Merry Christmas!

We will be leaving Tucson for Oregon on Tuesday, but until then we will be very busy packing, so this will probably be my last post until we return in the new year.

Here is our Christmas card for this year (click on the image to make it bigger). I did manage to get a couple of good photos of the kids afterall, huh?! ;)



Merry Christmas & see you next year!! :)

Year In Review

For those of you who haven't seen this on my FB page. Here is a snapshot of our year (via FB status updates). It is amazng how much can happen in a single year! :)

Ketogenic Diet

is a go.

We will be having our first consult with the dietician Jan 25th. It will take several pre-appointments to get his calories, meal plans, and fat:carbs:protein ratios worked out. I am pretty nervous about actually managing his diet...but pretty excited about the possibilty of this working for him. I actually have hope again...it has been a long time (last April) since I have had any real hope of him being seizure-free. I am scared of the negative impacts this diet may have on his growth & development, as well as our home-life...but the possible gains, if the diet is successful, are huge! If he were to become seizure-free, I can't even begin to imagine what new things he might have the chance to learn!

I am very nervous that I am setting myself up for heartbreak when this diet turns out to be unsuccessful...or unmanageable for some other reason. I have so many "what-if" thoughts running through my head, but the hope & excitement remain.

We will be on the diet for at least 30 days. If there is no improvement at the end of 30-days then we will reassess. If there is improvement, then the minimum length of time to remain on the diet is recommended to be 2 years. I can't even imagine a course of treatment that lasts so long! He would be almost 5 years old before he could have soda or eat mac n' cheese again (his current favorites)! :( The thought of depriving him of these foods makes me cry, but the possibility of success is so much more powerful & important to me...and to him. Our neuro says that some people remain on the diet indefinitely throughout childhood. One of his patients has been on it for 17 years! I really don't know if we have the commitment for that, but I do think that 2 years and possibly a bit longer if necessary, can be done. I hope.

My cutie pies in November

The big appointment!

Good news!! Baby #3 is measuring right on time, and appears to be as healthy as can be! He or she has a good looking skull, brain, heart, kidneys, stomach, diaphragm, bladder, arm, legs, feet, hands, face, nose, palate...and I am sure there was more that was checked!

We stuck to our guns and did not find out the sex of the baby. Although both Andy and I feel like after a few brushes by the crotch with the ultrasound wand, that we have a pretty good idea who will be meeting us in April. But we are by no means ultrasound experts, and will not be buying any blue or pink based on what we think we know. We will find out if our hunch is right when this baby arrives next Spring! ;)


Here is a full face shot (the baby's face is point toward us on the left side of the image), and you can see some arm/leg action toward the top of the image.


Here are a couple of profile shots of the baby. Do you think he/she has Lincoln's or June's profile?? At first I thought June's, but as I study it more...maybe Lincoln's?




Here is a belly shot of June & Mommy & Baby. June really wants the camera!

The circle of life

We have some important news to share regarding Andy's family, some good, some bad.

Bad news first: Andy's Grandpa, Lennox, died on Thankgiving night. He was 92 years old, and lived a very full life. His life-long wife, Ruth, along with 3 sons & their spouses, 6 grandchildren & 5 of their spouses, and 6 great-grand children (with 3 more on the way) survive him. What a legacy!

Times had gotten tough these past few years, and his body was slowly giving way to old age. We knew that this was coming, but it is always shocking when it actually happens. He will be remembered for his laugh, his sense of humor & his (sometimes repetitive) stories. What a great man he was!

Good news next: Andy's sister found out today that she is expecting a healthy baby girl, due to be born at the end of April. This will be baby #3 for them. They already have a son, who is 3.5, and a daughter, who is 2. Yay, for good news!

X-mas card trials, cont.

For anyone who feels bad about how their attempts at Christmas card pictures turn out... this is how our first attempt started.

Lets just say that this photo session didn't get better from here on out. All I could do was laugh at them, because they were being so dramatic!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry this is late. Happy Thanksgiving yesterday everyone!!

We are so thankful for family, friends, health, happiness, stability, what we have, and what we will have! Lots of love to everyone this Thanksgiving holiday 2010!

Eight Months

I can't believe that June is 8 months old now! It is amazing how fast the time is going!She was 18lbs 10oz on Monday night. So she gained about 1lb this past month. She has really made huge advances in her pulling up/standing/cruising recently. She also seems to think that she isn't a baby anymore because she has been trying to drop her second nap. I am hoping to put this off for awhile longer if possible.

Here is my cute little trouble-maker:

Patience

Lincoln haz it. ;)

Holiday Card Adventures

Trying to capture good pictures of two children is very difficult! I am not sure how people were even capable of doing this prior to digital cameras...

Here are some of our mishaps from today:



Admittedly, this one isn't half bad. Well, at least no one was crying... It was the best of this group that I managed to get.



I did manage to get some keepers for the holiday card. You will see it in your mailboxes soon! I will also post a copy here before we leave for Oregon in December.

Awards Dinner

Well we did it! We left the kids for 6 hours last night for the first time with people that were not related by blood. It was good, and since my phone never rang once during the time we were gone, I was relaxed and assumed that everything was going well. We got home around 11pm, and both kids were in bed asleep (or almost asleep). Neither of them ate as much as they should have, but they both survived, and so did the babysitters (who were actually Lincoln's OT & SLP).

Here we are before we left. This is the most dressed up I have been since my wedding, 7 years ago! It was fun (and yes there is a baby bump visible).



Here is Andy's award (slightly modified) that he received last night. Two-hundred and fifty out of over twelve thousand people at his company received similar plaques last night. Go Andy!! :)

Trick or Treat!

This is what we did today! We visited the pumkin patch & then walked around the neighborhood "trick or treating"!












HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Wordy Update

I realize that I haven't written out an update on us in quite awhile. So here goes...

Andy is doing great! He loved all the traveling that he did over the summer, and did such a great job that he was awarded honors. We are attending a celebratory formal dinner event on Nov. 5th, with babysitters to watch the kids and all. I am sure that we will get some pictures of us all dressed up in our fancy duds to post here. I am looking forward to the night out with just the hubs, and I hope that the kids do okay without us home for the evening.

Andy actually got a positional promotion within the company, and is very excited about the new work that he is doing. So far he is still transitioning out of his old job into the new one, but things are going well, and he is really looking forward to what this position will entail. Go Andy! :)

I am doing well. The kids (all 3 of them) are constantly testing my limits of patience and endurance. But the sweet smiles, cuddles, and hugs that they give are plenty of payment for all the trials that they can induce. Lol. Somedays are very much a struggle, and others are good days. The constant demand of have so many young ones to care for, in addition to being pregnant, can really take its toll. But I know that this stage in life is so short, and soon we will be facing new challenges and new excitements, making everyday worthwhile.

I am now 30 years old! And had a great birthday BBQ here at the house. The kids were good and I got some wonderful presents! Lots of good food, some maternity clothes (thanks Ale), a gift card (thanks Debo & Chris), and even a Kindle (thanks Andy's parents)!!

Baby #3 seems to be doing well. My stomach is starting to become more of a baby bump, and less of the leftover June pregnancy pudge. I am looking forward to when I really do look pregnant, but then I am certain I will start getting comments about how close June & #3 are going to be together. Whatever.

I have been feeling the little one move around off an on for the past week. I am looking forward to the end of November when we get to take another look at the baby and make sure he/she is doing well in there. As you probably have read, all of the genetic testing that we have done has come back normal. I have some blood work to do on Nov. 16, and then that final anatomy ultrasound on Nov. 30 before we can really know that everything that we can test for/ look for has been done and is normal. Andy & I don't anticipate any issues, and feel that we will be taking this baby home in the spring, happy & healthy...but, you just never know.

Lincoln is doing okay. He is walking well again. He is practicing walking up & down ramps/hills and taking stairs up & down. You never realize how hard these things can be when learning them for the first time. We continue to be very proud of him everyday.

We are doing some new meds combos in a last ditch attempt to get some seizure control via the medication route. I am honestly starting to get impatient with his neuro for putting off the ketogenic diet for so long. Although I can also understand his hesitation. A part of me wants to never have to go this route, but another part of me sees this as one of our last hopes of getting true seizure control, and unlocking Lincoln's developmental potential. Some days we can catch glimmers of what Lincoln may actually be able to do...saying words, playing interactively, stacking blocks, being in a happy mood for hours without any seizures. I really hope that someday this will be our normal. Right now Lincoln is having more seizures, about 6/day, but not as severe as they were a couple of weeks ago. Not really sure what this means, but it probably means that this new drug combo isn't working either. No big surprise there.

Another reason I am almost looking forward to the Keto diet is because Lincoln's eating has really gone downhill in the past few months. We are back to the point where he really won't chew much at all, not even fruit or bread. I am hoping that this is only because of his 2-year molars, but am not really sure that is what is going on. He has lost several pounds in the past few months, and is so skinny that pants that used to stay up are now falling down, and he actually has loose skin on his tummy. Needless to say I am very worried about this. I finally convinced his pedi to get a GI referral, just so we can check out his GI tract and make sure that there is nothing structually wrong with it. In the past we have always written off his lack of appetite on his seizure meds side effects...now I am not so sure. One of the consequences of the Keto diet is the placement of a NG or G-tube. But because his eating is so poor these days...we may end up with one of these regardless. It will help to get a GI doc on board with Lincoln's treatment soon.

June is a little sweetheart. A gem as my dad described her. She can be so sweet, so stubborn, so silly, and so annoying all in the same few minutes. She is doing really well developmentally. She is crawling all over the place. She is also pulling up on anything that she can manage to get her little hands on, and because of this getting herself into more and more trouble by falling or getting stuck in awkward postions. She got her first self-inflicted bloody owie yesterday. She fell over backwards while chewing on Andy's playstation remote, and cut open her gum a little bit. It bled a lot, but really was a very tiny cut.

She is babbling up a storm (so is Lincoln for that matter) but no real words are popping out of the chaos yet. She is doing great with food finally. She is eating purees well, but still loves anything solid that we give her. She mouths it and sometimes even eats it! It is really exciting to be able to put some food down on her tray and watch her stick it in her mouth. It makes me smile everytime! She is doing great with water in her sippy cup, and I am thinking that hopefully by the time she turns one I will be able to wean them both off of the bottle. It will be a huge task, especially for Lincoln, but it is something that really needs to be done before he goes to school next August. I am hopeful that by that time we will have figured out more about Lincoln's eating issues, and he won't be so reliant on getting all of those calories through his bottles.

June's little personality is starting to shine through, and we are excited to watch the little person she turns into! I am a little nervous that she is going to remain a pretty pretty princess even as she gets older, but I guess that will be a fun new exasperating experience for us. Lol. She really is adorable, and is such a nice, inquisitive little girl. She is just precious to all of us.

We are really looking forward to our trip to Oregon this winter. It will be a huge hassle getting up there by myself with the kidss, but I am certain that we will manage, and get there in one peice. I am also certain that the people around us on the airplane will want to kill us (most likely June), but oh well. We will get there, and it will be fun to spend the holidays with our families. :)

Pictures

Happy Birthday To Me!

Can't believe I am 30 years old today. Wow.



It is strange to think that June will turn 30 the same year that I will turn 60. I wonder if my parents ever thought about stuff like that when they were younger?

I bet the next 30 years will go by in a flash. When I am 60, I hope I will look back and love the life that I have lived. So far I think Andy and I are doing a good job of building something special in our family. :)

Its hard to believe

It is hard to believe that June is already seven months old! Time has really flown compared to when Lincoln was a baby.

June is very precious, and many describe her as precocious as well. She is super curious, in to everything, and everything ends up in her mouth. She has been crawling for three weeks now, and she goes farther & faster everyday. She really wants to be walking though. She tried to pull up on anything and everything. She gets to her feet, then is unsure how to improve her stability, and usually falls down again once she gets tired of holding her (usually awkward) position. I have a feeling that she will get this issue figured out quickly though. She is very motivated to move like the rest of the people in her world.

She now weighs 17lbs 10oz (a gain of 12oz) and is 26.5" (yes that 1/2" smaller than last time, someone mis-measured). Her appetite is good. Her eating has improved dramatically. She eats about 6oz of pureed baby foods during 3 meals. She also loves it when we give her any and all solid foods that she can munch on. It is nice to have a kid that is excited about eating and trying new foods. I am hope that she doesn't grow out of this when she gets older.

CVS part 2

The second set of CVS results are back. They show that the baby does not have Tuberous Sclerosis Complex! Yay!! So far everything is looking good & healthy for baby #3!

Historical Facebook

These are really funny. :)