Summer Camp in March

Josie spent another weekend up at "Snohomish Summer Camp" or otherwise known as Aunt Liz and Uncle Ed's. No wonder she likes to visit there so much. She has a new adventure(s) each day and is surrounded by unconditional love and encouragement. She wanted to stay 40 nights but we compromised on 4. It is always a nice break for us when Josie goes up there but after all the stress from the week before with Benjamin's medical scare, it was an especially needed break. Plus, Julie was in LA with friends so the house was strangely quiet.

After meeting up with Liz, they headed to the indoor gym. A great place for Josie to get her energy out.

They also:

went roller skating

made bead jewelery

visited the Reptile Zoo

made bread

rode her bike (in between rain showers)

and no weekend up north would be complete without some quality time with her two favorite dogs, Schnitzel and Nudel. It looks like she did all these things on the same day because she refused to wear anything other than this dress :)

THANK YOU again, Liz and Ed!!! We all had a nice weekend

** I just showed Josie the photos and read her what I said and she told me that I had to include that they also went to "Old MacDonald's" Before she left she had asked me, "where is that place where Liz takes me and I get french fries and ketchup?" and I said, "Oh, McDonalds" and since then it has been dubbed "Old MacDonald's" which she gets treated to whenever she visits either of her Aunties up to the north. We don't ever go there..... OK, coming clean here, twice while I was pregnant with Benjamin I actually took Josie there for fries while I caved under a burger craving- a big mac both times! Ugh. I have to say it did taste good :)

Making Some Noise

Benjamin has always had a lot of competition when it comes to being heard. Even though he isn't talking yet he is already learning to make some noise. Good thing, because we are a pretty loud bunch around here.

Change of Plans

We had great plans for our Saturday the weekend before last. We had planned to go to the circus. Not only does Josie have a dad who gets a lot of cool perks with his job but she has friends who have dads with jobs that have cool perks. Mia's dad Markus is the managing director of Teatro Zinzanni and they just started a kids program. http://zica.zinzanni.org/zirkus/ We had been talking up going to the circus all week.

Well, Benjamin had other plans for the day. Around 8:30 on Saturday morning Benjamin seemed to have passed out. He started trying to lay his head down on the ground as if to go to sleep... very uncharacteristic. I picked him up and he just went limp in my arms. We called 911, they checked him over and he seemed just fine. He looked like a peaceful sleeping baby. But he was not just sleeping, he was OUT. I couldn't wake him. So, they told us that they couldn't really do anything more but that we should go to Children's. So, off we went. After several hours in the ER, Josie very nicely asked if she thought we would still get to go to the circus. Marty, Benjamin and I spent another 4 or 5 hours at the hospital but Josie actually made it to the circus, thanks to our friends! Mark very graciously picked Josie up from the hospital and headed to the circus with his daughter, Janey. I sent Jen a text saying Josie might be hungry and so she packed Josie a lunch and looked out for her. It was nice knowing she was having fun and well taken care of.

Sunday and Monday mornings were almost an exact repeat of Saturday morning, minus the 911 call. We spent pretty much all day on Sunday and Monday back at Children's Hospital. Thanks to Liz and Stephanie for taking Josie on Sunday and Julie was here at the house to watch Josie on Monday. Again, it was nice knowing Josie was in good hands as we were at the hospital for 2 more long days. After the episode on Monday along with a video that Marty took during, per their request, they have diagnosed him with seizure disorder.
Monday he started taking seizure medication and has been seizure free (thank God!) since Monday morning.

Josie has been the very doting and caring big sister. Always checking in to see how her little brother is doing. On the way back from the hospital for us and the circus for her I turned around in the car and saw them holding hands in the back seat.

Benjamin has been a little trooper throughout it all. He was barely bothered by all the testing, long days at the hospital and even dealt with being fully sedated for the MRI like a champ. His lively spirit teaches me every day to live in the moment and reminds me that he is very much a healthy little boy. I'm trying to be more flexible as a mom and in life but I will not welcome that kind of "change of plans" again.

Benjamin

Before I get into all the scary events of the past week, I thought I'd post a couple photos and videos of what Benjamin is doing 99% of the time. He is happy, healthy and very active. Nothing is safe anymore as he gets into EVERYTHING. He has weathered the whole thing very well, probably better than we have. He started to crawl the night of the first seizure and has quickly advanced to the cruising stage. He now "cruises" around rooms in record speed. In fact, as I was typing I just realized he was out in the hallway...

This is his most common route. He starts over by the couch, around the ottoman, down the wall to the light-up table, to the entertainment center - stops briefly here to pull out all the books, then on to Josie's art table and to the door going to the laundry room. He just started to crawl last week but is already close to walking.

The other day I walked in the kitchen to see him playing in both tupperware drawers.

Go, Dog! Go.

Last Saturday we had another special date night with our very special little girl. We bought tickets to the Seattle Children's Theater production of "Go, Dog! Go." and were planning on hitting our new favorite frozen yogurt place on Queen Anne afterwards. It turned out that Marty "had to stop by" the Eric Clapton concert for work after the play. It worked out perfectly as the theater and Key Arena are literally right next to each other.
That morning Josie was so excited that she was up at 6:30 ready to put on her "perfect outfit" and go. Unfortunately, the play didn't start until 5! It was a long day of her asking, "is it time to go, yet?" Thankfully, a couple hours before we left she fell asleep for a solid 2 hour nap. That is why she looks half asleep in the first photo.






The play was a huge hit! She literally giggled throughout the entire first half. It was so fun to see her so happy and enjoying herself.

After the play we walked over to the concert. I know the photo is blurry but she looked so cute in her little dress, hat and vest I just had to include it.

Of course, we didn't just have regular seats but rather tickets to the two KMTT suites. Josie is going to be one snobbish concert goer from here on out. I've become that way too since meeting Marty but at least I had 35 years of knowing what real people do when they go to a concert to balance it out. Being that this was her first arena rock show, she doesn't know that most people sit in the crowded seats, can barely see and don't have food and drink delivered to them at there very comfortable perch with a perfect view of the show. On top of handing out food and drinks, they also gave us ear plugs which were necessary to protect her little ears.

She had fun banging on the window separating the two suites.

And we still managed to hit our favorite frozen yogurt spot. Seriously, we are addicted. Now our regular date nights typically are at a restaurant nearby with the sole purpose of being able to go here afterward. They have 16 different yummy flavors of self-serve fro yo with a ton of toppings. You just serve yourself, weigh and pay.

VERY fun date night had by all.

The List

Josie is going to visit Aunt Liz and Uncle Ed in a couple of weeks. To say she is excited is a complete understatement. She has been talking about it every day and telling us all the reasons why she likes to go up there so much. The other day she told me that she needed to make a list so as to be sure not to forget anything really important. She was sitting at the bar working diligently on this first of about 5 lists. It appears she thinks (and is hoping) to stay a month instead of a few days.
She did this all by herself. Pretty good for a 4 year old. She is at the stage where she writes things by how they sound. It's not her fault that the English language is pretty crazy when it comes to spelling.
Let me translate in case you can't make it out:
Blankey
Pens
Baby
Baby stuff ("S" next to the baby and stuff "daf" down below
Gears (over to the side)
Pillow Pet