Happy 8th Birthday!!!

To our Emma Marie!!!

January 27, 2003

7lb 7oz  3:20pm

19 1/2 inches long

Around 1 year

18 months

Almost 2 1/2

3 years

4 years

4 1/2 years

5 years

6 years

Almost 7 years

7 years

A little over 7 years

7 1/2 years

Almost 8!

Wow!

How time flies!!!  

We are excited to see where life will take our Emma Marie :)

Another National Month?

Did you know that November is National Epilepsy Month?  I never thought I'd be blogging about Epilepsy, but since April of this year it became very real to us.  Emma is doing so well since being diagnosed with Epilepsy in May.  Epilepsy is a blanket term for people with a "seizure disorder", in Emma's case she has Simple Partial Seizures-affecting her right side, chest up.   She continues to take medication twice a day and will continue to do so until May of 2012 (unless she has another seizure between now and then, she must be seizure free for TWO years before they will allow her to be taken off the medication).  She has minimal side effects, usually only when we have to adjust her medication and they only last a few days!  

The most difficult part for me as a Mom is having to forewarn and make others aware of her "medical condition", the risk of a seizure and what to do if she has one.  Also letting her go and have fun despite her "medical condition".  Even after an MRI, CT scan, EEG and other neurological tests Emma's neurologist was unable to determine the cause or trigger for Emma's seizures (in 70% of cases there is no known cause), so although Emma has been seizure free since May of 2010, they could happen at any time.  With that she has medication she must keep with her at all times in addition to her daily medication.  This medicine is for a prolonged seizure (lasting 5 minutes) or cluster seizures (back to back seizures), it is a very strong and very expensive medication, she has one to keep at school and one I keep with me when she's with me at home or out and about.  This medication is basically liquid vallium, so in addition to having to use it she would have to be seen ASAP at the hospital.  

Since being diagnosed Emma's neurologist strongly suggested a medical ID bracelet, which we let Emma pick out, that she never takes off.  She has recently gotten to the point where she doesn't want to wear the bracelet or people to know she has Epilepsy.  Usually after reminding her why she takes the medicine, to prevent seizures, she knows she must take her medicine, wear the bracelet and make others aware so that they can help!  

We are extremely thankful that Emma doesn't have more frequent seizures, since Emma's diagnosis, we have met two children in our church with Epilepsy.  One is younger boy (Anna's age) who has seizures frequently and has use of a "canine" helper, the other is a girl a year or two older than Emma who had Epilepsy and has grown out of it (which is what we are hoping for Emma).  We are also very thankful for the medical insurance we have, her daily medication costs coupled with her "emergency" medication, neurologist visits, EMS, ER visit, initial tests and doctors she saw = a lot of money, but God provided!!! 

Epilepsy is serious and affects so many people around the world, I ask that you take the time to be educated, you never know when you might be around someone having a seizure and you could be the one to help!  Take this quiz to Get Seizure Smart!

Pictures & Stories

From the time Emma was about 18 months old she has been obsessed with drawing, coloring and "writing".  She was so persistent at learning how to write that she could write her name by age 3.  She knew her entire alphabet and everything about them, she could recognize them, write them, knew what sounds they made, etc.!  It was then we saw her thirst for knowledge and learning and knew she'd be a studious student!  She loved to draw and color, she always had crayons or markers drawing pictures of everything!  Her obsession has developed into writing her own stories and "illustrating" them.  I too love to be creative, but I am not at all an artist or a writer, she and Jody share this talent and love!  

This is a picture of one of her current favorite journals (she has about 7 or 8 of them):

  

She had to have one like this when she started 1st grade and her teacher encouraged them to write & draw in them daily. Emma didn't need any coaxing, we had to go out and buy her another journal by the middle of the year and then another this year!  Here is a picture of one of her stories when she went to the beach this summer:

And here is a story from Easter of this year, she decided to use color in this one!

We are proud to see Emma doing something she loves and enjoys so much!!!  Who knows maybe she'll be an author or illustrator one day :)

On the first day of second grade...

I love that Veggie Tales song!!!  Here are some pictures I snapped of Emma's first day of second grade last week!  She's growing up way too fast and was NOT thrilled that I wanted to take a bunch of pictures, but here they are, one day she'll thank me!

Her breakfast of choice was eggs and water?!

All ready!  Coming downstairs to wait on the bus...

she waited...

and waited...

and waited...

but she has cool new shoes!

finally Emma & Jody on their way to the bus stop :)

When she got home there was a special present just for her, and "E" journal from Justice she had been eyeing!!!

And snow cones for her after school snack!

Emma had a great first day, she was super nervous about it, but by the time she got home the "tummy ache" from the morning had disappeared!  So thankful she had a great first day at school and look forward to many more great days at school!!!

Emma :)

Today Emma gets to meet her teacher for SECOND grade!  Here in Georgia they have a "sneak-a-peek" at each school before the school year starts.  They post what class and teacher each student has at the front of the school, you bring your school supplies and meet your teacher then, TWO days before school starts!  I remember when I was younger getting my school teacher assignment way before school started!  Emma is excited to start back to school, but nervous because of all the "new" stuff, friends, teacher and routine!  She is really nervous about the actual school part too.  We noticed a few months ago our "Miss reads a lot" wasn't reading books and writing stories, just drawing pictures in her journal.  We finally figured out she was scared to read because that's when she had her seizures!  We explained to her that she's now on medicine to prevent seizures and she finally started reading books again (consistently) a few weeks ago!  She also had a neurologist appointment last Monday and they adjusted her medicine, and she is experiencing more side effects!  This time the dosage adjustment will take about 3 weeks, they gradually increase her dosage, in her case a half a pill, each week until they get her to the dosage they want her at, based on weight!  

Please pray that Emma will have an easy transition to second grade and the new dosage of her medicine, that the side effects (blurred/double vision and headaches) would ease up before school starts and that she can manage them if they continue!  Also pray for her new teacher and class, she had a bully (yes in FIRST grade) in her class last year that was mean to almost everyone and it was a GIRL!!!  I'll be updating in a few days with pictures of her first day of second grade :)

Ramona & Beezus

Some of my favorite childhood books were by Beverly Cleary, especially the Beezus & Ramona or Ramona Quimby Age 8 series...LOVED them :)  I never had a sister, only 2 younger brothers, but I always imagined what it would be like to have a sister and the stories in these books were so entertaining, I could just imagine!
When I saw they were making a movie based on the books, "Ramona & Beezus-A little sister goes a long way"-I knew I wanted to go see it and who better than Emma who will be 8 in January!  Here's "the story" from the movie : The adventures of young Ramona Quimby and her big sister Beezus come to life in this all new film based on the best-selling books (over 30 million…and counting) by Beverly Cleary.  Ramona’s vivid imagination, boundless energy, and accident-prone antics keep everyone she meets on their toes.  But her irrepressible sense of fun, adventure and mischief come in handy when she puts her mind to helping save her family’s home. 
A friend and her little girl asked if we wanted to go with them to see the movie this past Saturday and we gladly accepted!  One of our college students went with her Mom too :) I don't have any of my old Beverly Cleary books, so I looked them up online to show Emma before we went to the movie, Emma is now intrigued with the series!

I didn't get any pictures of us at the movie theatre because we all were running late and there were bad thunderstorms when the movie let out!  But the movie was great, a great movie for all girls :)  Emma absolutely loved the movie, I think because Ramona is close to her age, and it had something for the mommies...not going to give anything away, you'll have to go see it for yourself!  Ramona reminds me so much of my little Anna (Emma even said so too), I know Anna would have loved the movie and I think Lizzy would have enjoyed it as well :)   The movie had a great story line, no profanity, no violence, no sexual content (all musts for me), what a great reminder for parents, siblings and even little sisters of how life is shaped by everyone around us, even those who annoy us sometimes!!!

Camp Wallaballa

A few weeks ago Emma had the opportunity to go to music camp at our church!  She was in a musical at our church in the spring but was nervous when it came time for the actual performance, so at first when we heard about the camp she didn't want to go, but after some of her friends signed up she was thrilled to go!  This year they performed Camp Wallaballa.  Here's what the book's description says: Camp Wallaballais a fun musical about a group of children going to church camp. On the way to camp, they are sidetracked because their bus breaks down, but during this "speedbump" on the road, they learn some of God's promises. The promises the children learn through this musical will help provide encouragement and help in the ups, downs, and speedbumps of life.Camp Wallaballashowcases a variety of musical styles ranging from high-energy fun songs, blues, rock, ballads, hymn-arrangements, and a stomp-like rhythm number complete with fog-horns, sticks and pine-cone scrapers. Thoughtful, clever and Biblically rich songs make this musical and it's camp theme accessible and delightful for kids!  

We dropped Emma off every morning at 9am and picked her up at 2:30pm.  Friday evening all 70 kiddos performed the musical they learned all week in camp! 

The older kiddos created and painted the set...

They had crafts, games, ate snack and ate lunch together all week!

Emma missed the first day of camp because we had family in town from North Carolina, and she was pretty bummed she didn't have a "speaking" part, but she was able to be in a group!  She was the only one they trusted with the air horn :)

Here she is practicing for her "part"!

The entire "cast"...

The just completed Kindergarten & 1st grade group (Emma's group)...

The just completed 2nd, 3rd & 4th grade group...

And the just completed 5th & 6th grade group!

And the pictures wouldn't be complete without a silly group shot!

Emma had a blast at music camp and can't wait until next year!!!

Just a quick note...

we heard from the neurologist last week and Emma's MRI came back normal, she said we may never know what caused the seizures!  Just for the count the EEG, CT Scan and MRI all came back normal, but because she's had 2 seizures she is classified as epileptic and will be until she is seizure free for 2 years.  Emma is continuing to take the medication twice a day to prevent any further seizures and is almost up to the full dosage (they've gradually increased the dosage each week) with minimal side effects, occasional headaches.  We are very thankful that all the tests came back normal and she is adjusting to taking the medication :) 

MRI

Neither Jody or I have ever had to have an MRI, so when Emma had to have one done recently, we had no idea what to tell her.  We looked up the hospital where she was having the MRI and found pictures and were able to explain to her about the whole process.  Click here for more information about the MRI that Emma had done.   As I said before we decided not to sedate her for the test, so we wanted to make sure she knew what was going on and that there was nothing to be afraid of!  In this particular MRI, she was able to watch a dvd for the duration of the test, about 30 minutes.

Here she is picking out her dvd...

still choosing...

final choice, High School Musical 2 (which is what Jody and I had thought she'd pick anyway)!

We had to remove all jewelry/metal objects, watches, phones, cameras, etc. before entering the room with the MRI because the machine is always on!  They even waved us with metal detectors before we entered the room just as a last minute precaution, so I wasn't able to take pictures before or during the MRI.

But here she is after she was all done!

They even gave her a special prize for holding so still!!!  We were very proud of our Emma and all the tests she's had to endure the past few weeks, great job Emma!!!

Last of First

Friday was Emma's last day of FIRST grade!  They even had early release Thursday and Friday :)  As we were waiting for the bus we could hear cheers, clapping, hootin' and hollerin' and lots of horns honking, we live about 1/4 of a mile from Emma's school, it actually borders our subdivision.  And here she is getting off the bus!  

Some parents greeted their children with water guns, but mostly cameras at our bus stop!

And here is out graduated first grader with her sisters, Daddy was off to greet her too :)

We're proud of Emma, our soon-to-be second grader!!!