Great Times in Nashville!!

Well, we attended our first LPA National Conference and we had a SUPER time!! We arrived in Nashville on Saturday afternoon. It seemed to take WAY longer than we expected to get there from Cincinnati, even with the hour we gained! We met up with Sarah (from Annapolis) and her adorable little Tessa, and got to meet our new friends Jodi, Jeff and there adorable son, Alex. After getting settled at the hotel, we grabbed some dinner at Demo's and went down to the Riverfront. Aiden got an official cowboy hat and he looks like a country western star in it! Emmi almost literally got run over by Julianne Hough (from DWTS), who was the guest performer that night. (Eric just informed me that she is dating Ryan Seacrest now!! FYI!). It was a beautiful night and we watched some of the show before heading back to the hotel.

The hotel was PACKED and there were people milling around all over catching up and making new friends. We saw the whole Roloff family all over the whole week and Aiden was really looking forward to meeting Zach. One night I was in the elevator with Max and Zach and his buddy got on. Aiden was bummed to have missed that! We finally did secure a quick photo op on Tuesday with Aiden and Zach and Aiden is looking forward to showing it to all his friends. I also got the opportunity to chat a little bit with Katie, one of The Little Chocolatiers. She was very sweet (but unfortunately wasn't carrying any large chocolate bowling pins in her pockets:-) hehe!).

On the 4th of July, we met up with a large group of other POLPs (Parents of Little People) at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It was so nice to finally meet the people I interact with on Facebook and in the Yahoo group. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and Aiden and I snuck out down by the Riverfront and watched the spectacular fireworks show! The Nashville fireworks on the 4th are rated #2 in the country (after Boston). They were great!!

We attended a parents meeting and some medical sessions that were informative. We also had an appointment with Dr. William McKenzie from the A.I. Dupont skeletal dysplasia center in Delaware. He thought Max looks great! He has a minimal kyphosis and he encouraged us to allow Max to pull to a stand and start to sit. The general rule is, if he does it by himself, it is ok. Max has been pulling to a stand for the past several weeks and has started sitting while holding on when he tires from standing. He is soooo proud of himself when he does it!! It won't be long now before he starts cruising! We really liked Dr. McKenzie and would definitely use him as a second opinion as needed. We are very happy with Dr. Ain at Hopkins (who is also an achon and has a child with achondroplasia), but appreciated the opportunity to see other doctors at the conference.

Aiden and Emmi spent a lot of time in the children's room while we were at meetings and they both had a great time. Emmi played and bounced in a bouncy house and Aiden met some buddies and played soccer. Aiden really enjoyed himself the whole time and made lots of new friends, both average height and little. Emmi commented a few times that some of the people were "little" but overall, it didn't even phase her. I think everyone should have someone in their lives that is different. I think we would live in a much more compassionate and accepting world.

We had planned to start home on Tuesday and stay half way on Tuesday night, but we were having such a good time that we stayed over Tuesday night. We went on one of the Duck boat tours that drive around town and then drive into the water. It is a DUKW amphibious vehicle from WWII. The kids really loved it! Aiden got to drive the boat too!! Then on Tuesday night, Aiden and I went down to the dance and he met up with some of his buddies and danced up a storm. I wish I had gotten some video!

Well, it took about 10 hours (with stops) to get home, but we made it without any major meltdowns:-). We will miss all our new friends and look forward to meeting up again soon!