Whistle While you Bathe and Upcoming Events

Owen found Gavin's whistling extremely comical tonight....so funny he got the hiccups.

While we're at it, I'll post a little update. Owen has two major events coming up in his life. The first will be a surgery, probably in June. He is getting a VNS chip placed in his chest cavity. This is a one-day surgery and will hopefully decrease (not eliminate) the frequency of seizures. He has a consultation on May 21st with the doctor who will administer the surgery, and at that time we will schedule the surgery for probably 2-3 weeks after that. Let's hope this works even just a little!

The second event that Owen has coming up is a vacation! Gavin, Owen, and I are attending the biennial Dravet Conference in Minneapolis, MN this August. The keynote speaker is Dr. Charlotte Dravet (yes, the namesake of Dravet Spectrum Disorder herself). We will leave on a Wednesday, drop Dex off with Aunt Rachel in Kansas City, and spend the next three days listening to speakers, sharing information with other affected families, and entertaining Owen with a lot of activities geared toward his level. Hopefully we will not only gain knowledge on the disorder but also come back with a plan of action on what to do to get Owen living the best possible life. Sidenote: the conference is held (so I'm told) very close to the Mall of America. Just sayin'.

Until next time....

Spring Break Getaway

The boys and I took a mini-vaca over spring break to KC to stay with Rachel, Kevin, Max, and Kendall. This was the VERY first time (that I can remember anyways) that we have gone for really no reason other than just to get out of the house for a few days...in other words, we didn't go for a Children's Mercy appointment of Owen's. The highlight of the stay was taking the kids to Disney on Ice at the Sprint Center. Gavin and I were a little apprehensive about me taking Dex to a "sit down and hold still for 2 hours" type of activity. Boy, were we surprised. He LOVED that show; he was engaged the entire time, which is nothing short of a miracle coming from that kid. Here are some pictures of the week:

Intense stuff

The whole crew at intermission

Who would give a 1 year old an over-sized, sugar-candy coated, messy marshmallow you ask?
Aunt Rachel, that's who...without permission I might add.

Gross

The finale

The trip ended with a visit to Paradise Park. Wow, what a place for small children. Ball pit, cooking classes, water play, face painting, playgrounds, arcade...you name it. And even though Dex threw an absolute, full-out temper tantrum after we left every separate part of the park, I think the kids had a good time.

Is it just me, or is Dex sporting a side pony?

I took one for the team and crawled my wide load into the kids ball pit (aka germ fest) so Owen could partake; he kept grabbing the balls and putting them in his mouth. DISGUSTING.

Big mouth

Dex's favorite station, also the messiest

Animal lover

Yeehah cowboy

 What a great (and exhausting) trip!