Wow, finally a free moment (make that minutes because this is being written in intervals)

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks and I finally have a free moment to put down some updates. Well, let's start with Jet since it was his birthday this last week. He had two shindigs. His birthday was officially on Tuesday (19th) but since Chris was heading to Austin that day, we celebrated on Monday. We then followed up with a party on Saturday inviting the 5 preschool boys in his class. Who knew that 5, four to five year old boys could cause so much commotion for 2 hours. Fortunately for me, I had the foresight to pay two sitters to help me command this event (Chris ran an errand to get money from the ATM and reappearred about an hour later ... hmmmm). Christmas was all about Spiderman .... this birthday was all about Batman. Charlie came as "Mr Freeze" since he was having a 48 hour EEG this weekend (More to follow). He was a trooper and mixed it up, right in there with the older boys (headwrap and all). I'm going to have to explain to his neurologist that the large blips and spikes that she sees on his read-out from 1-3pm on Saturday were a result from a severe sugar buzz spiked with 5 year old adrenaline. At one time, I caught him with two suckers in his mouth (suckers are Charlie's crack!). Anyways, Jet asked me if since he had two birthday events ... if he was now 6. "uh, no, you were just lucky enough to get two cakes". That was a good thing for Jet because the first cake eaten on Monday tasted, well, like cardboard, "Mom this cake is no good. It's not sweet!" Never mind the 2 cups of sugar that I put in that one. So I learned. Off to the grocery bakery for the party and not one complaint from the bunch. Thanks to those who sent email, cards and wishes. Jet loved them!

Alright, Charlie, our trooper, had a 48 hour EEG this last weekend. He may be having seizures. He opens his eyes, sobs or moans a bit then goes into a full out body tremble (head to toe). It lasts about 30-40 seconds until he comes fully awake. We're hoping that these are just really icky night terrors. It's happened 4 times since January 1. His neurologist said that about 30% of kids that develop atypically have seizures so thus the testing. We had an EEG last year when Charlie went to sleep at the DR. office with the leads on then was woken up. Everything was normal for that one. SOOO take a look at the pictures. They attached 18 leads to Charlie's head. Connected the leads to a box which sat on top of Charlie's head, wrapped his head and connected everything to a fanny pack that he wore 24 hours. On top of all this, we had to video him at night. I'll be honest, I didn't think that we would make it through the appointment (but a portable DVD player and Leap Frog video saved the day) nor have Charlie keep all this on even for the ride home. It was all secured by the gauze underneath his chin. Fortuantely, we had bought Charlie/Jet a marble run (think Easter bunny). We bribed the daylights out of the boy telling him if he kept the hat on, the marble run was his (and his bro's). It worked and miraculously, Sunday morning it all came off. Actually by Saturday, Charlie was used to the stuff and it didn't even bother him (even with the start of a nasty cold).

Last week was a big week for Charlie. He started Tae Kwon Do and has already earned a stripe on his belt. He's so focussed in the class and just cute with his gear on. Big Brother Jet watches out for him and is THRILLED that Charlie has joined him classes. Charlie had his monthly ABA (Therapy) update last week. Looks like this is Charlie's last year in Special Ed preschool. His preschool teacher attended the session and he's defintely going to be graduated out. SOOO now I'm on the hunt for a preschool for him. I think we've found one that will fit (very academically based). I just need to understand better who the teacher is and how many kids are in the class. Charlie also saw a new Family Practice MD last week who specializes in Eastern medicine. We've now got Charlie on a new diet (no milk, limited processed foods) and a regime of probiotics and herbs. I've seen this regime work wonders on my good friend Tracy, so we're giving it a go. Today is day one ... decided against starting this weekend ... too much change while he was hooked up to the EEG. I must say she is the first MD that made any sense about Charlie's allergies and excema. He is definitely sensitive to mold. She believes that Charlie is not allergic to peanuts/soy per say ... but to the mold that these legumes carry. This makes total sense since he's only tested positive once for peanuts and never for soy ... but if he eats them ... watch out for the other end ... really icky. Same for yogurt and tropical fruits. So we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

The weekend of 2/16 & 2/17, my cousin Mike and his crew came into Chicago for the car show and stayed Saturday night with us. I'm not sure that they were used to our early risers - uh that would not be Chris and I by the way. We may never get another visit from them again. Mike's wife Gabriella is from Peru and cooked us a Peruvian meal that was out of this world. I now am in possession of great Peruvian recipes and can share if there is a request.

The weekend of Feb 9th, we had our local adoption network party at our parks and rec department. It was fun and the turnout was great. This weekend we have another party for Chicago Area Families for Adoption ... I sit on the board of this group. Same place and probably even a bigger turnout. In between all this, Chris has been to Vegas, Austin, Seattle and is currently on a plane to LA. There have been 2 or 3 bday parties for the boys' friends. I'm hoping that we get some relief in March. I hated being this busy especially last weekend. I had planned to go to MSP to see my good friend Tracy who was in from India but knew that Chris wouldn't survive the EEG and Jet's friends on his own (sorry honey! but I couldn't either).

I promise Tracy ... when you guys come in next time, we're booking flights and going!

I'll try to post more. Please keep checking.