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Category Archives: Health & Well-Being

I got sucked in!

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I got sucked into my friends dermatology stuff (Rodan + Fields) and made a purchase. The stuff is EXPENSIVE, but if it works half as well as the photos I’ve seen, it will be worth it. I figure I’m working on my body…now I need to work on my skin.

So after a week of diligent use I don’t see any difference.

2015-07-17rodanfields7days

The lighting is a bit different between the two, but you can still see red cheeks and a red forehead. Yes, it’s only been a week, but with all the great success my friends have seen in the same amount of time, I’m a tad disappointed. Of course I’ll keep going—I have 60 days to test it out—so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. 🙂

Personally I think it’s insane to use all the products in the morning and the evening—well, four in the morning and three at night (a cleanser, even though I’m not wearing any makeup?!)—but I figure what I was doing before wasn’t working, so I needed to try something new. And I promised myself I would do it exactly as instructed—but doing that makes it seem like I’ve been doing this MUCH longer than a week!

Their first fireworks!

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We knew the weather was going to be a crapshoot, but we figured we had to try since they were just three miles from our house!

It started off well enough…Tom and Owen went off to check out the food offerings and Katie and I had a picnic (oranges, string cheese, cheddar Chex, and a juice box) which she loved: “Mama! This picnic is the best ever!”

And even though it was sprinkling, she was running around in the grass and having a blast…until she realized she had a boo boo on her foot and then she turned into a hot mess drama queen as seen here.

Then as soon as daddy came back 15 minutes later, she was all smiles and amazingly forgot all about her boo boo.

As soon as daddy laid down, she copied him. 🙂

Then I jumped in for a picture.

Owen had been off playing football with some kids but he came back to check in and said “We’re tackling and I knocked two people down!”

Since we had everyone, we took this shot. A lady behind us actually offered to take it but I said “No thanks, this is how we do it!” And it was perfect—done in one shot!

And then it started to rain harder. And it was chilly. And we had already been here two hours and still had about 45 minutes until the fireworks were going to start…do we stay or do we go?

The show was happening rain or shine and I hated to miss it after being there so long already…so we decided to go sit in the car and potentially watch from the tailgate or through the moonroof if it was a downpour. Thankfully it didn’t do much more than a light rain.

We had the car on to listen to music so the kids were having fun in the tail lights…

Owen: “This is burning my face!” 

…and playing to the music…

Owen being a lamppost:

And then the show started! They both immediately covered their ears so we got out the noise-canceling headphones for both of them. 

Yes, I was happy we had the minivan so we could do this!

Both kids said it was the BEST DAY EVER and they wanted to know if we were going to go to the fireworks next year. Ha HA! I’ve created fireworks monsters!! (Tom doesn’t really care for them, but now we outnumber him three to one! And he really did enjoy watching the kids loving everything!)

P.S. Wow, this is post #6000!

His hearing is fine!

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Remember, the pediatrician wanted us to get Owen’s hearing tested because he should have grown out of covering his ears at loud noises by now. But…everything is just fine with his hearing. The audiologist said he might just be one who is extra-sensitive and he still might outgrow it. 

He did really great during the tests and I teased him about turning into a robot because he had wires coming out of his ears. 🙂

   
   

Six weeks in, 27 pounds down!

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So.

Remember when I said I knew I wouldn’t be doing low-carb forever because it’s just not sustainable? Well, Tom and I are now working on a new lifestyle change…and have both been quite successful. And the best thing is that it’s completely sustainable: 80% of people keep the weight off after a year!

It’s a program that I’d never heard of but that a Tivo friend had done VERY successfully—and a bunch of other Tivo friends were interested in it and all decided to do it—so we jumped in, too! It’s called Naturally Slim and it’s a different way to lose weight that you just can’t believe until you try it.

From their website:

There are no foods to buy, no points to count, no guidelines on what you can and can’t eat. Sound too good to be true? The secret to Naturally Slim is really simple common sense, and the method for success simply involves learning some new techniques about how and when you should eat. That’s it. No gimmicks, no fads, no crashing, flushing, suffering, sacrificing, and no long-term commitments.

In the just-less-than two weeks that we’ve been doing it, I’ve lost 8# and have not felt deprived at all. I am eating SO much less food now, it’s unbelievable—but the most unbelievable part is that I’m eating WHATEVER I want. Pizza? Yes. Garlic bread? Yes. Pasta? Yes. Bacon cheeseburgers? Yes. Guacamole? Yes. Bruschetta? Yes. The only thing that we are really cutting out right now (for the first three weeks of the 10-week program) is sugar (and wine for me)—so no ice cream, cookies, cake, regular pop, etc.—but that’s not a big deal for us since we rarely have that stuff anyway. We can add it back in weeks 4-10 (and beyond) as long as we do it the right way.

But I digress.

I’m not going to go into all of the details, but suffice it to say that once you learn how to listen to your body and eat the right way—following the principles you learn in the program—you may find that you only eat one or two meals a day (and smaller meals at that). It takes time and dedication to learn the principles and it’s not an overnight thing…but it does work.

For example, neither Tom nor I eat breakfast anymore. (Forget what you’ve always heard about needing to eat breakfast. Really.) So Tuesday I had eaten lunch with the kids around 12:30 (and I honestly shouldn’t have eaten then because I wasn’t truly hungry) and I wasn’t hungry at dinnertime, so I skipped dinner. I wasn’t hungry before bed, I wasn’t hungry when I woke up Wednesday, I wasn’t hungry at my usual lunch time, and I honestly wasn’t hungry when I finished making dinner at 6, but I ate a small portion anyway because it had been 30 HOURS since I’d eaten anything and it just seemed…wrong. But according to the principles, I should have waited. When was the last time—aside from being sick—that you didn’t feel hungry for THIRTY HOURS?! It’s both exciting and bizarre at the same time.

Now, I know you are skeptical, but I am not lying and saying I’m not hungry. I’m not starving myself. I’m LITERALLY not hungry. I definitely eat when I am hungry—and I will never starve myself (that’s why I liked low-carb—I could always eat something filling and never felt HUNGRY).

So, just be prepared if we ever have to eat with you—we may not actually eat. 🙂 Well, we will eat, but we might not eat when you do. That’s honestly the part that stinks and is hard to get used to—since you ONLY eat when you’re hungry, we often miss eating with the kids (we sit with them but we might not eat) and sometimes we don’t even eat together. There are ways to hold off on eating (say, if I’m ready to eat at 4pm but we’re not eating until 6pm) but you never eat early to keep on a schedule.

Granted, we are only on week 2 so we’re still leaning the ins and outs of what our bodies want and things could still change, but we have generally figured out our schedules. (Well, I thought I had my schedule figured out—lunch between 12:30-1:30 and dinner between 6:00-7:00—until that 30-hour span of not being hungry. Now I’m trying to work it out again. It feels like I’m headed toward being a one-time-a-day eater which isn’t common but not unheard of.)

So, things are interesting around here. But the weight—and inches!—are coming off so we’re both happy! I’ve added a tracker with my ultimate goal over in the right column under the kids’ age trackers—I’m over a quarter of my way to my goal in just six weeks!! Go me!

Poor Katie…bug bites.

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So we went on another walk this morning…and it started out perfectly. Owen was our guard again and today he brought a gun—he’s serious about his duties!

But the fun quickly turned to disaster as Katie somehow got stung twice at the same time by…bugs I completely missed!!

We were walking along and I was watching her legs because she was right in front of me and she just stopped and started screeching that she was hurt. I thought she was just being a 3yo drama queen because I looked and there was nothing wrong with her that I could see. I tried to keep us walking but she was limping and shuffling along and had big serious tears. So I stopped to look again—and THEN I could see the two tiny bites right under her kneecap. (Once I got home and Googled, they appear to be wasp bites.)

I know they’re small and fast, but I still can’t believe I missed a bug flying in, stinging her twice, and flying away while I was staring directly at her legs!!

Of course she wanted me to carry her back so I tried the best I could on the trails but made her walk most of it. We got home and I put her leg up and iced  it and she got Ibuprofen. I watched her like a hawk, even though I was pretty sure she wasn’t allergic…but she was fine with her bandaid. 🙂 

A second ride on the autism train?

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Well, we may be on the autism train again.

Because Owen is still having (to me) major food issues, I wanted to make sure there was nothing else going on. Yes, he could just be a very picky eater…but I would be wracked with guilt if something else was going on and my new food rules were creating more problems than I was trying to solve. (I still feel guilty about the whole pooping thing back before we learned he had a serious issue and I don’t want the same thing to happen with food.)

So I got a referral to see a Developmental Pediatrician again (the same type of doctor we saw at Lejeune who diagnosed him with autism) and crossed my fingers she’d just say “Oh yes, it sounds like he has eating issues, here’s a referral for therapy.” Ha. I should have known better. 🙂

Of course she had to do the whole background history, and during that discovery period, a few random other issues came out. They’re things that he’s always had/done that he hasn’t yet grown out of…which led her to think he might have ADD…or possibly autism. Sigh.

But that said, considering everything we discussed, she thinks he’s absolutely thriving and I’m doing everything right (in regards to meal times and food) so there’s no immediate concern. But she does want him to see an audiologist for a real hearing assessment (he still covers his ears with loud/annoying noises which she said should not happen anymore at his age), start OT for the food (and pooping) issues, and see a geneticist again (genetics has come a very long way since we got his results in 2012 and the doctor could potentially see something now that we didn’t see before—and we might get additional genetic testing done). The results of those appointments will determine if we go forward with actual autism testing.

She’s not worried but wants to cover all the bases. If it’s determined he can benefit from additional therapy, we will go through with the testing and an autism diagnosis will allow us access to tens of thousands of dollars in free therapy since it’s covered under Tricare. (This is the same therapy we qualified for the first time but we never went ahead with it because neither of us were convinced he REALLY needed it—especially compared to all the other SERIOUSLY autistic kids out there.) And she agreed that was an okay decision, but also told us that if there’s something we can fix NOW, it’s better to do it while he’s young, rather than wait and decide when he’s 10-12-14 and he could be MUCH more defiant and MUCH harder to work with. (Basically, young kids are much more pliable.) 🙂

She did a few tests with him and agreed that overall he was doing very well. But interestingly, one of the tests she did (I think it was having him repeat full sentences back to her) she said he tested at about an age 4 level. That really surprised me because I had been listening and I thought he did okay. However, I think it was more a point of him (not) paying attention—he started to fiddle with a crayon and wasn’t listening closely (hence the thought of ADD). She said he could very likely be extremely smart and his brain is just racing…and it’s hard to stop and focus because he’s already on to something else. (And actually, conversely, when he has laser-like concentration on something and spends too much time trying to be perfect.) I said that sounds like Owen on a regular basis.

I really liked her and feel comfortable with her so I feel okay. Of course it’s still a shock to think we might get an autism diagnosis again…but her main thought was that if he’s doing well and we expect (and get) good things from him, we’re on the right course.

The best part of the appointment? She asked him what his absolute VERY most favorite thing to do was. Of course, I was positive it would be Legos. But his immediate response? As in he literally didn’t even think for three seconds? “I like to go to school.” 🙂

So now I have to wait a few days to call and schedule the three appointments. Stay tuned!

There’s nothing like trying on clothes…

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So, three weeks ago I went to Kohls and thought “Let me look for a new bathing suit.” Ha. HAHA. There’s nothing like trying on clothes—especially bathing suits—to really hit home a weight gain.

My body is weird. I really don’t feel like I ever change my exercise habits or my eating habits but my weight will fluctuate anywhere from 10-30 pounds in a year. I’ll be a consistent amount for eight months and then I’ll gain 10 pounds and stay at that weight for a year… But obviously something has happened lately because I’m outside my normal fluctuation.

So I decided it was time. Right there in the dressing room.

Low-carb is easiest for me since I’ve done it before and I am really hoping/planning on doing it just for the initial weight drop and then continuing with something more sensible. But damn. Our pantry is filled with carbs. And I hate making dinner anyway since the kids are rarely fans of anything…so the first weeks of low-carb are super painful for that reason alone. The actual not eating isn’t that bad…

The first day wasn’t even done and I already missed alcohol. Not that I drink a lot, but maybe 2-3 nights a week I’ll have a drink.

After the first day, it was apparent I didn’t remember quite as much about low-carb eating as I thought I did. I looked at my daily totals and holy wah. Yes, I know I ate too many carbs because I was still getting into the plan (after all, I had just decided with no advance planning so we weren’t correctly stocked for low-carb) but a banana? 31 carbs. An onion (to go with the steak)? 8 carbs! That’s about two day’s worth of carbs right there! Then add in the 1 piece of pizza I had for lunch (25), the Mike’s Hard Lemonade I succumbed to (33), and the 1/4 cup quinoa and rice I knew was bad (27)…and that’s about my carbs for the week.

Soooooo…for the first few days, I decided I was concentrating on just lowering my overall food intake (which I did considerably—I caught myself gazing in the pantry about three times and walked away) and watching carbs. And that went well.

As I said, I know going into this that it isn’t sustainable long term (considering I’ve regained the 60# I lost before—though it did take 10 years and two pregnancies!) but I think the big initial weight loss that always happens with low-carb will be enough to kickstart me into a healthier future.

I think snacking/grazing is one of my biggest problems. I’ve found myself just wanting to eat something…anything…even though I’m not hungry. Portion control is another big problem. What I’ve realized after the past three weeks of pretty strict low-carb eating is how much I was actually eating before…and how little I actually need. Yesterday I ate about 900 calories and 30 carbs and at no time was I really hungry. (I usually eat more calories than that, but I was testing how very little I could eat while not being HUNGRY.) I tend to eat small bits all day long…only eating when I’m actually hungry. And at meals, I rarely take seconds and try to take smaller portions overall.

So, at one week, I was down 7#. I knew it was just first week success and wouldn’t continue (and I fluctuated lower than that during the week) but as I said, the mental reward is BIG. And the jeans that were too tight last week fit this week.

At two weeks, I was down 14.5#. YAY! A HUGE mental boost. And I even drank wine! So I think the biggest part was just not eating AS MUCH.

Then throughout the next week there was a lot of fluctuation and I gained some back (I know I should only weigh once a week but I weigh mid-week to keep myself on track). There was some not-good eating a time or two, but nothing crazy.

So this morning has been three weeks, and I’m down 15#. A bit of a disappointment considering I was at 14.5 last week, but overall it’s still a big per-week loss, so I am happy!

I’m thinking after I’ve kickstarted my weight loss for a month or so (so another few weeks?), I’ll transition to a more moderate plan (much less food overall, more fruit and veggies, etc.) because eating regular foods with the family is so much easier.

Wish me luck!

Tom’s turn for back issues

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This happened a few days ago on April 23.

So, Tom hurt his back way back in 2012 when he was at Quantico for Advanced Comm School. He got X-rays taken but was told nothing was wrong.

Fast forward to today when he hurt his back working out and went to the doctor. His X-rays had been digitized and attached to his account and as soon as the doctor saw them he told Tom he had degenerative disc disease! He was clueless how any previous doc could have missed it!

So, that sucks. But! He is now allowed to go to a chiropractor at no cost! He will have another appointment to determine the extent of the issue, but in the meantime, he’s taking drugs.

Game 5: Raptors vs. Hot Rods

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Katie helping Owen get ready!

Owen being silly.

We got there early enough for some practice time.

Standing on a pillow.

He took a little hit in the face after a bad hop.

Now that’s a throw!

He was also the catcher again for an inning.

Unfortunately, we had a minor accident. Katie and Owen were both in the dugout when I called to Katie. Both her and Owen turned to come to me at the same time—I have no idea why Owen did, but he did. And didn’t pay any attention to what he was doing…and smashed Katie right into the big metal pole of the dugout. Tom and I both saw it happen, heard her head SMASH into the pole, and saw her sink to the ground. And start crying. Hoo boy.

All the surrounding parents were concerned, and one got us some ice but Katie didn’t really want it. We had a talk with Owen about paying attention. And cuddled Katie.

We gave her some Tylenol when we got home and after we ate lunch and she took a nap, she seemed just fine. But she’s got a nice goose egg. Her first minor injury. 🙁

Food discussion

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So, of course I posted all about Owen’s issues and our new decision on a forum with some friends. I love the input I get—often things I’d never have thought of. They gave lots of advice—some things we’ve already tried and some things we just don’t want to do (mainly, let him make a bowl of cereal or a sandwich—himself—if he doesn’t like dinner). We don’t want to let him do that because then he’d just eat cereal or a PB&J every night. And we’re trying to get him to EXPAND his food choices.

The mom guilt part of me agrees that if he wants to make a sandwich he should be able to do that because it’s just food…and if HE makes it, at least I’m not…but the other part of me wants to be a hardass because I’m just SOOOOOO sick of it and dammit, he can eat what’s on the table or go hungry. Yes, I’ve literally reached that point. (All the years of the same issues over and over and over have hardened me a bit, I admit.) I mean, he managed to survive pre-k lunches not liking anything but obviously eating enough to not be hungry so why can’t he do that at home? Also, he’s not always going to be able to make a PB&J or grab cereal—if we’re out or at someone’s house, he needs to eat what’s given (not that it’s a terribly common event).

I just don’t know. Just when I think we’ve come up with our solution, someone else makes a point that changes our minds.

Oh, and to make matters more complicated, it’s also a possibility he could have some sensory processing issues. Sigh. His autism diagnosis has long been retracted, but the doc never did any type of food/texture testing, and I’m struggling to remember if we even answered any questions about it. At the time, we may have just thought he was still just young and being normal-kid-type picky and we were concentrating more on the other areas.

So of course if I pick the hardass route, we’ll likely find out he does have a sensory issue and then I’ll be wracked with mom guilt. But if we go the non-hardass route, we might never even know.

So in the next week I’ll be calling his pediatrician to see what we can get figured out. And in the meantime we’ll see how it goes. 

Blurg.

How quickly I feel a 180.

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Ever since Katie got healthy, she’s been a complete pill. Whining and crying about every. stupid. thing. Like daddy was in the garage. Or I wouldn’t carry her to the table to eat. Or her sock/shoe/marker/toy wouldn’t work. Or she wanted her iPad but she couldn’t reach it. And it wasn’t her normal 30-second-and-over-it tantrum, but on and on and on and on and on and on and on. 

Today she wouldn’t stop crying about stupid shit so I just put her in her room every time she wouldn’t stop crying because I wasn’t going to listen to it (so she could cry, but not bother us). I think I did it three times. Tom would bring her back down when she stopped crying, and I wouldn’t even say or do anything and she’d be crying within minutes. For no good reason. It didn’t take long before I was at my limit. 

It was amazing how quickly I went from fearing for her life (i.e. being paranoid about her fever) to being annoyed by her very presence. 

Isn’t parenthood fun?

I finally caved.

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About a week ago I thought “Shoot me now. I’m starting to think about a minivan. Just barely, but it’s there.”

I understand the love and convenience…I’ve just NEVER wanted one. Not that I really care what anyone thinks, but I didn’t want to drive a “mom” car. I like my cars a bit sporty-ish. And I’m not good with long cars. 

But I’m tired of being packed in like sardines when we take trips. This last trip was a test because it was a smaller car than we had for the last road trip—and we didn’t have the dog (there was just NO way she’d have fit with us this time). And it doesn’t help that I don’t really love my new car.  But, overall, the Mazda is just too small for us. We are both big, tall people and both have to crouch and duck to even get IN the car, we both constantly smack our heads on the lift gate (things we didn’t really consider when buying it), and it just feels really cramped inside. And with the kids getting bigger it’s harder for them to get in and out, too (I know kids are agile, but it’s really pathetic the contortions that Owen needs to take to get in and out of the car). And the doors open wider than any of our previous cars… Basically, we don’t love the Mazda and need something else, so we’re moving up to the minivan.

We test drove two (Honda and Toyota) before we got the Acadia and I didn’t love either. But, I reasoned, if we’re going to do it, I want it done before July when we trek to Michigan. But I despise car shopping/buying and don’t want to go through the hassle again so soon (less than a year since we got the Mazda). Ugh. 

As one of my friends commented:

I will never love a minivan (nor will I trust a person who claims to 😉 ) but it’s by far the most practical vehicle at this stage in our lives. Just add it to the list of sacrifices we make as parents!

So I had to bring it up with Tom. After he gave me a sufficient amount of grief of all kinds, we researched a bit…found a loaded 2012 Toyota…and Tom went to test drive it today. (I was going to go but Katie was still sick.) He was able to bring it home for me to drive and it wasn’t bad. We decided to see what kind of a deal they could give us, so Tom went back to deal. He was texting me updates and I was Googling and sending him info and basically, my blood was boiling—they added about $4k in stupid fees. Really?! And they wouldn’t budge on ANY of them!

Base $30,988
PDI (“Pre-Delivery Inspection”—it’s Toyota Certified) $1495
Trim package (which we didn’t ask for—they just automatically add it to all used vehicles!) $475
Processing fee $499
…
Total delivered price: $34,874

They won’t take off any of the addons so we walked. Buh bye. And then I started researching more and found some at another local dealer so Tom made an appointment for tomorrow morning. Fingers are crossed.

 

Fevers suck. 

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What freaks me out the most is her fever. This is her first time being sick sick (maybe she had a touch of fever when she was a baby but I don’t recall). Her fever has increased slightly (99 this morning…to 100…to 101.5 now) so of course I was worried and paranoid. She just looks so small and pathetic. 🙁 

I have the baby monitor set up in her room and at least she was quiet…until just now when I started hearing little whimpers. I hate to hear her cry, but she honestly looks dead on the monitor (it’s about 18″ away from her face) so I like any sign she’s alive. 

  

I don’t anticipate sleeping much tonight. The only positive is that we preemptively barf- protected her room.  

It’s Katie’s turn to be sick.

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It’s been three days since Owen was sick (he also missed a day of school!) so I was hoping she missed it but apparently she didn’t. At least my laziness paid off—I still had the towels on the couch and the floor from when Owen was sick so it saved me a bunch of cleanup.

 

She still has a little bit of attitude as you can see. 🙂

   

She pretty much lived on the beanbag and thankfully kept drinking water (which wasn’t too bad to clean up when it eventually came back up).

  

Not a surprise we wanted.

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Owen had said his belly hurt after dinner but we didn’t think much of it since he says that now and again and it’s never anything.

So I forgot all about it and went to bed excited (though late), thinking there’s nothing like falling asleep at midnight planning on your first, nice, deep, uninterrupted sleep in nine days (post-vacation)…only to be awoken at 12:30 by a kid crying in your doorway saying they’ve puked and need help cleaning up.

Holy hell.

It was everywhere. And it was some of the worst I’ve smelled. I knew right away there was no way I could handle it all by myself, so I had him wait there while I quickly went to wake up Tom. Between the two of us, it still took a good 30 minutes to clean up.

We had put a huge bowl next to his bed (“just in case”) but there was no point as he had obviously just puked and then rolled over the edge of the bed and puked again. There was puke covering about a 4′ square section of carpet, he was covered (hair, PJs, face), all of his bedding (including bed skirt!) had to be removed…and it had even started soaking through the mattress protector. We had to clean the carpet as best we could without getting out the Rug Doctor (which would surely have woken Katie up) and we had to get out (and blow up) the air mattress (since I wasn’t going to put him back in bed without a barf-proof mattress pad cover). Then we covered the floor with towels and started a load of laundry. And hoped that would be our only wakeup call.

The only thing I could think was “At least we were at home and not at the condo or in a hotel or in the car.”

Owen’s six-year well-visit

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waiting for the appt

Height: 50-3/4″ — was 47-1/4″ at 5y (greater than 100th percentile)
Weight: 81# — was 66.5# at 5y (greater than 100th percentile)

This was our first time seeing this particular doctor, and she was very nice. She said overall he did well—his vision was deemed good, he has a very strong heartbeat “which should pump for another 100 years,” he answered all his safety questions well (What do you to before crossing the street? Do you always wear your seat belt? Do you wear sunscreen? Do you brush your teeth?), and he is still “off the charts” (over 99% for both height and weight—as a point of interest, he gained 15# last year—the same as the previous year). This year, however, I didn’t get lectured about BMI and exercise and feeding him vegetables—the doc was very nice and was happy he was enrolled in baseball, glad he liked sports, and was glad we keep trying to get him to eat veggies. I think she was happy to see that his BMI dropped since his last visit (in the fall when he was seen for something else).

Red is age 5. Green is age 6. BUT…after some research today, I’m not sure how I came up with a BMI of 30 last year (maybe they wrote it down wrong or I read it wrong).

2015owen6yCDCBMI

2015owen6yCDCstature

Friends have expressed concern with his weight, but believe me—we are watching it closely. Tom and I both know what it was like to be a chubby kid and IN NO WAY do we want that for Owen. Just for shits and giggles I put his info in an adult BMI calculator and it comes up normal. So a tiny adult his size is fine, but an identical weight and height large kid is not. So I take the kid BMI results with a grain of salt. His face and belly are a bit chubby—but otherwise he’s just a big, solid kid.

The only somewhat sticky point of the entire visit was when I asked for a referral for a Pediatric GI. I briefly explained that we had had one before we moved here and we were currently on a maintenance regimen but that I’d like to have a doctor ready if we needed one. She said “Constipation? We can handle that here. A specialist isn’t necessary.” I reiterated that we had seen one for a year and Owen had been hospitalized for a cleanout—an again she said she could handle that. So then I told her that we’ve been dealing with this for over two years now, to include monthly to bi-weekly cleanouts, and the last time we had an issue a month or so ago, he had four ex-lax and about 12 doses of miralax with no results and I had to keep him out of school. THAT got her attention and she said “Ohhh! No, we’re not equipped for that. I’ll put in the referral.” 🙂

The most exciting thing for Owen, however, was learning that (aside from yearly flu shots) he’s done with shots until sixth grade!

Owen has…we’re not sure.

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He’s had a cough for the past month but it’s gotten a lot worse over the past week so today I took him in just in case it was something that could be fixed.

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Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The doc said everything sounded fine in his chest and there really wasn’t anything definitive wrong. It was likely just random crud. He advised allergy meds to hopefully dry him out.

So we’ll see. At least he feels okay otherwise.

Katie rocked her first trip to the dentist!

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I took both kids in tonight—Owen for his regular 6-month checkup and Katie for her first ever visit. She loves brushing her teeth so I didn’t think she’d have any problems with it…but you never know.

They were both excited to go, and it started well with them playing in the waiting room!

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Then we had a brief introduction with both the hygienist and dentist in their office and then it was off to the chairs!

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Owen was first…

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And Katie was intrigued.

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And got closer…

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I asked if she wanted to hold Owen’s hand and she said yes. 🙂

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Owen did REALLY well (which I would hope, as he’s done this about four times), and then it was Katie’s turn!

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“Look mama! Clouds!” (There were clouds painted on the wall!)

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Glasses and bib—so far, so good.

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She didn’t seem nervous but I asked if she wanted Owen to hold her hand and she said yes. 🙂

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Katie seeing herself for the first time. I love the look on her face! 🙂

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She was a total rock star. They were able to do a full cleaning (as opposed to Owen’s first visit at age four when they only got about three teeth done).

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Then they both got seen by the dentist and were told they need to brush twice a day (instead of just once) and start flossing…and Owen NEEDS to stop sucking his thumb as his teeth are already out of place (Katie’s are perfect). She said this is THE time to stop as his bottom two teeth are still coming in and his top two are loose (I bet both will be gone by Christmas—one might be gone by this weekend) so the new ones will come in straight. (We’ve told him and showed him pictures of what can happen and he knows he needs to stop—and even catches himself—but it will still be challenging because he’s still just five years old.) Then they got their goody bags and were SOOOOOO excited about the toothbrush and stickers and toothpaste—and Owen got a toy truck and Katie got a little mermaid! They were in HEAVEN.

So overall they both did AWESOME and I loved the staff—we’ve had nice dental staff before, but you can see a difference in a regular dentist who sees kids vs. a pediatric dentist. 🙂

Another sick day!

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My day started with Owen coming in while I was taking a shower and asking where the wipes were.

Me: Why do you need wipes?
Owen: Because I threw up in my bed and need to clean it up.
Me: Are you okay? Do you still feel sick?
Owen: I’m okay.
Me: Okay, daddy’s downstairs. Go tell him and he’ll take care of it. I’ll be out in a minute.

So I double-timed my already short morning shower and when I got out about three minutes later, Tom was throwing all of Owen’s bedding in the wash. Apparently Owen had been coughing and he threw up (of course the morning after I changed his sheets but that’s neither here nor there)…but he said he felt okay so we were going to send him to school.

Technically I knew we shouldn’t because vomiting is a no-go, but if it was just because of coughing…??? The part of me that says he’s not sick and it’s just a reaction to a gut-wrenching cough is at odds with the part of me that says vomiting is vomiting. I need to get away from the mindset that if he feels absolutely fine, has no temperature, has no other signs of anything, and has a history of vomiting with coughing…he still stays home if he vomits.

I didn’t really have much time to think about it, though, as 20 minutes later he was coughing and threw up again—plus he said his belly doesn’t feel good. Once again, his temp wasn’t even normal (78.1). Tom and I reiterated that staying home does not mean fun and games and he’s going to have to rest and take a nap. But he still says he doesn’t feel good so he’s staying home.

Of course, I had a ton of errands planned for this morning (that I’ve been putting off until today) and now I can’t go. Tom has an early day, though, so he said he’d do some for me.

—

He ended up throwing up breakfast (about an hour after the fact—thankfully while Tom was still home!) so we cut out all food. We made him sip water and that seemed okay so we gave him a juice box—which came up about an hour later. By dinner he was feeling better so we tried a graham cracker and a strawberry which stayed down, so before bed he got more graham crackers and strawberries (which also stayed down).

I really wish I knew what was happening. 🙁

I guess he really was sick.

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Owen hadn’t felt the best all weekend but it was never anything serious (i.e. no fever)—he just seemed more tired than normal but nothing that out of the ordinary.

So come this morning, he was even MORE tired than normal, but I still didn’t think much about it because it was Monday and he’s been tired every morning. I didn’t think he wanted to miss school because he loves school, but I thought maybe he was milking it a little more.

He ate his breakfast but didn’t eat as much as he normally would. Then instead of playing afterwards, he just curled up on the couch. Hmmm. Okay. So then the alarm rang to get ready for the bus stop and he got up and walked to the foyer but wasn’t putting his shoes on. He said he didn’t feel good. Well, he’d been saying that all morning so I wasn’t really sure what to think.

So as I was debating what to do (make him go to school, keep him home) he vomited all over. Four times. Poor Owen. And poor me because he was ROOTED to his spot on the floor and couldn’t move five steps into the bathroom to hit the toilet. At least it was 1) on the wood floor and 2) not AT the bus stop or ON the bus.

So he was obviously staying home…but of course then he felt better and wanted to go to school. And when I told him he was staying home he suddenly wanted to color and play and watch TV. Sorry, kid, right now you’re going back to bed since you’ve told me all morning how tired you are and want more sleep. I told him after he rests awhile he can come down to watch TV (I’m not evil, LOL, I remember the fun of watching TV while I was home sick).

So he was kind of upset and Katie was a HOT MESS because she was already ready to go—with coat and boots on—and she did NOT want to get undressed. So I sent Owen up to change into jammies and rest and he had a fit because he did not want to rest…but he finally went upstairs. I set him up with a barf bucket and tucked him in. And he was back downstairs less than 10 minutes later. So I explained that he’d been complaining how tired he was all morning and how he was practically sleeping on the couch so he needed to rest to get healthy…and we had a talk about how staying home from school sick doesn’t mean we can have fun and play games and watch TV all day. Staying home sick meant you had to rest. So back up he went, where he stayed for about 30 minutes. Okay, fine. Then I let him watch TV.

He seemed to be feeling better around lunch and ate a piece of toast with peanut butter. Then I made him lay down for a nap when Katie took hers and he rested but I’m not sure he ever slept (though his eyes were closed when I went up to check on him—and I think if he had heard me, he would have popped up). So he got to crash on the couch and watch a movie. This is how I found him. Such a boy. 🙂

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And after Katie got up I happened to get a call from a friend asking if I could go rescue her son from their front porch because she hadn’t made it home in time and he would be wondering why he couldn’t get in the house. 🙂 So I dashed through the back yard to go get him and when he came in the house, it was GAME ON. It was like Owen had never been sick. Running and jumping and playing and screeching like nobody’s business. 🙂

Interesting sidenote. When I called the attendance line, you didn’t get to talk to anyone and you just left a message—and they asked what the doctor said or what the symptoms were. Then about 4:15 I got a call from the school confirming that Owen was home sick and what his symptoms were. Apparently they keep track of these things? In case…they need to know who Patient Zero was?

Flu shot day!

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Since Owen had the day off, it was the perfect (read: only) day to get his flu shot (they’re only open for walk-ins 8:30-3:30—not conducive to his school hours).

Owen wanted to take the elevator and Katie was a bit unsure. She VERY cautiously stepped over the crack while saying “Be careful!” 🙂

Then she didn’t want her picture taken.

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The kids did great. Owen was worried about it hurting, even though I kept reminding him that he was squawking about it last year and then he ended up saying “That was it?!” I told him he had to be brave for Katie so she wouldn’t get scared…so he was good until it was time to get on the table. He started getting worried and had a pained look on his face when he saw the nurse getting the needle ready so she told him to look at me and while he was saying he didn’t want his flu shot, I told him it was already done! 🙂 Katie cried a little but was more interested in the bandaid afterwards.

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I am so pissed at myself and at Tricare.

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Granted it could be worse, but still. Ugh.

I recently got a bill for $109 for two of Katie’s appointments…where we didn’t see her primary care provider (though I didn’t know that at the time). You see, when we moved, I dutifully went to the Tricare website and picked the clinic/doctor I wanted AND THE SITE LET ME PICK the one I wanted, so when we got the confirmation letter, I admit I didn’t look at it closely because WHY WOULD IT BE ANYONE OTHER THAN WHO I PICKED? (And also, by that time, I think we had already seen the doctor.)

But apparently the letter confirmed the REAL doctor Tricare had assigned me (that I didn’t get to pick). And when I called Tricare to ask about it, they assured me I was covered and it was all taken care of, even though it was a point of service appointment. Phew, okay. But calling them today, I find out that, well, I WAS technically covered, but only for X amount and the rest was from my own out of pocket expenses. Lovely. That’s a big chunk of money I wasn’t planning on spending on something that could have been 100% covered.

Our first family nature walk!

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It was a nice cool morning so we decided to take the kids exploring at the park down the street (literally less than a mile away, right down from the entrance to our subdivision). I had intended to just check out the playground and the lake, but we thought “Why not just walk along the .4 mile path?” Well, we didn’t see signs for that path, so ended up on the 1.4 mile path. But it was really nice—through the woods on a well-worn path, up and down hills, over the stream, etc. Of course it was a little too rough for Katie so she spent most of the walk on Tom’s shoulders (so he definitely got a workout) and we were all sweating by the end. But Owen did really well and he loved it and wants to go again! It really was fun and I can’t wait to go back, too!

Excited about the surprise trip!

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Heading down the path!

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Checking out the pond!

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Owen learned what dismount meant!

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Walking across the rocks to cross the creek!

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Of course Owen picked up some sticks guns to help protect us.

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Katie’s ankle: The End

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It started off great, then hit a rough patch, then ended great so overall I’m happy.

THE GREAT

The hospital is super easy to get to and only takes about 15 minutes—and there’s plenty of parking in the attached parking garage. Everyone was super friendly, the hospital was very nice, and the pediatric area was easy to find. There was plenty of seating for kids and adults…with kids shows on the TV.

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We were there about 25 minutes early in case we had to fill out paperwork, and I was surprised when they called us back almost immediately to get Katie’s vitals. They were going to put us in a room but none happened to be ready so we got sent back to the lobby…

THE ROUGH PATCH

…where we sat for 20 minutes until I finally went up to the desk to ask (at military facilities there’s always a sign saying to let the staff know if you’ve been waiting more than 15 minutes). When I told her what doc it was, she immediately kind of laughed and said “He’s always slow…THOROUGH.” /sarcasm on/ GREAT. /sarcasm off/ No, I know being thorough is a good thing, but always running behind is not. If he’s always that thorough they should schedule the appointments accordingly.

Katie passed the time playing with the other kids in the waiting area.

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So we kept waiting. And waiting. At 15 minutes past our appointment time (and 30 since vitals) we got put in a room. I wasn’t thrilled…but overall it still wasn’t TOO bad. So we waited. And waited.

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And waited.

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And had time for three snacks and a drink.

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Ten minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes. At the 1-hour-past-my-appointment mark I went out into the hallway to see if I could get an update from anyone…and the doctor was actually in the hall headed to our door. As I started to politely question about the delay, he was already apologizing and explaining that the previous patient had been an acute case—apparently his staff missed signs of low oxygen (?) and he had to rally everyone to get it taken care of and have it be a teaching moment.

THE GREAT ENDING

It turns out I REALLY REALLY like him—he’s very personable, I felt very comfortable with him, and he was amazing with Katie… She was sitting on his chair when he came in, so he got on his knees (down to her level) and examined her right there instead of making her get up on the exam table. He explained everything he did as he was doing it. Just his entire bedside manner and tone of voice was comforting and knowledgeable.

So, his thoughts? Her ankle is fine and we don’t need to see a specialist. He was poking and prodding and she never winced even a tiny bit and it wasn’t swollen and he could see no reason to refer her. His only thought was that it might possibly be Lyme disease (as that affects joints) but since it was just the one joint and no others and no other symptoms, he immediately ruled it out. He did say that if it gets worse then we can revisit it, but for now, just keep giving her Tylenol when it’s swollen or if it seems to be hurting her (which it rarely does). He said he sprained his ankle when he was a kid and it gave him troubles for many years but there wasn’t anything to do for it. He even said if he did refer us, the pediatric orthopedist would say we were wasting his time. He had said he has three young girls himself so if he thought there was ANYTHING wrong at all or ANYTHING at all to be gained from a referral (or more x-rays or tests or whatever), he wouldn’t hesitate. But he just didn’t see it with this case.

I then mentioned that the other doctor had noticed a heart murmur and said it wasn’t serious but that it should continue to be watched. Within about four seconds of listening to her heart he said “Yes, she has a definite murmur.” However, it wasn’t in her armpits and it disappeared when she stood up—and he diagnosed it as a very common Still’s Murmur (also known as a vibratory murmur). He said she was a very healthy little girl and we had nothing to worry about.

On the way out, I briefly mentioned big brother Owen and his GI issues so we chatted for a minute about that—and he told me two of his girls were on the Miralax regimen as well. So I feel good about that aspect when we need to take Owen in.

So, it all ended on a positive note, though I think the wait could have been handled better (why can’t ANYONE in any doctor’s office ever tell waiting patients what’s going on when something like this happens?). And I think I’ll be much happier with them than the first office I had picked from a hat. Score one for Tricare! 🙂

Katie wanted to play in the water!

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Continuing peds office inefficiency.

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So I called the pediatrician’s office this morning to ask the status of Katie’s medical records since they never called yesterday like they promised.. Um, well, hang on, let me look…no they’re not here…the nurses are in a training so I’ll call you when they’re out at lunch.

Fast forward to 2:30 (!) and I get the call they’re done. I drive straight there (so, maybe 15 minutes) and go to the desk and the lady was totally clueless, as if she couldn’t remember me from YESTERDAY (though I’m not sure if she was the one who called, you’d think she’d remember me). And it was a whole debacle again, with someone else needing to step in to handle it and me ending up pissed because they didn’t have copies of the x-rays—they just had the results form. Ugh. I thought I was pretty clear when I asked about copies of the x-rays—I never said x-ray results. Sigh. At least that part was rectified with a quick call to the imaging place who handed me the x-rays on a DVD within two minutes of me walking in their door. No cost, no stupidity, no drama.

The next update will be Thursday after her appointment with her new doctor.