I pulled my tooth!!

Alyssa was so excited lost night! She,with the help of daddy, pulled her first tooth! Easton had to explain the whole tooth fairy thing to her. It was beyond sweet, but she still wasn't sure about all of it until she got up this morning and found money under her pillow. Now she loves the tooth fairy! I wasn't to sure how I felt about the whole ordeal. I mean after all she is my baby, and I think she is growing up too fast! Today we went and saw a couple of ships that are replicas of the Nina and the Pinta in which Christopher Columbus sailed on in 1942. The kids enjoyed it, and so did I! I love making them places and helping them to have experiences that they will hopefully remember a long time. I think experiencing life is just as important as it is to learn about it from a book. Research shows that children learn quicker and better if they can see and touch something. I think Easton will always know the names of those ships just because we went and actually saw them, toured them, and experienced them! Alyssa is behind in her cognitive development. She has a lot of trouble remembering her alphabet and her numbers. Spelling her name is not as easy for her as it is for others. Her focus is about ten seconds long. She learns so much better if we actually make a game out of it. As long as it is fun she is up for it! This is one reason I love being around children! They know how to have fun and be happy! Sometimes as adults we get so stressed out about our day to day life that we tend to forget how to have fun! God wants us to be happy! He wants us to be joyful! I'm mostly this way when I am with my babies! They are my heart!

Let them be little

From the words straight out of a country song, Let them be little,  should be our motto as parents. Alyssa has her first loose tooth! There will never be another first loose tooth for her. She is growing up way to fast. Easton is out growing his clothes so fast he looks like he is wearing capris, and for a boy that is not cool! Or so I've been told! Have you ever stopped to think how fast time flies? I mean didn't I just take my Christmas tree down!! Wasn't my baby girl small enough to fit in my lap? Life is short hasn't ever really meant much to me, until recently when I lost my grandmother. All the years I spent with her, loving her, hugging her, talking to her, just being with her, are over. When did I have that last hug? That last I love you? Or see the last smile on her face? Then more recently Brad having his wreck, totaling our vehicle, has once again allowed me to realize he could have been gone. From the injuries to his spine and neck, one wrong move before the helicopter arrived could have killed him.

Too many parents these days seem to rush their children to grow up. Telling them ,"Don't be so childish! Grow up! Quit acting like a baby! Seriously, why rush them? I know we want to raise independent, educated, offspring, but will you remember that first loose tooth and wish you could go back for just a second and see it in your child's little mouth full of baby teeth. Will you remember the last time you brushed those little baby teeth and wish you could again? Or the last time they came and crawled into bed with you just because. They have all their life to be grown up, but childhood is such a short trip. Help them with their hair, and their clothes, and their baths as long as you can. Cherish those moments, because all to soon they are gone. Lots of parents will say they wish! But years from now ask them again. I bet their response will be different. Alyssa has an imaginary daughter. Not friend, daughter. Her name is Fifi. She likes pink and purple, and wants to be a doctor when she grows up. All donations to her college fund are welcome!! Easton loves to play basketball, has  enough energy to run a solar panel, and still loves pizza! These are just a very few things I always want to remember. They fight like cats and dogs, but would take on an army to save each other.

Alyssa is teaching me patience. Patience to take the time and smell the roses. Patience to enjoy reading her a bedtime story every night. Patience to help her walk to the van in order to help her build the strength she needs to hopefully walk independately one day. Because of this new learned skill, I have come to realize I can wait for my babies to grow up. I can wait for them to be able to blow dry their hair without my help, or brush their teeth alone. The toys that lay scattered throughout our entire home aren't forever. One day their rooms will not be occupied with Barbie dolls and stuff animals. I've heard the saying empty nest syndrome, and I want to make sure that I can feel completely at peace with knowing that I cherished each moment with them. That I did not rush them out of my life, because right now they ARE my life!

Time does not stand still

Time does not stand still


I know it has been a REALLY long time since I posted. Reading back over my past posts made me realize I should post more often because it helps me to remember the small things I have forgotten. Alyssa is amazing! Easton is great! He is into basketball. She is into anything brother likes. She is 5 and has not had to have a shunt revision since Sept. 2011! Praise Jesus! Lots of things have changed in the last couple years. It's funny how we don't know the future, but suddenly realize it has crept upon us like dust on a hardwood floor. My little dog, Rowdy, who was like a third child, passed away on May 8th 2014. He was 16 years old. Easton took it so hard. Rowdy has always been in his life. Then just a few short weeks later the woman that meant everything to me died. My grandmother passed away on June 4th, 2014 after struggling for two weeks from a massive stroke. I was here at home and about 12:30 am I had a sudden urge to call her, but opted not to in fear I might wake her. She had been so tired and worn out from driving granddaddy to and from Tupelo twice a week for wound care on his legs. I had told them before they started this that I feared it wasn't a good idea. I knew it would be too much on them. Well, now I think about it every day. If I had just called her would things be different? Would she still be here? I can't answer these questions and may never know them, but I do know God is in control and have to leave it at that. It was extremely hard for Easton. I think more so than for me. A child loves so deeply the ones that care for them. He don't let it show, but as a mom I can tell.
Alyssa is doing really well with her school work. I decided to homeschool her. She is very smart and capable of learning, but requires a good bit of one on one. It also has to be fun. She learns better through song and experience. We watch a lot of abc songs, number songs, and her favorite chu chu tv shows. We also do lots of fun crafts with our letters. We go to the library every two weeks to get new books. We cook and follow recipes for learning math. She can sing the entire abc song now. She recognizes the Aa,Bb,Cc, Dd, Ee, J, Ll, Oo, Ss, and the Yy. She can write the ABCDELabcdel and Oo. She knows the sound of the ABCDEabcde and Ll. She knows the sight words go, can, is, the, and  is learning see this week. She displays signs of intelligence all the time in the things that she says.

Thank you, God, for the blessings in my lofe.

Baby Steps

If Alyssa has taught me anything, which she has taught me a lot, but one important thing she has taught me is patience. I have to be patient with her progress. For it isn't like any one else's. And it doesn't come with a timeline some therapist or neurologist made up. It comes on what I like to call Alyssa's time. She is nineteen months now. I can't believe it. She is really growing up too fast. Speaking of up, she is SITTING UP!!!! She still can't sit herself up from a lying down postion, but can from a propped position. She can sit there for as long as she wants to, which is sometimes not very long at all. She got AFO's for her legs, and for those that don't know what that is it is Ankle Foot Orthodics. They are really helping her strengthen her muscles in her legs and she can now stand up better. She can actually stand at a table for about 5 seconds all by herself. Of Course I am right there to catch her if she starts to break down. She will take steps holding my hands, but is still very wobbly in the trunk area. We hope to have a gait trainer for her soon. I figure it will be a little while before she can use it, but she may surprise me.
Another baby step she accomplished today was figuring out how to move forward in her walker. She has done it before, but wasn't sure how she did it. Today she figured out how to get her legs to push her forward instead of backwards. I got it on video for just a second.
She has been sick with a cold and man, what a Mama's girl she has been the past few days. She has actually converted to a Mama's girl for the past few weeks. And it doesn't matter how tired I am, when that word Mama, comes out of her sweet lips with that precious voice attached, I melt. I am puddy in her hands. She has started saying a few words better than she was. Daddy is coming out DaDa now instead of VaVa. She is making fishy sounds with her lips when you say the word Goldfish. She loves the Goldfish crackers. She loves the lights in the ceiling, but calls them flowers when a ceiling fan is attached. She is so much smarter than any body not around her much would give her credit for. She is the biggest clown too. Anything that can get you to laugh makes her day. She pulls Bubba's(Easton's hair) so hard it should be falling out, but he doesn't care. She aggravates him when they are in the car too. If he sits up to look out the window she is going to pull on his shirt and holler at him until he sits back so she can see him. He also tells her no no when she is trying to pull her arm out of the car seat strap, and now the only time she does it is when he is in the car, and then it is only so he will tell her no no. She teases him about it. She likes the Christmas tree, but doesn't seem to be overally excited about it. She has touched the lights and pulled at a few ornaments, and I am sure if she was mobile would give it heck, but for now is content to just look at it when we walk past. She still couldn't care less about crawling. We were given homework from therapy to work on her crawling. I have been moving her legs in the bicycle motion with her lying on her tummy. She tells me forever more what for, but I do think it is helping her to realize how she is going to have to move. I think she would just as soon walk than to ever crawl. Who knows? She may just do that.
As far as baby steps go, Alyssa, is definitely taking them. It seems like she isn't ever going to do something, but I remember when I didn't think she would ever sit up. And she did. So that is what I think about when I forget to be patient and wait for Alyssa time. I don't take anything she does for granted. Everything she does from smiling to sitting, from rolling to standing, and from eating to sleeping I enjoy every little thing about it. It has also taught me not to take anything Easton does lightly either. He is amazing. He loves Alyssa so much and her him too. He is the best big brother anyone could ask for. He was on the Special Honor roll at school, and he wants to learn his mulitiplication tables. He is only in second grade. He loves basketball, video games, and pizza. And I always want to remember these baby steps in his life too. Our children grow up too fast, and sometimes we whine about having to help them get dressed, or having to help them brush their hair, or having to fix them something to eat, or all laundry we have to do. Just take some time to breath, and during that time remember, It is only for a little while. Life is too short and I think we all need to slow down and perhaps progress on Alyssa time.

The sweetest voice

Alyssa is doing really well with her talking, and she knows a few signs too. Her favorite word is Mama, but she can say puppy, Bubba, VaVa (DaDa), Hi, Bye Bye, and she can sign love you, more, all done, music, and a few others words and signs. She can sit up for a while by herself now, but still can't sit up from a lying flat position. She can sit up from a propped position like off of a pillow. Her last shunt surgery is still holding strong, and we hope it continues to do so. I pray every day and night that her shunt keeps working and we don't have to make anymore dreaded trips to LeBonheur. The people at LeBonheur are amazing. I can't say enough about them. All the nurses and doctors are wondeful, and will go out of there way to make you comfortable. We went in one trip without anything with us. It was an emergency situation, and we didn't take a brush, toothbrush, shampoo, and some other things with us. They provided it to us happily. We forgot our phone chargers and one of the nurses had one for us to borrow. So like I said the hospitality is amazing there.
Back to the talking. My husband's father is in a rehab center right now because of a stroke. His left side was affected. He loves Alyssa and Easton so much. Well, today he was at his sister's funeral. Alyssa is sitting in my lap in the church, which is pretty quite during this time, and Mr. Gara rolls back in his wheelchair to see her. As soon as he is within her sight she says, "Hi, PawPaw," I think everyone must have heard her. It was the sweetest voice.
And when she says Mama, my heart melts. Everytime I hear it come out of her precious lips and see them press together to form the word, my heart melts. At that point I am puddy in her hands. It is the sweetest voice I have ever heard because we didn't know if she would talk. Her right side of the brain is what was affected the most. And the right side of the brain is where the language skills are thought to be built. Everyday she amazes me.

Gifts from God

I have a son named Easton, and most of his life has been healthy. He hasn't had to have anything except tubes in his ears and tonsils out. He crawled at 8 months old, he walked at 10 months old, and he ran by the time he was 13 months old and pretty much never slowed down. I'll admit he isn't the greatest eater in the world. He is probably the pickiest one, but as far as I know he is healthy. I thank God for that every day. I no longer take that for granted. It is a blessing that some people overlook. People that would rather be out drinking, partying, doping, or whatever else comes into their minds. People that give their children up on a whim, or beat them to death for asking for a drink of water in the middle of the night. The ones that don't want them and give them away because the weren't planned. Children are a gift from God. He puts every single one of them here on this earth for a reason. Healthy or not they are all here for a purpose and they are all human beings who deserve to be loved, cared for, and raised by responsible parents that wanted them to begin with.
I say all of this because my daughter has hydrocephalus. She has had three brain surgeries now, and she is only 16 months old. She has been put to sleep a total of 5 times in her life and two of those were yesterday. She is so amazingly strong. Tuesday was an ordinary day and she was fine. She laughed, played, giggled, ate, drank, and was as happy as any normal 16 month old baby. Tuesday night she went to bed around 9pm. At 1am we were  up because she woke up crying. It took us a little while to calm her down and get her back to bed. She was drawing her legs up like she had a tummy ache. Finally back to sleep about 2, but that wasn't the end of it. Thirty minutes later back awake and fussy again. She was in the bed between us and I raised her up to see if it would help her feel better. That's when she threw up all over me, the bed, and herself. Since I had been a little nauseous a few days before this I figured she had caught it from me. She seemed to ease up a little after this and slept for about three hours. Then it was back up really fussy again. We got Easton to school and headed for LeBonheur. The hour and a half trip seemed like an eternity. Alyssa got extremely fussy as we made it to hwy 55. She was in pain and couldn't quit crying. She kept putting her little hands up to her head and crying out. She rubbed and rubbed her little eyes till they were red as apples. We get to LeBonheur and through her discomfort she had to endure being weighed and measured and temperature taken in places no one likes. She had to be completely still for a CT scan to be administered and then x-rays to be taken. All the while not understanding why these strange people were holding her down. Not understanding why they wanted to hurt her. Especially when she had to have her IV put into her tiny little hands where her veins are hard to see and poke. Then be put to sleep for half hour for an MRI. And before surgery was able to begin she was uncontrollably screaming and crying from the pressure in her head. I feared it would cause her more damage. The neurosurgeon got on the ball and she was finally put to sleep yet again for an hour and a half for her third brain surgery. In recovery she opens her swelled little eyes and looks up at me and says in a week voice "Hi." Then a small fraction of a smile is sent my way. She closes her lids and rest a while longer. She didn't want to be touched at this point. Every time someone even me and daddy would touch her she would cry out in protest. She literally wanted to be left alone. Finally I started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her softly and she calmed down. We got back to our room where family was waiting anxiously to see her. She spoke to everyone with her little Hi. She says Hi all the time. Her favorite toy is Elmo and she tells him Hi a million times a day. We are home now. Only to hope that this time will be the last. Only to hope that this shunt revision will last her a lifetime. A LONG lifetime. It is so hard to see her go through so much and see her delays, yet I feel so blessed to be a part of her life. I thank God for her everyday, and hope he continues to let her remain in our lives for a very long time. I will never take being her mom or Easton's mom for granted. They are my Gifts from God. They are my heart outside my body walking around. I would do anything in this world for them. I can't understand why any parent wouldn't do that for their child. Be thankful when you are blessed with a healthy child, and if you happen to get blessed with a special one from above be thankful for that too. God chose me to be Alyssa's mom, and I wouldn't change that for all the other children in the world.

Baby Steps

Alyssa is doing better with her motor development. She is getting stronger in her legs and arms and some in her trunk area. She is sitting up straighter and for longer periods of time now. She has also started saying more than just Hi. She is saying Bubba for Easton and Puppa for Rowdy and BaBa for herself and her dolls. She still fights with her therapists. When they want her to do something is when she isn't going to do it come hell or high water. If they want her to move her hand a certain way she will snatch it back, and if they want her to do a certain sign she will look at them like they have grew a third eye and just smile. Yep, we are teaching her some baby sign language. She is doing very good with this, which surprised me a bit. She will do the sign for love you, mama, baby, more, and all done. I am working with her on drink and eat.
In other areas she loves swimming. She loves to get in the pool and will kick and splash as if she were crawling. She doesn't care if it is in her eyes or splashed on her head or even when Bubba does a cannonball. She will just laugh and keep splashing. I really think it is wonderful for her, and somewhat very theraputic.
Her shunt has continued to work, however we did have to have a revision of her tubing into her brain on May 2nd. That went pretty well. We went in on a Monday morning around 4 am. She had been showing some signs of irritability. Not really anything else. She was still eating and drinking her bottle, but she just wasn't herself. I don't know how to explain to anyone how we knew we just did. I mean there has been times we weren't sure, but this time we knew. She woke up running a fever and we headed to LeBonheur right away. After a series of shunt testing the neurosurgeon team confirmed that it was her shunt. Dr. Stephanie Einhaus did the surgery again, and as far as I am concerned is the best. She is a wonderful doctor and person. Before her surgeries she will come talk to you in the holding room and explain everything to you. Then she will ask you if you would like to pray. That is amazing, when so many people in this world might get offended at such a gesture, she still asks. Of course that means the world to us that a God-believing woman is the one trying and hopefully succeeding in saving our little girls life.
We caught the malfunction in record timing and no further damage occured. Alyssa was back to her old self again within a few days, and continues to improve daily.
This past Thursday we did take her for an MRI. The neurologist, Dr. McVicar, of the UT Medical group at LeBonheur, suggested for her to have at one year of age. So off we went. They had to sedate her. That was a little aggravating since that meant an IV. Alyssa has small veins and is really hard to get a line in, but this time the nurse that done it only took twice to get it. I complimented her highly. We still haven't gotten any results because the neurologist was out of town this week. I am to call Monday or Tuesday of next week. Pray for good results.
I want to mention a website that is trying to do a good thing for children with special needs. http://a4cwsn.com/ipads-in-50-states/ is trying to raise money for special needs children to get an ipad to help them with therapy. Also want to mention my page for donations to the hydrocephalus association. http://walk4hydro.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=477217&lis=0&kntae477217=9EB850B7D096404EA7DC52670116C5AA. Please consider donating a few dollars to this cause. There is currently no cure for hydrocephalus.