Pictures and Updates

Two freshly bathed brothers snug in the chair. Most of the time they love each other. 

Mr. Handsome Young GQ, ready to head to school. 

 In January we celebrated Ahren's 6th birthday. He chose a Kung Fu Panda cake. We also ate a late breakfast at a restaurant, went bowling and opened presents. Unfortunately, 20 minutes into bowling Ahren was too tired to continue and just watched after that.

 Blowing out the candles!

There are many dead trees all around this area with lots of branches falling on the ground. I have been sending the boys into the edge of the forest with a wagon to gather wood.We have been having bonfires and eating hotdogs and marshmallows. Ever since we did this in Missouri at Uncle Randy and Aunt Carla's house, they have wanted to do this every weekend.

 Each boy has to have a big fire-poking stick, which inevitably ends up on fire itself. We have to watch the boys closely or they will suffer the same fate as their fire-poking sticks. (catch on fire)

 Of course the dogs have to be right there in the fun. They are just smelly 4-legged boys!

In January we also celebrated Seth's second Gotcha Day. He asked for a race car cake, so I looked on line and then went with this idea. Unfortunately I had less than 2 hours to bake, cool and decorate the cake before we celebrated. It is pretty messy, but he loved it. Plus it tasted really good!

We were getting ready to put away Christmas decorations and had the empty tubs out. I turned my back for a minute and discovered Scuba Steve in my tub!

That was nothing compared to what i found in my bed one morning after I took my shower. Who put the ugly kid in my bed???? On my pillow????

Seth was Star of the Week at school last week. It involved a little blue bear spending the weekend with us, our having to document the festivities, write about the weekend and make a poster about it. (I swear teachers don't have a clue what a weekend in our house is like. To accomplish this assignment almost killed us)

Playing legos with Little Blue.

 Watching TV with Little Blue, Ahren and his bear Little Brown.

Playing with Bogart and the bears. Poor Bogey is not sure he likes bears this much.

The boys invented some sort of game where they all dress up and run around our land with toy guns. We watched them the other day and laughed and laughed as we watched them run across the field in formation then suddenly hit the dirt and point their weapons at the sky, then jump up and run and hide. They played for hours. Ahren came in to take a rest but did not break character.

Visual learning and the young/special needs child. Small children and those who act younger due to special needs can really benefit from visual learning. I decided to try it out on my three boys to help avoid the frustrations we have been having getting ready in the mornings. Honestly this was driven by sheer desperation. I was ending up too fried by the time i dropped them at school and was really tired of repeating each command over and over again with no results.

I spent one morning inventing charts that detailed each step of our routine. I added an image of the time on a clock with the time printed out, then pictures of the individual chore to complete in that time window, a short description of the chore, and then velco dots where they move the image of themselves as they complete each item. Each morning I wake them up, then just call out the time and remind them to move their person. We have done this for one week and I can say that for Seth and Ahren it is working beautifully. they LOVE following the chart, moving their person and completing tasks. Levi isn't much interested in it, but he never really was the problem. he gets himself up and dressed each morning without any problem. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the charts continue to work miracles.

Birthday Boy

Seth is now officially 6 years old, and for 2 months he will be 'older' than Ahren. As usual, we managed to drag the festivities out over several days. The weekend before his birthday he got to have a friend over for the day. The friend brought him the coolest rocket launching toy gun. Then on his actual birthday (a school night) we had a special dinner and treats. Then, that weekend we went out to eat at his choice of restaurant (Red Lobster) then had cake and presents. 

We ordered his cake the week before but when I went to pick it up they had forgotten to make it! Luckily, the head baker jumped in, found what she needed and one hour later I went back and picked up this. It actually was better than usual since she had used cake that just came out of the oven and it was so fresh and moist. Seth loved it!

Time to open presents. These are just the ones from us. He had other presents and cards too. Spoiled kids? Naw, just really loved!

First present, a new helmet. Isn't that adorable...umm, I mean really scary???

His little brains are now safe and sound while he rides around like a crazed lunatic.

Next came the football he wanted.  One just his size so he can throw and catch.

Of course there were some Legos. Like we don't have enough....

And finally his big gift, a new Razor scooter. Within sixty seconds of taking this picture he was out shooting down the driveway at warp speed, giving his Mama a heart attack.

We all had a great time celebrating Seth's sixth birthday, and he didn't seem to have any fallout afterwards. I think our little man is growing up.

Ahren, Allergies and Asthma (nice alliteration!)

We had suspected for a long time that Ahren had asthma, or at least asthmatic tendencies. Every time he got a cold he would always get a bad wheezy cough. Then two weeks ago a cold, wet front moved in on a Monday and by that evening Ahren had a little cough. No fever, no runny/stuffy nose, just a cough. No big deal. Well, throughout the night his cough got worse and worse. I gave him a breathing treatment early that morning and it did absolutely nothing. I got the other boys ready for school early and dropped them off the second the doors opened and then debated on whether to run to our doctors office 3 minutes away or head to the ER 30 min away. I knew our doctors office opens early and I would make it just as they opened their doors, so as they unlocked we were coming in. it turned out to be a good call because by that point he was in moderate to severe pulmonary obstruction and heading downhill. We spent the next couple of hours fighting to get him breathing well. He received a high dose of steroids in a shot and in a breathing treatment, he got 2 breathing treatments with heavy duty meds to relax his airways (meds that were new to me) and when he finally was breathing much better, we headed to the pharmacy to get 4 new prescriptions. Two days later he was worse again and back to the doctor for another shot of steroids. We also scheduled allergy testing for this past Monday. 

The allergy testing went very well. They used a lidocaine cream to numb his back so he didn't really feel a thing. We began with the easy portion of the test, the scratch test. Each little scratchy applicator is dipped into liquid allergens and then scratched into the surface of the skin. After 20 minutes the spots are measured for a swollen red reaction bump to see if they are positive. Shoot, poor Ahren didn't hardly make it to the twenty minutes and she was scrubbing the allergens off and reaching for Benadryl. His whole back looked like he had been stung by a swarm of bees.  In fact, he was so hugely positive for almost everything that he doesn't even have to do the second half of the test where they inject the allergen under the skin with a higher dose. He will begin allergy treatment as soon as they can formulate his serum and we will have to have epi-pens on hand at all times in case of a life threatening reaction. 

So what is he allergic to? Almost every single environmental allergen except for dogs and pigweed. He is also allergic to wheat, soy, peanuts, strawberries and celery. (Celery? Is that even possible?) So starting immediately we have adjusted his diet, alerted his school, and begun reading the labels on all food. (OK, why do they print those ingredient lists in teeny, tiny print when they are so important?) It seems so far that even gluten-free products can contain soy, or a product will say wheat-free but also state it is NOT a gluten-free product. I thought Gluten came from wheat? And what is soy lecithin? They call it a stabilizer but is it really soy and therefore off limits? I have been opting for cooking my own recipes to avoid some of the hidden dangers, plus sticking to fresh whole foods that don't have hidden ingredients. 

And so, I set out to make Ahren's favorite food. Pancakes. All-Recipes is my friend and I downloaded a highly rated recipe and headed to the store. I was amazed that they had almost every single ingredient in my local grocery. So on Sunday morning, I cooked our big family breakfast and we all enjoyed Ahren allergen-free pancakes. 

Then I decided to make Ahren allergen-free brownies. They turned out wonderfully! I couldn't tell the difference. It is going to take me some time to really get the hang of this diet, but I can do it. I almost messed up on Saturday while we were out running around. I needed to feed the kids and was heading for McDonalds when it struck me. The only thing he could eat was the french fries. So after a bit of racking my brian, I swung into Panda Express and got him a chicken/rice bowl. I just hope there wasn't any hidden dangers in it, but I think I can find their ingredients on the web and know for sure in the future.

Roadtrip 2011!

This past fall. we decided to get brave (or possibly insane...?) and planned a road trip of epic preportions for our motley crew. We desperately wanted to see family but the thought of trying to keep 3 little rambunctious boys happy and regulated through 32+ hours of driving plus a week staying with family was a wee bit scary. (Yeah, major understatement there. We were petrified!) But we decided to try anyway. I spent weeks getting prepared. We rented a bigger van, each boy had a basket of entertainment that sat on the floor next to their seat, we had a huge selection of snacks, we had DVD players, hand held video games, books, stickers, colors, books on CD and headphones for each child. I packed minimal clothes, counting on layering clothes if it got really cold, and the fact we would have access to a washer and dryer.  (And I packed a pile of knitting to keep me sane and calm)

And so we set forth.....

Over the river and through the woods

To Grandmothers House we went.

(and Grandpa too!)

The boys on Thanksgiving Day, all dressed up and on their best behavior.

Chris and his father, two peas from the same pod. Some nuts don't fall far from the tree!

Seth was attached to Grandpa from the word GO. Grandpa didn't seem to mind that he suddenly developed a second shadow.

Levi watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, trying not to get too anxious to eat while smelling all the super yummy food!

Heading out to take hay bales to the cattle. Chris's parents live on a real working ranch deep in the heart of America. They are the salt of the earth, just like Chris. You couldn't ask to meet better people. 

Bye bye, off to feed hungry cattle!

Cousin Dustin challenges the motley crew to a Wii game (we brought our own Wii just to have something to entertain the crew when they grew restless. Brilliant idea! It entertained everyone!

The action in the danger zone. Food was coming out of everywhere. Home made breads and pastries, turkey, cookies, cakes, roasts, pizza and pasta, and a host of other gourmet goodies flowed out of this kitchen all week long. We didn't complain! It was the best cooking I have had in a long, long time!!!

We did a lot of relaxing. I have to say that as nervous as I was about this trip, I ended up being the most relaxed I have been in years. I felt like I had travelled a million miles away from my troubles and entered the home of perfect calm. The boys were well behaved and happy, we didn't stress about anything, and it was the most rest I can remember getting since I had kids. Seriously, it was better than any spa!

More food and family. Oh, and the laughing! Chris's family is hysterical! They had me laughing so hard my ribs are still sore!!!!!!

The end result was that the trip was the treasure of a lifetime. Good memories, good family, great food and many, many laughs. The bonfire at Uncle Randy's and Aunt Carla's. The visit to the dam nature center, even eating at the big buffet in town with the chocolate fountain. The boys still talk about it. The drive was even fine! We drove straight back (almost 17 hours) because the kids were sick and we needed to get back in time to get them to the doctor. No one whined, cried or got mad, not even once! We didn't even have to stop very often. It was a true blue miracle!!!!!

Hmmm, let's see...

What has been happening around here lately....

Legos have multiplied and now cover nearly all horizontal surfaces. Are they related to Tribbles (from Star trek the original)

Somehow one large dog has decided that the bestest place to sleep in the entire house is on top of me. I wake up pinned to the bed and stiff and sore. Great, the dog loves me!

The ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapy Seth has been receiving has opened a floodgate of emotions. Now that he understands emotions and has a name for them, we are seeing many emotions flow out of him each day. This is a wonderful thing, but also very trying. Having a child who cries and whines all day long is exhausting! One minute he is clinging to my leg like a toddler and the next his anger flares and he is kicking the wall, all with little or no provocation. Still, I am proud of him for working through these emotions. He can tell me what he is feeling now and actually talk about it. Amazing!

Work is amazingly busy and rewarding. Each breakthrough gives me goosebumps and nearly reduces me to tears. I am registered to get my certification this year, a tough and demanding process. Wish me luck! I have written essay questions, a written exam and oral exam to complete by October. I am super-psyched to get this certification!

Kaytee begins her first semester at Texas A&M in a few days. She is registered for 5 classes, has her books and has studied the campus bus schedule. She did it all on her own. I am so proud and yet so sad. My baby doesn't need my help. Aw heck, I am just so proud!

Ashley has already earned her Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) certificate this year as a junior in high school. She is now working on an EMT certification and a Pharmacy Tech certification. She should have both by the time she graduates at the end of next year. She attends a special school in Dallas for kids interested in medical careers. By the time she is 18 years old she will be more certified than many adults in the work force. Can you say 'Overachiever'?

Ahren is going to see a diagnostic/genetics specialist soon. The last specialist agreed 'something' is really wrong, but never could define it. His last idea was to wait and see if he has new symptoms or detiorates further. Yeah, I can't sit by and wait for that! I'll keep you posted.

Levi has had a sudden burst in independence. He gets himself up in the morning, gets dressed, and brushes his teeth. He can also take a shower (complete with appropriate soapage) and get his pj's on all by himself. The only problem is that the child has absolutely no fashion sense. I hate to correct him and make him him feel bad so I am forced to let him go to school dressed in bright blue track pants and a green/brown camo shirt. At least the clothes are clean.....

Oh, one last member of the family I failed to mention. My sweet teddy-bear of a husband is still the love of my life, my rock, my soft spot to fall and the funniest man I know. I know you are jealous!

Doctors can be WRONG!

  Oh my sweet Ashley. She has unfortunately inherited a thyroid disorder from my side of the family that causes weight gain, lethargy, enlarged thyroid/goiter, dry skin, hair loss, problems concentrating and depression. This disorder is well-documented in my family. If left untreated, or poorly treated the end result is a life-threatening enlargement of the thyroid gland that restricts the airway and esophagus, and cancer of the thyroid.

  The normal blood tests that look at thyroid function look perfectly normal in those suffering this disorder, because the assays only look at the presence of the hormone. Unfortunately, in our family, the hormone is there but non-functional. Normal blood work, no active hormone equals bad news.

  Ashley was diagnosed at the age of 8 years old with this disorder and began treatment. The treatment helped immensely and her symptoms resolved. Unfortunately (I am using that word a lot!) her doctors after she moved to Dallas failed to increase the dose as she grew and had a very poor understanding of the disease.

  Fast forward to the present. Her general doctor has a vague understanding of the issues and agreed that continued medication was called for, but since this was not his area of expertise, he wanted her to see a pediatric endocrinologist. It took 9 months to get her into one, and then the fun began. (Heavy note of sarcasm)

  First of all, after the med student spent 20 minutes getting a detailed history, the doctor failed to look at any of it. She waltzed into the room, her lab coat flapping open to reveal very low hung tight jeans and a tight tee shirt that rode up revealing her abdomen and tattoos. (WTF?) She then proceeded to spend 4 minutes listening to the abbreviated history and reason Ash was there, then proclaimed that all the other doctors were wrong. Ashley did NOT have a thyroid problem, it was probably something else and she needed to get off meds right away. So Ashley weaned off of the support and began to feel like crap, gain weight, and struggle with overwhelming tiredness.

  I made many phone calls trying to explain our family history to the nurses or doctor. All I got was the run-around. So since i couldn't be at her next appointment, I wrote out a very detailed summary of the family history, what the genetic basis was for the disorder, how to test accurately for it, and how to treat it effectively. I was as detailed and informative as I could be.

  Yesterday, they had the follow-up appointment. The doctor argued with everything I had written and said it 'couldn't possibly' be the same thing her aunt and grandmother suffered from because that was just too rare. OMG WTF ^^&($*%*#$&&^^&)(&*^DFC!!!! I have no words for Doctor Hussy. if you have a strong family history of a condition, and the child exhibits every single symptom of the disorder and has previously been diagnosed with the disorder then treated for it and it improved, how in the heck can you even begin to think it is NOT that?

  I am preparing to write a letter of complaint to both her superiors and the AMA. This is criminal. If left untreated, Ashley will suffer her entire life and possibly face cancer, life threatening conditions and many surgeries. All because Doctor Hussy is stuck in  her own mind set.

I want to slap that woman silly. Or worse. Much worse. Needless to say, we are seeking out a new endocrinologist.

2012 Hooray!

  A new year filled with hopes and dreams, resolutions and promises, and lots and lots of cooped up kiddos! We are lucky here this time of year. It has been mild and sunny allowing us to get the boys out of the house and physically active every day. I have been taking them on long walks. Our route covers two miles and goes up and down gentle hills. Boys and dogs are all tired by the time we arrive back home. Yesterday we walked it once in the morning and again in the late afternoon. Poor Ahren was so tired on the second walk that I literally dragged him the last mile. It is so much harder for him but he didn't complain. He was a trooper! Afterwards his poor little legs were so tired I sat him in a warm bath to soothe them. It is very important to keep him as active as possible to maintain as much muscle as we can.
  We take the two boxers on the walks and they are extremely well behaved, even the puppy! The boys, on the other hand, seem oblivious to my commands that they get out of the middle of the street, stop picking up trash, and stay out of the muddy ditches. Boys....maybe I should have put the leashes on them instead of the dogs! (Oooh that is sooo tempting.....hahahah)

  The week following Christmas went so much smoother than the previous week. I think the anticipation brought out the worst in my munchkins. There were many instances of pinching, hitting, kicking, name calling and even a chopstick stabbing (more of a poke). By the time the big day arrived I had lost every shred of my patience and was ready to push the tree over and run away. Christmas day was very pleasant and calm....to say I was shocked is an understatement. They shared and laughed and played happily together all day, and the next day and the next and so on. I am actually sad that they go back to school tomorrow and I have to return to work. This has been a lovely week.

  Therapy has been really helping Seth. He is starting to process some of the things that have hurt him in the past and is talking more and more about his feelings. It's always amazing when he has a breakthrough and also incredibly sad. He has made such amazing progress. In fact, when he has a breakthrough now there is very little fallout afterwards. His 'behaviors' are now limited to poor impulse control including the pinching, hitting, etc (minor offenses but without sufficient provocation) and lying. His teacher is working with us on both of these issues and she holds him to a pretty tough standard. That is great because he is a super-smarty who quickly figures out how to work the system.  If she acted like she felt in the least bit sorry for him, he would run with it. Instead, he is treated fairly and just like all the other kids. There is no gray area, the consequences are black and white. He responds best to this approach.

  One of these days I will actually catch up on my posts and pictures, but for now I am just moving forward. Forward feels good. Really good.

 Now it's off to scour the boys bathroom, a job that probably should require a hazmat suit. I swear, how can three little boys make such a mess. I have scrubbed the toilet so much the coating has worn off the seat. I am so glad I re-painted the walls with gloss paint that is super-washable because I am constantly washing all sorts of nastiness off of them. Dirty fingerprints, mud, toad-slime, you name it. The best idea would have been to build a floor drain into that bathroom and just epoxy-coat every surface, add a large industrial sprayer nozzle to the sink and be able to hose it down like an animal cage. In fact, I could hose the boys and the bathroom off at the same time! A brilliant idea if I do say so myself!!!!

The Holidays are tough!

I have tons of pictures from both our wonderful visit to family for Thanksgiving and then the month-long preparation and celebration of Christmas. In my head I have several funny posts and several thoughtful posts. Instead of actually writing them, I just keep coming up with excuses. You see, the holidays are tough.

Oh I know, the holidays are tough on everyone, especially Moms. We try and make the magic for everyone, stretch a dollar until it squeals like a scalded monkey, decorate and wrap and cook and sing until we want to scream, and fall into bed each night feeling inadequate and like a failure. (Or wait, is that just me???) I am determined to create memories and traditions that my kids will remember for a lifetime. I carry on some traditions that I loved as a child and have created a few new ones as well.

Right now my house is a disaster. Toys all over the floors, legos covering the kitchen table, tinsel stuck to everything and enough colored sugar and sprinkles scattered on the floors to qualify us as a sugar-hazard. Did the kids have a great Christmas? Oh yeah!!!! Was it everything I dreamed for them? Heck no. I am so stressed by the mess around me that I fail to see how happy my little ones are. I see chaos and cleaning, they see a table covered with the creations we built together as a family then played with for days. Do they see the dirty floor? No, they see the remnants of decorating cookies then eating them until their mouths were brightly colored and their tummies full of sweets. Do they notice the pile of laundry calling for my attention? No, they only remember wearing their jammies all day while we played and laughed and ate our fill of yummie holiday cooking.

So why am I so stressed? Sigh. Because I am a failure at relaxing and enjoying the here and now. I know I will miss these times in the future, so how do I learn to enjoy them now? Someone please come kick me in the arse!!!!!!!

Halloween

In October we had the annual Say No To Drugs Week where each day the kids got to wear something special. In years past there has been slippers day, hat day and sunglasses day. The favorite day this year was crazy hair day. Having only boys it challenged my mad hair skillz. Here is what we came up with.

The Alfalfa with gold glitter

The Golden Storm

Scary Mess with Green Hi-lights

Halloween is a huge trigger for trauma kiddos. I'm not sure exactly why, but invariably it brings out the demons and the behaviors we would love to forget. This year Ahren was totally un-fazed. He has only had very minor issues in the past so it did not surprise me. Seth began having terrible nightmares about 2 weeks before the holiday. I asked his therapist to work with him on the issue of Halloween so she did. My rule has always been that the kids had to wear non-violent costumes. She actually suggested that I let Seth dress up in scary costumes so that it took the mystique out of it. I was hesitant to try it, but figured it was worth a try.

Pumpkin carving. Always a favorite and yucky activity!

It was 80 degrees and no shirts meant no laundry mess. Just a quick wash up and we were done!

Will this child ever get teeth???

So, following the advice of the therapist, I let the boys choose their costumes. Ahren is Darth Vader (I wouldn't let him wear the helmet to trick-or-treat) Seth is a Zombie/Mummy and Levi is Jason (He didn't know who that was but saw the mask and thought it was cool.) Much to my surprise, Seth's nightmares stopped, he began to talk about the cool costumes and how they were make believe and fun, and he thoroughly enjoyed the evening. You know, parenting these kids is counter-intuitive at times. What you think would be the worst thing ever for them turns out to be the perfect thing to help them work through something. This obviously will not work for all kids, but in this case the therapist was dead on.

Birthday Boy

Seth is now officially 6 years old, and for 2 months he will be 'older' than Ahren. As usual, we managed to drag the festivities out over several days. The weekend before his birthday he got to have a friend over for the day. The friend brought him the coolest rocket launching toy gun. Then on his actual birthday (a school night) we had a special dinner and treats. Then, that weekend we went out to eat at his choice of restaurant (Red Lobster) then had cake and presents. 

We ordered his cake the week before but when I went to pick it up they had forgotten to make it! Luckily, the head baker jumped in, found what she needed and one hour later I went back and picked up this. It actually was better than usual since she had used cake that just came out of the oven and it was so fresh and moist. Seth loved it!

Time to open presents. These are just the ones from us. He had other presents and cards too. Spoiled kids? Naw, just really loved!

First present, a new helmet. Isn't that adorable...umm, I mean really scary???

His little brains are now safe and sound while he rides around like a crazed lunatic.

Next came the football he wanted.  One just his size so he can throw and catch.

Of course there were some Legos. Like we don't have enough....

And finally his big gift, a new Razor scooter. Within sixty seconds of taking this picture he was out shooting down the driveway at warp speed, giving his Mama a heart attack.

We all had a great time celebrating Seth's sixth birthday, and he didn't seem to have any fallout afterwards. I think our little man is growing up.