Things I've been meaning to blog about, but haven't

Eliza got her 15 month pictures taken.  Unfortunately, I took so dang long choosing which pictures I wanted, I am still waiting to get them.  She's 16 months now. But, the sweetness.  Her complexion is just gold.  Well, ivory, really.  But, its so sweet and pale and perfect.

Our big kids were in the chorus in a musical at school- Alice in Wonderland.  I had to whip up some lobster claws for A.  The kids did great, and I enjoyed what I could while chasing a 15 month old around.  (Although, it reaffirmed by dislike of the Alice in Wonderland story/movie.  Not a fan.  I find it creepy.)

I made pirate patches for the boys' valentines.  (O didn't want to do them.  Something about pirates being for boys.  oiy!)  

I've been training for my first 10k.  My race is on Sunday.  I'm super duper nervous, especially since this week has been super light on training because of life circumstances.  But, I got my new shoes a few weeks ago, broke them in, and I'm ready to go!

We went to this super cool place called "Supper Heroes .  They have comics as art, a room with an arcade game that the kids can play while you wait for your food, even supplies to make comics of your own at the table.  The kids loved it, the food was great, and the owner came out several times to check on us.  Plus, Isaac got to wear his batman costume.  

O's injections have been going well.  As of last week (so two weeks on the medicine) she's grown as much as she had an entire 18 months.  Only 1/4 of an inch, but its huge for her!  Unfortunately, we've run into some issues with our insurance.  I have to make, likely several, phone calls today to figure things out in order for her next shipment to arrive on time.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate dealing with that sort of thing? 

Speaking of O, this girl turns eight a week from today.  Eight.  It seems so old!

On suppliments, bruising, and hating excersise

I'm fairly certain I need some more calcium in my diet.  Between my thyroid medication (which depletes calcium) and my lack of dairy intake, I'm not bringing in the bone reinforcements.  Before Eliza's allergy testing, I bought a giant bottle of calcium (and another bottle of folic acid) supplements.  After we found out that I needed to cut out soy, it took me a while to figure out why she was still having symptoms.  Some one told me to check out my vitamins.  Sure enough, my calcium supplement has soy letchin.  I've been so frustrated with the fact that I spent $15 on a supplement that I can't take that I have yet to replace them with anything else (it doesn't help that I haven't been able to find a soy free one in the regular grocery store.)  I know its stupid, since you know, the only one I"m hurting is ME. But, man, it makes me MAD!

Speaking of supplements, I think I may have to have my iron tested again.  (I had it tested during my pregnancy with Eliza, and it was above average.)  I've been bruising like a peach, and most of the bruises I have no idea where they came from.  (Although, if I'm honest, I'm a little more clumsy than the average bear.)  Gauging my tiredness level is no help.  I'm fairly certain anyone with 4 kids, one of whom eats 1-2 times a night, is tired.  I got over my fear of blood draws a long time ago, but I'm still putting this off.  Mainly because I have a fear of waiting rooms.  Okay, so maybe its not a fear, per se, but a much-deserved dreading.  Those labs are always small, busy, filled with old people, half of whom don't like children, and have tons of things that my preschooler and baby shouldn't be playing with but they desperately want to play with. 

While I'm on the topic of being tired, I've been trying to run in the mornings before E goes to work (versus in the evening, before bed).  Its.....um.....a challenge.  E leaves between 5:45 and 6.  So, I have to be back from my run between 5:45 and 6.  Even with my early risers, that's dang early.  (Especially with a 1 and 3 am wake up calls for milk.)  This morning, I happened to wake up about 10 minutes before my alarm.  I laid there, the entire 10 minutes, arguing with myself on whether or not I was going to get my butt out of bed and run.  Yes I am, no I'm not.  I'm going to sleep.  I'm getting up.  I don't want to.  I have to.  UGH!  Fine.  I'm up.  Sure, in the end, I did it.  I'm glad I did it because now its over and I don't have to think about it.  But, man, those few minutes of talking to myself are exhausting.  I wish I had a natural love of running.  So, it'd be like getting up early to have a cup of coffee by myself.  That, I would rarely argue about.

 

Did I ever share back to school pictures?  The big kids went back to school last week.  They are both loving it (which is such a blessing!)  A came home from school every day last week and said "school is awesome!"  That is music to a momma's ears, folks. Isaac doesn't start until next week, after labor day, but he's excited as well. We're getting back into a routine, which sort of helps every one.  I pretty much suck at schedules/routines during the summer.  But, yet, we all seem to thrive on one.  Maybe next summer, I'll pony up.

 

Me and my munchkins on the first day of school

Zeke goes to school

Isaac had his very first day of "school" yesterday.

He is going to the same Mother's Morning Out program the big kids went to.

It's only 1 morning a week, for 4 hours, but it's a great experience for us both.

He's at that stage now, where I can't get a good picture of him because he never sits still. 

Never.

But, I did get his "bickpick" on in time for some quick snaps.

 I also got a face shot while he was finishing up a snack he started early in the morning.

 My big plan was to get pictures of him in his class, in front of his cubby, etc.  However, he just jumped right in and started playing.  I decided not to rock the boat and just took a picture of him playing.

 He had an awesome day!  I tried to keep him awake on the way home with some snacks, but he fell asleep, with a goldfish in hand. 

Another first day

A's first day of preschool was yesterday.

He doesn't really like going to school.

He doesn't really like to go anywhere.

But, once he's there,

he realizes he has a fresh new crowd to laugh at his jokes.

A crowd who he can charm with a few funny faces,

and maybe a few sweet ones as well.

The first day, in pictures

    

    

Twas the night before kindergarten

Twas the night before kindergarten, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even  except momma and her (keyboard and) mouse.

I'm generally an anxious mess when it comes to going to new places, starting new things, meeting new people pretty much anything out of my comfort zone.  so, with E gone, its easy to let my mind wander to things that get me anxious. Especially things like sending my baby girl off to complete, total, and utter strangers  kindergarten tomorrow.

So, to fill the time between now and sleep, I'm baking muffins, rocking babies, and typing updates on my blog. :)  (You all get to benefit from that last one.)

With out further a-do, here's the update!

Isaac's Kidney Reflux Update (I know, super exciting, right??)

We went in for I's kidney reflux testing about 2 weeks ago.  When I talked to the nurse on the phone, she mentioned that we were going to fore go the ultrasound and skip to the more invasive VCUG.  Turns out, the urologist changed his mind again.  When I got there, we only ended up doing the renal ultrasound and skipped the VCUG, (and here I thought surprises at the doctor were almost never good!)

Zeke did wonderful during the ultrasound.  He wiggled a lot  bit, but the technician was able to get what she needed.  With the results in hand, we headed to Dr. H's office (this, thankfully, is not the same Dr. H that is mentioned in previous posts!  That Dr. H was/is my RE.  This one is the kids' pediatric urologist.) 

Since Dr. H is the ONLY pediatric urologist in town, they have a nice waiting room for kids. The older kids love the big fish tank right at floor level.  It turns out, baby I likes it, too.

  Naturally, I had to snap a picture with my cell phone.  I mean, how adorable is that?  His little face pressed up against the glass?  *swoon*  I just love him to pieces.

So, I'm a bit off track.  Where was I?  Updating?  Right.  Back to the results.  The good news is that I's kidney's look healthy.  No evidence of previous infection, and they were the same approximate size.  yay!  He still has the 33% chance that he has kidney reflux.  But, since he shows no sign of prior infection, we don't have to do any further testing unless something comes up down the road.  We do have to be more cautious when it comes to fevers.  Any fever with out an apparent cause warrants an immediate urine culture.  But, we are pretty sensitive to that kind of stuff from O anyway, so it shouldn't be a huge change.

Great news.  Its good to get that testing out of the way.  To get over that hump of anxiety and get to the other side: relief.

Now, if I could only feel that way about kindergarten starting tomorrow...