Mommy and me

I made myself this top a few weeks ago but had enough to make a little one. A few night ago I decided to foolishly going to bed in a decent hour and made it. K decided we both had to wear it for her class breakfast and so we did. How fitting too since she read her paper about how I am the greatest mom. How ironic that it comes during the week I've been alone with the kids (Daddy is on a business trip), a week that I will admit that I've been the opposite of being the best mom.

Matching with me made K very happy. I think she feels very mature.

I love you, K.

We can't look alike!

A couple of weeks ago, J got a shorter haircut. She loved it and she said everyone else loved it too. Daddy and I thought for sure that no one would mistake them for each other and people would appreciate that.

This week K finally got her haircut. We tried to make it different, like no bangs, but really, how different can we make the haircut without cutting drastically ? 

J got mad and said, "Mommy, she looks like me!!!" 

The next day Big M confided to Daddy quietely that he now has trouble telling them apart. Daddy told him to keep that fact to himself or his sisters will get upset.

On another day when I took the younger 3 out, they were running around playing.  Little M needed to quickly get J's attention so he yelled out , "J! J! J!" After the 5th time and J wasn't turning to face go , he realized he must have been mistaken. So he yelled out instead, "Sister! Sissssssssssterrrrrrrrrr!"

My grandmother would be proud

The thing about the different diet restrictions in our house is that we now had to eat at home all the time and I have to pretty much experiment and come up with my own recipe. It's a good thing though - we are all healthier for it.

The above is a stir fry mish mash and is top 8 allergy free. Cauliflower, cabbage,broccolli, baby corn stir fried in olive oil and for flavor I used coconut "soy" sauce. For Little M, we must add a source of protein whenever possible so I threw in chopped up left over ham. Yum.

Endoscopy #2 result

Little M doesn't have juvenile polyp and for that we are very thankful. The bad part is, which I wasn't clear about before, Little M not only has eosinophil white cells in his esophagus, they are also present in his stomach. He has both eosinophilic esophagitis and eosinophilic gastritis. 

As far as the eos count with the 2nd scope, there are zero in his esophagus (150 before) and 16 in his stomach (50 before). This improvement is due the steroid treatment, which is a not a log term solution. The GI and I have decided to go with the top allergy avoidance diet plan. Little Ms diet will exclude dairy, eggs, peanut, tree nut, soy, shellfish. We decided not to include wheat in the diet elimination because the doctor said it would be a hard diet and we don't want Little M to lose weight.

We are now 4 weeks into the diet and not doing too well. The vomiting is back and we don't know why. Obviously it means that we have not taken out the bad foods. We have been keeping a food diary and out best guess is green beans and chicken. So we are adding these to the list of bad foods. We are praying that this takes care of the symptoms.

I am keeping positive but everyday there is vomiting is etching away at my positivity. This disease sucks. 

Talking with little m

Little M: I have boobs! Yeah, I have boobs!

Me: You don't have boobs!

Little M: When I was born, did I have boobs?

Me: You have nipples.

Little M: uh huh. Oh yeah! I have nipples! I looooove my nipples! (sing song voice)

***I can only guess that this topic was due to the extreme cold temps.

Endoscopy #2 and Colonoscopy

Little had his 2nd endoscopy a couple of days ago and colonoscopy. After a failed attempt a week and a half ago, it finally happened successfully. We did not do the magnesium citrate route this time around, and opted for Miralax and a slower approached (one extra day). It worked out so much better. He didn't even notice what he was drinking. As always, it was tough to deny him food though.

There was a marked difference in my attitude toward these procedures. I was not worried on the drive over; I was much more relaxed. We came a little early so we had to keep each other company. This time, the attending anesthesiologist was a pediatric one and she remembered Little M from his first endoscopy. She said, "I remember you! You were the very good little boy!" As was the case before, everyone was impressed how good he takes his needles. The one nurse I left him with the first time in order to eat quickly was there, and she too remembered Little M. He remembers her as the nurse who played cars with him and that always lost. 

I accompanied Little M to the OR and only left when he was given Propofol to fall asleep. The endoscopy alone lasted about 15-20 the first time so I was expecting at least that amount of time. Our GI told me that the time for the colonoscopy would depend on if and how many polyps he finds because he would have to remove them. 

I was keeping an eye on my watch closely, and at 25 minutes later I saw my brave little guy being wheeled out. Imagine my surprise and I knew exactly what it meant. It meant that there wasn't much found! The anesthesiologist told me that everything looked good on her end, but she was going to have to let the GI talk to me, but that it looked good.

Little M was brought to the PACU (because he was young) in order to recover. It took him longer to wake up this time around. The GI told me that his esophagus looked good and that we are at baseline for his eosinophilic esophagitis and that his colon was clean - no polyps. He apologized that we needed to do the colonoscopy based on his consult with the expert when the other doctor told him that the polyp found in small intestine was juvenile polyp, but at least now we know he doesn't have it. Thank you, GOD!  We have to continue dealing with the EOE but at least we have no 2nd problem to worry about.

We won't know his eosinophilic white blood cell counts from the biopsies until our follow up visit and at that time the GI said we have a lot to talk about. Having researched Eosinophilic Esophagitis, Daddy and I already know what we want to do. We are going ahead with food trials based on food avoidance of the top 6-8 food allergies. We have come this far to leave Little M with a "patch" solution. He can eat whatever wants with the current medication but it is not a long term answer. We need to do our best to identify what his body is rejecting in order to avoid whatever it is/they are. Based on others who are going through this terrible disease, we will find many hiccups but we have to remain positive. 

pre-k class concert

Little M's class had a mini concert for the holidays as their Christmas party. They sang a few songs. Little M was a little wiggly and pulled his hat down his whole face. Thankfully one of the teachers came and fixed it. On this video, you hear "Hey!" loudly. That's my boy.

Christmas presents

Big M got Daddy Monopoly Empire.

Little M puts together his airplane.

K plays with Doc McStuffin and other dolls.

K's Crayola toy. I happen to like this one. It's not just for kids. :)

Big M's Lego helicopter. 

J tries the sewing kit we got her. 

Big M's AT-TE. The boy did not go crazy with Lego in his wish list this year.

more christmas eve choir

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The first mass for Christmas was 4pm on Christmas Eve. We were supposed to be there 30 minutes before in order for the choir to have a quick practice. I thought that was enough time to get seats, but apparently most everyone thought the same because by the time we got to church people were already standing. We ended up separated but thankfully, the girls were able to sit in the choir area.

Children's Choir

J and K have joined our church's children's choir that began in mid-October. They practice for just a few minutes right before our mass starts so it's completely no pressure for the kids. This is the Christmas  Eve mass. We are a very proud!

Merry Christmas!

Life hasn't slowed down one bit so this is the best we can manage. So for all our friends and family from near and far. We love you!

Ten and a half inches of snow fun

We had our first big snow storm this weekend and the kids were besides themselves to play on that white magic. Daddy was also excited to use his new toy.

The kids treat the snow as if it's not cold and wet. But I guess if you're wearing snow pants everything is ok. 

Big M was so very enthusiastic about helping clean out the cars. He is such a big help.

Daddy with his new toy. Bring on the snow! Notice the roof. That's bound to come down some time.

The kids started playing in the back to dig out their play house. 

Everyone was begging to go to the park to go sledding. But Mommy and Daddy had no energy left after being out in this stuff for 2 hours. Thankfully they were amused by the custom slide they made in the deck using the steps.

The snow was so powdery we couldn't make a decent snow man, or a slide. So they slid down the drive way.

endoscopy and colonoscopy that didn't happen

The day started early with a nebulizer treatment of budesonide and albuterol. An hour later the fight began to get him to drink 2 oz of magnesium citrate. And yes, it was a fight. After of half an our of struggling and going nowhere, I prayed it was ok to just skip it and headed 2-hours south to the hospital.

The road was long, Little M was busy with his movie and I was left to stew on my own fear and worries. Tears, panic, ugly thoughts, horrible thoughts came and went.

Little M was prepped, I was asked a million questions. He was brave with the IV, but it was just not meant to be. The anesthesiologist didn't feel that proceeding with the colonoscopy and endoscopy was the right thing to do because of his cold and asthma. I covered my bases and said I mentioned this 2 days ago to the doctor's nurse and we were told it was ok. But ultimately, the person was a nurse and not an anesthesiologist. Everyone was apologetic and disappointed especially upon hearing that we drove from Albany.

I was ok. I'm tired, starved, but not as starved as Little M who hadn't eaten anything but juices since yesterday morning. I am thankful because I think this happened for a good reason. Everything happens for a reason and I will leave it at that. God has a reason. Until next time.

class breakfast and 1st grade paper

Miss K's class had a breakfast for the parents where each student read their first paper. Little M and I made it and listened eagerly. K wrote about the excitement about her 6th birthday where she described the party, presents and a surprise visit from her Nana & Papaw. We loved it! 

Only Love Today

sewing for my twins

I made these 2 monkeys peasant tunics and asked them to pose. They shall be models when they grow up.

A little snow, a lot of fun

We only got about 2 inches but that didn't stop the them from having fun. And it is obvious why the school requires snow pants in school no matter how lite snow there is.

Holey smile

Nothing happened for a long time after K lost her 3 bottom teeth. But then #3, #4, #5 came out in a week and a half. We are pretty sure the tooth fairy is now broke. Oh and yeah, we can't take K seriously now.

Early present to me

From me...I've wanted to make this pattern for since it got cold but t had to take a backseat to sewing leggings and anything cold-friendly. But finally I made this scarf neck cardigan by Swoon. I really like it and so I am making another one. :) J asked me to make her one but will have to go under the many many things I have to make and do.

Thanksgiving 2013

Our long weekend began yesterday since the kids thanksgiving break started yesterday. Since the kids are not allowed to watch TV during the weekday, it slipped their mind that they really could because there is no school. I wasn't going to remind them of the fact especially since they played board games almost the whole day.

We started with pictionary. Even Little M was quite an artist.

The Twister game didn't last very long. The mat on the wood floor was quite tricky.

Then Big M taught K how to play chess.

In the evening, Fedex dropped off surprise goodies from my mother. The kids feasted on pretzel logs, which they gobbled up, and down caramel apples. 

Then we went to see some fireworks and some free donuts and hot cider. Our kids were quite excited about the fireworks.

Then today, Daddy joined the kids in a game of monopoly. His young but adorable accountant ran with his money and left him bankrupt. 

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast very much. The kids made the menu with me days ago and Daddy was on grocery duty. I cooked some food last night, to turkey today and will cook more tomorrow. I thought it would make more sense for us to prolong our feasting so that we can eat more of what was served instead of having a ton of left overs all at once. It think it turned out well.

Inspite of the some of the difficult health issues out family is faced with recently, we have much to be thankful for. At the end of the day, my family is what I am thankful for.