Scary times, challenging times, good times:)

It's only been 10 days since I posted, but I feel like a whole lot has happened in that time! I did my last post Friday, September 21st in the afternoon, and that very evening, Brian started feeling numbness on one side of his face. His tongue had been feeling funny all day, but he didn't think much of it until it spread to his face. He called HealthLink around 7:30pm and they told him to go to the hospital immediately because he could be having a stroke. And so began our adventure-filled weekend! Thankfully, it was not a stroke (he had a CT scan as soon as he got there) but he did have to stay overnight because they wanted to do an MRI in the morning. Brian's parents came down to watch the kids on Saturday morning so I could stay with Brian at the hospital. They actually did two MRI's and his brain was fine (the second was to check on this spot they had seen on his cerebellum, but it turned out to be nothing). The doctor concluded that Brian had Bell's Palsy, which is a nerve condition that usually goes away on it's own. He was released around supper time. He did go back in on Monday because it was still getting slightly worse and the doctor prescribed some Prednisone. There has been some improvement over the last week, which is great - Brian is really looking forward to having his sense of taste back, though!:)

So that was an adventure. Of course we are really thankful that it wasn't anything more serious - life could have drastically changed for us in a matter of hours! Crazy to think of it, so thankful that it didn't happen.

Lynsey has been learning lots in school! She learned about Terry Fox and how he had a metal leg that was too heavy so he couldn't finish his race, and then she also seems to have picked up somewhere that he was buried underground when he died. We've talked to her about death before and how people go to heaven etc., but she was not impressed to hear that you had to go underground first! We tried to explain that you DO go to heaven, just not your body and that God would give us new bodies, but she wasn't buying that so easily. She was so scared, that poor girl! She even put it together that she might die before us, and who would take care of her in heaven?? I love having a smart little girl, but you can't just give her Sunday School answers! Anyway, we haven't talked about it since that night so hopefully she's satisfied with our answers! She also took home a library book about a little Native girl that was about to be taken away from her family and sent to a Residential School - try explaining that moment of glory in Canadian history! Luckily she didn't question it too much and seemed happy enough to know that it didn't happen anymore:).

Nathan is rocking away on his hands and knees these days! He can't move his hands yet, but his knees sometimes jump forward and he'll do a face plant, making him quite upset, poor kid. He definitely wants to get moving, but we're not sure when he'll put two and two together and coordinate into a crawl. He hasn't been as interested in his bottles lately, but continues to love his food! We're giving him some table food, and I would think by 8 or 9 months he'll probably be on mostly table food (although I hope he keeps liking baby food, because it's convenient to be able to feed them that sometimes!). He has been such a great sleeper lately! In the last week I've only gone to him once or twice, and that was after 6:30am (we like to make sure he sleeps until at least 7 so if he makes noise before then, I quickly go give him his soother). He has been sleeping 7-7 pretty consistently, and usually he only wakes up around 7:20 or 7:30am. Great little sleeper! I'm officially declaring that he's sleeping through the night at the age of 7 months, and I will hope that it will not come back to bite me!

Adam had his speech assessment last Monday - it went as well as I thought it would. He screamed that he wanted to get out of the room, and so the speech therapist said we could go for a walk to a park, which we did. He calmed down and played and she asked me a million questions. She called me back yesterday with the results, that he is delayed and qualifies for Program Unit Funding (special funding from the government for kids with delays). Our original plan was to wait and send him to preschool next year, but we are seriously considering moving that up to immediately. The other supports that are available to us could take between 6 and 12 months to access - we decided we should do SOMETHING for him now instead of just waiting and waiting while he is at such a teachable age. We aren't exactly sure what this will look like for him, but we are exploring our options. We feel so strongly that he IS so teachable and learns when you work on things with him, and he would benefit so much from having someone that knows what they're doing working with him on a regular basis! I fear that him being in the system as a "special needs" child will make people look past what a wonderful little boy he is and see him as a problem that needs to be solved, but I won't let that stand in the way of us getting him the help he needs. He is so "normal" in so many ways! He loves to be tickled and be wrestled by Daddy, he loves to be outside, he loves to put hats on his head and just laugh at how funny they are . . . I am hoping and praying that this therapy will draw out that part of him that he really wants to express to us, but he just doesn't have the skills to do it right now.

So do we have a lot going on right now? Yes, but isn't that what life is all about?:) We are leaving for La Crete on Thursday and I am praying that the trip goes well! Our first trip with all three kids - could be interesting! I can't wait to be up there and spend some time with family, and I know Lynsey is excited, too!