Jon and Little Jon

Last Sunday, Jon and Joey wore matching shirts to church without meaning to.

They were waiting for Katherine and I to be ready to go, and I couldn't resist getting a picture. It was too cute.

Upward Cheerleading

Katherine has been in Upward Cheerleading the last few months. Her squad cheers for the Upward Basketball games every Saturday morning.

Katherine Loses her First Tooth

On January 4, Katherine lost her first tooth. It had been loose for a while and she really wanted to get it out. There was some blood, so it was a little traumatic, but it happened fast. As we were putting it in her tooth pillow, she said "Ok, Tooth Fairy Mom, where do you want me to put it so you can find it?". I guess she knows I'm actually the Tooth Fairy.

Rough Night for Jon

For those of you who are interested in what happened with Jon, here is the story.

He came to bed late Monday night (Dec 29). It was about 3:30am. He had been playing Rock Band, watching TV, and having a hard time sleeping because he wasn't feeling well. He got out of bed to go into the bathroom, then yelled out to me (waking me up) that something was wrong. Then he collapsed to the floor.

I thought he may just be asleep or passed out from getting up too fast, but I couldn't wake him, so I called 911. They told me to get him onto his back and make sure his airway was clear, which I did. He was sweating and breathing very strangely. I also noticed that his legs were stiff and his jaw was locked and he was biting his tongue. I concentrated on making sure he was breathing and gave him a little air at one point when he stopped breathing for a moment (I didn't wait to see if he would start up again on his own). At this point, I looked up to see Joey standing on the doorway, so I sent him back to bed.

Slowly, Jon started to come out it (5-10 minutes had passed). He opened his eyes, but wasn't seeing anything. Then he started to look at me with a terrified look. Then he tried to talk to me, but his tongue would not work, so it was really muffled. He seemed extremely confused.

Once the firemen got there, I stepped out and called my parents, who rushed over. The paramedics asked me a lot of questions, trying to figure out what was going on. Jon became very combative with them. He wouldn't keep the oxygen on his face or let them take his blood pressure. He was hitting at them and yelling (still muffled).

It was a long time before they finally carried him into the living room and onto the stretcher. He was still fighting them. I tried to talk to him to tell him that he would be OK and I would see him at the ER, but he didn't recognize me or seem to understand.

In the ambulance, an EMT gave him two medicines to fight a drug overdose because he was sure that's what it was. At one point, his blood pressure bottomed out (something like 75/45). He also stopped breathing again, and the EMT gave him a chest rub to get him going again.

The fireman had called my brother, who met them at the ER. He got Jon out and had to talk to the ER doctor to explain that it was not a drug overdose. Jon recognized Chad and talked to him a little bit, which were the first good signs. By the time I saw him, he was able to talk and was calm, but was exhausted. They immediately started talking about a possible seizure.

The hospital admitted him and moved him to a private room. As time went by, he became more and more himself. They spent most of Tuesday testing him. Everything looked good. There was no damage left behind.

By Wed morning, they officially determined it was a seizure. The neurologist also said that an episode that he had in 2005 was also most likely a seizure but it was misdiagnosed as a panic attack in the ER.

He started on anti-seizure meds right away. He is mostly back to normal now. He is really tired. He can only do so much before he needs a nap, and his memory of the last week or so is a little foggy.

We appreciate all of the people who helped us out and who prayed for him. It was very scary, but we are happy with the outcome. The neurologist is very confident that the medication will keep him from having any more seizures.

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas morning was much more relaxed for us than usual. We started at our house where we read the Christmas story and got to watch the kids open their gifts one at a time. Then we went to my mom's to open stockings (since we opened the other gifts the night before). We spent the rest of the day there and were joined by my aunt and uncle. It was a good, long Christmas for us.

Joey's first real Bible.

High School Musical...

Jon was excited to buy him his first glove.

He got a Larry Bible cover to go with Katherine's Bob cover.

Joey got a lot of 'big boy' toys this year. Many of them were sports themed.

My mom has had this American Girl doll, Kit, for several years. Katherine got to take her home for Christmas this year. She also got a bed and a table with place settings.

This is typical Joey.

Wrestling with Grandpa.

Joey thinks it's fun to play dead.

Christmas Eve 2008

On Christmas Eve, we went to my mom's house to open the presents except our stockings. We usually do it on Christmas morning, so it was nice to have more time to enjoy it and watch the kids. Joey really got into it this year. He would cheer and clapped when he opened something and said 'thank you' after almost every one.

Joey got a cape with a J on the back and must have thought he could fly, but instead he just fell off the couch into the rest of the gifts.

School Christmas Party

The kids had a party at school. Santa came and everyone took turns talking to him. Katherine doesn't believe in Santa, so she wasn't sure how to act.