Update On Ella!

I think to do a full update on Ella I have to start back in August of 2022. Last August she had a seizure and we ended up being transported to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital via ambulance. From that stay the Neurologist decided to put Ella on Topiramate for her migraines. The nice thing about that medication is when taken in higher doses it can help with seizures as well. Thankfully Ella has never had another seizure. She even had a 48 hour EEG and her brain never showed any kind of seizure activity. 

Fast forward to this year and from February 6th - June 1st (almost 4 months) she had 4 puking episodes. It usually starts out as a headache and it always ends up with multiple times of her throwing up. On June 9th she had a Neurology Appt and we discussed her puking episodes and how at least once a week she was waking up with headaches. He didn't like that so he change the dosage of her meds. Her new does was 25mg in the morning and 50 mg at night. Prior to this she was only taking 25mg twice a day. 

Since June 21st until September 16th (Almost 3 months) Ella has had 10 puking episodes some times spanning two days. She has actually lost weight this summer. I believe at one point she was 112lb, but she went down to 105lb after one of her worst puking episodes. 

I have been in contact with her Neurologist and he doesn't feel like it has anything to do with the meds. They are supposed to help with her migraines. He suggested that we go see her Neurosurgeon to make sure it wasn't something that would require surgery. Her appt with her Neurosurgeon was on Monday, August 28th. The day we had the appt she was doing great and he said she looked great and didn't look like she was sick. He did look in her eyes and didn't see any swelling or pressure behind her eyes so that was good. He said the only thing we could really do was have an MRI to confirm that her ventricles were in good shape. He did ask me why I didn't take her to the ER during her latest puking episode and I told him that I was planning on it if she didn't stop puking by a certain time. Thankfully I was able to give her the anti-nausea meds that she's been prescribed and they finally worked and she stopped throwing up. We did set up an appt for an MRI on October 14th. 

The night before the first day of school, Sept 4th, Ella started throwing up again. She was still throwing up at 10am so I was done....I was taking her to the ER. 

She never did throw up again once we left the house. She felt awful though. She had a terrible headache. They gave her Tylenol and thankfully she kept it down. I hadn't even been able to get her to keep her anti-nausea meds down. They wanted to run some blood tests, but since she was dehydrated it was hard to get a vein. The first nurse was digging around her in left arm and couldn't ever get a vein. The second nurse came in and had better luck with her right arm. They also hooked up an IV and gave her a bag of fluids. This sweet girl is such a trooper. She wasn't even squeezing my hand when they were digging around in her arm. I told her later that she is going to be amazing at birthing a baby since she handles pain so well. 

They were able to get her in for an MRI at the hospital so canceled the one in October. Ella's Neurosurgeon came over and discussed the results with us. Her ventricles looked beautiful! That's super great news because it means she doesn't need brain surgery, but it still leaves us with unanswered questions. Why is she having these puking episodes? Is it because of her headaches or another issue altogether? Is she allergy to something else? Is it a gut issue? So many questions.

 She does have an appt with a GI Specialist, but they couldn't get her in until Dec 20th. I honestly feel like we need a Dr. House. I need someone to look at her overall health and figure out this mystery. Poor Ella's life has been greatly impacted by this. She was even scared to go to camp thinking she might puke. She has had to cancel sleepovers because of throwing up. She's losing weight when she should be growing! As a parent the not knowing and understanding what's going on with her body is maddening. I will do anything to figure out what's going on with my little girl. 

I did go ahead and make an appt for her with my Naturopath. She has been amazing with me and I feel like their might be a hormonal connection. I know that migraines can be higher for women during the years they have a cycle. My mom had terrible migraines until menopause and then she finally she got some relief. I do not think it has anything to do with her Hydrocephalus. I think there is something else at work here, but I feel like all the MD doctors are so focused on her Hydrocephalus they aren't able to see the forest through the trees. 

I think there might be a connection with food as well so Ella has started a food diary. We have found out there were things she was eating that had food dye that we had no clue about. I guess we had gotten a little lazy. One of the things that we found was the mystery Air Heads. She very rarely gets to eat gummy fruity candy because of dye. The mystery Air Heads are white so we thought they were okay when in fact they have red, yellow and blue dye in them...go figure. Also the seasoning packets in Top Ramen have dye as well. It's crazy what has dye in it. We also are wondering if it has something to do with her digestion. Sometimes when she throws up it will be hours after a meal and she is puking up fully intact macaroni noodles. That doesn't seem right. I'm hoping because we are keeping this food diary we'll be able to have a really good discussion with the GI doctor. 

There are still so many unknowns and like I said it's maddening. I just want my girl to be healthy and not have to go through all this. She has been through enough already! Please keep our sweet Ella Grace in your prayers. Pray for healing of her body, wisdom for me and Michael and the doctors involved.

Just Because Pictures!

The other night we were putting the kids to bed and I just decided randomly to have Michael take a picture of me with each of the kids individually. I don't think we do this enough honestly. There are usual pictures with us as a group, but not individual ones. I love these kids so much! They are just growing up so fast! 

Look at this handsome guy. We've reached the point where when we hug his arms are on top since he's so much taller than me. He's also in this phase where sometimes a hug is out of the question so I cherish them when he gives me one. 

Jackson is such a cool dude. He's got such swagger when he walks I love it. He's so sure of himself! He's also a bit on the slouchy side so I can usually get away with having my arms over his for a hug still. If he would stand up to his full height that wouldn't be the case. 

This beautiful girl of mine. I love her so much! Ella is in such a great phase right now. She really does want me around and we have so much fun together. She has gone through phases like this in the past so I know to cherish them because she can flip like a switch overnight where nothing I can do is right and I annoy her to death. 

This sweet boy still likes for me to rock him every once in awhile when I sing to him at night. In fact all the kids still like for me to sing to them right before bed every night. I will take it for as long as I can. Unfortunately I can't pick him up and hold him anymore though. His torso is too long and he ends up choking me! :(

Random Summer Happenings!

I have been so bad about taking pictures lately. I used to take hundreds and hundreds of pictures every month, but now some months I barely take close to hundred. I think it has something to do with the kids getting older. They aren't constantly changing as much nor are they learned new skills at the rate they used. 

I had a bunch of pictures of different things that we did this summer, but they weren't enough for an entire blog post by themselves so I thought I would put them all into a random summer post. 

Even though we didn't official end school until June 16th, we weren't slaving away until late in the afternoon either. On Wednesday, June 7th, we meet up with Kim and her kids at Seahurst beach for a fun kick off to the summer weather. It was a gorgeous day to be at the beach. 

Zeke is always on the look out for drift wood that is in the shape of weapons. He's found quite a few and we have a collection of them on our mantle at home! 

While Daddy and the older boys were off on the rafting trip I took these cuties out to dinner at Red Robin! 

I like to live on the wild side! 

For Christmas Ga-Ga got the boys all these miniature games. Owen hadn't ever opened his up yet. So one morning he wanted me to play the world's small game of Monopoly with him. It was so hilarious! 

Look at those little cards and the figurines were so small, but they still took up the whole space on the board. 

The week before the 4th of July the kids and I needed to be in Burien for Jack's orthodontist appt. We had to pick him up from his Fire & Safety training at PSSC and then we had about an hour before his appt. We went to the Dollar Tree to buy the Bingo prizes for the 4th of July BBQ and then I remembered it was Thursday and the Farmers Market was going on. I had no idea where Michael's Water District booth was, but I figured we could have a quick look. Thankfully we found it right away. The booth was so nice! That's when I got to see the water fan in action and I was sure he needed to borrow it for the BBQ!

Our cat likes nachos! And no Michael isn't still eating them right along with Charlie. These are the chips that he broke up so Charlie could eat them. This cat will eat just about anything...except shrimp, imitation crab and chicken apple sausage. He doesn't like those. 

Since Ella and I were headed to Eastern Washington in the middle of July that meant we were going to be gone for Michael's birthday on July 14th. Michael and I went out to celebrate at Daniel's Broiler on Wednesday the 12th. We also had him open his presents that night. Owen found a funny birthday card that said something like being the greatest person to ever walk the earth and then you open it and it says "Not you that was Jesus!" I know I'm not quite remembering it right, but it was funny! We got Michael a few new t-shirts and then a bag full of his favorite caramels from the Winco bulk section. 

With us being gone on all these camping trips we did not want our yard to die so I finally broke down and bought a couple of these timer things for the hoses. They are about $50 a piece, but it was so nice to not have to rely on the neighbors or friends to come water our garden/yard. 

Zeke had a fun time building a fort upstairs in the hallway. 

Charlie thought it was a fun to hang out too! 

One day while I was cooking dinner with my Mom I reached into the bag of carrots and pulled out this one. I had to take a picture of it and sent it to Michael. It's a boy! 

This whole year we have been keeping track of the different animals Charlie brings in and kills. It's his kill list and yes I know that sounds creepy. On this particular day I was not happy with him. He got a hummingbird! Even though I wasn't happy with our beast I was impressed...those things are fast! 

Our VBS theme this year was a space theme called Steller. My Dad had been tasked with the job of building a lunar lander. He spent weeks and weeks creating this. It was huge! You can see it's about double his height. It came apart in two pieces and barely fit through the church doors. It was up on the stage for a couple weeks prior to VBS...it was good advertisement. He did such a great job! 

One day Zeke asked if he could make a smorgasbord for lunch. I told him he could. I love that he took the time to make it all pretty! 

The 2nd week of August was when the kids went to Summer Camp. The older boys left on Sunday. Michel was the one to drop them off and he didn't even stay until they drove away let alone take pictures. He's such a dad! Ella and Zeke headed out for kids camp on Wednesday afternoon. We had a lot more kids going this year which was nice. Especially for Zeke...last year he was the only boy from our church. This year there were 3 boys that went. 

The youth camp is from Sunday - Friday, while the kids camp is from Wednesday - Saturday. It's honestly the perfect amount of time for that age! 

Loaded up and ready to go! 

Mr Ernie and Miss Katie taking good care of our kiddos. We appreciate them so much! 

I got about 48 hours with no kiddos which is so nice. My plan was to do nothing except read! One thing I did really well with this summer was not sleeping in. Most days I was up at 7:30 and it really helped with taking advantage of the day and not having to break the habit once school was back in session. One of the mornings I came down to fill up my water before sitting on the couch to read my book. I opened my tumbler, got out my electrolytes and was getting ready to open the packet when I looked over and saw this....

Oh my word!!! He was huge. That's the back of my stove and with his legs he's about 3 - 4 inches. I about stopped breathing! I'm not joking! I walked right out of there, got the vacuum hose and sucked him right up. We actually ended up find 3 of these big bad boys over the course of the summer. Ewwwww!!! No thank you! 

I've talked about Richie before and how he loved my long hair. He passed away on October 28th, 2021, from Covid. It was such a huge loss for his family and friends and our church community. The family had a small gathering last year, but they were waiting to have the celebration of life that everyone could attend later. 

His service was on August 19th at our church. Richie built the cross that is on the wall in the sanctuary. He also built that gate for one of our pastor's sermon series' he did. Mary his wife asked my Dad if he could build these platforms for Richie's boots. She wanted the platforms to get taller going up and up to the foot of the cross. Richie loved his boots and he loved Jesus. He also love Coke & Skittles so the edge of the stage was lined with cans of Coke and the tables outside had bags of Skittles on them. It was a fabulous service honoring a wonderful man. I can't wait to get to heaven and see Richie again. I can just hear him giving me a hard time and saying something like, "Well...what took you so long?" 

On a last minute whim we decided to spend the Saturday prior to school starting at the beach. The same beach we went to at the beginning of summer. I thought how cool would that be if the Storer family could come with us. Even though it was last minute they didn't have plans so they joined us. We went back to Seahurst...it's Ella favorite because she loves to look for sea glass. She has hundreds of pieces now...it's a fun hobby! 

The weather was a little bit on the cooler side when we first got there. 

Once the sun was fully on us it was so nice! Of course this guy was ready to go at exactly the time I said we might leave. We ended up staying until 2:30 though and then it was actually getting really warm and I was ready to go. All the Storer kids wanted to come over to play, but we couldn't fit them all in our van. We ended up taking Andrew and Caitlynn with us and then Micah and Kim brought Josiah over after they ran a couple errands. They also brought over some food to share for dinner so we ended up making it a whole day of fun with friends. It was a nice bookend to all our summer fun! 

First Day Of School 2023

This year we started school a bit differently and it worked out amazingly well. We did a slow start by starting on Monday August 21st, but I only had the kids work on Math that whole week. The following week I had them add in English. It was such a game changer in regards to their attitude towards school. Boom got your Math done, now it's still summer break. No big deal! It was a nice way to ease back into the schedule rather than going from nothing to okay sit down and do 6 subjects worth of work every day. 

Our official first day of school was Tuesday, September 5th.

I can't believe Owen only has one more first day of school picture after this! 

He's a Junior in High School! 

Yep the shirt fits now! 

When I took this picture and looked at the date I actually had a freak out moment. His Senior year starts in September next year, but he'll graduate in 2025. For some reason I thought it might be like the football season. Where the you win Superbowl in the season you started in which would be 2023, but you actually play the Superbowl in 2024. I got all confused and was thinking I had messed the kids shirts up this whole time and no one noticed. I ran in and looked at my cousin's son's graduation announcement. He had just graduated back in May and it said that he was the graduation class of 2023 so even though he started his senior year in 2022 they say class of 2023 since that's when you actually graduate. I was so confused and so thankful that I hadn't messed up years worth of pictures! Hahaha! 

Second year of high school for this guy! 

He's a Smore!!! 

Jackson's shirt fits too! These boys are growing up too fast! Back to back graduations are going to be crazy on my Mama heart! 

Even though our first day of school was on Sept 5th, we didn't actually take these pictures until Wednesday, September, 6th. Poor Ella had another one of her throwing up episodes from Monday night until Tuesday morning. She felt awful so she didn't do any work on the first day of school. Thankfully by the evening she was feeling better and on Wednesday she was right as rain. It so maddening to not understand why her body is doing this. We have doctor appts with my Naturopath, her Neurologist and a GI Specialist all within the next couple of months. Praying that we'll be able to figure out what is going on and our sweet girl doesn't have to deal with these episodes anymore! 

She in 7th grade now! It's crazy to me to think that when we started homeschool she was only in 4th grade. Honestly it was more like 3rd grade since her 3rd grade year was so messed up. She has come so far and she's rocking it! 

Her shirt is still a little big, but not by much! 

We don't have any kids in elementary school anymore...he's a middle schooler! What?!?!

6th grade is going to be awesome! 

He's still got a lot of growing to do! 

Owen saw Charlie outside while we were taking pictures. 

Our school mascot needed to be in the first day of school pictures. 

He wasn't quite interested though. 

This was the best I thought I was going to get! 

But Owen wrangled him, but Charlie almost made a break for it.

But Owen persevered and we got a class picture with our mascot! 

Buddies! 

Thankfully this years first day of school pictures went off without a hitch! 

Always gotta have one selfie with the teacher! 

Later that day I was taking the kids out for back to school shopping. It just hadn't worked out to go until then and honestly the kids didn't need much. 

I was going over the list for each of the kids and noticed something funny added to the end of Jack's portion of it. The crazy thing is at first I thought it was real so I asked Jack...why do you need a Secret Agent Outfit? He was so confused! Jackson is actually going to be in a skit at our church coming up in October so I thought that he honestly needed a costume for it. That's when I noticed that the writing was just a little different from Jack's. I took this picture and texted Michael to ask him he was going to go shopping with me to pick up this Secret Agent Outfit. He thought I would get a kick out of it! He's so silly!