Carly's 4th Birthday Party

When Brother went to work at Northwestern, we were fortunate to meet a couple families who had little girls Rollins age there. One of these was Carly. They don't see eachother that much because they live in Gadsden, but they always enjoy their time together. For Carly's 4th Birthday, she had a gymnastics party, which Rollins was so pumped about. She said, "mom this is a girls only birthday so dad and Grady can't go." She all about "girl only things". Here is a picture of Rollins in the pit.

Here is Ally and Rollins after running down the tramp to jump in the pit. Ally's father also works with Brother. They are only a few weeks apart.

This was Carly's Princess Cake. Rollins said she wanted a cake just like this one. We are planning a trip to Disney World in February, and Carly and Rollins will be making a visit to the Bippity Boppity Boutique so they can be a princess and hopefully eat in Cinderella's castle provided we can get reservations:)

I wish we had a gym in Guntersville where you could have birthday parties. Rollins does gymnastics in Huntsville at Southern States. She absolutely loves it, and I think this is such a wonderful idea for a birthday.

Rollins Update

So, many of you have called to check on Rollins, so I wanted to let everyone know what is going on. We went to the doctor last Wednesday just to make sure everything was ok and that this was just a freak thing. Dr. Boggess said he believed she passed out from a lack of oxygen because she was crying. However, I did share something with him that I hadn't really discussed with anyone til now. Rollins has this thing she does where she will be playing and all of a sudden go in this daze. I can say her name, and she doesn't respond. I can wave my hand in front of her eyes and she doesn't blink. Then after 10 to 30 seconds, she loosens up and starts laughing. I had always thought she was doing this on purpose to be funny. She sometimes does it multiple times a day. Dr. Boggess has another theory, though. He said it sounds like typical petit mal seizures, and asked how long she had been having them. It's been going on so long, that I honestly have no idea. He said he wanted to get her to a pediatric neurologist because this can really affect her ability to concentrate when she starts school. I told him how Brother has been saying he thought she had ADHD because she can't concentrate and looses focus very easily. If this diagnosis is correct, this could explain her lack of concentration.

Of course as soon as I got home, I got on google. I found out that many times these seizures go undetected for months and these type seizures don't have that "confusion" phase that happens after most seizures. Rollins is able to go right back to what she was doing before it happened and has no remembrance of what happened during the seizure. In most cases, they outgrow them by their teenage years and even though they can't be prevented, medication can be taken to help lower the frequency.

I have to be honest, I am not upset about this at all. I know we have been through a lot with Rollins, and this just seems like another bump in the road. It could be so much worse--I had friends that would have grand mal seizures--that would absolutely terrify me. I know God isn't going to give us more than we can handle. He has already done wonderful things with her Gastritis, and she is a healthy 34 pounds (25th percentile) 3 year old. Grady, too, is getting much better, and is now 27 pounds (25th percentile) and will be 2 in two weeks. We are even planning a trip to Disney World in the next couple months. I am very anxious to see how this goes since neither Rollins or Grady have been away from home since last Fall when we went to Auburn. For those of you that don't know, their Gastritis and Esophagitis is much worse when we travel. They also will not even spend the night with my parents. It's really sad when your 3 year old says she doesn't want to stay in a hotel because it makes her throw up. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all the excitement of Disney will trump these disorders!

Anyway, I will keep you all posted on Rollins appointment with the neurologist. She is such a special little girl with a heart of gold. I am so blessed to have her!

Grady has melted my heart

For those of you with second children very close in age to your first child, you might have noticed that they don't do things as quickly as the first--or maybe it's just my children. Rollins was talking up a storm by her 2nd birthday. However, Grady has kept his thoughts to himself. He'll say Roll Tide, Hold Me, Golf Cart, Aubie and then of course any one syllable word. He turns two syllable words into one syllable by just pronouncing the first syllable. Like Rollins is Ra, Mommy is Ma, and Daddy is Da. I have been working with him on saying I love you, but he never would even say I, he would just hug himself when I would say I love you. This past week, all four of us were in bed watching a movie, and I whispered in Grady's ear, "I love you!" He turned to my ear, and whispered back, "I love you!" Then gave me a kiss! Now, this is the only way he will say I love you, but he will only do it to Brother or me. My mom has tried so hard with no luck. I guess God kept him from saying it for so long, because he wanted it to be special, and that it was!