La leche league pool party!

La leche league did these family pool parties last summer and they were so much fun! We are doing them again this summer and last night was the first one. We were out in Park West and it was such a nice night. We actually put West in the pool for the 1st time, he did well but the raft did not work out so well bc he was leaning to near the water, not really sure what was happening there? Many of those women are very special people in my life and it is always very nice to be able to spend some quality time with them.
Thomas did well with his "special" pizza, and I learned that I need to freeze some cupcakes and take them along that he can have a similar desert as everyone else.
Today he has been really sad, almost angry and I am wondering if it is his body in detox? Already we can see a difference in his stools, they are already getting firmer ( sorry tmi...)

1st day Gluten Free

We went to see Dr. Hutton this am and we went over a little game plan for Thomas and us. Most of which I already knew and she said she was going to refer us to the peds GI. She did not think he needed the biopsy but it would be good to go and chat with him and also chat with the nutritionist.
His fever was gone and now it is back..I just put him in his room for some quiet time so maybe he will fall asleep.
On the Gluten side of things we have done well all day. We actually even went to Chick fae la for lunch. I got a salad and Thomas got a kids meal with grilled chicken instead of fried and they made him hash browns, although now that I read on their website again the fries are gluten free also. They are the only fast food restaurant I know of so far that has gluten free fries, praise the Lord! They were very accommodating, I called ahead and went through the drive through and they had it all ready.
Some other neat things I have also found it is that Outback and Carabas have a gluten free section on their menu and play dough has wheat in it so you have to wash his hands before he eats.
Don't remember if I mentioned that Publix faxed me 8 pages of GF products in their store, very neat!

Thomas

Thomas is still the same today. Looks like this is the same or similar thing that West had a couple of weeks ago. He got up to 104 today so I took him back in, not a uti, not the flue, not ears, not upper respiratory..??? So when we don't know and a cbc is not showing bacterial we call it a virus. Just in case I will trust Sam and leave him on the rx. Hopefully he will be getting better tomorrow. He has been more listless today and really just laying around.
What we did learn today was that we got some of his test results back in from last Friday. Someone how they did not complete the whole allergy panel or really any of it so we did not get that. Hopefully they still have the blood and will go ahead and do that part. That way we wont have to stick him again. What we did get back was the Celia cs Disease which was positive. I have had a whole host of emotions since we found that out, after the sugar scare this week, my first reaction was " This is no big deal!" but also I was sad for Thomas sad bc this is a life long allergy that you never outgrow, you don't get rid of it, and for the rest of his life he will have live on gluten free diet. No ordering pizza with his pals, no snacks at school unless we deam they are safe, fast food? Eating out? After an afternoon of research and a trip to Earth Fare I feel a lot more at peace. Earth Fare has a bunch of papers that they give you that breaks down on each aisle what is safe and what is not. Also publix just faxed me over something similar. I bought a bunch of stuff at EF and we had some for dinner, everything was really good!
And I should mention that I called Chick fa lae headquarters and the nurtionist is going to call me when she gets back from vacation, their webiste was pretty helpful but I wanted to talk to her personally.
Sooo..here we go! Our God is good, even with the CD diagnosis for Thomas, we still have him, he just perfect in our eyes, I guess in the wake of the Chapmen tradegy this just does not seem like a big deal..

Our God hears our prayers

When we took Thomas back in today there was NO sugar in his urine and his blood sugar was normal. We can not tell you how relieved we were and are. His cbc showed a bit of a bacterial infection, he still has fever ( but is totally fine, just happy Thomas ) she suspects maybe strep? We never use antibiotics in this family unless they are really warranted and I trust Dr. Hutton, so on another rx we go. With West just getting over his infection we don't want to go there again if we don't have to. Once Thomas is better we are going to do weekly urine test to see if he has elevated sugars again. Dr. Hutton said that our kidneys spill sugar over every day just not in the amounts that he had. She said some meds will cause you to spill more, some viruses may also, and some people have issues where they spill more than they should. What she wants to do is wait until he is better and then start testing him if they find a high one than they will check his blood sugar also, if it presents itself again than we will go from there if not we will stay where we are. I have to brag on Thomas he is such a sport! Bc he is not potty trained he has to where a bag in order to get the urine, not fun as it has adhesive that holds it in place and is a bag that hangs down in between your legs..When you go to take it off it pulls and is not comfortable. He does so well with it and leaves it there until he goes. I did not have a bag at home and bc it took 3 hours for him to go to the bathroom yesterday the last thing I wanted to do was to go in and have to wait 3 hours so I made a bag on my own with masking tape and a sandwich bag, he is such a trooper to let his mom tape this thing on him! Once we got there he had gone and he told everyone, " We get to take the bag off now!" What a sweetie! Thank you for your prayers for Thomas.
On another note I was wondering why it is my children that seem to have these wild issues going on and I think it is bc Dr. Hutton goes to links that most peds don't. Urine test, cbcs in her office etc..Other Dr's seem to write rxs at the drop of a hat and not go looking for what could be the cause assuming that it may a virus? I am so thankful that we have such a wonderful Dr who goes to such lengths to ensure the health of the boys.

.....

I feel like I come to you all so often for prayers for the boys. I tell ya, these children will bring you to your knees pretty quick..just where God wants us. Today we left home to head down to a Piccolo Spoleto event, when we got there I took Thomas out of his car seat and he was really hot. We were already there so we stayed. Afterwards we headed over to Dr. Hutton just to have a good once over and make sure that his ears where not infected of something like that. She said he looked great but she wanted to check his urine to be sure that he did not have a uti. They called later and said that he had abnormal levels of sugar in his urine. They wanted us to come back in but bc we don't live near there we will have to wait until tomorrow am- The nurse said Dr. Hutton was really shocked as that what she did not expect to find, blood maybe but not sugar. Sugar "could" mean type 1 diabetes. I did run him over to Kristen's and she did a finger stick, he was 129 just after eating. She said they would like to see him below 125 so he was not that high on that end of things. We will have him fast tomorrow and let them test him that way. He has always been a huge drinker and hence a huge wetter so I have never questioned that but of course now I am questioning everything with just the possibility of Diabetes. Thomas is perfect, we could have never have ask for more, please pray that this is some fluke and that his tests tomorrow will be totally normal. Other than a fever, he is happy and running all around. My good friend Jennie just reminded me to not let Satan rob me of my peace tonight. We are believing and trusting the Lord for his best for Thomas. Please join us as we praise the Lord or his goodness, all the time! I will update tomorrow-

Water park!

We went to the water park for the first time this season. Thomas LOVED LOVED it...We were there for nearly 4 hours! It was so much fun to see the joy on his face while we were there. It was also neat to see how much he has changed from last year. We spent the whole summer there while I was pregnant and even with West today it was a lot easier than last summer. We met Jennie and Jake there too, have I said how much we are going to miss them, Jennie is one of my most dear dear friends, we do a ton together!

Beach Sunday and feeling thankful

Today we met my sister at the beach. Besides getting a little too much sun, well really just Tommy.. We all had a wonderful time. I tell ya, the beach is a lot more fun when daddy goes! The boys are in bed and I was just listening to that song, " Ordinary Miracle" and feeling so very thankful for my family, children and friends. Especially in the wake of the Chapman tragedy I have found myself praising God for yet another day with my precious family. We serve an awesome God whom is always in control, I have been so impressed to read how the Chapmens are dealing with the loss of their precious Maria, I pray that the Lord would give me and my family a faith like they have. I hope you are feeling thankful today also!

Children's Festival

Today we met Jennie and Jake downtown at Marion Square for the Children's Festival to kick off Piccolo Spoleto. Tommy was working so I was flying solo as was Jennie bc Pat is out of town. It is always so great to see them and the children had a wonderful time. We ran into a ton of people that we knew including Eva that you will see in some of the photos.

Brave Boy

Poor Thomas had to have a blood draw today, he has had a life long battle with some allergies that we needed to check on and also his stomach has never been quit right. We are first looking for something called Celiacs Disease, which would mean a life long commitment to not getting gluten..A major major diet change. If the blood tests do not support that we are on to a GI doctor. He was so brave today, certainly not happy about it, really not happy about it, but overall did very well especially for having to get stuck twice because they missed the first time..When we got home, he would not move his arms and just sat on the couch like this. Funny thing though, half way through the blood draw he was crying and said " ITS WEST'S TURN!!!!" The results should be in next Thursday or Friday, we will keep you updated. Thank you for your prayers!
Afterwards Heidi came over with Bade and Kessler and that made everything all better, here they are watching the rain come down.

Please pray....

http://chapmanchannel.typepad.com/inmemoryofmaria/

My heart is breaking for this family as I sit here in tears watching this preciuos little girl....

Kinney Fun!

Today we had a wonderful playdate at the Kinney's house. It was so good to see Meghan and get to catch up, Coleman is sooo sweet and the boys all played very well together.

6 months!

Sweet West is now 6 months old and 1 week. He went today for his appointment, all went well. He is a little behind on some milestones so we are watching that ( I think he is just a super laid back baby.. ) And of course if fowling in Thomas' footsteps and already falling some on the charts, not worrying this time though!

wt: 15 lbs 7 ounces >10%
ht: 26 3/8" 49%
hc: 16 3/4 <25%

We are loving him more and more everyday! Being the mom of two boys is such a blessing!

Soccer buddies, park day for preschool and the farmers market.

We have been buys. This little girl is West's friend Gabby at soccer, his dad plays on Tommy's team, they are about a month apart, she is younger than West. Today we had a park day at West Ashley Park for Thomas' last day of school, Tommy was able to come which was such a blessing! This afternoon we headed out to the farmer's market again, thankfully we got home before the storm!

Beach Monday

Today we went out the IOP beach with Jennie and Jake. We ran into our dear friends Sophie, Christopher and Kaitlyn and Liam and Collin. What a beautiful day! Thank you Jennie for letting us borrow the Bumbo seat, it really saved us at the beach!

Rylie Kate!

I was Rylie Kate's nanny before I had Thomas and about the 1st 15 months of Thomas' life also. Tonight we had dinner with them and they were so sweet to bring Thomas some presents for his bday. How perfect Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder! Rylie is the sweetest little girl, isent she preciuos. It was by far the most rewarding job I had ever had, I started taking care of her when she was 6 weeks old and through the time that she was around 3. We were all very sad when it was over. It was so great to see them!

God is good!

I am soooo sorry to give you all scary news and then not be able to get back to the computer for a day!!! West went in yesterday and so far all of his test came back negative. His white count was down to 10 and today down to 6. ( 4-10 ) is normal. The had a second shot of rocrefren yesterday, had a little local reaction on his leg, so with the numbers even further down today and the reaction he did not get the 3rd one. His lymphoside ( another count in the blood ) is up so it appears that he still is looking like he is fighting a virus but not the bacterial infection.. Btw..I feel very smart explaining all of this to you..medical stuff is really fascinating to me.. He is a little fussy today but overall good. Thank you for your prayers, it was really making me nervous that his blood count was so high for an infection and they did not know what was causing it.
After the Dr yesterday we went to Publix, West rode in the grocery cart for the 1st time, for a few minutes before I pulled him out and he slept in the sling. Thank you all for your well wishes for West, we really appreciate them!! Hope that you are all well!!!!!
Thomas is really into popsicles right now, here is a picture of him yesteday afternoon.

update on west

Gotta head home West is waking up...Long story short please pray for West. He had a fever last night of 104 and today his white count had gone from 13 to 18, not good for you non medical people. Bc of his white count and his fever they ran every test on him today short of a chest xray which may come tomorrow and we are waiting on the results. They took him off of his antibiotic and gave him a shot of one called rocefren we go back in the am, over all he is happy, and smiley, you would really never know that he is sick. I appreciate your prayers!!

The 3rd party! And a sick baby....

Ok so we are officially partied out! Today we had Thomas' party at preschool. Also little West is sick again with a high fever 103.3 and pink eye...They did a cbc and it showed a bacterial infection so we are on antibiotics to sort that all out. So with a sick baby in the sling and a bday party at school it made for an interesting day. West is so laid back though that as long as you are holding him, sick or not he is just along for the ride. Hopefully he will be on the mend tomorrow.
You can see Thomas helping me make sweet tea here and West falling asleep in his bouncy seat bc he was not feeling well.