Kid-isms

The kids have said several things lately that have made me laugh.

This weekend, the kids were begging for a treat from QuickTrip (they love going for slushies & picking out candy.) Henderson (2 years old) said "Not today!" followed by him also saying "That's what you always say, mom." Made me feel like a heel - although the ever-growing surplus of QT cups in our house would prove this statement is not true!

Hamilton had several questions about being "bapatized" this week. Matt and I thought he said it so cute, we'd do anything to get him to say "bap-a-tized".

Harrison was listening to the radio in the van while we were running errands. "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grench" came on the radio. At the end of the song it talks about a rotten tomato with purple moldy spots....Harrison pipes up and says, "Man, that's one bad dude!"

Santa asked Harrison if he was on his good list and his reply was, "pwolly not." Santa promptly glared at me and explained to Harrison that there was still time to get on the good list. I honestly DO NOT threaten with Santa. Much.

We were explaining why Grandma had an elf on the shelf in her house. Hamilton says "So, you expect me to believe that this elf flies to the North Pole and reports to Santa every night?" Yep. Yep I do. Just like I expect you to believe that Santa takes billions of pounds of toys all over the world on a reindeer-driven sleigh and delivers them to every girl and boy - through a chimney - in ONE night!

Harrison climbs up on the counter as I'm making cinnamon rolls and says "So, whatcha making, mah lady?" Followed by his full on Hessie grin. I melted like butta.

If they get any cuter, I'll turn into a pile of mush - I swear, I will!

Drive - Thru (Deep Thoughts by Janelle)

Henderson and I were waiting in the Walgreen's drive thru Tuesday night. There were 3 cars in each of the 2 lanes. Apparently all of the people before us had major prescription issues - we were in line for over 30 minutes.

I was starting to get impatient and fantasizing about honking and telling people that if they needed exotic drugs compounded, perhaps they should get out of the car and walk IN to the pharmacy. Much like the folks in the drive thru lane at the bank that apparently are re-financing their mortgage through the drive-thru. (Sorry, rant over.)

Then I started looking at the people in these vehicles. Everyone one of them was either sick with something or was there for a friend or family member - someone important to them - picking up a prescription. I felt the urge to pray for these cars in front of me, that God would bring a healing peace to all of these people in whatever trials they were facing that day.

I had a funny thought - one that may be worth sharing - or maybe one of those weird, embarrassing thoughts I should keep to myself (you can be the judge.)

Aren't we all ailing everyday from something. Maybe not a physical, medical thing. But medical or not, we are all in need of RX everyday, are we not? Again, maybe not a chemical, engineered RX, but a RX from our loving God. Or maybe a gentle nudge. Or maybe a stern reminder to right a wrong. Maybe a reassurance that we are good enough. Whatever that RX is, we ALL need it.

AND...aren't we lucky that we don't have to sit in a drive-thru to get it? We can stop our daily lives and talk directly to The Pharmacist through prayer, at any time of the day or night and get our RX. His pharmacy is so good, we don't even have to know our 9-digit prescription code to get a refill - He already knows it. And forget having to have your doctor fax the order & the headache of waiting days on end for the pharmacy and doctor to communicate; His fax line is always open & you'll never get a busy signal.

Soon enough, I got our refill of meds, paid & drove home feeling incredibly blessed to be loved and listened to by my Awesome God.

Photo Shoot Gone Bad

So, if you tuned in last week, you know that had a photo shoot with the kids. It was windy and cold and we had the extended family with us. A few of the older boys were uncooperative at best, and that coupled with the wind and cold demanded we do another shoot. So, we picked another venue - this time inside - where we could try it again. It was Dec. 4th folks....we are getting close to Christmas and my sisters and I desperately need these pictures for Christmas cards. I think we have a few usable shots. I've used the youth area in our church, "The Lodge", for our pictures before, and the lighting in there is ALWAYS a nightmare. But, it was warm & not windy.

We got some good shots of my sister's families.

A good one of all of us...

And of the three of us girls...

But my three boys, were.....well.....three boys...

It pretty much sums up my life. Crooked glasses. Ornery brothers. Cooperation, 50%. I'm loving every minute of it!

Why I Wake Up

These three little ornery, loud, rambunctious, sweet, smelly, imaginative, crazy human beings are the reason I get out of bed every morning. I love 'em. Even though it was too windy for a photo shoot & they didn't cooperate - I still love 'em.

Can't wait to photoshop this to take the blue out.....but I'm too tired now....another day perhaps.

They wore me out this afternoon!

Zumbaouch

Today was a Zumbathon benefiting the Pride of Owasso's upcoming trip to march in the Parade of Roses. Since I a) was a member of the Pride when I was in high school and think we have the best program in the state and possibly nation & b) love Zumba, I decided I'd go.

I'll have to say, it was a lot of fun! But.....

It's a two hour event.

I'm 36.

I'm overweight.

I'd list the aches and pains, but I'd like to get to sleep sometime tonight. Thank God for ibuprofen & husbands who rub sore feet!

Things These Kids Say

So, we've had the "crud" here this week, and the kids are all 3 on antibiotics. They've said some really funny things this week - here are a few of their gems.

I picked Hamilton up from school on Thursday. I asked how he was feeling and he said: "A little better than this morning, but my throat hurts and my imperial organs all hurt." I asked what imperial organs were, and he replied, "You know mom, the organs INSIDE of your body!" Uh....ok...internal organs....OUCH, my spleen! :)

Harrison was rambling on in the back of the van - and let me tell you, folks - he's a rambler. He said, "Mom, my trusty sidekick is working for sure!" I asked who in the heck was his trusty sidekick and quietly wondered where the heck he had heard that. He replied "My pink medicine (amoxicillan). It's already making me feel better. Yep, I love my trusty sidekick." Crazy kiddo...

My kids are always thinking of what they want for their next birthday - even if it's a year away! Today, Hamilton piped up and asked, "Mom, I REALLY want to go somewhere for my birthday." I sighed, knowing that we'd have to go to Chuck E Cheese again in April. Not my favorite venue. So, I took the bait and asked where it was. He said, "It's a really nice place. We just passed it. Waffle House." Matt and I burst into laughter. That's it, son. Reach for the stars. We may have to work on our table manners before we visit a high-falutin place like the Waffle House. Go ahead with the redneck jokes.....you know you wanna....

The baby didn't say anything hilarious today, but he doesn't have to. He's just stinkin' cute. And obsessed with belly-buttons. Nothing gets him laughing like a belly button. He's weird. I don't know where he gets it.

Moving Right Along

I've had some questions about how we all are adjusting to Harrison's Crohn's and medications.

Harrison was put on a high dosage of predisone in mid-October. It seems to be effective. His diarrhea has stopped and as far as I know, the bleeding has stopped too. The side-effect of prednisone (especially the HUGE dose he is on now) that we are experiencing now is complete, total emotional chaos. To give an example.....we can be driving down the road, listening to his choice of music, going to get his choice of lunch and all of the sudden - screaming and kicking and crazy comes from his little car seat. Once I can talk him down from the fit, he'll tell me that the sun was shining on him, or that he was wanting me to turn down a different street or something else completely crazy. I've even thought during some of his fits that he might hurt himself. I have to say that I think his body is adjusting well and I think he is getting better at controlling his outbursts for the most part. Today was an exception to that rule, but we are hoping for a better tomorrow.

We have started on the Imuran, and immuno-suppressing drug. I had such a hard time giving that to him the first few times, but I'm getting better. Right now I'm looking at it as the necessary evil to get off of the steroids. Probably this week we'll be able to start backing down off of the predisone. Once off of the steroids, we'll hopefully not have any more "flare-ups" for a while and we'll be labeled "in remission."

Once in remission it's my hope to try to avoid foods that we think might be triggering these flare-ups. I've done a lot of reading about Crohn's and talked to a few people that claim to be healed from this chronic disease. Apparently, coconut oil and milk are very healing to the intestines. I've tried sneaking coconut into several things we eat, and I don't think anyone knows. I'm learning new things (I learned today that coconut oil does not microwave well....and that was a fun mess to clean up) and learning about cooking with coconut flour. I'm very interested in holistic healing.

We traveled to Sapulpa to see a Christian healer who is able to look in your eyes and tell what is wrong with your body. I was skeptical. She looked at Harrison and the first thing she said was "My, his colon is sick." I had not even told her Harrison's name at that point! I was pretty impressed. She suggested some things that would help him and advised against giving him what the doctor had suggested to suppress his immune system.

I had a little soul-searching to do after I saw the healer. Did I follow her advice and try to heal Harrison with natural remedies, or did I follow the advice of the best pediatric gastro-interologist in the state? Because he was so sick, and so far his treatments have worked, I've decided to stick with the medical approach. That is not to say that after we are in remission for a while and he starts gaining weight and growing again, that we will not take another look at holistic healing. I HATE giving my child chemicals. I would rather believe that giving him a concentrate from okra would heal his body. But, he was so sick, and has stopped growing - and I think it's important for his body to heal as quickly as it can so the important work of growing his body can resume.

So, for now, we deal with the emotional outbursts and with the danger of him getting infections more than normal this winter - all in the hopes that his little body will grow. Will you pray with us that the medicine will work in Harrison's body, and that the possible side-effects will not be known to us?

We've had other things going on too. I'll post some pictures of Hamilton in the colorguard on Veteran's Day at his school. I was so proud of him! Henderson has a cold now, but is becoming more independant by the day.