Saturday, February 27, 2010

Monster trucks and little boys



Last night I bought some tickets online for the big Monster Truck show tonight. We go every year, the kids love it. There is just something about big trucks and little boys. They just go hand in hand I guess. I have to be honest though, I love it just as much as they do! I've got a lot of redneck in me so I've always had a thing for big trucks too : )

Last year both boys were a little scared of it at first. It's very loud. Me & hubby were miserable because he wouldn't leave early so we got there right as it was starting and there were no seats left. We had to stand in the back and hold the kids up so they could see for like 3 hours. Luckily we ran into some of hubby's friends there so they held them a time or two to give us a break. (Thank you Harry and Gabe!!!)

I think the boys will enjoy it even more this year. We've got their big ear muff things and our ear plugs ready. We're going an hour early to get seats so we're all set for some crushing, mashing, muddy, somewhat smelly fun!


Here's some pics of last years show, I'm sure I'll get some of tonights too:

(Gage and the creepy Spongebob guy. Gavin cried... I don't blame him)



Friday, February 26, 2010

My poor baby

Yesterday Gage had to go to Mission Childrens Hospital for his EEG. I knew it would be hard on him. He has quite a temper sometimes!

I got a message on Tuesday from Dr, O'Donnell's nurse saying his appointment was set for Thursday at 1:00. She said to put him to bed 2 hours early the night before and get him up 2 hours early so he would be tired. She said it was a sleep study.

On Wednesday, I called the Dr.s office to see if there was anything else I was supposed to do before I took him. The nurse I talked to that day said to take his blanket and teddy bear, and to take some books because we would be there awhile. She said though, to put him 2 hours later than normal and to get him up 2 hours early. She said he needed sleep deprivation for the sleep test. I was a little mad. I hadn't let Gage take a nap all day because I thought he'd have to go to bed around 6 that evening. Now he was tired and still needed to stay up till around 10pm.

He made it to 9 and I went ahead and put him in bed. We got up at 6 the next morning. I had to try to keep him up the entire morning. I was worried that he'd go to sleep in the car on the way there.

We finally made it there (he only tried to go to sleep in the car once and I managed to wake him up as soon as he nodded off) armed with a big sack full of toys, books, his big Mickey Mouse blanket, 2 sippy cups, some cheerios, and his teddy bear. We were prepared to stay all day.  We checked in, and played in the waiting room for awhile. When he got called in, the women that does the EEGs (the EEG technician?) was very nice and put a movie in for him while she put the thingies all over his head (what are those called? Sensors?) I told Gage: alright this is what you've been waiting for, you're so tired. Thinking was going to get to go to sleep. The woman just kinda gave me a funny look but didn't say anything. A few minutes later, she explained what she was going to do, and said it'll only take about 25 minutes to do the test, he can watch TV while we do it.

I was like what? They told me it was a sleep study, that he'd have to go to sleep for the test. I've kept him up for 2 days. She said no, it's not a sleep study. (I could've killed a couple nurses) She did say the sleep deprivation was good for the test though.


Anyway, she started putting the wires all over his head. I knew this wasn't going to be fun. He screamed the other day when a nurse put the thermometer in his ear. Poor little guy cried and cried. I had to hold his hands down. He was saying MamaMamaMama over and over again. I was almost in tears. She finally got them all in. I think it took longer to put those in than it did to actually run the test. She wrapped his head in bandages so he couldn't pull them out. After that was done, he calmed down and watched Blues Clues the rest of the time. I wasn't sure how she would feel if I took pictures of him while we were there but she left for a minute to go get him some prizes for being good so I snapped a couple while she was gone.


 

 



My poor baby looked so pitiful. I did get to hold him the whole time but I couldn't really cuddle him because I was afraid of messing the wires up. 

She finished and made me hold him over the sink to wash all the goop out of his hair. He screamed at that too. He hates getting his head wet. And then she said 'you can go now'. That was it. No answers. Nothing. I said well, I guess the Dr. will call huh? and she said 'Yeah, you should be getting a call in about a week'. 

Really now? It's gonna take a whole week to look at the results. I mean REALLY? 

So, I still don't know anything. It's probably nothing but I don't want to wait a full week to find out whether or not my child is having seizures.

He is acting fine now. He does have a cold but nothing else unusual has happened. But the Dr. said, you wont know if he's going to have another on until it happens. So I guess I'm forced to wait. I hate waiting. 



Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A bit of a scare

We had a little bit of a scare with Gage Saturday night. We're still not sure what happened but we're waiting to do some tests to see what (if anything) is wrong. Let me start from that morning:

Gage had 2 small rashes on his leg the day before. It didn't look too bad, but I didn't know where it came from. I wasn't too worried though. Gavin is prone to random rashes. My mom said that I did that when I was little.

When he woke up Saturday morning the rash on his left leg looked terrible, big bumpy, rough blisters, and a big spot under his eye that made it look swollen. I was a bit concerned but it was Saturday and while the Dr. office is open, it's only open as long as there are patients coming in. If they don't get any patients, they leave early. I called around 3pm and they were already closed. I still wasn't too worried. I figured it could wait till Monday. He didn't seem to be bothered by it.

He was fine all day. It was warm so we went outside and played for awhile. He napped (not long... maybe 45 min.) It was around 7:30 that evening and I was about to get the boys ready for bed and noticed Gage lying on the rug in the kitchen. He's been pretending to be asleep and you say wake up and he'll sit up and when you say close your eyes, he'll put his hand over his eyes and pretend to snore. I told him to wake up, and he sat up and smiled, then laid back down. We done that about 3 times then I left the room (hubby and Gavin were sitting at the bar right beside him) I come back in a few minutes later and he's lying in the living room floor. Hubby said, Look at that! I thought he'd fell asleep in the floor (he does that if he doesn't nap long enough). I walked over to him and saw his eyes were open so I picked him up, sat him on my lap and said, Gage, are you OK?

About that time, he started throwing up all over the place. I thought, 'Darn, it's gonna be a long night.' But I wasn't too surprised, a virus would explain the rash. Gavin does that every time he gets a stomach bug.

I took him to his bed to get him changed and cleaned up and he starts just rolling from one position to another like he's trying to get comfortable to go to sleep but couldn't. Then his hands started shaking and he grabbed the side of the bed like he was dizzy. Then all of a sudden, while he was lying on his side, His shoulder started twitching really bad, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he done something weird with his mouth. At first I thought it looked like he was smiling but the only way  I can explain how it looked was like a dog, when it's barring its teeth but just on one side... like a snarl maybe? Anyway, I almost freaked. The only thing going through my mind was he's having a seizure. My baby is having a seizure. I got Gavin to go get my husband but by the time he got there, it was over. He was still just lying there with his eyes open but he wasn't seizing anymore. Hubby asked if we needed to go to the hospital, I said I thought so. But we just kept watching him, we were talking about calling my mom and having her meet us there to pick up Gavin when Gage sat up and said 'mama'.

So we decided to watch him a few more minutes to see how he done. He was just lying there acting like he wanted to go to sleep but we didn't want him to go to sleep right then so I took him to the living room and started putting Gavin to bed while hubby stayed w/ Gage. Gavin of course was crying (he normally does at bedtime). I heard hubby say 'Oh nooo'. Gage started throwing up again. I got Gavin laid down and came back in the living room where hubby was in the process of cleaning up more puke (by this time, we were completely out of towels!)

We got it cleaned up and I sat on the couch holding Gage. He seemed to be doing better. He still couldn't sit up or even hold his head up but he was watching TV and he seemed to understand when hubby or I spoke to him. He started having like little twitches every now and then, we were still debating taking him to the ER. My mom called back, she was worried about him ( I didn't mention that I was on the phone w/ her when he started having a possible seizure. I kinda just said something, I don't remember, and hung up on her)

I was telling her that he was doing some better but we still might go on to the hospital when he just sat up and started talking. He wanted to talk to her on the phone and was talking nonstop. Then he wanted to talk to my dad, 'Papaw'. He was jabbering so fast, I couldn't understand him but me and hubby had to laugh. It was like he was a completely different child than 5 minutes before!

He got off the phone and I gave him some water. He sat with his daddy for awhile watching Harry Potter on tv and then got down and started playing like normal. I let him stay up a bit longer and then put him to bed. I kept checking on him after he went to sleep. I would listen to him breathe and think, That is the best sound in the world!

The next morning, he was fine. He acted like his normal little happy self. The rash was still there but not as red as it was. I tried to call the Dr again. They were supposed to have a phone nurse 24 hrs a day but I never reached her. So I had to wait till Monday. Which he was perfectly fine all day.

My pediatricians office has a first come, first serve type clinic every morning from 7:30 to 8:30 where you can just walk in without an appointment. I took him to that, I was 30 minutes early. I didn't want to take the chance of not being seen! I was the second car there!

I check in, get back into a room, and tell the nurse what went on. She asked if there was any family history of seizures. Uh, no, or else I would know what was wrong with him. She went through the regular stuff, allergies, weighing him, taking temperature. (oh, I didn't mention before, the weirdest thing about the whole episode was he had absolutely no fever. He was actually cold to the touch like a cold sweat. He never did run a fever all day)


The doctor came in, I had never seen him before but I recognized his name: Dr. O'Donnell. He asked me to retell everything that had went on (which was a good thing b/c I had forgotten to tell the nurse some of it). He was wonderful. He asked me questions like, when you picked him up, what did he look like. Or when you did this, how did he react. I mean he wanted every little detail which I thought was great. Most doctors I've been to don't do that.

He said that Gage might have had a small seizure, I think he called it a focal seizure. He explained what all that meant. Or he said that he might have just been that nauseous and had been dizzy from puking. Not to mention he was very tired from not napping much that day. But he did say the thing that worried him was the lack of fever and the fact that Gage is the age where they usually see children start having seizures. He said if he would have had a high fever, it could explain more of how he was acting. Calling it something like, a fever seizure which he said could be quite common. If he'd had a fever the Dr. said he probably would've just sent us home. He told me that a lot of times, being sick with something like a virus can bring on a seizure. So he said he thought that it maybe Gage had 2 different things going on. The virus caused the rash (he was sure of that) and then possibly that caused the seizure. He said normally what they would do is send us to a neurologist and do an EEG and an MRI, which would mean sedating him. But since this was Gage's first, the doc said he'd give us the first one free and then if it happened again, we'd have to do the MRI. He was going to talk to Gage's regular doctor first to make sure she agreed and then make an appointment to just do an EEG to see what that tells us. If that comes back normal, we'll just wait and see if it happens again.


They haven't called me back yet for with the date for the EEG but Dr. O'Donnell said if we could get it within 2 weeks he'd be happy. I'm still waiting for that but in the meantime, I'm watching him like a hawk! I sit and watch him play, sleep, whatever. Something scary like that really makes you appreciate healthy kids. I always took it for granted that my kids were healthy and normal. So for now, I just thank God everyday for my babies. I know we don't know what's wrong with Gage yet... hopefully nothing, but I just think of all the children out there that do have serious health problems, and my heart breaks for them and their families. I was terrified when Gage wasn't acting right. I can't imagine how it feels to see your own child with a major problem. I have been praying for those families and hope you will too. Please keep Gage in your prayers too, I don't know what is going to happen, what might have been or is wrong with him, but I'm praying that the EEG comes out fine.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Water, Pur and simple

I have been wanting one of the Pur water pitchers for awhile now but had never gotten around to getting one. I love to drink water but since we've moved into the new house I can't stand to drink out of the tap so I've been buying gallons of water.

I have never had city water before, only well water. So when we moved here, it was a big difference for me. I'm a bit more used to it now, but it still tastes funny to me. I remember growing up, I'd love to go outside to the well and drink straight from the spout. If you've never done that, you're missing out! It is the best thing ever! It comes out so clean and cold. It was great in the middle of summer to cool off while playing.

So I'd been eyeballing these pitchers and finally decided to just get one, I went to target online and they had the gallon dispenser for just $24.99. They also had the same price in store so I headed out and bought one.



I LOVE this thing! It took awhile for it to fill up, but now every time I get a glass full I just pour another cup of tap water back in. The kids even like drinking water now. It looks big, but it's pretty slim and fits really well in the fridge. I love the dispenser part. I'm glad I chose it instead of the pitcher. You don't even have to pull it out of the refrigerator. Just fill up your glass and go about your business.

They also have a flavor pitcher that I'd like to try. You can buy different flavors for it and it puts the flavor in when you press the button while you're pouring the water in. I think the kids would love that! Hubby might too, he's not a big water drinker.

Anyway, I'm so in love with this thing, I had to tell you all about it. If you don't have one yet, it's worth every penny!





 

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I can't leave them alone for 2 seconds...


(They look way too happy for being in time-out)







Monday, February 15, 2010

The Shoebox

I got this email from my Sister-in-Law today. I thought it was so cute I had to share it with you all!

 The Shoe Box 

       
   
  A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. 
 They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. 
 They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little 
 Old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had 
 Cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. 
 
 For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but 
 One day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said 
 She would not recover.  In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took 
 Down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. 
 She agreed that it was time that he should know what was 
 In the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls 
 And a stack of money totaling $95,000. 
 He asked her about the contents. 
 
 'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me 
 The secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that 
 If I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.' 
 The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two 
 Precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two 
 Times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with 
 Happiness 
 
 'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? 
 Where did it come from?' 
'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.' 
 
 A Prayer.......Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man; Love to forgive him; And Patience for his moods; Because Lord, if I pray for Strength, I'll beat him to death, Because I don't have time to crochet 

Monday, February 8, 2010

Smartipants winner

The winner of the Smartipants diaper is comment #27


 Congratulations to Fancygrlnancy! 

Thank you to all that entered and 
thank you to the folks at Smartipants!