Big Plans for the Future

Before I make the point of this post, let me just quickly say that James is doing well. Thank you to all of you who have shown him (and us) love and concern. I'll give an update on his whole saga later. Until then, here's a bit of what's been going through Connor's head.

The last couple of days Connor has been talking a lot about his future... and I mean his "way down the road" future. I'm not sure where the whole thing has come from, but it's been pretty hillarious.

Here are his big plans:

-Move to Nebraska.

-Move to Utah.

-Go to school to become a doctor.

-Get married to Abigail or Aubrey (I guess that's yet to be decided).

-Work at The Bodies Exhibit.

-Have a baby and have a lot of heartburn.

-Name the baby Hoses.

-Buy a house with a swimming pool.

-Dress Hoses up in a lot of different hoodies so he will never have a cold head.

-Buy a duck and a rabbit.

And I think he plans on living happily ever after at that point. I'm just trying to remind him that he has plenty to look forward to before then... This kid just thinks he can't wait to grow up.

Seizures

James gave Marcus and I the scare of a lifetime the other day when he had a seizure out of nowhere. Here's the story:

It was Thursday morning, and Marcus was home since his new class schedule doesn't begin until 11:00 am. The two of us loaded our boys into the car, after a completely normal morning, to drive Connor to preschool. The sun was nice and bright and we noticed James kept closing his eyes because of it. He continued to act sleepy once we turned and were driving away from the sun. I thought it was a bit odd for him to be so tired so soon after waking up, but didn't think much about it. We dropped Connor off and continued driving to run a few errands. James was in and out of little naps in the car the entire time (a little over an hour) and totally quiet.. this is not typical behavior for our little James.

When we arrived back home we took him out of the car and put him on the ground to walk into the apartment. James was staring blankly off into space and wouldn't walk unless Marcus took his hand and pulled him a bit. I finally just went over and picked him up, and he responded to me when I did. I carried him into the house and sat him down on the sofa. Marcus went back into the bedroom to get ready for school and I hopped on the computer. I was only on for a few minutes before I noticed James was sitting totally quiet, in the exact same position I sat him down in, and was staring off into space. At this point I thought he was really quite exhausted. I talked to him, but he didn't respond at all.. I thought he might even be asleep with his eyes wide open. I grabbed one of his stuffed animals and tried to "wake him up" with it. No response. I grabbed his favorite little stuffed puppy (who he ALWAYS greets with a hug, kiss, and smile) but he had no response towards him either. I called for Marcus and told him I thought something might be wrong with James.

Marcus picked James up and carried him into his bedroom, figuring that he would either throw a fit when he laid him down in his bed, or roll over and go to sleep. When he didn't do either, but just continued to stare off into space we really became nervous. I grabbed the thermometer to check his temperature, which ended up being normal, and Marcus checked his heart rate and found it was quite elevated. This is when I became scared. I ran and called our pediatricians office and asked where the closest ER was.

When Marcus lifted James out of his bed he was limp, staring at nothing, and unresponsive. We ran him out to the car and buckled him into his car seat. I sat next to him and put my hand on his heart.. I just wanted the reassurance that came from feeling it beat.. although it was RACING. As we made the 10-15 minute drive to the ER James became increasingly more limp and I had to support his head to keep it upright. His color changed, his eyes started rolling, he began drooling, then bubbling around his mouth, and finally vomiting. He was in and out of consciousness and I just kept praying, "Please keep my baby alive, please keep my baby alive." Remember, I didn't know it was a seizure at this point and was scared it might be something worse.

When we arrived at the hospital Marcus took James from his car seat, his body totally limp, eyes wide open and blank, and ran with him into the ER. I parked the car and then ran in to meet them.

It was SUCH a relief once I saw James in the arms of the Dr's and nurses. They immediately began asking all sorts of questions and hooking James up to all sorts of monitors. It took him a good 10-15 minutes before he started making eye contact with others and started crying. It just got better from that point on and he made a full recovery within an hour or so.

We were sent home from the hospital later on that afternoon and you would never know anything happened to James by the way he acted the rest of the day. He was his normal, giggly, energetic, little self. Of course, he was quite spoiled the rest of the day...well, even now he's still getting his own way far more than he probably should :)

He had a follow up appointment with his pediatrician yesterday and will have some more tests run in the near future. Everything continues to be well at this point. Seizures aren't terribly uncommon in children James' age, but the doctor was a bit surprised that his seizure came on out of what seems to be nowhere.

I'll keep my blog updated as we find out more. Until then we're just keeping a close eye on the little guy and enjoying him being back to normal!

Things I Learned in 2009

Last year was definitely a crazy, unpredictable, and challenging year. Instead of recapping the happenings of 2009, I thought it might be more meaningful for me to sum up the things I learned. After-all, I think the only thing that makes challenges worth while is to learn something from them.

-Gratitude. Marcus had three different employers this last year (not completely by his own choice, mind you), but never went a day unemployed. We were offered help and support in a variety of ways through a variety of circumstances by family members and friends all through out the year. How can you not learn to have a bit more gratitude when you feel so loved and blessed?

-Sacrifice. Sometimes it's not about what you have that brings joy.. but what you are willing to sacrifice to help yourself or others. Time, money, things, etc. Making sacrifices for meaningful purposes truly bought joy into my life throughout the year. I learned that to give really feels better than to get. And to give up sometimes feels better than to keep.

-Hope. I would say that hope was the biggest lesson I learned in 2009. I learned that hope literally means to look forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence. Hope is based on positive and possible expectation. I didn't realize how often I expected the worst out of situations or people until this year. Hope is a beautiful thing, and I think there are many reasons to have a bright hope for the future.

-Lastly, I learned that my family has strength. Through all the challenges and struggles Marcus and I just grew closer and closer together. We became stronger for one another, for our children, and for ourselves. I have less fear about what trials life may bring us, because I feel quite sure that through it all we will be ok.

So here's the thing. I keep saying how hard last year was for us.. and it was. But in retrospect, it feels like one of the best years of my life. It was certainly one of the most blessed years of my life.