Medical Woes

It's been a while.  I feel like life is really busy, but yet we don't do that much.  My days are filled trying to keep two very energetic children out of trouble, attempting to teach them to be at least semi-functional human beings, trying to keep the house in a somewhat livable state, and not losing my sanity along the way.  We've spent a lot of time going to parks, going to the zoo, and working on the house.  It's been good.  I also feel like time is flying by far too quickly.  How is it already August?  My baby is suddenly not a baby anymore, but a walking toddler.  Alex has become a thin, lanky, athletic little boy.  How did this happen?  I don't know.

We've had WAY too many doctor visits this last month.  I'M SO SICK OF GOING TO DOCTORS!!!  Caleb had some weird bruise-like spots appear on his torso about a month ago that never went away.  I made the mistake of googling it.  NEVER GOOGLE SYMPTOMS!  The Dr. said they were Café au Lait spots, and while a lot of large spots can indicate a rare neurological disease, as long as they didn't change or get any more, he should be just fine. 

Matt was really sick for one day around that time, then I caught what he had and it lasted a week.  I had several days of fever, then cough and congestion, then an eye infection and ear infection, so I got the pleasure of seeing a Dr.  Caleb got a runny nose, Alex had a cough, but neither boy got very sick.  My ear was still plugged, but thankfully I was feeling better by the time we were ready to leave for our vacation. 

I made my first call to poison control the day before we left on vacation.  I had been cleaning the bathroom when both boys woke up from their naps.  Alex had to pee and insisted on using the bathroom I had just finished cleaning, so I quickly moved the chemicals out so he could go.  Next thing I know Alex is asking for a towel, because for whatever reason he completely missed the toilet.  Great. . .I JUST finished cleaning, and now there's pee all over the floor.  I was trying to get him cleaned up, when I heard Caleb cough.  I looked over, he was sitting on the floor with the can of bathroom cleaner open in his hands, white foam around his mouth, a funny look on his face.  AAHHHHHH!!!  I quickly grabbed him, washed off his face, anything that may have gotten in his mouth was gone, so I called poison control.  They were surprisingly nice.  They didn't even make me feel like an idiot when I had to say, "So, my baby just ate some bathroom cleaner (because yes, I'm an awesome mom like that and left the chemicals on the floor within his reach, and yes, I was totally neglectful, and yes I do use chemicals to clean my house, although now I'm totally going to switch to vinegar from here on out, and yes, this was a total mom fail. . .)".  I don't know how much Caleb actually ate, but thankfully there were no negative side effects.  He was totally fine.    

That afternoon, Alex started complaining that his toes tingled.  An hour later his ankle was swollen.  I called the nurse line through our insurance, and she told me she thought he should be seen within 8 hours (keep in mind by this point it was about 9pm).  Great.  We searched online and found an instacare nearby that was open until 10, So Matt took him there.  They x-rayed his ankle, said it was fine, probably just a sprain, wrapped it up and sent them home.  Two days later Alex was fine.  Then the following day his shin swelled for no apparent reason.  Two days later he was fine.  The next day his knee swelled for no apparent reason.  We were concerned, so we took him to an instacare in Maine.  There the dr told us it could be nothing, it could be something, and since we were staying in a somewhat rural place away from our pediatrician, it would be beneficial to have some immediate answers so that we know what we were dealing with.  She sent us to Maine Medical Hospital in Portland.  Yay.  After 6 hours there, several blood tests, a conscious sedation where the drs were unable to draw any fluid from Alex's swollen knee, they said, "Hmmm, we don't really know.  It could be rheumatoid arthritis or a virus, come back if anything changes."  Poor Alex hated every minute of it, but he was such a trooper.  Later that night he was running around like nothing had ever happened.  He's been fine ever since.

Matt started feeling crappy again and had a sore throat for a few days once we got to Maine.  Although that might have just been lack of sleep.

I really hoped this would be the end, but Caleb came down with a fever last Friday for several days.  The lymph nodes under his ear became very swollen, so once we got home, we went back to the Dr. on Wednesday.  Thankfully no ear infection, but no real reason why it would still be swollen, so take some antibiotics and come back for a checkup next week.  If the swelling doesn't go down, bloodwork will need to be done.  Fabulous.  He seems fine, but it's still a little swollen.

Also, my eye infection came back Tuesday, and I have a soar throat.  I'm done.  We are now up to 5 dr visits with one more next week, 1 ER visit, 2 x-rays, and about $3000+ in medical bills after insurance.  Can we just all agree that this will be the end?   I hope so!!

I promise my next post will be a happier one.

I Might Be a Little Biased...

I've totally neglected this blog this year.  I apologize.  In my defense I've spent the majority of the last six months feeding a hungry baby and changing what feels like 100 dirty diapers every day, both of which no one really wants to hear about.  In my semi-sleep deprived state I've been unable to string together any type of coherent interesting thoughts, and I've had absolutely no motivation whatsoever to update the blog.  But Caleb is finally starting to sleep through the night now (YAY!!!), I'm starting to feel like a normal human being again (YAY!!), and my boys are pretty much the cutest little boys ever, so I figured it was time for an update.

We celebrated Alex's third birthday last month.  Time goes by so quickly!  He is getting way too big!!  He is still just as inquisitive and busy as ever.  He spends a majority of his time tearing into every drawer, cabinet, and cupboard - much to my dismay.  He's definitely found his independence, and unfortunately is becoming just as particular as his mother about certain things...(sigh)...It's often a struggle, and yes, there are plenty of tantrums, time outs, failed attempts at reasoning, and full on bribery with a sticker chart and treats going on these days.  I hear a lot of "I do it myself!" and "why?!" that on the one hand is turning my hair gray (literally, I've found a couple strands. . .) and makes me proud that my son is trying to understand this world and is motivated to find his place in it.  Having a toddler is a great exercise in patience!  Good thing he can be incredibly sweet at times.      

Caleb is growing up so fast!  He seems so much more easy going than his brother.  He is darling.  He's eating solid foods now like a champ.  He doesn't seem to like pureed foods or baby cereal much, so we've rapidly moved on to table food.  He's sitting up on his own, and (thankfully!) doesn't seem close to crawling. 

At his 6 month checkup the other day he weighs 2 lbs more than Alex did at 6 months, although Alex was always a skinny baby.  Caleb definitely has the rolls going on!   

Yep, the cutest boys ever!

Caleb's Story

Alex's birth, as you may recall, was a bit traumatic; I started bleeding at 35 weeks and after two days was induced.  Alex had to stay in the NICU for a week and was on oxygen at home for a month.  Caleb's birth, on the other hand, was completely different.  My Dr. guessed that he would come pretty close to my due date (May 31st), but for whatever reason I was convinced that he was going to come early.  As each week came and went, I grew bigger and more bitter.  Don't get me wrong, I was happy that I was going to have a full term baby who hopefully wouldn't have to stay in the NICU, but there was a BIG difference between 35 weeks and 40 weeks.  At 38 weeks I was 70% effaced and dilated to a 3, surely he would come soon!  But no.  No change as the days slowly passed.  "I'd be very surprised if you make it through the weekend," my Dr. told me three days before my due date, but he put me on the list to be induced the following Monday, just in case.  Friday came and went.  Saturday came and went.  Sunday came and went.  Spicy foods, long walks, still no baby.  

Then the fateful day finally arrived.  The hospital called the night before to tell us that a nurse would call us in the morning, although they didn't tell us what time they'd call.  6:30 am?  7:00?  7:30?  8:00?  I thought I was going to lose my mind when they hadn't called by 9.  I was just about about to call them when my phone started to ring.  "Hi this is Labor and Delivery, we are ready for you.  How soon can you get here?"  And just like that, we were on our way to the hospital to have a baby.  

It was so surreal.  All of that waiting.  Months, weeks, the hours that morning, all waiting was going to be over by the end of the day.  I was shaking uncontrollably on that car ride to the hospital with Alex; this time around I couldn't have been more calm.  We arrived, checked in, brought in our bag, I got my iv, and just like that we were off and running before 10 am.  I'm the type who appreciates modern medicine and gladly accepted an epidural after 20 minutes or so.  I laid in my bed, nicely numbed, watching several episodes of "The King of Queens" (there wasn't much else on).  Much to my nurse's surprise I was ready to go by about 1:30; they had to scramble to get the Dr. down and find another nurse to help out.  After a couple big pushes, Caleb Isaac Laurendeau was born at 1:55 pm, 7 lb 12 oz, 21.5 in long.

I must admit, this time around was SO much nicer.  I got to lay there and hold my baby for an hour before being moved to a recovery room.  I didn't have to go all the way downstairs, check in, and scrub in, just to see my baby; instead I got to have him right there in my room.  I didn't even have to move when family came to visit.  I didn't have to worry about how many people were by his bedside.  No beeping monitors, no having to weigh every dirty diaper, no crazy Drs wanting to stuff a feeding tube down my baby, no car seat tests, it was wonderful!  It was so nice to just hang out at the hospital with my tiny boy and relax!

My mom brought Alex to the hospital a couple hours after Caleb was born.  He looked at Caleb for a second, but quickly moved on to the buttons on my hospital bed.  The rest of the family came for a visit later that night and showed a little more enthusiasm.  We came home two days later.

Life with two kids definitely has it's hard moments.  It takes me FOREVER to go anywhere now.  I feel like my days are a long list of constantly shifting priorities. "Ok, Alex wants milk, then I can switch out the laundry, and then shower.  Oh wait, Caleb just pooped, so I'll change him first then get the milk.  Oh wait, now he's hungry.  Ok, I'll change Caleb, get Alex his milk, feed Caleb, switch out the laundry, then maybe I can shower.  Dang it, Alex just pooped.  Ok, I'll change him in the middle there.  Oh good grief, Caleb just pooped again.  Change him again. . ." and often it's 3:00 and I still haven't brushed my hair.  It is a bit exhausting trying to keep up with Alex all day and still having to wake up once or twice during the night with Caleb, but it is so completely worth it!  I love my boys more than words can ever describe, and I'm so grateful for them!  I think back to where we were a year ago, believing that a second pregnancy was impossible, and I can hardly believe that this sweet little miracle has joined our family!

              

The Last Few Months

It's been awhile since I've posted anything.  I'm tired.  I don't want my boys to grow up, but I certainly won't complain when Caleb starts sleeping through the night.  Alex's nap time used to be the time when I could clean, work on my projects, blog, etc.; now it has become my nap time as well.  Oh well.

I don't have much to write today, but I'll post a few of my favorite pictures from the last couple months.  Perhaps later on I'll post about my awesome bathroom that I dearly love, or my struggles with patterns.  For now I probably have about an hour before Alex wakes up again, so good night!

We took Alex to the park the night before Caleb was born

First day at home as a big brother

One week old

Alex likes giving Caleb kisses

One month

Caleb's blessing day, Alex was happy to play in Pepere's truck

He was not so thrilled when we made him get out for pictures.  Caleb also wasn't thrilled.

And for the record:

Alex

Caleb

Grandma might not think they look the same, but they are totally brothers :)

Alex's Room!

We actually finished Alex's room several weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures.  Most of the rooms that we've redone in the house only make it to the "finished" stage where the walls are painted and furniture is replaced, and it takes years to actually get all the molding up, pictures on the walls, curtains, and other decorations.  For whatever reason my pregnant brain made up it's mind that Alex's room needed to be finished, not just "finished", and so while the paint has been done for months, I spent several weeks working to actually decorate his room.  And of course I had a specific idea in my mind of what I wanted in his room, and of course I'm far to cheap to pay for what I want, so I ended up with numerous diy projects. 


But I hereby proudly proclaim Alex's room finished!. . .Although we are still missing the closet doors, but my awesome pregnancy logic is willing to overlook that minor detail for now. . .

Alex was a little upset that I was taking pictures of his room instead of reading him a book. . .

To be honest I want more cute things to put on the shelves of the night stand and bed, but in all reality my son is 2, and whatever I put there will not stay there for long.  The room only looked this clean for the 5 minutes it took me to take these pictures.  Alas, there is no such thing as a magazine perfect room with a 2 year old.

A big thanks to Laurendeaus for the free bed and thanks to the Pattersons for the free bookshelf and nightstand!!

I spent far too much time cutting out those stupid letters to spell "Alex" because I was too cheap to buy them.  The curtains are the second attempt, (see my previous blog post for the disgraceful first attempt) and while they look better and make awesome blackout curtains, I'm still not sure if I love them.  I wanted to paint the inside of the nightstand and bookshelf green just to add that custom touch, and once again I was too cheap to buy real paint, so I ended up painting about 6 coats of acrylic craft paint, yes the kind that comes in the little bottle for $0.50, and yes, it took 5 bottles and a ridiculous amount of time, as all of my other projects seem to do.    

Matt and I decided a while ago that we always wanted to have one or two religious pictures in our children's rooms.  I tried really hard to find a picture of a temple under construction so that it would kind of go with the construction/truck theme, but none were to be found, so I finally settled on the $0.75 picture of the Logan Temple from the Distribution Center and a $2 frame from DI.  Yay for repainting DI frames!

 

Alex absolutely loves trucks these days, and being the rather picky person I am, I didn't really want the typical cutesy truck pictures for the walls.  I wanted something unique.  I spent hours searching stores like Home Goods and Gordmans, and many more hours browsing the web for some sort of truck artwork.  I found some really cool HDR photos of construction equipment, but couldn't find any sort of link to where I could buy a print - not that I would probably have been willing to pay for it anyway.  Finally I gave up and resolved to take some pictures of my dad's vintage truck toys and use those.  I was also lucky enough to find a set of shadow boxes in our basement that had been left here by previous owners. I painted the boxes, spent $10 on prints at Sam's Club, mod podged the photos to the back of the boxes, and hung them up in a photo collage.  I quite like how they turned out, and it is just that much cooler that these are the same toys that Alex plays with when he goes over to great grandma's house.  

Out of everything, this one is my favorite!  I really wanted some type of fun truck/construction lamp, but once again I couldn't find anything.  I spent weeks trying to figure out how to make one.  Then I came across this brilliant idea on Pinterest where you print out a picture, tape it to the inside of a lampshade, turn on the lamp, and trace the picture on the outside of the shade.  GENIUS!  I bought this lamp for $17 at Walmart - which even that was more than I wanted to pay, but all of the thrift stores and second hand stores continued to let me down so I splurged - repainted the base with the left over green paint from the bookshelf and night stand, and traced/colored the bulldozer on the shade with sharpies and colored pencils.  A part of me really wants to go color some sort of design on all of the lampshades in our house now, it was actually pretty fun. . .

Now that Alex's room is finished, we've started working on the downstairs bathroom.  I have one more project to complete in there and then that room will be completed as well.  Yay for progress!! 

My Wonderful Discovery?

There are so many times these days that I become insanely hungry and feel the need to consume mass amounts of chocolate; and if there is no chocolate to be had, pretty much anything and everything from the cold leftovers in the fridge to peanut butter straight from the jar will do.  The other day after putting Alex down for a nap, I actually managed to exercise some self control and reached past the bag of chocolate chips for a Tillamook yogurt and an apple.

As I happily sat on the couch watching the latest episode of Modern Family and eating my healthy snack it occurred to me how very sweet the yogurt was.  Rarely is anything too sweet - after all I'm the type of person who loves eating frosting by itself.  So I turned it around, and this is what I saw.

Did you catch that?  Sure it's relatively low in fat, has protein, and live cultures, but 180 calories, and 32g of sugar?  THIRTY TWO GRAMS?

I pulled the beloved ice cream out of the freezer for a quick comparison.

180 calories per serving, and . . .wait, what?  Only 15g of sugar?  Yes there's more fat, but I did hear on NPR recently about a study claiming that it's sugar, not fat, that is making Americans fat.  Another study showed those who chose the full fat dairy products over skim milk and fat free yogurt tended to be a healthier weight.  So, what should we take from this?  It's a dream come true:

Screw the yogurt, go for the ice cream!!


***DISCLAIMER***Ok fine, I'll admit it, I fully realize there are much healthier options, but come on people, this is some pretty good evidence to rationalize eating lots of ice cream, so let's not get too carried away!    

Lessons Learned from Being Cheap

Being cheap has its glory moments, like the other day when I found a pair of maternity jeans for $10 and two t-shirts for $2.50 each on the Target clearance rack.  Or a few years back when I found an almost new jogging stroller for $30 at a yard sale.  Score!!  I'd be lying if I said I didn't love a good deal.  The feeling you get from finding that perfect something at a fraction of the original cost ranks right up there with eating brownies and ice cream while watching a chick flick.

Being cheap definitely has it's advantages.  Cheap people tend to have more savings, which leads to less debt, less worry over money, less stress in relationships.  Since getting married, it's taught me patience as I've had to save money and wait to buy the things I want.  It's caused me to learn new skills - everything from how to tile a floor in a diagonal pinwheel pattern to how to sew back tab curtains to how to cook a delicious chicken tikka masala.  It's caused me to get resourceful - like when I made baskets out of cardboard and fabric because I was too cheap to pay $18/ basket.  It's increased my creativity, spurred my desire to become a better photographer, and even motivated me to start my Etsy store (which hasn't necessarily been financially successful, but has been quite rewarding to have people buy things here and there and see the overall interest generated in the things I create).    


Being cheap is awesome, but there are times when I question if it's really worth it.  This week I was looking for decorations for Alex's room and I decided I wanted to paint some wooden letters that spell his name.  I almost had a heart attack when I saw the price: $3 - $4 PER letter. . . ok to a normal person this might seem like a good deal, but being the cheap person I am, I couldn't bring myself to spend $12+, even with the coupon.  "I bet we have some leftover MDF at home somewhere, I'll just cut out my own letters.  How hard can it be?"  Famous last words. . .As I was covered in sawdust five hours later I decided that perhaps $4 a letter may have been worth it.  But since I don't have a paying job, and I ended up spending a grand total of $0.50 for green craft paint, was it worth it?  Questionable. . . 

"Hi, my name is Amanda and I'm a cheapskate. . .it's now been 6 days since I let my cheapness addiction get the better of me." 

There's no doubt that cheapness can cross a line - just watch that reality tv show about the cheapest people on earth.  Thankfully I'm not to the point where I ask people at restaurants for their leftovers or make my own toilet paper, but I will admit sometimes I have a problem.  I let my cheapness get the better of me and it ends up costing time, money, and my sanity.  The last couple weeks I've been looking for curtains for Alex's new bedroom.  When I couldn't find anything except for the brown stripped curtain panels at Target for $25 each (which OF COURSE was too much!), I headed to the Home Fabrics store.  I found some brown canvas that matched perfectly; price - $6.99/yd, ok, not too bad.  But then, BUT THEN, lighter brown fabric, close enough match, $3/yd.  The other fabric was nicer, but my cheaper side won out and the $3 fabric was bought ($15 total on fabric).  Once I got home I got that sickening feeling that I knew I had made the wrong choice - the fabric was way too thin and was a little stretchy. . .but I had already spent the money, so I could make it work!  I ran to Walmart and purchased a queen-sized sheet ($11) to line the curtains with and some brown thread ($3).  I spent hours carefully washing, ironing, cutting, ironing, measuring, pinning, laying it all out, repinning and finally sewing so that the curtains would come out perfect.  I googled tutorials on how to make back tabs, which led to more cutting, ironing, and pinning.  The second I pulled out the thread I had bough, I realized I had accidentally picked up the wrong kind, but oh well, I've already spent the money, it will work!  The second I started sewing I realized I was wrong.  Back to Joanne's for more thread ($3).  Finally sewing!. . . It did not go well, the seams looked horrible.  "They just need to be ironed.  I've spent the money, I'll make it work."  More ironing, more laying out the curtains making sure the lining was smooth against the brown fabric, more pinning, more sewing.  A couple days later the curtains were finally finished and ta da!

Oh man . . . they look like crap!  I can't live with those!!  The brown doesn't match, they let in too much light, they don't hang well, they are all bunchy at the ends, I have no desire to try to fix them and honestly they might be unfixable.  So after $32, more hours than I want to count, and a couple curse words dropped along the way, I'm very tempted to just throw them away and go buy the $50 ones I originally liked at Target.

Being cheap can be a great thing, but beware my frugal friends, sometimes it can get the better of you.