Let summer begin...

Summer break is now!

I'm excited to spend the next few weeks

with my sweet babies!

 Summer is my favorite!

Can they just stay little?

Why can't they just stay like this forever????

My sweet babies are growing up!

It just hit me last week...

I will have no kids at home with me

during the day next school year.

All four of my sweet peas will be in school???

How did that happen???

My baby girl...

No matter how many 

birthdays come and go,

you'll always be 

my baby girl!

Awards day for Blazer...

Today was Blaze's end of the

 year party and awards day!

He got the "Fantastic Friend" award!

This made his mom VERY proud!

Blaze use to not interact at all with other kids

and now he loves everybody! 

I'm so proud of how far he has come!

Pictured above is his 1:1 para.

I can't even say enough about her!

She has been his school mom this year

and has taken such good care of him!

She has for sure been a blessing to him and me!

We are ready for summer break to begin!

Goodbye school!

Hello Summer! 

3rd grade is over just like that...

This year has flown by!

My little man breezed right through 3rd grade

and has done so good this year!

He makes me so proud of how hard he works!

He got the "Most Musical"

award because his teacher said that

he is music to her ears! 

He had the best teacher EVER!

I love this lady right here!

She has truly been a blessing!

Ready or not

4th grade here he comes!

Prek graduation...

Today was PreK ( 3 year) graduation

and awards day for baby girl!

She was so so excited! She has had a

great year and made so much progress!

She also ended up with one

of my favorite teachers!

Love this lady! 

For the kids choice award.

she got the "fashionista" award!

Which cracks me up considering that

I spend most of my days just

trying to keep clothes on her...lol 

Way to go my sweet baby!

I am so proud of you!!!!!

She will be off the Prek-4 in the fall!

Our first big splash...

We hit the mid 90's today

so what better way to spend the day

then making a big splash?

The first one this season!

I sure enjoy watching these

little water babies play!

I am so blessed! 

We have a name...

Brandon and Ashley have chosen a name

for Baby Girl Crawford!

Adley Joanna

Adley is pronounced Add-Lee

Joanna is after my mom Joann 

who passed away in 2018

and also after 

one of Brandon's family members,

The ending Anna is after my daughter Anna.

My girl...

My sweet girl and her CRAZY dog!

She loves this dog so much 

and it loves her.

Ada Grace and Ruby 

Mother's Day Weekend...

I had a wonderful weekend!

I enjoyed spending time with

 my dad, my kids, and the grands.

We cooked out burgers and hot dogs

on the grill at my daddy's house.

The babies all had a good time playing together!

Any day with them is a blessed day!

I love my babies! 

Update from Blaze's study...

As I mentioned, Blaze spent this week at CHOA going through more testing for surgery. When you are facing a surgery of this magnitude it's not an easy decision. When other organs mess up, you can often replace them with a donor organ, but a brain can't be replaced and the brain controls every single thing in your body. When a doctor is considering removing parts of your brain it is very risky. Some parts can be removed but some can't. Every part of your brain has a purpose. The doctor's job is to study the child over several months to get to know the child well and to pinpoint the exact problem areas. They have to study those areas and how the child uses them.  Then decide if the gains are worth the risk of loss.

As of right now, most of the testing is leaning toward the left side of Blaze's brain. The temporal lobe, amygdala, and hippocampus areas. Those seem to be our problem. The lesion that they are concerned about is also in that area. As we go through the different steps they will be looking to see if each test agrees with the others. Once the tests are all complete then we will set down as a team and discuss the types of surgeries and decide if it's safe to go forward (They did tell me that they are leaning toward a resection). Even if CHOAs team decides that they are comfortable with going forward with surgery, they can't.  They have to send Blaze's study to Emory to be reviewed  by their team...that's how the process works. If Emory decides that they agree with CHOA, then it will bounce back and we will go forward with the surgery at that time. Yes, it's a lengthy process with many admissions, but I'm thankful for that. I'm glad that they don't just jump in and make a quick decision. It's a long drawn out process but that makes it safer for Blaze. That helps me as his mom to know that they are going to great lengths to make the best and safest decision possible for him.

Here are the tests so far..

Short EEG- complete
3 day EEG- complete
MRI- complete
CT scan- complete
2nd- 3 day EEG- complete
Neurodevelopmental study- complete

Next tests...

2nd MRI
Genetic panel
PET scan
5 day admission with
SPECT scan



There could be more or less tests but so far this is what we have. As I mentioned it can take months to get these tests done. The SEEG has a waiting list because CHOA only does 1 kid a week.

Phase two complete...

We are home! Blaze was one happy kid to finally be headed home! It's been a long trying week but we made it! Phase two is complete! When I have some time, I will set down and do a longer update on all that we've learned about Blaze and what the next step is in this process. 

Blaze had a visitor...

Blaze really enjoyed his 4 legged visitor today! One of CHOA's service dogs stopped by to give him some love! 

I have been asked several times about a service dog for Blaze. Even the school has asked if I had considered it. I have. However, to be honest... I really don't want one. If Blaze was older and able to help care for it at least a little, I think it would be different, but he is not. It's so hard now packing up and going anywhere, and I feel like a dog would be like one more kid to take along because a service dog would need to go everywhere with us. I may consider it in the future but just not right now. I talked to the CA group and they told me the process and she doesn't think that  it would take as long for Blaze since we would be seeking an epilepsy dog, because those dogs are only placed with people who have epilepsy unlike some of the other dogs. So yes, I've considered it but the time is just not right now. 

Update on Blaze...

We are just hanging out. Nothing big to share. They are doing a three-day VEEG and a neurodevelopmental study today. The study is to compare where he was/ is if they do surgery. The testing was very similar to the testing they did at Marcus and Emory but we will get the results back a lot sooner. They also said it's the golden ticket for school and services. I'm not sure how it will benefit Blaze as I think we have pretty much maxed out services already. He gets a lot. More than any other child that we know. Which we are very thankful for. However, it wasn't just given to us. I have fought for everything this child has or he wouldn't have it either. 

Phase 2 of testing

Today we start phase two of testing to see if Blaze is a good candidate for surgery. He will spend the week at CHOA going through the next steps of testing. 

It's a baby.....

Ashley took the harmony test and the results are in!

Baby Crawford #2 is a....

We are tickled PINK and over the moon excited!

After all of our baby boys it's time

for a baby girl!

Now to decide on names....hmmmm

Will they keep the "n" family tradition?

All the grand's names end with the "n" sound. 

Or will she break that???

I guess we will see!

Mud puddle giggles...