Happy Birthday Ellie!

Dear Ellie,

Today you are EIGHT! As I was looking back at pictures of you today it seems so long ago that you were a tiny baby, a chubby little toddler, or even a baby faced preschooler. When I look at you I just see my big girl. Oh how I miss those days when you were squishy! But I do love seeing how much you have grown and matured. I love that even though your appearance has changed your personality has stayed steady through the years. You are my quiet(er) child (quiet is a relative term). You tend to hold still more than your siblings. You get so much joy out of the little things in life. Things that seem inconsequential to me often mean the world to you and I try and look for those moments and take advantage of them. (For example they sing to you in Sunday School on your birthday and you were so excited all day yesterday because you knew they would sing to you today!) You don't have hoards of friends but the friends you do have are close friends and they are oh so special to you.

This past year was such a good year for you. You had another wonderful teacher in school. You have waited many years for it to be your turn to have Mrs. Estes and she didn't disappoint! You loved every minute of school and not only did you have a wonderful teacher but you also had wonderful friends in your class. This year you qualified for ALERT and we were all so excited for you. You have grown even more as a reader and your love for books makes my heart happy. You definitely get that from me and I hope you always find joy in books. Your teacher set some big goals for you with your reading this year and you crushed them! We were so proud of you for all the reading counts points you got (500!) but even more I loved seeing how hard you worked to meet a goal and how proud you were of accomplishing it.

Through the years I have worried about you finding your "thing". We tried dance and piano and you didn't love either one nor were you interested in sports. This year you did theater. Never ever would I have thought to put you in theater, after all you're my quiet kid who's content to chill in the background. But you did Dance Theater in 1st grade and you were a HOOT and so off to theater class you went. Ellie you have THRIVED in theater! I have absolutely loved seeing how excited you are to go to class every week and how excited you are to tell me everything that you did that day. You were crushed when I told you I didn't think we were going to do theater camp this summer (because after all you did theater all school year). You gave me the super sad Eeyore eyes along with the slumping shoulders so off to theater camp you are going tomorrow! I love that you have told everyone you've seen this weekend that you get to do theater camp this week. I am so looking forward to seeing you light up the stage this week and during the school year!

Today you mentioned that when you grow up you want to be a writer. I have heard you say this before and it makes me so happy. You are already such a good, descriptive writer and I love your way with words. I hope you remember that words can have big meanings and can make a big impact so choose your words wisely. Even if you end up deciding on another career path I hope you will find a way to share your words with your corner of the world because you have great thoughts in your head.

My sweet Ellie Belly, I hope you know how much I love you and how thankful I am that I get to be your mom!

Love,

Mom

PS. I also can't forget to mention that this year you FINALLY  learned to ride a bike after LOTS of threatening from me. And now you think it's fun....I TOLD YOU SO! :)

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2019

Seizure Update

Facebook reminded me that it was a year ago that we learned that Emmie wasn't having the few seizures a day we were seeing but was in fact having a LOT of seizures every morning that we weren't seeing.  It has also been 2 years since she was diagnosed with her seizures.(You can read more about her seizures and diagnosis here.) So I thought it was about time to do an update. We so appreciate all those who have supported us, prayed for Emmie, and looked out for Emmie during what has been a roller coaster 2 years.
So a quick recap. We started on medicine#1 which works for most people with her type of seizure. It helped a little but didn't completely control them and turned her into a zombie. She spent most of 2nd grade exhausted and unable to focus. In April of 2nd grade we switched to medicine #2. Good news! She had NO side effects from this medicine. We thought we had the same level of seizure control as we did with medicine #1. The summer between 2nd and 3rd grade (last summer) the neurologist put her in the hospital to do a 24hr EEG to hopefully get a better picture of what we were dealing with.

It turns out she was having a LOT of subclinical seizures (once you can't see because they are so fast) in the mornings. He said he had no idea how she managed to function in the mornings. We opted to increase medicine #2 and hope that helped. So school started back and she had a really, really hard time getting out of the door in the morning and even her teacher was seeing lots of seizures. So we decided to switch to medicine #3. Happy Day! The seizures stopped! This was super exciting. For a  moment. Then we realized the medicine caused horrible behavioral side effects. It was heartbreaking and there were many times we felt like we were losing our child. It was such a catch 22 too because we had seizure control so we didn't want to come off of the medicine. Third grade was a really rough year. She couldn't focus, was very hyperactive, and couldn't see past the moment she was in. She was also dealing with major anxiety. We did see some breakthrough seizures every few months, all of which were triggered by some outside factor.
So that brings us to the end of May when we saw the neurologist again. He was in agreement that the medicine was probably our culprit for the behavioral problems and so we decided to try medicine #4. We're all still holding our breath as she's only been on it about 6 weeks but right now we have NO seizures and NO side effects. This summer has been so wonderful. We have our Emmie back. As soon as she came off of medicine #3 we could tell a HUGE difference. You can tell that she is so much happier too. We are SO hopeful that this medicine will be the one we have been looking for!

Last Updose!

We are in the home stretch with Ruthie's OIT! Yesterday we had her LAST updose appointment! She only has one more appointment after this...a 24 peanut challenge at the end of July.
It's crazy to think how far we have come this year with her peanut allergy. OIT has been amazing for Ruthie and for our family and has changed our lives so much. I know I say that a lot but I think until you have had a child with a food allergy you don't understand the paralyzing fear that you feel every single day.  To be able to go to the pool, a friend's house, or out to eat and not spend the whole time watching not only what your child is putting in their mouth but also what other children are putting eating is so amazing. When Ruthie was diagnosed we had no idea OIT existed. We never thought a day would come when we wouldn't have to worry about food. When I first heard about OIT it seemed like something that would maybe trickle down to us from the big medical centers many years in the future. We will forever be grateful for the discovery of our amazing doctor in a small town 2 hours from us!

Ruthie and Dr. Williams, her wonderful OIT allergist!

So back to yesterday. Ruthie updosed to 12 peanuts a day. She will do her challenge in a month and then will be on a daily dose of 8 peanuts from then on out. Ruthie has been an absolute rockstar about eating her peanuts. Many kids who do OIT can't stand the taste of peanuts and dosing is really a struggle for them (and their parents!). After her last updose, to 10 peanuts, Ruthie started complaining about every day about how many peanuts she was having to eat. I agreed...it was a lot. I promised her that I would talk to the doctor about it at her next appointment and she soldiered through her 2 weeks of eating 10 peanuts. So at her appointment yesterday I talked to the doctor and he gave us a list of equivalents for 8 peanuts. So we can either do one and a half of those thing to make 12 or we can do one of the equivalents and then 4 peanuts.

Those are some yummy options!

I was pretty nervous about switching because some kids have reactions to other forms of peanut (like peanut butter or pb2 powder). We decided to do her dose in the office with nutter butters. I SO wish I had videoed her reaction. She ate about half of one and then said "Is this peanut butter? Because it's GOOD!!" It was precious.

Nutter Butters are delish!

Today we did her dose in peanut butter to equal 8 peanuts and then she ate 4 actual peanuts to make her dose of 12. I put the peanut butter on apples (one of her very favorite fruits). She thought that was delicious as well!

Ruthie's allergist also had a special treat for her at her appointment yesterday. Since it was her last updose he gave her a gift card to Cold Stone! She was SO excited. All the kids were there and he told her she could treat everyone to ice cream. She thought about that for a minute then asked me if I had money. I said yes. She said "Good. You can buy everyone else's. This is MY gift card!" It took me quite awhile to convince her to let me use the gift card for everyone but she finally agreed. She was so excited about her gift card. It was really cute. She carried it around and didn't let it out of her sight until we got to Cold Stone.

Enjoying Cold Stone!

Goals

We've been working on getting Ellie to ride her bike without training wheels for a few years. She has been SO resistant to learning.
When the kids learn to ride their bikes and are able to ride to the Marsh Tower at the beach with my dad they get a bell for their bike. It's kind of a big deal. We've been trying to use this as motivation for Ellie but no dice.
Well I told her this spring that our goal was for her to learn to ride her bike before we went to the beach this summer. She was resistant at first but somewhere along the way she decided to really work on it.
When we left for the beach she was doing ok on her bike by herself. (video is Ellie a week before we left for the beach.)

She still needed help starting, had some handlebar control issues, and was having trouble breaking. The first day at the beach she learned to start herself. By Monday she was starting to ride on the bike paths and on Wednesday she rode to the Marsh Tower with my dad! She was SO proud of herself and we were VERY proud of her too!

The rest of the week all she wanted to do was ride around the island on her bike. She kept saying how much fun it was to ride on her bike (I may have told her "I told  you so" once or twice). She was even brave enough to go on TWO bike rides with my dad and Emmie. (My dad is notorious for taking family members on grueling bike rides.)

Ellie made it to the Marsh Tower!

Celebrating Ellie

(Ellie riding on the bike path!)

End of the School Year

We finished out another school year yesterday...yay! It's hard to believe we now have a 4th grader, 3rd grader, and kindergartner!

August 2018

June 2019 - I forgot to take the pic before school so we have some face paint and hair that needs brushing. lol.

We had class parties on Tuesday. I was the room mom for Emmie's class so I didn't get any pictures of the party because I was busy, busy but we had ice cream sundaes, made suncatchers, and played some games. It was so fun!
Ellie's class had a camping theme (the kids got to pick the theme). Her teacher did a marvelous job decorating the room! The kids were so excited!

Wednesday after school (we had a half day) we took the traditional Emmie/Evelyn picture. Then Ellie got to invite her best friend Chloe over and we met up at Marble Slab with Evelyn and Anna.

August 2018 - Emmie had just donated her hair.

June 2019 - Evelyn had just donated her hair!

Yesterday we made a Pelican's trip. Ellie has been BEGGING to go for weeks so she was especially thrilled!

We are ready for a fun summer full of pool time, friend time, family, camps, and more!

Awards Day

Emmie and Ellie had awards day at school yesterday. Emmie made A/B honor roll and Ellie made A
honor roll. We are SO proud of both of them!
This was Ellie's first year getting grades. She adapted so well and Ellie really shone this year in ELA. Her average for the year was 100! She had a big advantage with spelling because she heard Emmie doing the spelling words last year. I have been very impressed with her reading comprehension. She made 100 on almost all of those tests and we generally didn't have to study for them. All those reading counts quizzes she takes paid off!

Ellie has had such a wonderful year with Mrs. Estes!

Ellie also got the "Best Actress" award from her teacher which made Ellie so proud!

This was the first year Emmie has gotten a grade in all 4 subjects. It was pretty rough adjusting to all the extra tests and quizzes but she made it through! I'm especially proud of her math grade. She made a B in math each quarter (she made As in all her other subjects) but she worked SO hard. She has to put in a lot of extra time on math and it can be excruciatingly painful for both of us. But we survived and every single point she got was evidence of many hours of blood, sweat, and tears. I could not be prouder of my Emmie!

These sweet friends make me so happy!

Emmie's class voted her "Future Teacher". If you know Emmie you know this is spot on!

Lots of sweet friends!

Ruthie needed a picture with Mrs. Estes too. She can not wait until it is her turn to be in Mrs. Estes' class!

Dance Recital

Emmie had her dance recital today. We loved watching our sweet dancer on stage and we are so proud of her hard work this year. This year Emmie took ballet and lyrical and Ms. Bailey was her teacher for both classes. Emmie loved having Bailey for a teacher and I am so thankful for Bailey and her constant encouragement!
We had dress rehearsal 2 weeks ago and I was able to get some video of Emmie's dances (see below). Also, this is the first dress rehearsal in 2 years that she hasn't had multiple seizures during the dance. We celebrate things like that around here!
AND, my favorite thing...I had pictures done of the kids by the amazing D. Marie Photography a few weeks ago and we already had Emmie's ballet costume so I got Dawn to take pictures. This picture absolutely blew me away!

Photo Credit:D. Marie Photography

The reality of organizing a bunch of 9 year olds.

Emmie's teacher's daughter was in the first recital and we saw them when we were coming in. Emmie was excited to get a hug!

Anna and Emmie. They've been dancing together for years. It's so fun to watch them grow!

Evelyn, Emmie, and Emma. These girls have been friends since they were in 4k together! I am so thankful for friendships that stand the test of time.

Evelyn and Emmie

The kids were all starving after the recital and Ruthie was the only one feeling cooperative enough to get a picture with Emmie.

Gran and Grandaddy

Emmie had auditions for next year's competition company yesterday and today they presented the had the new members come up on stage and they gave them a little charm. Emmie is SO excited to be doing competition next year with so many of her friends!

Photo Credit: D Marie Photography

Side note: This is the first year we have brought JP to the recital. He slept through most of it. Lol. Thankfully both of Emmie's pieces were early in the show so he was awake to see her dance!