Another milestone!

Noah has reached another milestone!!! He can now pull himself up to a stand unassisted at the train table (I looked over and there he was just standing there playing at the train table!), in his crib and I caught him going up the stairs by himself. He got up 2 whole stairs by himself!! He's pulling himself up to open drawers and throwing out all the contents. He's really loving standing!! Here are a couple of pictures!

Kai has been screaming in pain periodically throughout the day. We just got back from the doctors with them saying it was probably gas. Now he is shrieking and peeing blood clots. We are headed right back to the doctors for tons of fun.

UPDATE: 10pm. Kai has a urinary tract infection. He's on antibiotics now. We have to take him next week to see a urologist and also to get an ultrasound of kidneys/bladder etc. They think he has a structural abnormality that is causing the UTI since it is so uncommon for boys to get UTIs.

The Ants Go Marching 1 by 1...

The kids made a huge mess with some tortilla chips this evening. Chip dust and crumbs were all on the floor and couch. We decided to get the twins in bed and then come back down and clean up afterwards. When I came back down I had already forgotten about the mess and when I saw it I exclaimed, "Oh, LOOK at all those crumbs!" Kai ran over to the mess and yelled, "Mamma, 3 ants are helping! Come see!" Sure enough, 3 ants were working together to haul off a piece of tortilla chip. Is it sad that instead of stomping on them, I thought, "Oh good, if only they moved faster"? :) At this point if the ants clean up the floor, I'm tempted to let them stay!! HAHAHA! My good little helper knew though that I hate crumbs on the floor and he ran to get the red broom. "Mamma, I sweep up crumbs and ants." Oh, my dreams are coming true! Kai is going to sweep up this mess...hoooray! Suddenly he starts shoving all the crumbs and ants under the couch. "What are you doing?", I yell, and he says, "I'm putting them all back under the couch."
Hmmmm...I guess I'm not as good a housekeeper as I'd like to think I am if my son thinks all the crumbs belong under the couch. *Sigh*

Passing the Torch

Noah did not blow out this morning!!! There actually wasn't anything in his diaper....woo hoo! However, Zeze now has diarrhea and did blow out...so another bed change and another screaming bath. Then both Zeze and Noah blew out at nap time. Fortunately, all our sheets were already dirty and we had only put a towel on Zeze's mattress (which he threw out of the crib), so I only had to change Noah's bed and just wipe down Zeze's mattress. Man, I'm tired! I am really hopeful though that Noah's guts are turning a corner! I think all your prayers are helping b/c I don't feel nearly as defeated and angry about all this as I did a few days ago....so THANKS! KEEP IT UP, PLEASE!! :) :)

Reprieve

Ahhhhh! This morning nobody had to get a bath due to poop explosions! I put one normal diaper on Noah and then a second diaper just around the back of him just above the regular diaper. Poop was to the very edge of the 2nd diaper, but there was no serious blow out! We still had to wash his sheets and jammies, but it was contained enough where we didn't have to hose him down, like every other morning (and sometimes after nap) for the past 3-4 weeks! Thank you for the prayers! Kai and Zeze also didn't have blow outs! So it was a slight reprieve from the morning misery! Yay!

The Poop Gods Are Laughing At Us

Noah pooped out twice AND Kai woke up at 1:30a in a pool of diarrhea. Does anyone out there want to come poop on our beds or in our tub? 3/5 of our family is doing it....join the party! Chad just added, "If you're feeling shy about it, you can just crap on our doorstep."

The Noah Challenge Take 2

Tonight I put one diaper on him the regular way. Then I attached two diapers together end-to-end and wrapped those around his belly just above the waist of the normal diaper. I think Noah needs diaper suspenders or something. The problem is (besides the continuous diarrhea) is that he has a huge low-tone belly and teeny tiny bum, so the diapers just slide down off his bum when he curls up to sleep. I think this same problem is why fat old guys wear suspenders, to keep their pants on their butts. Anyway, we think that duct tape would be bad for Noah's skin and the whole tourniquet potential scares me too. So, we will try the around-the-belly diaper tonight and see what happens. After this, I think we just won't put a diaper on him at bedtime anymore. At least we won't be surprised or disappointed in the morning. We'll KNOW there is a mess and no chance for no mess.

Oh yeah, Kai has a 104.3 fever today. Heather, I hope your boys don't get this or that they didn't catch e.coli or something at the beach with all the geese. No diarrhea yet for Kai, just the fever. We were supposed to go to our neighbor's little girl's 2nd birthday today. We had to keep Kai home and he was SO SAD to see our neighbors loading up the car with cake, presents and balloons to go to Gymboree. However, he fell asleep 10 minutes later and slept for 3 hours. I kept thinking about how hard it was to make him miss the fun and sleep and how he couldn't possibly know that Chad and I really had his best interests at heart. It broke my heart to have to tell him he couldn't go! Chad and I were also supposed to go out on a date tonight, but since a temp of 104.3 is a little scary, we cancelled that too. I can't help but wonder if God is doing something similar for Chad and I that we did for Kai. Maybe he's keeping us from something that seems really good and fun, for our own good. "He makes me lie down..." Ps.23 We MADE Kai lay down with his choking sobs and feverish body. I'm really not sure how wanting my husband to get a job (preferably that he likes), wanting my children to stay healthy for at least 3 days in a row, not wanting to go back to work as a vet (or as a Rite Aid employee), not having to sell/rent our condo, not wanting to have to make my own daily bread and not wanting to add Autism to my plate, are bad things. But for some reason all these things are present with us. I don't feel like I'm "laying down in green pastures"...more like "thrown into a hospital tent after an amputation during the Civil War." BUT...I KNOW that God cares for me more than I care for Kai and that He can hear me begging him for a change just like I can't ignore Kai's voice begging to go to the party. He CAN hear me. I do believe that He wants to give me good things, but for some reason, not now. So, tonight, I will enjoy that my new FREE shampoo smells like a tropical breeze, that my bread came out AWESOME tonight and I will hope that my Gerry-rigged diapers will keep Noah's poop in.

We Lost

Noah's poop won the challenge. :( 2 good things are that Noah is more used to this routine and didn't scream while in the tub. And, while I hosed off his stink I noticed that my new deoderant smelled really nice!

the noah challenge

Ok. Tonight we're trying 2 diapers. Plus I eliminated soy and dairy from his diet, so now my bread is gluten/dairy/soy free. Plus I only fed him rice, chicken and applesauce today. No beans, fruit or veggies (all things that I was trying wash down my tub drain this morning after hosing Noah off). The kid gets my sick dog diet from back when I was a vet. Well, I added the applesauce for him and not the dogs! :) It was a pretty crummy day yesterday. The kids were being punks. They were defecating all over my house (oh yeah, Kai tried to shake his poop out of his diaper and into the toilet, but he missed and it hit the floor...at least when i was a vet I got to wear coveralls when I dealt with poop!), Chad and I were crabby about money and jobs and it wouldn't wouldn't wouldn't stop raining!! Horrible day!

Today, however, was magnitudes better. The kids were delightful and didn't whine, or cry or pester each other nearly as much. The sun shone. Chad got another lead on a job and we all went outside this evening to play in the setting sun. Kai shared his bike with Zeze and said, "Zeze you can have a turn first!" Is this the same kid that was kicking Zeze yesterday and yanking toys out of his hands? Then Kai spontaneously said he loved me and gave me a big hug! Then a unicorn danced by and gave me a pot of gold! Ok, I made that last part up, but today was so drastically different than yesterday that the entire description sounds made up to me! I'll take it though! We sure needed it!

I'll let you know how the Noah challenge goes tomorrow. We'll see if he ends up screaming in the tub and covered in poop like every other morning. Night Night!

Is there a bright side?

We're potty training Kai. He just pee'd on the floor which isn't a problem and is to be expected. But then he sat there and drove his fire truck back and forth through it. Then Noah blew out of his diaper and had diarrhea all over his bed (this happens at least once a day) and as I came in the room, I actually saw him take a handful and eat it. His face was smeared with it and now his breath smells like s**t. Is there a bright side to this? Any of you silent readers have any ideas on what I'm doing wrong or how to change this ongoing situation?

Thanks!

Look on the Bright Side

It's been raining here for days and days. On Friday morning it was, yet again, completely overcast and not a speck of blue sky was visible. Kai came into our room, looked out the window and happily shouted, "It's a sunny day!" We asked if he saw the sun or saw clouds. He said he saw clouds. We explained that clouds in the sky meant it was a cloudy day, not a sunny day. He said, "No, it's a sunny day. The sun is just behind the clouds." How profound! I need to take lessons from my sweet, happy boy and remember that it's always a sunny day even if the clouds are blocking the sun for awhile.