2.25.2009

I'm It

Laura tagged me. Here's the rules:

1. Document/pictures

2. Sixth file folder

3. Sixth picture

4. Blog about it.

5. Tag 6 others. (I'm going to have to tag everyone I know who blogs!)


Addie's first bath. Looks thrilled doesn't she?

I tag:

The Riddle Family

Rogers' Blog

Lewis Times

Silcox Stories (if you have been double tagged, you can ignore me if you want)

Colyarland

Williams Family Paradise

2.24.2009

All In The Family

Remember me saying the horse had coliced. Well, we now know why. He has ulcers. He's on prevacid. No, I'm not kidding. Unfortunately, the prevacid regimen is $1400 for ONE month. Zantac has proven to help gastric ulcers in horses and is only $30 a month. There is another product called Miracle Clay that also heals ulcers and is quite a bit less expensive. We're still weighing our options.

He had been colicing for about 5 days and then started walking like he was drunk. I thought he was foundering (the hoof wall separates and his bones can rotate) because of the continuous pain. I called the vet who told me to put him "on ice" all night. I asked Allen what we had that could be used as a tub for the horse and this is what we came up with:




Allen asked me how the heck I was going to get this horse into a wading pool. I said, "I'm going to ask him to." I picked up his feet and in he went. I tied him to the stall, stuck some hay in front of him, put a bucket of water up and left him there for the night. He stood there, too. He's such a good boy. Most horses would have freaked out just having the pool in the stall with them. I Be Streakin' took it all in stride and didn't give me any hassle.

The next morning we went to the vets. Thankfully, he hadn't foundered. They kept all day on fluids as he was pretty dehydrated and had minimal gut sounds. By the end of the day, he was a little better, but not much. I can get an endoscopy (another $350) so I think I'm going to do some of the treatments and see what we get before I haul him up to ABQ and get it done.

I'm sure the doctor couldn't figure out why I knew everything there was to know about Zantac, Carafate, and Prevacid. Why did I know so much about gastric emptying and PPI's? Well, I said, I have reflux babies and ulcers myself. This whole freakin' family has had some kind of stomach trauma!!!! I'm starting to wonder if I'm so stressful to live with that I make everyone sick. (If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all here people.) I can't believe it. Anyhow, I hope old I Be Streakin' starts to feeling better soon.

Fun Times

LaNell is here to help out with the kids and the weather has been beautiful. We've spent a lot of time outside. Grandma and the girls have gone on walks daily - giving me a welcome break! Addie is smiling all of the time and Lexi is constantly commanding LaNell's attention. I've enjoyed the help quite a bit.


2.23.2009

God's Own Truth

I was over visiting MMB and saw this quote on We're Glad!Are You? and I have to say it couldn't be a more true statement by one of the wisest men ever to grace our planet.

Wisdom from President Hinkley:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

2.22.2009

Ponder This


When actors get all teary eyed, mushy-gushy, oh-so-overwhelmed by the recognition of their talents and over-exaggerate the "Thank you, thank you", are they just acting?

Holy Crap

Let me set the stage:

For the last week and a half, Addie has only been eating 1 or 2 teaspoons from her first bottle of the day. The other 4 bottles, she takes between 1 and 2 ounces. The last 2 bottles, she eats about 3 ounces. So, the most she eats in a day is 14 ounces and 2 teaspoons. Not very much. We had an appointment with our GI doctor on Friday and he said that she might have delayed gastric emptying because of the prevacid. It slows down the acid production and thus reduces motility in the gut. She doesn't eat because she always feels full, but if she continues this way for much longer things could get pretty bad. Plus, we're trying to feed her and she hates it and now has her feeding aversion which will only continue to get worse.

He suggests this drug called Reglan. When we were in the ER with Addie, the doctor said, "No matter what, do not let them put her on Reglan!!!!" I found a chat forum for reflux families and I kept seeing things like, "seizures, screaming, emergency room, permanent brain damage, worst 3 days of our lives, kept hitting himself in the face, he started drooling and stopped responding to us" regarding people's experiences with Reglan. I asked the doctor about this and he said that 1 in 100 people will have a fairly serious side effect with Reglan, but most do well. The most common side effect is fussiness. If that occurs, just stop and all will be set to rights within a few days.

Of course, I went over and talked with my NICU nurse neighbor. She has been a NICU nurse for over 20 years. She says she and her fellow nurses LOVE IT! But, they have taken it out of the NICU because it caused so many problems. Hmmm. She is pretty conservative, though, so I ponder her statement.

I then called my sister-in-law's dad who is a pharmacist. I asked him if he'd give it to his kids. "Oh yeah." Says the risks are really small and the good it does can work wonders. Definitely give it a try. He said that a baby's main job in life is to eat and grow and you gotta try to make that happen if they are struggling.

Armed with this information, we proceed forward with the Reglan. Addie ate her next bottle (but up until that point, she had had 1 ounce and 1 teaspoon all day and was starving). She didn't show any weird behaviors, so we gave her another dose. She ate her next bottle really well. But, she didn't nap at all between feeds. She ate the next bottle well and slept as usual until this morning when she woke up about 1/2 an hour early. But this morning she still only ate 1 teaspoon. Hmmm. At church, she was awful. She did eat her whole bottle though (well, of course, she had only had a teaspoon again). No sleeping though. Next bottle, she ate just over an ounce and still no sleeping.

So, we are totally on guard with Addie. Watching every move, tick, jerk, and blink to see if we're ruining our kid. We're a little preoccupied with her wondering if she's fussy because she's hungry 'cause things are finally moving or perhaps because the Reglan is causing her to be fussy or maybe now that things are going through her system, she has a little gas. It could be anything, but she's acting a whole lot different and we want to try and rule out some things before taking her off the meds. But then again, if she's not eating much better, why keep her on them and risk the side effects? We go back and forth, back and forth wondering what to do with this kid.

Now, it's after church and Lexi is in her room having "quiet time". She has been coming out of her room during this and night time so I had told her to stay in her room before we put her down. So, I'm feeding Addie (the bottle where she only ate an ounce) and I keep hearing Lexi moving stuff around and opening and closing and opening and closing the door. But, I'm trying so hard to get Addie to eat without puking on me and trying to keep the bottle in her mouth while she bats at my hands, gags and kicks trying to avoid the bottle that I decide to check on Lex when I'm done with this battle (everyone else was napping).

Before I can get back to her, she comes down the hall with her play kitchen sink in hand. I notice she is totally naked. Uh oh. I immediately think she must have peed on something as I have no idea how long she's been in her birthday suit. Then, in slow motion, I also notice a large green streak across her chest. Then, in even slower motion, I notice her sink is completely full of...POOP! She had pooped and, knowing she couldn't come out of her room, had taken matters into her own hands - literally.

Tossing Addie in the swing, I grab Lexi and head to the bath and yell at Allen to get up and help. As I fill the tub, Lexi, with her impeccable timing says she needs to use the big girl potty. She then proceeds to go potty like nothing out of the ordinary is going on. I really want to beat her, but I find myself telling her what a great job she is doing. I toss her in the tub where she proceeds to say, "I was supposed to stay in my room? I'm sorry mama". We wash twice.

There is poop on play fruit, in the utensils (yeah, she scooped the poop with the noodle spoon and the stainer thing), ground into the burners on the stove, on the handle to the oven, on the floor of her cottage, on the carpet in her room, on her pillow, on her babies, everywhere. I tell them to start bleaching everything.

LaNell sticks everything in the sink with bleach. Allen dismantles the cottage and we proceed to wash it on the antibacterial setting in the washer (that, by the way, Allen had put 3x the needed detergent in since he'd never used it before). Allen scrubs the carpet while I get Lexi dressed. Luckily, Addie has finally fallen asleep in the swing while we are frantically trying to get poop out of everything.

Needless to say, this was one of the crappiest days we've had.

2.19.2009

Da Girls

Whatta Load Of...

laundry!!!

That's right. Our new washer and dryer came today. I went straight for the tough stuff and shoved my king-sized down-alternative comforter (say that 5 times fast) into the washer and went for it.

I'd love to say it washed it with no problems, but alas, even the miracle of the front loader with ginormous capacity had a little bit of a struggle with the fake feathers. You see, these new fangled things are too smart for their own good. If the load is off balance, it re-sets the cycle every time - up to 15 times. The washer adds 3 minutes each time it does this, too. I kept going in the laundry room to check on the progress of things only to find the countdown at 29. It was there for, like, an hour. So, I made it drain & spin manually so we could just move on. I'm wondering if any washer can tackle that blasted bedding.

Otherwise, it has done a bang up job. Clean clothes. Less detergent. Much drier after the wash cycle. And, uber (yes, I'm stealing yet another word from a fellow blogger) quiet. The best part? The washing machine does not try to walk out while it's on the job. Yahoo!

2.18.2009

Are You Kidding?

The horse coliced this morning.

The dogs are on sensitive stomach dog food. If we even talk about trying to change, they start barfing all over the house.

Allen is lactose intolerant. Too much dairy and we all pay the price.

I was diagnosed with ulcers. I had 4 of them. At once.

Lexi had reflux, milk allergy and food aversion.

Addie has reflux, milk allergy and developing bottle aversion.

What is the deal with this family and stomach issues?

2.14.2009

Pile It On

It looks like Addie is now developing a feeding aversion. It just keeps getting better.

2.10.2009

As of Late

Allen cut down the terrible juniper trees that were in our front yard. Sadly, they were the only trees on our entire property. But, they were home to a hive of bees and we just couldn't have that. Besides, I thought they were hideous. I am glad to see them go and excited to put something pretty out there.

As usual, Lexi was standing by ready to help.

I had just asked Lexi to smile.

Apparently, having a newborn around is taking its toll on everyone.

Addie will be 2 months old on Thursday. Unbelievable.

2.06.2009

By The Way

I'm putting in my 2 week notice. Effective immediately.

Darned If You Do, Darned If You Don't

Here's Lexi's current schedule:

With Nap
7 a.m. - 8 a.m. Wake up
12 noon - lunch
1 p.m. - Nap
3 p.m. - 4 p.m. - Wake up
6 p.m. - 7 p.m. - Dinner
Every other night bathe
9 p.m. - Bed
Here's the kicker. We put her in bed at 9. Actual fall asleep time? 10 p.m. - 11 p.m. Then, up from 2 a.m. - 4 a.m.

Without Nap
Everything is the same except that from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. (she goes to bed an hour early if she doesn't nap) she cries almost continuously. I'm not exaggerating. Every suggestion, every tv show, trying to have dinner, having a conversation, sitting on the couch in the wrong way, the dogs going in or out at the wrong time, etc. brings on sobbing. Then, she has night terrors throughout the night - she just screams, won't answer questions, can't listen, sobs and gasps. It takes around 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour to calm her down. Usually, it happens 3 times a night when they happen. We did some research and they can be brought on by stress (hmmm..think a new baby in the house might be stressing her out and rather than acting out, she stuffs it inside?) and exacerbated because of lack of sleep.

So we pay for it either way. One way she's literally up all of the night. The other, for 3 hours she is a total pill and then screaming inconsolably during the rest of the night.

Kids are a real pleasure and a joy, aren't they?

2.05.2009

Here We Are

Addie is smiling and cooing when she's not crying. It almost makes it seem worth it! She's still struggling to eat, but the doctor thinks it is because the formula she's on tastes like "swill". He recommended putting chocolate syrup in to make it taste better. She didn't seem to notice but had lots of liquid poo after. Need less to say, we stopped that pretty quick.

Another glorious side effect of this formula is that it leaves very little left over after digestion. So, she has a hard time, um, having BMs. The remedy? Suppositories. Up to 12 times a day. 12. With every feed, we have to give her one. Otherwise, she sputters, kicks, grunts, groans and moans but with nothing to show for it. It's been real.

Lexi has been pretty dang good, really. The poor thing has been shoved aside, ignored, put in front of the TV and has been really nice about it all. I've even had to tell her, "Momma needs to close her eyes now" and steal a 20 minute nap after the really rough nights. I feel terrible that our television is raising her right now. She has gotten really good at drawing and singing to herself since I've been splitting time between the two kids.

The poor thing has been suffering from growing pains and her 2 year molars. She is up most nights of the week crying about her legs hurting. Just when I get her settled, Addie is up and ready to eat. Most days, I think I'm going to die. I'm not quite sure how to make it through. But, it's just like eating an elephant. You do it one bite at a time. I do it one hour, one minute at a time. I'm sure all moms out there know the deal.

I can't wait until Addie is a few months older. Once she is sleeping longer than 45 minutes at a time during the day and thru the night, I'm sure I might be somewhat human again. I don't know, though. After being in this state for so long, can a person ever go back? Maybe I'll always have bloodshot eyes, messed up hair, and the mental capacity of a person in the advanced stages of dementia.....

About Me

My photo
What started as a way to communicate with far away friends and family has become a place for this horse trainer/HR manager turned stay at home mom of 3 girls to hold on to a bit of her own identity. It's my take on the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the thoughts and feelings, the mistakes and triumphs of this family as we bumble our way to eternity.