A busy weekend

I am sorry I have not posted it has been one crazy weekend!!! Friday was rather exhausting both at work, and home. Friday during the day there was a big blow out at my office that I won't go into, but it was very draining mentally. On Friday night I went by to feed my cousins puppies because she had gone to Austin for the weekend. She has a large labradoodle that likes to knock you off your feet when you come through the door. She is a really pretty dog though, and we became good friends this weekend. She even decided to take a romp in the pool which made me laugh. I then went home, and finished tagging everything for the garage sale. If you remember I was running very short on sleep so I decided to hit the hay early........which didn't work. For various reasons I was again up most the night. I had even tried moving to the couch at about 3am, but that didn't work well either. Anyway, prior to hitting the hay while I was tagging items a lady in my neighborhood generously donated some items for the garage sale. One of these items was a cute little grey bunny. I had it in my hand when Mike called me over to the couch where he and Jude sat. I noticed that Jude was tracking the bunny everywhere I moved it, even Mike noticed. We started laughing because Jude REALLY wanted the bunny so I put it in his arms....needless to say Jude kept the bunny.



So due to lack of sleep Saturday's alarm at 6:30am came early, but I was up and ready to make some money. We hauled my entire dining room full of items outside, and set everything up. My friend Michelle came over to help me out and keep me company, THANK GOODNESS. Plus, Em and Mike helped me until Emily had her softball try outs at 10am. We watched the cars come, and go and made a decent amount of money. I think we would have done better if I was able to put large garage sale signs out. I did cheat and put a few little ones, but the wind did not cooperate and pretty much blew them to non existence. It was nice having Michelle there because she kept me company in what would have been a lonely day outside. It was a beautiful day though, and we talked about a lot in our lives. It's nice having good friends. So when Emily got home from softball she entertained us by trying on a costume someone had dropped off...

She is always the little entertainer. So about two o'clock when I was planning on shutting down we made an executive decision to stay open because it was a great day. Then all of a sudden I hear two voice I recognize, and here come Kel and Sarah with bags full of baby stuff. When they were taking up donations they had left over funds, and had gone to babies r us and stocked up on clothes for Jude, and a play toy to sit in front of his chair. I was so surprised to see them, and was beyond words. I wasn't sure how to express my appreciation, but I did the best I could. We went through he stacks of clothes together, and we unwrapped the toy that they got him. Kel put it together, and they added the batteries. The toy sits perfectly with Jude's little child rite chair, and it plays music, and lights up. Jude loves it, and he does track the lights on the top of the toy which is very encouraging. You can look at these pics, and see how he is watching it.



So I am sure you can see Jude looks to the left a lot which is from the stroke. The doctor isn't sure if he is looking "into the stroke", or "away from the stroke" yet. In other words we aren't sure if he looks that way because he can see better, or worse. So Kel and Sarah left and Michelle and I finished up the garage sale. We then went to the store and got some food and had a nice meal, and some drinks. It was a great end to a good day. Although, Jude had a very violent seizure while Michelle was there, and I could tell it was hard on her. I felt bad, and wished she didn't have to see it.

So Saturday night when I literally fell into bed Mike knew I would NOT be getting up. He tended to Jude all night with seizures, feeding, changing, etc so I could sleep and sleep I DID! I finally felt refreshed the next day. So through our crisis I have met Jocalyn who is the mother of a little girl who was also a stroke victim. It turns out they live pretty close to us, and came over for dinner last night. It is actually a very small world, because I met her through a pediatric stroke board that has members from all over the world. Like I said it turns out Jocalyn lives close AND knows people I know. Anyway, it was great to sit at dinner talking about our situations and feeling like we are not isolated away on a deserted island. When we put the children down next to each other Jocalyn joked, "I'll show you my MRI if you show me yours", we couldn't help but laugh. So here is Jude's new girlfriend Kendall:


Jude's seizure keep decreasing, and then increasing again. We aren't sure what is causing them, and are only hoping we get them under control. Yesterday we started decreasing the topamax, and adding in a higher dose of the vitamin B6. We are saying a little prayer this will decrease them to one a day, and then finally eliminate them. Have a good Monday.

Ps ~ I am typing this while being super busy at work, so forgive errors :)