yum-o!

Yesterday was feeling like Fall, so what better way to celebrate Fall than with a trip to enjoy some yummy fresh donuts and coffee to warm up?!
The girls loved it, especially Addison. Donuts = Happiness for Addy!

the fun

After the presents and cake and ice cream we all went outside to enjoy more fun. Lots of pool time with many tricks down the slide and off the diving board.

Cousin Reilly taking her turn down the slide.Next up is cousin Reagan.
AHildy, AJenny and Nana watching all the fun.
URusty surprising UKenny and taking him into the pool before UKenny was quite ready with Papa looking on.
Reags.
Addy loves dumping water out of the pool almost as much as swimming in the pool.
Reese taking a break from the pool and playing house with Mawmaw.
Cleaning up the dishes in the playhouse.
UBen and ACindy took on cousin Tyler and Chad in some cornhole game action.

Addy tried out her modeling poses... lean up against the fence.
Leg up against the fence, eyes shyly turned to the side...playful little tongue.
UMatt taking Reese for a swim.
Watching cousin Reags on the crocodile (or would that be an alligator? Chad?)
Reese thought she was ready for the diving board. I wasn't convinced.
Birthday girl.
And her older sister.
Boat trip with a beginning driver.
And now a more experienced driver.
Cousins! Gabi with Presley and Addison.
Thanks everyone for coming over to help Addison have the best ever 3rd birthday party! A special thanks to Mawmaw and Pawpaw for letting us have the party at your house. I think it was a success.

party like a 3 year old!

August 9th, my little Addypaddy turned 3! We had sort of a last minute venue change for Addison's party this year. We had planned on having it at our house like normal, but when we heard the weather forecast (highs near 90) and got an offer from Mawmaw and Pawpaw to move the party to their house, we couldn't resist. We knew the kids (and parents) would enjoy being able to swim with the temperatures so high.

First there were gifts... Next there was a little singing. And some blowing out of candles. And of course some cake and ice cream!Throw in a few cousins.Did I mention the cake and ice cream?Lots and LOTS of cake and ice cream!
And I'd say you call that a party!

again...

She did it again... :(

Reese had another seizure almost 2 weeks ago, on a Monday. This time it was at home with us. We were just getting ready to walk out the door to take Addison and Presley to the eye dr. when Reese fell in the kitchen. I was in the other room packing up a bag to take and I heard Chad ask her if she was ok. I turned around to look at her and immediately knew she was going to have a seizure by the look in her eyes. Chad very calmly laid her down on her side and told me to start timing it. I told him I was going to call 911, but he reassured me I didn't need to yet, just time her. (We only need to call 911 if her seizure lasts over 5 minutes.) Thankfully it was over in a little over a minute. When she stopped, Chad picked her up and her head just flopped back. She had no muscle control. She was super hot as well. He laid her on the couch and I grabbed the phone and went over to her. While I was waiting for the Dr. to get on the phone Presley and Addison came over to us on the couch. I told the girls to start praying for Reesey because she wasn't feeling well. Addison started rubbing Reese's arm and saying, "It's ok Reesey, Addy's here." :)

The Dr. wanted us to come in so he could check her out. (Our pediatrician was on vacation so we saw another Dr. in the practice.) Reese was very tired and slept a little while waiting for the Dr., but by the time he came in the room, she was up and walking around. He checked her over and asked lots of questions (as did we). By the time we were done, Reese was loving on Dr. H. She was laying her head in his lap. Chad and I really felt like he explained everything he knew that was happening. In fact Chad mentioned that he bets this Dr. is always running late, because we felt that he was very thorough. (Which is a great thing - the thorough part, not the late part.) Dr. H wanted us to get an MRI to make sure the EEG and CT scan didn't miss anything. We were able to get squeezed in the very next morning, Tuesday. The hard part was that she could only have about 5 hours of sleep the night before and then of course no food or drink several hours before. For a girl who is used to 12+ hours of sleep at night, this wasn't very fun. Chad and I kept her up late (with Hil's help) and then kept setting the alarm clock and getting up with her throughout the night. The goal is for people getting a MRI to be very sleepy - Reese met that goal. :) It only took the lowest dose of a sedative to put her to sleep, although she did get very mad trying to fight going to sleep.

Chad and I stayed in the room with her during the test. It was LOUD! We had to wear earplugs and it was still loud. The test was a little over a 1/2 hour. It was so sad seeing little Reese laying on the table with this huge machine. She ended up waking up (moving around) with about 40 seconds left. Thankfully the dr. said he had enough that we could just stop. We were already scheduled to go to our dr. on Thursday for her 15 month well-visit. Her dr. agreed that she is developing completely normal, meeting all her milestones and everything looked good. She was also able to look over the MRI scans and told us that everything looked good. They weren't able to find anything, but she did suggest meeting with a pediatric neurologist to go over everything.

They scheduled a pediatric neurologist for us in Indianapolis, but the earliest we can get in is November. Thankfully we had a connection (thanks Pam) that helped us get in with a local neurologist who sees infants this past Thursday. She agreed that in all the tests that she has seen so far, there seems to be no rhyme or reason for Reese's seizures. She sees a perfectly developing brain for her age. We told her we weren't sure if we should pray to find something on the MRI that we could "fix" and deal with or to pray to find nothing and she assured us we got the best results. She said for dealing with seizures, Reese has everything going for her. Clear CT scan, normal EEG and perfect MRI. No family history and she has met all of her developmental milestones.

She does want to have Reese undergo another EEG. The first time Reese had the EEG test was right after her 2nd seizure in the hospital and she slept through the ENTIRE test. The neurologist told us that after a seizure the brain kind of "re-boots" itself so she wants to see her awake for part of the test. We are scheduled to have that test this coming Tuesday. After she looks at the results from the 2nd EEG she is pretty sure that she wants to start Reese on anti-seizure medication. She was telling us that without medication Reese has an 80 - 90% chance of having another seizure. The seizures that she has had have not been very long or harmed her in any way, but there is no way of knowing if they could get longer or more severe in the future. She suggested trying medicine for 2 years with lots of blood tests and EEG's to make sure that everything looks ok. If after 2 years (or a little before) Reese is seizure free and has normal EEG's then she would take Reese off the medicine.

So, that's where we are now... waiting on more tests, praying about if medicine is the right answer and which medicine, and enjoying life with our 3 little girls. Reese is still her normal, happy, busy self. Running everywhere she can. :) We are still thinking about possibly keeping the appointment with the specialist as well. In the meantime, we appreciate all your support and ask that you keep Reese (and us) in your prayers.
p.s. I've talked to Reese several times and told her that there are better ways at going about getting attention from us. :) I know being a 3rd child in a little less than 4 years you sometimes get ignored, but Reese this is NOT the way to go about it. :) Good thing we love you. ;)

lessons

The girls had private swim lessons at Mawmaw's pool a couple of weeks ago. They did really good. Both girls are getting braver in the water, but still aren't fans of putting their faces in the water. See how Presley will find any way to reach down to the bottom step to get the pennies without actually putting her face in? :)
But she is lots better at floating and going on her back.
Addison tried floating on her back and putting her ears in the water one day, but couldn't be convinced to try it again on any other day. Kicking on her stomach was fine with her.


Very proud of both of the girls and think it won't be much longer until they are jumping in on their own.

horse party

I mentioned on Addison's birthday that the girls were invited to a birthday party of their friend, Sara from pre-school and daycare. It was HOT! But the girls had a good time. They got to meet several of the horses and even help and groom one of them. After lunch they even got to take turns riding and playing games on the horses. They were thrilled that they were able to ride Tinkerbell.

Here is Presley trying out Bronson, the horse she helped to groom.

just keep swimming

The girls have been spending lots of time swimming at mawmaw and pawpaw's pool. They are getting more and more comfortable in the water.

Presley and Addy have been getting braver each time they go swimming. Just this past weekend we even got Addy to put her head almost completely under (something she wouldn't even think about at the beginning of summer). She was thrilled doing "bobs". After Presley saw how excited Addison was making us, she decided to give it a shot too. You can kind of catch her on the way up in this picture.

3 years

My Addy-Paddy-Poo is 3 years today! I know what you're thinking....I can't believe it either. :) She is so much fun and COMPLETELY full of life. It feels as if she is so much bigger than 3. She does pretty much everything that Presley does and it makes me forget that she just today turned 3. She is such a big girl. She cares so much about other people and animals. She is definitely a lover of all. Well, all except "sly's (flies). :) Her vocabulary cracks us up daily. She has a hard time with the "fl" words. She says "sl" instead and we have been working with her on them so occasionally now she will correct the word herself, "f-f-f-flower". So cute.

We went to a friend from daycare/pre-school's horse-riding birthday party today (more on that later). Addy thought the party was for her. ;) I guess it worked out because we aren't celebrating her birthday until next weekend. After the party we headed over to mawmaw and pawpaw's to cool off in the pool and enjoy some yummy dq princess ice cream cake. I think she did all of her favorite things today...riding horses, swimming, and ice cream & cake! Thanks for all the phone calls and messages. She was pretty excited to listen to them. Happy Birthday, baby girl. I (we) love you lots!