What a Day

Between Emeric and the dog I think I gained a few gray hairs today.

First, Emeric woke up from his nap and stopped being able to walk. Again. He had been crawling off and on since he got sick on Saturday but today he did not seem sick and had no fever. So when he started stumbling a lot and not able to sit up without propping I was worried. It came on really suddenly and he kept closing his eyes and moaning like something was hurting him. :( I emailed his neurologist who said to take him in to the ER. I decided since the clinic was open to take him there. And lo and behold he was fine when we got to the clinic. Go figure! They did nothing and really had no answers which is also typical. All they could say is, "It's probably due to his underlying disease". Sigh.

Thankfully he seems better now and I'm just hoping this does not start becoming a pattern. I got him ready for bed, gave him his meds and then....




Then my dog swallowed an entire bottle of Emeric's seizure medication. I had dropped the bottle on the floor and the dog started playing with it and I figured, "Eh, it's closed and it will keep the dog busy while I put Emeric to bed". So maybe 5 minutes later I come out and see the cap is off and the pills are completely gone. At least 15-20 of them or more. CRAP!

I start panicking figuring the dog is going to die(although at least she would likely not have seizures in the process :) ) and immediately got online to see what my friends thought I should do. I tell you, these girls never let me down! Someone suggested giving her a bit of hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. So I did and it worked! Hooray! And YUCK!

I had put a call into the vet and he said that was the right thing to do and she should be fine. So, let's hope!!

Anyway, here's a video of Emeric we took from today. This was when he would not walk and since he's not walking you can't really tell that his gait is bad but you can see he doesn't want to put weight on his legs and he's more floppy than usual.

My Montage 3/11/09

News on the homefront...

1. Jake got a job!!! He starts a week from Monday. He'll be driving a fuel truck for a local propane company and it sounds like it's going to be a great job. The only problem is we're going to be taking quite a pay cut but we're hoping within a few years the stability will pay off. So, please keep us in your prayers b/c right now the numbers on paper don't exactly pan out well! :)


2. We got a puppy! She is a Bichon and we named her Lola. She's super cute and actually doing semi-promising as far as potty training goes!

3. Kylie and I went and talked to a public school teacher the other day because we're considering sending her to public school next year. We wanted to find out what they need to know going into 1st grade and it's A LOT! She said the standards for kindergarten are higher than any other grade! As much as I love the philosophy behind homeschooling I don't love doing it as much. It's a hard position for me because there are so many things about public school that I don't like; standardized learning, grouping kids together by age instead of academic ability, grading systems, behavior systems, etc...

However, we decided when we started homeschooling her we would try it for 1 year and see how it went. If we didn't like it we would put her in public school and try that. If it doesn't work out at least I know if homeschooling would be a better option. My hope is that they'll open up a charter school sometime soon here!

4. Emeric starts school in a couple weeks! The therapists want to transition him from home based therapy to center based therapy so he'll be in a class with 6 other boys and 1 girl, all of who have developmental delays. Emeric is the only one with other health concerns so they're working on a seizure protocol and said they might provide someone specifically to keep him from getting hurt, especially while in the gym. He'll go one day a week for 2 hours and then once he turns 3 it will be 2x a week for 2 hours. Hopefully it will be good for him.

Well, I think that takes care of anything blog worthy. Off to finish laundry.

Too much to think about Tuesday

Do you ever have days where there is so much on your mind that instead of being completely overwhelmed and thinking about it all it's so much it's easier to just not think about any of it?

Today has been one of those days. One of those days where you wonder if you've finally turned a corner in living under the cloud of anxiety or if your placid attitude is just another way of steering clear of reality. When there are so many unknowns that you can't even form a mental list of which one to try to know first. There are too many. When someone asks you how they can help, or why you're unhappy, or what's wrong or how you're feeling and you rack your brain for minutes trying to think of an answer and still end up saying, "I don't know". And you're honest, because you really don't know. Or maybe you know that the person doesn't have 2 or 3 hours to carve out of their day to listen to you and your problems. Because you know everyone has their own problems and you feel like you're only ever talking about yours.

It's been one of those days.

Complacent, distant, detached from my own thoughts.

One of those days where the weight of all this stuff literally makes your heart race. I picture a suitcase, so full that you don't dare open it for fear you'll never get it shut again. Or for fear that if you do open it you'll have to take care of all the stuff and actually put it away.

And for today I just don't have the time.

Wordless Wednesday

Kaydence

Kaydence is my 4 year old, middle daughter. She has really crazy, curly hair and likes to try to snort when she laughs. She used to throw MASSIVE temper tantrums, especially between the ages of 2-3. By massive I mean thrashing, gagging, head banging, 45 minute tantrums. Thankfully she has outgrown them.

She likes to just sort of hang back and watch what's going on around her. At church when all the other kids are excited about Sunday school Kaydence would rather sit on your lap quietly. When we go swimming and the other kids are running around, going down the water slide and happily playing Kaydence will ask to sit in the hot tub the entire time enquiring about when lunch will be.

Her and Kylie fight plenty but are also really close. She told me today that she just doesn't want to go to Cubbies(church group) anymore unless she can be with Kylie because they just miss each other too much! Last week she cried all day that she didn't want to go and I made her and she had a lot of fun. That's typical and I know if I push her she'll enjoy it. I don't want to push her too much but really if I didn't she'd miss out on so much because she just needs some coaxing!

Another thing about Kaydence is if she gets in trouble for something she's quick to say, "I Love you Mommy" and just as quick to point out why she herself wasn't at fault but someone else(typically Emeric) was.

Kaydence is allergic to dairy so you'll frequently hear her asking if we have "Anymore ghost(goat's) milk?". She really does pretty well with it and takes it in stride when all the other kids are eating something with "dairy" but every so often lately she'll be longingly looking at something with cheese and say, "I just wish I could have some". Awww...

She LOVES music and sings all the time. Today she asked me if I would put my cd in for her and turn it to the song called, "Britney I'm sorry for your broken heart". She sang along, knowing most of the words! She got an MP3 player for Christmas and has a bunch of songs of her cd's on there. One of them she sings along to is, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord" but more often than not the words make out to be, "Let everything that has BREASTS praise the Lord". Either way I suppose. :)

Kaydence is my cuddly girl. She'll curl up next to you with her favorite blanket and just sit contently. Tonight I went in her room because she was screaming(typical for her, she has night terrors & asthma, both of which keep her awake & have dubbed her as "the insomniac") and I asked her what was wrong and she, through tears, told me that she "just wanted the magazine". Hmmm.

While Emeric and Kylie happily made a mess today with some shaving cream(more pictures of that splendid idea later) and a bunch of cars Kaydence sat happily, curled up with her blanket, watching a cartoon.




Anyway, just a few tidbits on her and since she's still up coughing so looks like she will be getting another neb treatment. And lucky for her, she just soaks up all the attention! ;)

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

While on the plane to Houston I did not plug my left ear casually to keep from hearing the man next to me slurp and smack his lips continually while drinking his apparently never ending amount of tomato juice.

While walking with Emeric in his stroller on the way back from the clinic he did not fall out of the stroller and smash his face on the pavement when my husband hit a bump. The man in the bus station did not gasp while Emeric just stood up and looked around as if to say, "What just happened?"

I did not rush to the rescue of a little girl who was being smacked in the face by a little boy in McDonald's play place and I did not tip my chair over accidently while running to save her and make a huge scene.

I did not dance around in excitement when my husband put up my new bookshelf and I also did not run to the thrift store just to make sure there were no new books I could put on it. (There were).

I did not think for a second that it would be much nicer to live in a warm state and with great doctors nearby and did not contemplate looking for a job there.

Houston

Our trip to Houston went well. It was really nice which of course made me wonder why I've lived in MN for 28 years!! I updated Emeric's caringbridge site if you want to know how our appt. went. Here are some pictures of our trip!

Ronald McDonald House

Houston Zoo