Got Goosebumps

Today when I went out to check the mail I, somewhat unexpectedly, received Ryan's kindergarten pre-registration. Im in shock. My baby's growing up. In a short 6 months time he will be in school. This is so bittersweet to me. A portion of me is excited for the things he will learn, as well as the time it will give me, however, its such an odd realization. I've had 5+ years "alone" with him and now he is becoming his own person.

Next Monday we go to have his prekindergarten screening. He is very excited - this is just one step closer in his mind to him being able to attend "the big kid school" and ride "the big yellow bus". I, on the other hand am wondering if we can call in sick.

Bathroom update

okay well we finally got someone (my brother) to look under our house at our bathroom/shower leak. Here is the description he wrote up to submit to our insurance company...


The source of the problem is a leak where the tile and the shower pan meet. During my inspection, while in the crawl space, I instructed the homeowner to turn on the shower. I noticed that approximately 15% of the drain water was leaking from the far side of the shower. This leak has severely damaged the integrith of the floor. The shower is beyond repair, part of the wall, at least 3 floor joists and sub-floor are rotten. The soft spot in the floor was the first and only sign the homeowner had of this problem. In order to properly fix this problem we will need to remove the shower, vanity, drywall, any rotten stutds and bottom plate, flooring, sub-floor and finally any rotten joists. The repair is much the same in reverse. I recommend replacing the shower with a one-piece fiberglass unit. This will ensure this problem doesn't repeat itself. I estimate we can repair this problem for $8,000.00.

Whew...so anyways, we submitted this to our insurance company and we are now waiting to see if or what they will cover. Please keep us in your prayers - this is a serious damage to our house and if our insurance company doesnt cover it, we are going to have to pay for this out of our pocket, and this is money we just don't have.

Lizzie's better!!

Okay - I had pretty much given up on doctors figuring out what was wrong with Lizzie. She has had this miserable, whole body rash for 6+ weeks and I have found very little to give her relief (besides the tea tree oil). I finally took her to a holistic doctor in Grand Junction. With a few simple tests the doctor figured out that Lizzie has a fungal infection, a viral infection AND a parasitic infection. She is also allergic/sensitive to garlic, peaches and kiwis. (this means that for the time being, while nursing, i cannot eat anything involving or using these foods.) She will most likely outgrow these sensitivities so it won't be a life long problem. I also found out she had a really bad reaction to many of the hair and body products I use. Temporarily, I cannot wear my perfume, use my hair mousse or gel, use the type of deoderant i normally use as well as a few other things...so I apologize in advance if you see me and my hair is frizzed, standing on end and I have a bodily stink about me LOL. Unfortunately, due to the fungal infection and Lizzie nursing, I have to go on an anti-fungal diet. This means I cannot eat anything with any type of sweetner (this includes all forms of sugar, honey, molasses, barley malt, etc) I can, on rare occasion use a tiny bit of stevia, but thats it. Also, i cannot eat anything with yeast - yup, no more bread for me for a while. Along with no fruit juice, dried fruit (fresh fruit is okay) or cheese - basically anything that is fermented.

The doctor also put me and Lizzie on Chinese Skullcap (herbal tincture) and Lizzie is also on Elderberry and Black Walnut and Zinc. Though all this is frustrating with creating a new diet and such I have seen complete results - her rash is pretty much completely GONE! She has a little bit of dried skin still but the rash is pretty much disappeared, in only 48 hours - go figure!

Now this is where I need some help from all you creative cooks out there...I need to come up with foods I can eat. Basically, just to survive right now I am eating fruits and veggies and that is it. Heres a list of foods I know I can eat...any others you can think of (or even meal plan type stuff) would be much appreciated! (come on Becci I am countin' on you!! lol)

I know I can eat...

Nuts
Eggs
all veggies
butter
sour cream
cottage cheese (yuck)
fresh fruit
meat that is completely unprocessed
grains
yogurt
most dairy but not cheese

Please give me your input!!! This whole thing is somewhat frustrating, but after seeing the results in Lizzies rash (and knowing that I will (should) lose weight) makes it all worth it in the long run...

The best of time...the worst of times...

Well I have some good news and some bad news. I will start with the good news. About a week ago I broke a tooth (now thats not the good news). The good news is I went to the dentist today, now I HATE going to the dentist. I am downright terrified of the dentist. I can't explain why, I just hate someone with their hands in my mouth scraping my teeth and pushing on spots looking for cavities that give me that zing feeling. Anyways, when I went to the dentist I was afraid they were going to want to pull the tooth because its a wisdom tooth, which would mean they would want to pull all 4 wisdom teeth - apparently there are not too many 29 year olds with all 4 functioning wisdom teeth. But thankfully, due to financial situations and such my dentist agreed to fill the broken spot as if it were a cavity. Whew!! That is going to save me lots of pain as well as money! Thank you God!!

Now, the bad news...my brother climbed under our house this weekend to check on our water leak from the shower...it looks like we are in for a major repair. The floor is rotted down to and through the floor joists. Im not sure what all this entails except for my brothers comments about tearing out the shower, cutting the floor back to the toilet, and a 3,000$ bill (this is just materials, no labor). So tomorrow I will be on the phone with various companies trying to get bids to have this major repair done. For those of you who live locally...any suggestions of who I should call for a bid?

Im Back....I think...

Okay so it has been quite a while since I've posted any update on what is going on here. The following posts are the various things happening. Im going to do 3 or 4 separate posts on the different subjects rather than to cram it into one huge long post. So here it goes...enjoy reading!

Ahhh sleep at last...

now some of you may be wondering where I found the time to do all these posts...I am happy to announce that, at almost 7 months, my daughter FINALLY slept through the night last night - for the FIRST time!!! Ugh...its been a long road. She normally gets up every 4 hours to eat. So if she eats at 9:00 and I dont get to bed til 11:00, I will only get 2 hours of sleep before she is up to eat again. It felt great to wake up, wide awake, at 6:00 and realize I had gotten so much sleep. So, since I was wide awake and all my family was still sleeping I got up, grabbed my computer, got cozy in my favorite chair and proceeded to type. YAY for sleep!!!

What's new?

Due to all this allergy stuff with Lizzie, I have switched her to cloth diapers. I know most of you are saying..no way, its hard enough to take care of an infant, nevermind having to WASH diapers.. but actually I am finding I really like using cloth diapers. I would have never guessed that about me. Im usually all about convenience. Yes, cloth diapering is a whole lot more work but it is sooo much better for my babys bottom. Especially if it ends up being one of her allergies!

Now...the cool thing, is now adays theres not just the plain old white ugly cloth diapers and pins - there is a whole new realm out there to cloth diapering. My latest interests are called Wool Longies or Wool Soakers. Basically these are little shorts and pants made from really soft wool that go over cloth diapers that fasten with velcro. I don't even know how to describe them to you other than to show you this LINK. Scroll down the page and take a look at all the pictures of the pants this lady has made. There are other type too but I will have to share those later.

Therefore, since these cute, adorable wool covers and diaper wraps are expensive to buy brand new, I am going to make my own...yup, i can sew (i bet you didnt know that about me either, though i dont know any of the complicated stuff i can run a sewing machine). I am also learning to knit too. So I will be sharing more about this stuff as I "get my feet wet" in this new endevor.

Lizzie: Update

Okay, Lizzie has been sick and had a rash for close to a month now (which has detained me from blogging). I had her on that medication for the 10 days which the doctors claimed would clear up her rash...no such luck. It cleared up her yeast infection but she still has the rash and now she has a cold on top of that. Up until yesterday she has been pretty miserable. I would put her on the floor to play and she would just lay there and cry instead of exploring and trying to crawl. Finally yesterday she was a little better spirited and was willing to play with her brothers.

Good News: I was able to get her an appointment with a doctor in another town who does allergy testing (without poking and proding infants with needles). Her appt is on Tuesday and hopefully we will know more at that point if she is allergic or sensitive to a type of soap or food or something that could be causing her rash. I am really excited about this appointment because this doctor is booked solid until April and, after talking to me, felt really bad for Lizzie and wanted to help so she is going to see me on her day off, on her lunch break...AND she even gave me her home number in case we have any problems before then...now how many doctors do you know do that????

I will let ya'll know what I find out after her appointment.

Shower Problems: Update

Okay, an update on our shower/sunken floor problem. I talked to my insurance company and there is a slight possibility that it will be covered by our homeowners insurance but we won't know until we have someone look at it. So today my brother is going to crawl under my house to take a look and see what he can find. Hopefully it won't be too bad, or, if it is bad, that it will be covered by our insurance. One good thing, our insurance deductible...somehow turned out to only be 100$. I will post more update after my brother checks out the house today.

Falling behind

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been posting much lately. Lizzie is still sick, though getting better. The doctors don't know what she has (the rash) so I have taken matters into my own hands and done my own research. I still don't know what the diagnosis is (someone told me they thought it was a staph infection, though its not contageous), but I have found that putting Tea Tree Oil into her bath water and giving her a bath every 2 hours along with massaging her skin with olive oil mixed with tea tree oil is actually clearing the rash up.

I am finding myself absolutely amazed at the things Tea Tree Oil can do. Check out this link: Tea Tree Oil You have to scroll down towards the bottom of the page (past the google ads) to see all the things its good for.

Anyways, I need to get back to taking care of my sick baby. Just wanted to let you know I am still alive, just a little detained. Hopefully things will be back to normal within a few days. Keep us in your prayers.

Most Romantic Man Award

Every year my church holds a "valentines party". They call it the Most Romantic Man Competition. Each man is required to go down to our church, set up a table (complete with decorations and all) and "wine and dine" their wives. In the meantime, while the guys are setting up their tables, the wives are back at home getting all dressy dressed up - this is as formal or casual as you choose to make it. (I splurged and bought a new dress - I will post pics later!) We have a professional chef come in and prepare a meal for all the couples. Theres dinner, dancing, and the never ending Newlywed game. Its all in good fun and we usually get a lot of laughs out of it.

Our church has been doing this for approximately 9 years. The first 2 years I am proud to say that my awesome husband held 1st place and the title of the "most romantic man" for the year (we were newlyweds at that point). Since then, we have had others who have beat us out of the running. Well, I am proud to say that this year Anthony came in 1st place. We had a great evening. Anthony did a great job on our table, complete with flowers, candles, chocolates, and a beautiful card that was to die for (you'd have to read it to understand). Our chef cooked us a fabulous 3 course meal consisting of a broccoli and cheddar soup, green salad, homemade bread, prime rib, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a mini chocolate cake for 2.

We had dancing and laughing. Honestly, we havent laughed that hard and had that good of a time together in a long time. I felt so carefree. To quote my husband "we let our hair down and partied". We left all the kiddos, including Lizzie, with my brother and sister in law and spent a full 4 1/2 hours being adults without being covered in drool, mushed food, or anything else that was expelled from our childrens bodies.

Anyways, it was just a great time - OH and did I mention, since Anthony one 1st place, there was a prize? YUP! We won a one night stay in Glenwood Springs. Woo Hoo. The only problem now is that we can't use it until I wean little miss Lizze from breastfeeding.

So that was my interesting Saturday evening. Sorry Im falling behind on my posting, things have been soo hectic here.

We had lots of other stuff happen this week, but I will post that stuff later on. For now - signing off - have a great evening!

Beaming with Pride

Josiah Senior Recital
Video sent by cooperden

Last night was my little brother, Josiahs, senior recital. This is a live performance that he must do and it holds a large portion of his grade which determines his college graduation. He did a fabulous job! I am so proud of him! (by the way, hes the one playing the trumpet, not the piano - lol)

I am mostly putting this video on my site for our family and friends who live back East to be able to see a little bit of what he is doing.

For those of you who don't know, Josiah will be graduating this spring with a BA in Music Education. He plans to get a job at one of the local schools as a music teacher.

poor baby

Well I broke down today and took my poor Lizzie girl to the doctor. I am NOT a big fan of going to the doctor, not because of the experience mind you, but because of the bill afterwards. So you can imagine that I tried every possible home treatment for this rash. Turns out that she has an internal yeast infection (i guess this is common in infants) and she is having a form of an allergic reaction to the yeast that is in her body...at least that was the doctors guess. I was told to watch for bruising under the rash, if that happens, then we have something more serious on our hands (please pray that this is not the case!) I will know more by monday or tuesday after she has been on her prescription for a few days.

So a recap of the day....

doctors visit...64.00
oral prescription for infant...101.49
mothers mind at ease that its not something contageous like measles...priceless

hopefully we will all sleep well tonight.

I on the other hand am feeling a little better. I still have a sore throat and a few headaches, but otherwise I feel better than I did yesterday! YAY! It sucks being a mom and being sick, somehow no one understands what it means when you "call in sick to work"

I want my bed!

I feel awful!!! I woke up this morning with a little sore throat. By 9:00 i started to feel yucky. By 10:00 I was flat out on the couch with a sore throat, a headache, and about every muscle ache you can think of (And I didnt even go to the gym to earn these sore muscles).

Elizabeth is sick too. She had a fever last night of 102 and this morning of 101 plus she has a really bad rash on her face that now seems to be spreading all over her body. (Its not roseola because that starts with a fever first and elizabeth got the rash about a week ago, before the fever). Im baffled at what the rash is that she has. Theres not much I can do to comfort her other than to hold her.

Keep us in your prayers that we will be feeling better real soon.