Wow, has it really been 2 years?

  

I have been putting off the blogging lately for other things and since tomorrow marks the 2 year anniversary of Jacob's Hemispherectomy surgery, I figured it was time to pick it up again. 

It is hard to believe it has been 2 years, although in some ways it seems like it has been longer.  Jacob has come so far since his surgery, and done so well, we could not be happier!  Not only is he still seizure free (wohoo!), but he is talking up a storm lately.  He still does a lot of jibber jabber, but so many things he says now are so clear and understandable (I think he might be trying to keep one step ahead of Tucker) A short time ago, he would ask for things with one word, now he will actually use short sentances.  I truly forget most of the time that he has only half a brain.  He really is a wonder!  Now if I can just make it through this trying stage of stubborness and defiance, lol! He and Tucker seem to be exploring the terrible two's together and I am afraid since I didn't have to experience it much with Joshua, that I am a bit out of practice (and sometimes patience).  All I can hope is that it doesn't last too long, but who know with Jacob. 

Lots has happened since my last post, so I won't bore anyone with too many details, but we made it through the holidays, had a small sledding hill in our front yard for a time, we went on a sleigh ride (where Josh roasted the marshmellows) we have had two birthdays, Joshua (turned 7 on Jan. 2nd) and Jacob (turned 4 on Feb.18), and we are now getting ready for spring and baseball season. 
 

Cheezy Tucker

Tucker is talking more and more along with Jacob and the two of them are either double trouble together, of duking it out. With three boys the one thing I have to say I will look back and remember most about this time is BOY MY HOUSE IS LOUD!  Some nights I don't know how I even take it. Which is probably another reason I have not been blogging much (I sit here in quiet bliss right now, because Rick took Joshua and Jacob to the monster truck show, and Tucker is napping). :) 


Rick seeing if he can hurt himself

 Any way, all is well in the Wilkison house and I hope all is well in yours too! I do promise to keep back up on the blogging, even if it is only once a month (but I will try for at least twice a month).




Josh, the showman 

Here goes,,,, Tucker's first birthday (yes from July)

OK, so I am going to post mostly photos in these first few blogs to catch up a bit. If life is moving as fast for the rest of you, maybe you will understand a bit.

  Tucker was such an easy baby, and then he turned 1.  No I kid (a little) he is still an easy little guy, but he has learned to hold his own and to use his voice. We used to think Jacob was always beating up on him, but have since learned that he beats up on Jacob just as much. 

Josh with his "personalized" haircut

Wow, I am sooo behind

I have not updated in so long, this is the last blog I was working on, but apparently never finished. Boy, oh boy, so much has happened since then, it may take me a few blogs to get updated.

The end of June and beginning of July have been full of fun visits from Rick's Mom, and then our good friends Glenn, Lucy, and their kids We managed to keep them busy with various activities. Rick set his Mom up with our old Real Estate agent and she found some great houses to show her while she was here (she has gotten serious about moving out of Casper, WY and closer to her kids and grand kids).

a little behind

Well, once again I have fallen behind on the posting.  Life just has a way of making it hard to post sometimes (or maybe it is the 3 boys).  Anyway, here are some of the photos from June I was going to post about.

Jacob seemed to have a obsession for a while (he has backed off of it a little now) with always finding Rick's shoes in our closet and wearing them around the house.  For a while, none were safe.

Tucker went more vertical, while he still crawls everywhere (and may I say he is fast), he like to stand up a lot.  I think it will be soon that he will be walking all around the house.

Joshua graduated from Kindergarten, and is now officially a first grader.  He will be moving to a new school next year (public) and will no longer be in the Montessori program.  He had great teachers and we will miss them, but we will have to go and visit them again when we can.

All of us are doing great and are just gearing up for the full swing of Summer. More to come soon.................

Sports Season

Sports season has started, and it has prevented me from keeping up on my blog as often as I have wanted to again.  Rick signed Josh up for both spring soccer and spring baseball, and wouldn't you know it, but they both happen to run at the same time.  Needless to say, we have been very busy with games and practices.  Josh loves doing both sports, but I can tell you, next year he will not be doing both at the same time.

We made a quick trip  to Seattle the end of March, for Jacob's 1 year check up, and came home with a good report and news. They were very happy with how well he was doing (even said he is in the top percent of how well of hemi patients). They also gave us the OK to start tapering his seizure med.  It was a quick taper, and we have been medicine free now for a few weeks.  : ) It is very nice not to have to remember to give him his medicine twice a day. Hopefully we can stay seizure free and medicine free!

Tucker has started to crawl now, and now he is quick at getting around and getting into everything (including trouble).  He especially like to get into the cat food and water. He has even been know to try and eat a bit of it.  He likes to put everything in his mouth, so we have to really watch what is on the floor now.  He is a little guy, but I have a feeling he is going to end up being big trouble.  Good thing he is so cute!

 

A year ago

Well it is hard to believe, but it has been one year since we went to Seattle and handed Jacob over to a highly skilled team of Doctors and Nurses to try and stop his seizure disorder called Infantile Spasms.  So much has happened in this last year, that in some ways it feels like a lifetime ago.  One year ago today, I did not know what the outcome of his surgery would be, I only hoped that it would be for the better.  I knew there was no way he could go on having so many seizures a day, and I knew that even if the surgery did not stop his seizures completely, that they would at least be less than they were.  The first days, even weeks after the surgery when we did not see any seizures, it was almost surreal.  In some ways, we were holding our breath, waiting to see if they would appear, but they never came.  It was not an easy journey, especially those first few weeks, he had to work hard, in fact he still does, but now it does come easier for him.

When Jacob was a baby, before the Infantile Spasms, I had no idea what was in store for us, of course how could I.  I did not know I would ever have the strength to see my baby go through everything he has had to go through.  He started out so happy and healthy, it was hard to imagine that he would ever be anything but.  Fortunately he is strong and resilient!  I can honestly say I am much stronger and maybe even a bit more resilient than I used to be.  I of course don't know what the future holds for any of us, but I do know now, that whatever it throws at us, we can take it.

Jacob is doing so well, and I know that things could have been so much worse.  I am grateful that he came out with the best case scenario from our life changing ordeal, and still truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I may not ever understand completely why we have been taken on this particular path, but I do know I have learned a lot from it. I hope that I may be able to help others faced with similar circumstances from time to.

Maybe when Jacob is older he will be able to tell us how he felt during all of this (and maybe he won't). He will have great experiences to share, even if he does not remember it all. I look forward to his future now, as I do with all my boys, no matter what happens.

Jibber-Jabber and Poo

One of the things that I remember about Jacob's days before and after surgery is being a bit concerned about when Jacob would start talking.  I guess I was afraid he would have trouble telling us what he needed or wanted all of the time.  I asked his neurosurgeon "How will his surgery affect his speech?" to which he told me that he could take a long time to talk, they did not know for sure. I know I had hope that it would not be as long as they thought when a couple weeks after surgery he started making some babble noises and then even woke Rick up one morning in the hospital saying Dada.

Now a days, Jacob is mister Jibber-Jabber. He has never had a problem communicating, so I don't know what I was worried about, and he has always babbled, but lately he is doing so much more.  He seems to say a new word almost every day (and use it regularly too), and some days he will seem to hold a whole conversation with us, with laughing mixed in and all.  Now granted I usually can't understand what the conversation is about, let alone the joke, but it is funny to watch, none the less. It gives me great hope (and maybe even a little proof) that Jacob will being speaking, with many understandable words, very soon!

Now I am sorry, I have to tell you before you get too much farther into this, there will be talk of poop, or poo if you are Jacob (not to be confused with Pooh).  Any one who does not want to hear potty talk, look away, for the rest of you, read on.

OK, now that we have that out,  I have not really thought a lot about potty training Jacob, partly because there are so many other things he focuses on, and partly because from talking to other parents with hemi kids, I knew not to expect him to be able to do it any time soon.  Well, I can tell you now, we have had two successful poops on the potty!  We were so excited (Rick, Josh and I, more so than Jacob) that we had to give him the best treat we could find in the house, chocolate!  We know not to get too far ahead of ourselves just yet though, because two poops does not make a potty training, especially when both times he said he was all done and got off the toilet only to pee on the floor, but baby steps at any rate.  Who knows, maybe we will be trained sooner than we think, and of course I think I have learned not to take him off the potty too soon.

Jacob patting Tucker

Jacob and Tucker hamming it up

Cute Tucker

 In other news Jacob is now officially 3 years old.  We celebrated his birthday on February 18 with some friends and family. We also celebrated Rick's birthday (the 15th) and my sister Shaun's birthday (also the 18th) at the same time.  It is hard to believe Jacob is 3 years old, but I guess we all are getting older.  He is getting to be such a little boy, and so much less a toddler!