Family PIctures

I was out looking for sponsors for Relay yesterday when I happened to find myself on the front steps of Whimsy Photography.  I've heard about this place on the radio & have wanted to give them a try.  So, what did I do?  I walked in and made an appointment for today.  I am thrilled with the results.  I will for sure be going back to this studio!  For $80 you get a 45 minutes session where they take as many pictures as they can. You can bring your own props or just use what they have there.  After your session, they edit your photos & you go back later to have a look at the cd.  With the $80 you get your own copy of the cd in addition to the copyright release.  You will also get a free 8 x 10 & 25% off anything you purchase for the next 7 days!  One thing I thought was cool was that on the sheets that have multiple prints on them (like 2 5x7's) the prints you choose don't have to be the same!  You never get that!  Sheets up to the size 8x10 are normally only $4 - seriously.  We got 105 photos at the end of our session today so I won't post all of them, just my favorites :)

 You have to look at Brooke's toes to notice a difference in these two pictures.

Has his dad's lop sided grin

What a cheese

Spittin' image of his daddy

All three of my boys are pretty bow legged!

You can see all her chubs in this one!

I love how all the guitar pictures turned out.

This one is his biggest fan.

Nash is in a full on belly laugh - look at his face.

Doctors, doctors, doctors!

We have seen multiple doctors over the last week or so.  Am I surprised by this?  Nope.  Not at all.

First of all, we took Brookelyn to her post op follow up appointment with Dr. Blotter.  I was really nervous he was going to tell me her tubes were clogged again.  If that was the case I was going to throw my hands in the air in exasperation because I had no idea what we were going to do.  Turns out, we finally had nothing to worry about!  After 2 sets of tubes, 3 months, 2 x a day ear drops for 3 months, and multiple trips to see Dr. Blotter, BOTH tubes are finally free & clear!  This is very, very good news!  We are continuing drops until tomorrow but only as a precaution.  Dr. Blotter wants to see her again about November to see if they are still working.  Cross your fingers for us!

We also took Brookelyn to Dr. Clarke (pediatrician) for her 1 year well check.  Little sister is a whopping 25.12 lbs and 30 3/4 inches long!  This puts her in the 95th percentile in both categories!  Yes, we do have big babies at this house!  He was asking if she talks, etc.  I was telling him about all the words she can say now -mama, dada, da-dog, boo-book, sissy - sam, no, uh oh, ba ba - bottle, na-nash, ta da - meaning cha da (Those that know my mother know exactly what this is.  For those that don't, it's a silly dance she does with the kids.)-  Dr. Clarke said that she's actually fairly advanced for her age linguistically because most kids only say about 5 words by the time they are 18 months old.  Guess this girl is going to be just like her big sister!  Some other things Brooke is doing include
Walks holding onto things (actually she's done this for several months now)
She took a single step by herself yesterday before plopping down and crawling across the room
Feeds herself with a spoon
Opens cabinets and drawers and pulls everything out of them
Likes to make "toilet soup" when her siblings leave the bathroom door open
Eats mostly table food (we still have some baby food we're trying to use up but she's not liking it too much)
Loves water in a sippy cup
Follows her older siblings around and wants to do exactly what they do (I think I posted pics of her trying to play XBOX with her brother)
Loves standing up in the tub when she thinks I'm not looking
Grabs the washcloth away from me & eats it every time it gets near her grasp
Follows the dog around and pets her gently on the head
Loves to look at pictures on the wall and point at the people in the picture
Loves to eat...everything...often

I finally heard back from the Rheumatologist I went and saw a few weeks back.  He did x rays on my hands and feet and did some blood work.  My x rays looked good.  My blood work tested for parvo (yes, like dogs get - but people get it too and in adults it manifests as arthritis symptoms for six months), a vitamin D level and the rheumatoid arthritis marker.  All the blood work came back normal.  He said my vitamin D levels were a bit low, just not low enough to cause my symptoms.  Basically he told me that other than pain in my joints he has no idea what's wrong with me.  He started me on a prescription of Plaquenil.  I guess this use to be used as an antibiotic but now it's used to treat arthritis.  Apparently it takes a good 4-5 months to get in your system really good and start working so I have a follow up appointment at the end of September.  He also wants to do an MRI on one of my joints.  He said that he wouldn't MRI all my joints, just the one that hurts the most the most often.  However, an MRI is at least $1500 and my share after insurance would be about $300.  So now I just have to decide if I have an extra $300 to throw at this pain expedition & whether or not I want to deal with this.  Right now I'm kind of thinking the MRI will have to wait.

On Monday Nash got bit by a big German Short-haired dog.  We were visiting my nephews at their place to drop off a birthday present.  Nash was riding my nephew's bike down the sidewalk and had stopped and turned around.  On his way back to us on the bike this big dog came out and grabbed him on his arm and bit him.  Nash screamed bloody murder and dropped the bike and started back to us.  Travis and I didn't see the dog coming or else the dog wouldn't have made it to Nash in the first place.  Amazingly, the dog didn't bit a hole in his long sleeved shirt.  When we pulled his shirt sleeve up however there was a nasty bite.  You can see the two top canines and all four top teeth between the canines.  Where the top teeth met the bottom teeth there was a big bloody/bruised bite mark.  The lady that owned the dog came out and was talking to us.  She said the dog has had all its shots, but who really knows.  She was like "He's usually pretty nice I don't know what got into him."  Then she tells us that her front door is broken and doesn't latch tight so the dog can just get out whenever.  She asked if there was something she could do and I asked her if she could get us a bandaid (Travis's brother & sister in law weren't home yet when this happened).  The lady told us that she didn't think she had any and wouldn't even go inside to check.  I was so extremely mad for several reasons 1-I didn't want to be at the place we were at in the first place, 2-Nash got bit, 3-The lady wouldn't get us a bandaid!  4-Travis was way too nice to this lady and told her that it wasn't that bad this time but she might want to consider getting rid of the dog because next time it might be worse.  When we were at the dr. for Brooke's well check I asked the dr. what we needed to watch for to make sure it doesn't get infected.  Now we're on infection watch.

I'm hoping that this isn't a sign of how our summer will go!  I'm crossing my fingers that we're getting things out of the way now so that our summer can continue on dr. free!

And speaking of summer, only 1/2 day of school left and our vacation begins!  Today the kids came home and told me they had found out who their teacher would be next year.  They are both very excited.  I'm a bit nervous about Nash's situation.  He had been assigned the teacher I wanted (the one Sam had when she was in 2nd grade) but apparently she's moving over to 5th grade & they have to hire a new teacher.  I'm crossing my fingers it isn't a first year teacher.  I can be sympathetic to a first year teacher but Nash has some issues going on at school and I'm afraid if he gets a first year teacher it will be disastrous for him.  Guess we'll hope for the best!

Relay 2012

Today I was able to get our Relay shirts & paint.  This year we are doing white shirts with orange paint.  The orange paint is in honor of my "other mother" Cindy who is a kidney cancer SURVIVOR!  We thought white shirts would be a bit cooler than the orange ones we did last year.  The name on the sleeve is kind of hard to see but that's because it's in GLOW IN THE DARK paint!  Yep, we're cool like that.

Right now our team fundraising total is at $1,029!  The first year I did Relay (four years ago) my team raised about $1,900.  Unfortunately every year since then I've had a smaller team and thus raised a smaller amount of money.  Don't get me wrong, any amount is great.  However, this year I'd like to hit at least the $1,500 mark.  

We are planning to do another yard sale/bake sale fundraiser next Saturday, June 2.  We are also hoping to put together a boutique at my place in mid-late June.  Hopefully we can get a bunch of the stuff my mom, Cindy & I have sewn in addition to Usborne books, Pampered Chef, Short Stuff Preschool, Avon, and more.  I think we will advertise it as a boutique but also send out invites - watch for yours! :)  If you or anyone you know would like to participate in the boutique, let me know!  It will be one weeknight & one weekend night (hopefully that will give us a better turn out).  I'm going to ask that participating sellers donate a percentage of their profits from the two nights to our fundraising efforts.  No specific set percentage, just whatever they would like to donate.

We also are currently doing an "opportunity drawing" for this quilt.  It measures 56 inches wide by 66 inches long.  It is machine quilted & the binding was done by hand.  No, my mom and I didn't make it.  It was donated.  Tickets for the drawing are $1 each or 6/$5.  Leave me a comment or email me if you're interested. We will have more opportunity drawings available at the Relay event itself.

It's not too late to join our team or register a team of your own if you're interested in participating in Relay.  Our overall fundraising goal this year is $150,000.  Last year we did about $97,000 so it's a big jump this year.  

And on a final note, just in case you don't know why I Relay:

I Relay in memory of my paternal grandmother who passed away from breast cancer 10 years ago this November 19th.  She passed away exactly 3 months & 41 minutes before Samantha was born.  It was her second fight with breast cancer - her first round was when I was in jr. high.  Samantha never knew my grandma but she reminds me of her every day.  She has so many of grandma's personality traits that it makes me miss grandma more every day.  I have told all my kids about Grandma Lea and they ask about her frequently.  She is not gone, she is certainly not forgotten.  She is temporarily out of our reach.  

I also Relay in honor of my maternal grandmother who is a  breast cancer survivor, my maternal grandfather who is a prostate & mouth cancer survivor, my paternal grandfather who is a prostate cancer survivor, Travis's grandpa Charlie who had throat cancer, Travis's grandma Myrle who is a cancer survivor, Travis's aunt Lori who is a thyroid cancer survivor, my childhood friend who is a breast cancer survivor, my "other mother" who is a kidney cancer survivor, and my good friend Mandy who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  

For me, it doesn't feel like it's a matter of if I get cancer, but rather it's a matter of when I get cancer.  I don't want my children to worry about hearing they have cancer & feeling like it's a death sentence.  I want to help "Celebrate a world with more birthdays." 

Caleb's Preschool Graduation

Today my baby boy graduated from Preschool!  I can't believe he's almost four and is graduating from his first year of preschool already!  Miss Shannon has been great with Caleb all year long - even when he's been a stinker.  We absolutely love Miss Shannon and are excited to go back for summer school in just a couple weeks.

The graduation was only 20 minutes long (perfect for wiggly four year olds.)  They sang several songs and told us what their favorite part of preschool was and what their favorite color was.  Then they got their certificates from Miss Shannon.  After everything was all done they got a prize (we still haven't opened Caleb's yet) and treats.  The kids were all super excited about the treats!

With his friend Davin:

Getting his diploma (I wanted to get a picture of him getting his diploma but he grabbed it and ran!)

This is a really cute picture but I had told him to hold his certificate up and he moved it right as I snapped the  camera!

A silly picture with Miss Shannon

A nice picture with Miss Shannon

Thank you Miss Shannon, We LOVE You!

Sam completes an allergy test

If you recall, earlier this spring I took Sam to the ENT as a result of pain in her ear after 3 days of being on an antibiotic for an ear infection.  Dr. Blotter told us that her nose was the worst he'd seen in a long time.  As a result of the severity of her nose it had created a vacuum of sorts in her ear, which caused the pressure, which caused the pain she was feeling.  He wanted us to do allergy testing on her because he felt like her nose was a direct result of allergies.  So, after rescheduling THREE times, we finally made it there today.  

That that know Sam know she's a drama queen.  I'm not talking a little bit of a drama queen either.  Sister is a full fledged DRAMA QUEEN.  I think I mentioned that just about 2 weeks ago we had to gas her in order to simply clean her teeth at the dentist's office because she wigged out when they tried to floss.  That being said, I was not excited about taking this girl in to have this done.  I had watched the video explaining how they did this and I knew it wasn't going to go over very well with her.  She did fine when we got there.  Even after sitting for 30 minutes because we were early.  We went back into the room and the nice nurse started to explain to Sam what we were going to do.  She showed Sam the "stamp" they use to put all the allergens being tested on her back.  The nurse had her feel the bottom of the stamp too (it's a small prick like having your finger pricked).  That's when Sam's anxiety level spiked.  She wasn't excited or happy about being there any longer - even if she did miss math at school.  We got her changed into a gown and cleaned her back with alcohol.  Then because she was resisting us and leaned up against the back of the chair, we had to get her back cleaned off again.  I held onto her arms while she leaned across a chair and the nurse quickly stamped her back using two stamps at a time.  Sam squeeked and wiggled, but she didn't try to hit or run so that was a bonus.  Each stamp has ten stamps on it.  There are a total of 50 pricks here on her back.  The second one down on the left at the top was the control for a positive.  The second one down on the left on the bottom is the control for a negative.

This picture was taken about five minutes after they pricked her with all the stamps.  We had to let it sit about twenty minutes or so.  The bottom has foods and the last row is animals.  The top has grass, trees, mold and weeds.

The picture on the left is about half way through the test.  The picture on the right is toward the end of the test.

Now you'd think after having fifty pricks in her back she'd be a bit more mellow, right?  Nope.  The nurse told us that she had a slightly positive reaction to the three molds on her back.  Normally people don't respond to the molds because for one thing the back just isn't that great of a place for the mold to react.  However, since Sam had a slightly positive reaction to all three molds, we would have to test the other NINE molds on her arm.  Yep.  Nine more pricks.  That makes a total of 59 pricks today.  She was not excited about this idea.  The nurse did one on my arm to show her how it was done.  They have to do each one individually, so it's essentially like getting pricked nine more times instead of once or twice.  They also use a syringe instead of a "stamp".  That part freaked sister out.  I told Sam that she didn't have a choice about this test because mold allergies can be deadly.  I then told her she could sit on my lap & I could hold her hands and we could be nice OR she could have FIVE of us hold her down.  I told her that if she was brave and toughed it out and just sat on my lap that I would tell her dad he had to buy her anything she wanted.  You'd think that would get her attention, right?  Well, only slightly.  She did cooperate fully after a bit of discussion.  About 20 minutes later she decided she wanted another American Girl doll.  Then later she changed her mind and decided she wants the bunk bed for her American Girl doll.  When I told Travis of our deal he kinda hum ha'd around it.  I told him I thought she deserved it after having fifty nine shots in one day.  He finally agreed.

The picture on the left is right after they finished giving her all nine injections.  The picture on the right is about twenty minutes later.  The welts she got from the mold all stayed the size they were in the picture on the left until they completely disappeared.  The nurse told me we have to keep the sharpie numbers on her arm for four days because molds generally disappear and then reappear even stronger.  So, she sent us home with a ruler and if any of the welts come back we have to measure them and call to let them know how big and what ones.

After our mold injections and our twenty minute wait, we waited to see Dr. Blotter.  Turns out Sam is allergic to all 12 molds, cat, cow's milk, 1 grass, 1 weed, Elm Tree, Juniper Tree, and Box Elder Tree.  The Elm Tree allergy was the worst.  It actually had a welt bigger than the control positive welt.  That means she's super allergic to Elm.  I am shocked by the allergy to cow's milk!  That girl has drank cow's milk all her life with no adverse effects.  However, it makes me wonder if maybe that's why she gets constipated all the time?  The nurse told me that being allergic to the molds could explain all the ear and nose trouble she's had all her life (where was this test $10,000 & four kids ago??!)

Now the question is what do we do to treat?  Well, the real kicker is that for molds, the only treatment is immune-o-therapy - or allergy shots.  This would be a minimum of an 18 month commitment.  She would require an allergy shot once a week, every week for the next year.  At the end of a year she would go to once a month for at least six months.  Then we might start to see some serious symptom relief.  I asked Dr. Blotter if he felt like it was something that we absolutely must do.  He said that he believes it would make her feel better and rid her of her symptoms.  My worry about not doing the allergy shots is that at a minimum, every spring we will have to worry about that ear we had repaired rupturing because of how bad her nose could potentially get.  If that ear drum ruptures it will be bad because it's been through so much.  She actually already has some hearing loss in that ear.  When I told Travis this he said, "It sounds to me like she's going to be getting shots once a week for the next year."  When he asked if I had asked Sam what she thought about that, I told him "No.  I know dang well what she's going to think about that!"  Perhaps a bribe with another American Girl doll is in our future as well?

I also asked Dr. Blotter if he felt like we needed to allergy test the other kids.  He told me that allergy symptoms won't generally show up on a test until the age of four or five.  So, that would mean that Nash would really be the only one we'd test right now.  However, that kid has been my "healthiest" so far.  It just makes me wonder if I wait to have him tested (in the hopes that he won't need to be tested) that just as we finish shots and regular trips to the CV Hospital we will have to start all over with Nash.  I am tempted to have him tested because my insurance pays for the testing 100% so I really won't be out anything except my time!  Thoughts & suggestions on this question are welcome!