Captain who?

Finally, a face to match the name. And what a face it is. :)

Test Results

Sydney got her EEG test results and they came back normal. WOOHOO! we are super psyched about this as now we know that there are no anatomical brain abnormalities. Both the MRI and EEG were clean and we could not be more grateful. At this point we meet with the Neurologist on Thursday and I am sure he will tell us that its idiopathic epilepsy meaning that the cause is
unidentifiable, and presumably genetic. We are hoping that this is something that she will outgrow as many infants do. Until then, we just have to suffer through these meds. Hopefully she will start getting used to them and sleeping. We shall see.

Look Out American Idol

Cameron was so proud this morning as Dylan sang with him on Guitar Hero. What a rock star! He even memorized the chorus. That's my boy!

Everyday life...

No one would probably think that taking a shower is frustrating when you have two kids. But, when you have two kids with different nap schedules, and whose naps depend on absolute silence, it gets tricky. I can't take a shower when Syd is asleep because to no avail, she will wake up, and vice versa with Dylan. So, here is my strategy, when I get in the shower Dylan HAS to come is or he will sit screaming bloody murder. The second the water is turned on he is undressed and in the shower in less than 30 sec. To keep Sydney happy and close by, I have Dylan play a game with her, the "touching hands game". Syd stays happy, and Dylan loves moving his hand before she touches it. Oh the things we do for our kids...I could just put them both in thier rooms and let them cry, but I just don't have the heart to do it. Just imagine the excitement I have when I get to shower when dad is home watching the kids...its Christmas all over again!
Oh and by the way, don't bother looking too close, I did do my share of zooming and checking this picture close to make sure I didn't pull an Elaine (Seinfeld) on her Christmas cards. :)

Oh and here is a pic of Sydney face forward since apparently I am not posting enough pics of her. She is still as cute as ever...I can't get enough of those curls.

Parakeets!

Did I mention that Dylan got two parakeets for his birthday? Grandma Minnie and Grandma Maria sent some money and Dylan wanted a bird, (luckily they were half off so we got two!). Cameron and I picked them out at the store and had them ready in a cage for when Dylan came home from Grandmas. He was so excited. He plays with them for hours everyday, which is nice for me :). Watch the video to see what he named them. He is such a charmer.

What a man!

I need to give a quick shout out to my amazing husband. He works so hard and last night he was a trooper. Every weekend he picks up extra shifts at the ER to earn more money for the family, and last night he was on call from 7pm to 7am. After his first call, he came home at midnight feeling horrible praying that he wouldn't get another call. Of course, right as he closed his eyes he received a page from the Newnan ER (30 min away). So out he went and at 4am I get a call saying that the car wont start. Poor guy. He didn't really even complain, he just found a bed in the ER, got some meds, and slept there for the night only to wake up with NO mechanics available (since its Sunday). Urgh, I would be throwing a fit and crying, but he just went with the flow and went along with it. He works so hard, and I am so proud of him. Not to mention, he is the BEST father I have ever known. Seriously, I have never seen a better dad, and that is so HOT! :)

Cameron also recieved a huge promotion recently as head lead therapist at his work (after only being there almost two years). He is such a smarty, and its no secret that everybody who meets him loves him (particularly me). I am so proud of him!

Thank you Cameron for all that you do, you are the heart and soul of this family!

Sydney's EEG

Sydney finally went in to get her EEG done yesterday (why they didn't do this while she was in the hospital in January is ridiculous, but at least she is finally getting it done) . We will not know the results until next week, but for now we are hopeful and excited to get some answers. She has not had a seizure in two weeks so we know her new meds are working great, we would just like an official diagnosis so we can know what her future holds.
Here is Syd getting ready for the electrodes to be put on her head. It was amazing, we have NEVER seen her sit still for such a long period of time, (and while she was tired at that). We needed to keep her sleep deprived for the test so she had been up since 5 am and had missed her nap. She usually screams when she is this tired, but she loved, I mean LOVED the woman touching and marking her head, it was as if she was getting a massage. A few times she even smiled as if it was tickling her. It was amazing how good she was. She needs one of those stickers that we used to get at the dentist, "I was good, I held still". Remember those?
As soon as Sydney laid down she cried for maybe two minutes and fell fast asleep. Again, amazing! You should see what we go through every night to get her to sleep, and here she just dozed off on her own (with her froggy of course). It was incredible. What a gift for Cameron and I as we were tired from keeping her up all morning and in the car.After a while we had to wake Syd up to do the lights test. This is where they put an obnoxious flashing light in front of her to see if it sparks brain activity. Again, you will see how still Sydney was the entire time. Anyone that know her knows this was a miracle. Never in her 10 months has she ever sat this still unless she was nursing (and even then its questionable). She was great, and it couldn't have gone better. I will post again when I get the results. Hope for the best!

Trip to the Dentist

Dylan had his first trip to the dentist today. He was such a good boy. He was actually happy the entire time, can you believe it? Here he is holding his "straw sucker" and helping the Dr., I wish I could be that happy at the dentists office.Way to go DD, you get two treats!

Meanwhile at home, Sydney was busy eating and making a monster of a mess.

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Dylan turned 3 yesterday and what a day it was. First of all it was Valentines Day, and what is better than a day dedicated to love? The day started off with our traditional Valentines breakfast (made by me of course) @ which time I serenaded my man with a song I had been practicing for weeks. (Don't bother asking what song it was, that is going to be kept private between us, but just know that this is a big deal for me since I am NOT a public singer, or singer at that.) I stuttered all the way through due to nervousness, but in the end, the message got through and we both had tears in our eyes. Cameron then read me a poem that he had written for me, and it was beautiful, I love when he writes things to me. He is such a romantic!

Dylan's birthday began soon after the v-day celebrations. We had him open his presents from us and his Grandma and Grandpa West. Look at this cool computer game that he got from the grandma and grandpa. It is so cool, and will really help him with his ABC's. Mommy and DD are both happy about that!Dylan along with some little things also got his first bike from us. Check out his video, he was pretty excited and can already ride it great.


After playing around at home for a little while we took off to Dylan's birthday party at Jumpin Joeys, an inflatable playplace. There we met the Mounts, the Silvas, G-mama and G-papa, and Dylan's friend Quinn . This is Dylan's favorite place in town, since he gets to jump and run and never have bruises to show for it in the end. Mommy and Daddy also are allowed to jump with him too and that makes it extra special.
The kids played for a couple hours and then we had cake and opened presents. Check out this years cake, I don't know what Dylan's obsession with Spiderman is about (he has never even seen the movies or cartoons), but that is all he wanted for his birthday.After the festivities Cameron and I got a babysitter (finally after two months) and went out for the night. It was a miracle! It was a great day and we were reminded of all the love and blessings that we have in our lives.

"scary, old, yucky toys"

The last few nights at home, Dylan has been waking up several times at night and crawling in bed with us. The first night he told me he was scared of Nemo’s eyes. The next night he said he had a bug in his bed, so we used our “bug detector” otherwise known as a cell phone, to scan his bed…(we thought it would work but it only lasted a few hours until he climbed back into bed with us). Tonight however, he said he was scared of ALL the animals and their eyes. So, I took them all out of his room hoping he would stay in his bed this time. Not a chance. He quickly started crying because behind the door (the closet) there were “scary, old, yucky toys”. I figured he was talking about maybe one or two toys, but of course when I opened the closet he got up and pointed to practically everything saying they were scary, old and yucky, and to put them in the hall with his animals (they are all hand me downs but they are clean and in perfect shape, and Dylan plays with them every day). As I was talking to Dylan about his toys I asked him, “do you want me to throw them away since you don’t want them anymore?” He said, “no I want them, Santa is going to come and get my old, yucky toys and make them new”. I then told him this was not going to happen, to which he sternly said, “Santa is coming mommy!”.

So my question is where on earth do kids get this? How does Dylan know what is old and what is new? Since when does that bother him, especially with toys? And more importantly, why is he scared of these toys? I totally remember being scared of my stuffed animals and dolls, but wasn’t that during the Chuckie phase, and wasn't I way older? I had a reason to be scared and that was because I saw a crazy movie where a crazy doll came alive and ate you in your sleep. So what is Dylan’s reason for being scared? He has never seen or heard of Chuckie. Could it be Toy Story and the crazy kid next door who makes the toys all freaky looking? Should I not let him watch that movie anymore?

Whatever the answer is, we now have a ton of toys sitting in the hallway with no place for them to go. Any suggestions? Am I really not going to have toys in his closet or in his room anymore…that is absurd!