Quick updates...

Goodness gracious where has the time gone?!

Are we really in August? So, here's a sound off of things that are going around here...

-School. AG requested a baseball bookbag for his school year and thankfully, Pottery Barn had one that was 'AG approved'. Now, I'm hoping it arrives for the first day of school which is MONDAY! Yes, school starts for AG on Monday. Crazy. I can't believe it. Tonight we have Open House to check out his classroom and meet new friends. Again, it really boggles my mind. BUT we are excited. :)

-Avi-Kate is walking every where and she is quite the monkey.

See life is really hectic at the moment...I started this post on Thursday and didn't get a chance to even finish it. So, let's try this again...

-AG loved, loved, loved visiting his school for Open House! He kept telling us that everything was "just my size!" In our haste to be on time we put Avi-Kate in the car sans shoes and didn't realize this till after we had arrived. Oh, well. Live and learn...and laugh.

-We are watching Olympics non-stop. AG pretty much imitates whatever sport we are watching at the moment. Our favorite to watch him preform is diving. He lines up the bean bags in the den and drags his little red chairs over next to them and then proceeds to 'dive' in to them. It's hysterical...the best are when he does 'backflips'.

-The new couch arrived last week and I'm going to post pictures...but it's FABULOUS. (sigh) I really think I would just like to live on it full time. After relaxing on it for a week I can undertand why Pottery Barn uses the word 'comfort' in it's name. It really is very comfortable and every evening once the kids are in bed I relish sinking down in to it to watch the Olympics. :)

-Today has been spent rotating the kids toys out of the attic and organizing the play area. I guess it's the teacher in me that wants it revamped for the school year.

-I need to do a full post on the latest with the backyard but a quick update is that we had our lot surveyed and found out some great news...our backyard actually extends 21 feet beyond the back of our fence!

-Andy and my Dad some yard work yesterday. Cutting down some small trees and clearing out some growth. Plus, hauling some stuff to the dump. I'm looking forward to it cooling off in a few weeks (I hope!) so we can get out and do some heavy yard work.

-Avi-Kate went to the GI doctor on last Monday to let him check her out after we had three random vomiting episodes over the span of a week. Basically I wanted her to be seen so that if it happens again we can go from there. He said it's highly possible that what happened that week was a CVS episode given that it was identical to AG's episodes. He was glad that we brought her in so he could look her over and document things. The plan is to just wait and see what happens...we'll go from there. I feel better about all of it now that she's been seen.

-I'm in the process of researching jogging/running strollers. My hope is to get one soon so that I can start using it during the week while AG is in school. My plan is to drop him off and then strap Avi-Kate in so I can run on campus at Berry. I just need to narrow it down and then order it from Amazon. Oh, how I love Amazon Prime.

-Avi-Kate is a full fledge Braves fan...she starts doing 'The Chop' anytime she hears the music. And speaking of the Braves we took her to her first Braves game at Turner Field this past Friday. She did great but she's not in to it the way AG is. I think his status as a diehard fan has been cemented. I had to beg him to eat part of a hotdog...he was too engrossed in the game. He loves every single thing about the game.

-Our season tickets for UGA arrived this past week! Glory, glory. We are really looking forward to Saturdays in Athens this fall. I'm glad that our first game is now less than a month away.

I'm sure there are several things that I'm leaving out but at the moment this is all I've got. I'll be back with Disney updates soon.

Mommy Gut...

...as a mom you have instincts when it comes to your kids and you are very attuned to their needs. Two years ago this month AG started having these random vomiting episodes. For three weeks it was on and off before we were told it must be a parasite. He was given a high powered anti-fungal and we went about our business. Months passed and he was fine. Then in May of last year he had another attack with two episodes within a couple days of each other. I was a week and a half away from delivering Avi-Kate. Again, we treated it like it was a parasite and he went back on the anti-fungal. Late that summer we had a third attack and that led us back to the GI doctor in Atlanta. At that point AG was diagnosed with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS) and he began taking nightly meds to help control his attacks. This spring we saw the GI doctor and while there I asked if we needed to be concerned about Avi-Kate having CVS. He said that sometimes you have siblings have it and other times not. We'll just have to wait and see.

Well, in my mommy gut I think Avi-Kate has CVS or the precursor to it. She's had three vomiting episodes since last Friday. Every single one of them parallels AG and when he had his 3 week attack. Every single thing about it is identical...I'll spare you the details. Just trust me. :) At the end of the month I'll take her to ATL to see Dr. Saripkin and we'll see what he thinks/pick his brain about this whole ordeal. Today I called the pediatrician and they gave me a prescription for nausea...identical to AG's just in a smaller dose. So, we'll see.

In the midst of all of this AG left a crayon in the dryer and we now have purple crayon on lots of things. Lovely. Did I mention that this happened one of the days when I needed to wash/clean throw-up bedding?! Needless to say this week has not gone the way I planned it, at all. BUT that's ok. At the end of the day and when looking at the bigger picture I'm grateful for what we have. I'm grateful that despite vomiting issues our kids are healthy and thriving. I'm grateful that God isn't done with me and that he's still teaching me big and small lessons daily. My hope and prayer is that she'll stop throwing up between now and the visit with the doctor. And if not, that's ok too. We've become quite the experts at managing vomiting episodes.

I'm off to relax and do some Disney work on this rainy night. (Hallelujah! We needed a good rainy night after all these triple digit temps.)

Blogging hiatus...

This last month has flown by and I took a break from the blog. Not intentionally at first but much needed. Avi-Kate has been battling an intense cold, sinus infection, ear infections, etc. for the last month leaving mommy very sleep deprived and having very little energy for anything else. In addition I came down with a sinus infection, thanks to Old Man Winter failing to show up this year and pollen season starting early, and AG had a cold. Needless to say it's been a wild ride here this last month. In addition to all this we were gearing up from our big family trip to Disney World with Andy's family. We just got back to Rome today...the trip was great but AG having a CVS flare up was not so great. Yes, lots and lots of vomit this past week means I get to touch base with AG's GI doctor tomorrow.

My goals this week are to get the house back in order and get the blog back up to speed. Lots to post about. Hopefully the weather will be great this week and I can do some outside nine month pictures of Avi-Kate...her eight month pictures turned out great and I still need to post those! Ha. See, it never ends. I will forever be playing catch up. :)

Hmmmm...

...so, this last week was eventful. After, we finally got things figured out with the GI doctor for AG I decided to cancel our Disney trip, sad, but okay. We'll be there for a whole week in March! It would have been too much to drive with kids and mom not up to par. We did Disney sick last December and while we still had fun I didn't want to add a four month old to that equation this go around. Plus, after sorting things out with the GI doctor I'm even more glad we didn't go. When we do Disney we are up and out the door early in the morning, take a mid-day break, and then stay as late as possible at night. Well, that wouldn't have worked with AG and his new medicine this go around.

On Tuesday, the doctor decided to put AG on medicine for the foreseeable future to help with his vomiting episodes. Now, it takes awhile to build up in his system which means he could still have an episode before it really becomes effective. Also, it can make the taker quite sleepy and groggy in the morning. Well, I gave him his first dose Tuesday night and he slept till 10:45 the next morning! Needless to say we skipped his nap on Wednesday in favor of an earlier bedtime. Thursday he woke up at 8:45 and was able to nap that afternoon. So, the rest of the week we have been playing with napping/not napping and trying to figure out what works best. All that to say I'm glad we are home and not away while we let his body adjust to this new medicine.

In other news...

-After changing out the planters on the front steps and filling them with fresh plants I commented to Andy that when I'm pregnant my gardening goes to pot. Literally. The front steps didn't get any loving this spring or summer...I was doing good to have stuff in them last fall during the first trimester with Avi-Kate. I'm happy to have plants and pots to freshen up the front of the house once again. Also, Andy is almost done with his projects on the front of the house...pictures to come, soon!

-I picked up some odds and ends at HePo aka Home Depot today for crafting. I can't talk about all my projects since my extended family reads the blog and I'm working on some projects for Christmas but I will share one...so, last week I mentioned the large volume of house plants now residing at 320 E. 11th Street. Well, some of them are going to be sent to loving homes aka family members. The rest I'm going to do something with. I have some old containers in various sizes, shapes, and types laying around. Andy and I are going to prime them and spray them with chalkboard spray paint. Hopefully, this little face lift will turn out well  enough that I'll have containers to use till spring rolls around and I can redesign things for life on the porch for the summer/fall.

-My sweet husband surprised me with a massage at a local spa and dinner out without the kids for my birthday. It was a wonderful treat...thank you Andy! :) Big thanks to our sweet college girls for taking the kids for the night.

-AG is ready for Christmas. Last week, he asked if we could go cut down our Christmas tree with Emma! I told him in a few weeks. Guess that answer wasn't good enough...today at HePo he found tiny potted trees in the garden section, picked it up, carted it over to Andy, declared it 'AG's Christmas Tree', and plopped it down on the flatbed cart. Add that to my list of things to pot this week. Oh, well it'll be cute with some lights on it in his room. :)

-We have family dinner next Sunday night with the college students. Chili night and pumpkin carving. Should be a fun night all together and we already have our last two family dinners planned for the semester. Thanksgiving and Christmas Dessert/Movie Night.

-I need to do a post about some of AG's favorite phrases these days. He keeps us laughing that is for sure.

Well...

...I'll be making a phone call Monday to Dr. Saripkin. Yep, we had a minor CVS episode this evening.

From my research I really do think that sleep happens to be one of AG's triggers. Particularly, being woken up. In some cases when a person with CVS is woken up before their body is ready they can have an episode. The last three episodes have come after being woken up from his nap. This afternoon he went down a little late for his nap but not out of the ordinary. He was asleep by 3:30 and he normally goes to sleep at 3. Well, at 6:30 he was still out cold. Our neighbors up the street called and invited us to come join them for dinner at the last minute. In my gut I felt like I should have let him sleep but I really wanted to get out of the house for a little bit after this long week. Clearly, I should have gone with my gut. Well, I finally roused him and he just laid in his bed. And then he wanted to be held. His cheeks were flushed and he was very lethargic.  When I finally got him out of the bed I had to carry him to the den to get him dressed. When I put him down he immediately laid down on the carpet. We made it up the street and he didn't want to be there. He kept asking to go to AG's house. I sat down and was holding him at the kitchen table when he got sick. After he threw up we put him in the tub and afterwards he felt fine. For some reason I grabbed a pair of sweats on our way out the door so he had something clean to wear after we bathed him.

Now, for the moment I'm calling it a minor episode...he could wake up tonight and keep vomiting. But at the moment he threw up and then was fine. Not as long as his previous episodes/same intensity BUT the signs were all there and his behavior followed a pattern. Afterwards, Andy calculated how many days we went in between episodes...45days or a little over 6 weeks.

In addition we have to see the pediatrician on Monday for Avi-Kate's check-up. I look forward to chatting with her about all of this when we go. I'm off to go log all of the details so that we can begin to keep a record of everything. I'm curious to hear what Dr. Saripkin says and how he wants to proceed. If sleep is a trigger I'm curious as to how that is going to work with school and having to be up at a certain time/nap time.

I'm off to bed. Today has been a long day...in addition Avi-Kate has had a little GI bug. Never a dull moment around here...

Update...

...this last week was a whirlwind.

Here's the bullet points update on life:

Last weeks events

-Andy made it home from Miami on an earlier flight Wednesday.

-My dear friends Ginn and Julie both blessed me by helping me clothe my children for the visitation, 2 funerals, and the burial. Do to the whirlwind of events I was doing good to find something for me to wear. I was grateful to not have to try and shop for multiple outfits for both children. I really don't know how I could have done it. 

-I was in charge of putting together items that reflected who my grandmother was to be displayed at both the visitation and the funeral home in the mtns. 

-We spent the weekend with family and celebrating my grandmother's life. The kids were great despite the crazy schedule and enjoyed lots of attention. We also spent lots of time discussing both of our kids' fabulously red hair. :) Having a red head is like having a celebrity. I thought we couldn't go anywhere without being asked about it before when it was just AG. Ha. Well, regardless my grandmother would have been elated to have two redheaded great-grandchildren.

Around the House:

-I'm attempting to regain the chaos that is the house these days. Throw in last week's events and a mountain of laundry plus a bunch of freezer cooking and that's where I'm at.

-Freezer cooking. I've been trying to take one day a week to put away a few extra meals in the freezer. Sometimes that is me doubling or tripling what I'm cooking for dinner. Other times it's me making a ton of chicken to be prepped for other meals. Or making breakfast food to be put up. The last few weeks I've been stockpiling baby food for Avi-Kate because solids are just around the corner. Last Tuesday, I made a bunch of chicken and chicken stock. My plan was to put up all the chicken over the next few days, however, that plan flew out the window. So, I've been doing chicken meals now trying to get it all put up. In addition to that, we also came home with a ton of food so I've been getting creative on ways to make things do double duty. For example what do you do with 2 gallon Ziploc bags worth of Chick-fil-A chicken? Throw together several chicken parmigianas with ingredients you have on hand (hooray, for stockpiling/couponing!) and put them in the freezer.

-I need to figure out what I'm doing with all the house plants I came home with from the funeral...I have lots of houseplants already and thankfully they spend from May to October out on the screened porch. It really might be jungle this winter and in 6 weeks we'll add a Christmas tree which requires even more shuffling. So, again I'm not really sure what I'll do. Meg, Caro, and Mis you may be receiving some new house guests...don't say I didn't warn you. I think I'm most excited about the crotons that were in the baskets. I've wanted some for years (yes, I love to garden and I get excited about plants!)

-I have a few odds and ends projects that I'm mulling and need to work on...in my free time. Ha. Whatever that is...

Andy

-Busy, busy, busy with work.

-Wishing he had more free time to complete some of his projects he's started.

Kate

-Trying to get over this sinus crud that I've had for over a week.

-Worn out. Ready to go on vacation and have a few days away as a family.

AG

-A mess. Never still. Quite funny. Has the temper that comes with being redheaded. Learning lots about boundaries and limitations these days. 

-Tech savvy. I'll be honest I'm not sure if I should be proud or worried about how tech savvy he is...he can navigate an iPhone without batting an eye. He has now figured out how to navigate the family desktop. For example he makes the dock appear, locates Safari, pulls up YouTube, and opens a playlist of favorite videos he's starred. This is all from his own exploration. Andy and I haven't taught him anything. For awhile we would minimize Safari but he's since figured out how to pull it back up. So, it's not uncommon to find our mouse hiding in the kitchen cabinets when Mom doesn't want AG to mess with the computer. 

Avi-Kate

-Four months old! Crazy!

-She has her check up on Monday. Due to everything that happened last week I haven't taken her four month pictures, yet. Soon enough. 

-She's getting big. Her body control is fabulous. I sat her in the high chair for the first time tonight while we ate dinner. She loves being included and hates being left out.

-She LOVES her big brother. She finds him comical and loves to smile/laugh at him. 

-Once I have pics and her trip to the doctor I'll do a four month post on her.
-Oh, and her hair is coming in and it's the same exact shade as AG's. She has this one piece on the top that is curling up and refuses to lay flat. We might have a curly headed child...I'd love it. As a baby my hair was a mass of curls all over my head.

Samson
-Adjusted to life with two kids. Takes it all in stride...when he doesn't want to be bothered he disappears to our room.
-Has started playing games with AG. Tug of war with a rope. Fetching. (Which should be noted as a big deal b/c Samson has never been a big fan of playing fetch due to his breed make-up. So, the fact that he plays with AG is quite endearing.)

Vacation:
-We leave in a little over a week for Disney. We are getting away for a few days to celebrate my birthday. To say I'm excited would be a huge, huge understatement. After the last few months I'm ready for some quality family time at the happiest place on earth.

CVS:
-Thankfully, AG hasn't had an episode. I was fearful that everything going on last week would trigger an episode. Praise the Lord it didn't. Although, we had a moment of panic driving to my parents on Friday. AG was crashed in his carseat dead asleep and suddenly woke up in a fit of coughing and then passed back out. Usually, he starts coughing in his sleep right before he vomits. Ever so grateful that it didn't happen. I know that eventually we'll have an episode till then we wait. I'm also looking forward to chatting with the pediatrician on Monday at Avi-Kate's appointment about this since I haven't seen her since we got the diagnoses.

I'm sure there are lots of other things I should mention but at the moment I can't think what they are. :) For now, I'm grateful for all that I'm learning these days...

Struggling...

...not because I don't think we can handle this. The reality is that I know we can handle this...God doesn't give us more than we can handle. I'm struggling because there is so little known about this condition and no two cases are exactly a like. Even within families that have two kids that have it one can have the same exact episode every single time while the other's episodes are always different and get progressively more severe.

So, it's a huge puzzle that we have to research, research, research and then began to sift thru the information to see where AG is. It's also hard because of AG's age he can't communicate his symptoms/how he is feeling the way an 8 year old can.

His sleeping this week has been out of whack this week so now I'm wondering if that is a warning sign for us...sleep can be a factor in an episode happening. Processing lots. Reading anything I can. I have notes scribbled on several post-its. The reality is I need to get a spiral nb to take notes in and "work out" what happens in AG's episodes to compare with my notes. I just haven't been able to get out the house to acquire said nb. Till then the jumbo post-its will have to do.

Today I read about a child that missed 24 days of school last year due to this condition. The thought dawned on me that I'm glad we were already serious about putting our kids in private school. If this continues to affect AG that will be something we have to deal with. As a former teacher, who has spent time in both public and private classrooms, I know that a private school will be a better fit for something like this. Right now I'm praying that we can get a firm grasp on what triggers him and what his warning signs are before he starts preschool in January.

It's late. This is jumbled. It's been one of those days. I'm off to bed...

A short update...

I'm slowly getting the blog caught up and I've been working on something else that I look forward to sharing soon. Anyways, here's an update on AG...

For the last year we've dealt with what we thought were parasite attacks or episodes if you will. Anyways, after this last one three weeks ago I made an appointment to see Dr. Saripkin in Atlanta. (We saw him last August when all of this started.) Well, it looks like AG doesn't have a parasite, rather, he has something known as Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome (CVS). At the moment we are going to sit tight and wait for AG's next episode (which could be tonight or 5 months from now...you just never know.) and in the mean time I'm to research it and see how AG fits in to it. Then we'll re-evaluate and go from there. I'm grateful that it isn't a parasite. I'm grateful that we know what it is for certain.

Tonight I came home and started looking stuff up. From what I can tell what we've experienced with AG is pretty mild in comparison to what some people deal with. For now I'm going to sit on all of this, research, and pray. Tonight I'm finding peace in the following lyrics...

"when you walk through the water
i will be with you
when you pass through the river
those waves they will not overtake you
when you walk on the fire
those flames they will not touch you
you are mine
you are mine..." ~Enter the Worship Circle