Worth the Delay

Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers from everyone regarding Landen. He is doing a lot better. Kurt talked to him about when you feel like that saying "I'm smarter than you pee" and even though we had both said something similar to him that didn't work, this worked. He continued to do his "I have to pee and poop" the rest of Wednesday and then a little bit on Thanksgiving but we haven't had anything since. I have heard him say "I'm smart" a few times but nothing to be alarmed about. I talked to the Doctor and nurse Friday and decided to not go forward with the voiding test (that's when they insert a catheter into is penis, shoot dye up into is cavity and then let it out) since he's acting fine. I'm not sure what was going on, but all seems to be better now. I'm still wondering if it had something to do with him being sick and maybe he wasn't fully recovered? Let's hope so!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a busy one, but it was nice. =)

We put our Christmas tree, lights and everything else up on Friday. It makes the house so cozy with the tree up. This year all the break able decorations are on the top; definitely a tree that looks like children live here. =) Landen and I made an advent wreath and Kurt read the blessing last night and we lit the first candle. It's lovely! This is our first year doing the advent wreath and I'm super excited about it. I also ordered an Advent Calender for the kids and everyday you get to read a little song and bible verse and hang it on the tree. I'm hoping it arrives today so we don't have to do too many catch up days.

We got a lot of snow last night; more than I enjoy. The roads are covered and it's going to be hard to get out of the drive way. Yuck! Landen has been wearing his hat, gloves and snow boots all day. He's ready for a snowball fight.

Oh and just to let everyone know, cloth diaper month is over and I have a lot of contests for Christmas related gifts coming up. One almost every single day. Check out Momma In Flip Flops2 to get in on this great stuff. =)

Doctor Visit Update

Thank you everyone for your prayers and encouragement for us. Keep those prayers coming because here's the update.

We headed to the doctor at 1:30pm this afternoon. I woke Landen up out of a dead sleep with screaming because he was still tired but it was the only way to do it without him trying to go pee before we left and we needed another urine sample. We got there and Landen peed right away, thank goodness. We also had to get blood drawn and this was the first time he has ever been pricked. He did good, he just started blowing air out like he was doing Lamaze or something. It was kind of funny. He did really good and I was so proud of him. We went back up and they actually got us in right away, which was very surprising. We talked to the doctor and basically I told her the same things I said before and she checked him all over and started saying different things we could do. I told her I wanted to wait to see if the UA came back positive and go from there. The tests weren't back so we had to wait and wait. Finally she came back and said the UA was completely fine and she had to wait for the blood test and the kidney function that she ran. Again we waited, and let me tell you - having two kids in a little room with NO children activities is very hard. We waited and the CNA comes in a long time later and says "you're still here?" I was not very happy about that, but I said "yes, we're still waiting for results". The doctor game back and says "well I've been on the phone with all kinds of people"; my heart about jumped out of my chest. I was thinking the worst, why else would she be on the phone? Well they have no idea what's going on, everything came back okay, so another doctor comes in and tells us we're going to do an xray and a bladder scan and we had a long talk; which isn't worth going into. We head to xray and got that done, then head over to the hospital to get the bladder scan done. It was okay, but I felt like one of the nurses was incompetent and I could have done a way better job, the other was great. Reminds me why "I just stay home with my kids"... yeah.. not a laughing matter when you say that to the crabby run down momma. Ha ha!Turns out all the rest of the tests came back okay and we still have no idea what's going on. So now, we are going to wait through the holiday and the weekend to see what happens. They said that whatever is going is not life threatening so that's good, and of course if he's in horrible pain we will take him to the emergency room, but we wait. If things don't clear up we go into more invasive tests, which I don't want to do, but will. We finally got home after 5:00pm tonight. It was a long visit.

I feel really frustrated and nervous about the entire situation. I really wanted it to show bacteria in his urine and now we really don't know anything, except it gets to sit on my nerves and make me feel icky. I don't want anything to be wrong with him. It scares me and it's going to be a long, long holiday weekend. Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers, we all appreciate them. I will keep you updated. Have a great Thanksgiving!

The little model!

I had to get a picture of Amelia in this diaper for a company and even though I don't like to show stuff that has to do with reviews before the review, this picture makes me laugh. This is the face you get when someone is sick of pictures. Ha ha ha!

On a sad note, we've started in with round two. Landen started getting sick on Monday and is just laying around today. He's really snotty and running a fever. Oooh... hopefully he starts getting perkier soon.

Back to my regular schedule posting.. I hope!

It's been one of those weeks, you know the ones where you literally want to pull your hair out?

Lets see, where did it all go wrong. Amelia got hit in the head with a plastic bat last Thursday. Total accident on Landen's part, they were playing so sweet outside and in a splint second he pulled the bat back and she took a bigger/smaller step and got hit. Literally that think puffed up in the matter of seconds. My heart was racing, Landen was screaming, Amelia was screaming in half shock. We got some ice on it and she was a lot better, she just has a horribly ugly black, blue and yellow bruise on half of her forehead.

Halloween was fun! We went to Kurt's work and did the whole trick or treating thing. Landen loved it this year and figured it out quite quickly. Amelia just wanted to bite through candy. We came home and with it being so warm we sat out side handing out candy for awhile. Landen was yelling - trick or treaters, candy this way. It was hilarious, he had more fun handing out candy then he did getting it.

Saturday Amelia slowly started getting sick. By the end of the night she was throwing up and all I could/can think of is that it's those molars coming it. She had that horrible poop they get. Saturday night was not fun, her and I were up most of the night. Sunday wasn't much better except she decided she wasn't going to eat, but she was still nursing a little so I thought it was okay. Monday came and little miss sunshine decided she wasn't going to nurse or eat. That kind of freaks me out, but at least she wasn't puking so much. Today it seems like she wants to nurse more but she's so plugged she can't. I don't know really what it is, but at least she'll eat, oh and her nasty fever is pretty much gone. Things are looking up! However, nursing is the only way she falls asleep and that has been a challenge, she's been in the mei tai mostly because that's the only other way she'll sleep. It's exhausting, I take nursing her to sleep for granted because when you can't/she won't it really stinks. On that same note, my boobs could not hurt any worse. I had to wake up in the night and pump because they were exploding and had to pump several times yesterday. Not pleasant... exploding boobs are NOT FUN.

Amelia has thrush again to top it off. I can't even get going on this because it makes me mad. We've done everything and I still have the medicine from before so I'm going to use it even thought it might not be as strong. Arghh!

So, embarrassing as this is I'm going to tell you all. I finally went to the Dr. yesterday and got my warts froze off (or at least I hope they fall off). I have a couple of the plantar ones and then one on my knee that just appeared this summer and is growing at rapid force and one on my toe. Sick! I hate them, hate them and they are quite embarrassing. I had tried to freeze them myself but it wasn't working, so I decided to go this way instead. Anyway, why I bring this disgusting issue to my blog. Well, the Doctor is pretty Holistic is seems like in some ways and she told me that if you put duct tape on warts for 3 weeks or so they'll fall off. No freezing or any of it. So if you have a wart put duct tape on it - the all purpose solution to everything!

In other news.. well there isn't any other news except I have to start thinking Christmas gifts and I don't want too. I love the thought of Christmas music, decorating, etc but the finding gifts thing.... not so much. Well I certainly hope to get back to blogging regularly (here). I won a blog header makeover at the Blog Carnival so hopefully I'll have a new look to show off soon.

And it's back . . .

The dreaded thrush is back along with colds from the stupidest weather ever. Luckily I caught the thrush early on Amelia and we got to the Doctor the next day and things are looking better. I've now caught it though and we're both taking Nystatin again (because they won't give me Diflucan) in 1 1/2 months. I really hope this isn't going to be a regular occurring thing we catch.

I also bought Poly-vi-sol for Amelia to start taking. When I asked the Doctor what her thoughts were, she agreed that putting her on something would be a good idea since she does seem to catch anything and everything, unlike her brother. I put Landen on those Fl intones vitamins when he quit nursing and was planning on doing the same with Amelia but I guess she'll just get mommy milk and a vitamin to help her out. I hope it makes a difference.

Another note about the thrush, Amelia face broke out again (all over her left cheek) right when the thrush came back. The Doctors keep telling me that it's not thrush, just dry skin... but seriously the Nystatin took care of it last time and the cream seems to be taking care of it again. Plus I really don't think it's a coincidence. Last time it was HORRIBLE and the thrush was really bad, but now both aren't that bad cause we caught it earily. So anyway, she has to be getting thrush on her cheek, it's almost moist there because she favors that side with eating... mom's definitely know best when it comes to their kids, so I guess I'll just have to do what I thinks best for it. Anyone's kid ever get thrush on their face?

Running On Fumes

What's wrong with us? Why do we get sick constantly? Poor Landen came down with something on his poor little birthday. Throwing up and fever, today there hasn't been any puking, but the fever and chills are there. Not to mention he's very clingy and Amelia is getting on his nerves. I really hope it passes tomorrow and the rest of us don't get this. It was just so sad, he couldn't even get excited about his presents and today he finally was able to get a little strength to blow some candles out, but not much. I hope tomorrow is better!

My computer is slowly shutting down I think. Did I tell you it crashed a week ago or something? Kurt got it running again, but it's been very finicky and getting on my nerves. Add it to the check list of things going bad around here - the freezer went out (we think) and all the meat in the basement ruined along with some ice cream. That was not a fun mess to clean up - thanks sweetie! The dishwasher went out and I can't get it fixed (still working on that one) and Kurt said something about the water softener not working correctly. HELP, our house is going in the hole. Yikes! What to do, what to do.

I was going to write more, but Amelia finally fell asleep after rocking and then finally deciding to just sit with her while on the computer. I'm running on few fumes from pulling an all nighter last night.

Growing

Last night I tossed and turned in bed - worrying about the kids, feeling angry at myself for loosing my patience with them so often while they're sick and need my love and comfort more than ever. Feeling sorry for myself because I hadn't gotten enough sleep, I didn't get done what I wanted to do and many other things. Oh, I have lot of growing up to do. I settled my heart by asking our Blessed Mother to help me, I prayed to Amelia while getting her to sleep and slowly drifted off myself. I was still waking a lot because Amelia was burning up with a fever last night though and I remembered this prayer that Jen sent me not to long ago. I got the Ibuprofen down my sick little girl, checked Landen and went back to sleep. Amelia is doing so much better today and Landen's cold seems to be lessening. I need to remember that I don't have to take it all on myself, and when feeling overwhelmed there is always a place to turn. Why can't I just remember that? I'm working on it, striving to draw closer to him daily. It's a lot of work.

Prayer For a Sick Child

O Saint Gerard, who, like the Savior, loved children so tenderly and by your prayers freed many from disease and even from death; graciously look down upon the distressed parents who plead with thee for their child’s health if such be the Will, of God. Present their promise to God to bring up the child a good Christian and to guard it by word and example against the fatal leprosy of sin. This favor we implore thee, O sainted Brother, through the tender love with which Jesus and Mary blessed thy own innocent childhood. Amen.

It got us again

Yes the sick bug has got us again. Ahh! What is going on here?

Please leave your germs at the door when seeing us because we've had plenty of them and don't want anymore. I think I'm going to have to start suiting the kids up whenever we go anywhere! I'm just kidding people ... lighten up a bit!

Anyway.. why is it when you have sick ones and your running on fumes that telemarketers call a total of eight times so far in.. 4 1/2 hours? That's just not right.

Oh and I know it's wordless Wednesday and this is my third post. I have something to say! That picture makes me smile. Hockey player and faux hawk queen.

Our Baby Bumble

Things seem to be looking up for Amelia today. We do have to go back to the Dr. tomorrow for another blood draw and a urine test because her white count was still elevated. Hopefully the next test will be better and if things stay on the track they have been on today - we'll be as good as new soon. Thanks for every one's continued prayers.

I won this adorable Happy Green Bee petal dress from Goodies for Mom a few weeks back. It's 100% organic cotton and came with stripped tights (too warm for them right now), an adorable hat and lullaby book. The fabric is so soft and it fits Amelia well. I got the toddler small so it would fit her well into the fall. She's going for the look of a little big right now. I really like this dress and she's going to be called our little bumble when she wears it. **These pictures were taken last week - I didn't dress my sickly one up for pictures! =) **

Check out my contest on my review blog, more people that enter, better chance I'll get to do more reviews and contests in the future!

An ER Trip

Last night we made our first trip to the Emergency Room for one of the kids - Amelia. As I have been posting she's been a sick little baby for sometime now, with the teeth and now this virus.

They told us last night that she had pneumonia - so we had the chest xray which was awful, blood work, two injections of antibiotics, and Tylenol to bring down the 103.? temperature she had. We had the run around about staying the night, but the Dr. said since I knew what I was talking about (I guess) from being a nurse we could just take her home and await a call for a follow up appointment for today. The night didn't seem to get any better - she was more lethargic, her temperature was staying up regardless of the Tylenol or Ib profen and she was restless. We decided to wait the night out though and got into the Dr. around 10:30am. Of course when I got there her temperature was down and she was seeming a lot more energetic. Good for her, but bad for them to see how she's acting, especially if in two hours she's just laying there again. He said she doesn't have pneumonia (duh - I listened to her last night and didn't hear anything either, and no s/s of pneumonia - oh well), her white count is up (more blood work - results tomorrow) and she's lightly anemic, but not bad enough to do anything about. Oh and she has lost weight - I kept saying she was looking skinnier and sure enough she's lost about four pounds. Poor thing! So now we just wait, give the Tylenol and ib profen and wait this out. I'm glad to have taken her though and got it figured out.

Of course I got the talk about not having her immunized, but he was very nice. Of course pushed the subject and wanted to get her started as soon as possible, but respected my our decision on delaying at this time. I also got the talk about Amelia not eating much solids yet. That she really should have been eating a long time ago, and they're okay with breastfeeding until a year, but recommend weaning after that. He even said something about mom's nursing until three, in a not very good idea tone. I just said, those babies are healthy ones! I was very proud of myself about staying calm and collective, matter of fact and nice during those somewhat heated topics. I know what we're doing is perfectly fine and healthy and do realize that as a Dr. he probably has to say those things.

So, that's the update. Keep our little sweet heart in your prayers. These's pictures are with her two band aids (from the injections) and arm wrapped up from the blood work. She was actually a little perky in these!

I do hate rocks

So much going on here, so little time to get it all written down. My heart is aching right now for my sweet little Amelia, who once again is sick and teething. I feel like this helpless mother who can't do anything while she suffers through this. Her little listless body laying on me, smiling through chills, as those mean old teeth try to make their way through. I never feel more helpless than when my children are sick. I go into freak out, anxious, nervous mode and can't gather any knowledge together that makes sense. Oh, I do hope this passes quickly.

My sisters were here for a couple of days last week. We all went to kickboxing together, which was lots of fun. Lots of walks to our little shops, ice cream was delicious, and shopping was fabulous. What's better than leopard flats - which we all bought! Lots of other great deals - I'm ready for an exciting outing that I can wear all my cute things.

We're in the mist of a rather large project here - details to come - but let me just say - moving five truck loads and a trailer of rocks is seriously not fun, many hands make light lighter work and I have an incredible family, I don't like icky neighbors, they make me nervous, and soaking under the stars is going to be amazing!

Taking It Easy

We're taking it easy here today. Amelia is still cutting teeth and we're on our fourth day. We got some foul smelling poop, and a lethargic little thing that can't sleep very well. Teeth are no fun. On that same note I'm going to the dentist tomorrow.. after over five years I'm going. Yikes! I seriously hate the dentist and just thinking about it causes anxiety. Crossing my fingers I don't have any cavities - it's doubtful though. I know this may sound stupid, but a little prayer for me would be appreciated.

I hope all you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day! We were busy as usual on holidays.

I finally figured out (with my sisters help) how to make only certain colors stand out in a black and white photo on my camera. Here's one of Amelia, she looks wiped out, but the pink stands out a bit. I'm going to try my flowers (that I got for Mother's Day) later -- see how they look!

On another note - I'm pretty sure I want to become a beatboxer. Wouldn't I be cool? LoL!

On the mend

We're doing a lot better here. I figured since I had to complain on my blog about how horrible it was being sick and tired and all that jazz, I should at least say we're on the mend.

I think Kurt had a horrible migraine Friday because after he slept 14 hours, was as good as new.

Amelia was a bit more energetic Saturday and Landen was definitely better. Today they're normal (minus a little runny nose) and acting like they always do. We even made it to church!

Saturday started the runny nose for me though, and the lack of sleep started to really settle in. Then today - I seem to have what I would call a sinus cold. I haven't felt like this, congestion in my head for... Forever really. However, it's not that bad and I won't complain anymore about it. I'll just have a red nose and keep a box of Puffs (with lotion) handy at all times. =)

I appreciate all the prayers. I had a lot of comments as well as e-mails on getting better. If we ever had some serious illness I know I have a lot of friends and blogger friends out there to pray for us. Thanks everyone.

Round Three

It's official, we have the stomach flu...
The hubby came home from work sicker than a dogg. It's going to be a long weekend.

Round Two

It's not only Landen's molars because Amelia has the sick bug now. I'm cranky and sleep deprived. It's been a long week.

No Fun

Landen has been sick since last night. I'm really hoping it's just those last two molars coming in because he's got the real high temperature, snotty nose and all that. On top of it though he has a tummy ache and feels like he wants to throw up. He had the dry heaves all night. We've never had the stomach flu since we had the kids so it's a new experience (if that is what this is). I'm really hoping it's the teeth because I really don't want Amelia catching it. I hope it passes quickly.. whatever it is.. because I feel so bad for him just laying in there so sick. Any prayers would be appreciated.

Sick Update - Ooohhh a Tooth!

I think we're finally on the down hill battle with this cold we've been carrying with us for over a week now. It seems that we are all feeling somewhat better, for today.

Yesterday I was feeling very overwhelmed with it all though. It was like I had reached my breaking point - a sick baby, a toddler who constantly needed my attention, three hours of sleep, being sick myself and I felt like I didn't know what to do anymore. So, after Kurt got home I decided maybe we needed to take Amelia to the Dr. because she was throwing up flem and I was feeling so overwhelmed I couldn't think straight. I gave a quick call to my mom - who knocked me back into reality (in a loving way) and I did a baseline assessment (good ol' nursing skills) and decided to see what happened throughout the night. Well - she's so much better and was able to actually stay in our bed throughout the night (yes she was up every hour nursing, but that's okay).

Wanna know something else - ta da - a tooth appeared out of that little girls mouth. So on top of her feeling crappy from having a cold - she had a mean ol' tooth coming in. Phew! I'm glad we're done with that for awhile *crossing my fingers.*

So now that you all know we're still living here - we may have snotty noses, a slight cough and sound like we have sand paper in our throats, but we're getting over this. Woo hoo! Thanks to those of you who were keeping us in your prayers. =)