Tentatively

We tentatively believe we have an answer for all the bowel trouble Little Monkey was having. After weeks of yuck and stink and rash and things you don't want me to blog about...things are looking much better.

We have taken Little Monkey Man off of: Wheat, barley, malt (yeah, you KNEW he was a big drinker, but we are trying to curb the habit), rye, modified food starch, hydrolyzed vegetable proteins, hydrolyzed plant protein, oats, textured vegetable protein, semolina, durum, spelt, kamut, einkorn, faro, and triticale. Don't ask me what some of those are, I haven't a clue. I just read labels for them.

We also took him off of soy, rice, potato, corn, and bananas and will re-introduce them slowly. We knew as of last Thursday that things were looking up...but didn't want to get too excited. We are still very tentative but hopeful. There was a time where we really thought that dairy was to blame, so that is why we continue to be tentative.

He does not have an official diagnosis of Celiac disease, although we really do suspect that is what is going on. He may be gluten-intolerant instead. The diet is the same so it really doesn't matter. It can take up to 9 years to get an official Celiac diagnosis...and it really doesn't change anything. There is a chance if it is gluten-intolerance that he could outgrow it.

We are just thankful that he is feeling better (ok, other than the tremendous cold he has with a fever of 103) and things are looking up. Thank you so much for praying for us, we'll continue to ask God's guidance in this situation.

I hate doing posts without pictures, so here are a couple on a TOTALLY unrelated note that I took over the weekend. I love when they sit together and do something...anything...together. There is lots of sibling rivalry right now. Mostly because Snug wants to be the boss/mother/babysitter of Little Monkey and Little Monkey is exerting his independence. The mess behind them on the rocking chair is a stack of hand-me-down clothes I was going through that some very gracious friends gave us for Hannah. There was so much really nice stuff for her and we are so blessed.

And here is my little model (I wanted to see how big Hannah would be when she wore this). He will kill me someday. His daddy will kill me if he reads this post. His Uncle Nathan is sure to have something to say about it. And I think he is just too cute! Glad that he is a boy though, and glad I am having a girl! This dress actually isn't my style* but it is in great condition and we will use it-Easter 2012? I think I probably had one just like it when I was growing up :o)

*I am not a big lace and fluff fan...I can remember not liking to wear lots of frills when I was little. I had two BIG no-no's for my wedding dress. No lace, no big bows. However, if Hannah loves to wear lace and foo-foo I will totally let her. I can't WAIT to have a girl!

What Does YOUR Daddy Do?

I have to laugh when we go to parades or "touch a truck" and Snug's favorite part are the "woos", as he calls police cars and ambulances and such. He has literally grown up with them. I can only imagine when he goes to school that his friends might be a tad jealous of his "contacts". Moving out of the city where my husband works he won't be seeing daddy "at work" quite as much, but still.
One of the benefits of working in the city where you live is that (at least for his department) #1 can come home for supper. Most of the guys eat out, but he chooses to come home and eat with us and chill with the boys for a few minutes. Most of the time the boys don't even look twice at his belt of gadgets, but tonight they were all curious.

Snug really liked the handcuffs. Honestly, he has seen this stuff many times before, but whatever. **Cop Mama, #1 wanted to know if you were thinking "Hepatitis shots much????" as you saw this picture**

The boys wrists don't even begin to fit in the cuffs, so they thought it was pretty funny. They do have "kiddie cuffs" for kids, no lie. My husband isn't in the schools much so he doesn't carry a pair.

Not everyone gets to personally explore a cruiser each and every evening (which he doesn't, just once in awhile). It was really really nice weather so Snug wanted to go out and see Daddy's "woo". I got a really good picture of him next to the side of the cruiser, but because this is the internet, we don't publicly share where my husband works. I guess it doesn't REALLY matter because he has people out "after" him day in and day out...a big reason why we are moving to a new city. But still.

The funny thing is, Snug does not know what his daddy does. If you were to ask him, he'd say something like "helps people". We prefer him to have that explanation :o)

W Is Not As Exciting As V

"W" is for Watercolors. Not as exciting as "V" for veterinarian :o) We did two letters in preschool this week because we only have 3 more weeks of Draycare and then I am officially on Maternity leave. I am 1 week from when I had Snug, and 3 weeks from when I had Little Monkey. I went to the OB yesterday and he says she is sitting tight and won't make an appearance until 40 weeks. We'll see!

I try to do lots of painting and fun things with the kids. I thought today I'd share some watercolor tips. So many moms I know don't paint with their kids because it is too "messy". I say bring on the mess because it is SO good for them.

Before the kids come to the table, I have it all set up. Each one of my Draycare clients has a laminated place mat I made for them to do things like playdough and painting on. I cut pictures out of children's catalogs and various magazines-each child has things he/she likes on their mat. I bought some poster board and cut it in half-each mat is a half. After gluing the pictures on, I took them and got them laminated. I used the media resource center at a local university.

Our water cups are old jell-o* or applesauce cups. The plastic Gerber baby food containers work well too. We just recycled various things we've used in the past. The cups each get about 1/4-1/2 full of water so if they spill it isn't a big mess.

Sometimes kids have a hard time getting the watercolors (we use washable) to "work" because they don't put enough water in them to get them started. I take a medicine dropper and put a drop of water in each color before the kids come to the table. By the time they get started each color is ready to go.

For clean up I just wipe off the mats, dump the water, and leave the water colors open for awhile till they dry again.

This little man isn't quite ready to water color yet. Sometimes he gets a small cup of water and a paint brush. Today I got brave and gave him washable marker and put a bib on him. He had it in his hair and all over his hands, but it will all come off in the tub!

So "W" is not as exciting as "V", but we still had a good time together. I am looking forward to the break and having no extra kids, but I will miss all the fun things we do together. The more the merrier!

*I bought the jell-o in containers (I always make it normally) and Snug was enthralled with it. He had never seen it before. Poor sheltered kid.

Just Another Tuesday? NEVER!

Tuesday can be such a "blah" day. Monday gets to be the day everyone dislikes because it marks the end of the weekend/beginning of the work week. Wednesday (for us) is library and church. Thursday #1 has off and we enjoy the evening together. Friday of course starts off the weekend. But what about Tuesday? Aren't Tuesdays just...forgotten?

Awhile back I had a post called "Just Another Tuesday? Never!" and whenever something 'interesting' happens on a Tuesday, that is what I call those posts. Because I feel bad for Tuesdays.

This week in preschool, Draycare style, we are doing the letters "v" and "w". To go along with the letter "v" I decided we should go visit a veterinarian. We happen to be living next door to a vet, in fact renting from a vet. I called them up to make arrangements and the secretary informed me that school children under 18 were not allowed to have field trips there due to the fact that they could get hurt. School children under 18??? How many are over 18 out there? I know there are some, but really...?

Ok, so I'm sure I could have called a few more vets, but I happen to know the vet in charge of our county animal control. I serve on a steering committee for our county parks and rec that manages/does fund raisers for our dog park, and he is also on the committee. I called them next. We were assured that we could visit, but they were not sure what all they had to offer. Being that we are 3 & 4 years old, I told her we were not expecting too much :o)

I also talked to Doc B. last Thursday about it and he seemed excited to have us come. He mentioned that the kids could pet some animals and listen to their heartbeats through a stethoscope...that sounded just our speed.

The kids were very excited to visit the vet, and we even had to make a quick stop at ALDI (more on that later) and we picked up a box of doggie biscuits. A little "thanks for having us". We pulled into the lot and we had our usual "be polite, be quiet, don't touch unless told it is ok" speech. Everyone was ready to go inside and see what a vet does. Oh my were they going to find out.

So we get in and a nice lady takes us back to pet a friendly kitty. We talk a bit about how these kittys don't all have homes and people will come adopt them. We talk about the litter boxes, water dishes, etc. Then in comes Doc B. He is excited.

We are here just in time he says, he has just put a dog to sleep. I about wet myself. The kids just stared at him. I should have taken a camera, but I forgot...and we really need to keep this blog G so pictures today...not to be posted if I had taken them. He then told the kids the dog was just sleeping, because he was going to have surgery *WHEW*! I was relieved beyond what you can imagine.

He said we could watch the surgery so we all trooped back into a small room where a Pomeranian was laying very dead like on the exam table. The smell was...not great. It was very warm. Doc then proceeded to tell us he was going to neuter this dog. Yep folks, my home daycare/preschool class got to witness firsthand a dog being neutered. Doc explained that this kept the dog from being able to produce more puppies that wouldn't have homes. The kids thought it was a good idea for all puppies to have homes, so he proceeded.

Before I tell you exactly what went on, I have to say I nearly fainted for what I can remember is the first time in my life. I've stood up too fast and blacked out...but this was different. This was everything going swimmy...gray....back to color...sweating like crazy...and thinking I might vomit. I had to leave the operating room and go sit down. I am not squeamish, but I think the heat, smell, and procedure which you will now read about got to this pregnant woman!

The kids watched him scrub in, shave the dog, got an explanation of sterilization of instruments, saw him CUT THE DOG OPEN, remove the testicles, and sew him back up. Then they were introduced to vaccinations (which were given), paperwork, and saw him be microchipped. Then the dog started to wake up and was put into a recovery kennel. I kid you not, that is what the vet had planned for our preschool group. So what did you do this Tuesday?


********************************************************
On a totally unrelated subject we had not one but 2 doctor's appointments for Little Monkey Man yesterday. He does not have food allergies, but the second doctor isn't convinced that Celiac can be totally ruled out. Evidently the average person who is diagnosed with it isn't diagnosed for 9 years after the symptoms start. It just takes that long to get a positive test. He wants us to put him on a gluten-free diet (including corn products/soy/and oats) for a few weeks and see what happens. If nothing, well then keep looking for something. If his diarrhea clears up, we have an answer. He could just even be wheat intolerant but until we clear it TOTALLY out for awhile we won't know.

So we stopped by a couple of grocery stores (after I did research online along with reading all the doctor's paperwork) to see what he could have. At home we had eggs, bacon, raisins, apples, and carrots. Somehow I thought he needed a bit more in his diet.

This is what we bought. Wheat is in EVERYTHING. If he is lactose intolerant as we suspected before, he is in big trouble because a big part of a gluten-free diet is dairy related. So far no improvement today in diapers...but we know it will take a few days. If the GI doctor was right and his gut just needs to heal, this is also a high-fat, high-protein diet...and he is eating his probiotics daily. He is also back on PediaSure to ensure that he is getting enough calories. I never thought I'd be buying that stuff again. Oh well! Thanks for your prayers, we appreciate it-we know God has big plans for this boy!

Blast From The Past

Oh I have so so much in my head, I feel like it is swimming. I think I felt that exact same way last year on March 1, which was a Monday also. Didja know that? Here is my post from last year if you are interested:
http://thedraystoday.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome-to-not-me-monday-this-blog.html

It was a Not Me Monday post and I was feeling very overwhelmed with both #1's health and Little Monkey Man's (who was Baby J back then). Well a year later we are still having trouble with his health, but thankfully #1's health is great!

I took Monkey Man to the allergist today and he does NOT have food allergies. We are so thankful for that...but in the words of the allergist "this is good news, this is bad news". The bad part is we still have no idea where the diarrhea is coming from.

His diarrhea was so bad this morning that I ran OUT OF DIAPERS AND WIPES at the dr. and had to resort to filling a diaper cover (I was using fitteds/covers today) with tissues to absorb the mess. Can you imagine? Oh our exam room REEKED. I am so sorry to everyone who came after us. Every time a nurse or the Dr. came in I was changing and other diaper of nastyness. They agreed it is NOT normal for this to be happening, but had no answers for us. They did ask if we were sure he doesn't have Celiac Disease. I'm not sure of anything at this point.

Ok, back to looking at the past. I started blogging about two and a half months from when Monkey Man was born. I can now look back (and share with you) how things were at the same place in that pregnancy as this one! Here is a post from about the same time: http://thedraystoday.blogspot.com/2008/04/great-spring-day.html

Snug is 20 months old in these posts, same as what Little Monkey is now. So fun to look back and see what he was like back then, he's changed so much!