Cousins' Box Fun

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with our families. Though it was exhausting, it was fun.

Arden is just two months younger than Evan, but he is able to keep up with him easily.

"I'm bored..."

Meghan wanted to join in the fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We'll be leaving tonight to visit our families. We'll be staying with Derek's grandparents. Meghan will be thrilled to have the cows on the farm at her fingertips.

Our family is greatly blessed. Tomorrow we will be among our family members that live hours away from our home. After a five hour (I hope) drive, we will see (in relation to the children) six grandparents, three great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, aunts, uncles, and cousins! And we'll stay on the farm! FUN!

With some of our health issues, I suppose it would be easy to just ask, "Why?" However, it just reminds me that every day, even with the fussing, fighting, tears, and tantrums, our lives are greatly blessed with two little children. Of course, not every moment is difficult and filled with tears. However, both of them had situations (E's , M's)that were life threatening, yet they were protected. And we are thankful to our Creator who has plans for each of us.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I'll get back to blogging next week, most likely.

Bookcase

Derek's grandpa has made many pieces of furniture for us. The first was a beautiful blanket chest that was our wedding gift. Since then we have added a sofa table, coffee table, and end table.

He has also made a rocking horse, toy box, and book case for Meghan. We've had Evan's matching bookcase for many months. It is finally finished. Derek completed the final touches of sanding and sealing it recently. We keep books in Evan and Meghan's rooms, too, so this is just a handful of our books. When there is less furniture (changing table, crib, chair) in Evan's room, this bookcase will go there.

It is made from cherry wood. The interesting part is that Grandpa J. made the bookcase, but Grandpa W. harvested cherry trees many years ago, and that wood was used to make this bookcase, as well as several other of our handmade pieces.

Isn't that a beautiful top? Thank you, Grandpa!

(For some reason I couldn't get a better picture of the front of the bookcase. Sorry it's not as clear as this one.)

Chex

Saturday Meghan helped me make the original Chex Mix. I had bought the three needed boxes of Chex when it was on sale, but she had not had the chance to eat Wheat Chex yet for breakfast.

Shortly after making the Chex Mix with me, I found her under our kitchen table eating the Wheat Chex right from the box. Apparently she really like it! She ran away before I could take the picture, but I thought it was funny enough to still share it with you. She was kind of hugging the box as she was stuffing her mouth.

Speech

Just a quick note that you can read about some of Meghan's speech progress and school over at Live, Learn, Love, our other blog.

Comparable Sliding

Remember in this post when I said we had a picture of Meghan on the slide? Derek asked me to put the pictures together. It gets a little complicated to do it since some pictures are on a different computer.

But here they are! Meghan and Evan are within a week of their first birthday in both of the pictures.

Meghan in 2006(with her hair in a pony tail, it was long at 12 months). She did not slide by herself immediately. Evan did!

And here's Evan.

Woolly Bear

When Evan was running around outside shoeless, a woolly bear caterpillar crawled up to Meghan.

Meghan gets attached to caterpillars. I told her it needed to go back to its mom and dad, so she took it to the flower bed. After a minute I realized she was burying the caterpillar! See the little mound? She called it a house. Hmmm. I hope it is not a grave.

Waiting

This is Lucy. If you come to visit she will likely hide.

You know how animals will wait at the door to be let out? That is exactly what she is doing. Well, Lucy's bathroom is in our basement. We put in a kitty door for her. She will not go down it unless it is an emergency. She will sit at the door and wait.

So much for the kitty door.

Pet Peeve

I don't like when socks are worn outside without shoes (though barefeet are perfectly fine). The socks get nasty, and then they come inside and get the floors dirty. (We are a shoeless home as much as possible.)

However, in order to take advantage of the BEAUTIFUL weather, I quickly fed Meghan and Evan lunch in order to get outside before naptime. I forgot Evan's shoes. And apparently I was too lazy to carry Evan back inside to get them.

Evan didn't notice that he didn't have shoes on. He was literally trying to run down the driveway. Seriously. Eventually he had to go in the stroller because he kept trying to go out back. It was lots of fun to have sunshine though.

Got Milk?

We do.


We each drink one gallon a week. Now that Evan drinks milk we buy 2 gallons of whole milk, 1 gallon of 2% milk, and 1 gallon of 1% milk each week. This is what our fridge often looks like after we go shopping. (Basically we drink milk, water, and juice. Soda is very rare in our home.)

What takes up the most room in your fridge?

Felt Fun

Over on our other blog, I am hosting a chance for readers to win a felt doll set (boy or girl!). You don't need a blog to enter, just someone you want to share the doll with. It's really a good quality set, so head over to the giveaway to enter.

Evan's EEG

Friday was Evan's EEG. He had to be sleep deprived, and you can trust us that he was. We put him to bed late, woke him early, and Derek sat in the backseat so that he did not nap on the way to the hospital. With a 45 minute drive (plus another 15 to drop Meghan off at a friend's) Derek had his work cut out for him to keep Evan stimulated. The purpose of the sleep deprivation is to stress him out a bit and to make sure he sleeps while there.

First, they drew on his head, measuring. Then a gel was placed on the spots as an adhesive of sorts, I think. They put lots (my guess is over 20) leads around his head for each area of the brain. (If you have ever seen and EKG, it's the same thing, just on the head.) Then his head was wrapped in gauze to keep the leads on. He hated every minute of it!

This was the final result. Can you see Evan? He is sleeping, face down, beside me, but with his arm around me. Yes, his hand is awkwardly holding onto my pocket. I promise that's how he wanted it.
















This is the "after" picture. Sorry it's a bit blurry. The lighting was poor. After being sleep deprived, he only got a short nap. You can see the gel in his hair and even some blue marks on his forehead and scalp. He was cleaned up before we left.











We left our house before 9 AM, in time to drive to our friend's house to drop off Meghan and get to the hospital by 10:15. We were at the hospital until close to noon. We had lunch (yum!), and then headed off to see Dr. B. Evan's neurologist. We arrived at Dr. B's office a bit early, but had a good, long wait to see him. (In the meantime Evan stunk up the waiting area enough that someone walking in commented about the smell. We promptly took him to a bathroom and changed his diaper.) We made it home by 4:30. Whew!

Although the pictures and narrative might be fun to read, I'm sure you would like to know the results of the EEG.

The EEG was normal! That's a good thing. Even with meds, abnormal electrical/seizure activity CAN show, though no activity does NOT mean that Evan will be seizure free. Evan could still have another seizure, but there is a chance that he won't as well. He is likely to be on meds for 1-2 years (without seizures). I hope it gets easier to give it!

We're not sure what type (generalized or partial-which indicates what part of the brain the seizure took place in...or BOTH, since his seizure did change in how it looked. I do think when I first saw Evan it was generalized, the tonic-clonic type with stiffening and relaxing which looks like convulsions. But later he changed.)

What we can say is that he has had one episode of status epilepticus. Status epilepticus just means a seizure lasting more than 30 minutes.

FYI, it's not epilepsy until there is a second seizure. With the severity, it is still likely that a second one could happen. We cannot know if the medicine is doing the work or if Evan just isn't having another seizure.

We have a suppository medication for Evan in case of a seizure lasting more than 3-5 minutes. We have one in the diaper bag and another in the closet. Evan will continue to use the same amount of medicine that he is currently using for the next six months. As he gains weight, it will be a way of weaning him from the medicine. We see Dr. B again in six months, too. (Of course, if we have another seizure, this would likely change.)

We're thankful for a good report.

Getting Active

For those of you who come visit us here on a regular basis, my apologies for the lack of posts. Evan is still not himself. A large part of this may have something to do with the fact that he is up for several hours during the night more often than not. So he's tired during the day. He slept better when he was two months old than he does now! (Seriously, when he was two months old, he would sleep from 9ish until 5 or 6 in the morning before getting up for a quick feeding to return to his crib for more sleep.) Anyway, the bottom line is that I'm tired. Also, what used to be his playtime and my cleaning-up time, is now just playtime, or me trying to do something with Evan on my hip. Multitasking is not my thing apparently. In addition to the lack of sleep, it is quite likely that his anti-seizure medication is making him a bit irritable.

We have a similar picture to this (PSU clothing included) of Meghan, right after her first birthday.




















The only problem is that he figured out how to go down on his own too quickly for a good picture, even after multiple tries.

This is Meghan dancing and singing to the theme of PBS's show Word World. They sing too fast for her (or me) to sing all the words, but she catches a lot of them. She also imitates their motions, which is always a treat to see.

Just to let you know, tomorrow will be Evan's first out-patient EEG and consultation. Want to hear the funny part? We have to sleep deprive Evan prior to the EEG! This might sound funny, but I hope tonight is NOT the night Evan decides to sleep through the night like in the good ol' days. We have a lovely friend who offered to watch Meghan all day for us. (It's even her birthday! Happy birthday, Jeanine!) Though the weekend looks busy, I'm sure I will find time to update the blog over the weekend.

Bad Advertising

For someone like me who likes to savor candy and always has, M&M's truly do melt in your hands.

I think Meghan agrees, but she does so enjoy her treats from Halloween.

At one point I shared about my confusion of the M&M slogan as a child. I have also always been stingy when it comes to special things, such as M&M's. You can read about my confession, if you like. It might be amusing, but maybe, just maybe you can relate to it!

What's Up, Doc?

We are all doing well here. (Evan even slept mostly through the night twice this week.) It seems that we have adjusted to the time change. Evan is officially off the cranky medication. He had been getting 4 ML twice a day, so it's a big difference in his behavior. However, he is still clingy. Yesterday he was on my hip or lap much of the day.

Yesterday he awoke with a rash. (No this picture doesn't show it.) We think its from his immunizations last Thursday and not a repeat of the viral rash he had before. Though the doctor didn't see him, he thinks the same thing. Honestly, I don't want to take him to the doctor with the chance of him (and the whole family) getting the flu. Everyone seems to be getting it. The rash is worse today, but Dr. G said it's likely to last 1-3 days and to keep an eye on it.

Evan now has four teeth. At this age Meghan still had ZERO.

Yes, that is a whoopee cushion in the photo. (My dad's idea of an ideal gift!) Meghan loves it, and goes around saying, "Excuse me." She will even put her stuffed animals on it to make it "tooty." Evan blows his lips for it. They both love it. This mom has no defense.

Tomorrow I will spend from 9 AM to 6 PM at a SEE seminar. It's for Seizures Epilepsy Education in Delaware. Sounds like loads of fun, huh? More like information overload. The day that Dr. B (the neurologist) met Evan, he suggested that I go. I'm sure I've said this before, but because of the severity of Evan's seizure, it is likely to happen again, despite a couple of seizure-free weeks (but he was also still heavily medicated). We have appointments scheduled next Friday for Evan for an EEG and consultation. We will learn much more then.

Our Backyard

Actually this is the field behind us and the neighbors, not quite the backyard.

Since the corn has been cut, these deer (or others) have been visiting the field on a regular basis. It's nice to see wildlife, unlike when the groundhog came to visit or the cows drank from the pool. Wildlife from a distance is a bit better (even if you have to squint at it or take out the binoculars).

















"Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside."~ Green Acres theme song

Well, maybe not farm livin'; that is a job that never ends, but I certainly enjoy country living!

Walking Where

Here is our big boy. Evan is walking everywhere. I love to see how far he's come just since last week when he could barely open his eyes or hold his head up.






















At the neurologist's recommendation, he is getting weaned from one of his anti-seizure medications sooner than later. (About a week's difference.) Today he was filled with giggles and not as cranky as before, though still somewhat needy. We're definitely seeing big improvements, so much of his disagreeable attitude is probably due to the medicine, as Dr. B. has pointed out.

As you can see, he is still a drool bug. At least it isn't spit up any more! He does have three teeth now, too.

My dad made it home from the hospital. I wish we lived closer at times like this so we could easily visit. Just wanted to keep you updated!

On a different note, I learned something new. After dinner Meghan often watches television. She was watching Backyardigans, and they taught me what the Jolly Roger is. Hmm. I figure if they are teaching it, it's more general knowledge than I realized so I won't belittle your intelligence and tell you what it is.

Meghan returned to school for Monday, and she had a good day. She got on and off the bus with big smiles. Today the school is closed for Election Day.

Halloween Cuteness

So in full honesty, I am not a big fan of Halloween. It started when I one of my co-workers/roommates (yes, they provided room and board) at Nature's Classroom practiced Wicca, and I learned the reality of witchcraft. She embraced Halloween in a way that was quite frightening.

However, I have concluded that as a Christian, I don't want to hide from the "holiday." This year I printed a Bible verse on blank address labels and put them on the M&M's that we handed out along with some other candy. Maybe that makes me weird, but that's okay with me. Though I often consider myself pretty conservative with my faith, it's times like this that I know I'm not that conservative.

We dressed the kids up, and went to the neighbor's house for their costume party until trick or treat time. (They suggested we visit early before the party was in full swing. No, Derek and I didn't dress up.) While Derek and Evan passed out candy to the few who stopped by, Meghan (and I) went trick or treating for the first time. I was amazed at how much fun I had!

So here they are! Can you tell what they are?






















Maybe this will clarify. He's our little stinker! A skunk! Meghan wore this when she was one, too. (My mom loves skunks...has even had pet skunks...descented, of course...so we couldn't resist this costume for a fabulous price.)






















Since Meghan refused to consider a costume last year, we played it safe this year. She is wearing her pajamas! The cape velcros on and off. (They might be boy pj's, but she loves them. It helps that Derek has a Superman t-shirt so she recognized the symbol.) In case you are wondering, Meghan wanted to be Superman, not Supergirl. How about the coordinating boots?






















Since it was raining, I planned on boots. We decided she could wear the coordinating boots that were a touch too small since we would use the stroller to walk the neighborhood. This picture is before that decision was made.

Yeah, the skunk is eating a birdie. Evan kept playing with his belly fur. So cute. And we still have balloons left over from birthday parties.

After going to the houses in the neighborhood with lights on (about ten) in the sprinkling rain, Meghan and I went to trick or treat at her former therapist, Ashley's home. It was the highlight of the night (week?). She lives in town and had invited us to come. It has only been two weeks, but it sure seems longer! It was great to visit. (We were invited inside where Meghan got to maul their new kitty).

Just for fun, if you can read more if you like...M&M confessions of mine and a memorable time when Derek wore his Superman shirt. (And yes, I knew ahead of time!)

Dad is still in the hospital; he may be coming home tomorrow (Monday). He is in an incredible amount of pain. It sounds like his case is worse than usual since his sternum was so difficult to break open.

Please do keep him in your prayers.

Also, Meghan is returning to school this week. She is NOT excited about it. We'll see how it all goes. I figure tomorrow if I let her wear a dress it might help. (She likes dresses. I'm not sure why.)