A Unique Christmas

Between all of the doctors appointments, therapy appointments, moving, etc. our Christmas this year was anything but our traditional Christmas... Usually we go to the Christmas Eve service at our local church, have my family over to our house for dinner and presents, finish up all of the wrapping, go to bed late, get up early and make a celebration breakfast for Jesus' Birthday and sing "Happy Birthday", then we do gifts, head to my grandparents and have lunch, come home, and the kids play the rest of the evening.... Sounds good, right?! :)

For those of you who know me well understand that I am a little OCD when it comes to schedules. I like things to be the same and I like to do the same thing each year. I do not like the fact that things change and circumstances change...unexpectedly... I LOVE ROUTINE.

This year our Christmas was celebrated completely different... We spent Christmas Eve @ my mother-in-laws house opening gifts and having a late dinner. Then we decided to have a "slumber party" @ my parents house so that the kids could all wake up and be together on Christmas morning and my parents would have all of their children and grandchildren there on Christmas Morning for probably the last time... We are all grown up with children of our own, my sister and her husband are moving out of my parents house this coming year, my brother will be stationed in Texas, etc. So it was a Christmas to remember!

The kiddos enjoyed being all together as a big GIANT family...and the fact that Santa made a detour and brought the gifts to my mom and dads house.

There was one thing that remained the same though...the reason for celebrating. :) On Christmas Day our Savior was born... So no matter how different, stressed out, and unsettled I feel this year, I am still thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ. He is in control. I just remind myself that He knows the plans He has for me. This brings me JOY.

Merry Christmas to everyone! We are truly blessed to know each and every one of you. Thank you for all the love, support, and kindness you have shown to our family. Our lives would not be the same without any of you!!!

Love,
The Lewis Family

Here are some pics from Christmas Morning:

Logan Hunter with his Pirate Ship! My special boy!

Hailey Grace with "Squinkies!"

Emily Faith with her DS

Hailey with her new pet! ;)

Emily opening gifts!!!

My Love-Bug! Who couldn't love this smile!!!

My brother with his daughter on her FIRST Christmas! I love my sweet niece Nayomie!

These are my 3 blessings! I love each one of them sooooo much!

They had a GREAT time at Nana and Papa's House! All 5 together!

My sweet nephew Madden. He loved his presents!!!



Our Logan

Logan Hunter was born June 24, 2006 at a healthy weight of 7 lbs 1 oz and 19 1/2 in long. He was and still is  perfect in our eyes! He is our third and final child. Out of our three children he was the only one who did NOT go to the NICU. We brought him home as soon as they allowed us to do so. Our family was complete and we were elated!

Logan developed normally (btw...I loathe the word "normal") up until he was about 18 months... He did walk a little later (around 14 months), but that was not really a concern. However, around 18 months we noticed that he wasnt really talking and there were A LOT of tantrums. At most he said "mama" and "dada." The way he communicated his needs was done mainly by pointing. We did enroll him in speech therapy for a year from 2 to 3 years old. This helped him tremendously and put him back into the age appropriate range. Nearing the end of our therapy sessions Logans therapist noticed a lack of participation, attention, and more agression than what his "normal" was. She signed off on his speech and recommended we discuss the lack of attention and agression with his pediatrician. 

We followed up with Logans pediatrician and he reassured us that Logan was just a typical hyperactive little boy. As the days, weeks, months passed Logan continued to become more agressive...hitting, kicking, slapping, pinching anyone who was around him. He was actually kicked out of daycare for these behaviors and not being able to socialize with peers. My husband and I decided that the best thing for Logan and our family was for me to stay at home and take care of him full-time. We then went back to the pediatrician and he put Logan on a medication for agression called Risperdal. I am not a fan of "drugging" children, but Logan was hurting others and himself. His Risperdal in conjunction with a psychologist helped for a while up until recently.

Logan has started some new behaviors such as hitting himself, scratching himself, not crying when he does get hurt, etc. This concerned us and our psychologist. We have been referred to a psychiatrist who now regulates Logans medication instead of his pediatrician. His psychiatrist has also discontinued the Risperdal and is trying a new medication called Haloperidol. Logans psychiatrist also referred us to a geneticist because he felt that Logan does not fit in any certain disorder one hundred percent. He shows signs of Autism, ADHD, PDD, and several others I just cannot think of at the moment.

We met with Dr. Bader (Logan's Geneticist) a few weeks ago and she has given us some new leads... We have now officially had an EEG, MRI, bloodwork, urinalysis, and an observation done by her. Her findings so far are that he definitely has PDD (pervasive developmental disorder), his balance is off (we thought he was just clumsy), he didnt move his right side in utero (reason unknown... she can tell by him only having one crease instead of two on his hand), and she thinks that he has some sort of genetic disorder causing the delay, agression, and constant drooling. She is checking into two primary disorders: Fragile X and Prader Willi.

Our hope is to find out what is going on with Logan and treat him the best way possible so that he may live the most fulfilling life possible. He is the reason I wake up every morning! I love my baby boy. Soooo...on we go to therapy three times a week. Occupational, Speech, and Physical Therapy.

January 3rd we meet with a neuropsychologist who specializes in Autism, and on January 18th we meet back with Dr. Bader to discuss all of the test results and possibilities. Please pray for Logan!

My hope for this blog is to keep family and friends informed on how Logan is doing and the progress we are making...

Thanks for reading!!!