Croup: Season 9, Episode 1 (Elijah)

You know those cycles Elijah goes through where things are just off? Yep, we're here again. I won't go into the gory details, but he is being awakened almost every night somewhere between 1:00 and 5:00 with tummy troubles, which is affecting sleep. I remember this same thing happening a few years ago right around this same time of year. Tummy affected sleep affected behavior affected school affected life affected tummy affected sleep and on and on. We've cut way down on his sugar and dairy intake and this seems to help a bit. One thing about our summer RV trip is that we did not eat as healthfully as we normally do, so I know that has played a role. I've been trying to be much more intentional about getting healthy food into our bodies.

Elijah was up with croup for the past two nights to commemorate the 2016 Croup Kick-off! Thankfully with the help of oral steroids it has been very mild. But present enough to make sure he doesn't get any sleep! Last night he was up at 2:00 with a mild barky cough so mild that a neb wasn't needed. I would have taken him outside for some soothing cool nighttime air if it hadn't been raining. I tucked him in and told him to go back to sleep and he did not sleep another wink. How do I know this, you ask? Because his bed is two feet from my bed and I listened to him move around and talk for the ENTIRE REST OF THE NIGHT. His croup was just fine at 7:15 when I finally peeled myself out of bed, but I kept him home from school so he could sleep off the rest of the sickies and get caught up a bit. We just woke up from a little nap and we're both feeling better.

All four of us have been fighting little sore throats and runny noses and coughs. Sick season is here! And to join in on the fun, Buddy has begun acting up like a wily teenager. Having been cooped up for 2 weeks after his surgery, I think he is DONE with it. Yesterday while I was trying to wrap up homework with the boys I noticed that Buddy was being way too quiet outside. Usually he sits at the door and whimpers if one of us isn't out with him. We peeked out to find that he had chewed the cupholders and a head cushion off of our two favorite lawn chairs. I was so. mad. I moved the chairs out of his reach and went back in to finish homework. TWO MINUTES later I looked out to see a gigantic hole that had been dug in my in-laws beautiful green front lawn. I just about died. I put him in his kennel and kept him there until Dan got home. I realize it's pointless to be upset with and ignore a dog who has tons of pent-up energy, but I was and I did. I threatened to sell him and the boys begged for me to change my mind. The jury's still out.

In the midst of tons of good, positive, big things that are happening for our family, some little things are working against us. It's one of those seasons where we have to work extra hard to overcome the little things. We are trying! Swimming hard upstream! We'll get there!

Have a great rest of your week! If you know how to repair lawn holes, stop by any time! ;)

Croup: Season 8, Episode 2 (Elijah)...and frogs and crickets.

Based on lots of sneezing and a certain little something I could hear in Elijah's breathing yesterday, I knew there was a chance that croup would happen last night. At 11:00, he woke up with mild (thank goodness) stridor. We gave him a dose of oral steroids and I sat with him in a steamy bathroom until he complained that the room was too hot. I brought him to bed with me for a bit just so I could hear if it was going to get worse. Sometimes it does, but usually the steroids help. After listening to him snore for an hour, I brought him back to his bed. This morning he had a bit of a cough, but was doing much better and seemed to sleep great for the rest of the night.

Speaking of sleep, we may have discovered something that helps Elijah sleep better. His in-home behavioral therapist was here earlier in the week when E was having a really rough time. There was a lot of screaming and refusing to do anything that was asked of him. So she got out her phone and turned on a noise app. She told him he could listen to any sound on the app and he chose....FROGS AND CRICKETS. Uhhh, ok. He immediately calmed down! So that night he asked if he could turn the noise machine in his room to FROGS AND CRICKETS as opposed to the white noise we always use. We were hesitant because who the heck wants to have frogs croaking in their ear while they sleep? We let him do it and he slept till nearly 6:00am! This. Never. Happens. We have turned on FROGS AND CRICKETS every night since and he has slept until at least 5:30, sometimes even a little past 6:00. This morning I said to Dan, "Seriously? FROGS? And CRICKETS? That's all he needed?"

The frogs and crickets have NOT helped with behavior this week. Oye. It was a DOOZY week. My energy and patience were depleted and I remembered just how challenging things could be when the wind blows violently and directly against me. We did a med increase at the end of December, but I'm wondering if we need to do another. We have an appointment to see Dr. M on Monday, so we'll see what he says and go from there. Even with the tough week we had, I don't and NEVER will blame Elijah for it. He is not the difficult one. Those detoured pathways in his brain are to blame. They make him overwhelmed and things get scary for him when that happens. It's not his fault. If anything, even through the very frustrating moments, I feel so terribly for him because I know he doesn't feel good. I have experienced anxiety in its truest meaning and it is a HORRIBLE feeling. The worst feeling. I am not always able to do this because I sometimes am too worked up and upset, but sometimes I'm able to pull out a miraculous bit of patience in the midst of a storm and.....HUG ELIJAH. It is counter-intuitive on so many levels, but it helps.

Amidst the stormy seas of NLD, we have done a few fun things in the past week! Dan and I had a night away from home without the boys. It was sooo nice and relaxing and left me wanting more! This year we will celebrate our 10-year anniversary, so we are determined to celebrate all year long! We feel super grateful that we have not only survived these 10 years, but THRIVED! That's something to celebrate.

I can't remember if I mentioned the field trip I went on with Sammy's class last week. We had so much fun snowshoeing with his class! He has the best little group of friends. They are all so sweet and kind and respectful. Which brings me to Sammy, my sweet boy. He has gotten a few extra reminders to have good behavior this week at school, which is unlike him. His teacher isn't concerned, but since it's not typical for him she thought it was worth mentioning. I asked what sorts of things he had been doing. Are you ready for this? While standing in the lunch line, he bent over and made his butt cheeks "talk" to his friends. Yep! He was SO UPSET when we gently tried to talk to him about the reminders he needed. He was so worried that his teacher was mad and that we were mad. I assured him we definitely were not upset, but that we at least needed to discuss it. He covered his ears and buried his face in the couch because he couldn't handle the thought of being in trouble at school. Yesterday he didn't need any reminders, so the gentle talk must have worked! The butt cheeks have been silenced. :)

The boys don't have school today, so they are at daycare for the first time since summer so I can work. They were so excited to see their daycare friends! Dan will be out of town tonight, so it's just the boys and me for pizza movie night. Tomorrow Elijah has snowboarding and Sammy will get to watch him for the first time. I'm still trying to figure out a way to get Sam on the slopes without a meltdown. Ice skating and sledding will be good first steps and I'm hoping to make those happen in the next few weeks.

Have a great weekend! Sorry for the ranting post. That's what happens when I only post once/week!

Champion Water Chugger

Dan made it back from his work trip safely and we are happy to have him home. The week has been pretty standard, but today we received some news that wasn't ideal. I brought Elijah in for his 4-month post-surgery urology check-up. Things are better since surgery, but not great. He will need to have another dilation, this time followed by needing to be cathed DAILY for six months following. It's a bit of a punch in the gut. We were hoping to put this hurdle in our past. As always, we WILL get through this and come out stronger and hopefully Elijah will be finally be healed from this particular obstacle.

At his last urology appointment (before the last surgery), the doctor required that he have a full bladder and we ended up being in the office for 2.5 hours waiting for his bladder to fill up. This time he needed a full bladder, as well, so when we walked in Elijah declared, "We are NOT going to be here forever like last time." The nurse did an ultrasound to check bladder size and informed us that it wasn't full enough. I looked over and saw Elijah absorb this news and then proceed to start CHUGGING an entire bottle of water. He set it down and asked for a refill and then CHUGGED the entire second bottle, which was followed by, "We are NOT going to be here forever." Sure enough, a few minutes later his bladder was full. We were in and out in less than an hour! :) I loved his determination. I did not, however, like the two very urgent pee stops we had to make on our way home.

Elijah has been waking up super early again (3-4:00a), so a few mornings ago out of desperation I pulled him into bed with me and squeezed him tight with the Hug Machine in mind. It worked! The first night I tried it, he was up at 3:30 and my Mama Hug Machine helped him to sleep until 5:40! He NEVER would have gone back to sleep on his own without it. I don't know if I'll do it every day (I will occasionally need more than 5 hours of sleep/night), but it's good to know it helps!

We don't know much else this week! Have a great weekend!

Tears and happiness

For the past two years we haven't known exactly how much Daylight Savings has impacted Elijah's sleep because everything else was totally chaotic. It was impossible to pinpoint the main pieces of the puzzle because we were basically existing in the middle of a tornado. Now that things are much calmer, we have been able to see that Daylight Savings wreaks havoc on our early bird. That one teeny tiny hour of change sends our oldest boy into a tailspin. We have seen wake-up times between 1:30 and 4:30 for the past few weeks. Today he slept until 4:46 and I practically did cartwheels around the house! We will find our way back to a better place slowly. 

Last Friday Dan and I went to the boys' school to watch Elijah and the rest of the third graders do a Veterans' Day performance. Honestly, it made me sad and I wish we could redo it. Right away I could see that Elijah was upset. His teacher told me that he was nervous, but I know my boy and I could see that something specific was bothering him. I noticed that every kid was holding a flag...except for him. I knew he was upset about this. I frantically looked around for an extra flag that I could grab and bring to him, but I couldn't see anything. Aside from interrupting the music teacher, I didn't know what else to do. I stood and watched my boy cry through the entire performance. :( He stood so still with his arms folded in front of him, occasionally reaching up to wipe tears from his face and not doing a single action or singing a single word. I have been beating myself up, thinking I should have done something! I don't know what, but I should have been able to make him happy! The good news is that when it was his class' turn to come down in front and do a dance, Elijah participated! He didn't just participate...he did GREAT! He did all the actions! That turned things around for him (and for me). 

On Saturday we were so lucky to be able to spend time with my cousin's cutie pie. The boys were BEYOND excited to have Veda over! She is such a sweet girl and they all play so well together. The three of them played "Inside Out" and created some Play-Doh animals and then we headed to see the new Peanuts movie. It was such a fun day!

And on Sunday, thanks to Hope Kids, we were able to watch a live Timberwolves game! KG is back! I worked at Timberwolves games years ago, so I felt right at home. It was fun to watch the boys take everything in.

My silly boys with their pants pulled up just a tad too high! :)

Yesterday after the Twolves game, our boys were TIRED. Sammy was being especially sassy in the car and started doing some uncharacteristic whining that lasted for way too long. I said, "Sammy, can we please stop the whining?" He whined back to me in the longest, most drawn out voice: "WHINING IS WORTH IT!" Dan, Elijah and I exploded in laughter.

The boys got Operation Christmas Child boxes at church on Sunday, so today after school we picked up some goodies to put inside the boxes. I LOVED watching them get so excited about blessing kids who are less fortunate. I let them pick out what to put in the boxes (with some direction) and they took such pride and were genuinely so excited about making other kids happy. Tomorrow they will write letters to the kids and we will drop off the boxes together so they can experience the entire process. I love that they are old enough to appreciate and understand the concept of giving!

We have noticed some definite self-awareness in Elijah lately that is good...and bad. He is starting to see how other kids see him and he doesn't like it. He tells us all the time, "Everyone thinks I'm dumb." It kills me. We do our best to assure him that he is so super smart. That he is SUCH a good boy and so loved and liked by so many people. Even though this hurts my heart, it is also good. It's good that he is starting to look outside himself a bit. This will be a process for him, but we are here to love him and help him through it.

Both boys got their report cards today! Sammy's report was excellent. He is doing so well in kindergarten. We are so proud of him. Elijah's report was great, too! We are proud of how far he has come in the past year (heck, the past almost nine years!) and we see every "little" success as a very huge thing. Instead of getting hung up on current challenges, we see the progress and it encourages us and makes us so happy. There is SO much progress being made these days and we see every bit of it. We see it all, Elijah!

Thanks for checking in! Hoping you all have a wonderful week!

Good-bye, Croup! Hello, chores!

Dan was traveling for work over the weekend, so the boys and I hung out. Sammy's croup from last week lingered and he just could not shake it. By Sunday night it was almost worse than it was last Wednesday! His breathing was super tight, even after Pulmicort and Albuterol nebs. I went in to check on him before I went to sleep and at rest his breathing was strained. Ugh. If Dan would have been here, I would have taken him to the ER. With Dan gone I knew I couldn't do that without waking Elijah up. I tried all of our tricks and they collectively helped enough to get through the night. I put his wiggle-worm body into bed with me and got NO sleep, but I liked being able to hear his breathing as he slept. I was so thankful when morning arrived. I called right away and got him in to see a doctor. The dr gave him a huge oral dose of decadron (steroid) to wipe it out. It helped, but very slowly. Even today, he still sounds a little bit tight. That nasty croup loves to linger in his little body!

Waiting for the doctor...again..

Ever since Daylight Savings, Elijah has been struggling a little bit extra. It is slowly getting better. He is gradually waking up later in the morning (4:30ish now, yay!) and by evening he is SO TIRED. He will even say things like, "I...am....SO TIRED." He has NEVER claimed tiredness before. I've also noticed that right before bed strange things begin happening to his body. He gets headaches and he also gets scratchy, jittery and antsy. Tonight he had some weird pains in his chest (this one always freaks me out), he felt dizzy and his head got super scratchy. I laid down on the floor with him for a bit and just hugged him before we got ready for bed. I cannot imagine how he must feel. I know it feels different than what most of us feel. While I was lying on the floor with him, he said, "Mom? Am I dumb?" I assured him that he is so super duper smart. He said that when he makes bad decisions at school, he is sure the other kids think he is dumb. This is perhaps the first time he has been aware of others noticing certain behaviors of his. I told my sweet boy that he is kind and so smart and that anyone who thinks he is anything but that is not worth spending time with. Some people will never understand (that applies to all of us!) and that is ok.

We started a new chore system where the boys can earn money by helping out around the house. I included a few things that they are struggling with like, um, LISTENING! They can earn $0.25 just by obeying after the first request! Elijah wants to earn $9.99 to buy a book at next week's book fair, so he is motivated! It is nice to have a motivated boy around here. Shoes are being put away, coats are being hung, recycling is being carried to the garage and dishes are being brought to the counter. These boys have gotten out of control with their potty talk, so hopefully this new plan will help that, as well.

It hasn't been the greatest of weeks, but thinking back to last year at this time....things are GREAT! After school today I got 45 minutes of quality snuggles from BOTH boys...with NO boy fights! It was heavenly. Elijah has a new behavioral aide who will be coming by our home a few hours/week. We are all super excited about this! We have some fun plans coming up these next few weekends. The boys are getting excited for the holidays. It is so much fun to see their excitement and to have energy to enjoy things this year.

Thanks for checking in!

Our presidential candidate

Due to our accumulating tiredness, we barely did a thing last weekend. We tried to catch up on sleep, but didn't get very far. For the past few nights, after multiple days of hugely cutting back on his sugar intake, Elijah has been sleeping better and later. I, however, am now getting up before 6:00 to get to work by 7:00! I'll be working in Cannon Falls 4 days/week for the next couple months. Dan will have to man the morning fort and get the boys on the bus before heading to work. I will be home in the afternoon to get them off and I'll man the late afternoon/evening routine! 

Last Thursday night Elijah told me that he was running for third grade student council and that he was doing so THE FOLLOWING DAY. We scrambled to get a poster partially made and I sent him to school hoping he'd follow through. After a little bit of encouragement from his teacher, he stood up in front of his class and gave a speech! We are so proud! His teacher said that he did GREAT. He didn't win, but he did receive a few votes! Yay Elijah!

For almost a week now, Elijah has been taking 18mg of Strattera (a slight increase from 15mg) and I think it's a great dose for him. Overall, his behavior and attitude have been great! There are still specific issues that we're constantly working on, but we are so happy with this medication. His days at school have been mostly positive, as well. His case manager has described at least three of his days in the past week as being "AMAZING." Last year at this time, nothing was amazing.

Sammy is doing great in kindergarten. I imagine he's probably the perfect little student. I have gone into his class to volunteer a couple times and he is so cute and sweet and kind. I love it!

That is all for now! Gotta work so I can get to sleep early. Thanks for stopping by.

Corn Maze 2015

Finally, corn maze photos! And an update of our week at the end of the post.

As always, the boys had so much fun at the corn maze this year. Elijah remembered that he was the driver last year, so the boys switched spots.

Playing on the train, even though Elijah is WAY too big for it. We let him get on anyway.

The corn pit! Sammy was more comfortable playing in the corn this year than ever before. Look at these two handsome boys!

I love getting into the corn with the boys and I always find kernels in our house for months after. In fact, I found a kernel from LAST year in July's laundry this year. :)

The hay bale maze is one of Elijah's favorite things, but Sammy just so-so likes it. He ran through once and was done.

Elijah, on the other hand, ran through the maze at least 5 times. He has always loved it, even as a really little guy.

Brothers posing with the giant hay fireman.

The parakeet house was a favorite again this year. Both boys seemed scared of the birds, but they came around. Sammy sure loves animals.

Elijah stared down this cow for a long time. "Wow, you are a really gigantic and funny-looking cow!" he said repeatedly. :)

After much coaxing, Sammy fed the...uhh, what are these animals? He thought they were going to nibble his fingers off.

I love these handsome boys!

Finding our way through the BIG maze!

I love this beautiful face!

Handsome boys..

This week has produced a TIRED Mama and a TIRED Elijah. We have given Elijah a little too much sugar (there's such a fine line), which has caused some very early morning potty issues. When he is awakened at 3:00-4:00am, he does not go back to sleep. When I am awakened at 3:00-4:00am, I do not go back to sleep. Today we totally cut out sugar and will do so for the next few days to get things back on track. Homework tonight was painful...more difficult than it's been so far this year. :( We are praying for a much better night of sleep tonight. My red, tired eyes are screaming for sleep!

Earlier in the week, Sammy's attitude was sour and he seemed distant. I have made an extra effort to give him one-on-one time and things were better today. Each night after Elijah goes to bed, we sit on the floor in our living room and play a few games of Mastermind. He is SO smart and is getting so good at this game. It is such a special time for us to spend together and I think he cherishes it, too. I love my Sammy! He is my precious, smart and wonderful boy!

That's all for now! More later. Thanks for checking in!

On Straterra (month 1)

Maybe it's all of the driving I've been doing. I have had lots of time to ponder and I've pondered a lot. I'm thinking I should drive around the Cities for an hour every day just so I force myself to take a break and think! I have a handful of topics I'd like to explore through writing. Somehow writing helps me sort things out.

First topic...Straterra for anxiety for Elijah (month 1)!

Straterra is typically an ADHD med, but can also be used to treat anxiety. Since we have tried a handful of "true" anxiety meds with no success, Dr. M thought this would be a good "family" to explore. I was hesitant because of E's history with having adverse reactions to meds. June was a rough month behaviorally...really rough at times. We were kind of at the end of our ropes and felt like we were becoming stretched again (almost to the point we were at this past winter) and we were doing everything humanly possible to make Elijah happy/rested/peaceful, but to no avail. None of us were sleeping and we were all feeling anxious and impatient, so we decided to give these new meds a try.

Within 24 hours of giving Elijah Straterra we noticed a significant change for the better. His behavior was WAY improved. He was handling stress better, wasn't as agitated with little things and was obeying without a fight when we asked him to complete tasks. After almost a week on 10 mg, things weren't AS good. Still better, but not as good as those first few days. I called Dr. M and he suggested upping the dose to 20 mg. This coincided with the dawn of our road trip, which worried me, but I did it anyway. After a few days on the new dose, Elijah was seeming more agitated and he was also complaining of arm/shoulder/muscle pains. I consulted with Dr. M again and he suggested going back down to 10 mg. Sometimes it takes kids a while to adjust, he said.

We went back down to the low dosage and really, ever since he has been MOSTLY even-keeled. We have our episodes for sure (and when they happen my head usually spins), but they are SO much less extreme and they happen WAY less often. It has to be the meds.

I believe that without the meds, this road trip would not have been as happy/successful. We visited the same exact people on last year's trip and all of them told me that Elijah was much much much different this year (for the better). 

Before Straterra, one night of poor sleep put Elijah (and therefore the rest of us) out for an entire week. He does still have poor nights of sleep, and the next day is still rough behaviorally. But now, he rebounds much more quickly. The day after a poor night of sleep stinks, but the next day he is back to his happy self. Yesterday was ROUGH on our ride home because he didn't sleep well the night before. He got a decent night of sleep last night, and today was...AWESOME! Aside from potty talk, I did not have to correct a single thing ALL. DAY. LONG. That is a miracle!

He has also been much more affectionate with me since starting these meds. He wants to be physically close to me a lot...hugging, snuggling, talking about how much we love each other, etc. This is how things used to be back when he was, ohhh, three! His desire to be close to me has strengthened our bond, which has sadly negatively affected my relationship with Sammy. He sees this new change and acts out. I'm hoping he will adjust and our bond will grow again.

On good days like today, Elijah's patience with Sammy is stellar. Before meds, when Sam upset him, he would either head butt him or scream at him...or both. Today after Sam yanked a toy out of his hands I heard E patiently say, "Do you want that toy? How long will you have it?" !!!

From what I've read, Straterra (just like any med) does different things for different people. Whatever this medication does to Elijah's brain seems to be very good. Side effects are minimal at this dose. We may eventually want to increase the dosage again, but for now things are good. I am so happy I stepped out into the scary unknown and gave it a try.

To be continued! Pray with us for continued GOODness! 

I have THREE more hours in my thirties! Tomorrow is a big one. I think I'll handle it well but for three more hours I will wonder about it possibly being tough. We'll see! Thanks for peeking in!

Time of transition

I am always amazed by how much bigger and older the boys look when I do these photo collages. Look at that growth!

Saying good-bye to second grade has been a bit tough! Elijah has come to me nearly in tears a handful of times in the past few days talking about how much he misses his teacher. This morning he told me that he was nervous for third grade. I've never heard him verbalize being nervous about anything. I think he really understands how great of a teacher she is and how much she did for him. Next year is going to be a change, just like every year is!

His teacher sent me an email about E's last day of school. He had forgotten a letter he had written for her at home and he was devastated. He cried and cried and after a few minutes he whizzed by her mumbling, "I know what I can do.." and ran to the scrap paper drawer. He composed the following letter right there in class:

Not only is this just the sweetest letter, but it is impressive that he thought of a solution to his problem! This is a new thing and we've seen it happen at home a few times in the past few weeks. Progress!

On the other hand, behavior this week has been challenging. Elijah has regressed on many levels and we are seeing behaviors that haven't been around since February. I don't think he has been sleeping very well, but I would need to have him wear the fitbit again to know for sure. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but I'm going to give it another week or so before I start to worry. Maybe the end of the school year caught up with him and he's spent. Maybe the end of second grade is weighing on him.

I have also noticed another slight runny nose, which always interferes with sleep juuuust enough. Tonight he laid down on his pillow to go to sleep and immediately began wailing in pain! His ear is bothering him, which could be an ear infection. I gave him pain medicine and lightly pressed my hand on his ear until he fell asleep. I am PRAYING for that to just GO AWAY. No thank you!

I thought by this point in the year things would open up for us and I'd feel much more relaxed, but that is not happening. This week is going to be crazy. I'm ready...let's do this.

I'll wrap this post up with a few funnies!

Tonight as the boys were crawling into bed (before Elijah began screaming), Sammy informed me that he was NOT going to bed tonight. He would lock himself in the bathroom and hide in the cupboard. He would NEVER sleep again. He would get up in the middle of the night and LEAVE THIS HOUSE. I continued the routine as usual and acted like everything was wonderful. I asked if I could tuck him in and he said, "NO!" I asked if I could give him a hug and kiss and he began to look sad at the thought of that not happening, so he held one thumb pointing straight up and the other pointing to the side. He said, "Do you know what THIS means?" Ugh, I didn't want to know but said yes. "It means, 'Yeah, maybe.'" This boy! So clever. Later when I came in to deal with Elijah's ear, Sammy said, "Remember earlier when I said I didn't want you to ever snuggle with me again? I changed my mind. I'd like you to snuggle me tomorrow."

Dan is in DC right now, so the boys are always asking questions about what he's doing and seeing, etc. Today Sammy referred to DC as "George Washington DC." :)

Last week Sammy got upset with me about something and told me that he didn't want me to be his mommy anymore (this happens often, sadly). I heard Dan say to him, "Sammy, you could search the entire world and not find a better mommy!" Sammy replied, "Then I think I'll travel outside of Earth to find one."

Have a great week!

Our week in bullet points

My brain is thinking in bullets instead of sentences/paragraphs, so here is a bulleted recap of our past week!

- Dan and I continue to be overwhelmed about how good it feels to spend entire spring/summer weekends and evenings together as a family. We haven't done this consistently since Elijah was a year old, so it is foreign. And really, really nice.

- Last weekend we went to a movie as a family (Home...SO CUTE!), spent time with family, went to the horse races (we haven't done this since E was 1, either) and visited a few parks.

- We said good-bye to our beloved Fishy-Wishy this week, as he swirled away from us down the toilet. Sammy cried genuinely sad tears.

- We spent one enjoyable day with a caterpillar friend who we found adoring Sammy from his shoulder.

- Elijah had an overall GREAT week at school. He went on a field trip with his class today and got a "great" report from his awesome special education teacher, which earned him a few Pokemon cards from Mama.

- Sammy had another cute soccer game on Thursday. Grandma and Grandpa came to cheer him on with us!

- I have never been so excited for Friday to come! The past two weeks have been crazy!

- I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but Sammy has been really interested in recycling. He has learned which pieces of garbage can be recycled and he is our POLICE. If I throw a recyclable item in the garbage, he reprimands me. "This is RECYCLING! Not garbage!" He has been asking to look at photos of recycling facilities, so maybe we will have to find one to visit this summer.

- Another interest of Sammy's is sea creatures. He LOVES learning about anything that lives in the ocean and retains all of the information so well. He will often say things to me like, "Mommy, did you know that whale sharks are as big as a school bus?"

- Sammy has also been making rules around our house that he wants us all to follow. For example, our pantry door is usually open because we have stuff spilling out of it and sitting on the floor in front of it. The other day he reorganized everything inside so that it could easily close. Then he put a post-it note with the word "PANTRY" written on it on the door and closed it. He told each of us that the pantry door needed to be closed at all times. If one of us leaves it open, he says, "WHO left the pantry door open? WHO?!"

- Sammy is finally getting over his croupy cough that lasted WAY too long. He hasn't been getting as much sleep as usual because of it and has tired eyes today.

- On the other hand, I think Elijah has been sleeping well! I say "I think" because I have stopped recording his sleep on his fitbit since he has seemed so rested. He does still wake up in the middle of the night occasionally and he is ready to start the day EARLY, but nothing like before. We also have our daily struggles, but things overall are manageable. He has experienced regression in certain areas recently, but we have noticed some real progress this spring! "Progress with hiccups" is how his teacher explained the past few months and I think that says it perfectly.

- I am excited for another weekend spent with my awesome boys! We may or may not make it to the dropzone for MY first time this season. Next week will be another busy week, with some exciting things thrown in such as Sammy's fifth birthday and Elijah's last day of second grade!

- Thanks for checking in and for putting up with my disjointed bullets! Have a great weekend!

Croup: Season 7, Episode 4 (Elijah)....and a few other things

Yesterday I heard a familiar cough from Elijah and I had the thought that croup might be in our future. He woke up at 1:00am barking like a seal. We spent 15 minutes in a steamy bathroom and he sounded good enough to go back to bed. At 3:00 it was worse, so he and Dan did a round in the bathroom, followed by a dose of oral steroids and a trip outside. It got a little bit better and it was nowhere near as severe as it usually is, but he had moderate stridor even after our efforts. So that I could listen closely (and obsess), I brought him to bed with us. After 1 1/2 hours of Elijah sleeping soundly and me not sleeping at all, I retreated to the couch. Early morning sleep is so touchy with him and I did not want to do anything to wake him up once he was out. He still sounded barky in the morning, so we kept him home from school today.

I loaded Elijah up with essential oils tonight (thieves and frankincense!) and also gave him a preventative dose of steroids in hopes of avoiding a repeat of last night.

(Sammy is the cute little green guy in the middle with the red socks..)

This week has been BUSY and (mostly) fun! It was so much fun watching Sammy at his first soccer game on Saturday. He was hesitant to go out onto the field, but once he was out there he ran around and loved it. Every time he was running fast down the field, he would look over at me with a huge smile and give me two thumbs up. :)

Sunday was Mother's Day and it was incredible. My boys spoiled me with breakfast in bed, precious cards and gifts, flowers, a NAP, lunch out with Dan's family and tons of love and snuggle time. I think Mother's Day should happen every week!

Tuesday was Elijah's second grade track and field day. It was COLD! We were all bundled up in coats, hats, mittens, SCARVES and blankets. Elijah did so great at his events and tried his best. I was a proud mama! Minus a 15-minute stretch when the boys would not stop tackling each other in front of Elijah's classmates, it went smoothly and we had fun.

Here is Elijah and a friend of his getting ready to do the shoe kick! Super cute!

He did the hippity-hop relay again this year. He was behind the rest, but finished valiantly!

And this one was a total surprise to me.. he stacked cups! 

And of course they ended with a tug-of-war. The whole event was so fun to watch.

A few other tidbits from our week..

Dan and I celebrated nine years of marriage yesterday! Nine years. So much has happened, but I love my wonderful hubby more than ever. I don't know what I would do without him! Our traditional dinner out was one of the most delicious ones we remember.

I find lovely little nuggets on my phone such as the following all the time. Nice..

A neighbor of ours got out his mini 1959 Corvette last weekend and let Elijah sit in it (Sammy refused). It runs and everything! So cool!

That's enough excitement for one week, I think! I'm looking forward to the weekend when we can all relax and prepare for a couple of crazy weeks coming up. I'll be working in Cannon Falls for the next few weeks, so some other things will need to be shelved for a bit.

Thanks for checking in! Have a great weekend!

Spring adventures

The past week has been packed with fun and new things! Last weekend Sammy started soccer. He willingly put on his shin guards and cleats and willingly walked onto the field with a bunch of strangers (both huge feats). After they kicked balls around for a bit, we went over to meet the team he will be with for the season. He did NOT want to leave this first group of kids, and refused to say a word or even show himself to his team. His first practice is tomorrow night and I have absolutely no idea how it will go! Hopefully great! He looked sooooo cute running around on the soccer field on Saturday with his sunglasses and cute kicking.

We hit a fun park after soccer and walked around a lake. Sammy got caught up in looking for fish from the dock. We need to get these boys fishing this summer!

On Sunday we came upon a few Twins tickets, so we headed downtown for our first-ever game in the new stadium! It is NICE! The boys enjoyed...oh, the soft pretzels and mini donuts. I enjoyed the weather and scenery! It was a fun experience. Driving to the stadium as a family was surreal. For the past five years, the only time we are ever ALL driving somewhere fun on a warm, sunny day is when we are on vacation. Dan will not be skydiving full-time this year and it is strange! Wonderfully strange.

And guess who wouldn't stand by the golden glove for a photo?

Dan is in DC this week, so the boys and I are handling life ourselves. School is going well for Elijah overall. I'm SO happy that we are wrapping up the year on a mostly good note. And I cannot believe that the year is almost done. How in the world did that happen?!

It hit me last week that my days alone with Sammy are limited! This was such a sad realization for me. I cherish our alone time so much when Elijah is at school and Dan is at work. We run errands, check out new parks, have picnics, play at the mall, go to the club, hang out at home and snuggle (not all in the same day, of course). I'm going to miss this. I have been making an extra effort to enjoy every minute with my littlest cutie pie.

By the way, I've had a few people ask so I wanted to mention that we are still using essential oils on Elijah and I swear they are working. It seems like WAY too simple of a solution, hence my continued skepticism. We still have our bumps and challenging stretches for sure, but they are so much less bumpy. I think we've found a good combination that helps him sleep better, which in turn helps so much with anxiety. I have also discovered that Thieves works miracles for killing germs. We still have very specific struggles that we deal with daily at school and home, but overall life is much more peaceful than it was two months ago. We have an appointment with E's developmental ped coming up and he will also be starting cognitive behavioral therapy to work on coping skills/anxiety in June.

That's all for now! I'm hoping you are having a great week! Thanks for checking in!

An important anniversary

Wednesday seems to be my day for updating! Another week has flown by. In the past week we have noticed some changes with Elijah. Certain behaviors are getting difficult to manage, so we have had to get stringent. It seems like this is necessary every few months or so. Sleep is still overall SO MUCH better than it was two months ago. There was a stretch of time during the winter when I honestly do not know how we all survived! We were consistently waking up FOR THE DAY between 2:00 and 3:00 am. Now it is more like 5:00 or 6:00. Sometimes earlier and sometimes later, but a MUCH better scenario overall.

Guess what today is?! It is the 7th anniversary of Elijah's second open heart surgery - the big one! Every year on this day I experience a host of emotions. That was such a huge, important, intense surgery that had an incredible outcome. If I could travel back to April 15, 2008, and tell myself what present-day Elijah is like...I don't know if I would have believed myself! Super-spunky, smart, friendly, huge vocabulary, great big brother, silly, strong-willed, great reader, snuggly, fun.. I don't know what it was I was expecting for him in the years that followed that surgery, but he is doing better than I ever could have imagined. I think in those early years we were so focused on baking the cake (keeping him alive) that it was difficult to imagine that we might be able to put frosting on top some day. And sprinkles and cherries and gummy bears.

The boys have been fighting more than usual lately. They both have such strong wills and they clash pretty often. MOST of the time, though, they adore each other. If they are apart for more than an hour they start saying, "I MISS MY BROTHER!!!!"

Ironically, Elijah has been super interested in Veggie Tales again. It's ironic because that was his FAVORITE thing during the heart surgery that we are remembering today. He saved up birthday money this year and bought a Veggie Tales sing-along CD. We owned it years ago but watched it (and played with it) so much that it got scratched and cracked. I couldn't believe how excited E was to get a new copy and how many times he wants to watch it...over and over and over. Sammy isn't as interested in it, but he knows the words to all of the songs (don't we all).

The boys also both love Captain Underpants books right now. Elijah has read every word of every one of the books. Dan and I have considered so many times taking them away because potty talk has definitely increased since the discovery of these books. But...he reads! A ton. He doesn't read any other book with such interest. There are days when he will literally read for two hours. Book time trumps potty talk. :)

As always, Sammy has a constant stream of hilarious material spilling from his mouth. I can hardly keep up! Here is a sampling (the ones I write down!)..

- We were running to the car in the wind one day and he yelled up to me, "I'm a natural kite flyer, kid!"

- Enduring my daily onslaught of hugs and kisses, he said, "Ok, ok, enough with the hugs and easy on the kisses!"

- I told him "Great idea!" about something and he said, "Yep. I'm always thinkin' in my head."

- Yesterday he said to me, "Mommy, I love you more than anything in the ENTIRE Univers......al Studios." :)

- A load of laundry was spinning like crazy in the washing machine. Sammy said, "Is it gonna blow? RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" When he realized no one else was alarmed, he calmly said, "I don't think so, Sweetheart."


That's about all for now! 

Climbing the mountain....slowly..

Today was a day of overwhelmedness for this mama. I'm heading out of town tomorrow..SOLO..so wrapping up a hundred loose ends has been a little bit stressful. It'll be worth it 24 hours from now! I'll report more about my trip after I get back. It is going to be a hugely momentous and awesome adventure! Something I will certainly never forget.

First, birthday party pics!

Isn't this so like Sammy to be a unique part of the picture? :)

I have a few things I wanted to write down before I leave town. The most exciting news is that I took Elijah in for his ENT follow-up today. Dr. L wanted to see how his hearing compared to six months ago and after his most recent ear surgery in July. His hearing test today revealed that the hearing in his left ear is even BETTER than it was six months ago! His left ear is now officially completely within the normal range. Amazing! Dr. L was literally stammering over his words. I don't think he said one entire complete sentence. What I heard: "This is...just...unbelievable. I am...stunned. Un. Believable. See you in six months." The outcome of this whole ear ordeal has been a HUGE answer to prayer. I will never ever forget the miracles that have happened to Elijah in this area.

A funny thing from the appointment today.. While he was getting his hearing test, the audiologist directed some white noise into his right ear while testing his left. Elijah stopped her and said, "Um, excuse me, but are you giving me challenging wind?" That's my boy!

Overall, we have been seeing gradual improvements with our oldest boy recently. He has been so much better about telling us details about his day (good or bad) and about expressing his feelings. He also can occasionally catch himself when he is doing something undesirable and he can express sincere apology more than ever before. A lot of the things that "they" tell us Elijah will never be able to do...he is starting to do. At 6:00 pm, when Dan walks in the door, he will remember that at 7:00 am Dan had a sore throat and he'll say, "Daddy, how are you feeling? How is your throat? I hope you are feeling better!" In Elijah-land, these things are a pretty huge deal.

Sleep recently has mostly been average to good. We have had very few "bad" nights recently, although Dan and I are still waking up early because we've been trained to do so. :) The end of daylight savings has been a blessing because we haven't had to change Elijah's internal clock, yet he's going to bed later and waking up later!

I think I forgot to mention Elijah's recent well visit with Dr. Judy. Everything looked fine, but she was surprised and disappointed that the ASD label had been thrown on him. She has never believed that it's a suitable label for him. I agree, but if it is helping him get the assistance he needs in school then I'm not against it. School has been going much better since he has been receiving more one-on-one support. We love his teachers. They work really hard to keep him happy and productive. I still don't feel like he is completely understood, but he is a tough one to understand!

I think I've covered what I've wanted for the week. You won't hear from me again until at least Sunday. Have a great weekend!