Matthew and PJ.....

So I thought I would post a glimpse into what life is like with Matthew....he had PJ sleepover last night and PJ sang an eight part song filling Matthew in on everything that has been going on at Holy Family since Matthew's departure the Friday before Thanksgiving......I have not laughed so hard in a long time.......

Till next time...

What a week

It is Friday the 13th.....my moms 50th birthday.....and Matthew's 5th day at home sick. He had a flair up of his EE and we have spent the week with him in the bathroom.....he would probably be mad if he knew I was talking about this. I am hoping the naturopathic doc can help us on Monday. He seems to have had this episode as a result of his "cheat day" which just makes em sad. I hate having to tell Matthew that cheat days may not be able to happen because he missed 6 days of school as a result of this. I wish I had a healthy kiddo. I am so happy for the good days and there had been so many...we had not scoped since last July. I fear that another scope is now in our future. Matthew hates his GI and it is a lengthy process to get him into Children's hospital but we are going to start it, he is old enough to have a say in who his doctors are.

We had a major aquarium malfunction this week.....all four of the George's died with in 36 hours of each other. The water tested fine and nothing had changed so who knows, but Matthew was a little sad as he had discovered the George's within days of their arrival into the world at my parents house. And sadly they are now all gone. We are going to go the fish store and find a new batch of cichlids to have in our family. I think we will each pick one.......

Now it is time for me to try and be productive with the day.......and get ready for mom's birthday dinner.

Cleanout

I have to start by saying that I hate EE (Eosiniphilic Esophagitis) for those that don't know........Matthew has been feeling icky for a few days. Monday I had to pick him up from school.....I had to take him to the pediatrician yesterday, they did an xray....yup just as I suspected he was very constipated.....damn disease. So today is clean out day......it took him over one and half hours to get him to drink the medicine...we were both crying, I was pleading with him and finally he drank it. I just hope the first dose gets stuff moving so we do not have to repeat this afternoon. Did I mention that I hate this disease.....I hate that he cannot eat normal foods, I hate that we go through this every couple months and no one seems to know how to fix this damn disease......UGH I am just frustrated today.

On a different note....Hannah and Matthew were quite cute dancing together this morning.

Till next time.....

Family of sickies

So I seem to be the only one in the house that feels healthy. Matthew has had a tummy ache all week, I think it is from his cheat day......Dave and Hannah both have what sounds like a cold. The doctor has me started on prophylactic antibiotics for whooping cough. Mom was sick most of last month.....Hannah has a fever and a cough so she has been tested, but the doctor just wants to treat me just in case. I have not left the house since we went to the doctor on Wednesday. I am getting kinda stir crazy. Wish that translated to a cleaner house.....but nope.....just the opposite...I have done very little house work. Maybe if this stupid migraine would go away......I have had it since last week.

Hannah started her speech therapy on Tuesday, she seemed to have fun...hopefully we will unlock those words of hers soon. It only took six months for Matthew to be in speech therapy so I am hoping Hannah learns just as quick.

Till next time......

Cheat Day

So Matthew was allowed to have a day to eat whatever he wanted......he ended up not sleeping last night because his stomach hurt all night.

I guess if I let him have a day like that again it will be on a Saturday, so he can recover on Sunday.

Hannah woke up with an icky nose today......she keeps sticking her finger into her ear, but does not seem to be in any pain.

Dave started a contract job today....I was looking forward to a day of just Hannah and I and then Matthew was sick......maybe Friday or next week.

I miss having Dave home today...it was really nice to have him home during the day. I guess making money is important....but this is only a three week long job. He will be back home with us before we know it.

Till next time.

New Changes

Hannah has started sitting on the potty, we have not had a deposit yet, but she at least is expecting me to take her to the potty when she gets up in the morning and after naps.

Hannah also finally gets to start speech therapy. She is 20 months old and has few words and is getting increasingly more difficult to figure out what she needs. The whole family gets frustrated. I think she is the worst. She wants to badly to tell us what is going on in her world, and she just is not able.

Here is to hoping that we are able to unlock her little voice.

I took the time to figure out pictures

Mom and Hannah on Christmas Eve..... Dave and Matthew getting ready for a morning of snow fun.....

Dave was going to make a igloo.....we all decided it was great in theory but too cold and the snow too dry.....

Hannah being the cutest baby girl ever.....

And last but not least I mentioned that we caught Santa......here is the proof......

Getting caught up

So I have neglected this thing called a blog for a couple weeks, things have just been crazy here. I have not felt well, school starting up again, Dave's job hunt, this new diet Matthew is on. We went to Pacific Beach last weekend.

School seems to be going well for Matthew, he is not getting in trouble for ridiculous things all the time. He has been struggling with a kid at the bus stop, but that even seems better. We still struggle with him actually following through on his classwork. That is something I can work with him on, the constant conduct referrals for just being an 11y/o boy seem to be in the past.

I seem to be fighting my second sinus infection since the big snow storm in December, I have had little to no energy and am tired all the time.

Dave is struggling with finding work, this economy is making it very difficult for those seeking employment. Apparently Washington is almost at the national average for unemployment at 7.1%. I hope he gets a bite soon, or I may begin to freak out.

Matthew seems to be doing well on the new food restrictions, we have not had too many nights of dinner time troubles. He is getting tired of the same old same old, I am trying to come up with new and creative ways to feed him, keeping away from wheat, corn, egg and dairy. Hopefully in the next month or so we can decrease some of his medications. We have been able to take him off of two of his meds as of right now. Which I am super excited about.

Now to the ocean trip, I was fantastic. We had Spring like weather. I think it was 64 degrees on Saturday when we were on the beach. I am ready for Spring. I am done being cold all the time. Matthew and Hannah also had a great time, I let Hannah just explore and did not worry about how messy it would be to clean up and I thin she had a blast. Dave and I watched the sunset on Sunday night which was wonderful to have some time just the two of us. We came home Monday and on the drive home we saw snow. It was a little bizarre.

So I am going to make a sincere effort to try and keep up on this blog a little more frequently. Till then.

The first day of the new year and new diet

I say diet but that is really not what it is, it is avoidance and I have to say day one of strictly avoiding wheat, corn, dairy and eggs went remarkably well. The only slip up we had was with chocolate from Santa, I forgot the milk chocolate would contain milk, duh......... But he seemed to be in good spirits about the whole thing.

I found another blog today, okay a allergy mom referred us all to it. This woman dedicated 2008 to her crock pot. She used it everyday the entire year. And all her recipes are gluten free. Probably not egg/corn and dairy free too, but it will be a place to start. I think I will try to use mine at least once a week.

My Easy Bake oven afternoon was fun. I made cheese sticks and more fudge. I think tomorrow it will be pizza, I secretly am LOVING this. Dave and Tami laughed because I looked so proud carrying my PB fudge from the Easy Bake to the refrigerator. They thought it was sooooo cute. I did have a pretty big smile on my face.

But this first day of the year was great, Hannah made us laugh, I played a seven song gig on RB2 and Matthew did not turn his nose up to "experimental pancakes" this morning. It is so nice to have Dave home, I secretly hope he can find a job that allows him to be home more. Maybe even work from home a day or so every once in a while....

Tomorrow it is off to the gym, and then the church Holiday Party, I am so looking forward to the Ligons spiced wine......it is not Christmas without many glasses of it at the party.

I think tomorrow I will try the Easy Bake pizza, then maybe some Matthew friendly pizza then off to the party.

Till then.......

New Years Eve Party

We had a fantastic New Years party. We all watched the ball drop at 9:00 in New York, then I was in bed and asleep by 11:30, I tried to watch the Space Needle fireworks, but was too tired. We got up this morning and had experimental pancakes. Today is the first day of No wheat, rice, and eggs.......in the strictest of ways. We will still also avoid corn. But back to the pancakes, the were an oat and rice flour combo that turned out edible for the first go around. My nieces who spent the night also enjoyed them. The texture was a little off, but everyone ate them.....I think I will try and add nutmeg or cinnamon. Then they may just be fantastic. I think when I am done playing Easy Bake oven today I will attempt some bread for Matthew, I have till Tuesday to be able to pack him a lunch for school.

Laura brought her Easy Bake oven over and we made peanut butter fudge, it was delicious. She even left it here so I can try some other recipes in it. I am secretly super excited. I always wanted one of those as a kid, and mom always said we could just do it in the regular oven. There is something about cooking by light bulb that is soooo cool.

Off to BFC with the Easy Bake.......

Boys

Why are they so stinking loud? Matthew has one friends over right now, and the volume in my house is so loud I can hardly hear myself think. It is amazing how such small seemingly innocent boys can be so LOUD.....at least they are well behaved.

I am super tired today, you would think that I had not slept last night, but I actually went to bed at 11, and slept until almost 8:00am.

We have our New York New Years Party all planned and set to go. The only thing left on the list to do is find a channel that will be broadcasting the New York Ball drop here live at 9:00pm......then I can go to bed..........

I have a hard time believing Matthew has been home for break for over two weeks now because of the snow, we have a had a fairly uneventful break which is a GREAT change. Usually getting him off of a schedule is disastrous for the household. But he has really shown signs of maturity and growing up and dealing with the changes really well this year. I am actually looking forward to the next break.

Till tomorrow..........

The Mondays

So we had a big case of the Mondays here. Dave got up and went to work today and called me just an hour later to tell me he and his entire staff had been let go. He had a feeling on Saturday, he was unable to log onto the system. He said to me last night, "You are not gonna freak out if I lose my job tomorrow are you?" I guess there is something to be said for intuition.

So as a result, I have a fantastically organized closet and the office is well on its way to being organized as well......I thought only women cleaned when they were stressed. Let me off the hook for having to clean up after the weekend today, would not want to deny him the opportunity to have his outlet. I also then was able to go to the gym, by myself today. I am not so sure I am going to like this gym thing. But if I am ever going to be NOT FAT, then I guess the gym it is.

I think we will have another night of Rock Band here, I am getting pretty good at guitar on easy. I think I may try the drums tonight. I will wait until Matthew goes to bed, so I can embarrass myself in private....nothing like an 11 y/o making fun of you.

We have decided to host a New York New Years Party at our house this year. That means New Years at 9pm. Everyone can leave by 9:30 before all the crazies are out on the road. And I can drink cuz there will be no driving.......yeah for me. What shall be the beverage of the day? Guess I better start thinking of the menu, then the drinks....or should it be the other way around?

I have to say that it was really nice to have him home again today, I am not sure I will be a big fan when he gets a new job. I guess I just need to enjoy what I have for now.

Merry Christmas

So we had a fantastic Christmas, Santa came and we even caught him. Once I get all my files transferred to my new laptop I will post the picture of Santa in the living room. Santa brought Rock Band 2 AND Guitar Hero World Tour, so we have a four man band here......It is so funny to have Matthew enjoying music that was even from before my time. Hannah loves her new kitchen, she may be BFC in training.

We will be having a food going away party this week. As of January 1, we will be avoiding corn, wheat, all dairy and eggs. Hopefully these changes will help with behavior, the stomach stuff, the EE everything. I know Matthew hopes that someday he doe snot have to take medicine anymore. I have the same wish for him.

Dave goes back to work tomorrow, guess that means back to diaper duty for me. He has done most of the diapers since Christmas Eve, as well as making a full feast for Christmas Eve dinner.....and he did all the laundry for me. Now he is a sexy Bass player in Matthew's band......can I ask for more?