Devin is going to Preschool

Well, we survived the drama of not going to kindergarten this year. I don't know who was more traumatized... me or Devin. Since then, she has been having night terrors and walking in her sleep almost every night. We have gotten her to a point that we don't have to sleep in her room anymore. But, she usually wakes up almost every night...starts wandering around the house and talking nonsense. We have to walk her back to her bed and tuck her in. She "seems" awake... walking around, eyes open, talking... but she talks nonsense. Sometimes she has nightmares, sometimes not.

Well, I talked to lots of other moms and did some research. I picked out 3 preschools and then and went with Devin to visit them. We ultimately chose Bel Esprit. It is a private preschool in Litchfield. I really liked it there and their schedule is very flexible. So, we signed up Devin to start with 1/2 days on Tues & Thurs mornings. She started on Sept 1st. The first few times were rough, as expected. She cried at drop-off and didn't really want to participate at first. But, she has gradually improved every time and did not cry at all last week! This is a big deal for us. Plus, she is happy to go and participating well in class. I am so happy. I want Devin to have a positive school experience. This was definitely the right choice to wait till next year for kindergarten. She just was not emotionally ready for regular school yet. I'm so glad she is doing better... it is a huge relief.

Kyle allergy update

Well, Kyle's allergic reaction resolved. I took him to an allergist and the doctor thinks he had an allergic reaction to his cold virus. Go figure. They performed skin allergy testing on his back for 8 common food allergens including milk, soy, egg, peanut, gluten, etc... they all came back negative. He thinks Kyle's food problems stem from milk intolerance and not milk allergies. I would agree with that. He ordered a blood RAST test for peanuts to re-confirm he doesn't have peanut allergies... but we don't think so. Kyle has had peanut products many times before the allergic reaction. Haven't had the blood test for peanuts done yet b/c lab was too busy one day & finding the time.

In the meantime, my regular pediatrician had a bunch of blood and fecal tests done on Kyle including Celiac Disease panel, CBC, metabolic panel, fecal WBC, fecal cultures... they all came back negative. That was NOT fun getting the blood test.. Kyle cried from the moment he entered the lab office until we left. He is terrified of doctors now. Ugh.

So, basically after all this... we really don't know much.... just guessing and Kyle still has frequent bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. Both doctors did suggest considering a gastroenterologist specialist. I am not ready to go there. I am hoping we can figure this out ourselves and he will grow out of it.I know what the gastroenterologist will want to perform an endoscopy and possibly a colonoscopy of Kyle. I don't want to put him through that. He is basically a healthy, happy, growing kid. Most of his vomiting is correlated when he coughs... which he has had a chronic minor cough for months. He has a REALLY sensitive gag reflex and frequently vomits when swimming if he gets any water in his mouth. Lucky me... I have to hold him over side of pool if he starts coughing at all in the pool. He has vomited on the side of PUBLIC pools many times and its really embarrassing. I've even caught it once in my hands... yea, I know... gross! Better than in the pool though.

So, we are back to square one... I am currently keeping a log of his eating habits, vomit & diarrhea frequency... so we shall see... Hopefully, this too, shall pass.

Allergic reaction

Kyle had a severe allergic reaction to something this past week. The doctors think possibly from peanut butter... but he has had PB several times in the past without a problem. They say he can develop peanut allergies.. but we are still not sure. Anyway, it started on Tuesday afternoon about 3-4 hours after ingesting a PB cookie. He woke up from his nap with a rash all over his body & pruritic. The rash was actually red blotchiness all over. He seemed to feel ok and not running a fever- so I gave him Benadryl and he improved. On Wednesday morning, he woke up with the rash even worse and his left eyelid was swollen 1/2 shut and some facial swelling. I took him to Urgent Care and had him treated with antihistamines. They gave me script for pred if it got worse. Well, the rash never went away and got way worse that evening. I gave him more antihistamines & pred but his face started to swell up again. So, I took him to ER. The gave him more steroids and epinephrine. Since then his rash has slowly been getting better with intermittent hives all over his body. He is 95% better today with only a little itchiness. Unfortunately for me, Benadryl and pred make him like a kid on crack who drank a pot of Starbucks coffee. To say he is "wired" is an understatement. He is so jacked up - he just runs around the house bouncing off the walls. We had him rechecked by our regular doc on Thursday who has put in a request to see an allergist. In the meantime, he has ordered a bunch of tests which I need to do this week.... CBC, Celiac Panel, Metabolic panel, stool cultures, etc.... We are still having some issues of intermittent diarrhea & vomiting- so we are still trying to sort out all his GI problems. I'm attaching a few photos of the allergic reaction - didn't get a picture before ER b/c I was too panicked.

Kyle has Car OCD

Kyle has car OCD. To say he loves cars would be an understatement. He is CRAZY about cars. He loves to be in car. He loves to play with cars. He loves to hear cars. He loves to point out every car we see on the road, on TV, in a book, ANYWHERE. He loves car books and car movies. You have to acknowledge when he says "car" or he will say it over and over again... and louder and louder.. till you say, "Yes, Kyle, I see the car." When we first got him, he immediately found the only car toy in the house and wanted to play with it. :)He also equally goes crazy for any motorized type vehicles including trains, planes, tractors, and construction vehicles. He is all boy.

Kindergarten Blues

Well, Devin started kindergartent this past Monday August 3rd and stopped on Wednesday August 5th. They were 3 days of sadness, tears, and stress for both of us. Devin did not do well at kindergarten at all. She cried all day Monday & Tuesday. She cried so much on Tuesday that she fell asleep from exhaustion. She also would not eat or drink or use the bathroom at school. She had to go to bathroom so bad on Tuesday that she freaked out and the teacher had to rush her to the bathroom. Course, since they started school so ridiculously earlier here.... that it was still 110 degrees outside. Not good if you are not eating or drinking all day.

Well, Tuesday night she wet her pants at home and Wed morning she had diarrhea before school. She was so stressed out. We tried everything to convince her kindergarten was a good thing. I started prepping her months ago "talking about kindergarten". I took her twice to the school to check it out and visit a classroom. I bought 2 books about kindergarten and have been reading them to her the last few weeks. I requested her be put in her friend Cody's class so she would know someone. I walked her to class & requested to stay awhile (they wouldn't let me b/c its against their policy). I even resorted to rewards---if you try and give it a chance, I will give you candy/ice cream after school. Nothing worked. Jack & I drove her to school on Wednesday together and she just absolutely lost it when we went to her class. I was so upset to see my child so sad. I felt like my insides were being torn apart. We decided to go visit with the principal. She already knew about Devin from her kindergarten teacher. She agreed that Devin wasn't emotionally & socially ready for kindergarten class yet being the youngest in her class. She agreed Devin needed more time and we decided to withdrawal her from kindergarten.

Fortunately, Miss Julie's daycare still had a spot open for Devin. I am now looking into putting her in preschool twice a week to help prepare her for next year. The principal offered for her to visit school for a few hours a day a few days a week late next spring to help her prepare for school next year.

I am feeling more at peace now with our decision. My parents also held me back a year when I was in first grade b/c I was the youngest person in my class (also an August baby). Basically for the same reasons... sadness at school, not interacting well with the other children, not doing well in school b/c of being sad at school. So, I think this is the best decision for Devin right now.

Summer 2009 photos

Here are some pictures of the animals and kids this summer....

Summer update

Where does time go? I can't believe I haven't blogged for weeks.... work is slow and so is Jack's job. Money is tight. Ugh. Thank God we adopted Kyle last year when we had more money.

My Dad is doing ok... finished his first round of chemo/radiation... it pretty much kicked his butt. He is doing a bit better now. My brothers and sisters have been rotating to go see them and help out my parents. As posted before, I did a lot of yardwork in my parent's backyard. Katherine did the front yard work. Michael is doing all the finances. Katherine & Susan have cleaned out the garage and a couple closets.... Speaking of, my mom has saved every bridesmaid dress, prom dress, etc... that any of us has ever worn... just in case we need an 70's or 80's prom dress in our near future! :) We safety-proofed the house as much as possible... new toilet seats, handles on doorways, moved my Dad to downstairs study, hospital bed, etc... Eric & Krista are there now. We hired a lawn care guy, housekeeper for 1-2x per month and got them a handicapped parking sticker.

I am dog sitting for Eric's dog, Galaxy. He is a sweet dog... kids are sitting on him, playing with him. But, boy oh boy does he not like to go outside. He wants to sit in air conditioning all day. I don't really blame him... its hot and we live in Phoenix... but, I have to convince him to go just to pee! We swim with my dog, Bear, my yellow lab... but Galaxy wants nothing to do with water.

Speaking of swimming.. Kyle is an absolute maniac with no fear of water... he will literally jump off the side of the pool into the water for me to catch him. He can hold his breath under water and if water gets in his mouth.. he just spits it out. He is only 18 months! That's crazy. The boy is a little stunt man with no fear. He moves the furniture around the kitchen and climbs up on the counters and kitchen table when I'm not watching him like a hawk. Today, during Devin's swimming lesson, I wasn't paying attention to him when I was talking to Devin's instructor and he got mad and bit me on the thumb. Little stinker.... I yelped loudly and flicked him on the mouth!

I tried to go to gym again this morning (haven't with Kyle for a few months).... a no go. He did ok at the childcare for a few minutes... but then was crying a lot and they came to get me after 20 minutes. He was quite distraught. Poor guy. He does not like unfamiliar places and people and I have not been able to go to church or gym since we adopted him. I can work out at gym only when Jack is home and not working to take care of him. That makes it tough. So, I'm flabbier than I want to be! Ugh. Can't workout outside.. its too hot. Besides, I can't leave him to go running or riding anyway.

So, the world news is Michael Jackson and Farrah Faccett died this week. Two of our celebrity icons from the 70's & 80's. Jack used to have a poster of Farrah back in his "horn dog days" as he would say it... Who didn't?! I used to have a poster of Michael Jackson on my wall in high school... back when he was a black man. I really liked his music back then... had his Off the Wall and Thriller ALBUMS.. yes, albums. I can remember doing all the dances to his music videos on MTV (back when they actually played music videos round the clock and the Thriller video every hour) with my friend Virginia in my living room. Ahh... memories. But, then, MJ got weirder and weirder over the years and started changing his skin color (and no... vitiligo does not make you turn uniformly white!), looking like a transvestite, paying off child molestation charges, numerous plastic surgeries.... he doesn't even remotely resemble who he was in the 80's! People excuse his behavior b/c he is rich and famous and had an abusive father... but I think it is beyond that... I think he had a serious mental disorder. They have not gotten full results back yet on his cause of death... But, I'm sure they will say it was an "accidental overdose of prescription drugs that started with some incident from the 80's". No one ever says suicide... but that's what I think. Obviously, the guy (word used lightly) had issues with his race, gender, age and sexual preferences... he was one unhappy dude. So, we will see...