Day 147...Tailgate party

We attempted yet another BSU tailgate party.  This time several factors contributed to its sucess.  For example, it was 70 degrees, not 100 degrees; I brought my wallet so I did not have to park 2.5 miles away and push a stroller of three.  Anyways, it was almost fun.  (I don't consider being outnumbered 3 to 1 in a very public place to be on my list of the most fun ever!) 

We had fun at the Smith tailgate and then checked in with a few friends too.  I forgot to pull the camera out until the stroll back to the car, by which time Bodie was in a, shall we say, FOUL mood. 
 

The Broncos won, we partied and the kids went to bed quick and quiet!  I consider that a success!

Day 142...Monkey Bizness

Rhys had another EEG this morning to get a good look at the amount and types of seizures the epilepsy is producing.  He wasn't too awfully bothered, just a lot of wires to pull!  He had to stay hooked up a little longer because he didn't have any seizures during the first portion of the test...weird that we wanted him to have episodes.

After we got out of that crazy hospital, we picked up sissy from school and went to Monkey Bizness.  The kids had tons of fun...so did Daddy!

Day 139...Two times in one day???

I couldn't resist.  We had a great day.  I needed a day off.  We did laundry, more laundry and even more laundry.  Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day off, but oh well.  Bodie and McCall played outside, instead of having naps.  Bodie then turned the hose on himself...weirdo.  I stripped him down, and we came inside.  I went in search of some clean clothes for him (we had a lot, hence the laundry) but when I came back in the room, less than a minute later....

sound asleep.  Naked as a J-Bird.  (That is the weirdest saying...I have never seen any type of bird wear clothes.)

Day 139...the Vian "men"

It was an early morning around our house, so before work Daddy stopped to relax for a minute with the boys. 
They are so cute.  Rhys looks just like Bodie, who looks just like Daddy.  I guess there is no question to who their father is?  (Not that there was a question.  I don't belong on the Maury show!)

It is nice to relax after another stressful day.  Rhys has continued to have "absence seizures".   

Absence seizures — also known as petit mal seizures — involves a brief, sudden lapse of conscious activity. They involve a slight twitch of his mouth and sometimes a small bi-lateral arm jerk.  It looks like he is merely staring into space for a few seconds and then its over.  None the less, it still scares the shit out of me.  So after a quick trip to the pediatric neurologist, and 5 of these episodes in an hour and a half, we now have him on an anti-convalescent medication.  Rob and I were very reluctant to give him medication, but it is truly necessary to make sure his development and fabulous progress is not affected.  So more grey hair for me...

Day 131...they rock!

McCall and Rhys rode the rocking horse today.

It was really cute and Rhys loved that Sissy helped him. 

That is until she dropped him.  She was too busy posing for the camera.  No worries, I caught his head before it crashed into the tile floor.  I guess the helmet might not be such a bad idea after all!

Day 126...the Cabin

We are so lucky to have a beautiful, relaxing oasis that we were able to spend the weekend at...

The Smith cabin in McCall!  We really needed a vacation, and it was great to unwind in the fresh air.  It's fresher up there because...

This sign made me smile :)

Maybe they were running too fast?
Bodie wore his climbing shoes,

and he put them to good use rock climbing!

It was hard work getting to the top of that rock, so he had to take a little break.

Then we went on a boat ride, and Captain Bodie (and Papa) gave us a lovely ride! 

McCall would rather take in the scenery...

I wish Rob could have been there, but my arms were full!

Rhys had a great time as the second generation to use the cabin highchair. 

We had a blast, some much needed fresh air, and lots of laughs!  But it's always so hard to leave...especially with 3 spots of road construction on the way home :)

Day 118...Our new journey

Tuesday was a big day for our family.  Bodie started pre-school, and loved it!  And we got some test results that forever changed our lives.

While a lot is still up in the air, we learned that Rhys has an abnormality on chromosome 15.  To what extent, we are not sure.  He went for some more blood work, and we will know more in two weeks.  Everything is presenting like Angelman Syndrome, a nero-genetic syndrome.  Oh, the waiting.  Punch me in the stomach and then wait for two weeks. 

So while we wait, we have so many questions, as do you.  First I want to say thank you to all our friends and family for the love and support we have been given.  We are beyond lucky to have you in our lives.  Rhys is lucky to have you, too.  

As we take all of this in, we are mourning the life that we thought we would have.  At the same time, we are learning to celebrate what we have been given...the happiest little man! The best I can describe is it feels like...

When you find out your going to have a baby it's like planning a vacation trip-- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide-books and make your wonderful plans.  You know where you want to go and what you want to see.  Every thing is planned out in your head. 

The Coliseum, the Michelangelo, David, the gondolas in Venice. You learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland!"

"HOLLAND!?!" you say, "What do you mean, Holland? We signed up for Italy. We are supposed to be in Italy! All our life we've dreamed of going to Italy". But there's been a change in flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible disgusting place full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you go out and buy new guide books. And you will learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you never would have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you have been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandt's.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where we were supposed to go. That's what we had planned".

And the loss of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a significant loss.

But we WILL NOT spend our life mourning the fact that we didn't get to Italy, or we may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

We will figure this out, we always do.  Please don't feel sorry for us, and don't treat Rhys any different.  He has a great team of occupational, physical and soon speech therapists to help him.  As we know more, so will you.  It may be a day or two later, but I will update.  I am determined for him to beat the odds, and prove that miracles do happen...he's a BRONCO after all!