OUR FAMILY UPDATE.....DRAMA FOR MATTHEW...

Hello everyone,

We hope everyone is doing WONDERFUL and that all is going well….as for us, we are hanging in here. It has been over 4 months along without james home…we miss him soooo much but we just PRAY that he continues to do well and know that we miss him and love him.

Well, I am going to go by youngest to oldest of the boys to give ya’ll an update. It has been a long while since I sent out an update on our family…

Joshua is now 6 weeks old! Wow, time has FLOWN since he was born. It is so hard to believe that I am a mommy of 3 and that I have an INFANT in my life again! I never thought I would but I did dream I would! He is such a cutie! He can hold his head up while on tummy time and also while on my shoulder. He has also flipped over from tummy to back a couple of times. He has also started smiling and cooing…awe.. he is such a CUTIE and I am soooo in love with him! His eyes are BEAUTIFUL but I am not sure if they will stay that way. My MIL reminded me that her daddy has those colored eyes (blue/grey/hazel) so I can only hope!! J but he is doing great!! He is such a cutie. He does cry A LOT so I am “baby wearing” tons because he does cry soooo much! I don’t think it is colic I think he just wants his MAMA! He is nursing like a CHAMP and doing really great! He loves his big brothers soooo much! We are soooo happy he is in our lives! I won’t lie and say that it has been a piece of cake but I would NEVER change it for ANYTHING in the world! Just to look at his beautiful face everyday, it is just SUCH A BLESSING and I am SOOOO HAPPY that GOD surprised us like he did when he gave Joshua to us….

Now onto MATTHEW….well, we have been doing OK now for a bit. He did get sick AGAIN after that long illness (5 weeks) he had right before I had Joshua. He FINALLY had gotten well when BAM! He got sick AGAIN (2 weeks)! All respiratory issues. He was placed on ANOTHER 2 rounds of oral steroids and increase neb treatments and antibiotics too. Poor little guy! He just can’t catch a BREAK! But therapy wise, he is dong BEAUTIFULLY!! He has really started to TALK now for speech! He has been saying TONS of words such as : OPEN, BOOK, ALL DONE, RIGHT THERE, MAMA, DADA, ALEX, JOSHUA and so many other words. He is also EATING AGAIN FINALLY!! It had been MONTHS since he had stopped eating orally but now, he is eating CHIPS, POPCORN (HIS FAV), PUFFS, and bites of my food! He is doing really AWESOME with his teacher too! He has really impressed me and HER with all that he knows! They have been doing tons of ABC stuff and recognizing objects in books and such. When they read books, she will ask him to point to an object and he will find it!! I am SOOO PROUD OF HIM! And then his PHYSICAL & OCCUPATIONAL are going really GREAT too! He can walk all over the house with us holding his hands!! And he is getting stronger all over too! He LOVES to pull up and just stand and watch TV. He also is getting into EVERYTHING by crawling places and tearing into everything. He also is getting VERY STUBBORN…I just love him to PIECES!! Well on Friday, matthew had a SLEEP STUDY done but unfortunately he only slept for about 3 hours and during that time, the tech kept waking him to change a probe or fix this or that so that at 1:00 am he finally woke up FOR GOOD! We ended up leaving at about 2:30 am because I just KNEW he would NOT go back to sleep!! He had all these probes on his face and head and all over his body. So now I think we will need to do it AGAIN because they need more time to study!! Sooo, Now onto the DRAMA we just had on Saturday…yes, we had MAJOR DRAMA!! Where do I begin?! I DREADED when it would happen with out james here. I wondered how things would work out and how it would all pan out. I KNEW it would, a whole year with out some drama from matthew would be a MIRACLE and we prayed for it but…..Well, my brother & SIL called to invite us to go to FREDRICKSBURG to the octoberfest there. We decided that would be AWESOME to get away to the hillcountry for a while and enjoy a festival! So, my MIL, my 3 kids headed out for a BEAUTIFUL day out! It was warm with a nice breeze. So off we went! We get there and there are TONS of people out and that town is BEAUTIFUL if you had not been there in a while! It is soooo charming. Anyway, we were just getting there and we decided to sit down and listen to some music while I nursed Joshua and matthew took his nap. We had been there MAYBE 20 mins when I noticed that matthew eyes behind his lids where just MOVING all over the place! I had thought to myself that MAYBE he had was having a very vivid dream or something and also in the back of my mind I thought SEIZURE….soooo, I had just pointed it out to my brother when matthew opened up his eyes a slit. I was afraid that he would freak out at all the people or something and get scared so I called his name…he didn’t respond….i just had a BAD FEELING about it. So then he starts to drool and I KNEW he was HAVING A SEIZURE…..so I give Joshua to my SIL and start to talk and try to get matthew to respond with NO RESPONSE….he was TOTALLY UNRESPONSIVE! I told my brother that we need to try to wake him. His eyes were FIXED and unresponsive and he was just LIMP. So we were doing EVERYTHING we normally do to try to wake him up with the big thing being that phone message that james left just in case he HAD a seizure. It didn’t work…after about 5 mins, I told my bro, WE NEED TO GIVE HIM HIS DIASTAT. His oxygen sats were fine but he just was FIXATED and rolling his eyes up…so scary looking. We lay a blanket down and give him his rectal diastat. NOTHING….i told my bro, we need to find someone ASAP…his OXYGEN SATS WERE DROPPING quickly!! He ran to find someone while I continue to try to get him out of it. His sats started to drop QUICKLY and they ended up in the high 50’s to low 60’s and I KNEW he needed help ASAP because he was ineffectively breathing. His CO2 levels were probably sky high!! (of course I didn’t have my oxygen on the stroller because he wasn’t sick! I had it but it was in the car!!) Anyway, my bro gets back with the security guards and you know that old movie question “is there a dr in the house?” well someone must have asked because there was roughly 4 doctors there and a paramedic who were all trying to help us out. We were all trying to stimulate him…..i ended up giving him a dose of klonopin too. Anyway, EMS came and grabbed him immediately and took him away. I got in the back of the unit and I immediately told them that they needed to bag him because he does this when he has his long seizures where he doesn’t breath effectively and his CO2 levels go up and they always have to bag him…..well, THANK YOU GOD they listened to me because they IMMEDIATELY started to bag him!!! I was SOOOO HAPPY because some professionals don’t like to be told what to do. But they listened…there was also 3 parents on board WITH HEART BABIES OF THEIR OWN!!! J so they knew what I was talking about! Anyway, he was STILL seizing after 45 mins…..they decided to go ahead and AIRLIFE him to METHODIST CHILDRENS instead of taking him to the local hospital…by the time the copter got there, he was POST ICTAL and after the flight crew checked him out and decided they were going to intubate because there was NO BREATHS SOUNDS in his chest, they checked for a gag reflex and he gagged and he started to get responsive! He sure HATES those VENTS!! J that’s my boy!….so matthew got ANOTHER ride in a HELICOPTER! Alex was awake this time to see it and he was in AWE that his brother got a ride….anyway, AGAIN, I couldn’t go with him to the hospital but at least THIS TIME I had FAITH in the hospital they were going to! (if you can remember the incident in MISSOURI (you can look up that even in my BLOG for JUNE 2006 ))this is the hospital we ALWAYS go to and they know him there and at least have all his RECORDS! Anyway, my MIL and the boys and I headed out driving back to san Antonio from fredricksburg…it took us only about 40 mins to get home! Yeah, I was on a mission!! Anyway, after dropping off alex and my mil, I was off with Joshua to be at the hospital. He was ok. He was VERY tired and just sleeping but he was “back”. They decided to keep us for a 23 hour stay to observe him since he did stop breathing there for a while. Not a problem. Joshua, matthew and I stayed there at the hospital for a night and everyone did great and we got to go home on SUNDAY!! J SOOOO HAPPY! But boy, that was just WAY scary!!! THANK GOD he is fine…for those that don’t remember, it has been since December 16, 2006 since he had a BIG SIEZURE!!! Thank GOD! and it had been since September 16, 2007 since he had his last little seizure! I got a little bit toooooo comfy I guess! I need to brush up again on everything! We are now back on alert….we have never been AWAY from being very alert during his nap time but I know that we have just gotten comfy about him NOT having those BIG seizure…..they did change ONE of his meds ONLY, thank GOD….his TOPOMAX was increased by ½ a pill twice a day. They think that MAYBE he had his seizure because of sleep deprivation (his sleep study on Friday) and maybe he was starting to get sick (he has this slight rash on his body…virus?)…whatever it was GO AWAY!!! I don’t want to see my boy that way AGAIN!! It has been such a LONG TIME since it had happened (dec) that if sure took me back! My poor brother, SIL & MIL got an EYEFULL because they had never witnessed matthew like that….it IS very scary to see a child just be unresponsive, eyes rolling, and barely breathing…..everyone did great and no panic!! Ems commented that they were pretty impressed I was so calm…hey, that is my baby and it would do NO GOOD if I freaked out, right? I just focused on HIM and of course PRAYED!!! Anyway, we are going to take him to the dr and just start our vigil and WATCH HIM!!

Well, onto ALEX….alex is doing……fine? I think I am going to look into a counselor at the base due to the deployment. I think he is starting to REALLY feel it now and is showing tons of behavioral issues. I am not sure how much is 5 year old stuff and how much is because of dad, new baby etc. he has been doing WONDERFUL on the homeschool issues. I am so proud of him! He reads now so he is doing AWESOME there! He also has picked up adding and subtracting…I am just AMAZED!! He has the concept down of something like, 5+5=10 or the subtracting….wow! he can do it only with numbers or with items too. And like I said, he is reading now. VERY WELL! He loves to pick up something and start to read. He also likes to read to matthew and Joshua. But on the behavioral front, he has started to yell at me and others and refuse to do stuff. He has started lying and also really acting up! I am praying that it is all normal (which other moms have confirmed) but I think with james being gone, it might be that much more, you know? Sooooo, I will continue to work on that. We have also started going to HOMESCHOOL PLAYDATE at the park on Tuesdays. It is AWESOME for both of us! It is really awesome to see soooooooooooo many other families home schooling their children. On average, there is about 30 or so kiddos out their and their families and I am told that there is actually less the last 2 times I went out there so there are MORE! And this group is mainly for the NW side of san Antonio ! Anyway, it is really nice for him to see that he is not the ONLY one that gets home schooled. He has made some friends and me too! It is nice to talk to other parents about home schooling their kiddos!!! Last week I felt sooooo bad for him because he got tore up by ants 5 mins into our 2nd visit to the park…..the whole story is on our blog if you want to read it! He also has a Wednesday playdate with his cuz and he has a BLAST and sooooo do I! I look forward to it too! And, he has also started SUNDAY SCHOOL at our church and he LOVES going!! I about CRIED the first time I left him….it was sooooooo hard but he loves it and is doing GREAT!

then there is james. Our BRAVE BRAVE HERO!! He is doing fine. He is getting worked to the bone but he says it makes the days go by fast! Hard to believe that it is over FOUR MONTHS since he left!!!!! Wowowowowow….it has been going by pretty fast, THANK GOD!!! He is working at the PRISON there at CAMP BUCCA . I am able to be told what he does but whatever it is, it is pretty intense and very busy….but he says he likes it because it makes the day go by faster. They just changed shifts and NOW he is not happy. The way they are working does not allow them almost ANY TIME to do anything but eat sleep and work. There is really no down time. I have been talking to him almost EVERY DAY, THANK GOD! That makes it easier for us. Sometimes it is at 1 am but that is A-OK for me. ANYTIME we can talk is perfect!! But we miss him sooooo much…I have been sending him a care package at least once a week and he LOVES GETTING THEM!! It is a piece of home….and I send him tons of snacks and I told him that what ever he DOESN’T want, he can give it away to another soldier…..soooo, anyone want to send him or any of his soldiers a care package, PLEASE EMAIL ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU HIS PHYSICAL ADDRESS!!! I KNOW he would appreciate ANYTHING sent to him! And just so you know, they have boxes at the post office that are FLAT RATE $8.00 NO MATTER HOW HEAVY and trust me, I sent a HEAVY box and it only cost that!! J if you try to send it in a regular box it might be more!! Also, if you send a card, it is regular first class stamp, nothing different…..and I just found out Saturday, don’t send it PARCEL POST because it will take 2 MONTHS to get there!! I am glad he told me that before I sent it and I was able to change it!! J also, he really NEEDS the interaction….he really loves EVERYTHING email & of course care package he gets. He said that now that he knows how hard it is to be away from the family, he will do MORE for others out there over seas. we are HOPING that he will be home by December 19th…that is his leave date so GOD WILLING he will be home for 2 weeks during that time!!

As for me, well I am doing FINE. Right this minute I am EXHAUSTED from such a stressful weekend. I didn’t get almost ANY SLEEP….but other than that, I am doing fine. I am also been soooo busy with matthew, Joshua & alex that it gets crazy!! Don’t come to my house cause it is a MESS!! I don’t seem to have ANY time to do stuff around here!! It is CRAZY! But it is a AWESOME! Anyway, I am hoping that I can lose some MORE WEIGHT….i am trying!! Anyway, I am enjoying my time with my boys and interacting with my friends…..it feels good to talk to the ladies and just have ADULT conversations with other mommies!! Anyway, I just wait for the phone to ring and to get the email!! I CAN’T wait to see him SOMEDAY soon!! J

Well, that is IT for the news on the family front…I think! There has been a GREAT development in san Antonio with a NEW CHD PARENT SUPPORT GROUP FINALLY here in san Antonio !! It is called MENDED LITTLE HEARTS ..I am sooooo excited! It just started in the month of August and I went to the 2nd meeting in September and it was GREAT! A MUCH needed group here in san Antonio ! But I must pass this along!! PLEASE, if you have a CHANCE and would like to help out a worthy cause, if you could go visit the

Chick-fil-A is the FIRST SPONSOR and is hosting a fundraiser for Mended Little Hearts of San Antonio on Oct 10th from 4 –8 PM by donating 20% of all proceeds sold. this will be at the MEDICAL DR LOCATION in the medical center area (4715 Medical Drive). Purchase must mention MENDED LITTLE HEARTS so they could get the credit!! Be sure to come by to “eat chikin 4 us”.

I would really appreciate anyone going out there and supporting this WORTHY CAUSE! This group will be doing stuff like hospital visitation, parental support, email support to parents and also phone support. They will also like to provide care packages to families in the hospital and just as much as possible for families like mine that have been affected with a CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT (CHD)….soooo please, support this!! I AM!

Well, I hope everyone is doing well. We are here and it is always good to visit and talk to ya’ll. I LOVE to hear from people….it makes me feel less lonely and helps me deal with james being gone so long. And I LOVE to visit with everyone too! So, DON’T BE A STRANGER!! J

Well, I am off! Sorry so long but I had A LOT to say!! Please, if you can keep matthew in prayer or good thought after the scare we had on Saturday, I would APPRECIATE IT! I know that james would too….it was really hard for him to hear that all this happened during the weekend and he JUST heard about it on Monday. He was really upset….he just wants to be HOME! But we are SOOOOO PROUD OF HIM and we just LOVE HIM, MISS HIM AND SUPPORT HIM!!

Ok, take care everyone and I hope to hear from some of ya’ll!! And I would appreciate anyone emailing or sending something to james!! It makes him feel soooo much better! Also don’t forget to visit our BLOG to see some new pics, and videos!! I am working on somemore soon!!

Take care and GOD BLESS…

LOVE,
JAMES, MARIA, ALEX, MATTHEW & JOSHUA