What have we been up to?

It has been about 7 months since our last post. As you could assume, a whole lot has happened in our lives since then. Madison was diagnosed with Autism, Liberty finished her first year of preschool and started primary, Brett graduated from college, and I was called as primary chorister! We also took a vacation with my family to Tennessee. We have been pretty busy, so I thought I would take a little time to update.

Here's Spencer learning how to crawl. He started crawling March 1st.

Here's Liberty on her 4th Birthday. I can't believe 4 years have passed since we became parents! She is growing so fast. Just the other day she reassured me about something. She said "Mom, don't worry; 4 year olds lie, but 5 year olds don't lie." Thank you Libby - I guess we just have to survive it for 1 more year.

I'm just wondering - Do they come any cuter than this?

I think the reason I love this picture so much is because it's a picture of Maddy just being a kid. She doesn't have a distant look in her eyes, she's not spinning around or rubbing her lips with her finger; she's just being a 2 year old kid. She is amazing us every day. She can do SOO much for someone with her condition. What a wonderful gift these moments where she is just being a kid are. I cherish every one of them.

Our little Maddy LOVES to swing!

And our little Spence loves to be cute.

And our little Libby loves animals!

And we all love Brett to graduate from college!

So there you have it. A very brief veiw of the last 7 months. We are so blessed. Our lives are never boring and we never seem so stand still for very long. We love it!

FANTASTIC YOUTUBE VIDEO - MUST SEE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Y5_q-rWMkg

Spence The Fence

This is a recent picture of our adorable little guy! He's such a happy boy! We love him. He turned 4 months old the day after this photo was taken - he's growing up so fast!

Finally - a Positive Diagnosis!

We finally have a positive diagnosis for what is going on in my head. After having another CT scan and talking with the head of neurosurgery at UNMC, we have determined that I have what is called a Chiari 1 Malformation. It is a condition that I was born with and is where there is not enough room for my cerebellum and the cerebellum tonsils are forced down into my spinal collum. The doctor's hypothesis is that during pregnancy with all of the shifts in fluid that happen in the body, the cerebellum tonsils blocked off the fluid flow completely in my spinal collum causing hydrocephalus. If anyone wants to read more about it - here is a link. http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_e/chiari2.asp
It is geared toward parents who have been told their children have a Chiari Malformation, but is completely applicable in my situation and explains it all. I am happy to finally know for sure what is going on in my head!

Liberty's First Day of Preschool

Liberty started preschool yesterday! She loved it and did not want to go home when I came to pick her up. She has been talking about it for weeks! She was a little dissapointed that her teacher "didn't teach [her] about letters on the chalboard" but she did like that they learned about "music and animals". She has an exciting year ahead of her!

Liberty enjoying every last minute she could of her first day of preschool. Just before we left she said goodbye to the boy in the orange shirt and tried to give him a kiss! :)

Updates from Hernandesies

For those who didn't know, I was suffering from horrific headaches 2 weeks before Spencer was born and then started having seisures after he was born, so two weeks after having Spencer, I had brain surgery. Apparently there was a bunch of fluid building around my brain, and so they put a shunt in to drain it. I will have it in for the rest of my life. Aside from a little visual disturbance and feeling a bit dizzy all the time, I am doing great! No more headaches, which is a huge relief! And Spencer is doing great as well! This picture was taken at the hospital - I now have no hair on my head - sad, but it will grow back.

Our Beautiful Children - how we got so lucky, I'll never know, but they are my GREATEST blessings! So beautiful!

Maddy is not to keen on getting to know her little brother just yet :)

Liberty LOVES her little brother! She is so gentle and sweet with him and loves to hold him and know everything that is going on with him.