I'm going to try to be better about blogging. I just plum don't have any time for it. But as of right now, things are good. Serren is doing well, still having bouts with some unexplained fevers, but all and all she's doing great. Aaron has started school and is adjusting fine now. J wants to give basketball a shot, so we're going to. We've started attending a new church and we LOVE it! The kids are absolutely blossoming. Aaron is singing and J is actually retaining scriptures he's learned. Even little one has visited the nursery. She didn't even know we were gone. The church and nursery are much too big for her to go regularly (too much risk for infection), but Sunday nights leave her with about 4 or 5 other kiddos and that's great for her. I'll try to keep up from now on, but for now, I've got lots of cleaning to do and some dinner to cook. Hugs.

OK...I have no idea where yesterday's post went so I'll try again. I talked to the day surgery nurse and first of all, she said Serren could not get her shots. So, I went ahead and took her in for a weight check and decided to have her actually seen since she'd been a little fussy for the last couple of days and not really eating up to par. Her dr. said that she's got a bit of a sore throat but it's not strep and she did gain...drum roll please...4 oz. last week. I was crazy excited but the peoples gingerly set me back down by saying she should be gaining, at the minimum, an oz. a day. And since she obviously is not that means from where they're sitting surgery is still a go. Which brings us to the second part of my conversation with the nurse. We have to be at the hospital at 9AM on Tuesday for an 11AM surgery. While she is recovering from surgery they will move us to her room and once she's recovered they will bring her to us. I'm still not 100% sure what exactly is involved with this procedure or how long this one will take, but, we will get all of our questions answered when we meet with Dr. Ricketts before hand. If you have any questions just let me know and I'll answer them for you or ask them and get you an answer once I find out. Sorry for the confusion yesterday and we love you all!

Catching up

Alrighty... It's been a minute. Sorry. I told you I don't have much time for this thing. LOL Ok, Monday Aaron had to have his blood drawn for all of the many tests the GI is running. They took 8-9 vials. He did really well. He screamed but I was able to hold him so it went quickly. She got the vein first stick which was even more impressive. Then we went and got J's haircut, and Emily (our hair dresser) washed Aaron's so he wouldn't feel left out. We headed straight to The Memory Cottage from there. Aaron was, as usual, his hammy self. He showed out a bit but I was impressed with what Debbie (the photographer) was able to get them to do. I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product. We have an appt. Monday to check out her work and choose our favs.
Tuesday J's friend Tyler's mom came to help paint our kitchen. Yeah, she really ended up doing everything. I think I put a couple of pieces of tape up but that was all I contributed. She did an AWSOME job. Better than all 4 of the professionals we've had in here over the last couple of years. And Aaron's BCW speech therapist (Sandy) came by to discuss his starting school. That was supposed to be done in Dec. so he could start in Jan. but I'm not bitter! *teeth grinding* Now, b/c of the surgery it will be put off until the end of Mar. which means he can't start school until the end of Apr. begining of May. Great news since school is over the 2nd week of May. We are really doing well, huh? But we did hear from his new speech therapist and she said that everything is in the works but that she hasn't gotten an approval from the insurance co. yet for his twice a week visits. *fingers crossed*
I think that's pretty much where we are now. Serren was supposed to get her shots tomorrow but b/c of having another procedure in the works we got a big fat "NO!" I think she'll be 20 by the time she gets her 3 mon. shots. *sigh*
We have another busy day scheduled so I'll try to fill you in tonight.

UGH

Please pray! Serren has not had a good day. She just woke up off of her game. She was very noisy and having a hard time getting a good breath. She’s not choked on any of her feedings lately but for some reason she was not interested in eating. I’m not sure if she actually has the ability to relate her bad days with her choking but it was as if she just knew what would happen if she attempted to eat today. Of course she didn’t really seem to excited about her baby food either, so she may have just not had much of an appetite. I just pray that tomorrow will be much better. She’s done so well and even gained 4 oz. last week. I would just hate to see her take any more steps backwards. Thanks and I will bring good *wink* reports tomorrow. We love ya'll!

My day was poop!

Both literally and figuratively. Aaron had his appt. with the new GI today. It went very well. He’s quite confident that b/c of Aaron’s age and how well he looked and felt today that it is just toddler’s diarrhea. He said that by 3-4 years old he’ll pretty much just wake up one day and it will all be gone. Right now we are just to continue with what we’ve been doing and keep him on a very high fat diet. He requested about 9 tests be run and said that if it was not something as simple as just chronic diarrhea his next diagnoses would be Celiac or other food allergies, so he did a panel for both of those as well. I’m very excited that he was so willing to just run all of the tests and rule things out rather than jumping to conclusions that we find out months or years later could have been diagnosed with a simple blood or stool sample. I’m not as excited about the fact that to run 3 of these tests requires me sifting through dirty diapers and pulling out specific ‘chunks’ of poop. All I can say is … I definately deserve a raise!
Serren is not having a very good day either. She just woke up off of her game. She was very noisy and having a hard time getting a good breath. She’s not choked on any of her feedings lately but for some reason she was not interested in eating. I’m not sure if she actually has the ability to relate her bad days with her choking but it was as if she just knew what would happen if she attempted to eat. Of course she didn’t really seem to excited about her food either, so she may have just not had much of an appetite. I just pray that tomorrow will be much better. She’s done so well and even gained 4 oz. last week. I would just hate to see her take any more steps backwards.
I did get one glimmer of hope today for a somewhat normal life. The soccer league J plays for emailed me and asked for all of his info and my credit card #. I’m not sure that it’s 100% but it’s more promising than anything else lately. I also don’t know that he will be on his team, but at this rate I’m just glad (as I’m sure he will be) that he will be able to play. See, there are always silver linings! Talk to you soon. Loves!

Life at a glance

Our life at glance since my last post.... Monday was Serren's fluoroscopy and praise God we got only good news! She is no longer aspirating. They will repeat the tests again after her next surgery to make sure things haven't changed again, but as of now things are looking up.

Tuesday J got his new 4wheeler. It was priceless. Eric told J he would finish the trampoline while he was off, so when J got home from school he asked about it. I just gave him a little grin and told him to go look for himself. When he came around the house Eric had his and J's 4wheelers side-by-side. J just looked real confused for a minute and asked who's the new one was. When Eric told him he just kinda looked at him for a minute. Then he said, "It's mine? That one is for me?" He just grinned and asked if he could ride it now. Eric sent him in for his helmet and loaded them up. We took them to Uncle Mike's Hampton property and they rode until dark. He had a blast! For those of you who don't know, J has been asking for and saving his money for a 4wheeler since he was about 4 or 5. Every Christmas and every birthday he takes any money he gets and puts it into his savings acct. He has about $150.00 saved up. That's great for him, but at that rate he'd never have gotten it. So we helped with our tax return and this afternoon I am taking him to buy a matching helmet and riding suit with his money.
We also have a prayer request. With everything that's been going on with both Serren and Aaron lately, I totally spaced and missed J's soccer registration for this season. I feel terrible and I'm afraid he feels like he is less important in the big picture. I have talked to his coach and emailed a couple of the higher-ups with the association but b/c the teams are already so full things don't look too good for us right now. Please just try to remember this as you're praying for our family. Soccer is J's life and without it he feels lost. Thanks everyone and until next time.... We love you!

All is well

We'll start with yesterday. We met with Debbie from The Memory Cottage. She is such a doll and her work is sooooo amazing. They couldn't get over how much like a baby doll Serren looked. Our session is scheduled for the 18th and I can't wait!

Today was nice. This morning was J's last indoor soccer game of the season. Then, we spent the day with Grand Mama`. This boys and I had a blast. The next door neighbor challenged J and me to a b-ball game. We beat him, but not b/c of anything I did. J's got a pretty good shot on him! And little Aaron got to try out skating for the first time. It was so funny! He did great though. He only fell once and I only let go once. Haha Serren was a bit noisy today and didn't eat too much, but she got ALOT of sleep so maybe that's just what she needed to have a better tomorrow. Her next fluoroscopy is scheduled for Monday. I feel pretty good that it will bring good news, but we don't know anything for sure. Please just continue to keep us close to God's ear. Loves!