Baseball is in "full Swing"

It is baseball season in the Wilkison house and all three boys are playing, so that has kept us pretty busy.  We seem to have either a game, or practice going on almost every night and usually 3 games on Saturdays.  Good thing we all love baseball!

Rick is the manager/head coach of Joshua's team, the Rockies, while Jacob is in his second year playing in the Challenger league, and Tucker is in his first year of Tball. They all are having loads of fun, but I have to admit it has thrown the schedules of bath, dinner and sleep off just a bit.  Fortunately I guess school is almost over and we will have plenty of time to catch up during summer break, right? 

The Rockies started out a with some challenges at the start of the season, but have really overcome quite a bit and are now currently second in their league.  They have also already beat the number one team twice, so it should make for good playoffs games and a real chance for taking the championship. 

Jacob is always just happy to be playing baseball like his brothers, but was not so happy when he found out that he was put on the Yankees team (truthfully though, neither were Rick or I).  Last year he was on the White Socks and was really thinking he would be on the same team.  He has adjusted though and now says he likes the Yankees the best. 

Tucker's team is called the River Dogs and he was very excited to b on a team with such a great name.  We thought it was pretty cool too, until we found out the River Dogs is a minor league team for the Yankees.  Oh well, what are you going to do?  Any way, he has really gotten into his role of baseball player and everyone is always commenting on how he looks like the perfect "mini" ballplayer because he likes to wear his baseball glasses every time he is out in the field.  He even has his slide into home base perfected (because every Tball player needs to slide into home base).  He still likes to take some time while out playing in the field to check out the dirt though.   

Well, hopefully when we get a few minutes, we will plan out some kind of summer vacation and I will try and keep the blog posts coming. 

5 years ago

 

5 years ago Jacob was taken back into an operating room for a very drastic surgery.  They told us that they had to remove about a third of the left hemisphere of his brain and disconnected the rest.  This was the only way that he would have a 50/50 chance to stop the seizures he was having on a daily bases (he was having anywhere from 75 on a good day to over a few hundred- when I would lose count).  Now, I know that 50/50 does not sound great to some, but to us it was either that or 100% chance of having seizures for the rest of his life (some that probably would have left him severely disabled or even worse, killed him).  5 years ago we put all our trust in his Neurosurgeon, Dr. Ojemann at Seattle Children's Hospital, and his team of skilled nurses and doctors to give Jacob a chance at a real life. 

Today I am so grateful for that chance they gave him to become the boy he is today!  He has been 5 years seizure free and growing and developing into this sweet, funny, and unique little boy.  He seems to be loved by everyone at school and I am sure could charm his way into just about anyone's heart. 

Jacob recently had his yearly check up at Seattle Children's Hospital and we saw Dr. Ojemann and the Neurologist, Dr. Novotny (that he has seen since he was a year and a half old).  We also had an appointment with the Rehab Dr., and from all of them we heard "Jacob is doing great!"  The best news of all though was when we were told that they don't need us to come back to visit them anymore.  We do still need to have a quick MRI done in about 2 years, but we can now do all of our checkups here in town and just send the info to Seattle, not that we don't love Seattle, but now when we go to visit, it will be strictly for fun! 

Jacob also recently celebrated his 7th birthday.  7 years ago, I had no idea what we would be in for when he was born, but looking back, it has been filled with anxiety, ups and downs, and a lot of stress, but it has been a fulfilling and rewarding experience.  I can only be excited for his future and the opportunities he will now have, opportunities he never would have had if it wasn't for that drastic surgery 5 years ago.  

2016 already?

Well, as usual, I am not the best at keeping up with the blog, but maybe that just means we have been busy.

The boys are all doing great.  They are all in school, Tucker in preK, Jacob in 1st grade, and Joshua in 4th grade. Jacob played his first year of Baseball last year and loved it, while Josh continued to play too.  Tucker chose to do soccer, but decided halfway through that he really would prefer to play baseball.  So it looks like we will have a full schedule of baseball this year because they are all 3 signed up (I can only hope we don't have too many overlapping games). 

We made it a point last summer to use our camper as much as we could and took it to the Oregon coast and out camping around Idaho too.  We all had a great time and I am sure we will do it again this summer (I will try to post photos during the summer this time though). 

Tucker learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this summer and so he got a new bike, which made Jacob a bit jealous.  So this fall, with the help of friends and family (a big Thank you to you all!) we were able to order him a special bike that is all his.  He loves it and even wants to ride it when it rains and snows.  I know he can't wait until the weather gets nice so we can take it out for rides again.  It is so great in helping him increase his strength in his right leg too, so win, win!

I am getting ready to take Jacob to Seattle for his annual check up at Seattle Children's Hospital, and can not believe we are coming up on his 5th "Hemiversary".  He is doing so amazingly well and I am so happy he has gotten the opportunity to live a life free of seizures! I am excited too for him to see his doctors there, and for them to see how much progress he has made.  So far every time we have gone,  it has always been good news and I sure don't expect anything different this time, but I promise to update when we get back.

No news is good news :)

Well, I realize it has been since June since I have posted, and a lot has happened, but I will try to keep things sweet and hopefully somewhat short.

We are all doing very well here and everyone is healthy and happy.  We got a new camper last year and so we kept busy breaking it in all summer. Everyone started school without a hitch and Jacob is enjoying Kindergarten and Joshua the third grade. Tucker insists that he is never going to school (ha, ha).

We are flying through the school year and are even coming up on spring break, and with spring comes baseball season.  This year Joshua and Jacob will be playing baseball, while Tucker has decided to play soccer.  Joshua starts practices on a AA team with Rick as one of his coaches next week, while Jacob starts in April with the Challenger league, and Tucker is set to start next Saturday with his soccer games.  Needless to say, it is going to be one crazy spring with lots of running boys to different games.  I will still try and be good and post photos and updates.

Jacob is still doing great and even is showing signs of learning to read (which they said may take him a while because of the left hemisphere being removed/disconnected).  He just had his 4 year "Hemiversary" and is still seizure free.  He has truly beat the odds in more ways than one and we are oh so thankful!  He and Tucker are still 2 little trouble makers when they are together, but it is good to see how much they love each other (and Josh too).  

We have plans to get out our camper more this year and have even booked a campsite at Cape Lookout and at Fort Stevens on the Oregon Coast coming up the end of June.  The boys are very excited and Tucker asks nearly every day, "Can we go camping today?".  It will be our first trip back to that area since the summer before Jacob's surgery (when he was still having lots of seizures).  I think we will all be ready for the break.

The weather has been a little too good lately, and has given us all a bit of spring fever.  I keep thinking though, with all this nice weather, we are going to get spoiled and used to it, only for it to turn bad again.

Hopefully everyone is doing well and you are getting to enjoy some nice weather too!

at Christmas with the tree

Next stop-Kindergarten

It seems hard to believe, but Jacob is officially a Kindergartner.   Jacob had his last day of preschool last week and Monday they had their official end of the year party at the park to celebrate everyone moving on.  We have done the preschool party 2 other times, but this one felt a bit different I guess because he is moving up to Kindergarten.  He will will no longer have the same teachers he has had for the last 2 and a half years and he is even changing schools and will now be going to the same school as Joshua.   He made quite a few friends this year, but it looks like some of them (even the ones staying in preschool) will be going to his school next year too.

He and Tucker have already started the summer off with their fighting and getting into trouble, making me think that it might be a long one, but hopefully it is just them adjusting to the new time they get to spend together.  Tomorrow starts the first official day of Summer vacation since Joshua's last day was today.  Here's hoping they don't test my patience too much and that we all fall in the summer time groove easily.  I will have to set up play dates and such (especially for myself) to keep us all sane.

Yesterday also marked the end of Josh's baseball season for the team (the Rockies) that he was playing with all spring (I will post about that later this week), but baseball season in itself isn't quite over because now he is going to start playing in a couple more tournaments with another team.  It wouldn't be summer I guess if we weren't busy.    

No News is good News

 So much has gone on since my last post in November that I hardly know where to begin.

 Every year I say I will get better at keeping up with my blog, and then the boys get older (and crazier-or maybe that's Me), and as usual, I lose track of time and don't get it updated.  All I can say is "I'm sorry".

Joshua has turned 8, Jacob has turned 5, and Tucker is right around the corner from turning 3 (where does the time go?).  They are all growing up and getting so big.  Jacob will be starting Kindergarten next year and will be moving to the same school as Josh and he seems to be excited about it.  He is doing so well and is Mr. Social everywhere we go.  Anytime he sees someone new, he says "Hi, What's your name?" and just starts up a conversation.  It is such an amazing difference to a couple of years ago when he hardly said much of anything.  He is walking very well and has basically 2 speeds, fast and faster.  I am constantly having to tell him to slow down.  He is also jumping with both feet now, something that even a few months ago he did not do, and loves to jump all the time.  He is a truly a miracle!  We still do weekly therapy and we have our own notebook of doctors that like to keep tabs on him, but they all seem to say the same things- "He is doing amazing, and keep up the good work!"  


Joshua will be going into 3rd grade next year and is still as smart as ever.  He is doing baseball right now (and I will probably post about that next week when the initial season is over, lol) and is working hard at it and enjoying it a lot.

Tucker is also a little smart guy and I often hear him correcting Jacob on his speech or how a song goes or anything he sees fit to correct him on.  Tucker and Jacob have become experts at getting into trouble together, or constantly irritating each other.  They have a knack for either being the best of friends or the worst of enemies.  I can honestly say though, even though we had not planned for him, Tucker has been the best thing for Jacob. He has been better than almost any other therapy we could have provided for him because they have taught each other so much and learned so much together.    

Jacob and Tucker emptying the bean bag chair to throw "snowballs"

 Well, I will leave it with some photos and a promise to try and post at least once a month, so as not to overload the blog post.  All our love!
Meghan

Josh shooting a golf ball off a rock