Handsome little man

Thanksgiving with church friends

silly girl

Snacking Together

Wednesday Night Wives

Once a month, on Wednesdays, our husbands go to a leadership meeting with the pastor at our church and we get together with the kids:

The following night our husbands were at church again learning how to hold a giant inflateable for a parade so Ashley came over again. She's getting practice since she's due in June!!

Sibling Snack Time

Ella decided she needed one of Will's graham crackers so she took one...and fed it to herself. Then Will fed her one and she bit his finger. They are so funny together.

Sara's 28th Birthday

My sister, Sara, celebrated her 28th birthday over at our house last week. Here are some pictures of her and Micah, her makeshift candle, and Makenna Paige.

Distructive

Will decided to rearrange the place settings for Sara's birthday dinner:

Will cleared off his bookshelves:

He also decided to move everything (water bottles, Gatorade, paper towels) that were on the shelves in the kitchen:

RESULTS...

Ella had NO seizures during the EEG last Friday!! Praise God and thank you all for your prayers...see, He really does answer prayer!! She had a couple of starring spells, but they were not seizure induced. Feel free to ask any questions...I think I'm still stunned so I can't think of what else to write!

EEG

Wanna know what and EEG is...click here. We should know results this week. She was in a great mood the entire time...around 10 hours. She had two episodes so it will be interesting to hear the doctors interpretation.

The Brain Project

I watched this segment on The Today Show yesterday, it was a very interesting idea, I also linked on the side bar if you are interested in the website.

Drew Gonzales' 1st Birthday

Daddy and his Daughter

Diagnosis

I thought it was interesting when I read our sheet by the developmental pediatrician it gave me Ella's actual diagnosis:

Cerebral Palsy, unspecific; Abnormality of the nervous system; feeding difficulties; Hypotonia; Lack of coordination, Dyspraxia, Dysgraphia; Speech Disturbance.

Poor kid. So glad she is full of joy.

Rescheduled

We had a CRAZY day yesterday and because of the schedule we decided to postpone Ella's EEG to NEXT Friday the 14th. Details to come.

Catching Up

Ella and Will have both been very busy. Will never stops moving and Ella follows him as much as possible...we are slightly concerned since E has bruises all over and W has already had two bloody mouths...the price you pay for being a risk taker.

William decided to get in the cabinets and get out some metal mixing bowls. Ella thought they were great to talk into because she could hear herself echo. After we realized that Will could get stuff out of the cabinets we decided to put child locks on all of them. Twenty cabinets later, we are watching him try his darndest to get into all of them.

Ella is entertained by just a box where we store our toys!!

Katherine Kramer (and Judah pictured above) came to a very important doctors appointment with Ella and me this week. A few weeks ago I wrote that she would be seeing a neuro-opthomologist. He concluded that there are some major issues with her vision as it relates to her brain. One of his concerns was that she might be having stareing spells, brought on by seizures. We had an appointment with our regular neurologist on Friday and he concluded that we would do another EEG. It is scheduled for next Tuesday from 2p-10p. Anyone to would like to stop by while they are out voting please feel free to come visit. We talked a lot to Dr. Owen about her brain damage and found out that it's not really in one spot, the seizures at birth caused an all over impact having to do with the fluid pockets in her brain...who knows what all that means?! So we are just to continue the route we have been going on and keep being proactive on checking in with the doctors. THANKS KATHERINE!!

Here is our man getting around the house. He loves to crawl, walks holding on to fingers, can pull up on anything...and pull anything off of a shelf that is lower than 3'. He is cruising along the couch and climbs, even stairs (good thing we don't have any). He loves his sister, but isn't thrilled when she tries to pin him down for kisses. He sleeps GREAT and eats pretty good (the cheeks tell the story there).

Ella has a new speech therapist at Our Children's House. Jennifer is great, although we do miss our Sarah. Here she is chewing on a tube to help with her cheek and jaw strength...she has to have a good chew before she can have anything other than baby food. We have also been working on more language skills, eventhough she and Will have their own language.

Ella LOVES being in the pool on Mondays and Wednesdays. Here she is having PT and OT by Julie, Katie, and Laura...yeah, it takes 3 of them to keep her attention and to not flirt with the older men at the rehab location. Everyone talks about her curls, especially when her hair gets wet. She is learning to reach better, more with her right hand/arm since it's tighter and struggles more than her left. Everything go straight in here mouth as you see her chewing on a green ball here. On Wednesdays it's just Kimberly in the pool for OT with Ella so I've been able to get in a few times and do therapy with them, mostly to keep Ella's focus on therapy.

So, all in all we are doing pretty well. God has blessed us beyond belief with our great kids. They are both happy and LOVE to be outside. We have been spending more time as a family, just hanging out at the house, and I think it's what we've all needed. I have been saying "no" to more social activities because it's so hard to take Ella, or to leave Joe home alone with both kids. We really love our life and are loving life with 2 kiddos.

It is hard to have a child with Cerebral Palsy, but I would say that it would be nearly impossible without the hope that our Lord provides we are so thankful every day. I think I look more forward to the Thanksgiving and Christmas season this year because we have more to be thankful for and more to celebrate as we reflect on God sending His son to earth.

I'll try and be better about updating.