Long time no post

Once again, I must apologize to you all for neglecting the blog. Life has really gotten hectic!! Ryan is currently in training so we have been soaking up the Daddy time while we can, knowing that as soon as training is done life will get even more hectic!!!

Nolen has passed the 6 months since illness mark, and we have accepted that a full recovery is not to be expected buy we still hope for it. I will post more on him later, but his health and GI issues have improved. His blood levels aren't normal, but don't indicate Leukemia/Liver/Kidney failure as of yet. And he is making some great strides in therapy. Which brings me to why life has been so crazy.

--We have our application in for Disability, our Social Worker Stan thinks we have too much money in savings and unless we can get them to look at Nolen separate from us we probably won't qualify. The application process is absurd! It took about a week of nothing but working to post his medical history! I'll send you guys the picture of "The Stack" so you can fully appreciate the amount of work that goes into just the beginnings of the application process!!

--Nolen has been evaluated for Occupational therapy (adding it once a week), Developmental teaching (to help with his cognitive, social, emotional and language delays). He qualified for both and we will be adding these two therapies to our existing two for a total of 4 therapy sessions/week (maybe five because our CHOPS therapist wants to add OT as well).
We are waiting on referrals for a hearing test and developmental pediatrician as well.

--Nolen has these precious braces to wear

-My Darling husband and my best friend from Oklahoma arranged for a quick getaway to NY. It was amazing and much needed...as I was and am probably quickly approaching therapy burnout. Tips anyone??

Here are some snapshots from our trip
--Prom-- the Awesome 80s Prom, an interactive improv show where Em and I partied like it was 1989.



Breakfast club anyone??



Then we went on to Ellis island and liberty Island...where we did not act our age an ended up with some awesome pictures.



I co-hosted a Kraft First Tasters party! Lots of great food and free stuff!!


And...I was contacted by word of mouth for my first sewing job! A passion made a modest profit.

Custom Colts Baby Bedding
-Bumpers-



Pillow


Crib Skirt


And Blanket



I also painted this for my girls...







We have been making some serious progress on the homeschooling front, which has also cut into my blogging time.

Along with my job...my sister in law is due in July and keeps handing over some items to me to handle while she peeps for baby and I get my feet wet as her replacement come the arrival of her little girl in July!

Thanks for hanging in there and for checking up on me! I miss you guys too!


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Why does your son reek of Olive Oil? And other Random Madness

       So the next time you pick up my little man, and you suddenly have the urge to wipe your bread across his scalp, you'll now know why. Poor guys has HORRIBLE cradles cap and nothing has worked. So now, I am trying olive oil. Despite the strong odor and urge to gobble him up, it doesn't seem to be doing much. Any suggestions to help with cradle's cap?

      Kaelyn has started trying to use reverse psychology on me on a near to regular basis. The first time, I had fed her lunch and she asked for chips. I told her that after she woke up from nap, if she picked up her room she could have them for snack. So, Kaelyn decides to forgo lunch in the hopes of eating chips. She wakes up, doesn't pick up and it is now time to go. She starts to complain about being hungry to which I tell her, you made these choices and will now have to wait until we are back home. This is what she threw back at me.
"Mom, you want me to grow up and be big and strong right?"
"Yes I do Kaelyn."
"Then you should probably give me those chips."

Tonight's attempt at reverse psychology
"You want me to go to sleep right?"
"Yes, I do Kaelyn"
"I have to have chocolate milk to go to sleep."
"Well, that's unfortunate seeing as you didn't use your manners when you asked and how you have already had one glass of milk. Your more than welcome to get water."
"No, it has to be chocolate milk to work"
"Then I guess you'll just have to lay in your bed, in the dark, all night long until morning"

Anna has discovered how to climb on my cabinet knobs and turn on all the facets in an attempt to wash her hands. I have found all my sinks running simultaneously as she tests out this new found skill. I am expecting a very high water bill.

This will be my third attempt at successfully collecting and freezing a stool sample from Nolen. Trust me, I do not like doing this, but some how I have managed to bungle the attempt on more than one occasion. Luckily I have perfected the double bag, ziploc container, in it's own corner away from my frozen veggies method.

Kaelyn hid her eyedrops. I will probably have to call and ask for another prescription. Any suggestions on where a four year old might hid drops?

Have I mentioned that Anna now thinks clothing is completely optional.

Madness I say, complete madness.

perspectives

My father-in-law once asked me if I wanted my children to be gifted (in reference to my husband and I, who both were in gifted classes) and I responded, "No". He asked if I wanted them to do well in school and I answered quite honestly, "I don't care what they do in school, or if they are as dumb as a rock. All I want my children to do is three simple things, Have a GREAT work ethic, Be respectful/polite, and have a good heart. I truly believe that if they can do those three things, they will do well in life."

I don't know what prompted me to think of this...perhaps I was just being a sentimentalist, or it was Kaelyn's comment earlier today regarding how she was "determined to learn to read". Since Nolen's gotten sick and set back, I've started to adjust my perspectives and forget about the silly "Your child should be doing x,y, and z by age blah" book and let my son and my girls write their own stories. That, and one of Ryan's co-workers looked at him after asking how Nolen was doing and simply said, "If he is only 3 months behind for the rest of his life he is still doing pretty damn good". I'll take that.

7 Sept Morning Update: There is an A and then there is an A

I don't know about you guys, but I am a dork. I am. I was that kid, the one blowing the curve, the one who thought that not all A's are created equal...and you know what Nolen buddy, I still think that not all A's are created equal. I want you at 97-100 Pulse Ox at all times...I don't want just any A, I want an A+.

Before his temperature drop when he was still cooling down from a fever

We are waiting on the doctor, so there aren't any new ideas about what could be causing this, and in some ways I'm secretly praying for a positive culture so that I can KNOW what's wrong and where to go next with this. Watching your child fight the unknown is not fun....fighting the known is only better because you can measure progress, treat symptoms and learn how to help.

They are trying to wean him off his Oxygen (but it does NOT look likely, thirty minutes into being down at 35% and he's already dropping to the low 90s). My sister suggested that I keep a journal of his levels for a day or more to see if I can "capture" the pattern I'm seeing happen repeatedly but the nurses and doctors keep brushing off (with good reason, they don't see it because they don't make any type of note of a O2 level less than 100, whereas I know the numbers, I watch his average drop from being the high 90s, to the mid 90s, to the low 90s and then bottom at the 80s/70s). She thinks if I can catch the pattern on paper, perhaps they will be more willing to consider that there is a pattern at all. So here I go with my excell spreadsheet...every thirty mins...now that I know what to do, I'm doing it and feel so much better.

Nolen's experienced another "personality" change he has returned to the severity of lethargy/floppiness/unresponsiveness that initiated his move to the PICU. He isn't waking to eat, so we are doing bottle feeds. He has good feeds (4 oz of breast milk) but he is experiencing shorter and shorter wake times following feeds. Here is a picture of my sweet man, enjoy

He is warming up very slowly.

Update on Nolen

So, I just heard back from the doctor. The initial culture shows NO GROWTH!!!! Which is a great indicator that this is just Viral Meningitis....which is a 100 times better than Bacterial. We won't have a 100% diagnosis until after the 2nd culture has been evaluated. From what I've been told, the second culture (48hr) is more of a precautionary measure to insure that some crazy bacteria isn't the cause as well as to take into account that there could have been very small amounts of the bacteria present due to catching it so early.

We are breathing easier...that is for sure! My sister made it safely into town and will be watching Nolen for an hour while I shower and visit with the girls. Then, she will be taking over the babysitting duties for my girls while I spend the rest of the time in the hospital with Nolen.

Nolen has been in a lot of pain (as evidenced by his high heart rate and high blood pressure readings as well as his crying/whimpering during sleep), and is very restless. Currently, the only way we have been able to keep his heart rate down near normal is through keeping skin contact (kind of like Kangaroo care) and moving him as little as possible (which means Mama isn't doing much). He is nursing more like his old self (Praise God) but not as frequently as I would like.

Anna is still running a slight fever, but other than sleeping A LOT she is acting just like her old self!

Current Prayer Requests/needs:
-48 hour culture comes back CLEAN
-Nolen's pain lessens and he is able to rest and Nurse more frequently
-Nolen's fever starts to subside
-Strength for Ryan and I.
-Guidance for Dena, my sister, as she is in a strange state (with wonky driving laws...but that's another post altogether) and a strange house where she doesn't know where anything is.

Prayers for Nolen

So, I apologize if this is a bit jumbled or brief, but whether you pray or you just want to send positive thoughts please send them this way!

This morning at 1 am, I noticed Nolen had been a little bit more difficult to settle down and kind of fussy...so when I went to nurse him I noticed how hot he was. I took his temp and found it to be borderline at 100.7. Knowing that Anna had been sick the entire day and running a fever I knew it was probably a virus and debated rather I should bring him in or not. I called the on-call doc and the doc suggested I bring him in. The hospital confirms that Anna does have a virus but that due to his age Nolen would need to undergo a Spinal Tap, Blood Work, Catheter for urine samples, and observation to verify that there wasn't another source of infection. Even then, they might still admit him for observation and antibiotics as a proactive measure.

A good friend comes and picks the girls up, leaves me in the ER with just Nolen around 4 am. Nolen's labs come back and he does in fact have Spinal meningitis. We won't know until sometime tomorrow if it is bacterial or viral. We want it to be a viral infection and hope that Nolen starts to feel better (he's very restless and fussy) over our 48 hour stay here. If it is Bacterial than this will become a whole different ballgame.

Specific Prayer Request
-A Clean Culture showing that it is Viral Meningitis
-Anna and the girls and my friends Children remain well
-Rest for Nolen, ease of his fever and discomfort
-Peace for Ryan since I know this must be very difficult not being able to touch and comfort his very sick child
-Strength to hold it together for me
-Safe travels for my sister who is coming up tomorrow morning to help with the girls and take care of the house if this does end up being bacterial meningitus.

Thanks for your prayers/well wishes.

We went to Sea, sea, sea to see what we could see see see

Ryan's squadron had family day at a local military beach out here. When the invitation went out...I thought...Who in their right mind? That would have to be some crazy woman to try and take a 5 week old, potty training 2 year old and 4 year old to the beach all by herself....and before I knew it, I had coleslaw made and was making the drive to the beach....with a very full hybrid.
I don't know what drove me to the brink of insanity...but whatever it was...Thank you! I had a wonderful Friday evening with my "military family" and they were always there to lend a hand with carrying things to the beach or taking my fearless two year old out into the ocean.

Kaelyn spent most of her time on the beach playing in the sand, but she eventually ventured out into the water (despite her overwhelming fear of sharks that has been known to have her hiding on a very large boat from the water).

And she loved it! Have I mentioned that I have a brand spanking NEW CAMERA! It's the Fuji XP FinePix. Not only am I loving the clarity and detailing of this point and shoot camera, but the REAL reason we went with this camera is that it is virtually indestructible...Want to take it scuba diving---go right ahead. Want to hike Mount Everest---this is the camera for you. Point and case, the camera went swimming in the sandy surf rescuing sweet Anna from her very sick obsession with the waves and surfs!

She was way too comfortable with the waves. She would go out as far as she could, get knocked down, tumble in the undertow and start to get carried back out....come up coughing and smiling and do it again....and again...and again. Thank you peanut shell for the awesome sling which lets me snag my child!

It was a lot of fun watching her just run head first into the face of waves that were much taller than she was. I adore this child's lack of fear and determination (only when it's not directed at me). She spent a good fifteen minutes trying to "move water"

With a shovel...

Thankfully, I had my military family to keep an eye on Kaelyn while I spent the majority of my time playing Baywatch with Anna!

Ever since I've decided to embrace every fun opportunity that comes my way regardless of my overwhelming to-do list, I have found that we are really starting to enjoy our time together despite Ryan being away. I also find that the things on those lists always end up getting done and can often serve the purpose of filling that void of time after the kids go to sleep when I would normally snuggle with the hubby.

Felt like super woman...but then reality hit

I really felt like super woman, for all of three minutes. And those three minutes happened at Nolen's 2 week check up...which is where I learned that he gained 2 pounds in a little over a week! Nolen was seen at 1 week due to his jaundice, but had not gained ANY weight...he was holding strong at 6 pounds 7oz. At his 2 week check up...8lbs4ozs That has NEVER happened for me....I've always had to supplement.


But, then reality happened...and I have piles of laundry in the corner of my room (but it's clean and that's half the battle) that I just knocked off the bed after INTENDING to put it away so that I can sleep.

Anna bit Kaelyn, Kaelyn cried, Anna pushed Kaelyn, Kaelyn cried...Nolen kicked his foot THROUGH his zippered sleeper (and yes I mean he BROKE his zipper!), He spit up, he peed...and suddenly it dawned on me...

Drum roll please, 3 kids is a lot!

But give me a few more weeks and I'll find my balance! There is a lot of things going on around here and I am just choosing to focus on the positive

Ryan leaves in a few days, but he IS here
Nolen isn't sleeping, but he IS gaining weight
Anna isn't playing nice with Kaelyn, but she IS potty trained
Kaelyn isn't doing school right now, but she IS learning to read
The laundry isn't put away, but it IS clean!
There isn't any sugar or other basics, but there IS meals (thank you squadron AND MOPS)

Just trying to find that silver lining and a balance...it IS there.

Wonderful Wonderful News

This is our sweet, HEALTHY, CYST FREE baby! Yes, you read that right! He/She (it's still a surprise) is not only cyst free (completely, PRAISE GOD!) but is measuring on point or a little ahead (which is the normal for my child) and weighs 2 WHOLE pounds!  I am so grateful for all the prayers and for this WONDERFUL news! I feel like I can breath, and plan for the arrival...if only I could get the Air Force to cooperate and allow some leave...

I wrote the first entry for our sweet little one in their baby diary (I try to write atleast twice a year for each of the girls) and thought it might be nice to share!

May 5, 2010

Dear Baby,


You don’t have a name, or even a pronoun, but you are more real to me than you will ever know. I sit here on the eve of “the day”…the one where we discover if your Choroid Plexus Cysts are gone, the one that will determine if I fight like a mad woman (which is so not my personality) to get the amniocentesis so that we can know what life holds for you dear one. Regardless of what tomorrow holds, know this one thing…that we love you, we love the life we’ve had thus far with you, and we can’t wait to see your sweet face, smell your sweet new baby smell and cradle you in our arms for the rest of your life.


You and your sweet beating heart have already impacted my life in ways that I had not expected. You have taught me patience, waiting for tomorrow has NOT been easy, but I’ve managed with the prayers of others, support of friends, and the joy of experiencing each day with you growing in me. I have been able to focus on the happy things, time with your father, stories with your sisters and the way you nudge me while I am reading to them…or how you will kick suddenly when Anna cries or Kaelyn talks to you. I’ve been able to float through the past four weeks enjoying each moment with you as though it were our last, and that in and of itself has been a blessing…because I haven’t taken one nudge, on kick, one stretch, one happy beat of my heart helping to grow yours for granted. I have thoroughly enjoyed having your Daddy spread his hand out against my growing belly and feel you so alive within me, hearing Kaelyn whisper sweet nothings to you, ask questions about you, and embrace the idea of you joining our little family, and watching Anna start to connect the dots that there IS a baby in mommy’s belly. Anna is so excited about babies!


You have taught me to value the small things, because God knows that we all too often get caught up in the big worries and miss out on the tiny blessings like a moving baby, the sound of your heartbeat, and the beauty of a quiet afternoon spent at the park. I’ve valued our small amount of time together and hope to keep this lesson in mind as we continue on.


You showed us the meaning of worth, value, life and perfection. Despite what the silly machine might say tomorrow, you are perfect, God made you and formed you for a reason, you have worth and value. It doesn’t matter what condition you may or may not have, I am so blessed to have you here with me and our family is overjoyed with your presence already! This is in no way a goodbye, but merely a hello from my heart to yours nestled safely within me.

Really? This is what my life is about?

This morning, my dear sweet not-quite-19-month old decided to start going potty, on her own, as in going into the bathroom, stripping down, using it, putting on her pants and walking out.
She did it once...and then again...and again...and again! Not once did I have to remind her, ask her, or push her.

Yep, you read that right, today was a SUCCESS and I can't believe I am so freaking so excited about my child choosing to go potty, but that is what my life consists of these days...and I am so okay with that!


For those of you who will be potty training a younger child while having an older child wonder why they can't get a treat for going potty...here is my new tip! Use this opportunity, every time Anna uses the Potty...Kaelyn gets a chance to earn candy by READING SIGHT WORDS! So far, Anna is peeing in the potty 8/10 times and Kaelyn is reading The, On, and Cat/Hat/Mat because those were the words used in her various sentences today! By the time Anna is fully potty trained, Kaelyn might just realize that reading is EASY!!!

Preschool Corner: States of Matter

At a loss for what to do this next week, I visited the Kindergarten website of the local school where Kaelyn will be attending in 2011. I know I've been lacking in Science, so I decided to look at their science requirements and use it as a jumping off point for my lesson planning...

This week Kaelyn covered
States of Matter *we are doing Gas next week because Solid and Liquid were enough of a concept for this week)
started officially working on her sight words as part of our daily routine (a, at, be, can, do, each, for, go)
introduced the concept of vocabulary words (water, ice, liquid, solid,l)

This week Anna covered
Hot and Cold
Colors-reviewed Pink, introduced Blue
Shapes-Circle
ABC's
Counting 1-10


 I hoping to establish the following as our "daily routine" of Counting 1-100 using our chart, Calander Time, and Observing the Weather with Kaelyn. Anna and I sing our ABC's using her chart, Days of the Week with Kaelyn's help, point out the shape of the week and the color. I notice that if we start the day off the same way each day it's very beneficial to us being productive and in the right mindset. Waking up at 6 also helps seeing as I can start the day AHEAD of the kids/house instead of behind.

Science: States of Matter
For the following experiement I used this website. I loved the step by step process as well as the follow up questions to discuss with your child. I also love how, if Kaelyn gets it I can increase her grasp on the concept by proceeding to the next level with the experiment.

We talked about how water is a liquid, and how liquids take the shape of their container. We poured water into our heart shape containers and then froze them. While it froze we went to the park!

Then we played with the ice and set up our "melting" experiments.And talked about how temperature changes the matter state of being.

We tested with hot water, room temperture water and Room temperature without water to see which would melt faster.

In an attempt to introduce the concept of Gas, I had heated up the water...but it didn't really click for her.

Kaelyn's Light Bulb moment for States of Matter came when I asked her to find a solid (a princess doll naturally) and bring it to me. Then I took a cup of water, and made a huge mess by pouring some of it out on the floor. I asked her if the water changed shape, she said "yes". I told her that  a Liquid takes the shape of it's container...so when I poured it into a square glass it would be square, or we pour it into the heart pan it's heart shaped. Then we took the princess and dropped her on the ground...I asked if her shape changed? She said, "No", and I told her that the fact that it kept it's own shape meant that it was a Solid. *Please note that these are very BASIC definitions of solid and liquid, but she gets it now, she knows that OJ, Water, Milk, Etc are all liquids and that other things are solids*

Math: Counting (we are only missing 14 and 15 sporadically with her counting!!!), Patterns with Pom Poms and our Calander, and Telling time!

Writing:  F, G, and H page, Copying our vocab words and sight words.
Although, we haven't copied the sight words yet...we are doing that this afternoon.
Reading: We went to the library and got a bunch of GREAT free books! We are starting Junie B. Jones series during my reading time with Kaelyn, and reading Poetry at breakfast from the Robert Louis Stevenson book we found...for free, at the library! I've never seen so many great books just given away! I really felt like a criminal.






Anna:  18 months
Collage work with pre-cut circles and glue

Blue Foam Stickers for her "Blue" work

Shapes Puzzles, labeling them during play

Drawing with Kaelyn and talking about circles

(We've been playing A LOT of SuperHero and Super Fairy)

Collage work with Blue paper, shades of blue, painting with blue, eating blueberries for snack.

Her Blue Materials included blue foam stickers, chalk, fat markers, "circle" markers which are like the Bingo Dotters except smaller and found at dollar tree, skinny markers and crayons!

Other Fun Things included:

Fire Pit with Daddy (for his early birthday present!)...we talked about how the smoke was a gas!

Baby three is cooking! Me at 23/24 weeks

Video Game time!

Which leads me to my GREAT DEAL OF THE WEEK! Free Apps for you iPhone/iPod...Kindergarten is making their apps free for the ENTIRE month in honor of Autism Awareness. These apps are great, some are simple flashcard style (for Anna's age) and others ask questions like "What Rhymes with ____" and shows four options for your child to pick. Other Question games that we have found are What doesn't belong and a Healthy Habits Game!

Another GREAT DEAL is to go to Resturant.com and use the promo code FEAST to get a $25 Gift Card for dining out for $3!!! Please read the fine print as you aren't allowed to use the cards in the same resturant more than once a week...but still a great deal!

For other Preschool Corner Go here and for Tot-School go here!

Help is on it's way!

So, after discussing our options...Ryan and I are both VERY excited to FINALLY have some help coming in. My lovely sister in law, Brittany, will be joining the family for awhile to help out with the girls and the housework. She couldn't come at a better time with Ryan leaving for training at the end of this month, being gone for the month of May and returning early June. The chance of an amnio following our next ultrasound  (all in May) results...you get the idea. 

*Me, Kaelyn, and Brittany*

Can I mention that the Procardia medication for contractions is slowly killing me....yes, I know that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I've NEVER had issues with this medication in my prior pregnancies, but this time around...it's really doing a number on my blood pressure (bottoming out) causing me to be exhausted or in a fog, my heart will race, and there are moments when I truly feel on fire. On top of all that I am starting to notice my contractions about an hour prior to my pill and an hour afterwards. With Brittany here, I won't be sweating the details of who will watch my chlidren should I have to return to the hospital.

Easter and Some White house

So, here are some of my favorite shots from Easter (hunt at the Squadron, hunt at home, hunt at the White house). We don't have a lot of shots on our Camera from the White House due to the fact that our camera died shortly after our arrival (perfect timing right?). Thankfully, our iPhone's came quickly to the rescue! I'll post those pictures much much later...

Squadron Party!

                                          Anna climbing and saying tOOOOHees

HOME

Daddy helping with the hunt!

Anna, dumping eggs as she goes!

The second hunt!

                                                       A little belly shot for you guys!
Sneak Peak of DC!

Waiting in line!

More waiting! Kaelyn keeping kitty warm in her sweater and the Washington Monument behind us!

Just to give you an idea of the line we were in!

We were listening to some great children's band in the line, ate some delicious free/healthy food and got some yummy drinks during our wait!

On the front line, that's the White House in the back

Attempt number two at getting the kids to look at the camera

She found Dora!

After the hunt, we visited some monuments! Here is Ryan and Kaelyn having a serious conversation at the base of the Washington Monument while Anna and I are on our way.

 WWII Memorial, after we explained the importance of the memorial and why you didn't play/throw money in the water. The girls and Ryan were really absorbing the moment!
 
More to come later!