Cheese! 
Dinner at Chuck E Cheese
This little conversation the morning of Emma's 5th Birthday- March 25, 2010 -will stay in my memory for a while:
First thing in the morning I went into Emma's room to say Happy Bday - it was still dark out.
Me: "Happy Birthay Emma Love you!'
Emma: " Love you mommy. Hey.....what about my clothes?"
Me: "What clothes?"
Emma:"We need to go shopping for clothes"
Me:"What are you talking about Emma?"
Emma:"Well, all my clothes say 4T and now I am 5 so we need to go shopping for new clothes!"
I am guessing she went to bed thinking about going shopping for new clothes and that is the first thing that she thought of when she woke up. That's is SO Emma!
On a more serious note, March 20th 2010 was another significant date:
Matthew had previously had a bad cold but was finally getting over it. That night after the kids had been asleep for a while I heard him coughing and since he hadn't had any cough medicine in a few days I went to give him some and found that he had thrown up all over his bed. At first I figured it was no big deal - kids throw up sometimes. Oh well. The mess was pretty yucky so I decided to give a quick rinse in the shower. I saw that his eyes were open but he wasn't really looking at me. I assumed he was just still half asleep. But then after the shower and getting him changed I noticed he was still looking off to the side with his eyes wide open and he was barely blinking. His breathing was also unsteady. I tried to talk to him and although he made small responses he was not his normal self. Finally when I asked him "Are you ok?" and he gave me a weak "uh uhh" meaning No, I started to panic. I called Ben who was in Tennessee and told him I thought Matthew was having another siezure. He said to keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't just sleepy and then we could decide what to do. Fortunately at the same moment a good friend of mine called me just to talk (how random for her to call in the middle of the night! But thank goodness she did) In tears, I told her what was going on and she reminded me how my Motherly Instinct has always been good to me and that I should follow it again this time if I thought something was wrong. So I called Ben back and he agreed that I should get Matthew to the hospital. He called my folks to meet me there so I wouldn't be alone.
I remember going into Emma's room to wake her up and to tell her we needed to go to the hospital and I remember her sweet voice telling me "Okay Mommy, I'll get my shoes on right now!" She did not complain or whine or put up a fight. I am so blessed to have a wonderful daughter. The kids have been growing up around doctors and hospitals and unfortunately Emergency Rooms, but in a way it is good that they are not afraid and are so comfortable going there.
I quickly went back to Matthew and noticed his breathing was still not normal and his color was pasty. He was still staring off into space. After his last seizure in August, the doctor prescriped DIASTAT to use in an emergency for long seizures. I was not sure what it was or what it did and was nervous to use it, but after seeing him in this position I quickly administered it to him. I called a friend to drive me to the hospital ( I couldn't get myself to put him alone in his carseat ) and we drove to the children's hospital. The medicine worked like a charm and Matthew was breathing normal and sleeping peacefully by the time we got to the ER. We still got a good look over by the doctors and it was determined that perhaps due to Matthew's severe cold he had just had and a recent growth spurt, the dosage of his seizure medication was just not enough for him. The Diastat had done it's job and he was fine. We went home with a new dosage of medicine prescriped and the next morning he was happy as can be! I on the other hand, was not myself for three days after. I am crushed that we have to reset the timer for him to get off his seizure medication (He has to be seizure free for 2 years before they will consider taking him off) but I am once again grateful that all was well in the end.
