We're back from the hospital. Bella saw the neurologist and had her EEG done. The results of the EEG came back normal which is what we expected (it's only 20 minutes long and unlikely that something would happen during that time.) She was diagnosed with complex partial seizures and we're starting her on meds tonight. She goes back next week for an MRI to rule out any brain issues that might be causing the seizures. Then she goes back to the neurologist in a month to follow up on how things are going and see if the meds need to be adjusted.

She was so brave at the hospital today, I really thought she'd freak out but she didn't. She warmed up to the doctor and PA right away and did everything they asked her too. Then when we went to get the EEG done she screamed when we took her back but calmed down as soon as she sat on the bed. She was happy to let them wire her all up. Of course she got pretty pissed when they had her go to sleep and then woke her up right after to flash strobe lights in her face!

Bella got an appointment for tomorrow to see the neurologist and get an EEG done. I'm shocked they got us in so fast. So I have to keep her up tonight and get her up early so she'll be sleep deprived. Of course she's a night person so staying up late means not going to bed until like 2am (I'll be up anyway.) And we'll have to get up early to go to the hospital anyway. I just feel bad for her because I know she'll be scared tomorrow, she was so nervous at the pediatrician and they barely even touched her.

Poor Bella

Bella's having seizures. She had one Sunday night that was very obviously a seizure and I quickly realized that she's been having them for awhile now we just weren't recognizing them. I thought she was throwing fits (for no reason) but this time it was apparent that she wasn't conscience at the time and she twitched a lot. But she cried the whole time which is why we thought she was just throwing fits before, and I remember them scaring me because they didn't seem to have a cause and weren't like her at all. It went on for several minutes with her eyes rolling around and then she layed in my arms not moving. Then she grabbed her head like it hurt and cried in pain and started throwing up, after she was done puking she "woke up" and was completely back to normal. You could tell she had no memory of what happened. So now we're waiting to get her an appointment with a pediatric neurologist and get EEG done. After that we can decide what to do and whether or not to put her on medication. Thank goodness she doesn't remember what happened, that'd be terrifying for a little girl.

No "L"

Last week I was talking with Bella when it occured to me that she can't pronounce the letter "L." I had never noticed it before and suddenly it all made sense. She says Landon (John's middle name) Andon. Instead of saying Bella she says "Bay," love is "Uv" and like is "ike." So we sat there and said word after word and she said them perfectly just missing an L. I said it's a good thing her name is Lily and asked her to say Lily and she just went "ee." It's cute and I'm surprised I didn't notice it sooner.

The world through Bella's eyes

The other day I gave Bella our old camera and told her to take pictures. It's so neat to see how she sees things and what she finds interesting. All these pictures were taken by her. She LOVED taking them, I see a future photographer in the making. The first one of John is all red because he grabbed the flash right as she took it.

Black and white

Got a new action for Photoshop for black and white pictures and I love it. All my black and whites before looked so dull.

He just doesn't grow

These "shorts" that John is wearing (well they're supposed to be shorts) are a perfect example of his lack of growth. They are size 12 months, he's now 21 months old and they go down to his ankles. He's still wearing his 6-9 month jeans. Bella's growing through clothes normally now but her feet don't grow, she's still wearing the shoes I bought her in Dec of 2005.

On potty news Bella sat on two public toilets today, she didn't actually go potty either time but she sat down willingly! That's awesome news. I've gotta go clean vomit out of a carseat now though, aren't kids great.

Bella's so cute, she's almost posing for the camera now. My lens got cracked in Vegas though so it's nearly impossible to take pictures at the moment. Next payday I should be able to get a new one though and get the old fixed.

Corey's working lots lately so we can have extra money to get a house. I'm so greatful for his hard work. And so glad he finally has a job he loves. I just can't wait to find a house and move out of this apartment. The people that live above us are so noisy. And today our AC broke, luckily it's not too hot inside but who knows if they'll ever come fix it. I'm still waiting for them to fix the front bathroom sink from like 2 months ago.

Oh and my lovely little girl has decided that pooping in the toilet is over rated so she goes in her panties now. I soooo badly want to just put her back in diapers but know that's not an option (at least not a smart one.) At least Keahi trained me well at this part of toilet training. And anytime I think about training John I just remember that diapers are much easier. I think the frustrating part is that Bella still cannot go to the bathroom by herself, I have to help her up and help her take his pants off and then help her put them back on. Seems like all the other potty trained kids can do it themselves. She tries she's just no good at it. On the bright side she stayed dry through her nap today for the first time. Last week the kids fell asleep on the floor before bedtime and I wasn't even thinking about Bella being in panties. It was less than an hour and she peed ALL over herself in her sleep. A good reminder that she's not ready to nighttime train. And she's still deathly afraid of public bathrooms, I'm afraid she's not going to get over that one anytime soon. Even private ones like at the realtor's office that look like normal bathrooms.

We went to the bookstore today and I found a book that was about dinosaurs and colors (Bella's two favorite things.) And to top it off it was on sale for $2. She loves it and is getting really good at colors now. All day she goes "what color is this?" and she usually answers herself. Bella has also entered what I call the naked baby phase. You know how all little girls seem to be carrying around naked baby dolls. The other morning I went to get her up and all her dolls were laying across her bed naked with their clothes laying next to them. So funny! And lastly Bella now LOVES cereal, it's all she'll eat for breakfast which makes my mornings much easier. This is something she certainly didn't get from me, I can't stand cereal. My hate for it stims back many many years to a fish tank on the kitchen table (yuck!) And she even drinks the milk out of her bowl when she's done (double yuck) but Corey's quite proud of her.

For as long as Bella could talk whenever you told her you love her she'd say "I know" and now John says it too. It's so cute. Bella now says "I know, so much Daddy." It's actually how she says I love you. I'll be very sad when she stops saying that.

John has speech therapy in the morning and hopefully it'll go well. He hasn't had it in over a month because he was sick last time and we had to cancel. He's definitely talking a lot more now but isn't really increasing his vocabulary that fast. He's very determined though. It's so weird becaues John had such an incredibly hard first year and never did ANYTHING on time until he started walking. Now that he's in his second year though he is doing everything (seriously) faster than Bella ever did. Even the little things like stepping up onto the curb when we're outside, Bella would let go of our hand and get down on her hands and knees to go up. John just steps right up without thinking twice. I'm just so amazed at his progress, this is afterall the boy that didn't even roll over until 8 months old. And the baby that needed a CT scan because he couldn't make eye contact or smile at 3 months old.

John's new favorite place

I made a mei tai because I thought John would enjoy it and sure enough it's his new favorite place to be. As soon as he sees it he comes running up and puts his arms out, and often times isn't happy about being taken out. It also makes going out much easier, like at the grocery store I can just stick him in the back and put Bella in the cart. You can almost forget he's even there. He also loves being in the front because it's his cuddling postition.

We went to Thanksgiving Point today to the museuem, we haven't been there in a long while. Bella has a new love of dinosaurs, it started a few weeks ago out of nowhere. So today's trip to the museum was extra fun. She just kept screaming "ooooh, Dinosaurs!"

Happy Father's Day

I took this pic and framed it for Corey's desk at work. Isn't John the cutest? We did gifts early since he's working on Father's Day.

Okay so here's a new video of the kids. As you can see Bella still jabbers in her baby talk which I love. If you listen she talks about watching "umpy" which is Lumpy from Winnie the Pooh. And she mentions Buster which is the dog on the new My Friends Tigger and Pooh show. She's very very into her colors lately and is doing great at learning them. She confuses yellow and orange and blue and purple though. And she calls brown chocolate, it's her favorite crayon to use.

We're officially house hunting now. It's exciting but stressful, luckily Corey's taking over all the stress for me. The market is pretty crazy around here, the good stuff goes immediately.

Stupid public bathrooms

Whoever came up with the auto flushing toilets in public bathrooms should smacked! I've never been a fan of them myself since they flush at the wrong time so I end up having to flush them again and it's just a huge waste of water. Anyway my previously potty trained toddler will now not use ANY public restroom. She's always been kind of afraid of the bathrooms when we go places because they tend to be noisy. But the other day she was sitting on one and it flushed with her on it, she literally jumped up into the air! It was funny at the time but now she screams if you take her near a bathroom in public and cries "NO, it's scary!" What oh what am I to do?

This first picture is from Vegas, I just got a copy of it. We all went to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Bella shared a piece with Suzanne (who was sitting across from her.) She couldn't reach so she climbed up on the table to eat. And of course everyone pulled out their cameras to get pictures.

Well the kids are back to themselves messing up the house as normal. I on the other hand can't seem to get back into the swing of things. I still have our suitcase sitting by the front door not unpacked. At least I did do the laundry. I need to really deep clean the apartment and I know that as soon as I do I'll feel better but can't find the motivation to get started. The saying "a clean home is a happy home" totally applies to me, I get so depressed when things are messy.

Bella's speech is becoming much more intelligent lately. You can tell her understanding of language is really growing. I love it. Now when I call her she comes and says "what Mommy?" And the M&M shirt we got her in Vegas, I asked her where she got it and she said "it's from Wendy." Wendy is one of the ladies that was with us in Vegas and the shirt was not from her but it's so cute that Bella thinks it is.

Back from Vegas

We got back last night from our vacation. It was so great and we had so much fun. On the way down Friday our van broke down about 4 hours into the trip. And it was a very hot day so sitting out in the sun wasn't fun. Right after we broke down though Rebecca who was also heading to the Vegas get together called to see where we were and we she was only about 5 minutes from us. Such lucky timing, so the kids and I road the rest of the way with her while Corey got the van fixed. We had taken it to Sears before hand to get it ready for the trip and the person there was so stupid. Anyway the belt got put on wrong and broke off, at least it was easy to get fixed.

The kids were so good, the ride there they did little crying. Well John wasn't happy about switching cars and cried about that but nothing like previous trips. They both slept great at the hotel which is also a first. We did so much walking it's not even funny but there were a ton of people from the HER Foundation and we all had so much fun visiting. We went and saw the sharks at Mandalay Bay and the M&M and Coke store. Bella was so scared of the giant M&M guy it was hilarious. Oh and Bella really loved the lions at MGM Grand and John thought they were doggies.

And best of all Bella got to meet Jack in person. Jack and Bella are betrothed. Jack fell in love with Bella through all of her videos online and now they even color and send each other stuff in the mail. They were too cute together and we even got a kiss. I'm also so jealous of Jack's curls, I just wanted to cut them off and bring them home. And of course Jack's mommy is the best!

John woke up with a bad cough yesterday (at least he waited till the end of the trip) so now I have a sick kid, messy house and a ton of unpacking to do. And I'm soooo tired.