Third times a charm....RIGHT?!

SO it happened again.

I thought I had explained fully the second time that this seizure nonsense was over.

I guess I still haven't made myself clear enough.

For the third time this morning I got to watch my daughter look like she is possessed by some kind of devil. And as far as I am concerned, until we figure this thing out, that is exactly what is causing these stupid stupid seizures. They happen the morning after she throws up and has diarrhea. No fever...but if I get one more informational pamphlet about how to treat my daughter's febrile seizures I am going to go insane! And after our exciting ambulance ride to the hospital we had another doctor take a look at her and say "She doesn't even appear to be sick! I don't know what could be causing these seizures." Ironic that I am sick of hearing that she looks healthy. I would almost rather someone say--"Aha! there is the cause, she has such-and-such. Here is how we are going to treat it."

Some differences in the experience this time:
-I was alone with her at home, and she was in my arms. So that means I got to experience the start of the seizure. That was by far the hardest part for me....she twisted up and backwards somehow so that her convulsing face was looking right at me. Blah, so not fun.
-I did have clothes on this time! Bonus to this being the 3rd seizure. I recognized the same symptoms from the last seizure, and had clothes on just in case. The irony is that I had just texted my mom to tell her that I thought Kate wasn't going to have a seizure because she was acting normal RIGHT before she had one!
-I was actually calm at the end of the seizure. I recognized everything about how she was acting, and felt confident that she was perfectly fine.
-I didn't trust my instincts however. The EMTs told my emphatically that they did not recommend me taking her to the hospital or doctor alone. So I caved and took another expensive ride!
-This set of EMTs told me to sit in the front of the ambulance when we walked out there, like next to the driver. I sat up there for 5 minutes trying to be obedient, while I listened to them trying to put an IV in my kid. Finally I said forget it and got up, opened the door and said "ok I have to at least hold her. You guys can't expect me to just sit up there." They looked at me like I was nuts. But the only woman there smiled at me and got me a seat.
-Kate was wide awake on the way to the ER. She was giving the EMT who tried to give her an IV twice (and failed both times) the biggest stink eye ever. All of us in the ambulance were cracking up at her mean face. Watch out--my kid is serious!
-Jon was too far away at work to make it to the hospital, so my Sister in law Susan, and both of Jon's brothers here in TX came to make sure we were taken care of. Kate was so happy to see her aunt Susan! It is such a blessing to live in a place where we have family. I would have been stuck without them! Thanks again guys!
-This ER visit lasted about an hour. The doc came in, looked at her for maybe 10 minutes, some of which was looking at her charts. He then proclaimed that he couldn't do any other tests that we hadn't already done, and said to just live life like normal and wait till we go to see the specialist in November. yay. I love waiting. And paying a bunch of money to find out NOTHING!
-The pediatrician then had us come to his office and essentially said the same thing. Except, he said if she has another seizure like this I don't need to call an ambulance. I can just monitor her on my own. That is seriously the only good news I got all day!

Gah. That is all.

Stake Jubilee Carnival

Our stake in our church turned 50 years old this year, so to celebrate we had a giant carnival. It was really cool! The church rented an Elementary School and we had 2 bouncy castles and face painting and carnival foods. It was a great time! We took our niece Brooke, so Jon and I got some practice with having 2 kids. Kate had a fun time. This was her first experience with a bouncy castle, and generally she liked it.

But mostly she liked getting in and out of the castle. She thought it was like a slide. Whatever works! Here is Brooke with her rainbow on her face. She thought it was super cool!Kate decided that eating an icee is more fun when you use your hands. She was in heaven trying all the different foods.
Nikki and Kate had a blast playing on the playgrounds together. I was the official 'catcher' at the bottom of the slides. Kate is getting so brave, you have to watch her closely! And Kate had her first experience with a tire swing. She thought it was really fun! I really enjoyed a fun weekend of free activities for Kate to try.

Say Cheese!

While my mom was here we decided to go get portraits done of Kate just for fun. Kate was really funny to watch! I thought she was going to eat up the attention, but really she was more interested in playing with the props. She actually hunched over every time the camera flashed. So the pictures didn't turn out quite as cute as I was hoping, but they are good nonetheless!

We got lots with her tongue out! I'm not sure why, but apparently its funny to stick your tongue out at people.
This one is just funny to me because she spent the time worrying about the flash. She kept looking up and hunching over when she wasn't looking because she knew it would come. It made some of her pictures look very unnatural.
This one is one of my current favorites because this is her new excited face. When I turn on her favorite movie she looks at me like this and says "ohhhh". Or when something funny happens, she makes this face. It is her go-to face for lots of things right now, and it cracks me up!

Chillin poolside

Of course we had to be outside and play in the pool while Grandma was here. My mom got SO lucky, while she was here the weather was PERFECT! The warmest it got was 95 I think. So we had lots of fun outside going on walks and drawing with chalk. Kate is such a show off for other people. She was such a ham for Grandma.

My little girly girl carries everything like a purse. Jon's comment to that is "YOU don't ever carry a purse, how does she even know to do that!?". It is so funny what she picks up these days!
Look Grandma, I can do it all by myself. Such a goofy girl!

Playing in the Box

A few weeks ago we had to replace our AC unit (I'm fairly positive I complained about that already!). The only fun thing about that was the cardboard box that the workers left in my yard! I brought it inside, and with Grandma's cutting we crated a house for Kate. It is such a huge hit! She spends half of the day saying goodbye to everyone in the room and going into her house, then coming out and starting the process over again. She also loves trying to get Chance to climb in too. That isn't very successful. But she loves sitting in there in her little chair. I think she feels like an adult who moved out! She also loves to take her new baby that Grandma bought her into the house. She is such a girl, and it cracks me up. She hugs that baby and rocks it and sings to it all the time! Anyway, we are still enjoying our cardboard house.

Yes, we also like to get into our house and scream with excitement.

Beach Day with Grandma!

We took a trip to the beach with Grandma. It was perfect! There were hardly any people there, and the weather was great. I want to go back, but without Kate so I can just layout and relax. Kate was fearless, and would literally run into the water. She fought us the entire time trying to get into deeper water. Even when she was standing in water up to her chin she was trying to go out farther. When a wave would cover her in water she would just come up laughing. Kinda scary for a parent. And it isn't like the water here is crystal--it is kinda brown. If she got away from my grip there is no guarantee I would be able to find her again! But that fact aside we had a great time! The pictures also show you Kate chasing birds. She would randomly stop what she was doing and run after the birds slapping her legs and trying to call them to her like she does dogs. It was pretty stinking funny.

Don't judge this last picture...we know it isn't pretty, but I wanted to prove we were all there together!

Grandma comes to town!

We were so lucky to have my mom come visit us last week. It was a magical week, even though we didn't do anything spectacular. We had a great time just enjoying the small things (which in my opinion are usually the best things!). So here are some of the pictures of the small things we did with Grandma.
We played with bubbles in the backyard. Don't ask me why Kate is standing in an empty pool. She pushed it into the yard and refused to get out while blowing bubbles. She is a strange one sometimes! But as you can see from this first picture, she learned that eating bubbles doesn't taste good.

But the knowledge didn't stop her from licking and eventually putting the bubble wand in her mouth!

Then she got the hang of it, and actually was blowing more bubbles than I could make!

While Grandma was here Kate wanted next to nothing to do with Jon and I. Grandma was the star of the show! She and Kate have such a sweet relationship. I just love watching them together. My mom also got Kate to start seriously potty training! It was great! Now that Grandma is gone though, the bathroom isn't near as cool. I am trying really hard though. Hopefully soon I will be able to post about my diaper free kid!

Recent Happenings

Ok moms fellow Moms: Do you know those days/weeks when you feel like you are watching your kid from another perspective and start to realize that your baby isn't a baby still? I have been experiencing that lots lately! My little girl still doesn't talk lots, but she understands everything! And man is she just getting big! Her baby fat is all but gone, and she is getting long and skinny! She continues to amaze me with the most simple things that I didn't give her credit for. For example, when we pull into one of our friends or families driveways she will point at the house and start saying their names. Yesterday we ran by a friends house to see if there was a package waiting there and Kate SCREAMED when we didn't get out of the car and go see her friend. But when I said, "Kate honey, Nikki isn't home." she stopped crying instantly! Too funny. She also is starting to get much more creative during play. This morning for example I was entertained watching her and her "baby" as she calls him. (for some reason teddy bears are babies...whatever works!) She and her baby were sitting at her little table eating their breakfast and sharing very nicely! She also is very gentle and nurturing. Oh and her bear got LOTS of hugs and kisses, and then got to kiss all the other stuffed animals in the room, and chance got some kisses. I thought it was just too cute. She would gently give her bear a cheerio and then eat one herself.

Here she is saying cheese with her bear

Using hands to eat cheerios is so time consuming. She and her bear both took turns eating like this for awhile.

Man, my little girl is getting so big!

5 years...

This very day marks 5 years of being Jonathan and Sarah Walter. It is SO crazy how fast the time has gone, but at the same time it feels like we have been together forever, ya know what I mean!? In 5 years we have gotten 2 college degrees, moved to 4 states, totalled 2 cars, got a dog, had a baby, and bought our first house. We have not however, bought a tv (although we own 3). We have had thousands of fights and arguments, tons of dates and fun, tears and laughter. Ours is a marriage that works. We push each other to be better (hence the arguments ;), we work well together, and we make beautiful babies! Cheesy as it may sound I love being in love with Jon! We are still happy together after 5 long years!

For our celebration we went to Kings Island Amusement park in Ohio while we were visiting. It was fitting because the last time we had been to a park was the day after we were married (not something I recommend to any single/soon to be married people!). So here is a LOVELY, and by lovely I mean hideous, picture of us eating the famous blue ice cream at King's Island in front of Snoopy. Just remember it was hot and we had been riding roller coasters...no body looks good after a long day of fun!

Thanks for an amazing 5 years hun! Here's to another happy hundred to come!

Popsicles are cold

While in Ohio Kate learned that popsicles are cold: But GOOD!

OHIO part 2

Kate is one special little girl. Everyone just loves her to pieces. Especially her grandparents and great grandparents. Above Great Grandpa Lynch is giving Kate kisses.

And now her Great Grandma gets a turn.
Sitting with Great Grandpa looking sleepy.
And then with Great Grandma, even though it isn't the best picture its the best one I got, so it has to work!

Our little family... not our best ever, but it works. Kate was mad that Jon took her fingers out of her mouth.
Kate with her Grandma and Grandpa. She just adores them!
But something about her Grandma....Kate still is walking around the house asking me where grandma is. Its too cute! Jon likes to call Kate Tina since he thinks they look so much alike!

OHIO part 1

Oh how I love Ohio! I love being in a place where things looks so familiar and I can find my way around without a GPS, no matter how long I've been gone! That place will always be my home. Even now that we have been in Texas for awhile I still say I'm from Ohio when asked. We were fortunate enough to get to spend our summer vacation in Ohio last week visiting my family (fortunate because we bought the tickets before Kate's last seizure and all the medical bills started haunting us!). It was such a great trip, although a little fast for my taste (6 days just doesn't quite cut it!). We got to spend lots of time with family, and that is always a great time! Kate loves her grandparents and uncle Zach so much that she would always pick them over Jon or I the entire time!

While we were there we went to two different water parks to entertain the kids. Kate was a huge fan. She just loved running around in the water!

My mom and cousin Bailey. Kate and Bailey did a great job playing together.

Dad and Kate on the slide they must have gone down 30 times. (I was just super excited to have Jon there so I didn't have to look like a fool 30 or more times!)

I love how the next 3 pictures look like they are part of some baby sports illustrated issue or something. Here we have the serious looking into the distance shot.

Work it baby!

And the classic "oh I didn't see you there" pose.