First Cotillion

As I mentioned in my last post, Natalie's back has not been doing so well lately. The good news is that the X-rays and MRI she had done yesterday all came back normal. This frustrates her because she doesn't know why her back is worse now than it has been, even though she is diligent in her strengthening exercises. Patrick and I are happy that nothing is structurally wrong with her back, though, because that means her physical therapist can do what she needs to do without injuring her further.

Tonight is Natalie's first Cotillion dance. I was surprised when she wanted to sign up for this a while back, but I'm glad she's putting herself out there. She is going with a bunch of her friends. In fact, Patrick just got back from dropping her off. With her back injury, we have been the most worried about her mental health, and it is so nice to see her happy and going out to be with her friends. We are doing what we need to do to support her in this, to make this the best experience possible.

Natalie wasn't sure what to do with her hair, so I suggested we go to the hair salon that we get our hair cut, to get her hair styled. I knew she didn't want some fancy up-do, just a blow-dry, straightener, and then just a few curls, so that was the perfect place to go. Forty-five dollars later, she is very happy with her hair. I did tell her that she needs to learn how to do this herself, so she talked about buying her own hair straightener. I don't have any concept since I've always had straight hair.

I would have bought her a dress for this, but we bought this dress from Altered States a couple or so months ago, and she wanted to wear it. I bought the jacket from Ann Taylor a year ago and she has hardly worn it, but the red looks good with the red in the dress. For the first time, she also dipped into my jewelry. My friend Melissa, who sells Stella&Dot products, would have happy to see her in the Arrow Drop earrings and part of the Aria pendant necklace combo. Doesn't she look all grown up?

I just want to also do a short update on the other kids. Eric had his first "big" Jiu-Jitsu tournament at San Antonio College today. He competed in his weight class (all 55 pounds of him) in the 8-10 age group. He only had one match, which he apparently lost very quickly. I love that he just went in there and did it. He gained experience that he can apply to other competitions in the future. Alex took the SAT this morning. He made the decision himself to take it for the second time after he was not happy with his first score. Patrick just left to go take him to his friend Dylan's house. Anthony is hopefully busy looking for a summer job, but after dropping one class, he now added another and has a complete schedule.

I was on call last night, so I'll probably go to bed after I have some dinner. I hope everyone has a great weekend!