Wednesday, November 7, 2012
And I Was Worried?
Sunday, November 4, 2012
It's Autumn Time, It's Autumn Time
The leaves have fallen down. Trees are pretty bare, but the hills and mountains were pretty here while it lasted. Fall has brought with it a few changes for us. Ian has been having more seizures. One in July. One in August. Two in September. Six in October (4 of them within a week at the worst of it). The last several have nearly broken my heart. He yells out and we come running. He is often sitting bolt upright in bed and he looks terrified as it begins. I know he can feel them coming and is frightened. We now have him on some anti-seizure medication and things seem to be going pretty well. It's been nearly a week with no seizures (6 days and counting) and he's been on this dosage for 5. We were warned that the medication could make him more agitated -- obsessively so -- but we've seen nothing like that. In fact, he's been almost euphoric. He's been waking us up giggling, cackling hysterically for no reason, nearly falling out of his chair at meal times. Everything is just funny. I had to take him out of Sacrament Meeting during the Sacrament hymn today because things were too loudly amusing to allow any semblance of reverance for those around us. I took him out in the hall and quietly spoke to him about being reverent and quiet during Sacrament and how we couldn't scream and be loud. After it was over and we were preparing to go back in, I asked him if he could be quiet and reverent. He just looked at me with this impish grin and didn't make a sound.
Yesterday as I was feeding him breakfast we were talking about how he used to wake us when he was tiny -- laughing happily in his crib. When he was a little older, he'd stand at the gate in his room and call, "MA!" As I said this, ten-year-old Ian looked straight at me and said, "Mmmaaamm." I was elated. We repeated the exchange, laughing, about 5 more times. You have no idea how beautiful it is to hear your child say your name for the first time in YEARS! The simple things in life...(that I appreciate more because I get to be Ian's mom)...
I don't know that euporia is a side-effect of the medication or if it's just that he feels better than he has for a long time. Perhaps he's sleeping more restfully than he has for months or even years -- the seizure activity could have been disrupting his sleep even when it didn't manifest itself as a full-blown grand mal seizure. And as we, as a family, have realized when Ian is happy and doing well the whole world looks better!
Anya is doing well also. Though he school year is just not what last year was (not every teacher can be an Amy Gorum!), she is enjoying it ... especially playing with the boys on the boys' team. They're more interesting, apparently, and she joins them whenever she can. She also continues to crack us up. Last week was Grandpa David's birthday and she made him a diagram of The Life Cycle of Everyone (in 2 pages). It was hilarious! I made Clayton keep a copy before we sent it away.
Anyway, life is good. We love our kids. They make us laugh!
Yesterday as I was feeding him breakfast we were talking about how he used to wake us when he was tiny -- laughing happily in his crib. When he was a little older, he'd stand at the gate in his room and call, "MA!" As I said this, ten-year-old Ian looked straight at me and said, "Mmmaaamm." I was elated. We repeated the exchange, laughing, about 5 more times. You have no idea how beautiful it is to hear your child say your name for the first time in YEARS! The simple things in life...(that I appreciate more because I get to be Ian's mom)...
I don't know that euporia is a side-effect of the medication or if it's just that he feels better than he has for a long time. Perhaps he's sleeping more restfully than he has for months or even years -- the seizure activity could have been disrupting his sleep even when it didn't manifest itself as a full-blown grand mal seizure. And as we, as a family, have realized when Ian is happy and doing well the whole world looks better!
Anya is doing well also. Though he school year is just not what last year was (not every teacher can be an Amy Gorum!), she is enjoying it ... especially playing with the boys on the boys' team. They're more interesting, apparently, and she joins them whenever she can. She also continues to crack us up. Last week was Grandpa David's birthday and she made him a diagram of The Life Cycle of Everyone (in 2 pages). It was hilarious! I made Clayton keep a copy before we sent it away.
Anyway, life is good. We love our kids. They make us laugh!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Summer Time...
Shouldn't the livin' be ea-sy? We had a crazy summer -- I think there were two weeks between the last week of May and the first week of September where the entire family was home. Most of it made for pretty good memories, but we didn't exactly rest up.
After a busy May, we began June with summer school for Ian, swimming lessons for Anya (intending to schedule her for another session but never finding another uninterupted two week period), a mid-month Arts conference at BYU and week long Opera for Kids workshop in Salt Lake for me.
July was even more fun. Truly. But more busy. First we spent the 4th with Nana and Papa. We got to see the fireworks on the river and then finally got to meet our new baby cousin, Ella. Right after the 4th, we went to stay with Ama. We got to play with Cael and Beck and have a truly fun time.
Unfortunately while we were there, Ian began a new phase of his life and we were introduced to seizures. We were jerked from sleep early one morning by his choking and gasping. He was not conscious and wasn't breathing well but it didn't look like any seizure I had seen before. He was totally non-responsive, but any convulsions were gentle and slow, not fast or violent. By the time the paramedics arrived and were strapping him on the guerney, he was able to fidget a little in protest and apparently by the time they tried to start an IV on the ambulance Clayton (who rode while I consoled a hysterical Anya) said he was aware enough that there was NO WAY they were going to stick him with a needle in a moving ambulance. Everything calmed down and we were able to take him home by about lunch time, but it was a scary experience.
A couple weeks later we had Ian and Anya's first actual, real live camping trip at Moon Lake with Grandpa David, Aunt Sunni, Uncle Sean, Cael, Beck, Clayton, and me. Though Ian and I didn't actually camp over night, we were there to enjoy the tin foil dinners, smores, and rafting on the lake.
Anya spent much of her time with her cousin, Cael. The two are quite a pair. They told scary stories (and were scared by Grandpa), made up a talent show, and had a delightful time just being kids.
My favorite was their hours-long effort spent moving a fallen tree. They had to dig up the roots before they could move it out of their path. At one point Uncle Sean told them he needed it moved within the hour. Anya jumped up and ran, yelling to Cael as she went, "We've got to hurry! We've wasted two minutes already!" They actually had it all accomplished except one small root the size of my finger that Grandpa had to cut with his pocket knife. We were duly impressed.
There was a bit of unpleasantness when Anya fell getting out of the raft. She was covered in mud and looked hilarious so, of course, people began laughing. This infuriated her more, which made everyone laugh harder and pictures were taken. At this point she began screaming and to this day will not allow us to look at the pictures in her presence...
But July was not yet complete...We finished off the month with the Aston Family Reunion at Bear Lake. We all tried the jet ski (not Mom's favorite, actually, though everyone else had a great time!), ate picnics, went hiking (even Ian got to hike in a fantastic off-road big kid stroller!), and, of course, had fun at the beach with Uncle Stephen and his fabulous construction experience. (He even had kids from other families over asking if they could help!)
All in all a very fun month, but the picture below of me and Ian finally back home at the tail end of the Bear Lake trip shows how worn out we all were by the time we were done.
By the time August rolled around we were ready for the consistent routine of school, even with its accompanying Logan Campus retreats for Clayton and workshops and meetings for me. We were exhausted! Happy but exhausted!
After a busy May, we began June with summer school for Ian, swimming lessons for Anya (intending to schedule her for another session but never finding another uninterupted two week period), a mid-month Arts conference at BYU and week long Opera for Kids workshop in Salt Lake for me.
July was even more fun. Truly. But more busy. First we spent the 4th with Nana and Papa. We got to see the fireworks on the river and then finally got to meet our new baby cousin, Ella. Right after the 4th, we went to stay with Ama. We got to play with Cael and Beck and have a truly fun time.
 |
| Chasing Bubbles |
 |
| Fairy Tea Party with Aunt Sunni |
Unfortunately while we were there, Ian began a new phase of his life and we were introduced to seizures. We were jerked from sleep early one morning by his choking and gasping. He was not conscious and wasn't breathing well but it didn't look like any seizure I had seen before. He was totally non-responsive, but any convulsions were gentle and slow, not fast or violent. By the time the paramedics arrived and were strapping him on the guerney, he was able to fidget a little in protest and apparently by the time they tried to start an IV on the ambulance Clayton (who rode while I consoled a hysterical Anya) said he was aware enough that there was NO WAY they were going to stick him with a needle in a moving ambulance. Everything calmed down and we were able to take him home by about lunch time, but it was a scary experience.
A couple weeks later we had Ian and Anya's first actual, real live camping trip at Moon Lake with Grandpa David, Aunt Sunni, Uncle Sean, Cael, Beck, Clayton, and me. Though Ian and I didn't actually camp over night, we were there to enjoy the tin foil dinners, smores, and rafting on the lake.
 |
| Dad's tinfoil dinners |
 |
| Campfire Fascination |
Anya spent much of her time with her cousin, Cael. The two are quite a pair. They told scary stories (and were scared by Grandpa), made up a talent show, and had a delightful time just being kids.
 |
| Story Time |
My favorite was their hours-long effort spent moving a fallen tree. They had to dig up the roots before they could move it out of their path. At one point Uncle Sean told them he needed it moved within the hour. Anya jumped up and ran, yelling to Cael as she went, "We've got to hurry! We've wasted two minutes already!" They actually had it all accomplished except one small root the size of my finger that Grandpa had to cut with his pocket knife. We were duly impressed.
 |
| Making plans... |
 |
| Angry Anya |
But July was not yet complete...We finished off the month with the Aston Family Reunion at Bear Lake. We all tried the jet ski (not Mom's favorite, actually, though everyone else had a great time!), ate picnics, went hiking (even Ian got to hike in a fantastic off-road big kid stroller!), and, of course, had fun at the beach with Uncle Stephen and his fabulous construction experience. (He even had kids from other families over asking if they could help!)
 |
| Anya and Grace digging away |
 |
| Stephen and Grant hard at work |
All in all a very fun month, but the picture below of me and Ian finally back home at the tail end of the Bear Lake trip shows how worn out we all were by the time we were done.
 |
| Wiped out! |
By the time August rolled around we were ready for the consistent routine of school, even with its accompanying Logan Campus retreats for Clayton and workshops and meetings for me. We were exhausted! Happy but exhausted!
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