Riley's Doughnuts

My husband is a district manager for a large retail store chain that sells food and convenience items.  Often Carson and Riley will come up with snack suggestions that they feel their dad should begin to market in his stores.  As the 4th of July approached, Riley told him that they should make a white doughnut with red and blue sprinkles to celebrate the holiday.  He began to tell her that one was already in the works but I quickly stopped him and gave him a look.  A silent look from wife to husband that meant “lie to your young innocent child.”   At that point he told her that he would give the big bosses her idea.  For the next several days she would ask about it and he assured her that it was in development.   A few days later he came home with a box of “Riley’s doughnuts.”

I typically don’t like telling lies to my kids, but this one made a 6 year old girls week.  Now, I must figure out what to do about the book she wrote that she expects to be published and available for checkout at my library.

We had the follow-up with the neurologist today and things are going really well.  Riley has been almost completely seizure free since staring the Zarontin a month ago.  The side effects have been minimal and she is responding well.  We’re still waiting for the results of one blood test, but everything is looking good.  The neuro wants her to have another EEG before starting school in August but we’re confidant that this is going to be the right medication for her.    Thanks to everyone for your support, thoughts and prayers over the last couple of months.  We appreciate it all!

Absence Seizures are episodes that I didn’t even know existed 3 months ago.  I had never heard of them and thought most seizures were of the grand mal variety, I knew of other types of smaller seizures but really didn’t know much about them.  Things can change so quickly.

A few months back, most often after picking her up from kindergarten, I began to notice that Riley would often stop talking mid-sentance and begin to stare off.  She would often swallow and look like she was about to be sick.  I would call her name and she wouldn’t respond for a period of 10-15 seconds. I wondered what was causing this but decided it must be a combination of stomach nausea and the attention span of a six year old.

Near the beginning of May I took a course to re-certify myself in First Aid and CPR.  During the First Aid section, the instructor discussed what to do if someone has a seizure.  He mentioned that all seizures are not the Grand Mal type that people often think, but in some cases they are first noticed because teachers think children aren’t paying attention in class.  What appears to be daydreaming is actually a type of seizure.  Hearing this was like a kick in the gut.  It instantly struck me that Riley was having seizures. 

I came home and immediately began to do research and quickly found information about Absence Seizures.  The description of the seizures fit Riley’s actions perfectly.  I talked to Matt and he found videos on YouTube.  The first video I watched was so hard because the little girl in the video had a seizure that looked exactly like one of Riley’s.  I watched the videos over and over again and cried because I didn’t know what the future would be like for Riley. 

On that Monday, I called the Dr. and they had her come in that same day.  They checked her out and agreed that Absence seizures were a possibility, but an EEG would need to be done to be certain.  We scheduled the EEG for early the next week.  Riley had at least 5 seizures during the EEG, which was hard to watch but beneficial in getting a diagnosis.  The EEG confirmed that she was having Absence Seizures.

Two weeks ago we saw her Pediatric Neurologist for the first time.  He feels that her seizures are treatable with the appropriate medication.  We started with a 1/2 dose and moved up to the full dose last week.  So far and we haven’t had any of the side effects that can be common with the antiepileptics.  She will have to have a blood test done later this month to be sure that the medication isn’t causing any liver or blood problems.  Since moving to the full dose the seizures seem to be under control.  We are very cautiously optimistic at this point, she is a trooper and handling all of this so well.  I couldn’t be more proud of her, she is such a great kid.  We are so lucky to be her parents.  She has been stronger than me through the test and diagnosis process and for that she is my hero.

We’ve had to make a few minor changes.  She can’t take a bath unless we are nearby, she is really starting to understand the joy of a nice warm shower.  We have to be even more vigilant about helmets for biking and constant supervision while swimming, which we were before the diagnosis but we talk to her about these precautions a lot more frequently now.  Since the seizures are a state of unconciousness, she doesn’t really understand that she is having them and has no memory of them after she has one.  It’s been a learning experience for the whole family.

So there’s the update.  Our one wish that the positive path we’re on now will continue progressing  forward.   We’re very lucky and she is one tough ballerina.

And in the midst of all this, she graduated from Kindergarten.  Yay Riley!

The graduate

Hello blog! I’ve missed you.

Summer vacation is finally here!

My goals:

1. Spend lots of time with the kids exploring.  Cheap is good, free is better!

2. Take more pictures.  I need to improve my skills and perhaps use them to help pay some bills.  If that fails, I go to back-up – beat poet.

3. Research going back to school and finishing my degree.  I would like to get all of my library certifications completed in a timely manner.  At least quicker than the 20 years I’ve taken so far to finish college.

4. Cook more, get take out less.  I want to restock my freezer with quick and healthy meals.  Do you have any favorite summer recipes?  I’d love to hear about them!

That’s all for now.  I would write more but it would take away from my busy schedule of repeatedly watching Bret Michaels get knocked over by the set piece at the Tony Awards.  I just hope that bad wig he’s hiding under the constant hat came out of it okay.

We had a beautiful day today.  Temperatures in the mid 50s and bright blue, sunny skies.  After all of the time we have spent below zero lately, the air felt downright balmy.

I had heard about the coming weekend warmup on Tuesday and at that point decided that I didn’t care how slushy and muddy it was going to be we were going to get out and enjoy it.  Riley, Carson and I headed for one of our favorite hiking spots, Waterfall Glen in Darien.  Camera in hand, of course.

Yes, it was muddy and slushy but worth it.  Because of all of the snow melt the waterfall was running stronger than we had ever seen it.  It was mostly a muddy mess, but still very relaxing.   We explored for a bit and managed to stay fairly clean.   Until on the way back to the car when Riley fell over into a giant mud puddle.  I knew that we weren’t going to get out of there clean and Riley wanted to make sure I was right about that.  Oh well, mud washes off easily.

This may be one of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of Carson.

She wasn't happy about the mud.

I’ve been so busy lately and I’ve completely ignored my little blog.  I’ve been working on my writing lately, but none of it has ended up here.  It’s all in random word files on my computer, half of which I end up deleting because I get frustrated by my own lack of talent and ambition.  I should probably be working on my self esteem issues too.

It’s been so cold here lately and I haven’t been taking any pictures at all.  We had an ice storm right before the holidays and I went out with Carson and Riley and while they slipped and slid around the front yard, I took pictures of the ice coated branches and remaining leaves.

A cold gnome and his special friend.

It's hard to make a snow angel when the snow is frozen solid.

Yes, I know it’s been forever and a day since I’ve written on my poor old neglected blog.  I’ve taken pictures, I’ve had thoughts, I just haven’t taken the time to get them up here.  I will try to do better.  The only people that still read my blog get here through googling chicken enchilada recipes, I should at least make an effort to entertain them.  Right?

Tonight the kids, Matt and I carved pumpkins.  It was so much fun and perfectly highlighted the difference in my two children.  Carson hated reaching in and pulling out the pumpkin stuff, it completely icked him out.  Riley on the other hand, loved it.  Couldn’t get enough of it.  When I told her to take a break and I would finish cleaning it out she asked, “Can I watch?  I want to do this with my kids when I’m a grown up.” How sweet is that?

The jack-o-lanterns came out looking pretty good.  This is where I need you to use your imagination, I forgot to charge my camera batteries. Bad, bad amateur photographer!  If they don’t get smashed by random punks before then I will take pictures of them lit up on Halloween and get them posted here sometime before the next administration takes office.

Riley is home sick today from school.  She has a headache and a fairly high fever that is not responding much at all to Tylenol and Motrin.  I feel so bad for her, she is so whiny and grumpy when she is sick.  Come to think of it, so am I.

I’ve volunteered to be the leader for her Daisy troop.  She is so excited to get started and I am completely nervous. I was never a Girl Scout and I know nothing about the Girl Scouts.  Well, I do know that the thin mints are delightful.  That’s a starting point.  I have my first leader meeting tonight and several training sessions over the next few weeks.  I think it’s going to be fun.

Riley, Future Historian

We went to the Arboretum today and on the way up there I hear from the back seat “That’s not true, Carson!” in a very dramatic voice.  I asked Riley about what was wrong and she says in a sad voice, “Carson said that George Washington is dead.”  I had to break the news that yes, he was indeed dead and had been for about 200 years.  I explained that he was our first president and lived back in history.  Trying to explain that span of time to a 5 year old is not easy.  She burst into tears and expressed she was very sad because she never got to meet him.  I tried my best to console her but she was pretty bummed until we got to the Arboretum at which point she became otherwise distracted.

I know what my readers want.  Clearly it’s more posts with towns/cities/counties/municipalities/monarchies with names that are fun to say.  In this case it’s not a new name, we’re back at the Sheboygan County Fair, which takes place in Plymouth, WI and not the county seat of Sheboygan.  Perhaps there is a story full of county politics and intrigue as to why that is, but quite frankly I don’t want to get involved.

The fair was everything you would expect from a county fair in Wisconsin. There was food, most of it fried or dairy related and in some cases both, fun in the form of impossible games and rides of questionable safety standards and cows.

When did fairs get to be so expensive?  We purchased over $20 in ride tickets and the kids were only able to ride 4 rides, and you can not find a game to play for under $2 these days.  I remember when you could hand a transient a dollar, they would hand you a few darts and you would pop a balloon in exchange for a Poison or Motley Crue mirror.  You know, the good old days.

Test driving the tractors.

I think they were trying to match their outfits, I've taught them well.

I thought this was so sweet.

What???

Bumper cars

Funnel cake, anyone?

What do pigs dream about?

Oh look, another cow.