Livin it up in LA!

Nins and I with our Pretty Flower

Dre Has these roses all around her place. I heart this pic.

Dre taking a quick nap on the lawn

Us girls on Venice Beach.

So we finally made the trip. the flight was great minus the 2 year old kicking and screaming behind us our whole flight. It feels so good to be here, I have definitely need a break from life. I am the biggest moron and left my cell in KC. So yes, if you are calling or texting me and I have not returned my calls I am alive and without a cell.
Dre's place it wonderful. It is seriously like 2 blocks from the beach. Santa Monica is great and we have done nothing but walk everywhere. Yesterday we spent hours walking the beach and the boardwalk in Venice. I love how free everyone is here. It is all about organic, freedom and hope. Tonight is Dres big birthday bash and I am looking forward to a great seafood dinner and a night of dancing on the beach.
"Can't stop the waves but you can learn how surf" Love Apes:)

2009

Preston!


Audrey Renee and Frankie Rhea

Little Ms Frankie

E

P riding a motobike

Best buds!

P looking cool!

E chillin!

4H crew at Ambers baby shower

Cheryl and Apes!

2009 has not started out as a good year for us. We have been dealing with many stressful things (I think I might have an anxiety attack if I list them all) and are hoping they all come to an end soon. It seems as though we have hit the worst and bam something else happens. The death of our good friend Ryan was alot to go through. Dex had a hard time at the funeral. Ryan makes our 9th friend passing in the last 7 years. Jason, Kyle, Jeff, Chris, Johnny, Rick, Shawn, Jarod--you all are missed by Dex and I and we will always treasure our memories together.

Nina and I are leaving in 1 week to head to LA to spend Dre's 30th birthday with her. I am looking forward to a nice girls weekend. I am hesitant to leave the boys especially Preston. I have been sort of a freak about leaving him alone these days, I don't even like him to play outside by himself. I will be glad when the MRI is done and I know what we are heading into.

Tonight we celebrated Scotty's 31st birthday at his home. We had a great time. There were so many babies there, I think I got my baby fix for a while and of course you can't forget our crazy boys. It is funny to think about the things we all used to do in the last 10 years and now to see us all hanging out with all our families. Lets just say things aren't so crazy anymore when we all get together!

For those of you who know how much I miss my minivan it is going to be done tomorrow at noon. Lets hope it looks good.

I have added some pics of the kids in the last few months. I am bad about updating pics. Hope everyone enjoys.

Its over!!!

I will be so glad when this weekend is over! I am ready to start a new week on Sunday with Amber's baby shower,hoping this will get my new week started on the right foot!
After getting the EEGs "unknown meaning" results on Tuesday we still didn't get an appointment to the neurologist until Thurs at 5:40pm. We also received a call from American Family Insurance telling us our neighbors homeowners insurance will only cover $1,000 worth of damage to our van. Great Birthday--Right?? O'well, we did go to dinner at Ameristar with Pam and Herman and went to visit Amber and Jason. Dex took the kids home and I went to Jimmy and Patrice's new home to hang out with them, Steph and Nina. It is always nice to have a few glasses a wine when you need it!!
At the neurology appointment we learned so much and alot of our worries were put to rest. Being a nurse we like to educate families and warn them about the wonderful power of GOOGLE. Well, I should have listened to my own advise on Wed. night. because the more I Googled the more I was freaking out. I totally diagnosed Preston with frontal lobe seizures based on my interpretation of the EEG results. I was reading so much about frontal lobe seizures and how they affect personality, behavior and intelligence. Also, 45% of frontal lobe seizures were caused by some kind of brain tumor. Yes, can you believe I did this??? Well I should have known better, maybe my day would have gone over a bit better. I was so worried that my "P" was going to have problems and not succeed because of something no one can control. Well, lets just say I was WAY wrong. Basically, Preston has been diagnosed with Partial Complex Seizures from the temporal lobes. When a person has an EEG it a very generalized test. It is not accurate to diagnose where the seizures are coming from. EEG's basically show the electrical activity in the brain.When you have an abnormal EEG it basically means that electrical activity in your brain is functioning abnormally and you are at risk for having a seizure at any time. Diagnosis of where and what kind of seizures are going on are based on descriptions of the seizure and an MRI. Based on our stories of P's seizures this is what the neurologist thinks is going on and we are set to have an MRI done on April 13 th. Once we get the MRI results back we will talk about treatment options the doc even said that this may be something he could grow out of. For now, we are being a little over protective toward P. I don't think Dex and I have really let him out of our sight for long. We are worried and scared that it could happen again and he could get hurt. The neurologist warned us to protect his head from any injuries, not to allow him to bathe or swim alone and watch were he is playing closely. We have to think about if he were to have a seizure at any moment would his location be harmful to him?? After talking to the doc we think that P may have had an "Ora" with his last seizure. It is common with these seizures to have abdominal pain or a heartburn pain prior to having a seizure and when we were taking P to the birthday party he kept saying his tummy was hurting? Who knows if it was just coincidental or really a precursor! We are feeling more optimistic about things after our appointment today.
We finally also got 2 estimates on the van today and have about $8,000-$10,000 in damage. We are having to make a claim on our car insurance policy to have the car fixed since the neighbors home coverage sucks but o-well they are paying our deductible and it will not go against us or raise our premiums. We now have a candy apple red Chevy HHR--okay this car is so ugly. I refuse to drive it!!! It'll be me and my monster truck this week!

Test Results are back!

I received a call from our pediatrician's office this morning telling the EEG results. I guess Preston had "high voltage spikes in the frontal lobe evident with epilepsy". Whatever that means. I didn't speak to my doctor so I did not get many questions answered. They are referring us to a neurologist but the problem is we can't get into a doc a Children's Mercy until May and the soonest appointment at KU Med is April 21st. I told the person on the phone that I wanted to go to Childrens and really wasn't interested in KU Med. She put me on hold and talked to my pediatrician who is going to call the neurology clinic at Children's herself to see if they can get us in sooner since we already have a confirmed EEG. I am suppose to hear back directly from my pediatrician this afternoon and will have questions answered at that time. I am really upset right now and have a million thoughts running through my head. I don't know what this means for Preston and just want to see the neurologist now! I having been trying to google the result but I am getting no where. Hopefully we will get in sooner than later.

This afternoon I am taking Preston to his first dentist appointment. I am super excited for this. God, I just hope nothing is wrong with his teeth. The poor kid has been through alot the last few weeks.

On a brighter note, last night Dexter and I went to eat dinner to celebrate my birthday with our friends Rick and Nina. We arrived to the restaurant and I was surprised by a table full of our friends. Thanks to Dex and Nina for planning it. It was a great dinner and great night. I really needed it!

Update!

Wow, it feels like it has been forever since I have updated. The last week was very busy! Preston went to the Dermatology Clinic Tuesday and had a wart frozen off. He was such a champ. They brought extra people into the room to help hold him down but there was no need for that he just laid there and didn't even flinch. As they were freezing it off, he just looked at me wide eyed and with this horrible look on his face. I can only imagine the thoughts going through his head. I treated him to McDonald's ice cream afterward (his favorite).
Wednesday morning I arrived home for work to my wonderful husband sleeping in bed! I was so surprised he wasn't suppose to be home until late Wed. night. He told me he was worried that I may have talked to the other guys girlfriends and they may have ruined the surprise, luckily I hadn't so it worked out in his favor. It has been nice having him home but actually quite an adjustment for me and the kids. After being home with the boys by myself for the last 2 months I have made some adjustments to their routine and to my own. I am also used to my time alone, I feel like I have a 3rd kid at home. O well I can't complain, I am just so happy for him to be at home. Dex has a couple of jobs lined up to start this spring and hopefully thru the summer, we will see how it goes. He wants to start his own painting business now, he has learned so much in the last year working for our friends. For me I wish he would just go back to a normal job but he just doesn't have that drive to work for Corporate America. I will support him in whatever he decides to do as long as a little bit of money is coming in.
We had a fun night Thurs, P had to stay up until midnight so our friends Nina and Rick came over to hang out with P and we had a little party! P had a blast, he is always excited for people to come over and play with him. I think Nina had enough of the puzzles that P had her doing all night. P is obsessed with puzzles and will put them together for hours. P had a little meltdown at midnight about chocolate milk and had to cry himself to sleep. 4 o'clock came quick and I got up with P. Actually, we slept on the couch until about 515. It was funny we would both fall asleep and then I would briefly wake up and nudge P and say "we have to get up P" and then we would both fall back to sleep. At 515 I told myself that I HAD to get up. P was like a doll, I kept trying to set him up to wake him up and he would fall over. It was hard but we managed. He had his EEG at 930 on Friday, I have no idea how it went. Preston was so tired that he was falling asleep while the Technician, Heather, was putting the electrodes on his head we had to keep talking to him since a portion of the test was monitoring him while he slept. After she finished we kept telling P he looked like spiderman with a web coming out of his head. Since P was being so good for the technician she asked for us not to be in the room during the exam. I was a bit hesitant because I had promised P that I wouldn't leave him but when she said they get better test results if the parents weren't in the room because the child can focus solely on the test, I decided to leave. Plus P was falling asleep and said that it was OK. About an hour and half later the test was over and we were on our way. The pediatricians office is supposed to call within 3 days to let us know the results so until then we are playing the waiting game. After the test I was obsessed with asking P if he felt funny during the test and of course he said yes. I would then go onto how he felt, if he felt his heart racing or if he felt like he did when he had "gotton sick" (the terminology we use for the times he had the seizures) and of course I got a yes to everything. Dexter had to tell me to stop asking him! He said "Apes he is 4 and he is going to answer yes to everything". I eventually gave up. After the test we all went home a took a nap. At 230 pm I heard a yell and something crack and a bang outside our bedroom window. Then the doorbell started ringing and Max was barking like crazy. I reluctantly got up to find my neighbor at my door when I look outside I noticed they were cutting down the tree in their yard which is right next to our driveway. I thought she was coming to ask me to move the car yet instead she told me that there is a problem---the tree hit your van! I think a said a few cuss words and was a little in shock and went out to look at the damage! There are 2 huge dents on the drivers side of the van and scratches all over the top, side and back. I also think the back window is loose from where the tree landed because it was squeaking like no other when I drove it tonight. I immediately got Dexter to let him deal with everything. It turns out the guys cutting the tree down weren't insured and our neighbor said they would just pay for it out of pocket--Dexter was not about to trust them on that because there is probable $10,ooo worth of damage to my car. I immediately called my sister (who works for a lawyer) and she told be to get the name of their insurance agent and make a claim on their home insurance. Of course this was Friday afternoon so we were able to talk to someone at their office but I am not sure if an actual claim was filed. They said they would get back to us but we never heard anything. I am actually glad I am working Sunday night so Dexter can deal with all that Monday morning.
Well I will update later in the week after I get results from the test and hopefully put up some new pics of the boys. P is growing his hair out like Joe Jonas from the Jonas Brothers. It is quite funny and I think he looks like he has a mop head but whatever. That is the "in" style for boys these days. I figure this style can't last long.

Another long week!

After the eventful weekend with P I decided to call the doctor to inform them of the seizure he possibly had Saturday. At my pediatricians office you must call the triage line in order to make an appointment or talk to someone. I immediately got a call back. The triage nurse was one that I was familiar with and I have had problems in the past. After telling her the story of what happened she made a little chuckle and said to me "your telling me that a child had an altered level of consciousness and no one called 911 that is absurd" this totally set me off. I informed her that this has happened in the past and the last time it happened the doctor told me that there was nothing to do unless he went apneic. I informed her that the father of the birthday boy was a paramedic and that I was a pediatric nurse. We exchanged arguments for quite some time. I totally said a few words to her that were not appropriate (knowing the language I use) but I was so pissed off that she questioned my judgement as a mother. She made it seem like I did not have the best interest in my child. I went on to tell her the love a mother has for her kids always keeps her mind in check for the best interest for them. I was so upset after the phone call I shook for like 30 minutes. I also made a formal complaint on this nurse.
Unfortunately my doctor was out of the office for 2 weeks due to an ill family member so I saw another pediatrician. Dr. Jacobs informed me that Preston was getting to the age where febrile seizures usually do not appear and since Preston was not having convulsions during his febrile seizure that this was "atypical". She said that after the third seizure it make them 30-60% more likely to form epilepsy later on in life. She also stated that since his febrile seizures were atypical that she was concerned about him having focal seizures or other kinds of seizures that we may not recognize. She immediately said that we needed to see a neurologist and have him worked up just to make sure nothing is going on that we may not know about. So on Feb 27th we are heading to CMH neurology to have an EEG done. An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test that measures and records the electrical activity of your brain. Basically they hook electrodes on your head and measure brain activity. It can diagnosis seizure disorders or can explain loss of consciousness. The kicker is I have to keep P up until midnight the night before the test and only allow him to sleep until 4 am. Then I have to keep him up until the test (sch for 10 am) and guess what?! No chocolate milk 2 days before the test--If you do not know my kids they LOVE chocolate milk, they probably drink 2 gallons of chocolate milk a week. On top of that, P is not my easy going child, he is going to be a bear that day--I can already see the fits and tantrums that are going to go on--boy I feel sorry for the EEG tech and can only hope we don't have a meltdown during the exam. With Dexter being gone I will be doing this alone, which means I will only get 4 hours of sleep the night before and we all know what happens to our motherly patience we when are tired--it just goes right out the door. I will probably be having meltdowns right along with P. I just pray that this is nothing! With Dexter gone I do not know how I will be able to handle any bad news. To be honest I am totally worried and scared about having the test done--Denial is a bitch (sorry for the language mom).

Tired!

Well here I am exhausted! It has been a long week and I am thankful Dexter came home this weekend! Although I have barely seen him because I have had to work all weekend.
Let me begin to say that a 12 hour trip in the car with a 2 and 4 year old are fantastic times! We didn't get to leave last Wed. due to that TRI states receiving the biggest ice and snow storm in 13 years. I did manage to get out of town Thurs morning and let just say we didn't arrive to Ohio until about 1100 at night. The last two hours of our trip were horrible, the snow had started back up and you couldn't even see the road. I drove at 35 mph for about 2 1/2 hours! Thanks god for my friend Ashley, I drove and she tended to the kids. Lets just say I think P and E were a form a birth control for her. All in all they were very good for all things considered. The trip was very short and I felt like we barely saw Dexter. It was just nice for me to snuggle up with him at night. I think that is what I miss most. The trip ended with me getting sick with something "viral" as the Take Care clinic nurse said.
Thursday night E decided to run a fever, I woke up about 2 am and checked his temp and it was 103.8. This fever lasted until afternoon on Friday. It was crazy, you wouldn't even tell that E was sick. He didn't have a runny nose, cough or even acted like he didn't feel good.
Tonight has been very eventful! It seemed like a normal day, Dex, I and the boys played outside. Dexter and I dropped P off at a birthday party at 5:30. Luckily I went home after and Dex went to pick us up something to eat because at 6 I got a phone call from the birthday boys mom. Her voice was very frantic on the phone and said the Preston all of a sudden laid down on the floor and went limp. At first she thought that he was just playing and then when her husband picked him up he was still limp and not responding. The anxiety and fear rushed to me and I immediately picked him up. When I arrived he was still lethargic and pale as a ghost. I immediately put him in the truck and made him squeeze my hand all the way home. When I got home I checked his temp and it was 102.8. So lets just say in about 45 min he went from being fine to a fever. I assume he had another febrile seizure. He has had several of these in the last year. The pediatrician assures me that it is nothing to worry about that some kids get fevers so quick that their brains freak out and causes them to have the seizure. The things I read about on the Internet say that kids usually grow out of this about age 5 but I don't see it getting any better. Its scary but I think I am used to by now. So used to it that I still came to work, I was about 10 minutes late but still came. I thank god Dexter was at home because I don't know what I would have done if he was gone. And lets just say the poor birthday boys mom probably had a seizure herself. I am sure P will be the talk of school Monday since she is a teacher there. Luckily 4 year olds have no idea what goes on at times or else (as Meagan said) P would be known as seizure boy.
I will end my weekend tomorrow saying goodbye to Dexter. He is leaving tomorrow afternoon for 3 weeks and hopefully, no wait I mean, he better be home for good after that. I feel like I have barely seen or spent anytime with him since he has been home. This is the longest I have been away from him in 11 years and boy it sucks. Although, I have learned alot about myself while he has been gone.
I am just tired--Loving adulthood! Boy, there are days that I wish I could just go back to high school.