The Cough

J has had a runny nose the last few days. Last night I heard "The Cough" a few times in the night. Randy is gone, so I spent most of the night laying awake trying to figure out what I would do if we needed to book a night at the Chateau (Children's, but Chateau sounds much fancier, doesn't it?) and what I would do with J2. J is sleeping now, but The Cough is much worse than last night. I went up and watched him for a bit and I'm not hearing/seeing the breathing problems. Randy is on his way home now, so hopefully if we do need to run over and book a room, he'll be back by then. *knock wood* *fingers crossed* all that good stuff.

Object du Jour: The Lego windows and doors. J loves the little Lego doors and windows that open and close. They are fun to play with and as and added bonus, they're rectangular!

What I found most interesting, is I had only given him the bigger parts of the Lego set that were safe for him to play with. I gave him the frames for the door and windows, but not the inside parts because, honestly, they were in a separate bag and I didn't think of it. The rest of the pieces I kept in the closet. I did give him the book that came with the set. He sat pouring over it this afternoon and brought it to me saying, "Need a black door." J actually figured out that the door frame was supposed to have a black door in it just by looking at the catalog. I went into the bag of pieces in the closet and sure enough, there it was. He's been in Lego Heaven ever since. Wow.

Random thoughts...

J: "Go Steak Fair?"
Me: "You want to go to State Fair?"
J: "Go Steak Fair."
Me: "I thought you didn't like it there, remember you said it was too loud?"
J: "Get in Mommy's car, go Steak Fair!"

Where the heck did that come from? Didn't have the heart to tell him we'll have to wait another 11 months! lol I wonder what he was thinking about when he brought that up?

J is doing a great job keeping the glasses on. I still need to get the patch on them, but I'm just happy he's wearing them without too much problem. (When mommy doesn't leave them at school over the weekend. *ahem*)

Object du Jour: A picture from school that his speech therapist put together. He loves those books she makes.

Mad for plaid (and stripes)!

We have pee on the potty! It's not J though, it's Jameson. 21 months and he's getting the potty thing. I bought Jackson a froggy potty that is all one piece. He was getting too obsessed with playing with the parts of the training potty that had a lid and seat like a real toilet. J will sit on the new potty, but hasn't actually gone yet. Jameson knocked J off the potty this afternoon, whipped off his diaper and said, "Pee Pee!" and totally went! We clapped, we sang, we danced, but the big excitement was flushing the "pee pee" in the big potty. Jackson got back on and gave it another go, but nothing. We'll keep trying. I never thought they'd be training at the same time. And I certainly never thought, J2 would get it first. But hey, I would be thrilled with one or both of them out of diapers. I'll have to make a trip to Target and get a second froggy potty.

I had a conference all day today, so Randy got the boys up and going and got J to/from school. I now learned that there's a reason I'm in charge of dressing the boys (and Randy too for that matter). He put both boys in striped polos and plaid shorts of opposing colors. It wouldn't be so bad if they were just hanging around the house, but J went to school like that. I couldn't help but laugh when I got home and saw how they were dressed. Hopefully, they won't inherit their father's fashion sense!

J has been really whiny and demanding lately. But today when Daddy and J2 went on an errand and it was just him and me, we had a blast together. We danced and sang to ELO songs while picking up toys and giggled while repeating each other's words in funny voices. I think he was happy to have undivided attention. I think Randy and I need to make a point of giving each kiddo some time with us alone.

Object du Jour: The Magna Doodle. J would tell me what to draw, so there were lots of microwaves and "rectangle music", which is what he calls the satellite radio.

Cancer Sucks!

We have a friend who was diagnosed about a year ago with 3 brain tumors. The treatments and therapies have left their savings pretty much depleted, so a group of people held a fundraiser for him yesterday. There was food, music, a cake auction, raffle prizes and a performance from ComedySportz. The organizers did an incredible job! It was really heartwarming to see how many people came out to help this family.

Randy won a fruit basket and a necklace (he looks fabulous in it!) and I won a Brewer's basket with 10 bobble heads (I'm thrilled to now have a Yount to go with my Molitor!), 3 shirts, 2 hats, a cooler, a pennant, and a ton of Brewer's baseball cards. I also won a wonderful Red Velvet cake. Yum!

The event was held at a bowling alley and Jameson had a blast! He explored every inch of the place. Jackson was not happy to be there. He kept telling me everything was too loud. By the end, he was doing pretty well, but he needed to keep a fleece winter hat on his head through the whole event. He got some funny looks, but hey, I'm game for whatever it takes. Never mind that it was 70+ degrees yesterday.

We went to the ped this morning to get J's booster flu shot. He took it like a pro and immediately asked for his sticker. lol Pavlov's theory can also be proven with little boys and stickers.

Object du Jour: A toy phone and the sticker.

It's all about conditioning.

Got a letter from the insurance company saying that "coverage is available" for the microarray testing, so off to Children's we went Friday to do the blood draw for that and the thyroid. He loves running down the skywalk from the parking ramp and labelling all the exit signs.

We got in the lab waiting area and he kept pointing to the door to the office and saying, "Open it, door." When we finally got called back and sat down in the chair, he burst into tears and starting yelling, "Stiiiickers!!" I think he's finally figured out that each visit to Children's no matter what it's for results in a sticker or two. He handled the blood draw like a champ and happily bounded out of the office with a Blue's Clues sticker in one hand and Spiderman in the other. The major trauma was the "Bamdaid" that covered the poke. He made me remove it before we left the parking ramp.

J is on a Playdoh kick. That's all he wants to do lately, so we made a special trip out to go buy some 'doh. When we got to the store, I noticed that all the clearance toys were 20% off, so we also came home with a Handy Manny fix-it radio. The back comes off and there's giant pretend screws that can be "fixed" with the screwdriver that was included in the box. It talks and tells you what part to fix. He loves that thing! He's doing a really nice job of using the screwdriver appropriately and turning it one-handed. I'm going to regret this, aren't I? So, when the time comes that I blog that he's taken the microwave or a lamp apart, you can be the first to say, "I told you so!"

I'm still working on Halloween ideas for the boys. I think J would like to be Handy Manny and J2, Elmo aka Elmie. Although, I'd love to get Jameson into Jackson's old Elvis jumpsuit. How awesome would that be?

Object du Jour: The Handy Manny radio and the Playdoh.

Blanket glasses and a red espresso machine

Back to see the eye doctor with the awesomely (is that a word?) fun name to say! I think J thinks the whole hospital is named after her.

The office has been remodelled and now when the door to the staff lounge is open, one can see a fabulous white microwave and red espresso machine. I couldn't keep the kid out of there. I was reminded several times about how white the rectangle microwave and how red the espresso machine was.

We were called back by an intern who did the initial exam with J. We saw him last time too. He said this was the day he was going to get Jackson to like him. lol Jackson was doing great until the dr tried to examine him. The dr wanted J to match the shapes on the tv screen to a laminated sheet with the same shapes on it. J wasn't having any of the matching, but he'd sob loudly, "hooouuuse" or "aaaaapple." As soon as the intern left to get the doctor of the awesome name, J was back to his old self, dancing around the room and trying to get the laminated "game" out of the drawer. He's never going to win an Oscar for his acting.

Overall, Dr. C feels that J doesn't use his left eye as much as his right (the wandering one). His left eyelid has always been a little droopy (ptosis). She wants him to wear his "blanket" glasses two hours a day over the right eye and then we'll go back in two months. The blanket part of "blanket glasses" is a little fleece patch that slips over the lens, so J doesn't have to wear the sticky patches over his eye. That was a nightmare!

I ran into one of the parents from the Family Advisory Committee and we had a nice chat while we were waiting. This was their first time seeing Dr. C; I told the mom she'd love her.

Ironically, J hasn't worn his glasses regularly since the last visit. We've made several attempts, but I find them in the back of the dump truck, in the play kitchen microwave or in the hot little hands of a tornadic curly headed toddler. This morning when I got the case out, J said, "Glasses!" He wore them from the time I put them on him, through his appt and until Daddy delivered him at school. Yay! We'll see what his teacher says about how long he kept them on at school! Progress hopefully!

Object du Jour: The glasses, the doctor's "shape game" and a super keen Elmo sticker.

Sunday Night Randomness

Random pictures from the last few weeks I've mentioned, but didn't get posted. Some I haven't mentioned; meh, enjoy anyway.

1. Could he be any cooler? (said in my best Chandler Bing voice)
2. There's a giant what behind us? Mmmm, fingers.
3. My favorite Christmas present at 18 months old.
4. The best part of J's school.
5. First day of school.
6. First day of school with Jameson smelling the bush. Don't ask.
7. Oooo, Steak Fair Sky Glider. (Sidenote: Everytime he wears this shirt I get compliments on how cute my daughter is.)
8. A boy and his best friend. J was having a full-on conversation with his shadow.
9. The most awesome part of the birthday house...the doorbell!
10. Mmmmm, birthday cupcakes!!

I made a fringy blanket today for a friend's baby who had surgery recently. J was practically drooling on the table on the hope that the blanket was going to be for him. He kept trying to pull it off the table as I was tying up the sides. I told him, "This is for Baby Christian." He wasn't having any of that and said, "Baby Kitchen?" while trying to sneak it off the table. I had to quick wrap it up when he wasn't looking. Like we don't have 27 other fringy blankeys (or KeeKee's as J2 calls them) in this house!

Object du Jour: The chalk board on the easel. I drew air conditioners, microwaves, doors, light switches and Rectangle Ellen until my fingers were totally pink and orange. Anyone seeing a theme here?

Positive Exposure and Rescue 911

We got a letter in mail today that Jackson is one of the children chosen from the Genetics Clinic to participate in a photo session with Rick Guidotti. He takes pictures of people with different disorders to promote a positive self image and so they can be looked at as a child and not their diagnosis. Here's his site: www.positiveexposure.org I'm so stinkin' excited about this!

On a bummer note this week, J's feeding therapist has moved on to another job. I don't know how I'm going to explain to him that we won't be seeing her at "Elissa's house" anymore. Good luck and we'll miss you!

GI Clinic today. Weight and height up! Yay! Met with ST, Beh Psych, the Dietitian, nurse, OT, and GI dr. They are all pleased with his gains. We'll just continue on the same course and tube him at night as needed. I discussed the Prevacid issue with the dr. and she said that Prilosec could work for J after it's compounded in the pharmacy. So, I guess if we get rejected by the insurance company, that's what we'll do. She also didn't see a need to do the Ph Probe at this time. Whew! We got back in Dec for a follow-up. Eye clinic next week.

Jameson decided that he doesn't provide enough excitement in our lives and called 911 this morning. The phone rang and a woman said, "This is Cheryl from the city 911, is everything OK?" Thank goodness she was understanding and didn't need to send a squad or firetruck.

Today he's also taken off his pants in the backyard, slipped through the fence and colored all over the neighbor's picnic bench with sidewalk chalk and broken the child lock on the cabinet. I can feel my hair turning grey as I type this.

While we were playing the yard yesterday, he watched the roofers working two houses down. One would yell down, "I need another palette!", to which Jameson would stand at the fence and reply, "What!? What!?" Like they need his input on their roofing job.

Object du Jour: The Halloween place mat that I got on clearance last year at Kohl's. Can't beat 90% off. It ended up being a whopping .39. We had to take it with us to GI.

I had a great day in 4K!

J came out of the school today wearing a big blue paper hat decorated with stickers. Written across the front was, "I had a great day in 4k!" It was so sweet and he was so proud of the hat; I almost cried. His teacher said that he handled the big group well, but needed quite a bit of help to focus on the project and get it done. She said he freaked a bit when they took a group pic of everyone wearing their hats and the class yelled, "Cheese!"

J started school on the first. He's in the PM class with two other kids. The plan is to slowly integrate them in the JK class (there are 24 in there!) and pull them back to the EC classroom when things in the JK class are too overwhelming or if they need a lot of help with an activity. Some "typical" peers may also be brought back to the EC classroom as models. J cried when I dropped him off the first day, but yesterday was much better. His teacher, aide, OT, PT and ST are all still the same, so I think he'll fall into the routine pretty quickly.

Jameson has definitely entered the terrible two's a few months early. The experiences I've had with Jameson at two are worlds apart from Jackson at two. J2 is climbing everything. He hooks his toes on the knobs of the drawers in the kitchen to get on the counter. I put him back in bed after he climbed out of his crib 8 times last night before he finally fell asleep. This morning, after Daddy got him dressed, he climbed back into the tub with Jackson when I turned my back for 3 seconds to get the shampoo for J. This kid is quick and quiet like a Ninja. Peeling wet clothes off of a howling, squirming toddler is great fun. When I reprimand him, he'll either flash that little grin at me or give me his infamous two-eyed wink. This will get easier, right? Right? Because it's getting harder to put things out of the Billy Goat's reach!

I got a copy of the letter that the geneticist sent to our insurance company regarding covering the chromosomal microarray analysis. Hopefully, we'll hear something soon. We'll do the thyroid check at the same time. I'm noticing more mottling on J's legs now that it's chillier outside. Still waiting on the Prevacid determination.

Object du Jour: Lego squares.

Here's a few fun pictures from our trip! The top pic is the boys fighting over who gets to drive Fred Flintstone's car. Jameson was screaming, "Driiiiive!"

The second pic is Jameson posing for his place as the 49th President at Presidential Park. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I don't think he'll make the 35 year old age limit though.

The next pic is Jackson playing at the water park.

The last one is the boys at the Corn Palace.

The roughest part of the trip was when Jameson had had enough of the hair pin turns in the Black Hills park and threw up all over himself and his car seat. That was quite a clean up, and he rode back to the hotel in only a diaper, but we all survived!

South Dakota!

We're currently driving home from a night at Grandma and Grandpa's and we'll be in our own beds shortly! Yay! Isn't technology great that I can blog from the car?

Monday we went to Sioux City.

Tuesday: Wall Drug, The Badlands and The Corn Palace.

Wednesday: Mount Rushmore, Deadwood and Sturgis. We also drive through the wildlife trail in the Black Hills park and saw Buffalo, Prairie Dogs, Deer and some other horned creature that I had never seen before. The donkeys walk up and stick their faces right in car looking for food. I screamed like a little girl. lol

Thursday: Custer to Bedrock City and a quick look at Crazy Horse. Back to Deadwood and Lead to see the Presidential Park.

Friday: up to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, then back to the hotel to play at the waterpark.

Whew! We got a lot done in a short time! I was so impressed with how well the boys handled the car rides and all the new stuff. They both HATED the T-Rex at Wall Drug. Jameson was impressing the Amish with his dance moves there though.

Jackson was hesitant at the waterpark at first, but then had a blast! I can't tell you how thrilled I was with how well he handled all the sounds and changes!

I'll post pics when we get home. Those of you who are my Facebook friends can see some of pics there.

Object du Jour: Grandma's fake light-up candles. He loves those things!

Check Ups!

The boys had their annual check-ups last week. J is 28 lbs and 36 3/4" and Jameson is 24 lbs and 34". J2 is catching up quick! They are wearing the same clothes for the most part, J's feet are one size bigger. My twins! lol

I chatted with the dr. about the swine flu vaccine. She thinks J should get that and regular flu vaccine. New vaccines make me nervous, but with J's history of landing in the hospital with every respiratory bug he gets, I don't want to take any chances. Plus, with the larger class size this Fall, I'm sure he's going to be exposed to all kinds of fun stuff.

Monday, we are heading to South Dakota for the week. We're going to do as much touristy stuff as we can find! Our last big trip before school starts Sept 1st. Where did summer go? It's so chilly today, it feels like Fall!

The quest for the Elmie fleece (or heck, just a pre-made Elmo throw) continues. I never thought I would have so much trouble finding something. I've tried Walmart, Kohl's, Target, JC Penney, Sears, Joann's, Hancock, and Google. I did find a 4 pc PJ set at Kohl's for 12.00, so I snapped that up. Anyone have any suggestions?

Little update on the med mess. I finally talked to the GI nurse. She said she had the same go-round with another family's insurance. The one med on the list of 4 that our insurance will pay for that could possibly work is no longer being made by the manufacturer. Wheee! So, we will go forward with sending in the appeal letter, with this new tidbit of info added. The nurse said that we may want to do the GI probe as additional proof that J needs this medication. For now, the plan is to send in the letter of appeal and meet with GI the second week of Sept to discuss our options.

Object du Jour: One of my make-up brushes. I found J brushing the cat with it. Ew, they can have it.

Out of sorts, sort of...

Jackson has been so "not himself" the last week. I don't know if he's missing the routine of school, is having trouble with too many new people and places, is bored and/or may be getting sick. He's been self-stimming by making lots of repetitive noises and sounds. Echoing phrases said by others in a high-pitched voice is also something new. He's back into mouthing toys like crazy, which he wasn't doing as much of recently. J has also been more into himself and not as interactive as he usually is - even with me. Which is highly unusual for him, the interactions he has with me are usually pretty consistent. J's OT and ST agree that he's out of sorts, but he did have a pretty good day in feeding today.

We were supposed to meet with the rep for the autism waiver today, but she got the time wrong and didn't show up. I called her and we rescheduled for tomorrow. Now I have to re-clean the mess the boys made in the living room.

Still waiting on Randy to upload the latest pics. *toetap*

Object du Jour: J and I went to Joann's and Half Price Books after feeding therapy. I wanted to find some "Elmie" fleece (as Jameson calls Elmo), to make him a fringy blanket of his own. No Elmo fabric, but plenty of John Deere and zebra print fleece, what's up with that Joann?

So, we headed to HPB and I got a few books I've been looking for and I also got a book light, so I can read when I sit with the boys waiting for them to fall asleep. Jackson played with it most of the afternoon. He put the light behind every toy he could find to see what would happen. (Ironcially, J was totally his old self at both Joann's and HPB. Hmmm.)

Our Brush with Greatness

Busy weekend! My brother and his daughter were here Friday and Sat, Randy's sister and her husband stopped over for a bit on Sunday (HI Aunt Donna!) and we headed back to State Fair on Sunday afternoon. And on Saturday, Randy and I volunteered to work at a Brewer's autograph signing. Trevor Hoffman! (Yum!) We left the boys with my brother for the latter. It was too hot out and we were too busy running around.

I found out first hand how nutty Brewer's fans can be. "Can I have that case of water the players didn't drink?" Um, no. "Can you grab a bunch of Ryan Braun's photos for me?" (This was while he was signing for the people that had waited since 4 am to see him). Again, um, no. "What do you mean I can't show up 5 minutes before the players arrive and still get a wristband for an autograph?" Sheesh. Some people had gotten in the line for Braun and Hoffman at 9 pm the night before! I love getting yelled at by strangers for things I have absolutely no control over. Good times. But I got some great pictures and a cool t-shirt. Randy was very excited to be "stage security" for the players during the Q&A session. lol

Jackson was a little better on our last trip to Steak Fair. He seemed to be enjoying some parts of it. Jameson loved the lemonade!

This week we have the boy's annual check-ups and then it's off to MN for a little vakay for me and the boys and a little work for Daddy. Jackson will be thrilled, one of my goals is to get him a new potty from Ikea.

Finally got a call back from GI regarding the meds and ph probe. We weren't home, so now we're playing phone tag. Not it!

Object du Jour: The rectangle mirror. J loves this little mirror that we used to see them in the backseat while driving.

I think my next post will be pretty photo laden. We still have a ton to upload.

Elmo says, "What?"

Jackson brought the stuffed Elmo to me this morning, pointed to his head and said, "No ears." Amazing that he noticed that.

*sigh* Here we go again with Walgreens, insurance and drugs. Will I never learn? Turns out Walgreens has not been billing for J's Prevacid correctly over the last 8 (!) months. Our insurance doesn't cover Prevacid and it's 185.00 a month. Ouch. The 4 medications for reflux they do cover are adult meds and J can't swallow a pill. According to our ped, they are not good drugs to try to dissolve to put through the tube. Sooo, now I have to write an appeal letter and try to get the meds covered. Fun stuff! Our ped has been wonderful in helping us try to navigate this maze.

J was off the meds for 4 days because we didn't have any. The poor kid was crying last night saying, "belly itchy." I found two pills in his overnight bag and the ped is going to get us some samples to tide us over until we can get this mess straightened out.

The ped also said that in a note from the GI dr, it was mentioned that GI wanted to do a PH Probe on J to see what the levels of acidity in his stomach are. I guess depending on the levels, there could be concern for the erosion to turn cancerous later in life. This was never brought up to me before, so I asked what the test entails. Basically, they would put a probe in his nose down into his belly and leave it there for 23 hours. We'd have to stay in the hospital overnight. I have a feeling if we have to do this, it will be the longest 23 hours of my life. I have a call into GI to see what she says.

Daddy is taking J to dental clinic today. He's better at holding him down than I am. Hopefully, all will go well and they will both make it out OK with a new toothbrush and sticker.

Object du Jour: A magnet from the fridge that has smiley faces with different expressions. There's one with wide eyes, mouth open and hair sticking up. Jackson calls this one, "Too loud." lol