Caden and Bailey

Caden and Bailey

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Finally a very belated update...

It's getting harder and harder to do regular updates, so this is a large one.

With everything that is going on with Bailey we really needed to be in town. We put our house up for sale, expecting it to be a while before we sold it and found something new. God definitely had his hand in it because our house was only on the market for one day before we had a buyer. We ended up swapping houses with a couple that wanted to move to the country. We love our new house and it is SO much easier now that we are in town. We moved in September so I was able to go back to work full time (I was working from home some days) and we were able to find a wonderful lady to keep Bailey at our home. Caden also started a new preschool which he loves. He goes on field trips and everything now.

Caden turned four on December 11th. He is a mini Chism and has Chism's exact personality. I call them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. He is a sweet little boy but also has his moments where he's a mini devil. Overall he's very sweet with Bailey but I do think he's starting to get a bit jealous when she steals his spotlight. He has started trying to "wrestle" Bailey when he's really just knocking her down. He's got the best laugh and the best kisses. He's really funny and very smart. He knows just about every dinosaur there is and all sorts of details about them. Everyone says how much Bailey looks like Caden but I didn't realize how much till I saw them sleeping side by side like they are in the picture below.

Bailey will turn one on January 11th. I can't believe it's already been almost a year. Her first year has gone by so fast, much faster than I remember w/ Caden. She's had a tough year but she's a strong little girl. Bailey has a busy schedule and even has her own appointment book! She has speech therapy twice a week and physical and occupational therapy once a week. They schedule some of them back to back so thankfully she only has to go twice a week. Physically she's not too far behind. She isn't crawling yet but she is so close. She can manage to get around in her own strange little way. I can really tell a difference in her senses since she has started occupational therapy. Bailey has a low sensory level so touches, textures and things like that don't feel the same to her like they do to us. When she first started you could tickle her and she wouldn't react at all, it was like you weren't even touching her. Now, she will move her body in response and sometimes we even get a little giggle. She also will now cry if she bumps her head. She didn't do that before, her head would fall and either hit the floor or her walker (drop seizures)and she wouldn't make a sound. I never thought I would be excited to hear my child cry from pain, but when she cries I know it means she can feel it. She loves extreme movements so we'll get a good laugh out of her if we throw her up in the air over and over. She loves it. Her speech is where she is delayed the most. She makes noises but not the normal babbling that babies make. I know she'll catch up in her own time.

Her seizure control is a constant battle. Her seizures started back up in August and after months of medicine tweaks we finally got them under control around the first of November. In the past few weeks she's started having strange eye movements which are a new type of seizure. We're again tweaking her medicine to try to control these. Her neurologist wants her to come in in January for an overnight video EEG where they'll monitor her brainwaves and see if there is a certain area triggering the new seizures. Hopefully they'll take her off of one of her seizure medicines if she's not having the abnormal brainwaves related to the infantile spasms. She's currently taking three seizure meds so she's a drugged up little girl. She's a really tall little girl. She's already around 30 or 31" long. She's so pretty and she can be really silly when she wants to be. She still doesn't have any teeth and she's teething like crazy.

I'll try to do another update after her birthday in January but I can't promise anything. There just aren't enough hours in the day!!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you have a wonderful New Year.

Love, Becca

5 comments:

melanie said...

We are still praying for your family. So wonderful to hear how God is seeing you through this! Keep looking up...Bailey and Caden are both beautiful...couldnt help but be with a momma like you! Happy New Year's and God bless!

Unknown said...

You have a beautiful family Becca!May God continue to bless you- you're in my prayers :)
~Katie Soday Murphy

Helen F. Trammell said...

Your crazy old aunt wrote a long comment earlier and when I tried to post it, I got lost in a maze of technology, so I had to start over. Here's the best I can do to recall my earlier message:

My dear, precious little niece, words cannot express how much reading your message meant to me. I know that your Mama and Daddy already know it, but God really gave them a special angel when he gave you to them. Perhaps Mammudder was watching and sent you to them with love.

Perhaps also she was watching when God sent you and Chism Caden and Miss Bailey. How wonderful it is for Caden and Bailey to have parents like you. It could have been so different. They might have been given selfish, immature parents, but instead they got loving, patient parents who stand together to see that their children grow up to be good people.

I've often wondered how it might be to have planned a trip to Italy and found that I wound up in Holland. I shouldn't be suprised at all, with your heritage, that you're doing such an excellent job nurturing Bailey.

I couldn't be more proud of you, Becca, if you were my own child.

Love you, Chism, Caden and Bailey very much!

Jadon said...

My son was diagnosed with IS when he was 6 months old. He is know 16and still having hundreds of spasms a day. We are thinking about starting Sabril. If you don't mind I would like to ask you some questions about the medicine. If you don't mind please email me at monica.pailet@gmail.com We have a blog too if you want to visit it.
jadonsisstory.blogspot.com
You have a beautiful family!!

Brittany Schwaigert said...

Hey girl!
Grey didn't crawl until he was 13 months. Bailey will get it! She's going to make her own schedule, just like Grey!