9/21 - pool, parks, and fun

It's been a really long time since I've posted. I've just haven't been able to keep up with the pace of life (see my last post). That said, I've still tried to make sure the boys are having fun. Here are the boys at the playground. It's so awesome that Aiden can swing himself now. I'm trying to get Eli to get there. He's totally not motivated by telling him that when he learns how to swing he can swing whenever he wants but I do think I can motivate him to learn by telling him he can make himself go really super hi.

It's been great to have Mike and Arin so close (it would be awesome if they were closer but at least we are only 45 minutes away now) and they came over a few weeks ago and we all went to the pool. The boys had a ton of fun because Mike was there to play with them in a daddy kind-of way. It was also pretty fun to have an extra pair of hands and eyes at the pool. They let us take the kids down the big slide on our lap for the first time ever. It was great and I've been able to do it again since then. When we first moved here they would not let a parent go down with a child in front on them or on the lap so the boys have really enjoyed that lately. It's also great because the boys love playing with Grace so it's a great day when we get to see the Hunter Family.

We've been experimenting lately with some kids yoga DVD's from the library. Aiden is awesome and will try it and does a good job. Eli just hangs out on the couch and watches Aiden.

Here is Aiden doing some "seat work" in some wipe off books we have. Both boys have books that they can do and it's one of their options during quite time on the weekends.

The boys have been wanting to go this playground by us for a while. We pass it going to our house but have never made it to it. We set out on an adventure a few weeks ago on a Saturday morning. We biked down (it's about a mile) and then had snack there and played for a bit. The actual playground is not that great but the boys had a ton of fun getting the back tire of the bike stuck in the sand and then pedaling still so that sand would shoot out from under the back wheel. I was too nervous they wouldn't have enough energy to make it back home so eventually had to put an end to that. We did go on an impromptu treasure hunt after Aiden decided a level of the playground was a ship and we were about to crash so we had to jump ship. We ran to the island and found a tree with treasures (little berries). And no, I didn't let them eat them. The had a ton of fun trying to pick them off the tree and they stored a bunch in their snack cups. It was getting late and hot and I was getting pretty tired so we headed back. Aiden had a hard time making it back but Eli was full of energy. I actually had to slow him down so that he would stay in my sight while I was trying to encourage Aiden to pedal more and/or take less breaks. I finally told them that if they made it back all the way (Nana was on stand-by to come get us) they could have a movie night (watch a movie and eat on the picnic blanket in the living room). Aiden was exhausted but made it. Eli was full of energy and probably could have kept going for a while longer. That's nice to know seeing how he plays the "I'm too tired" card when any kind of walking is involved. :)

I had a Cutco service person come to the house to sharpen our knives about 1.5 weeks ago. While he was doing his thing, Eli (who was fully dressed the man got here) comes out in a full pirate costume. I couldn't even keep a straight face. The cutco guy was laughing and Eli played pirate for a while. This child is so random but so funny.

I decided we hadn't painted in a while and Eli normally loves to paint but usually I don't have the energy or patience for it. I've been making a point to be 100% engaged when I do something purposeful with the boys and wanted to paint with sponges. I cut them up and got the paint all ready and was excited. Eli painted for about 2 minutes and then decides he is done and doesn't want to paint anymore. Aiden got in to it quite a bit. He eventually put an apron on and painted a lizard and a person walking it. He's become so creative and willing to try and draw things. School has really helped him with this and I'm so excited for him. He has always been so scared to try and draw/write things because he will "mess up" or "doesn't know how to do it right" and I'm so glad he's been able to let go of that some and just try.

Aiden has been asking if I can bring Eli to school for lunch. Aiden's lunch is at 10:30 which is pretty early so I finally put it in my schedule to do. Eli was so excited to go. I told Aiden's teacher we were coming because he's been wanting to show me a journal that he has a school and she said he could bring it to lunch next time I come. He chose his Science Journal. So far it's a bunch of colors and he has to glue a small sheet of paper onto his notebook paper and then complete it (write the color and then do a little activity near the bottom). On the other page he has to draw various things that are the same color. I took a picture of this page, Orange. He drew some of the same thing on the right side that was in the picture on the left but he didn't have to.  I was so impressed especially with his jack-o-lantern.

Eli gave Aiden a huge hug when it was time for him to go. Eli was pretty excited that we left Aiden's school (where he did eat a decent lunch) and was able to go to daycare and eat lunch again. It turns out though that he wasn't hungry for much.

The Oakleaf Chick-fil-a had a carnival a week ago and we went (it was a Monday or Tuesday night). It was awesome. They totally outdid themselves and put on quite a show. While we were waiting to get our tickets to get in to the carnival, a man on stilts came over to us. The boys thought that was pretty cool and the man was juggling and even played catch with Aiden. Eli was too shy to play catch though. We got in and the tickets that we got to get in were then used for the candy jar booth. They got to pick out 3 kinds of candy to go in a bag which they thought was pretty fun. Nana went to wait in line for the ferris wheel and I took the boys around to some other random booths. They had a mini blinko board and the boys won a free cookie and free Dr. Pepper drink. The threw some bean bags through holes and won a cow too. It was then time for the ferris wheel. 

They were pretty excited and had a ton of fun on it. It's hard to see their faces but they loved it. We then waited in the train line for about 30 minutes. I tried to talk to the boys out of it because we rode the train a few weeks ago and could come back in a few weeks to ride it again. They said they wanted to wait for it though. So we finally got on the train and while we rode the train Nana went over to the ferris wheel and got in line for it again. We literally got off the train and then the boys got to ride the ferris wheel one more time right when we got off the train.

The boys had a really fun night and it was a great even that Chick-fil-a hosted.

 I set up another bike obstacle course again the other day before school. I know Aiden goes and sits all day from 8:30 until 12:30pm which is when he has PE so I try and get him moving in the morning if we have time. They have fun and it's a great way to start the day. In this picture Eli is navigating through all the curves.

Aiden had Parent Night last week at school. The first 20 minutes were for parents of K-2 to go the classrooms and see what has been going on and then to listen about the new grading procedures for the other 40 minutes. Aiden was really excited to show me all his other stuff. I was amazed. He has a Poetry Journal!! It focuses on a letter and then there is a 4 line rhyme using that letter and then a little song at the bottom. He has to glue that on one page and then has to draw a picture of it on the other. Towards the beginning of the journal (before they start working on the letters) they had some open-ended questions. One was "I can ...." Aiden wrote "I can love." and then drew this picture (see pic to the left) on the other page. He said he was dancing with me (I'm not sure if I'm the brown person or orange and blue) and the hearts showed how much he loves me. My heart just melted. So sweet.

Nana asked if Aiden wanted to help her make some cookies last week. He said and then runs out to the craft/game area. I then hear all this weird noise. I go to see what he is doing and he's bringing the art easel over to the kitchen and says "I'll write down the rules." What? Rules? We are cooking. He then proceeds to come up and writes down the following rules:
1. Follow directions [on the cookie mix].
2. Be safe.
3. Clean hands.
4. Clean up your mess.
5. No snezzing on cookies.
6. Don't eat all the cookies.
7. Make sure you share cookies.

The kid cracks me up. I picked up Eli from daycare and once he got home and washed his hands, he was allowed to help too. I was shocked that they both made a few cookies. They have never make a cookie ball for me. They put one finger in it and say it's gross and won't touch it.

 Last Saturday I took the boys down to the pool in the morning at 10am. We were the first ones there! Nana came down a bit later and joined us which was great. It was nice and relaxing and we enjoyed it. It worked out well because it rained all afternoon so we were stuck inside.

Last Saturday marked one week I have been on my new medication. I found out that 28 days worth of medicine costs $6200. Yeah. You read that right. Wow. The first days felt like no change but I then started to notice one of my medications that typically has not worked, started working (it's called Provigil). After a week on the new medicine, you are supposed to tritrate up to the next highest dose. I am super sensitive to many medicines so I decided to not go quite so high as they recommended. I took my 10pm dose and then woke up at 2am, felt very drugged still, but went ahead and took my 2nd dose like I'm supposed to. I woke up on Sunday morning and had a headache, was nauseous, and very dizzy. I knew it was from my medicine dosage and thought it would wear off in a few hours. It didn't. I missed sunday school and church. The boys were so good though and played so well together which was a blessing. I could barely stand up to even fix their breakfast. My doctor was not reachable so I called the drug manufacturer and they had a pharmacist call me right away. He said it was just taking my body a little longer to eliminate the drug but it would be gone in a few hours (this was 10:30am). Nothing had changed by 5pm. I called again and talked with the same pharmacist and he told me the problem was not from the drug because the drug is so fast acting that it was out of my bloodstream and it was something out and I should get it checked out ASAP. I thought about it, talked with Brad, thought about it, and then realized I waited all day and it wasn't even a tad better so why would it be better after sleeping. I wasn't about to take the medication again that night in case it was the medicine and it might have an additive effect. I needed to teach on Monday morning so I decided the ER was the right choice for me. Problem: how do I get there when I clearly can't drive (I could barely walk) and my mom can't take me because some needs to be with the kids who I just put to bed? I had to take a stupid ambulance!!!
To make a long story short, the Orange Park Medical Center was so amazed at the medication that I was on that they had never heard of that they pretty much just focused on that. I did have 2 awesome church friends (Christina and Mrs. Linda Ferguson) meet me at the hospital and these crazy women stayed with me from 8:30ish until I was released at 2am!!! Now that is a friend. Needless to say, they didn't know what was wrong and thought it was the medication. I canceled my JU class which I felt HORRIBLE about and then went to bed by 3am. I spoke with my dr on Monday morning and he said it wasn't the new medication and then made a phone call and sent an e-mail to Stanford (where all the really smart people in the world of narcolepsy and this drug are at). Someone from Standford even called to talk with me. All day monday I was crazy dizzy but was able to eventually eat some saltines and 7-up. Tuesday morning was still pretty bad and I was getting so discouraged. I literally couldn't do anything. Even shutting my eyes made me really dizzy. By Tuesday late afternoon I started to feel some relief and that was great. I was taking zofran around the clock because I was so nauseous that I couldn't even eat anything which I'm sure wasn't helping the dizziness.

On Wednesday, it was Eli's 4th birthday. Mrs. Chari, Eli's teacher, is so awesome and made a sign for the door since 2 kids in her class had birthdays this week. Eli had a good day (I left a balloon and play-doh for his class) on Tuesday evening. I barely made it through work on Wednesday and thought I was going to pass out a few times.

Once Aiden got home from school, he helped Nana and I wrap presents for Eli and then decided to make a tent for Eli's puppies. While I went to get Eli, Aiden and Nana made this tent for Eli and decorated it. It was so thoughtful of Aiden!! I'll write more about Eli's birthday in the next post.

I took this picture on Thursday. Here is Aiden peeling his carrot that he was having in his lunch on Friday. No he wasn't eating the whole thing but I love how much he likes to help in the kitchen.




This week has been so crazy with me feeling so incredibly horrible for a few days and then trying to prepare for Eli's party which was difficult because the RSVP list doubled after the please respond by date. I don't get that. I had wednesday as the cut off date and got 3 RSVP by then and then got 1 one Thursday night and 2 on early friday morning. I had already made all the goodie bags so then had to go buy more stuff. It was all good though. Eli had an awesome birthday party today. I'll write about that in a few days hopefully.

3/22 - Playground and Brush Buddies

We came back from Atlanta and enjoyed just hanging out and lounging in the backyard one night. Below is a picture of daddy and Eli in the hammock and Aiden crawling up top.

I just love this picture below of Brad and Eli. Daddy is giving Eli is a kiss and Eli is as happy as can be in his daddy's loving arms. Love it!!

I even got a chance to get in the hammock and get a little snuggle time with my boys.  It was starting to get chilly so it was easy to get them up there with me.

Of course we couldn't get through the week without someone getting sick. Eli probably had the flu. Now that Aiden has had it twice and Eli has had it at least once, we are becoming experts. Eli did get a really high fever and I tried to take him to the ER but we sat there for 2 hours and had not even been triaged yet so I left. We knew what to do but were hoping to get him some tamiflu. I got him home and and to bed and we just let him have the next few days to heal.

Eli had to take a trip to Target with me one day and I tried putting bunny ears on him but he wasn't quite in the mood for that. I still think he looks cute. :)

Eli really missed having his friends and Aiden to play with during the day while he was sick.

After having the thermometer used so much on him, Eli said he was going to see if daddy was sick. Eli really does pick up on the things we say and do. He would tell Brad that he was sick and needed to stay and bed and drink lots of water. 

On Saturday morning, Brad decided to take the boys out so I could get my mid-term grades submitted. He took them to the commissary and exchange and they had fun. Aiden decided he doesn't like the new drink cups because "they make him use too many finger muscles." Brad and I started laughing and I said Mrs. Rusty (his OT therapist) would be so excited to hear that. We love these cups because they truly do not leak at all AND there are no dumb valves to clean or anything.

Saturday afternoon we played around the house but it was so nice out that the little boys and I decided to go to the playground at the elementary school down the street from us. We walked over there and played for a little over an hour. Here is Aiden on the top of the climbing dome thing.

Eli enjoyed riding on the 4-way teeter totter.

Here they are both climbing the dinosaur rock wall. Aiden (on he right) is doing the hard side and made it all the way up. Eli (on the left) had just decided he didn't want to do it by himself and started climbing down.

Eli and I had a battle of the wills the other morning. To make a long story short, he didn't get his way. It was a really tough morning for both of us. He has to learn that there are consequences to his decisions and crying will not reward him for the things that he wants. We just pulled in to daycare when I took this picture. He has no shirt on ... or socks ... or shoes. It was pretty chilly out too. Needless to day, once he got to his classroom he calmed down and put his shirt on and socks. He then had to eat breakfast at daycare for the first time because he chose not to eat at home. He settled down and started using his words and his world became much better. I must say, it would have been so much easier to give in and just let him get what he wanted (eat breakfast in his pajamas) but thought would have taught him that when he cries, he gets what he wants. No Buena.

Aiden had therapy on Tuesday. He got to practice hitting a ball while on a scooter board, catching and throwing bean bags while on a trampoline, and climbing up a rope into the spandex swing and then having to put on his socks once he was in the swing. The person that sees Mrs. Rusty after Aiden was going to do feeding therapy so Aiden asked, "when do I do feeding therapy again?" I said we could do it anytime and asked if next week was ok. He said, "no, I like playing better than eating." Haha.

There is this bridge on our way to therapy that Aiden has always wanted to stop at and walk on (it's a pedestrian walkway) and we stopped after therapy on Tuesday. He was so excited and had a blast just walking around. I felt like one of the semi-trucks was going to whack into the bridge but Aiden was not nervous at all. 

He said he wanted to bring Eli back with us and go on the bridge again. what a sweet heart this little boy has.

After therapy we came home for rest time. After an hour of no sleeping for Aiden, I let him up and he helped me paint a paper towel roll. I'm not sure what exactly we are going to do with it but it worked out perfected to paint on the paper towel holder in the cabinet.

So I apologize if the post below is gross. I've even made the picture smaller so it's not too gross. Below is a series of pictures from Aiden's arm. You can actually see it in the picture above (it's his right forearm). We took him to the dr on Monday and they are not sure if it's a brown recluse spider bite or this weird childhood rash/skin thing. It started off as a tiny little mark like he was bitten by a mosquito or something and then started growing. I meant to take a picture of it today because even though it has grown in size (it's about a quarter-size now versus starting off about a dime-size), it is actually looking better.

Yesterday the boys got a special treat - it was Brush Buddies day at daycare. It happens once a month and costs $12-15. They did it a few months ago for Christmas but they have been doing Big Green Bus rather than painting. They both asked to paint this month so Brad and I let them. Eli was in the 2nd group of kids. This poor child isn't sure if he's a righty or lefty but primarily used his left hand to paint on this day. He holds the brush all funny but he gets the job done. He was having a blast. He did a great job of following instructions. 

Aiden went in the third group. I wasn't planning on staying at daycare this long but both boys wanted me to see them paint and take some pictures. Aiden did a very good job as well. He used the correct grip only about 50% of the time but managed to do a pretty good job of staying within the boundaries of the cross. I was asked to take Aiden's group downstairs to the nap room after they were done. I didn't realize how long it would take all of them to go potty and wash their hands. Actually, going potty was pretty fast but for some reason, they only have one stool for the kids to use in the bathroom to wash their hands to when you have multiple potties but only one stool, there is going to be a long wait to wash hands or some nasty kids with dirty hands. I'm not sure why they don't bring in another stool because I think that would significantly speed things up. Either way, they all went potty and made it down to the nap room. 

The boys had fun this week at daycare. Next week will be a short week because they only go to daycare on Monday and Tuesday and then we head to TN to go to Chattanooga. Fun times.

10/11/12 - Aiden's therapy & my medical

That is a cool date so I felt the need to write the entire date out rather than just the month and day. Here are some pictures from Aiden's therapy session this week. He got to swing on a giant pole with a platform and thought that was pretty fun. He actually didn't like to swing on anything when he first started therapy and would ask to be all done right after getting on.

Mrs. Rusty had him do an obstacle course kind of thing this week. He had to climb up the rope ladder, put paper clips all around a sheet of paper, and then go across the monkey bars (with help). I need to remember that he is supposed to have his thumb wrapped around the bar in the opposite direction of his fingers. He likes to put his fingers and thumb in the same direction but that isn't going to help his grip strength and muscle control. After he went across the monkey bars, he had to cut a piece of paper.  

He cracks me up because he asked Mrs. Rusty why her paper was so hard to cut. It was a piece of card stock, almost as thick as a think piece of cardboard. That reminds me, I was about to recycle a cereal box this morning and I should pull it out and give it to Aiden as an option for therapy. He could draw shapes on it and then cut them out!!! One of the many neat things I am learning from his therapist here is she has lots of ideas of things that I can do with him at home with stuff from either around the house or things that are pretty cheap.

Once he finally got through cutting the hard paper, he got to go down the slide on his belly and then he had to wheel barrow up a ramp. It was neat because he likes doing a "job" and then being rewarded for it. One of his favorite games at home is Treasure Map. Brad and I hide coins or tokens around the house in a few places and we give the boys directions to go find a token. They find it and then we give them directions to the next token. By accident a week or so ago, we also realized it's a GREAT exercise for them to hide them and tell us where they are. Eli doesn't do such a good job because he just runs and points to it and says where it is at. He just turned 3 though so he gets a break. Aiden has to work at it to find the right words to tell us where it is at using directions rather than just where it is. For example, rather than saying the token is 'in the kitchen on a chair at the little table' he'll say "where Eli and I eat sit to eat breakfast." It might not sound that complicated but giving us clues rather than the exact location has helped him learn how to describe things better which helps him communicate better with us.

OK. Back to the obstacle course. After his wheel barrow walk, he had to trace a stencil outline on a special sheet of paper. He had to use a thin pencil-type instrument (it's just a wood stick with a point) to try and scratch away the black crayon/covering so he could see the sparkles underneath. He said it was too hard and wasn't such a fan of that. Once he was done with that though he got to go on a zip line and then hover over the ball pit for 20 seconds (a fast-counting 20 seconds). That was great. His grip strength isn't that great so he has a hard time hanging from monkey bars and such so this was good practice for him and it was still fun. He actually asked to go in the ball pit too. That usually never happens. He's making such improvements. I'm so happy for him. We are going to start incorporating feeding therapy this week which should be good. He still has a very rough time eating and exploring new foods. On a good note though, shower time is going a little more smoothly. He won't take a bath but he will shower and he knows he has to use soap so the whining and complete meltdowns are starting to decrease. It's a quick shower. Once he finally thinks the temperature of the water is right (this sometimes takes longer than the actual shower because luke warm in his world is "hot"), he plays for 1 min or so and then I have about 2 min to soap his body and hair and rinse it all off before a breakdown occurs.

I signed up Aiden and Eli for a painting class at their daycare. This lady comes in a teaches them how to paint using various tools. I wasn't going to ask Eli if he wanted to do it but he was there when I took Aiden to see the painting of what they would be making in class. Aiden said he didn't want to do it and Eli said he wanted to. That was completely backwards from what I was thinking. I knew Aiden would be okay sensory-wise to do it because they were using brushes and a knife looking thing. I thought Eli was too young to be able to do anything. Needless to say, I signed them both up.

They did a great job! Aiden's is on the left and Eli's is on the right. Eli came home with paint in his ears and on his arms and face. He's so crazy and messy. Aiden said he had a good time too. When I asked him to tell me what he did he first asked if it was all dry. He then explained to Brad and I how to make the pedals larger by doing longer strokes and was showing us the motion. He also told us the order he did everything. The red background was first, then the center of the sunflower, and then how he did the yellow part. They are going to offer the painting class once a month. If the boys like it, I'll let them keep doing it. They had lots of fun.

I've been experiencing some problems lately and was in the ER about 2 weeks all day on a Friday. I had to drink a HUGE think of liquid and then wait for a few hours and they did a CT scan of my abdomen to see if everything was working okay. During the CT scan, they then injected some kind of dye into my IV line and took some more pictures. They determined that the problem I was experiencing was coming from my colon. They then gave me a note to give to my primary care that said I needed to be seen by a gastrointerologist ASAP. On Monday morning, a nurse from my primary care contacted me and said I had an appointment on Thursday at 1:00pm with this dr. I saw this doctor (although I had to wait forever) and he said I needed a colonoscopy ASAP so he scheduled me for Monday morning. In case you don't know (I didn't realize it), you have to prep for a colonoscopy which is actually the worst part. My doctor follows very strict guideline about what you can and cannot eat and my last meal was Friday afternoon. I had vegetable soup for dinner and then no more solids until Monday after the procedure. Needless to say, I have never drank so much in my life and was so sick of drinking by 12:00am the night before the procedure, that I didn't want to see any liquid for the next few days. We had some logistical problems about me getting to the procedure. I needed to be there at 6:00am but since I was going to be sedated, I had to have someone else there with me to drive. Well, daycare isn't open that early and I'm certainly not going to wake up the boys that early to come sit in a nasty waiting room for hours on end just so Brad can drive. I sent out an e-mail to our pastor and the spouses running club members who live in Prattville (about 7-8). Needless to say, one of the spouses agreed to pick me up at 5:20am and take me to Montgomery and wait until Brad could get there at about 8:00am. Well, to give you the reader's digest version, I was done by 7:45am and was waking up from the anesthesia. The doctor came and told me (and my driver) what was wrong, and then we were done. I texted Brad and told him not to come and we ended up meeting him for some breakfast. They found a few things wrong and did some biopsies. I go back in 1.5 more weeks to get all the findings. I had to stop by the office earlier this week so they could do one more lab. I have a medication I am supposed to be taking in the mean time but I've only taken it once. I finally sat down and did some research to see what the implications were if I didn't take the medication because I actually feel pretty good right now. Needless to say, after I read what can happen if it goes untreated, I started the medication. The medication is just a week-long dose but ..... I'm praying it's worth the effort. :)

I also been feeling extremely tired lately and am still fighting a battle to get in to see the endocrinologist. My autoimmune system is just not working quite right and I'm praying we can get it figured out. The boys (all 3 of them) are so sweet. When I couldn't eat for a couple of days, Brad took the boys out at night to eat which was really sweet. When we picked up the boys on the monday after my procedure, Aiden asked if I was "allowed to eat food now." He has such a sweet heart.