The Best Things Come in 3

A Vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth

2012-01-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

The holidays were busy and extra fun this year. We did go to Michigan over Thanksgiving and had a splendid time with my family. My sister and her family also stayed with my parents, so their house was full and the kids loved spending time with their cousins. I, too, very much enjoyed my time with my parents and sister.

Santa brought the kids just what they wanted for Christmas. That man is good. Gavin's big gift was the Imaginext Batcave, Rachel got all things La La Loopsy, and Aryne struck the motherload of chipmunk items. They also got several great gifts from family, including Nintendo 3DS's, which they just can't seem to put down. Thank you everyone for being so generous! After Christmas, we just sat back and relaxed for a week, until we made our way to Florida on vacation. That's right. You heard it. Our family actually went on our very first vacation EVER to Disney World on Jan. 1.

The kids travel so well, we really are quite proud of them for that. We spent 5 nights and 4 days there, which included 2 days at the Magic Kingdom, a day at Epcot, and a day at Hollywood Studios. Rachel had a rough time with all of her sensory issues and the business of it all on our first day at the Magic Kingdom. We had promised her she wouldn't have to do anything she didn't want to do. As soon as we got in, we rode 2 rides she was really looking forward to (which took much too long as the park was way overcrowded that day), and that apparently was enough for Rachel. She thought that she was going to ride 2 rides the entire stay at Disney and that was IT. No more rides, no shows....NOTHING. Of course, she really wanted to ride the other rides, she was just too scared. We had to take her out of a few rides with her screaming bloody murder just as they were about to start. Needless to say, the first day was rough. But the next day was Epcot, which is more relaxed, and the crowds died down, so it went much better for her. By the last day, she was much more confident in the rides and couldn't get enough of Disney World.

Aryne had the time of her life there. I've never seen a kid have such a contagious laugh. She got up and boogied to the music during shows, and belted out laughing at all the jokes. People were smiling and pointing at her and just having fun watching her. I'm fairly confident Disney was made for kids like her. The only time she got scared was on the Haunted Mansion ride, where she screamed and clung to me throughout. That was fun trying to hold onto her AND Gavin in complete darkness while navigating the crowd. We made it out though, safe and sound. Gavin rather enjoyed most everything, too. We did have to drag him onto Pirates of the Caribbean. He was really scared through about half of the ride until I pried his face out of my ribs and hands off of his eyes. When he finally looked around, he thought the ride was fantastic! If you ask him what his favorite ride was in all of Disney, he will tell you, with enthusiasm, "PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN!".

In addition to the rides, we had made reservations at 5 restaurants for sit-down meals, noting Gavin's food allergies and foods that we are avoiding (the list included peanut, tree nut, sunflower seed/oil, uncooked egg, and shellfish). We also ate 5 quick-service meals at the parks as well. I have to say that one of the reasons we chose Disney for our first vacation is that they have a fantastic reputation for knowing how to handle food allergies. They certainly did not disappoint us! Each of the head chefs at the restaurants came out to talk to us and several of them made special desserts for us that were safe for Gavin. Even the managers at the quick-service restaurants all came out to talk to us and go over all of the ingredients in their foods. All of the kitchens we encountered were nut-free, except for some baked goods made elsewhere and brought in. The only PB&J sandwiches they had were the prepackaged kind, so there was no risk of cross-contamination in the kitchen. Wonderful! The sunflower allergy was our trickiest, but we were able to work around it quite easily. Thank you Disney for allowing us to sit down and eat at restaurants like a typical family. I hope they all know how much it meant to us.

The kids met many characters and went to three character meals. They met the Pooh characters at the Crystal Palace. The next day they met all of the princesses at Epcot's Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, and on the last day, we all went to Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. While those were all fun and lovely, 4 out of 5 of us liked Tony's Town Square the best, and the last one of us liked 50's Prime Time Cafe the best. I don't know how the non-character meals ended up being our favorites, but perhaps it had to do with the extra yummy food. We also met Mickey and Minnie, Donald Duck, Buzz Lightyear, Tinkerbell and Vidia, Prince Charming and Cinderella's family, and the Green Army Man from Toy Story. We saw the parades, firework shows, and rode all the big rides. We thought for sure we would all be dragging and dog tired by the end of the week. As it turns out, that didn't quite happen at all. Instead, we wanted more! None of us can wait to go back!

Take a look at the holiday/vacation pictures and enjoy!

At 1900 Park Fare meeting Cinderella

With Walt and Minnie

At Epcot meeting Belle

Buzz Lightyear!

Found some Chipmnks for Aryne!

Was treated to this allergy-friendly dessert at 1900 Park Fare

In a shark's mouth from Nemo

Rachel on Christmas morning

Santa's gift to Gavin

Aryne loving her stuffed Alvin

Family Pictures and First Grade Fun

2011-11-18T11:12:00.001-06:00

The months of October through December are pretty busy as far as school goes, especially when you are the allergy mom. I've done so much baking and shopping and class preparation already! I really like getting in and working with the kids and their classmates, though. And have I mentioned that I LOVE their teacher? Seriously. I think I'm in love with her. If ever there was a lady on top of things, she is the gal. I went in for my first ever parent-teacher conference with her (last year's teacher never really wanted a conference) and was simply amazed at how well she knew my kids after only having them for a couple of months. She is so on top of the allergies, hives, asthma and Rachel's sensory/transition needs....we really got a good match for us this year. It leaves me thinking I might be disappointed next year.

Here is Aryne yesterday at their class Thanksgiving party reciting her lines. And her most awesome teacher behind her.

Gavin and Rachel awaiting another song.

Their entire first grade class in their very adorable costumes. Gotta love the turkey.

The kids are really doing extraordinarily well this year. I knew they loved to read and I knew they were good at it, but until I went in and talked to the teacher during our conference, I had no idea how well they were doing. I mean, I only have them to compare each other with. Great job kids - you all have greatly impressed me! Keep up the good work!

Gavin is enjoying his scouting adventures this year and I'm still trying to find something the girls will enjoy as well. So far, they go on all the boy scout activities with Gavin and have fun, but they need something of their own to do as well. Preferably something we can afford. Everyone is still in gymnastics, though, and we will be staying there for at least another year.

We are headed up to Michigan next week to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. The last time they saw them was the kids' birthday, when they only stayed one day because they were soooo sick. Blech. My parents had planned on making it down to see us next week, but my mom had knee-replacement surgery and the knee doesn't travel too well. So, we decided to go up there instead. We get to see my sister and her family this way, too.

My friend, Jill, took some more amazing family photos of us this past month. I love these pictures so much as they really reflect the love those kids have right now for one another, and the love Scott and I feel for them. They are priceless to me, so thank you Jill Childs Photography! (Note the several missing teeth. Gavin's smile is especially toothless, and he lost another tooth about an hour after this photo shoot. I can hardly believe the kid can still eat! Aryne and Rachel have quite a few loose teeth as I write this!)

And a Halloween pic! Ariel, a dalmation, and a pirate! Arrrg!

What Happened to Summer?

2011-09-13T12:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, did summer ever fly by! The kids have already been in FIRST GRADE for over a month now! I simply can't believe it!

We did a lot of swimming this summer in our neighborhood pool. They converted it to salt water, which is much better on Gavin's skin than chlorine. We spent many a day there, enjoying the pool to ourselves several days. We were also lucky to have visitors, including my sister and her family and the kids' grandparents. No big trips this summer for us, though. We are saving our money to go to Disney World during the holidays. We can't wait. The kids talk about it all the time, and Scott and I are excited, too. We have never. EVER. had a family vacation. We do a lot of traveling, but it is always to go spend time with family. But the kids are at that age where Disney just seems perfect....and we don't want to let time slip away from us any more. It is time we did something for ourselves.

First grade is going rather well so far. The kids are in love with their teacher and are each reading their own Magic Tree House book each week. They love reading! I remember still trying to spell "yellow" in first grade and failing my weekly spelling tests (be easy on me...I didn't understand what a "test" was!). It is amazing how better and earlier kids are reading these days. Their reading lists consist of words like "soothsayer", "constellation", "mirage", "hieroglyph" and "Mt. Vesuvius". And the books teach them all about history and the natural world, which I love. So far, they've learned about ancient Egypt, Ninjas and Japanese culture, Polar Bears and Inuit culture, Pompeii, Medieval times, pirates, space, and the Amazon rain forest, among other good things.

Gavin has also started boy scouts. Aryne and Rachel are still torn between whether they want to do scouts or music lessons. We'll see how the boy scouting pans out and go from there. Scouting sure is a lot cheaper!

Here are some fun pictures of the kids from this summer and through first grade!

Out on a nature walk. We thought it would be good to get the kids walking in preparation for Disney. Somehow, they weren't so thrilled with taking in nature. They didn't even care when deer were only 5-10 feet away. I think they've been spoiled by living in the woods.

Here they are at the zoo. They loved feeding the birds and having them land on their bodies.

Doing the sprinkler thing. Don't all kids feel the need to drink the water?

Out in the pool having fun.

Welcome first grade! An unintended family shot.

So happy to be "big kids"!

Enjoying the "Neighbors"

2011-06-27T16:30:00.006-05:00

Scott and I are very much enjoying our "neighbors". We really don't have any yet at the back or side of the house, so instead, we get visited by an abundance of creatures. I should have entitled this post yet another "Backyard Creatures", but I think we have made friends with these frequent inhabitants of our yard. We have found it very amusing that these animals don't really know what to make of us since we moved in on their turf. While perhaps not overjoyed that we built a house on their feeding grounds, they are not scared one little bit either.

First, of course, there are the lizards. Those little guys are still running around like mad. One has even graced us with his daily presence on our front porch. This little one, I'm sure of it, has made its home in our landscaping mulch. One of these days, I know he is going to run inside when I open the door. Ahhh!

Then there are the birds. These two tom turkeys seem to like our yard. There are some hens, too, but they haven't actually made it into our backyard yet. Hummingbirds, several varieties of woodpeckers, indigo buntings, bluebirds, goldfinches, blue jays, cardinals, summer tanagers, mockingbirds, and of course robins all have nests here. Those hummingbirds come right up, perch on the feeder and tweet at us while they eat, even though we are no more than 10 feet away.

The squirrels, well, they think they own the yard. They also have not figured out that we have a nut-free house. They think they need to come up on our porch and eat nuts over our table. What is wrong with them anyway? Before we moved in, one of the squirrels used to bark at me every time he saw me. Now, I think we've made peace with one another. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the crazy squirrel.

Our favorites, though, have to be the deer. There is a doe that has come right up to our bedroom window a few times this past week. She stares right at me with the camera and just doesn't care. She also has 2 babies (at least I think it is her) and those babies have no fear either. One day, I saw the mom, one fawn and a cat running in a circle together. Now, I thought that was something I'd never see again....until I saw it again the very next day with two fawns and a different cat. Where is my video camera when I need it?! I'm fairly certain the cats were not too happy with the situation.

Here's a funny pic I took this weekend of the fawns checking out the backhoe and dump truck parked on our street for a house under construction. Those little guys are too cute!

Now that they are set to clear the lot next to us, I'm a little saddened. What will happen to my visitors? I sure hope they still stop on by - we like having animals for neighbors!

Farewell Kindergarten!

2011-05-26T11:27:00.007-05:00

I'm a proud, thankful, happy, and sad mom this week. Aryne, Gavin, and Rachel graduated Kindergarten yesterday. I cannot believe this year is over. I didn't want it to end! Neither did they! We've been so lucky to have such a wonderful teacher this year and the kids have learned so much. On top of that, I also very, very much enjoyed having time to myself this year. A taste of freedom and accomplishment!

The kids are proud, happy, and sad, too. They are proud of moving onto first grade, happy about summer break, but have all cried over missing their teacher and classmates already. I'm hoping next year proves to be just as wonderful.

Here are my graduates getting ready for the ceremony at home:

Saying the pledge. Maybe we need to work on using the right hand!

Group farewell hug with their fantastic teacher:

Happy and proud alongside their teacher:

She Did It!

2011-05-09T08:28:00.005-05:00

Rachel is now the proud owner of two new earrings. All of a sudden last week during dinner, she announced that her friend had "Hello Kitty" earrings. Since Rachel loves Hello Kitty, I knew that might be a way to nudge her more in the direction of finally getting her ears pierced. She has wanted them pierced for quite a while, but was too afraid. I tried to tell her we could find horse earrings, which piqued her interest, but it was the Hello Kitty ones that finally provided the right motivation. She decided, right then and there, that she wanted her ears pierced the next day. Well, she had to wait until the weekend, but she was so super excited. I feared we would leave with only one ear pierced, and although she cried pretty hard after the first ear was done, she managed to stay still until both were done. "IT SHOCKED ME!" she cried out, but I was able to distract her by finding some horse earrings and a Hello Kitty necklace. Whew! Crisis averted and both ears pierced! Rachel is mighty proud!

The kids had a really fun Easter as well. The Easter Bunny brought some wonderful gifts and candy. We even, for the first time, were able to color Easter Eggs this year! Hooray! Gavin was fed a bite of hard-boiled egg, both the yolk and the egg white, and didn't react! He is outgrowing the allergy! We are so excited. Yes, we have quite a bit more to go...like feeding him more than a single bite. But the fact that he tolerated even one bite without getting hives is wonderful and promising!

We also enjoyed the Spring Fling at the kids' school last week (and wouldn't you know it, they even had pony rides and I didn't have my camera), and we went to our local air show this weekend as well. The military jets are obviously very loud, and when one zoomed right over us (we watched it cheap style, in a parking lot outside the airport, along with the rest of our town), the kids all ran to the back of the van, hands over their ears, screaming. By the looks on their faces, I assure you they all thought they were being killed. Rachel was screaming at the top of her lungs "Mommy! Make it stop! Make it stop! Mooommmmyyyyyyy!. I might be good, but I'm not that good. Nevertheless, it was a good time!

Mother's Day was fun, too. I got to eat breakfast in bed, and then go out on the back deck and enjoy the day's nature show with my husband. We drank coffee, smelled the sweet honeysuckle (love the smell of Tennessee in the spring!), watched a woodpecker, watched the many lizards putting on a show, and then watched the cicadas fly around. Yes, those nasty things are back. But, best of all, the woodpecker then started flying around and plucking the cicadas out of mid air. What a good Mother's Day show!

Next week, we are headed up to MI again for our nephew's baptism. It will be fun to see him so big! We are all looking forward to it! Here are some of the many pics I've taken over this past month for you to enjoy!

The kids enjoying their goodies from the food allergy kids' Easter egg hunt:

We went home and colored eggs for the very first time!:

Easter Morning:

Beautiful Aryne after the Spring Fling at school:

Everyone enjoyed their sno cones:

My lovely Rachel so proud of her newly pierced ears:

Showing off her sticker:

The Thunderbird jets that nearly "killed" my kids:

Zooming out of formation:

Happy Mother's Day to me!:

New House. New Car. New Toys. New Tornado.

2011-04-08T08:28:00.011-05:00

What can I say? There is a lot of newness going around our household these days. I'm happy to report that the kids have adjusted to all of the change rather well. I'm VERY happy that they are in the same school district and therefore their friends and teacher are still the same. For that, I am thankful. Yes, we finally made it into our home the first week of March. We are truly loving it! We may be in need of some furniture and it is taking a long time to get things together with everything else going on in our lives, but we still love it. The outdoors has plenty to get used to as well. Our backyard is a lizard haven. Yesterday, I must have seen about 15 lizards out there when I went outside. I think we have at least 3 varieties. We've also had a 6-foot black racer (snake) and mouse visit our house. And, of course, there are many squirrels and birds. Last week, a pileated woodpecker (think big Woody Woodpecker-type bird) was digging into one of our red buds. That was pretty neat! Inside, the kids are absolutely loving the space and loving having their own bedrooms. We knew Rachel really wanted her own room, but Aryne has adjusted very well and is loving her own space as well. We are so happy we were able to do that for them!

We also had to break down and get a new vehicle. I am no fan of mini-vans. In fact, I loathe them. I don't think there is another person on this planet that loathes them more than me. I think they are hideous. But, alas, it gives the kids the space they need, and now one sits in our garage. It is new and looks better than most mini-vans out there, but still, it is one nonetheless.

The kids also graduated their gymnastics class and moved onto the next level. Gavin is in with only boys now, and the girls are together with only other girls. It is more of a workout, and they are doing really well!

Perhaps the biggest news of this week is that the kids are now SIX years old! They celebrated their birthday this past Saturday and we threw them a party for their friends at a bounce house. They were so super excited and had a "perfect" day, if you ask them. My parents even managed to drive all the way down, despite being super sick, for the occasion (thanks mom and dad - I know they loved having you here, if only for a short while!).

And lastly, take a look at that thing. That is what passed my kids' school (yes, while they were there) about 0.5 miles away. They were locked down in a tornado warning for a good hour right at dismissal time. I actually waited out the storm before heading out to pick up the kids, and by the time I arrived, I was in the back of the line. Apparently, other parents don't heed tornado warnings. I think they are nuts. While in line, I heard a bunch of fire trucks nearing the school, but then stopped. I figured it had to do with the storm, but didn't know what it was about until the next day when I drove down the other side of the school. There, right between our old house and the school was a tornado path of destruction. I took the road down to our old apartments where we had stayed for the last 6 months and the tornado had stayed on the ground right to the corner of the apartments, lifted up, and then came back down for a second on the other side of the apartments and knocked over 3 semis, then lifted up again and never returned. WOW! We got lucky. That one was too close for comfort. Sure enough, I turned on the news and they confirmed the tornado. These tornadoes here kill me. Hopefully not literally.

Here are some pictures of the kids on their birthday! Sorry they are not in order. Thank you to all of you who were able to play a part in their very special day either by sending them wishes, gifts, or attending their party. It meant a lot to all of us!

Growing Impatient

2011-02-23T13:00:00.002-06:00

Now that the house is nearly done, I find myself growing ever more impatient with the process. The close has already been delayed a week due to weather a couple weeks ago and now I'm still not sure we will actually be closing the day it is scheduled (Monday, the 28th). I think the house will be done, but not sure about the paperwork and mortgage company getting everything ready in time. They certainly haven't been keeping up with things nearly as well as I would have liked. Funny thing is that we had the same mortgage company with our last house and they always worked great with us. Now, though, we have a different bank branch and things, well, don't work quite as smoothly over there. Sigh.

I scheduled the kids' 6th birthday party already today. We decided on a bounce house after first deciding on Chuck E Cheese. Rachel and Gavin had quite the argument about it all, and I finally told them there would be NO party unless they agreed to be happy at EITHER place. It took a few days, but finally they both decided that either place would be fine. We'll see if they are still happy when I tell them where it will be tonight. Since this bounce house was so wonderful with handling food allergies (the owner's daughter has a very severe peanut allergy), and it will be much less chaotic having "just" our party people there and not having to deal with coins and a restaurant full of other people, the bounce house seemed like a much better choice this year.

We have survived a tough bout of strep (Scott), nasty colds (the kids and myself), and ear infections (me, Gavin, and Rachel). This week has been the first week we've all been healthy for at least 5 weeks. I was actually nearly deaf for 2 weeks since antibiotics proved to be useless with my double ear infection. Today, for the first time, I feel I've been consistently hearing and smelling normally (It has been 4 weeks). Gavin's eardrum ruptured with his ear infection, and I was actually jealous. That is just sad. Rachel lucked out the most as she didn't suffer much from any cold and the school nurse caught her ear infection right away. She felt better within 24 hours. Poor Scott caught strep in the midst of it all and was sent home by his work nurse! Since I was barfing and dizzy from my ear/sinus/mastoid infection, Scott had taken the kids to gymnastics one day, but while he was there, his fever went up to 103 (we didn't know he had strep yet). The week prior to that, he developed viral hives for the first time ever and his fingers and lip swelled up. I knew kindergarten was going be be tough, but geez! It took everything in us one week just to get the kids ready for school and out the door!

Hoping my next post is with us in the new house! So exciting! Wish us luck with the move!

"Kid - isms"

2011-01-19T12:59:00.008-06:00

The kids are really growing fast these days. They have all had a big growth spurt this year (and little Aryne is less than 2 inches shorter than her siblings now!), their social skills have blossomed with the addition of elementary school (some "skills" I could do without!), and their academic skills have taken off. Kids do so much more in school these days in comparison to when we were growing up. I kept hearing that from other families, and I can definitely verify it is true after experiencing it. They are reading books, adding, and subtracting. They have to read basic graphs and understand so much more than when we were in kindergarten! And the homework - well, I don't even think there was ANY homework in kindergarten in the 1980s!

Although they are growing up so fast, they still remind us daily that they are, indeed, still little, by chiming in with some very funny comments that only kids could think up. Some of my very favorite "Kid-isms" lately are found below:

During the holidays, the kids were acting up without school and I was getting exasperated with them. Gavin especially. I asked him "Why don't you listen to ANYTHING I say lately?" Gavin's response was "I don't know. I speak in Spanish". Then, in what I can only guess was an attempt to fool me, he whispers "ocho".

Even though it is only January, Rachel is already talking about Easter and the Easter Bunny. "Easter already?" I ask her. "We just got done with Christmas!". "I LOVE the holidays" she says. Then Gavin turns to me, proudly announcing like a big kid "I love the holiday savings!". What?? Something tells me he may have watched too many commercials during that holiday break!

In light of the recent MLK holiday, I tried to explain who Martin Luther King, Jr. was to 5-year-olds. I was very happy with the way things were going and was beginning to think they understood it as much as 5-year-olds could. But then, my pride came to a screeching halt when, after I was done explaining, Aryne looked at me and asked "Mommy, does he fly around the world?". No, my dear Aryne, there will be no toys here when you wake up tomorrow...hand-delivered by a deceased civil-rights activist.

And finally, we had a pretty good snowstorm for TN here last week. One night, after telling the kids that school was cancelled the next day, I asked them what we should do. Rachel suggested we go to Disney. When I told her we didn't have time to drive to Disney and back in a single day, she replied "No worries! We'll call the plane!".

A Month of Pictures!

2011-01-11T11:14:00.006-06:00

I can't believe a month has gone by already! We made it through our nasty flu bug, but it did take some time. Our cough still lingered until last week when the kids went back to school, and as luck would have it, they picked up another bug on their very first day back. Just a cold this time, though!

Christmas was very fun this year. The kids were so excited about the arrival of Santa Claus. Rachel was pretty worried that he wouldn't find a way to get inside the apartment without a fireplace. Magically, though, he found his way in and delivered some very exciting toys! Rachel had been singing about wanting a toy horse for her doll for months, and when it arrived Christmas morning, she was so excited, there was a loss for words. Aryne's dearest wish came true. She not only got the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie, but also all 6 chipmunk stuffed animals. And Gavin got his Bakugan toys that he soooo wished for.

The day after Christmas, we headed up to Michigan, as usual, to visit our families. The kids got bombarded with a few more days of gift opening (thank you grandparents and aunts and uncles!), and we had a nice time visiting family. We met our little nephew, who is mighty cute! It was funny to see the kids' reaction to a newborn baby. Rachel, for sure, thought that babies just cry all the time. Little does she realize that she cried so, so much more as a newborn!

While up in Michigan, Aryne had a very important day. She lost her first tooth! Hooray for Aryne! She now feels like a very big girl! She was terrified of losing it, but then decided on her own to just pull it out! The tooth fairy found her even though she was so far away from home. That tooth fairy is so good!

We are now about 50 days out from having the house done. We are so excited! The building has gone rather smoothly, except they did paint the ceilings the same as the wall color this weekend. Apparently that is the new trend. Yet, I really don't like that trend because it creates such a problem when you go to repaint rooms (which we intend to repaint quite a few within the coming year). That will set us back a bit to have them repaint the ceilings white, but I don't expect it to be a major issue. The brickwork is all done, and they should be done with the siding today. Scott and I are still unsure about our choice of green for the siding. We'll just have to see how it all comes together once the stone, garage doors, shutters, etc. come in. The cabinets and sinks are in, the mantle is in, the railing is in, the moldings and wainscoting are in, and the walls are mostly painted. We are just counting down the days and hoping for a smooth closing.

While visiting my parents, we stopped by the vintage carousel by Lake Michigan. The kids loved it and rode many different animals, including a praying mantis!

Rachel was in love with this horse, "Tracey".

My beautiful niece riding one of the many regional school mascots.

Aryne on my favorite horse.

My adorable nephew, daughters, brother-in-law (I think he's in there!) and husband!

Our new baby nephew, George! Growing so fast already!

Aryne loving her new tent for her new bedroom. If you click on the pic, you can see her lost tooth!

House cabinets.

All bricked up.

The wall color. I have no idea why you would want gold ceilings. I certainly don't want to have to repaint that myself! The railing (not yet stained), mantle, and wainscotting are in, too!

Hack, Hack, Cough, Gag. I Lave Dat Sog.

2010-12-13T16:48:00.005-06:00

This week has been a tad miserable. It all began with pinkeye. Good old conjunctivitis. Then came the high fever for a few days, followed by nausea, headaches, dizziness, chest congestion, lots of coughing fits, and even a measles-like rash. All of us here have managed to contract this yucky bug - except Scott. I blame him. Must be him. Or I suppose it could be H1N1 flu as he is the only one vaccinated at our house. The doctor felt it could be the flu with an additional bacterial eye bug and prescribed Aryne some antibiotics. I think that is what gave her the rash. Ugg. We can't win! The poor girl has been out of school since last Wed and couldn't even go to gymnastics last week despite the tears she shed. "My friends are going to miss me!", she said. But, I just couldn't let her spread the germs to her dear friends.

The allergy testing was a failure. Not for Rachel, just for me. They didn't have an ant venom test, so they just tested her for foods. Looks like she is not allergic to any nuts! What a relief! At first, I saw the peanut and pistachio on her growing bigger right away and I got nervous...but then they stopped growing and the doc said her welts fell into the "negative" category. Me? Well, I just plain flunked the test. I have obvious environmental allergies, most notably to a summer pollen (unknown) and dust mites. I can't even vaccuum or dust without my eyes and nose watering buckets. The allergist agreed I have obvious allergies, but ALL of my allergy skin pricks came back negative. All of the nuts...all of the pollens, dust mites, molds and danders. All negative. I guess I know where Gavin gets his testing skills from. The biggest reactions were to both types of Walnut (making that a bit suspicious) and pistachio...but apparently the hives weren't big enough to qualify as an actual positive. And I had my hopes up that I might actually find out what I'm allergic to. I've waited years for this. I guess I'll just have to wait some more.

And now to share with you all one of the cutest things the kids have done lately. This was done by Gavin yesterday out of the blue - I just lave it!

It is Gavin's version of Enrique Iglesias's song "I like it" (which he hasn't even listened to for at least a week). My favorite part is how he ended it with "I Lave Dat Sog". Too, too cute!

Mom, Where's My Junk?

2010-11-29T08:03:00.006-06:00

How do you answer that question when your home is full of kid junk? I really wasn't sure what to say when Gavin asked it the other day in all seriousness. Where is your junk, kid? EVERYWHERE! Apparently, he was looking for specific "junk" (of which I can not differentiate between what he perceives as "real" junk vs. his other belongings). My kids are pack-rats. Terrible pack-rats. They try to keep everything and anything anyone has ever given them, and every piece of schoolwork ever created. I have to throw things away in secret. Once, though, I must have thrown something away that Gavin was a bit attached to, and he yelled at me for days over it. He even went to school and told his teacher how I threw his project in the trash. I can only imagine the things their teacher hears on a daily basis! I'm sure she gets to hear all about the "evil" things I do around here.

The house is coming along alright. It is at a phase now where it will just sit for a few weeks. Inspections need to be done, utility trenches dug, and electrician things fixed. A few windows still need to be put in and the front and back doors need to be changed as well (they swing the wrong way). I can't wait for it to finally be enclosed. The kids are still having fun "exploring" the backyard. The love the woods out back. It is hilarious when they think they are "lost" although I can plainly see them standing only 15 feet from the edge of the woods.

Thanksgiving was rather dull this year as it was just our family...in our apartment. The school kindergarten class put on a cute little skit for the parents one day, which was fun! The kids were oh, so excited to decorate for Christmas so we had to do that the day after Thanksgiving. We actually found room in this little place to put the tree in our living room. Speaking of Christmas, Santa made his appearance at my friend's house this year - the one who takes our family pictures! It was so nice of Santa to make a special trip there before heading out to the malls for the holidays! We were able to get some wonderful pictures without having to stand in line! This year, the kids knew just what they wanted to ask for, and while Rachel was very upset having to get dressed up and get pictures, once her eyes saw Mr. Claus, all tears dried up immediately! Quite the opposite from a few years ago, I must say!

This Friday is the allergist appt for Rachel and myself. I hope she doesn't cry the entire time. I'm thinking that with me doing the testing right alongside her that it will help ease her fears. At least I can hope, right? My biggest hope, though, is that she isn't allergic to peanut or bees/wasps. My second hope is that I am not allergic to tree nuts. By my symptoms, I know I have several environmental allergies...I just have no idea what I'm allergic to other than dust mites. Wish us luck!

I figured everyone may want to see some pictures. These are a few of the Christmas portraits, our house as it currently looks, and the kids out "exploring" the backyard this week. Enjoy!

More House Pics and One Nasty Rash

2010-11-09T08:20:00.007-06:00

As promised, here are some more house pictures. The frame has started going up!

Scott and the kids walking up to the garage floor. Only a bit of the second story frame is up:

View from the living room window on the first floor. See how high it is!!:

Our crawl space. You can stand up in it here:

Back of the house. The bay area is our master bedroom. Next to that is the kitchen and kitchen window...and next to that is the dining room with door and window. There will be a deck off the back door.

The garage holding our stair frame to the second level. The stairs are now up:

The sales lady for our builder also held a "meet-and-greet" with the families in our neighborhood using the same builder. It was a great way to meet the neighbors, and now we are even more excited to move in! Everyone seems to be so very nice and now we know a little bit about them and where they live!

The kids are doing remarkably well lately in school. They finally have the routine down and are doing their work well (they even ASK me if they can do their homework!). The teacher is pleased with everyone's progress and it appears they are all ahead of the game or on target with their skills. It is so nice to hear that, especially considering the journey we have had getting here. I realize how lucky we are that our tiny premature babies have all developed on track academically and physically, and am so very thankful for that!

Speaking of school, I think the nurse's office likes to call me just to give me a scare during the day. So far, they have called 4 times. I'm always expecting it to be Gavin having some sort of reaction. The first time was for Gavin's tooth that he lost at school, the second time was because Aryne said her tummy hurt, the third time was just to notify me of an upcoming field trip, and the fourth time happened this past Friday. The nurse's office called me because one of my kids was having an allergic reaction. Nope, it wasn't Gavin, but Rachel! They told me it started in the lunch room and her arm had a bad rash on it. A REALLY bad rash. I told them to give her some Benadryl and I would come in to look at it. When I arrived, her whole arm (which had been under clothing) was really swollen, hot, red, hurting, and full of gigantic hives from her forearm up to the top of her shoulder. I had the nurse give her some more Benadryl and after about 45 minutes, the hives started going down and I had her return to class. While driving to the school, I was nervous that it had started in the lunch room and was hoping I didn't have another kid with a nut allergy! But, when I got there and saw it was all under her clothing and SO localized (she had no hives anywhere else), I started wondering about bug bites (remember Rachel was the one who broke out so bad after being bitten by something in the sandbox 2 years ago). The nurse even said she thought it must be a bug bite. Rachel hadn't gone out for recess yet, so I asked her if she had seem any bugs in school. She said "Weeelllll, only a little itty bitty ant. It was little and I squashed it". I asked where it was and she said "On my desk". There, I thought, must be our answer.

But about 7 hours later, during bath time, she started breaking out again, but this time on her bottom and leg. I administered Bendadryl again and decided to wait. The hives kept growing so we gave her more Benadryl and put her to bed. I checked an hour later and the hives then covered both legs and both arms, and she had some on her face. Yikes! We kept her out and watched her, wondering if we should get her into the ER (even calling the on-call nurse who was of no help). Finally, we decided that I would sleep with her and keep an eye on her rash and breathing. The hives seemed to be moving around her body, disappearing from some areas and moving around her torso. Her breathing was fine all night and by the time she woke up, the rash was gone from her arms and instead covered her back. She still had some on her legs, face, and belly as well. I gave her some zyrtec and by mid-day they had all disappeared and haven't returned. I now think it was just an outbreak of viral hives, but just in case, I have an allergy appt set up with Gavin's allergist in December.

Here is the second bout of hives on one of her thighs. It looks nasty, but her first set of hives on her arm was actually worse because it was also much more swollen:

My parents are heading down this weekend. It will be fun showing them the house and everything the kids are doing in Kindy this year! Can't wait!

The House

2010-11-02T11:58:00.005-05:00

Our family has been asking a lot lately about our house, so I figured I'd share some of the pictures that we have so far. Nothing too revealing since only the foundation is in. This is about to change quickly, though, because our garage floor was poured yesterday and the wood for the frame is being delivered today! I know the frame and structure goes up VERY fast, so I will try to get those pictures to you in a few days.

So far all we can tell is that the house is tall. Really tall. The front porch appears to be about 7 ft from the ground! Yikes. The good part is that it gives us enough height in our garage to put in a pull-down attic (6 ft!). That is really nice for storage when you don't have a basement.

In addition to the house, it was Halloween the other day and we went trick-or-treating in our new subdivision. The neighborhood seems really nice as do the neighbors. This was the first year it really felt like Halloween. There were lots of kids out and our kids finally really understood the gist of things. It was a bit embarrassing when some of the people handed out peanut-containing candies and our kids started complaining (I quickly pretended that they were excited about it and then whispered in their ears not to worry as we would be replacing their candy when we got home). Kids! Their buckets were so full that they actually started complaining about how heavy they were near the end of our run! The sales lady at the builder's home also called the day before and asked what candies were safe for us. She made them up a big bag full of candies, pumpkins, coloring books, and silly bands! So very thoughtful and nice! Needless to say, the kids are swimming in candy!

Here are some pictures of the house as well as the kids on Halloween!

The cleared lot:
View from the back of the house:

Me and the kids below our front porch:

Rachel really got into gutting her pumpkin this year!

Watching "The Great Pumpkin" and thinking it is the funniest show ever!

Below their carved and decorated pumpkins:

Aryne as Tinkerbell:

Gavin as an alien:

Under that mask was this face!:

Rachel as a skeleton!

Welcome to the World Nephew!

2010-11-02T11:49:00.002-05:00

Scott and I are a new uncle and aunt this week! The day before Halloween, Scott's sister gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby boy! No one knew if it was a boy or girl, so it was a fun surprise. I was wrong in my guess regarding baby's sex this time. I should have listened to my one brief dream about baby, but I didn't. In my defense, the dream was confusing. It went something like this: Scott's sister gives birth...we get a phone call telling us the baby is a boy....and then I start thinking "A boy? Noooo this is all wrong! That's wrong. It is supposed to be a girl". I wake up and am confused by the dream and still decide that baby must be girl.

Wrong. The dream really happened. Baby is born...we get a phone call...baby is a boy...I start thinking "A boy? Noooo this is wrong. Baby is supposed to be a girl". I guess my dreams are still accurate and I just need to believe them!

The kids' new cousin is named George Benjamin. He has dark hair and looks a lot like his father. The delivery went smoothly and everyone is doing very well. Mom and baby went home on Halloween. I'm wondering how Indy is handling it since he is now living with them. He was the best dog when our kids were babies. He felt HE was their dad and was up with them every single time one of them was up. The poor dog had bloodshot eyes for months! Hope he has taken on the duty of doggie daddy for Mr. George, too!

So Congrats Julie and Bryan! Little boys are SO much fun! Welcome to the world George!

Aryne Joins the Big Girls' Club!

2010-10-25T10:57:00.003-05:00

Lookie here! Aryne came home last week asking to have her ears pierced! She is now officially a big girl! She picked out pink gemstones and received a sticker for her bravery!

Rachel, while finding earrings pretty, has no desire to have her ears pierced at the moment. She is entirely too afraid and believes it will hurt. I don't remember it hurting too much, and Aryne didn't even flinch with either ear...but Rachel simply doesn't believe our stories!

Aryne was very eager to show off her new earrings to her schoolmates!

The latest house news is that they are currently working on our foundation! They got trenches dug last week and some concrete poured. Today, they delivered our concrete blocks to create our crawl space! Very exciting! There are lizards and salamanders out on the property running amuck. I believe they likely lost their homes when all of our rocks got moved. Poor little fellows! I hope they find new homes on the property soon enough. Although they dug up rock - there is plenty more that is now exposed! Tennessee isn't called "Rocky Top" without reason!

Brave Day for Rachel!

2010-10-25T10:31:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, Scott's work held a "Family Day" event for workers and their families. It was cool enough that we were able to go and the event was full of carnival rides, games, and foods. Now, if anyone remembers, even the mere sight of a carousel has been known to cause meltdowns with Miss Rachel. She has wanted to ride rides for sooo long, but just can't seem to stand the movement and noise together. She made HUGE strides last weekend and not only was super excited to ride the rides, but never even hesitated getting on them! Finally! The only one she didn't like so much was the one neither Scott nor I liked too much either. That was the scrambler. I think my stomach was up to my throat for a good half hour after the ride. Poor Scott had to go on that one two times in a row. Blech! I guess my stomach can't quite handle things like the good old days! In addition to the scrambler, we rode the octopus with the kids, and they rode the swings, kiddie Ferris wheel, train, and carousel. They even found a friend from their class there as well as one of their friends from preschool.

While it was a long day at the park, the kids also wanted to head out to the pumpkin patch that very same day, so we went there as well. This year, the patch happened to have a really big "Alvin, Simon and Theodore" chipmunk statue - which are Aryne's absolute favorite characters at the moment. The kids, as well as their parents, were very tired by the end of the day! We happened to be there at the same time as some friends of ours, so they were nice enough to take a family picture of us all to share with you!

Here are some fun pictures we took of the day!

"Pee Poop Fart"

2010-10-14T08:08:00.005-05:00

The title of this particular blog is the latest search Gavin tried on Scott's iPod. I'm very glad that the kids' reading and spelling skills are advancing...but apparently I need to start monitoring what they search now that they can actually spell. I can only imagine the graphics that would come up with that search!

We are now officially in the apartment. Except for the laundry fiasco the first week (don't ask!), things aren't too bad in the new pad. The worst part of moving centered around the kids being sick. As our luck would have it, the girls started barfing moving day and all three kids then got sick with what turned out to be strep throat. A few days into it (not knowing yet that it was strep), I noticed Rachel had a red rash all over that looked like eczema. Except Rachel doesn't get eczema...and it was then I realized the kids must have strep and she must have associated scarlet fever. I knew Gavin's skin was bad as well, but thought it was just a terrible eczema outbreak. I took them into the pedi and sure enough, all 3 kids' swabs turned up positive for strep and we had to get them some antibiotics. It wasn't until the next day that I realized Gavin's rash was actually scarlet fever AND eczema together. Nice. He had several parts of his body and face that were cracked and bleeding and his eyes were stuck together for days. Luckily (or un-luckily) it happened to be fall break and the kids didn't end up missing any school. The week was full of whining and crying and I'm just thankful the move and sickies are over for the time being.

As promised, I said I would talk about the 504 plan meeting for Gavin's food allergies and cholinergic urticaria. It was interesting and the weird part was that no one in the school knew what CU was until this year and they had just got done with another 504 for a kid in our same school who had CU. I really want to know who it is and can hardly believe there is another kid at the school with the condition! Anyway, they had the gym teacher at the 504 meeting and as it turns out, Gavin has a "right" to gym class. So we all came up with a plan to get him in there with his class and the gym teacher seemed very willing and capable of handling 2 Kindy classes together with Gavin's hives. He's only had one gym class so far, and he has to walk when the other kids run laps, but so far so good! The weather is also cooling down and he can start participating in recess as well. That is very, very good news!

There has been much less crying altogether the last couple weeks of school for everyone. I sure hope that it continues.

And, finally, here are some pictures of the kids at their aunt's shower and Gavin's lost teeth! The permanent teeth are already growing in strong! I realize the picture of Gavin showing off his lost tooth is a little strange looking. He just wouldn't smile to show it to me. Instead he just kept pulling his lip out! The permanent tooth had already started to erupt behind the loose tooth before he lost it.

The Move Is On!

2010-10-01T20:37:00.002-05:00

In two days, we will be living in an apartment! We actually got the keys last week and have slowly been moving our junk over this week. Well, mostly that has been me. I'm exhausted, to say the least!

The apartment leasing people kept asking us if we were "excited" to be moving in. We had to put on our fake grins and say "yes" as convincingly as we could. Really, Scott and I wanted to cry. It takes us back about 10 years...with 3 kids in tow...with smelly carpet cleaner and a lovely view of dump trucks in a quarry. But, yeah, we are totally excited...

Truly, we ARE excited to get this process moving and get the house built! We had our big meeting with the builders this week and they have ordered our building supplies! Yay!

We also had a 504 meeting with the school this week covering Gavin's food allergies and cholinergic urticaria. I'll have to get more into detail about that later once we get moved in. Better yet, Gavin lost TWO teeth in a week! The tooth fairy came and left him a golden dollar each time. How very fun! Pictures will also follow as soon as we get moved in! I can't wait to share!

Things Are A Changin'

2010-09-09T20:47:00.003-05:00

Soooo many things going on! The biggest news of all is that, after years of fixing up the house and knowing we wanted to move, we finally put our home up for sale last week. Yay! I figured we'd at least have a few months to prepare to move in this economy. Boy, was I wrong. We sold the house in 5 days. As long as today's home inspection went OK, we will be out of our house on Oct. 6. YIKES! Where are we moving? Oh, about 2-3 miles from here in the same school district. The exciting part is that we will be building a house! We have a nice 1/2 acre property reserved and will be pulling permits to start building next week! Hooray!

In the meantime, though, we needed to find a place to live. On Tuesday I scoured the papers and internet trying to find a house to rent. I called every place that looked halfway OK only to find out that no one wanted to lease short-term. The only people willing to entertain the idea wanted an extra month's rent, plus the loss of the $1000 security deposit. Since I'm not one to throw thousands of dollars away, we opted to try the one apartment complex in the area with nice 3-bedroom apartments. So, I went there yesterday and got there before they opened. Upon entering, there was another lady there talking to the leasing agent and she had decided to rent out the "last" of some type of apartment. When the agent then came to talk to me and realized we needed a 3 bedroom, she said that other lady took their last one. Now what!?

Well, the apartment lady said she knew one other apartment could potentially be free. She called up the current residents and asked if they could move out a couple of weeks early if they were paid some money - and the people accepted the deal right there! Yay for us! Turns out the "leasing agent" was actually the manager...who even ended up under-quoting our rent...so we ended up with a good deal. We'll be leasing a garage there as well, and likely a pod in addition to it all. Whew! My head is spinning! Now to rent a truck and get everything packed!

And, of course, I volunteered to be the kids' classroom PTO rep. Because I'm crazy like that. I already have my first assignment to find volunteers by next Friday. Oh, and then we are taking a trip up to Michigan next week because we are going to Scott's sister's baby shower! We are going to be a new aunt and uncle soon!

As for the kids - I learned today that the girls are still crying on and off throughout the day. Not sure what is up since they absolutely LOVE school and their teacher. Gavin is apparently adjusting very well socially, and the class that he visits throughout the day during recess and gym class loves him as well.

More new news - we have FOUR loose teeth! Gavin started out with a loose bottom central incisor, and then the other one started wiggling around as well. Shortly there after, Aryne's same two teeth became loose! This will be fun to see how they react to losing their teeth! Rachel is feeling a bit left out and asks me daily to check her teeth. I think one may be getting loose, but I'm not real sure. Might just be wishful thinking!

Please forgive me for not updating regularly. This is going to be quite a ride! I'll do my best to keep everyone informed about the move and how the kids are adjusting to all the changes taking place!

We Have Kindergarteners!

2010-08-25T09:56:00.004-05:00

The kids are officially kindergartners! They started school about 2 weeks ago. We had a bit of a rocky start, but things are finally getting into some routine.

The night before school started, they held a "Parent's Night" for Kindergarten parents to meet the teacher and get acquainted with the school environment. When we arrived, we were shuffled into the school library with many other parents instead of heading off to see our kids' new classroom. Then, a teacher came in and told us folks that we didn't actually have a teacher yet for the year. What? School starts tomorrow! Are you kidding? How am I supposed to send Gavin without a teacher knowing about his allergies and hives? How on earth are they going to hire a quality teacher in 2 days like they are promising? For a school with such a great reputation, I left quite unimpressed!

For the first couple of days (2.5 hour days with boys going the first day and girls the next day), the kids had to sit in with another class with 2 teachers. Our stand-in teachers were ill-equipped to deal with the kids and were rather unfriendly towards our situation. This made me VERY nervous about the school year. The very first day we arrived in class (I had told one stand-in teacher the night before about his severe nut allergy) and the teacher said "I haven't read any of the health forms, but we will be decorating cookies today and if your child has a severe food allergy then you can come read the labels". Of course, I went and read the labels...and of course there were peanut and tree nut warnings on them. I started crying. This just wasn't fair to a little tike that I finally got excited to go to school, and now he needed to sit out for their first class project. He didn't know anyone and I had to tell him he couldn't eat the cookies. He got really nervous. My heart ached that he would have to be left out so we suggested I go home and bring in a safe snack for him to eat while the other kids decorated cookies. The teachers told me I had an hour to get back in before they would decorate.

I made it back in 40 minutes....got to the classroom....only to find the kids were already nearly done eating their cookies, and Gavin was all alone at a table shaking and crying. My heart sunk again, and I started crying to see him so upset (I tried to hold back the tears, but they came anyway). I gave him his safe foods and noticed he had broken out in hives from crying. I pointed out the hives to one of the stand-in teachers and told her "These hives are from crying, not from the food in the classroom...just so you know". I thought I was being helpful in pointing that out so they wouldn't worry about it. Then, that teacher got right up in front of me and asked sternly "Are you praying for him?". I looked confused wondering what on earth she was getting at (it wasn't said in a nice tone at all). So, she moved in even closer to me and said "Are you praying HARD for him?" very sternly again. Let me tell you, I was speechless. It was insulting on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. I bit my tongue and replied "I do EVERYTHING for him". How dare she! (If you are unsure of the implication, it was that I was somehow not doing enough for my son or that somehow his atopy was the result of me not "praying hard" enough) I then asked if they would at least take his epi-pen (they had told me the previous day that the teacher could hold onto it) and they refused. They then said many odd things and I just couldn't take it anymore and left.

From there, I headed into the nurse's office to make sure she, at the very least, had epi-pens on hand. Indeed she did, and she was able to tell me more how they would handle the nut issue at school. I left the school, came home, and cried. Why, for a 2.5 hour day, and knowing there are kids with food allergies, would you think it necessary to have the kids decorate cookies on their VERY FIRST DAY of kindergarten? Talk about isolating little kids for no reason! Needless to say, I was VERY happy we did NOT get placed with those teachers this year.

And, it turns out that the school did hire a very qualified teacher for the kids in 2 days! She has turned out to be wonderful and has done everything we have asked of her! She was able to meet with us prior to the first full day to discuss food allergies, asthma, and heat hives. She has placed the kids at a peanut-free table for lunch, placed Gavin in another kindergarten room during recess time, and placed him in the art room during his gym time. She is also making sure his room stays nut-free (She even addressed the other parents right away!). I placed an epi-pen with the school nurse, along with an inhaler and Benadryl, and haven't even sent an epi-pen with him to class yet. Even so, I feel safer with him at school than I ever did in preschool. The school has already even initiated a 504 plan for Gavin without me asking. They really seem to care about him and I so hope things continue to go so well for us the remainder of the year!

Apparently, the kids shed tears daily. If not one kid, it is another. They are just missing home right now, and I know that is a normal part of the early weeks in kindergarten. Rachel was having difficulty in the lunchroom eating because it is "too smelly" there according to her! Ha! There has been improvement in that area as of yesterday. Aryne has assimilated well into class and apparently has already found herself a boyfriend. This "boyfriend" seems to be the class clown and all 3 kids like him. Gavin is moving from class to class alright. I know he is nervous and he also melts down when I drop him off every day. But, every time I pick him up from school, he tells me how much fun he had. In fact, ALL of the kids tell me how much fun they had and have professed their love for their teacher already!

Here are some pictures we took of the kids on their "real" first day of kindergarten - in their "real" room with their "real" brand new teacher:

Here they are entering school together!

Rachel at her new seat

Gavin at his assigned seat

Aryne happy in her new seat

Aryne and their teacher!

Meet And Greet With Pier

2010-08-08T18:48:00.007-05:00

What do you do with a kid allergic to body heat in 95 degree weather? Put him in pants, gloves, and a helmet and take him horse riding! The kids finally got to meet the horse today. Turns out, the horse isn't yellow after all. Scott got that a tad bit wrong. He is chestnut in color and his name is Pier. Not Pierre. Pier. He is a 13-year-old dressage horse who apparently made a long haul to the US from the Netherlands.

Luckily, the riding area was covered so we weren't in direct sunlight and each of the kids got a turn riding Pier after we saw him do some fancy tricks with Scott's boss. The horse was quite big for giving pony rides (16 hands), and I think he felt it was beneath him...but he humored us and gave the kids a nice ride around the stable. I think Rachel has watched too many horse races. She felt the need to lean forward the whole time like a Kentucky Derby jockey. Silly girl! We went into the barn and met many horses, including some fancy ones. I wouldn't know the difference, but Scott's boss pointed out a couple of Thoroughbred racers and one she was "sure" was going to the Olympics some day. Another was 18 hands tall and was quite a sight!

We pet all the horses and fed Pier some sugar cubes, carrots and apples. Pier begs by pulling up his front hoof and turning his head sideways...a very cute maneuver for a horse. I have to say if I saw a horse doing that to me, I'd be sure to give him some sugar! Every one of the animals was very sweet and wanted us to pet him/her. They even got a little disgruntled if we passed them up! The kids definitely want to go back, so we'll have to see if we can get back to visit before winter comes around.

Here they are in their jockey helmet (don't tell Gavin there was a bow on it - he didn't notice!) meeting Pier:

Speaking of Horses

2010-07-30T12:03:00.006-05:00

As it so happens, Scott's boss has a horse. Not just any horse, but a yellow horse. She has invited the kids out to meet him and they are all thoroughly excited to meet a yellow horse like Spirit. They've met other horses and even pet other horses, but I guess it just isn't the same if it isn't like one in a movie. They will even get to ride him if interested (and I know they are very, VERY interested). The date is set for next weekend, so hopefully it won't still be 100 degrees outside and Gavin will get a chance to ride him, too.

Next week is kindergarten screening. I wonder what they will have them do. Hop on one foot? Read some letters? Who knows. And I'm not really sure what hopping on one foot has to do with entering kindergarten, but for some reason it seems to be a standard in the screening process.

Gymnastics is still going well and dare I say it, they all seem to be getting a bit more coordinated! Every week their antics make me laugh out loud. In lieu of "Spirit" showing up at the gym, a flopping fish looking eerily like my son Gavin was seen having a grand time swimming in the ball pit. And their coach tells me the favorite part of her week is when Aryne starts bawling because she doesn't EVER want to leave. This week, I had the pleasure of two of them run up to me at the end of class and tell me "Mom, I'm AWESOME!". Don't I know it!

This past weekend, the girls attended a birthday "princess" party. They had a really fun time painting their nails, dressing up in gowns and tiaras, and doing regular birthday party activities. This was the first time that the trio was not invited together to a party since it was for girls only (although I was assured I could bring Gavin if he wanted to come along!). At first, Gavin seemed a little bummed, but then decided he would rather have a "Daddy/Son day" instead of geting his nails painted. So he and Scott went to rent some movies. But, when they came back home, Gavin apparently didn't want to watch the movies without "his girls". So, that sweet little boy waited for "his girls" to get back home and we all watched the movies together with popcorn.

Aryne aka "Cinderella" getting ready for the party:

Aryne riding with the birthday girl on her new ride...

Rachel wasn't too keen on having her picture taken (surprise, surprise), but she still looked awfully pretty in her gown! She was Belle, who wears yellow, of course...and she had yellow nail polish to boot!

And finally, a picture for my mom who sent them some fantastic Toy Story pajamas (I had to replace Aryne's pants with some shorts that fit her...) Thanks Grandma!

Meet Spirit: Our New Family Horse

2010-07-20T12:10:00.005-05:00

Above is a picture of a new family friend that has started visiting us lately. He is a horse and goes by the name "Spirit" (much like the Dreamworks animated yellow horse). He started visiting us a few weeks ago at home and even made an appearance at gymnastics last week. He is very friendly and very beautiful. The only thing is that whenever he is around, my daughter Rachel seems to go missing. Sometimes I miss her. I had to tell Spirit last week that his presence really isn't appropriate in the gym, and that I'd like to see Rachel there instead. We'll see if he listens this week.

Spirit really likes galloping and racing down the hallway. He visited with my sister and her family this past week, too. I think they took a liking to him. They fed him water, apples, and carrots...which I believe are his favorite!

Aside from our new horse, the kids had fun visiting their cousins, aunt and uncle! We all went to Chuck-E-Cheese and to the Tennessee Aquarium. A good, albeit tiring, time was had by everyone.

Here are the kids feeding the rays:

Here they are in the middle of a tank. I think 3 kids are supposed to fit in there at a time, but all 5 managed to squeeze in for this shot!:

The cousins posing for their uncle and me:

The girls petting the sturgeon with their uncle:

Aryne - Pursuer of Boys

2010-06-24T09:32:00.002-05:00

As I have stated before, Aryne is truly a "mini-me" in personality. There is one big difference that has emerged lately, though, and it pertains to boys. Boyfriends to be specific. My sweet little girl is apparently a boyfriend pursuer.

It all began in preschool. At first there was one little boy that had a crush on her. While she liked that boy, she never considered him her "boyfriend". It wasn't until January, when a new boy showed up in class, that she found herself a true boyfriend. The two would sit in the back of class together during storytime and chat/giggle together. Now, Aryne loved story time, so you know she must have really liked this kid to give up one of her favorite activities! She was pretty upset when we were done with preschool since she had to say goodbye to her sweet little guy!

Then, when we went to register the trio for kindergarten, she asked me if there were going to be boys in the class. I didn't know what she was getting at. I said "yes" and she got very excited and announced she was going to find herself a boyfriend! In kindergarten? Really? Oh, yes. She is sure of it.

This week, however, I discovered just how boy crazy my little 5-year-old is! There was a little boy in their gymnastics class who was very cute. When we came home I asked Aryne about the other kids in the class and mentioned the boy. She said to me "His name is Joe." "He had Toy Story bandaids" with a big smile on her face. I said "He's pretty cute isn't he". She said "YES!". Now, she did not remember any of the other kids' names or her coaches' names, but she SURE remembered that one little boy's name. So Mr. Joe from gymnastics class, you had better watch out! Aryne is ready to make you her boyfriend!

The Excitement of Gymnastics

2010-06-16T09:55:00.006-05:00

Wow, were my kids ever excited to start gymnastics. Aryne was so thrilled she put on her leotard a week in advance and wore it around the house just to feel like a gymnast. Every day they asked us how many more days until Tuesday so they could go! Gavin decided he really, really wanted to go, too, so I decided to let him try and see if he could do it safely. ALL day long yesterday they asked me how much more time we had before we left. I even left extra early just to make them stop asking! Once we got to the parking lot, I had them wait 10 minutes before we entered the building (didn't want to linger there too long!) and even after a tour of the place, we still had another 20 minutes to go before class time!

Everyone at the gym was more than welcoming. They didn't treat us any differently at all with the allergy business and were very accommodating. The snacks they sold there were safe for us to eat, and the teacher even asked Gavin if the ink on a stamp would bother his skin before stamping him. When he said it would bother him, she still included him by having him stamp the other kids. That was more than our preschool ever did for him (sad, but true!).

Finally, when it was time for them to start their class, the two teachers opened up the gate to the preschool area and while everyone sat in a circle to stretch, my kids ran in like bandits heading straight for the ball pit. The coaches had to head them in the right direction with a tad bit of a disappointed look on their faces. They stretched (quite funny in itself - and it was "dad" day, so there were dads stretching out with them), they skipped to some music (which made Rachel cry and proclaim that she no longer wanted to participate...but she quickly recovered), and then they were off to the big gym area with one of the coaches. There, they jumped on trampolines, rode the "octopus" and rolled down matted slopes. Even when they didn't have to jump around, my kids were so excited, they didn't stop jumping the entire hour!

They then headed back to the preschool area with the other coach and played on the bars, beams, mats, and ball pit. I think there was one kid randomly falling down roughly every minute. I'm also quite certain that no one did any of the tricks correctly. My parents like to tell me that I was that uncoordinated at 5 years old, but I know better. I remember being totally with it, coordinated to the utmost and following directions completely. My parents just have a failing memory, that's all.

For your entertainment, here are some pictures I took of them in the preschool area (the big gym was too far from me to get pictures). They are pretty cute!

Here they are at home, all ready to go to the gym:

Once at the gym, they stood on chairs for 20 minutes waiting for their turn to enter:

Warming up! All too excited to do so:

When the coach instructed them to sit straddled and touch their nose to the floor, all Aryne heard was "touch your nose to the floor".

Coach Geri helping them do the splits (of sorts, anyway):

Rachel on the bars and Aryne walking her way up the mat:

Girls on the beam - you are supposed to walk forward, but they never managed. On one run, Gavin and Aryne held hands to get down the beam together:

Aryne's favorite. The donkey kicks. Yes, that is as good as it got. The other two never even got both feet off the ground (and as you can see, Rachel is jumping around just waiting for her turn):

Gavin on the bars and Rachel awaiting them:

Rachel (smiling huge) getting off and Aryne getting on the bars. Gavin scooting across the beam:

Clearly a good time was had by all! They even cried because they didn't want to leave! So, of course, I signed them all up and we are very much looking forward to next week!

On Bedtime Rituals

2010-06-12T20:44:00.002-05:00

I just got done sending the kids to bed (and Scott, too, since it is his shift right now), and it dawned on me that our nightly ritual hasn't changed since the kids were 18 months old! We sing the same songs, read many of the same books, and the kids are still happy to go to bed sometime around 8:15. Yes, that means Christmas is still alive in our household with lovely renditions of "Rudolph" and "Frosty" being sung daily. Nursery Rhymes? Yes, those too. Elmo books as well. They still haven't grown tired of those Sesame Street pals. And don't forget about my solo version of the "Cinderella song", which must be sung twice. About the only thing that has changed is that we can no longer sing to them while holding them and dancing with them since, well, they are much too heavy these days to dance with 2 at a time. So, as I was laughing in my head at how silly this ritual is and questioning why on earth they don't ever want to sing a new song (maybe one, perhaps, without a Christmas theme?), it dawned on me that these kids aren't going to be fighting over my lap much longer. Can they really be getting that old?

Every night as we sing those silly songs, I can't help but think of the little miracles that they are. Every single night I remember how much I longed for them...how much I feared for their safe arrival...and just how lucky we are to all be here and well. Every single night I am in awe of them (even those nights where all they do is ignore the songs as well as our pleas to settle down and stop the potty talk!), and I am so thankful to be their mom.

We Are Still Alive!

2010-06-10T12:16:00.006-05:00

And doing much better lately. Still not where we would like to be with the allergy business, but feeling hopeful and soooo much improved since March! Yes, it has been 3 months since the last blog! Where does time go?

So much has happened these past 3 months. For starters, the kids turned FIVE in April! For the first time, I was very excited that they were a year older! Due to the craziness that surrounded preschool and their utter inability to deal with Gavin's food allergies/hives properly (a fiasco ensued around their birthday/Easter that I won't get into), their last preschool day was also in April! So, we've been going to playdates and doctor appointments galore - getting shots and various medicines to both enter kindergarten next year and deal with chronic severe hives and eczema. Yes, the kids are now enrolled for kindergarten in the fall. They will be in the same classroom for kindergarten, although I plan on separating them for first grade. It will be a HUGE change for them. They will go full days, 5 days a week!

I'm very excited about the kids entering K. I think they will all love it. My heart is a bit heavy that Gavin cannot go outside for recess or be able to participate in gym class with his peers, but I do think he will have fun regardless. The elementary school, unlike preschool, seems to be very accommodating to his needs so far. I hope it will continue once school actually starts!

We have also signed the girls up for gymnastics and will start next week! Yay! I've been waiting to get them into sports and I have to say, I am looking very forward to it. I will also be looking on to see if I think Gavin can handle the class. If I think he might be able to do it without getting horribly itchy and breaking out severely in hives, then we'll try a free trial class. If he gets through it, I'll sign him up, too! At least the gym is air-conditioned and gymnastics isn't hugely aerobic.

Lately, the kids have consumed themselves with playing and I have tried to curb the potty talk that comes with having 5-year-olds, but I'm afraid that effort has failed. Gavin is the main culprit, but the fact that he has an attentive audience with Aryne and Rachel doesn't really help. If he didn't have an audience, I think the fad would fade....but that just isn't going to happen anytime soon.

So what is the deal with the allergies? Since the last blog, we've gone to visit the dermatologist, who prescribed some creams for his face, one of which really helped clear most of it. His head, however continued to get worse and worse, and after their 5-year-shots, his eczema got really bad! Once again, he had to go on a short round of steroids. Things went only slowly downhill after that, when I decided that we MUST start controlling the hives. I felt that the hives were the main trigger for his eczema, and if we could control the hives, then maybe the eczema would be helped as well. The hives, also, are what interfere with his quality of life the most. They are what keep him for exercising, from playing sports, and from going outside. But, it always seemed like the doctors brushed me off when I talked to them about the hives. That poor kid couldn't even sit in a hot car or hop around for 3 minutes without breaking out in total body hives!

Therefore, I emailed a hives specialist who suggested putting Gavin on high-dose antihistamines first, and if that didn't help, then we could go visit his buddy in SC (he is retired from clinical practice), and he was pretty sure his friend could help us. I wasn't so comfortable with the huge dose of antihistamines, so made an appt with our allergist. He got us in within a week and I begged him to help us. He put Gavin on an even higher dose of antihistamines than the specialist suggested, along with an H2 antihistamine...and gave us another cream for his scalp that I requested. Immediately (and I do mean immediately), Gavin's itchiness improved and within 3 days his eczema cleared from his face (!!!!!). His eczema continues to improve most days, although his hives aren't quite where we need them to be. He can play normally, but still can't stand to be in a hot car or actually exercise. Today we started his 3rd antihistamine cocktail, so we'll see if that works to halt the hives during exercise.

In addition, we have added in most all of the foods Gavin tested allergic to. The only things we have not done are oat, sunflower, and of course his true known allergies of egg and peanut. Buuuttt, we are now eating baked egg!! The allergist felt we could trial Gavin on baked egg at home (baked egg only since it destroys most of the egg protein and helps desensitize kids to it like allergy shots). We've been eating brownies, muffins, cookies, and even had donuts for the very first time! On top of that, Gavin's eczema continued to improve while eating the egg - so I know it isn't affecting him. That is so huge for us!

We still have to take shifts with him at night since he still is itchy then, but at least I feel like we are on the upswing. Heck, I can sit here and actually write a blog and not have to worry about him scratching himself bloody! We are thrilled!

Here are some lovely 5-year-pictures that my friend, Jill, took of the kids at an old plantation home! Enjoy!

So Let's Talk About Fun!

2010-03-12T11:28:00.004-06:00

We have actually managed to get out and have some fun this past month. In Feb., the kids had an open house at preschool and went on stage to sing 6 different songs for the parents and grandparents that showed up (and boy, did a lot show up!). I was pretty nervous wondering how Rachel would handle it all with her sensory issues, and I tried to prepare all of the kids as best I could. We dropped them off in their room and then waited in the auditorium for them. As they came out, the teachers placed them all together and the girls looked out into the audience, obviously trying to find Scott and me. Aryne spotted us and waved a big hello.....and then Rachel spotted us. She was looking mighty nervous, but once she found us, she smiled and was at ease from there on out. Gavin never did find us, but didn't really care too much. He focused on his teacher the entire time.

The kids sang and after every song, the audience applauded. The kids' eyes grew wide and they smiled hugely, thinking "oooh, they liked it!". At the very end, during the last applause, Aryne and Rachel started bowing and even blew kisses out into the crowd. So silly and so adorable. We have it all on tape, and I am so happy about that.

Needless to say, I am so proud of all of the kids, but especially of Rachel. I am in awe of what she has overcome to get where she is now!

And, Scott's birthday was this past week. We ended up going back to the science museum we visited a year and a half ago without success (too many lights and sounds for Miss Rachel at that time). This time, however, was quite different. Rachel was bothered only slightly by some of the noises, but she sure enjoyed herself this time. YAY! Gavin and Aryne enjoyed themselves, too, as well as the birthday boy. It was a bit tricky making a cake without egg, dairy, soy, wheat or rice, but we did make a lemon cake out of sorghum flour and starches that tasted rather yummy!

I'm having a hard time believing the kids will be 5 in three weeks. This is the big year that Kindergarten starts. I'm not sure I'm ready!

Before the Open House: Rachel, Aryne, and Gavin, holding up the pillows they received for Valentine's Day!
Aryne playing a game at the science museum:

Rachel riding the schoolbus - I believe I have a picture like this of Aryne from last visit!

In Love With Water

2010-03-12T10:34:00.010-06:00

Sometimes answers come in the simplest forms. Yes, I realize I've been missing for nearly a month, but I've been sleep deprived, so please forgive me. After Gavin's skin prick test, his eczema went downhill dramatically. The first weekend afterward, we were able to wrap him, which helped his body..but then a few days later he flared again. We tried wet wraps the next weekend (this involves misting him with water, putting steroid where it needs to be, then layering that with lotion, then aquaphor, and then putting on wet pajamas with dry clothing on top for 2 hours twice a day...for 3 days). It is quite intense and feels yucky, but does tend to cool down the eczema flare. This last time, though, it didn't even work. We were at a loss and phoned the dermatologist who was to be out of town for a couple of weeks. So, I called back the allergist who prescribed us steroids, once again, for 2 weeks with a slow step-down process, along with antibiotics since we felt his skin was likely infected.

Along with this, Scott and I decided that National Jewish Hospital in Denver was likely the best place to treat Gavin if none of the doctors here at home can treat him. We scrolled over their pages and their treatments and read them in depth. We do most everything they do (besides knowing how to wrap the head and face) except bathing up to 3x a day. There has been a long debate over whether bathing kids with bad eczema is good or bad for them and it always seemed that baths made Gavin break out. But, I figured this hospital, out of all of them in the country, appears to be able to help kids like Gavin the best. So, we decided to bathe him once a day...and when he gets bad, even more often. I worked on his face pretty intensely, and Scott and I have had to take shifts sleeping in his room at night to stop him from scratching (and some nights this means NO sleep!). But, the change is remarkable. Even though he is still on steroids (lowest dose right now), I KNOW his face would be bad already by now, and it is not. He even rubbed it pretty bad after going outside at school on Monday, and the bath seemed to help heal his skin rather quickly.

Sometimes, I guess, answers can come in the most simplest of forms.

Not that it is entirely simple, mind you. In fact, it is extremely involved. You start out with wet wrapping (and putting wet pajamas on a 4-year-old throwing tantrums and screaming at you who is covered in slippery aquaphor/Vaseline is no easy task - it takes nearly 30 minutes just to chase him down, pin him down, and get them on!), move onto potent drugs that you have to remember several times a day (and the dose changes every few days just to keep you on your toes!), and I have to put lotion on his body 4 times a day. On his face, we probably put it on 10x a day, dousing it with water many times as well (he can't stand that part). We also have to keep his environment stable. That means no real exercise....eliminating ALL of those so-called allergenic foods....keeping him inside and away from pollens...washing his towels, blankets and sheets in hot water daily, and keeping the temperature in the house darn cold. It also means no sleep to very little sleep from 8pm til morning just to keep him from scratching. Oh, and of course, I can't forget about the crying - we have to keep him from crying and getting emotionally stressed, which is only one more big eczema trigger. Just try and keep a sleep-deprived, itchy 4-year-old from crying!

If we can keep him stable through the end of next week - we can start introducing foods again! Clearly, my hope is building once again. Please, don't let it be crushed!

To demonstrate, here are some pictures I took of Gavin while he was broken out and a few after the steroids and baths. As you can see, he scratches his face really bad...but what you can't really see in these photos is what is under the shiny surface of his face. That shiny surface is aquaphor - and it is covering oozing "skin", or rather a lack of skin. He rubs his face raw on his bed...then his face oozes, and oozes out of the aquaphor. It gets so bad that the ooze drips down his face. I'm trying to explain this to you so you realize how he is suffering. I know people think they know someone with eczema or they themselves have it and understand what he is going through. I assure you, most all of you have NO idea what he goes through. It is all over his scalp, inside his ears, covering his eyelids and everything down to his feet, and infected to boot. Then at night, the rashes heat up, swell, and burn. On top of all of this, he manages to get "heat hives" - which means hives on top of swollen, inflamed eczema. Then, Scott and I have to pin down his arms, legs, and head all at once to keep him from scratching. But, you know, the intense itch and burning doesn't leave. It is like torture. He screams and cries, and I can't even imagine...

This is why my posts and our lives have been consumed by this rash. It isn't merely a "rash". It is horrible, the doctors even at one of the best hospitals in the US were aghast at how bad his skin is, and this "rash" affects everything we do. This is why I am trying to keep hope - and just look at his beautiful skin today!

This is his typical red face. At least here it is only his face, arms, and legs.

A close-up after he scratched one day. You can see the ooze by his ear and coming out of his aquaphor. He rubs his eyebrows off and his eyelids are swollen.

Only a few days later, this is how the steroids clear him up with baths....if only the steroids weren't so potent with such bad side effects...

Oh, the beauty of his skin here!

Thank you to those of you who have listened to us, cried with us, and tried to help us this past year. I'm determined to get to the bottom of it this year!

Would the Real Answer Please Stand Up?

2010-02-16T13:41:00.003-06:00

This allergy testing has become almost comical. Not really. In reality, it is entirely frustrating and makes for one big headache. And tears. But I just can't help but wonder if my son is an allergic anomaly. Here is what happened at yesterday's skin prick test with the allergist:

Despite the snowstorm (mind you, Tennessee doesn't have snow plows, so any accumulation of snow causes hours of delays and closings galore), I was determined to get to that appointment (remember I had to drug up my little boy yet again and I am not willing to do that again). I was ready for some answers. Whatever it is he is actually allergic to, bring it on! So we tested. And boy, did we test for a LOT! We tested for everything Gavin tested allergic to on previous blood tests, minus peanut and egg since we know those are real allergies and would only make him itchy if we tested for them. In addition, we tested for 3 varieties of fish, shrimp, garlic, onion, mustard seed, and sesame seed. And the results were .....can I have a drumroll please ....negative. To everything. That's right. You heard it. Only a slight "maybe" positive on coconut of all things.

The doctor and I thought these results were remarkably odd. So, we retested the most confusing results. He himself came and pricked Gavin a second time for sunflower seed, oat, soy, and coconut, rubbing a lot of extract into the pricks. We got the same result. Negative to everything, but a small hive on coconut. Hmmmm..... His sunflower seed blood test was SUPER high, and his coconut blood test was so low it would have been considered negative in some labs. So, the doctor said that we will consider Gavin to have 3 food allergies so far. Peanut, egg, and sunflower seed (simply based on his very high blood test and the fact that he doesn't ever want to eat sunflower...and it kind of makes sense in general). We should introduce oat, soy, and coconut cautiously after introducing everything else. All other foods we can introduce back into his diet one every few days or so. Thus far, we have re-introduced dairy, rice, and beef. Of course, we don't really know if rice or beef is affecting him since he has been on steroids. But, I do want to introduce wheat on Saturday since he has been begging me for pizza (I realize you can make gluten-free pizza crust, but mine always turn out, ummm, not so tasty).

All we know for sure is that he has been reacting strongly to something, and after taking away 20 or so foods, he was improving. We think the answer lies in those foods, but just aren't sure what the exact culprit is. Sunflower makes sense. Coconut makes sense. Oat could explain some, but not all of the reactions, and soy I don't believe makes sense.

In other news, we have had a rather snowy winter for Tennessee this year. The kids have had fun making snow angels and a snowman. I'm hoping that the schools at least stay open for tomorrow so I can get some errands run! They also had a birthday party this past weekend at a bounce house and had a really good time. Gavin did break out in heat hives (he had to be off of antihistamines to do the skin prick test, but he was on steroids), but only after 45 minutes or so of jumping around. Rachel had fun playing basketball, Aryne liked the obstacle course, and Gavin liked playing on a bouncy mushroom. Of course, they all liked the big slides, as usual!

Here are some pictures of them since I haven't posted any in quite some time!

Gavin and Aryne making finishing touches on "Frosty":

Rachel making a snow angel and admiring it!

Gavin playing at the party - after playing on the "squishy mushroom":

Rachel and her yellow basketball:

Aryne having fun after a slide!

School Parties - Why Such a Hassle?

2010-02-09T11:07:00.002-06:00

Please tell me why on earth schools have to serve so many foods and treats these days? When your child has severe food allergies, these days are simply full of anxiety. At least I get a warning, though. Today, I had to fight for two things. 1) That tomorrow's order of Chick-Fil-A only be served after I pull my kids out of school (yes, I have to pull them for lunch these days), and 2) That the ever-beloved cookie-decorating tradition be held off until we leave. I actually had to fight for that last one to happen. At least I got a call about the first thing on the list - the cookies were mentioned out of the blue to let me know what type of "fun" activities they were going to be doing tomorrow. WHAT??? How on earth did cookie decorating not raise flags with Gavin's food allergies. Please, someone, inform me how that could happen. The teachers had to "call me back" after discussing it amongst themselves to determine whether or not they would continue with the activity tomorrow despite Gavin's allergies (they were going to do it with my kids!). I tell you, I was ready to pull them for good. I think the teachers and I need to talk...yet again. I should have them call my new allergist - he couldn't believe teachers wouldn't enact a strict no-peanut policy for his preschool room. He very bluntly told us how much Gavin needed a peanut-free environment. Yes, I know. Hence one major reason I pull him out before lunch.

But, there is good news. Actually, VERY good news where allergies are concerned. First of all, Gavin's milk re-introduction has gone extraordinarily well. Not only did his skin not get any worse over the last few days, but it has gotten BETTER! His skin was just beautiful this morning, minus his face (but that is beautiful regardless of his skin!!). But even his facial skin was much improved since he hasn't rubbed/scratched it for 2 nights in a row. YAY! I can't describe how happy I am about that.

Secondly, we saw the new allergist yesterday. He told me everything I wanted to hear. Who wouldn't like that? When I handed him Gavin's latest test results, and before I ever mentioned that I didn't believe them all and that I had re-introduced dairy, the doctor looked at them and said "These are really low. I don't think they are all real". In fact, he believes Gavin's peanut, sunflower, and egg are real...and possibly oat and soy. The rest are probably nonsense. Exactly what I was thinking. He even thinks his egg numbers were rather low and is willing to challenge baked egg (different from raw egg with many people) in his office when Gavin clears up! Hooray! We can't wait! The key to all of this though, is that he needs, first, to actually clear up - face and all.

So, we have put him on yet another short round of oral steroids to clear his skin this week. Apparently, you can be on steroids and still have a skin-prick test (the other type of allergy test). That means Gavin and I will be back in next week for a skin test to see if any results correlate with his latest blood tests. Hopefully, we'll be able to see some more negative results. I certainly want to test for other seeds, if the tests are available.

The girls are doing well - amazingly everyone has been healthy the past few weeks. We have a birthday party to attend this weekend at a bounce house - so that should be pretty fun! I'll be introducing rice at that point, into Gavin's diet, so the kids can eat some safe cupcakes while there. Hopefully I'll have some more good news to add to the mix next week!

Milk, I'm Calling Your Bluff

2010-02-06T14:41:00.004-06:00

After a bunch of reading (actual journal articles and a lot of stories from allergic families), I've decided that most of Gavin's so-called allergies aren't true allergies. I've felt this ever since I received the results, but am now even more convinced that I am right (it is so much easier to convince myself I'm right than wrong, of course!). Add in the fact that taking these foods out of his diet could make him more sensitive to them...I was determined to figure it out sooner rather than later. So, I made a bold move, and on my own, re-introduced dairy back into Gavin's diet yesterday. Only a teaspoon today and yesterday, but it is a start. So far he is no worse, but of course we are watching for delayed eczema reactions...not typical allergic responses. That means we have to wait 48 hours. I'll be adding more and more to his diet this week and see how it goes. Since our appt with the new allergist is this Monday, it should provide some insight into what is going on with Gavin prior to the appointment. At least that is what I am hoping. And I didn't even start with re-introducing the foods that he tested least positive to. Nope. I started smack-dab in the middle. A daring maneuver, I know. But if he can tolerate dairy, then I highly doubt he is allergic to the foods that resulted in a lower CAP RAST (blood test) score.

So, yeah, I'm calling your bluff you tricky 'ol milk. We'll see who's right!

Oh, That Was Just The Beginning!

2010-01-21T14:39:00.004-06:00

We got our latest test results back on Tuesday. So, remember, I blood tested Gavin for the following allergens: cocoa, pea, green bean, beef, pork, coconut, rice, oat, sunflower seed, potato, barley, wheat and yeast. Turns out, he tested positive for all but potato and cocoa (they forgot to run yeast). So now his official list of positive allergens includes (from most severe to least):

Peanut
Sunflower seed
Oat
Soy
Egg
Wheat
Pork
Milk
Green Bean
Pea
Beef
Chicken
Barley
Rice
Coconut
Banana (potentially)

The results are more like a nightmare. What we know he is NOT allergic to at this point is corn (ever so thankful for that one!), potato, tomato, cocoa, cinnamon, and orange. We have gone on a huge elimination diet to eliminate all of the above allergens. That means a bit of creativity and a lot of grocery shopping since nearly everything in my house has at least one of those ingredients. The scary thing is that sunflower seed is nearly as high as peanut - and furthermore, seeds are an anaphylactic allergy. Certainly nothing to mess around with. And just this week we have noticed Gavin's eyelids starting to swell. We were in desperate need of some results and the sunflower could certainly be explaining a lot of his reactions. Add in the oat (also pretty darn high), and things seem much clearer to me. Remember how we initially thought he was reacting to something in his lotions and soaps? We used Aveeno (contains oat in all products) up until October before we turned to organic lotions. I wondered about oat, so I cut all oat out of our toiletries and diet. Turns out he didn't get better because he was allergic to other foods, as well as the organic lotions. Ugg. Clearly, the oatmeal baths did not help. Here is a bit of good advice: when your child is allergic to something, don't bathe them in it.

Come to find out, too, that the rice milk he has been living on lately is made with sunflower oil. Bad, bad, bad. This definitely explains why he doesn't much like eating Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter - it is a delicious alternative to peanut butter). I've asked him repeatedly why he doesn't like it or if it makes him feel yucky and he only tells me he just doesn't want to eat it. But, it made me suspicious enough to want to test him. Actually, I wanted to test him for it a year and a half ago, but they didn't have a test for it. Then, I tried to test for it last month and they didn't. Finally they test for it and the result is huge! After one day off of it, his face looks to be clearing up already. Could it improve that fast? Trying not to get my hopes up too high here, but he DID sleep through the night last night without tearing his face apart. That is an improvement alone.

The thing I hope most is that our elimination diet improves his quality of life. I want it to end his misery. Secondly, I have hope that all of the positive results are not true allergies. I've done some reading about kids with severe eczema and they tend to have super high IgE levels circulating in their system. It often causes them to react to almost all allergens tested for on a blood or skin prick test, even when they are not actually allergic. Typically, only the very high positives are true allergies. In Gavin's case, that is peanut, sunflower seed, and oat, followed by soy, egg, wheat, pork, and potentially dairy. I SO hope he can eat dairy! The others are so low, I don't think they reflect anything significant.

Other than that, Rachel is now on monthly appointments only for physical therapy! YAY! She is completely average for her age, and since her toe-walking is sensory related only, I think she will resolve that on her own in her own time. We just need to make sure that her flexibility remains good.

Aryne came down with strep throat last week as well. That was a first for us. After 5 days, and only AFTER taking her to a birthday party on Saturday did we realize that she was still sick! Her symptoms seemed classic for strep to me, so I took her into the Walgreens clinic on Sunday and had her tested. Sure enough, she had a really bad case of it. As of yesterday, she has been feeling much better on her antibiotics! Rachel is complaining of a sore throat today...sure hope it isn't strep! She is so miserable when her throat hurts! Poor girl.

Where to Begin? We'll Start with Soy, Milk, and Chicken.

2010-01-11T11:12:00.004-06:00

Christmas was uber fun this year! The kids had a great time opening up their gifts from Santa and even got to go sledding when up visiting their grandparents in Michigan! They were so excited and had so much fun. This was a Christmas of Wiis. My parents got one, my sister got one, and we got one! The kids, Scott and I have all been enjoying playing the various games. Gavin was on steroids over the holidays, which turned out to be quite lucky so that he could enjoy Christmas without eczema and it even kept his reactions minimal up in Michigan with all of the pets.

And speaking of pets, we got to visit both Cleo and Indy in their new homes! They are both doing well and very happy. On top of that, they were both very happy to see us. I received a nice wet bath from Indy, and nice cuddles from the Bandito. I miss them, yet I know Gavin needs to be away from them. It was extra hard leaving Indy this time. He looked so confused as to why we were leaving him again. I know he is getting spoiled in his new home, however, and he has even discovered an electric blanket to curl up in. The blanket was not intended for him, but don't tell him that!

The new allergy news is that Gavin's blood allergy test came back positive to several things. Peanut is now >100, which means that the test doesn't even test high enough for his level of allergy. But, of course, we already knew his allergy was life-threatening, and that hasn't changed. Egg, again, was positive, so he has not outgrown the allergy. And, on a more devastating note, he appears now sensitized to soy, milk, and chicken....and possibly banana. That means that 6 out of the 10 things I tested him for turned up positive. To make matters worse, the majority of substitutes for dairy contain soy. When I had him on the gluten/casein (milk)-free diet, I had him on soy and rice milks, so no wonder why he didn't improve! I'm still not sure that he actually REACTS to all of those allergens, just that he has an allergic sensitivity to them. It could be that he has a high tolerance for some of those allergens, but maybe not. So, we are keeping him off of all the major food allergens except wheat (peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, soy, dairy, egg), and off other legumes, chicken, and turkey, too. Even so, his skin (especially his face and scalp) is getting worse. His entire face is covered in eczema and he has started scratching at night again.

Sooooo, I called up the allergist this morning and ordered another blood test for tomorrow. We will probably get the results back in a week. I'm testing for the major foods he eats on a regular basis, including rice, wheat, coconut, green beans, peas, beef, pork, yeast, oat, potato, sunflower, and barley. I'm hoping for negatives so that we will have a starting point of what we CAN feed him. Right now, we know he is NOT allergic to corn, cinnamon, oranges, and tomato, since those 4 showed up negative on the test last month. We just need him on a strict elimination diet for a few weeks so his skin will hopefully clear up...and then we can start re-introducing things to see if he actually reacts to those foods or not. This is so not fun. Really, it is heartbreaking. Having to tell my 4-year-old little boy that he can no longer eat his favorite foods, can't exercise longer than 3 minutes (those heat hives are still flaring as usual), and needs to wrap himself in wet pajamas is just no fun at all. I never expected that finding his eczema trigger would be this difficult and downright confusing!

Some pictures for you:

Playing the Wii. This is pretty much how our Christmas looked! Scott and Aryne are swordfighting while the other kids are looking on, awaiting their turn! Aryne's little buns were the cutest thing to watch. She shook them all around and then even turned to face the cheering crowd, swordfighting and dancing at the same time!

Snowball fight! I think he got me after I took this shot!

Snow angels, of course. You just have to make these when there is snow.

Beginning of the sledding adventure. Off to the backyard to find the hill!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2009-12-24T11:14:00.006-06:00

Despite having the sniffles, Aryne, Gavin, and Rachel are mighty excited that dear Ol' Santa Claus himself is coming to visit tonight. They have been playing out various Christmas scenarios this past week with their toys and reading our many ancient Golden Books with Christmas themes. They are the same Golden Books I had when I was a little kid. It sure is fun reading those again as a mom!

Rachel's favorite thing to do these days is take her toys and line them up as "Santa's reindeer" on the ottoman, and sit down on the couch with a bundle of toys playing Santa. Gavin, of course, has to be a part of it and usually throws in a few of his own toys for the heck of it. Here is a picture of Rachel yesterday pretending to be Santa on his sleigh, appropriately donning a Chiquita banana sticker. Notice the eight stuffed animals as the eight reindeer, along with Rudolph leading the way. The pillow is used as her "reigns"....and the Star Wars guys with Frosty are Gavin's additions. You didn't know Star Wars was an integral part of Christmas, did you?

Aryne was not to be left out, however. She played quite well all by herself as "The Little Drummer Boy" and pranced around the house quite merrily, making a ruckus.

This morning, the kids woke up knowing it was Christmas Eve and had me read all of the Little Golden Books they could find centered around Christmas...along with the Grinch. Right after breakfast, we read them all, and I'm sure we will be reading them again throughout the day. Excuse the pajamas please.

And last but not least, the Star Wars guys had to leave Santa's sleigh and head out on their own. Most of you would think, being from a galaxy far, far away after all, that they would fly out on a spaceship. Not so! They prefer school buses instead. It appears that the holiday spirit has struck Mr. Storm Trooper, who has decided to turn away from the Dark Side and become a Jedi Knight instead.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Good News and Confusing News!

2009-12-18T15:17:00.003-06:00

We'll start with the good news. Aryne's eyes are still looking fantastic! YAY! In fact, they are looking so good that she now only has to go for follow-ups once a year. Plus, her vision hasn't worsened, which makes the news all the better! Go Aryne!

The confusing news is that Gavin's entire test of skin allergens came back negative. All 29 patches. That leaves us back at square 1 trying to figure out what is causing his skin flare-ups. His face is still flaking and red as can be, and his body has been breaking out the last couple of days again as well. Hmmm. The doctor and I are still convinced it is something airborne or something he is eating that is causing his eczema. The problem is that we have still not identified the driving force behind his allergic reactions. So, we are returning to the allergist on Monday for a blood allergy test. Hopefully we will have the results in a week (OK, after Christmas). Unfortunately, not all allergens can be tested for, and we are simply left guessing what he could possibly be allergic to. So far, all of my guesses have been wrong, so I'm not sure how hopeful I am that the testing on Monday will reveal anything new. In the meantime, to get us through the holidays, the dermatologist prescribed yet another 2 weeks of kiddy prednisone and antibiotics. Joy!

And, I totally forgot to post a picture of the kids visiting Santa this year! How could I forget? We went a couple of weeks ago and it was a great success this year, as you can imagine. They were oh so excited to see Santa and ask him for their very favorite gifts. We didn't have to wait in much of a line, and when we got up there, the kids all flocked over to him and wanted to sit on his lap! However, when it came time to get the picture taken, the girls decided to give us their cheesiest "fake" smiles that they now do whenever we ask to take their picture. Gavin's smile, on the other hand, was one of a boy who was totally in love with Santa!

Aryne asked Santa for a "babydoll named Snoopy" and a Barbie. Prior to visiting Santa, Aryne kept asking for a babydoll and her dad and I asked her what she was going to name her baby if she got one for Christmas. The kids pondered that question for a while and then collectively came up with the name "Snoopy" and thought it was hilarious. Santa, on the other hand, looked a bit confused by the request. Rachel asked for a "silly talking Sponge Bob" (I think she wants to torture me!), and Gavin asked for Sponge Bob Operation (the game). I'm not sure what their fascination is with Sponge Bob all of a sudden. They don't ever get to watch it. Maybe that in itself is the draw...

Anyway, here it is - our 2009 picture with St. Nick!

I'm Such A Bad Mommy!

2009-12-17T07:41:00.004-06:00

This is our busy week. We have had several appointments with the kiddos as well as the first school Christmas party. I have concluded that when having a child with food allergies, it is actually "convenient" to have triplets in the same class. He has someone to eat lunches with...other eyes looking out for him...and also when it comes time for sign-up sheets to bring in food for the class parties, I get to sign up for 3 things. You wouldn't think of that as "convenient" necessarily, but I want to sign up for all the things that could threaten my little guy if they contain nuts or eggs. So, I signed up for the cupcakes, the cookies, and the chips. That made the party a much greater success since the kids were able to eat with their peers at the same table and I didn't have to stress about exposures. The kids had a really good time at the party, and came home with gifts, so they were pretty excited. Gavin has been out of school for the past 2 weeks to keep his skin clear enough to get his patch testing done with the dermatologist, but we did return for the class party and I'm glad we did!

So, we got the patches put on Tuesday with 29 various allergens/irritants. They don't really stick too well to his skin, although they are reinforced with surgical tape (that also doesn't stick) and glue. The glue is really the only thing keeping them in place. For some reason that I will not question, Gavin likes the patches on his back! Therefore, he has not tried to take them off yet. Early this afternoon, we go back to get the patches off and get the results.

I'm nervous about the outcome. I'm nervous that the patches won't have stayed on right. I'm nervous that he will not react to anything and we will still be at a loss for answers. I'm nervous that he will react to everything and we won't get an accurate reading and have to start back at square 1 again. And, I'm nervous that he will be allergic to something that we can't eliminate and he will continue to suffer. Yes, I'm stressing about this. And, perhaps a bit too much. I'm stressing more than I anticipated and therefore canceled Miss Rachel's PT this morning since I'm not feeling too well. That is what makes me a bad mommy today. I called her in sick, but she isn't sick. It is ME that isn't feeling well.

Aryne also has her 6 month opthamology appt (eye doctor appt) this afternoon in a much different location than Gavin's appt. So, Scott has to take a half day off to get here...then I leave with Gavin...then he leaves with the girls. Hopefully Aryne's appointment goes well, too. Her eyes have been looking wonderful, still, but I do wonder if she needs new glasses.

Hope for us today so that Gavin won't have to be in agony anymore, and wish us luck that Aryne's eye appointment shows continued success. I'll update everyone when I can.

Decorations Are Up!

2009-12-04T15:27:00.007-06:00

Thanksgiving came and went...and while we had a really nice time with the friends that came over...the kids could hardly stand to wait until the next day. They woke up thinking that it was Christmas, and we had to crush their spirits just a little and remind them we still had another month until the big day. Today we were decorating for Christmas, but that was it. Although disappointed (and I must say they were disappointed repeatedly as we kept having to tell them every hour that Christmas was 4 weeks away...they just kept asking and asking ad nauseum), they did enjoy putting up the tree, lights, and decor. To deter the kids from asking about Christmas hourly, we decided to make them a couple types of calendars to keep track of the days. It seems to have worked so far. Now, if only we could convince the kids that we don't need to drive around the neighborhood to see the Christmas decorations every day, we would be in good shape!

Their grandparents had purchased them an animated Santa last year that read ""Twas the Night before Christmas", and the kids were really quite scared of it at the time. When I pulled it out yet again this year they all ran away from it and told me not to turn him on. But, after a few hours of looking him over closely, Rachel (can you believe it was Rachel?) asked for me to turn him on. I did, and the other 2 eventually gave into their curiosity and came over to check him out. Suddenly, they couldn't get enough of him. The lure of pressing the button seemingly outweighed the fear of a mechanical Kris Kringle...and now we have 3 little kids that listen to the story several times a day. Here they are completely immersed in dear old Santa Claus:

For Thanksgiving, the kids painted some feathers in preschool and were given "Indian" headresses complete with individual names of their choosing. Aryne picked "Autumn Deer", Gavin chose "Grinning Dog" and Rachel liked "Rainbow Dancer". Very suiting indeed!

Gearing Up For Christmas. Wait, It Isn't Even Thanksgiving!

2009-11-23T12:36:00.003-06:00

My parents came to visit again this past weekend and the kids were so excited to take them to..........Lowes. That's right. My kids, for some reason, remember seeing a bunch of Christmas stuff at Lowes last year and remembered it ALL year long. Now that the holiday decorations are back in stores, Christmas is all they think about. They can't wait until Thanksgiving only because that means Christmas is next on the list of holidays. It is really much too cute and this is the year they are finally "really" getting the idea of Christmas. It is a magical time for them and I love watching their faces light up when they see the decorations.

We also took the kids to the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas decorations and they thought that was pretty neat. I suppose we will be putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving since they just. cannot. wait. any. longer.

We did get in to see the dermatologist again, and in fact got in two days after I last blogged. Gavin really wasn't doing well, and after receiving some bad phone advice from one of the nurses, I emailed the doctor directly. He wanted to see Gavin ASAP. So, now Gavin is on prednisone and acting like a crazed animal. On top of it, the 'roids make him super duper HUNGRY and he eats so fast and so much. He put all of us (including his grandparents) to shame with the amount he ate. We even re-introduced gluten back into his diet this Sunday (since it wasn't helping and has nearly been 3 months) and wow, you should have seen him scarf down his pizza. I think he's going to gain 5 lbs during the 3 weeks he is on it! The good news is that his skin has cleared up dramatically. I sure hope it stays that way so that we can patch test him for allergens. If the eczema returns, we won't be able to do the testing...so we'll just have to see how his skin reacts as we lower his dosage.

Aryne is still befreinding the lady bugs that enter our house and Rachel is still doing well with her physical therapy. We are having some food-allergy friends over for Thanksgiving and are very much looking forward to it. Time to start making pies! Yum!

Aryne Makes Friends

2009-11-10T10:28:00.004-06:00

Aryne has a knack for making friends. She is such a fun-natured girl that loves everything and everyone and, therefore, she draws people to her.

At school, Aryne has managed to befriend the entire class. She loves everyone and tries to play with each kid every day. I love it! One of the boys in her class talks about her as his "girlfriend". He is such a cute little boy, too, that his mom, his grandma, and I all find it very entertaining.

But this past weekend, Aryne managed to befriend something new. Like every fall, our yard is swarming with ladybugs. Those dang things are everywhere. Not that I have something against ladybugs, but I do have something against swarms of bugs. Plus, they attract wasps which prey on them. When we open the door to go outside, they flock in. Then, their carcasses can be found everywhere. What a hassle. Gavin is terrified of bugs since he still (yes, STILL) remembers being stung by that bad wasp. I have to keep reminding him that ladybugs are "friendly" and won't hurt him. Although Gavin is not really listening to me, Aryne certainly has been. When I went downstairs this past weekend doing my usual ladybug killing round, Aryne looked up at me and said with the sweetest voice "but....they're FRIENDLY!!". I couldn't, in good conscience, kill them anymore. Instead, I had to "transfer" them outside and "save" them.

Next, we all went outside and jumped in the big leaf pile their dad made. While that was fun, Aryne found that she could make playmates with the ladybugs. She picked them up, named them "Carlo" and "Waddo", and took them around the yard introducing them to various activities. At some point, the little friends passed away (probably from the rough handling), but she didn't notice that she was playing with carcasses. She plopped them on the swing and swung them (they, of course, fell off and she searched frantically in the grass to find them), had a picnic with them on the picnic table, and went down the slide with them. She was very, very sad when she eventually lost her little buddies. The good news is that I'm sure she can find new ones to befriend with the zillions we have out there.

The leaves wreaked havoc on Gavin's skin. He had already started flaring up again, head to toe, and then he told me how much he wanted to run and jump in the leaves and say "AHHHHHH!". So, of course, I let him, knowing full well he would flare up even worse. The poor kid only lasted about 5 minutes in the leaves before he started scratching himself silly and asked to come in. Hopefully we can get back into the dermatologist next week and see what else we can do for him. Whatever he is allergic to, he is constantly being exposed to it. He is up hourly at night again, so he really isn't doing too well. I loathe allergies.

Rachel had an excellent time at physical therapy this past week. I think it does us all some good to get an extra hour of sleep and since she doesn't have OT beforehand, she isn't overwhelmed going into PT. There was some mention of cutting her back to every other week, so she is improving there as well. Go Rachel!

A Very Fun Halloween!

2009-11-03T11:11:00.004-06:00

Yes, that is right! Two posts in one day. This topic deserved a post of its own. Of course this past weekend was Halloween! We had such a busy week last week that we barely got our pumpkin carving done in time for Halloween night! But, we managed to get 'er done and carved 3 pumpkins that matched their brand new pumpkin stands that their grandma bought them. One witch pumpkin, one skeleton pumpkin (my favorite, of course!), and one Frankenstein pumpkin.

The kids picked their own outfits again this year. Gavin, as one might guess, was a Transformer. Seeing as his backpack and lunch box are of Bumblebee (a Transformer), one might venture to guess he was Bumblebee for Halloween. Wrong. He picked Optimus Prime instead. His sister, on the other hand, never having shown any interest in Transformers what-so-ever, decided to be Bumblebee. Really? I kept asking her and asking her, even holding onto the receipt in case she wanted to return it, but Rachel really wanted to be a Transformer. Alright!

Aryne decided to be independent and go out on a limb. She was Strawberry Shortcake. A very cute one indeed! We went to a Halloween costume party last Friday with the food allergy group, and went out trick-or-treating on Saturday. The kids had a lot of fun and got a lot of candy. We "re-gifted" all of the peanut-containing items and in turn gave the kids a pumpkin-full of safe candies. Mmmmm!

Here they are all dressed up!

This last picture is of the kids last week. They were so cute and all on their own decided to make a "campfire" out of the leaves in the backyard. They stoked it and "roasted marshmallows" on it and even better yet, told ghost stories around it! Here is Aryne in the midst of one of her stories!

Success!

2009-11-03T09:40:00.004-06:00

There have been two big successes this week. The first I should mention is Miss Rachel. She is an official Occupational Therapy GRADUATE!! One year of OT and she is doing so well, she no longer needs therapy. Of course, she is still in physical therapy for her toe-walking, but I am hopeful she won't be in that much longer either. YAY!! Her therapist gave her a bear for doing such a great job, whom she named "Sheldon" and she has been carrying him around with her for the past week. She is so very proud of her bear. Congratulations Rachel! I am so proud of you!

The other huge success of the week has been with Gavin's skin. It is remarkable. Last week at this time we were in tears and up all night. Then we went to see the pediatric dermatologist. I think I love that man. The appointment didn't start out all rosy, though. First, we got a newer doctor who had a student doctor shadowing him. It seemed all his "cures" for Gavin's skin revolved around steroid creams. That was it. I said to him "I really am looking for something other than just steroid creams. Don't you think that it would just be treating the symptoms and not addressing the problem?". Then he looked at me, gave me the doctor "nod" and didn't know how to answer my question other than to tell me that the head doctor would probably like to have a look at Gavin. As the first doctor went out of the room (student doc following behind), I turned to Scott (yes, we ALL went to the appt.!) and said "If all they are going to do is talk about steroid creams, I'm going to see our local regular dermatologist next week". I was all ready to give up on the place! But, alas, the head doctor came in (I like to call him the "real" doctor), followed by several other student doctors, took a good look at Gavin and started asking us questions. He asked about his medications, looked closely at exactly where the eczema was located, noted its severity (followed by gasps from the student doctor crowd), and asked how long it had been as bad as it was. He was SURE it was an allergy, and to something that he is in constant contact with since he is having a systemic reaction. Food, medications, or his lotions were the biggest suspects, and since we had already eliminated the common offending foods (and had "already done half" his work for him according to the doctor), he believed we needed to look very closely at Gavin's medicines and lotions.

One of the biggest skin offenders is formaldehyde and its derivatives. Another is parabens and yet another is lanolin (which are in nearly everything). Aspartame is a formaldehyde derivative and in some of Gavin's medicines. So, we had to do a major overhaul of Gavin's lotions once again and switch out his medicine. On top of that, we got a new steroid cream (Did you know you could actually become allergic to steroids themselves?) to put on his body...spray him down with a mister...put Vaseline on...put on wet cotton pajamas...and then put on regular clothing on top of the wet pajamas...twice a day for 2-3 hours each time for 3 days. We did that along with his new lotions/soaps, etc. and Gavin is a new boy. His skin actually looks like skin and not like lizard scales and he is not scratching. At all. He does have some patchy spots that are confusing still and I am pretty sure he is allergic to the cleaner at preschool, but at least for these few days we have had success. I no longer see pain when I look at him. I see Gavin. It is wonderful. Even his teachers commented on how much happier he is.

So, I really think Gavin had two reactions going on. One was with his initial lotions/medicines and another to his organic lotions since 100% of the ingredients are different. The organic lotions have no formaldehyde, parabens, lanolin, etc., which is why I decided to use them (I knew that those things were potentially allergenic). But, the organic lotions use plant oils and he could very easily be allergic to plant oils since he has documented seasonal allergies. Crazy. Hopefully we can do a patch test when his skin is clear for a few weeks to figure out what the exact trigger/triggers is/are.

So, we are thankful for today in that today the kids are doing well. Hopefully the path will continue in the right direction!

Oooh! We have some cool family pictures!

2009-10-27T13:49:00.007-05:00

Alright, I know we were supposed to get pictures when Scott was up in Michigan for his uncle's funeral, but the night before the pictures were supposed to be taken, Rachel woke up screaming several times complaining about her ear. When we got up in the morning, she was running a fever, was lethargic, and still crying about her ear. I figured it was an ear infection, and had to cancel our scheduled picture day with my friend. We went to the doctor last Monday and sure enough, she has an ear infection in both ears (worse on one side) and she was prescribed some antibiotics. Her fever got really bad - up to 104.2, and she was really not feeling well, but I'm glad it wasn't the flu. Her ear still bothers her at times, but I'm guessing it will until the fluid finally gets out.

Since we had to cancel, we rescheduled the pictures for the following Saturday (this past Saturday). Things were looking pretty bad at first since we got to the park and it started raining! Not a single forecaster had predicted rain for that day! Plus, it was really chilly. We decided to do indoor pics first, and then headed back to the park when the rain stopped. The kids were fairly whiny the whole time, and Rachel especially. It seems whenever she is sick, she suffers a set-back with her sensory issues. She screamed and cried and finally settled down enough to take pictures. I had to bribe them with candy before they all finally smiled for the indoor shots, but that same tactic didn't quite work for the outdoor and family pictures. I was amazed that my friend, Jill, was able to capture some wonderful shots with all that was going on. Truly, if she can do that with my crying kids, that says a LOT about her skills! She had so many great ideas and we can't wait to use her again! Many thanks to her for spending several hours with us and having such patience!

Even though Rachel suffered set-backs this week being sick, she managed to pull off a good day with the OT and PT. Her OT evaluation was last week, and I think she tested out of it! That means this week will be out last week of OT! Congrats Rachel on graduating (at least we think!)! What an accomplishment! I am very proud of her.

The bad thing this week has been Gavin's skin. It is SO super bad. He has been scratching and clawing at his skin and his eczema covers his body except his face. It has gone crazy. He doesn't even sleep, and therefore, neither do Scott or I. He wakes up writhing around in pain from the burning, itching sensations, and it breaks our heart. I took him to the pedi on Monday and he scheduled an appt. with a pediatric dermatologist at Vanderbilt for tomorrow morning. I broke down crying at the pedi appt, and I think the doctor and nurse felt so bad for us they got us in so soon. Having the appt at that time means the kids will miss out on their Halloween party at school, but Gavin really needs some help ASAP. I don't think we can wait another week like this until the next available appointment. Please, please, wish us luck that we are able to find something to work on Gavin. I hate to see my little kid in such agony.

Jill, the photographer, told me I could post the sample pictures she gave me on the blog. So, here they are! Enjoy!

2 Weeks Have Flown By!

2009-10-16T13:31:00.005-05:00

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last blogged? I guess it has! We've been so busy, I've failed to keep up! First, the kids' other grandparents (Scott's parents) visited and we went to the pumpkin patch. The weather finally decided to behave and gave us a rather perfect day for a visit. After they left, the kids were on fall break for a week which meant the week off from school. We had a couple of playdates which were both a lot of fun. We went to a classmate's house one day and to an exotic animal farm another day. Amazingly, the weather behaved again!

This week Scott had off from work and the rain returned. Not too much fun for a vacation. But, we did manage to go to the aquarium again and get to enjoy some time alone when the kids went to school. We got ourselves breakfast both mornings they were in school and drove around trying to find a new house. Yes, we are crazy and are considering a move next spring. Not for any reason in particular other than to find a neighborhood we like better and a house with a better layout for us.

On Wednesday at school, the trio had their very first picture day! The bad part was that Gavin scratched up his face. And when I say scratched up his face, I mean it looks like he was attacked by feral cats all along one side of his face and his entire neck. We also have our first-ever pictures with an actual photographer (my friend from the food allergy group) tomorrow. It wasn't really the best time to scratch up his face. Hopefully, the rain will stay away for at least the morning. And while I had hoped to get a family photo outside, it just wasn't in the stars for us. Scott's uncle passed away last week from pancreatic cancer and he is up in Michigan attending the funeral this weekend. While it may be bad luck for photos, it is certainly much worse for his family and they are all in our thoughts right now.

I can't wait to see the proofs from the school pictures! The teachers got pictures of all of the kids together for us. I'm sure they are quite silly! But, since I don't have those just yet, the following will have to suffice:

Colds, Colds and More Colds.

2009-09-29T15:25:00.004-05:00

Somehow, I think this is only the beginning for many years to come. Since my kids have started school they have managed to catch everything. We have already gone through a few colds the last two weeks, myself and Scott included. Luckily, though, they have just been colds and not the flu. Poor Gavin can't even get a flu shot since they are cultured in raw egg (the mist is as well) and he is the one who needs it since he is an asthmatic. One other thing to aggravate me about medicines and vaccines. Can't they learn to make them without the common allergens?

The first round of grandparent visitation went really well. The kids were very excited to see my parents, and it FINALLY stopped raining here on Sunday. It rained for 11-12 days straight and we got over 11 inches of rain. That is a lot of rain. It flooded the pumpkin patch (where we wanted to go), but we managed to get out to other places instead. The kids really enjoyed their time at a local children's' museum and Rachel's sensory issues have really showed a HUGE improvement. YAY!

And since Miss Rachel really doesn't like beauty salons (the noise from hairdryers bothers her quite a bit), I had my mom bring down her gear to cut Rachel's hair (my mom was a hairdresser). Since Grandma often has good ideas, she suggested playing "Beauty Salon/Barber Shop" with the kids to cut Rachel's hair so she wouldn't get overly stressed about it. I think the lure of a "surprise" at the end was enough to draw the kids in. They sat on a stool, donned a salon cape, and got all beautified. For that, each kid won a most wonderful surprise - play make-up for the girls and silly teeth for the boy. The only difference was that Rachel's hair really got cut, unlike the other kids. The best part is that her new haircut looks wonderful! Thanks Grandma!

Here they are showing off their surprises (and haircut):

Round 2 of grandparent visitation begins on Thursday!

Backyard Creatures Part VI - Tommy the Turtle

2009-09-23T18:34:00.004-05:00

After school today, I noticed something small and brown that looked like a leaf traveling up our driveway. I figured it had to be a turtle so I invited the kids out to look at it. It was so cute and tiny, but of course I did spot the spines right away and realized it was a snapper. He was, however, only about 2 inches long and looked like a hatchling. He never even snapped at me when I moved him a couple of times out of the driveway. For some reason he was determined to stay in the path of cars, but I finally won that struggle. The kids named him "Tommy the Turtle" and really seemed to like him.

The trio has now been at school for 2 weeks! They continue to do very well and no one has peed in their pants since the second day of class. All three have been able to pick out "prizes" at the end of the day for being super students, and have impressed the teachers with their ability to name animals and apples. Yup, you saw that right - apples. This week they learned all about the letter "A" and apples. When coloring various apple drawings for class projects, my kids were slightly different than the other students when they began to discuss the different varieties of apples. Red and yellow are McIntosh, red are Red Delicious, yellow are Golden Delicious, green are Granny Smith, etc. I was only slightly embarrassed that my 4-year-olds are so knowledgeable about apples of all things.

They continue to love school and Gavin must especially love it because he looked his teacher in the eye today and told her "I love you" in a very sweet manner. She said it melted her heart. It melts mine, too! Their grandparents are set to arrive on Friday and they are very much looking forward to it!

Here is another of their school art projects:

A Much Better Day Indeed!

2009-09-14T18:45:00.003-05:00

Today was the kids' second day of school, and needless to say I was anxious about a possible second reaction with Gavin. I told the teacher what had happened last week and that I thought it could be stress-related. She agreed to keep checking on him after lunch. Of course, we also had a substitute teacher for our second teacher today - just to make me more nervous (they have two teachers in their class). But, the substiute was another teacher at the school and was even present during my allergy talk about Gavin. So, I knew she was aware of everything.

But, despite my anxiety, I received no phone calls today asking me to pick my kids up early, no complaints about throats hurting, and only a minor pee in the pants. And yes, it still required a new pair of undies and shorts.

When I asked them about their new friends at school and what they did, the only things they remembered pertained to recess. Yes, the most important part of the day. "So-and-so chased me down the slide." "So-and-so tried to help me on the monkey-bars but said I was too heavy. " Ahhh, to be a preschooler again!

Preschool - What a Day!

2009-09-10T11:02:00.003-05:00

Our first day of preschool was yesterday and it was quite the adventure! They were pretty excited to use their lunchboxes and backpacks. We sent them along with their nap mats, a change of clothes, lunches, and all of Gavin's medicines. I had met with both teachers the day before classes began to discuss food allergies. I thought things went OK, but the teachers didn't want to make the room peanut-free for lunch time. Since our region isn't all that understanding or knowledgeable about food allergies, I thought that might be the case. They did, however, agree to separate my kids from the other kids while eating, agree to wash off PB hands, faces, tables and floors after eating, and also agree to use peanut-free snacks and crafts. They even invited me to lunch for the first day so we could all see how it went.

So, Scott and I watched over the kids for about 10 minutes as school began and they appeared to all be having a really good time. We told them we would leave and that I would be back for lunch. So, Scott and I became "big kid" parents and went out for coffee as Scott took a half day off to be there for their big first day! I went back to school at lunch time to discover they had already started eating and the kids were very excited to tell me about everything they had done! The teachers also told me how well they were doing. Gavin was a terrific listener and followed instructions well (He even got to pick out a special present since he did so well!). Aryne also followed along with listening and various activities. And, even though Rachel did tear up a few times moving from room to room and outdoors, she quickly settled down and followed along. One of the teachers told me Scott and I could pat ourselves on the back for doing such a great job getting them prepared for school! She said they were just doing super! So, of course, I left and called Scott and we both patted ourselves on the back.

Then, things began to take a turn for the worse. I got a call about 50 minutes after I left, while driving around. I listened to the voice mail message, which got cut off. I started heading for the school, figuring Gavin had a reaction. But, the voice mail message wasn't about Gavin, it was about Rachel. The message, however, was cut off, and all I heard at first was "This isn't an emergency, but after you left Rachel fell" (click). She fell? What? So I listened again and I heard one more word "This isn't an emergency, but after you left Rachel fell apart" (click). Aaaaah. That makes so much more sense now! Apparently she just started crying and screaming and that made the other kids really nervous, too. They wanted me to come pick up the kids early. So, I did.

But, when I got there and started picking up their backpacks, Gavin came up to me and said "I'm having a hard time breathing". What? Are you sure? "Yes, I'm having a hard time breathing". I asked his teacher if he had said anything to them and he hadn't. I listened to his breathing and it seemed OK. But, 4 out of the other 6 kids in the class had eaten PB sandwiches for lunch and after lunch all of the kids rested on nap mats right around where the other kids had eaten. We left and got into the car and Gavin kept insisting that his belly and throat hurt and that he needed a "breathing treatment" (his words for inhaler). This was very odd because he never tells me that he has trouble breathing unless he is really sick and obviously having trouble. I kept telling him he sounded fine, but as we started heading home, he kept insisting that he wasn't doing well. Since I wanted him to know I was listening and his cries wouldn't be ignored, I gave him his inhaler. I then asked him how he felt and he said his belly felt better, but not his throat. So, I was really scared that his throat might be swelling. We made it home and I watched him like a hawk. He complained about his throat for another hour, which seemed like an eternity! Luckily, nothing more happened other than a large eczema flare. So, I can't figure out if he was really reacting, or if he was just really nervous about the whole situation...or perhaps something else entirely.

What a stressful day! Then, after getting home and crying over Gavin's scare, Aryne happily tells me that she had to get new underwear put on since she peed her pants. Icing on the cake, I suppose. While I anticipated Rachel getting scared and crying, Gavin possibly reacting to peanut, and Aryne having a potty accident....I really didn't expect it all to happen on the very first day of school! All I can hope is that whatever happened to Gavin doesn't happen again. If it does, I may have to pull him for at least part of the day. I guess I just don't understand why the almighty peanut and taste buds win out over any child's health. It just isn't ever worth it. At least the teachers have agreed to notify the other parents about Gavin's allergies. Hopefully that will cut down on the number of PB sandwiches in the room.

Here are some pictures of them getting ready for their first day, along with their very first school art project:

We Made It. We Survived Chuck E Cheese.

2009-08-31T13:45:00.003-05:00

The kids were invited to a birthday party last week that initially was going to be a pool party, but then the weather didn't cooperate and it was moved indoors. Not just indoors, but to Chuck E Cheese! The best part was that it was hosted by another food allergy family so Gavin could partake in the food festivities! We had started our dairy-free diet last week, and it just so happens that the child with the birthday is allergic to peanuts, egg (like Gavin), and dairy. That made it great for him to share the birthday boy's food! The girls ate some of the regular pizza and cupcakes and they all had a good time.

Rachel had her bouts with being overwhelmed (most especially the bathroom again where she screamed like a banshee, and she was also very frightened of the animated Chuck-E-Cheese). But, even Miss Rachel couldn't resist the riding horse. She actually rode on the ride and played some games! Good for her!

Aryne was a bit afraid of the noise at first, but then soon became acclimated to it and thought Chuck E Cheese was the best place in the world! She rode rides, played games, gave Chuck E Cheese a high-five and danced the night away!

Gavin did pretty well once he got accustomed to the noise-level as well. He also rode rides and played games. Moreover, he was so taken with his sugary beverage that he held onto it and sucked half of it down without taking a breather. Since it was filled with ice, he became super cold and started shivering uncontrollably! That poor boy was so cold. I looked at him and said to Scott "his lips are blue!". Scott laughed at me "Yes, but Nik, he was eating blue frosting". So maybe I was scared for no reason, but that boy's arms, legs, and fingers were frigid! Scott had to take him away and hold him for a while before he began to warm up. I tried to tell him that he couldn't gulp down icy drinks that fast!

Can you believe that this week we begin preschool with our orientation day? That's right! In 2 days, we will meet the teachers, students, and parents. It is hard to believe that they are beginning school. Another 14 years of that at the very least! These years have gone by so fast, and I feel very lucky to have been able to be with them every day. I will miss these days, but am very much looking forward to seeing them interact with a classroom full of kids! What an adventure this will be!

Here are a batch of recent pictures:

Lizzy (resident lizard) had babies! We counted four of them in our yard! They are tiny!
Gavin riding with Chuck:
Rachel riding the horse. She named it "Jennifer" after a horse at the Toledo Zoo.

Aryne riding the horse, too.

Walking on a local greenway and having a nice day:

Rachel Is A Fast Mover!

2009-08-20T13:41:00.002-05:00

Physical therapy for Rachel's toe-walking started last week. We were given instructions to 1) attempt to correct her walking verbally every time we see her on her toes (which is all the time) and 2) practice walking on her heels. Her muscles are apparently stiff around her ankles and her feet have lost some flexibility due to toe-walking constantly. So, we did as we were told and this week she impressed her therapist! Actually, she impressed both her occupational therapist AND her physical therapist today. So, congrats Miss Rachel! Great job!

She saw her OT first (well, really she saw the student who has been working alongside her OT this week) and they officially weaned her off her picture schedule! We have been using pictures since last December (I believe, anyway), and today she did great transitioning from activity to activity without it! In fact, she did so well that her OT decided to try something completely new - play around with shaving cream. If anyone knows my Rachel, they would understand that she greatly dislikes getting messy. More than dislikes it, but rather becomes inconsolable when her hands get something on them. Yet, she played around in the shaving cream today like it was no big deal and even told her OT that it was fun! That makes me very proud.

They handed her off to her physical therapist who not only was impressed with her walking, but also her innate physical abilities. Rachel has always achieved physical skills quite easily and is a natural athlete - but it was nice to hear a physical therapist be impressed with her as well. She can throw and kick balls like no tomorrow (and I can attest to the fact that her aim is uncanny!), and her jumping skills are quite incredible as well. I think gymnastics classes would serve her well, too, which is something we are currently looking into. So, all in all, she had a great day. Both last week and this week she was entirely exhausted after both sessions, but hopefully her endurance will build up in the next couple of weeks.

We are looking forward to the day she no longer toe-walks and it appears that day may be sooner rather than later.

1 Mended Heart, 2 Friendly Deer, and 3 Clever Kids

2009-08-17T14:47:00.002-05:00

My sister's surgery was a success. I made it up to Michigan to see her and I'm really glad I went. I got to talk to her doctor and watch her as she woke up from her anesthesia with a smile. That was the best part - seeing her so happy just to have it over with and still be alive and well!

We were also visited by two very cute deer the other day beyond our backyard. I haven't seen any deer out there for a couple of months since I accidentally scared one away. I suppose she scared me, too. I went out back and was up to our fence, when all of a sudden something big started running away from me in the field. I looked over the fence and there was a big deer rear end about 6 feet away from me. I figured the deer wouldn't return for a while, and they didn't! Glad to see her back, and with a baby in tow!

Now for those 3 clever kids: They have been busy making up new knock-knock jokes daily. These, more or less, center around a new theme in which you and I might not entirely understand the humor. Yet for a few 4-year-olds, these jokes are a hit. For example:

Knock, Knock. Who's there? Bird. Bird who? Bird can't fly! (followed by huge laughter amongst themselves)

(next child) Knock, Knock. Who's there? Door. Door who? Door doesn't open! (more laughter ensues)

(third child) Knock, Knock. Who's there? I-Dog. I-Dog who? I-Dog can't dance right now.

And everyone's favorite with a slightly different twist:

Knock, Knock. Who's there? Chicken. Chicken who? Chiiikken! (they all roll around laughing). Perhaps one of the worst and best jokes ever created.

It is better than constant potty humor, and I am certainly glad that they, at least, understand each other's jokes and find themselves so darn funny!

My favorite from this week, though, was not intended as a joke, but sure made Scott and I laugh. When their bathtub Dora doll's hair was coming loose and I put the blue hair (yes, blue hair) into the garbage....Rachel wondered where the blue hair was. I didn't want to tell her I threw it out, so I told her it went down the drain. An accident, of course! She then turns to Scott and I and tells us "The turbo snake can get it out!". Oh dear....she has been watching too many qubo commercials! And, worse yet, my tricks are no longer working!

Gavin did get in to see the allergist today, and as I suspected, he increased our dosage of zyrtec (antihistamine) - even more than it says you can give on the box. And for all of that, he "might" be able to exercise. "MIGHT"??? That does not sound promising. He will likely have this tendency for years, and yes, it could become anaphylactic (potentially deadly). That is not good news, but it is what I had thought anyway. For now, we will increase his antihistamine, but I may start him on a new type of diet anyway, and may also get him tested for other immune related issues. Just treating the symptoms (anithistamines) instead of treating the underlying condition (overactive immune system) isn't really what I want to be doing. And if there is any chance that I can help his immune system with diet (most of the immune system is in the gut), then it is worth giving it a try. After all, it helped me conceive these kids - and it may even help Miss Rachel and her sensory issues. The plan, then, is that this week we will just give an increased dose of antihistamine, and next week we may begin a gluten-free, dairy-free diet (or at least start with dairy-free alone for a week).

Fed Up With Rashes!

2009-08-09T18:08:00.005-05:00

Alright, it has finally occurred to me that my son is not breaking out in heat rashes at all. Nope. After 3 months of breakouts, I am now convinced that he is breaking out in hives. All. the. time. After scouring several pictures and descriptions of heat rashes and the like...as well as hives...it is just much more consistent with hives (and we thought it was hives the first time he broke out, but then dismissed that idea since it always came on only with exercise). So my poor child breaks out in hives over his entire body when he exercises. Great. The poor little guy can't even run around or jump for a few minutes.

I am headed up to Michigan tomorrow for my sister's surgery (without the kids!) and when I get back, I'm calling the allergist. I read that his breakouts can either be caused by heat itself (in which case the hives would rarely be serious), or by exercise (and in that case it would be called exercise induced anaphylaxis and could get very serious). As you can see, it really isn't something to just let sit. And if it is the exercise hives, it could be a weird type of food allergy where he is OK if he eats the offending food, but not if he exercises after eating it. Needless to say, we have started a food diary. I just can't believe it. The hives make him itch uncontrollably!

The good news is that it only took 2 days after the pets left for his eczema to get better. It certainly isn't gone, and the allergens will be in our home for at least 6 months...but having them gone has shown us that they were definitely part of our problem. We hear they are still doing great in their new homes and we are so very thankful for that!

Here are some pictures of Gavin's rashes - and if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Farewell Four-Legged Friends!

2009-08-02T15:31:00.006-05:00

We are officially pet-free! I cried yesterday when Scott left with our pets. He met our brother-in-law and my dad in Indy to drop-off both pets as they are both headed to Michigan. (And for the record, yes, we did drop off Indy in Indy). Both Indy and Cleo found themselves in a new home yesterday. The last I heard, Cleo wouldn't leave her litter box (poor thing must be so confused and scared), but Indy was sleeping on his new owners' bed and living the good life. I even detected a smile on his face from the photo of him. I'm sure Cleo will come around soon. It usually takes her about 3 days to warm up to new people (and she knows my parents, so it may not even be that long).

So, I've been cleaning....trying to get all the dog and cat hair into the garbage/vacuum as much as possible. I washed off the dog and cat slime off of the windows, took a brush and brushed every nook and corner I could find, cleaned the curtains and rugs, and now Scott and I are trying to find a new couch for the playroom. The old was was...well...old and torn up, and with cat and dog hair clinging to it.

The kids and I have cabin fever. It has been raining here so much these past 2 weeks. So, I invested in some raincoats. The kids really liked playing in the rain. They didn't do much at first except stare at me and wonder why on earth we were out in the rain. But then I showed them where the puddles were to splash in and how to make hand and foot prints on the dry part of the pavement. Mostly, though, they just liked running around in their new coats. School orientation starts at the end of this month. I can hardly believe it is time!

Super Sleuth Feels No Pain

2009-07-19T14:42:00.006-05:00

Yesterday, we all had to visit Lens Crafters for the umpteenth time to fix Aryne's eyeglass nosepiece. This time, the screw holding it in place came loose and she lost it. Since we had to venture out to the mall, we decided to stop in, of course, at the Disney Store. Lucky for us, they were having a scavenger hunt for the kids when we arrived. Rachel and Gavin seemed pretty opposed to whole idea, but Aryne wanted to try it out. They were supposed to go around the store and find clues in Pooh Bear's honey pots. Aryne and I searched high and low, and found all four clues. She drew pictures of them and handed them into the store clerk. For that, she got a super cool "Super Sleuth" mask and certificate. I'll let you know that Aryne was so proud of her super sleuth status and mask that she kept the mask on the ENTIRE day. She even asked to sleep with it last night (I had to put in next to her on her dresser). And when she got up this morning, she smiled and pointed directly to her mask, donning it for breakfast.

After the mall yesterday, we also went to the park as it has been beautiful weather these past 2 days. The park, like all parks these days, has wood chips around the playgym areas. Aryne played and played and never clued us into the fact that she, at some point, jammed a large sliver of wood under her toenail. And I mean, ALL the way under her toenail. Yet, Aryne felt no pain. I swear that girl has a huge pain tolerance.

Here is a picture of her sliver:

And here is her face right before taking the sliver out (notice the awesome super sleuth mask):

See, she feels no pain. Luckily, Scott was able to get it out in one piece. Although it didn't seem to bother Aryne, it sure made Scott and I cringe.

And to leave you with a goofy picture of the kids since I have been lacking in kid photos lately, here is how they play Elefun:

Not quite how the directions say you are supposed to play it, but just as fun nonetheless!

Strokes and Folks

2009-07-17T12:54:00.004-05:00

So, I realize this is supposed to be a blog about my kids, and the last few posts have been anything but that. This post is going to be different, too, because it is about someone very close to me who, while on vacation this past week, suffered a mini-stroke. It has been weighing on my mind so heavily this past week, I just haven't been able to lift my spirits to blog. After several days in the hospital and many, many procedures, they found out the mini-stroke was due to some congenital heart abnormalities, and they are currently pursuing options to treat it. This person (I'm keeping it anonymous since I don't know her feelings about me posting personal info) is nearly my own age, so it has come as a shock. Open heart surgery is one option that she has to entertain, and if she chooses this route, I'm going to be a nervous wreck to say the least (well, I'm nervous no matter!). I know this type of surgery often goes smoothly these days, but that still doesn't make you feel too good when it is someone very dear to you.

So, I apologize for not being in the best of spirits lately, but at least the pets have new, loving families and a diagnosis has been made for the aforementioned events. Hopefully, things will be looking up from here.

Yay! A Home for Cleo!

2009-07-17T12:51:00.002-05:00

Today, my parents agreed to take Cleo. I am so very relieved and know she will do fine there. So, it appears that within a few weeks we will be petless. I don't think that has happened since college. Thank you so very much mom and dad. I know you weren't ever expecing to have a cat again!

1 Down, 1 To Go

2009-07-15T17:01:00.002-05:00

Indy has found himself a great home! His aunt and uncle (Scott's sister and husband) have decided to take him. YAY!!! They had actually offered to take him a few months back - but since Gavin's allergist hadn't actually recommended it at that time, we held back (with hope, of course, that Gavin's allergies wouldn't actually get worse). Then, they took on another dog when we declined, leaving them with two dogs already (they already had one). It was then, of course, that Gavin's allergies decided to act up and get worse. Isn't that always how it works? We are very thankful they have kindly offered to take Indy on as a pet since we know 3 dogs will keep them very busy! But, Indy will love having other dogs in the house - and we will be able to keep up with him, which is the best scenario for everyone.

Now, we just need to find a home for Cleo. She is an awesome cat. Perhaps I'm biased, but I've been around many cats and she really is great. Very girly...very babyish...and very loving, too.

Our Pets Need a New Home

2009-07-09T10:51:00.005-05:00

So, for any family members or close friends out there reading this, I figured I would post information about our pets in case anyone may be interested or perhaps knows someone who might be interested that would provide a good home. These two animals have really been good to us and have made wonderful pets.

INDIANA (INDY)
He is 8 years old and is a golden retriever/collie mix. His only heath issues are mild seasonal/grass allergies, but otherwise he is in excellent health. We have had him since he was 10 weeks old and he has been an indoor dog ever since. He likes other dogs and kids and loves to go on walks. He weighs 51 lbs, is neutered, and is up to date on all shots.

CLEO
She is also 8 years old and is a gray tabby cat. We have had her since she was 12 weeks old. She is shy with new people, but warms up to them quickly as long as they show her some love! Her favorite pastime is curling up on a comfy lap. She is an indoor cat only and has not been declawed. She is spayed, up to date on shots, and has had no health issues to date. Cleo has never been around other cats, but does well around dogs and kids.

The new owners of both animals will be provided with all of their records and supplies.

'Tis a Busy Week

2009-07-09T10:23:00.002-05:00

It has officially been one year since I started blogging. I was so unsure of starting the blog and wondering if anyone would read it...but now that I've been doing it a year, I realize how fun it is just to keep a record of the kids' daily lives. It is funny looking back at old posts and remembering things I have already forgotten.

Last week, we ventured out to the movies once again and this time we actually got into the theater as the tickets were not sold out. We decided on seeing "Ice Age 3" since the kids have seen the other 2 Ice Age movies and really liked them. The kids were so small in the theater seats that their body weight didn't keep the seat down. Once the actual movie started, it was so loud that Miss Rachel started screaming. Scott took her out for a bit and came back in. We used our ever-handy winter ear covers to put over her ears and she felt better (even though they really didn't muffle the sound too much). She cried out one more time, but Scott was able to reassure her it would be OK. The movie actually was really loud and I think it was the loudest I've ever encountered. I almost asked them to turn it down since was even hurting MY ears! All 3 kids spent the ENTIRE movie with their hands over their ears, but we managed to make it through the whole movie with only 3 or 4 bathroom trips. When the movie ended and the credits were rolling, Aryne stood up and danced to the music, but Gavin started sobbing "I MISS ICE AGE". Waaaaaa.

The next day, we made it to Toys R US and purchased our first school supplies ever! Backpacks and lunch boxes! The kids were really excited to pick them out. Gavin is totally in love with Transformers these days and got a "Bumblebee" backpack and matching lunch box. Aryne decided on Tinkerbell, and due to our recent movie adventure, Rachel went with Ice Age. Apparently the school-supply people think Ice Age is for boys, so her backpack and lunch box are quite boyish in color. I'm not quite sure why that is, but I suppose it doesn't really matter as long as she likes it!

Rachel also went in for a physical therapy evaluation this week to look at her toe-walking. The therapist believes she primarily toe walks due to her sensory issues and not due to tightness of muscles (we already knew that her muscles had developed OK), but she does have some stiffness in her legs because she chooses to toe-walk ALL the time. We think we'll try some PT for a little bit. We can give her some shoe inserts and they can also teach us some exercises to help her learn to walk correctly. I'm guessing the physical therapy will start sometime next month.

And finally, Gavin's eczema has really been flaring, even on his new medicines. Since it was all over his body and I was afraid of it being infected or getting infected (he constantly scratches at it until it bleeds), I called the allergist to have him come in yet again. But, the allergist doesn't want to dabble with pediatric infections, so we went into see the regular pedi. As I sat there explaining everything we are doing for him, the pedi told me it was time to find a new home for our pets. I nearly started crying right then and there, but held it in until I got home. I knew this time was coming...but it doesn't make it any easier. Scott called the allergist to see what he felt and he agreed with the pedi that it is now time to re-home our pets (he had been hesitant about it in the past). So, we find ourselves in the position of having to give away our 8-year-old cat and dog who were our first "babies". Although I cried for 2 days, I know it is the best thing to do for our son. He really needs it. I'm just worried about the animals.

So, hopefully we can find a good place for them to live. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

House Work

2009-07-01T10:31:00.003-05:00

Last weekend was a 3-day for us, and we decided to finally finish the shelves in the kids' playroom and paint the kitchen. This house has the worst paint in the world. I don't think the builders used primer prior to painting. When I try to wash the wall, the paint rubs off down to the drywall. It stinks. And it is particularly bad in the kitchen where there are lots of spills that show up all over the walls - and scratches from the chairs that move around. It all wouldn't be so bad if they had actually left us touch-up paint, but they didn't. We tried and tried to match the paint, but couldn't get it quite right. So, we have to eventually paint the entire house as it desperately needs it. The downstairs, of course, is done since we made those rooms ourselves. Now, the kitchen is done. Next we need to tackle the main rooms, but the ceilings are so high, it is going to be tough. At least we have the paint color picked out!

We went with a dark wood stain on the shelves to match the floor - and for the kitchen we went with a grayish, brownish, green. I haven't decided what to do about the valances in the kitchen yet, though. While the red matches the rest of the house, I'm not sure it looks quite right in the kitchen. At least we both liked the paint color right away. Sometimes we put in on the wall and think "Hmmm...we'll just have to get used to it". This time, it seemed to look right, which is funny because the sample looked soooo brown and I was worried it wouldn't have any green in it! I am now positive that those tiny swatches of color are very misleading!

Backyard Creatures Part V

2009-06-23T14:46:00.011-05:00

Meet Lizzy. She is the newest member of the family. Contrary to popular belief, she is not the first lizard member of the family. Two years ago we had another lizard, whom I'm affectionately named "Lizzy". Very original name, I know. She lived under a rock in our back yard. Lizzy had 3 babies that we watched grow and run all over the yard. Then, they all suddenly disappeared. I blame the neighborhood cats. But yesterday, Lizzy II showed up on our doorstep (literally). I don't know if she was one of the lizards that we watched grow up or not, but it is nice to have her back. The reason I like her so much is that she eats spiders. And as you should know by now, I loathe spiders - especially those ones with the nice shiny red hourglass on their abdomens. So, welcome Lizzy II. I hope you find our backyard desirable. Clearly there are many things to eat out there. Clean the bugs out of the vegetable garden, if you would, please.

We finally came up with a plan for Father's Day this past Sunday. We were going to take the kids to their first movie in the theater. Seeing as we knew it would be very loud and dark and new - we tried our best to prepare ourselves and the kids (especially our sensory-sensitive tike). We got everything ready:

Rachel's brushing done - check!

Rachel's joing compressions done - check!

Drawing of movie theater complete with family seating to show the kids - check!

Watched preview of "Up" movie on computer to get kids enthused - check!

Packing of Benadryl - check!

Packing of Epi-pen - check!

Packing of Inhaler - check!

Packing of ear covers for Rachel if it gets too noisy - check!

Spare clothing in the car in case the bathroom ordeal doesn't go well - check!

See! We were all prepared in case any emergency arose. We had to drive to a theater 20 miles away since it was the only one showing the movie in 2D (didn't want to add on the glasses - just another thing to go awry!). We got up to the counter to buy tickets and - it was sold out! Of course! The next showing was 3 hours later and during dinner time! Oh no!

But, I think it actually worked to our advantage that the kids had never seen a theater movie before. They didn't know what they were missing! We told them there were no more tickets and that we would go to the movie "store" and pick out a movie to watch at home - and eat popcorn! The kids were so excited to eat popcorn, too.

Supposedly, you are supposed to wait until kids are 4 to feed them popcorn (chocking hazard). Since my husband really loves movies, I decided to get him a personalized popcorn bowl set with everyone's names painted on them and eat popcorn as a family for the first time on Father's Day. Turns out that was a great gift and sure came in handy when the tickets were sold out! So, we went and rented "Bolt", came home and ate our own popped popcorn in our very own bowls. The kids had fun and so did Scott. They ate every last kernel.

Hopefully we can get out this upcoming weekend and actually see a movie in the theater!

Nothing New Here but Physical Therapy and Cancer

2009-06-19T09:00:00.003-05:00

Don't worry. It isn't nearly as ominous as it reads.

The Physical Therapy - Since Rachel is a habitual toe walker and I'm fairly certain that, at this point, it has surpassed just being part of her sensory issues and that she really doesn't even know how to walk normally, our OT suggested we get her a physical therapy eval. Not sure when exactly her evaluation will be, but am looking forward to it. Her toe-walking makes her unsteady on her feet, and it should really help her to get it fixed.

The Cancer - Scott had some moles removed last week. They biopsied 3 samples and told him he was low risk. Well, turns out that really wasn't true. Two of the three came back cancerous. Not to fret, though, since they came back as the *best* kind of skin cancer - basal cell carcinoma . Basal cell rarely metastasizes, and generally remains a local cancer. Next month, they will be cutting an area out of his leg to rid him of that cancer. There is another on his forehead that is only a superficial cancer and they will be treating that with a cream for 6 weeks. Apparently, this cream can make your skin look fairly nasty - and being right on his forehead should make for some lovely comments. Maybe he could just wear a hat for 6 weeks?

Other than those issues, Gavin has been on house-arrest for his rashes this week. We went in on Monday to see the allergist and discuss his big cycle of eczema and heat rashes. The doctor ordered us to keep cotton pants on him (to rid him of his knee rashes), bathe him daily (typically only every other day), and not go outside since he would develop a heat rash if he did. This has made for an utterly boring week inside the house. We have tried to spice it up with drawing, coloring, baking cookies, play-doh, doing puzzles, etc., but it really has been boring. That is OK since many things have been going on this week (even other than the cancer news). We even got Gavin a new cream that is non-steroidal (yay!) with basically zero side-effects (unless he becomes allergic to the ingredients, of course). Hopefully it works so we will be able to rid him of the steroid creams every day. The goal is to cut the inflammatory cycle and, therefore, cut his chances of getting a bacterial infection from the rashes. So far, the eczema has gone down considerably.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Father's Day weekend!

Back From Our Long MI Trip

2009-06-12T09:23:00.007-05:00

My cousin got married this past Saturday in MI, so we headed up there for 8 days. We were able to visit both sides of the family and saw aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and even great-grandparents (who I have been missing greatly!). The kids did really well for the most part, minus the public potty episodes (which I will get to later). We first settled at my sister's house and spent the next day at her house with her family and my parents. The kids got to wave good-bye to their cousin as she left on the school bus, and even got the chance to visit her school while picking her up. They met the principal who was very kind - even when we informed him that my niece was playing hooky the following day to spend time with her cousins!

During our school-skip day, we went to the Toledo Zoo. The weather was perfect and Miss Rachel FINALLY got to see some lions. That child has been enthralled with lions since she was 2. For one thing, they are cats, which she loves. Secondly, they are yellow. For Rachel, that means they can't be any more perfect. But, we don't have lions at our local zoo, so she was super excited to see them. One of them even looked her way, and her aunt assured her it was because he was excited to see her and knew she was coming to visit. Then, she decided she wanted to go on the carousel, and I was a bit skeptical because she is very afraid of the one at home - and even screams just when looking at it. Since she seemed so sure of trying it out, we headed over to the ride and got in line. Just as we were ready to walk through the gate, she decided it was too scary and had to sit out. The other kids all rode their horses and had a great time. Rachel, however, is determined to ride the one at home the next time we visit. Poor thing - she wants so badly to ride it, but her senses just can't take it. Since the kids saw so many animals that they don't see at our local zoo, they have deemed the Toledo zoo the "real" zoo. Apparently we have been taking them to a fake zoo all these years and didn't realize it.

The following day was the wedding and the girls got sick. They had fevers, their throats were sore, and they had bad runny noses. I gave them some meds, which made them extra drowsy. They didn't quite make it through the ceremony, but Gavin did. He sat with his grandpa for the most part. Both of them had their chests puffed out and were quite proud to be sitting together. In fact, Gavin thought the entire day was pretty neat. He was quite proud attending the wedding, proud sitting with everyone at McDonald's after the wedding while eating his shake and apples, and proud yet again at the reception when some little girls were after him to dance. He did manage to break out in a huge heat rash at the reception (even blistering on his face, yikes!), but we cooled him down so he could continue dancing with everyone. We brought food for the kids, and that worked out well. We made it until 9:00 at the reception, when both our kids and their cousins were ready to go home.

Next, we went to visit Scott's family, and Gavin got sick as well. He got a bit wheezy, so we weren't able to visit some of the planned places - but we did manage to get to the park for a bit and visit their aunt's new home. They played with all of the toys and even tried out the Wii Fit exercises. I was surprised that they did as well as they did! All -in-all, they did well and had a really good time....

Except....

The potty.

Public potties and Rachel do not mix. The longer our trip went, the worse the screams got. On the way up, there was a little bit of screaming, as usual, when we entered a restroom. Toilets flushing, hand blowers blowing, water running - all much too much for Rachel's sensitive ears. But what put her overboard was our first stop at Burger King for lunch with automatic toilets that didn't sense Rachel on the potty. That meant it kept flushing and flushing while she was still on the potty. Her screams were so loud you could hear them throughout the entire restaurant. Even a worker hinted at a policeman eating lunch that perhaps he should check out what was going on in the bathroom. Yes, she screamed THAT much. But it got worse. She continued to scream that much throughout the trip in each public restroom. At the rest areas, at the restaurants, at the wedding reception, at the zoo. Then, on the way back home, she screamed so bad I nearly started crying. She wouldn't even pee and I couldn't leave without her going potty on a 10 hour trip. No one was even making any noise in the restroom - the only noise was her own screams. At the last rest area, I even had a lady stare us up and down for a long time - I'm sure she suspected I was abusing my poor child in the rest area. Other ladies and girls throughout our trip noticed that noise was causing all of the commotion for her and even waited to flush their toilets until we were out of the stall (I thank those kind few souls who did that for us). I have never seen a child so traumatized by noise. I mentioned it to her occupational therapist yesterday and hopefully we will find a way to prepare her for our next trip.

Finally, we made it home amidst the potty chaos. The animals are sure happy to have us here and the kids feel like all of their toys are new again. Now back to the regular daily chaos for us!

Here is Rachel and her cousin Sabine being silly while preparing for the zoo:

My sister and cousin Nate overlooking Nate's favorite animals - the elephants:
The trio at the zoo sitting on a lion:

After the wedding ceremony - Aryne and Grandpa:

Daddy and Gavin:

The family (thank you to whoever took this (Dad? Mike?)):

Gavin and his new girlfriend dancing:

Daddy dancing with Rachel and Aryne dancing with Gavin:

Sabine and Gavin dancing. Those that don't know Gavin don't realize this is his "proud" face.

What is up with the rashes?

2009-06-01T14:13:00.003-05:00

Gavin has been breaking out in rashes these past few weeks - more so than just his normal daily eczema patches. At first, we thought his first breakout was likely hives. They didn't quite look like hives, but were all over his body. Just to be on the safe side, we gave him some benadryl, on top of his daily zyrtec/singulair/nasonex and the rash went away. The next time he got hot, though, he broke out again. Turns out the poor kid now develops a heat rash every time he exerts himself and every time he goes outside for a few minutes and breaks a sweat. Since the rash is itchy, he scratches it, which then turns into eczema patches all over his body. That is on top of the eczema he usually gets. So, he has been one big rash.

Then, last week I had to refill his hydrocortisone cream for his eczema, so I called in a refill to the pharmacy. They, of course, didn't have it in stock, and waited until they did (today) to ask the doctor if they should refill it (I had refills available on an existing prescription, so I'm not sure why they asked the doctor). So, I get a call this morning telling me the allergist won't refill the prescription again until he sees Gavin. Since we are heading up to MI for a wedding, we can't get in until we get back from the vacation. So, we will be having to travel up north with loads of dogs that he is allergic to, on top of all of the pollen without any eczema creams. Nice. Poor kid is going to be a solid patch of eczema by the time we get back.

If anyone has any ideas as to how to make heat rash better - or how to avoid it, please let me know! At least it is going to be cooler up in the northern country than it is here. Wish us luck!

Aquarium Wonders

2009-05-22T18:00:00.006-05:00

We have a 4.5 day weekend and it just so happens to also be my birthday weekend. Yay! Scott came up with a good plan and thought perhaps we should visit the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. It is only a few hours away, and the fun part was that Scott and I have wanted to take our kids there before we even planned on starting a family. As soon as the Aquarium opened we visited it, and thought it would be a great place to take kids. We have actually been there several times, but not since the kids were born, and not since they added the saltwater portion. We all had a fantastic day!

Gavin was especially taken with the stingrays. We got to pet them and some sturgeons. They all enjoyed the butterfly garden and penguins. The many varieties of jellyfish caught our eyes as well. I think they liked the sharks, but I also think that Aryne was afraid of them. She says she is afraid of everything these days, but I do think she was truthful this time. All those teeth are a bit intimidating! Apparently, the scuba divers cleaning the tanks were one of the best exhibits, too. Especially since they turned upside down, smiled, and waved at the kids.

Here are some of our fun photos - and they even took a family photo for us near the windows:

Jellyfish:

Sharks!

Gavin oblivious to the penguin right above him

Pretty butterflies

Petting stingrays

Me and the trio. Rachel really wasn't drugged.

Scott and the trio

Admiring butterflies in the garden

Taking time out to dance to the bluegrass music. Sometimes you just need to dance.

Me and the kids in a cave looking at all the wonderful sea creatures.

March for Babies Photo

2009-05-20T13:41:00.001-05:00

Thank goodness for photographers. I didn't manage to get pictures during our March of Dimes event - but a photographer got some of our family. Here is a link:

http://brentwoodcameraclub.zenfolio.com/p999314262/h1a06a31#hce51fdd

Rachel Alexandra

2009-05-16T22:18:00.005-05:00

Yes, I'm talking about the horse. We watch the big horse races at our house every year and today we turned on the TV and watched the horses line up for the Preakness. I usually have a very unscientific way of picking my favorite horse. I pick who I think is the prettiest. That means the darkest with a white stripe on the nose. The blacker the better. But, I've chosen a few others that I just liked for no reason in particular and have even chosen several winners over the years (and I almost never pick the favorite).

Today, the horses lined up and the last horse to go in the gate was a filly. Lucky #13. Then I saw her name was Rachel Alexandra. The kids were SO excited that "Rachel" and "Alexandra" were riding in the race! Gavin's middle name is Alexander, so both of those kids thought the horse was "them". We picked her as our favorite right away. Then she not only got off to a good start, but she WON the race (the first filly in 85 years)! We cheered her on yelling "Go Rachel Go!", and Gavin even added "She's my girl!" and "She's a natural!". Ha!

Then when she won, Rachel kept repeating "I diiiiid it. I diiiid it". Aryne then of course asked "Where's MY horse?". Well, I had to come up with something quick, so I told her that Rachel Alexandra was HER horse, too, because look at her hair! She had her hair in pony tails, just like Aryne wears! That was good enough for a 4-year-old. They all were so happy to win the race. Even better was that Rachel (the horse) had a jockey that wore yellow - the sacred color of our very own Rachel.

On another note, Aryne had a check-up appointment with her eye doctor/surgeon this past Thursday. Her eyes have been looking so fabulous - I didn't even know it was possible for them to get as good as they are! The doctor told us that she is currently in the best category for life-long success after this surgery. Her alignment is spot-on, her vision is great (with her glasses since she is nearsighted) and her depth perception is excellent. YAY! I kept thanking him over and over and he must have thought I was a bit of a nut, but I sincerely had no idea her eyes could look so wonderful. I realize it is his job, but he truly changed her life with that surgery. I am so very thankful.

A Great Mother's Day

2009-05-11T14:10:00.004-05:00

We had a really good Mother's Day yesterday. Not that there wasn't any screaming and crying, but I didn't have to deal with any of it. Scott made me (and the family) and egg-free coffee cake from scratch, which started the day of wonderfully (who wouldn't want cake for breakfast?). The kids made me some wonderful cards, and also got me a mug with their feet picture on it. Scott got me a wonderful gift, too, which nearly made me cry. He got me a silver bracelet with the kids' names and birth weights on it. Puting their birth dates on it just wouldn't quite be the same since it is shared. I really like having their weights on there instead - it reminds me of how far they have come.

One thing I really didn't want to do on Mother's Day was go to the zoo. But, after several requests this past week by each and every one of the kids to visit the zoo when it stopped raining, we decided to head out to the zoo after lunch. The kids, it seems, only really wanted to see the elephants, zebras, giraffes, and fish/amphibian/reptile exhibits. Rachel got confused and thought there were lions at our zoo (there are not, but we are going to a zoo next month where there ARE lions), so she was disappointed and wanted only to go to the gift shop. The kids tired quickly even though it was finally decent weather (perfect for the zoo, even!) because they had to skip their "down-time". So, we hurried through the remainder of the zoo, skipped a few exhibits, and headed to the gift shop. Of course Rachel, then, became attached to a stuffed lion and when we told her we weren't buying it, she melted down. Being Mother's Day, Scott took it upon himself to deal with the meltdown, so it was much easier on me. The only way we eventually got them all out of the shop happily was to let them know they could ask for the toys they liked for Christmas. We agreed to write a letter to Santa as soon as we got home (yes, we are thinking of Christmas in May at our house).

This morning I received an extended Mother's Day gift from the kids. They all (even Gavin) dressed up in Princess outfits and each came to show me their dress-up clothes. I asked Gavin (the first to come show me) if he wanted to dance and he said "yes!". Since he was dressed up as Cinderella, I sang him "So this is love" from the movie and he just loved it. I danced the same song with Aryne and then Rachel was dressed as Sleeping Beauty, so I sang "Once upon a dream" to her. Oh, she thought that was lovely! Then, Gavin came back dressed as another princess to dance again with his mommy....and then came back yet again to dance with me as another princess. It was too, too sweet! Where is that videographer when you need him? I'm going to miss times like these!

Thank you kids for making me a mommy and for being such adorable, wonderful, sweet kids! I love you so! And thank you Scott for making my Mother's Day the best one yet!

Here are the kids examining an elephant skull. Who wouldn't love it that their kids are enthralled with skeletons?! Like mother, like children - a good mother's day gift in itself!

Gavin pointing out the sting-ray. Another thing we both really like!

Out by the pond with binoculars and not finding anything:

Much of Mother's Day was spent reading. One book. Over and over and over. Scott and I took turns, but most of the reading was done by their dad. Thanks Scott!

March for Babies 2009

2009-04-27T11:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we walked our very first March of Dimes march for babies event. We donate to the March of Dimes every year and have always wanted to participate in the walk, but never got around to it - or we were busy. This year, my parents of multiples club decided to walk and we made it. Well, I should rephrase that - we partly made it. We got there ahead of time to enjoy their family festivities. I wish we could have had more time, though, because I wanted to visit all of the areas, but the kids only allowed us to visit two. First, the girls bounced a bit in the bounce houses (Gavin thought the fans were too noisy and didn't want to bounce). We ate some of the food they handed out (bananas, lots of water, chips and pretzels), and then the kids really, REALLY wanted some balloons. We headed over to the balloon guy who makes animal/character balloons and had to wait in line. While waiting, though, Rachel assumed the balloon display was for her and tried to take it. In doing so, she broke it. Then, she was super picky about which particular cat she wanted. By the time the balloon-making was done, it was time to walk!

We listened to the speeches, sang the national anthem (with Gavin's hand across his heart - very cute!), and started on our journey. But, alas, the balloon animals started popping. Oh dear. That was the end of fun for one little girl! Rachel was so distraught she insisted we return to the area where her balloon popped and recover the remains. Obviously, I refused. Then, she insisted on returning to the balloon-maker to receive a "Sponge Bob" balloon. Still, of course, I refused - we had to walk! She complained the entire route. And the further she went, the more distraught she got!

Gavin managed to walk for the most part, holding my hand in one hand, and his broken balloon in the other hand. He was very happy to be walking, but kept asking me "Where are we walking to?". I just kept repeating "We're walking for babies!". He completely had no idea what that meant, but it kept him happy. He even told me a few times "I love you mommy!" while walking. I also got to remember lost angels and wore my necklace that my sister and mom bought me to remember my lost little souls. The sun was shining (perhaps a bit too much), but it was nice while it lasted. Since it was so hot, and the walk was much, much longer than advertised, we only made it half way. But, we are still glad to have done it and are looking forward to next year's event!

Schedules Rock - We Have Pictures!

2009-04-19T12:54:00.006-05:00

It was picture time yet again today. We needed to get in their 4-year portraits, and decided to do it the weekend after Easter when the picture place is empty. We did that last year and it worked out great. This time, though, we also decided to use our "schedule" (picture symbols made into a schedule of the day) like they use in our occupational therapy sessions for Rachel. I made it up yesterday after trying on the kids' clothes which resulted in complete meltdowns. Rachel, especially, did NOT want to get pictures taken and did NOT want to wear a dress. At all. I knew I needed some big help and felt puting things on a schedule might work. I showed it to all of the kids last night and we went over it. Complete with incorporating the words "We won't cry" and "We WILL smile at the camera". I also mentioned that the girls had to wear dresses for the pictures.

We went over the schedule again when they awoke this morning, and yet again right before we left. I even brought it with us just in case we needed it for transitions. The transformation in Rachel's attitude was AMAZING! She was completely happy with puting on the dress and going to the picture place. Then we got inside, and her blocks were there just as the schedule showed. We then went right into the room and got pictures taken. Guess what - they ALL smiled! Even our out-takes are good! Furthermore, we even had choices as to which pictures to get because the kids did so well! YAY!

Lisa, our OT, will be proud. I am so proud of Rachel. Scott and I need to use that schedule more often!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from today:

Easter Time!

2009-04-15T11:12:00.005-05:00

Scott's parents were here to celebrate Easter with us and although the day was off to a rough start, we did eventually all have fun. The kids were sick, plus the day was full of change (and transitions) which made it tough on little Rachel. Gavin was in a whiny mood as we started hunting for eggs, but he managed to shift gears once he found his Easter Basket with a stuffed Curious George in it. Everyone loved their George's that the Easter Bunny gave them, and we found all of the eggs relatively quickly. It was even a nice day outside and we were able to enjoy some of the nice weather.

Here are Rachel and Gavin on the hunt for eggs:

Aryne hunting with the help of her dad:

Eating their goodies:

We had to try for a family picture. They wanted to eat candy and play with their toys. Notice the exhausted look on mommy's and daddy's faces...the toys in Rachel and Aryne's hands that they wouldn't let go...and Gavin sobbing for his Easter candy. Why do we keep trying this?

Outside and everyone is having fun. The Burger King crowns add just the right touch (no, we didn't go to Burger King on Easter!).

Gavin being silly:

Aryne without her glasses. Her eyes are looking fabulous!

Rachel watching the Curious George movie while snacking on goldfish crackers:

Everyone lined up with their Curious George's from the Easter Bunny watching the George movie at the end of the day.

We also had their 4-year check-up at the doctor on Monday. Everyone is healthy, minus their colds, of course. Aryne is still little, but has managed to stay on her own growth curve. I think she may even be catching up a bit in height to her siblings. Hooray for Aryne! Rachel, while unsure and crying at first, finally allowed the doctor to examine her (a first!), and even gave him a high-five at the end. Gavin pretended to be shy (his usual these days), but then couldn't stop laughing at the doctor's jokes. That kid can't not laugh at anything. He's such a cheese. All-in-all we are doing well and somewhat looking forward to getting our pictures taken this Sunday (hoping that it at least goes better than last time!).

The tornadoes need to stop!

2009-04-15T11:03:00.004-05:00

As many of you know, we are near the area that was devastated by last week's tornadoes in Tennessee. I have many friends who live in the neighborhoods that were hit. After driving by some of the subdivisions, I can assure you that there is tremendous loss. The storms pretty much came out of nowhere. We knew there was a possibility of severe weather, but things got really bad, and quickly. At one point, we were under a few tornado warnings at once. The warnings went through the state, in 2 rounds, and we just didn't know what was going to happen...there were so many. Luckily, we only ended up with hail. Scott noticed the rain coming from both directions and the trees starting swirling and we all were in the downstairs bathtub for a good 1.5 hours (basements are a rarity in TN). Rachel had come down with a cold and screamed for the first 30 minutes because she was scared and not feeling well. But then, the kids decided the tub was extra fun. They sat in there with their pillows and sang songs from their princess books. I'm not sure they even wanted to come out.

This was the third round of tornado warnings we've had in 2 weeks. Please keep all those people who lost their homes in your thoughts. It will be a long road ahead for them.

Hunting for eggs!

2009-04-09T14:13:00.006-05:00

I loved hunting for eggs on Easter as a kid. We always hunted indoors (outdoor hunts, I don't believe, are very frequent in Michigan with the cold weather - at least no one in my neighborhood was out there Easter morning). The Easter Bunny never hid plastic eggs at our house either, but rather just the jelly beans/chocolate eggs, etc., and our baskets (which included plastic eggs full of more candy). The eggs were hidden very, very, well by that sneaky bunny all over the house. What a treat searching for all that treasure!

Yesterday, we all got to participate in our first-ever outdoor Easter egg hunt! Best part was that it was with a group of food allergy kids who are all, or mostly all, allergic to eggs and nuts. So, the eggs were filled with stickers and non-consumable goodies and the kids not only were able to participate, but were able to open the eggs and keep what was inside! They had a great time! They even got to decorate plastic eggs with chick/bunny stickers. Many thanks to those that helped host the event!

The kids also had a visit from their Aunt Julie this past weekend. They got to open more birthday gifts, plus a few souvenirs from Ireland. Visiting with their aunt was very fun for them, and they all cried when she left. Their grandparents are coming tomorrow and staying through Easter, so it should be an extra fun Easter.

Some pictures for you all to enjoy:

Aryne, Gavin and Rachel enjoying one of their new games on their new game player:

Rachel drew this picutre yesterday - I liked it so much we took a picture!

Aunt Julie with Aryne and Rachel:

Gavin in his dragon hat from Ireland:

At the Easter egg hunt, Gavin grabs a few eggs and just has to open them:

Rachel running around grabbing eggs and then dumping them into her giraffe basket:

Rachel finding goodies in her egg:

Gavin very pleased with his finds:

How Aryne spent nearly the whole time after gathering a boat-load of eggs: Open egg. Close egg. Open egg. Close egg.

WE'RE FOUR!!! Happy Birthday!

2009-04-02T20:20:00.005-05:00

What a day! Aryne, Gavin, and Rachel are 4 today!! Well, I suppose they aren't technically four until later on tonight, but that doesn't matter. Scott took the day off today since he doesn't really get to see them on their birthday. They spent the morning opening presents (Thank you everyone for the great gifts!) and then went to McDonalds for lunch where they played in the Play Place for a while. Another mom there even noticed they were triplets. These days, we get that much less often. Then they had to take a nap since they were quite cranky from all the excitement. We ended the day with pizza and cake in between tornado warnings.

I did cry last night putting them to bed for the last time being 3. I haven't cried yet today - which I believe is a first on their birthday. But, the day isn't over yet, so I may shed some tears later on. The storms aren't over either, so hopefully our house will remain here for the rest of the day. Living in tornado alley really isn't as fun as it may seem.

Here are several pictures of the kids and their presents:

Aryne and her baby bath. I've never seen her possessive until she got this:

The kids playing with balloons given to them by their grandparents:

On the couch with gifts from their other grandparents and parents:

Gavin and his tractor that he wanted so badly:

Rachel opening a pile of gifts:

Aryne playing with a gift from Aunt Nancy and family:

Playing with their birthday balloons:

Aryne blowing out candles:

Gavin and candles:

Rachel and candles (they actually understood to blow them out this year!):

Being goofy:

Thanks for the party favors grandma and grandpa!:

Happy Birthday my sweet babes! I love you immensely and I always will.

Backyard Creatures Part IV

2009-03-27T11:31:00.003-05:00

Scott and I awoke in the wee hours this morning to the sound of something new out back. We couldn't quite figure it out at first. I then remembered I had heard that sound before, but only at my parents' house out in the country. It was a family of coyotes. Lots of eerie howling and yipping and VERY loud. They were either right up at our fence or our house. Again, we've lived here 2.5 years and haven't heard them yet. This makes me glad that we have a fence. I do wonder what will happen to those neighborhood cats, though. I was just hoping not to find a carcass in my yard this morning, and thank goodness there was none!

Our dog, of course, slept through the entire thing. So did the neighbor's outdoor dog. Fine watchdogs they are!

They Miss Me!

2009-03-25T09:33:00.003-05:00

I rarely leave my kids when it is bedtime. Really, the only time I am gone for bedtime is when I have my monthly parents of multiples meetings, and I don't even attend those every month. In addition, I don't make a huge deal out of leaving - I tell everyone I love them and then take off. My kids, therefore, have never made a big deal out of it and don't really care that I'm gone. They have their fun dad there, and mom is there ALL the time (which makes me boring, I suppose), so it hasn't ever bothered them. Until lately that is. Last month, the kids were actually upset that I was going out to "meet friends". This month the meeting was last night and Scott tells me the kids actually missed me. Ah, they do care!

So, this morning, I get the kids up and out of bed. Gavin wakes up and says "You're home!!". I said "yes, I came in last night and gave you a kiss goodnight". Then, I got the girls out of bed. We all sat down for breakfast and I said "I love you guys". Rachel says to me "I missed you mom". "I missed you, too, Rachel!". Then Gavin says "I missed you, too, mom". "I missed you, too, Gavin!!". By now I'm feeling extra special. Then Aryne looks over at me and says "MOM! You're home!". Way to burst my bubble. She hadn't noticed me when I got her out of bed...put on her glasses...helped her get breakfast...sat down next to her to eat breakfast...NOPE! It wasn't until the other kids pointed it out that she even noticed my existence! She did make up for it, though, by reaching out to hold my hand and give me adoring looks. Oh, sweet kids!

Their birthday is drawing near. Another week and they will be FOUR! Amazing. When they turned 3 I was sad to see their babyhood and toddlerhood go, but this year I have just been relieved to be over toddlerhood. The kids are so much more engaging and fun! I am very much looking forward to the 4s and can't wait to see what this new age will bring.

Kisses are so sweet. Or perhaps icky.

2009-03-19T13:47:00.004-05:00

My kids are going through a truly sweet phase right now where they enjoy cuddling and affection more than ever. Even better is that they love kissing things. This is very adorable to watch. Rachel kisses her favorite stuffed animals, Aryne kisses Gavin (!! ) (They also have told me they are married!), and Gavin kisses everything, including me. When I rub his back at bedtime, he gets into such a lovey-dovey mood, that he kisses me wherever his lips meet my body. He also uses kissing behavior to get something he wants. Say, I'm at the computer and he wants to use it - he comes up behind me and starts kissing my back with huge smooches while also hugging me...and then proceeds to ask, while batting his eyelashes, if he can play a particular game. Very clever.

Gavin is also very sweet with his toys. He is very affectionate with his cars, transformers, star wars characters, and various stuffed animals. He "knows" in his 3-year-old heart that those toys love him, and he very much loves them back. He takes his toys, gives them a big kiss, then a big, long, squeeze, and tells them how much he loves them. I, of course, eat this up!

Today, though, I had to wonder if his affection had gone too far. He got up, ate breakfast, then proceeded to use the potty. After using it, standing there naked, he declared that he "loved" the potty. Then, with an adoring look in his eye, he gave the toilet seat a great big smooch! Ewww!!! I quickly ran in there and had to wipe off his mouth and tell him that people don't kiss potties. You can love the potty, just don't kiss it. Never in my life did I think I'd have that sentence come out of my mouth!

Birthdays and Sick Days

2009-03-09T10:55:00.003-05:00

Scott's birthday was this past Saturday. We were so looking forward to it since it fell on a weekend this year. We planned to take advantage of the great weather and go to the zoo, and just plain have fun. As it turned out, the kids got sick and Scott's birthday wasn't fun at all! Nearly the same thing happened on my birthday last year. I spend the entire day wiping noses every 5 seconds. This time around, just Rachel was sick on Saturday, but she was really quite sick. She ended up with croup and had a hard time breathing. Her temperature was even up to 104 while on Motrin. Poor thing! Gavin is sick now, but it didn't end up with croup. I just hope he keeps breathing OK. Rachel is feeling much better today, although yesterday wasn't fun either. Aryne continues to have super-immunity, but we'll see how long that lasts.

For Scott's birthday, my parents and I went in together with our money and bought him a bike. Since the kids got bikes, we might as well have some of our own, too! So, he went out and took a ride the last couple of days. Come to find out, he's in bad shape. I can't laugh, though, because that is going to be me in a few months when I get my bike. I know I'm out of shape! My parents were nice enough to send him some decor for decking out his new ride. He got a horn, some Star Wars cards and clothes pins, and some tassles. They look really swell, don't you think?

My mom also had been working on a "secret project" for quite some time. Her project was finally revealed this past week when the creations were sent to us in the mail. She apparently made big stuffed bears for all of her grandkids! Thanks mom! She made me one a long time ago, and Aryne found it at Christmas-time and really liked it. So, my mom made each of the kids one to match their rooms. The girls have butterfly bears, and Gavin has a sports bear. They are pretty excited to have them. Gavin named his bear "Gavin". Rachel named her bear "Rachel". And Aryne named her bear "Butterfly". Very original!

Wildlife Returns

2009-02-27T14:04:00.003-06:00

The robins have been back for a few weeks now. It is nice knowing that spring is around the corner and I like waking up to their songs. It was rainy this morning and after the rain stopped, I looked out in the field behind our house and there were 4 deer back there. I really like watching the deer when the venture out there, so the kids and I watched them for about a half hour until they walked away. We then played some rousing rounds of Candy Land and the dog started barking about something out front. There are outdoor neighborhood cats that usually annoy him and cause him to bark on a daily basis, but this time he wouldn't stop and so I went to see what was out front. Turns out it was a whole herd of turkeys! Remember that one stray turkey we had visit our house last fall? Well, apparently he was just scouting it out and today he returned with all of his buddies in tow. A whole herd of turkeys in the burbs this time, and I'm not even referring to the domesticated ones living in my house!

Here they are (I counted at least 20!):

We Have a Preschool!

2009-02-18T13:41:00.002-06:00

After calling several preschools in the area, we really only felt that one might be a good fit with us. We really didn't like putting all of our cards into one basket, and were really hoping that we would like it once we visited the place. Well, our visitation was today and it went really well! For starters, we can afford it x 3, and the teachers seemed to really be helpful and open to as much parental involvement as we would like. The kids took to the classroom right away and the teachers are very experienced dealing with strong personalities like our little Rachel. The only thing is they don't have a food allergy policy. The good part though, is that there are 2 teachers per class, so even if a substitute is needed, one of the teachers should be there that knows about Gavin's allergies. While they are not nut-free, I think we will be able to work with them and they all were very personable and interested in learning how to administer his meds correctly. I'll just have to set some strict ground rules specific to him and food.

The kids, of course, noticed the playground right away. I'm sure that will be a hit. They also have a playhouse in the classroom where they spent most of their time while there. A gymnastics class is available to them during school hours as well, so that could be a lot of fun for them all. I just can't believe they are going to be 4 in a month and a half! Time has flown by this year!

"Olibert"

2009-02-11T13:36:00.007-06:00

We made a mistake. We went to the Disney Store this past weekend to see what the kids like since their birthday is a month and a half away. All of the kids found a few things that they seemed to really like, and we left the store with both girls crying, but eventually they understood that they were just picking something out for a future date (Apparently their trips with both grandparents buying them things made them think that they would always leave with a gift!). When we left the store, we asked the kids what they liked best. Gavin liked Wall-E, Eve, and the red Power Ranger. Aryne liked Bolt, and Rachel said she liked "Albert". Although there really was no "Albert" there, there is an "Albert" that she knows (a hamster) from a TV show. Furthermore, one of the stuffed toys she really liked from the store was a hamster from the movie "Bolt". So, we got in the car and had a long ride home talking all about "Albert" the hamster. At some point, Rachel got into an argument with Gavin about "Albert" not being a hamster, but that argument didn't last too long. She continued to talk about "Albert" all night and throughout the next day.

It just so happens that on that next day, Rachel was nearing completion of her sticker chart for pooping in the potty numerous times. YAY! Well, that meant another gift, and of course she said she wanted to poop for "Albert". Aryne also just so happened to be on her way to completing her sticker chart as well, so Scott ventured out to the Disney Store during his lunch hour and purchased the hamster for Rachel and Bolt for Aryne. That evening, Rachel received her last sticker and we praised her up and down and told her how we were going to give her "Albert". She was THRILLED! She waited anxiously as her daddy headed downstairs to bring up her beloved gift. She was beaming with delight. Scott happily brought up the hamster, but she took one look at it with total fear on her her face and started bawling. She screamed "NO, NO!" "I want Albert! ALBERT!!" running around in hysterics. "But, this IS Albert" we told her. "NO! I want the CAT!". Of course! How could we have made such a mistake? There was a cat that she carried around for a while in the store from "Oliver and Company". It was yellow, had fuzzy hair for her to play with, and well...is a cat. All of those attributes clearly indicate something Rachel would love. So, we realized the error of our ways.

Luckily, now that she is almost 4, Rachel understands a bit more. Scott had to sit her down and tell her he would trade the hamster for Oliver the next day, but she would have to wait. I told her mommy and daddy made a "mistake" and she seemed to understand. She was horribly disappointed, but went to sleep dreaming of her Oliver. Now, she still makes the mistake of calling her new cat "Albert" sometimes, but usually it is some combination of Albert and Oliver, most commonly "Olibert".

Whew! I hope we don't make that mistake again!

Other than that, Aryne also received her Bolt toy yesterday and is mighty happy, as am I that they are finally pooping in the potty for the most part. They are nearing 4 - so it is high time!

The weather, other than today, has been very nice these past few days. We got the kids out to another park and even managed to get in some kite-flying. That kept the kids excited for about 5 minutes, but they did enjoy the park for quite some time.

Aryne's eyes continue to do very well. Her left eye is no longer watering as much and isn't as swollen in the mornings anymore. Both eyes are very photosensitive, but they probably will be for several months.

The highlights:

Rachel and Oliver

Aryne and Bolt (and apparently a milk mustache!)

Gavin trying to be a cheese

Park fun

Recovery and Thanks!

2009-02-05T14:35:00.006-06:00

Thank you to everyone who has sent well-wishes for Aryne. Her grandparents even sent her a bouquet of balloons (with a bear), and Scott's co-workers bought all the kids some toys and Care Bear DVDs (which they LOVE, of course!).

Aryne's post-op was today and the doctor thinks her eyes are healing very well. Her left eye looks a bit crossed, which is how it should look at this point (the muscles swell after surgery). The angle of the crossing is an 8. I guess they look for somewhere between an 8 and an 11. So, he said that they took in her muscle the most they could have done without over-doing it. Furthermore, he said that her results, statistically, have the best odds for long-term success. Again, we'll just keep hope for that. These surgeries won't actually correct her strabismus totally. Since her exotropia is intermittent, it will always be present - but the surgeries are just aiming to keep it to a minimum. Hopefully, instead of veering out every time she looks at a distance, it will only veer out when she is extra tired or sedated.

Rachel also had an OT appointment this morning. She went with Scott and Gavin. According to her dad, she did well and had a good time, except when it was time to leave (she still has a tough time with some transitions). Next week, hopefully, we can re-introduce her into the "big gym", so we won't be having our little room to ourselves anymore. At least for part of the session. I'm sure that transition will take a few weeks to go smoothly also. But, we will get there!

Gavin's new obsession is more computer games. He simply cannot get enough of them. I find that I have to put a timer on their screen-time so they each get a turn. If not, Gavin refuses to leave the screen! Somehow I think he is going to be a video game junkie when he gets older. He'll hate me for that timer then, won't he?

Here is how Aryne's eyes are looking today (8 days after surgery):

Gavin and his current favorite activity:

Rachel's favorite toy is, of course, still her Funshine Bear.

The balloon bouquet and crazy Gavin hair

She is a Trooper

2009-01-28T14:27:00.006-06:00

I don't know if anyone out there can beat Aryne's disposition when it comes to surgery. This is the second time she has gone in cheerfully. We woke her sister and brother up, fed them, then woke her up and headed off to the hospital. She never even once complained about hunger or anything. Furthermore, the staff doesn't ever even need me to go back to the operating room with her because she has such a good time with the nurses. This time, she got dressed in her scrubs and drove her toy car (one of those red toy cars with the yellow top) into the operating room. In the back of the car, she had her new toy mommy and baby pigs, which the nurses decked out in surgical hairnets for us (they did it with her toy Tigger last time, too).

The surgery did take a little over an hour. We were bumped up to 8:30 since the previous patient scheduled for that time called in sick. When the doctor came out he said her surgery went "perfectly" and her response the the meds and anesthesia was "perfect". I guess you couldn't ask for more than that. We also had the same anesthesiologist as last time, and I really wanted to have her since she took such good care of Aryne last time. I hope the final result of the surgery turns out well, too.

I was called back in to see her after she woke up, but just like her mommy, my little gal took FOREVER to wake up. She would just have preferred to sleep all day. I completely understood! One thing that stuck out in recovery was the smell of her hospital blankets. They smelled exactly like her NICU blankets. I sat there, alone in a rocking chair, rocking my little Aryne and I got all teary smelling that smell and remembering rocking my baby in the NICU. It was nice being able to remember that so vividly. Since our whole family was there, they decided to be extra nice to us and give us our own holding "recovery" room where they called Scott, Rachel, and Gavin back with us. It worked out well since we had a TV in there.

During Aryne's surgery, we took the other two kids to the gift shop to pick something nice out for their sister. Gavin tried to pick out a Spider-Man coloring book, and while I am sure he thought it was the best choice, we decided on a Sesame St. one instead. I'm sure Aryne will appreciate it. Gavin was very happy trying to give it to her in the recovery room. Rachel, on the other hand, picked out a tiny stuffed finger puppet of a lion. Now, my Rachel LOVES lions and this toy screams Rachel. We knew she would end up wanting it, and sure enough she thoroughly believes it is hers. I think we'll just let her keep it. The stuffed piggies that the nurses decked out were a gift from us, so it isn't as if Aryne is being deprived. Plus, that little lion kept Rachel calm throughout the day - which was an added benefit.

Here are some pictures of the day:

This is a picture from yesterday of those beautiful eyes we had to operate on

I remembered the camera this time! Look at that cute kid in scrubs!

Her gift from mommy and daddy that the nurses decorated

Aryne in our recovery room. The wet cloth on her face made her feel better.

After we finally got home. Yes, those are bloody tears. Poor baby. But her spirits are good and she is eating toast!

Surgery Tomorrow!

2009-01-27T11:55:00.004-06:00

Send us your positive thoughts for tomorrow! The surgery will be 15 minutes per muscle - so roughly an hour long. Aryne has some idea about the surgery (thanks to Curious George), but of course won't understand until afterward when her eyes annoy her. She'll be seeing double for a week or two, and of course her eyes will feel like something is in them until the stitches dissolve.

I have been checking on preschools lately, too. We will have to register them within the next 2 months somewhere. We want to send them 2 days a week, which should be a good transition for them into the big K. My biggest concern is Gavin's life-threatening food allergies. Some places don't seem to take it too seriously or have strange ideas about the appropriate use of epi-pens. Grrr. But, we are hoping to find someplace where they can be in the same class, that is safe for Gavin, and that we can afford.

I'll follow-up tomorrow after we get home and let everyone know how Aryne is doing. I'm sure she will be crying most of the day (like she did last time, but then again her eye was swollen shut due to the allergic reaction), but I will write when I get a chance!

Pre-Op Appt

2009-01-19T11:09:00.003-06:00

Aryne's pre-op appointment was this morning. We are just waiting until her actual surgery next Wednesday. We got lucky and her surgery time was bumped up. Now it is scheduled for 9:15, and we need to be at the hospital at 7:00. While I don't actually like getting up that early, it will be much better for my little munchkin who can't eat prior to surgery. I think we will get the other two kids up, feed them, and then simply (at least I hope) scoop Aryne up and put her in the car. For her last surgery, we just kept her in her pj's at the hospital, and prior to the operation, they put little tiny scrubs on her. If I had known, I would've taken our camera because it sure was cute seeing a 22-month old decked out in scrubs. Hopefully I'll remember this time and catch a cute picture for the blog!

The doctor said that the inferior, vertical muscle has a great outcome with surgery. So great, in fact, that nearly 100% are completely corrected. Of course, no number is 100%, and since my life doesn't really fall within normal statistical ranges, I can't count on it being entirely corrected. But, there is good hope, at least. With her left eye horizontal muscles, we still have a 30% chance of having an additional surgery down the road.

The kids went on a food-allergy group playdate on Friday and had a great time. The only time they cried was when we had to leave, so I suppose that is a sign of a successful day. Rachel's OT continues to help out. The holidays put her in a bit of a funk, but she has gotten back to her routine and things are getting better once again. Scott is home today, so I think we will just relax and try to enjoy the rest of our (snowy!) day.

Toilet Tales

2009-01-08T21:31:00.004-06:00

Our trip up to Michigan was the first time the kids used public restrooms. Gavin and Aryne had been inside them before, but never had the inclination to use one. This time, though, they were potty trained (at least in the pee department), so it became a necessity to use them. None of the kids were fond of the noise level, but they all sat on the potty with help and did their job well.

With toilets, however, there are always tales to be told. Gavin was the first to use the rest area potty and went in with his dad. When he came back to the car full of us girls, he was so very proud and told us all how he had peed in the potty. He told us he "liked" the potties. Aryne liked the hand dryers. A little unsure at first, but the blow of warm air on her head was too alluring to resist. My dearest Rachel gave us the biggest chuckle of all. I took her into the restroom at McDonalds and had her pee on the potty. I then told her she had to wait for me to go, too (she was not too happy because she was terrified of the flushing noise...but soon overcame her fear). She loudly questioned "Mommy has to go potty, too?". I said "Yes, mommy is going to go, too". She then loudly asks "Oh, you're going POOP???". "No, sweetie. Just pee". And I say it again just to make sure everyone in the other stalls hear. Pee. Just pee everyone. At least I could come out of the door with some dignity intact.

Today there was a funny toilet tale just among the trio at home that I am ever so lucky to have witnessed. One child (who shall remain nameless) ran into the bathroom and was there for a little bit. I didn't hear a toilet flush but heard that same child run back into the room to play with the other 2. While doing so, this child announced "I got a fart out!". Another nameless child responded with natural, innocent excitement and encouragement "Good job!".