Spring is here!

Spring is here, spring is here! I don't think I've EVER been more happy to say hello to spring. We are eagerly waiting for the birds to start frequenting our yard and for the big, beautiful trees to start turning green. The sunshine and warmth we've experienced recently has helped improve moods all around our house. Last weekend we were able to enjoy an OUTSIDE fire for once! Ahhh..

The boys are as cute and funny as ever. Since it's been warmer, they've been exploring our backyard and making up creative imaginary movies and games to fill their time. Everything usually turns into Pokemon somehow and there are fake "battles" that take place. The way these two talk back and forth about Pokemon reminds me of two old men talking politics. They are quite schooled in the Pokemon world and Elijah especially knows very specific details about EVERY character. "Oh, him? Yeah, he's on page 97 in the Pokemon manual. He weighs 237.4 lbs and he is 7'9"."

Do you see Sammy's Sharpied nostrils? Yep, constant antics around these parts.

School has been going great for both boys. They are both still enjoying chess club on Wednesday afternoons. If you asked either of them how our winter was, they'd say, "Awesome!"

I recently brought Elijah to his 6-month urology check-up and everything checked out great! They did an ultrasound of his one kidney (we hadn't had this looked at for years) and it looked wonderful. It's nice and big, which is great since it's taken over the other kidney's job as well as its own, and it's functioning well. We've continued to cath him daily since his surgery last summer and it's been working! Third time's a charm.

His well visit last week was great, too. Dr. S recommended that he see an orthotist for shoe inserts to help with his very flat feet. He's been experiencing leg (knee, I think) pain for over a year and the flat feet could very well be the culprit. That appointment is on Monday!

Other upcoming appointments in the next few months: cardiology, ENT, pulmonology. We are also in the process of getting him some extra assistance through the county/state and once we're through all the paperwork this will be GREAT to get him some extra help! He's doing so great. We are constantly so proud of Elijah and Sammy!

We hope you are all doing great! Work for both Dan and me have been insanely busy, hence the minimal posts. That should slow down soonish. Thanks for peeking in! More soon!

Love is in the house

It has been sad to say good-bye to winter break. I LOVED the precious time I got to spend with my boys and I was secretly so sad to drop them off at school on Tuesday morning after spending two and a half weeks together. Having my cuties within earshot and arm's length makes me a happy mama. There is certainly value in them going to school, but I adore my time with them. They won't be "little" forever so I relish every moment I can get.

Over break my boys decided it was time to watch Star Wars! We watched the first three movies together over the weekend and we all enjoyed them. The boys asked a TON of questions (so many that it was hard to hear what was being said most of the time) and they are excited about the next few. 

Sammy and Elijah have both lost teeth over the past few days, but Sammy's loss has added an extra lisp to his already cute lisp. I just love it when those top front teeth go missing. The cuteness is almost too much to handle.

Since break, Sammy has been extra into Mommy (lucky me!). Every morning (after getting dressed of course, because his is Mr. Responsible & Organized) the first thing he does is crawl into bed with me, usually after asking, "Anyone want some Sammy snuggles?!" And this is when the I-love-yous begin for the day. Lately he's been saying, "I love you more than you love me!" And I say, "Not possible!" And he says, "Always possible!" Repeat about 100 times. I love it!

While I'm on the Sammy topic, he has shown such incredible determination lately. This fall Elijah took a chess class at school and became really good at it. Sammy saw this and decided he needed to learn, too, so he watched his brother play and within a couple days he knew all the rules and could hold his own. I thought this was impressive! Then the other morning he decided that he needed to learn how to play the recorder since Elijah knows how. He asked E to teach him the notes and within 15 minutes could read music for and play Jingle Bells. Nice work, Sammy!

We are coming up on the time of year when we see a bunch of Elijah's specialists. Next week brings a couple appointments and we expect everything to check out fine. We have seen improvements in some areas and regression in others (like following directions). Sometimes I have to stop and remember all that he has overcome. It's amazing to consider how well he is doing in spite of the many big hurdles he has had to leap over! We are super blessed and have two amazing boys!

Elijah starts SKIING tomorrow, wooo! I'm buying Sammy a used pair of skis and boots tomorrow so we'll see if I can get them onto his feet without too much fuss. I hope you all have a warm weekend!

Croup: Season 5, Episode 1 (Elijah) ...and a few other thoughts

I was hopeful that we would make it through August and September without having a single croup episode. With literally hours left in the month, Elijah woke up with a raging case of croup during nap-time today. This is only the second time he has had an episode during the day. Dan was at work, so my shaking hands and panicked heart got him downstairs and gave him an epi neb as quickly as I could. The last time he had croup was pretty traumatic, so I have been a bit of a mess since this ordeal. He had a very hard time calming down, which always makes the situation worse. It took a good 15 minutes of the neb before things got better. He no longer had stridor when he was breathing normally, but I could hear it when he coughed or cried. Which meant that another episode tonight wasn't out of the question.

Dan is at the ER with him now, in hopes that the doctor will give him a shot of steroids. I know my boy and I know in my heart that if he doesn't get steroids, we will be up with him again in the middle of the night.

Croup aside..
Things are a little bit tough right now. Our work/life situation is taxing, but on top of that the boys are....difficult. I adore those two monkeys to PIECES. They are my wonderful little people. They sure know how to make Mama crazy, though! :)

On the way home from the dropzone today, I just about lost my mind. I will give you an idea of why...

[Imagine, amidst the following conversation, Sammy periodically SCREAMING at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason. Weee!]
Elijah: Mom, what's this song about?
Me: I don't know, listen to the words and see if you can figure it out!
E: Mom, what kind of truck is that?
Me: A semi-truck.
E: What's it called?
Me: A semi-truck.
E: Who is driving it?
Me: I don't know.
E: What's his name?
Me: Jim.
E: Where is Jim going?
Me: Probably to deliver something.
E: What is he going to deliver?
Me: Tables.
E: What kinds of tables?
Me: I don't know, honey.
E: Oh. What city are we in?
Me: Bloomington.
E: Who lives in Bloomington.
Me: The Mall of America is in Bloomington.
E: Who else?
Me: I don't know.
E: Who is "him" that they just said in the song on the radio?
Me: I don't know.
E: Who is he singing about?
Me: I don't know, honey.
E: What is Cities 97?
Me: A radio station.
E: What kind of radio station?
Me: [silence....]
E: Mom??

And on and on and on..

Kinda funny, but not so funny after hours of it!

I was thinking today, in between answering a million questions, how Elijah has been late in achieving so many milestones. Not just late, but really late. He started crawling at 21 months old. He started saying his first few words at 2 1/2 years old. He started walking at 3 years old. He was a total angel baby and didn't have a single tantrum until after he was 3. So, I was thinking, why would potty training be any different? He was late out of the gate. This potty thing may not be a total defiant/control thing with him. Yes, it is somewhat, but not totally. He is just taking a really long time. Just like everything else.

The thing that throws a wrench in that theory is his cognitive/academic skills. He knew his letters and numbers before he was 2. He has always had incredible retention and memory. He started to read short words at 4, and is reading almost everything at 5 (tonight he read the word "illustrated" with no help). So why is he so far ahead in this area??

I'm not really looking for an answer to that question, but I am glad I have taken the time to think through it all. It has given me a renewed patience with potty training. I have to constantly remind myself that he IS making progress. SLOWLY. But progress is happening over time. I remember wondering if he would ever crawl or talk or walk or enter his "terrible twos." And guess what. He did all of those things!

That leads me back to.... the "terrible twos." In many ways, I think Sammy and Elijah are in the same stage with their behavior. Sammy has started hitting and screaming his head off at inopportune times and doing the things standard for his age. Elijah is right there with him, doing his own rebellious and dramatic performances.

Despite the challenges, I love our little family. I love all three of my amazing boys to pieces. We are a very blessed family and I wouldn't change a thing.

I will end with Elijah's list of specialists, which I wrote up the other day after hearing about his failed hearing test and anticipating having to possibly (and very sadly) add another one. Thanks for checking in! If you have room on your prayer list this week, please pray that Elijah's hearing test this week shows improvement and that whatever is causing his loss of hearing is fixable/curable. Thank you!!

Primary doc
Cardiovascular surgeon
Cardiologist
Pulmonologist
Urologist
Neurosurgeon
Neourologist
Dermatologist
Physical Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Speech Therapist
ENT doc
Opthamologist
Geneticist
Audiologist (??)