State Fair 2017 and the entire rest of the SUMMER!

HELLO! Oh my gosh, it's been sooooo long since I've signed on. My deepest apologies (if anyone is still here!), but we've been busy enjoying summer. It has been one amazing summer filled with tons of fun things. Tomorrow we leave for our 7th vacation since May. We feel super blessed and we are grateful beyond words that we're able to squeeze so much in. 

This summer we: traveled to DC, visited my dad/stepmom in Charlotte, swam a lot in our pool and played a lot in our yard, went on a 2.5-week RV trip to S. Dakota/Montana, met my dad and stepmom at Wisconsin Dells for a fun little waterpark vacation, sent each boy up to northern MN to spend SOLO time with my parents, RVed down to Iowa for our yearly family reunion and thoroughly enjoyed another year at the MN state fair. The boys completed two rounds of swim lessons at an amazing local swim school and progressed hugely for the first time ever. We've been enjoying our house every chance we get and using our RV whenever we can. Elijah has enjoyed time with his horse Trixie every Friday this summer through the amazing autism/hard-of-hearing program at Haven Acres.

Our summer in a nutshell! Today we ventured to the state fair for our annual adventure. We experienced probably the most crowded day we've ever seen (yuck), but the boys didn't seem to notice. State Fair Day is Sammy's third favorite day of the entire year (so he informed us this morning), which explains the genuine smiles you see in the following photos. When I put him to bed tonight, he was sad. So so sad because his third-favorite day of the year is over. He is SO much like his mama.

Every year I have the boys don Oink Booth crowns and pose for a photo. These pics were taken five years apart. Sooo sweet!

Pronto pups!

I cannot believe we squeezed the boys into a stroller again this year, but there really is no other way. Elijah (understandably) walks at a snail's pace and I have no idea what we'll do in the years to come.

Sammy was so happy to meet Cowwy's "family." He loves his cows!

We take this photo every year, too. I love these sweet, smiley boys so much!

One of the things I love so much about Elijah is his sense of adventure. He is always willing to try new things, despite having a medical diagnosis of "severe anxiety." He hopped onto this fast kiddie ride by himself and even threw his arms up in the air!

Squished, but smiling!

This is my favorite photo from the entire day. Sammy does not like anything that is remotely fast, so he hugged Elijah tightly from behind for a splash of comfort.

On the menu for the next few days: time up north with my sisters (back in the RV, woo!), both boys starting a NEW school (yikes!) and time for me to get work done! This next week will bring enormous change for all of us, so please pray for smooth sailing. Thanks for peeking in! IF there's anyone peeking in. Now that fall is just around the corner, I'll be here more often. Promise.

State Fair 2016, dr updates and new digs!

Elijah's tummy has not been the same since the testing we had done at Children's last week. Tummy troubles have kept him home from school Friday and today. Things were bad Friday, better Saturday and Sunday and again at 3:00 this morning he was throwing up. The doctor we saw today thought it was a virus that has worsened with sugar. Today I didn't let him have a single bit of sugar and he's been so much better. Praying for a better day and SCHOOL tomorrow!

Yesterday he seemed well enough to make our yearly State Fair trip and he did great all day (uhh...till his began digesting the greasy, sugary food). We hit all our favorite spots, plus some. Pics are below!

E had an appointment with a Genetics doctor this morning. It's one that I'd scheduled earlier in the summer at the suggestion of Dr. M, our wonderful developmental ped. We haven't seen genetics since 2009 when Elijah was two and at that point they had done extensive testing and hadn't found an underlying issue for his congenital anomalies. Dr. M thought it would be worth another visit, seven years later. Advances have been made in science and other anomalies have popped up with him since 2009. Dr. S agrees with me that there is most likely an underlying genetic reason for everything. We will do a few in-depth tests in the next couple weeks. The REALLY in-depth tests are super expensive and aren't yet covered by our insurance, but the hope is that within the next year they will be. What is the point of doing this testing, you ask? Good question! If we do find a genetic underlying cause for his congenital issues, then we would know for other things to look out for (organs to keep an eye on, for example).

One of my weaknesses happens to be falling into pits of fear and becoming totally consumed by it. There was a two-hour period of time today when I fought really hard to stay out of that pit. Elijah's vomiting has worried me and then his blood pressure at this morning's appointment was 135/90 (!!). After that he got a BAD headache that lasted nearly an hour. He gets these occasionally, but they've never been so intense or lasted so long. I wrapped my arms around my writhing boy and cried and prayed so hard for relief for him. We thought the headaches could be related to his spinal cord retethering (part of last week's testing), but those preliminary results show no retether (both good and bad news). The high blood pressure is likely because of this little tummy bug as well as some mild dehydration (conferred with Dr. G's nurse about this, just to settle my nerves).

All of these things pressed fear down hard on me today. I had a moment at Appointment #2 as I stared down at Elijah's flip-flops while he was being weighed for the second time. There was a moment of clarity when I realized: I DO NOT have to take on this worry! My job is to take care of my boy and I've definitely got that under control. There's someone else shouldering the worry and it's so easy to forget about that and become wrapped up in total fear. We go in and out of these cycles of medical worry and unexplained symptoms and in the end they stretch but also strengthen us. 

Saving the best news for last, we very quickly became home owners over the weekend! The third house we looked at was THE ONE. All four of us loved it instantly. It's spacious, sits in a quiet cul-de-sac, has a huge fenced-in yard, space for our RV, a detached building that can be used for an art/photo studio and even a POOL! We placed an offer a few hours after viewing it and a few hours after that the offer was accepted! The house is on the older side, so we are praying for a good inspection on Wednesday and then we'll be in the clear. We're super excited! We'll move in mid-October.

Thanks for peeking in!

State Fair 2015 and preparing for a new school year!

Another full week has passed! It was fun having my mom here for a few days. The boys were ALL over her and I think they made her head spin a bit. :) We said goodbye on Wednesday as she hopped on a plane to go back to Palm Springs. Dan got back from a long work trip and we made it to open house to visit both boys' new classrooms. Sammy is finally excited for school. He was so cutely excited to have a locker that has his name on it and to check out his new classroom. I think he is going to have a super fun year. Elijah's teacher seems AWESOME and we feel like she will be a great fit for him. Dan and I sat down with her this week for a few minutes and gave her the insight that we thought would be helpful before jumping into the year.

Meds update: We have been going up and down and up and down with dosage because neither 10mg or 20mg has seemed right for E. This week I decided just to deconstruct the capsules and give him what would be around 15mg every morning. We had some SUPER rough days this week, but I feel in my gut like we need to stick with this dose for at least a week before making changes. Just about every 2 seconds I whisper a prayer to myself that we will find the magic dose before school begins. Please, God.

We squeezed in a trip to the Minnesota State Fair this week and we hit all of our favorite food stands and rides. As always, the day went super fast. We love our yearly family State Fair day!

Sammy posing like the "Statue of Liverty" with a cold glass of milk. :)

He was so excited to pet a cow ("Cowwy's family!").

Traditional oink booth crown photo.

Love these two oink booth cuties.

You'd never know that 2 seconds before this photo was taken Elijah was head-butting his brother. Ugh. That switch can go on and off in the blink of an eye.

Posing with their loot!

Wishing you all a fun and safe Labor Day weekend! Thanks for peeking in!

State Fair 2014

I have the most handsome boys on the planet! Sorting through these pics, I'm realizing how many close-ups I took of my three boys at the State Fair this year.

We had such a fun trip there this week, as we always do. We counted out years and figured that Elijah has been to NINE Fairs (including when he was in my tummy) and Sammy has been to five. 

We always start out with a massive Pronto Pup. :)

Then we move onto Sweet Martha's Cookies. The boys' favorite.

We tried a few new things this year, like this dreamsicle smoothie that the boys sucked down in 60 seconds. Another new favorite: reuben bites.

Sammy was so excited about seeing Cowwy's (his favorite stuffed animal) family! "LOOK! It's Cowwy's family! Take a picture!"

Our standard Oink Booth crown pic that I take every year.

Sammy was excited to see the "Daddy Pig" (MN's largest boar).

Aww, love this one.

It took MUCH effort and many tears to capture this photo. I'm glad we made it happen.

Waiting in line to get my age guessed.

Sammy, snuggling with his new I-Love-You-Monkey.

In previous years only Elijah has wanted to go on the ferris wheel, but this year Sammy joined us. Can you spot their cute faces?

Last year Elijah would not go on the Giant Slide because the previous year had traumatized him. I talked him into going this year and he was a little scared, but loved it once it was done.

The boys' first time ever eating snow cones!

As usual, we ended with the kid rides. The boys have a love-hate relationship with the Winky the Whale ride. They love it once it gets going, but anticipating the strange noise it makes drives them just about crazy!

Elijah rode on the little swings alone while Sammy watched.

Then Sammy decided he reeeeallly wanted to go, too, but only if Elijah could sit right behind him. Once the ride got going, he reached back for Elijah's hand and they held hands for the duration of the ride. It was the sweetest thing ever, and it totally calmed him.

My favorite pic of the day.

Note to self: buy THREE sheets of ride tickets in advance next year. Now that the boys are older and enjoying more things, we go through them quickly.

Super excited to be exiting the Wacky House.

The boys each won a handful of toys and had plenty of sugar in their bellies at the end of the day.

We spent a family record amount of time at the Fair--FIVE hours! That's a lot for us.

Dan and I had saved money up specifically for the Fair and had a tiny bit "extra" in the end. So we caved when the boys pleaded for us to buy them a fluffy unicorn from Despicable Me.

Fluffy Unicorn is treated like royalty in our house. She gets tucked into her bed in the loft every night and is gently awakened every morning.

It's so sad that our Fair time is done this summer! That means Fall is near. :( We had such a fun time and we are thankful that we are able to do this as a family every year.