Something to do...

This is a video that I shared on Facebook.
It's short and sweet and everyone seemed to love it. Hope you do too!

Still Experimenting...

The nurse from Caden's doctor office called yesterday to inform me that it's definitive, Cade is not allergic to cats! Yeah, Miles gets to stay!! (Sorry daddy.) The nurse mentioned that Dr. Omar would be following up regarding the next step later that afternoon.

Finally about 6 p.m. last night I received his phone call and he was very concerned about making sure that we got to the bottom of this cough. A true blessing that all signs of infection and bacteria were clear, but it still left unanswered questions. After much discussion about the flux of intensity in Caden's cough (it's now occurring every 15-20 min instead of ever 4-7 min) and his signs of irritation (low grade fever and itchy, watering eyes), Dr. Omar was certain that the inflammation was in regards to some other sort of allergy.

So, we're temporarily diagnosing it as an allergic cough, and have put him on a steroid called Prednisolone which should impact the cough. If we see a difference in the next week, then we'll go forward with meeting with an allergist here to do skin testing to determine the initiator. And, if we do not see any difference, then Dr. Omar will most likely send us back to U of I and demand a full examination. He said in that case, they'll do a scope of his airways, but the likelihood of needing to go to those extremes was low.

I did question his thoughts on asthma, and if we would see any connected behaviors to allergies and his response was "absolutely." He said that at this time, he was refraining from using the term asthmatic cough because that implies that a cough has been in existence for more than 6 months. We've been dealing with this since October, so we've only reached the 4 month mark!

All in all, we are still experimenting and waiting, but Dr. Omar is 110% dedicated to us, and that is a great feeling. Look for another update on Caden next Tuesday after our next discussion with the doc. Thanks again to all of you for following up on us!

If it's not one, it's the other!

So, I dropped Cade off at a birthday party on Saturday morning... yep, I said it... I dropped him off! At first he was nervous and wanted me to stay, but as soon as we walked in Ella invited him in to play and he was off! So, that was the end of my stay. I had instructions to come back in two hours.

Well, those two hours ended up being a disaster! Not for Cade, but my little monkey Alayna! By the time I had gotten back home, Jarin mentioned that Alayna was acting funny and not using her arm. I thought, what-do-you-mean-not-using-her-arm!?!?! Sure enough, I tried giving her juice and she only would grab it with her right hand. When I forced the use of the left, she simply dropped the juice box. I called the pediatrician's office and was informed that she needed to be seen in the ER. So, off we went!

Oh, that poor little girl. She was in pain when she had to use the left arm, but otherwise, she was fine. It took lots of silly games and grapes to entertain her during our wait. Lucky dad got to play the infamous licking game!!

 

We were admitted to the Fast-Track ER which was a bonus, and the PA came in and knew right away that it was Nursemaid Elbow. Apparently, as Jar helped her walk down the stairs that morning, she slipped and he held on to her, pulling her elbow out of socket! The PA did a 20 second procedure, popped it back it, let her scream, and made sure she was fine (which she was as soon as he brought her 6 stickers and a sucker!) But, I felt terrible for her....

Two down, two to go

Just heard word from the doctor's office and Cade's mycoplasma test came back negative for pneumonia and the purtussis test came back negative for whooping cough. YEAH! It's nothing icky and germy! But we are still waiting (until probably Monday) for the the results of the CRP test to explain how much inflammation he has inside his little body. We are also waiting on the RAST test to see the verdict on the allergies to cats.

Let me tell you, if it's cat allergies, I'm going to have one sweet kitty to find a new home for. For eight years now, I've put Jarin through the ringer dealing with itchy, red eyes every time the cat comes around. But if it's my little man affected, I don't think I can continue to justify Miles' presence in the house any longer. (Guess you see where my hubby rates in comparison to my kids, huh?)

Still need your prayers through the weekend... I just want answers.

Update on Cade

The devil-cough is back in full swing. For about three weeks now Cade has fought the nasty hacking and finally yesterday we got into the doctor to talk about our options. Just like last fall, his lungs and sinuses are completely clear, but the cough lingers. We discussed allergy testing and possibly visiting a specialist again but after our uneventful day at UIHC in January, we decided to do as much testing here first.

The great part is that Dr. Omar is 110% dedicated to finding out the cause of Caden's cough, but the unfortunate part is that it requires a lot of blood work and a lot of waiting. Cade had two arms pricked for blood-draws last night and termed it "a bad night". I promised him ice cream afterward, but even that didn't change the dwelling of his big tears. Here's a shot of him waiting at the lab....

We finally finished and Cade cried the whole way to DQ, telling me that he didn't want anymore holes in his arms, and then I heard him tell Jarin on the phone "I didn't like the bleed sticks." Ohhh, he just broke my heart last night! And sweet Alayna played Mother Hen all evening, giving him his blanket, crackers, and hugs.

Anyway, they tested him for cat allergies, walking pneumonia, and whooping cough. We should have results in 3-4 days, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted when I hear something. All prayers are encouraged!

V-day with Dad!!!

So the kids were so stoked to see their daddy this weekend... oh, my goodness, it was as if I didn't exist! We got one really good day with him and it included all sorts of fun, not to mention it was Valentine's Day!

Daddy woke and offered to make us all breakfast, but when the kids ran for their favorite cereal, that idea was shot (too bad for me!) He quickly learned that you can't give out a BLUE bowl to only one kid.... either they both get a blue bowl or neither get a blue bowl.

Next it was on to church, and daddy found how many shirt-decisions there are in Caden's closet... church-shirts, work-shirts, lots of buttons, only a couple of buttons, sweaters, zip-sweaters (which are called coats)... and of course, you have to pay attention to the sleeve-length -- is it too short, too long, or just right? After about six changes of clothes, we were ready!

After lunch, we got to play outside and go sledding! Daddy wanted to pull the kids around the NEIGHBORHOOD in the sled, and Mommy quickly suggested that he try the yard first before promising that one! WHEW!

And at naptime, Daddy realized that Alayna no longer believes that she is a baby and strongly prefers to sleep in a big bed... so off to the spare bedroom they went for cuddle time!

That afternoon, Daddy found the activity in the house sky-rocket! It was time for tackle football!!

Only one more week until he's home for good! We miss you dad!

Trying to Keep Warm

Mother nature has slammed us with yet another batch of frosty snow! Bad news is that we have to do the shoveling since our 'man of the house' is out of town... Good news is that it means lots of fun inside and out!

Last weekend my mom came and spent three days with us. The kids helped us make Valentine treats, and as long as you didn't mind a little slobber on your almond-bark pretzels, they turned out great! Cade and Layna ate the M&M's off the pretzels faster than we could put them on!

On Saturday we spent the afternoon playing at the Family Museum, and it took all that we had to get those two kids out of there! What a blast!

 

And I can't pass up sharing these of Alayna dressing up and dancing in front of the mirror (and on the pole)!! She definitely is NOT my bashful one!

We even managed to get in some sledding in the backyard! Oh, the kids laughed so hard, even mom was ready to wet her pants!

Then it was back inside for a little cuddle time with Miles. The kids love to give him their full attention, whether it's a sweet snack or reading him a story (about a cat, of course)!

Missing Daddy

A quick video clip that the kids made especially for daddy. Three weeks is a long time for these little munchkins to be away from him...



We miss you da-da!!!

Love, Cade and Layna

The minds of the kids...

I adore listening to the unique, creative, and nonchalant thoughts from the kids. Here are a couple from the last couple days. I hope you get a kick out of them too.

Sunday, I bent down and my shirt came up in the back. Caden innocently looked at me and said, "mom, who colored on your back?" I had to explain that the tattoo artist did!

Last night, Caden was getting ready for bed, and said, "I want daddy to sing to me." While I'm sitting there contemplating how I could arrange Jarin to sing to Caden from Texas, Alayna, the little stink that she is, looks at him and quickly responds with, "No bubba, da-da town!" (She was sure to inform him that daddy was out of town!)

Every day, I'm so amazed by the development of the kids. They talk and interact more and more every day, and to watch their imaginations at work is fascinating. Lately, they've been hooked on playing house. I rearrange the living room furniture each night building the walls of their house and then they role-play everyone from Papa (with the big belly) and Grandma to Jarin and Kristi to the teachers at preschool and even Hawkeye football players and cheerleaders!

The best is to see their behaviors when they are pretending to be in these roles. 'Kristi' always seems to be yelling at the babies and telling them to "go to sleep! no talking! be quiet! sit down! eat your food!" .... I wonder if that's what the kids hear when I talk to them?!?! :)