We Teach Our Kids Important Skillz

...like...communication?

(early December)

...like the importance of imitation:

(Dec. 29)

...and, of course, the need for equal time on video after seeing Baby Sister's spotlight moment. (I promise they do actually know all the words to "Jesus Loves Me." Stage fright? Eeesh.)

(I love how Collin randomly falls over and then gets completely preoccupied with the spider on Ian's shirt, haha!)

Christmas Picture

Merry Christmas (a day late), from our family to yours!

UPDATE: Emily's CT Scan

We knew we wouldn't hear much, if anything, about Emily's scans until at least Monday. When they didn't call that morning, I left a message for the nurse. She returned my call that evening, but said they still only had the radiologist's preliminary report, which didn't tell them much. I asked a lot of questions, but she was very reluctant to give any concrete answers...and the conversation ended with me feeling nervous again. (I had felt pretty optimistic after the scans.)

She said the doctor would be meeting with the attending radiologist the next morning and that we should hear something by yesterday (Tuesday) evening, probably at the end of normal business hours. I waited, but they never called.

SO, I left another voicemail for the nurse first thing this morning. She called me back a little before lunchtime.

Here's the scoop:
The tumor in Emily's leg is very small. What I thought was jellybean sized (because that was what the doctor said and how it looked on the x-ray) is actually much smaller. (This is good news!) The x-ray was blown up.

Anyway, because of the tiny size, even on a thin-cut CT scan, the tumor can be easily missed. The plane of the "slicing" needs to be exact in order to get a good look at it, and Emily's was not. This means we STILL have no good pictures of the tumor.

However, the doctors also do not see anything INconsistent with an osteoid osteoma.

I was very frank about all the information we have been given up to this point and what our fears are. I asked if they could at least rule some of those things out. The nurse said, "We cannot tell you that we're 100% sure this isn't cancer or some other type of bone tumor. BUT, it's more likely that it is an osteoid osteoma, and Emily has had enough tests and scans that we feel comfortable treating it. There's nothing right now to make us think that it IS anything really, really bad."

There are a lot of little details from that conversation that I won't transcribe here. For now, though, Emily will be on a naproxen regimen and using ibuprofen to help with any break-through pain during the day. Since her pain is significant enough to wake her up some nights, we have a prescription for a narcotic if she has a really, really bad night and cannot rest. The narcotic is NOT for regular use.

In two weeks, we'll be discussing (just by phone initially) how Emily is tolerating the meds and how her pain is. If everything is still okay, we will wait until Jan. 23 for her followup appointment. If anything worsens or if the pain is still not controlled, we will probably be seen sooner.

Please continue to keep Emily in your prayers...

Emily's CT Scan

Emily had her CT scans today, both with and without contrast. She did not need to be sedated this time. The nurse did not think the scan with contrast was necessary, given that Emily had already had an MRI and 2 x-rays; after the scan withOUT contrast, she talked with the radiologist (who was in some other location, but was able to view the images in the computer system), and he said to go ahead and do the scans again with contrast BUT that he "didn't see anything too concerning."

THIS is the best, most encouraging news we have received up to this point! I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm thinking surely if there was something really terrible, he would have been able to tell.

Now we wait for the orthopedic surgeon to review the scans and give us a full report; after that, we will decide on the next step.

Thank you so much for your continued prayers, for Emily, the wisdom and practical excellence of the doctors, and for peace for Scott and me. Please be encouraged that, at least in the peace department, we can testify that your prayers are being answered! We are so grateful, and God is so kind. :) Thank you, all.

I'll post the results when I have them...

Ju-Ju's 1/2 Birthday!

Has it already been 6 months?! As of yesterday, yes it has...

Ohhhh my.

This has been a busy month for Julia, with lots of new discoveries and "firsts."

She learned to pull off her socks...and chooses to do so at every opportunity:Her distaste for dirty diapers intensified:


She was treated to extra cuddles with Grampa and (when he shared) other relatives at Thanksgiving:
She started cereal the week after Thanksgiving...
...and liked it!
And she's been learning to sit up!

She still needs a little assistance from a boppy pillow or something. :)

She continues to be SUCH a happy, mellow, easy baby. While I'm SOOO thankful, I sometimes feel bad because it's easy to just set her down, get busy with the other kids or things that need to get done, and miss out on snuggles and one-on-one play time with her. That just means that, when I realize this misuse of my time, I have to make amends immediately.
It helps, too, that she's still such a good nurser. Though there are times I long for the freedom to not have to duck away from company or to be able to go places without having a strategic rendezvous with a feeding spot planned, I know all too well that this season will be over WAY before I'm ready for it to be...and that always makes me grateful for this time.

She is growing, growing, growing too! She is still wearing her 3-6 month clothes, but probably won't be for too much longer. I notice it most with her head...there aren't too many things that slip over that noggin very easily these days! She is strong and smart as well (not that anyone would ever doubt!) She has learned how to pivot in her crib and kick the buttons on her mobile to turn it on all by herself, and she can pull herself to almost all the way to a sitting position using only her abs if she has the slightest incline beneath her (like a folded blanket under her head)!

She babbles and squeals and "sings," and she's turning into quite the drool princess. No teeth yet, but I can see them a little more clearly under her gums with every passing day. From experience, though, it may still be a while before they finally emerge...and that's fiiiiine with me! :)

She recognizes her siblings well, even from pretty far away, and she wiggles and kicks and waves and squeals with delight when she sees that they notice her, too, and start coming her direction. I'm not totally sure if you can call it a "kiss" or not, (maybe it's just the babies-put-everything-in-their-mouths thing), but she tries to grab their faces and pull them towards her for some extra slobbery love. :) Their reactions are hilarious!
We are so blessed to have Miss J, who is less like a bean now, but will probably eternally retain her "Julie-bean" nickname. Happy half-birthday, sweet baby girl! We love you!!!

Emily's MRI Results

We saw the pediatric orthopedic surgeon this morning. Emily's MRI, as it turns out, did not provide the information we need to know conclusively what we are dealing with.

I'm a little frustrated, to be honest. I was hoping for answers and direction and...well, relief, I suppose...and we didn't get that.

Instead, this doctor conducted her own x-ray and then used those images to show us (well, me) what we are focused on. This was very helpful since, previously on base, all I had was a verbal description of an image, and I didn't understand.

Since I don't have the actual images and I couldn't find any that looked like them online, I'm sorry, but you'll have to settle for my drawings.

Here is a picture of Emily's x-ray...the "bump" is exaggerated, though. I could only detect it on the actual x-ray when the doctor pointed it out:
The "bump" is what the doctor on base was talking about and the reason she ordered the MRI. Her description of it is what led me to thing an avulsion fracture was a possibility. Turns out, it's not.

The drawing below is just a little bigger, but is still supposed to be her femur. Today, this is closer to what I saw:
The doctor, when she spoke with us, used the term "lesion" when showing us the tumor in Emily's bone. She would not rule out cancer conclusively (I was pushing for that), but she said "tumors or lesions like these are almost always benign." She said that the MRI didn't show Emily's leg the way they needed in order for them to have a good idea what this is exactly, so she wants her to have a "thin cut" CT scan...the soonest we could schedule it due to TriWest and all the referral approvals, is Thursday. SO, Thursday at 11:00, Emily will have a CT scan done. I don't know yet how long to expect it to take or if she will need to be sedated again.

To be clear, the doctor never actually used the term "osteoid osteoma" when speaking with us, but it IS what she wrote on the form as the reason for the CT scan she ordered. I don't know if this means she was just using it as a generic description so the CT people know what they are imaging or if it is a solid diagnosis...? I would have asked about it specifically, but the form was given to me at checkout, after the doctor was with another patient.

Trust me: I have a lot of questions still.

I've done some research, but I'm kind of in information overload right now. Treatment options, if we are in fact dealing with a benign osteoid osteoma, vary widely...

I have not found any informative sites that show pictures that look a lot like Emily's images, but if I find something good, I'll post a link. In the meantime, google at will. :) In google images, I found this picture (no good information attached), which looks a lot like Emily's:See it on the right side of the image (left leg)?

I'll try to keep y'all posted as we find out more... Thank you so much for your continued prayers!!

Emily's MRI

I'll go ahead and begin by saying we don't have the results yet. We see the pediatric orthopedic surgeon tomorrow morning, so we should find something out then. Thank you for you continued prayers!

Friday's MRI went pretty well. I did as much of the advance check-in (the day before over the phone) as I could, and this really helped minimize the amount of paperwork to fill out and questions to answer once we arrived at the hospital. The sedation nurse I spoke to on the phone was very helpful and answered a lot of my questions as well. He even was able to relieve some of my concerns about the sedation process, reiterating several times that, for procedures like this, full anesthesia isn't necessary...just an IV medication to keep her very sleepy...like a "twilight sleep." No parent ever likes their child to be knocked out, so this was helpful and encouraging information.

We began the day by checking into the pediatric ward. We had a wonderful nurse who made sure we were both as comfortable as possible, and she seemed genuinely glad to answer all of Emily's questions. (There really weren't that many.)

Here's Miss Em as she enjoys a bed she can control while watching cartoons. Hog heaven, I tell ya! :)After a little while, the sedation nurse I spoke to on the phone came in to see if I had any new questions or concerns. Another nurse came in with him and got Emily's IV started. They were SO good with her, explaining the whole process so she could understand, but at the same time not talking down to her. They were able to walk that "fine line" with me, too...sometimes medical folk seem to forget they're talking to people and not charts; and sometimes they talk to moms (or me anyway) like we're too stupid to understand anything above our child's grade level. These guys weren't like that, which I appreciated.

I was happy when they reiterated that I would be able to stay with Emily for the whole process. There would be a locker available for me to leave my phone and anything else that might not get along with a giant magnet, and Emily wouldn't have to be by herself at all. Emily was especially glad; although she insisted (verbally) that she wasn't scared, I could tell she was nervous and a little apprehensive. A little before 10:00, another nurse with a wheelchair arrived to take us down to the imaging floor.
We had a bit of a wait in the holding area, but we didn't mind. Emily enjoyed learning how to wheel herself around in the chair. She still says that was her favorite part of the day. :)

When the MRI ahead of us was finished, they wheeled that gentleman out and into a little waiting cubicle next to us. Em was a little nervous when she saw him because he was under general anesthesia and still had the breathing tube in. I'm sure I would've been a little scared, too, if I was 9 and had never seen anything like it before. She asked me if that's what they were going to do to her, but I assured her that her medicine would be different. After all, that's what I had been told...

Unfortunately, the communication between pediatrics and radiology seems to be less than stellar. A new nurse showed up with a whole packet of forms for me to sign, ALL having to do with general anesthesia. I told her what we'd been told about the twilight sleep, etc....and that I'd been told I could stay with her. She looked completely shocked that anyone would've told me such nonsense. She said she didn't know why anyone would tell me those things, that peds. kids were always "put all the way under" so that they wouldn't twitch or anything, and that, because there were so many people on the anesthesia team, I would need to wait in the waiting room.

I talked with her for...a while...and then also with the doctor overseeing all the anesthesia. They put me as much at ease as possible. I didn't want to argue with them in front of Emily, who was already a lot more nervous having newly discovered that I was going to have to leave her alone. (And I'm not sure, but she may have also been able to put together that she was going to have the same medicine as the "scary man.") I felt awful for her! The team did give her some versed through her IV to help her relax more...and basically not care when it was actually time for me to go.

Hummm...I feel like I'm making them sound horrible; they weren't. I was just pretty perturbed by the miscommunication issue. I was able to stay with Emily until everything was ready to go, and by then, she was already pretty loopy from the Versed. She told me my head looked transparent...and that all the other people in the room looked imaginary. :)

The MRI itself was supposed to last about 90 minutes. As I was escorted to the waiting area, I was also given directions to the cafeteria...but I didn't go. I wanted to make sure I was right there in case someone came out with updates or, heaven forbid, anything happened. So...I blogged a little (as you probably know), read a little, journaled a little, texted Scott, Facebooked... And periodically, someone did come out to give updates, which I really, really appreciated.

After about an hour and 45 minutes, a nurse came out to get me; they were done, and Em had done fine. I got to walk next to her bed to the recovery room (on the surgical floor). She still had a tube down her throat (to keep her airway open) and an oxygen mask on. I didn't take any pictures of this stage because it's not a way I want to remember her looking.

She took a while to really wake up. She was agitated, and her pulse kept dropping into the 40's. (Actually, it stayed pretty low. It was still hovering in the low- to mid-50's when they disconnected all the monitors.) For almost an hour, her O2 was regularly dropping into the upper 80's, sometimes dipping into the 70's. That finally stabilized, and then she kept panicking about everything. "I can't see! Everything is blurry! Am I going blind?!"

"No, hun," I'd say. "You're just still sleepy from the medicine. Try to take a little nap. It will be better when you wake up."

"Can I get up and walk?"

"No, not right now."

"I can't walk?!?! Will I get a wheelchair?!"

"No, sweetie. Your legs work fine, but when you're this sleepy, you might fall. Stay in bed. Lay back down. Just try to sleep."

And finally, she did just that. Around 1:15, we were taken back up to the pediatric ward. She had some apple juice to drink, and when she kept that down, she was allowed to order something to eat. (She hadn't had anything to eat since dinnertime the night before.)
Pancakes and fruit--that's what she picked, and she gobbled up every bite while watching "James and the Giant Peach."

She was pleasant and funny almost the whole day, the only exception being during the wake-up process...and even then, she was good. (I've been in that spot before, and it's not a fun feeling.) She was polite and considerate of everyone who entered the room. She even kept asking how I was, worried I'd be bored or something. Ahhh...there was definitely nowhere else I wanted to be; by her side is where I belonged!

Around 3:00, we finally got the okay from the doctor to go home. They told Em she'd have to ride in a wheelchair down to the lobby and that I'd have to bring the car around. Her only question: "Can I wheel myself down? I know how to work the wheelchair now..." :)

Of course, they said no...but she still enjoyed the ride.

She took it pretty easy for the rest of the day, but she ate well at dinner (provided by my amazing hubby, who also had the house all put together and little kids calm and happy), and she was all back to normal the next morning.

So now we just wait! I'm so glad it's not for too long...

Katy's Christmas Program

This is my little beauty before school yesterday. The second grade had two performances of their Christmas music program: 3:00 for the whole student body, and 7:00 for parents and families. (Parents could also go to the 3:00 program, but we didn't. Since we were going to be out in the evening, I thought it best to let the littles keep their usual naptime.)
Katy's favorite song from the program is posted in the video below. She told me as she was leaving for school, "Don't be embarrassed if you cry, Mom. I did...that song is soooo beautiful!" The whole thing was really nice, and Katy (and all the kids) did a great job! (Katy is in the second row up, kind of on the right side. Her hair is fixed a little differently, though, than in the above picture.)

8 Adults, 5 Kids, 2 Birthdays, 1 Thanksgiving...

...and a partridge in a pear tree flock of geese flying over our house.

It's true...the Canada geese are migrating and, since there are little ponds all over Goddard subdivisions, we see them flying overhead all the time.

I'm currently sitting in the MRI waiting room while Emily is having her scans done. I had been told that they were just going to give her something to relax her and help her sleep, but once we arrived in the MRI department, it ended up that they do full general anesthesia for this...and therefore, I couldn't be in the room with her. Miscommunications are annoying, but I really like the doctors and nurses we have been working with this morning (we've now been here at the hospital for a little over three hours, most of that time just getting set up in the pediatric ward), so I'm confident (at least as much as possible) that Emily is in good hands and will be well taken care of. I am glad for the available electrical outlets and internet so I can keep "busy" while I wait.

Besides, I guess it's finally time I caught up a little on the happenings around our place from November. :)

Katy's birthday was the 18th, and this year, both girls agreed that they just wanted some special family days. It's the first time in a while that Scott has been able to be home on their birthdays, and they aren't quite ready to share this time with their friends. :) Since the girls' birthdays are only 3 days apart, we do some of the celebrating together; I do, however, try to give each of them the "royal treatment" on their own special days.

Katy wanted cupcakes--purple and yellow ones--and a modified Narnian tea party for dinner. It actually wasn't very Narnian, but she did specifically request sardines and toast. (I love my kids!) We also had an assortment of fresh fruit, marshmallows, and other items that go well with chocolate fondue. It was YUMMY!
"This is the best birthday EVARRRR!" :)
Collin, in front of our blessing tree:
Me and my littlests:
Emily wanted to go to Golden Corral for her birthday dinner. (Over the weekend in between, we went to Chuck E. Cheese's, spent a little while at the "fun spinny" park (Sedgwick County Park), played board games and card games, and watched some movies together with popcorn.

I don't have any pictures of that stuff, but oh well.

Before opening her presents, Em played with Collin:
She was extra excited about her Nerf dart tag set...and combined with the dart gun we already had, the kids have been waging all out war in their spare time. It's hilarious. (And Daddy might *occasionally* get involved, too...)
Two days later (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving), my family came in to spend the holiday weekend with us. This is the only shot of everyone that I have. (Well, technically I have ten of these. I didn't know how to set the self-timer on my camera to wait longer than 2 seconds without ALSO adjusting the number of pictures it would snap. We were all laughing by the end of the *click-click-click-click-click-click...* succession! If it wasn't taking so long to upload pictures--and if I didn't truly need to spend some quality time with my journal, darn worry creeping in--I'd put them all up, just so you could see the progression in people's expressions. HILARIOUS!!)
Left to right: (back) me, Scott, Meredith, Kevin, Mom, Dad, Chrissy, Julia, Ben
(front) Collin, Katy, Ian, Emily (...and our dinner is sitting in the crockpot, too...mmmm...minestrone!) :)

We had SUCH a great time with everyone! It was sad to see everyone go, but we're so glad that we all got to be together for Thanksgiving! It's getting harder to coordinate with everyone across such wide distances, so we don't take times like these for granted. We really have SO MUCH to be thankful for!!

Prayer Request

It has been a wild n' crazy week. The boys have both been sick (Ian just with a horrible, chesty, barking cough, and Collin with...um...stomach...ness). Katy has her Christmas program at school tonight. I mutilated my finger. And Emily has a much anticipated MRI tomorrow.

I haven't posted anything about this because, frankly, I haven't had much time to devote to posting much of anything...especially if it is emotionally charged or requires thought. I do better with not worrying about things if I don't allot too much time to think about them.

This has nothing to do with Em's migraines. (And actually, I'm pleased to report that she is doing great with her low-Tyramine diet...not much change in her headaches, I don't think, but her attitude has been stellar.)

Back in October, Emily began to complain occasionally that her leg hurt...and there were a few times we noticed her limping during soccer games. Honestly, though, she was going through a growth spurt and had just had a plantar's wart frozen on her other foot, so I thought it was just a combination of growing pains and bearing her weight slightly differently to coddle her sore foot. Once soccer was over, she didn't mention it as often, and when she did, I (and I feel really bad now) just thought she was being dramatic and trying to get attention. I didn't think it was any big deal at all until the day she had her EEG. We had to sleep deprive her for that test, so I do still think that her exaggerated leg trouble that day was partially due to extreme fatigue, but there were several times it nearly gave out on her when she tried to bear weight on it. I decided to go ahead and make an appointment for her; I was thinking she might have a stress fracture or something...maybe it started during soccer season and had worsened over time.

The doctor was concerned from the get-go. Since there wasn't any specific injury we could link the pain to, she told me she wanted an x-ray to check for bone lesions and blood work to check for anemia or anything abnormal with her blood counts. As a mom, I pretty much snapped into concern-mode.

The bloodwork all came back in the normal range, and her x-ray did NOT show any lesions. However, there was a calcified lump/growth/mass on her upper femur, below her hip socket, consistent with where she's been having pain.

Of course, we didn't know this right away because the radiologist has to read the x-ray, blah blah blah. The doctor said she'd call me when she got the results.

True to her word, she called about 2 hours later with all the results I've already mentioned. She said she had referred Emily for an MRI and for an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic specialist and that we should talk with TriCare that day to get appointments scheduled. We were not to wait until after Thanksgiving (this was the Tuesday before), and we were not to put up with bureaucratic wait-times for scheduling.

ANYWAY, we really don't know anything else at this point. Because Emily is only nine and the MRI will take between 60 and 90 minutes, and because she has to be totally still for that whole time, she has to be sedated. I spoke with a nurse from the anesthesia team today and received all our last-minute instructions. We need tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif arrive at the hospital at 7:30 tomorrow morning, they hope to start the MRI right at 10, and if she wakes up and is able to eat and walk in the typical time frame, we should be released around 3:00 in the afternoon. I would sure appreciate your prayers.

Because I'm terrible at just waiting once scary words like "cancer" are thrown out there, I've tried to research other possibilities. One that looks very possible is an avulsion fracture. If this is the case, and/or if this is something Emily's primary doctor suspects, the reasons for being super cautious are mostly to do with her age. The whatever-it-is on her x-ray is near her growth plate, so if we're dealing with a fracture, they will want to monitor it closely to ensure that that leg's growth is not hindered or disproportional to her other leg.

I am so thankful for modern medicine and the ability to find out what is going on...beyond the "wait and see" method. I'm thankful that our current PCM at the base (recently stationed here) is thorough and knowledgeable. I'm also thankful for Scott's new position at work and the people God has brought into our lives as a result; this made wading through the bureaucracy not only possible, but quick! Truly, everything has been speeding right along to find answers!

God has been so good to give us peace in this process. We have NOT told Emily anything specific about the reasons for her testing, just that the doctors want to get better pictures of her leg so we can figure out how to help it heal. There is no reason to scare her with possibilities that may never materialize.

Anyway, if you think of her tomorrow, please pray that the MRI would give clear pictures, that the whole sedation process is smooth and free of any complications, that the doctors would be able to wisely diagnose and treat her, and that we would trust the Great Physician completely, resting in the knowledge that He is good and all-knowing and all-powerful. He loves her even more than I do, and He has a good purpose in all things.

Thanks, everyone!

I'm Not Dead Yet!

Sometimes I feel like the most accident-prone person on the planet. A little over two years ago, days after we brought Collin home from the hospital after his pyloric stenosis surgery, I sliced off the end of my finger with a kitchen knife. It was no fun, and you can still see the circular scar and flattened tip on my left ring finger. (Stupidstupidstupid...)

Toward the end of Thanksgiving weekend, I fell on my elbow on the kitchen tile...never made it to the doctor, but it HURT! It's getting better now.

And of course, there are countless other injuries caused BY me...Collin's head, and others too numerous (and embarrassing) to list.

I have this pretty little holiday holly berry glass scented wax warmer, the kind that uses a little tea light candle. I get it out at Christmastime and love the way it makes the house smell. Yesterday, it was finally nearing the end of some pine-y scented green wax, and the next block was cranberry red. Not wanting to mix the colors, I waited till the green residue was cool and started picking it off with my fingernail. Well, I'm not sure if the glass was extra brittle from being heated and cooled so many times or what, but as I was scraping (not with much pressure, mind you), my hand broke through the glass and I sliced my finger.

D'oh.

It's not a huge gash...probably less than 1/2", but it's pretty deep, and it bled a LOT. To complicate things, it's not just a single line, but sort of a "V," with a pointy flap of skin in the middle. I couldn't get it to stay closed, so I went to the urgent care clinic. Because the flap in the middle isn't wide enough to stitch to both sides, the doctor tried glue. So far, it seems to be sealing everything closed and together. It hurts like the dickens, though...ironic, since I was just sure that's exactly what I'd sliced out of it. :)

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook earlier (thanks, Susan!), and I just thought it was beautiful...and worth sharing. If you're like me, you'll need tissues. :)

Satisfying My Inner Drill Sergeant

It's no secret that I'm a little bit OCD when it comes to my house...(and probably lots of other things, but we won't go there.) I need to be able to walk through my house barefoot and not get stuff stuck to my feet, or wear white socks and KEEP the bottoms white...I smile in satisfaction when our DVD cabinet is alphabetized or my pantry is organized by expiration date...I even genuinely LIKE the lemon scent of most cleaners. (Should I brace for an attack from all my "green" readers??)

Even though I don't always do it right (meaning I go a little nuts at times), I like that my kids are trained (or are in training) to keep their stuff/spaces neat and tidy, too. No, my house is NOT always perfect (far from it, actually), but I feel much more put together when IT is put together.

Some of you, maybe, can relate.

ANYWAY...I have really struggled to keep up with everything since Scott came home in late August. I don't know why, exactly; I had a great routine over the summer, even after I was "on my own" following Julia's arrival. School started in mid-August, which required drastic changes, but we had gotten into the swing of things alright. Maybe it's that my evenings are no longer available for chore-catchup (read, folding laundry) now that I have someone to spend them with?? I don't know. But for whatever reason, I have been stuck in a perpetual state of getting "caught up," and all my attempts to find a new working "normal" routine have failed pretty miserably. If/when everything is done, I'm so stinkin' exhausted that I'm unable to enjoy any meaningful time with my family...and ultimately, that's the whole reason for trying to keep up with everything I need to do. The things that are supposed to help our lives function more smoothly have been taking over my life!

Several years ago, a friend of mine (hi, Tiffany!!) discovered FlyLady. She told me about the awesomeness (maybe back in 2005??), but it sounded more complicated than my already-working system. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Besides, my sink was already shiny. :)

Then, to keep up with the rest of life (appointments, activities, etc.), I have always had a calendar posted. Once the girls got into school and things got decidedly busier with more people in our family and more diversity to the activities, my calendar had to expand into a notebook-type planner. Eventually, even THAT couldn't hold everything, so it became one essential component of a massive (very heavy), all-encompassing-and-sort-of-portable "brain:" a bulky 3-inch binder with sections for each member of my family (complete with important papers and schedules for school/work), a section for coupons/grocery lists/menu planning, and other sections containing things like gift wish lists, to-do lists, brainstorming lists (ministry ideas/organization, schedule ideas to fit everything in that I wanted to do at home and with the kids, etc.), craft/activity ideas for the littles that I wanted to try..... You get the idea. It was Mission Control, my central station for all the things my biological brain could no longer keep up with.

BUT IT WAS A HEAVYBULKYCUMBERSOME 3-INCH BINDER, FORCRYINGOUTLOUD!!!

In all my "spare time" (read "while sitting in the waiting room at doctor appointments"), I began searching for some kind of workable mobile calendar/planner-type app for my phone.

I found Cozi. It is accessible for all members of our family through one simple account! It has everything localized...ONE PLACE has all the information and links I need to use (including meal planning, recipe storage, and all my lists!!) There is a mobile app for my phone!!! (...which is much more manageable than the aforementioned 3-ring binder of death!) IT EMAILS ME AN ITINERARY WITH ALL THE FAMILY'S APPOINTMENTS (color-coded by person) EACH WEEK!!!!!

AND, it is partnered with FlyLady...who has already totally simplified my out-of-control, can't-get-caught-up cleaning schedule!!!!!!! (After reading her upbeat emails and accomplishing totally manageable homemaking tasks--and SEEING that my home is back in order--I really DO feel so much better and more relaxed about life, the universe, and everything. :) I might even literally give myself a high-five! Ha!)

I. AM. IN. LOOOOVE!!!

So now, I have everything in one place (including my "flight plans"/cleaning missions), it is organized FOR me (eliminating all the time I was spending organizing and re-organizing my "brain"), I'm upbeat about my to-do lists instead of feeling bogged down and discouraged (I seriously felt like a failure almost every day for, like, two months), and I have more energy to ENJOY the time with my family (which, I'd be willing to bet, makes it more enjoyable for them, too!) Smiles are contagious...as is Mrs.-GrumpyPants-Mommy!

So, hooray for Cozi and the FlyLady. And if you are discouraged because your system is no longer working for you, you might just check these sites out. Even if they aren't a great fit for you, they might be an idea-springboard for something that will be.

Happy Friday, Everyone! I'm so proud of you! Give yourself a high-five! :)

New Neurologist

Many of you have told me you are praying for Emily as we try to understand and control her migraines. She is currently taking a medication that does seem to be helping (she has them less frequently, and they seem less severe when she does have them...though that could also be due to the fact that she is older and can recognize the onset sooner...), but the doctor we had been seeing for the past year and a half or so had some major differences with us on which direction to proceed.

He wanted to control them with medication exclusively: more drugs, higher dosages. WE wanted to work more toward finding the causes/triggers and minimize the medication...enough that she isn't so limited by her pain, but we did (and do) NOT want to needlessly pump her full of drugs in a trial-and-error manner, especially when said drugs have risky (and sometimes unknown) side effects!

The neurologist seemed to think that having an opinion (particularly one he didn't share) made me a clueless, uneducated, but know-it-all mom who just wanted my daughter to suffer needlessly, while he held all the obvious keys to cure.

I'll stop there before I fly into a rage-rant. *Ahem*

To make a long story slightly shorter, we switched to the only other pediatric neurologist in town and saw him for the first time yesterday.

I'm not sure he will be able to help us any more than the other doctor (I do have some concerns...), but he at least agrees that medication is not our first resort; finding triggers and trying to eliminate them as much as possible must be our first step.

He took a detailed medical history of Emily and explored our related family history. He did a new EEG and found out what tests she had already had done (which included a CT scan several years ago in Wichita Falls). Her EEG looked normal, showing nothing to indicate any tumors or seizures. His other assessments (of her balance, coordination, memory, etc.) also looked completely normal. This means we are, in fact, dealing with pretty classic migraines and not some other (more serious) underlying issue.

He wants to keep her on her current medication and dosage, treating headaches as needed with ibuprofen, and in the meantime begin exploring potential dietary triggers.

At the beginning of this journey, when we were still seeing regular family doctors on base (at Sheppard...*scoff*), we did SOME food journaling. It seems, however, that this was very limited and was only looking for allergies and not sensitivities commonly associated with migraines. Soooo, first off, we are looking at foods containing tyramine.

Here is a list similar to what I was given.

Some of the foods we need to avoid make a lot of sense: aged cheeses (which is basically any kind of common, "healthy" cheese, but doesn't include things like American and Velveeta), hot dogs and lunch meats containing nitrates or nitrites, caffeine (which she doesn't get anyway), chocolate... But SOME of the things we have to avoid hit me totally out of left field: ALL nuts and seeds, soy products, pickles, yeast, and TONS of fruits and vegetables!

I'm overwhelmed, to say the least. Many of the foods we avoid because they are NOT healthy (like sugary sodas and juices and the afore-mentioned processed cheeses, for example) are okay to eat, while many of the foods I tend to push in efforts to be health-conscious are now major no-nos.

Did I mention we have two birthdays and Thanksgiving in the next week???? Hmm.

SO, that's where we are right now. If you feel so burdened, please pray for us during this process. Pray for creativity, diligence, and insight as I plan my shopping and menus, patience and endurance for our family (and especially Emily), and that we would be able to tell clearly whether this makes any difference in her migraines or not. Thank you!!

Julia is 5 Months Old!

My littlest baby is a whopping five months old today! (Almost exactly, if you look at the time stamp of this post!) When I think back to how nervous I was when I found out I was pregnant with her, it's hard not to laugh (and also feel ashamed at my lack of faith and short-sightedness)...I'm so glad God is in charge and not me. What would we do without this precious little bundle?!?
Julia IS such a sweetheart...she continues to have such an easy smile and laid back pleasantness, though she is developing more of an opinion about things. She gets bored more quickly with her "activities" and does best when she is moved every so often to a new position/location. On a typical at-home morning, we'll usually start off on a blanket on the floor with some toys right after she eats (around 8:15), then hang out in her bouncy chair for a bit, then jump in her Johnny Jump-up, and then head back to the floor... [Floor time used to be tummy time, but she is rolling now (quite well!), so once she grabs the toy she wants, she rolls to her back and plays with it that way until she's ready for a new one...and this is also when/where she gets to interact the most with her brothers (and sisters, if they're home).] After this second bout of floor time, she's usually ready for her morning nap. I change her diaper (and her clothes, if she's pooped, because everysinglestinkin'poopydiaper is a blowout...and YES, I've tried every brand and reasonable size of disposable diaper out there without any significantly different results), and I just lay her down with a blanket. That's it. Ta-da! She's excellent at self-soothing, with very little guidance in that area from me.

She usually wakes up around 11:15 and plays, talks, or sings (she's pretty vocal these days) until noon, when she starts talking more...um...forcefully (her expression is HILARIOUS!)...and then I know she's ready to eat. Once she's finished nursing, she sits in her bouncy seat near the table while the rest of us have lunch, and then she lays down for her afternoon nap at the same time the boys do. The blessing of having an entire unbroken three hours of kid-slumber is NOT lost on me! I've been trying to use this time to do all the things I used to do (while Scott was deployed) after all the kids were in bed at night. Sometimes, admittedly, I indulge in a little nap myself. Regardless, it helps me get myself organized and vamped up for the "witching hour" (that happens to last almost 3 1/2 hours), which begins at 4:17 each afternoon when the girls get off the school bus. :)

But back to Julia...

She nurses again when she wakes up from her nap (around 3:45 or 4), and then she plays on her own while I get dinner started and work on homework/after school stuff with the big girls. She eats again around 5:30, and then hangs out in either her swing or bouncy seat while the rest of the family eats, and then (lately) she plays with her Daddy until it's time for her bath at 7:30. She eats again once she's ready for bed, and then lays down around 8:00, sleeping consistently for 12 hours.

We haven't started cereal or anything yet because she still seems satisfied without it, but I'm planning to begin introducing it sometime in the next month. She's on the petite side, both for height and weight (though you wouldn't believe her little Michelin-man thighs!) She's getting a little more hair, and still has the roundest little cheeks...ahhh, she's just SO CUTE! (And, naturally, I'm totally unbiased.) :)
She is babbling, and giggling (I posted some videos in the previous post), and her little personality is just bubbling out all over the place. She loves being snuggled or carried around facing out, so she can see what's going on (she has eyes that don't miss a thing), and she's SUPER ticklish!
She really is such a delight! We are SO blessed to have her!

Playing Catch-Up: Phone Pics

A lot has happened in the last couple of months. Unfortunately, I just haven't had time to blog about it. Sooo, rather than just skip it all, I plan to post a couple of installments to catch up, mainly of pictures. The first will be from my phone (because I have it handy), and eventually...one day...hopefully in the not-too-distant future...I'll post another with slightly better pictures from the camera-camera. :)

We discovered in early September that Collin still gets up during the night sometimes. Unfortunately, he can also climb over a baby gate set up at his door, and he can open doors. I'm so glad the deadbolt on the front door is higher than he can reach, especially since we have found him multiple times on the living room couch in the morning!The girls chose their first extracurricular activities this fall. Katy enrolled in a dance class, covering ballet, tap, and jazz; she did great and had such a fun time! (Emily played soccer...pictured later.)
Scott and Julia continued to get to know each other in September. He started going TDY frequently again at the end of the month, so we all just tried to make the most of the time he was at home.
Julia continues to become more interactive. She especially likes this rattle:

With the girls at school during the day, the boys have gotten to be even closer buddies. Love them!!In fact, Ian has learned that an estrogen-free zone has its benefits. :)
Julia likes her bumbo chair...what a great invention.
Here's Emily playing soccer. She improved so much during the season; she especially loved being a defender, either goalie or half-back.
I promised way way waywayway back in this post that I'd say more about my sewing project. Well, here it is (finally)! I found some ABU material and made a simple little pillowcase dress for Julia for Scott's homecoming. At least it should have been simple; I'm definitely no seamstress, but it ended up fine. :)
Ian enjoyed practicing his own soccer skills at Emily's practices. As it turns out, he's pretty good for just being four, and he plans to try soccer out for himself in the spring!

The girls' elementary school had a section reserved at one of the high school football games, so we decided to go. It's the first game any of the kids had been to, and it was really fun for Scott and me...though I have to confess, we were most interested in the band. :)
A helicopter delivered the game ball...that was something you don't see every day!
Julia was amazed.


...but then she got kinda bored.

...but then the game got exciting again.
...and then we went home.

A few weeks ago, Scott was returning from another TDY kinda late, so we decided to go out for dinner. At this particular place, they bring out little blobs of dough for the kids to play with shape, and then they (usually) bake it after the meal is over and drizzle it with chocolate or something for dessert. Emily made an "Egyptian pyramid" out of hers...
Also at that particular meal, an Air Force retiree happened to notice our family, and he and his wife paid for our whole meal! We didn't know it until we were ready to leave and had asked for the check, and by then, the man and his wife were gone, but it was really touching. They had some really nice things to say about the kids...you know, the kind of things every parent loves to hear. It still makes me tear up a little...some people are so nice and generous.

A while later, our family got hit with the stomach bug. Thankfully, it was just a 24-hour ordeal, but since there are seven people in our family, it took more than a full week (because a day or two would pass in between outbreaks.) Poor Katy was hit the hardest and actually got sick at school. She ran a really high fever, too, that took a while to respond to medicine...but after a day of lounging, she felt better.
Julia, thankfully, only had a mild case. And then we had to get into the Halloween-y groove:
Miss J has also decided she likes her jumper-thingie:

AND she is quite the little giggler now, too. Scott really got her going the other night as we were finishing dinner. I only caught a little, but you'll get the idea. :)

I (re)got glasses... I've actually had some for a really long time, but I never wore them much. I also didn't go to the eye doctor much. Turns out, I'm getting old. ;)

And I'm too chicken to have a picture of me alone, so I had to fake that it was actually a picture of Julia, haha! I know, I know...the flower is a little much, but I like it anyway.

Then, the other night, we got our first SNOW!!! And, because there was some confusion on Facebook over this picture, it is Scott's grill (under a cover) on our back deck! NOT a picture of a ghost in a baby crib. ;) (I love you guys, seriously. You make me laugh!)

The snow was mostly gone a few hours later since the precipitation transitioned back into freezing rain, but it was still fun while it lasted.

We also felt the earthquake (and at least one aftershock) that centered in Oklahoma over the weekend! I don't think I'd felt one since I was a kid living in California...kind of exciting! So, in the span of like three days, we had a thunderstorm, an earthquake, and snow...crazy Kansas. :)

Hope you're all doing great and having a lovely fall! My girls' birthdays are coming, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and Christmas is only 6-ish weeks away...how did this happen?! If you don't see me around her for a while again, at least you'll know why... :)