13 Days to go

It is now only 13 more days until Bella and I go to New York... I can't believe it is time already. I am so busy trying to organise everything before I go away. I have a very long to do list and items to take with list but I am sure I will forget something....

Max and Bella are interacting so well now. Max adores his little sister and is very protective of her. Here is a really cute picture I took of the two of them in the garden. Bella just lights up when she hears Max..

Bella had a temperature of 40.5 C yesterday and Dr R tested for Swine Flu. I dont think she has it but given her medical history he thought it was wise and justified to test for it..... She seems a lot better today though.   

Our weekend away was great fun. Max had a complete blast fishing, riding and building fires. I even went for a ride with Lexi and we had a great gallop / canter up the hill next to the buck. Here is my little man on his big horse.      

                                                                                                                                                  

 

Have a great weekend

Some interesting research

I got sent some new research from Neurology newswire from the latest Epilepsia journal which I thought was very interesting. The name of the article is "Benefit of combination therapy in epilepsy: A review of the preclinical evidence with levetiracetam" by Rafal M Kaminski, Alain Matagne, Philip N. Patsalos and Henrik Klitgaard.

Basically my understanding of the article (which is really only my understanding) is that from preclinical tests they have found that when Keppra is taken with other anti-epileptic drugs it improves the effectiveness of the other drugs without increasing the other drugs blood levels and side effects.

For example the effectiveness / potency of Valproate is increased by 28 times and Phenobarbital by 16 times. There is a whole list of drugs included and it shows by how much the effectiveness is improved. If you want a copy of the article let me know.

P.S. Bella is doing great. Starting to play with toys.. Yay

A good week

This last week has been quite quiet. We all enjoyed the long weekend and Grant and I managed to spend some quality time together. Max spent a lot of time building fires in his braai.. a pyromaniac just like his Dad.

Bella had a really great weekend. She is getting into her early bedtime routine nicely. She also grabbed her bottle and pulled it to her mouth which is a big first for her... She is constantly getting into the crawling position and rocking on her arms. Hopefully this means she will be ready to crawl soon which will be a huge celebration.

We have decided not to drop her Phenobarbitone anymore until we get back from New York which is now only 3 weeks away. I cant believe how quickly time is marching on. I am a bit in two minds about the Phenobarbitone. On the one hand I dont want any problems when we are away but on the other hand we have seen big improvments as her dose has come down and am very eager to get her off it completely. Based on the current schedule she will only be off it in December..

We are going away for the weekend to Dullstroom with my Dad which will be the first time we have been away together for 2 years!! So here's to a good week and weekend ahead!

A quick note

Last night when we put Bella to sleep in her cot she was quite active and then eventually went quiet and went to sleep. When we went to check on her we found her lying sideways on her stomach with both legs hanging through the bars and touching the floor outside the cot. I wish I has taken a picture it was too cute for words. Needless to say I think its time to move her into a bed.

Max told me this morning that when he grows up and is 6 years old he wants to be a daddy lion....