Some Highs...Some Lows...

So, let me just start by saying that I am currently studying the book Battlefield of the Mind with my BBS girls because....well....my mind is a complete and total battlefield and I am currently losing the battle....IT IS AN AWESOME BOOK..I highly recommend it for those of you like me who struggle in this area....anyway this weeks chapter happens to be about positivity :) Totally something I need to hear and reading the chapter I was like...YES.....I totally needed this....well come to find out...I needed it a whole lot more than I thought because the same night as I was washing dishes my husband tells me....and I quote..." I have something to tell you and you are not going to like it"....now any time my husband begins a sentence with that i always think first...what did I do...and second....he better not be going to China.....well......He's going to China....AGAIN....in the next 3 weeks for 5 or more days....UGH!!!!!! HUGE shot at the old positivity moniter......so I am trying to stay "happy" "content" and "prayed up :)"....Good thing is that once he goes on this trip...he won't have to go again until next year...maybe early January next year but at least next year.... I AM THANKFUL FOR MY HUSBANDS JOB....I have to keep telling myself that...no matter how hard it gets. I'm such a wimp when it comes to stuff like this...I'll admit it fully that I have a weakness in this area.....so....I'm clinging to Jesus, friends and family support and time to change me into the more independent less stress-filled single mother at these times....So that was a low....
Now for the high....I have Lucy and Ella's quilts almost done!!! WOOO HHOOOOO...I've only had the material for about 2 years but hey....no looking back now.....I just have to do a few more snips and wash them and they will be finito....My hope is this weekend to get the paint and the last minute things like mattress' and curtain rods and then hopefully soon....we can begin the renovation :) :) So I am really excited about all that.
Second high.....NO SEIZURES FOR LUCY FOR 2 WEEKS!!! YES!!!! She's doing better on the meds and is not so emotionally distraught....excellent for Keith and I...one downer is I still can't get her to eat very well but hopefully once she's fully adjusted that will even out.
She has PT tomorrow morning and Speech and PT next week but no OT for three weeks......so mommy and daddy have to kick home therapy into high gear. I have a plan to have morning therapy...afternoon therapy and evening therapy and work on a few things at a time so as not to overwhelm her because lets just say her therapy in the morning (which is just to get herself dressed...which is incredibly difficult for her because of her lack of ability to manuver her hands) wears me out!! It is a fight the whole way...we try sticker rewards and that seems to be inspiration but man.....she breaks down and cries and gets frustrated and wants me to take over...it's hard for this mommy not to just want to jump in or spank her bottom for being so whiny....but I take deep breaths and just try and be patient and eventually she does it.....but as you can see...this whole ordeal (sometimes taking up to 1/2 hour just to put on underwear and pants) wears us both out and it doesn't work to fly right into another "therapy" right away...so anyway...that's my plan...we'll see how we do!
I think that's all for now...our lives will be crazy the next few days with me working ALL day on Friday...(morning hospital--evening auction)...doing chores at Mom and Dad's (hopefully no disasters this time) while they are visiting Brad and Jana and keeping up with Lucy's appointments and therapies....if you are praying for Lucy on Tuesday we meet with the geneticist to do some genetic testing and evaluation...hopefully it all goes well...I think all 3 of us (keith, me and Lucy) will have to be stuck!! We might all be crying at the end of this appointment :) :) :)

Highlights ...

So, most of you have heard that last week was a VERY emotional one with Lucy's seizures, sleep deprivation EEG and then diagnosis...I am looking forward to this week not being quite so traumatic...:) Anyway, Lucy is doing well. The first few days on the medication were horrendous....seizure medication is really scary stuff...it really can change a childs personality..which is scary since Lucy is so sweet. The good thing is that this med is extremely mild and usually only during the "faze-in" of the med is when the child is emotionally extreme....which Lucy was...like I said ..the first few days she was NOT herself at all and I thought....this is NOT going to work. She was like a woman PMSing or a anger ridden menapausal woman...I'm telling you it was HORRIBLE. She screamed and cried, disobeyed...non-stop...literally...there was a brief period on Sunday when we were with family that she was incredibly quiet and "out of it" a bit...but on the way home...she kicked it right back in...Sunday got so bad that in the middle of what I can only describe as an hour breakdown....she ended up peeing her pants (which she hasn't done in like 6 months) then we put her in the tub to calm her down and she pooped in the tub....(which again she hasn't done in longer than 6 months) crazy stuff....but thankfully Monday morning she awoke as a new little girl much more like her usual stuff...I just hope when we up the dosage on Friday she doesn't freak again....scary...anyway other than that she is doing well.
Monday morning Gideon was off for Presidents Day so we rushed over to the neighbors to see thier new puppy (it's a trend in our neighborhood :) Only their's is a little black lab....so cute...anyway the kids loved him and now Gideon says he wants a dog like that....I'm thinking..."buddy....we have this wonderful little pup at home that rings a bell to go out and pee and we don't have to worry about it that much anymore....and you want to start all over....I don't think so....." Anyway...at least he can go over with Max and have play dates...or more like Chew time for the lab :) Also on MOnday...while talking to the kids at lunch I discovered that none of them had ever heard of or tried a Twinkie or a HoHo...in fact they couldn't stop talking about them and laughing over the words...so while Lucy was at therapy I bought some for them to try (nothing like introducing them to major sugar treats :) Well.....I had a twinkie (it's been forever...I had to see if they were still good) and they had HoHo's...and they didn't even like them!!! I was shocked...and yet pleasently surprised....I guess I don't have to worry about them begging for the completely unnutritious treats in the future....
The last few days I have been just trying to catch up on stuff around the house and work on the quilts for the girls beds...Keith is going away for a few days here and hopefully I can get these things closer to being done so that we can start with the girls room renovation in the next few weeks...I need to get Ella out of the crib...my kids for some reason are not the crib livin kids that most children are at that age....they want out...and get more and more irritable at nap/bedtimes until we do the switch...so hopefully soon we'll be able to switch them....then we'll have a whole other set of issues :) :)
Hope everyone is doing well!

Definetly not Disappointing....

This week has turned out to be exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be. Let's just say Keith being in China is rough on me and I totally expected it to be tough until today but luckily relief came in the form of my husband on Sunday night...3 days early! We had gone to little Walter's b-day party in Maryland with my parents on Friday afternoon. We drove 4 hours on Friday and then stopped at a hotel where the kids got to swim and run around and eat pizza. It was a good time. Then, the next morning we attempted the 4 hour journey on to Fulton....however....we got stuck around Hagerstown in a really bad snow storm...there were people in the ditch all over the place and even the main highway 70 was not cleared! Scary stuff.....it normally takes an hour or hour and a half to get to Fulton from Hagerstown....it took us 3 hours.....we were suppose to get to Drew and Melinda's at 130 we got there around 430....crazy....needless to say when we got to the house the kids were READY to get out of the car and so were we. We had a great time at the party though....it was really neat. There was a Korean Pastor who prayed and gave a message and lead hymns all in Korean....Ella was a little freaked out (most of the people there were Korean or could understand Korean) anyway with all the different language she was quite uncomfortable and clung to me most of the evening but it was a really neat ceremony. Then, my brother, Melinda and Walter dressed up in authentic Korean dress and took pictures. After that they laid a whole bunch of bible verses on the table rolled up as scrolls and the one Walter chose first was dubbed his "verse for life". Then they put a whole bunch of different items on the table (not sure of all their meaning) and he chose his "destiny" ...not sure if I'm correct about that...all I know is he chose the ball. After that, they took some family shots and then we had a Korean feast....for all of you who know I LOVE different foods...I was in heaven..... They had korean beef, kimchi, kimchi salad, another noodle salad, egg/crab cake things , shrimp, veggies and rice desserts. Most of it was Amazing and I have to have my sister in law teach me how to make it! Yum Yum Yum. My littlest brother came from Maryland on the other side...after we were done eating....he was suppose to be there on time...however the regular 3 hour trip took him and Jenelle 7 hours!! CRAZY!! Anyway they ended up spending the night so the house (though large) was packed. I slept with the girls and Gideon camped out on a sleeping bag on the floor. It was a good time. Sunday we packed up and left for home. The kids were amazing on the trip. The plan was to meet Nancy at the house with Max when we got home...so when we pulled in the drive and put up the garage door and someone walked out with Max I at first thought it was Nancy....but then as the garage door came up....it was Keith standing there....I was in total shock....I didn't recognize him at first and then I just started bawling...he had a rose in his hand and I just kept saying..."What is going on....what in the world". He wasn't suppose to get home until today at 300 in the afternoon. Him and Doug just got done with everything in record speed and decided to surprise their families...and I LOVED IT!!! So needless to say I've been kinda ridin high since that...God is so good.
Monday at Lucy's speech eval we got some awesome news. She has issues articulating which we knew and that may be contributed to either numbness or lack of muscular strength in the mouth but we were not sure about her processing skills. They did an eval on her and she scored AWESOME!! We were so excited. Her processing skills were at a 5 1/2 year olds level!!!!!! Finally Lucy is ahead of the game on something......I haven't been this happy about Lucy's prognosis in a long time!!!!! So we have a smart little girl....the therapist said it could be just the day but that she didn't think there was anything wrong with Lucy's brain....just her ability to articulate.!! Great news....
The good week continued last night with the premier of my obsession LOST!!!! Woo Hoo! In the first 15 minutes I thought.....great....this is going to be so stupid and cheesy....but it just kept getting better and better and now......I am fully engulfed in the lives of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Jin, Sun and the rest of my family (hahahahahah) I am so pathetic....but.....it will sadly all be over in a matter of months....what will I do on Tuesday nights then??? Probably watch Flashforward :O)!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!!! Love to you all!!