Hello 2012 This is Our YEAR!!!

Hello 2012 I am so excited to see you!! I have been having a hard time with this journey since her failed surgery in September, but I am back!! I don't think I had allowed myself to feel everything we were going through. Maybe it is because I didn't want to think about it or maybe I just did not have any time, but all of the sudden it hit me. I was sitting at the table with Jared and emotions were just flooding out, I was nervous to feel anything because sometimes it is just to hard to really cope with all that is going on. But after two nights of just letting my self have a pity party everything I had been bottling up finally came out and I took a big deep breath and I am ready to face whatever challenges come next!! Bailey needs us to be strong and we need to be strong for the hard decisions we have coming up again. I don't have any more time for these pity party sad days. I know deep down this is "Our Year" Cleveland is the best and they will help our little bug!! After all is said and done, and  after Cleveland we will at least know that we have tried everything. We have been to the best doctors and surgeons that our Country has to offer. If they say this is her life then we will accept that and move on and learn how to handle a child with a chronicle illness. I am starting to wrap my head around that. It has taken a year but I can at least say that out loud. Do I think that this is the life Bailey will always have? No, but I also want to be realistic and know that being seizure free for her is not likely. That makes me horribly sad, but she is strong and can handle it. These seizures have never changed her fighting personality. I thank god for giving me a baby with so much SPUNK!! It is amazing to see her fight these day after day with that sweet smile!! She has an uphill battle that will not be easy, but knowing Bailey  she never backs down and is always up to a challenge. Bailey never has listened to the word No and I don't see that changing anytime soon. So I know this is not going to slow her down. We received the paper work for Cleveland last week. It outlined all of her testing and schedules. Poor baby is in for a hard long exhausting week of tests, but she can do this! We fly out Feb. 5th (the super bowl) and come home the 10th. They are going to do the EEG, MEG, PET, MRI, surgical evaluation and physiological evaluation. At the end of that week we will know and schedule the second surgery if that is what they feel best for Bailey. I can't imagine doing those surgeries all over again but at the same time we know what to expect and know that we can get through it. Since the last surgery in Sept. she has had some of her worst days. Her worst day was when she had 85 seizures that we were aware of. It was heart breaking every day watching seizure after seizure and your baby going from running around talking to just laying in your arms crying. But I am so happy to say as of Dec. 23rd Bailey has been doing so much better!! We have still had some bad days but nothing compared to before. She even went three days seizure free!! THREE DAYS! I was bouncing off the walls happy. Bailey is improving on her speech and coordination as well. She put 5 words together! I was so proud of that sweet little sentence! She is using more and more words every day. And the longer she is seizure free (or more under control) the better she gets. She can use both hands to feed herself, walk, almost run without help and even climb the stairs. It is nice when we get these breaks and I can just sit back and watch her be a "normal" 2 year old. I love that little girl so much she makes me a proud mommy!! She is truly amazing!! Thank you everyone for your prayers, thoughts and help. We are blessed with amazing family and friends. Thank you again for donating and supporting our fundraiser, without that I am not sure if we would be able to go to Cleveland and get this amazing opportunity for Bailey. I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Industrial Solutions and Shamrock Plumbing for purchasing  our airfare for the two big trips to Cleveland. Karla and Kevin thank you so much!!  Prayers do work I saw it on Christmas eve and Christmas day. She was seizure free. We had a terrible day on the 23rd her seizures were every 2 mins non stop and with prayer and many thoughts she woke up seizure free for the first time since thanksgiving. We had a perfect Seizure Free Christmas the best gift anyone could have given. Please keep Bailey in your prayers and thoughts, she has a few hard months coming up and will need all the help she can get! We are so thankful for them. I hope everyone has a great 2012, I know we will!!! This is Bailey's Year to conquer these dang seizures!!!! Love The Bates!!