What We've Been Up To

Hey all,

We've been busy with Asher's blessing, family visits, and fun in general (other than being sick :)). We have a ton of pics, but until we receive them from various family members, I'll post my latest favorite picture of our little man Asher. He is seriously adorable with his little old man look, and his smile always brightens the moment. We've been blessed with a relatively easy baby with a great temperament, like Joshua's, but happier if that's possible. I'm thanking my lucky stars!

Marathon Post

It's been a while since I've unloaded the pics off my camera...wow, it was full! So sit down and buckle up cause' here we go...

Loving on Asher

First day of Kindergarten at Legacy Traditional School (El Conditioning School to Joshua).

Playing at a park in Tucson! We made a record fast road trip to test out our second car! Brooke, I need your number!

Joshy & Daddy

Our Second Car

Tucson

Our Recycling is as big as me!

Second Car

We finally got a second car, which really saved my sanity! Between Benson's obligations & the rest of the family it was impossible to survive on one. I'm not excited about having a car payment again or a higher insurance payment, but it's worth it. Funny but it's not at all what we wanted (or thought we wanted) or would have considered, but we looked at it anyway and ended up buying it. It's a Mazda 5. It's a little smaller than a mini van, seats 6, and gets 21 miles to the gallon. All pluses since we live outside of the city. The back seats fold down and it sits on the chassis of the Mazda 3 so it handles like a sports car-I love how it drives and how it turns on a dime. It's a pearl white, with a black interior, and has the option of driving as an automatic or manual. We like it, and the kids love having a bigger car as much as we do.

Thank You!!!

This post is dedicated to all of our friends and family! We've had so much support and prayers from you during a difficult time for us with Asher and we love you for it. Asher has only had a few episodes since all of the prayers for us started, instead of multiple times per day- a true blessing. I think it's because we had so many people praying for us & him that he is doing so well, and we thank you for it. Thank you for being there for us, we love you!!!

Update on Asher

Great news!!! Asher doesn't have a seizure disorder. He has muscle spasms that look like seizures, but have no impact on electrical brain activity-luckily! It has some really long name & is suppose to correlate with a familial seizure disorder history, but we don't have any history with seizures. It's strange how closely it mimics a seizure though; all the classical infant seizure signs-weird huh? What a relief!!!

Update on Asher

Thank you for all of your prayers concerning Asher, they were definately felt!

My main concerns as you might know are that during the EEG Asher wouldn't have seizures and they wouldn't be able to make an informed diagnosis, but this is what happened. The night before the EEG Benson was working late so I stayed up with Asher while he refused to sleep until 4:45 am. I wasn't too happy or excited, but he was really fussy, and wouldn't stay asleep.

We arrived at the hospital at 8am and Benson took Joshua & Hannah to the cafeteria while I stayed with Asher. The tech taped 19 little wires on his head & then wrapped it up with gauze so they would stay in place. He asked me to let him know when I thought he was having a seizure so that he could document it. A few minutes into the testing his left arm started to twitch for a few seconds at a time for about 3 minutes, and then it stopped. About 5 minutes later his whole body started convulsing uncontrollably and it looked to me like a grand mal seizure. It lasted for 7 minutes as his little body & head jerked everywhere. Normally I would be crying uncontrollably, but I felt calm, and just held him. I've never seen him have a seizure that bad or for that long before, but I was glad that it happened there. It was then that the thought came to me that the reason he was so fussy the night before and his refusal to sleep was probably an answer to prayers so that he would be very tired (the more tired, the better chance of having a seizure) the next morning. If what he's experiencing are seizures, then they will be sure to catch it with his performance during the EEG. After the observation period I had to wake him up and they tried to hake him have a seizure by flashing a bright light directly into his face. It was actually a wand with about 100 LED lights on it that flashed like a strobe light, and got faster with each interval; he didn't really like that much, but he didn't have a seizure during it either.

The tech said that he'd have the report to Asher's Dr. by the end of the week, and we have an appointment with her next Tuesday. I checked out the website of the NIMH, and it said that to have an absolute diagnosis that he would also have to have an MRI on his brain as well.

Thank you very much for your prayers, especially at this time!

Love,The Wallaces

Asher's Seizures

Just thought I'd let everyone know that we're taking Asher in for an EEG in the morning. He's been having seizures everday. His pediatrician said that if I hold his limbs down and the jerking doesn't stop that they are most likely seizures. I hold him very tight and they don't stop. The outlook isn't good for infants and seizures. It can mean a variety of things from perinatal asphyxia (lack of oxygen during the birth process that causes brain damage), Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (severe epilepsy), to uncurable tumor growth on his organs, and brain. I'm trying not to be so doom and gloom about it, but I have to admit, I'm a bit scared. When it first happened I knew he was having a seizure, and it freaked me out. I just hope that they catch it, because they only observe for a little while. I don't want them to miss them. We're used to the curve balls by now with our kids, I'm just glad I knew what to look for. Heavenly Father knows everything!!!

Please keep him in your prayers.