Kindergarten!

My big boy is off to Kindergarten tomorrow! We had testing Monday, and a Meet & Greet today, and tomorrow is "boys only" day, Friday "girls only" day, and Monday will be the first "real" day. The summer passed by so fast, seemed much shorter than it did when I was a kid. Will post pics soon!

Things I want my boys to know...

I want to prepare my boys for life in the real world, to be able to survive out there, with or without a woman. I want them to know their way around the kitchen just as well as under the hood of their car. At 2 and 5 they can only do so much, but as they get older they will be in charge of things....not because I'm lazy, but because I want them to have a learning experience. I want them to be able to cook a nice dinner. To change their own oil. To do their own laundry. Fix a leak. Cut grass. Change a flat. Basic carpentry work and minor home renovations. I want them to feel confident and accomplished. Their wives will thank me. They will get in many years of practice while they are under my roof and I hope that they still want to take care of good old mom for many years after.

Good News

The new tests came back "normal" meaning no immune disease, but we have to retest him again in 3 months. I was relieved, but there is still *something* going on with him. He is sick far too often for not being in daycare. At first I thought the nausea/vomiting were only when he took meds on an empty stomach, but now it's happening at other times. His skin was "ok" according to the allergist at the appt 2 weeks ago...but now it's looking pretty bad! There are some things we need to do around the house to reduce moisture/mildew and dust. When we repeat the tests, we will also repeat the full allergy panel to see if he's still in the process of developing allergies. And I recently learned that even if the tests don't show a true allergy to specific foods, he could still have an intolerance to them and they could contribute to his problems. One day, we'll get it all figured out!

Concealed Carry Class

That's my target on the very end--I passed and will be receiving my permit soon! I used Corey's CZ-75 for the test. He bragged about what a good shot I was to his friends---aww, how sweet :) He admitted that I outshot him, which surprised me. I see a date to the range in our near future haha.

VEGAS

The hubby and I had our first real vacation together! All thanks to my wonderful in-laws. We went to Vegas to see my brother-in-law Drew get married to my new sister-in-law Casey. We had a really nice time. This was our hotel, The Excalibur. It was my first time flying, first time leaving my babies to go out of state, and a much needed break from changing diapers, sippy cups, and whining.

We came home and back to reality--a broken A/C, sweating it out for 18 hours waiting for someone to come check it out, when we finally booked a motel room down the street. Of course the tech shows up 10 minutes after we checked in. We ended up needing to get a new unit. Got double charged for the motel AND our cell phone bill putting a strain on our finances. Then our washing machine starts leaking (again) and since we JUST recently had the floor replaced b/c of water damage, we didn't want to take a chance again and shut the water off to it. Had to make a trip to the washateria the other day. Can I just say, I can't wait to get the problem fixed? Even with all this mess, I still have a smile on my face b/c of our awesome trip! I'm so grateful we were given the opportunity to go!

Update

So, the test results we were waiting on came back negative for everything...which I thought was good, but the allergist was a little concerned because the number they were looking for was much lower than expected. He explained how this could mean there is something wrong with his immune system, so they drew more blood, for more tests, which requires more waiting. I googled possibilities and see the IgE deficiency in itself is a "disease" but it can also be indicative of having a rare autoimmune disorder, or can cause one. It's kinda scary but I decided not to read too much into everything and just wait for a diagnosis before we get all upset for nothing.

He took him off a few meds, but gave him a few more. He had a double ear infection, so antibiotics for that, and he said the asthma doesn't seem to be improving with Albuterol alone so he prescribed Pulmicort and Singulair as well. I have never in my life, gone to the pharmacy and left with a paper grocery bag instead of a little flat white bag. My child has more medicine than his grandparents :(

Eventually we will figure this all out.

Sick

Since the allergist put Jhett on the new prescriptions, his skin has really cleared up well. We are still waiting for test results to find out what all he's allergic to. I am so happy we found two great doctors that were willing to help us get him better.

While his skin was looking much better, he woke up at 3am Tuesday with a fever and vomiting. I started to wonder if the meds were making him sick. One of them lists flu-like symptoms as side effects. He wasn't keeping down tylenol or even water. I decided to take him back to the ped. After being up all night and cleaning up after him, I didn't get Eli to the bus stop for school. Corey was at work in the truck, so I buckled Jhett in the jogging stroller and Eli and I walked. I knew when we chose this ped that if we ever did have to walk, it was do-able. It was about a 20 minute walk and luckily it didn't rain on us. We saw two dead snakes (Eli even stepped on one!) on the way back. The ped didn't seem to think it was the meds, so she did flu and step tests, both of which came back negative. She gave him Zofran so that he could keep down some Advil and water and told us if he didn't drink/pee by 8pm he would need to get IV fluids. Luckily, the Zofran helped. They even called to check on him today, I am so impressed with them :) He didn't eat or drink much at all today until dinner. But, the fever is gone and he is in a better mood now. Hoping that this was something viral, and NOT the meds he's on.

Side note: When they weighed him at the office he was up 2.5 lbs from last week! The ped said it was funny that even though he wasn't keeping anything down he had gained a little weight. I knew he had been eating more and figured it must be the meds making him hungry. The ped said it must be the Orapred. Good to know! I will steer clear of that stuff LOL!

Jhett

Someway, somehow, my poor baby has to deal with eczema/asthma/allergies. None of the rest of us have any of these problems so I was clueless, but I'm slowly learning. Since Jhett was about 8 months old, he's had some issues: rashes, respiratory infections, lots of colds. He was on prescription cough syrup and the nebulizer off and on, but his skin was a constant issue. Our pediatrician told me to use lotion, and when I told him I was, he told me I must not be using enough. It got pretty bad and soon he had open sores and was constantly scratching. We saw the NP who said it was either eczema or psoriasis and she prescribed a steroid cream but it didn't help much. The pediatrician said to keep using it and expect it to be worse during the winter. Basically, that we were just going to have to deal with it. I wanted a better solution. I knew there must be something more we could do. I googled my brains out and wondered if he had food allergies.

We couldn't do anything without the referral, and even changing PCP's seemed next to impossible b/c of the whole open enrollment period. So I decided that I would do what I could on my own. We tried an elimination diet which was a major PITA, but didn't get the results I was hoping for. I knew it would be so much easier to have allergy testing but I heard all these stories about how no doctor would do it on a 2 year old, and insurance wouldn't cover it. I knew we'd pay out of pocket if we had to, we needed to help our child. I kept researching and we changed insurance plans on the first of the month and finally switched to a new pediatrician. She took one look at Jhett and had no problem referring us and she was able to get us an appointment within 2 business days. YAY! Finally getting somewhere.

So the allergist officially diagnosed him with asthma, which we figured after having to take him to the ER in the middle of the night last year. He did the skin test right there (72 ouchies) and told me that he was definitely allergic to ligustrum and mildew. Several others were questionable so he decided to verify with bloodwork. We are waiting for results. In the meantime, he wrote a nice long list of new prescriptions. He is currently using two antihistamines, a steroid, four ointments, and albuterol.  I can already see a little improvement plus it's made a big difference with his sleep. Before, he was not sleeping much at all. He'd wake up at night and climb out of his crib to roam the house and get into trouble, and then somehow still skipping his nap during the day. Since he's started the new meds he's sleeping (mostly) all night and taking at least a one hour nap.

Here he is being a brave big boy, just before the skin test:























Having all these prescriptions is a little overwhelming. Some of them have pretty scary side effects. I was nervous about missing one or overdosing. So I put them all in a plastic box with a lid, each one labeled, and on a schedule. Four times a day, an alarm on my cell phone goes off and it's "medicine time." He doesn't like them and runs away crying when he sees me with them but I think he is starting to get the hang of it. Tonight I said "It's medicine time," and he actually picked up his little box by the handle and brought it over to me. I realized he tolerates it much better in the living room with the tv on rather than the bedroom with no distractions. Every morning and night it's about a 20 minute process to give him the oral stuff, put on all the ointments, and do a breathing treatment. The other two times in the day are much quicker. Hopefully when we find out all his allergies and get that under control, the eczema and asthma will not be such a problem anymore and he can get off some of the medicines.

So glad we finally found someone who could give us answers. The pediatrician and the allergist were both really awesome and helpful. Can't wait to get my baby all better!

New Year's Resolution Update

So, my resolution was to be happy--which included all sorts of things I knew would make me happier. One (big) thing was losing the weight that just mysteriously showed up last summer. So, on January 1st I got back on myfitnesspal, stopped drinking Cokes, slacked off on baking cupcakes and cookies and brownies and such. We started having a lot more fish and salad dinners. During the week I have SlimFast shakes for breakfast and lunch. On the weekends I take a break but try not to do anything I'll regret on Monday. I tried switching to fat free condiments like mayo and salad dressing but quickly realized they are NASTY, so we are going to just stick with the real deal, in moderation. When we got our tax return, I bought an elliptical. It's really kicking my butt. Butttttt, I have lost 16 lbs so far. I still have about 20 more to go but I'm so close to my halfway point!

When I reach my goal weight, I have the perfect reward in mind. We have 4 empty walls in the living room, and not a SINGLE picture of all 5 of us. I know, crazy. Half of my family hates taking pictures, but I think they need to suck it up for Mommy, just this once. I cannot wait to schedule our photo shoot with LLC Photography! She has no idea what a job it will be to get that perfect shot. But I know she CAN do it :) And I can't wait! 

Jhett is 2!

Jhett had a nice little Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party this Saturday. Can't believe my baby boy is 2!

New recipes

Found a great new blog and some recipes I want to try out:

http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/12/pizza-panini.html

http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/10/french-dip-sandwiches.html

http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/08/oven-baked-stew.html

http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2011/03/stuffing-topped-pork-chops.html

http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.com/2010/11/taco-braid.html

Oops!

I was deleting some pics from Google + since it's a ghost town...and somehow it deleted all my pics here. BOOOO!!

Not sure I can fix it now.

January Pics

So last year I thought I would do Project 365 and I totally, miserably failed. I am not even going to attempt it again. But I will try to post some pics at the end of each month. Seems much more do-able.

Here's my little tooth-brushin' boy. Never seen a kid that liked to brush his teeth this much. He has a Yo Gabba Gabba! toothbrush :)

My niece Jaidyn. I have such a hard time getting her to smile for me :( We just need to practice more!

 Swingin' @the park

I was so proud of Eli when he came home from school with this in his backpack!

Love this boy!

I love this boy. I love this age. Even though lately he's been a troublemaker, when I finally get him settled down for a nap and really look at him, with his chubby little hands, and hear his cute little snore, I can't be mad at him. I remember when Eli was this age, and wish he hadn't grown up so fast. We can't make them stay this little forever. Just have to take lots of pictures!

I have to have this!

Gotta love pinterest! Think I will make my own in Paint.net and frame it in our bedroom, maybe with some pictures of the kids.

HAPPY New Year!

Happy New Year!

I don't normally "do" resolutions...but this year I decided to. My resolution is to be happy :) That includes doing more of the things that make me happy! Check out my happy board on Pinterest.

Off the top of my head, I want to:

Declutter/organize
Take more pics of my babies
Do at least one fun thing everyday
Spend more time with my husband
Exercise more
BE HAPPY
:)