Hello...My name is Jill....and I'm an addict...

I've learned something over the weekend.. I have an addiction... to my COMPUTER and the internet. You see, my laptop is very well loved and it's 3 years old. My kids have abused it a few times (read dropped) and it's seen better days. So this weekend when my DC jack (where you plug the computer cord in) finally gave out ----and my battery is also useless, staying charged for like 10 minutes---- I was sad. So I thought I'd take it to the store to see if they could fix it. Well, they could, for 250 dollars and they'd need it a week. Yikes! They recommended just buying a new one. I went home to talk to Steve about it. Well, we thought we'd see what a new one would cost, I'll just research it on the computer. OH, wait, it's BROKEN!!! Well, we'll just make some lunch..my recipe..it's online.... and my computer is BROKEN!! My hands were starting to shake and I was walking around the house aimlessly... what would I do with out my computer and the internet!

To prevent further withdrawls, Steve took me back to the store and helped me purchase a new laptop. (tax money came at the right time!) And I'm not super picky when it comes to my laptop. I don't need any fancy features. JUST internet service and a place to put my pictures.

Now the only dilemma---gotta get my files off of my old computer. I have a friend who works on computers, so I'm hoping I can pay him to do it, otherwise, Best buy would love to do it for me....for 100 dollars! Oh, they know that they can charge it because it's not like the average Joe can do it. So , knowing the pictures and files are safe and sound, I can take my time to figure out which way we'll get them off.

Oh, and the shaking has subsided :) Steve and the kids had a great time teasing me about my addiction, though!

Anyone else wanna join my support group???
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Matthew had a neurology appointment today. Dr Wright was pleased that his seizures are essentially under control. She was pleased to see how alert and smiley he was. She had not seen him that was before. We are seeing some occasional myloclonic jerks; (these a like brief muscle twitches, not the infantile spasms he was having earlier) but no seizure activity! Yay!-- although she did make brief mention that he still could be having abnormal activity in his brain that is not exhibited as a seizure... but I can't worry about that, because there is nothing I can change especially if it's an assumption or a possibility. Overall I was happy with the visit. It's just always hard to answer the questions, any head control.....'no', rolling over.....'no', making any sounds like ma ma or da da.....'no'. Someday, those questions will get easier to answer...even if the answer is always 'no'.

Movin' on up!!!

Here's our latest picture of Matthew, sitting in his chair with some support. We're working SOOOO hard on head control.

Matthew is finally growing!!! We've spent the greater part of 4 months at 15 lbs. We'd go up a couple ounces, and then down a couple. It was frustrating and hard to see him fall off of the growth curve. We finally rented a baby scale this month. And switched his night time feeding to a new(uber expensive!) formula since he had blood in his poo (his stomach was bleeding, due to an intolerance to the formula). I'm proud to say that with more frequent breastfeeding along with a night time feeding to boost calories has brought him up to..........16 1/2 lbs!! I can't believe it! He feels so much heavier and stronger. And he's gaining at least an ounce a day. He'll be a chunky monkey before we know it.

Guess who's 10 months old!!

The cutest, snuggliest baby around, that's who!!

Can you believe it?? In two months we're be celebrating a whole year!!!

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Worrying is like a rocking chair.....it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere

This was the best advice I got this week and I received it from my baby brother! (who's not such a baby..he'll be an RN in two months)

I didn't want to post anything about this until we knew more, but we had a bit of a scare this week. We drew Matthew's routine labs for his seizure medications on Tuesday. Wednesday morning I got two phone calls from two different physicians by 9:30. Seems Matthew's white blood cell count (which will be from here on out simplified to WBC) was 56 thousand. That is EXTREMELY high. Normal ranges around 5-10 thousand. WBC's are an indicator for a couple things. They are usually elevated during infection (Matthew is not and was not sick), and sometimes they can be a bit elevated due to seizure activity. Matthew's usually run around 15 thousand, due to his seizures. One other reason, (and there are not too many other reasons) is Leukemia. And both doctors had a very high concern that this could be our problem. His pediatrician had us come back in again on Wednesday and redraw just in case it was wrong for some reason. Wednesday his WBC's were 30 thousand. So still too high. She also sent this blood to pathology to determine if the cells were abnormal{indicating leukemia}. We drew lab work again yesterday, saw our pediatrician today and drew lab again today. The pathology results......NORMAL!! Thank you Jesus. I was terrified this week; absolutely terrified.. so a big weight has been lifted. His WBC's today were 18 thousand, so almost back to Matthew's normal. Why were they so high? We don't know. There is the possibility that Matthew had a large seizure we did not witness that could've maybe caused it, but we're not sure. Matthew's doctor is consulting a hemotologist (doctor who deals with blood disorders) to make sure that we're not missing anything, but she checked him over today and gave him a clean bill of health.

There is always drama at the Soldatke household, isn't there???

Heard recently at the Soldatke's...

Mason: {running through the house at breakneck speed} "Hey Megan, come outside and see all the Naked Ladies!!!"


{Mom and Dad bust out laughing}



Mason: {stops and puts hands on his hips} Mom..{with as much sarcasm as a five year old can muster}.... the flowers! Not real naked ladies!



They never cease to amaze me!!

(in case your wondering, this flower below is called a naked lady. We have them popping up all over our back yard. Their formal name is amaryllis belladonna.. and there is your science lesson for the day! )

Spring is here!!!

Today it was a gorgeous 75 degrees and tomorrow promises to be more of the same. I wanted to take Matthew out today in his stroller for a walk, but he had decided that at 1 am he was up for the day and then crashed at around 1:30 and slept all afternoon {and I got a much deserved nap also as I had to participate in his wakefulness}, so we didn't get him outside today, but we're planning for tomorrow and I'll hopefully post some fun outdoor St. Patrick day photos!


These weird sleep patterns seem to pop up whenever we mess with his seizure medications. See, his epileptologist in Minnesota would like to have him off his phenobarbital, but every time we tinker with it, we get more seizures and funky sleep habits. He previously had had very few (like less than five) seizures between Valentines day and last week, so they decided to try to wean it again. I'm wondering if we should just leave it alone??? He is so sleepy though with everything he is on, I'd like to get some more wakeful times. I did talk to them again today and they told me to try some Melatonin to help him sleep tonight and hopefully get him back on track. I'm hoping so.

The kids are on Spring break this week, so we're going to try to do some spring cleaning, or at least go through there dressers and also do some fun things. One thing on the agenda: reading some good books. We're starting with this easy one:

We've already read "My father's dragon" the beginning of this year and this book is the 1st sequel to it. Very easy book. Probably 2nd grade level. It's an oldy. Copyright 1950. Cute innocence! My friend, Beth, said they were a must read and the kids LOVED the first one book! We'll probably finish this one tomorrow and I think Micah wants me to read one of the Narnia books next. This is what I miss most about homeschooling! We used to, everyday, curl up on the couch after lunch and I would read aloud a good book to the kids. It was our favorite part of the day. I can't remember how many times I heard "Just one more chapter, PLEEEAAASE, Mommy!"

You gotta watch this!

When you have 10 extra minutes, grab a box of tissues and watch this. It's WONDERFUL

Happy Birthday to my blog

My blog turned 1 year old yesterday. 1 whole year of documenting this journey. I can't believe how quickly time has gone. Thanks to Lisa who encouraged me to start a blog! I've met so many wonderful people, and it sure is a great way to stay in touch with all my family and friends!