Yes....it has been a while! Just very very busy in the Archer household this year. We have been busy with church, Kayla in dance class, tball, Grace and her crazy 2's, and you name it. We were blessed to go camping in Myrtle Beach for 10 days with my entire family. It was HOT......but lots of fun. I have taken my new motto seriously...do not live with regrets. I took the opportunity this year to visit friends as often as possbible. I made a trip to Roanoke and had dinner with my friend Donna, whom I worked with at Explore Park. Following that the girls and I traveled to the 4-H Center, spent the night, and visited with friends the following day. It was wonderful to see how many amazing things have happenned there since I left. I miss my friends there tons! The girls and I also visited some college friends - Missy, Ashley and Emily - along with our kids. 6 kids vs 4 adults.. I think the adults won in the end :) I will do better about making posts in teh future. Visit my facebook page to see photos of this past year. It is just too many to try and post to the blog. Hope everyone has had a safe and happy year. Let us know what you are up to. Look forward to sharing the remaing part of our year with you. Kayla enters Kindergaten this year and Grace starts pre-k for 2 days per week. My babies are growing up. Lots of Love!

Disney World and Fall Time

While the little ones sleep and I have the day off I am catching up on some computer time. Who cares if the house is a wreck? Right? I wanted to post some pics from Disney World in September, Pumkin Farm, and Halloween! We took a week at Disney the week of our birthday's which was very fun. The only bad part, I pick up some really bad crud and slept the entire way back. That was the worst I felt in a really long time. The girls had so much fun and were real troopers. It was humid, hot, and fabulously fun. Of course their favorites were meeting all the characters. I did not expect them to be patient while standing in lines to meet characters but they were great. The smiles and laughter was worth every minute of the trip. After returning we have kept a low profile. We visited the pumpkin patch on a COLD day in October and had a great time carrying out our Halloween Costumes.....We're off to seee the Wizard.......Hope you enjoy!!

Mandy

New update

Thank you to everyone for all your concerns and cares for Grace and I apologize so much for not getting an update out there before now. We saw the most improvement in Grace after we returned from Disney and took a look at the pictures. Although we could tell there was a difference...we just could tell it more when looking at the pictures. She is back to about 99% full usage of the left side of her face. The only problems we see now is a little slow response on the time it takes to close her eye during bath time (it seems to bother her then as though she has gotten alot of soapy water in it) and if she is REALLY tired...her left eye won't close all the way. We are truly blessed that it was temporary and that we were lucky enough to see the specialist we did. They were correct that she got clocked just right! One in a millionth is what I say! Many of you ask if they get along better now... the answer is they are sisters that are only 2 1/2 yrs apart...what do you think??? One minute yes...one minute know. Thank you again for all your prayers and notes of support. We are truly blessed. Thank You!

Family Update

What a long and exhausting week!!! We started to see a slight improvement in Grace over the weekend, teh expressions were still not there but she no longer has as much droopiness in the face. I think this is directly because of the steroid. We took the trip to UVA, and glad we did so. Grace saw a head and neck surgeon, but unsure of what there official doctor name is...starts with an "O". They did not perform any tests but did observe her throughly. It felt so good to have people who know what they are looking for to be looking at her. Plus, we got to see 3 people, a student, resident and teh doctor! They understood what we were explaining to them and agreed there were problems. But all of us, espcially the docs, noticed above her left eyebrow some movement and around her nose. The doctor was encouraging and explained that is telling him a signal is going through teh nerve, but it is very weak. He feels that one of those main cranial nerves was hit just right causing it to be damaged and weak. He explained it takes TIME to gain its strength back and he can't give you a timeframe. He suggested to go ahead with the MRI to ensure there is nothing there we would never guess. Like I said, you have to eliminate everything because of her age and inability to tell us things. He felt if we don't see a big improvement by mid-month we should come back. He has also requested to review the MRI images himself. We were happy when we left and feel confident in their report. We headed to Forsyth in Winston on thursay morning, leaving home at 5am. How wonderful a place. Grace did wonderful and never cried. They said she went to sleep easily and woke up easily. We actually went home about 30 minutes after her being put to sleep!!! (I mean 30 min after she woke up) The MRI is clear so that brings us back to simply a weak nerve. We have seen some improvement over the last few days. She has finished steroid so we will see how that affects her recovery. Both eyebrows are moving and she has a slight crease in her smile, just a little. Her eyelid is keeping up with the good one about 50% of the time and still closing during sleep time. All of that is awesome! God has provided wonderful caregivers to Grace over the last 2 weeks and we are extremely thankful for them. We pray she continues to regain strength in teh nerve and gain back that beautiful smile God gave her. As for Kayla, she knows we have had to take her to special doctors this week, as we left her behind everytime we went. She is more excited for this week as it is big....she starts pre-school again (4 half days per week), ballet and we are headed to Disney! Yes, you read that right. We leave for Disney end of next week. I'm telling you..when it all happens - it all happens!!! Thanks again to everyone.We are extremely grateful for prayers during this time!

Baby Grace Update

Well, it has been a long week, and will continue that way. First, thanks for all your many prayers. I think that is what has helped me keep my sanity. After 5 days of no change in Grace I got in touch with her regular physician's nurse. They recommened I bring her in to be looked at by the nurse practitioner on duty. I ran Grace up there, and 2 hours later felt like we are getting somewhere. THe N.P. agreed that Grace has some kind of palsy in her face but concerned because of the reason, teh toy to the face. She recommended we take her to a specialist and went to consult with her regular physician. The regular physician came to take a look at Kayla and agreed we needed to see a pediatric neurologist. They sent me home and said they would call me later that afternoon with information. The pediatric neurlogist recommended an MRI be done, start her on steroid, and call in 3 days if no change. The earliest and closest MRI that could be done is in Winston-Salem at Forsyth, most places would not accept her because she is an infant and will need to be sedated for the MRI. So, 7am, next thursday! In the meantime the doctor office called me on Friday to see if she was any better. We could not see any improvement and told her so. She consulted with the doctor, who consulted with her doctor who called the pediatric neurologist who recommended an EMG be done. The closest location, he recommends is at UVA. So, they got us an appointment for Monday afternoon. After some research I am concerned about the type of test they will do. I plan to call first thing Monday morning to see what she is actually scheduled for. I am hoping and praying it is something a little different that what I think it is, possibly only the nerve test. Although some of this may see overly cautious, I think they are trying to ensure there is not permanent damage to teh nerve. On one hand I go "Surely this is just a freak thing and the usage of her face will come back tomorrow" on the other hand I just can't sit and not make sure everything is going to be ok. Please pray for our doctors, our travels, the procedures on Grace and our sanity!!!!

Love to all,
Archer's

First ER Trip

Well, as many of you know we call Grace our little devil in disguise! She is usually in full throttle mode ALL the time. Well, she had an accident Sat. night and got a pretty large bumpkin on her head but has not had problems which makes the rest of this story hard to believe. I left work early this afternoon to be with the kids because I didn't have a babysitter for the afternoon, within 3 minutes Grace and Kayla got in a fight, as usual, and apparently Kayla smacked Grace across the face with her toy. What kind of toy could get us to the emergency room you ask...only a Little People Toy. Mommies, you know what I mean...all else, it is a small hard plastic toy!! This is a pretty common occurance in our house as G & K fight alot. But I was taken aback because immediately I could tell that one side of Grace's face was not working properly. She is favoring one side in her smiling and squinting. Everything else is working properly such as walking, playing , talking, eating, eye movement, etc. etc. I went to urgent care to get in with a doctor but since they are unable to perform CT scans or anything they recommended I go to ER. Well you say hit in the head and buddy you get first row seating. I was sent in immediately. Thank the Lord with a restless 19month old. Then we had to deal with medical staff and try to make them understand Grace's face does not look like this all the time. She currently looks normal but does not express normal facial expressions..they are no longer A-symetrical. By the time they are telling me nothing is wrong Steven finally gets there and agrees with me. So we had to wait like 45 minutes for a doctor, who still agrees all is ok. There is also the issue that is it not recommended for infants to have CT scans because of the potential problems with radiation exposure. In the end we left with instructions to keep a watch on her and see what happens. I hope this is not a showing into our future with our wild little buck! In all seriousness, Grace has muscle tone and seems to function just fine but she is not really closing her left eye or using that side of her mouth with smiling or crying. We hope it is caused by a problem with swelling we can't see or something simple and everything will return to normal very soon. Pray for a speedy recovery!! Thanks and hope all is well. Sorry for the long story :) And yes, Kayla told us she hit her, showed us where, and said she was sorry.

Spring 2009

It has been a busy spring..with not alot of time to post updates. January began happily with the celebration of Grace's 1st birthday but ended very sadly with the illness and passing of my grandmother. Granny went into the hospital on Jan. 14 - the day before Grace turned one. She passed about 2 weeks later on January 30th. She had just turned 89 years old. Many other events have happenned since then such as school field trips, parties, trips, and such. Steven and I were given tickets for our birthday (by my brother and his wife) to attend the Masters 2009 Practice Round. I took the entire week off to do some visiting which was nice. We left about 4 am on Friday night/Sat. mornig headed for August, GA to spend a few days with my Aunt and attend the Master's Practice Round. We visited for a few days, went to Monday's tournament and headed back to Virginia on Tuesday. On Thursday the girls and I headed to Harrisonburg to visit with my brother and his family. Because of all our crazy schedules it is quite difficult for us to get together as much as we would like. Kayla and Grace had a blast playing with their cousins and I got to see Chad and Jeanne's new house. But, it was time to come back on Saturday to celebrate Easter on Sunday. What a crazy week! But it was a fun one..then I had to go back to work! The beginning of May I was able to travel with the girls to Charlotte and visit with my God-son and God-daughter (Noah and Alyssa). It was great to see them since it has been quite a while since Ashley and I were able to get together. Of course we made our Mother's Day weekend camping trip to a KOA! (Buy one night..get one free) The girls were covered in mud within about one hour of arrival. But..they have fun. The rest of my weekends are filled with family get-togethers (our favorite), cleaning (seems pointless), errands (always something to do), and some play time (never enough time). Here are some pictures to re-cap our Spring..hope you enjoy! GOD BLESS!