Thomas

we got Thomas in to see a Dr. yesterday, because his eczema is out of control this winter. His whole torso is covered front and back, and cuz it itches, he scratches, and has areas that have scabs that we have to cover with bandaids. Poor little guy. It is tough to see in this picture, I should have take one of his back, that is where he scratches the most.

We don't use harsh soaps, and we don't bathe him too much, just enuf. We also use my home made laundry soap, so theres no additives to irritate him. We are also being careful to watch for food allergies that could be triggering/inflaming.

I have used every lotion out there to slather him up for some relief. But he is sensitive to touch, and especially when I have to do his neck, he "wiggles" (to put it mildly).

It's like trying to catch a greased pig.

He thrashes and squeals and even runs away sometimes, and I can't get a hold of him to keep him still, cuz he is totally covered with lotion. Oh the fun.

We have found that Renew lotion from Melaleuca works better than anything else we have tried. I am glad that my sister sells Melaleuca products!

Anyway - so Tyson took him to the Dr. appointment yesterday. I went to Parent Teacher Conference at the same time. So we had a full day of Thomas stuff yesterday.

Since I didn't go to the appointment, I don't know exactly how it went. Tyson said the Dr. was great to listen to everything he had to say, and seemed super nice. Tyson warned him when he started to touch Thomas to check the sore spots out, that his neck is super sensitive, but the Dr. tried anyway. What he got was a little Thomas hurricane, and they had to get him to calm back down and try to sit still again.

After the $20 co-pay and what I am sure will be about another $50 for the rest of the visit, and the $4 tiny tube of steroid cream, we are still in the same place. he said all the stuff we are doing is great. There really isn't anything to do, but continue to slather him in lotion - the Dr. suggests 3 times a day (rofl - yeah right).

At Parent Teacher Conference, Ms. Karla had great things to say about how smart our little guy is. He has progressed considerably since the last eval. - academically at least and somewhat with working with peers (but we'll take anything).

Here's a quick list of the improvements he's made: he is holding his pencil correctly to write, writing his name is getting easier for him - he's always known the letters - they are just hard to write- especially left handed, he has learned how to make a pattern, he is starting to learn addition, a recent lesson about green monsters has helped him with his imagining and also drawing pictures. In his social skills, his teacher says he can work in groups on solving a problem, he has initiated play, and shared.

So that is what is new with our big boy.

At home he loves to play on the computer. His favorite game is on Playhouse Disney .com ~"Imagination movers - Idea box". he spends hours doing that. He also loves Word World on Pbskids .com.

In the play room his favorite thing to do is drawing on our big white boards. I love the things he comes up with to draw. Once he drew out all the things that we had seen when we drove down to see the Christmas lights display down in Willard Bay. He drew a bear climbing a tree to get the honey, and then the bee stopping the bear, cuz it is HIS honey. He drew funny monsters and faces for a while after the monster lesson at school. He has drawn a bowl of ABC's and 123's with meatballs (one of his favorite Chef Boyardee dinners). And he loves to write words too.

Thomas loves to help me with everything from cooking to getting Grayson's diaper when it's diaper change time. He is such a fun little guy.

We have an appointment on Feb 9. with a Dr. to observe his ADD. Hopefully it won't be like the last time I took him in - I'd had a dream several nights before that the Dr. would tell me he saw no signs of ADD - and that is what happened. Thomas got sick just before the appointment, and was totally lethargic. The Dr. said he didn't see any signs... I said "he is NOT himself" (DUH).

Better luck this time. And don't get me wrong, I don't WANT Thomas to be ADD - but I know he is, and we need to get some help. He will be starting Kindergarten in Sept. and we need to work on his attention or he will have trouble learning, and he will drive his teacher nuts.

Mater Cakes 2

I still cannot figure out what the problem is with blogger and not being able to upload pictures and videos. But it is very frustrating.

Anyway, here are the other ones promised over a week ago.

Grayson's birthday is coming up on Friday. I think we are going to shower him silly on Saturday, since Thomas has school friday and then Tyson has work. So Sat. we will get all the party supplies for Sunday, when all the family will be coming for pizza and cake and icecream. We'll take him to Just Bee Scrap'n to get balloons. And we'll take him to Burger King to play in the play place for a birthday lunch. And we'll give him his big boy bed. And maybe a gift or two to unwrap.

Mater Cakes

For Grayson's 2nd birthday party we will be doing a Cars/Lightning McQueen theme.

so in my searching for the fun stuff online, I came across THESE:

http://family.go.com/disney/pkg-disney-recipes/recipe-bakerella-903493-tow-mater-cupcakes-t/

I found several links to it, and of course everyone commented on how cool they were,  but I never saw anyone who actually made them, and shared their own. 

So I decided that if this was something we were going to have for his party, we had better attempt to make them some time before the big day.  So that was our activity for the evening.  As always happens, I misread the instructions, so they didn't turn out exactly the way they were supposed to. LOL

It was SOOOOOO much fun.  The boys really had a great time.

AND THEN THEY GOT TO EAT THEM!!!!

and as always I am having troubles with uploading anymore photos, and the cute video --- so check back tomorrow.....

Strep Throat - AGAIN

Wednesday I started to feel a sore throat coming on. By the evening, when Tyson had got home from work, I warned him, that I was getting sick. I woke up yesterday morning and looked with my handy flashlight to see the back of my throat - sure enough - it's strep again. I immediately got a dr. appointment - with a different doc this time - we have a group of doctors in the office we go to, and I just go with whomever I can get the earliest appointment with.

The last 2 times it was Dr. Keller - he's an older gentleman - and he always says the same stuff, cuz he doesn't remember me. "it could be mono - we should do the swab to make sure - then he explains how the z-pack works, eventhough I have used it before many times.

This time I got Dr. Wilding. He is an even older gentleman. After waiting for over an hour for him to see me, he came in and asked what was wrong. I told him "I have strep throat again". He says "well, how are your ears?" and he proceeded to give them a look (his hands shakey and poking me in the ear with his little ear checky tool) - they of course looked fine. so he turns to grab a tongue depressor, I open my mouth for half a second (I am really good at getting my tongue out of the way so they can see the back of my throat) and he exclaimed "You need some meds" -- just then his nurse stepped in, and he needed to go back out to check on something ---- so there I sat.

When he came back in, he started talking about Mono --- and then did the swab to be sure.... then gave me a perscription for the z-pack and had to tell me how it worked and how to take it.... the whole while I was trying to tell him, that I have had strep about 5 times in the last 7 months, and that I know that is what it is, and that I know the z-pack will work fine, and I have used it before --- He finally flipped thru my chart, and looked at 2 of the pages that said I had been confirmed with strep in Aug and one of the other months (can't remember which).

He stopped for one second and asked where I was getting it from. Ya GOT ME??? I told him. I am a stay at home mom, so its not like I am out picking up a lot of germs all the time. Perhaps thomas is bringing it home from preschool? But he doesn't get sick. Maybe it's from Grayson being in the nursery? but he's not sick this time. I always try to clean the handles of the shopping carts when I go shopping. And at church, my only social interaction, I don't actually come in any contact with anyone - no shaking hands or anything. So I don't know.

I just read an article on Yahoo about some "hidden" germy places so I have a few ideas for more thorough decontamination.

When I am sick (and since it seems to be happening way too often), I kinda start to freak out, that I will get the kids or Tyson sick too. I am afraid to touch stuff they might touch - like door handles, or cups, or silverware.
I have been watching MONK once in a while on netflix, and I can't help but wonder if I should be more ocd about making sure I get things more clean - like how he boils water and then pours it on his toothbrush, or uses a wipe to clean his hands if he shakes someones hands, or touches something.

I have to say Thank You to my mom for coming over yesterday to help me play with the kids. She took on Thomas. Grayson still needed his mommy most of the day, but it was such a big help.

I am not on my deathbed with it this time. I usually get the fever and chills and aches and such before the strep even presents itself. But it was totally different this time. I am hoping that it because my body is learning how to fight it better.