Happy Holidays!

We have had a whirlwind couple of weeks! 

Christmas with J and C's Godmothers! 

Santa came! Christmas morning! 

We hope that you all had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday season with loved ones and friends! 

Thanksgiving and such...

Happy (late) Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful holiday celebrating with our family and friends! My brother and sister-in-law were in town which is a blast...J and C LOVE having them here! We hope everyone had a fantastic day with your loved ones! 

Holiday baking! 

God mother/God daughter baking! 

Little Hunt Club fun! 

We jumped right into the holiday spirit by introducing these two to Jackson and Charlie Claire...

Meet Olive and Norman! 

They have been bringing some serious fun to our house! Jackson and Charlie Claire are beyond excited each morning to run out of their rooms and find the two elves! 

Hoping everyone is enjoying this most wonderful time of the year! :) 

Occupational Therapy

Charlie Claire has been working really hard during her OT sessions with April! They have been working on a lot of swinging, jumping, balance, etc. 

Since April has started working with Charlie Claire on this she has become quite the daredevil, such an amazing and remarkable difference!

Epilepsy Awareness Month

I've gone back and forth with how to approach Epilepsy Awareness Month. 

 I am extremely thankful to type these next few words...epilepsy is not in the forefront of our lives on a daily basis.  It is in our lives daily but not anywhere near where it once was.  We no longer measure out and administer medication multiple times a day, we no longer keep a daily log of seizures, we don't have EEGs or hospital stays on the horizon, the neuros office is not on speed dial...you get the point.  

It is in our lives on a daily basis as just a normal part of our day.  We know that each time Charlie Claire wakes up from sleeping she will more than likely have a seizure. We know that if she is getting sick she may have a few more than normal. Yesterday, shortly after waking I thought C may have been having a seizure.  I stopped what I was doing and looked at her and she looked at me and said "done" to which I replied "done with what?" and she said "seizure." It was hard for me to decide whether to laugh or cry in that moment...on one hand this is the first step in the process of Charlie being able to communicate what is going on and we are very grateful for that....on the other hand, our three year old knows the word seizure.  Bittersweet. 

There really isn't a moment of any day where we are not grateful that we don't eat, sleep and breath seizures the way we once did but that doesn't make us any less aware.  We are also aware that our stable situation isn't guaranteed and we don't take it for granted. 

We are also very aware of other families who fight the seizure fight day in and day out and their amazing kiddos who are way stronger than you or I could ever imagine. 

Please take a moment to know the facts and increase epilepsy awareness! We do it for this sweet little, who do you do it for? 

Fall Fun!

We've traded in beach and pool days for pumpkin patches and pony rides! Jackson and Charlie Claire are loving all things "Fall" and while they still ask to go to the pool or the beach every day we are able to keep them busy with more weather appropriate things!

Halloween Parade at school

First year trick or treating!

Jason's sister got married this weekend and the four of us all got to be a part of her special day!

please excuse the blurriness...it's a snapshot of a photobooth pic! 

And some school pics...!

Hope you had a very Happy Halloween! 

Neurology Appointment!

This was the longest we have gone, 6 months, without seeing Dr. M.  I wasn't sure how well I was going to handle the span in between visits even though I know it's a really good thing that our visits went from every 3 months to every 6.  I also know that Dr. M and his nurse are only a phone call away. Truth be told, we are actually in contact with them quite frequently about Charlie's development and progress - we love sharing with them how amazing she is doing! :) 

It is unreal how different it is going to neuro appointments these days.  Dr. M considers these appointments Charlie Claire's "well baby check ups!"  I used to be so sick to my stomach and anxious about C's appointments that I wouldn't be able to eat or sleep in the days leading up them.  

Yesterday's appointment was so reassuring that we are on the right track with Charlie Claire.  Dr. M was so thrilled and excited about her progress.  He is pleased with the current services (OT, speech and an educator) that C is receiving and how well she is responding to them. We talked about how she is doing off medication...we told him that we occasionally will see a slight increase in seizure activity and we all agreed that unless there comes a point where the seizures are interfering with her progress and development that it is better for Charlie to be off medication.  She truly is thriving off of meds and it has been such a blessing to watch her! Dr. M assured us that the seizures activity stays so localized during her seizures that it does not spread to other areas of her brain therefor the activity she does have has no negative impact on good brain tissue.  

We have sat in Dr. M's office and heard gut wrenching, earth shattering words about what could potentially be in Charlie's future so these positive, optimistic and encouraging appointments really do my heart and soul so, so well! 

Happy 3rd Birthday Jackson and Charlie Claire!!!!

Wow, we had an amazing birthday weekend! Jackson and Charlie Claire were so, so, so excited about turning 3 and we went BIG this year!!! We decorated the house on Thursday night so J and C woke up to a birthday celebration first thing Friday morning and the celebration didn't stop until Sunday afternoon! 

Good morning birthday girl! 

Happy Birthday cheese ball! 

Party at school! 

KitKat cake.....sooooo much chocolate! 

These two crazy boys are so similar it's scary! 

Charlie Claire only cooperated with this picture because Hercules was in it with her! 

Trip to the fire house! 

Snuggles with Nonnie! 

Blowing out the candles was a big hit this year!

Sweet girl

Loved everyone singing! 

"Look at my new truck!" 

 We hope that these two had the most amazing birthday weekend ever because they are the two most amazing little ones ever! 

More to come on our check up at the neuro today and 3 year check ups tomorrow! :) 

The tans will fade but the memories will last forever......

I know we've mentioned that we are having a hard time letting go of summer, so when October threw us a 85 degree day we didn't complain!!!! We grabbed our bathing suits and we hit the beach! 

Thank you Mother Nature...we needed another beach day in our lives! :)