Just Being

It's been slow around our house lately.

On purpose.

We're on an HBOT break and I've been making it a point to keep our appointments to a minimum.

This gives us back some normal. It gives us back some breathing time. It's good for the kids and it's good for me because it really allows me to be the stay at home mom I want to be.

An appointment isn't just an appointment. It's an hour of preparation, getting everyone out of the house, maybe finding a sitter, a 20-30 minute drive there and then again back home. It's unloading the car and loading it back up again.

All this in 100 degree weather makes for very red cheeks for Christian and an even more exhausted Mama.

So I put a stop to it.

There was a time when Christian had multiple appointments every single day of the week. I cannot say that Christian was any "better" because of that. In fact, I can say with some certainty that he's a lot better hanging at home. He gets his hour in his stander, he flails his arms while on his back, he practices eating with his little sister, sometimes he watches cartoons and sometimes I roll him back and forth across the carpeted floor. All of this is done uninterrupted and in no hurry because we don't have anywhere to be.

Of course, we have the regular PT and OT and they come to our house. And anything necessary like orthopedic and pediatric appointments are scheduled regularly. But we aren't adding anything right now. We're just...being.

Oh, as we are being, we also got a minivan. With a lot of help from those around us, we were finally ready to make the dive. I finally conceded when I realized that Christian just didn't have enough leg room in our truck and getting that beast of a stroller out of the back of a truck was years of chiropractic visits in the making.

We have a new member of the family - it's a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan. Welcome to the family.

I make fun of it because I feel solidly like a suburbanite, mom of three, who's soon to turn 30...and now I drive a minivan...I feel like I'm straight out of a first edition Cliche for Dummies.

But there's something deeper. It's also another underlying milestone in the our special needs world. It's the purchase you make for "convenience" but really it's a necessity and will become even more so as time goes on. Minivans, even conversion vans, are part of our life and may be for a very long time.

"We need it for more room." - We say.

Really, we need it for Christian's stroller, and maybe someday we might need it for his wheelchair. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Anyway, the new family member is here to stay. I love it. Really, I do. Anything that makes life a little easier is something to make a big deal about. And this new family member is making life really sweet right now.

So, Yay for the minivan! Yay for less appointments! And, Yay for just being.