Feeling Grateful

I woke up this morning feeling really grateful.  I can't explain it, but I just had this incredible calm and started thinking about all the things I have to be thankful for.  Aaron and I have a little more than usual on our plates, we have some big decisions we are in the middle of and Alex's seizures are rearing their ugly head again to name a few.  As I started thinking about my day and all of the things I needed to be stressed out about I thought of a saying I heard - "Don't miss the blessings in your life because you are too busy counting your troubles".  Often times it's REAL easy to get caught up in our troubles, lord knows we have our fair share! 

 

One thing that has really put a smile on my face is this paper Zach brought home from school.  Zach couldn't understand why I cried when I read it.

 

 

For all the things I feel like I do wrong, this makes it all seem so right.

 

And this sweet girl just graduated from her Intensive Therapy program.  I'm so grateful she has the opportunity to do this therapy each year, for her amazing therapist Shannon and the incredible progress she seems to be making.   For all she goes through on a daily basis she always has a smile to share, and I should take lessons from her more often.

 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring so for today, I'm enjoying all of  my blessings! 

Fun Weekend!

This weekend, thanks to an invite from my friend Kate, we headed to The Shenandoah Valley to Lexington, VA.  

  

By the time we arrived Friday night it was really dark, but it was nice to open my eyes and wake up to this view :) 

Saturday afternoon we went out for a little walk - the kids and Aaron had been out exploring and making sure we could get Alex around.

Me and Kate

Zach and Kate's son Ryan

At the end of the property there was a river where the boys tried out some fishing.

It was a beautiful day and a great backdrop for some family pics.

Alex really wanted no part in our picture taking! :) 

Kate and Ryan

Alex was quite content to just sit and stare at all the trees!

Too cool for school!

It was great getting out and enjoying the scenery - but getting Alex back up to the house was another story!  It took 3 people to get her back up the hill (in Kate's defense, she walked the property at sunrise and told us it wasn't going to be easy!)   Too bad somebody had to stay behind to take pictures :) 

Our view from the house

Kate being silly :)

Looks like 3 weeks of intensive physical therapy is paying off - Alex was standing some and trying to support her weight!

She seems pretty proud of herself too!

Too much work for her so some hammock time was needed ;)

Zach was in his glory.  He's such an outdoors kid.  He absolutely loves being in the woods.  He took his pellet gun with him to work on some target practice.

For some reason Alex got REALLY upset at one point and started crying.  Zach came over to see her and all she wanted was a hug from him.

Once it got dark out we turned up the radio and had a dance party with Alex - we danced and acted super silly...

...and Alex thought it was super funny!

Showing off her own dance moves :) 

The boys challenged us to a ping pong game.

I think it's safe to say that I am THE worst ping pong player there is!

I decided to leave it to the experts and head back upstairs for some additional dancing :) 

Here's the ONLY bad thing about the weekend!

How would you like to be brushing your teeth and notice this?!?

Yeah, Kate didn't really like it either!  That is the hugest spider any of us have ever seen! I thought it looked like a star fish!  Ironically enough it's called a Dark Fishing Spider and it has suction cups on the underside of it's legs....EEEK!!!!

Kate and I thought it would be fun to theme the menu for the weekend - here's some fun pics of some of the stuff we made :) 

Mummy dogs and brains, Graveyard pudding, Pumpkin Oranges, Orange Pumpkin Pancakes,       Creepy Spider Crackers, Ghoulish Pizzas,  Green Monster Toes and Popcorn Candy Hands

  

 

  
     

I think I had more fun with it than the kids did :) 

It was a relaxing, much needed weekend away and the kids really had a good time.  Aaron had taken Saturday off of work so he could come with us but he had to be back at work on Sunday - I wish we could have stayed and enjoyed more of the day but we had to leave early so he could be back in time. Zach didn't want to leave and it's all he's talked about since we got home. I see another trip to the mountains in our future - thank you again Kate for the invite!!

Fall School Picture

 

My baby girl isn't a baby anymore.

 

 

Time really, really does fly.

 

 

Intensive and Seizures

We are into week 2 of intensive physical therapy and Alex is doing really well.  Each time she goes into intensive she makes me realize just how hard she works and how proud I am of her.  If I wake up in the morning and am tired, or sore, I have the option of not getting out of bed to go exercise.  Alex doesn't get that option - sore or not, tired or not, she's at therapy every day for 3 hours a day.  This week she hasn't been feeling so great and she's still at it, and mostly with a smile on her face.

Here's a picture Tammy took of her last week with her "genie hairdo" - sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!

 

This last week was really rough on her, on top of intensive physical therapy, she had seizures almost every night, and that left her REALLY tired.  Her neurologist and I spoke at the end of the week and she is still on 2 different seizure meds three times a day, we've just upped her Zonegran to 150mg's in the evening.  I'm glad it's only the evening dose because it makes her super tired.  We will talk again in two weeks to see how the increase is working out and we'll go in for a blood draw in another month to make sure her levels are still in range.  Thankfully she rested most of Saturday so she was ready for her super awesome dance Saturday night! :)