April, out like a Lion; May, in like a lamb...

...Or so we HOPE!!

I have to apologize for my last blog, I just re-read my madness and I'm going to blame the emotions for not being grammatical throughout the entire post!

I did notice that I promised my next post would be less dramatic and more uplifting, so here goes!

Since the last blog Darcy has been doing much better, which means the medicine is working once again.  Darcy had her EEG (4/19), which was amazingly fun for all (NOT).

 

 

Once the EEG was over she actually had an appointment already scheduled with her Neurologist so we zipped over to that, and of course Eric and I left with more questions and thoughts.  We were able to discuss some things but then a lot of this is trial and error, which being a parent to the patient is not fun at all.  You really just want it to be something that is in stone and will never change but obviously we have seen first hand that is never the case. 

 

Today (4/29) was another exciting day for this little nugget!  She got her foot braces!!

 

 

Aren't they the cutest!?  These bad girls are going to give her the support she needs to feel confident enough to stand and walk on her own... fingers crossed!  They didn't seem to bother her once they were on, but you could tell she wasn't sure how to maneuver with them walking.  She will get it!

Darcy also had her 18 month check-up, that's right she is already a year and a half!!  Where in the world have the months gone?  Her doctor is the best, seriously I'm sure everyone thinks that but every time we leave him we feel positive and uplifted.  He doesn't really say much, but he is so optimistic about her future and just loves both our girls so much.  When we see her Neurologist he is all about science and brains and stuff that is way over my head and I never leave as hopeful. Eric is always telling me that it is their job not to give us too much positivity because then if it doesn't happen then we blame them.  I get it, I so totally would blame them... who else would I blame... duh!

At the end of the day, our little girl is growing right on track and is very healthy!  We talked briefly on her diet and maybe trying to do a meal plan that would be beneficial for her and her seizures.  I'm excited to try this, if this is something I can do for her, then you are darn right I will be doing it!

 

The girls at their Dr appointment, they were both super excited that NO shots were given today!  We had thought Ruby would have to get her Chickenpox shot because school said she needed it before she could start, but since she was diagnosed with the chickenpox virus at 6 months the Doctor didn't feel like it was necessary so he wrote a note to the school district and explained everything.  Fingers crossed for that girl they except it and we don't have to go back for it after all!

 

 

Now, I feel bad that Ruby didn't get any BLOG time last entry so this girl is about to BLOW up the BLOG screen!!!

To start off, she is growing up way too fast! I know everyone says that basically everyday of their child's life but seriously there are days I feel like I'm talking to a girlfriend! (not ready for that, maybe in 20 years)

 

KINDERGARTEN!!!

 

Yep, that's right...I typed it!!  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this... why is it so hard to come to terms with this?  I mean it's not like I'm leaving her for the first time, she's been in daycare since she was 10 weeks old!  I'm just afraid that this is just another slide that is going to take me thru her childhood way too fast!  I mean KINDERGARTEN!!  Ok, so we had her Preview day just Thursday (4/28) and I held it together for the most part... only had to look up at the ceiling twice!

It was so awesome to go thru the school with her, to see all the stuff she is seeing for the first time and then we did lunch there as she would be doing.  Now that made it real.  I mean how is she supposed to do all that by herself?  It blows my mind how fast she will grow up from now to the end of May, as she will start the Summer School program then... so basically becomes a Kindergartener before really becoming a Kindergartener. 

Eric and I were really taking this whole Preview day in.  The two of us asking questions, Eric taking notes (still not sure what those said), and then giggling at the now Kindergarteners as they came in for lunch and were calling Ruby's class the babies! Now that was pretty funny. :)

 

 

Please look past my puffy cheek, Daddy thought taking a picture right when I took a bite was a good idea but Ruby looks adorable!

 

Not only is Ruby preparing for Kindergarten but she is also tearing up the YMCA pool with swimming lessons ever Saturday and then following that up with Soccer games!  She is definitely a Star on the soccer field.  I wish I had some photos or footage of her soccer skills, but trying to cheer and control a 1.5yo doesn't leave much time for photo shoots!  She has two games left, so my goal will be to get at least one GREAT action shot!  Eric has been the soccer coach this year, and probably the only year! (apparently his wife signed him up :-/)...but Ruby loves it and the other parents do too.  One even asked to be on his team again next year... so maybe his wife SHOULD sign him up again!

 

So, we will raise a glass to all the FUN and ADVENTURE we had in April and look forward to the CRAZINESS May has in store for us.

 

Xo
Breanne





Calling All Prayer Warriors

I can say that I'm not one that usually feels weak or defeated but lately I'm feeling both.  I'm close to a mental breakdown and can say that I've ever felt like this...oh wait!  I have!! Right after my first child... oh how quickly you forget those days.

We have had a couple of months with Darcy that have kept us on our toes.
Lets go way back... well February, but that seems like an eternity a go.

February, we made a lovely trip to the ER.  This particular weekend was a busy one, as we had company in town and all these plans to have a fun and light weekend, that is until Darcy's little seizures wanted to play too!  This weekend she had her longest seizure we had ever experienced...17 minutes!  Talk about the longest 17 minutes of our lives.  Seizures suck! Point Blank!  You and the victim are helpless and at the mercy of them... and they are wicked!
So, we went to the ER and had Darcy checked out.  The checkout for Darcy is your normal CT, X-ray, and IV (in the forehead of all places).  Everything checked out as far as her shunt, so luckily that was not causing her seizures, and really the only explanation we get at that point is that her low-grade fever sparked them and with her having a seizure it then decreases the effect of medicine.  So, there we are just increasing medicine again! 

Then we can just flash forward to March, because it wouldn't be a normal month if we didn't make a trip to the ER again!!  This time Ms. Darcy May was showing all signs that her shunt could possible be malfunctioning...vomiting for no reason (which to me means no fever or signs of flu), abnormally fussy (which for her is rare b/c she usually is pretty happy), and more tired than normal.  So we of course don't want to wait it out, so we head to the ER.  She again goes thru her normal routine steps of getting checked out.  Luckily this time they didn't IV her, that last one was a dozy and there was a lot of tears shed by baby and Mommy!  But again (and luckily) everything checked out great and it was just what we can guess as a stomach bug.

Now, here we are in April.  This is a Mother's breaking point, when you can't go a month without something happening to your baby and something that you have no control over!!
It all started two weeks ago, when we  noticed that she woke up with no movement on her left side (so arm and leg were not moving or carrying any weight at all).  The only was that she slept on that side wrong, b/c we didn't see anything that would have us think otherwise.  It took some time for the paralysis to wear off but it did and her day was normal, shoot even a week went by with everything being normal.  Then a cold hit Darcy (snot everywhere!) and a couple teeth decided they wanted to pop thru too.  JOY!  But for Darcy these little but not so pleasant hiccups multiply in her tiny head and cause more stress which then are trigger points for her seizures, so naturally she would start having them.  These particular seizures weren't like ones we have experienced with her before, and trust us she has been having these since she was three months old and about every ugly kind has shown their face at least once.  Which brings us to this week (my nemesis), she's had now a handful of episodes this week and tonight was another long (which leads to me to my breaking point).  I've been keeping her Neurologist up to date on everything, and he has ordered lab work to look at her drug levels now, an addition of medication to her existing meds and then an EEG (which will be next week).  Darcy is definitely the strongest most determined little nugget, and though I may be breaking she is still so strong and showing me that we don't quit! 

So, now you can get a quick run down of why I'm reaching out for Prayer Warriors!  Our little girl will get thru this, she always does but it definitely doesn't go without set backs and a lot of trial and errors from everyone on board.  I wish there was so much more we could do but like I said previously we are at the mercy of these UGLY, WICKED seizures!! 

I promise that my next post will be uplifting.  On a positive note:  Darcy was fitted for braces for her feet, and will be getting those at the beginning of May.  She will be wearing these on a daily basis to give her support as she is learning (and wanting) to walk!  They are the cutest little braces, Big Sister even picked out the pattern and strap colors so she will be stylin'. 

XO
Breanne

It's been awhile!

There has been so much going on, I can't believe that three months have nearly passed since the last entry.  I'm sure my "fans" are just distraught that I haven't been on here, ha ha.
I'm going to try to go back to October and start from there.

This is now OLD NEWS but we have moved into our new-beautiful house!!! That weekend was definitely one to go down in the books!  We had all these plans to get things moved in with minimal hassle and as less drama as we could but someone had different plans.
The Wednesday before we were to close on our house Ms. Darcy had an Ophthalmologist appointment in which they dilated her little eyes, well that stress then flared up her seizures again.
It wasn't just one or two seizures, nope our not-so-textbook baby had 19 seizures in three days!  So with the stress of moving we also had some added stress of trying to get these seizures under control.  Luckily again we had the best help/advice from our NP Amanda and by Sunday our little girl was back to her normal self (what a long weekend).

After move-in weekend was behind us we were moving on to Darcy's 1st birthday!  I'm pretty sure I was shooting for the moon when I decided to have her birthday party here at our house... oh yeah the one we had only owned for a WEEK!  But that definitely gave us motivation not to be sitting around, so we got everything unpacked and somewhat organized by the time the party was here.  We did have some amazing help from all our parents on move-in weekend so that was a huge bonus.
Luckily, Darcy's first birthday was a success and we enjoyed having everyone under our roof and sharing in on such an amazing day.

Then the following week I took a short Girl's trip to Vegas.  I can't say much, because you know "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," but we went out solely to see Ms. Britney Spears and of course she delivered.

Now on to November.  It was actually a quiet month, thank the Lord!  Thanksgiving was in Litchfield, which is always fun to see family and friends!  We enjoy going back and basically picking up right were we left off.  Ruby started swimming lessons, she had been doing dance and was doing well when she got into class but getting her to class was a struggle (which I'm not really sure why because she LOVES to dance around the house... if I had to guess it was taking directions on how and when to dance, she likes to dance to her own beat.). BUT... she loves swimming and has done so well with it.  Which, to me knowing how to swim far exceed knowing how to "technically" dance.  She just finished up this session and we have her signed up again in January.  Darcy, well she is literally into everything.  She is a carefree, put anything and everything in your mouth kind of girl, which is completely opposite of when Ruby was baby.  Ruby is Miss Conservative, never really doing anything that a normal baby would do, so having a polar opposite is definitely keeping Eric and I on our toes... oh and Ruby because she is our little watcher!

DECEMBER!!!  How can it be almost Christmas??  Seriously it is this week!!??  My December has flown by, being busy at work and then a non-stop house, definitely called for a few more beers and a little more Baileys!!
Then there is shopping for the main even, I thought I had a good start shopping and getting ready for this in November, but now that it is almost here I'm catching myself wondering what did I even buy?  Does this happen to everyone?  I seriously should have made a list of what I bought and then maybe I wouldn't be buying everything I see now!  And WHY are husbands so hard to buy for?  Oh maybe because my husband will go all year and not buy himself anything, and then when Black Friday and Cyber Monday roll around the guy gets a new wardrobe!!! WTH!?  I've done a lot of crafty things this weekend for gifts, which I love to do just never have time.

I don't see January slowing down much, we kick off the new year with Ruby's birthday, which of course I have yet to get anything started so this week after I feel like I cannot do anything else for Christmas I will be working on a birthday celebration.  And a CELEBRATION it must be, this girl has some HIGH expectations!!!  WOW.

Cheers Everyone to a Happy Holiday season and a Gloriously Blessed 2016...maybe my New Year Resolution will be to blog more (easier than getting into shape :-)) 

OCTOBER!!!!

I should probably start off by apologizing for not being a consistent blogger!  Once we get the girls down and the dust settles, I am pretty lazy.
I will try my hardest to pick it up and post more... though October may not be the easiest month for me to make this promise! (Hence the reason for the title of this particular blog.)
October!!!!  We have so much going on in October that I literally just sigh when I say the name of the month, October (sigh). 

So, fingers crossed they keep on pace and our beautiful new home will be finished the 15th or 16th.  I would get a pinky toe to make sure this happens!
We (I say we but it is mainly Eric) frequently visit the house, just to see all the stuff that is taking shape.  Literally everyday there is something new!  I get the pictures and it just makes me so happy to see all our ideas come to life (and actually look good)!
With the completion date coming, that obviously means move-in day will be following, which means packing up and shipping out of our oh-so fabulous apartment!  I can definitely say I will NOT be missing one minute in this apartment.  It has definitely made me more grateful for our house and I'm actually super excited to start packing and moving!!!

We also have a month packed of Doctors' appointments for Ms. Darcy.  Ms. D will see all of her favorites this month: Ped Neurologist, "shunt" Neurologist, Ophthalmologist, and Pediatrician.
We have decided to have her physical therapy sessions at school for the month of October, being that they are weekly now, it will just be so helpful for us and our work schedule to have them go to school and work with her.  Then once November comes and we are (I'm hoping) a little calmer then we can start at the house again.  We are so impressed with how much progress Darcy has been showing, I cannot wait for her doctors to see her and then also to see what else we can be doing to keep helping her soar! Plus, her first birthday is in ONE month, wow, I cannot believe this.  It seriously feels like yesterday that I anxiously awaited for her to pop out and bless our little family!
* I promise that I will follow-up on this paragraph at the end of October! "Pinky square" - Ruby's words

Speaking of Ruby, I cannot live that little firecracker out of our crazy month!  Ruby has started dance class on Thursday evenings.  We started it last month, and at first she was shy and just observed... that is what she told me the first night she came out of the class.  There must have been a little light that went off for the second class and she said she danced at dance class!  "Moves like Jagger"
Eric wanted to put her in soccer this fall and just missed the opening date but a day... I'm secretly happy he did.  We can all get back to a comfortable routine after October and I will feel more relieved to able to take on more activities!

I think I've hit on everything.  Say a quick prayer that our crazy October goes smoothly and my next blog is raving about all the great things that happened (and happened with minimal chaos)!

It's so close I can touch it!!!

Our Future Home

As most of you know we are temporarily in an apartment, and LOVE IT... hahaha NOT!!!
But I'm stressing temporarily because I am literally counting down the days until we can settle into our new home. 
This is such an exciting time for us, and it is so much fun to do with a 4 year old... I'm being serious.
Ruby is so animated every time we go and check out the progress of the new house. 
When they started moving dirt she was completely freaking out, and then the next big excitement was when they poured the outline of the foundation.  Watching this thru her reactions is priceless.
We are trying to document (take pictures) every time we go so we can remind her in the end what kind of process it was to make our new home.
Here are some of the pictures we have taken:

 

 

 

It's getting REAL!!!!   Yay!!!

Little D's Journey: Pt. Five

I feel like so much has been going on lately that I've not thought once about blogging... I'm going to take it as a good thing because it has nothing to do with any bad that has kept me from it!

Darcy has been doing her vision and physical therapy and every time they come they both are extremely excited on how much she has changed and how much she is evolving/growing!  This is music to our ears, we love to see and hear how well she is doing. 

We are completely blessed to have this little baby in our family.  She is such a happy, good baby.  When I say she is only upset when she is hungry and tired it's the truth, because the other 90% of the time she is happy! 

At SEVEN months here are some fun things about Lil D:

Her new tricks:  rolling over, loves being on her tummy (her arm strength is increasing daily), found her feet, grabs for toys, and is looking for you when you are talking to her. She spent a few days with her Nana and now she likes to shake her head. (ha)
She is still behind for her age, but it makes it that much more special when it happens. :-)

Darcy loves to eat, we have definitely expanded her food and have started giving her more throughout the day.
Food: squash, sweet potatoes, pears, peaches, bananas, avocados, apples, and cereal.

She has been seizure free since April 19th!!! Hopefully that day will never show its face again.

Once the weather starts to warm up will we utilize our pool and both girls will become little fish!!

 

I almost forgot to report on Darcy's eye appointment!  Her first vista to the Optometrist was when she was three going on four months and then she just went back for a follow up at almost 7 months and her eye Doctor was over the moon on the difference she has made!  She said that she was 100% better than the last time she was in, she wasn't tracking anything and really had a hard time focusing on anything.  This time Darcy was tracking the light and toys and would focus on her while she was talking, it really was a great follow-up appointment.  She also said that they were going to finally get a Pediatric Ophthalmologist and that she wanted to talk to him about Darcy and see if there was anything else he thought he could do to help her, and if so then she would refer her and she could have another set of eyes (no pun intended) looking at her!  This is such great news for her.  The Dr also gave us more things to do with her to help strengthen her sight and continue to make progress.

Blessed I tell you!!!  

Little D's Journey: Pt. Four

It has been a little time since I have last updated you on our little D Bug.  I feel like we have been non-stop since the move... nothing has slowed down or felt like normal until this past weekend.
The prior weekend, April 17-19, was a complete whirlwind that it's really hard to even begin to find the starting place!
Guess I will start with that week.  Darcy had an appointment with her Neurologist to follow-up with her seizure medicine, and he seemed to think everything was going well and even wanted us to up her medicine a little b/c of her little growth spurt, plus he gave us a prescription for an "emergency" medication just in case she were to have a prolonged seizure or multiple seizures in a given period that we felt she would need medication control.  His words to us were, "I'm sure you will never need it, but b/c she is old enough I will go ahead and write a prescription for it." *Famous last words*
Then on Friday, April 17th (our 5 year Anniversary), Darcy had an appointment with her shunt Neuro Team and they were just raving how well she was doing compare to last time and they were just blown away with her progress!  We left feeling so excited and finally seeing the light... only to have the wind taken out of our sales hours later!
We (Eric and I) were getting ready for our lunch date when I received a phone call from the Daycare that Darcy was having a seizure like no seizure that had seen before and that it was lasting or lasted more than 5 minutes.  I told them to watch her and let me know if anything changes, and that I would call her Dr and then call them back.  I was now in the car with Eric and received another call from Daycare that she was having another seizure and it was already over 5 minutes, they said they felt like we should come get her and before they even said that we both said we would rather go there then to lunch!  So on our way to get her I called all her Dr.s and our favorite NP Amanda was the only one that called me back quickly.  She suggested we take her to the ER so they could look her over and if she were to have another one then they would be able to help her.
So we went straight to the ER, where she snapped back to her beautiful smiling self and made everyone else in the ER look like they were literally on deaths door.  We had not gotten the "emergency" med filled yet, as we had not thought we would need it as soon as we did.  So they looked her over monitored her and then released us a couple hours later.

Darcy at the ER 4-17-2015

 

 

She seemed to be doing better thru Friday night and Saturday, and of course we talked ourselves out of getting her "emergency" medication.  Trust me I've learned my lesson, I will not ever think everything is good and not have a back up!

Saturday night went to bed fine, and then at 1:30 Darcy woke up for her normal feeding, while I was feeding her she began to have a seizure.  I was trying to get her to come too when I realized she was snapping out of it, I called for Eric and by the time he came in I'm going to say she had already been having a seizure for 10 minutes and still wasn't showing signs of stopping!  Eric was going to go get her "emergency" med when I told him if he didn't take her to the ER that I was going too.  I just felt that the best for her would be going there to get the proper medication and fast.  Eric rushed her to the ER and as he was getting her out of the car he could tell she was having another seizure, so he grabbed her and ran inside and they immediately took her back and put an IV into her little arm and administered medication.  He said that after a minute or so she had come out of it and was just sleepy.  Unfortunately, it was a Saturday night/Sunday morning so all the crazies were in and out of the ER, so once they got Darcy under control they had to attend to them.  Eric said at one point he had an EMT in the room with him, they were running short staffed.  They did a CT on her to make sure nothing had changed since her MRI a few weeks prior and luckily nothing showed up.  They were in contact with her Neurologist the entire time, and he asked for her to be admitted for monitoring while they increased her medication.  Apparently the only thing they could find is that the level of medication in her blood wasn't high enough to stop seizures.  They upped her meds and we all hung out in the hospital Sunday afternoon.  Luckily she was doing well that they discharged her around 5:00 and we all got home in time for supper and bed!  **We ALL were extremely tired!**





I'm pleased to say (and hope I'm not jinxing her) but she has been seizure free for over a week now!

I can also write positive stuff...I promise!  Darcy has started her Vision Therapy and her Physical Therapy.  This excites us!!!  We have noticed her growth the past few weeks without the therapy that we cannot wait to see how much she grows and blossoms with her therapy.  I will keep you all posted on how she is coming along, so far we are very pleased with both therapist and feel like this is going to be so GOOD for our little D - bug!!
Thanks for the continue prayers, we feel them and they are much needed and appreciated!!
Love to all!