{Flashback Friday}

These Ashton Family pictures were taken in Wyoming in the summer of 2006. Since then eight more grandchildren have been born, and there's one more on the way. I think most of us are either pregnant or just had a baby in this picture :o)

Rhett(5), Ethan (2), and I was 6 months pregnant with Kade

{Caught You!}

This is what I discovered this morning after putting away laundry upstairs and leaving Kade on his own....yum yum!

Another fun side effect of Kade's medication (heavy sarcasam here) is that he feels hungry all the time. All day long he is begging for food, sneaking food, eating food, etc. I try to feed him high-fiber foods that will help him feel hungry later, but even with our best efforts he is putting on weight faster than we would like. It's hard to not feed your child when they tell you they are hungry :o(. He is up 5 pounds since he started the medication in January....that doesn't sound like a lot but he is only two pounds less than Ethan now. Oh well, what can you do! Weight gain vs Seizures....we'll take the weight gain.

{He made it!}

Yesterday Ethan made it to his goal of 1,000 and he wants to keep on going to his new goal....one million. YIKES! Anything's possible when you are five! This morning he was up to 1,129.

{1,000}

Before the school year started, I wondered how Ethan would do with full day Kindergarten. He was 5-1/2, and very excited to start, but as moms do I worried a little! From day one he has *loved* school. If he ever has to miss a day due to a family vacation or illness he is in tears worrying about what fun things he is missing out on. I'm sure it helps that he has a class full of friends from church and the neighborhood, and a fabulous teacher who makes everything so much fun. Today he came home with a large paper, it was full of numbers on the front and back side. Today they had been writing their numbers, going as high as they could go. He told me his teacher said he could work on it most of the day if he wanted, so work away he did. In between dinner and basketball practice tonight, and even before bed he has kept writing his numbers. at 8:45pm (he begged to stay up late) he is at number 574. He wants to get to 1,000. Go Ethan Go!

{Flashback Friday}

These pictures are from four years ago, November 2005. We were in Wyoming for Thanksgiving.

Ethan (1) and Rhett (4)


Logan and Ethan


Rhett & Kaeli


Rhett, Ethan, Jodi, & Kaeli

{We're Back}

Our stay this time was short....woo-hoo! We arrived early Monday morning and Kade was hooked up to the EEG monitor. I was dreading this as it involves over an hour of holding still, pushing on his head, etc but he did great once he had some fun new toys to play with. As most of you know his medication makes it really hard for him to hold still, so I didn't know how he was going to handle being stuck in bed. My prayers were answered and he was so much more mellow and did so well. I can't say enough great things about Phoenix Children's Hospital...the staff was so wonderful, and Kade once again left the hospital with a bag full of fun new toys and prizes.

One of the things we did to keep him entertained was let him take pictures. Below is the hospital room from his point of view:



Tuesday we met with the Dr. and he reviewed his EEG results. It was good and bad news, but mostly good. The bad news is Kade had four seizures while he was sleeping, and some electrigraphical seizures. The good news is the seizures were small, his electrographical seizures are down 95% from when we left in January, and his development has not been affected. Since his development is not affected, we are sticking with the same current medications and doses, and hopefully things will either continue to improve or stay the same. Thanks for all the well wishes, it really means a lot!! x0x0

{Love Week}

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day...full of being spoiled by those who love you and also spoiling the ones you love as well...

Here are some more things that I love

*watching my boys at their basketball games....Ethan scored some points and Rhett was "defense EVERYWHERE" (as he calls it!)

*my husband taking the boys on a hike so I could get some homework done

*some Valentine surprises from Cody

*Pei Wei and a movie made for a fun date-night at home on Saturday....we have a hard time leaving Kade so don't get a babysitter too often....

*this counter top spray makes my kitchen sparkle and smell so good too! Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Counter top spray....I get it at Sprouts for $3 or so....

*the cute Primary kids listening so quietly to my story as I did sharing time....those moments are few and far between so I really appreciated it!

*listening to Kade sing "Follow The Prophet" into the (turned off) Primary microphone as I set up chairs for Primary.

*making a yummy dinner for my family

*setting the table up all cute....

*Brittany's fabulous dessert she made along with chocolate dipped strawberries....yum I want more!!

This has been fun...I should keep track of these things more often. I think this is a record for how many blog posts I have done in a week....

Here is one thing that I do not love...

Epilepsy. Bleh. Boooooo!!!

Kade looks to us like he is doing really well on the new medication...but tomorrow we find out for sure. We are checking into the hospital and will hook him back up to the video EEG monitors so we can see if the medication has decreased the unseen seizures he was having so many of last month. I am trying not to get my hopes up....but of course I am desperately hoping that it looks much better than when we went home last time. Best case scenario we will be home Tuesday evening....so here's hoping for that!!