Happy Happy Happy

It's been a while since I have done an update on everything. Life happens so fast. One thing stays the same and that is that God is good and he's faithful.

Hannah has had an amazing week. As I drove to my doctors appt. yesterday I spent my drive time thanking God for our happy, joyous, energetic, and incredibly ornery angel girl. She was just so contagiously happy and silly all week long. Yesterday morning for some reason out of the blue she decided she wasn't going to put her shirt on until she said hi to sissy(David's aunt). I finally got the phone and called sissy and Hannah said, "hi sissy. bye sissy." handed me the phone and siad, "shirt on." It was hilarious! I LOVED it. I got a call from her teacher yesterday concerned because she was acting different. She had two small complex partial seizures that morning and she was acting out of character. I immediately got concerned and started asking questions. The teacher began to relay all the thiings she had been doing and I had to smile. It sounded like she was just having fun. Is it sad that when my little girl is so very happy it could be a sign of something brewing? To the teachers credit, she is doing what we asked her to do, and that is to let me know if she feels something is "off". You just never know with Hannah and it's important to make note of any difference in behaviors in case a status event occurs so we'll have something to put in our "possible signs of something brewing seizure wise" file. Anything that can help us "predict" one could be brewing and let us start intervention early is something we can use. Still it made me smile to know that she was having a good time and I did find humor in the fact that her having a good time could be a sign of a seizure brewing. I just love this girl. Autism, seizures and all. Life can be hard with her but when it's not...it's the most joyful experience. I can not even begin to chronicle all I've learned from life with her. She's one amazing little creation. I know, I'm a little biased.

Koolio and Hannah have bonded amazingly and that bond continues to grow. He's a "family" dog but he knows his job and he does it. He has brought a lot of joy to us all and a lot of peace. He sleeps with Hannah every night and she loves it. None of us can imagine life without hiim. He's just amazing.

Kyle is a senior this year and is busy with all the senior stuff. He's doing well and fully recovered from the swine flu. Zachary is a sophmore and he did band this year. They are going to Disneyland during Spring break so he's working towards that. David is still working at Harwood and is doing great. He isn't currently working at the church. He took a break when his mom got so bad and Hannah's seizures increased. Hopefully when we get Hannah settled down seizure wise he can get back to work there. All the guys are doing great and they are my rocks. I don't know what I'd do without them.

I'm doing well. It has been a rough year and a half and I have had some anxiety issues. Every time Hannah gets ill or has a seizure my anxiety level goes through the roof. Week before last when she was sick I had the worst panic attack I have ever had while driving to the store for some children's advil. I know it was just because I was worried about her getting the swine flu.(I know it's not that bad but it's proven deadly for kids with health issues) I pulled over and made myself think about the fact that God has taken care of her even in the midst of some really horrible circumstances and proven faithful and loving. She's in His hands and I have to believe that no matter what He'll give us what we need to get through it. He always has. It worked and I was good to go, and have been ever since.

I recently subbed at Hannah's school and LOVED it. I hope to get to do it more. It was especially nice to see her in an environment she loves so much. My girl LOVES school She's her momma's child there. I always loved school and still do. I also attended a seminar about teaching kids with intellectual disabilities how to read and it was interesting, informative and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to Arlington Special needs PTA for allowing me to attend their event even though we do not live there.

I finally went to the doctor yesterday. Hee Hee, y'all can get off my case now. You know who you are! I should know all those good/bad numbers next week. I had a thorough blood work up. Due to initial findings I was put on a prenatal vitamin. No, those findings were not that I'm pregnant. She feels like my body has never recovered from Hannah's brith and the prenatal was where she wanted me to start. She also told to do the Weight Watchers diet. My doctor feels like it's the best "life style" diet out there and that with my stress level I need a diet plan that will not add to that stress. Honestly, I'm not excited about doing WW. I have done it off and on since I was 17 and not with a lot of success. I lost 1.5 pounds in 3 months the last time. Plus, I dont' know anyone at the meetings so I feel out of place sitting there with all these people who have friends or coworkers at the meetings with them. I don't think the online version would be ideal for me but may do it if I feel the same way at the meetings this time. I'm not as socially inept as I once was though so who knows. LOL I promised I'd give it a try and I will.

I hope this is not too much information. Once I start typing it just all kind of pours out and I don't take into consideration if it's something people would want to know or should know until it's too late. I've been inspired recently by a young woman who has breast cancer. In her writings she talks about her ordeal as God's story to write and she's just the instrument. There is such freedom in those words. Ultimately God is the one in control and we're just an instument He uses to do His work. I'm attempting to adopt that thought process to my life. I have to quit bumping God out of the drivers seat. LOL! Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support. They really do mean the world to us.

Still Living and Learning,
Marcey

Fall in the air

Wow! Things have been crazy busy around here. I think we're all over the sickness that has plagued us the last few weeks. Hannah and I somehow have managed to keep the swine flu at bay. Just the guys have had it. We're not sure David and Zach had it but they had the same symptoms Kyle did so I'm pretty sure they did. Hannah did get an upper respiratory infection but got over it pretty well. She did have some seizures but not the status ones so we managed o.k.

I subbed last week at Hannah's school and have put in an ap to do it more. I also went to a seminar on Saturday about teaching kids with intellectual disabilities how to read. It was good but a little depressing. There just has to be an effective way to help these kids learn. There study showed it took 3 years of 45 minutes a day to get to a first grade level.

We have an appt with the metabolic geneticist on the 1st of Oct so we'll know more hopefully soon about how to help Hannah. The tegretol seems to be helping but it also has caused weight gain. We're not sure how much of it is that frumpy stage girls go through and how much is the tegretol. If she gains much more it looks like she'll probably have to come off of it and we'll try something else.

We're all enjoying this cooler weather. Koolio especially. I don't think he liked our hot summers much. Poor dog. He's still an amazing animal. I'm not sure when he'll start school. Right now he comes home with me everyday. He misses his girl like crazy though. We're also missing Billie a lot lately. This is the time of year when she and I would start discussing the holiday's, etc. I'm so sad that she won't be with us this year. David and I have been married for nearly 20 years and she spent every single one of those Christmas's with us except the first one we were in Michigan for. I miss her so much every single day.

Please continue to pray for us. I will try to be more consistent in updating the blog. Love and appreciate all of y'all!

Hannah has fever and seizures today

Hannah is running fever and having seizures.

Swine Flu

Well, it's made a visit to our house. Kyle has it. He is not really terribly ill or anything but he is sick. We've got him quarantined in his room. The nurse told me there are 50+ confirmed cases at the High School. I took him to the doctor this afternoon. Hannah's doctor called her in some tamiflu so hopefully she won't get it. Hopefully it'll hold her off until the vaccine gets here. It is dangerous for her to get it unfortunately. :<( Please help us pray for her safety.