January 2010

This is going to go backwards because of the way the pics downloaded.

We went to my Aunt and Uncles house in the mountains to do a belated Christmas with them. There was tons of snow and the kids and adults had tons of fun playing and sledding.


Mia playing in the snow



Gabe and Mia building a stack of snowballs for their snowball fight

Mia going down the hill with her Daddy

Go Mia!!!

Auntie and Sophia

Who is more scared Auntie Dana or Sophia?

Grandma and Daddy helping Evan up the hill

My brother Greg taking his baby girl Sophia down the hill, she really loved going down.

It is the going back up that is hard.

Evan also loved going down the hill and it was really hard to get him back up, but I was so glad that he really enjoyed himself this time. We got his boots on with his AFO's and I was so stoked about that. Each year he seems to get a bit more independent and more able to enjoy things.

He was just sliding down the hill on his butt, it was funny.

Grandma giving Evan a push

Go Gabriel

A huge milestone event in January was Cynthia's 18th Birthday. We had a family party first and then a friend party, it was a great day for her.

2 friends from JR. High -Kaitlyn and Rudy

Cynthia and James

School Friends

More school friends

The kids are playing Super Mario Bros for the Wii

Look at Evan right in the middle of it all

Mom and Dad with Cynthia

Make A Wish

Ready for the cake

The cake that I made and Roses from us for her B-day, everyone pitched in to contribute to the cost of Cynthia's class ring and she was able to buy it. She was very excited about that.

On this Date

On Monday January 18, 2010 Evan had a 30 minute seizure, this was the first one that involved his respiratory system and also twitching of limbs and also the first one that was so long. I of course had to call the ambulance and administer his Diastat which is the rescue medication, I guess this made me think of how I remember dates and events that happened in the past.



It is amazing to me how easily I can remember dates because something special, horrible or important happened on that date. The day I met my husband(April 22, 1995), Our Wedding day of course, the day we found out we were pregnant with our first child(November 1999), the day I found out I was going to miscarry (february 21, 2000) then the day we found out we were pregnant with Gabriel (May 22, 2000), I can remember and recite the details of Gabriel's birth just like it was yesterday, I remember after he was born and I held him and told him" We have waited a long time for you." and someone (I think my mom or Dr.) said yes you have. I remember him being weighed and being 10lbs and how big everyone would say that he was. I remember when Gabriel was in the hospital for pneumonia and how I had to really fight for the Nurse practioner to see that something was really wrong with him. (guess that was training for my next child) I remember being pregnant with Evan and the day we found out he was a boy. I can also remember Evan's birth like it was yesterday, my labor with him was so painful right from the get go. The nurse hardly left my room and it seemed that everytime my Ob checked I had dialated another 2 cenimeters. I remember him being born and how big he was also. He was 10lbs 9oz, I remember they took him away for testing and I asked the nurse where is my baby, it seemed like he was gone for a long time.
Fast forward a few months and this is when things started to become noticeably different with Evan. July 1, 2005 was the day I took Evan to the Dr. because he was almost 9 months and still not sitting up or using his left hand. July 22, 2005 was our first appt with Dr. Asaikar and the tentative diagnosis of cerebral palsy caused from a stroke. Then August 19th we got the official diagnosis of Bilateral Perisylvan Polymicrogyria.
March 16, 2006 the day I had to quit my job. I was upset at the time but quickly realized that it was really a blessing because who knows what would have happened if I had kept up like I was going. Probably would have lost my mind.
June 25, 2006 the day we got in our hit and run car accident.
January 2, 2008 Evan's first visible seizure. He was laying asleep on Rudy's chest and we had just returned from a visit at Shriner's. After that I would always worry he would have a seizure if he fell asleep on the way home from a Shriner's appt.
July 2, 2008 Evan's seizure that he had while were camping, probably about the 4th or 5th visible seizure.
Thanksgiving 2008 - Evan's first prolonged seizure that required an ambulance ride. This year I remembered and worried that it would happen again. Then I thought after we had an event free Thanksgiving that he could have on on Christmas.
August 5, 2009- Evan has a seizure on the airplane on our way to Florida for our Make A Wish trip to Disney World.
January 18, 2010- Evan has a 30 minute seizure, I don't know if I will ever get the image on him lying on the couch in a daze and grunting while breathing and the guilt that washed over me because I was on the phone and did not realize what was going on.

I know that right now this most recent seizure is fresh in my mind and that some new event will take it's place. It is so interesting to me how I will remember these dates and events on the anniversary of the event. I wonder if this is something that all people do or does the event pass and then it is out of their mind for the most part. I know that I will probably never forget the day my children were born but I wonder if I will end up forgetting the exact dates of some of the stuff that has happened in our lives.
I wonder if I will ever forget these dates and what happened on them or if another event will replace them. I guess all of this was triggered by Evan's seizure on Monday. I don't know if I will ever get the picture out of my head. I

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Our last day at the theme parks and we went to Universal Studios and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Here are the boys and I in front of the train from Back to the Future. We also did the Jaws ride which was pretty cool.


We had this characture drawing done of the kids

Evan was first in line to meet one of his fave characters Sponge Bob Squarepants

Dora and Jimmy Neutron

Shrek and Donkey- I guess there was a real person in that Donkey suit because he was talking and asking questions to us. It was pretty hillarious.

Give Kids the World Wishing Well

Kids taking a rest

This was the coolest ride, it was a wet ride but we did not know until the boys we already on it.

I was getting Evan out of his wheelchair to get on this ride when I saw that the ride attendant was setting it up as it was a wheelchair accessible ride. How cool is that. Evan rode it regular because I had already lifted him out of his chair.

Look at how wet Gabriel is

'Mom, look at how wet I got.'

Wheelchair accesible car on the carosuel, Evan is perfectly happy on this type seat on the carosuel, he does not want to ride on the moving horses etc. Just not his thing anymore.

Suess landing had all of the coolest rides.

Sea World Orlando August 09

Our family at Sea World at the end of our day there


The Shamu show was pretty spectacular

Evan really enjoyed this show but I think the highlight of the day was the ..........

horses of course.. We got a chance to see the Budweiser Clydesdales, it was so cool. I have always loved seeing these horses when they have come to the California State Fair. They are such beautiful animals.

petting the horse.

picture with one of the horses

Animal Kingdom- 8-2009

here we are at Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World


Evan with Lilo & Stitch, notice the spray fan in his hand, it was pretty hot while we were there.

Gabe and Evan with a Lion King charachter.

Goofy and the boys

Goofy checking out Gabriel's mohawk

Evan participating in the Festival of the Lion King show

Evan had so much fun being part of the action

The kids got musical instruments and then paraded around with the cast.

Festival of the Lion King was an awesome show.

We also went on a safari tour, and a few other rides as well. It was a pretty cool park.

Evan Says Ice Cream

The other night Rudy was in the freezer getting some ice cream and Evan walked up to him and out of the blue said "Ice Cream". Ever since then he has been going to the freezer and pointing to the ice cream and saying the word. He is such a smarty pants that he knows if he says it enough we will eventually break down and give him some. We are say no because he would be eating way too much ice cream. But when your child who says only 2 words says another word all on his own you will pretty much do anything he wants to get him to say it again. He is also saying "airplane" and of course he has mastered the word no. So that brings his word count to about 6 which are "ought oh", "no", "yeah", "hot dog", "airplane" and now "ice cream". Keep in mind he is not saying these words clearly but it is mainly the syllables of the word and the vowel sounds.

I am so excited that he is saying ice cream but at the same time it kind of breaks my heart to see how hard he works to get these to words out. It really makes me once again appreciate Evan and how much of a miracle he really is.