Life Lately

Life lately has been keeping us on our toes and making us feel incredibly blessed

We are in the home stretch of the last month of school

with a million activities to fill the last 2 weeks

Spencer was given the Best Attitude award at his orchestra concert last week

and also got an award for getting a 1- on a solo and ensemble piece

We have a choir concert Thursday and movie night at school this Friday

Baseball practices have started and oh my goodness how we missed being at the ball field

The boys LOVE playing ball and we LOVE watching them

Opening ceremonies was Saturday and we had gorgeous weather
Whats not to LOVE about ball park food, sunshine and great friends 

 While there is no place we'd rather be, practices 3-4 nights a week take time from other things

Two months ago, I was asked by the PTO to treat our teachers for Teacher App. Week

Last week was THE WEEK and we delivered 52 gifts every day

with an added bonus of breakfast on Friday for all of the staff

It was fun but I've never been so happy to put all my craft stuff away
Maybe this is why I don't get any of my own projects done

I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to add a little more work to our lives but we did

After wanting to remodel one of our bathrooms since the day we looked at our house (15 years ago),

things are finally starting to come together

The corner shower leaked after multiple caulk jobs so I finally said, THIS IS IT!

I should say that more often because things happen when I say that

I spent a month picking out a shower (I could never build a home- there are too many decisions)

In my mind, I knew I wanted this particular corner tub we had seen at Menards

but kept thinking it would be too big

I didn't want to have my knees shoved in the side of the tub when I was on the toilet

We measured and measured and drew lines - I'm a visual person

In the end, we decided to GO BIG

Here's a  photo of the work in progress:

The old leaky corner shower
 

We had to do some floor repair due to the leak

I'll post more pictures of the bathroom when it's done

While all of our projects were in full swing, 

I fit in a few Dr appointments for myself  that I had been putting off

I've had a sore on my foot since December that I tried to treat myself but it didn't work

It was a deep plantars wart that's going to need some more attention

Bummer!

Two days later I had an appointment for a yearly lady exam and some blood work

What should have been a quick exam ended up being a 2 hour appointment

My Dr. found a lump in my right breast

4 days later (the longest 4 days of my life) I had a mammogram and ultrasound

So far everything looks good but I'll be seeing a surgeon later this month

Mother's Day was a little more sentimental than it has been in the past

A week prior, I wasn't sure what my future would look like

Life can change in the blink of an eye

I'm so thankful that I'm on the other side of this and blessed

The boys made me breakfast and cards on Sunday and we spent the evening with my parents

Our jobs are going well

The hubby is working a lot of over time
 and I'm thrilled to be working in a t-shirt rather than my parka

I had my 9 month review last week that went fabulous

My boss is kind of a negative nancy so I was dreading my first review

A great review and a raise can turn anyone's day around

Our vacation plans are in the works

I've worked 9 months with NO vacation
This was quite a change from the flexible schedule I had before

Come the end of July I will FINALLY have vacation time and I'm going to CELEBRATE
So far we have 2 trips planned

Well, that's a wrap up
I'm hoping to write more blog posts this summer

Vacation

Spring break

The boys just finishing up Spring break 

I could really do without Spring break

It's usually too cold for the kids to do much outside

In my opinion, ten and a half days off is a bit much for a Spring break

I think it's basically for the teachers to take one last breath so they can get through the year

The boys enjoyed it though

We started the week off by meeting our new cousin John Hadley

We let the boys stay out later in the evenings playing with friends

My mom was AMAZING like we know she is and took the boys several afternoons

and

we did some grilling and had strawberry floats



Welcome Spring 

Today the boys went back to reality
School and Iowa Tests of Basic Skills
What a way to break them back in

Playing catch up

Where did February go?

Seriously wasn't it just Christmas?

 I'm playing catch up on the blog today

February was a fast but incredible month

We had beautiful snow with lots of cold days but my oh my were the snowflakes pretty

We had a lot of important doctor appointments

Parker was backed off on his allergy meds because of  the bad reaction he had in January

His Dr. decided to go back to the blue serum

He got 1 dose in IC and 2 doses here in town

When it was time to get back up to the dose he had the reaction to, we went back to IC

The doctors and nurses at Town Square Allergy and Asthma Clinic are fa-nominal

Parker did AMAZING and we are back on track with the yellow vile

He has been a champ through this entire thing 

and we hope to get to the maintenance phase by the end of March

Can I get a whoop whoop?!?!

That will mean 2 shots a month instead of once a week

Spencer saw a new neurologist this month

We decided to switch his care from the University 

when his doctor wanted to take him off of his migraine medicine last Spring

He has done so well on it, I hated to take him off if we didn't have to

Why ruin a good thing?

Dr. Stern agreed and he's staying on his medicine

Spencer doesn't go to the Dr. very often {He's the healthier child}

and we got to get a true weight and height check while we were there

5'0 and 104 lbs 

I hosted a baby shower for my sweet cousin last weekend

She will be blessing us with a bouncing boy any day

That growing boy of ours turned 13 last Sunday

Where does the time go

Spencer had a choir concert Tuesday and an orchestra concert Thursday this last week

These kids keep us on our toes

He'll be participating in the solo and ensemble again this month so lots of practice happening here

We can't believe Spring break is in 2 weeks 

Time flies when Life happens

Allergy shot update

Last week I wrote a post about Parker's scary reaction to an allergy shot 

Here's that post 

Here's the update:

After talking to his Dr. and nurse in IC, we all decided it would be good for him to be seen up there

before we continued any more shots here in Muscatine

Parker and I made the trip last Thursday 

We saw his doctor, we explained everything that happened and

 we showed pictures of his swollen arm and the hives that covered his back, chest and neck

I took the bottle of serum that they had taken the shot from with us

The nurse was going to measure out each dose to see if he was given more than he should have been

They were short staffed due to two nurses having babies the same week  so that didn't happen

Parker's doctor held up a bottle that was missing one dose (.05) and Parker's bottle

There was a noticeable difference in the amounts

Our guess is that Parker was given .5 instead of .05

When we're putting an allergen in a body, this is serious stuff

I've gone through the emotions

I understand mistakes happen but when I'm putting the health

 and well being of my child in their hands,

I expect the right dose of medicine to be given!

Parker's doctor is fabulous and always asks Parker how he's doing

She faced him and asked him if the reaction was scary

I never in a million years would have expected him to say yes

but he did and my heart broke

She asked him if he wanted to continue to do shots 

and explained that the reaction he had wasn't normal

I didn't want him to feel pressured in any way to keep going with the shots

I was having seconds thoughts myself

Parker decided to continue getting allergy shots

They backed him up a little so we are back to the blue bottle of serum

He got a shot the day we were in IC and had NO reaction

He will get 2 more shots from the blue serum in Muscatine 

( I will be watching the dosage like a hawk)

and then we will be going back up to Iowa City to get the dose that gave him the reaction

His doctor wants to be the one giving that shot in case he has another reaction

There's a small chance that it could be the way that bottle of serum was mixed

or it could be that his body just isn't ready for that dose

but they're guessing he was given too much

I'll be updating again in a few weeks

We couldn't be more proud of Parker, he's such a trooper!

Double Digits for Parker

I forgot to post about Parker's birthday so before we're celebrating another birthday at our house,
 I'm backing up to my babes birthday

On December 17th, my baby turned 10!

How can both of my kids be in the double digits already?

We make Parker's birthday a BIG deal because it's so close to Christmas
 We never want him to feel jipped like so many who have birthdays in December

We had his family birthday party early in hopes of making it more special
He was spoiled rotten of course and loved all his gifts

This was his favorite card
I sure wish I could remember what the inside said, something about eating every last crumb
This boy got his mama's sweet tooth so it's only normally to love a card that says, eat CAKE

Grandma made this adorable Santa outfit for his Build a Bear
Look at those eyes sparkle
He LOVES it!

Parker picked out a hunting themed cake 

We don't eat out much so it's a treat when the kids get to pick their birthday restaurant
If their birthday falls on a week day, we go the weekend before or the weekend following
We went the weekend before and Parker picked Buffalo Wild Wings

On his birthday he opened his gifts

Clothes, more clothes, Star Wars Rebel Action Figures,
Birthday Cake M&M's and Birthday Cake Poptarts

What more could a boy ask for?

The weekend we hope to never relive

We had a weekend we don't ever want to relive

Parker started allergy shots back in October

He has been a patient at Town Square Allergy and Asthma Clinic for about 5 years now

Last spring his allergies were out of this world awful and we finally gave in to the shot business

The shots are administered at Parker's regular doctors office so we don't have to drive to IC weekly

A patient starting allergy shots can get a shot every 3 days

We have the insurance from #%&&,

so we have to pay a $25 copay every time he gets a shot so we are spreading them out

We know it will take longer to get through the whole shot process (like years and years)

but this is what we decided was best for us

My mom has been AMAZING helping take Parker so he doesn't have to miss so much school

On Friday, Parker had a shot at 4:00

They gave him the shot, sent him out, checked his arm after 30 minutes and sent him on his way

The nurse commented that they were starting a new bottle and he may need some Benadryl

My mom dropped Parker off at home with the hubby and told him to give him some Benadryl
My hubby, being the man he is just put some Benadryl cream on the injection site

By the time I got home shortly after 5, we had some serious issues going on

Parker was breaking out in a rash, his arm was painful, itching, red and hot and he was coughing

These are not the normal reactions from an allergy shot

I gave him Benadryl and had him use his inhaler

I tried to remain calm but when your baby is having a reaction that's effecting his airway,

this mama had every right to become a hot mess and trust me, I was

I called my mom in a panic and she ran us some Zantac

{Zantac and Zyrtec are often used together to treat allergic reactions}
While my mom was dropping off the medicine, she asked if Parker had said anything about the shot
In the doctors office, Parker told my mom that he felt like he got more medicine than normal
and my mom said it took the nurse longer to put it in than normal
{With him starting a new bottle, he should have received the smallest dose}

We did what was needed to keep him comfortable the rest of the night

He was pretty sleepy from all the meds and we let him fall asleep on the couch


On Saturday the rash and his breathing were better but his arm was huge and painful
At 7:00 that night I called my mom to ask if we had maxed out our meds for the day
I'm always hesitant to give him meds when he takes so much already
My mom asked if he had a fever
He didn't act like it but we scanned his forehead and wouldn't you know it,
he had a bit of a fever
My mom had seen his arm earlier that day and was starting to worry about infection
We took off hoping Urgent Care was still open but it wasn't
Our plan was to be waiting at the door when they opened Sunday morning
but when he got up, his arm looked and felt much better


I've spent the last couple of days having medical records transferred in hopes of figuring this out
We will be going back up to IC next week with the bottle of serum
They will be measuring out his doses to see if he was given too much
He was supposed to have 500th of a cc but they think he may have been given .5 (half) a cc
If this isn't the case, maybe his body just wasn't ready for the dose he was given
IC will be making him new serum which will back him down a little bit but we'll still be on track


Through all of this, I've felt every emotion
No mother wants to see her child struggle to breathe
No mother wants to see her child in pain
I still question whether we made the right decision to do allergy shots
We've had scary situations from allergic reactions before and now we've had them from the shots
Right now, I feel like it's a no win but someday we hope to say it was worth it


Parker was absolute trooper through the whole thing
The boy just amazes me!

This picture was from my phone so it wasn't the best
We kept telling him he had big muscles

I will write an updated post next week after we see his doctor in IC

The holidays and everything in between

Wowza... it's been a long time since I blogged

We got through the holidays, holy smokes that went fast

I'm thinking that people who work outside the home should get 2 weeks off at Christmas 

Now that I'm back out in the working world, 

I would do ANYTHING to have a little break during the holidays
I had cute crafts I wanted to make, more decorations to put out and my shopping was rushed
Every year I say I'm going to start earlier and get done so I can actually ENJOY
Thankfully the hubby gets great vacation benefits so he helped with some of the decorating
Normally I'm kind of picky about the decorating but it was either-
Let him do it and be quiet about it or accept the fact that it wouldn't get done so I stayed quiet
The week before Thanksgiving he set up the village
We started painting our village back in 1997 when we first started dating
I love it and the fact that there is so much love poured into it
It's not just a village that was purchased at a store
Each piece was picked and painted with care
When we paint a new piece, we write the date on the bottom
It's fun to get the village out and see those dates

This picture doesn't even begin to show how beautiful the village is
I promise to take pictures of all 27 pieces next year

Our Christmas tree was pretty sad this year
We called it the big Charlie Brown Christmas Tree
We went to a tree farm in Nichols
 The boys enjoyed petting the horses but the trees were disappointing

We probably should have tried a different tree farm but
every year the hubby bowls in a tournament the day we get our tree so we didn't have much time
Next year I'll be sure to go a different day so we have more time to find the perfect tree
I just kept saying- I can't believe I paid $50 for THAT tree
I didn't even take a picture of it all decorated because it was so hideous

Every year I buy the boys a new ornament
I try to pick one that "fits them"
This year Spencer got a violin and Parker got a crab


















During the month of December we had all kinds of concerts
Parker performed with the Colorado Jammers at the Holiday Stroll and at his Winter Choir Concert
and
Spencer had two concerts (choir and orchestra) the week before Christmas


My brother and his family were home the weekend before Christmas
It's so much fun to get these kids together

There was lots of singing, piano playing and they even performed a skit of Jesus birth


I finally got our Christmas card out the week of Christmas

On Christmas Eve, I had a fever and felt like a knife was stabbing me in the lungs when I coughed
I was feeling a little better Christmas Day so we opened gifts at home
 and then went to spend the day with my parents
My mom always makes hot cider, cheese ball, a cookie tray and of course a fire in the fire place
There is no place I'd rather be on Christmas


Favorite Gifts:
Our kids were spoiled and got everything they could possibly want
Spencer wanted a gun and told me that he didn't care if he didn't got anything else
Can you tell he was excited?

My Mom and Dad gave Parker his favorite gift this year
Grandma made Parker a new camouflage robe and matching pajama pants
I've had to sneak them in the laundry while he's sleeping
He has wore them every day since Christmas

The day after Christmas I ended up at Urgent Care with bronchitis
I'm so glad I made it through the holidays and had the weekend to rest and paint some village pieces
This coming year, I'll be working on those cute crafts and I'll be picking up gifts as I see them
With hopes that next Christmas will be more relaxed and enjoyable