I’m sharing Grayson’s story tomorrow with my MOPS group and I’ve been writing out my “speech” all day, chunks at a time. I’ve written the story of the past 3 1/2 years a good amount of times, but each time I do, it’s emotionally draining and difficult to compress so many experiences and uncertainty into a brief document.

This time, I decided to focus on God’s hand in our story and the specific gifts he has given us along the way: specifically Charlotte. This week, I have been reminded just what a blessing it is to have a healthy child. Charlotte was sick this week and we had to see the doctor for her first ever sick visit. Turns out, she had a double ear infection and bad sinus infection. Reluctantly, I filled her first ever prescription and she is just about good as new today.

What a difference it is handling illness with a healthy child versus one who is not! Although we had some rough moments, and I was bummed that she missed school Thursday and therefore I missed my day “off”, it really was just a bump in the road. No fear of ending up in the hospital and no agonizing decisions of how to treat symptoms. We just handled it, and moved on. Normal.

I love feeling normal.

There are other “normal” things I am loving right now too. I bought Frozen, and Charlotte and I watched it together (well, she watched some of it). We were snuggled up on the couch, watching a Disney movie. That’s what people do with their kids right? Normal.

I love feeling normal.

On Saturday, we went to watch a parade of dog rescue groups. Ryan and Grayson stayed back, but I held Charlotte right up front as she squealed at the dozens of dogs who paraded by. After the parade, we went to a restaurant where the three of us split a pizza and Grayson chilled out with his Veggies. I almost have to pinch myself that I’m now the mom with a toddler who sits in a restaurant high chair and eats actual food with the rest of the family. Normal.

I love feeling normal.

I hope as Charlotte grows, I will always be enchanted by the experiences we have together. I never want to take normal for granted, because “normal” is not everyone’s normal. It’s special, it’s a gift, and I love it.