Most every post I put on here is about our sweet little family, but this one is different. When you look at the list of other "blogs" on the right side of your screen....on that list are blogs of friends, and some are blogs that I have come across randomly and that I have not and will never meet the faces of the people in them. I just enjoy keeping up with them.
Through one of my favorite blogs, I was made aware of a family that is hurting in the worst possible way right now. They are losing an awful battle with Cancer in their 2 year old little girl Tuesday. I read through her mom's blog over their battle with cancer. Tuesday seemed to be doing very well with all her treatments and moving right along toward beating cancer, then out of no where, her cancer doubled in size in less than 1 week and is now taking her life. They just found out on Wednesday that everything has gone downhill, and now she isn't expected to live through the week.
http://half12.blogspot.com/
My heart just breaks for her family. She has 2 older brothers and a twin sister. Her life is ending way too soon, it is one of those things in life that here on earth, we can NEVER understand. As a mommy, my heart is burdened for the pain her mommy must be feeling as she cuddles her child here on earth for the final times.
Please pray for this family as you feel led. I just felt the need to share.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Daddy's Visit to Beeville
Since Wesleigh finally figured out that walking was WAY cooler than crawling, it has opened the world to playing outside. He loves it and so do I! It is a great way to add something new to break up the monotony of the day! It is a lot of fun for everyone!!
This little slide is just his size! It has been around Nana's for a while. Wesleigh had a gift card with credit from WalMart due to a gift he recieved that we already had, so I have used that gift card credit to get him his own little slide for our house. It will be a great addition to the back porch!!
For a kid that has only been walking good for a couple of weeks now, he is incredibly sturdy on his feet. He can manuever over rocks and obstacles big and small with no problem!!
Well, Daddy flew into San Antonio last Saturday at noon. Wesleigh and I went to pick him up, then we had a quick lunch and headed back toward Beeville. We got home just shortly before Baileigh's birthday party, which I have already posted about. So, on Saturday we partied next door, until it was bath and bedtime! Oh, wasn't bathtime glorious??? I think so, b/c I didn't have to bend my big ol' Ethan belly over the side of the bathtub to bathe the stinker! His daddy did it!!! That night, and everynight until he left!!!
Oh man, Saturday night was a rough and long one. Mom and dad had company other than us, so we had Wesleigh in the room with us...He didn't sleep...I am not sure if it was being moved from "his" room into ours, or the addition of daddy to the mix, but it was a LONG night. After a really hot, relaxing bath at 3 am, mommy was finally able to convince him that it was ok to sleep.
On Sunday, we went to a country style resturant that has super yummy food. We all enjoyed it, but Jim ate until I thought we were all going to puke if we had to watch him eat another thing!! Since he has been on his own for a while now, he hasn't had much good home cooked food, so he took advantage of it!
Nana and Grandpa got in on the fun too!!
On Sunday evening, we went and hung out with Katie and Joey and the girls. We had a great time, as I already mentioned in a previous post as well!!
On Monday, we mostly just hung out. We went to Beeville, and took care of a few errands. We had been meaning to pick up 2 additional Wii remote controls with some Christmas money that Ma had given us, but we hadn't been able to find them...anyhoo, we found them in Beeville. Also, HEB was having this INCREDIBLY amazing sell on Pork Butt Roasts and Pork Ribs...$1/pound!! So, we bought some and put it in Mom and Dad's extra freezer, and dad will bring it to Del Rio when he comes after the baby comes home!!
Monday evening we visited with Grandma, Jim changed the oil filter in my car, and we just hung out!
Then, on Tuesday, we had to get up early and travel to San Antonio. I had a doctor's appointment at 11:15, and everything was good there, then we took Wesleigh to the doctor after we ate a yummy mexican food lunch. He hadn't been feeling well, and I figured I should have him checked out while we were there! Good thing I did...he had an ear infection in his right ear and fluid build up in the other one. So, we are on antibiotics for that!
After that, we took Daddy to the airport and we headed home to Nana's. I was BEYOND exhausted and ready for some rest.
We had a great visit with daddy, but it was way way way too short. It has been so hard for me to watch how insecure this stupid detail has made Wesleigh. He couldn't even let Jim out of his site for fear that he wouldn't be there when he came back! It is hard to watch, and I can't wait until this is all over and done with. We need to get our lives back in order and get our kids straightened out!!
These two pictures, I took yesterday while the monster was actually happy. We had a rough day yesterday, but these were happy moments!!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Baileigh's Birthday Party!
It's SO hard to believe, but Baileigh celebrated her 7th birthday this weekend. Where has the time gone? She is very girly and likes all things girl!! She got lots of fun stuff and had a blast with family!!
Opening presents!
Little Diva!
Wesleigh and Daddy sliding down the slide. This is now a new obsesion! He LOVES to slide!!
On the shoulders is always a favorite!!
Cousin Laynie (she is 8 days older) and her mommy Ashleigh. Ashleigh recently discovered she is pregnant again. It is very very much of a shock to them, a little sooner than they would have planned, but God planned differently. So, Laynie will be a big sister sometime around September!!
Opening presents!
Little Diva!
Wesleigh and Daddy sliding down the slide. This is now a new obsesion! He LOVES to slide!!
On the shoulders is always a favorite!!
Cousin Laynie (she is 8 days older) and her mommy Ashleigh. Ashleigh recently discovered she is pregnant again. It is very very much of a shock to them, a little sooner than they would have planned, but God planned differently. So, Laynie will be a big sister sometime around September!!Hanging Out with Friends
Last Tuesday Wesleigh and I spent the evening hanging out with our good friends Katie and Joey and their 3 girls, Abbie, Emma, and Sara-Kate. These pictures were taken on Tuesday.
Wesleigh and Sara-Kate (She is 8 days older)
Wesleigh, Sara-Kate, and Emma (she is 3)
Abbie joined the crowd here! (She is almost 6)
Wesleigh is making his escape...he has had enough girls!!!
Jim, Wesleigh, and I went back to their house last night to hang out for a bit. They are the kind of friends that you can just lounge around and be casual with, no worries!! So we had a relaxing evening hanging out with them.
Katie and Joey are the kind of friends that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt would be there for you through thick and thin, you know, the kind of friends that you are lucky and blessed to have! We love you guys!!
I did not take this picture, I actually hijacked it without permission, but, it is a great picture of their whole family!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Eviction Notice!!
Well, I talked to Dr. Thompson this afternoon, and it is official....Ethan's eviction notice has been issued and he will be arriving on February 4th!! The details on which type of induction we will do, depends on my body at that time. But, I just wanted to get the word out, that this is the plan as of now. If he decides he needs to call the shots and arrive sooner, well, then obviously that is what will happen, but if he doesn't, then it's 2/4/09 for Ethan!!!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Wesleigh's Eyes...A Great Check-Up
Ok, so most of you are probably aware that Wesleigh has a little problem with his eyes, but it dawned on me that some of you may be clueless as to why we see a pediatric opthomologist. So, I will try and start from the beginning to help those of you out. Wesleigh has what has been diagnosed as a Congenital Motor Nystagmus. What that means is he has rapid, involuntary eye movement that he has had from birth.
Around 2 months is when I started noticing that his eyes moved a LOT!! They would scan back and forth very very quickly. When changed pediatrician for our 4 month well child check up and that is when the doctor noticed it. Wesleigh wasn't tracking with his eyes at all. He was unable to focus on an object and watch it move without his eyes jumping all around. Both of his eyes ALWAYS did the same thing, and it was always side to side motion. Well, Dr. Bourland, our pediatrician was VERY worried, and she made us an appointment for the next day with a pediatric opthomologist. Let me just throw in there, that I had already spent many of hours on the internet researching rapid eye movement and had already diagnosed what was going on as nystagmus. I had read the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, when my pediatrician freaked out on me, it sent me into a tailspin. I was alone also...Jim and my parents were all gone somewhere, so I was in this alone during those 2 days. We saw the eye doctor, and recieved the official diagnosis of Congenital Motor Nystagmus, I had a lot of questions answered, but the biggest answer we got was...we will just have to wait and see what his eyes do with time. The nystagmus can be caused by a number of things...an optic nerve that is too short (this was ruled out during our first visit to the eye doctor)...nuerological conditions (the only way to tell if this is the case is to do an MRI...the doctor didn't want to do an MRI on a 4 month old, he really wanted to wait and watch Wesleigh and see if he showed any signs of developemental delays of any kind) So, as if all mommy's aren't paranoid about their babies meeting their developmental milestones on target, it made me even more paranoid...the other thing that can cause the nystagmus is just a plain ol' fluke! (meaning that they will NEVER know what caused it, it just happened...don't we all love those kinds of answers!!!!!)
Anyhoo, so we were on a wait and see kind of plan. Meanwhile, like I mentioned I had already devoured all the information I could find on the internet, and that can be a major double-edged sword!! I had to stop reading about it on the internet and trust that God had a plan for my little man's eyes and that no amount of worrying and crying about it would change a darn thing...and believe me, I had done my fair share of crying and worrying!!
Let me just add in here real quick that during our first appointment the doctor explained to me that even though Wesleigh's eyes moved very rapidly from side to side that his brain had learned to compensate for it and that he saw images "still" just as you and I do. The brain is so remarkable!!! You can develop a nystagmus after a traumatic injury to the brain, and it can be horribly debilitating, b/c everything in your world is constantly moving from side to side, but if it is all your brain has ever known, then the brain learns how to make it work!! The doctor used the analogy of the old camera that used to shake to take a picture, but they spit out a perfect still picture...that is what Wesleigh's eyes/brain work together to do.
So, over the next 6 weeks, his eyes improved dramatically!! They stopped "shaking" and moving as much and as rapidly. He was tracking very well, and was just making remarkable progress. I must mention that during this time he was also soaring above and beyond any and all developmental milestones. He was way way ahead of where he "should" have been. We went back to the eye doctor at the end of May for another check-up b/c due to some lovely insurance politics, we were going to have to switch eye doctors and I wanted to see the original doctor one last time to see if it was just my crazy opinion that we had improved leaps and bounds or if he agreed. Plus...with an eye doctor and a condition like this, he had already established a base line of what his eyes were doing 6 weeks ago, and to just start over with a new doctor was very very aggrivating!!! At that appointment in May, the doctor confirmed that it wasn't my crazy imagination and that his eyes had improved DRAMATICALLY!!! He was super pleased with the progress that his eyes were making and was also encouraged by Wesleigh's above target developmental skills...he felt like we were looking at a crazy fluke case of nystagmus, and that hopefully by the time he outgrew childhood, that he would outgrow most of the nystagmus as well. Well, as you can imagine I was estatic!!!!! Such a wonderful report!! So, we were released form that doctor's care and given our medical records and were scheduled to have a follow-up appointment with our new eye doctor in July!!!
Well....throughout the summer his eyes continued to improve, they still moved a lot more than "normal", but we were making progress!! He also continued to be a little over achiever when it came to developmental milestones, always going above and beyond!! I think it some ways this was God's way of helping me relax and know what my boy's brain and body are fine, he just has wobbly eyes!! :-)
So, in July we saw our new doctor for the first time. He confirmed the initial diagnosis and established his own baseline and also told us that he felt like Wesleigh could see just fine. I had already started feeling that way, b/c he had started eating finger foods and he could pick up a little cheerio with 2 fingers and put it in his mouth. If he wasn't seeing, then that wouldn't be possible!! So, we were to continue on with life and see the doctor again in 6 months.
During this time his eyes continued to make progress. New people we met actually didn't even notice that there was anything different about his eyes. There certainly is though...if you really look at them, they still move back and forth or scan a lot more than yours and mine do, but they are NOTHING like they were when he was 4 months old. His eyes still get really wobbly when he gets very tired, but for the most part he has been doing very well. Somewhere along the way, we started noticing that Wesleigh kind of looks at you out of the corner of his eyes...it is actually quite adorable, and very flirty! I had wondered if it wasn't something to do with his vision, but I didn't worry about it too much. At Wesleigh's 12 month well child check up with the pediatrician, she was a little concerned about his peripherial vision and the way he turned his head. I wasn't too concerned about the peripherial vision, b/c of his behavior. He doesn't run into things and is able to step over toys when walking or crawling, but once again we were on the wait and see track until we saw the eye doctor in January!!
Well, yesterday was our check-up at the eye doctor and we got a WONDERFUL report!! The doctor felt like his eyes have continued to improve, he noted that he thinks his vision is at least 20/60! However, we will not have anyway of confirming the true strength of his vision until he is older and can tell the doctor what he sees!! But for the meantime the doctor wasn't the least bit concerned about his ability to see and comprehend the world around him!!! He also noted the head turning/corner of the eye thing...and he confirmed my thoughts on it. It is what is called the "null point"...that is the point in which Wesleigh's eyes move the least! That is why he always looks that direction. His eyes harldy move at all in that spot. Now, you move to that same spot in the other direction and his eyes move the most...he demonstrated this by shining a light in his eyes and watching how they responded!! The doctor was not the least bit concerned by this, he was actually pleased to know that he had found the spot where he sees the abosolute best. He has no worries right now and thinks that Wesleigh is doing wonderfully!! He said we should keep on keeping on and come back to see him in another 6 months!!
So, he received a wonderful report, and I feel very very confident that he will continue to improve, and hopefully outgrow the wobbly eyes all together!!!!
On a side note, as the doctor was walking us out of the office, I asked him about Ethan, and the chances of Ethan having the same issues. He said that he does not feel that what Wesleigh has is genetic, so he doesn't think that Ethan has any more of a chance of having it as the next kid on the street!! So, we hope and pray that Ethan doesn't have to deal with the same wobbly eye issue, but if he does, we will take it one day at a time as we have with Wesleigh!!
So, now, everyone should be on the same page and up to speed on Wesleigh's eyes!!! Mostly, he just has beautiful, blue eyes that are gonna steal girls hearts someday!! They have certainly stole mine!!
Around 2 months is when I started noticing that his eyes moved a LOT!! They would scan back and forth very very quickly. When changed pediatrician for our 4 month well child check up and that is when the doctor noticed it. Wesleigh wasn't tracking with his eyes at all. He was unable to focus on an object and watch it move without his eyes jumping all around. Both of his eyes ALWAYS did the same thing, and it was always side to side motion. Well, Dr. Bourland, our pediatrician was VERY worried, and she made us an appointment for the next day with a pediatric opthomologist. Let me just throw in there, that I had already spent many of hours on the internet researching rapid eye movement and had already diagnosed what was going on as nystagmus. I had read the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, when my pediatrician freaked out on me, it sent me into a tailspin. I was alone also...Jim and my parents were all gone somewhere, so I was in this alone during those 2 days. We saw the eye doctor, and recieved the official diagnosis of Congenital Motor Nystagmus, I had a lot of questions answered, but the biggest answer we got was...we will just have to wait and see what his eyes do with time. The nystagmus can be caused by a number of things...an optic nerve that is too short (this was ruled out during our first visit to the eye doctor)...nuerological conditions (the only way to tell if this is the case is to do an MRI...the doctor didn't want to do an MRI on a 4 month old, he really wanted to wait and watch Wesleigh and see if he showed any signs of developemental delays of any kind) So, as if all mommy's aren't paranoid about their babies meeting their developmental milestones on target, it made me even more paranoid...the other thing that can cause the nystagmus is just a plain ol' fluke! (meaning that they will NEVER know what caused it, it just happened...don't we all love those kinds of answers!!!!!)
Anyhoo, so we were on a wait and see kind of plan. Meanwhile, like I mentioned I had already devoured all the information I could find on the internet, and that can be a major double-edged sword!! I had to stop reading about it on the internet and trust that God had a plan for my little man's eyes and that no amount of worrying and crying about it would change a darn thing...and believe me, I had done my fair share of crying and worrying!!
Let me just add in here real quick that during our first appointment the doctor explained to me that even though Wesleigh's eyes moved very rapidly from side to side that his brain had learned to compensate for it and that he saw images "still" just as you and I do. The brain is so remarkable!!! You can develop a nystagmus after a traumatic injury to the brain, and it can be horribly debilitating, b/c everything in your world is constantly moving from side to side, but if it is all your brain has ever known, then the brain learns how to make it work!! The doctor used the analogy of the old camera that used to shake to take a picture, but they spit out a perfect still picture...that is what Wesleigh's eyes/brain work together to do.
So, over the next 6 weeks, his eyes improved dramatically!! They stopped "shaking" and moving as much and as rapidly. He was tracking very well, and was just making remarkable progress. I must mention that during this time he was also soaring above and beyond any and all developmental milestones. He was way way ahead of where he "should" have been. We went back to the eye doctor at the end of May for another check-up b/c due to some lovely insurance politics, we were going to have to switch eye doctors and I wanted to see the original doctor one last time to see if it was just my crazy opinion that we had improved leaps and bounds or if he agreed. Plus...with an eye doctor and a condition like this, he had already established a base line of what his eyes were doing 6 weeks ago, and to just start over with a new doctor was very very aggrivating!!! At that appointment in May, the doctor confirmed that it wasn't my crazy imagination and that his eyes had improved DRAMATICALLY!!! He was super pleased with the progress that his eyes were making and was also encouraged by Wesleigh's above target developmental skills...he felt like we were looking at a crazy fluke case of nystagmus, and that hopefully by the time he outgrew childhood, that he would outgrow most of the nystagmus as well. Well, as you can imagine I was estatic!!!!! Such a wonderful report!! So, we were released form that doctor's care and given our medical records and were scheduled to have a follow-up appointment with our new eye doctor in July!!!
Well....throughout the summer his eyes continued to improve, they still moved a lot more than "normal", but we were making progress!! He also continued to be a little over achiever when it came to developmental milestones, always going above and beyond!! I think it some ways this was God's way of helping me relax and know what my boy's brain and body are fine, he just has wobbly eyes!! :-)
So, in July we saw our new doctor for the first time. He confirmed the initial diagnosis and established his own baseline and also told us that he felt like Wesleigh could see just fine. I had already started feeling that way, b/c he had started eating finger foods and he could pick up a little cheerio with 2 fingers and put it in his mouth. If he wasn't seeing, then that wouldn't be possible!! So, we were to continue on with life and see the doctor again in 6 months.
During this time his eyes continued to make progress. New people we met actually didn't even notice that there was anything different about his eyes. There certainly is though...if you really look at them, they still move back and forth or scan a lot more than yours and mine do, but they are NOTHING like they were when he was 4 months old. His eyes still get really wobbly when he gets very tired, but for the most part he has been doing very well. Somewhere along the way, we started noticing that Wesleigh kind of looks at you out of the corner of his eyes...it is actually quite adorable, and very flirty! I had wondered if it wasn't something to do with his vision, but I didn't worry about it too much. At Wesleigh's 12 month well child check up with the pediatrician, she was a little concerned about his peripherial vision and the way he turned his head. I wasn't too concerned about the peripherial vision, b/c of his behavior. He doesn't run into things and is able to step over toys when walking or crawling, but once again we were on the wait and see track until we saw the eye doctor in January!!
Well, yesterday was our check-up at the eye doctor and we got a WONDERFUL report!! The doctor felt like his eyes have continued to improve, he noted that he thinks his vision is at least 20/60! However, we will not have anyway of confirming the true strength of his vision until he is older and can tell the doctor what he sees!! But for the meantime the doctor wasn't the least bit concerned about his ability to see and comprehend the world around him!!! He also noted the head turning/corner of the eye thing...and he confirmed my thoughts on it. It is what is called the "null point"...that is the point in which Wesleigh's eyes move the least! That is why he always looks that direction. His eyes harldy move at all in that spot. Now, you move to that same spot in the other direction and his eyes move the most...he demonstrated this by shining a light in his eyes and watching how they responded!! The doctor was not the least bit concerned by this, he was actually pleased to know that he had found the spot where he sees the abosolute best. He has no worries right now and thinks that Wesleigh is doing wonderfully!! He said we should keep on keeping on and come back to see him in another 6 months!!
So, he received a wonderful report, and I feel very very confident that he will continue to improve, and hopefully outgrow the wobbly eyes all together!!!!
On a side note, as the doctor was walking us out of the office, I asked him about Ethan, and the chances of Ethan having the same issues. He said that he does not feel that what Wesleigh has is genetic, so he doesn't think that Ethan has any more of a chance of having it as the next kid on the street!! So, we hope and pray that Ethan doesn't have to deal with the same wobbly eye issue, but if he does, we will take it one day at a time as we have with Wesleigh!!
So, now, everyone should be on the same page and up to speed on Wesleigh's eyes!!! Mostly, he just has beautiful, blue eyes that are gonna steal girls hearts someday!! They have certainly stole mine!!
___________________________________________________________________
Ok, so none of these pictures are new...I actually went back through the blog to snatch them...but they all show you exactly what I am talking about as to where he holds his eyes/head so that he can see the best!! Just looks like a cutie pie to me!! These pictures range over the past 6 months!
OB Appointment! Ethan's Still Cookin!!
Well, yesterday my mom, Wesleigh, and I had an all day adventure in San Antonio. Wesleigh had an eye doctor appointment and I had an OB appointment. I will have a post about Wesleigh's eyes before the day is up...
Ethan is doing very well. He continues to grow right on target, has a heart rate of 140 bpm and is looking forward to his debut!!
Around week 35 in pregnancy they do a test/culture that is looking for a bacteria call Group B Strep. Basically it is a virus that lies dormant in a woman's body, causing her no problems or symptoms whatsoever, but, if a baby passes through the birth canal that is infected with Group B Strep without treatment it can cause many problems, including blindness, and death. In fact...you know how they fill a newborns eyes full of goup? That is the reason they do it. Anyway, when I was pregnant with Wesleigh, I tested positive for Group B Strep, and basically all that means is that you get 4 rounds of IV antibiotics while in labor before giving birth, then the pediatricians just watch the baby for any signs of problems...no big deal. So, anyway, they did my Group B Strep culture yesterday...we won't discuss the details of what that entails...but lets just say it is over. Regardless of the results, I will still be given antibiotics during labor, but the pediatrician monitors the baby differently if I test positive again.
The doctor decided that I didn't have to go in for an appointment next week, but then the next week he wants to see me, however he is on vacation so I have to see one of his colleagues. He told me not to go into labor while he was on vacation, and I told him just to get his vacation over with so that he is back before anything crazy does happen!! He checked my cervix and I am dilated to a fingertip...which translates to almost 1 cm. I am suppossed to call him on Monday so that we can set a definately induction date, which will most likely be on February 4th!!! Stay tuned for the definate info on that!! He absolutely does NOT want me going into labor by myself because he thinks that my labor will go fast, and he doesn't want me on the road in labor, even if I am only an hour and a half away now!! He feels very confident that when we induce it will go quickly and smoothly!! Yippee for that!!
So, I have approximately 26 more days of sharing my body with Ethan, then, it will be all mine again, FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!
Ethan is doing very well. He continues to grow right on target, has a heart rate of 140 bpm and is looking forward to his debut!!
Around week 35 in pregnancy they do a test/culture that is looking for a bacteria call Group B Strep. Basically it is a virus that lies dormant in a woman's body, causing her no problems or symptoms whatsoever, but, if a baby passes through the birth canal that is infected with Group B Strep without treatment it can cause many problems, including blindness, and death. In fact...you know how they fill a newborns eyes full of goup? That is the reason they do it. Anyway, when I was pregnant with Wesleigh, I tested positive for Group B Strep, and basically all that means is that you get 4 rounds of IV antibiotics while in labor before giving birth, then the pediatricians just watch the baby for any signs of problems...no big deal. So, anyway, they did my Group B Strep culture yesterday...we won't discuss the details of what that entails...but lets just say it is over. Regardless of the results, I will still be given antibiotics during labor, but the pediatrician monitors the baby differently if I test positive again.
The doctor decided that I didn't have to go in for an appointment next week, but then the next week he wants to see me, however he is on vacation so I have to see one of his colleagues. He told me not to go into labor while he was on vacation, and I told him just to get his vacation over with so that he is back before anything crazy does happen!! He checked my cervix and I am dilated to a fingertip...which translates to almost 1 cm. I am suppossed to call him on Monday so that we can set a definately induction date, which will most likely be on February 4th!!! Stay tuned for the definate info on that!! He absolutely does NOT want me going into labor by myself because he thinks that my labor will go fast, and he doesn't want me on the road in labor, even if I am only an hour and a half away now!! He feels very confident that when we induce it will go quickly and smoothly!! Yippee for that!!
So, I have approximately 26 more days of sharing my body with Ethan, then, it will be all mine again, FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!
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