Blog Catch Up - December and Early January synopsis

In December, we were lucky enough to start attending church with our new respite provider Dana.  That definitely has helped our attendance and helped me to actually listen to the talks/lessons.  That is one blessing I am very grateful for.

We celebrated Christmas Eve as a family a day early, since Kevin had duty on the real Christmas Eve. We were all able to open 1 present. I opened a very cute calendar Garrett made me at school. It had fun pictures for every month that were made with his hand prints, i.e., a turkey for November, an upside-down handprint that made Santa with the fingers for his beard for December, 2 handprint as a spider with the fingers for the legs, etc. Very fun! Kevin opened a toolbox. Garrett opened his Leapster Flix thing...which he wasn't too interested in...Caiti opened her Dora doll with the twin siblings. Jason opened this fun ball toy that you put the balls in the openings in the top, and they go down a maze until they come out the bottom. We ate barbecue pork sandwiches and had eggnog. We fulfilled a Roach family tradition and watched Christmas Vacation. It was a nice day.

On the real Christmas Eve, I celebrated with Michelle. We spent the morning visiting with one of the families Michelle works with. They are very nice, and it was fun to hang out with someone who also has children with autism. "Stevie Claus" and Sharon Shedroff, a friend from the ward, also stopped by for a visit. That evening, Michelle and I wrapped presents and listened to the Messiah. Then we helped Santa get everything ready, and I stayed up until midnight making CDs for Kevin and cleaning up the house because we all know Santa can't come to a messy house.

On Christmas morning, I got up early and made some bacon and eggs for everyone. By the time breakfast was ready, Kevin got home, so we were able to have a nice Christmas breakfast. We then opened presents. It was so cute because Caiti opened Uncle Jared and Aunt Lynley's present first, and ended up playing with that the rest of the day instead of opening presents. (She got My Little Pony from them.) Michelle said it was her best Christmas ever, gift wise, because Jennifer bought her a wet suit and a body board. She was so excited. Our Christmas was very successful. This was the first Christmas that ALL of the kids absolutely loved their presents and were entertained and playing all morning. So we had a wonderful morning and early afternoon...However, then Caiti got sick and threw up many, many times, and the neighborhood turned off our power for a couple hours and we only had a couple candles. Annoying! Overall, though, I had a great Christmas.

That Friday, Kevin and I were able to use his Movie Tickets that he got from Santa. We decided to go see Sherlock Holmes. I just had a really nice time with my honey. I love when we can go on dates. It makes my week have a little bright spot to look forward to. 

Michelle inherited some tickets to Universal Studios from her friend Ali because he was going to use them when his dad came to visit from Turkey but they didn't end up going, and they expired on January 4. So, she kindly gave them to Kevin and me to use for a day away from the kids. She is our respite provider, so we had an instant babysitter too. Kevin and I had such a nice time together and some much needed alone time. We really liked the Simpsons ride. The Jurassic park ride and the Mummy ride were fun too. I loved seeing all of the characters that my kids are obsessed with, like Dora, Shrek, Spongebob, the Penguins from Madagascar, Alex the Lion, Curious George, etc. So fun! I sure love my Kevi!  We had to use a disposable camera, so whenever we end up getting those pics developed, I will try to remember to post them on the blog.

On January 6, Garrett turned 6, so now Aunt Michelle is trying to teach him a new answer when people ask him "How old are you?" We had a birthday breakfast of eggs and ice cream cake. Garrett was able to open his presents. He got a magnifying glass, a couple of squish balls with Curious George on them, a monkey swing toy, a pair of dress pants and a soft and comfy body pillow.  After breakfast, Kevin and I took Garrett to Sea World for his birthday. That was just the perfect morning. We had such a nice time with our little boy. We had planned on just hanging out at Sesame Place the whole time, but we got there at 10, and Sesame Place didn't open until 11. We ended up just walking around the grounds until we came upon the penguins. Garrett absolutely loved watching them swim around in the water. When we left them, he was upset and kept saying, "Swimming in the water!" He got distracted, though, when we saw a bunch of flamingos out in the open. The worker even let Garrett pet the flamingo. It was really neat. (Yes, we did take pictures, but they are also on a disposable camera and will be posted someday when I actually get the film developed.)  Finally, Sesame Place opened, so we were able to take Garrett on his first theme park rides. They had a teacup-type ride with Abby Cadabby, Elmo's Flying Fish ride and an Oscar the Grouch ride that was this thing that swayed back and forth. He loved those rides! He had to go on each of them twice. We also ended up taking him on the rapids ride where we all got soaked. He loved having mommy and daddy all to himself and going "bye bye." Kevin made Garrett hamburgers for lunch because that is his favorite. Such a cute daddy.  The rest of the day was rather uneventful, but I think this was definitely Garrett's best birthday yet. It was so fun to spend the morning with my sweetie pie.

Okay...I think I've caught up on the more eventful parts of the last couple of months when I was too lazy to blog.   Now, if I can only keep up...

Garrett's Neurology Update

I took Garrett for his first follow up since his seizure a couple of months ago.  They told me that he does have an official diagnosis of epilepsy.  They also told me that a lot of times, if children start having seizures around his age, they will grow out of them in a couple of years, so that is what we are hoping for.  They told me, according to his EEG from his hospital stay in August, that the seizures were not caused by any sort of brain injury and that no injury to his brain had resulted.  So, we are upping his medicine a little bit, and they will keep him on that.  If he doesn't have any breakthrough seizures, they are hoping to be able to wean him off seizure medication after a couple of years.

Fun at River Run Farm

My friend Sharon owns a couple of horses, and she was kind enough to invite Garrett and Caiti for their first experience on a horse.  So, we were able to spend the morning at River Run Farm and have some fun!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Kevin's Visit to Indianapolis

So, someday Kevin can come in and edit this and tell all about his trip, but I didn't want to forget to post that too.  While I was having fun with the McCreas, Kevin was in Indiana for his vacation.  He was able to spend a whole bunch of time with his family, spend New Years Eve with my parents and the Enz family and even attend a Colt's Game with his brother.  I know he really enjoyed seeing everyone again and getting some time to do something for himself.

My kids make me proud!

Today I took Caiti with me to Wal-Mart so we could get some more Crystal Lite  (I swear she bleeds Crystal Lite because she drinks so much of it.)  I decided to be brave and not use a cart today and see how Caiti would do just holding my hand in the store.  My only other attempts at this have been utter disasters, so I was a little nervous.  It was such a sweet, happy surprise to have her hold my hand and chatter happily away.  We went in the garden entrance so she could see the pretty Christmas Trees and poinsettias which she loved!  She had to touch all the pine needles and petals on the flowers.  Then we ventured in the busy store and she was very good and just walked beside me while I held her hand and didn't try to get any of the yummy treats off the shelf, etc.  She even held the Crystal Lite containers and waited patiently in the line.  Once we had payed for the drinks, she was such a big girl and carried the grocery bag and didnt' let go of it until we were home handing it to her daddy.  :)  That was very fun for both of us.  I was proud of Caiti for being such a good helper today at the store!

Oh, and today, I was playing with Garrett in his room, and he was able to tell me what a cow, frog, horsie, sheep, pig, kittie, doggy, duck and a chicken say.  Very cute.  Of course, I had to bribe him with Superman rides.  He also sang, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with me and did the actions, and would point to the right areas on his body when I asked if I pointed at mine first.  He's come a long way. 

You know, it used to make me sad that things that come so easily and so early for most kids was so difficult for mine, but I'm just so proud of them.  It makes me happy to see them and how proud of themselves they are when they make the connection and figure things out for themselves.

A Glimpse

Today, I took Caiti for a walk outside at church.  She was in such a sweet happy mood today and helped me not feel so frazzled.  We saw a nice lady who was walking her dog.  The lady came up to Caiti and let her pet her doggy.  Caiti was very excited and said, "Woof, woof" over and over.  I didn't even know she knew that word.  Then, when I told her to say " Bye, Bye, " to the doggy, she waved.  I know that she has come a long way since starting her ABA therapy, and that made me so happy to hear some appropriate language coming from my sweet little girl and to see her wave bye bye. 

Poor Garrett

Garrett woke me up extremely early Friday morning being his normal spaz self, so I took him in his bedroom and we watched PBS Sprout while I tried to calm him down and get him to fall back asleep.  I ended up falling back asleep myself but was awakened to severe shaking next to me.  Garrett was in the middle of a seizure.  His whole body was jerking.  I was so scared.  I turned him on his side because it sounded like he was choking.  Luckily, his seizure ended after a couple minutes.  Kevin and I decided to take him to the emergency room for observation.  They observed him and put him on a new seizure medication, Trileptal.  We will be following up with Neurology.  It was such a bummer since last time we went to the Neurologist she felt that his seizure in August was just a febrile seizure and went ahead and weaned him off.  His first day off of medication was when he had his seizure.  I was talking to Amy about finding things to be grateful every day, so here is what I am grateful for in this situation:  I am grateful that Garrett was having one of his wide awake nights so that I was with him when he had his seizure.  I'm grateful that we are in the Navy so that we can get him the care that he needs, and I am grateful that there is medication to prevent seizures.  I'm grateful that, this time, his seizure only lasted a couple minutes, and that he was back to himself in a couple hours instead of a couple days.  I'm grateful that Heavenly Father trusted us with this beautiful little boy and that he has guided us in the right direction so that we can meet his needs.  I love Garrett very much!

A Visit from Mom and Daddy :)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jason's 18-month checkup.

Today was Jason's 18-month appointment.  He weighs 29 lbs and is 32 inches.  Such a big boy!   The nurse practitioner went ahead and referred him to Audiology and Speech Therapy for his speech delay and Developmental Pediatrics for his speech delay as well as his family history.

Halloween the Roach Family Way

Today for Halloween we actually had a potty party in the morning.  Hooray, we are still working on some fun potty training at our house.  The convenient thing was that we were going to use the potty treats later on for the Trick or Treaters...however, tonight after handing out some candy, we lost Garrett for a second until we realized that he was camoflauged outside with a group of Trick or Treaters.  So, that was the end of handing out candy.  Don't tell anyone, since we turned out the lights and locked the door...but yes, we are home.  We did decide to brave and take the kids trick or Treating...we only went down the block and back...but that is enough right?  Here are their before pictures...

(This is Michelle's friend Ali who helped her take her car to the repair shop today.)

And here are their After pictures when they've had plenty of candy and are tired out from their adventure with all the weird looking people walking the streets.

Caiti's Birthday!

Caiti turned 4 on the 29th.  We didn't do much that day, but the next day (payday) we had her party.  We had a great party with Dora/Backyardigans theme.  Some good friends and Uncle Steve were able to come and share our celebration.  We had yummy pizza and ice cream cake.  Caiti loved it.  She could totally tell the evening was all about her.  She was in heaven eating the food and playing with all of her great presents.  She loved to spend time with her friends.  My favorite part was how excited she got when we all sang "Happy Birthday."  It was pretty neat to see that she understood what was going on.  I love my pretty Caiti.  She's such a sweetie, and we are so glad she was born into our family!

A Girl's Night

Michelle was feeling very stir crazy on Saturday, so she, Caiti and I decided to get out of the house for a girl's outing.  Of course, we went to the beach because we live 20 minutes away and rarely take advantage of that.  We got kind of lost on our drive, and subsequently we found a beautiful, more private section of beach that a lot of the people who have sailboats use.  Unfortunately, we forgot Caiti's swimsuit, but fortunately, this time we remembered sunscreen.  People always think Caiti is a boy anyway, so we stripped her down to her diapers, and Michelle and I overcame our self consciousness and stripped down to our swimsuits and just followed Caiti as she walked in the waves.  She had some secret destination in mind because she was headed for the opposite beach and when we turned her around to head back to the car, she had a major fit.  Of course, her fit was short-lived because we decided to go to Fiji Yogurt for a yummy treat.  I was excited because they even had pineapple sorbet. Mmmmmm...All in all, it was a very nice day.

Garrett's Neurology Visit

Today we finally had our follow up with Neurology after Garrett's seizure episode this past August.  I was happy to find out that they have decided on a diagnosis.  They said that his seizure was a complex febrile seizure.  The reason that it was complex, rather than just a regular febrile seizure was because it was one-sided and it lasted 30 minutes.  Normally febrile seizures last up to 15 minutes.  They also decided to go ahead and wean him off of his seizure medication because they said it is not normal practice to put a child on medication after their first seizure.  They normally wait until the child has a second seizure, especially if the first seizure is febrile.  They released us from their care, so we don't have to follow with Neurology anymore unless Garrett has another seizure.  It is kind of scary not to have Garrett on his meds anymore, but we do have Diastat just in case.  That is a medication that you give to stop a seizure, so if Garrett does have a seizure, we at least have the means to stop it.  She said if he has a seizure to be sure to call her, and she will resume following Garrett, but hopefully that was just a one-time thing, due to his illness at the time.

Fun at the Zoo with Uncle Bryan and Aunt Marie

We were able to meet Bryan and Marie at the zoo on Thursday evening.  We had just enough time to see Caiti's favorite exhibits: The elephants and the flamingos.  It was so nice to see them.  Garrett got Uncle Bryan all to himself which made him happy.  We had to say goodbye until next time they are out here.  My little boy is so sad.  He kept crying yesterday and asking for his Uncle Bryan.  :(

Caiti's First Dance Lesson with Aunt Marie.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A Visit from Bryan and Marie

Our family was very excited to get the news that Kevin's brother Bryan and his wife Marie would be in town for their 20-year anniversary.  Kevin was able to go with them to the Charger's game on Monday night.  He had a great time except for the crowded trolley they took to get there.  Last night Bryan and Marie came over bringing pizza and canolies.  So yummy.  We had a great visit, and the kids warmed right up to them.   I've really missed them and it was nice to see them and get caught up on the goings on in the Roach family.  Here are some pictures of our evening.

Here is a good example of what my kids like to do when company is around.

Garrett thought Uncle Bryan made a great jungle gym.  Good thing Uncle Bryan was cooperative.                                                                             

Jason found a new friend in Aunt Marie.  :)

So did Caiti.  Aunt Marie would spin her lots, and she thought that was fun.                                                                                                         

Here are some more examples of Garrett on the jungle gym...aka Uncle Bryan.                                                                                                       

Kevin sure was happy to have some family in town. 

I had to put this picture on because Bryan is smiling.  :)

Caiti was done posing...

And here is the proof that I was there too...          

The Adventures of Alex & Marty...as told by Caiti