Go sleep on the couch!

So, I was having a conversation with my darling daughter this evening and was reminding her about how nice it would be if she could earn some computer time like her brother by staying in her bed all night. Ethan has stayed in his bed all night the past two nights (only because he is scared to death of the cat crawling on him, but hey, whatever works). I asked Emily why she has been sneaking in my bed each night. I asked her if she was sick - she wasn't. I asked her if she had a nightmare - she did not. I asked her why she came into my room then, and she told me it was because my bed was so comfortable. I told her to stop doing it because I can't sleep well when she is in my bed. In her most serious voice ever, she said, "Well, can't you just move to the couch then!" I was stunned speechless for a brief moment that my six year old child just told me to move to the couch so she can now take over my bed. After a second to get over my initial shock, I simply told her that my solution is to lock my bedroom door so she can't sneak into my room anymore and she can go to the couch if she doesn't want her bed anymore.

I got a call this morning from Dr. Canady, Emily's neurosurgeon. I had called her to let her know about Emily's headache episodes after we arrived in Orlando. I kind of feel a little bit frustrated. For anybody who has witnessed Emily's headache episodes, you will know and understand what I am talking about when I explain them. These things are very distinct and it would be almost impossible to confuse them with any other kind of illness because of the characteristics and how they manifest from start to finish. When I explained to the neurosurgeon about Emily's symptoms after the flight, she said that it would be in our best interest to have her checked out by our pediatrician for sinus problems, maybe have her sinuses x-rayed. She said that it sounds like Emily's symptoms were from some kind of internal sinus problems. Now, while I do admit that Emily has always needed allergy medicine for seasonal allergy stuff, and I know that flying can cause problems because of the ears popping/not popping, etc, and it can be related to sinus issues, what she had happen to her on those episodes were not sinus related. It was the exact same thing we went through over and over again for almost three years before she had her brain decompression and shunt surgery this past February. All I can say is that she is fine now. We just seem to always be waiting for the next time that her shunt will break and she'll need another brain surgery.

Here is a picture of Emily when she was in the middle of one of her headache episodes while we were at Disney's Hollywood Studio.

This is Emily about 30 minutes after the end of the headache episode. She just finished riding Tower of Terror and is now eating an ice cream.

On a positive note, there is something that I totally forgot to mention about Ethan. In all of our excitement before we left for our trip, it just got left out. Ethan won a drawing contest and had his name announced during the morning announcements at school. The contest was held at Chick Fil A for one of their school spirit nights and the children had to draw the Chick Fil A cow dressed in a police hat. Ethan won the contest for the best drawing of all the Kindergartners. He was so excited when he came out of school that day and told me and I was so proud of him. We still have to go collect his prize at Chick Fil A.

Today was a fun day at school. The kids got to have breakfast with Santa, and later had a gift exchange. For the gift exchange, they each brought a wrapped candy bar and they got to draw numbers and get to get a candy bar as their gift. I think that is a great idea. The kids all love candy bars and it means that the parents don't have to spend a lot of money on exchange gifts. What a genius idea!!! I can't believe that it is only a week until Christmas. I need more time.