We've had a good Christmas. The girls have had some great naps as you can see, and Brodie has been full of 'beans', just bouncing around everywhere.
His favorite gift was the Nerf guns and target vests from 'Uncle' Cam! I was happy to see the guns came with protective goggles!!!
We finally found a van. Alex flew to Regina on his birthday to pick it up. It's almost exactly what we had before....not exciting, but good enough.
Brodie still asks to hold the girls sometimes...as you can see, Ashley is a little big for him!
Hope is definitely doing better. We went out to Killarney this weekend to celebrate Christmas with my family. Hope did not vomitt at all. She coughed and sputtered in the carseat, but we suctioned her as needed, and the drive went well.
Christmas is coming. Brodie is excited, Alex is too sick to care and I'm trying to be balanced. Ashley is doing great, she got over her cold in a day. Hope is looking much better too. She was awake and almost smiling for a couple hours yesterday. This morning she's awake too, and she hasn't been coughing yet this morning. So, I'm guessing that she's better. I'm never too sure with Hope.
This is Ashley at Christmas 2005, she was 10 months old. Alex and I were discussing whether or not Ashley was ever as bad as Hope is now. You can see her puffy face and arms in the photo, but what I remember is how floppy and lifeless she was most of the time. She got passed it and we're hoping that Hope will too.
We finally found a stroller that would work for Hope. It has the length she needs, easy fold-up, lightweight, and most important...the seat reclines so that Hope can lie down. I was happy to see her off the couch yesterday and in the kitchen with me!
Brodie made a few cookies yesterday, and Hope got to join in the fun. Sort of...she started coughing and then went to sleep!
Tonight we will travel to Brandon for Christmas with my Mom's family. We'll be able to bring Ashley back with us. We almost bought a van yesterday and then backed out. It was a seven passenger, and we decided we definitely need an eight passenger. So, we still have a rental. We were happy that Autopac decided the other driver was 100% at fault, so I don't have to pay my deductible. Yippee.Here's a cute little video taken in March of 2008. You can see Brodie showing Hope his hockey cards. Although Hope doesn't seem to focus on Brodie, she was always excited when anyone was around her. So even if she's not looking at you, she would be smiling at you.
Hope is still having a hard time. She did not tolerate her formula today, but she did keep down some fluids and her meds. She's still having wet diapers too.
A little snapshot of Hope at 6 months old...
Unfortunately, Hope started vomitting again last evening. This is the fourth episode, and although it's easy to say she's done this before, I'm starting to feel the heavy feeling of a downward spiral for Hope. Hope and Ashley are still with Mom, and I'm considering how I could go bring Hope back to me. Every movement causes Hope to vomitt or heave, so I'm pretty sure that a 2.5 hour car ride would not be an option right now. Mom will do a great job, but it's painful not to be there. I'll figure it out.
My neck is healing well, as long as I don't do anything! Luckily Mom was here last week to help and then she took the girls home to her place. Yes, I let both my little cuddley girls go. It's probably the only way that I won't hurt myself. So I'm home alone during the days, and Brodie is getting fantastic attention in the evenings. It's not a bad thing.
Mom is loving it, of course.
We have been so lucky to have incredibly generous friends and family. Lots of help and support. Mom and Dad are here right now (working hard as you can see!), doing a great job of keeping me away from the lifting. It's a huge relief to have them here right now. We had a lot of running around today with police reports, and MPI reports and appointments. It looks like we'll have to find a van pretty fast. Our van is definitely a "total loss" and once we are given an offer (which will happen tommorrow or the next day), we are no longer provided with a rental vehicle. So Alex is busy scoping out the options.
As you can see, I have a photo of Brodie too. We had a little photo shoot here the other weekend, because I didn't want the hassle of going to Sears. It was good to get the pics done at home and cost effective too!
Hope is doing better, we're just waiting for some results to see if she has a UTI. I'm healthy again and I'm on my way to work tonight for a night shift. Have a great day everyone!
Hope is doing better, she only threw up once yesterday. She's coughing a lot today, but it's probably related to secretions. Ashley never got sick, and as you can see...she still gives us wonderful smiles.
I know it's been a while, I had meant to update this blog on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was sick, and now Hope is sick. She's been vomitting since yesterday, same as last time. She has horrible retching and vomitting that leads to puke that is full of old blood (likely because all the vomitting causes little tears in her esophagus). She hasn't kept any meds down of course, not even a tiny little bit, she just pukes up everything I put in her tube. I'll just wait it out, same as before.
Ashley didn't see to mind trying on the other care bear costume...
We made some interesting pumpkins on Friday night...
And this is the costume that Brodie wore trick or treating last night.
That's it, I've got to run. Another day at work.
Ashley fell asleep in her stander today. I was amused so I thought I would take a pic and share it with you. Brodie stayed home from school because he was sick on the bus yesterday. Today he is completely fine, and keeps telling me that he feels 'really good, good enough to go to Boo at the Zoo'. Interesting. 
So, Brodie had a fun day at home today. He was excited to play Lego with Ashley, our respite worker. Ashley and Hope enjoyed the sounds of Brodie at home.
When we got there, Callista and Brandon were excited to see the girls. We got them settled and went on our way.
We had some fun with Brodie at Fun f/x and then had a movie night. We were happy to be able to sit and watch the movie without getting up to change diapers, or stop to give meds. The next morning we drank coffee while listening to Vinyl Cafe, and Brodie sold the pumpkins that G&G Allen had brought in from the farm.
We were left with three pumpkins at the end. Not bad.
This morning we took Brodie to his hockey game...then Church...then breakfast at the Jolly Mug! On the way home we commented that it's a good thing we don't get breaks like this very often, because we become rather lazy when the girls aren't around!
Have a great weekend everyone!
Ashley is smiling this morning. I think she's excited to go to Brodie's school. I know Brodie is excited. The first thing he mentioned when he sat up in bed this morning was, "Mommy is coming to school today!". I'm going to help with the hot lunch program, and the girls will come with me. The kids get a hot lunch once every two weeks. It's a fundraiser for the Parents Association.
Vienna (my niece), was fascinated with Hope's blanket. She has fantastic smiles!
This week is flying by. The girls are fine and Brodie's at school right now. I'm off to work this weekend and I think Alex is going to build the fence. Hope it doesn't rain.
Hope has a better time in the sitting position some days. Check out her cute little recliner. It gets sad to see her lying on the couch all the time, so we get a little excited to have her in her chair when she is handling her secretions better. More seizures create more secretions, so some days when she's having a 'plethora' of seizure clusters (more than 20), then we let her rest more and try not to elevate her head at all. The days when she isn't seizing as much, we can do more with her, and she appears to enjoy it too.
We had an early 'Thanksgiving' get together here on Wed with Alex's family. The kids loved the attention. You can see GG and Grandma Joan sitting with them...
I just woke up from my sleep (I worked another night shift last night), and now will start planning for our trip out to Killarney tommorrow. We'll spend Thanksgiving with my family. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
All is well here. Both girls are healthy and doing fairly well. Hope hasn't kept up with the smiles, and her seizures have increased, but she still has some fairly awake moments that we enjoy.
I was waiting to see if the smiles would turn into a seizure, but they didn't. As I smiled at her, she almost smiled bigger. It was wonderful and it reminds me of how she used to smile up until last October. Hopefully these smiles are here for real, and not just a one day occurance.
Hope started vomitting yesterday morning and hasn't stopped. She hasn't kept any meds down or food or water since yesterday morning. This morning she's vomitting old blood, which seems to be the normal course for her. Her stomach keeps heaving even when there is nothing to expel, and I'm sure this causes the bleeding. She doesn't have a fever, and no one else is sick or has been sick, so I'm not sure what's going on with her. 
Hope is definitely trying to smile today (check out my attempt to hold up her head and take a pic at the same time). I think she's been enjoying the extra attention she gets, now that Brodie is gone all day. Her smiles are very quick, and you'll miss them if you don't know what you're looking for, because only the right side of her mouth will 'quirck' up for just a second. But I know she's trying to smile and that's what counts. Good job, Hopey!
Brodie and Ashley enjoyed some playstation fun with Daddy on Saturday. This morning I took the girls to see the pediatrician, and make sure there are no infections lurking. Urine samples were sent for both girls, and we swabbed Hope's tongue to check for Thrush. Ashley is doing well. Hope is still pretty good, with moments of 'alertness', where she almost smiles and her eyes are open. Hope still cries for a little bit in the evening most of the time, which is why I thought I would get her checked out. Nothing was found, so I have nothing to fix, which means we cuddle her and hope the crying doesn't get worse.
Brodie enjoyed a lot of combining and trucking. It was convenient that the semi, which Grandpa was driving, had a little bed for Brodie to play lego on. Here you can see Brodie with Alex in the combine (can you believe that it's green?!!, I grew up with the red machinery of course).
Each morning Alex would leave for the field and Brodie would protest. He thought he should be out there all the time. I enjoyed keeping him in the morning, it was so cute to see him play with his cousins. We also enjoyed a few meals out in the field...
Hope is different these days. When we started the antibiotics, we both noticed that she perked up and seemed much more alert and responsive. Unfortunately, with that alertness, we encounter the crying. She's had five sad, tearful evenings in a row (it is just a gentle sobbing, with a rather distressed look every now and then, which lasts about an hour). It's so sad to see her cry and not be able to do anything about it. I'm wondering if we'll have to go back up on the clonazepam. We'll see.
