Oooba dooba dua

this is Saige talk for open that door and amazingly enough it sounds just like it. It's hysterical and I must make a note to self to get it on video.

Climbing up on chairs

this is Saige's latest accomplishment. One minute she's playing on the floor in the dining room, I turn my back for a minute and she's sitting on the chair with the cat that swallowed the canary look on her face. Amazing that she can even climb up there but to do it so QUICK.

Chillin

This is the life

Out they go

Julie's tonsils that is. The ENT agreed with me that Julie would be better off having her tonsils removed due to their size and the problems she's been having with them. Stephen had his out when he was about 4 and it was the best thing I could have had done for him. Stephen used to be the poster child for strep throat until we had his removed. He's never had any throat problems since. Hoping the same holds true for Julie. We have to wait 6 weeks for her spleen to get back to it's original size so I guess it'll be scheduled sometime in March.

As for our Saige, her bloodwork came back negative for both Giardia and H pylori...woo hooo!!! Her calcium level was slightly elevated but down considerable from the first test two months ago so I'm pretty sure it was a formula issue.

Results

The results of Julie's bloodwork were positive for Mono. She is feeling a little better but still only eating soup and yogurt. She will be out of school for the rest of the week and no gym, sports or exercise for a month. I guess her spleen is enlarged and any contact with it could cause it to rupture. Atleast we know what's been making her so sick.
Saige went for more bloodwork today. She had to be retested for giardia to make sure the medicine took care of it all. She also had to have her calcium levels retested as they were elevated last time. The last test was for h pylori.

You might be a Redneck if..........

You have to resort to this


to keep your fearless toddler from climbing up the ladder to the top bunk then sitting there smiling like the cat that swallowed the canary.

No better

Julie woke up in tears this morning because it hurt so bad to swallow. I looked in her throat and she was more swollen than yesterday. I gave her some medicine and tucked her back in bed and she was asleep again by the time I had to take the boys to school. When I woke her up to take the boys to school she was crying which in turn got me crying. I was all set to take her to the emergency room but the pediatrician told me to bring her back in to them. She ordered some more bloodwork and prescribed her some steroids to bring the swelling down in her throat. They don't know what's wrong but seem to think it may be mono. There I am sitting with Julie in the room and the Dr. is telling me yet again that they don't know what's wrong. I was in tears. It's not bad enough that my baby is in pain and there's nothing I can do about it but to hear they still don't know what is causing it was the worst.
Her bloodwork may be back tomorrow but if not we won't know until Monday. UGH.

Sick again

Julie is sick again. She got off the antibiotic last week and whatever she had is back again. The pediatrician still has no idea what it is since both the mono and strep tests were negative. He put her on a stronger antibiotic today and wants her blood work redone if she's not better by Saturday. I also made an appt with the ENT because her tonsils are large on a good day but lately they are just enormous. Her lymph nodes are so swollen that her neck is starting to look like Frankenstein. I'm hoping the ENT advises us to have her tonsils removed as I think think she keeps getting tonsillitis.

In other news Saige had her one year well checkup today and all is well. She gained a few ounces and has finally reached 18lbs. She is getting rechecked for giardia to make sure it's gone for good. The pediatrician also wanted to test her for h pylori and recheck her calcium levels as they were high the first time. Of course I forgot to give her Tylenol before we left for her appt but they were kind enough to give me a sample bottle. I always make sure to give Tylenol prior to any of the appts where shots are given because it cuts down dramatically on fevers and aches from the shots. The poor baby got 3 shots today and boy did she scream. Saige has this scream that is just off the charts LOUD. She shrieks and it just makes me want to jump out of my skin. Perhaps she needed a loud voice in the orphanage to be heard over all the other babies.

It was a bad day all around today. I didn't realized I had parked the car over a patch of ice at the pediatrician. I had Saige in my arms, stepped foot on the ground, my feet went out from under me and on my arse I went. Thank God I had a good hold of Saige and managed to hold on to her. It was one of those falls that just leaves you sitting there like WTF just happened? I guess having a squishy butt (as Stephen calls it) comes in handy in times like that because I fell hard. Julie asked me if I was OK and said "yep mommy, that's gonna leave a mark". lol.

More firsts

Saige can now say stop and guys. The boys were being a little loud tonight so I told Saige to go tell them to stop. It was so cute to see her walk down the hall, point, and tell them to stop. lol.
When I want the boys to do their homework I tell Saige to go get the guys and she walks down the hall and hollers out "GUYS!". It's hysterical.

Also, today Saige experienced her first car wash and didn't like it at all. She hated everything about it. No matter how hard we tried to make it seem cool, she hated it. I can't blame her. I did take some pics and will post tomorrow.

We are looking forward to our TET celebration with our dear friends Carol and Steve & Mer and Tim on the 31st.

Mine, poop, Nerds and The Wiggles

The latest word is mine. Saige was goofing around with MiMa last night and learned this incredible word that is now applied to everything in her hands. She found the remote tonight and when I told her to "gimmie that", she took off running and saying MINE!!! This kid is hysterical.

The formula switch seems to be working really well. I could not believe the sheer volume of poop that came out of this tiny little 18lb child. Forget poop up the back syndrome this was poop up the back of the NECK syndrome. I've changed MANY diapers in my day as Saige is my 4th child but I have NEVER changed a diaper like THIS. An award winner for sure.

I snapped some pictures of Saige tonight holding her new Wiggles microphone while eating Nerds. I was enjoying snapping up pictures of Saige when I hear Stephen, Michael and Julie laughing hysterically. Apparently Julie decided it would be jolly good fun to stick a couple of Nerds up her nose. Funny right? Well it's all fun and games until the Nerds won't come back OUT. Once reality hit, Julie was crying and blowing her nose trying to get them out. After several failed attempts she finally blew hard enough and out they came. The picture below is a very happy Julie holding the expelled Nerds in her hand. I'm relatively certain that she won't be doing that again anytime in the near future. There's never a dull moment in this house that's for sure.









Julie's nose Nerds

MINE!!!

The Wiggles and Nerds...what more could a little girl want?

Mmmmmm.....these things are sooo good

Happy Day!

Below is my tribute to the blundering idiot that USED to be our President. Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya Dubya.
1. Dubya
Slang term for the most inept president the United States has ever had.
George "Dubya" Bush



10) "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." —LaCrosse, Wis., Oct. 18, 2000 (Listen to audio clip)

9) "I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family." —Greater Nashua, N.H., Jan. 27, 2000(Listen to audio clip)

8) "I hear there's rumors on the Internets that we're going to have a draft." —second presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004 (Listen to audio clip)

7) "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." —Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 (Listen to audio clip)

6) "You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." —to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005 (Listen to audio clip)

5) "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004 (Watch video clip; listen to audio clip)

4) "They misunderestimated me." —Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

3) "Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning?" —Florence, S.C., Jan. 11, 2000

2) "Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Watch video clip; listen to audio clip)

1) "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 (Watch video clip; listen to audio clip)

New word

Ok, so Saige was taught a new word today by her brother and sister. Any guesses? Come on all you bloggers with older brothers and sisters take a guess.

Poop. That's what they taught her to say. Seriously, why oh why do babies always say words like that crystal clear so that there's NO mistaking what they are saying? Most other words are a total guessing game but words like poop are enunciated perfectly...ugh. If it wasn't so dang funny (I know, bad mommy) I would have, well, not laughed as hard.

More change

I'm on a bit of a health kick and I've been buying organic. So far it's been a big hit with the family. The favorite so far has been bananas. The kids and Carl LOVE the organic ones. The least favorite so far has been the milk. The kids don't mind it but Carl doesn't like it. Oh well, can't win them all. Another big hit is the organic carrots, they are very good. So far I've bought pizza, tomato sauce, bananas, milk, peanut butter, jelly, animal crackers, cheese, burritos, gold fish and graham crackers, chicken nuggets and corn dogs. I'm surprised that the prices on many of them are not much higher than for non organic groceries. Milk has been the only real price shocker thus far.
I think Kate from Jon & Kate plus 8 is starting to rub off on me with all her organizing and healthy foods. I only have half the amount of kids she does and she is way more organized with toys and meals than I. How bad is that? Snaps for trying though right?

A switch

We had to make a switch with Saige's formula today. As I've said before Saige is a really good eater. She eats tons of fruits and veggies every day. I make sure that she gets atleast one 4oz bottle of apple prune juice daily, yet this poor baby struggles with #2 and is irregular to say the least. After doing some online research today we switched her from Good Start 2 to Good Start with Natural Cultures. It has a little less iron and the natural cultures are supposed to be easier on her belly and good for her immune system. Time will tell. If all else fails she will have to go on Nutramigen. Two of my three other children had to be on it due to allergies so I don't know what made me think Saige would be any different. I really hope Good Start does the trick because the Nutramigen is UBER expensive and the stuff smells aweful.
Saige has also managed to get another cold. I'm telling you I've never seen a child with a runnier nose than Saige. Her nose runs like a sieve.
Julie is finally feeling better. Her bloodwork came back negative for mono and her 24 hour culture for strep also came back negative. She was put on an antibiotic at my insistance and she was feeling better by the next day. I think she had an infection in her tonsils but we'll never know because the dopey Dr. that saw her the first time never ordered a CBC along with the other tests.
The boys and Julie went sleigh riding yesterday and that was not without incident. Stephen came in the house with a bloody nose and scratched cheek. That pesky tree jumped right out in front of him.
Anyway, I've been busy organizing. I've made numerous trips to Walmart to get plastic bins to put lego's, littlest pet shops, ds games, barbie's and other toys in. I am most proud of how much room I made by simply taking the PS2, WII and Xbox CD's and putting them in an album. I bought a HUGE plastic bin to put the empty cases in and put it in the basement. The kids have so much more room in the closet now. Yep, it's the little things that make me the happiest.

I want to wish Xavier (Ali & JJ's son) a speedy recovery from his surgery on Friday.
xavierspage.blogspot.com/

Birthday pics

more to come tomorrow.

Happy 1st Birthday Saige!

Woo Hoo! I'll post some pics later.

Unfortunately 2 of my 4 kiddos are sick and it's been a crazy morning. I spent half the day yesterday in the doctors office and Lab Corp getting bloodwork done on Julie. She's been complaining of a sore throat and headaches. She's also been sleeping ALOT. This morning Stephen woke me up to tell me he had been sick. (total understatement) I gave him some tylenol for fever and even that isn't staying down. Hopefully both of them will be feeling better really soon.

More later.

Chuck E Cheese pics

It's official

Saige is a US citizen! Her Certificate of Citizenship came in the mail today...FINALLY. Since it took so long I was actually hoping we would get it in a couple more weeks and have a letter from Obama instead of Bush so I'm a little bummed about that.

Yesterday Carl watched Saige and I took Stephen, Michael and Julie to see Marley & Me. Good movie but it's a good thing I had kleenex!

Today was a fun filled day at Chuck E Cheese. We met my friend Kim and her kids and my friend Kay and her grandchildren. The kids had a blast, especially Saige. I was worried about what she would think of the fat mouse with big ears but to my surprise she liked him. We discovered Saige loves slides today too. She loves to go down them belly first.
When the food came out she gobbled up the french fries and ketchup.
She must have wore herself out because she took a three hour nap when we got home.

A good time was had by all!
I'll post some pics tomorrow.

Congratulations to Saige's orphanage buddy Samantha as she is also officially a US citizen as of today!