Around Here: Week Fourteen {2018}

Wyatt's peas

Always stacking things

Flashback to Alaska

Flashback to our old life

Left Centralized Slowing on EEG

Generalized Slowing on EEG

Hosting... Easter at our house and having family in town for the first half of spring break. It was so fun to spend time with Josh's parents, brother & sister and nephews.  His aunt, uncle & cousins also joined us on Easter day, and it was great to see them as well.  Carly enjoyed spending time with our nephew Alvin who adores her, and the adults enjoyed playing Cards against humanity after the kids were in bed, which is so naughty, but so hilarious (seriously, so.much.laughter!)  There was lots of grandma time for the kids.

Celebrating... Easter in all the ways- dyeing eggs with the boys, hosting an egg hunt and filling Easter baskets with treasures for our kids.  This year we filled them with tic tacs, one small chocolate bunny, a color book, water bottles, swim goggles, a stuffed animal and some stickers.  The kids were tickled, and so was I, as most of it was purchased at Dollar Tree!  I also really enjoyed dressing Carly for the day, and getting my house ready for company.  I love an excuse to deep clean and tidy up.

Taking... out the giant hedge of bushes that lined the entire front & side of our property.  Josh, his brother and nephews worked tirelessly for two entire days over Easter weekend, cutting, digging and pulling the bushes out, bit by bit, until they were completely gone.  Then they took them, load by load, out to our cousin Januari's place, where she said Josh could burn them.  Josh enjoyed taking the boys out to her land where he grew up playing with his cousins on school breaks and during the summer.
Josh's dad also helped (a ton!) and moved a giant rock Josh wanted by the front door, and also moved mounds of dirt with his tractor to help level the yard for when Josh is ready to plant grass and put in a fence.  Josh's Uncle Paul allowed Josh to dump that excess dirt & rock on his property, which was another huge blessing for us.
So many neighbors have stopped by, saying what a good job Josh has done and how good it already looks.  It's nice for him to get accolades on all his hard work.  And boy are we grateful for all the help he had over the weekend from family.  Thank you all!!!

Grocery shopping... on my own, which was lovely (thank you, Carol!) while recovering from hosting Easter and having company.  The house was a mess, the fridge was empty and there was so much laundry to be done! Ain't that the way?!?  I also got nice break when Julie & Januari took Carly for a walk while the twins & Wyatt dyed Easter eggs.  So grateful for family who is gracious when this mama is running low on patience!

Replanting... Wyatt's peas as they continue growing.  We are still having occasional freezing temps, so we can't put them outside just yet, but they outgrew their egg carton, so we put them into red solo cups, where they are growing like weeds in the laundry room window!  I can't wait to get them into the raised beds outside.  They are going to do so well.

Heading... to Spokane for Logan's yearly neurology appointment.  He also had an EEG, which is a test that detects electrical activity in your brain.  It's his third EEG.  His first was after his original grand mal seizure (October 2016) and showed no abnormalities.  His second was in the spring of 2017, and showed centralized slowing on the left side, indicative of a seizure disorder.  And the one yesterday showed both centralized and generalized slowing, meaning his seizures, and where they originate, have changed.  This is why we've seen new petite mal (absent or "staring" seizures) lately (one in October 2017, one in December 2017 and two in February 2018) and this is also why his medication is not controlling them.  His current medication worked fine for centralized seizures, but is not effective for generalized seizures.
So we left the doctor's office yesterday with a new prescription for a drug that works on both centralized and generalized epilepsy.  We will very slowly work him up to an appropriate dose before slowly weaning him off his current medicine.  Possible side effects include dizziness, drowsiness and double vision in addition to a super scary rash.  So please, if you think of him, pray for him.  Being on two medications at the same time could be really exhausting for his little body, but we don't want to take him off his current med until he is fully on the new one for fear that he could have more seizures in the interim.
I was telling my mom yesterday after the appointment that I vacillate wildly between feeling so grateful that he only has epilepsy and that it's treatable with medication and feeling so frustrated that it's something he has to deal with at all and wondering why he has it and what caused it and wishing it would just go away. Kind of the same way I feel about Wyatt and his asthma.  I'm so glad we can manage it, but so frustrated that we have to.  I know there are other mama's out there who have it so much worse, and they give me strength on days when I struggle.

Loving... the twins matching last night after their showers.  They decided to wear identical clothes to bed and Logan even wore Jack's old glasses so their glasses would look the same.  They knew I would get a kick out of it, so they surprised me.  I could hear them in the hallway saying, "We look just the same!" Hahaha!
Since it's spring break, we also let them sleep together in Logan's bed, and it was sweet to see them sleeping together before we went to bed last night.  Their bond is just something else.

Playing... with friends during different playdates the week.  Knowing we had family coming the first half of the week, and Logan's neurology appointment the second half of the week, we planned the week to be a bit of a "stay-cation"- playdates, shooting with Josh, family movie night and (if the rain will stop) the skate park.

Remembering... our life in Alaska as Facebook shows me "On This Day" from 2012, 2013 & 2014.  So many memories of life in the village.  And of our sweet boys when they were so little!

Reading... To Kill A Mockingbird in preparation for reading Go Set A Watchman and enjoying it so much.

Feeling... exhausted after a week spent on the go, nonstop and up before 4am every morning except Tuesday.  Josh and I have joked that we're going to need a vacation from our vacation. Ha!

Looking forward... to date night tonight and to sleep this weekend.  I am really desiring some down time.

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