He all!  Well Don had a fab 40th birthday!  I sent a balloon boquet from the boys to Don at work...every balloon said "40" on it.  I wanted everyone to fully razz him on the job.  :)   He heard from many friends and his family - and the best part was his friend from college and beyond, now lives in Buckley.  He and his wife called spontaneously mid afternoon saying that in honor of Don's birthday, they'd like to drive up here and watch the boys so we could go out!  of course we JUMPED on that offer!  So at 7pm, off we went!  I basked in their goodbye sentence:  "now stay out as late as you want.  seriously!  we honestly don't care how late you get home."  Now this was said by a couple who lived 45 minutes away!  So we took them at their word and came home at 11:30pm!  We had such a nice time - we went to downtown Bellevue (when did THAT get so cosmopolitan and built up?!?)  We had a great dinner at Z-tehas and then walked across the street to the movie theatre and saw "bucket list."  I have to say, I'm not so fond of sad movies these day. I get enough sad stuff at home.  But this was the only thing playing at 9:10 so we went for it.  And altho it did make me cry, it was really a wonderful movie in so many ways.  It reminded me of my dad.  It reminded Don of his dad.  Then it came full circle and made us think about being parents and our own children.  Basically, it made you want to seize the day and live life fully - in the moment - because as we all know, some day we WILL kick the "bucket."  Lots of food for thought.  I'd probably have preferred a comedy or love story, but hey, ya gotta take what you can get! 

And the boys did great without us.  Thanks Ben & Christine - we owe ya!!! 

The weekend has been a blur of no sleep.  We've spent 2 days swapping kids while the other tries to take a nap.  Cody's been going to bed at 11pm and getting up at 4am.  Sometimes he just can't get to sleep at night.  One thing we found out during this week's hospital stay is that he's seizing all night.  They are "sub clinical" seizures meaning they don't show up physically but they occur in the brain.  That explains, perhaps, his sleeing issues.  And hence, ours.  Poor little guy can't even get a break from seizures when he sleeps - they just never leave him alone.  He's been having 30'ish a day (small ones) but today he also had 2 huge ones. I think the lack of sleep just caught up with him.  Right before he had them his eyes were red and bloodshot and he was so tired.  We literally try ALL day every day to get him to nap but he won't.  And every single night he starts rolling at 3am and we have to bridge him back to sleep countless times just to keep him in bed awhile longer.  It is exhausting.  I called one agency this past week and said we are literally falling apart at the seems from lack of sleep and asked for some emergency respite.  We'll see how that goes.  Sleep is just our main issue - we pass each other in the hallway at 4am and just roll our eyes.  This morning at 4, I was up from Casey teething and Don was up with Cody.  It just never seems to end. 

Casey has his 6 month well baby check-up tomorrow!  How time flies.  He is getting so big and is so darn cute.  I am battling this red patch of eczema on his cheek and it is driving me nuts.  It's been there about 2 months and it just won't go away.  We've been to the dermatologist twice now and are treating it with all the weapons we have.  But at night he scratches at it and makes it raw all over again.  I've tried mitts over his hands, sleeping right next to him and reaching over all night and batting his hands away from his face.  But you just can't control a baby's hands all day long.  I fear it will scar as we just can't get it healed.  Please pray for this if you have a second...it is really stealing my mojo and stressing me out.  It's just one tiny patch - he doesn't even have eczema otherwise so it's not an allergy or anything.  I change his sheets and such daily to make sure everything that comes against it is clean.  I've used aquafor, hydrocortizone, diaper creams, you name it. 

Luckily it hasn't affected his disposition - he is as smiley and affectionate and happy as ever.  He is a rolling machine - you can't even change his diaper without him doing about ten 360's before you're done!  He's sitting up constantly.  Trying to crawl.  He's super interested in songs and hand motions to them - his current favorite is itsy bitsy spider and he erupts into giggle when the rain comes down.  He is in that tenuous window where infantile spasms hits (5-7 months) and every day that goes by is a gift to me.  In my heart, I don't believe we will seizures with this little guy altho I am fearful nonetheless.  But he truly seems to have escaped his brother's fate.  Praise the Lord.  And oddly, Cody really leaves him alone.  They are often in the same room together with Casey in the exersaucer and Cody wandering around and Cody definitely sees him and looks at him - but has never tried to hit or poke or even steal a toy from him!  He's very mellow around Casey which is another huge blessing to us.  Casey, on the other hand, is VERY interested in big brother and reaches out for him whenever Cody walks by.  I now feed them side by side in dueling high chairs.  It is quite the circus!  I should charge admission actually.  One of these days I'll video it and post it - it's worth a chuckle. 

Well that's it for now - much love to you all.  I'm so glad to be done with the hospital odyssey that I'm in a great mood despite our current trials.  God is good.  We have much to be grateful for. 

love, Shawna