Carving Pumpkins With Daddy

We carved pumpkins as a family this past week. Trey was some what interested in the festivities this year. His favorite part by far was picking out our pumpkins. We got a tiny little pumpkin for our special arrival on the way.

Here are a few pics from the evening...




Trey's little pumpkin he made at therapy.

Fun With Shay

When Trey and I did get out this summer we spent a lot of time with our old neighbors the Connell's. Trey loves Miss Shay. Mike and Colleen were so sweet to have Trey and I over for lots of dinners while Curtis was busy recruiting so much this summer. They have been so wonderful to us and we love spending time with them.

Trey and Shay are only a couple months apart and it has been fun to see them finally interact a little more with each other.

Here are some pics of the kiddos...

Playing in Shay's pool.






Trey loved of course going down her slide.


They both had fun together at our outing to the park.



Shay has quite the vocabulary and I just get the biggest kick out all the things she says. Since we are expecting another little boy I am going to live my girl side out with Shay and spoil her with Barbies, etc.


My little man loving to explore.




We are so thankful for the Connell's friendship and look forward to more wonderful memories with their family.

The Results Are In

Well we had our ultrasound done today as planned. First I am so happy to report our little sweet pea is healthy and growing right on schedule. The sonographer reassured us that she didn't see any skull or spine abnormalities. Which was a big concern for us.

And yes it is a little brother for Mr. Trey. We are quite excited about the news.

Here are a few of the ultrasound pictures....

Profile pic.


Do you see the little hand by his mouth??


It's official.


I see my OB doctor tomorrow to go over the ultrasound and have my routine check-up. We are feeling very blessed with the good news that a healthy little boy is growing in my tummy.

*Summer Fun*

Well with everything that has gone on these last couple months I haven't been able to post blog updates like I wanted. I feel bad because there was so much I wanted to do with Trey this summer and that just didn't happen because I wasn't feeling up to it. So the next couple of posts will be some catch up from the summer.

Every summer at the end of August Pullman has a Lentil Festival in town. They usually have activities going on throughout the weekend. One of the events is the Lentil Festival Parade. We went to it last year and Trey loved it. But this year he wasn't the biggest fan. I am not sure exactly what he was afraid of. He calmed down after awhile but needless to say it wasn't the most pleasant outing.


We met up with Trey's dear buddy Miss Shay and her parents Mike and Colleen.


Colleen was sweet enough to hold Trey majority of the time because he didn't want to be put down.

Here are some pics from the parade.



WSU Marching Band.



WSU mascot, Butch.


One of the highlights for us is seeing Curtis and the team walk in the parade. Maybe next year Trey will walk with Daddy.



The big football players.


The big semi-truck the football team uses for away games that carries all the equipment, etc.


I think by the end of the parade Trey enjoyed himself.

Countdown!!!

Well the Allen Family has 4 days until we find out if our little sweet pea is a boy or girl. We are quite excited for Thursday's ultrasound. I am little nervous because of course with everything that has gone on this pregnancy and now finding out about Trey's Chiari diagnosis. We are just praying for a healthy baby.

I have done some fun little gender predictor tests online and every single one has said a girl. A little girl would totally rock our world.

Here is a pic of my belly at 17 weeks. I haven't been as good about taking pics of my belly this time around. I feel bad but the days just slip away from me. Please excuse the bruising on my tummy. Those are complimentary from the Lovenox shots I do twice a day for the blood clot.


Trey and his little 17 week old baby.


I will be 19 weeks on Tuesday and the baby should be weighing around 8 1/2 ounces and measuring around 6 inches, the size of a large tomatoe.


What do you think???

Update on Mr. Trey

Wow I can't believe how long its been since I last posted a blog. We have made it back home to Pullman and are trying to settle into normal life again. It was a long week up in Tacoma but we were able to find out some answers and now have a plan for the little man.

Trey's tummy bug subsided but the time we headed up to Tacoma for Trey's testing. I will soon explain but Trey's seizure activity had nothing to do with his illness during the week. When we saw our GI doctor while we were up there and we found that he has lost 2 lbs which is a significant amount for Trey. I spoke to his therapist that we are planning to see for the intensive feeding program in December at Seattle Children's. This weight loss may affect whether he is able to safely participate in their therapy program because the little guy just doesn't have enough reserve left. But hopefully we will be able to catch up by then.

Tuesday was a very long day for Trey. It was nice to be able to have both tests done (EEG and MRI) on the same day but an exhausting day for us all.

Trey had an EEG done first. He was such a trooper. I think he had over 30 electrodes taped to his head and then gauze wrapped all around his head. He looked like a little mummy. Those results showed that Trey has benign occipital epilepsy in childhood. This is a hereditary type of epilepsy that represents about 3% of all childhood epilepsy cases. So Curtis and I could have had it and just never experienced any seizure activity.

This kind of epilepsy is characterized by focal seizures (which Trey had) meaning there is abnormal electrical brain activity that occurs on only one side of the brain. The activity originates from the part of the brain called the occipital region.


The EEG will show occipital spike with both eyes open and closed. Here is an example not Trey's....


Most children outgrow the seizures after 2 to 4 years. Trey has been started on anti-epileptic drug to control any further seizure activity. We met with a neurologist at Mary Bridge who will continue to see Trey for the next couple of years. Trey will have another follow up appointment at the beginning of Nov. to see how the medicine is working.

After the EEG testing was done we headed over to have the MRI scan of the brain done. Trey really did amazing and was so brave. The sedation team at Mary Bridge did a wonderful job with Trey. They had a child life specialist who came to do lots of medical play before the IV poke. We gave him some sleepy medicine before (through his g-tube) to help relax him a little bit.

Here are some pics...



Obviously watching them put him to sleep was very difficult. Lots of tears for Mommy. I lost it when they took him away for the scan. I wasn't able to go with him because of the little sweet pea in my tummy.

So the MRI showed that Trey has Chiari I Malformation. This was found only because we did the MRI and has no connection with the seizure activity earlier in the week.

Here is an attachment to explain the condition in more depth.

www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-Chiari.htm

After I got this news I was on information overload. The neurosurgeon in Tacoma believes Trey doesn't need surgery at this time. We will meet with him for the first time at the beginning of Nov. We also saw a neurosurgeon at Seattle Children's for a second opinion who also agrees that no surgery is needed right now. He is suggesting that Trey be followed closely and have another MRI scan in 6 months. I really felt comfortable with this doctor and his plan of care for Trey. He went over the scans with me and answered my endless list of questions.

One of the things we did discuss was whether this Chiari diagnosis is related to any of Trey's feeding struggles. He believes that it contributes to a small piece but not the majority. But something he will continue to monitor.

My anxiety has dropped significantly. The last couple of weeks seemed beyond overwhelming but we believe that everything has happened for a reason. If Trey hadn't had a seizure we might not have found this Chiari problem until way later down the road.

It has been a breath of fresh air seeing our little boy running around with energy, spunk and laughter again. Curtis and I were laughing how we were thankful just to have him get into things again. Thank you all for sending encouragement and prayers our way.

Some recent pictures since we have been home.





We love this little boy more than words can express.

Updates Coming Soon:)