long one

We decided that we’d have pictures of me and our kids (boys) when they were 6wks old. So far these are the 2 we have, and they’ve turned out really well I think. Just me and my boys. Nothing better.

We got back from California on Friday. We had a great time! We got to California on Tuesday evening, which I about got arrested. We stopped in Willows, CA and I started walking Bailey in an unauthorized area, and some manager came out screaming she was going to call the police on me. Oops!

Wednesday was a beautiful day, and so we rode the ferry to San Francisco. Maysen loved the ‘big boat’ and 'special train car' (trolley car) we got to ride on. He had a minding issue while we were waiting to load the tour boat that was going to take us to tour Alcatraz. The picture below is after I told him “not to touch the water”. Uh huh. Remind you of Nate, mom?

And here is Alcatraz ... I didn't know that before it was a prison, it was actually a fortress. Then the indians occupied it during the 60s-70s. Now it's a National Park.

Alcatraz was very neat. I love history anyway, so seeing the place that I once saw on Unsolved Mystery as a kid was great. They gave everyone Walkmans that you could listen to the Audio Tour at your own leisure and it worked out great. It was just a very mystical place.

The rooms in this place are amazingly small. I know, it's a jail cell, Leslie. But seeing it was a shocker. Sitting in that thing for years on end would drive me out of my mind!

Grandma Jo bought Maysen a harmonica and he entertained crowds of people with his new-found talent of harmonica playing. All he needed was the Tip-Hat. Griffin was in the stroller, so he slept most of the time. Poor kid hated his car seat by the time he got home. Our stroller sits his car seat in it, so he was in that car seat most of the time.

Maysen chased the birds until his feet were about to fall off. That didn't stop him from running from us on the boat back to San Fran, either. Once we were all on the boat, I dropped his hand for a second to see where everyone was going. In that split second, he disappeared. Scared the life out of me! People were just staring at us while we asked for help in finding him. My fear was that someone had walked off with him. But, alas, here he comes waltzing around the corner wondering what the big stir was about.

Afterward we walked the Wharf and saw the sea lions. Dad and Maysen rode the carousel, which Maysen loved. It was a rip off, but what isn’t these days? As we rode the ferry back, we saw the moon eclipse and that surprised us as we didn't realize one was supposed to happen that night. It was beautiful sailing away on the ferry looking back at the city at dusk with the eclipse happening. It was great.

Thursday was a wet and windy day. We relaxed and Maysen helped grandma Jo make pie and then he did his favorite thing: play with the “boodies” (birds), Pacho and “Chacho” (Nacho). He loves those stinkin’ birds.

We had our taxes done yesterday. Man we can’t catch a break! Besides all these medical bills we have from me having pre-eclampsia and in the hospital, delivery, Griffin sick in the NICU, Nate hospitalized … we just found out we owe $3,400 in taxes this year. We’re taking donations (kidding!). Sheesh … when it rains it pours around here. This past year has been tough on just about everyone I know!

And last but not least, we got the results on Fin's EEG done at OHSU. It was read as "mildly abnormal". Luckily there was no seizures noted or anything like that, but what was noted was that he had a "lower seizure threshold" in his left hemisphere, meaning that it's not as protected against seizures (if they were to occur) than his right hemisphere. Because of that, Dr Koch is not going to taper him off his phenobarbital as soon. He is going to let his body outgrow the dose he's on now (keeping him on it and not increasing the dose as he grows) and then we'll do another EEG/MRI in May when we see him again. This abnormality is "normal" in about 20% of kids, and is usually outgrown by the age of 5. This could have been his problem all along - the fact he has this lower threshold and then he got really sick/high fever, his body just gave way. He's still doing great now, only waking once to eat at night and that's at 5:30am! *knock on wood*