Finally Friday!

It has been one looooong week I tell ya! Today, Miss O and I went to watch Little J and his choir sing at CWU for a couple of hours... the choir is getting so much better! We spent the rest of the day running countless numbers of errands and just making it home in time to get things rolling for dinner!
Knock on wood - Little J has been doing pretty well... he has a better attitude and loves to offer to help - especially lately... not sure why... but I am not going to question it (yet!!).

We have had a really long and mentally/physically exhausting week with Big Al. We have found more items being hoarded in his room and he is back on the "eating crayons" band wagon! He has brought home small garbage items and been hiding them to eat them at night. It is unfortunate that we cannot find a counselor that specializes in PICA (which is the medical term for what he has). I have horrible fears that he is going to eat something really wrong that will either tear him up on the inside or cause real serious poisioning. We can talk to him about it until we are blue in the face - and have on many occasions. It is really a very sad situation for him, as his condition forces us to be extremely over-vigilant about where he is and what he is doing. I feel more like a prison warden than a mom on most days... searching through every offafice of his room, patting him down morning and night for "contraban"...
I have had numerous incidents of "intuition" with Big Al, that have proved 100% dead-on... and I hate knowing that if we don't have an eagle-eye on him, he will do something that will cause him harm.
Trying to figure out what to do with him this summer is going to be a challenge! There is no summer school or long-term summer programs locally with enough supervision to handle him...... I sure wish we had more military boarding schools close by!!

No words Wednesday!

Another appointment with no answers

I took Big Al to Children's last week. It was time for his "official" six month check up with the endo doctor. Well.. he gained a whole 2 measly pounds in six months.. I personally can gain 2 pounds in a weekend (or less!!) and his height gain was very minimal, probably only shown as an increase due to needing a haircut!
I did request that they test him for lead poisoning, which they did... his levels came back at very low. His doctor was really hesitant to test for lead.. her EXACT words were, "We really only test for kids who eat paint chips.... (then looking at Big Al she says..."oh never mind - forgot!"... I had a hard time not busting up at her question! The kid has practially stripped his bunk bed of any paint!
So, moving forward... we are applying to get HGH (human growth hormone) approved from the insurance company. Since he apparently has enough growth hormone in his system, they are applying for it under the diagnosis of ideopathic short stature aka (ISS) which basically means they have no answers to why he really will not grow!
According to Children's, it could take up to 3 months to see if we can get approved. It is a lengthy process because typically, for children with ISS, it is a "cosmetic" drug... that cracks me up - but oh well!
We are still trying to do our part to get the kid to EAT, but it is an exhausting and frustrating process... one that I wish I did not have to deal with!

Weekend fishing

This weekend, we decided to try out a different fishing pond. For the first time in many years, I got a fishing license... just to be legal when I had to hold the poles! haha!
This was a pond we have never tried. After about 30 minutes, the hubby and I were ready to pack it up. Big Al had cast into the trees over head twice, Little J kept losing his worms... the hubby was getting sick of being everyones "fishing guide" (meaning me - I don't touch worms!) and it was getting late... then WHAMMMMMMOOOOOO!

Miss O said "I got something!"... We assumed it was just a big weed, since there was alot of vegetation... nope - she reeled in a cute little perch or something! Her first fish of the season! She was QUITE happy with her self!
About 5 minutes later, Big Al screams that he has one.. another cute little spiny fish... Little J was starting to have a "moment" and got really hacked off - since he is the only one who really LOVES fishing (according to him!)! I then had a bite on my line, so I handed it to Little J to reel in... thinking that I was being nice by letting him catch one on my pole! The whole time he was whining about how it was MY fish, not his (ummm yeah - I have not actually caught a fish on my own in more years than I care to admit!) Within minutes, he had one on his pole... and the excitement was back! We ended up catching about 7 or 8 of these little guys.. they all survived and are now living in our pond! The kids all ended up having fun and only the hubby came home fishless! He tried to be a good sport about it!! haha!



All three kiddos having a good time at their "favorite" new pond!

My little songbird!

This morning, Little J got to sing at the Grand Opening of a store here in town with his choir from school. It was alot of fun! Less than half the kids showed up to sing, but they had alot of fun, once the nervousness was over!!

Choir is the ONE thing that Little J has done on his own! He really HATED music class all the way up to 4th grade. Then, he decided he wanted to be in choir! I think it might have had something to do with the fact that it is 98% GIRLS and only 5 or 6 boys! haha!
He will have another few music events this year, which will be fun to see! We are hoping that he continues, as it gives him something that is just his, not shared with his brother!

My little helper!

I have to be the first to say that Miss O is a wonderful little helper! When she is given a job ot do, she goes all out! Her job last night was to clean up after dinner! I really just meant to wipe off the table... but ohhhhh no! She wiped off the table, the chairs, the bench, put things back in the fridge, took care of the napkins THEN swept the floor! AND... she was thrilled to do it! Love that little monkey!

Easter!

Well... there was not much fan fare this year for Easter! The Easter Bunny was out ill with the stomach flu! It took all the Easter Bunny's strength to get the eggs and baskets hidden! The kids really enjoyed hunting for their stuff! Fortunately, Big Al and Little J were helpful to their little sis in finding her stuff! She sure LOVES holidays!!!

Big Al turns 12

Hard to believe that we made it to 12!!! But, here we are! Happy Birthday Big Al!