Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I failed to mention that Chris and I weren't the only ones who had fun while we were on our little excursion. Our girls, who we left behind, had a blast! Their grandma and grandpa let them have way too much fun. Grandpa was an amazingly good sport at letting the girls use their make-up on him. And, I'm afraid my girls really like to pose for the camera! I think the pictures tell it all.

Fourth in Line

Well, I'm supposed to be going to bed, as I just finished choreographing my newest aerobics routine for aerobics on Thursday (Chris got an IPOD for Christmas and has been collecting music like crazy and we finally have something that has come out in the last 10 years! That's how outdated our collection was! So, good-by oldies and hello today's hits!)

Anyway, I quickly checked my e-mail and somehow realized that I hadn't put any pictures of Courtney in my blog lately. . .

So I have this yellow dress and hat that I had my pictures taken in when I was 2 years old. When Brianna and McKayla turned 2 they also had their pictures taken in it. Well, when Courtney turned 2, life was a bit busier and I just barely got them taken! I didn't even go to a studio, I just opted to take them at home. Somehow I just didn't feel up to the whole ordeal. Anyway, the pictures turned out cute. Here is a couple. I'll try to scan the other girls' photos in and add them later.

New Hairstyles

We had haircut day this week.

Brianna got her first "real" haircut by a professional. We decided to try some layers. McKayla decided she wanted to try out something different as well and wanted me to straighten her hair with the blow dryer. The results look pretty good, I think. I got my haircut as well, and McKayla took a chance at trying out the camera for herself. After many attempts (Thank you digital cameras) she got some shots with my head in the pictures.

Brianna is hoping that for once maybe she'll get attention about her hair instead of McKayla. It's hard on her because EVERYWHERE we go someone always comments on McKayla's red hair.

Another Cute Quote

We were walking into the church today to exercise with the ladies and there were hoses all over the floor from the cleaning group. McKayla wondered why everything from the classrooms was in the hallways and asked what was going on. When I told her she replied:

"WHY CAN'T JESUS CLEAN HIS OWN HOUSE?"

This kid just keeps coming up with them!

A moment to treasure

Last night as I was puting Courtney to bed, McKayla showed the greatest bit of love for her little sister. Courtney would not settle down. She has graduated to a big bed, and she doesn't always cooperate now. Anyway, one of my tactics is that if they don't lay down for bed and stay in bed they get one toy taken away. It hasn't been used much, but it tends to work. Courtney has this puppy that she loves and she sleeps with it every night. Well, when she wouldn't lay down, even after reminders about the toy, I took it and walked out of the room and closed the door. I was standing by the door, waiting for Courtney to decide to cooperate. Courtney can't open doors and she was struggling to get it open and crying heavily. McKayla quickly came to her rescue saying, "Don't worry Courtney, I'll help you." I sent McKayla back to bed and McKayla, struggling to hold back her own tears, said, "Don't take away her Rosie! She needs it to sleep! It's her special puppy!" She was so worried for her sister, I was very touched. My girls argue, like all sisters I guess. But, to see her stick up for her like that and be so genuinely concerned was wonderful. I never intended to keep her puppy, I just was going to hang onto it until she layed down in her bed. It worked, she settled down and didn't get up again. After I left I heard McKayla singing her a lullaby....

"NO More Diapers for me. And I feel great, I am proud of me!"

So this post is a bit late, but the week before we left on our trip to Thailand (the first week of January) Courtney decided she didn't want to wear diapers any more! Hooray. It took only 2 days and she was pretty much accident free and could go potty on demand.

She got some motivation from a book she got for Christmas called, "The Potty Book for Girls." The title of this post is a quote from the end of the book that Courtney loves to repeat. It's pretty darn cute. I gave the rest of our diapers to Brianna's teacher (his 12 month old wears the same size as she did!), and we are now free from diapers. Life is great!

Disney Princesses: A Dream Come True

We just bought annual passes to Disneyland and this week I took my girls by myself! They were dying to dress up in their costumes and visit, so I let them. It was a great photo opportunity. My girls loved meeting the princesses. Courtney is usually afraid of meeting the different characters, but when we saw them she walked right up to each one and gave them a giant hug. It was so precious! The princesses were very nice and made her feel so special, and the other girls too. It was a great time.

Cute quote of the month!

Well, I haven't been very good at keeping track of the cute things my kids say lately. But, here is a good one from McKayla. She and Brianna were playing doctor and she proclaimed that her name was "Doctor Incovenants." Anyone from church will recognize that name!

An update about our "worst Christmas ever"

Well for those of you who heard about our Christmas events (and those who didn't) here's a recap. On Christmas morning, like most kids, Brianna woke up very early (I think 4 a.m.?) wanting to go see what Santa brought. We let her peek and then sent her back to bed. She made several trips back to our room to see if we could get up yet until finally we obliged at 6:30. We were all looking over the loot and getting ready to open presents when Brianna said her tummy hurt and she thought she was going to throw up.

She ended up in the bathroom for 1/2 an hour. We'd ask her if she was ok and she said she was. After a while we became concerned and I went into the bathroom. She was staring off into the corner and had thrown up. Her behavior was odd, but she was still answering questions and was aware of what was going on. She had uncoordinated motor skills and continued to stare off to the side. She wanted to lay down, so we let her lay on the couch while we opened presents and wondered what was going on with her. It was like a terrible flu suddenly hit her.

Her condition slowly deteriorated to the point that she was no longer responsive and was chewing on the inside of her cheek and drooling. We called 911. When the paramedics arrived she was in bad shape and we were all very scared. They weren't sure what was going on and after injecting her with all sorts of things they took her to the emergency room. Chris rode along and he said that at one point they yelled a "code red" and turned on the lights and sped ahead.

Her body was acting a bit seizure like when the paramedics arrived and so they gave her some anti-seizure medication in the ambulance. That brought her out of it and she eventually fell asleep. When she woke up about an hour later she was her normal self and wanted the needles out of her and wanted to go home! The doctor concluded that she probably had a seizure, which, from the time we found her in the bathroom until she came out of it, lasted two hours!

She underwent a cat scan among many other tests and was cleared to go home that afternoon. We were so glad she was back to normal and didn't have to stay overnight in the hospital. We tried to have a normal Christmas day. But, the trauma and scare of the morning couldn't go away. We just were very confused about what brought this on and what exactly had happened. Brianna proclaimed that afternoon, on the way back from the hospital, that this was, "my worse Christmas ever!" We agreed.

Well, two weeks later she had an EEG and follow-up with a neurologist and it turns out she has epilepsy. During the 30 minute EEG she had dozens of very short seizures. (The EEG was done while she was asleep. To assure that she slept she was only allowed to have 4 hours of sleep the night before! That was a major challenge. I stayed up with her and we "partied" until 1:00 a.m. and Chris woke up with her at 5:00 a.m. She stayed up better than I did as I loaded her with sugar and caffeine. Morning was a different story!)

The doctor said that she likely has been having these brief seizure episodes in her brain for a while, they just never lasted long enough before to have any outward effect on her body. The episode she had at Christmas was a series of many seizures that got progressively more intense and longer in duration. This explains why she was able to communicate with us off and on. This is likely something that she will grow out of when her brain finishes growing, closer to adolescence. She is now on medication twice a day and will continue to take it for the next 3 years at a minimum. We have emergency procedures set up at school and medication there and at home in the event she has a seizure.

It has been a very scary and unexpected turn of events in our lives. Brianna is taking it well and has even talked about it with a few of her friends. We are grateful that she is physically healthy and has not had a problem with recurring seizures. So far she hasn't had anything noticeable since Christmas. She has had to have many blood tests as we try to get the medication levels right and she's actually been really good about getting those done!

We are grateful everything has turned out o.k. Christmas morning was a very scary time for us and we came home from the hospital with a great realization of how much we love her and how grateful we are to have her in our family. When I went to bed that night I layed down in her bed with her and snuggled her for a long time. We didn't have any answers at that point and I was afraid that it was going to happen again. I didn't want to leave her alone. Christmas this year was a day I hope we never go through again.

Anyway, all is well and life goes on. We made our trip to Thailand after reassurance from the doctor there was no reason to cancel or postpone. Her grandparents took very good care of her for us. We continue to pray that she will continue to be fine and will grow out of this condition. Prayers for her from our friends and family are appreciated as well.

Two Weeks of Bliss in Thailand!

We had an amazing vacation in Thailand. I could spend hours writing about all the wonderful things we did. We had a packed itinerary and everything came together seamlessly. It was the best vacation I have ever had. What can be better than two weeks alone with your husband in an amazing country.

We began our trip in Bangkok. The moment we stepped out of the airport Chris commented, "I remember this smell. Just the smell brings it all back to me." Before we left he had been excited about going, but felt a bit like he would rather visit someplace he had never been before. But I could tell that at the moment he smelled the city, he was ecstatic to be there. He talked to the cab driver all the way to the hotel. I think that his Thai was very good and I was impressed with all that he remembered. Many people were shocked that he could speak the language so well and some had a double take because they wondered were the Thai person was. I just viewed the sights and soaked it all in. It was incredible to see the homes, buildings, shops, billboards, markets, etc for the first time. Just amazing.

We were able to see many temples including the grand palace and temple of the emerald Buddha. I was fascinated by the Buddhist religion and their practices of worship to the Buddha. I enjoyed watching the people and how devoted they were. Everywhere people had a Buddha and a picture of the King (whom they hold in the highest respect and honor.) Shrines for both are everywhere!!

We went to Chiang Mai and rode elephants, went bamboo rafting, and visited the hill tribes. We had a wonderful tour guide! We had toured the Bridge of the River Kwai sites on a private tour while in Bangkok and when we got to Chiang Mai we booked another private tour. (only Chris and I with a driver and tour guide for the whole day) She told us so much about everything we saw and the customs of the country. She even took us to some extra places because we had some time left at the end of the day. She used to work with the hill tribes in helping them to not be embarrassed by their ethnic clothing and customs. She even speaks their languages. So, when she offered to take us to see some of them I was ecstatic!

In Udon Thani we were able to go down to the nearby village of Kumpawapi and visit a church branch that Chris worked in. It was his favorite area. We even took the missionaries with us and visited a family that he baptized, but had gone inactive after a couple of years. They recognized him immediately and were overjoyed to see him! They promised to go back to church and the missionaries were excited to have met them and will be visiting them again. It was amazing that we found this family, as addresses mean nothing in that area. Chris remembered pretty much where it was and they asked around the neighborhood the find the exact house. It was wonderful to visit this family and go to church there. The people are so welcoming and the spirit was very strong at church. After church they always have a potluck lunch together. We enjoyed spending that time with them.

We spent the last part of our trip in Phuket, an island very popular among tourists. It was gorgeous! We stayed at the JW Marriot Resort at a private beach there. No other hotels were anywhere close and the beach was pretty much deserted. The water was warm and clean and beautiful. We walked the beach, layed by the pool and enjoyed the extensive tropical grounds! We took a day trip snorkeling at the Phi Phi Islands and loved it so much that we booked another trip to the Similan Islands our last day there. It was a great experience for both of us. The number of fish and the variety of colors was fascinating as well as all the coral!!! The water was so clear and a beautiful blue color. The islands were amazing to see as well. Just a great experience all around.

At night we walked the beach and the grounds around the resort. They had torches all along the paths and around the pools and huge torches in a shallow reflection pool in the center of the resort. The sunsets were gorgeous.

Like I said, I couldn't come close to relaying all that we saw and did on our trip. It was a very cultural experience and a trip we won't ever forget!

Annual Pictures of the Girls

This year, being busy and such I decided to try to take portraits of my girls myself. Hey, why have a camera that can make big photos and not use it? I think they turned out pretty well. The photo op was quite funny, though, as I had to keep calling the dog away as he'd turn up in the background on some pictures! Anyway, I think my girls are beautiful!