My sweet girl

Ugh...I hate the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to begin because I have been such a slacker on posting....when am I going to learn???

So I don't know if I should include this, but this was a draft I started on June 5th--a month ago...it goes:

Kaybri has been doing EXCELLENT, and has been seizure free for 11 weeks now. It's crazy, I had to go and actually look that up on our calendar. I love that I don't think about that so much now, and that I don't worry about when her next seizure will be. She seems happier too. We can now focus more on helping her get caught up to where she should be developmentally. I love being a "normal" busy family that doesn't think it's a humongous risk to go to Mesa for the weekend and let her run around with all of her cousins in the scorching AZ heat. Of course I still get nervous, and we still are pretty strict about schedule and naps and such, but a few months ago there's no way that we would've ever thought about doing so much. We are truly blessed. I have definitely learned to be thankful for so many of the little things I think I used to take for granted.

Present time:

Kaybri had a seizure a couple weeks later. It was pretty short though and after an extremely hot day of play group at the park. I should've known better (but she had been doing so good); she had looked really flushed before we went to the park, and had a 99.3 temp. At the park she got really red, fast. We were there about 45 minutes and by the time we left she was really hot and started seizing in the car. I don't know if it contributed to the seizure or not, but it probably didn't help. Anyway, it has been 2 more weeks and she has done really good. We have been pretty worried about her lately though, but for other reasons. Ever since we started her newest medication a few months ago she has done great seizure wise, but her development has dramatically slowed and even started to regress. At first I thought, maybe I'm just over analyzing things, or looking for something to be wrong. But things that she used to do or say just a few months ago, she won't anymore. We can't get her to answer really any questions anymore, she won't say prayers or even amen, no words like "please, thank you, i love you" or any of her cute little songs. It is a fight to get her to eat anything, and she used to eat whatever I gave her. She is still very loving, cute and happy, but she was already developmentally behind and now it seems like we are losing even more of her. And because she can't communicate well, she gets very frustrated that we can't read her mind. I don't know what to do??? I think it's a lot of the medication that we put her on, but we finally found something that may be helping her seizures? We take her to a Developmental Pediatrician in August, and they're probably going to tell us she's autistic or diagnose her with something else. The doctors that she has seen, we've asked them about autism and they've all said she doesn't really do the main things they look for in autistic children, but she does do some quirky things that are often autistic characteristics. I can't believe my child that once was developing so quickly and talking more than most kids her age, is even being considered for autism. I probably shouldn't even write all this because everyone out there is going to think she's autistic. I just know the doctors that she will see will want to diagnose her with something, and it seems like autism has been the hot topic lately. I wish I knew what was going on with her. Sometimes I wonder if we ever should have medicated her, it never really helped up until 3 months ago and now look where we are. They all have had side effects like: hyperactivity, extreme drowsiness/dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, irritability, loss for words, short term memory loss are just a few. Who knows how she's really felt, but I can tell she's had at least a few of the side effects from the way she acts.

Sorry to overload on the Kaybri saga, it just seems to always be on my mind. She hasn't been having any seizures, and that's all I ever wanted, I just didn't know/think there would be anything after that. We know so many have been praying for her and we know it has helped. Thank you all.

On the Road Again

I think we've been out of town every weekend for the past month, and since it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon, I figured I better get the pictures off of my camera and on to the blog while I have a chance. We've been staying really busy lately and it seems like everything has been in Mesa, so we've made a lot of mini-Mesa trips for things like Kaybri's neurologoy appt. (which went really well), Justin's training or manager's mtgs for his job, Memorial Day weekend and cousin fun, Mel's baby shower, and tomorrow Justin will be heading there to fly to Salt Lake (and I will probably go to Animas). Ok, because it's been awhile, there are a ton of pictures below.


I had the hardest time getting a picture of all 3 of these kids together, much less look at me. They are always on the go!

Jarom's little girl, Lydia, she is so cute, but she wasn't sure about smiling at me!


Pax cuddling with Aunt JoJo. These moments are rare and so sweet.

The boys and their barbecue.

Ellis/Echols cousins

Echols Cousins!!
Shayci and Bryson's fort

Kaybri LOVES to swing. She could swing all day long.

Melanie's baby shower

Melanie is having a baby boy and naming him Jackson. Joni wanted to do his name in block letters for his room, so she went and got everything and we put it together the night before we left. We are so not crafty, but she got the idea from a friend and it was pretty fun and simple to do. I think it turned out cute. This is the finished product, minus the ribbons needing fixed. They are decorating Jackson's room with an ASU theme

Randomness

I got tagged forever ago, sorry it took so long Brynn, here it is:

1. I love different/unique names. However, I'm not great at making up some cool name, so even when I'm not pregnant and have no idea when the next child is coming I am listening for something a little different. Not crazy names, just a name that 5 other kids in their class won't have. Ok, I'm exaggerating, I don't even want 1 other kid in the class with their name.

2. I am a little bit of a procrastinator...In my mind 'there's always tomorrow'. I don't know why I don't get things done sooner though, because I stress and fret over things until I get them done.

3. I love to find "good deals" while going shopping. I hardly ever buy clothes that are full price, but when I find cute clothes (especially for my kids) I am a total sucker and I think I need to get it, even though they may not need it.

4. I'm a major late-nighter. I always have good intentions of going to bed early, but it seems like once 10 rolls around, I'm not tired anymore and end up staying up for a couple more hours. I've always been like this, and you would think I would learn to go to sleep earlier since my daughter has been waking up lately at 5:30-6:00, but nope I haven't learned yet. I feel like it's my chance to have some "me" time and get things done, like clean, fold laundry, watch a movie.

5. My hair was mostly blond growing up. Around the time I got married, my hair started getting pretty dark and all my natural hi-lights went away (probably because we moved up to Utah, where I never saw the sun). All my high-school friends thought I dyed my hair and got a perm when I would go home to visit, but nope, my hair just got dark and I finally didn't straighten my hair everyday. It wasn't until last year that I started dyeing my hair a little darker; I am staying a brunette for now.

6. I don't like it when my kids get dirty. I know that's inevitable, so yes I still let them play and have fun. I just cringe when I see that they have probably ruined a cute outfit, and I'm always thinking "great, how am I going to get this stain out". Oxyclean is my best friend.

7. I love Mexican food, and I'm so happy to be back where there are real Mexican restaurants. Right now we live next door to one and nearly every night I am tempted to go order some take out from them.

8. I dread getting ready in the morning. My hair seems to take FOREVER to dry and straighten, and by time that's done I don't want to do anything else to it.

Ok, girls it's your turn now! I tag: Kellye, Audrey, Britni, Sheri, Wendy, Nicole, Emily, and Melanie.

The Rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your post tag 8 people and include their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog to tell them they've been tagged, and to comment back and read your blog for the whole story.

Mother's Day

We spent Mother's Day weekend down in Animas with all of my family. The last time we were all there was about a year ago when my sister got married. We were a little nervous to go since last time ended in a pretty traumatic experience, Kaybri had an hour long seizure and with the closest hospital being an hour and a half away it's really scary. Anyway, no traumatic experiences this time, just pure fun! yay! Here are the cousins, 2 more on the way (1 for Melanie, 1 for Joni)!! Kaybri and Paxton loved playing with their cute cousin, Lydia. They were all obsessed with the cat and chased him around everywhere. We even found Pax pulling on the cat's ears! Good thing he is a nice, easy-going cat. When my mom kept Pax a month ago, he wouldn't even touch the cat. I guess he is getting brave from seeing his crazy sister. The kids also played in the sprinkler; Kaybri and Lydi loved the water--even after they were freezing.

Below are two of the wonderful mothers in my life, my mom and grandma. We had a great time spending this mother's day with them. We're lucky to have so many positive influences in our life. Thank you to all of our MOMS! We love you.

Preschool

When we lived in Utah, Kaybri participated in an Early Intervention Program and was in the process of transitioning over into preschool when we moved. They have a really good preschool program here and Kaybri was able to start in it yesterday. We've been meeting with them over the past month or so, and we were really excited that she qualifies for it. The main thing that she was behind in was speech, so she will get speech therapy 2x a week. All of the other tests she showed pretty borderline on. I think it will be good for her to get away from me and play and learn from some kids. She will probably love it! It is kinda sad to think that my little baby is already starting this whole school thing. She has a backpack, gets on a bus and everything. When I was telling my brother this, tears started welling up, I'm not ready for her to be big. It is definitely to benefit her though, I don't know if I would have her go to preschool already if she wasn't falling more and more behind.

Today marks 6 weeks with NO seizures! Can you believe it?? I hardly can! I think the last time she went this long was when she first started having seizures, 2 years ago. I am so happy!! With all of the helicopter trips I was beginning to wonder how we could keep this up, but we are doing so much better now. We appreciate all of your prayers and know the Lord is watching over us. We have been blessed with such a special, sweet girl.

Summer Cut

Paxton just got a haircut about a month ago, but it was already getting long again, so we went to Aunt JoJo to get it cut. He was such a good boy. He just giggled when the clippers would touch his head. Kaybri also got a trim, but you can't really tell. This is the shortest we've ever cut Pax's hair. I think he looks so much older with it short. It looks really cute with a little spiked up, I'll have to take a picture sometime and post it later. Here's a picture of his big blue eyes for now. =)

Easter Re-Acted

I bought lots of candy and eggs for Easter, but since we were in the hospital we never got to use it. I was talking to Dawn and they didn't do an Easter egg hunt this year either, so we decided to get together and do one a few days ago. I am so grateful I don't have to eat ALL of the candy now! Kaybri really didn't care too much about looking for the eggs, and Paxton, well once he discovered there was candy in an egg he stopped looking and sat down and ate what he found.