2-20-2011 update...

I know finally an update!

Winter:

We have had a pretty good winter. Carson has been on antibiotics a few times for colds and a UTI. We have stayed out of the hospital!!! (please knock on wood for us) Carson's seizures have been up and down, we have changed meds and have them pretty controlled right now. Tegratol has been gone for a long time. We tried to get him off Keppra as well but got down to 1/2 ml 3xday and had to increase back to 1 ml 3xday, much better than 5 ml 3xday! We have also decreased Phenobarbitol and increased Sabril. We are currently holding strong waiting for warm weather to stay!

Beginning of spring:

We plan to get Carson back in school after spring break when the weather will stay warm also when the majority of germs are gone. All of his teachers and therapists have been coming to the house this winter. We made it to Coco Key Water Resort (in Independence MO) last weekend for Julianna's birthday...we had a blast. Carson went down his first water slide on his cousin's lap! We also enjoyed the lazy river. Carson's current weight is 19.2 kg (42.25 lbs) and 37 inches long. Our big growing boy!

Diapers:

Carson outgrew disposable children's diapers a long time ago. We switched to cloth diapers around Thanksgiving and they have been working much better. Carson holds his bladder until the last minute, so when he goes it is fast and a lot, the cloth diapers hold all it needs too and are bigger than disposable. The diapers we have him in are called FuzziBunz, we do have to add extra inserts in them also. I wash his diapers once a day, much better than the floods we would have several times a day in disposables.

Schedule on side:

We have changed Carson's schedule a while back. With updates in formula, water, meds and timings! Check it out, we have quite busy days! Thank goodness for Carson's nurses. We currently have a nurse 6 days a week, 12 hours at a time. We are looking to fill our Sunday shift.

Baby:

Baby Cameryn Nicole is expected around March 23. She and I are doing great and growing big. I have been told we need to add pictures. I plan to get pictures of Carson and my belly, I will add them as soon as I take them.

I will get some new pics up soon and try to update sooner than 4 months from now.... Thanks for thinking of us and hope to see all soon!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some long awaited new picures...we have had a busy start to the fall. We went to the Pumpkin Patch with his class, carved pumpkins, trick or treated, and even caught a few smiles on camera! Enjoy....we sure have been!

Carson gave use several smiles the other day, but of course not for the camera. What a gift...seeing your child smile...it melts my heart every time.
Carving pumpkins. Nurse David is helping!
Happy Halloween!

Roar, I'm a scary bear!
Seriously mom, do I have to....hurry up!
Our big brown bear.
At the KC Pumpkin Patch.
They had this awesome jumping pillow. He kept peeking at me wondering what I was making him do.
EWW this is gross!
Cool seeds.
What pumpkin should I choose?

BIG updates!

Hello all, we have been working of quite a few changes over the last month with meds for Carson and our family.

First off, Carson's medicines.... we had a blood test a few months ago to check the levels of the medicines in his body. His Tegretol levels were very low, so low they were not doing any good, the Doctors and us decided to wean him off of it completely. Last sunday was our last day on Tegretol. It has been a very good choice for us, we saw no difference in his seizure activity due to the lack of Tegretol and we have seen a drop in his weight! Carson has not lost weight in a long time and very much needed to, as it turns out Tegretol is an antidiuretic (makes you retain water). We look forward to Carson loosing more weight and in turn helping him feel better.

Carson's Phenobartbitol levels were very very high, and concerning to us and his Doctors. We all decided to try and decrease the Phenobarbitol he is on. With in the last two weeks we have tried to decrease it but saw too many seizures. Our next plan is to add another drug called Vigabatrin while we decrease the Phenobarbitol. We hope to have the Vigabatrin started by the end of the week, we will see where that takes us.

With all of Carson's medicine changes we have been seeing him more alert and we have seen many smiles, almost everyday this week! What a blessing to get to see his smile more often.

Carson is doing good in school. One side effect of all the Phenobarbitol he is on is that it knocks him out and has a hard time waking up in school. We hope the new med will help with this as well. He just finished his first full week at school, due to sickness or holidays or Aunt being in town he had not completed a full week before today! Yeah Carson.

OK, and the change in our family..... We are expecting a healthy baby GIRL in March! Carson's going to be a big brother... we can't wait to meet her and let Carson get his hands on her! We did a first trimester testing called a CVS to check the baby's DNA. Eve though I am not a carrier of Menkes we wanted to make sure. The Doctor took some of the placenta and grew the cells for 2 weeks. The results were in yesterday... a baby girl with 46 chromosomes, the number of a healthy baby! We are very excited.

God Bless and thanks for all your continued support! We couldn't do it with out you!

Great Days!

Here are some long awaited school pictures. Today is his 4th day at school but 1st day to ride the bus. We also went to Iowa this last weekend for a visit and a wedding...great pics with the bride and some new four generation pictures.

Bye Bye Momma and Daddy Loves you!
That is Carson in the 3rd window.
Oh Boy, what is this thing?
Fun ride up with David.
Here we go to the bus.
Waiting for the bus.
Mom and me on my 2nd day at school.
My Para, Angie at school.
What a big school!
Dad and me on my first day of school.
My teacher Joanna.
On my way to school for the first day.
Here we go to school on the first day.
The Bowman boys in front of the Bowman Farms semi.
Four generations!
Us with Grandpa Bowman.
The beautiful Bride, Amy and me!
Bowman family all dressed up!
I sure love my frozen paci! I am chewing on so my lip is popping out!
If feels so good on my teeth!

Update 8-23

Hello All!!!

We are all good news. Carson is doing great, he had an awesome birthday and enjoyed the cup cakes! (I will have pics up soon) Carson was not able to start school last week because of incomplete paperwork. However, he will start tomorrow...Jeff will take him to school and pick him up this week. (The bus is not ready yet) Our boy is so big! We of course will take pictures of this also! Carson is still enjoying the hot tub it has helped relax him and loosen tense muscles. (Pictures below) We are looking forward to the cooler weather coming. Hope all of you are well also. We will have another update in a soon with more pictures. Aunt Kari is coming in to visit this weekend and Aunt Becky is coming in for Labor Day weekend....oh how they have missed their big boy! They will be so surprised to see how big he actually is!

Happy # 3 bud!

We celebrated Carson's 3 year birthday today! What a big boy. We did not do anything special, just hung out and snuggled a lot. We did share some frozen yogurt with him tonight, he really liked the blueberry and mango flavors. We will update soon with picts from the party as well as others.

Our big news is that Carson got a hot tub from Make-A-Wish Foundation and Recreation Wholesale for water therapy. We have had it up for a little over a week, but has really been too hot to get Carson in it. He did take a dip with Dad one night. The outside heat is just keeping the water too hot!

We hope to see you all on Saturday for the big party!

Love The Bowman's