Josh with his cousin...

This is my silly cousin, Justin, entertaining Joshua (they speak the same language as you'll see). :-) These two just love each other!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

YUMMY!

I will omit the melted butter and substitute, organic virgin coconut oil in the butter's place.



Bon apetit'!

Catching up? Not even close, but a glimpse...

Caylee and Joshua on the carosel.


Caylee, Josh, and Tiffany (Joshua's aide/nanny. Isn't she cute?)


Joshua and his best friend, Maddie at the Laurie Berkner concert.

I haven't been on in sooo long, there is way too much to catch up on! Thought I'd catch up in pictures.

The zoo was a blast. This time of year is the best time for a trip to the zoo, in Fort Worth anyhow. ;-) The weather is perfect, for us and the animals, who are super frisky in the cooler weather. The male lion stood on his own "pride rock" on roared so loud, it was so cool. The mama lion had four cute cubs bouncing all over her and each other, it was so cute! We drug Tiffany along with us, my other sweet girl around here, even though she isn't quite the camera ham as my Caylee and Joshua are, she was very reluctant if you can't tell in the picture. Hahaha, but I'm a mean boss and made her pose! Right Tifferzz? :-)

Joshua did have two seizures on the train at the zoo though, caused by the sunlight flickering through the trees. That was a bummer, but he had fun nonetheless.

We went to see Laurie Berkner in concert a couple of weekends ago. We went with Josh's best friend, Maddie, and her mama and nana, and Caylee. She sings the cutest songs, and they are not near as annoying as other kids songs, I think they are quite catchy and I love the folk feel of her music. I did worry about the lights in the dark theatre and if they would affect Joshua, but all was well! Hooray!

I haven't said anything on the blog yet, but we are adopting Joshua's biological sister, Ashley, VERY SOON! We are all so very exctied to have her here, to have her and her mini-me together at last! We have been cramming, lots of adoption classes, and all the other stuff that goes along with it:

1~TB tests for all in the family
2~CPR/first aid for Kevin, Cay and I
3~Fire inspection
4~Update the dog's vaccinations
5~Medication training
6~21 hours of CPS training
7~Lock and keying all meds
8~Background checks for all in contact with kids
9~Homestudy
10~Tie-downs for Ashley's wheelchair in the van
ect...

Fun, fun, fun....but all so worth it to get her here! Keeping my eye on the prize as my good friend Jen told me. :-) That's the truth!

We found out some awesome news....Joshua's medicaid waiver caseworker told me that as soon as we get Ashley here in our home that we can get her on the program also! That means that I will be able to hire her very own aide/nanny to work with her after she comes home from school each day! Happy dance! Just that will make such a huge difference in being able to trasition her into the family smoother. I am so thankful for the way that God has been in all of the details of her arrival. We are very blessed. I mourn for a friend who had to go through such a loss for us to have such a gain though. There is always a good and bad in any situation, and I know that she is happy that we are going to be her new family. Bittersweet...

Well that is about all the catching up that I can handle for one night, I have a kitchen to clean now!

Love one another!~Yvonne

Joshua's VEEG...

Joshua had a video EEG done last week to test for seizure activity. We were at the hospital for about 30 VERY long hours! Don't ever go to a hospital to get any rest, it's impossible. Anyhow, it did go well, they were able to see the seizure activity that I had witnessed a month or so ago. While it was scary to witness again, I was so glad that it happened, so that they could see it for themselves and know that I really did see what I thought I had. I would hate for Josh to not have had any activity while we were there and then have it happen again a week later and have to do the testing all over again.

He did not have any seizures unless they used a strobe light to induce them, and they tested the frequencies that it occurred and used different colored filters in front of the strobe to see what difference that made. He seized at many frequencies and with all colors but blue. From that they were able to tell that he has photosensitive epilepsy. He has an appointment on the 11th to see a pediatric opthamologist to get his vision checked and to get a prescription for frames with polarized blue lenses in them. The blue lenses are supposed to keep him from seizing when he normally would with certain light conditions.

He had two seizures today on the train at the zoo. We were on the train, it was going through the trees, and the sunlight streaming in through the trees and flickering, set him into a seizure. He bumped his head when he first went into it because it makes him stiffen his entire body, so he sort of goes from the sitting position to a stiff board for the duration of it. He was wearing sunglasses, but not the right blue tinted kind. The eye doctor appointment can't come fast enough for me!

He had a blast on the train other than that, and loved riding the carousel also. We had a great zoo day, the weather was just gorgeous for it, and the animals were quite lively. The lions, tigers, and giraffes all have babies running around right now, and they are so cute!

I have so much more that I need to update here, but for tonight I am exhausted!

Love one another!~Yvonne