Reflux

I spoke with the allergist's office today. I wanted to touch base regarding little A's reflux. I was informed that A has severe reflux. Until today, I did not know if she fell on the severe or mild end. Now I know. I also asked if the Prevacid should get rid of ALL of the reflux, or if we would still need to change diet. I was told that once the meds start working, we should be fine to eat whatever we want (avoiding allergens of course).

Where we stand:
- we pulled tomatoes from A's diet, for now, because it is a known reflux inducing food for her
- we know that A does not seem to feel pain from her reflux - or her pain tolerance is very high
- A will be at a 45 degree angle as she falls asleep - due to the fact that her bedtime snack is being refluxed
- A will not be allowed to drink from her water bottle after 7 pm

When I told A that the docs asked for the above changes in her life, she said okay Mom. No arguments, nothing. Thank you God for this little trooper, the only one of our girlies who could handle these changes in stride.

Did you know?

Please tell me that I am not the only person who did not know that you can make your own colored sugars. I found out today that white sugar + food color + ziplock + 3 year old shaking = colored sugar. We made purple.

Also, color paste does not work, it must be liquid. Found that one out by trial and error.

Lent 2009

Lent begins tomorrow. As a family we are preparing for this special time, mostly with discussions. Lent is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) that are between Ash Wednesday and Easter.

Preparing our home. We are preparing our home for Easter. I plan to complete my first ever Spring cleaning and purging before Easter.

Preparing our hearts. We are preparing our hearts for Jesus. Diva has requested reconcilliation tonight. So we will be going to that, followed by Mass.

What to Give Up? Traditionally Catholics fast from something they love during this time of preparation. As a family we are fasting from meat and eating out. Diva is fasting from candy and gum. Curly Girl is fasting from juice.

What to Add? As a family we will pray the rosary, at least 1 decade daily. We will attend Mass on Tuesdays as often as possible. We will "put away" the alleluia (as soon as I make one to put away).

With all of that, our regular life stuff, and medical appointments, I think that is all that I can handle as a Mommy.

Moms

This is floating around in cyberspace - so I thought I would ask my oldest 2 girls and see what they say. :)

Why did God make mothers?
CG - so they can take care of you
Diva - so they can take care of their children
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How did God make mothers?
CG - I have no idea
Diva - out of love
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What ingredients are mothers made of ?
CG - love
Diva - skin and hair
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Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
CG - because He wanted someone who love and my mom is pretty nice
Diva - cuz she's caring and helpful
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What kind of little girl was your mom?
CG - one with blond hair
Diva - American
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What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
CG - if he was the right guy for mom
Diva - that he loved her
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Why did your mom marry your dad?
CG - cuz mom thought he was handsome and good
Diva - so she could have us
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Who's the boss at your house?
CG - mommy
Diva - Momma and Dad
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What's the difference between moms & dads?
CG - b/c they have mommy and daddy parts
Diva - daddy is bossier
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What does your mom do in her spare time?
CG - clean the house
Diva - clean, help the kids, and do daycare
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What would it take to make your mom perfect?
CG - take out for ice cream each week
Diva - just loving her
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If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
CG - that is hard...i don't know...change her into being flat foot like me cuz I like having flat feet.
Diva - her clothes because she needs more clothes
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Life is Good

There is more to our life than medical appointments...

- Wondertwin A is officially fully potty trained
- Hubby bought a car for himself
- The house is fairly clean - hubby and the girls picked up the playroom without me asking
- I am taking the girls to a basketball game - a pink Illini game to be exact
- Curly Girl is reading fairly well
- Diva is a math wonder
- The Wondertwins keep me on my toes.
- Hubby has a good job
- We live in a house we love - though we would love it more if it self cleaned LOL
- We have food in the freezer

What more could we ask for....

We have news

Little A's sweat test came back negative - she does not have cystic fibrosis. We pretty much knew that, this was a formality.

Her upper GI test came back - she has reflux. I do not know how severe. I do not know what is causing it. I do know that as of tomorrow, my baby girl will be taking yet another medication. This one is Prevacid.

Wontertwin A update...

Little A went in today for a sweat test and an upper GI.

For the sweat test, she did great! She sat there, and waited, very patiently.

For the upper GI, she drank the Barium, blow bubbles, and did exceptionally well. We did see some reflux on at least 1 of the x-rays. The Radiologist will look at the pics and decide if she has GERD or not.

We should know tomorrow.

Today is the Day

Today we head to our hotel for the night. Little A's tests are tomorrow. Please pray for answers and cooperation from A.

Happy Birthday President Lincoln

Anyone who has read my blog knows that Diva loves history, and her favorite subject is Abe Lincoln.














Today we went to an Abe Lincoln Birthday Celebration here in town.















We gathered at the flagpole,















heard the story of his birth,















heard from his "dad,"















and even ate cake. Fun was had by all.


























Did you notice that Diva is dressed in her prairie dress and bonnet?

Small Successes 1

Danielle Bean has started something called Small Successes. Basically, moms need to recognize the small successes in their everyday lives. 3 for each week. Here are mine.........

1 - I managed to get A's appointments all arranged, and care for the other children.

2 - I did not lose my temper this week.

3 - I allowed the children to play outside, in the mud, despite the knowledge that they, and their clothes, would be totally trashed.

Tagged

I love this tag. I was tagged by Word from the Herd. I now tag: Jennifer, Sharon, Mimi, and Tracy.
Here are the rules:
1. Choose the 4th folder where you store pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder, and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)


This picture was taken in the spring of 2007. We are at our local U-Pick farm getting ready to pick blueberries. This picture is on their website!
Diva and A are in the back, Curly Girl and C are in the wagon.
This is my picture.

Confusion fixed

Little A will go in for an upper GI (aka Barium swallow) preceded by a sweat test next Wed. Her first appt is at 8.

This poor child will be awakened at 1 am for some yogurt. She will not get any food until after the upper GI scheduled for 9:15 am.

Please pray for her.

More confusion

A is not having a GI scope to test for EE, she is having an upper GI (aka Barium swollow) to test for GERD.

Step 2 - date set

We are going to Peoria for testing on Thursday Feb 18th. She will have an upper GI and a sweat test at that time.

Step 2 - pending

I just received a call and A is being scheduled for a sweat test (to check for cystic fibrosis - I doubt that she has this) and for an upper GI (to test for EE).

We are thankful for all of the prayers, and especially for our good friend who is willing to take the big girls for an overnight if it become necessary.

Step 1 - compete

A had blood drawn today for a RAST test and a chest x-ray. The x-ray was a repeat to see if an abnormality that was on the previous one is gone. The x-ray was clear. Because of this, the pulminologist has passed up along to the allergist.

Step 2 is wait for the RAST results.
Step 3 - who knows...

Oh My Goodness - I forgot the best part - the clear x-ray means NO CT SCAN!

Here are my 3 youngest at the same age. They all look really similar. Above is C, then A, last is curly girl.

Anastasia - Just Starting

Little Wondertwins A was at the allergist's office on Monday. The allergist was a new one, and we competed a very thourough history. We realized that A has the symptoms for various GI and lung disorders. We being testing this Friday to determine what is going on with her.

Some ideas being looked at:
asthma
more food allergies
environmental allergies
Eosinophilic esophagitis
GERD

Please pray for our little girl.