I have had the priviledge of watching my cute little niece once a week while Joni goes to work. She is so cute and my kids absolutely love her. When she arrives Kaybri is constantly saying "baby", "brother", "Paxton". I guess we totally brainwashed her when I was pregnant with Pax, because she thinks every little baby is called her baby brother Paxton. And Pax just can't get enough of her. He loves to hold her, talk to her in high-pitched baby talk, give her binkie to her, load her up with toys, kiss her, and make her smile. He does pretty good, but he is a rough and tough boy, so we are still working on being a little softer. Today Trista got to sit on Pax's couch with him and he thought it was great! He is turning into such a big boy and trying really hard to be my helper...some of the time.

Want to know what we've been UP to?

Actually nothing very serious, but it sure seems like the last few weeks (or months) have flown by. It is just go, go, go all the time. A few weeks ago we celebrated the 24th. Both Lamar and Britni's family came down to visit, and we had a blast hanging out with lots of family. We went to the mountains, parade, bbq, and we even stayed for the fireworks....despite the never-ending rain.Paxton and Uncle Tristan are BUDS!

Cute cousin Lizzie with Kaybri and Justin


Pax, LeiLani and Tiley

Fun times on the tramp

Britni and Myli...they are so pretty

Some of the Echols cousins

The next week Kaybri had a seizure while visiting the cousins. It was only a little over a month since her last one, but apparently she had a good reason for it. She seemed a little warm when we first got to Cory and Dawn's, but I thought it was just because it's so dang hot outside. But no, she had spiked a fever, which sent her into a seizure. Luckily it wasn't too bad though and only lasted a few minutes. She ran a fever for 5 days and that was her only seizure, what a blessing! We're still not sure what she had, it never got passed on to the rest of us. Another blessing.

And then the last weekend we went out of town to Mesa for neurology appointments. Kaybri had a "one bang" MRI taken of her brain. This is a MRI that is supposed to only take 5-10 minutes, so they don't have to sedate them. They only needed a picture or 2 to make sure the bleed they found last time was clearing up, and since she's had a lot of CT scans lately, this would be a great alternative so she didn't have to be exposed to more radiation. However, it was an absolute nightmare trying to get it done. Poor Kaybri was traumatized. First they taped ear plugs over her ears, then made her a burrito in a blanket, then strapped her down on this narrow table that went up/down and in/out of a big doughnut looking thing, taped her head down between 2 board things, and then they had Justin lay down on top of her and hold her head straight. She screamed and screamed and screamed....for a good 30 minutes. And then she started coughing and they thought she was maybe choking, so we had to take her out, make sure she was ok, and then start all over again. They couldn't do the MRI until she calmed down and was still. She is pretty strong for such a skinny girl. She was wiggling down and got her legs and part of her arms out and she was kicking Justin, clawing his neck, and spitting at him. I guess after awhile she decided she was going to lose the fight and said "night night" and then there wasn't another peep or movement out of her. We met with her neurologist after the MRI and she said her brain looks good and is filling in the spaces of where the cyst was. Good news! We also talked a lot about medications, and I know it may sound crazy to switch meds now that she is semi-stable, but I think we're going to. Kaybri is doing better now, but there were a few months where she hardly ate at all and also was losing a lot of skills-mostly speech. Kaybri lost close to 3 lbs since her appt. in May and grew about a centimeter (now 28 lbs and 38 3/4 inches). We are going to very gradually add on a new med, and slowly ween her off of some of the other meds over the next few months, hopefully going down to just 1 med, instead of 3. The new medication, Lamictal, is supposed to be much safer, especially if you have to be on something for awhile. Some of the meds that Kaybri has been on can create other problems with kidneys, liver, etc. The main side effect of this new drug is that it can create a pretty nasty rash on some people, that's why we have to add it on so slowly. Anyway, wish us luck, hopefully we're doing the right thing and that it doesn't mess with her seizures.