The sun came out and the temperature finally creeped it's way up to the 70s, so the kids and I packed up, threw on our shorts and sunglasses, and met up with some wonderful friends at Sunny Side beach in Steilacoom. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to pretend it was summer!
As soon as we hit the sand, Levi was tugging at my shorts asking me to help take his shoes off, then he headed straight down to the water.
Toes in the sand, sun in his eyes - a happy boy! Here he is with his silly "say cheeeeeese" grin. :)
He wasn't deterred at all by the cold water. He had me a little worried that I would at some point have to go in there after him, and I was not nearly as excited as him about getting wet. Thankfully, he was very well behaved and stayed relatively close to me.
Lexi, on the other hand, hung out with me and Ms. Alissa for the most part, which made her quite happy.
This next picture is a great example of what happens when the sun is too bright for you to see the screen on your phone, but you attempt to take pictures anyways. Yup, I thought I was taking pictures of the kids, when I was actually taking pictures of myself taking pictures. Nice one, Laura.
Yes, there is a tiny Lexi underneath that hat.
Our beach buddies! Alissa, holding baby Capri, Sarah, Mary-Hayden, and Sterling (he's the super cool dude standing on one foot wearing goggles).
And to the left was the rest of our beach buddies, Ainsley, Kadence, Kristy, and Kinsleigh. Oh, it looks like I caught Lexi trying to steal herself some snacks out of Kristy's bag. See!? I told you that girl was serious about her food!
Digging in the sand with Isabella and Boone.
Lexi's first time playing in the sand.
Umm... another accidental picture of myself attempting to take pictures.
And this is a prime example of why our kids love Ms. Alissa so so much! She feeds them, and she feeds them the good stuff. This time it was Cheetos. Lexi just sort of licked hers, but Levi went all out! The sand on his hands obviously didn't slow him down. I suppose that made them extra crunchy? =)
Ahhh... what a great way to spend a beautiful, sunshiny PNW day!
Several people have asked me about Levi and how his follow up with Seattle Children's Neurology went. Thank you to each of you for your prayers and concern! Our appointment had a little good news mixed in with some still concerning news. After examining Levi, then hearing our account of exactly what happened the day of Levi's seizure, here is what the provider decided about Levi's seizure:
1. Levi's seizure was NOT a complex febrile seizure - His highest recorded temperature at home was 99.5, which medically speaking is not even considered a fever.
2. The seizure may have been caused by a GI virus, however she was very hesitant to name that the cause also - his seizure happened on a Saturday, he had no symptoms of illness on Sunday, then started vomiting and having an upset stomach on Monday. So, it's possible there is a connection here, and apparently children suffering from a GI virus are sometimes susceptible to seizures (This was news to us, we were unaware of this before hand). However, since it was 2 days after his seizure that those symptoms occurs, our provider couldn't make that diagnosis without any uncertainty.
3. Levi was found to be clinically stable and appeared very healthy, therefore no further testing is needed at this time - She gave us the option of doing an EEG, although she felt very comfortable not ordering one based on his clinical exam. We are very comforted knowing his CT scan was clear (no brain tumors, phew!) and no matter the reading of the EEG, we would most likely chose not to put him on medication unless another seizure occurs. So, we all agreed that the EEG wasn't necessary at this time.
4. Bottom line - we watch him closely for a year. He is the most vulnerable as he is falling asleep or waking up as his level of consciousness changes, so we will need to listen and watch him closely at those times. We were given a prescription for a "rescue" medication in the event he has another seizure lasting longer than 3 minutes. If Levi makes it a full year without having a repeat seizure, we should be able to relax with the assumption that he won't have another. It's not the definite answers we were hoping for, but it's not at all the bad news it could have been. Still leaves us with some concern, but the good news is she said he looks good enough that further testing isn't needed.
Moises and I have both relaxed and are comforted with the belief that Levi will be just fine. We are not naive, thus we will still watch him closely. However we don't expect him to have any more seizures (here's to praying our parental intuition is correct!). We have faith in God to continue to take care of us, and thank each and every one of you that prayed for us and prayed for Levi.
Oh? What's that you say? Did you say you missed seeing her 8 and 9 month pictures?
Well, that's because her mom neglecting to post them to the blog. Shame on her!! So how about I treat you to a little flashback.
From back in February, here's a few 8 month shots.
Yes, I'm well aware there is no "8 month" sticker in the picture. I snapped a few quick pictures before church that night, fully intending to come back and do some with her sticker. And, as you can see, that never happened. Too bad, but oh well! At least we still managed to captured a few pictures of this adorable girl at 8 months old.
At 9 months Lexi had 2 teeth, was working HARD to crawl, and was starting to figure out how to self feed some solid foods.
And now here we are, 10 months old! This girl is crawling around with some serious speed behind her! She has two bottom teeth, and two on top starting to break through. She will belly laugh during a game of Peek a Boo (or Peek-a-You, as Levi would call it), she loves the isty bitsy spider, will clap on command, and will often wiggle and dance to music. At her last Dr. appointment she weighed in at 18lbs. Now that she's a solid food eating pro, she has become very serious about her food!! If you waste time getting that next bite ready for her she will let you know... with an angry scream and a few full body kicks! ;)
Our 10 month photo shoot was tainted by an on going cold virus the kids keep passing back and forth. She had just woken up and wasn't really in the mood to smile... or sit still for that matter! So we'll just title these last few pictures "Lexi the Diva." =)
This girl just wouldn't sit still for nothing! See my hand trying to catch her before she fell out of chair? Silly girl! If you look close you'll notice I gave her a few puff snacks to hopefully entice her to sit still and smile. Eh, I tried, but it didn't quite work as I hoped. This girl is on the move and doesn't want to slow down for anything! I just love this silly, beautiful girl!
Pulling herself up, she may very well be walking by the next time I get around to blogging.
Such a Diva! LOL
Looks like our days of easy picture taking have come to an end. :)
Lexi remains a joy to our family, and is such a little ray of sunshine! Love her!
Lexi's first Easter turned out to be a fantastic day! The weather was sunny and warm, without a cloud in sight (a rare March day here in the Pacific Northwest), and we loved every second of it! What a beautiful day to celebrate our Lord and risen Savior.
Easter is kind of a big deal in our home. Why is that, you ask?? Well, it's the day we celebrate that Jesus Christ, after dying on the cross to save us from our sins, and after spending 3 days buried in a tomb, AROSE from the dead! Yup, that's right! He is NOT dead, and even today Jesus is alive, sitting at the right hand of God the Father, preparing for the day he returns to take his children home to live a glorious eternity with him. Now, isn't THAT certainly something worth celebrating!!
For the past week we've been reading a story book about Jesus and Easter for our bedtime story.
Levi started to really enjoy the story, and he began to ask me each night "Where did Gesus go?" referring to the story of Jesus, of course. We would then practice telling the story of Easter in our very own, 2 year old toddler version. It went a little something like this:
Me: Levi, who did Jesus die for?
Levi: MEEEE!!
Me: How many days was Jesus in the tomb?
Levi: One, Two, Th-Ree DAYS!!
Me: Is Jesus alive?
Levi: *throws fist up in the air* Jesus is A-Wive!!
If you simply can't handle the suspense, and you think you absoultely MUST see him tell the story himself, here's a short clip of Levi telling the Easter story.
For Easter morning, our church LIFE group (bible study group) had an Easter Brunch potluck. It's always a blessing to spend time with such wonderful friends. We had some good eats, and Levi got to participate in a small egg hunt in the back yard, which was of course super fun for all the little kids.
Levi and Lexi wasted no time digging in and playing with the toys and their friends.
Lexi and Jane hanging out.
Kinsleigh and Tirzah
Time to find some candy-filled Easter eggs! The kids are lined up and ready to go!
Jace, Avery, Kadence, and Jane. Baskets in hand, ready to hunt.
This was Levi's first time participating in an Easter egg hunt. He went straight to the dog run, he thought loading up his bucket with some rocks sounded like a great idea!
With a little help, and after watching what the big kids were doing, he finally figured out what to do. He jumped right in and started hunting.
Jane knew exactly what to do. She was ready to go and wasted no time filling up her basket.
Tirzah and Ainsley getting some help from Ms. Fawn and Mr. Dustin.
Jace, Avery, and Kadence didn't need help. They knew what to do and were on a mission to find those eggs!
Levi still gun-ho and on the hunt.
AND THEN...interest in putting plastic eggs in a basket was over. With everyone else distracted, the tricycle was free to play with, and apparently looked like way more fun.
Now he's back at it, helping Ainsley fill up her basket.
Jane and Tirzah, the other 2 year olds at the party, getting some help with their eggs. They were at the perfect age to enjoy this simple game.
Ainsley and Jane showing off their treasures.
Throwing his candy-filled eggs into the air...because that's just what Levi does. =) And I still don't think he really knew what this Easter egg hunt was all about quite yet.
Tirzah figured out what to do with the candy. =)
Mr. Daniel showing Levi the precious treats hidden within the eggs.
Ah-Ha!! Now he gets it!
Ainsley showing off her basket of loot.
While the big kids were egg hunting, the babies got a play date. Here's Lexi with one of her BFFs, Kinsleigh.
"Seriously, lady, no more pictures! We're trying to play here!"
The three toddlers, Levi, Tirzah, and Jane, all ended up in the dog run playing with the rocks and dog toys. It was really sweet to see them all naturally drawn to each other and playing. Two year olds are so fun!
Me and my babies at the Easter Brunch. We were hoping that Moises would be able to join us, however he was on post-op day 4 from a tonsillectomy and was still in too much pain to tag along. We missed him and are super sad he missed out on Easter this year. But most importantly, we are praying he recovers and is feeling better soon!
After brunch we headed home for nap time and then church. The church service was great as always, but this year it was even more special because my cousin Tim and his girlfriend Holly drove down from Seattle to be in service with me. Since Moises wasn't able to be there, it sure was nice to still be able to sit next to family on Easter.
I of course put them to work, asking them to help me capture some pictures of the kids. Here's the pictures we ended up with. Hope everyone had a great Easter, I know we sure did!
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At her last Dr. appointment she weighed in at 18lbs. Now that she's a solid food eating pro, she has become very serious about her food!! If you waste time getting that next bite ready for her she will let you know... with an angry scream and a few full body kicks! ;)
