing are the things that Nova would be doing. Trish and I were on the phone yesterday when he did it, and I tried to picture Nova walking. I couldn't quite do it. He probably wouldn't be yet anyway. Sometimes I have to remind myself that if he'd lived, he wouldn't necessarily have been "normal" developmentally. Wish I'd been given the opportunity to find out. I've have relished every minute of any specialized care he needed, and been thankful for each one we'd have had. I hear a lot of parents of heart kids complain about the rigors of life with a child with special needs. It makes me angry. I'd like to think I'd have been like Michael and his wife Patty with Sophia. Their love and patience and pride in her every acheivment is so obvious. Or even like Trish with her daughter Shelby who has Cerebral Palsy - she's forever in therapy of some sort, in home or out, plus there are feeding issues and sensory issues... I know it isn't easy, but they handle it with such grace. I hope I'd have been the same way.

My niece is in the hospital as we speak, enjoying a cocktail of cervidil, oxytocin, and nubain and they've told her that she might not have this baby till the weekend. My labors have always been short (sometimes too short) and easy, and I can't imagine how horrible it would be to hear them tell me that I might have to labor for days. You guys could send some nice warm quick-easy-labor-and-healthy-baby vibes her way, and it sure wouldn't hurt our feelings any.

I'm in the early planning stages for so many things for next year, brainstorming some big ideas. I have some exciting ideas. But there's a whole year to think about all that. Of course I hope that I'll get your support again next year, but I don't feel like it would be fair to expect it in the heaping doses I've gotten this year. Besides, I might just shoot for that $10,000 you all thought I should have aimed for this year! Shit, maybe even more. Like I said, I have exciting ideas, and time to plan them. Big plans.

So I have some other posts to make on my other blogs. Bye.