Our first year in Manhattan, KS...

That's right, we've been here one year. We've mostly forgotten the craziness of that first week. We haven't forgotten the stresses of the move, even if I painted a rosy picture of our first month here.

Our financial situation hasn't improved, but it hasn't gone backwards, even though Jimmy eats more than he used to and is going to need bigger clothes over the coming months.

Speaking of Jimmy: Jimmy has changed so much - he actually likes slides now, and gets a little agitated when we're on the bus and we go past the slides at City Park. He's doing a really good job at getting bigger and developing. But he's still really little.

My favourite time of day is still when Michael comes home in the afternoons, although I am beginning to appreciate the mornings, as the sun is rising earlier and Jimmy is waking up around 6:30 am... especially when sick...

This cold of mine is nearly gone, and Jimmy is being really good, aside from waking earlier than I'd like. It's one of the easier illnesses that I've experience while here. The worst illness made me want to go home.

But we're not going home. Not yet. And we're not moving. For now.

As down and sad as we are about not coming home, at least in the coming months, as much as we don't like our financial situation, as much as we miss our old lifestyle, we do like Manhattan. It's a nice place - it's just a long way from home and our 'village', our established support network.

We have the beginnings of a support network: there's Michael's lab group; plus we've made some non-lab group friends; and there are familiar faces at playgroup. But it's not the same.

It's been a year since we arrived here in Manhattan, KS, and we're ok. Hopefully we'll be home sooner than June 2016, and if not, we'll be ok. We hope to be back sooner, but in the meantime, we'll keep on "making the most of it", so that we can remember this place fondly.