Frederick Family Update 08.31.10

Terrell: Terrell started school yesterday - his second to last semester! How exciting! That means we will be leaving Provo in just 8 months. Possible places for internships: Iowa, Florida, St. George, Colorado Springs. Terrell also picked up another job; he works as a BYU security officer and looks super legit in his uniform! He is one busy guy, working 2 jobs and going to school full time. Luckily, he'll only have this crazy schedule for 2 semesters! He also recently got his hair cut short, the shortest he's ever had it since he was 16, he said. He looks very handsome!

Kellie: I am now a full-time mommy!!!! No school or work for me - except the work of being a full-time mom! Which is hard work, butI love it! My goals are to be the best mom/wife ever and to really keep the house clean and organized! Not to mention catching up on my scrapbooks and other craft photography. I'm also learning about different things through books from the library such as: photography, organization, interior design, writing, and more. I'm also going to write a fictional novel - a long time goal of mine! It will be a story similar in nature to a Fablehaven/Leven Thumps type of book. I'm excited and hopefully it won't be too lame! I'm also working on the Young Women's personal progress for the second time. It will be great to have spiritual goals to work daily, and to have a brand new manual to do it in! I'm also becoming the champion of falling asleep whatever I'm doing. Like right now, I've ad to go bad fix them all dose dang misspellings and tyop's!

Lexi: Lexi is 6 months old! I can't even believe it! Time flies! She is such a silly girl!!! She loves rolling around, scooting, etc and is incredibly fast! She is working on crawling - and is almost there!!! She can sit up really well now, too. Her favorite thing is to blow bubbles and make silly sounds with her mouth/lips. She also babbles a lot, too! She loves to play, read stories, and smile at anyone and everyone! She is such a happy little pun'kin! She is 24 inches and 12.5 lbs. We are working hard at getting her right hand to be more developed and will probably start physical therapy with her through Utah's Early Intervention. She's had a lot of tests (as well as Terrell and I) to determine what may have caused her stroke. Lexi is also getting a lot of hair - and it's wicked blonde! It's so fun to see her hair when she wakes up with bedhead! :)

Family: We moved into Wymount again. This move was not particularly by choice, but you can read other posts for stories on our move! A few weeks ago we went to a Goates Family Reunion (Terrell's mom's side). It was really fun! We were only able to go for a day, though, do to Terrell's work and Lexi's tests. Nonetheless, we had a great time! Terrell and I were also able to go on a bike ride togetr - FINALLY! It was so fun, and definitely made me realize just how out of shape I am! We also go to the library a million times a week and check out lots and lots of books, DVDs, and CDs! We're addicted to the library. We also all love sleeping. Sigh. I love sleeping during the day durbig naptime. Ifonly Lexi took naps during the day!

Thanks for reading! Keep checking back! :)

Empy Ice Cream Buckets

I need some!

Do you have some?

Do you know someone who has some?

Can I have them?

I'm looking for around a dozen!

I'm gettin' ORGANIZED and CRAFTY!

Pro/Con

As I take a break from packing, I decided to reflect on my feelings on this move. I'm determined to be positive. Yes, that's right. Positive. So, I've come up with a list of Pro's. But, let's start with the Con's first, that way we end with good news :)

Con's for Moving to Wymount

- Rent is more expensive

- Waaay smaller

- NO washer dryer :(

- Cinder block walls

- An apartment, not a house

- 3rd Floor. It's 30 steps to the top. I counted.

- Mini stove.oven

-Less storage space

- Must buy 3M stuff to decorate

- Have to get a over the toilet storage thingy

- Further away f/Terrell's work & School

Pro's for Moving to Wymount

- Cable TV again!

- Free internet

- Month to month contract = NO landlords

- More social atmosphere

- A bathtub!

- Windows = more light!

- Balcony

- Live in the stairwell next to our best friends

- Less bugs

- Across the street f/Health Center

and that's all I got right now.

Oh, goodness!

We're moving on SATURDAY. Let's just say this week has been crazy and we found out pretty much yesterday we're moving this weekend.

BAH.

Lexi will have moved twice in her 6 month life. Poor baby!

Off to pack.................

Our housing adventures...

Apartment #1: College Park

-Why we moved: needed a bigger apartment for the arrival of our baby; the managers were dumb, and never did anything - a lot of time and money from our own selves went into that stinkin' apartment

-Time in Apartment: 2.5/3 months

Apartment #2: Wymount Terrace

-Why we moved: To get cheaper rent, for a bigger place WITH a washer and dryer!

-Time in apartment: about 9 months

Apartment #3: Basement Apartment

-Why we (are) moving: The house sold and the new lame-o landlord is building his dream bachelor pad out of it for him and his buddies, so we're getting kicked out. LAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't even want to talk about it... Oh, but did I mention that this spoiled new landlord is our age, and his parents bought it for him?

-Time in Apartment: 5.5/6 months

Apartment #3.5: A Single Men's Apartment that's owned by Terrell's employer!

-Why we're there: The dumb new landlords didn't switch names on the utilities fast enough, so we have no power, no water, no NOTHIN'!

-Time in Apartment: 2.5 days - then we're back to apt. #3 until Sept. 10

Apartment #4: Wymount Terrace

-Why we're going there: We found a place back at Wymount instead of another apartment complex or house because we don't have to deal with landlords, stupid people, and we can get out when we want, no matter what!

-Time in apartment: We'll be there for the remainder of our time in Provo; aka 8-9 months

We've been married 1 1/2 years and we've lived 4.5 places. Let's hope this trend doesn't continue.... can't wait to be out of Provo!

The Scoop on Miss Lexi Lee

On Thursday morning (earrrly!) we headed to Riverton Hospital for Lexi's MRI on her brain. Her appointment was at 6:30 am and there was pretty much no one at the hospital at that time! :) We started out in the pre-sedation room where Lexi got a check-up to make sure things were a-okay to sedate.

They sedated through an IV, and I hated watching them put it in - I cried! That's my little BABY they're hurting! :( She didn't scream/cry as much as I thought she would, but it was still heart breaking for me nonetheless. After the IV was set, I was able to hold her which I was very happy about! They pumped a ton of IV fluid through her to make sure she was well hydrated, etc. and Lexi HATED that feeling! She cried more every time fluid was put through than she did while they set the IV!

They actually sedated her in the MRI room, so they could just transport her easily from me to the MRI bed, and I did not like watching my baby girl get put under, and carried away from me while she was strapped to a table! Needless to say, I cried again! Terrell was okay though, and so I was just a sob! :) We waited in the recovery room for about forty five minutes and they brought her back to us. They had her sleep for another hour and a half or so, and then we fed her Pedialyte, which she DOWNED, and then 4 oz of her formula which she DOWNED! Someone was hungry! She hadn't eaten anything for a long time!

We were discharged at around 10:00am, and decided to head back to Provo instead of staying in the SLC area. We took naps when we got home which of course, were not long enough! We were already beat by this time, especially cuz we got about zero hours of sleep the night before due to work (Terrell got home at 2am) and worries (Me).

We luckily had an appointment that same day at Primary Children's to meet with her neurosurgeon, so we were able to find out result just 5 or so hours afterwards, instead of days/weeks! We got lucky!

When we went to the doctor, we were able to view the pictures from her MRI, where we saw (her eyeballs, COOL!) her brain and the area of concern. What it was was scar tissue on her actual brain, with a cyst over that, and then fluid around it. It took up about a 1/4 of her brain (about half the left side) in total.

The verdict from the radiologist and neurosurgeon was that it was evidence of a past stroke (what we were originally told) that occurred either extremely late in the pregnancy or while she was a newborn (most likely the newborn). The damage from the stroke is what's causing her right hand/arm to not be as functional as it should be, and that is irreversible. That makes us pretty sad, because they're nothing they can do because the scar tissue is over the motor skill area affecting her right hand/arm. Don't worry, she doesn't have a "dead" arm or anything, it's just not up to par!

They won't be doing surgery to remove the cyst, because right now they don't feel the cyst/fluid is causing any further damage right now (besides occasional headaches, I presume). However, as she gets older, we will probably put her into some physical therapy to help along her hand and arm. We also presume that she will have occasional check ups at PCH to make sure her cyst/fluid isn't growing, causing further damage, etc.

We're grateful it's not a life threatening situation for Lexi, but we are sad that our sweet little baby had to go through a stroke, and is now permanently affected by it. We're hoping physical therapy, and encouragement of the use of her right hand will bring her motor skills of that area right up to where it needs to be!

Thanks so much for all your prayers, fasting, concern, support, and love! We appreciate you all so much, and are very grateful for you! Please keep checking back on our blog, as Lexi is the biggest GOOF ball ever!

Video Palooza!

Watch and enjoy! I get a kick out of every single video! :)

Featured Videos:

The Funny Mascara Tube

My Silly Silly

Lexi & the Mirror

Silly Silo @ A-land

Splash Over @ A-land

First Attempt @ Rice Cereal

pictures photos pix photographs still-shots pics

I love Porter and Chasey!

Thanks for the cute dress, Aunt Jodi Lee!

Us at Adventureland (thanks for taking us Dad!)

Lincoln is way jealous that Grandma is holding Lexi! Love everyone's faces!

Fishing at the lake with Grandpa!

Cute lil' Jameson. Only 3 weeks older than Lexi. They're buds.

Daddy at Adventureland!

Love this picture of Dallin - getting ready to go ride some rides!

Lexi's in the backpack!!

The Splash Over. Phil (Jodi's friend) look like he's gunna die. I sore I would never ride this ride, but.... I did. Never. Again.

Scott, showing off his medals. And yes, it did get STUCK on his head.

Check out their medals! Thumbs up!

SA Ormond. After he arrested me. Takedown style. Video to come.

Mo-hawk Linc!

This is how Lexi spent the Olympics...sleeping in her swimsuit, inside.

I love this picture of Daniel!

Chase, slip 'n slide.

Wesley, obstacle course

The pro-slip-n-slide-sprayer.

Action shot - SWEET! Go Rich!

Lexi is stylin' in her swim gear!

First food - rice cereal (soy free....it's sooo hard to find!) She loves it and is going great with solids! She started solids at about 4.5 months. She is doing great!

My Music in Motion girls - Session Two (ages 9-12)

Session One (ages 5-8) Aren't they all so cute!

More pictures and updates to come! Sorry so short and vague! Hope you enjoyed it!

another quick update

Here's the update from Lexi's first visit to Primary Children's....

....we met with the doctor and looked at her CAT/CT scan pictures from the other week. We saw where the cyst was, and he told us that it was right on the part of her brain that controls the right hand/right arm; thus explains her not "up to par" development of her right hand/arm. She'll be having her MRI on Thursday to see what is causing the cyst: fluid build up or stroke, etc. No brain tumor possibilities were mentioned! Possible fixes: surgery, or nothing - just a few check ups now and then.

There ya go! :)

a much needed update. lexi style.

So, it's been crazy around here with everything and not to mention we were in Iowa for a week and a half (will post about that later!)

Okay, so here is the Reader's Digest version about Lexi's CAT Scan:

Fortunately, Lexi did not have to be sedated!!! She was such a good girl, and so tired, so she fell right asleep when they strapped her down. The nurse gave her "Baby Crack" (that's really what they call it!) aka, glucose water, and a binky to suck on. The scan only lasts about a minute and I was so grateful she didn't have to be put under! Terrell and I were both able to stand right by her during the whole thing, which I was very grateful for.

Good news!!!! NO CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS! What a blessing! That would have been a scary procedure in order to fix it!

They did, however, find something that they were not looking for. So, we waited around while the radiologist looked at her scans. Then, the nurse took us out of the room, and said, " I usually don't tell people results, cuz I can get in big trouble for doing so, but I feel like I should tell you."

I'm thinking 'WHAT?!?!' but at the same time I'm so grateful to hear the information ASAP! She told us that they found evidence on Lexi's left side of her brain that she has had a stroke sometime in her life. They said it didn't look recent, but they wanted to do more digging to find out the reasons. This would also explain why Lexi struggles with the use of her right hand/arm. She told us not to worry about it (yeah right) and come back and they'd do an MRI/MRA to look more closely at her brain. So, when we got home, we called the doctor's office to see if they could call the hospital to find out the results of her CT scan (which we already knew, but pretended we didn't to spare the nurse).

A little while later I got a call from Lexi's pediatrician and found out more information, and somewhat different information.

She told us that what they found on Lexi's brain was a cyst growing on the left side of her brain. They are not sure what from or what caused it, but it's definitely there. She told me a million different things, but of course, my head was whirling, and I didn't hear everything she was telling me! The things I did catch were a few of the possibilities about the cyst:

1. It's evidence of a stroke.

2. It's what caused a stroke, if she indeed did have one.

3. It's just a cyst, like you'd get anywhere! (let's hope so!)

4. The cyst could grow and put more pressure on her brain, potentially causing brain damage and/or future development (don't worry - right now, Lexi is ahead of the game as far as development goes!)

5. It could be the beginning stages of a brain tumor.

Let's just say this was theeee most emotional day of my life.

So, we are headed up (today, actually) to Primary Children's Hospital to meet with the pediatric neurosurgeon to get her completely checked out. She will be having her MRI/MRA to better see what is going on with her little brain. She will have not be put under, no exceptions, because of the length of the tests, which is about an hour long. Knowing about the cyst also explains why Lexi is sometimes so fussy and inconsolable - her doctor and I have been puzzled about that but now, knowing what we do, the doctor is pretty positive it has to do with the cyst on her brain.

While we were in Iowa, we were blessed enough to have 7 worthy Priesthood holders (all family - what a wonderful experience!) give Lexi a blessing regarding her challenges in life.

We know that our precious little Lexi will be just fine, even though there may be some tough times ahead for her. She's definitely a special little spirit of our Heavenly Father and is a happy, smart, and strong little baby and we're so blessed to be her parents! It is wonderful to know that we have a loving Heavenly Father, and elder brother, Jesus Christ who know what she and her family is going through and that everything will be taken care of how the Lord sees fit. We are so grateful to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to have the knowledge of the only true gospel. It is precious, sweet, and simple and has blessed our lives in so many ways. Throughout this emotional roller coaster, we are so grateful to know that families really can be together forever, and that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us!

We will keep you updated as we find things out! Thanks for all your love and support!