This page will have any updated information on Allison and our family.

This page is for you to keep tabs on Allison and our family.  I wish I had more time to do it daily, but I will keep it going as often as I can!  The first entry is below and the latest and greatest will be on the bottom.  I will find an easier way...but this is what you get right now!

October 13th, 2002.

We had a great week last week.  She is really getting stronger, and started to put a little weight on her legs which she has never done before.  While laying on her tummy, she will bring both legs up under her and try and dig in with her feet.  We really shocked Carol (her Physical therapist) this past week.  Our friends Dawn and Michael let us borrow a "toy bridge" that she can lay under and bat at the Seseme Street characters that dangle down from it.  She loves it, and has figured out how to hit the ball, and Elmo, and giggles up a storm!  This past week we also had a second visit from Shirley from the Governor Moorehead School for the Blind, and Shirley said that there is a LOT of indication that she is seeing, she just isn't sure all of the time WHAT she is seeing.  Shirley says we can TRAIN her how to do that!!! 

October 17,2002

Here is a recent picture of Allison and her big sister with the proud grandparents!!!

October 25th, 2002

Allison had a good week last week!  Carol (physical therapist) was here on Thursday and Alli did VERY well!  She is starting to really pull her head up and look around, she is bringing her knees up and is beginning to tuck them under her, which is the first stage of crawling!!!!  Carol said that she wouldn't be surprised if in the next month, she starts pushing up onto her hands while on her tummy!  HOW INCREDIBLE THAT WILL BE!!!  We have been keeping a close eye on her skull and it appears to us and to Carol, that her head might be growing. It also seems to us that it isn't as sunken in on the right side. Sean measured it and it is around 37.5 cm, which would be up about a whole centimeter in 4 months.  (which is great for a child which has lost huge portions of her brain matter!) 

She also held and nibbled on a biter cookie, dropped it, and found it, grabbed it and put it back into her mouth!!!  (needless to say we were a little excited on that one!!!)  Enjoy....

November 19th, 2002

Allison has started having some seizure activity this week, but it is very strange because after she has a seizure, she is more alert and active than she has ever been.  Today while watching Brianna have her ballet class, Alli had a small seizure attack and then proceeded to sit straight up and look around for 5 minutes!  She has really improved on her neck control, and looks great!  It was really very scary seeing her go through the seizures though.  We think they were started by a decongestant we gave her to help clear out her nose due to her new teeth! 

We delivered our first batch of bags to Duke Medical Center this past week!  We really had a great time!  We got to meet a lot of great people who are doing great things for the children!  We felt so great to be able to give these bags to them.  As it turns out, there was a family who was there with their child who had just been brought in, and really needed and appreciated the Hug Bag.  This makes it all worth while!

December 18th, 2002

Well, what we thought was a setback might be a blessing in disguise.  Allison was admitted to Wake Med PICU last Wednesday and was there until Saturday. We thought she had pneumonia, and she definitely had a double ear infection.  While there, we took her off of an anti-seizure medication that was making her very very sleepy.  We now have her on a steroid that has done wonders for controlling the seizures, and has made her more alert and happy than we have every seen her.  She is very much improved, but having to put her in the hospital was so scary.  Thank you to all of the great staff who (yet once again) gave us the special treatment that Allison needs and deserves.  You are all a God Send!!!!

We are getting ready for Christmas, and Grandma and Grandad are coming for the holidays.  We are now a little behind in the Christmas shopping (that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!!!) but hope to be done by Monday!!!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas or whatever your favorite holiday might be!  Thank you for all of your hugs and support over this past week.

This is Alli in the hospital. She started holding her own (mini) bottle.  We are hoping she will understand now that she can do it by herself!!!!

January 3, 2003 We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  Grandma and Grandpa came from Ohio to spend Christmas with us, and you almost had to pry Allison out of grandma's hands!  Santa was very good to all of us this year.  We went up to Nana and Pop-Pop's that next weekend and got to spend some time with Sean's brother Kevin, his wife Noel and Tayler and Megan.  They are both growing up so fast. 

Allison had another EEG done the Friday after Christmas and it was marked with "incredible improvement"!!!  (and yes that IS A QUOTE!!)  The seizure activity was almost nil, and her brain activity was up.  Dr. W was very pleased, which of course makes US very pleased.  We are excited to get back on a regular PT/OT schedule now that the holidays are over. 

Here is a family picture that we had taken at Sears. 

January 25th, 2003

Well, we have made it through another winter weather blast.  Sean has been out of town quite a bit over the last few weeks, but I think he is home for the most part for the next few months!

Allison is doing GREAT!  She has been much more alert, she is holding her head up a lot more consistently, and she sat up last week, and has been doing it quite a bit every day!  She leans pretty far forward, but she can balance herself side to side, which is a HUGE improvement!  We are almost 99% sure that.....(drum roll please!!!) SHE CAN SEE!!!!  She will look at herself in the mirror, focus, and giggle!!!!   It is SO AMAZING to see!!!!  We have also started having occupational therapy twice a week, and PT still once a week.  We are determined to give our sweetheart every opportunity to be all that she can be. 

Brianna is doing very well!  She is still loving school, and ballet.  She is really getting good at ballet and loves to practice around the house!  She is our little star!!!!

I also thought you would all enjoy this one....it got a lot of "awwww"'s at our dear friends Johanne and Carl's Christmas Party.....

March 5, 2003

Well, our little angel turned one this past weekend (along with daddy of course).   She is really making great improvements.  We just had a visit to the neurologist who was very happy at the progress she is making!  (I am guessing kind of shocked too!!!)  Her physical and occupational therapies are going very well.  She is still on the same dosing of anti-seizure medications and haven't seen any spasms since before Christmas!  We weren't able to dodge all of the "bugs" going around however, and we have all been sick.  (how fun!)  We got to see Aunt Maggie last weekend, and this is the first meeting for Maggie and Allison, and I can't tell for sure, but I think Maggie is in love!  (huh Mag?)  We are trying to get Bri into Kindergarten a year early, since she only misses the cut off date by 3 weeks.  She is of course VERY excited!

 Alli's first birthday cake!

April 11th, 2003....Allison is doing GREAT!  We are seeing such incredible improvements!  She is grabbing for things now, and holding on.  She is in the process of cutting 4 new top teeth (OUCH!) and is being a pretty good sport about it considering!  She is really holding her head straight about 90% of the time now, and has started bringing her legs underneath of her while laying on the floor.  She has also started to dig her toes in and trying to move while in that position.  She had another cat scan Monday to make sure that her brain isn't outgrowing her skull, which has fused already.  Everything appears fine at this point.  She is alot more alert, and focused, which is great to see!  We got her 1 year old pictures taken last weekend...ok, so a month late....shoot me!  Heather at Sears was so patient and we got 6 great pictures!  (Thanks Heather!!!!)  I will scan it in when they come back!

Thanks to Sears for a great picture!!!!!

5/10/03-  Allison is steadily improving!  She is grasping, reaching for and holding onto objects in her right hand and is starting to grasp things in her left too.  She is becoming very ticklish, which means the stimulation is becoming more pronounced!   She has the most amazing head of golden brown hair, which is the envy of SOOOO many parents out there! 

I tried to give her a meat stick (which her big sister used to LIVE on) in her hand and she took it to her mouth....tasted....thought about it....and LIKED it!  She hasn't really tolerated chunks of things in her mouth before, but was able to take little bites, chew and swallow!!!!  We are hoping that she will connect that she can take something from her hand and bring it to her own mouth, and get enjoyment from it!  (to this point she still isn't feeding herself at all.....)

She is a very happy child, but has started recognizing that she is hungry, and her appetite has increased!  For a long while, she has only eaten like a bird, due to the anti seizure medications.  We have noticed a great increase in her intake which may mean that her thyroid may no longer be causing her problems.

We had a cat scan done a couple of weeks ago to make sure that her brain wasn't outgrowing her skull which is already fused.  Everything came back "normal" and they are not going to do any further cat scans for quite a while. 

 Allison today!  See, she DOES have eyes!!!!

July 30th, 2003-

Well, it has been a while since I have put an update in...so here goes!  Allison is doing VERY VERY well!  She has started kicking and moving around a LOT more lately.  Especially her legs.  She is sitting straight up in her high chair and she is now grabbing at things on her tray.  She loves pretzel sticks, and graham cracker sticks, and she can pick them up herself and eat them.  She also loves Beech Nut Jars of spaghetti, which has about 1 inch pieces of spaghetti!  She eats a 6 ounce jar no problem!  She is starting to bear weight on her legs a little, and is very tolerant to her therapies...some days we even see her smile when she hears them come in!  She brings a smile to her therapists....imagine that!!!  Here hair is SOOO long!  Jealous mothers comment all of the time on what beautiful hair she has!  She is almost 18 months old and is in a 2T!  We do think however that she is losing weight and thinning out a little now that she is moving around.  She started rolling herself onto her tummy from a side-lying position a couple of weeks ago, which was HUGE!  She gets so proud of herself when she does something like that, which is a GREAT sign that she is recognizing her own accomplishments!  We have a neurology follow up next week, and I am sure she will knock Dr. W off of his seat!!! 

   Allison and her snuggly big sister Brianna! 

September 19th, 2003

We made it through the hurricane, completely unaffected, except for the fact that the kids were off of school again today! 

Allison is making improvements all of the time!  She is still trying to dig her toes in to get somewhere while on her belly. She has started rolling over if you lay her on her side, she will go to her tummy, which is pretty hard to figure out if you think about it!  She enjoys eating her spaghetti, pretzels, and cookie sticks which she will pick up on her own now! 

Shirley (our teacher from the school from the blind) thinks that she is definitely seeing.  We are doing some tests now to see if she is only seeing out of certain sections of her eyes.  She reacts sometimes to only certain parts of her plane of vision, which led us to think that this may be the true problem. 

Brianna is going to pre-school five days a week now from 9-12, which of course she LOVES!

We are trying to sell our home so that we can start construction on our new home.  We have decided that if Allison is ever going to walk or crawl, she needs a ranch in order to do that.  Not to mention, the little baby who "would need a feeding tube in order to survive " is now 27 pounds, and I can't carry her up the stairs too much longer! (and with NO feeding tube!!!)  We have the lot under contract, we just need to sell our house in order to get the deposit to get the new house started!  (say a little prayer for us please!)

This is Allison on her Boppy, looking into her mirror!Doesn't she look GREAT????

December 8th, 2003

Well, I can't believe another Christmas is sneaking up on us yet again!!!  Allison is still making lots of improvements.  We did have a little set back the 10th of November....Allison caught a viral infection that they thought may be meningitis again.  They did a flu & RSV test and both came back negative, and they ran a urine culture and found GBS in her urine.  they decided they needed to do another spinal tap to make sure it wasn't meningitis, but thank GOD it came back clear.  they think that she may be colonized with GBS already, but it is very rare that children this young have that happen...that is where to concern came from.

She has however made a pretty big leap in the fact that she is really starting to bear quite a bit of weight on her legs, for a pretty short period of time....but she is doing it!!!  She is still a very happy child who loves to be held, she loves to hear the voices of her big sister, mommy and daddy, and she loves when she does amazing things...she gets so proud of herself which is amazing to see. 

May 16th, 2005

Well somewhere I lost about a years worth of updates, but here is what is new with Allison

She has started school, and loves it!  She has 8 other children in her class, and 4 wonderful teachers who love her already!  She has been fighting a few illnesses which we expected.  She gets all of her therapies at school,  and lots of love. Before she started school, we had to have her eyes checked again, and still no change...they still know nothing, but we still think she is seeing lights and reflections.  She is very happy, and recognizes voices of those she loves.  We are working every day to get her stronger, smarter and skinnier!!!!  (just kidding on that one)

August 2005,

What a quick summer!  We spent as much time as we could at the pool, which is Brianna's favorite place in the world to be, but her baby sister didn't think of it any differently!  She loves the water and kicks, and laughs!  Some days it was too hot to go as we had to go outside to GET to the pool, but we made a lot of new friends, and had a great time!

Brianna also discovered her new friend Delaney.  She lives right across the street and is 2 years older, but they get along very well (finally).  Delaney went to the beach with us for 4 out of the 7 days we were there and they had a blast in the ocean! 

The girls start back August 25th...and boy am I ready!!  We are looking forward to getting back to a schedule! 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Allison after lunch after a long morning at the warehouse!

Allison this past March in her stander!

  Our brave little girls!!!  Oh, and the pretty purple thing on Brianna's arm--roller skating!  It is off now, thank goodness!!!

July 30th, 2006

Here are some new pictures of the girls!

Allison and Mommy at our end of year party                Brianna with her friends Campbell and Kristin on July 4th, 2006

January 8th, 2008.

Ok, so I am a slacker or just crazed!  (I think the latter is more accurate!) 

I know there are so many things that need to be told but it has been so long, I don't know where to start!  Allison is for the most part staying healthy!  We have started seeing her drink less which is always a concern because of her sodium imbalances in her body.  Her teachers have been having a hard time with her feeding and drinking as well, but it is not something that is totally new and we will deal with it on a day to day basis.  She is however getting heavier and heavier!  She is over 50 pounds now and 50 pounds of dead weight is not fun!  We got a hot tub last year and Sean loves to get her in the hot tub and most days she gets her legs moving and will stand up for several seconds on the bottom.  She still loves the pool, and we are still talking about getting a pool in the back yard so that super hot days doesn't need to be a concern about getting her out into the pool.  When it is super hot, unless she is in the water, she is cooking.  (she doesn't sweat or regulate her body temp on her own) 

I will write more later, now that I have started getting my act together! 

R

Ok, I have gotten the new site information uploaded so now I can take a few minutes and write and know that I can get it to the site!

Looking back on last years information on her Christmas illness, I know now that it really took Allison until the summer to be completely better.  She really had a bad end of year because she was always sleeping, and they had a hard time keeping her awake.  She missed a lot of school that year.

As for last Christmas...I never put anything down here, but we almost lost Allison again Christmas of 06.  She caught a cold and quit drinking fluids.  On Christmas, she was asleep, but not in the ICU which made us happy.  On the 27th, we took her to the emergency room because she was still very congested, and not drinking or eating and we could no longer keep her nose clear.  They did blood work and found her sodium level off of the measurable chart.  She was admitted to the ICU and they put her on antibiotics and got her fluids to bring her sodium.  She spent a week and a half there, but after the antibiotics kicked in and her congestion was gone, it was just working her sodium slowly down.  When the sodium goes up, it essentially thickens the blood, so if they flood the body with fluids to bring down the sodium, they can blow up vessels so this has to be done slowly. 

Before leaving the PICU, the nurses taught us how to give her an NG tube if she stops drinking.  (tube down her nose and into her stomach to get her fluids)  We will continue to learn things that will keep Allison safe and healthy...

This summer as you can see from the pictures, Sean has taken a liking to jet skis and buying them, fixing them up and then...(well, we haven't gotten beyond that yet)  As you can imagine, Brianna LOVES being out on the water on the jet ski, but what you MAY not imagine...Allison loves it even more!!!  We are able to take her out sitting in front of us, and she loves to go fast!!!  If you slow down, she smacks your leg until you go faster!!!!  It is great to see her so excited!

We have also taken up horse back riding in the Reid household!  I had become involved with a local Therapeutic Riding Program called Helping Horse, thinking that Allison may be able to benefit from it.  I started volunteering...leading the horses or side walking with the kids and found out I really enjoyed it!  I rode when I was Brianna's age, but after going over the front of a couple horses, decided it wasn't for me anymore!  The night that I volunteered was lucky to have Kim C. as an instructor, and we started talking one day about Allison and she told me she had a farm and we could bring Allison over and we could do a private "lesson" with her.  I knew that a whole hour class would never work for Allison and the volunteers would never be able to hold her up that long.  We started taking Allison over once a week and she really enjoys it!  It is VERY hard to do for the side walkers, so we don't get her up on the pony as much as we used to.  I began to ride myself for fun and exercise and of course Brianna wanted to try as well!  Turns out she is VERY good at it!  (figures she is good at all of the expensive sports!)

We are saving our pennies for a saddle that I found that I want to have made for Allison where we can put her in the saddle and it holds her up, while still making her work her core stomach muscles, and giving her the feeling of "walking".  As you can imagine, special needs saddles are not something that is a "hot ticket item" so it will have to be specially made...at a specially made PRICE tag!!!!  We decided that instead of giving Allison Christmas or birthday presents, we would open a savings account for her just for these types of things.  We have been doing this for about 6 months now, and we are working our way towards riding again!

Horseback riding is the closest thing that has been found to the replicate  human walking.  Horseback riding is AMAZING therapy for kids with special needs...and I want to be able to give her that as often as possible. 

I have taken my Helping Horse volunteerism a step or two up!  I am now an "instructor in training" with Kim on Monday nights as well as I have been elected to the board as the Fundraising Coordinator.  It is a great program with a lot of potential to help a LOT of children.  One day I hope to be able to say "I helped that organization build that" or "I helped that child take her first step because of that horse".  If you have a therapeutic riding program in your area, check it out! 

Helping Horse website is www.helpinghorse.org.  Aside from Allison Hugs, if you are looking for a great organization to donate your time or money to, Helping Horse or your local program is always looking for support!

Well, I will sign off for today...see you soon!

Robin