*Echols Family

Mr. Pax

2010-04-23T18:23:00.006-06:00

Paxton has been giving me a lot of grief lately. I can't even remember all of the "horrible" things he has done lately (I probably need to call my mom and ask her because I usually call and vent it all out and then I forget about it...sort of). I do remember two major bathroom events that happened this past week though. The first involved poop being smeared all over the bathroom floor, toilet, wall, clothes, fingernails, etc... Now when he did this at 18 months, he didn't totally know better, but at 3 1/2....seriously. I can't even write how I was feeling because well--just use your imagination of curse words--that's how I feel about it. He needed to go #2 and wanted to use the bathroom his dad was using. He was throwing a fit over not getting his way and then ran to another bathroom. He's been potty trained for quite some time so I assumed all was well, that is until he came out with poop all over. I guess he didn't totally make it to the toilet and knew he'd be busted so he tried cleaning up his clothes by himself. Note to self: 3 year olds are not capable of such clean up.

The second bathroom episode was just a day or two later. Also involving poop. I was on an important phone call when I hear a "MOMMMM...I'm done!" He just kept getting louder and louder so I went in, quickly wiped his bum and left the room so I could hear the other person on the phone. I was off the phone a few minutes later and saw that he was out of the bathroom putting on his pants. I asked if he flushed the toilet and he says, "Yeah, the toilet paper won't go down though." I asked several times if he put all the toilet paper in the toilet and he kept telling me no. I go in to check and I see the roll off the toilet paper holder. I ask where the metal springy thing is to put the toilet paper back on the holder and he says, "In the toilet". WHAT? He continues to point and say he put it in the toilet. I think he's lying and just hid it somewhere because really can that fit down a toilet? Note to self: Many things can be flushed down the toilet. Again, insert curse words...No they are not said to him...they are played over in my head-repeatedly.

I think because I still am a little mad about these things, every little thing he does lately (like peeling paint off the walls, punching his sister for the first time, making other huge messes) makes me livid. I'm hoping the last couple of weeks are just a phase that will blow over soon.

He is still my super sweet, cute boy though. He still comes and gives me big hugs and says, "I just love you Mom." He still puckers up and wants to give me a kiss on the lips or cheek. He is full of imagination and cute little sayings. Just now he came up and told me, "I'm going to save the girl, and my life. I will fight the dragon." I'm sure he often feels mistreated or that he gets the raw end of the deal, because in all honesty he often does. Right now he understands more and is capable more than our other kids, so with that comes more responsibility. He's a special kid and usually very helpful. We all have bad days though, right?

Happy Birthday GRAMMIE!!!

2010-04-15T22:20:00.002-06:00

We are so lucky you are our Grammie/Mom! We love you to pieces and can't wait to see you tomorrow :)

Love,

The Crazies

Boston's Blessing

2010-02-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

Boston was blessed in church on January 31st. Justin did a beautiful job, as well as our little guy--he didn't make a peep. I have been blessed beyond words to have the gospel in my life. I'm so grateful for Justin and the choices he's made so we can have the power of the priesthood in our home. He's an amazing man, and I feel lucky to have him. It was a special day. We had a lot of family come to show their support and it means a lot. Thank you all!

The entire Echols family came for the weekend; perfect time to get it updated!

Trip to Animas

2010-02-27T10:25:00.004-07:00

My Grandpa turned 82 on Jan 23rd so we went down to Animas for the weekend to visit my family. It was so nice to be able to see my grandparents and visit with them a little. It's always relaxing to be back "home". We also went to the homecoming basketball game that night. It's been years since I've been back to a game. I enjoyed my high school years and can still remember it so vividly that it really doesn't seem that long ago, but it has been 9 years so of course things have changed. I got to see quite a few old teachers and friends and it was pretty fun to catch up.

We Miss You Jojo and Trista!!!

2010-02-27T08:26:00.006-07:00

The beginning of January my sis and her daughter came to visit and see the new baby. We loved having them back in town. I got so used to having them down the street (or the past summer- being downstairs); it's not fun to have them so far away. I used to babysit Trista while Joni did hair, so she is like one of my kids. Paxton and Trista are the best of buds and love to be crazy together. He treats her like a little sister. We really didn't do a whole lot while they were down because 1-I had just had a baby and 2-Is there really much to do in our small town?! We did actually go to a movie one night and of course got in lots of visiting-which is great! A sister is IRREPLACEABLE!! We love you guys and can't wait for the next visit! Thanks for coming and a special shout out to Tristan for letting them! You're AWESOME! :)

I love how Trista is looking at them like they're crazy.

I thought this picture was hilarious because we took a ton and they all look about like this. It really is impossible sometimes to get a good picture with so many little kids. Grin and bear it right? My mom kept saying "one more", but I think next time we should just go with the first picture and call it good.

Boston at 1 Month

2010-02-26T23:16:00.004-07:00

You know that one month appointment I said to stay tuned for?? Well, here you have it (just almost 2 months late!) Well Boston is a healthy little guy, that weighed in at 9 lb. 2 oz at his appt.(need to look up the inches). He had gained 2 pounds in just 3 weeks! In about a week he will turn 3 months old and we think we is now between 12 and 13 lbs--we tried weighing him on big people scales with us. The transition to 3 hasn't been too bad. I still feel fairly sane anyway. We do great at home (as long as I don't stress over keeping our house nice and tidy). There are lots of projects and things I want to do, but time just goes by so fast and I don't get to it all. Someday I will be more efficient and organized :) As far as leaving the house and going shopping with all 3---I'm still chicken. I did take them to go swimming and the zoo though while in Phoenix a couple weekends ago (a possible post to come). We went with my sister-in-law, Britni, and her 3 little kids. It was an adventure, and I was a little nervous to go without Justin, but it really wasn't too bad. Boston is such a great baby though and is happy to chill in his car seat on our outings. He loves to be talked to and started trying to coo back a couple of weeks ago. At 6 weeks he started to smile and we can't get enough of it. Pax is always up in his face talking to him and trying to get him to smile

My sister came to visit at the beginning of January, and we tried to get some pictures of Boston. He is about 5 weeks in these. I've been waiting to post them because I wanted to touch them up and play around with them in photoshop, but it's not happening anytime soon so I thought I better get them up. I need someone to show me some quick tricks in photoshop because it is all too time-consuming.

More pics of Boston

2010-01-06T12:39:00.003-07:00

These pictures are totally out of order, but here are some more random pictures of Boston and his visitors.

Our New Addition

2010-01-06T09:15:00.001-07:00

For those of you who haven't heard, we had a BOY!!!!!!!!!! Yeah!!! And he's already 4 weeks old! (I know I really am horrible at updating this blog).

Boston Cy Echols was born at 1:08 pm on Monday, December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day)

His Stats: 6 lb 12 oz--20 inches long--healthy and super cute!

Ok, now comes the boring journaling part, so feel free to skip to the pics. My due date was December 19th, but because my doctor was a couple hours away and such a nice guy he said he would induce me on December 7th. We were already going to be in Mesa for an Echols family gathering, so it worked out perfectly. I was scheduled to be induced at 3 AM (crazy early, but who sleeps at 9 months prego anyway) but they said to call and make sure there was a bed available before I went in.

Here's the breakdown of how the morning went:

*2 AM--woke up to call the hospital to see if they were ready for us. They weren't and told us to come at 4 am

*3 AM--Decided I wasn't going back to sleep, so I got up again to get things ready to go. We stayed in Queen Creek with my brother so we had a good 30 minute drive to the hospital. *4 AM-- Arrived at hospital, sat there twiddling my thumbs

*5 AM--Got put in our labor/delivery room

*6 AM--I was dilated to 3 cm and having sporadic contractions

*6:30 AM--Got hooked up to pitocin

*8:30 AM--Dr. Beck came in to check on me and I was still 3 cm, so he broke my water

*10 AM--Got my wonderful epidural

*11 AM-- Dilated to 5 cm

*12:30-1 PM-- I could feel my contractions pretty good, so I called the nurse in to see if I needed to push the epidural drug button. She checked me at 1:00 and said I was dilated to 10 cm. She went to call the doctor, but luckily he was just down the hall on his lunch break.

*1:08 PM-- After 2 pushes, our baby was born!! I was in total shock that he was already out. It was by far the easiest/best delivery ever! We didn't find out ahead of time the sex of our baby, so it was pretty neat and exciting at the time of delivery. I think everyone in our family had cast their vote as a boy being born, and we were all right!

Boston is great baby and we can't imagine life without him. The first couple of weeks he slept through the night. I actually had to wake him up in the morning because I would be in so much pain and need to feed him. I'm afraid we've created some bad habits though, and he would much rather be held while he's sleeping than put in the bassinet. He also agrees that our bed is much more comfortable than his (we're trying to not allow this to become a habit). Binkie's are also needed to sleep and heaven forbid if they fall out. Ahh...such is the life of a spoiled little baby. I wouldn't have it any other way. I think I could pass away the entire day and just look at him. It's amazing the power a sweet little newborn has on you. My productivity level has nearly dropped to zero and I'm actually ok with that. I know it won't be long before this little guy won't cuddle and sleep in my lap. He is changing already. This week his hair started falling out. Boo! That's all a wrinkled up baby needs-a receding hairline to make him look even more like an old man! haha!! He is still so cute though. People always ask who I think he looks like. Right now it's still hard to tell. Some days I think he totally looks like Kaybri as a baby and other days more like Paxton. Hmm...what else? At his one week appointment he weighed 7 lb. 1.5 oz and was 20.5 inches. He has his one month appointment this Friday, so stay tuned. I will try to do better, but there's no promises :)

Here I am the night before delivery at Jarom and Mel's house. Do I look excited?! I was!

Brand new baby

First family photo

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures!

2009-08-31T22:18:00.001-06:00

1st day of school for Kaybri

Prego pic at 21 weeks. (about 3 1/2 weeks ago so I'm definitely fatter!). Everything is going good. Baby is healthy and I'm feeling pretty good now. And no, we don't know if we're having a boy or girl. We decided to let it by a Surprise! I usually hate surprises, but it's been pretty fun letting the anticipation build.

Paxton loves to fight and wrestle....thanks to all those uncles!

One of Pax's new favorite things is dinosaurs. We took him to the dinosaur museum at BYU while in Utah.

Echols/Hamblin family

Cute happy couple!

I can't tell you how many times I found Pax taking his clothes off to get in Grandma and Grandpa's pond/waterfall.

My Quarterly Post!

2009-08-06T15:36:00.005-06:00

So of course I am full of excuses on why I haven't posted in ages. Here's the rundown of what's happened in the last few months (with no pictures and hardly any details, next time I feel ambitious maybe I'll add to these months!)

April
*HAWAII for one week with no kids! need I say more?? It was simply AMAZING. Beautiful and Relaxing.
*Found out I was PREGNANT the last day we were in Hawaii! YAY!
*Came back just in time to celebrate EASTER and MOM'S 50th birthday at Jarom and Mel's.
*Kaybri in the Hospital for 4-5 days running tests. (MRI and Video EEG)

May
*Lots of SLEEP and PUKING
*End of the year PRESCHOOL festivities
*Drive up to UTAH, Justin goes back to AZ. Live with In-Laws for the next couple of months

June
*Kaybri received CRANIAL SACRAL Treatments.
*Shawn got MARRIED! Saw Justin, and then he took Pax back to my mom's
*Quick trip to AZ for Teancum's Baby Blessing, Shayci's BAPTISM, Jarom's 30th, and our 7th ANNIVERSARY!! whew!

July
*Reunited with PAX!!
*Reunited with JUSTIN a few days later!!!
*ELLIS REUNION in Park City
*Celebrate Grandma Ellis' 80th Birthday (few months late)
*Drive back HOME!
*24th celebration in ANIMAS, big ward reunion as well as mini-HATCH reunion

August
*Back to REGULAR life!

So EXCITED!!

2009-04-02T00:53:00.003-06:00

In just a few days Justin and I will be on our way to HAWAII!!! Justin's parents are taking us on another trip they won through AFLAC. I know, we're pretty spoiled. And now, I can't sleep because besides being filled with excitement, I keep thinking about things that I need to get done before we go. Ugh...I'm too tired to do anything now though, so I guess I will just write it on my list of "to do's" and try to get to it tomorrow.

AMEN

2009-03-18T16:12:00.003-06:00

Last night after we said family prayers something special happened, Kaybri said "amen". It's been a very long time since we've heard her say that (probably about a year ago). Amen was one of the first words she learned when she was a year old, and she could repeat what you told her to say in a prayer when she got a little older, but these sweet words were some of the things that disappeared last year. We've been working on saying "amen" quite awhile with her after prayers, and last night I could tell she was actually thinking about it, so I stopped repeating amen to her and after a little bit she slowly said "aaaa...men" over and over again. We just started cheering her on and you could tell she was so proud of herself as she said it a couple more times. The proud feeling I have for her accomplishment is 10x stronger now than what it was when she was learning new words left and right a few years ago; I know now not to take those cute little words for granted.

I can tell she is a little more with it lately. She is responding much better to us and listening when we ask her to do something...most of the time. This last week she has repeated a lot of things I've told her to do like, "get down", "don't touch it", "don't spill it" (these all make me sound mean and bossy, but those short commands I guess are the easiest to say...maybe?). She also said "puh puh please" (please-an old word returned). And a brand new word last week....Trista!(my niece's name) I haven't been able to get her to say some of the words again, so I'm not sure how to make things stick-but I know it's all up in her little head.

Gimme gimme

2009-03-17T23:09:00.003-06:00

Looking for a SUPER cute dress for your little girl? Enter HERE for the give-a-way!!

And if your kids are noise makers like mine, then you should enter another give-a-way for a darling quiet book. It looks like it just might hold the kids attention for more than 5 minutes! Take a look HERE for the rules to enter!

All You Need is Love

2009-03-09T11:16:00.000-06:00

My good friend Amber took some pictures of Justin and I last month. She is starting up her photography business and we got to be her "models". I just love how they turned out!! It was actually kinda fun too--I mean just me and hubby, alone, being able to hold and hug on each other. When does that happen?! It's been almost 7 years since we took engagement pictures, and then we had kids and all the pictures become of them, so it's a little weird to have all these pictures of just us, but I totally recommend it. Just the other day my mom showed me a picture of her in her 20's and it's fun to see that stuff. You don't want to wait until something important like 25 or 50 years of marriage, these years are important too. So...go get some pictures of you and your man. He might grumble a little bit, but just remind him that she's going to ask for some kissy pics too ;) Amber's website and photography blog are as follows:

http://ambersmodernphoto.com/
http://halversenphotography.blogspot.com/

Check her out, she's AWESOME!!

The hardest part is picking which one I like the best!

The Sweetest Girl Ever

2009-03-04T22:56:00.001-07:00

A few days after Justin's birthday was Kaybri's birthday. She turned 4 years old on the 10th. We ended up celebrating her birthday a few days later so daddy could make it. We still tried to make her day special though. She loves the birthday song and we sang it to her practically all day. She loved it! She was "chef of the day" at school that week and also had a valentine party, so she really ended up having more of a birthday week. I don't really know how much she comprehended it all, but I think she had a fun time.

On her actual birthday it snowed here in Arizona! Of course it only lasted an hour, which makes snow kinda fun and exciting. I tried to document it and snapped a picture of Kaybri outside before she left on the bus. You can't see much snow, but if you look really close it's all there behind Kaybri!

Remember how I said we were debating on taking her bike back because it was too big and she wouldn't get on it....well, we did and got her a dora tricycle instead. And since we got it at the same time as her birthday presents, we decided to wrap it up and re-give her her Christmas present :) I'm glad we took the other bike back, she's much more comfortable with trying to ride the tricycle. It also helped Paxton figure out how pedaling works and he can now ride his bike a little.

Kaybri carried this fake nail polish around all night. She loves to have her nails and toes clipped and painted.

Paxton trying out Kaybri's lipstick. (luckily fake too)

And here's the cute girl in front of her ice cream cake (request of Justin). I'm so glad she was in a good mood this day and actually participated in her birthday! She opened her presents on her own, played with them a little and gave us lots of kisses and smiles. It was a great day! She was afraid of blowing out her candles, but Pax gladly accepted the challenge.

We are so thankful for our sweet girl. Our life would definitely be boring with out her. She has taught us a lot the past few years. We are learning to be more patient and that we really aren't the ones in charge. Things can change literally in the blink of an eye. This past year we noticed a dramatic decrease in how fast she was learning and then she started losing some of her skills too. We are way excited that she was able to get funded through the state and that she will now be able to get some of the services she needs. It's work and no fun a lot of the time, but I know it's going to help her get back on track. We celebrate the smallest things with Kaybri, like when she says a new word, the return of an old word, she finished all of her dinner by herself, she tried to play with another kid (or at least said hi), she stayed in her bed all night, I didn't have to repeat her a million times, she followed a direction I gave her, etc...

Some of the things she's into now-a-days:

-painting/coloring

-watching movies (she has about 10-15 different ones that she'll sit through and watch)

-swinging, sliding, climbing (swingset)

-jumping on beds or trampolines

-manicures/pedicures

-putting on real makeup

-going to preschool

-screaming at Pax if he comes too close

-KISSING over and over again...does not matter who it is (and you must repeat "thanks" after she says it)

-loves to be tickled and has the cutest giggle to go with it

-playing with her hair (or mine) and sticking it in her ear

-singing popcorn popping, happy birthday, or itsy bitsy spider to her

If you know Kaybri, you know she's a little quirky, and WE LOVE IT!!

SO OLD!!!

2009-03-02T22:55:00.001-07:00

As usual, last month was a crazy busy month for us. I was looking at my calendar/planner tonight and thought, "no wonder I haven't blogged...or feel like I will never catch up on everything. Something was marked on every single day of February (well, minus maybe a couple Sundays)." Now, a lot of things that we did were fun things, so I'm not complaining-I know I totally bring the craziness upon myself.

So, to start off the month we celebrated Justin's 30th Birthday!!! I've been teasing him for the past few months on how old he was getting. I know he doesn't look old or act old, but 30 just sounds OLD! :) I'm pretty sure it's more weird for me than him. Thank goodness I have a few years until I get "old". hahaha...I'm sure all my older friends/family are rolling their eyes thinking I have so much to learn and that it's so not a big deal.

Anyway...Justin's parents came down to AZ to visit, so the pretty much the whole family (we missed you Shawn!) got together and celebrated all the January and February birthdays (6 total birthdays I think). It was a fairly quick trip to Mesa, and overall we had a good time. We spent some time at a nearby park and then we all went to Amazing Jake's; it's a pretty cool place that has tons of stuff for the whole family. Little Kaybri had a seizure right before we got there, so she was an emotional wreck, but we did get her to ride a couple rides that she did ok on. After a couple of hours of carrying her around the place I decided to just take her out to the car and let her have what she really needed- a nap! I felt so bad for her, you just never know when that's going to happen. Justin and Pax had a blast though and got some good bonding time. We are so grateful for what a loving family we have and that they all wanted to make Justin's 30th special for him. We love our family so much and more than anything it was fun to see everyone and spend some time together. Justin had a good birthday and not much has really changed, we're still living today like he's 29! ;) I love you babe! You're a good sport!

Here are all the cute girl cousins loving the goodies that Grandma is known to bring.

Justin getting some help from Pax on blowing out his 1 candle.

Justin got a gun for his birthday this year. I have no idea the technical name/info on it. My dad just said, "This is a good gun; Justin needs it." So that's what I decided to get him. It totally took Justin by surprise, and he was pretty excited about it. I didn't dare have him open it up and take a picture of it, because we were in Amazing Jake's at the time.

Justin and Britni, the 2 birthday adults

2009-01-28T22:05:00.003-07:00

I have had the priviledge of watching my cute little niece once a week while Joni goes to work. She is so cute and my kids absolutely love her. When she arrives Kaybri is constantly saying "baby", "brother", "Paxton". I guess we totally brainwashed her when I was pregnant with Pax, because she thinks every little baby is called her baby brother Paxton. And Pax just can't get enough of her. He loves to hold her, talk to her in high-pitched baby talk, give her binkie to her, load her up with toys, kiss her, and make her smile. He does pretty good, but he is a rough and tough boy, so we are still working on being a little softer. Today Trista got to sit on Pax's couch with him and he thought it was great! He is turning into such a big boy and trying really hard to be my helper...some of the time.

Swing swing

2009-01-28T21:29:00.002-07:00

We were so excited that the house we moved into came with a nice swingset in the backyard. Kaybri looks out the back window and begs and begs to "swing". Swinging and movies are the two things so asks to do each day. And I know movies are probably the worst choice to give into, but thats what she gets every single day. Why? Because it's safe and I don't have to worry about her so much while watching a movie. And with swinging, I feel like I need to be right there in case she has a seizure. Her seizures have been shorter and little more mild lately, but she still has them pretty frequently. And if she's jumping, running, or getting really worked up it's almost inevitable that she'll have a seizure. I'm not really worried about the seizure itself, just the fact that if she had a seizure while on top of the swingset, she could really get hurt. Anyway, I need to just devote some time each day to going out and playing with them on the swingset, especially since it's been so sunny and nice these days. Ahhh...still not missing the Utah snow!

On this particular day we piled up all the leaves and made a soft landing for the kids to slide into. They thought it was pretty fun. They started getting really brave and going down head first.

A whole lotta rambling and pics

2009-01-16T22:07:00.011-07:00

Before school got out for Christmas break Kaybri's class went on a field trip to the tree festival in town. They made decorations in class, and they went to go see their tree all decorated. Pax and I also went to go see the trees and meet up with Kaybri.

My good friend, Amber, took some pictures for us. Some of my favorites are included on our Christmas card below. I'm surprised with what turned out because there was of course no cooperation with the kids and then Kaybri had a seizure, so our time was cut short. Amber also took some pics of my family when they came for Christmas, she's awesome!

The weekend before Christmas we had a wedding to go to in Mesa. Justin got sick with the flu the day before, so we missed the wedding but made it later to the reception. We got to visit all of Justin's family and do a mini-Christmas together. A couple of days later we made it home and Kaybri and Pax started in throwing up. I was a little stressed because my entire family was supposed to come the next day and stay until after Christmas. Thank goodness none of them got sick. I was cloroxing everything and taking a ton of vitamins, and after a few days of not getting sick I thought I was in the clear. I was wrong. I got sick Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I was bummed, but glad it was me and not one of the kids.

Even through the sickness, we still had a great time. We attempted to act out the nativity, but ended up just playing dress up with the kids and reading the Christmas story later.

There were 5 little kids to open presents, actually only 3 who know how to open a present. They sure are spoiled! It was so funny when they ran out there. Paxton ran to Lydi's kitchen, Lydi ran to Pax's bike, and Kaybri actually went to her bike. Everytime we went to wal-mart and went by the bike section my kids were glued to them, so we thought they were going to be a hit for sure. Well they liked them for about 10 minutes tops; we haven't been able to get the kids to ride the bikes much since. I'm sure part of the problem is that they don't actually know how to ride them, but even when we push them on the bikes it doesn't last long. They just want to go play on the swingset, especially Kaybri. So I'm debating on taking them back and getting something else, is that horrible? I think it was a little overwhelming for Kaybri and she didn't want to open more than one present while everyone else was. She had done the same thing last Christmas because she was super grouchy and knocked out from a seizure. And last year we made the mistake of pretty much opening everything up for her. This year we just waited until everything settled down and let her do it on her own. She did a lot better and enjoyed her presents this time around.

We all traveled down to Animas a couple days after Christmas. We were able to visit with my grandparents some and see a couple friends. The boys also went coyote hunting. Justin's gone several times with my dad before and never had much luck, but this time he saw and shot one! He was pretty excited. Jarom and Tristan also shot one or two, or maybe my dad got one too, I don't know. There's pictures to prove it too, so if you're against that kind of stuff...skip on by.

We went back home and then spent New Year's Eve with my mom, dad, Joni, Tristan, and Dawn and kids. We partied all night and then got on the road again, this time to go to Mesa. Justin had the rest of the week off so we did a little bit of shopping and hung out with Jarom and Mel. And these 2 little munchkins below...I don't think they've ever spent so much time with eachother. They fought over nearly every toy but also were caught giggling, chasing after eachother, and dancing together. Paxton has developed a new love from hanging out with his cuz, he knows all the princesses now and would love to watch those movies if we let him! I'm pretty sure Pax taught sweet Lydi some new tricks too...like how to be naughty, and yell and talk back...sorry Jarom and Mel.

Wayyy Past Due

2009-01-09T13:44:00.013-07:00

HA! I bet you all are thinking I'm talking about Christmas, New Year's, or maybe even something last week, but nope...Thanksgiving...I know it's probably like "illegal" in the blog world to be posting about something so long ago, but... oh well. I mean I never even posted about Halloween, so I guess I could put you all through even more torture, but I won't. I don't know what my problem has been. I get behind blogging and then overwhelmed with all the fun things I had wanted to blog about and instead of just doing it, I forget about it and check out everyone else's instead! But my husband is away, again...and I'm bored so I figured I would catch up a little. For what it's worth, I did start these Thanksgiving and Christmas posts a few weeks ago (when Justin was gone on the "man" trip four-wheeling), I just never posted them because I was embarrassed of how incredibly past due they were, so now...they're even later but I decided I don't care-they're for journaling purpose so PLEASE JUST SKIP! :)

Thanksgiving was spent with Justin's family in AZ. Dawn and Cory hosted and did a fantastic job. The boys got up early and played in their Turkey Bowl even though it was rainy and muddy-they loved it. We then had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with loads of yummy food, great company and of course lots of pies. Did I mention that the boys were amazing and did all the clean up?! Definitely needs to be a tradition. Some of us braved Wal-Mart early on Black Friday and then later that day we headed to the church to play games in the gym. It was so much fun and a great way to let the kids get out some of their energy that was being bottled up because it was too cold and rainy outside to play. We all played "line tag", a dress up relay, and kickball.

Pax loved being the center of attention during his turn of the dress up relay. He especially loved his daddy running super fast with him.
Jake was not a fan, but at least he did it.

Friday evening we had a surprise Birthday party for Vince and Marsha at El Charro. It was nice to have them visit. We need them to move back to AZ because we don't get to see them near enough.

All the Echols left on Saturday to go back home, but we did get some surprise visitors on Sunday evening. Jarom, Mel and the kids stopped by! They were traveling from El Paso and needed to take a break. So here's the Ellis grandkids in their jammies.

Need Addresses

2008-12-13T08:34:00.002-07:00

I'm working on Christmas cards and I've realized I don't have many of your addresses. If you are interested in getting a card, please email me your mailing address. My email is cassandra_dee01@hotmail.com Hopefully I can get these done soon and FINALLY get Thanksgiving posted ;) Hope you are all having a great Christmas season.

Tag

2008-11-23T20:48:00.004-07:00

Here ya go Stacie ;)

8 TV shows I watch
(With sports and kid shows on daily, I seldom watch "my" shows, but these are the ones I like :)
1. Dancing with the Stars
2. Grey's Anatomy (although they have a "new" couple this season that totally sickens me, so trying to not watch it anymore)
3. So You Think you Can Dance
4. American Idol
5. 10 years younger
6. Justin's trying to get me into the Mentalist
7. John and Kate plus 8
8. The Office

8 Things I remember about yesterday.
1. I prepared my talk for church
2. My house was clean
3. Both my kids took a nap.
4. I got a short nap too.
5. We went to the EA basketball game
6. Kids were spoiled with popcorn and soda
7. Kaybri had a seizure on the way home (short and came out of it good)
8. Justin and I watched a movie

8 Places I like to eat
1. Carrabbas
2. Panda Express
3. Chick-fil-A
4. La Casita/Casa Manana
5. Cracker Barrel
6. Cafe Rio
7. PF Changs/Pei Wei
8. my mom's home cooked meals

8 things I look forward to
1. Thanksgiving and all the yummy food and good company
2. Getting to visit family
3. Justin's days off
4. Christmas, my most favorite holiday and time of year
5. Waking up everyday and seeing my kids laugh and be happy
6. summer vacations
7. being totally moved in, decorations up, etc.
8. the temple being built in our area

8 things on my wish list
1. For Justin and I to live a long, healthy, happy life, and die at the same time
2. To travel the world
3. For Kaybri to get better
4. For my kids to grow up to have a testimony of the church, enjoy life, and be healthy
5. That our house in Utah would get rented, or sell would even be better
6. To be totally debt free and have lots in savings
7. For our food storage to be complete
8. That there was more shopping and fun things to go out and do in this small town--(which I love, but...you know, we need some more spice!)

I TAG ANYONE who is bored and feels like doing this!

October Overload!

2008-11-21T18:17:00.002-07:00

October was definitely the month for birthdays! My mom, dad, and Jarom and Mel's family came down one weekend and we decided to celebrate the birthdays for the month, which included Tristan, Paxton, me, and my dad. Let's face it though, the party was all about Pax! He turned 2 and he is the cutest, funnest little boy I know!

Some fun facts about him:

*Total obsession with being with his dad lately. He wants to go everywhere Justin goes, and often begs me to take him to go see dad at work.

*He loves trucks. He hates if he has to ride in a car if a truck is available. When he sees a truck he always says, "Daddy's truck" or "Cowy's (uncle cory) truck", followed by a very dramatic "Vroom vrooom!" This is also true for motorcycles, but followed with a "Tristan...vroom vroom"

*He has become a little bit of a bully, although I think he might be improving some as of late. He was constantly hitting or pushing someone for awhile though.

*Instead of walking or running, he gallops.

*He loves his sister and thinks everything she does is super cool.

*He learns new things everyday. The pronunciation of a lot of words still isn't that clear, but he is trying to put words into sentences.

* Some of my favorite words/sayings from him, "cool man!", "peace", "i love you", "hot dog" (from Mickey Mouse), "where's Kaybri" and "cuute" (haha, I think we tell Kaybri that too much)

*Although he is all boy and rough and tough, he is pretty tender-hearted and can get his feelings hurt much more than what we're used to with Kaybri. He gives great hugs that almost knock you over and kisses that usually HAVE to be on the lips. He is infatuated with babies, and has been for some time now, it's a good thing Joni had a baby! "I hold her" is another favorite line.

I don't know what was up with my camera that day, but almost all of the pictures I took turned out blurry. bummer!

Poor Lydi was traumatized that we were hitting Elmo, especially after he was decapitated. She kept saying, "Oh no, Elmo's broken."

If you remember from last year, Paxton burned his finger on his birthday candle. He is a year older now and much wiser I guess, because he didn't want to get too close to the candle this year. He did blow it out, but it took some coaxing (and some help from the wind).

The next day we all went to county fair. The kids loved the animals. Again my camera was retarded and all the pictures I took inside the exhibit buildings didn't turn out. Kaybri entered some art work into the fair with her class from preschool; we never found it, but it was sent home with her later and we saw that she won 2 red ribbons and earned $4! Good job Kaybri. Her teacher tells us that she loves to paint, probably because she never gets to at home. I guess I need to do more of that, I just hate what a mess it makes.

Who needs a double stroller, when you have a nice sister that lets you sit on top of her!? We also let the kids go on a ride before we headed home. We were going to put all the kids on this little train, but we ran into this sign......

The guy that was running the ride came over and said that Lydi and Pax needed an adult with them. We said they were 2 and then I took Pax over to the sign to measure him. He was just at the 36" mark. I didn't notice at first, but he was tippy-toeing on one foot because I had pushed his back up against the sign. My mom, Joni, Mel and everyone started giggling about it and pointing at him. For some reason this didn't settle well with the carny and he said that Pax couldn't go still. He let Kaybri and Lydi (who looks the same height, especially with Pax's fro) go and even a little girl that was WAY shorter than Paxton. The guy was kinda rude and Paxton was sad and didn't understand why he didn't get to go on the ride too, so we took him on a cooler ride- a race car! He loved it, even through the rain!

Another cool thing happened in October, Joni had her baby!! yay! We were so excited to meet little Trista. She is such a doll.

September!

2008-11-19T23:00:00.001-07:00

Mel, Steph, and I threw a baby shower for my sister, Joni. Here she is at 7 1/2 months along.

Joni and the momsJoni and the sisters

Vince's sister passed away, so everyone headed to Mesa to meet up to go to the funeral. Look at all those grandkids! I think that's everyone except April.
I didn't take too many pictures, I guess that's enough for September.

August!

2008-11-19T22:49:00.010-07:00

This is really embarrassing that I'm so far behind I never finished posting about things that happened in August, but oh well, I couldn't just pick up from where we are now and act like all this stuff didn't happen.

Kaybri started preschool again. She has the same teacher from last year and from the smile she has every time she gets on the bus, we assume she likes school...or at least the bus.

We also had a Hatch cousin reunion. Almost everyone made it. We rented a cabin in Show Low and it was a blast! Most of the kids stayed home, except babies and Kaybri(she had a doctor appointment the next day in Phx). I can't wait to do it again.

Then we went to Animas to pick up our little Pax. He has had lots of Papa and Grammie time this year; they have taken him several times for a week or so at a time. Hopefully when Kaybri's seizures get more stable she can take a turn too.

One of Paxton's last night in a crib, he is now in a big boy bed. I guess Kaybri couldn't sleep and needed to twirl someones hair :)

Time to Update!

2008-11-19T22:17:00.004-07:00

Sorry to leave everyone hanging after kinda a depressing post. We are all totally good, just super busy. We recently just moved...again. After a few scary encounters with the renters in front of our house and some major plumbing problems because of them, we pretty much had no choice but to move. We/I hadn't anticipated staying in that apartment as long as we did, so there wasn't any complaining! Cory and Dawn let us stay with them for a couple of weeks until we found a place to rent. They have helped us out sooo much; we owe them big. The beginning of November we were able to get into our new house, and we are loving it! We went from pretty much a one bedroom to a 5 bedroom. We didn't want that big of a place, but it totally fell into place. In the meantime we have been trying to get Justin's dad's house fixed, cleaned and rented while he helps us get our house in Utah rented. Thanks to a lot of family help we are getting settled.

A New Trial

2008-10-07T23:05:00.002-06:00

The last month or so we have discovered a new trial in our life that has brought on a whirlwind of emotions. I'm sure this has a lot to do with my MIA in the blogger world, and although it might have been good therapy to write about, I needed some time to grieve and accept it before I let the whole world know.

On August 25th Kaybri was diagnosed with Autism. It was our second appointment with the Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrician and after a lot of paper work, tests, and observing they said she had high-functioning autism. At the end of the 1st appointment she said she didn't think she was autistic, but then we came into the 2nd appointment and she started it by saying "If I was queen, and a child needed certain programs to progress, I would just give them to the child. But in the state of Arizona, you have to be diagnosed with something. Kaybri will get some help because she has seizures, but if she had autism she would get every program, so it really would be good if that was the case." You could tell during the observation and the questioning that the doctor already had her mind made up, and after scoring the CARS test, she tested at 31 (in order to be considered autistic you have to have above a 30). I immediately started crying and was mad because she could've easily said she was borderline and not diagnosed her as autistic, but then I realized she really was trying to help and this was the only way Kaybri was going to get the help she needed. She said with Kaybri being high-functioning (or mild autism) that she probably would respond well to all the therapies.

We had scheduled the appointments several months in advance, and throughout the whole summer I would think about the up and coming appointments and just would get a sick feeling. I knew she had some autistic characteristics, but we (and doctors) thought since she didn't have many characteristics and not the "defining" autistic traits that it was probably related to her meds or damage from all the seizures. The more I thought it about it though, the more I knew they were going to diagnose her with autism, but still hearing the words just broke my heart. The whole way home from Phoenix just thinking the word "autism" made me cry. I didn't know how or really want to tell people because I knew I would cry and I hate, hate, hate crying in front of people.

I think the hardest part is seeing how Kaybri used to be and how she is now. How in the world did this happen to her? Within her first year she had met all the major milestones really early. She was a happy, friendly girl that said lots of words; there were no autistic traits. Then she started having seizures and after really bad seizures it would take awhile to regain some skills. About a year ago we started early intervention because of this. And when things really went south was when she had the 3 really bad seizures at the beginning of this year. We could feel our little, happy girl slipping away from us and into "a world of her own" as most would say.

I know this trial will test my faith like no other. Like I said before, many many emotions...
-of course I was sad. Sad that she may not be able to do and become all the things parents hope for their children. Sad that other kids may make fun of her or not want to play with her because she doesn't know how to interact with them.
-a little mad. I know that's awful, and I can say I'm not anymore, but at first I just couldn't understand how a seizures wasn't enough, why autism too?
-I'm overwhelmed. They gave me a huge file of information and I just do not understand how to go about getting into all the programs. From what I've read, insurance doesn't cover therapies (how is that possible?) and getting into state programs is pretty tricky because of the lack of funding, which results in a waiting list when they know that the sooner you get help the better...frustrating! There's also all kinds of other things like diet and other natural stuff that people keep telling us about and I have no idea which one to try first or what will benefit Kaybri the most.
-I'm scared to ever have another kid. I really want more, but I think I would end up in a crazy person house if I had another child with special needs. I know lots of women do it, so I feel really selfish because I know these babies need good homes; I just don't know how I could handle it.
-I'm so grateful. Grateful for my sweet husband and his faith, for my little helper Pax for being such a good, big, little brother to Kaybri, for our family and what wonderful supporters they are, for priesthood blessings and the promises and hope they give me, grateful for the good conference talks on trials, and most of all grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows my strengths and weaknesses and for trusting me with such a special little girl. It is my privilege to raise and try to teach her; so far she has taught me far more than what I have taught her.

I have been researching my brains out, and I just feel like somehow/someday she will be better and I am going to do my best to make it happen. I've learned the the autism topic is pretty controversial, but we'll save that post for another day. It feels good to get some of this off my chest; I hope it doesn't sound like I'm complaining. I really do love my life and know things could be a lot worse than a little autism and some seizures.

Makeup Madness

2008-08-27T11:20:00.004-06:00

Kaybri loves to sit by me and watch me put on my makeup. She will usually ask me to do her "eyes" and I will pretend like I'm putting makeup on her, or I will give her a blush or eyeshadow brush (with nothing on it) and she can do her own. I used to be able to leave my makeup bag out on top of the vanity or at least put it underneath the bench and the kids would leave it alone. However, Kaybri has developed a little obsession with putting the makeup on and too many times I've discovered her playing in it. She often will have eyeshadow across her cheeks and eyes and mascara not only on her eyelashes, but above and below as well. I only use waterproof mascara, and that does not come off so well, so there were a few days where she walked around with black eyes. Yes, I have learned my lesson and my makeup goes up high on a shelf now....along with everything else they aren't supposed to touch (I probably could use a few more shelves). Also, anytime Kaybri gets a pen she will often start trying to put it on her eye like eyeliner, and I've noticed when she's come home from preschool she has had a little bit of the watercolor paints on her eyes...she must have thought that was makeup too. We never paint at our house (I guess I need to) so I'm sure when she saw the paint brush she thought it was for makeup, I wonder what her teacher thought.

I did say I learned my lesson, but my kids are pretty sneaky. They will come up behind me and snitch it out of my bag when I'm putting my makeup on. They must know it irritates me and makes me mad, because they try to do it all the time. Paxton has even learned how to use mascara! And no, I never pretended to put it on him. He just wanted to be like mom and sister.

Want to know what we've been UP to?

2008-08-11T16:44:00.001-06:00

Actually nothing very serious, but it sure seems like the last few weeks (or months) have flown by. It is just go, go, go all the time. A few weeks ago we celebrated the 24th. Both Lamar and Britni's family came down to visit, and we had a blast hanging out with lots of family. We went to the mountains, parade, bbq, and we even stayed for the fireworks....despite the never-ending rain.Paxton and Uncle Tristan are BUDS!

Cute cousin Lizzie with Kaybri and Justin

Pax, LeiLani and Tiley

Fun times on the tramp

Britni and Myli...they are so pretty

Some of the Echols cousins

The next week Kaybri had a seizure while visiting the cousins. It was only a little over a month since her last one, but apparently she had a good reason for it. She seemed a little warm when we first got to Cory and Dawn's, but I thought it was just because it's so dang hot outside. But no, she had spiked a fever, which sent her into a seizure. Luckily it wasn't too bad though and only lasted a few minutes. She ran a fever for 5 days and that was her only seizure, what a blessing! We're still not sure what she had, it never got passed on to the rest of us. Another blessing.

And then the last weekend we went out of town to Mesa for neurology appointments. Kaybri had a "one bang" MRI taken of her brain. This is a MRI that is supposed to only take 5-10 minutes, so they don't have to sedate them. They only needed a picture or 2 to make sure the bleed they found last time was clearing up, and since she's had a lot of CT scans lately, this would be a great alternative so she didn't have to be exposed to more radiation. However, it was an absolute nightmare trying to get it done. Poor Kaybri was traumatized. First they taped ear plugs over her ears, then made her a burrito in a blanket, then strapped her down on this narrow table that went up/down and in/out of a big doughnut looking thing, taped her head down between 2 board things, and then they had Justin lay down on top of her and hold her head straight. She screamed and screamed and screamed....for a good 30 minutes. And then she started coughing and they thought she was maybe choking, so we had to take her out, make sure she was ok, and then start all over again. They couldn't do the MRI until she calmed down and was still. She is pretty strong for such a skinny girl. She was wiggling down and got her legs and part of her arms out and she was kicking Justin, clawing his neck, and spitting at him. I guess after awhile she decided she was going to lose the fight and said "night night" and then there wasn't another peep or movement out of her. We met with her neurologist after the MRI and she said her brain looks good and is filling in the spaces of where the cyst was. Good news! We also talked a lot about medications, and I know it may sound crazy to switch meds now that she is semi-stable, but I think we're going to. Kaybri is doing better now, but there were a few months where she hardly ate at all and also was losing a lot of skills-mostly speech. Kaybri lost close to 3 lbs since her appt. in May and grew about a centimeter (now 28 lbs and 38 3/4 inches). We are going to very gradually add on a new med, and slowly ween her off of some of the other meds over the next few months, hopefully going down to just 1 med, instead of 3. The new medication, Lamictal, is supposed to be much safer, especially if you have to be on something for awhile. Some of the meds that Kaybri has been on can create other problems with kidneys, liver, etc. The main side effect of this new drug is that it can create a pretty nasty rash on some people, that's why we have to add it on so slowly. Anyway, wish us luck, hopefully we're doing the right thing and that it doesn't mess with her seizures.

Notice Anything DIFFERENT???

2008-07-17T16:03:00.010-06:00

Yep, we CUT Kaybri's hair off! I've been thinking about it for awhile, but I always seem to get talked out of it. Then I asked Justin a couple days ago if he would be mad/sad, and at first he said yes, but after I told him my reasons he agreed. Kaybri has a lot of fine, whispy hair around the frame of her face and I though it would help even things out a bit. I also thought it might help her hair thicken up (or at least look that way). Her hair seemed to be getting more curl to it and so by the end of the day her long hair was looking a little scraggly. Anyway, I asked Aunt JoJo to come over and chop it off yesterday. She cut about 4-5 inches off! It barely touches her shoulders now, and it looks sooo cute! When Kaybri saw her hair falling on the floor she kept reaching up to run her hand through her hair. Her daddy was also a little bit surprised when he first saw her after work. He didn't know I was serious I guess or that it would be done so soon, but he loves it!

And of course I documented nearly every snip. So here's the play-by-play!!

Before:

The Cut:

After:

Thanks Joni, you did great!I know it's hard, but try not to stare at her unbrushed teeth! I think she likes her new hairdo though, what do you think?

Yay Clay!!

2008-07-17T15:29:00.006-06:00

My cute cousin, Clayton, is going on a mission to the Philippians. Last weekend he went through the temple in Mesa and there was lots of family there to support him. He is a great young man and we are so proud of him. Below is a picture of his family.

We stayed with Lamar's family (Justin's brother)...which I have no pictures of?? I never remember to get out my camera unless I see someone else taking pictures. But we did have a fun time hanging out and playing games with them, and it worked out perfectly because they live super close to my Uncle Dale's house. All of my cousins and family got together one night at my uncles to have a BBQ and swim. Kaybri loves, loves animals, and they have a parrot and a little pomeranian sp? dog, so she was in heaven. She chased poor Emmy around everywhere. We also got to see my new adorable nephew, Jackson. This is Jarom and Mel's new addition, born June 30th. He is so precious and fun to hold and look at. My kids also love babies. However, they tend to smother, squeeze, and kiss a little too hard. This is especially true for Pax. He cries because he wants to see/touch babies, but he just doesn't know his own strength! He thinks and says "soft", but in no way is it even close.

Little Firecrackers

2008-07-10T23:05:00.005-06:00

Pax is back! My mom and dad came to celebrate the 4th with us and brought him back. He was so excited to see Kaybri and daddy, but took a little while to want to go to me. He kept wanting Grammie! What is up with that?!

Anyway, the boys went golfing early in the morning, and since we knew we would be spending the most of the day out in the sun, we decided to skip the parades this year. We had an excellent bbq that Stacie and Dave made, with lots of good company. It was a mini Animas reunion, so fun to catch up with old friends. I wish I would've taken some pictures!

Later that afternoon we let the kids play in their little pool over at Aunt JoJo's. Yes, my kids have swim suits, but they got left at our house. Paxton had a good time waving the hose around, and Kaybri had a good drink lapping up the water like a dog.

A little after 8 we headed out to go see the fireworks. On our way there, we saw a couple fireworks go off. We thought we were going to be early, but nope they had already started. I turned around to show Kaybri and Paxton the fireworks and noticed they had totally crashed out. So we ended up stopping on the side of the road and watching the fireworks from there. Overall, it was a fun but exhausting day!

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

2008-07-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

A girl can never have too many shoes, right? Both my kids love to put on different shoes (usually mine or Justin's) and wear them around. Lately Kaybri has been a little bit of a shoe swiper. She will take her shoes off and when she sees another little kid takes theirs off, she will go put on the new shoes. This happens quite often at nursery, but a few weeks ago we made it home with a "new" pair of shoes. They were white mary janes, just like what she wore to church that day, even the same size. She loved them though and wanted to wear them around the house everyday. I don't know how she knew they were different, I barely even noticed. And last time we went down to my parents she found some shoes that went on a doll and came prancing down the hall in them. Her toes were crammed in the little shoes and she had to tip toe to walk in them, but she wore them still for quite awhile. She went about her normal business climbing onto everything in these shoes. My mom and I were laughing so hard because she thought she was so cool and "cute". I guess maybe she's ready for stilettos?

Missing Pax

2008-07-02T00:39:00.000-06:00

Last week my mom came to town and took Paxton back with her. He got sick awhile back, and became pretty clingy after that. Justin thought a good dose of Papa and Grammie time would cure that (which sounds like it has). I knew I was going to have a busy week of painting and cleaning, so I was all in favor of a break too. I can't believe how chill it is to just have 1 child at home, I'm sure all you moms out there with 4 are thinking the same thing about having just 2 kids. I'm not complaining, Paxton is a great kid, it's just so much busier with 2. Kaybri has been exceptionally good this week too. I don't know if I just have more patience, if she just needed some one on one time, or if she just is lacking her partner in crime, but things have been so different with her this week. We have been back and forth potty training Kaybri for who knows how long. She would go on the toilet ever since she was 20 months old, and she is now almost 3 1/2 years, she just will never tell me she needs to go until after the fact. We have been hitting it really hard the past few weeks and she's still pretty much the same, halfway trained. Paxton on the other hand became all interested in the process, so I began taking him too. It seemed like we spent our entire days in the bathroom, so I kind of put Paxton off and didn't take him as often so we could for sure get Kaybri done. My mom said to send some pull-ups down with her and that she would keep taking Paxton to the bathroom. Well, he is pretty much potty-trained now (at least more than Kaybri)! I guess I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I should send Kaybri to my mom's too?! I think potty-training is #1 on my "hate" list.

Anyway, I miss my little guy. He sounds so cute on the phone and like he is having a fun time out in the country. We get to see him in 2 more days! I love this picture of him. He has a toothpick in his mouth, trying to be like his daddy.

My sweet girl

2008-07-02T00:03:00.001-06:00

Ugh...I hate the overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to begin because I have been such a slacker on posting....when am I going to learn???

So I don't know if I should include this, but this was a draft I started on June 5th--a month ago...it goes:

Kaybri has been doing EXCELLENT, and has been seizure free for 11 weeks now. It's crazy, I had to go and actually look that up on our calendar. I love that I don't think about that so much now, and that I don't worry about when her next seizure will be. She seems happier too. We can now focus more on helping her get caught up to where she should be developmentally. I love being a "normal" busy family that doesn't think it's a humongous risk to go to Mesa for the weekend and let her run around with all of her cousins in the scorching AZ heat. Of course I still get nervous, and we still are pretty strict about schedule and naps and such, but a few months ago there's no way that we would've ever thought about doing so much. We are truly blessed. I have definitely learned to be thankful for so many of the little things I think I used to take for granted.

Present time:

Kaybri had a seizure a couple weeks later. It was pretty short though and after an extremely hot day of play group at the park. I should've known better (but she had been doing so good); she had looked really flushed before we went to the park, and had a 99.3 temp. At the park she got really red, fast. We were there about 45 minutes and by the time we left she was really hot and started seizing in the car. I don't know if it contributed to the seizure or not, but it probably didn't help. Anyway, it has been 2 more weeks and she has done really good. We have been pretty worried about her lately though, but for other reasons. Ever since we started her newest medication a few months ago she has done great seizure wise, but her development has dramatically slowed and even started to regress. At first I thought, maybe I'm just over analyzing things, or looking for something to be wrong. But things that she used to do or say just a few months ago, she won't anymore. We can't get her to answer really any questions anymore, she won't say prayers or even amen, no words like "please, thank you, i love you" or any of her cute little songs. It is a fight to get her to eat anything, and she used to eat whatever I gave her. She is still very loving, cute and happy, but she was already developmentally behind and now it seems like we are losing even more of her. And because she can't communicate well, she gets very frustrated that we can't read her mind. I don't know what to do??? I think it's a lot of the medication that we put her on, but we finally found something that may be helping her seizures? We take her to a Developmental Pediatrician in August, and they're probably going to tell us she's autistic or diagnose her with something else. The doctors that she has seen, we've asked them about autism and they've all said she doesn't really do the main things they look for in autistic children, but she does do some quirky things that are often autistic characteristics. I can't believe my child that once was developing so quickly and talking more than most kids her age, is even being considered for autism. I probably shouldn't even write all this because everyone out there is going to think she's autistic. I just know the doctors that she will see will want to diagnose her with something, and it seems like autism has been the hot topic lately. I wish I knew what was going on with her. Sometimes I wonder if we ever should have medicated her, it never really helped up until 3 months ago and now look where we are. They all have had side effects like: hyperactivity, extreme drowsiness/dizziness, nausea, loss of appetite, irritability, loss for words, short term memory loss are just a few. Who knows how she's really felt, but I can tell she's had at least a few of the side effects from the way she acts.

Sorry to overload on the Kaybri saga, it just seems to always be on my mind. She hasn't been having any seizures, and that's all I ever wanted, I just didn't know/think there would be anything after that. We know so many have been praying for her and we know it has helped. Thank you all.

On the Road Again

2008-06-05T00:00:00.024-06:00

I think we've been out of town every weekend for the past month, and since it doesn't look like that will change anytime soon, I figured I better get the pictures off of my camera and on to the blog while I have a chance. We've been staying really busy lately and it seems like everything has been in Mesa, so we've made a lot of mini-Mesa trips for things like Kaybri's neurologoy appt. (which went really well), Justin's training or manager's mtgs for his job, Memorial Day weekend and cousin fun, Mel's baby shower, and tomorrow Justin will be heading there to fly to Salt Lake (and I will probably go to Animas). Ok, because it's been awhile, there are a ton of pictures below.

I had the hardest time getting a picture of all 3 of these kids together, much less look at me. They are always on the go!

Jarom's little girl, Lydia, she is so cute, but she wasn't sure about smiling at me!

Pax cuddling with Aunt JoJo. These moments are rare and so sweet.

The boys and their barbecue.

Ellis/Echols cousins

Echols Cousins!!
Shayci and Bryson's fort

Kaybri LOVES to swing. She could swing all day long.

Melanie's baby shower

Melanie is having a baby boy and naming him Jackson. Joni wanted to do his name in block letters for his room, so she went and got everything and we put it together the night before we left. We are so not crafty, but she got the idea from a friend and it was pretty fun and simple to do. I think it turned out cute. This is the finished product, minus the ribbons needing fixed. They are decorating Jackson's room with an ASU theme

Randomness

2008-05-28T23:24:00.000-06:00

I got tagged forever ago, sorry it took so long Brynn, here it is:

1. I love different/unique names. However, I'm not great at making up some cool name, so even when I'm not pregnant and have no idea when the next child is coming I am listening for something a little different. Not crazy names, just a name that 5 other kids in their class won't have. Ok, I'm exaggerating, I don't even want 1 other kid in the class with their name.

2. I am a little bit of a procrastinator...In my mind 'there's always tomorrow'. I don't know why I don't get things done sooner though, because I stress and fret over things until I get them done.

3. I love to find "good deals" while going shopping. I hardly ever buy clothes that are full price, but when I find cute clothes (especially for my kids) I am a total sucker and I think I need to get it, even though they may not need it.

4. I'm a major late-nighter. I always have good intentions of going to bed early, but it seems like once 10 rolls around, I'm not tired anymore and end up staying up for a couple more hours. I've always been like this, and you would think I would learn to go to sleep earlier since my daughter has been waking up lately at 5:30-6:00, but nope I haven't learned yet. I feel like it's my chance to have some "me" time and get things done, like clean, fold laundry, watch a movie.

5. My hair was mostly blond growing up. Around the time I got married, my hair started getting pretty dark and all my natural hi-lights went away (probably because we moved up to Utah, where I never saw the sun). All my high-school friends thought I dyed my hair and got a perm when I would go home to visit, but nope, my hair just got dark and I finally didn't straighten my hair everyday. It wasn't until last year that I started dyeing my hair a little darker; I am staying a brunette for now.

6. I don't like it when my kids get dirty. I know that's inevitable, so yes I still let them play and have fun. I just cringe when I see that they have probably ruined a cute outfit, and I'm always thinking "great, how am I going to get this stain out". Oxyclean is my best friend.

7. I love Mexican food, and I'm so happy to be back where there are real Mexican restaurants. Right now we live next door to one and nearly every night I am tempted to go order some take out from them.

8. I dread getting ready in the morning. My hair seems to take FOREVER to dry and straighten, and by time that's done I don't want to do anything else to it.

Ok, girls it's your turn now! I tag: Kellye, Audrey, Britni, Sheri, Wendy, Nicole, Emily, and Melanie.

The Rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.

3. At the end of your post tag 8 people and include their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog to tell them they've been tagged, and to comment back and read your blog for the whole story.

Mother's Day

2008-05-16T18:02:00.011-06:00

We spent Mother's Day weekend down in Animas with all of my family. The last time we were all there was about a year ago when my sister got married. We were a little nervous to go since last time ended in a pretty traumatic experience, Kaybri had an hour long seizure and with the closest hospital being an hour and a half away it's really scary. Anyway, no traumatic experiences this time, just pure fun! yay! Here are the cousins, 2 more on the way (1 for Melanie, 1 for Joni)!! Kaybri and Paxton loved playing with their cute cousin, Lydia. They were all obsessed with the cat and chased him around everywhere. We even found Pax pulling on the cat's ears! Good thing he is a nice, easy-going cat. When my mom kept Pax a month ago, he wouldn't even touch the cat. I guess he is getting brave from seeing his crazy sister. The kids also played in the sprinkler; Kaybri and Lydi loved the water--even after they were freezing.

Below are two of the wonderful mothers in my life, my mom and grandma. We had a great time spending this mother's day with them. We're lucky to have so many positive influences in our life. Thank you to all of our MOMS! We love you.

Preschool

2008-05-01T00:30:00.000-06:00

When we lived in Utah, Kaybri participated in an Early Intervention Program and was in the process of transitioning over into preschool when we moved. They have a really good preschool program here and Kaybri was able to start in it yesterday. We've been meeting with them over the past month or so, and we were really excited that she qualifies for it. The main thing that she was behind in was speech, so she will get speech therapy 2x a week. All of the other tests she showed pretty borderline on. I think it will be good for her to get away from me and play and learn from some kids. She will probably love it! It is kinda sad to think that my little baby is already starting this whole school thing. She has a backpack, gets on a bus and everything. When I was telling my brother this, tears started welling up, I'm not ready for her to be big. It is definitely to benefit her though, I don't know if I would have her go to preschool already if she wasn't falling more and more behind.

Today marks 6 weeks with NO seizures! Can you believe it?? I hardly can! I think the last time she went this long was when she first started having seizures, 2 years ago. I am so happy!! With all of the helicopter trips I was beginning to wonder how we could keep this up, but we are doing so much better now. We appreciate all of your prayers and know the Lord is watching over us. We have been blessed with such a special, sweet girl.

Summer Cut

2008-05-01T00:20:00.000-06:00

Paxton just got a haircut about a month ago, but it was already getting long again, so we went to Aunt JoJo to get it cut. He was such a good boy. He just giggled when the clippers would touch his head. Kaybri also got a trim, but you can't really tell. This is the shortest we've ever cut Pax's hair. I think he looks so much older with it short. It looks really cute with a little spiked up, I'll have to take a picture sometime and post it later. Here's a picture of his big blue eyes for now. =)

Easter Re-Acted

2008-05-01T00:03:00.000-06:00

I bought lots of candy and eggs for Easter, but since we were in the hospital we never got to use it. I was talking to Dawn and they didn't do an Easter egg hunt this year either, so we decided to get together and do one a few days ago. I am so grateful I don't have to eat ALL of the candy now! Kaybri really didn't care too much about looking for the eggs, and Paxton, well once he discovered there was candy in an egg he stopped looking and sat down and ate what he found.

Beware: Echols in the Caribbean

2008-04-30T22:52:00.000-06:00

We have been back from our cruise about 1 1/2 week, and we are now settled back in and rested from our vacation! We had such a great time!!!

These are some of the highlights from our trip:

San Juan, Puerto Rico: We saw the forts of Old San Juan. It's a really neat place that was all built very strategically to defend the little city.
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas: Such a beautiful place! We went on an underwater tour where we got to see different fish and reefs. We were each on a little scooter thing that had a big helmet attached to it with oxygen pumped into it so you could breath underwater. It was pretty cool, but took some adjusting to get used to the pressure difference in the water. We also could go snorkeling after we were finished with the tour.
Casa De Campo, Dominican Rep: We took a little bus into town and walked around all the markets.
Labadee, Haiti: Probably our favorite day, and we basically sat around on the beach and relaxed! The boys played for hours with 2 little wooden paddles and a ball! There was a little market there too that made me kinda sad to go through. There tons of little booths that were basically selling the same thing as the guy next to him, It was all stuff that they would make by hand, and they were all so desperate to sell their stuff.
On ship they had great entertainment and performances at night.
Food all hours of the day! Every dinner was a 5 course meal that took 2 1/2 hours. And one night they made these masterpieces with food. (see pics below)
There were 2 nights that we got to get all dressed up in our formal wear.
Swimming pools, jacuzzis, suntanning in perfect weather!
Playing lots of games during our free time on ship
Laughing soooo much, it made my cheeks hurt! Justin's family loves to laugh and have a good time, and everyone around always knows it! :) I'm lucky to have married into such a great family. We seriously had so much fun together. Two of Justin's brothers were there and when they're together they act like they're kids again! It's fun to see that side of Justin (which is always there, but more so when around his brothers); it's part of what made me so attracted to him.

Thank you Vince and Marsha for taking us!! We had a wonderful time!!

Getting ready to set sail out of Fort Lauderdale.

The Echols clan in San Juan. Justin thinks he needs to have an action photo, well, as you can see in the one below, I'm not very good at taking them...Lamar, we need your copies. :)

Ice and cheese sculpture. Tons of other things made out of melons, breads, chocolates, etc.

Near the shopping center in St. Thomas.

We came home to a very clean house and 2 well-taken care of kiddos. It was great to get away, but we couldn't wait to be parents again and take care of our kids! Thanks mom and Joni!

It's Cruise Time!

2008-04-08T23:53:00.003-06:00

So, another post without any pictures, I know....boring. I think my camera cord is probably in storage still, so who knows when it will be found. Hopefully I find it soon though because we're leaving on a cruise this weekend!! I can't believe I've failed to mention this earlier, since it's been planned for some time now. We will be gone for a little over a week, and we're going with Justin's parents and 2 of his brothers. Justin's parents do AFLAC and win a lot of trips for working so hard. How sweet is it that they take their kids as their guests? Super nice, huh?
It's a Caribbean cruise that leaves from Florida then it goes to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Dominican Rep., Haiti, and then back to Florida. We are way excited to go!! Justin is in Phoenix this week for training and then we leave when he gets back. My mom is going to stay with the kids, and although we are all nervous about it (mostly because of how Kaybri's last month was), there's no one I would trust more. She's amazing!

A Whole Lot of DRAMA

2008-03-10T12:16:00.011-06:00

It has been one CRAZY month!! Don't feel like any of you have to read it all. I just was getting things all jumbled together, so I had to write everything down. Here's the breakdown of all that transpired:

Feb. 1-3: Pax and I flew down to AZ for my Grandpa's 80th Birthday party. We had fun seeing a ton of family, and I left Paxton with my mom to handle for the next 2 weeks so I could get packed.

Feb. 7: Justin's 29th Birthday! Kaybri had doctor appointments, so Justin took the day off and after we went to her appt. we dropped Kaybri off at his parents and we got to go to dinner and a movie. Fun!

Feb. 10: Kaybri's 3rd Birthday! We celebrated birthdays before Paxton left, but I did keep a couple of gifts out for her to open on her birthday. We had a fun day relaxing and doing whatever Kaybri wanted. (Really what we do everyday!)

Feb. 13: Load up the u-haul. It started snowing, and never stopped! The few inches that were predicted for Tooele turned into about 2 Feet!!! I'm pretty sure we picked the worst days to move!! We left that night to go to Justin's parents in Pleasant Grove and stay the night with them, since our house was totally empty. It was a scary drive, but we were totally blessed and all made it safely to their house. There were a lot of wrecks on the way and tons of people pulled off on the side of the road. We were listening to the radio on the way and they just kept saying if you are on the roads to get off and go stay in a motel or find a friend to stay with. Roads were closed and it was taking people 4-6 hours to get from Salt Lake to Lehi/Eagle Mountain areas. I can not believe how lucky we were because it probably only took us an 1 1/2 hour. The next morning on the news it said I-80 was closed for big vehicles, so we totally would've been stuck in Tooele if we didn't leave that night. Tooele schools were also closed for the only the 2nd time in 40 years! Craziness!!

Feb. 14: We spent a very romantic valentines day by driving. :) The storm we had in Utah followed us to Flagstaff, and we had a lot more very tense, 'are we going to die?' situations.

Feb. 15: We made it to Thatcher! Hallelujah! Our plan was to stay with Cory and Dawn while we got the apartment in order.

Feb. 16: Boys unloaded the u-haul. We were pleasantly surprised with our little boy! We didn't think we would get him for a couple more days, but my mom, dad, and grandma brought him early! It was so hard/weird to not see him for 2 weeks. We missed him so much! He looked bigger/fatter! He must of hit a growth spurt, because he was popping out of his shirts and his pants are too short. That night Paxton started getting sick. He had a fever, a runny nose, a cough, and he walked around sounding like a wheezing old man. The next few nights we didn't get much sleep, but by Wednesday (the 20th) he was doing a little bit better.

Feb. 19-20: Justin was in Phoenix for training.

Feb. 21: Justin's 1st day at his job in Safford. Kaybri got in our bed early in the morning and she was getting sick with whatever Paxton had. I thought 'oh well, good thing I scheduled a doctor appointment for Pax today; I'll just get Kaybri checked too', but that is when the real drama of our life began. Kaybri started having a seizure a little after 4 a.m. We had to give her some medicine to stop it. It helped slow her seizure down, but didn't stop it, so after 15 minutes we started getting ready to go to the ER. I called my sister to come over and stay with Paxton (Dawn and Cory had left on Wednesday to go to Phoenix). Right before we got in the car, Kaybri vomited and then it looked like her seizure kind of stopped. We got to the hospital and decided her seizure stopped (25 min seizure), and since we have done the ER thing many times and all they really try to do is stop the seizure and then after that poke and monitor her, we decided to go back and let her get some more sleep and then take her to the doctor in the morning. Well, I was still pretty worried because she didn't come out of the seizure like she normally does. She usually takes a deep breath or cries or something, but she didn't do anything. She was sleeping, but kept holding her breath off and on and having little twitches. By about 9 a.m. I tried to wake her up and she opened her eyes and looked at me, and then her eyes rolled to the side and her tongue started to click. I could tell she was starting to have a seizure and then it looked like she went back to sleep. I tried to wake her up again and the same thing happened. This happened a 3rd time, and then I called Justin to tell him we needed to go to the ER. Who knows if she had been going in and out of seizures since the first one at 4. We arrived at the ER and she was having seizures pretty much non-stop for about 45 minutes. Although the ER staff were very nice, I don't know if they were very sure what to do. Any other time we have gone to the ER they are trying to get the seizure stopped as quickly as possible to prevent brain damage, and they were asking me questions like "So, is this pretty typical how she usually looks after a seizure?"
Me: "well no, you see she is having a seizure right now, STILL!"
And then the question, "What do you they usually do for her when you take her to the ER?"
Me: "Well, they give her Ativan? through an IV and that usually stops the seizure."
Doc.: "ok, well I'm going to call up to Phoenix and talk to some of my team mates to see what they say."

Kaybri was still not breathing good and her oxygen kept getting down to 60 (normal is between 92-100). Doctor comes back and says I think we'll give her some Ativan. They give it to her, and her seizure instantly stops. I was just thinking, duh....you think we could've given it to her 30 minutes ago and stopped this whole thing. I kept my cool though and stayed calm during the whole ordeal, amazingly. I was frustrated, but they were nice and were trying at least; you can't expect people to know everything, right?

Kaybri was now totally knocked out and sleeping and breathing good. She had about 104 degree fever, her test for RSV came back negative, but her chest x-ray showed pneumonia. So they were trying to get her fever to come down and they started her on antibiotics. They also still wanted to life flight her out to a doctor that could check her out better. They tried Tucson and Phoenix Children's Hospital because they're closer, but due to all the sick kiddos they didn't have any beds available. So we went to St. Josephs Hospital in Phoenix. This actually turned out to be a good thing, because I remember when I was researching where to go for doctors before we moved that St. Josephs looked like a good hospital with good specialists but I was undecided because the Barrow Neurological Institute looked really good too. Well, we fly to the hospital and it turns out that the Barrow is a part of St. Joes! That worked out good, huh!

Anyway, Kaybri was in the PICU from Thursday(21st) to Monday(25th). Since they have more experience working with sick kids, they wanted to do another RSV test. It came back positive, so they then did another chest x-ray and decided she probably didn't have pneumonia, it was just RSV. She was one sick little girl. She could barely open her eyes and she said very, very few words for about a week. We were wondering if there was brain damage from all of the seizures, but they did an EEG and it showed everything to be a little slow but totally normal considering all of the drugs that she was on, her sickness, and she was still recovering from the seizures. They also did a MRI and the doctor said the brain looked really good, but the was a small subdural? hemorrhage (a bleed) on the right side, where they did surgery last October. They thought the bleed was either from a recent fall, or they thought that it was possibly not a bleed but an infection which would require emergency surgery. Well, they kept a really close eye on her to make sure she could move her neck/head around and wasn't too stiff. As of now they think that it is probably just from the surgery and will do a repeat MRI in 4-6 months.

We stayed the rest of the week in Phoenix and came home on Saturday(March 1st). We wanted to stay close to the hospital because she still wasn't back to normal and she also had some follow-up appointments and another MRI scheduled for later in the week (which didn't happen for even longer, complicated reasons). Justin also had training the entire week in Phoenix, which was quite convenient. Oh yeah, he also got sick for the whole week with what Kaybri and Paxton had. And Paxton got picked up by my mom and Joni while we were in Phoenix. Poor guy, we only saw him 4 days out of the month of February. However, I think it was harder on us than on him! It didn't faze him at all.

March 3-11: We get PAX back! yay! Brother and sister were super excited to be reunited! Kaybri started becoming more herself and we had a lot of fun being all together again. We were actually able to move into our apartment and relax for a bit.

March 12-13: Justin had a meeting in Phoenix the next day, and I wanted to go do some shopping so we decided to head up Wednesday evening. We stopped in Globe to grab a bite to eat, and as we were about to leave, Kaybri had a seizure. It was one day short of being 3 weeks since her last one, and we were so grateful for that time to let her body adjust and actually start to be "normal" again. She had been having about 4 seizures a week before this point, so 3 weeks really was incredible. We couldn't get the seizure to stop, so we headed to the ER. It stopped around 45 minutes. We thought she was fine and that she would recover on her own like she usually does. But the ER doctor thought she needed to be seen by specialists, and so the next thing I know they came in and said they have a helicopter outside waiting for us to go to St. Joe's. So yes, Kaybri and I took another ride in the helicopter. It wasn't as scary as the first time, but still nerve wracking. Kaybri did recover fine and they discharged us the next afternoon.

March 20-23: Kaybri had been doing really well, and then she had another seizure while she and I were out shopping. After about 10-15 minutes the drugs I had given her still weren't having an affect on her, so we went to the ER again... This time they got it to stop in about 35 minutes, and she was sleeping pretty good afterwards. We were just waiting on her bloodwork to come back and then they were going to let us go home. Well, her lab came back normal except one number, and it was totally off the charts, so they thought it was a mistake and took some more blood to re-test it. It came back super high again. It was an Alkaline/Phosphate level, and the normal high-range is about 300. With kids its fairly normal to be high, but her level was over 4,000! The test is checking things dealing with bones, liver, and kidneys. There were no more hopes of going back home, the doc wanted us to see her specialists right away. We were life flighted out at 3:30 a.m. to St. Joe's ER because all of the pediatric beds were full.

We got into a normal room later the next day, and they did the usual take some more blood, get an IV in her, and watch her. They also took some x-rays of all of her long bones, etc. The x-rays got read on Sunday and they are 95% sure they look fine (waiting on the expert radiologist to take a look at them). The bloodwork that is supposed to check what areas of the body have ellivated Alkaline/phos levels didn't get done and they had to re-do it on Sunday and it will take a few days to get back. So basically, we still don't really know anything, just that she has a crazy high number that the doctors have no idea what from, a totally different issues than the seizures. They let us go home on Sunday, so we didn't have an Easter bunny at our house. The Easter bunny did come visit Kaybri at the hospital though and he gave her a basket of goodies. She kept calling him "Rabbit". And Paxton got to be spoiled by Aunt JoJo, Uncle Tristan, Grammie, and Papa. What more could a little boy ask for. He loved it!

We are all back at home, healthy, happy, and a little tired. I think I have worked on this post probably 10 times. I always got interrupted and would have to save it for later, and then something major would happen that I would want to include. I hope I am not depressing anyone by telling all of our hospital visits. Justin said I shouldn't write everything (which I couldn't) because it makes it sound like we have it really bad. And we totally don't. Through all of these trials there have been tremendous blessings and a lot of learning.

Oh, yeah...The House Situation: Feb. 29th our house was finally listed. We were waiting on things to get fixed. We had a super, super horrible wind storm come through in January. We had winds around 100 mph, and as you can imagine it did some damage. We had a window broken, holes in the siding of the house, and lots of shingles blown off. With the help of insurance we were able to replace an entire side of our house's siding, get the window replaced, and a put a brand new roof on. Within a week we had accepted an offer and it was under contract. We were incredibly surprised and excited, but a few days later it fell through because of their credit. So, it is back on the market! We are currently living in a pretty small apartment that Justin's parents own. 2 bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. It's an adjustment, but we're grateful that it's available and it has helped us out a bunch.

We're MOVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right we're out of here in just 2 weeks!! Out of the cold snow into warm, sunny Arizona! If you know us, I'm sure you're not surprised we're moving....AGAIN! We have been married 5 years, and this will be our 6th time to move (however, a couple of the times were only for a few months and most of our stuff was in storage). I think this time will be longer though. Justin accepted a new job as the manager of the Arizona State Credit Union. We are moving back to the little town he grew up in, and where we actually met and dated. It's what we have always considered "home" and so we are really excited to go back!! Of course we are still going to miss a lot of things here, but mostly our family and friends. I'm sure we will be back to visit. Anyway, I better go pack...not our boxes, but our suitcases. Pax and I are headed down to AZ for my grandpa's b'day party this weekend. So many things to do, so little time. I can't promise to keep my blog updated, but I'll try to give you all more information later. I appologize if this post is really all over the place, but that is indeed how I feel!!

Snow Day!

2008-01-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

I know we live where we get snow all the time, but very very rarely do we go out and play in it. I'm sad to say that Paxton has never gone out in the snow to just play. I have a lot of excuses for it though-- Last year Pax was just a tiny baby and couldn't go out, Kaybri always seems to get a cold after freezing in it, Kaybri's been having a lot of seizures already and I don't want to cause her to have another one by getting too cold, and well probably the most important reason...I just don't love it. I'm a mean mom I guess.

Justin had Monday off, we had 5-6 inches of new snow, and it was sunny outside, so we thought we better let the kids experience playing in the snow. They were all bundled up and walking out the door when Paxton face planted it on the porch. ouch! Luckily he had a fuzzy beanie to protect his forehead! He just stood in the snow for a little while, not sure if he should move. Once he decided he should go for it and run, he face planted again! This time he couldn't get up by himself though, all you could see was his little bum in the air! Justin picked him up and his whole head was covered in snow except for his eyes and mouth (which was screaming bloody murder). It was hilarious! Justin was nice and brushed him off before I could snap a picture, so all I got was the after-shot. He hated the snow for the next 10 minutes, but once we let him walk on the sidewalk and decide for himself when he should or shouldn't jump in the snow he liked it a lot. He actually threw a major fit when we brought him back in the house, so I guess we'll have to play again. As for Kaybri, she loves the snow too, but for different reasons. She loves to eat the "cold ice". She would just sit down in the snow and shove handfuls into her mouth. I know, probably not the best thing to let her eat, but I checked and it wasn't yellow!

The kids now have nasty colds, but we now have pictures and memories to last a lifetime!

News from the doc

2008-01-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Kaybri's neurologist finally called back yesterday and basically told us we need to do some more tests. The video EEG in December showed that most of her seizures are coming from the left side of her brain. This still puts her as a "maybe" candidate for epileptic surgery. They had thought/hoped that her seizures were coming from her right side of the brain (where she originally had surgery for the cyst) because that would've explained why they couldn't see any abnormal brain tissue in that area on her MRIs. But since it's from the opposite side they looked back at her last MRI to look at the left side really good, but it turns out that there was some movement artifact on the MRI so they couldn't see it clear enough to say whether it is normal or abnormal. So, we are going to do a higher resolution MRI soon. If it shows abnormal then there is a higher probability that she will have surgery. She is now having an average of 4-5 seizures a week. Anyway, that is the update, so now I'll add some of the latest pictures to satisfy all your cravings!

Kaybri's totally fake laugh. She's trying to be funny, and of course we fell for it.

My little cutie pie has been such a whinner lately, it's driving me crazy! He's also learned to throw fits when he doesn't get what he wants. He falls to the floor and will begin to bang his head, I try not to laugh. Anyway, when I see these sweet pictures I forget all about the things that drive me crazy.

Tag

2008-01-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I never do these, but I thought since we bailed on seeing you last weekend Becca, that I could at least fulfill this request. :)

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: It was my grandpa's 70th birthday, so we probably had cake or something with him?? I have no idea?! Umm...I was 15 and a freshman, so I was probably passing notes in the hall to my old crush, bringing a ton of books and homework home every night and staying up late until it was all done (yes I am that much of a nerd/perfectionist), going to basketball games, and being involved in a lot of extra activities-BPA, FHA, Student Council. I think I got my first email address when I was a freshman too-I know, random.

5 things on my to-do list today:Well, since the day is nearly over I shouldn't have any to do's, so I'll probably carry it over into tomorrow.
1.) catch up on blog
2.) go to bed before 12 am
3.) fold laundry
4.) take care of my sick, whinny kids
5.) try to be nice to them :)

Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:Find the best doctor out there and have them study and study until they can fix Kaybers. Go on lots of vacations/travel the world. Buy a home in AZ and visit our families more often. Help out family. Pay off any debts. Invest. Give money to the church.

3 of my bad habits: Being late to everything (although I've been doing way better this year-so far), Staying up too late, Eating way too much sugar!

5 places I have lived: New Mexico, Arizona, Utah (3 different cities), California

5 jobs I have had:Waitress, Admin. Assistant at EA, car hopper for Sonic, Admin. Assistant at BYU, MOM

Things people don't know about me: I am such a sucker for "good deals" while going shopping; I am super indecisive and over-analyze things; I swear I used to be kinda smart, but most of my brain left when I had babies!

I tag: Karli, Mel, Nicole, Jennifer, & Brooke

Goodbye Curls

2008-01-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

As you've probably noticed, Paxton's hair is getting really long. I LOVE all the little curls, but Justin has been saying he looks too girly. I agree that he did need some cut off; his bangs were constantly in his eyes, and I was having to comb his hair as much as Kaybri's. I was too afraid to try to cut his hair all by myself, so I decided to have my mom help while she was here.

Here are some before shots:

The cut:

I tried to keep him entertained while my mom cut. Suckers worked great. He had 3 because the sticks kept getting so soggy.

And when all else fails, pick your nose. It seemed to keep him occupied. :)

The finished look:

It took a little bit of getting use to, but I like it. And it's just hair, right? I'm sure I will let it grow and get curly again though!

Christmas 2007

2008-01-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we did manage to get our tree decorated, despite the flu that took over our home. I think it was decorated for 8-9 days and then we took the decorations off the day after Christmas because the tree was so dry. Paxton loved the "balls" on the tree and was constantly asking for them. And Kaybri would go up to the tree and point to the lights and say "hot, don't touch it".

Paxton started feeling better and was back to eating a lot of food about 5 days after he got sick with the flu. He even managed to climb up into the chair and finish Kaybri's breakfast one morning. However, by the end of the week he was sick again, running a high fever; I think because he was cutting his bottom molars. Anyway, I missed church....again. Kaybri and Justin did make it though; she looked so pretty.

My parents drove up to Utah and got here on the 23rd. We got to keep them here for a whole week!! Justin's mom, dad, and brother were also planning on coming here for Christmas Eve/Day. Those plans changed a little bit when Britni (Justin's sister) went into labor Christmas Eve, so his mom didn't make it here. But, we got a new little niece for Christmas! Congratulations guys!!

We were just about to do our Christmas Eve tradition of reading about the birth of our Savior and opening up one present (Christmas jammies), when Kaybri had a seizure. She had been doing so good; we were a little surprised. She had gone 10 days without any, so we thought she'd probably make it through Christmas. We had to give her diastat to come out of it, so she was knocked out for the rest of the evening.

BEDTIME!! Paxton now lets us know when it's past his bedtime by asking over and over for his "ba ba".

POKER TIME!! The boys have a tradition of playing poker when they all get together.

Kaybri woke up early the next morning and was still out of it and very irritable for the majority of Christmas. The smallest thing would set her off and through her into tears. I did manage to get a few pictures of her with smiles though. Kaybri opened up a couple of presents, but we opened up a lot of them for her because she would throw a fit if we tried to get her to open any. On the other hand, Paxton was full of grins and giggles. He loved opening his presents (and hated sitting still for pictures)! They both got lots of toys and clothes; they're two very loved/spoiled kids! (Sorry for posting so many pictures, I have a hard time making decisions!)

The kids had a lot of fun playing with Grammie and Papa. Thanks for coming to stay with us! Kaybri kept asking/looking for them for several days after they left! And Paxton learned how to say "papa"; we're still working on "grammie".

Several days after Christmas, the kids got a couple more presents. This time Kaybri was very into unwrapping the her present. I guess we should have waited a few days to let Kaybri open all her presents when she felt better.

Paxton HATES to sit still for pictures!

It was so funny to watch Paxton and her. She did not want Paxton to come near her while she was tearing off the paper. You can see in the picture that she's holding onto his arm, while she's unwrapping with the other!

Pax is a big boy now though, and can hold his own!!!

I'm Back!!

2007-12-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

I know, I know....it's been quite awhile....and somehow, I'm going to try to cram an entire month and a half in one post. So this is what we've been up to:

*Early November: We were able to go visit Kaybri and Paxton's best buddies, Kinley and Kyle(their cousins in American Fork). Kaybri had a seizure within the first 5 minutes of being there, so she was asleep or grouchy for the remaining time we were there. But Paxton and Kyle got to roll around and chase each other for awhile. They are only 1 month apart, and both super cute, chunky boys.
*Thanksgiving: Cory and Dawn's family came to stay with us a few days before Thanksgiving. We had such a good time playing and visiting with them. The day before Thanksgiving we all packed up and went down to Justin's parents for the rest of the week. All of Justin's siblings were there except for his sister. We ate lots of yummy food, played games, did a little bit of black Friday shopping, shot off rockets, and the boys made race tracks to race some cars. It was lots of fun, but also a little bit of a stressful week because we had put Kaybri on a pretty restricted diet a week or two before to try to help her seizures. Of course she didn't understand why she couldn't eat the food everyone else was eating. Dieting during Thanksgiving is not recommended.
*December 3rd-11th: We went and got our Christmas tree for FHE night; it was so pretty and smelled so good. By the time we got it in the tree stand though, the kids were screaming/crying and it was time to go to bed. So we decided we'd decorate it the next night....WRONG! We found on Tuesday that there was a pretty good possibility that Kaybri could get in Wednesday (the 5th) to do a Video EEG, so I spent that night packing and trying to get everything organized for while we would be gone. They did get us in on Wednesday and we were there until the next Tuesday. The doctors wanted Kaybri to have 4-5 seizures while we were there, so they slowly took her off all her medicines. She had a lot of wires glued to her head, and then gauze wrapped all over her head. It looked like she had a major head injury. She was confined to her room the entire time and was supposed to stay in her bed the majority of the time so they could video her. That's a big challenge for a 2 (almost 3) year old. By the end of the week, Kaybri and I were both about to go crazy! She did have 3 seizures and quite a bit of abnormal spikes that showed up on the EEG. The doctors had to give her some medicine through her IV during her last seizure to make her come out of it. So after that, they decided to put her back on her meds and not risk having a seizure they couldn't control. The test should show what part of the brain her seizures start and whether they are focal or generalized, and if they are focal there is a possibility for surgery. We are so grateful that they got us in so quickly, and that the doctors are finally trying to do something besides giving her more drugs.

While we were away, Paxton stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Echols. I think he totally enjoyed having all the attention to himself! They came to visit us in the hospital a couple of times and it made our day! Kaybri and Paxton were both so excited when they saw each other.

*December 11th-Present: We were all SOOO happy to be coming home and to be together again, but that feeling has been overcome with TOTAL SICKNESS! Paxton got sick with the flu on the way home, and it got passed on to Kaybri, and now on to Justin. The kids still are not 100% better, but at least they're not throwing up anymore. Nevertheless, the tree is still not decorated and the majority of the "things to do" before Christmas are not done, but I am still semi-sane and hey, I finally got a chance to update my blog!

a Princess and her Puppy

2007-11-01T14:10:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a fantastic day! Kaybri has done pretty good the past couple of days, so we got to go trick or treating!!! This year was my first year for making a costume. When my mom came up to visit, I had her bring lots of the leftover tulle from past wedding decorations. We used it to make a princess-like costume. Most of you know, I'm not very crafty so it really was pretty easy, and I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Here is a picture in the beginning...
And here is a picture of it finished, minus the hat I made her (that she absolutely hated and would not wear) and her wand.Paxton got to be a puppy. He made the cutest puppy. Kaybri would point to him and say "dog" and he would reply back "woo woof". I tried and tried to get a full-body picture of him standing up, so you could see his cute tail, but he kept running towards the camera, so this is as good as it gets.
We went trick or treating to a lot of the businesses in downtown Tooele. At one of the businesses a big gorilla was passing out candy and as he reached out to give Kaybri some candy she got so scared and tried to run away. I have NEVER seen her scared of anything, so it was almost a relief to see that she is normal and gets frightened by big, scary gorillas! As we left the store, she kept looking behind her to make sure he wasn't following her. It became really busy downtown, so we went back to our neighborhood to finish up trick or treating there. It was so fun to see all of the neighborhood kids in their cool costumes. I think Halloween may be just as much fun for the parents as it is for all the kids, if not more.

Grandma Echols also came to Tooele to go trick or treating with us. What a treat!! The kids love seeing their grandma!

A Whole Lot of LOVE

2007-10-30T15:09:00.000-06:00

So, this will probably be a pretty random post because I don't have any long stories or "real" news to share. I just have a couple of pictures that make me smile everytime I see them.

I LOVE this picture because Kaybri was having such a rough day and really didn't feel good, but we got her to laugh and actually smile for a couple minutes. And, I LOVE this picture because Paxton's smiling too....and at the same time...amazing!
Kaybri and Paxton just LOVE their daddy. Their eyes light up when he comes home. He is way more fun than mom! I LOVE that he is such a great dad, and husband.
I LOVE the fact that Kaybri LOVES everyone and thing! She seriously kisses and hugs nearly everyone she sees. One afternoon we were taking some pictures outside and she had kiss the tree!

Grandparents

2007-10-30T14:00:00.000-06:00

My grandparents came up from New Mexico last week, and we had such a good visit with them. I wish we didn't live so far away. I grew up living by them for most of my life, just a farm field in between us. They have done so much for my family.

They are my mom's parents; they raised a good, strong family. I'm sure much of who I am today is because of them. It makes me realize how important it is to have grandparents in a child's life.
Pictures with my mom before she left to go home.

All grown up

2007-10-21T22:20:00.000-06:00

It's amazing the changes that happen within a baby's first year of life. It goes by sooo fast! I can vividly picture the night we went to the hospital to have Paxton. I rolled over on the bed and told Justin, "I think my water just broke." And then the following response, "What?? How is that possible? You're not due for like another month." It didn't matter though, Paxton said it was time.

And now, my baby is so big now, but still super-cute!

What a blessing Paxton has been in our lives. He is such a sweet, happy boy. We love him so much! I'm so glad I get to be his mom!

Paxton's life right now:

He says mama, dada, daa (dog), woo woo (woof woof), mmm (moo), uh oh, no no, baaw (ball), baba (bottle), wa tat (what's that), na nat (knock knock) and tries to mimick other words we say to him
He walks fairly stable now (Check out video below)
He still loves to climb...ugh...
He waves hi and bye
He likes to clap to pat-a-cake and do the popcorn popping song
He loves when you laugh at him and then he thinks he's funny and starts crinkling his nose and fake-laughing.
He adores his big sister and wants to be into whatever she's doing
His favorite person right now is his daddy and gets sooo excited when he comes home and really sad when he leaves

Video of Paxton walking:

Birthdays!!!

2007-10-21T21:33:00.000-06:00

Paxton turned the big #1 on October 12th! We had a just a little family birthday party that evening. Grandpa and Grandma Echols, Grandma Ellis, Uncle Shawn and Uncle Gary came to celebrate with us. Paxton got lots of fun presents and some cute clothes. Thanks guys!
Next...it's cake time.... He's ready, and excited! Oh boy...Chocolate!!!

WHAT??!! He's crying?? Yes, those are real tears. Paxton was so excited for the cake (or maybe it was the flaming candle) that he grabbed the candle when Justin was bringing it over to him. He had a pretty good-sized blister on his finger and was inconsolable for a little bit. It was so sad, but I guess it makes for a good story to tell him when he's older. He got over it when dad started shoving frosting in his mouth! Kaybri also showed him how it's done and dug into his cake for him.

Mmmm....pretty good stuff!

My birthday was exactly a week from Paxton's, so we got to celebrate some more! I got some nice gifts, flowers delivered, and Justin took me out for dinner. My mom was still in town and babysat for us. It'd been awhile since it was just the two of us out for the night, so that was quite a treat too!

Kaybri's Surgery

2007-10-20T14:06:00.000-06:00

As most of you know Kaybri had surgery on Monday, October 8th. The surgery she had done was called Craniotomy for Fenestration of arachnoid cyst. I knew that she would be okay, but I still was nervous that she was having surgery, and on such a major area! We got to Primary Children's Hospital at 6 a.m., checked in, talked to the doctor about the surgery, and waited around until 8:00. We took Kaybri for a wagon ride and then left her with the doctors.

They used general anesthesia during the surgery, which lasted a little over an hour. We met with Dr. Brockmeyer (her neurosurgeon) right after the surgery, and he said everything went extremely well. He said the cyst was causing a tremendous amount of pressure, and once he cut part of the bone out the cyst just shot out. gross, huh? He cut several slits into the cyst and then put the piece of bone/skull back with some tiny plates and screws. He then sewed her up, 15 stitches. He also said that during the surgery her blood pressure was pretty high, but once they relieved some of the pressure from the cyst, the blood pressure dropped right down to normal. Who knows the amount of stress the cyst was putting on her little body! Dr. Brockmeyer also said because she did so well during surgery she didn't need to go to ICU, and that she could go to a regular room in the NeuroScience Trauma Unit.

We got to see Kaybri within 30 minutes after meeting with the doctor. She was of course still asleep and stayed that way for a couple more hours. Her heart rate was high, and got really high once she started waking up. They associated it with the pain she was in, and it got a little better as long as she had drugs running through her. Her first word after surgery, "cup". She was so thirsty from having to fast! To be honest, she really didn't "look" very good because of how swollen she was, how pasty white her coloring was, and because of the big long cut on the side of her head. But she hardly ever cried while she was in the hospital, what a trooper!

Picture of the first day...
Kaybri woke up the second day even more swollen, her eye was totally swollen shut. But as the day went on she was able to open it and she acted a little more perky. She has a CT scan taken that morning, and the doctor said the cyst had already gone down quite a bit. (He didn't wait for it to deflate during the surgery).

She was bored, so we took her for a ride up to the playroom. She had fun and didn't want to go back to sitting on her bed.
Kaybri also got a lot of balloons and things to cheer her up. It worked! Thanks guys!!!!

What would we do without GRANDMAS??!! Thanks mom for coming up and helping us, and Marsha for taking care of Paxton-and the rest of us!

The Third Day....

Doesn't she look so good?? It's amazing how fast kids can recover. She was wanting to GO!! And of course, the doctors thought she looked like she could go home too.

The first few days after we got home she was so spunky and back to the old Kaybri. And then she started holding her lower back and just crying and saying "ouch!" She was very stiff in her movements and was in a lot of pain and cried more the next few days than what she ever did in the hospital. Her neurologist said it could've been from some blood getting in her spinal fluid and that it was just one of those things that had to go away on its own. So we got some more drugs for her and that helped some.

We thought she was maybe totally fixed when she went over a week without having any more seizures. It'd been months since she had gone that long. But then Wednesday afternoon (the 17th) she had her first post-surgery seizure. She also had another one later that night, and two more on Thursday. We were upset and mad that she had some more, but we've done all that we can do right now, and we just have to leave the rest up to the Lord. We still think she will grow out of them over time, we just hope the surgery will have helped some. She has done a lot better yesterday and today. She goes back for a check up and CT scan Nov. 8th.

We have had a tremendous amount of love and support from everyone around us. Thank you all so much. We know there have been countless prayers made on Kaybri's behalf. We couldn't have made it or held it together without you guys!

Family

2007-10-20T14:00:00.000-06:00

It's been FOREVER since I last posted, and I keep putting it off because I have SOOOO much I wanted to post. Anyway, I don't know how much I'll get done, but I have to start sometime, right?!

We had family come up Conference weekend, and we had a lot of fun with them. The boys played the Wii all day and night, and the girls talked while Joni did our hair! We also were very busy keeping an "eagle eye" on Kaybri. She had 9 seizures in just a couple days....we were so ready to get the surgery done. I love my family and am so sad I don't get to see them more often. Thanks for coming up to Utah guys!

Are you KIDDING ME???!!!

2007-09-29T11:41:00.000-06:00

It's not even October yet and guess what??? It's SNOWING!!! I am not the biggest fan of snow, actually I can say I am not a fan at all. Sure it's pretty to look at (from inside a warm, toasty house), but when you have to go out in it...cold, wet, and yucky! I used to think snow was kinda fun, but this was when I lived in New Mexico and snow was sooo rare (and it usually melted by the end of the day). Now it's already coming in September....I am starting to freak! This may be a long winter for us. And I LOVE the fall season, surely it will come back, right?? We miss you Arizona, New Mexico, and San Diego!! So anyway, I didn't expect it to stick, so I took a few pictures of it snowing.
But then....it started sticking....and it's still snowing. Today is definitely going to be a pajama day!

Check out My Curls!

2007-09-26T16:42:00.000-06:00

Paxton is starting to get little flippy-curls around the sides of his head. I just love it! I tried to get some of his curls in the pictures, but you still can't see them very good. When he was born he had SUPER-curly hair, and then it fell out and wasn't so curly anymore. So, now that it's getting longer, it looks like it might be a little?? Justin's hair is pretty curly and mine has a little bit of curl too, so you would think one of our kids would have curly hair. Anyway...he was being so cute today, so I took a ton of pictures of him while Kaybri was sleeping.

I don't know what he was doing in all the pictures below. He seems to be trying to talk with his hands! What a silly boy!

Wuz sup?!

Too Cool!

2007-09-26T16:33:00.000-06:00

The other night I went to check on Kaybri to see if she had fallen asleep yet, and I found her with her sunglasses on top of her head! She's so funny and thinks she's so cute when she puts on any kind of glasses. We often have to give her a toy, dolly, sippee cup or something to get her to stay in her bed and go to sleep, but the glasses worked this time!

A Mouse in our House??

2007-09-18T16:26:00.000-06:00

We woke up the other morning and found our cheese laying out, looking like this:

And then the culprit around the corner....Kaybri. The lock on our fridge hadn't been fastened the night before. (This happened about a month ago, thus the lock). Kaybri LOVES cheese. She believes cheese is sufficient for a whole meal. I believe she may even dream of cheese, because it often is the first word out of her mouth in the morning. And this morning it got to be the first thing in!! She was so proud of herself, and also so drugged and loopy from the big seizure and all the drugs from the day before, hence the profound expression on her face.

Kaybri's MRI

2007-09-18T15:46:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday (the 13th), Kaybri went to Primary Children's Hospital for another MRI and doctor appointments with her neurologist and neurosurgeon. Everything went really good. Her cyst has not grown since her last MRI in June, but the neurosurgeon still wants to do surgery on it. There are several reasons to do surgery: 1) the cyst is putting pressure on the brain and much larger than what it originally was, 2) because it is so taking up so much space you can't see part of the brain in the MRI, and this tissue that you can't see may be causing her to have seizures, 3) her seizures have become more frequent and none of the medications seem to be helping, and 4) this is the only abnormal thing that has shown up on any tests thus far. We are in total agreement, and the neurologist also supports this procedure now.

Her surgery is scheduled for October 8th. The neurosurgeon said he will cut a small circle of the bone out and then the cyst will pretty much be right underneath. He will make several cuts in the cyst, which will allow it to drain out and it will also prevent the cyst from filling up again. He said he won't have to mess with the brain, so that's good. Kaybri will be in the hospital for a few days, and then she should get to go home as long as everything is good. The surgery may not make her seizures go away, but hopefully it helps!

Climb, Climb Away!

2007-09-18T15:32:00.000-06:00

Paxton only takes 4-5 steps at a time, but he has figured out to climb pretty good. He tries to dive into the toilet any chance the bathroom door is open and the toilet lid is up. (Thank goodness we have been there for all attempts, I know it's a major drowning hazard). He tries climbing into the bathtub if I don't get him in there quick enough. And this is where I found him the other day.....
Yes, we believe he's going to either be a plumber or a computer nerd! He has been so curious about everything lately and full of new faces and expressions. He also has learned to say "no no" and even shake his finger while he's saying it sometimes. Hmm...I think my kids get told that a lot.

Grandma Lucy

2007-09-06T10:38:00.000-06:00

While we were in Logan, we were also able to go visit my Great-Grandma Lucy. She just turned 92, and she is still so with it. I was amazed to see her get around and talk and hear us so well. We didn't get to see her too often when we were little kids because she lived so far away, so it was fun to sit and visit with her and actually get to know her. She is such a sweet, neat lady.She picked up Paxton and said "you're kind of a chunk". He is really...

Labor Day Weekend, cont...

2007-09-05T17:11:00.000-06:00

As crazy as it may sound, our family was actually early to James' blessing. And not just a little early, 30 minutes early!! We left the house by 8:30 am! To have 2 kids fed and ready + 2 grown-ups is a major accomplishment! :) If any of you know me too well, I'm sure you are all amazed. Justin did help me out quite a bit, thanks babe!!

So anyway, we wanted to let the kids get some of their wiggles out, so we went and walked around the Logan temple. I LOVE this temple! It is so old and just beautiful!! Well, as we were leaving Kaybri had a seizure, so our day of being really early almost came to an end. Luckily, her seizure was pretty short and we still made it in time for church! There's always some excuse for me being late....ahhh...but not today!!

We found a nice lady to take a picture of us; it's kinda blurry, but hey we're all in it!

What cute kids!!!!

TAA DAA!!

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-05T16:49:00.000-06:00

One of my best friends from high school, Becca Anderson, had a cute little boy a couple of months ago. They decided to bless him this last Sunday, so we drove up to Logan on Sunday morning to support them. This was our first meeting of baby James, and we had such a fun time with him and his family. Kaybri broke him in with lots and lots of kisses and Paxton just starred at him in total awe. We had a great time! Thanks Becca and Derek!

And of course we had to get a picture together with our kiddos....boy, things have changed a lot since high school!!

My little man

2007-08-29T14:11:00.000-06:00

So, I feel kinda bad that I haven't even mentioned anything about Paxton. Because Kaybri is always having seizures or going to doctor appointments, we are often always talking about her. The fact that she was our first child and is now old enough to demand/show off to get attention doesn't help. Poor second child, huh? Actually, I was the second child and I don't feel the least bit deprived, so I'm sure Paxton will be fine, but just in case...... Paxton is now 10 1/2 months and doesn't like to cuddle with me like he used to. Instead he wants to get down and chase after his sister. This makes me sad because it doesn't seem like he stayed in the "little baby" stage for very long. But I must say, it is really fun and cute to see the two kids play and laugh together. He watches Kaybri in total amazement. Luckily, Kaybri likes her little brother and turns totally giggly when Pax is attacking her. Paxton is cruising around everywhere. He also took his first wobbly steps Aug. 18th while we were in Arizona! He is getting braver about just standing by himself, but he still totally prefers to crawl or walk along some furniture. He likes to clap, scrunch up his nose, sometimes waves, LOVES food, and says dada, mama, baba, and some other grunts.

Here are some of Paxton's funny faces:

Trips to AZ!

2007-08-28T16:00:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been over a month since I last posted, and I'm just sitting here not even knowing where to begin! Let's see... I'm going to have to go get my planner, because I DO write everything down in it.... Because I am using this blog somewhat as our family journal, I may get a little long-winded, so don't feel like you have to read it all, you can just skip down to the pictures if you want!

Kaybri has been the focus of much attention this past month. She ended the month of July having 13 seizures, and she has had a total of 10 seizures this month. A year ago, she was only having maybe one or two a month, so of course we are wondering what is going on with her and why haven't the doctors figured something out yet. We have tried different medicines, done various tests, and still...nothing. So, we decided to take Kaybri to a different kind of doctor in Tucson, AZ. Justin's family and my grandparents have gone to this man (Dr. Deal) for years, and they all think he is amazing, so we decided to give it a shot. Justin flew down with Kaybri the beginning of August. They were able to see all of my family and also a couple of his siblings while in AZ. They all had so much fun together, and Justin came back to Utah even more homesick for Arizona!! The appointment with Dr. Deal went pretty well from what Justin told me. He did a lot of tests on Kaybri, and he started her on some herbal supplements that should help her seizures over time.

The Sunday after they came home (Aug. 11th), we decided to have a big family/friend fast for Kaybri. Thank you to everyone who participated with us. We are so grateful for all of your love and support. It was an incredible experience for our family and an answer to so many of our prayers. I am also much more at peace with how things are working out for us. We feel that a lot of Kaybri's seizures are being caused by an arachoid cyst located between her brain and skull. It was first discovered Jan. 2006, and her most recent MRI (in June 2007) showed that it has grown quite a bit. At that point, doctors still didn't want to do anything for another 6-12 months. However, because Kaybri has been having more seizures, the neurosurgeon moved the MRI date up to Sept. 13th. We are so excited and hope that we can get it taken care of.

We had another opportunity to go down to Arizona on the 17th with Justin's parents, so the kids and I drove down with them. Lamar, Justin's brother, was blessing their new little baby that weekend, so we got to see the entire Echols' family for a little while. My entire family also drove to Mesa to see us. It was such a quick weekend, but we had an awesome time visiting everyone. We miss everyone so much and wish we lived a lot closer!!! One of the main reasons we went down to AZ was to take Kaybri to Dr. Deal for a follow-up visit. The appointment went incredibily well. To sum it all up, he also believes the cyst is causing her seizures and recommended having the surgery done to remove it. We were pretty surprised he would recommend this because he is more of the holistic mindset. But this is what we thought needed to be done as well, so now we just have to wait and see what the doctors here at Primary Children's say.

Lightning McQueen??

2007-07-17T15:12:00.000-06:00

It wasn't McQueen, but we did get to go see some other "Cars". Justin won some tickets at work for the Nascar race at the Miller Motorsports Park here in Tooele. Neither of us had been to a race like that before so we thought it'd be pretty cool. And since Kaybri loves the movie "Cars", we thought she might like to go for a little while.

We didn't get there until later in the afternoon; however, it was still boiling hot with all the asphalt around. We had been walking around for about 10-15 minutes trying to find the Zions Bank suite and Kaybri started having a seizure. Justin went and laid her down on some random table, and in just a few minutes we were surrounded be paramedics, security, and other people asking questions. Luckily her seizure didn't last long, but it took a little while for her to come out of the postictal period. The staff there were so very nice and let her go and recover in one of the media rooms that had A.C.

Kaybri started acting fairly normal, so we decided to stay for a little bit and check it out. It worked out great because they started serving dinner soon after we sat down. The suite we were in was right above the pit crews, so we got to watch them change tires and fill up with gas super quick. Kaybri had her moments of liking the cars, but all she really wanted to do was run and play. Paxton was amazingly good. He had a water bottle that he could drench himself with, and he even managed to take a nap with the noisy cars zooming by!

Justin was going for #00, he said it looked more beat up than the other cars, but it was actually winning when we left.

More cars....

Our family.... Paxton's pulling Kaybri's hair. hehe! Finally old enough to get her back for all the mean things she's done to him! =)

We were TP'd!!!!

2007-07-12T16:29:00.000-06:00

Who would play such a prank??? I believe that would be some girls in our young womens. I overheard them talking about going out after mutual. They actually even told me they were going to go t.p.ing after mutual. Kinda crazy that they would come get us, after they gave themselves away like that! Oh well, now we know where to go for revenge! It really wasn't too bad, just the front and side of our house, and Kaybri had a good time cleaning it all up with me. She piled it all up and then laid in it and said "night-night"!

Hogle Zoo

2007-07-12T15:49:00.000-06:00

We took a trip to the zoo in Salt Lake a couple of days ago with some friends, and although it was quite small compared to the San Diego Zoo, we still had a blast. Kaybri fell in love with this big, fake elephant that would spray you when you stood in front of it. It was so hot outside that the little girls could care less about the animals after awhile, they just wanted to get wet!! We walked past a little pond/water area, and Kaybri took one look at it and jumped in! It was pretty funny. The kids played in there forever. I wish my camera was working at the time, but wouldn't you know it, the batteries died after just 2 pictures were taken! Oh well, hopefully I can get some from Brynn. Kaybri spreading the love!!

Ok, I got some more pictures:

Kaybri and Jocelyn

The spraying elephant The water hole!

A Fun Weekend

2007-07-02T16:33:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we were able to go visit my Grandma Ellis and also some aunts, an uncle, and some cousins. It had been quite awhile since we saw some of them. We all went out to dinner and had a fun evening out. We also hung out with some new friends. They have a big waterslide that the kids had a blast sliding down-although we didn't even fill it up with water!

An Update on the kids

2007-07-02T15:36:00.000-06:00

Last week we met with a neurosurgeon to discuss Kaybri's recent MRI. We had been told by her regular neurologist that the arachnoid cyst (which was first discovered in Jan. 2006) had grown only a small amount and that it was nothing to worry about. The neurosurgeon thought otherwise. The cyst has grown quite a bit in just a year and a half and has started putting pressure on her skull, thus starting to change its shape. If it continues to grow it will probably put more pressure on the brain, so they will need to go in and drain it. We will have a repeat scan in about 6 months to see if there has been any change. They say there is always a possibility that the cyst could be causing Kaybri to have seizures, but they don't have any reason to believe it is for sure. She is having more and more seizures (3 last week), so the more that happens the more we want to just go in and get the cyst taken care of. The seizures haven't stopped her from being our crazy, hyper, smart, and of course sweet little girl.

Paxton will be 9 months old on the 12th of this month. We are having so much fun with him. He is always so excited to play with his big sister, and vice versa. The past month he has learned so many new things. He has learned how to crawl, pull himself up to things, and climb the stairs. I was counting on him to be my calm, mellow child, but he is beginning to turn into Kaybri!! yikes!

Paxton also got his 1st teeth!

Another Try

2007-07-02T14:48:00.000-06:00

My good friend, Nicole, helped me start a blog awhile back, but I think maybe because I was never a good journal keeper or scrapbooker I never developed the skills/dedication to keep up with a blog. However, I do love to take pictures and I have enjoyed looking at other friends' blogs, so I guess I will give this one more try....

Paxton's Two Week Mark

2006-10-26T12:35:00.000-06:00

Paxton is now 2 weeks olds and managing to open his eyes a little more these days. We have had so much fun with the little guy; we could stare at him all day. Kaybri loves to hug, kiss, and squeeze her new little brother. However, we have had to keep Paxton out of her sight because she got sick with a nasty cold and strep throat! It has been a fun, full two weeks of doctor visits for the Echols family!

Paxton had jaundice, so he spent his first few days home underneath a light bed.

We are so grateful that Grandma came to help us out for a few weeks. She was a life saver!!

Can you believe these adorable boys are only a month apart?! Baby Kyle and his family came to play at our house one night.

We found some children sized masks, so Kaybri finally was able to kiss and hug on her brother.

And then there were four

2006-10-13T14:51:00.000-06:00

We're so excited to welcome a fourth member to our family - Paxton Wayne Echols! He was born Oct. 12th @ 1:33 p.m., weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well and we can't wait for you all to meet him.