The Crud

The past couple of days the crud has been trying to eek its way into the house and this morning I think it finally took us over. Dawson has been hacking and coughing, Madison has been hacking and coughing, and after an entire day of some serious sinus drainage, I too woke up this morning hacking and coughing and just not feeling very well at all. So far the only one who is feeling worth anything at all this morning is Allison. She has that " Mommy Tuff'ness" thing going on I guess.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and got to eat tons of wonderful food and spend some time with our families. Yesterday, my folks spent the day with us and Dad made some wonderful seafood gumbo and then, after six long years, got to watch Alabama finally whip Auburn. Roll Tide!!!

Dawson is still doing really well and despite being sick he is still all smiles. He's walking around more and more and watching him grow and excel is such a treat to us. Thanks as always for checking on how he is doing.

We love you
Jeff and Allison

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, this family certainly has much to be thankful for this year. God has done some amazing things and brought into our lives some amazing people. I just wanted to take a few minutes and list a few of them.

First of all we are thankful that as of today Dawson has been 182 days seizure free ( How AMAZING!!!)

We are so thankful to both our parents who live in town with us. They have played a major part in our lives this year and they take such great care of Dawson and Madison while we work. We are so lucky to both have such wonderful parents who live close to us.

We are thankful for Dawson who has taught us how to be strong and courageous in the face of adversity.

We are thankful for the wonderful people we have met through this ordeal who have never met us or Dawson yet continued to pray for him. ( Zoey's family, Reagan's family, Connor's family, Trevor's family, Jackson's family, Cameran's family,My uncle Don's Sunday school class in Chattanooga Tennessee, All wonderful people at Highland Baptist, my brother and his family in Prattville, Allison's sister and family in Montgomery, The Barnard clan in Johnson City Tennessee, The Barnard clan in Florida and all the many many others who have lifted Dawson up to the Lord in prayer. We are truly thankful to each and every one of you.

For the wonderful people I work with who have been nothing but supportive of our family this year.

Most of all, we are thankful that we serve a mighty God who is ALIVE today and still preforming miracles.

We hope that all of you have a very happy Thanksgiving day. God bless and we love you all very much.

Jeff and Allison

video of Dawson walking

Here is a little snippet of Dawson doing some walking over at Granny and Grampy's house. He is getting better and better on his feet. Everybody here is doing well and we have had a busy but uneventful weekend. Thank you for the continued prayers and support for our family. Enjoy the video and we love you all

Jeff and Allison

Walking like an old pro

Dawson is getting better and better each and every day with this whole walking thing. He is able to pretty much walk across the room now without any problems. Crawling is still the preferred method of travel but I suspect that will all be changing very soon. This will present us with a whole new set of challenges. Dawson has always been a curious one and we will probably have to do a little more " child proofing" now that we are standing and walking about.

Other than that, not too much to report. We continue to live in this wonderful life that does not involve seizures and we are thankful, thankful, THANKFUL for each and every one of those days. It is such a joy and blessing to be able to watch Dawson progress the way he has.

We are trying to get him set up with speech therapy through early intervention. He does have some words that he says but we are not satisfied with his talking. We both feel he should be saying a lot more than what he does. Hopefully we can get that rolling soon and be able to see some improvement.

Thanks for stopping by to check on us. We so appreciate every one of you.

Our love to all

Jeff and Allison

Baby steps

We've done it. We are officially walking!!! Last night Allison and I were sitting a small distance from each other and we were asking Dawson to go give mommy/daddy his pacifier. It started with three steps and tonight he took 9 steps. Looks like were off and running.

Although I have seen 3 of my children learn to walk before........... Well, watching this one learn to walk has been kinda special to us and all thanks be to God for this continued miracle.

GO DAWSON GO!!!!!!!!! were so proud of him!!

Our love to all our family and friends

Jeff and Allison

Birthdays O' Plenty

Today we celebrate yet another birthday. Katelin has officially turned 7. Its been an interesting year for Katelin. As most of you know she was diagnosed several months ago with Type I Diabetes. Her bravery has helped her triumph over this and I, as her father, couldn't be more proud of this brave little girl. With my oldest daughter now in " double digits" as of last week and Katelin turning 7 today, not to mention that Madison's birthday is only weeks away......... Whew, all these birthdays in a row will make one feel a little OLD!!!...... AND BROKE!!

I know its not a big secret but I am very very proud of all my kids. They are each special in their own way and Im all smiles as I watch them grow. Speaking of kids making me proud.... Dawson is doing just great. He continues to triumph over and beat down this thing called Infantile Spasms. His teeth cutting sessions have decided to give him a little break and the past few days he has been all smiles and giggles. He is all over the house exploring and just doing normal 1 year old stuff. Keep it up little buddy we are all so very proud of you!!

So a big birthday wish goes out to my darling Katelin and thanks for checking in on us.

Jeff and Allison

Finally out of boxes...well, for the most part anyway

We have done it, we are out of boxes. There are a few small random boxes, mostly with stuff that just needs to be tossed out anyway. We all like the new house. Madison said to me tonight, "Mom, this house is so big, I can't even find you!" It was too cute. We are still making the much needed improvements. The kitchen and the kids room are the only ones that are close to being finished. It will just take time, time in between jobs and kids, which isn't much. Oh well, we are still so happy to be here none the less.

Dawson continues to do well. When I dropped him off at my parents yesterday and had turned to leave, I heard "Bye Bye" from behind me. I turned, thinking that it had to have been Madison, but she was still in on the couch, it was Dawson. He said Bye Bye clear as a bell. I tried to get him to say it again, but he just stared at me. He won't do it when you try to get him to, it has to be on his own time.

He still isn't walking. He will stand up on his own and stand forever but just won't take a step. I have been hearing for the past few weeks, "Yep, he'll be walking next week!" Nope, Jeff he won't, he just isn't ready.

We have been using the Melatonin for the past week and he sleeps better, not great, but better. Any improvement is good, so I can't complain. I have not dosed him in the middle of the night yet, only before bed. I just give him less then half of the max recommended dose so that I could dose him later if needed. He sleeps really soundly for the first half of the night and then usually wakes twice in the early morning hours, but goes back to sleep really easily. This morning he woke up early, about 5:30am. He did not go back to sleep. I had to get up to shower and he cried most of the time while I was in there. Sorry Jeff, no one would do but momma this morning, poor guy.

Today is Ashlyn's 10th birthday!!! Happy Birthday Ashlyn!!!! We can't believe she is ten, double digits. She already seems so grown up. She is playing basketball this year and her team is undefeated so far---Go Jaguars!!

Thanks for checking in on our family. We love you all and appreciate all the support.

Allison

EEG test results

We have just arrived home from Huntsville where Dawson had his EEG.  Our favorite tech was there and this lady is just amazing. While it takes others about 30 min to glue all the electrodes to his head, she can get it done in about 10 minutes. And the  greatest part about today's test is that Dawson quietly sat in mommy's lap and never uttered a sound. Usually its quiet a battle and he has to be restrained during the hooking up process. But not today. He was a perfect angel and just as soon as he was all hooked up he went right to sleep (which is a required element for the testing to begin.)

Another great thing about today's test is the results.  A perfectly clear EEG.  No signs of any seizure activity, can you believe it?? what a blessing.  Although he has visibly been seizure free for a few months now, you always wonder whats going on inside the brain that you cant see.  We have been wondering for a while and now we know. Nothing but normal stuff going on up there.

Starting tomorrow we are going to start weaning him off of his seizure meds.  It's hard for us to do that because of all the what if's.  This is going to be a very slow process and he will be weaned at a very slow and cautious rate.  We are cutting back on his Lamictal as of today and hopefully if all goes well we will start weaning Topamax after the first of the year.  I think there are some who might think we are crazy for even considering reducing his meds when things are going so well but I need to say this.

I truly, truly believe God healed my son and if I truly believe that then I must act on faith.  Jesus didn't make the lame to walk only to hand them a pair of crutches in case they needed them.  Faith is what got us to this point, and faith will carry us all the way to the finish line.

For those of you who have followed his story from the beginning you can't deny the fact that God has actively been involved in this process.  If he is healed and free from seizures, then why would he need to be medicated to stay that way???  Pray for us as we take this leap of faith because that's exactly what it is... A giant leap

We also talked about getting him caught up on his immunizations which brings up an entire different subject.  I have done a ton of studying regarding the way we immunize our children, and I have studied both side of the fence.  This is a very controversial subject matter for many of us parents, especially those who have autistic children.  My take on it is this.....

I am not against the idea of immunizations for our children but I am against the way its done.  Just because this is the way its been done for the past 50 years doesn't mean its necessarily right.  There are many many cases where neurological disorder such as Dawson's, and those with Autism are directly linked to receiving mass quantities of shots at one time.  I have agreed to the following.  Getting him caught up basically one and two shots at a time.  Yet again another leap of faith.  Dawson's seizures started about 10 days after receiving his two month set of shots and from what I have learned if your going to have a bad reaction, its usually going to be within 24 to 72 hours.  So I feel fairly confident that the two are not directly related in our case but I have also learned what a huge government business this is and we will proceed with Dawson's shots on our terms and when we say its ok.

So all in all, a pretty good day and we always enjoy getting great news such as this. Thank you God for allowing my son to be seizure free!!

Our love to all

Jeff and Allison

Living with boxes

We had a very successful move. It took 3 trips in a 24 foot box truck and numerous car and truck loads but we made it. Everything we own is back under one roof again and now the trick is remembering what box you put what in. Were still digging out and It's looking like maybe a week before things are in some sort of organizational pattern again. A HUGE thank you to my parents and Allison's parents for all the help this weekend. Those who weren't moving things were watching kids for us and vice versa. An even bigger thanks to my brother in law Adam who has been right with me during the " double move" Thanks Adam!!!! We would have never made it without you guys.

We are waiting on Internet connection at home ( I can neither confirm nor deny that I am might or might not be doing this from my work computer) and hopefully withing the next couple of days they will be out to get us hooked up. Madison loves her new room and Dawson seems to be having a pretty good time in the new place as well. Lots of new places for him to go and explore.

Speaking of Dawson he continues to do very very well. We are still seizure free and we are going to Huntsville for an EEG on Thursday. This EEG was scheduled about a month ago and its his first EEG since being seizure free. Its been so long since hes had one and we are anxious to see some normal rhythmic brain waves. The EEG is going to be done in his Neuro's office which is nice because she can read it right then and there without having to wait and we will also be meeting with a Genetics specialist while we are there as well. So needless to say, Thursday will be a huge day for us. Pray with us for some awesome results.