Friday, April 9, 2010

Jennah has been seizure-free for ONE YEAR ... Wohoo!!!

That's right! A whole year. April 9, 2009 was the first day that Jennah went for 24 hours without a seizure. They haven't returned since, Alhumduillah! Since last year, we have weaned her from all but one of her medications, which is now a mere 50 mg of Lamictal once a day. Good bye nasty side effects! She is so healthy and so happy now. Her development has noticeably improved. One of the most miraculous is that she can see! Well, at least we think she can and only when she really wants to. We take so many things for granted and it's weird to watch her actively "switch-on" her seeing ability. But I think this is possibly what is happening. She's also getting so big! More difficult on us as we have to carry her around, but well worth it. She is also "talking" soooo much! She laughs and squeals and tries to imitate sounds. It's the sweetest thing to my ears and we can't get enough of it!

As for blogging, I've been terrible indeed. Since the last blog some 3 months ago, I began winter quarter for my Master in Medical Engineering program and it was absolute hell! Thank goodness I have some amazing friends here who helped me through it by dragging me out for coffee dates whenever I had a free moment and especially to my then next door neighbor, Sarah who was at my beckon call and helped with the kids' school pick ups and drop offs.

I hope to blog more frequently (I know, I always say that!), so here's summary of more notable events for now ...
My dear friend Sarah moved away and I was surprised at how much this affected me! Not that I'm cold-hearted, but I'm just not used to having such intense relationships end so suddenly with the possibility of never seeing my dear friend again. Thanks to email and Facebook, we can still chat and keep in touch, but it's not the same as random tea (cuppas) and the UK vs. US English confusion among our conversations. And worse, I know that I will lose more friends as is the nature of our lives here in Dubai. I don't see it getting any easier, so I'm dreading it. All I can say is that I have AMAZING friends here and all over the world and I want to keep everybody around me all the time!

We celebrated Easter, Dubai-style as Aziza's classmate hosted an Easter party complete with egg dying and egg hunt!


And finally, we just had Bassil's 5th birthday celebration. His actual birthday isn't until the 13th, but we had to rush it a bit as a couple of his friends are going on holiday as we are in the midst of Spring Break. Oh the torture of Spring Break ... enough said.
Bassil's Transformer birthday cake! Carrot cake w/ cream cheese frosting, decorated by my beautiful friend, Rima!