Well...we are back from NY!

Hello all and thank you for stopping in! We have had a busy time since the last post. Rick, Me, my Mom and Madelyn all flew up to NY to visit my brother last week. We went for 5 days and wow we had so much fun. Madelyn did so good on the plane. Everyone even commented to us as we were getting off the planes, how well she did. (You know when we were getting on, they were all rolling their eyes thinking "great this kid is going to be screaming the whole time") But she didn't, instead she played with the fold up tables, the blind over the windows and read her books. So we went to visit my brother and Liz and they got engaged while we were there!!! We've known since January, but it was a surprise to Liz and we also had a surprise birthday party for her. It was a weekend full of surprises. It was a very busy weekend, but we got to see a lot of people we haven't seen in a long time. While in NY, we visited Chuck E. Cheese for the first time and Madelyn had a blast. Didn't realize how old I was getting until I found my self grunting and groaing while climbing through the hamster looking tubes that they have for the kids. Boy, I'll be glad when Madelyn is big enough to go through by herself. She rode on the rides, ate pizza and played games, she is GREAT at Skeeball!

While we were in NY, my partner texted me to tell me that Madelyn's picture was all over Bi-Lo Grocery Stores. Come to find out, Children's Chance teamed up with Bi-Lo and placed tubes at the registers to help raise money for Children's Chance and they used Madelyn's picture and another little girl. I'm sure as adorable as both of them are, it should help to raise a lot of money.

We had our montly check up yesterday and to my amazement, Madelyn hates going to the doctor even more than last month...I didn't think it was possible. She screamed bloody murder the entire time. They could only get her temperature, weight and a short exam. So...I have no idea how tall she is. She stood on the scale long enough for me to catch a glimpse of 29lbs. The doctors say she is doing great and we will schedule the next MRI in July, ALMOST 1 YEAR SINCE THE COMPLETION OF TREATMENT!!!

We are still working on potty training. Hopefully, with the new and improved potty chair that sings and can sense when she goes and lights up and spits out stickers as a reward, we can get her to start using it. Either that or it will just scare the crap out of her. Just kidding, she likes to sit on it (with clothes on or off, doesn't matter) and dance and smile while it is singing.

Other than that, life is great and we are so happy to be doing normal stuff. Last summer was a lot different for us. We can actually do normal things this summer. Madelyn goes to school in 96 days...not sure what to think about that. I am so happy that she will be in an environment where there are other children and she can do normal 2 year old things, but I'm going to miss popping in at the house when I have an extra minute and getting to love on her. Well, such is life I guess.

Again, thanks for checking in and we truly appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Lots of Love,
The Bells