Catchin Up--Jacob (sigh)

I love this picture of Jacob. He looks really sweet.

Catchin Up--Silly Larkin

Larkin found my sunglasses and tried them on. She has so much personality crammed into her little body. She is always making us laugh.

Catchin Up-- Halloween

The kids picked their own costumes. Jacob chose to be a Clone Trooper (no surprise there), Larkin chose a Lady Bug, and Rainey Jewel chose Scooby Doo. They all have such different personalities. After a successful night of trick-or-treating, they had a great time trading and eating candy.

Rainey's Dream

A couple weeks ago, Rainey walked up to me and said, "I had a dream about Jesus last night."

ME: 'oh really? What happened?"

Rainey: 'I gave him a hug. I liked that. Then he took me away in the clouds.'

So I was totally freaked out and was thinking 'Don't you be going with Jesus in the clouds! If Jesus wants to take you into the clouds, you say 'No thank you..I"ll stay here with my mom.'

Once I got ahold of myself I decided that it was nice for her to have a dream about Jesus and feel His love, etc, etc. So I asked her about it.....

ME: Did Jesus say anything to you?

RAINEY: No, he didn't talk.

ME: Did you say anything to Him?

RAINEY: Yes. I whispered in His ear.

ME: what did you say?

RAINEY: in a whisper voice & hands cupped around her mouth, 'I have a dog.'

REALLY?? of all the things one could say to Jesus. But, that's Rainey. She's obsessed with that dang dog!!

Catchin Up

Holly Cow, I'm way-hay behind. Let's see.....the last thing I posted about was potty training with Larkin. She's still not potty trained. I guess I'll start there. Larkin was diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) late last year. Although we knew she had IBS when we started potty training her, we wanted to try anyway. It didn't work and she's still in diapers to this day. But here is the miracle. In January, we had a little get together for my friend's birthday. One of our friends heard Larkin's raspy voice and asked if she was sick. I told her that she's always been hoarse....from day 1. She asked me if she had nodules on her vocal chords. Not knowing what the heck a nodule was, I googled it. The best way to describe it is that it's like a callus on her vocal chords from the way she speaks and thus the way her vocal chords rub together. This can cause hoarseness. BINGO!! I took Larkin to the ENT (ears, nose & throat DR). He put a scope up her nose and down her throat. She was so happy about it, NOT. Not only did the doctor see the nodule (which is treated though vocal exercises), but he saw that her voice box is very red, irritated, and swollen. He suspected acid reflux. Really, reflux? Jacob had reflux as a baby and so we know about reflux. Larkin never throws up. I was shocked. She needed an upper GI. This is a test where they give her a barium drink and take x-rays and watch it go down. They watch for the barium to come back up. Larkin's did. She actually has a significant amount of reflux. While she does not actually throw up, the acid comes up and burns everything, including her voice box. If left untreated, her voice could be damaged permanently. As a vocal major, this was hard to hear, especially when Larkin's name means 'song bird.' They wrote a Rx for Prevacid. Okay, here's the miracle. Larkin was on the Prevacid for not quite a week when it happened. She had a 'normal' bowel movement. She hasn't had one of those since July 2009. (I'll spare you the details). The Prevacid is for acid reflux, but for her it seems to help her IBS too. For the first time since July, she doesn't need Miralax every day. She's starting to eat more and being less irritated after she eats. It's all coming together! So, now maybe we can start potty training. Maybe she'll start growing some freakin hair!

Adventures in Potty Training: Book 3 Chapter 1

Larkin's turn. I've been waiting to find out what was going on with her bowel issues to potty train. Now that we know what's going on and it won't get in the way of potty training, I have no excuses. Larkin is 3 and will be a sunbeam in 2 months (crazy). She needs to be potty trained, in my opinion. She's doing normal for the first day...a few accidents. So here is the first funny story:

I put her on the potty. She didn't go (I don't think she had to). I took her off the potty and said, 'thank you for sitting on the potty.' She bowed and said in her little 3 year old raspy voice, 'My pleasure'. This girl makes me laugh everyday. She is hilarious!

Finally the Answer

I took Larkin to the pediatric gastro dude yesterday. The diagnosis is IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). All we can do is continue with the Miralax on an 'as needed' basis. The doctor said that this is a life long condition, but she will cycle through times when everything is working fine and times when she'll need the miralax. I asked the doctor if there are foods to avoid and foods to push. She said 'no'. Generally, dairy can cause problems, but Larkin still needs dairy so feed it to her and stay on top of the miralax. This is genetic (thanks Grandpa Smith). There are others in my family with this condition. It's no big deal, just something we have to deal with. We're happy to have a diagnosis and that it's a common condition and very treatable. All in all...good news. We'll take it!