Sam turned 3.  Pictures to come!

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Memphis and had a BLAST.  Pictures to come!

Farmor and Papa G came to visit us, and we had a great time with them too.  More pictures to come!

Sam's CISD teacher started visiting her at pre-school, and it's going very, very well.

Samantha rides a tricycle.

Ally jogs.

Sam loves all things related to trains.

Ally says "no."  Often.

Ally has struggled through a 3 week, double ear infection that was not cured by the first round of antibiotics.  Antibiotics continue to wreak havoc on her digestive system.  Fun for all.

The girls went to a petting zoo, and Alexa enjoyed sneaking up on the animals to quickly touch them, then jumping back to safety.

They both enjoyed Easter very much.  Samantha remembered and enjoyed dying eggs, getting an Easter basket, and hunting for Easter eggs, and Alexa followed right along.  I think Ally is understanding these things earlier than Sam did because she can watch Samantha's interactions with them.

Best of all - NO MORE SEIZURES!!!!

All is well.  EEG scheduled in a couple of weeks, but no follow up MRI for now.

More soon - didn't want to let a full month go by without posting.

I got a call today from the diagnostician.  It looks like their proposed solution (which we will formally discuss in a meeting on Thursday) will involve sending a physical therapist and an occupational therapist to her current school to work with her, rather than placing her in a program where all of the kids have disabilities.  They feel that she is benefiting from her exposure to and socialization with children without disabilities. 

While I know that the laws make some provisions for these situations, I had no idea that the school district would proactively recommend such a customized approach.  I am incredibly impressed and excited.

Then, around 10 pm, we heard her asking to get up.  We went upstairs and checked on her.  She was clearly nauseated, but didn't actually get sick, so we settled her down and put her back to bed.  Around 10:30, I heard her whimpering and went up to check on her.  She was still sick, so we tried to help her sit up.  Her leg started to twitch, and she started throwing up.  I called 911.  She went completely and totally limp and non-responsive, and threw up repeatedly.  Then she began to thrash.  Her breathing was shallow.  Her left arm and leg were jerking; we couldn't hold them still.  Her teeth were so tightly clenched that when the 911 operator asked me to check her airway to confirm there was no blockage, I couldn't get her mouth to open.  They asked me to count breaths and I couldn't tell if she was even breathing.

By the time the paramedics arrived, the seizure had just ended, but she was still non-responsive and her breathing was very shallow.  They loaded her onto an ambulance and I rode with her.  We had intended to go to our local hospital, but by the time we got close, she wasn't coming around well.  She appeared as though she'd had a stroke.  Her head wouldn't turn to the right.  The left side of her face was drooping, and she was drooling slightly from that corner of her mouth.  She couldn't hold Bloose the Moose, who sat idly in her lap.  We decided to take her downtown to Memorial Hermann Childrens', where she'd have access to all of her specialists. 

By the time we got there, she was improving somewhat.  A CT showed no apparent increase in ventricle size and no new bleed.  YES!  By morning, she still didn't want to sit up, but her usual charm and humor were returning.  The "Child Life" staff came by and brought her a stuffed giraffe.  She held it up to her face and Daddy asked what she was doing.  She announced, "You have a giraffe in your eye!  You're a pirate!"  Silly Sam.

She saw her neurologist and her neurosurgeon's partner, both of whom thought she looked good, all things considered.  Everyone's best theory right now is that she had some low-level virus or infection that kicked off the seizure.  Apparently, kids this age are a little prone to seizure and Sam is probably more so than most.  So, we are hoping it was a one-time occurence.  We are going to do an MRI and an EEG to further validate the theory.  I am currently fighting bureaucracy to schedule these promptly.

Sam did have some strangely high tone in her legs on Saturday, and I think she's still having trouble adjusting to the tone changes this week.  She's shifting weight around a lot and seems to get tired easily.  And she is absolutely terrified to go to bed at night, where the whole thing started.  I am tempted to offer to let her switch rooms with Ally. 

Ally was blissfully unaware of any of this, by the way.  The child who doesn't sleep through the night somehow slept through the arrival of a fire engine and ambulance with full sirens, 5 firefighters and 3 EMTs tromping around outside her room, and Mom and Dad shouting up and down the stairwell about what to take and who was riding vs driving.  Big thanks to our dear neighbor Sandy who, without any warning, slept on our couch from 11 pm to 4:30 am so Ally could stay in bed.  And another big thanks to our Rice friend Jamie, who kept Ally along with her own two children all day Saturday, even though her husband was out of town.  Friends like these are truly blessings.

In the end, Daddy and I are a little more tired and gray, but all is well with the Friddle family.  Hope we don't do that again though.

Then, we had a little "graduation" ceremony, complete with cap and gown!

Surprisingly, given her activity levels, she has decided that she prefers skirts and dresses.  In fact, on many days, she will scream and fight anyone who tries to make her wear pants or jeans.  Generally, it's not worth the battle.  I need to buy more skirts.