Monday, June 14, 2010

Random funnies....

We were driving this morning to drop the kiddos off to their prospective childcare facilities (ugh, don't ask)....  the subject of the boys' birthdays came up (not all too uncommon these days...both coming up in July)...


Josiah.... how long will it be until my birthday?

Me.... Just about 5 weeks away...

Josiah... So, just over a month?

Me...yep


long pause...........


Josiah...Well do we have to go to the babysitter that day?

Me.... Depends on if it's a work day for mom...


Josiah... (in SHOCK) you mean they don't give you the day off when it's your kid's birthday????


Me... I wish, but no....

Josiah... Well, I think they should!!!!


Ahhh....... the innocence...  : )


A few weeks ago Josiah had a fairly decent BMX crash.  As evening rolled around, his knee started to get really swollen, so I thought I better get it looked at (sometimes hard to tell real from drama with that middle kiddo!!) 
So, we are sitting in the exam room waiting on them to come from x ray.... trying to entertain the best I can with what I have...


After long pause with no conversation......  Eli (my ever so funny 4 year old) says..........




SO........ YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT ARMPITS???


I immediately burst into laughter.  He says      WHAT????.....

(lifting his arm pointing to his armpits)

YOU KNOW.... ARMPITS.... YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT EM???

Man, I love that kid!!!!!



My mom just reminded me of another funny story.....

The kids just spent the week with my parents (God bless their hearts!).  They had taken the kids to Dairy Queen for ice cream one evening.  They were sitting next to an older couple at the next picnic table...
Hannah's ice cream fell off her cone and onto the table....  Moments later, Josiah's ice cream fell on the table.  Good grief!!!
Just as straight faced as he could be Eli turned to the older couple and said....

WE EAT LIKE PIGS HERE!!

They all burst into laughter.  Once again....Eli wondering what was so funny?  : )

Sunday, June 13, 2010

A BRAND NEW LOOK!!!!!

Well???  Watcha think of the new look?  I have been wanting to "update" the look for quite some time.  I am pretty happy, but will probably continue to tweek!!!

Hannah is back from nana and papa's house.  The kids spent 8 days with their grandparents.  COMPLETELY SPOILED, I might add... : )   It has been a teeny tiny bit rough getting back on schedule.  You know, convincing the kids they DO STILL have chores....they DO STILL have to read and do flash cards...the animals STILL need to be fed and cared for, even though it's summer break!!!  What they really get mad about is this all has to be done BEFORE they go out and play....  I know, I know... 

MEAN MOMMY!!!!

I am confident they will get back into the routine of things.... : ) 

Hopefully sooner rather than later!!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

officially a 5th grader!

Wow...Where does the time go???  Seriously.  It really does feel like a blink of an eye.  It is so scary to think she is over half way to an adult.  {insert shiver....} Where did my FOUR pound baby go??? 

 IEP for next year is done.  For the first time since Kindergarten, we are trying inclusion next year.  I am so, so happy for Hannah.  She will love it.  I am also so, so scared.  After much discussion, I decided to give it a whirl.  I would rather her be given the opportunity to excel and pushed a little more and maybe not make the highest grades (very hard coming from an over achiever), than have her work watered down and get all A's.  She will still have her one on one aide.  Modifications will still be in place.  She will just remain in the regular ed room; of course Blitzen will be with her.  Some days her intervention teacher will be in the room with her.  Everyone is on board and will be watching her very close.  The teachers will re-evaluate after three weeks into her 5th grade year.  If she is struggling, changes will be made.  I am happy....but nervous.


She is staying with her grandparents this week.  I am sure getting spoiled rotten and having a ball.  My mom is really the only person I trust for her to stay with.  My mom has been there from the very beginning.  Hannah is very special to her.  She goes with us to all of our week long hospital stays.  I don't know what I would do without her.


Hannah has been fairly stable.  She is still having complex partials about every other day.  Some days, all day long...some days, we have none.  She hasn't had a tonic-clonic in 5 weeks now!  That is almost a record!!!  Her sleeping patterns are still very different.  We go for her sleep study, EEG, and day time study the 23-24th of this month.  I hope it shows something as to why she is falling asleep during the day.  Even though school is out, she will still fall asleep late morning.  She is even sleeping in a bit more now.  As always....hoping to get answers.....

Beautiful Hannah...

How this journey started....

Hannah was born prematurely at 34 weeks gestation. She was a relatively healthy preemie; initially having difficulty maintaining body temperature and needing to grow. She weighed 4 pounds 9 ounces at birth. When she was four months old she began to drool, non stop. We were told the first year she was "teething." At 18 months old, we really started searching for reasons of why her shirt was always soaking wet. We saw various specialists who always sent us to another specialist, saying "everything looks okay." She spent years in oral motor/feeding therapy to help her not to drool. It wasn't until she was four years old and in preschool that we started to get some answers. Her preschool teacher commented one day that she wasn't reponding when her name was called. I took this information to her pediatrician who then orderd an EEG, "just to rule it out." Much to our shock and amazement, the results showed, she was having seizures. That is the day our journey REALLY began. Once she began taking seizure medication the drooling almost stopped completely. (She will still drool to this day when she is having seizure activity). Since then, it has been a roller coaster; countless medications and medication changes. She has never really reponded well to any medication.

About two years after she was diagnosed with epilepsy, the doctors noticed that her blood pressure was running high. After many tests, she was diagnosed with hypertension. We still are not sure why, but her cardiologist feels her blood vessels are thicker than normal.

About this same time, we also began looking into why Hannah was such a horrible sleeper. She would thrash, talk, move every which way, during her sleep. The sleep studies revealed that she has alveolar hypoventilation sydrome, which means she has too much carbon dioxide in her system when she sleeps. To help this, she wears a BI-PAP at night. This has been monumental in giving her more effective and quality of sleep.

Every day is a challenge for Hannah and our family as a whole. Blitzen has been an absolutely wonderful addition. She calms herself sometimes just by petting and loving on him. He has been trained in behavior disruptions and will sometimes be able to stop a meltdown from getting out of control.
It has been extra hard on the whole family since daddy is deployed to Iraq. He has been gone since January 09 and will gone until Jan 2010. We get to talk with him by phone and on the web cam; which is nice, but not the same!! Blitzen has helped to make his absence go just a little smoother....