Good things!

I am so happy to report that I spent yesterday and today with my mom and she is doing fabulous!!! I even left her for awhile to do some shopping for her. I also got to hit Toys R Us where they had Addy's new tub in stock! Thank you Heather and Zoey!!! I was going to try it out tonight but Addy was pooped from playing all day with Jake! Scott said she refused a nap so she was out! I also got some adorable outfits for her for spring/summer 50% off! You can't beat that!


I'm really excited about tomorrow, Addy is going to see a pediatric gastroenterologist!!! Yeah! There isn't a Ped GI in Springfield, so we had to wait until Dr. Roberts from Kansas City comes down for his monthly visit. I am really hoping that we can find something to help our little princess out! I haven't blogged about this but this poor girl has a horrible case of gas. I'm not talking a little toot now and then, I'm talking rattling the floor man type gas! The poor thing is constantly burping (quite loudly) and yes, farting ALL OF THE TIME!!! Her belly is bloated so badly that she looks like a malnourished orphan. Fortunately we now know that she is nourished properly and is thriving on her new formula but the bloating and gas is still MAJOR! I really don't want her to be the little girl that no one wants to play with because she is constantly clearing the room! Celiac disease has been ruled out but she hasn't been tested for Hirschsprung's disease. Addy was born with an imperforate anus and duodenal atresia so who knows what else could be going wrong with her little digestive tract! I'm really hoping that we can find another med that will help with this. She already takes Zantac twice a day which helps with the reflux but not the gas. My poor princess!!!

Bath Advice

I know this topic has been covered by many a blog friends but I am too lazy to go looking through archives for info! This is the only bathtub we have upstairs:


The boys' bathroom has a five foot shower so that's out. Jarika does have a shower/tub combo downstairs but it's a pain to drag Addy downstairs for her baths. She is obviously outgrowing her little blow up tub and she absolutely freaks out in the big spa tub. I've tried having her bathe with Jake and myself but she freaks. I've looked at Babies R Us for a bigger "baby" tub but had no luck. What suggestions do you have to make the transition to another bath situation? She LOVES her bath, as you can see from the bee-line crawling to the bathroom pic:


I could just bite the bullet and bathe her downstairs, but I really prefer keeping her upstairs with all of her stuff, help!

I remembered a snow pic, I think we have about 6 inches on the ground now, it's beautiful!

Snow day

I haven't gotten my camera out today but once again we are home for a snow day! We have been very lazy, Addy didn't get up until 9 and I just put her down for a nap. Yes I am totally going to regret that later tonight! I'm not going to let her sleep long though! My mom is doing much better and we are hoping that next week she will be released from in-home care if she is able. My brother and I are still concerned about her being alone but we will listen to what the doc says on Wednesday. I canceled Addy's pre-op appointment today. With the snow coming down like crazy there was no need to get out and expose us to unnecessary danger! So we have watched movies and have been total bums, we're in heaven!

Bear Crawling!

Yes the pix stink, it was a spur of the moment moment!

Pink Night

Addy, Cooper and I had so much fun at the game tonight. Scott and Jake were at his basketball practice. It was pretty fun seeing all of the crowd, the jazz band, the cheerleaders and basketball players sporting their pink to support Breast Cancer Awareness. I have no idea what was significant about this day, but it worked! Jarika is very happy that she is able to cheer some again! She's been walking for a little over a week and now just has a hindfoot brace. It's very similar to Addy's AFOs, not nearly as cute of course! She can't jump, stunt or tumble but she is able to stand and chant. She had her first physical therapy today and she came home and took some meds quickly! She's not thrilled about the pain of the therapy but knows it must be done!

I am going to visit my mom in the hospital tonight. She had to have a blood transfusion today, her hemoglobin was 8. She is definitely not coming home today and I'm thinking tomorrow looks doubtful, so please keep those prayers coming!

Mom update, 18th Bday and ENT news

Well it's definitely been a rough week! My mom's surgery went well overall. The surgeon replaced one disc and fix four so she now she is reattached with rods and screws. The original plan was that she would come home today but that's definitely a no go! I was in the waiting room from 2-7 with no news! I finally heard something from the doc and then had to wait almost two more hours to see my mom! That made for a very long day! I was so worn out! You wouldn't think sitting in a chair for hours on end is tiring but it definitely is. I did read Sue Grafton's new book U is for Undertow though. I definitely wished at that point that I had a Kindle though because after I read that I was bored! My mom has had trouble with getting sick from meds and such and last night she fell in the bathroom. That's right she was alone and fell! She is not to get up on her own but she did and ended up falling! Exactly what a patient that just had back surgery needs! Fortunately the nurse for the other patient in the room heard her yell and was able to help her but still! It shouldn't have happened! I doubt she will even be home tomorrow but I don't know. I'm going to be staying with her all weekend so even if she does go home I'll be there to help her out. Please continue to pray for her healing!!!

My beautiful daughter turned 18 yesterday! I can't believe she is 18, it blows my mind! She had a great day and her best friend Gage took her out to eat at Olive Garden so she was thrilled. Our family had taken her out over the weekend because she was too busy for us this week! She's going out "clubbing" with her friends this weekend. She's obviously never been to that sort of place before, ought to be interesting! Happy Birthday Jarika! I'm so proud to be your mom!!

Talking to her Grandmama in the hospital. This was before the tears set in, she is soooo close to my mom!

I accidentally burned Ariel's hair, sorry!

She got two more posters of Taylor Lautner, who doesn't need several posters of a hot werewolf huh?

Since I was off work all day Tuesday, Scott took today off so he could take Addy to the ENT. I couldn't miss my Tues/Thurs kids again so it was a big help! Dr. Ears was able to the left ear tube out with the assistance of Scott and a nurse. Not a pretty sight I guess! They did tympanograms on her and she did have peaks but they are going to do new tubes on the 15 of February! Yeah! I'm so glad he decided to go ahead and do them, I know if we don't we are going to be facing more infections and I'm sick of her being on so many antibiotics! Praying things go smoothly! When she got her first set of tubes she was also having her analplasty surgery so we joked what a breeze tubes are!!

Tonight my brother is with my mom again and I'm heading to the basketball game with the girls and Cooper. Scott and Jake are going to his basketball practice. It's Breast Cancer Awareness night so everyone's supposed to be in pink! I made the cheerleaders some bows to wear, they're pretty cute. I'll get pix tonight!

Prayers for My Mom

My mom is having her first back surgery tomorrow afternoon. She is very worried about it and stressed beyond belief. I'm staying with her tonight and taking her to the hospital tomorrow while she has the surgery. My brother and I are taking turns staying with her until she gets out of the hospital and I'm on "mom" duty this weekend. Hopefully she will be home Thursday, Friday at the latest. Please say a prayer for her, she is very worried about this procedure but she has realized that if she doesn't have it the pain will never get better, so wish her luck!

Infection

Yep, Addy STILL has a left ear infection. This has been since December 2nd! We are round 3 of antibiotics. The eardrum is still unable to be seen due to all of the gunk! Gross! The ped felt like that the tube is out but is lodged and blocked due to all of the gunk but he really wasn't able to tell for sure. So now we wait for Dr. ENT to call us for an appointment. Dr. Ped really hopes it's this week, this mess has been going on far too long! He said that he feels the tube really needs to come out and it most likely needs the help of Dr. ENT, I'm really hoping that they put in a new set of tubes, I think they are warranted!

It's Over

Well, as of right now I'm going to have to go back to work tomorrow and the kids back to school :( I have been home with Addy since December 22nd and it's been so wonderful having so much time with her! It's felt like summer (except for the subzero temps and mounds of snow!)! Jarika hasn't been in school for a month, so tomorrow ought to be fun for her! She's going to have to get with all of her teachers so she can take her final examinations so they can get her grades reported. Ugh, that's not going to be an easy task since she has three ball games and a practice this week four days after school. It looks like she's going to have some early mornings! Yes, she is required to attend all of these things even though she can't cheer. We go for another post-op appointment on Wednesday and we are really hoping she will be able to start weight bearing some. She may even be cleared to drive which will be a God send! Jake has two basketball games this week too. Last weeks was canceled due to the weather. Both of his games are at 8:50pm in Springfield (about 30 minutes away). That's going to be fun, why they schedule eight year olds to have ball games that late is beyond me! If they had more boys on the team I wouldn't let him go, but they only have 7 so they really need everyone there. Guess I should try to go to bed before midnight, 6am is going come mighty early for me!

Friday Funny

I ran to Walgreens today to pick up a couple of prescriptions. When I left Addy was playing in my room, going through books etc. I knew I would only be gone for a few minutes so I figured Jarika would be okay for a bit. (She's still on crutches) There was no way I was taking the kids out unnecessarily, the wind chill was 20 below zero! I was gone maybe 20 minutes. When I came in I asked if Addy had ever come out of my room, Jarika said no, she's been fine, just squawking like usual! I went in and found this:


I told Jarika she was asleep and Jarika said "I thought she was being nice and quiet!" I didn't have the heart to wake her up, she was out! She didn't nap yesterday and was up a couple times during the night. Which was weird because she doesn't usually wake up! Anyway, my little princess too a two hour nap right in front of my closet, poor sweet girl!

FYI: There is nothing dangerous that Addy could have gotten a hold of in this room! It is completely safe and Jake and Cooper were both home as well!

Snowed in Day 3

Yes we are once again canceled due to snow! We haven't returned from Christmas break yet, so this has been a nice long break! I'm actually really enjoying the extra time with my kids. Addy is getting into things which I LOVE! She's just being a little demanding, what 3 year old isn't huh?? I'm sure we're going to be out again tomorrow because it's going to be below zero with wind chills the next few days and it currently looks like this:I LOVE IT! Bring on the snow baby!

This is our friend Ben, he and Jake are good buddies. It's kinda funny though, he's Cooper's age and isn't as big as Jake, man my boys are going to be tall like their Daddy!

So we've been watching movies, rearranging the basement, going through old toys and clothes for the upcoming indoor garage sale, building forts, and being lazy! Addy once again decided to help! I mean get into things! Jake and I have been going through his games and puzzles trying to find all of the pieces. We have a basket full of random pieces and parts that need to be put back in their boxes and Addy found the basket. What good OT huh??? She's picking up all those tiny pieces over and over again, Delene will be so proud! My mom doesn't understand why my kids and I don't always seem to put things back where they belong and we have random pieces of things, but oh well, it's part of my life and it doesn't bother me, it's kind of a mystery to solve and Jake and I are enjoying it!

Is it Wrong?

Is it wrong that I was actually excited to find this?

First of 2010

We already have a first for 2010! During Addy's lunchtime feeding I told myself that I really want to work on her feeding skills this year. Not that I want her off of her g-button yet, but I would like for her to start getting some nutrition orally! I'm thinking since she will start preschool in either August or next January, it would be very beneficial for her to be eating something by then! So while she was eating her pears with salt. Yes, salt, she kept requesting more! She NEVER requests more baby food! We are putting salt (a tiny bit) on her food since that is one taste that she prefers. I have an awesome book about food chaining that I'm utilizing with her and that is one of the suggestions. To pair a desired food with a non-desired one. This is not new information to me, but I seem to underestimate Addy sometimes and hadn't been doing it too much with her. Anyway, Addy "ate" a 1/4 jar of pears! I mean, opened up her mouth and actually swallowed them! She didn't tongue thrust out 99% like she usually does, I was so happy! She even learned how to wipe her mouth with her bib, how cute is that????

Re-Cap of 2009

2009 really wasn't a horrible year for us for which I am thankful. My kids all fared pretty well. Addy was admitted to the hospital twice in February, which turned out to be a blessing since now she has in-home nursing care while we work!

Jarika probably had the roughest year of all of us, I am so hoping 2010 is MUCH better for her! I really don't see at this point how it can't be, she's going to turn 18 this month, she got accepted to the college that she wanted, is going to graduate in May and will be moving out before she knows it. It's bittersweet, I hate to see her go this summer, but I know it will be so wonderful for her to grow up some and enjoy all of the aspects of college life! 2010 does hold a lot of changes for our family when it comes to Jarika leaving our home and going to school, but I think we will manage.

It looks like my mom will be having a rough start as well. She is having her first major surgery on the 19th of this month. I am praying that her back and leg pain is helped immensely by this first procedure! Not sure when the next one will be.

When we brought Addy home in 2007 is had in my mind that we would start the international adoption process in 2010. Unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to happen, but I am still hopeful that it will happen eventually. It will happen if Scott and I win the lottery this year! I guess I should start playing the lottery huh?

This will also be the last year that I am in my 30s! I turn 39 next month and it doesn't bother me in the least, I guess I'm just in denial!

I haven't really made any resolutions or goals for 2010 yet. I do want to be healthier and there is a plan for that in place. I also want to continue on a positive note when it comes to finances and that's about it. I am so blessed in the fact that there isn't anything about our marriage that I think needs work! I could probably be a little more understanding when it comes to Scott's "narrow interest focus" of geocaching, but that's it!

I want my kids to be happy and healthy just like everyone else does! However, when it comes to a child with significant emotional needs and another one with special needs, that is a big request!