Almost gone

I cannot believe January is very nearly over! It doesn't even feel like January because we haven't had a good snow fall yet let alone much in the way of cold temperatures. A few cold days here and there but I think we have spent way more days above freezing this winter than below it. Very strange. All the geese were back this week. We saw hundreds of them sitting at one pond alone and bunch more flying overhead.

We've been busy. I am one tired Momma these days going from early in the morning until late at night. The possibility of some BIG changes. Very excited yet scary times! DD is over two weeks into her new epilepsy medication and doing wonderfully. She's been awesome. No bad reaction [ the one we tried in December led to hives] or even a mild one. We are so pleased and hope this will bring her back to having controlled seizures.

My son who was off the charts and Failure to Thrive or borderline Failure to Thrive for 4 years is now not only on the weight charts but with percentiles to spare. Mister came in at 37 pounds and 11 ounces. He's also grown 2 inches which is amazing because for so long [like 18 months] he never got any taller. We aren't doing much better on the feeding front but thankfully the formula is filling in the gaps and he's growing. PTL.

Cloth diapering

I knew of cloth diapering. My mother had cloth diapered twin she was a Nanny for when I was 9-10 or around there. I remember her shaking the insert in the toilet.

With my son I didn't cloth diaper because we didn't have a washing machine. I didn't want to run out of quarters and not be able to wash my son's diapers. Then we moved into a home and I got my washer and dryer. Shortly after that my husband broke his ankle and was out of work. I had to figure out how to live as cheap as I could.

Several nice mothers online mailed me their extra diapers and some covers.

I hated cloth diapering. My son hated being cloth diapered. No matter how often I changed him he was soaked within an hour in a prefold. No matter what I did and eventually so much padding and he still was always wet.

So once my husband began working again I went back to buying a box of Up and Up diapers every 2 weeks along with a big pack of disposable wipes. Basically spending $45 a month to throw away because I didn't want my son to be wet.

Then I got pregnant with my DD and wanted to give cloth another try. I decided prefolds were not for me but I'd use them through the newborn period and then buy something better pockets [where you put the absorbent material in between the layer that touches the baby's skin and the water proof layer] or AIOs [all in ones] something better.

My daughter was born with a host of health problems. She was first re-admitted to the hospital at 18 days old. I didn't CD as often as I liked. This was when she began having really awful poop. So awful they feared she had cystic fibrosis. Her poop was so vile [it smelled like the rhino exhibit at the zoo] and it left her skin in blisters. Then I noticed it actually began dissolving the cloth diapers. Seriously. Her poop would burn if you got it on your hand while changing her.

So I ended up not replacing the diapers with fancy ones when she outgrew them. I didn't see the point. Then the diaper rash began. Months of blisters, her skin raw...it was AWFUL. We tried every over the counter cream and several from the doctor. FInally I decided to pull out my son's old prefolds and I switched to cloth full time. Four days later - completely cloth - she was almost better. The worst blister took weeks to fully heal and to this day she has a scar.

When my husband and I saw how much better her skin was - we bought our first 8 pocket diapers. Eventually we retired those and replaced them with better pockets. We now have a rotation of about 30 pockets. We also gave up disposable wipes and thanks to 3 packs of Gerber wash clothes I wet them as needed and throw them in with the diapers. We also got some wet bags which make life a lot easier. She's very nearly out growing her OS [one size] pockets at nearly 30lbs and 35 inches. In the spring my husband and I plan on buying pocket training pants or large sized pocket style diapers - since DD is not near potty training and being special needs I don't know when she will train.

Cloth and the hospital is easy enough. I explain it to the nurses when we get admitted. I show them how to change her although they never had to because Dad or I are always with her. I simply hang the wet bag on the post at the corner of the hospital bed crib. The wipes, spray bottle of water and scale on the end table and the basket of clean stuffed diapers on the floor. Weigh dry diaper and tar out the weight and put on baby. When she needed changed. Take off diaper, put on scale, wipe, put wipes in wet bag, write down weight of dipe and then put in wetbag. The reason you weight hospital diapers is they measure output. I weighed each diaper before use because different inserts weigh different amounts even more so for daytime and night time stuffing.

Every 2-3 days take em home and wash I normally bring them back unstuffed since I try not to be gone long. My trips home are usually to wash diapers, shower, pack new clothes etc. Besides stuffing diapers helps pass the time at the hospital either way.

Most nurses are very supportive of CDing and some even ask for information to give to other moms of kids who are so rashy. The doctors ask me about squares and rubber pants and I'm like nope modern cloth you don't have to use pins.

I cannot imagine not CDing. DH and I have both said several times we'd CD for any future mythical children. CDing is awesome enough we would do it even if she didn't get a rash from the disposables.

Another week gone

Another week. A busy week.


We went to the city this week for some testing for my daughter and her on going feeding issues. We got the all clear to go back to solid foods which she's thrilled about. She loves pears, peaches and pancakes! We also had another follow up with Neurology. We tried a secondary medication back before Christmas which she got hives from. Even after recovering from pneumonia she continued to have several seizures a week. This means that her seizures are not controlled. We're hoping this new second medication - will give her good coverage and keep her from having seizures.

In one way trying yet another medication [her 4th since developing seizures April 2011] feels like failure. In another maybe this will be it. Like trying yet another formula maybe this will be what we need to go seizure free for a length of time. Hopefully. I pray for healing. I keep thinking it's not fair a 27 month old has epilepsy. Nobody should but babies. Then I think of how blessed we are. Back in April when we got her MRI we were worried they were going to fine a tumor and the C word was mentioned. So we never forget to think of how blessed we are and how much worse things could be.

Of course we get snow - the first major snow of the entire unseasonably warm winter the day we have to drive for these very important appts. To add insult to injury my son was whiny and disagreeable ALL DAY LONG. Wouldn't even play and we planned a fun side trip between appts. Came home and he was running a fever of 102-103 for the rest of the day and all the next day too. No other symptoms except a very bad headache. Poor guy. We can't win.

I am slowly continuing to clean my house. I am hoping to have the bulk of the 'spring cleaning' done before spring arrives. I am also doing my best to keep up with Bible in one year reading. It feeds my soul. I need that.

Busy Busy

I've been super busy trying to get my house into the sort of shape I'd like it to be in. It's slow but I'm working at it every day on top of my other work and it's coming along. I notice a difference. I have already donated 2 bags of clothes to a second hand store and thrown out oodles of trash. I am also selling some of my books and those I don't want that I can't sell will also be donated.

We're hoping to move in the spring and I want to take as little of the clutter that's holding us back with us when we leave. Leave room open and newer and better things like more book shelves and more books. Haha.

My pain level is not much fun today. I haven't done much today. I have a load of laundry to put in the dryer and I have to get dinner together. Thankfully since I am having good days and getting stuff done on them my house doesn't seem as trashed as it usually would.

My daughter has been having seizures again. Several a week. We were hoping it was because she was sick but she's been better for over a week and still she's had 1 possibly two since. So we see the neurologist at the end of the week and we'll see what the heck we are going to do.

Other wise my baby is a happy and bright 27 month old. She's awesome. She counts up to 18-19 now regularly and recognizes all her letters. She mixed up lower case l and upper case I and E and F but for the most part she does amazing even with some of the more wonky fonts. She loves screaming out the letters from signs in the store.

My son's latest obsession is becoming a sheep farmer. Yep. How odd is that. I love it.

Meal planning

I decided to start shopping differently. I realized when I had a bunch of food but 1-2 items missing from each meal I typically make I need to shop differently. So I wrote out what I typically make and what I make 1-2 times a month. Wrote a list based on what I need for those items and the extras [snacks, drinks] and the usual stuff - flour, baking powder, salt.

I did amazing! My husband was amazed at how much money we had left over.

I also found a recipe to replace hamburger helper. It was good. I didn't have sour cream so I didn't use it. Turned out very yummy! It made a lot we all ate and DH had seconds and we still had another portion big enough for DH for left overs.

http://family.go. com/food/recipe-ew-504953-hamburger-buddy-t/ - unbreak the link.

Hamburger cooked with veggies and then boiled in beef broth with noodles. I plan on grating more veggies to add into it next time. Carrot and mushrooms are a good start. I also have to chop the mushrooms finer to get past Mr. Picky.

A productive day

I laughed just a little at the play on words of today's blog title. Today my body decided to go through half an hour long coughing fits to finally begin bringing up the junk in my chest. Pneumonia is so much fun. I can barely eat because I feel full so quickly. My stomach sticks out like I'm pregnant trying to make room for my lungs. Steamy showers and the breathing treatments seem to help.

In other news I accomplished a lot today. Cleaned out the pantry and organized it. Cleaned out the stock pile. Took out a bunch of trash. Cleaned by the front door, took everything out swept etc. I did a load of laundry. Cleaned the kitchen and swept. Did some dishes. In the process of washing the diapers. Lots done. I really feel like you can tell I actually cleaned my house today because it looks cleaner.

Two days into reading the Bible in one year. Instead of going from one end to the other like I've done before this list skips around. I hope it will get me to read parts of the Bible I otherwise miss or don't hit often in my own reading\studying. I am waiting for the water to boil for my lemon tea. Nectar of heaven or something. It's been amazing since I got sick. Love me some lemon tea. Too bad it didn't come in boxes bigger than 20.

My baby girl had a good day today. She was happy and we had lots of good eye contact and she even said a few words. My son on the other hand is weepy and quick to get angry. We talked today about coming up with coping methods - like what to do when he gets SO ANGRY other than cussing us out, hitting etc. The joys of a five year old with anxiety and SPD. He's such a smart kid. He's amazing. We'll figure this out.

Today we tried to see how high we could count before we were grumpy anymore. 60 is a really grumpy number. 30 is for slightly annoyed. :P

2012

The end of the year was really hard on my family. In the course of a week maybe ten days all four of us ended up in the ER. Three of us had pneumonia. Fun times! Thankfully we're all on the mend - the kids seem to be bouncing back quicker than my husband and I.

Christmas was nice. Although my poor baby girl was so sick she slept most of the day and didn't really care much about what was going on. She discovered her presents over the next two days. It was like Christmas came three times for her. My son declared this the best Christmas ever and has been playing with all his new things and having a great time.

New Years Eve was a quiet non-holiday. My husband was working and the kids were in bed. I didn't do anything special. Today we've all taken naps and Daddy and DS surprised me my cleaning up all the toys and then Daddy VACUUMED the whole house. How rare is that?! Happy New Year to Momma.

My son and I took down the tree and packed away the Christmas decorations. I did some dishes and made dinner. Tomorrow I have to clean out the pantry\fridge and write my monthly grocery list. I have a goal to be better organized this year and get more stuff done.

It's turning cold again after being so unseasonably warm. I hope it stays this way. We're so sick of rain! Good thing about the rain is the drought related water restrictions have been lifted. Not that they effected us much personally but I have been teaching my son about saving water, not wasting things like that.

He saw on TV how the Polar Bears don't have the ice they need and since the ice is gone the mother bears have to swim sometimes several dozen miles with their cubs to land. Sometimes the baby bears don't make it and drown. That our warming up world is killing off polar bears and animals who NEED winter and ice. It is pretty sad that something that's been around for millions of years we humans can destroy so quickly.

They have seen that polar bears and grizzle bears are mating. The downside is that the babies learn how to be bears from their mothers since Dad isn't around. So those bears become whatever bear the mother is. The downside being Polar bears are having to live like grizzles because the ice is gone and these mothers don't have those skills. They don't know to go look for salmon for example.

Thank you, PBS, we're smarter now.

So many people were so upset about 2011. As hard as some things were [DD developing epilepsy for example] I have too many 2011 memories of my children, husband, friends and family to turn my back on the whole year.

Hopefully 2012 will bring lots of wonderful new memories. I pray my children are happy and content and really health stuff aside that's what matters.