reflux is under control

A week after being on the Ranitidine (acid reducer),  Little M's vomiting is almost a thing of the past. Before this medicine, he would vomit on average of 4 days out of the week/3x a day. For the past week he vomited 2x and only spit up 2x. What a reduction! He is again himself with his eating habits but we are still careful not to let him too hungry and let acid build up in his stomach. At night before going to bed, we bring up a slice of bread and water, or some dry cereal so he could start munching it when he wakes (he wakes at about 6 before we're up).

I'm sure his esophagus is on the mend by now reducing his gag reflex. We have been so worried with him.

Big brother, little brother

Everyday Little M reminds us of Big M at the same age, they even do similar things the same way at the same age. Big M is pretty strong willed and stubborn; how this will pan out in the future - we shall see.

Hello kitty embroidery

I made this for J and finished in 2 days. She loved it so much, she wore it for 4 days straight.

Here are the steps:

1 - Find a coloring pages off the internet that you would like to embroider and print it:
2 - Trace the chosen coloring page into a tear-away t-shirt stabilizer. This is paper-like and you can use it to trace your design onto. At this point, if the lines on the coloring page are thick, just pick either the outside or the inside line. You can also modify your embroidery by choosing not to trace complicated parts of the coloring page.
3 - lay out your stabilizer with the design onto a t-shirt and use an appropriate size embroidery hoop.
4 - start embroidering! You can have fun with which color floss to use, and even have your child's input at this stage.

If you happen to come upon this page and have questions, just let me know by leaving a comment below.

Special K

A few weeks ago I took J to Six Flags for a one-on-one time. Today it's K's turn. This is my 3rd time there I barely had to look at a map. The other great thing is that I finally learned to use coupons and we ate chicken and fries for much cheaper than eating a slice of pizza.

I let K decide what she wanted to do; we rode 2 roller coasters (I got a bit sick and she said "that was fun!"), played in the water, and ate and played. She said she had a great time. It's a sunny hot day and so the park was crowded.

Worrying takes a lot out of you

Little M has been vomiting for a long time (over a month). At first we thought it was because of asthma, since at the time everyone in the family was suffering from it. He would cough and eventually he would gag and throw up. We put him on the nebulizer and that helped. The only time he would vomit was when the coughing started up again when it was time for the next dose. But then he started vomiting at random times without coughing first. He vomited when his stomach was empty, when it was full, in the middle of the night after being awake for a bit, and right before nap time. The only fairly consistent event was right before nap. He likes to cuddle on our bed for about 10 minutes before he moves to his bed, and for a period of a few day it happened in the bed. I was getting tired of having to wash our sheets so often.

It was then that it dawned on me it could be GERD. The doctor now has prescribed 2 different medications to try (one after the other). If things don't improve after a week, then to try the next. If there is still no improvement , she would order an x ray. The first medication we were told to try helps to speed up digestion so that food isn't just sitting in the stomach , the other is one that neutralizes acid. After a couple of says with the first med, and the vomiting was the same, Daddy and I both think that the antacid would be a better choice. So we are trying that now. The vomiting is the same, and we suspect that it's because his esophagus is just so sensitive now. He vomits when there is too much in his mouth, when he had too much to drink and just this afternoon, he vomited after swallowing some pool water (much to the dismay of the life guards).

I am so worried now. It doesn't help that my baby gets so hungry. We try not to over feed him, to prevent eating to fast, and just not let him eat what he wants. It is difficult. I pray that this reflux isn't a result of anything serious. He has never suffered acid reflux as a baby which makes it worrisome now. The doctor said that it is good that there is no accompanying headache because thy rules out certain serious conditions but I am still worried.

Please God, heal my baby.

Embroidered t shirts for Little M

I embroidered a second t shirt for Little M a few days ago since he loves Mater from Disney's Cars. The first was the Jake from Jake and the Neverland pirate on a new shirt. He wouldn't take the shirt off for a couple of days. It has a stain that would not come out as a result.

Mater was done a whim and I just used a orange shirt that his sisters used for a school concert when they were 2.5 years old.

The Jake was my first embroidery an though it turned out well, the lines were wiggly. I just discovered today (by using another stitch) that this is not such a good one to use on long straight lines.

The important thing is that Little M loves his shirts.

Fireman's fest

There is a fireman's fest that had games, rides and food that we decided to take the kids to. It was small and fun for the kids though we decided not to let them ride. We had already spent too much money before we realized the rides were not free. There was steamed clams for a $40 advanced donation or $50 right there. Oh how I envied the people having them but I wasn't going to pay that much for it.

Only some of the games had guaranteed prizes and the younger 3 kids had a lot of fun with them. Big M is too old for those so he played the other games and as a result, he had fewer toys. That caused a little tantrum. Overall everyone had fun.

By the Hudson river

After dropping Big M off at camp, I took the other 3 to a new park by the Hudson River. The park was pretty empty and it was beautiful. The problem was that it felt slightly scary. It is in a part of the town that is poor and farmy. But perhaps the most concerning part is that there was a couple on the grass having a picnic less than 100 feet away from where we parked. Having a picnic is harmless enough, but as we were returning back to the car, they were doing something that shouldn't be done in public and that something I really did not want to explain to the children. Thankfully the girls were too preoccupied to notice the couple.

The park is a perfect place to go fishing so we may return, but only if we had Daddy with us.

Bowling

This is Little Ms first bowling experience. He was not happy having to wait his turn though.

siblings

Big M: K, can you help me find my green nerf gun?

K: No. I don't want to.

Big M: Help me search and I will give you invisible candy.

K: Ok.  No, wait. I changed my mind.

Big M: I will give you a million invisible candy.

K: Ok. No, I don't want to.

Big M: Here is some invisible candy. Now YOU HAVE TO HELP ME!

dance party

Dance, dance, dance!

potty talk with little M

Mikey: I have poo! I have poo! I HAVE POO!

Me: Lie down then and I will change your diaper. *he lies down on the floor*

While I'm changing him he starts kicking furiously.

Me: *trying to hold his legs up away from the poo* Stop kicking!! You have poo! STOP!!!

Mikey: I have (s)tink? 

Me: YES!!!!

Mikey: I have poo? I have (s)tink? Oh!

blog catch-up

I can't believe it's been more than a month since I have entered a blog post (again). Miss J and K turned 5. Boy, how is that possible? My little girls are growing up fast. With the end of school year, I was busy planning summer camps, activities, and going crazy trying out new crafts.

I wrote the school where J and K would be attending Kindergarten letting them that I want my girls in separate classes. Of course with this request come the mental preparation of separation. At first K said, "Yes! I want a different classroom!" especially when we told her that no one would be confusing her with J. J on the other hand was not very enthusiastic. She said she wanted to be K, she wouldn't know which classroom she has to go to, etc. I reassured her that the teachers would all be helpful and that she would see K during recess and lunch.

Big M finished spring soccer and as soon as school ended, he started soccer camp. I only singed him up for 3.5 hours a day for 2 weeks, and I think that was more than enough. There is a long walk to the soccer field and every day he could barely carry his soccer bag. He can handle the physical activity, but the heat and the fact that he doesn't drink enough water is making him exhausted. He came home the first day with a water bottle that was barely used. I had to make marks and asked him to make sure he drank to the marks every water break. He is loving it though.

Little M continues to be a handful. We've caught him playing in the toilet, using applesauce as lotion/sunscreen, sneaking into his sister's room to rip out their wall decals, etc. Daddy and I look at each other at the end of the day and thing, "none of the other kids ever did any of this!" He is so smart and talkative too. Opinionated. We can't forget that part. Just like his mother father.

This summer has proven to be our most active yet. I think it's because Little M is to the point of being able to endure/enjoy the outings and the four kids are slightly more manageable. We tried hiking in our local park, which we all enjoyed: even terrain, fairly short (1 mile). The next week we went on a challenging hike off a cliff of a mountain where we had to go up and down rocks. We got to walk behind a waterfall. It was a lovely hike, the trees shaded us so it was not hot at all. Little M was on my back the entire time, which made some of the downhill and uphill challenging. On another occasion we hiked a preservation park. Upstate New York is such a lovely place for so many outdoor activities. Just days ago, we also started Geocaching. Why not combine hikes and treasure hunting? I found a very recently placed cache full of toys and as a family went to look for it. The kids were excited about treasure! Unfortunately, not all caches have toys/treasure. Big M loves it though, even finding the littlest ones where all we can do is sign it that we found it.

Today we tried bowling. This is Little M's first bowling and he did great. He loved it, except for the fact that he had to wait for everyone's turn.




Fun!