My Whole Heart

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More Than Words

I will never forget this night. While putting a fussy, exhausted and still under the weather Riley to bed, she finally made the sign for "love you!" She crossed her arms and pointed right at me with her gorgeous grin. My heart stopped for a minute. That was a moment in time that can never be replaced, forgotten or duplicated. I'm so grandly grateful for it and now I'm going to bed with a Riley sized smile!




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We All Scream For Ice Cream

It was a Bluebell ice cream factory fun day! Cool tour, cute gift shop and the very best darn ice cream made on the planet!

And just FYI...I'm pretty proud of myself that I actually let Keagan dress herself today!















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Another Day, Another ER Visit

Very little sleep last night because of very labored breathing and a fever of 102.3 for Miss Riley, equals a very long ER visit today. All day long! So not fun!

But here is the good news...

It's not pneumonia! Just an asthma flare up because of a dumb virus.

We were in the exact same room and had the same doctor and nurse that we did last week. I'm not sure if that's good news or just sad.

Riley patted the attending's afro when she was listening to Riley's lungs!

We were right next store in the ER to cute Facebook friends.

And most importantly.... We got to come home!!!!!!! Wahoo!!









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Summer Daze

Another shipshape summer day. It was a superb one but it ended with sweet Riley not feeling well. I'm really hoping she just needs a good nights sleep after a busy day...


Swimming! Swim lessons are going swimmingly.






And the library! Keags wanted books about "police mans" and fire trucks. And Riley was so excited to get a book about a girl in a wheelchair!







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Mommy Moments

All mommies know that some moments, some days and some things are just plain hard. Really, really hard. But then there comes those mommy times that are so spectacular that they make up for all the hard stuff, better then anything else could. These moments tip the mommy scale and leave an abundance of joy and love that carry us through the next hurdle.

These are two videos of those kind of amazing mommy moments.

What blessings these girls are! They are so cute I could just love on em all day! I LOVE the way my Keags talks and I almost died when she kept saying "pookie pine" instead of porcupine!

And this video is proof that prayers are answered, miracles happen and hard work pays off! This is one of my greatest mommy moments ever!

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Lovin Lately

Things I'm lovin lately....

The greatest state in the nation!


Cute cousins


Summer craft projects


That the little French family has a cute new place of their own! We helped unpack and did alot of hangin out there this week!


Breakfast for Bill. The awesome event to support injured firefighter Bill Dowling that was organized by our friends.


Birthday parties that are just so fun that you get filthy!


That Keagan is finding shapes in the clouds! And...

This hardworkin little girl and her twinkle toes

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Showin The Ropes

Tonight after Riley was already asleep, I taught Keagan how to have a pillow fight. That is a very important life lesson! I'm working on trying to focus more on all the things, big and small that I'm teaching the girls each day. Wether it's deliberate or not.

This quote from Beth Woolsey has stuck with me the last few days. "No one does this parenting gig right the first time. Or the last time. Or the times in between. Showing your kids how to keep going after getting it wrong is a wonderful gift to give them."

With all my mommy mistakes I have this idea down! Now hopefully I am teaching them more then that. Like how to throw a mean pillow and have a ball doing it!


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Komedian Kids

These two girls of mine seriously crack me up! This past Saturday I took the girls to ride the carousel at the mall. We were in a crowded and busy restroom. Keagan was helping me with Riley in the stall. I didn't have Riley's wheelchair so Keagan was holding Riley's hand briefly while Riley stood against the wall. Keagan was such a big helper! She then took my purse off the hook on the wall and wrapped it around her neck. She very loudly exclaimed "now I'm the hooker!" After that I wasn't the only adult giggling in that bathroom!

I have a video monitor to be able to check on Riley in her sleep. I usually sleep with one eye open to make sure she's ok. Especially lately with all her seizures. The past couple nights I will wake up to some rustling around and realize Riley is rearranging all of the things in her bed including her pillow, 6 small stuffed animals and the new crib addition of a small blanket. She works so hard with just her right hand to get everything situated just right and then she literally falls over into a funny position and conks back out. Hilarious, even at 3 in the morning!


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Summer Finds

The other day we found a little island treat gem at Bahama Bucks! This really excites me! The things I miss most about Hawaii are the beaches, some friends and the food. Actually those are the only things I miss about Hawaii. What can I say, my island livin ended very badly. But I found amazing Hawaiian shave ice in Houston! And it may just be even better because it has Blue Bell ice cream on the bottom! Great find!


On Friday I found a little peace and quiet that was very much needed! Nana and Sa were so incredible to take the Houston cousins and the Frenchs (who are equivalent to cousins) to Jump On In for an hour and a half! Amazing!


Saturday I found that I can still Can Can dance! I rocked a little Happy Birthday dance for Miss Reagan's 9th birthday party! Mommas still got it!

And all weekend I found sisters being nice to sisters! Almost nothing makes me happier! Keagan has been so helpful with Riley and so thoughtful of her! Yesterday and today Keagan has been leading Riley around with her blanket as they both laughed! They also brought the blanket in the car and each held a corner. Keagan officially named it "the sister blanket!" I love that it's one of their baby blankets that Nana made them! It makes my heart swell when they are extra sweet to each other!


I'm looking forward to finding more wonderful things this week! With a not so great week behind us we are ready for some more summer fun! Bring it on!

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It Just Ain't Our Week!

It just ain't our week! I'm glad tomorrow is the weekend because I'm ready to pack up this week and ship it right out of here!

Today Riley was SUPPOSED to have a 24 hour blood pressure monitor test done. I have been thinkin and prayin about it for days because they were going to hook her up today and then the cuff would take her blood pressure every 15 minutes for a 24 hour period. When you're talking about a 4 year old, it sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn't it? Oh and I forgot to mention I am supposed to record what she's doing every 15 minutes for 24 hours. Good times.

So we got all geared up and the three of us made the HOUR long trip to Texas Children's. But when we got there things fell apart. We tried a whole gaggle of blood pressure cuffs on her but the only one that fit had a hole in it that two nurses were unable to fix. Plus they happened to mention on the sly that our insurance might not pay for this test and I could get a bill for $300-$800 dollars! Fantastic! Needless to say we left empty handed and will make the trip again after they order a new cuff and confirm our insurance will pay for it.

At that point it had been a rotten day towards the end of a rotten week! So I tried my best to salvage what I could for the girls. We went to play with the model train exhibit and I was surprised Keags had never seen the dancing cows at TCH.


Her questions were "so when are they going to start dancing?" And "which one is the daddy cow?" Then when I was pulling out of our parking space she said "mom I'm not finished buckling! You really need to learn how to take care of me!" Good to know.

Then I was desperate and/or crazy enough to agree to take them on the Herman Park train because they both love it so much! You know I might be a more fun mom if it wasn't a heat index of 109 outside! But we went and sweated through the 30 minutes. The sweat literally dripping off my face was worth these two sweet faces!


Come on Friday, please be good to us! We need it!

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Back to Normal

The doctors said Riley's concussion could linger from 1-4 weeks. Besides waking up this morning at 5:45 ready to party (actually not too unusual) she is completely back to her usual smiley, silly, sweet and smart little self! She refused to work hard at therapy this morning and after I scolded her for hitting Miss Keagan, she put herself in time out! Cracks me up!




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A Little Extra Crazy

Crazy is a normal state of being around here. But last night it was dialed up a notch. Riley cried a little in her sleep and after the events of yesterday I just wanted her where I could keep a close eye on her. That meant our whole little family was in my queen bed. Good times! Riley whimpered on and off, I was wide awake and worried and Keags talked in her sleep and flailed around as normal.

The real madness began around 5 am with a second seizure for my poor Riley girl. It was inevitably followed by tears which sparked Keagans grumbling. Riley was crying, Keagan was yelling "stop waking me up!! Stop crying!!" And I was stressed and worried and already exhausted from a night of about a whole one hour of sleep. Pure crazy!

After all that fun, Riley and I spent the morning and half the afternoon in the ER at TCH. I'm not sure if her chart has a big sign that says "frequent flyer" or what, but we get great care from good people there. We got a room fast, spoke to 3 different doctors and got back to imaging for a cat scan pretty fast too. Riley HATES having to lay flat and still for anything so the cat scan was supper dupper fun! They swaddled her with blankets and sheets, wrapped her head in towels and strapped everything down tight but her face in metal straps. I stayed with her and sang songs and patted while the massive machine did its magic. She SCREAMED and tried to wiggle any way out while I sang and dodged the moving machine. We were quite a sight I'm sure.



After the cat scan she was as happy as can be! I made a ride out of the ER bed that she thought was pretty fantastic. Then I was the happy one when the cat scan didn't show anything. They diagnosed her with a concussion and upped her Trileptal, her anti-seizure meds. Because it was obvious to them that this wasn't my first rodeo, we got to skip the 6 hour observation time! Thank heavens!

I am so relieved and so thankful tonight that we are all going to bed, in our own beds that is, and that it looks like we will all get a great nights sleep! Hopefully the crazy dial has been turned down a little for the night. But come morning, I can't make any promises! The possibilities are endless!


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I HATE Epilepsy!

This was us this morning. Just totally chillin on a Sunday morning together. How cute are they?





And then ugly epilepsy has to rear it's head at church. Her seizure scared both of us! After talking with the on-call neurologist and wrestling with fear, I just had to rock her to sleep because she was so scared to be alone in her room. To see the fear in her eyes and to hold her stiff contorting body is just heartbreaking! I HATE epilepsy!!!!


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Little Stinker

I had to put Riley in time out tonight because she knowingly has been spitting out her medicine. Her life saving medicine that is! She sat in the corner with a huge smile on her face and kicked her little feet for 4 minutes. As soon as she was done she immediately swatted across her tummy- her sign for "sorry". That little stinker is so dang cute!



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Great Parenting!

I've been a stellar of a parent this week! On Wednesday Keagan was playing at Sa's house and I got this text from her. "Your baby just suggested to play policeman and kill people. Great parenting!"

Last night I let my other baby hold smoking fireworks for hours on end with no consideration of the fact that she has asthma that was already stirring because of a cold! Then I wasn't watching close enough and she grabbed the spark of the sparkler and got a little burn on her thumb! Yep, I'm amazing! I just couldn't deny her because she was having SO much fun!


Because of the festivities, the girls were up WAY past their bed time. That translates of course into a long whiney day with no nap. Which led to a catastrophic meltdown for Keags tonight. It was ugly and I may or may not have made some not very loving threats coupled with a spank or two. All of which were witnessed by my 10 year old niece Addie as a bonus. Once I finally got her to lay her head on a pillow (45 mins later) she was literally out cold in 5 seconds. And I'm left feeling like the worst mom ever as Addie stares at me with big eyes!


But I did have one of the absolute best parent moments this past week. Thank heavens! I was in the Temple last Friday when I noticed a family with their son/grandson etc that was there for the first time. In our Mormon world this is a very big deal and something a mom works a lifetime to help their child achieve. Half way through I realized the young man had Cerebral Palsy like my Riley. As he struggled to participate, my heart swelled. Afterwards I approached the family to say congratulations and his mother and I had the most beautiful moment together which I will never forget. She hugged me tight and said with The Lord everything is possible for these very special spirits that have been trusted to us! I've never heard anything that rang more true.

Being a parent isn't for sissies! It's a good thing I ain't no sissy! But I do mess it up way more then I would like to. After a day of highs and lows I find myself each night on my knees pleading with The Lord to help me do better tomorrow! To forgive me of my mistakes, to help the girls forgive me and to be my partner in the noblest calling on earth! It's a good thing tomorrow is a new day! Wish me luck!



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Independence Day

Land of the free! Because of the Brave! We had a great Independence Day!

"Despicable Me 2" with cousins. Really fun movie!





Look who sat in her own seat!


After a nap it was time for a BBQ with the Fosters and Sanfords. We had some casualties, did a lot of not so safe things, watched all the most incredible professional grade fireworks going off all around us, and had a really fantastic time! Riley was absolutely loving the fireworks and wanted to hold every sparkler and Roman candle possible. Bill was so sweet to help her so much. Keags stayed in safe territory on Sa's lap and ventured out into doing poppers occasionally. Good times!






































God bless America!


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