How could I forget about the blog??

I know, I'm a really horrible blogger. I should have done better about keeping things updated. I'll try not to suck less in the future :)

Huge Updates:

James: still at the job and working his tail off. He is pretty happy there and it is still supporting us.

Me: I'll start nursing school on August 25! I'm really happy and excited about this new chapter, though I'll miss staying at home with the boys. It will be an interesting transition with all of the work that comes with nursing school plus all of the responsibilities that come with being a mom of 3. Luckily, I think we've found a new childcare provider that will mesh well with our family which is such an important support system to have. The kids will be sad to not be back with their beloved Ms. Rachel.

Finn: will be starting to receive Early Intervention due to a speech delay. He doesn't really have any words and at 19 1/2 months (I know!!!!!) he should have quite a few. He is definitely smart as a whip though and he is so hilarious. He taught himself how to go down the stairs by sliding down on his belly. It is now a past time enjoyed by all the little boys. His brothers boss him around all the time and he's fairly tolerant of that most of the time.

Gavin: is almost 3 and so so smart. He's also still shy around new people and can be really grumpy when he wants to be. He and Sean are very best friends and they prefer to sleep on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed together. You can tell he feels much better about everything when Sean is around. I'm so thankful that they have such a great relationship.

Sean: has had an intense few months. He started school and went to an AWESOME Shelby County School with a wonderful Pre-K program. He seemed to blossom in that program and will be continuing it at a different school in August. He's not quite ready for Kindergarten developmentally. He was also diagnosed with Occipital Lobe Epilepsy, which mostly affects his face and eyes, though he has started to have some episodes that have involved his whole body. He is on Depakote Sprinkles (125 mg 5x a day) and it seems to be helping some. We have failed Trileptal (made his seizures much, much worse) and Keppra (OMG- Keppra rage!!!). We were switched to Depakote in mid-May when he had to be put inpatient at Le Bonheur for 3 days due to a cluster of seizures that lasted between 6-7 minutes. He had an EEG (normal abnormalities- HA! How is that for a contradiction?) and an MRI (normal). We had a follow up appointment last week and we upped the dose due to some spells that have been happening in his sleep and we follow up on July 8, where we will decide if we need to pursue an extended stay in the EMU (epilepsy monitoring unit), where he would be hooked to a 24 hours a day EEG for 3-7 days to see if we can't catch the seizures going on. The bad part about Sean's epilepsy is that a lot of really benign things could be a seizure for him. We are dealing with a lot of unknown at this point. Adding to the unknown is a referral to Genetics (appointment is June 21). He has so many things going on PLUS my issues when pregnant PLUS something called dysmorphic facial features with his wide bridge of his nose and downslanting eyes- it could be months or years before we get a potential answer with that.

I've spent a lot of time talking about Sean, but his multitude of issues and doctors appointments have kinda taken over my life. On top of this, we have moved! Into a house! With a yard!!!!!! We went from about 900 sq. ft condo to a 2000 sq. ft house with a yard where the boys can run (and James can mow :)). It has been a huge blessing for our family because we were way too cramped in that house. Now, I even have an office for all of my study time with nursing school. Now, we're broker than broke, but I don't care at this point. I'm just so glad that we are out of that condo with the mold and lack of storage. We also got a dog! She is a really sweet black Australian Shepherd mix that we rescued from the Bartlett Animal Shelter when they were preparing to flood in early May. Jewel is such a good dog who has meshed well with our family and the boys have really loved having her around (and she loves to cuddle with her Mommy :)). That's most of my update- we're just going to enjoy our summer before it gets crazy in the fall and we're also anxiously awaiting the birth of our best friend's baby girl, Stella, in August and our newest niece/nephew in January which will be James' brother, John's first child. I really will try to do better- I have a lot to say and I'm sure people get sick of hearing me talk. Holla!