The Day at the Doctor's

so...we know that family is going to be confused by this post, and maybe even hurt that they weren't told.. and we have to start by saying that we did not leave people out on purpose...we just wanted the facts before we shared everything. So we apologize in advance if feelings are hurt...we just didn't want others worrying as much as we were.

During my first week of school I experienced 3 separate situations where I was pretty certain Sophia was having a VERY mild seizure. It was the most scary thing we have experienced as parents. The very first episode was on Wednesday morning on our way out to the car. We were all packed up and ready to go. Just as most mornings, Sophia ran to the laundry room door and told me "hand" as we opened the door. I took her hand and lead her to the back door of the car. As I let go of her hand it dropped to her side and I looked at her. She had stopped walking and was staring up into the rafters in the garage. Only her eyes started to roll up to the right and quiver. Her body stayed standing, and she was unresponsive. For the longest 10 seconds of my life she did not respond to me calling her name. She did not make eye contact with me, and she did not move. When the episode was over she smiled up at me, as I asked her, "Sophia, say something." She was back to her chipper, happy old self. She sat down in her car seat and said "buckle" just as she tells me every morning. We sat in the garage talking for several minutes as I assessed her the best I could.



The next day, after school we were in our home office. I had just finished up with my first parent newsletter email for school. Sophia was roaming around the office, playing with Matthew's golf equipment and she asked for "baby" as she pointed to the computer. She LOVES to look at family pictures and name all of the people she loves. We had just finished looking at some older pictures of family (from looooong before she was born) and she was happily chatting to me. She turned around and started naming my facial features when she got still, her eyes looked up towards the right again and began to quiver. Just as it did the first time, my stomach felt like I was going to be sick. I had heard about things like this before, but didn't want to believe they were really happening to our little girl.


The third incident was the following day (3 episodes in 3 days). We were on our way to the grocery store to pick up milk and yogurt (2 things we HAVE to have in the house to have a happy girl!) when it happened again. Call me paranoid, but ever since the 1st episode I HAD to have her in my view. So even as I drove, I was watching every other second in my rear view mirror. (I know...not the best driving practice...) As we drove she was not as talkative as she normally is. She normally tells me every time she sees a bird "tweet, tweet" or a truck "twuck" or when I come to a red light, "sop" but this evening she was quiet. As I kept talking to her, I saw her head slowly fall forward, her chin to her chest. And again her eyes rolled forward and started shaking. By the time I had the car pulled over it was over. Every time, so short. But So Scary.



So, as quickly as these started, we made an appointment with our pediatrician. We saw him within the week and he agreed that they seemed like seizure activity. He assured us that they really are MUCH more common than people talk about. That their tiny little brains are on overload with all of the things they are learning, and that it is definitely something that we want to get checked further.



So this past week, we visited a neurologist in Sacramento for a consultation. The doctor we had was great. He was so good with keeping Sophia engaged throughout our entire adult conversation. He listened intently to the things we were describing. And although he agreed that they did sound like absence seizures, he mentioned that those didn't typically show up in children until the age of 3 or 4. So he did recommend getting an EEG done to see if there was any abnormal activity going on in that precious little brain of hers. So we didn't oppose. If there was any way we could get answers, and it wouldn't cause any harm to her, we were willing.

Luckily for us they were able to fit us into their schedule. In Roseville. So we made the trek back home, got Sophia some lunch and tried to put her down for a nap, knowing that the afternoon would be a long one. But, try as we did...she would not nap. Instead, she spent the hour and a half at home running around and getting her energy out. Which turns out, was a really good thing.

When we got down to Roseville, we were quickly taken care of. We were admitted and in the neurology department within 10 minutes. The EEG Technician we had was great with kids. She was so patient during the entire process of marking and placing the electrodes. The entire process took over an hour, and the whole time, she was talking to Sophia, reassuring her that she was not going to hurt her, and she even showed some of the steps to Sophia by doing them on my forehead. She was a trooper. Wrapped like a little burrito for over an hour, she cried during each new step, but was calmed by both Matthew and I. We thought ahead and had her blanket, her favorite Lala, and even a book to read to her. Thank goodness the bag of tricks worked. Once all the electrodes were on, the test began. Which was another 40 minutes. But Sophia stuck through it. She was getting restless but Matthew and I took turns talking to her, reassuring her that she was ok, that nothing was going to hurt, and that even though it was hard for her to understand, we wanted to make sure that she was healthy. Towards the end, she had about as much as she could take...she kept telling us, "all done...I'm stuck..." which was just breaking our hearts. But we stood there, praying over her and calming her for the last few minutes.

The next two days were the longest ever, as we waited to hear from the neurologist. I'll admit that I was that mom, and I called the office both days hoping to get the results. But I just had to know that we hadn't been forgotten or missed in the midst of some important medical information. And we weren't. On Wednesday, we got the most reassuring news. The doctor called and said that nothing showed up on the EEG that caused concern or looked out of the ordinary. He said it was fine. Even during the strobe effects that were done to purposefully induce seizure activity within the brain, nothing showed up! Answers to prayers. :)


We'll post updated pictures soon...we promise!

:) New Way To Stay Connected

Hi All! At the beginning of our blogging experience, we tried to set up a way for all of you to receive email notices when we had posted a new blog...

Well....That day has finally come! Thanks to Blogger, they created a new tool that does just that! All you have to do is enter your email address (to the right). All we have to do is keep blogging...

When we make a new post, you'll receive an email letting you know! :)

So, sign up! :)

Back In The Saddle Again

And....School's back in session.

I have to say that this summer was one of the best yet....Starting our summer off with the trip to Disney World, to spending all summer with our little LoveBug. I can't believe it's been over a month since we've updated the blog already! We're slacking!

So here are our Disney World pictures...from June! You would think I would have written about this at some point this summer. We both LOVE anything Disney, and we had the most AMAZING time! I was completely taken care of the whole time, thanks to my awesome hubby. The planner that I am did nothing to prepare for this trip! Believe it or not, I was busy with the end-of-school-year stuff and he took care of every detail..planning, booking, tickets, flights, reservations, all of it...I am one lucky girl for sure!

Matthew waiting for the boat to pick us up from our hotel and take us to Downtown Disney

First picture in the parks! Animal Kingdom

In front of the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Matthew standing in front of Tower of Terror...no thank you...

Epcot

We met Mickey & Minnie...by mistake! We thought we were in line for a movie & it turns out we were in line for the meet & greet! Score!

And Handy Manny (Just for Sophia of course!)

Magic Kingdom
(My favorite...most Disney feel of all the parks!)

In person, this castle dwarfs the castle in Disney Land

We ended summer on a pretty busy note! After our week of camping, I think it took us two weeks to catch up on laundry! But the good news here is that Sophia is becoming quite the laundry sorter, and helper. If I give her a few wet socks, she will put them in the dryer for me, telling me "Lawnry" :) It really is adorable!

After spending the week outside (and inside the trailer covering from rain) I was going stir-crazy from the 2 weeks following camping. So, on a whim we decided to take a quick weekend trip to the San Francisco Zoo. Saturday night at church we asked Auntie Carly & Uncle Josh if they wanted to go with us. So we all packed up a picnic lunch early on the last Sunday of my vacation and off we went, with the intention of hitting the zoo in the morning and then going to Golden Gate Park for a picnic lunch. Driving into SF & over the Golden Gate was so foggy! Which was a welcome change from the 99'+ weather we'd been having.

Sophia and Matthew on the carousel

Sophia our "groundhog" exploring the tunnels

When we got to the zoo, we were shocked that it is literally ON the beach. And big! Right when we walked in we were able to watch the giraffes feeding. Sophia made it clear from the minute we were in the gate that she wanted to do some walking around. Forget the stroller. So she wandered with us for the majority of the day. Which really made it feel like she was growing up right before our eyes.

Being in the 95th percentile for height, she could be our little giraffe!

walking on the wall with Ti-Ta

Walking with Daddy

Watching the baby gorillas. "Baby"

We saw so many cool animals! It was such a fun day. In all, it took about three and a half hours to see everything...and that was with skipping the petting-zoo section this time...we were going on two hours and not a single minute of napping, so we figured we'd save that for next time when she's a little bit older...



After the zoo, we headed to Golden Gate park where we thought it would be fun to have a picnic lunch and then take some family pictures...But like most situations...our little toddler had other plans. She conked out the minute the car started moving. So lunch was quiet and peaceful, but there was no waking her for family pictures. :(

Exploring a turtle...don't worry, it's a fake one!

Carousel Ride

Watching the penguins with Daddy

Train Ride

The next few days were the last summer vacation days I had. We slept in (considering 7am is sleeping in at the Taylor home), played outside, blew more bubbles than we did all summer combined, finger painted, read books like crazy, watched every episode of Charlie and Lola that we own, danced to our Toddler Tunes CD "moo-zic"and then the best of all..

Her newest thing is cuddling with Matthew and I. And let me tell you...after months and months and months of her running around it is heaven. Seriously. She will walk up to us with her blanket and tell us, "cuddle." One piece of advice that I was given shortly after she was born was to enjoy every moment I was able to hold her. To enjoy even the late night wake-ups because there would be a day that I would miss them. And when I was waking up every 45 mins in the beginning, I'll admit, it was hard to believe that would happen. But it did. And now, I am so grateful to have this little love-bug who wants to cuddle again!

And to be honest, there is a little bit of relaxation that goes along with this cuddle time now! 10 months ago Sophia started walking...which we thought was an amazing feat for a 9 month old. As first time parents, we had NO CLUE that would mean being "on guard" from that moment on...catching tumbles in the beginning, blocking falls, detouring dangerous situations, baby gates to keep her out of the kitchen, no more emptying the dishwasher while she was awake, intercepting any dangerous item she was able to get to...all because she was mobile and could find ways to get into mischief. So now that we have a little downtime, we are soaking it up! Cuddles in bed on Saturday morning, cuddles on the couch in the evenings, all of it just amazing...

Which was just what I needed as I headed back to school.