Those dreaded doctors appointments

As you all know Bella has been fussy FOREVER.  Exactly a month ago I called to make an appointment with an ear doctor just to see if that was the problem.  And finally a month later we got in to see the doctor.

So the appointment was set for 2:30pm.  That would mean that Bella would be able to attend school and have plenty of time to eat lunch before we had to leave.  She wouldn’t be able to take a nap…so hopefully she wouldn’t need one.

Oliver on the other hand would need to go down for his nap a little earlier so that he had the potential to take a long nap if needed.

So how did it actually go down?

Bella went to school.  Bella ate her lunch.  Bella then hung out with me until her appointment.  Bella was doing great (except the 10 minute period when she wasn’t getting her lunch as soon as she wanted because I was dealing with Oliver).

So you are going to guess that Oliver was the problem.

It wasn’t that Oliver was a problem.  He just wanted to be outside today.  I had him all dressed and ready to go to the appointment and was debating putting him down for his nap, except he just didn’t seem tired yet.  So if I didn’t put him down, he would be coming outside with me to get Bella from the bus.  And once he stepped foot outside, I didn’t think I would get him inside.

I was right.

Bella got off the bus and as I was getting her, Oliver ran over to the biggest mud/water puddle and jumped on in.

Since at that point his outfit was ruined, I figured I would let him play outside for a little while.  I put Bella inside to lay around, stretch out and relax after class.

Here were some of Oliver’s antics outside.

The grass is starting to show…it’s golfing weather!

This was the first time I have seen him try and hit his balls with the clubs.

At this point we had been outside for 10 minutes or so and needed to get back inside with Bella.

Oliver wanted nothing to do with it and kept flinging himself down on the ground.

I didn’t want to hold him, since he was all muddy.

So we did a very slow, half drag, half down on the ground walk back to the house.

Then of course we had to strip him before he even set foot in the house.

He didn’t want to go down for a nap.  He kept wanting to go back outside.  This was the period I was talking about where I had both children crying.  Bella wanted to eat, and Oliver didn’t want to be napping.

I finally got Oliver down and got busy feeding Bella.

The actual doctors appointment went great.  By that I meant the kids did wonderful, especially since we had to sit in the waiting room and patient room for near an hour before we even saw the doctor.  I would actually say it was kind of a miracle that I managed it all by myself.  There might have been a point when Oliver wanted to eat his animal crackers off the floor, and I was about to the point where if it kept him happy I didn’t care.  But of course I did care because it was the floor in a public place, so I made him get up, and luckily that next minute the doctor actually came in.

The report on Bella’s ears….everything is fine.  Not the cause of her problems.

So to celebrate their good behavior we stopped and got ice cream on the way home.

Oliver’s first ice cream cone.

No he is not wearing shorts…he just always pulls his pants over his knees in the car.

And a second outfit of the day ruined….but this kid was in high heaven.  Eating ice cream while playing outside!

And in case you are wondering….Bella actually got the top half of the cone which I had them put in a dish.  I didn’t trust Oliver with a full height ice cream cone in the car.  He was certainly messy enough as it was.

Bella did a wonderful job today and made the day so much easier for mommy…thanks beautiful girl!

Coloring

If you don’t go to my new website…you should.  Oliver and I created a t-shirt together.  Coloring Pages T-shirt

He was so very very very excited to color on these pages.  Lucky I saved the pages so I can print them out again at a later time.  Maybe to show his progress at a later date.

Why is it that none of my children will “model” the things I make for them?  Bella can’t help it and well Oliver is just too darn busy, or wanting nothing to do with the camera.  For most of the time I was trying to get a good shot of his new t-shirt he was either in the pantry cupboards….'

Or hiding behind the curtains…..

Not very photogenic.

And the box car is still alive and well.  Oliver really wanted Bella to take a ride with him…so we tried it out.  Let’s just say they didn’t make it very far for fear of tearing it, but they both laughed.

So stupid

It’s very frustrating when something so small and insignificant can totally mess up your life.

Last fall it was when I sprained my ankle to the point where I couldn’t even take care of my kids for a couple of days.

This time it’s even worse, as in stupid.  I did something to my wrist.  I have no idea what I did.  A couple of days ago it started hurting, and I noticed it when I was carrying Bella around or Oliver. When they would lean back in my arms so that my wrist was engaged to hold them up, it would send a sharp pain radiating down my arm.

Now it’s so bad that small things hurt it.  Doing the dishes, putting on my seatbelt, absolutely anything that involves rotating my wrist and then any type of force no matter how small.  The problem is….I have to use my wrist.  I use it all the time…all day long.  And some things like carrying a tantrum throwing toddler or a handicap 5 year old make it scream in pain.

Speaking of tantrums.  I took Oliver with me to get my allergy shot this morning.  I figured since I have to sit around in the doctors office for 30 minutes, I would take Oliver to the inside playground to wear him out beforehand.  Except he didn’t want to play in the actual playground.  He threw a huge fit in the middle of the room.  Instead he wanted to explore the rides, the little rides you can insert quarters into.  So after I got him calmed down and we packed up our things, we headed back over to the rides.

I didn’t insert a single quarter, but he still managed to have fun climbing all over them for the following 40 minutes.

And then we had an epic tantrum when we had to leave and head over to the doctors office.  I guess 40 minutes wasn’t enough for his liking.  I should have just pulled up a chair and I could have sat there and watched him all morning long…or at least till the mall opens up and then we might have gotten a few stares!

What does one normally say?

When you are asked how thing are going…what does one normally answer with?

Usually if it’s by an acquaintance you probably just answer with a general, “Everything is good, how are you?” 

When it’s by a friend, you usually start talking about what has been going on in your life.

I feel like I repeat the same things over and over and over again.  How are thing going?  Well let’s see, Bella is still teething and it’s causing a nightmare over at our house.

A year later…..How are things going?  Well, Bella is still teething and it’s miserable at our house.

Another year later….well you get the point.

One thing that is currently sticking in my mind and making me frustrated is this.

Bella has a really hard time drinking liquids.  She drinks the most minuscule amounts possible, and even that is difficult for her.  She has gradually been doing a better job over the years, but it’s still one of the most difficult things for her.

So why does a child that has a hard time drinking, have to have problems that cause an overabundance of saliva in her mouth?  Something that she essentially has to drink in order to get rid off, and since she can’t do it very well, it causes all the coughing and lots of problems.  Problems that we have been having for the past 4 years. 

So I apologize when the subject matter is the same thing on our blog.  It is this very constant cycle of things that will drive me mad if it doesn’t come to an end in the near future or at least within the next year or so.

Not that I want other major problems…I would just like this teething thing to end, and for us to have a break.

This weekend she had another coughing spell that caused all the blood vessels around her eyes to pop.  She literally looked like she had been punched in both eyes as they were a little swollen and very red, almost purple.

This very same weekend Oliver had taken a tumble outside and really scraped up his nose badly.  We went to our nieces birthday party, and it probably looked like we beat our children.  We didn’t actually get any close up’s on their scrapes…but here are a couple pictures from the party.

Dining Room Progress Weeks 5 & 6

It’s slow moving around these parts.  Jesse has been laying tile while Oliver naps on the weekends.  And then usually we have plans at least one of the days, so really he is only laying tile for a couple hours each weekend.

We are finally to the cut pieces, and since its going to be a lovely 30 degrees and snowing this weekend here in the KC area…we might not get anything done on the dining room.

Where is spring? 

Where have we been?

I know we have been missing from this blog.

I took Bella into the doctor last week to see if she was sick, and to try and explain why she has been crying and fussing so much lately.  They couldn’t find anything wrong with her, but decided to try an antibiotic in case she was having an ear infection (there was some fluid in her ear).

I was busy with work all day Thursday and Friday of last week.

We did some family activities this past weekend which I will blog about.  I started the blog posts, but can’t seem to find the right words to finish them out. 

I started my allergy shots last week, and then wasn’t feeling the greatest.  I couldn’t tell if the allergy shots were to blame, or if I was getting sick again.

Last night I felt so horrible that it’s been confirmed I am officially sick again.  And since I’m sick of being sick, this time it seems so much worse!

So now I am just trying to cope and really bummed out because this week was spring break and I was hoping to do some fun activities with the kids and also get some things done for myself.  Seems like that won’t be happening now.

Where everybody knows your name

Bella was up for a ridiculously long amount of time during the night on Sunday night into Monday morning (from 11pm till 5am).  So I wasn’t about to wake her up for school at 7:30am like I normally would, instead once she was up, Oliver and I took her to school.  This is important to know, because I had to call and cancel her bus for the morning.

This morning Bella woke up crying at 4:30 am.  No matter what I did, she still kept crying.  After a few minutes I transferred her to Jesse and went downstairs to get some medicine.  She felt warm to me.  Sure enough when we got around to taking her temperature, it was at 102 degrees.  After she got her meds she went to sleep in Jesse’s arms and then was able to be transferred to our bed.  So again this morning I wasn’t going to wake her for school.  And even though I am pretty sure this is all teething related, you are not supposed to send a child to school with a fever, so I decided to keep her home.

And here is where I think it gets pathetic.

I called the bus service phone line.  The same bus company that services the students in our school district from preschool until high school, the same school district that has 20,000 students in over 34 schools (I just looked this up to prove a point).  Now of course all 20,000 students do not ride the bus, but let’s just say 2,000 of them do. 

When I called the morning and said “My daughter is sick today and will not need her bus.”

The reply was “Oh Isabelle…bus 303?”

“Yes….yes it is.”

I’m guessing the women on the phone recognized my voice because I have had to call in a lot over this past year for Bella when she is sick.  Or maybe most people don’t call in.  I don’t know, but regardless….it just tells you what kind of year we have had, if the bus company recognizes my voice to cancel their service.  It also pains me to know that 2 different pharmacists know me and my family by name because we have to pick up medicine far too often.

I often feel that people don’t believe me anymore or feel that I must be exaggerating when I talk about Bella’s sickness.  There isn’t any real diagnosis….except that she is always in pain, fighting fevers, battling the unknown, and in general just crying and fussy both day and night.  And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I was looking at from the outside.  But after dealing with the same thing for over 3 years (this is generally when she started teething in regards to her molars), I just can’t take any of it anymore.  A couple hours of fussing or crying from Bella can absolutely ruin my whole outlook on the day. 

I could probably go on about this topic forever….because let’s face it, I’m stuck in the middle of it and don’t see a way out.  There is no cure for teething that takes a year per tooth.  I’ve asked, I’ve begged, I’ve suggested surgery to get them out.  There is nothing that can be done.

This is both Bella’s and my (pardon my word here) personal hell.

Words Everywhere

Oliver’s vocabulary is taking off!  It’s exciting to hear all the words he is saying, and he has even started to put together sentences.  He has been saying “Daddy at work” for awhile, but more and more he is putting strings of two or three words together.

The other day this was proving to be a challenge as Oliver and I headed to Target.  As we were going down the aisles, he would see something he recognized and be adamant that he needed it in the cart.  It was especially frustrating for him as we entered the food aisles.  As I was putting milk, bananas, ice cream, crackers, yogurt, etc. into the cart….he would say the names over and over and want to have them.

So at the end of the trip, in the front seat with him….was milk, Thomas the train toothpaste, deodorant, and a large container of animal crackers.  He was trying to hold onto all the items the best he could…I really should have gotten a picture of him.

At home he will wander off at times and be playing with his toys all by himself.  I figure he is starting to use his imagination.  Although it also usually means he has pooped himself.  I’m not joking…usually a few times a day.  Oh Oliver is off playing by himself so nicely, must be poop in his pants!

We had another round of riding in the box this weekend.  Bella got a turn, and Oliver had just as much fun pulling her around.

Or pushing if daddy wasn’t going fast enough.

And checking in on her to make sure she was okay.

Then once daddy stopped.

Oliver tried to pull her himself.

Then of course he got rewarded by getting some rides himself.

My current nightmare

So I spent a couple hrs this weekend working on this dining room project. All would be going wonderfully if I wouldn't have run out of premixed mortar, made a batch myself that was drying too quickly, and didn't have 24" wide tile that I needed to place over a dip in the floor in one spot and a crown in the floor in another spot. Fricken projects. I plan to walk on the tile tomorrow and see if any around the crown area pop... If so, I will exchange a couple more not so nice words with my newest nemesis...the dining room. I thought for sure I could get the rest of the non cut required pieces laid today, but the mortar I mixed up had other plans for me... Nothing I did was going easy. So the room sits now slightly over halfway complete. I will be picking up some premixed mortar tomorrow... I don't care it's 3x the price cause I don't have to waste my time mixing it and cleaning all those tools used to mix it. In the end it's still cheaper than a contractor.
During one of my rants, I very calmly (insert sarcasm here), told Kristen I would not be going with her to the caregivers group today. After settling down for a couple hours I decided it would be best if I still went. Today we touched on the topic of depression and what sends a person to the "pit". How fitting... Because just hours prior I found myself yet once again overwhelmed by the projects that this house has in store for me and the struggles I have with even the most minor ones. Ohh to hear people complain about having to paint...I would give anything to just have to paint... But it's not anyone's fault but my own for taking on all of these projects. That's the thing... I stress more about this house and getting it done than I do about Bella. I just have to remind myself that life is too short to worry about this stupid crap and not worry so much about tiles being misaligned. Being a perfectionist sucks... And a pessimistic perfectionist is all the more fun for Kristen and the kids.
I hope that by acknowledging my faults, I can work on fixing them before my son becomes just like his father... Who is currently too busy playing with his choo choo inside of a mega blocks container. Maybe I should model my behavior after that of a kid without a worry in the world and life would be much better for everyone in my life.
Have a good week.
Jesse

Bella’s New School

Today Jesse and I went over to observe Bella’s new kindergarten classroom that she will start next fall.

It’s actually not a kindergarten classroom, it’s called a FOCUS classroom.  It’s what we would have called a special education or resource classroom when I was younger.  In this classroom are kids of different ages that all have their own goals to work on.  And these children do join their respective age group for different activities so they can be integrated with their own peers.

For example, Bella would possibly join her kindergarten peers for music, art, PE, recess, etc.  And then at other times she will be in the FOCUS room.

In observing the FOCUS room, I can tell you that in the short amount of time we were there, the teachers seem wonderful.  It really takes a special sort of person to work with these children and help make them the best possible versions of themselves that they can be.  And most of the children were excited to see us, complete strangers to them, and wanted to give us big hugs and show us everything they are working on.  It makes me know in my heart that they will be loving and good with Bella when she joins them next year.

I also thank God that he located us where he did.  I sometimes question why Bella is in our lives and what the bigger picture is, but I think God had a plan when we purchased our first house and landed ourselves in this school district.  They definitely go above and beyond in making sure Bella will be able to participate and enjoy her time at school.  In fact they just informed us that they ordered a special swing that allows a wheelchair to go on it for the elementary school playground, since they know how much Bella enjoys to swing.  It will be installed this summer.  Bella is not even at this school yet….but they are already preparing for her.

So yes I am eternally thankful for the teachers, therapists, school, and just generally loving school and church community we find ourselves in here…..without them I don’t know where we would be.

Dining Room Progress Week 4

That’s actually no progress made.  Just a couple of cute pictures of someone walking around in my snow boots.

We are really hoping to get the tile laid this weekend, but with our family suffering from colds, I’m guessing it’s going to be another weekend with nothing done.

Upcoming

I’m sick so I don’t actually feel like doing anything.

Instead I am sitting here thinking about all the things I need/want to get done in the next couple of months.

March: 

This is a busy month with many family birthdays (gifts I want to make, or need to purchase)

Easter (still debating if I want to host an Easter dinner again with an egg hunt for the kiddos)

Spring break (meaning our schedule is all out of whack for a couple of weeks).

April: 

Again a few family birthdays (for some reason Jesse and my family members all have birthdays in the same months, they seem to stack up on each other)

We are going on vacation (this means major prep work making sure the kids will be alright while we are gone, plus for me it means making sure I have all the clothes made/altered that I want to take and vowing not to buy anything new!!)

Our 8 year wedding anniversary is during this month (this year we might have something a little out of the ordinary in the works)

Kindergarten roundup time (getting Bella all prepared for her upcoming transition).

May: 

This starts wedding season and a few projects for myself (I would like to alter a bridesmaid dress to wear)

Hey no birthdays this month but with 6 the following month of June, including Oliver and Jesse, I will need to be working on this in May to get everything I want accomplished.

End of the school year, I’m very curious to see how this summer goes for Bella and Oliver.  It will be completely different than last summer, and I imagine we will be outside A LOT.

 

And speaking of outside.  I finally got myself to the allergy doctor to get tested for my allergies.  Ends up I am allergic to 45 out of the 50 things they tested me for.  Pretty much every kind of mold, dust mite, tree, grass, weed, and believe it or not animal.

Yes that means I am actually allergic to dogs.  And being that we have two of them living in our house, I am beginning to wonder what that has done to me this whole time.  Starting next week I will be going in to the doctors office twice a week to receive 3 shots at a time to try and build up my immunity to everything.  This process will go on for 2 years, towards the end I will be going every 4 weeks instead of twice a week, but I’m still a little worried as to how my already crazy schedule is going to allow all these doctors visits.

When the doctor came back in to tell me the results he asked me why it had taken me this long to come in and see them.  Ummm…..I’m sure most mothers understand…when you are juggling everything else going on in our lives…taking care of ourselves gets put on the backburner.  And definitely for me, adding more doctor appointments is the very last thing I want to do.

This child is still fussy all the time.  We have an ear appointment for her…completely guessing that might be a problem, but it’s going to be another couple of weeks before they can get her in.

And while we are having to pay more attention to a fussy Bella, Oliver has been getting into trouble.  His latest target was the stereo/DVD player.  The DVD portion has now met it’s untimely death.  So a sad and depressed Jesse had to order a new DVD player.  I’m kind of wondering if Oliver wasn’t put up to the task, since it’s been on Jesse’s wish list for a while to get a Blu Ray player.

I’m officially sick today

It’s a day of warm drinks and lots of kleenex for myself.

Yes Oliver you can have more cheezits and fruit loops for breakfast.  Oh you want to play with the ipad, yes you can play it all day long because it keeps you in one place!

Bella is still in school this morning, but it will be interesting to see how the day goes once she makes it home.  She still hasn’t been in the best of moods and today…I don’t have the energy to do anything.

1130pm - Let's Play

What's wrong with Bella and how do we know?
1. Is it her teeth? - she might be clamping her jaws or rubbing her cheek or cry when we put on orajel
2. Is it her ear? - she might be rubbing it occasionally or there is drainage
3. Does she have a headache? - no fricken idea how we determine this one... just hope this hasn't been passed down from her mother
4. Is she thirsty? - she holds her tongue out
5. Is she hungry? - she opens her mouth when food is placed in front of her
6. Does she have a cold? - green snot or goupy eyes
7. Does her chest hurt where she has rubbed it raw? bloody and raw... looks like it hurts
8. Does her spine hurt? - no idea
9. Is she tired? - she should be cause I sure am
10. Does she have a tract infection? - no idea
11. Does she need to poop?  - how long has it been since she pooped last... has she been trying to "push"?
12. Is there anything else we are forgetting that might be causing her to fuss all the fricken time? - I'm sure there is and we'll add it to the list.

FUSS, FUSS... FUSSY FUSS... FUSSY FUSS FUSS... OMG!
6 times since she went to bed... every half hour we have gone in there... drinks, orajel, lotion on her chest.

Ohh what's that?  Oliver decided to wake up too... convenient... but he's easy.  Just give him his water and rock with him a bit and back down he goes.  The only reason he wakes up is because daddy is freaking out as he continues to go back and forth between Bella's room.  Can't wait for us to complete her bedroom on the main floor... then we get to go up and down the stairs every time as well.... looking forward to falling on my arss a couple times.

Just when I think I have improved my patience... I'm tested like this and fail miserably!

Hope your Sunday evening is going better than mine... someone is crying again.

Jesse