priceless.

elmo live: $60



fur real duck: $13



bubbles: $2

many prayers on ryan's behalf to stay awake and happy this morning: priceless.

and i really do mean priceless. because after only 4 hours of sleep NO toddler should be this happy!

ok, so the elmo live was on clearance for $30 and it is going back...! i thought i'd prepare for what would seem like a long night and morning with ryan and buy him some returnable new toys to play with. but in all reality, i don't really think i needed them. after a few tired tears this morning (from ryan, not me!) we managed to breeze through the morning with some cartoons, toys, a bath, and breakfast.

then we were out the door on our way to the children's hospital. ryan stayed awake the whole way there (at the exact time a few of you were praying. coincidence?? idon'tthinkso.nope!!) and was pretty much rearing to go.

when we got there we chatted with a mom who's little boy (let's call him max), a little younger than ryan, was also going to have an EEG. she had an awful time keeping him up until midnight and waking him up at 4. it sounded like they had a total opposite morning than what we had.

ryan got called back very quickly for his EEG at the same time max did. amy, the technician, asked a few questions about ryan and then we got started. first she had to take a lot of measurements of his head and then she marked on his head with a red marker where each electrode would be placed. after that she had to clean each spot with a toothpaste-type gel.

then it was time to attach each electrode. amy placed one on his scalp, put a piece of gauze over it, then brushed some smelly let's-get-high glue on the gauze. then she used very cold air to quickly dry the glue. the whole time we could hear max in the next room crying and crying. so i was relieved that ryan was exceptionally good during this process. he was busy playing with daddy's phone, and every now and then he'd say "owie." and after each electrode got attached he'd say "thank you!"

after amy got all 28 electrodes attached, she wrapped gauze around ryan's head and then it was time for him to fall asleep. i sat by his bed, prayed that he would quickly fall asleep, and watched his brain waves on the computer. he fell asleep very easily. again, three people (that i know of) were specifically praying at that moment!! awesome!

he slept for about 15 minutes and then amy woke him up. she put a strobe light about 12 inches above his head and did about 8 different tests with it. ryan loved it. i could tell he's had his picture taken plenty of times because he kept saying "cheeeeeessseeee!!!!!!" and each time she'd turn it off he'd say "all gone?! more??" after a couple more breathing tests it was time to take off the electrodes. amy used something that smelled like nail polish remover so we had to cover his eyes with a towel. this was actually the hardest part for ryan. he did NOT want to play peek-a-boo!

she combed some of the glue out of his hair (he has quite a bit of glue left in his hair and he'll be flaky for a few days. but it's all good—ryan loves taking baths) and then took him to get a treat. he got goldfish, elmo stickers, and a bugs bunny blanket! all in all it was a fantastic morning. on our car ride home i was thinking about poor max. we heard him cry so much before and after his EEG. which made me realize how much prayer can make a difference and made me appreciate all your prayers so much more. because without them i'm sure it would've been possible to have a bad experience like max did. so thank you!

we have to wait three business days to get the results. ryan didn't have any seizures that i know of during the procedure. although there were some very funky looking brain waves at one point while he was sleeping that she kept looking back over. but i obviously don't know how to translate anything that i saw on the computer, so i'm gonna leave the worrying up to God and just pray for answers!


thanks again for all the prayers—i'll hopefully post about the results early next week!