Life is good!

It's been two months since my last blog post, so it looks like it's time for an update!

Life is great. I know my title says "Life is good," but that's an understatement. Life is great. Eddy is currently 85 days seizure free! 85 days!! We are so incredibly thankful. This ketogenic diet has been the miracle that we prayed it would be for so long. Eddy's development is also progressing well, and he has been healthy and happy for months now. We have also done two separate phenobarbital reductions, one at the beginning of July, and another at the beginning of August, and so far Eddy has done very well with the wean! His neurologist said to "expect seizures" on the first few days following each reduction because his little body has been addicted to it for the past eleven months, and it's a very difficult drug to wean. But Eddy has proven that he is tougher than phenobarbital and has continued to be seizure free! We will do the next wean at the beginning of September, then the beginning of October, then the beginning of November (when he will be down to half a pill once a day), then at the beginning of December, at which time he should be completely off of phenobarbital! Please pray that the wean continues to go smoothly.We have already noticed much more attention, quicker response time, more awareness, and more happiness from Eddy since we started the wean. I think that this increased "withitness" is due to both the reduction of phenobarb and the reduction of seizures, thanks to the diet. Whatever the cause, we are so grateful.

Between my last post and now, we celebrated Eddy's 2nd birthday! I can't believe our little man is two already. The day he turned 2 was probably the best day he's ever had. He was happy, attentive, laughing, and making lots of sounds all day long. The day before his birthday, we had a great party with a lot of family and friends. It was so nice to spend the time with so many people who love Eddy. My husband started a tradition last year at Eddy's first birthday party to unveil Eddy's "birthday video" that he made for him, and the tradition continued this year. It's basically a "year in review" video, and this year's video meant so much to me. I still can't watch it without crying, just to see how far Eddy has come in a year and to think about all the struggles he's had to endure between his first and second year of life. Watching it makes me realize how much God has blessed us in the past year, because even though we've had to go through a lot of difficult times, fear, anxiety, and sadness, He has gotten us through so much, and we have strengthened our relationship with Him and with each other as a result. And now, we do not take any of the "normal things" for granted that we used to, like being home instead of the hospital, going away for the weekend with Eddy, being able to go out to dinner and leave Eddy with a babysitter and not worry about him having a seizure every second we're gone. Life finally feels "normal" again, and it feels amazing.

This summer has been so wonderful. No seizures since the beginning of June, Eddy has been happy and healthy all summer, his development is improving every week, we've been able to take several quick trips away from home, and Ed has won four different basketball tournaments (that last part's for you honey :)).The ketogenic diet is getting easier every day, and although it is still extremely time-consuming and much of our day is spent preparing meals and getting Eddy to eat them, I feel like we're in a good routine with it. I've created more meals that Eddy likes, and now he isn't just eating the same thing all the time. He still eats a pancake every day for dinner, but I've expanded the flavors and his pancake menu now includes coconut pancakes, almond applesauce pancakes, coconut almond pancakes, pumpkin pancakes, zucchini pancakes, pumpkin zucchini pancakes, and macadamia nut pancakes. Other meals that he likes include flaxseed oatmeal, squash soup, avocado, and lamb with spinach and squash. I'm still trying to make his meals as healthy as possible, but I'm also trying to create foods that he actually wants to eat. Luckily he's still an amazing eater and really not picky at all. I am so thankful that this diet has been such a miracle. I was hoping for no seizures, but it's the minority of children who start the ketogenic diet who see a complete riddance of seizures; a lot of the time seizures are reduced considerably, but are still there. I'm hoping they continue to stay away for our sweet little boy.

Another exciting thing that has happened since my last post is that we have hired two wonderful nannies for Eddy (and to help me out with the twins once they are born). Eddy's babysitter last year, Mackensie, is one, and she will help me out 2-3 days a week. The other (the one we searched ALL summer for and finally found after interviewing lots of people!) is Amy, a school psychologist from the area, who will work the other 2-3 days a week. We are pretty darned blessed that both of our nannies have Masters degrees and experience with special needs children. We seriously could not have asked for better nannies! In the past couple of weeks, they have started coming over and learning Eddy's diet/supplements/schedule, and I'm starting to feel a lot better about sharing the responsibility of this diet and knowing that when I'm in the hospital in labor, they will be able to continue with it seamlessly and know exactly what they're doing. I was very worried for a long time about being gone and not having anyone else how to use the ketocalculator (the online program where you can create keto meals in the correct ratio and number of calories), and how to create meals and do all the weighing, but they have already pretty much gotten the hang of it, which has been a huge stress relief.

Regarding my pregnancy, I am 28 weeks pregnant with two little girls, and I still feel great! Knock on wood, this has been the easiest pregnancy, and I've felt great the whole time. I'm starting to really slow down with what I can do, and I'm trying to make myself sit down and put my feet up a lot more often than I'm used to doing (which is basically never!). It's been a huge help having Mackensie and Amy here the past couple of weeks, and my amazing husband has really stepped up big time. He wakes up with Eddy every morning at 6:30 am and lets me sleep in, and he puts Eddy to sleep every night - thanks honey, you are the best. :)

Well I just opened my fortune cookie from my chinese food from dinner, and my fortune says "Let's finish this up now, someone is waiting for you on that." I guess that's my cue to wrap this up. :)

Thanks for all of your support, love and prayers. They really do mean so much.