Shea's Hospital Stay

Last Tuesday, Shea checked into Children's Medical Center in Dallas for her extended EEG. We were hoping to catch some seizures while she was there and get some answers about what is causing them. We weren't worried about the tests hurting her, but we were definitely worried about the boredom factor and the difficulty of entertaining a 14 month old in a tiny hospital room for two days!  She was a complete STAR!

She did a great job holding still while the doctor put 28 electrodes on her head, but she HATED the cold air he blew on each one to set the glue. To keep her from messing with them, they wrapped her head up until she looked like this:

She was a real trooper and made it about 24 hours before she started pulling at it and saying "HAT OFF!!!" The cord attached to the back of her head was about 20 feet long, so she was able to walk around the room (and get into things) without much trouble.

We didn't see any seizures while I was there with her during the day on Tuesday. After Phil arrived, we decided to try to induce one by splashing some cold water in her face. No luck. After I left that night, Phil called to tell me he had seen her have a small one and the doctors had detected another on the monitors. YAY!  We were so excited to get something on the tests!

When I arrived the next morning, the doctors took Phil and I into the monitoring room to show us the results. We were surprised and fascinated to see that she had actually had several seizures while we were there, most of which showed no outward indication of their occurrence. We were surprised to see that seizures DID occur when we splashed the water the night before. We just couldn't see visual signs of them.

So, long story (sort of) short, we have started her on anti-seizure meds and she seems to be adjusting ok for the time being. It will be a process of getting just the right dose for her body chemistry. We still don't know exactly what causes them, but we have upcoming appointments with the ENT and neurologist to narrow down the options a bit further. We are excited to be moving forward and getting things under control.

And that's that. I leave you with a picture of our little trooper in her Baby Jail while she chilled out at the hospital!

Miss Independent

She feeds herself now. Sort of.

Tiny Pigtails

Shea's hair is ALMOST long enough in the back to put up in two little ponytails. The front needs to grow some more, but I just couldn't help myself the other night after dinner. Are these not the cutest things you have ever seen?!?

No Words

Lucas made this happen all on his own the other day. I really have no idea.

Nature Walk

In an effort to fill some of our days this summer, I have signed Lucas up for a membership to Kiwi Crate. We got our first one in the middle of June, and it was awesome. It had a nature adventure theme, and the first activity involved making and decorating a scavenger hunt box. After making the box, we headed out around the neighborhood to look for things in nature that matched the colors on the card inside. Lucas LOVED it. We had great discussions about what was "natural" and "man-made". (He kept wanting to put newspaper covers in the orange section). The next day, he was all ready to put in a new card and head out again with his Daddy. Thanks Kiwi Crate...we can't wait to get a new one!

HAT!

Shea is currently OBSESSED with hats. She loves to wear them, have other people wear them, take them on and off, and use other things she finds as hats (like her dinner bowls). The other day, so got a hold of my sunhat and was THRILLED to wear it around the house. It comes down to her chin, so she can't see a thing, but that didn't stop her from crawling all over the place showing it off.

Lucas Quote of the Day

(Ella was spending the night with us).

Lucas at dinner: "I just LOVE when both my sisters are here with me."

So. Cute.

(Shea is PERHAPS not as much of a fan of another "sibling").

Last Blastball Game

Well, I posted pictures from his first game, and here are some from his last outing as a Yellow Jacket!

Lucas ended up enjoying Blastball quite a bit, especially the part where they got snacks after games :) We aren't playing in the fall, but hope to rejoin some of these great teammates in the spring for another season.

Soccer Camp

Lucas attended his first soccer camp this summer through the City of Allen Parks and Rec. We were hoping to see if he enjoyed the sport before deciding about signing him up for a team in the fall. He and his buddy Ryder were so excited to put on their cleats and shin guards and play!

5 days in a row of anything is a little overwhelming for Lucas, but overall I think he enjoyed it. He liked kicking the ball (of course), but wasn't crazy about actually playing on a team during the scrimmages. Independent kid that he is, he refused to wear a colored jersey and declared that he would just be on his own team. So basically, he stood in the middle of the field and kicked the ball whenever it came to him, regardless of which team had possession. He also tried out goalie, which he seemed to enjoy.

We are going to wait at least until spring to try putting him on a team, but we were really pleased with the camp and how much he learned. In the meantime, I think we will let him try and individual sport for a few months :)

Here are WAY to many pictures of the last day of camp.