Parent Teacher Conference

I can't believe my baby boy is old enough that I just went to my first parent/teacher conference!!! I cried on the way home :) He is doing very well! He is such a great kid and I'm so glad he is doing well in school as well as home! He is already being much more social with the other kids - the thing he most needed to work on. He keeps telling me, "hey mom, soon i'll be 5." HAHA! NO! not soon! I'm not ready for that!

And here's a couple funny quotes from naomi...
"Oh my GOOSE-en!" (oh my goodness)
"Whoopies!!" (whoopsies)

Iron Up!!

Ryans iron is up again!! Above 12 now, which is right in the middle of normal! He is going to finish the iron pills he has now and then not refill them! He is SO thrilled to not need another blood test (that we know of) for that! Thank you for all the prayers! Yay ryan jay!

Dumpster Diving

When we were biking in Ocean City we saw 2 toddler beds in a dumpster. The one was just a cheap plastic one but the other one was this nice white cute one! So we pulled it out (bird poop and all) and came back for it. By that point the dumpster had been emptied but the bed we pulled out was still sitting there! We took it back, hosed it down, scrubbed it with a mr clean eraser took it home, used a couple sprays of white paint and now it's naomis free toddler bed!! :)

Funnies from the Kiddos!

At the shore this year we each got some money from my grandparents. We passed it out after dinner and we're guessing Naomi has seen people put money in their back pockets so she tried to shove hers in her diaper! (immediately following this video we found out she had pooped!)




And a couple Ryan Jay funnies...
When Ryan was praying he thanked God that he has energy now! (so sweet and sad!)

Aunt Bonnie said to him "oh, Ryan look at yourself!"
he paused and said "Aunt Bonnie, I cannot look at myself."

whenever he gets excited lately he exclaims "oh that's a baloney sandwich!!"


and a cute pic of naomi in her princess gown!

Ryan Goes To Preschool!

Yay Ryan! He's really growing up!!

The Simple Life

Our electric is back on tonight after about 36 hours off, thanks to hurricane Irene.  :) I find myself grateful for the electric but mourning the loss of "the simple life".  

Yesterday morning we went to my parents and stuffed our fridge contents in their fridge (they have a big generator) while we were there michelle and Philip showed up! All of us out of power - we had a lovely cereal and fruit breakfast together.
This morning we used my parents house like a wash house - showers, baths, dishes! Thanks mom!

Last night we had dinner with my grandparents - they have chefs at the retirement center... And electric! It was a great impromptu family get together! They even let us charge our phones, check our email and wash dishes!!

My mom and i, In trying to figure out when to leave for dinner actually wrote notes to eachother via my dad who was dropping off a generator to keep our freezer going - thanks dad!  And I mean real notes - not instant message, not email, not SMS, not facebook wall posts, not even on the phone, actual hand written communication - only thing we could do!

I had "extra" time during the day to focus on, play with and snuggle my babies. No cell phone distractions - no where we needed to go - nobody was even open!

Last two nights I had no Internet to surf, no emails to write, tv to watch - I sat and read a book by flashlight while snuggling my kitty! What a great and extremely relaxing time!

It reminded me that when I was younger I wanted to be Amish. Granted it was 60% for the hot young Amish neighbor boy down the street, but the other 40% was because simple is so relaxing and God and family focused. (don't worry tim he's not nearly as hot anymore now that he's married and has that full beard)

God I pray that you will help me to get out of the electronic world more often and remember the joys of "the simple life"!!!

GI Smile

The kids both had checkups with the GI doctor today. Ryan is now 33 pounds and 39 inches tall. Naomi is 22 pounds and 33 inches tall. They are both doing VERY well and we even got several smiles from the normally unemotional GI doctor!! We will be trying to back off on naomis prilosec and see how that goes. In a month or so we will try for ryan as well!!

Very very exciting!! Who ever would have thought that the little scrawny non eating, non sleeping, puking, screaming mess of a baby, eventually adding immune, lactose and iron issues to the list... would be asking for more food (asking for food?!), gaining weight, running around, swimming, sleeping through the night (sleeping!! unbelievable!), full of energy, loving camp and sunday school(yes, we go to church again!!), headed to preschool in the fall and now maybe backing off of his reflux meds!! God is good!!!

Iron up!!!

Ryans iron is up to 11.4!!! Just below normal! He doesn't have to get more bloodwork for 3 months!!!!!!

Ryan Update

Ryan did VERY well with his blood draw on thursday! He was very brave and barely cried! All the practice really paid off! Thanks for that doctor kits Aunt Katie and Nana! And thanks for the berenstain bears doctor video grandmom! The results came back and his hemoglobin is up to 10!! This is great, but still low. The doctors are looking for it to go up more and still wondering why it was low in the first place. They are also still recommending a second opinion on the reflux, but reassured me that they would carefully review his previous care and tests/procedures so they wouldn't necessarily be doing additional procedures. In addition, she reviewed his history and testing and how often he is still currently complaining about his stomach (every day, several times) and thinks that maybe he also has a lactose intolerance. So we are to try NO dairy for 7 days. I know we tried forms of this before, when he was nursing and right when we switched him to milk. But hopefully this will be more definitive this time. I think that's all for now, thanks for reading and keep praying! :)

Ryan Update

Ryan had a checkup today at the pedi. His weight was slightly down, which after a couple nights of puking wasn't terribly surprising) but unfortunately his iron was down as well. :( It was the "quick" test so we're upping the dosage and in 3 weeks getting quest bloodwork done. After the appointment I did a little research online and it looks like maybe the low iron is caused by the long term use of the prilosec. The pedi is also recommending that we get a second opinion, wondering if all of this is really related to the reflux or if there's something more going on. We are going to a CHOP facility and feel the doctor is very competent, but we will consider getting another opinion. So, please pray for healing for Ryan, patience, guidance, and trust in God for us, and God's glory in all. Thanks!

My little octogenarian!

Ryan is such a little old man walking around in a 3 year old body. I probably won't explain it too well, but he's always worried about things, gets sick often, loves being at the retirement center... here's a few quotes that remind me he's really 80 and not 3...

taking a walk "watch out for cars everyone!" (repeated about every 10 seconds)

walking on a slanted sidewalk "oh dear, i'm afraid we might fall"

any time there's the slightest bit of wind "ooh the wind, it's too windy, i don't want to be out in the wind, it's too much"

playing on deck "oh my pants are wet, yuck, we should go inside"

with a cold (grandpops favorite)... "hey guys, we're just hanging out and sneezing together!"

every time we go to garden spot retirement village... "oh i am so glad we are here at garden spot!" ... definitely one of his favorite places to visit, although i think that's more to do with some of his favorite people being there!

at the grocery store after the lady in front checks out, they put her groceries in the cart in front and he can't see them "oh mommy, what about that lady's groceries? how will she get them?"

after shopping as we put the kids in the car before the merchandise "but i don't want the bags and the stroller to blow away!" (EVERY time!)

and the best one yet... at a birthday party, all the kids were playing in the yard and he's standing on deck looking at them worried saying "ooh,be careful guys!" he finally got down to check out a riding toy, looked at it, "oh i've never seen anything like this before, hmm!" then right back up on the deck lol

Health Update

Recently we went back to the immunologist and she repeated bloodwork on ryan to see if his levels had changed, and they haven't, so probably the immune deficiency is a lifetime thing. but it is the most common and as they get older and hygiene gets better it's not as big a problem. apparently a lot of people have it and don't even know it. but the blood tests also showed that is iron is too low. They don't know the cause of it, probably more bloodwork to come. in the meantime we'll have to try and figure out how to get iron in him. the supplement is making him spit up and gag for 10 minutes. so that's not the way!

but both kids gained weight! we did have to up the prilosec for both of them but thank you Lord that the meds are covered by insurance and they help! We are very grateful for happy mostly healthy children who are eating well and sometimes sleep through the night!

in other news, naomi got an ear infection! our house looks like drugstore at dinner time passing out meds, kinda fun actually!... :)

GawGiddy

This is naomi's favorite sound. Sometimes the whole family has "gawgiddy" conversations :)

Kid Storage

We recently got a new bookcase for ryan and he helped us put it together! and a new shelf unit for naomis room. they really like them! it's easy to get to the toys and books!

Powder Room Redo...

Just recently finished the powder room redo. A few years ago we did the wainscoting and the light and mirror and painted. I just did the floors and painted the cabinet and painted the countertops. Take a look! (ps - i took the pics before i caulked)

Befores:





Afters:

Kitchen Redo Pics!

Not sure if I ever posted any pics of the kitchen redo so here they finally are!! (I think i was waiting for the hutch to be in place!) We did the work ourselves with the help of our wonderful families(thank you!)... tore down the wall, patched drywall, moved some vents and outlets, painted the cabinets, walls, did the floor, crown molding, made the island, new lights. We did have the countertops made though and just installed them. anyhow, i/we LOVE our kitchen, i think i tell tim that at least 3 times a week!! hope you all like it too, Have fun looking!

I tried to group them into before/afters...

My New Hutch!!!!!

Some pics of my new corner hutch that we had made! I love it!! And not sure if I ever posted pics of the redone kitchen on here. I'll have to do that, but here's sort of a sneak peak :)

Goodbye Nutritionist!

Ryan had a nutritionist appointment yesterday and she said we don't have to come back!!!! Ryan is 30 pounds now! Close to 20th percentile for weight and proportionally growing in height! I cried when we left, I can't believe how far he's come! He and I were both so different when we first starting going to her. He wouldn't eat or sleep and I was a stressed out pregnant exhausted caretaker afraid we'd have to hire someone to help us if he did receive the threatened feeding tube. Now he actually asks for food! We don't give him supplemental calories in his drinks anymore! He even sleeps! He does still have the reflux issue and we will continue to see the GI doc for that as well as the immunologist for his IGA deficiency but we are hopeful for both of those to get better as well! Oh how far God has brought us! thank you all for your prayers!

THE family

Today we were privileged to portray the holy family in Olivets church service. And Ryan played a young john the baptist. I think he was the star actually!