Spring break 2011

This week has been so much fun! Not only is my morning sickness pretty much GONE (with the exception of that one day where me and the toothbrush didn't agree) but my kids were home with me all day long!!!!!!

I loved it. Although I am finding my patience is not what it used to be I still loved every single minute of it.

This week was special. Why? Because James is officially 7 years old. Yesterday was his birthday! I cannot believe it. 7 years ago we had our first baby. And now were on our 5th.

It's been cold and un predictable here in SoCal the last 3 days. One minute it is sunny and the next it's raining. As much as I have enjoyed it I do wish spring would hurry up and it would be summer already. Im getting anxious to meet this new addition of ours. Who is now 17 weeks gestation. He/she is now the size of a large Turnip.

We have just a couple of more weeks before we go in for our anatomy ultrasound. April 28th is the day. I will be one day shy of 20 weeks. So get your votes in now for what you think we are having!! Oh bummer though that I have to stop my Prgesterone injections after just two rounds because I am allergic to some sort of whatever that they use to compound the drug. So taking it easy with 4 kids is what I am being ordered to do.

Exciting news!

Extremely exciting news!!!

On the very first day of this year Shawn and I got a very shocking surprise...Were expecting!!!!!!

Baby number 5 should make his/her grand appearance sometime in late August or early September :)

Homecoming 12-17-2010

Friday was so amazing. Seeing the kids faces when they saw not only thier dad but some very good friends of ours return home from a very long and frustrating deployment was just amazing.

We were able to hang around for a while with everyone while we waited for the rest of my husbands company to get back before they were released. And for the first time ever I got to take him home during daylight (that never happens lol).

I wish everyone could have seen Michelle. When you think Daddy's girl lets just take that and times it by about 100!!! It was so amazing to see her with him. He cannot believe the way the kids have grown and we were all shocked that Abigail knew exactly who he was.

If you look closely Michelle's hand is wrapped around his neck

Shawn and all the kids

Shawn, Sierra, Austin, James, Shawn Jr

Shawn and Michelle. She would not let go of him

Shawn and his brother D.J (also a Marine)

James upset because he got sprayed by some water spout (it was funny)

Cleaning him up. It didnt help that he was already wet because of the rain.

We were giving her tons of kisses and she was loving it!

His sister called and he got to talk to her.

Shawn and I and some very good friends of ours

This right here is a priceless picture.

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Enjoying five minutes of peace watching the helicopters bring in the other companies.

Welcome home my love

                                                                   12-17-2010

I feel like..

A complete emotional wreck.. Its been 7 months since I have seen my husband... I have either a little less or a little more then 48 hours until I see him again. It's been 7 MONTHS. 7 very LONG and eventful months.

Currently these are my thoughts

* Why can't the laundry do itself..
* What has gotten into my kids?
*How in the world am I going to pull off everything that I have to do?
* What in the world do I wear???
* What do the kids wear?
* And last but not least... Where oh where did I put my brain that normall is completely in control of everything because currently the one that I have feels and is acting like complete mush :(

I cannot wait for this week to be over but at the same time the anxiety is really starting to get to me... I just want my husband home!!!

We have been BUSY...

And thats to say the least... Busy. What in the world does that word mean within the Cope household??? It means 4 kids and a momma all on her own with some help from some wonderful friends and family... And it also means that we are getting ready for something very special...


Someone very near and dear to my heart is coming home... Can you guess who that is?!

If you guessed Shawn then you are very right!!!!!

We cannot wait and are very excited and BUSY!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!

Dear Epilepsy,

You annoy me. You annoy me so much it brings my mood down. You annoy me so much that everytime you decide to do your annoying thing it brings me very very close to tears. And feel free to dissapear at any point and time

Sincerely,
An annoyed parent.

Michelle had her Neurology appointment yesterday. That was annoying. I love her new Neurologist. Im glad we got away from the other one. He may be the director of the department but her annoys me. So much so that I have made a very good point in telling him (my mouth gets me into a lot of trouble at times).

On Sunday we were sitting quietly on the couch watching football (well Michelle was mommy was yelling at the tv hehe:) ) and Michelle started grunting and just staring at the tv. I got no response from her. Her breathing got very fast and she just sat there and grunted. When she started arching her back and the grunting got worst thats when I knew what she was doing. That was annoying.

So of course yesterday when we were at the appointment she did it.. Again. That was annoying. Of course the doctor has a few different ideas for us. Those are also annoying.

Idea #1- Wait and see.. (like I said annoying.)

Idea#2- Wait and see what she does but also run an EEG and depending on what it says start Topamax. He also went on to say that if her seizures were caused by her Hydrocephalus (10% of Hydrocephalus patients suffer from seizures when their shunts fail) that the medication would do nothing for her and we would basically be giving her a pointless medication. Again ANNOYING.

Idea # 3- Give her the medicine NOW and see if it helps her headaches and also do the other 2 ideas while were at it.

Here's my idea....

DON'T give her a medication that in the long term can leave her with some pretty nasty side effects. Not to mention that it may not even work! The last 5 medications havent worked.

Do the EEG and see if its definite seizure activity and then talk about a DIFFERENT approach to the medication stand.

Do continue with the Tylenol and Motrin for her headaches and if they DONT go away look for a different headache medication. If you can't tell im slightly against the topamax.

Michelle doesn't seem to be suffering from anything at this point. The mood swings are still there. The tiredness is still there. The im going to be a complete pain in your you know what is still there. So here I sit. More annoyed then I was Sunday.