Cheers to the Weekend, Hello Fall! Edition

Okay, I know we all (or at least I) think of September 1st as being the start of Fall, but today it is the official first day; so, yay! Hello, Fall! Cheers to you! I don't necessarily appreciate the 80-degree temperatures you have arrived with, but I know you'll make up for it with some lovely, comfortable weather soon. So, we're still good, Fall. We're still good. 

Anywho. This was a DOOZY of a week. And before I go any further, I would love to ask for some big time prayers from all of you. As you are reading this, Bella and I are headed to the children's hospital to have some important scans done. We will be there all morning and part of the afternoon. She will be sedated for one of them, and I can hardly talk about any of it without crying. So, please, please, please can you take a quick minute and say a prayer that (1) there will be no complications, and (2) the results we get are great ones? Thank you so, so much.

Okay. I need to distract myself from all that scary-ness for a few minutes; so, let me focus on some positive things from the last week. Here are some things we're saying CHEERS to today:

Appointment overload. Like I said, this week was a doozy. And while I'm not saying cheers to all the appointments we had, I am saying cheers that with each passing day we are better understanding how we can best help our beautiful Bella. For anyone who's interested, this week, just for Bella alone, we had a speech evaluation, a physical therapy evaluation, a separate session with our physical therapist, a session with our early interventionist, an orthotics appointment, and now, these two scans that are being done today. We also received the results from last week's occupational therapy evaluation. So. My littlest lady had quite the busy week. But I am SO, SO PROUD of how well she is handling everything. She is amazing, our Bellaboo. AND I was so excited because on Wednesday morning, she and I finally had nothing on our calendar - not a single appointment or session or anything! Since the Big 3 were in school that morning, we took advantage of our time together, taking a nice, long walk around the neighborhood, doing a little shopping, and then doing a few informal therapy exercises. It was great. <3

Momma Dates. As I mentioned last week, our pastor often says that children spell "Love" T-I-M-E. So, last week I took Banks on a Momma date and this week it was Raleigh's turn! It is so nice to get back in the groove of having these individual dates with my kiddos. I told Rals we could do whatever she wanted and she asked to go to the exact place I took Banks have the exact same chocolate cake for dinner. Twist my arm, why don't ya, Rals! Done and done. :) Gosh, I just love this little girl so, so much, and it was so fun to have such amazing, uninterrupted conversations with her. 

Block parties. I know I have gushed about this before on here, but I just love our neighborhood. We have made so many of our closest friends here, as have our kiddos. We feel so lucky to live in such a supportive, friendly, FUN neighborhood! Last weekend, there was definitely fun to be had as we went to a block party on our street. Everyone dressed in their favorite team colors and we dined on BBQ and tons of sides and apps and desserts. There was music playing, a big projector screen for football watching, and the kids ran all over, playing on swingsets and riding scooters and bikes and popping popcorn and making snowcones, all while we grown-ups got to chat, sip bevs, and catch up. It was a blast!

Family football fun. I am so, so thankful that one of my sisters/(co) best friends and fam moved to the Mill over the summer. Last night, they came to Banks' flag football game to surprise him, and it was so fun just getting to hang on a random Thursday. I am so excited we will be able to cheer on our kiddos together for years to come. <3

And now, we look forward to a pretty low-key weekend. Aside from dinner with friends tonight and a cookout with my sister on Sunday, we have virtually nothing on the calendar. You know what that means - we'll be outside, watching football, and enjoying the official start to the Fall season (and all, and I mean ALL, things pumpkin. :) 

Have a good one, friends. And thank you again, for your prayers for our girl. We know that God is with us all the way. <3