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January 29, 2010

That Was Tough!!

Yesterday was Lola's 4th laser treatment appointment. (More about her Compound Hemangioma Here!) It was snowing and I had to drive into Boston, luckily the roads were fine. I usually park at MGH parking lot, because it's cheaper, but thought it best that I park closer due to the snow. Thank goodness I did!!! I pulled in, they valeted my car, I pull out the stroller, pack everything in, grab Lola and strap her in and off I went. Well, not exactly. My stroller had a flat tire. -_- I tried pumping it up, but the pump was broken. Now, this wouldn't have bothered me if Miss. Lola could walk, but she can't. And she weighs 30 pounds. And I had a lot of stuff. And it was snowing. I unpacked everything, consolidated as much as I could so I wouldn't have to carry my purse, then headed off to her appointment. It was a 4 minute walk, but my GAWD that was the longest 4 minutes of my LIFE! I was sweating by time I got to the waiting room!!! You'd think I'd be much skinnier seeing as how I have to carry her around all the time! :D We got checked in, I sat down and let Lola crawl/cruise all over the place so my arms could have a rest. Well, as soon as the nurse came out to get us Lola started crying. Now, just because Lola is a bit delayed in her gross motor skills does not mean she is with everything else! The kid is sharp! She remembers. When we got to the room she became more frantic. She clutched onto me like white on rice! They like to take pictures of her Hemangioma every time to mark the progress. Well that was not happening!! Poor Lola kept saying...."Momma, peas! No, Momma. Do nice me! Peas!" My heart was breaking!!! My poor child was pleading with me to help her and I couldn't. Yeah, sure I could have walked out, but it has to be done. I didn't waver, even when she kept saying "OWIE!!" over and over again. Mainly because we hadn't even started yet. She hates being held down, and we have to swaddle her or she'll punch one of us in the face. The whole thing takes 20 seconds, from the time we lay her down, swaddle her to the time the doctor starts the laser treatment. It's quick, but not really painless. You can say it feel like a light rubber band smack. Not the kind your classmates used to give you!! Those hurt. HAH! I kept saying...."I have a cookie for you when it's all over!!" What's the first thing she said when I picked her up? "COOKIE!!!!!" :) She was over it that quickly. It makes it a little easier seeing her smile. It's still tough to hold your child down and listen to them cry. It will all be worth it in the end!!!




















January 27, 2010

Told Ya So.......

Kevin took Lex to see the new eye doctor, who is a Pediatric Opthamologist. Kevin said he was really, really nice, but very serious. They did the eye spray to dilate his pupils, did the various eye exams and told Kevin that Lex is farsighted, but the prescription the other doctor gave us was way off. He said that Lex's right eye is wandering to compensate for the farsightedness. He will need to wear his glasses for 2 weeks straight from the time he gets up till the time he goes to bed. Now, for the good news.......it will correct it's self!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so relieved in my life. We'll have to take him back in 3 weeks for a follow up and see how things are then. I am so happy! And I'm glad I don't just "take the doctor's word for it". :)


What's For Dinner?

I have no idea. I've run out of ideas. I've been looking everywhere for new things to cook and nothing seems appealing. :/ As a matter of fact, nothing seems worth the effort. I'm a pretty good cook. I can make anything, almost. Reading Carlie's post about making her own pasta got me thinking about the "old days". The days when I lived in Germany with my ex-fiance and his family. They were from Italy, but lived in Germany, so we spent every Summer in Naples, Italy. And let me tell you.......the food was out of control. We cooked all the time. Everything from scratch, 3 meals a day, healthy and the not so healthy. Every Summer we would pluck the tomatoes, make fresh sauce and then can some for the later days. So damn good. I learned a lot from Giovanna. I make my lasagna the way she made hers. She hated ricotta and so do I, so it works out great! Lasagna without ricotta, but with alfredo sauce is so much better. So thinking about her and the food she used to make has me nostalgic and a little jaded. Nothing I make seems good enough now. I want to make some of the foods she used to make, but remembering how to make them is tricky, because she eyed everything. No written recipes, and it was over 16 years ago. O_O There was a soup she used to make that was sooooo yummy! Split pea soup with noodles. YUM! But I can't remember how to make it. I remember her meatballs, pasta sauce, alfredo sauce, pasta, cakes, bread and salad dressing recipes, but that's it. I've looked online at different recipe websites and they're all the same.......boring. If anyone has any good websites I can look at with original recipes on it, let me know. I'm stumped. I plan on heading out to the bookstore later to see what they have. If I can't find anything, then I'm making this.......my baked ziti.

Baked Ziti....so damn good!!

January 26, 2010

If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

I have 3, wonderful, healthy, pain in the rear end children. To me, they are all perfect. In every way!! If one of my kids woke up tomorrow with a second head, I'd name it and continue on loving them, and their second head.  when each of my kids has developed some sort of issue I just take it in stride.

Raven......born perfectly healthy. She grew up to be a beautiful, caring child. Then one day, 4 years ago she started fainting for no apparent reason. It doesn't happen often, but it's happened 4 times and each time was a very different situation. The first time she was getting ready for school. The second time she was talking to our babysitter in the kitchen. The third time she was coming down the stairs. And the fourth time was last night after a game. Each time she feels the same way. She says she feels sick, gets really dizzy and doesn't remember anything after that until she wakes up. The balckouts only last for 5-10 seconds, but those are the longest 5-10 seconds of my life. Last night they did a complete checkup and couldn't find anything wrong with her. So on to the neurologist. Hopefully we'll get some answers.
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Lex......my son. My love. My biggest fan. He was born perfect. Not a single problem with him. For three whole years our son has been.....perfect. Then one day he was talking to Daddy and said..."I see 2 of you, Daddy." and started crossing his eyes. Of course, we thought he was doing it on purpose and kept telling him to "Stop! Fix your eyes or you'll stay like that forever!". He wasn't doing it on purpose. It got worse and worse every day. Now it seems like he can control it, but both eyes wander. We took him in to have his eyes checked and we weren't happy with what the doctor said, so he's going in for his second opinion tomorrow.
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Lola........my sweet, sweet Lola. When Lola was born there was a Meconium, so they took her right away to make sure she didn't inhale any. Which meant I didn't get to hold her right away. As I lay there getting stitched up watching the pediatricians and nurses working on Lola all I kept thinking was....."Bring me my baby!!! NOW!". Finally I had had enough and told the nurse to hamd her over. As soon as she was placed in my arms I saw the tiny little spot on her face andknew it wasn't something "normal". No one had answers. Her pediatrician knew right away what it was because her daughter had one. It's a Compound Hemangioma. So off the to dermatoligist! The derm we took her to was just plain stupid. Sorry, but she was. She kept treating it with steriod creams that were causing ulcers, she refused to even think about laser treatment till she's five (WTF?!?!?!) and she would blow off my concerns when it would bleed. It didn't just bleed, it gushed/squirted blood. Horrible. I took matters into my own hands and found some wonderful doctors who refuse to let Lola go to school with that thing on her face. Because we all know how horrible kids can be.
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To me, all my kids are perfect. I'm extremely lucky that they are happy, healthy children. The minor things I can deal with. Hell, if I was faced with something huge I'd be able to deal with that as well. I just want the difficult times to be over with. I want my children to not be looked at as slightly "different". I look forward to the day when Lola's face is as smooth and flawless as the rest of her, when Lex can read and play games without getting frustrated, and when we finally get a grip on whatever is causing Raven to faint. Until then, I'll keep on being the proud Mommy that I am. :)

January 21, 2010

Not In The Picture Taking Mood......

But I did snap a few in the past month and these 2 are my favorite. So I went ahead and did a little something to them, just for fun. :)

:)

Pretty!

She has got the bluest eyes!! So pretty!!! I used Picnik to edit the pictures. :)

I Just Keep Telling Myself...

That I'm lucky Lola isn't walking yet.

I'm lucky she doesn't climb out of her crib like her brother used to do.

I'm lucky she's patient with all the love her brother showers her with. Sometimes. :)

I'm lucky she's so sweet mannered.

I'm lucky she's a total Mommy's Girl.

I just keep telling myself all that.

But damn.....she is so heavy!! :)



And oh, so cute!!!!



January 12, 2010

A Second Opinion

Kevin took Lex to see the Opthamologist yesterday. The appointment went well, but we're not happy with his diagnosis. He said that Lex is far sighted, gave us a script for glasses, said we didn't have to get them (??????) if we didn't want to and that there is nothing they can do to correct his eyes. What?!?! First of all, if he is far sighted shouldn't he say we need to have him wear glasses and not that it's an option?! That didn't make any sense at all. And to say that his eyes can't be fixed at all, that they will just get worse?! Wonderful! He asked Kevin where he gets his glasses from and when he told him the doctor went on to bash that place. Again.....WHAT?!?!?! Kevin immediately called his Optometrist to ask him what he thought. He gave us the name of a Pediatric Opthamologist near us and we're going to take him there for a second opinion.

I went ahead and did a little research myself and found a few websites that say that "lazy eye" or "cross eyed" can be fix with what they call Visual Therapy. I found about a dozen doctors in our area who specialize in visual therapy! YAY!! We're hoping the new doctor will tell us something different and maybe be open to referring us to a specialist. We'll see.

While reading some of the stories about kids who did the visual therapy I noticed a few things that caught my eye. One woman talked about how her daughter had a hard time focusing too long on one thing, or she gave up too early saying..."I'm done. It's too hard". OMG! Lex does that all the time!!! We'll be playing a video game, reading a book, practing our ABCs or trying to build something and he just gives up! Says it's too hard. I honestly think his eyes hurt when he uses them too much. It makes me sad. :( I will push, just like I did with Lola, to get him treated. I'm not the kinda Mommy you mess with. YEAH!!



January 11, 2010

Day #14 Of Early Intervention

Lola was being very difficult today. All she wanted to do was drive around in her "car". The second we tried to make her do some walking on her own she threw a fit!! She almost headbutted poor Paula several times. Luckily Paula is used to it and has lighting fast reflexes. LOL! She was able to show me a few things to help Lola to stand more on her own without realizing that she's doing it. Her biggest problem right now is confidence. She can walk around in that walker all day, lift it up to walk over things, but the minute I try to let go of her so she can walk towards Daddy she loses all confidence and drops. That's what we need to work on. Oh, and her "car" needs to go. :( Paula said she's way too good for it and is using it as a crutch. She literally runs around the house with that thing. Paula looked at me and said..."Oh yeah, she's ready." LOL! So that will be gone next week. I think she'll ask for it and be upset when she can't find it. :( It's for the best though!!

We are now on a every 2 week schedule. Paula will be back in 2 weeks. Then we'll be transitioning Lola to a new lady who will be taking over Lola's case because Paula is leaving the first week of February. BOOOO!!!! We like Paula. Well, sometimes. HAH!





















When Babies Sleep Late....

They wake up energized. Which means that they have more energy than I do. Which also means that they have been going at it since they got up. Fighting, fighting fight!! Ok, well, not really fighting, but more like Lex trying to make Lola do what he thinks she should be doing, and Lola freaking out about it. He likes to smell her, he likes that she smells like a girl. -_- She hates that. She hits, he gets mad then the real fighting breaks out. I keep telling myself that this is normal, that it will get better. Don't all siblings fight? Isn't that what it's all about? I mean, even in the homes of people who have a lot of kids, who homeschool, who don't let their kids watch t.v., their kids fight too, right? Please tell me that this is normal!! Because I am afraid one of them is going to seriously injure the other one. But they do love each other, that's for sure....

















January 7, 2010

My Son.....

Is going cross eyed. :) Yes, it's true!! Of all the things he could have inherited from his Father, he just had to get his poor eyesight and eye problems. I have perfect vision, but I had a speech problem till I was about 8. That was the last time they clipped my tongue. He talks just fine, but his eyes are getting worse. He has an appointment with the Opthamologist this month and I'm hoping they can correct it easily. All I gotta say is this.....thank GAWD he's so darn cute!!!!! LOL!!!!!!

















See his left eye? His right eye does it more than the right. When he put on his Dad's glasses he said..."I can see you now, Daddy!!" SO Kevin and I are thinking that he's crossing them to try and see better. Hopefully it's just that, that's an easy fix....GLASSES!!! OMG! Can you just see him with cute little glasses?!?!?!? It kills me!! Hopefully we'll know soon enough!

January 6, 2010

Snot For EVERYBODY!!!

ALL the kids are sick. Lex, Lola AND Raven. Snot everywhere. It's so gross. Poor Lola has it the worst because she has no idea what is going on!! She coughs, it hurts, she cries. :( Lex seems to think that snot is funny and likes to try and rub it on my shirt. Note to self......teach the boy better hygiene! Lola is getting better, Lex just caught it yesterday and Raven is in the middle of it. ((sigh)) And you know what really makes me angry?! Is that there is nothing I can give them. NOTHING! All because a bunch of idiotic, horrible parents a few misguided parents didn't know how to read that they shouldn't overdoes give more than the recommended amount to their children. Now what? Homeopathic! That's what!! :) And lots of fluids and rest. I'm  good like that. ;)

January 5, 2010

Lola Is "Sight Reading"

It's the cutest thing to watch Lola crawl over to the DVDs and sit there and look at each and every one until she finds the one she wants. Then she brings it to me or Kevin and points to it and babbles. It kills me!!! Lately she's been stuck on Baby Monet. I let the kids pick out one DVD each to watch and that one plays more than once every time. She looks at me and smiles when it's over, so how can I say no to that?!?! Luckily Lex likes it still, so he doesn't complain.....much. LOL! He almost always picks out a SpongeBob video. I can't complain, I love SpongeBob!! Lola likes him, too. If I say..."Lola, go get SpongeBob for Lex!", she'll go get him. She's really, really smart. She's not only picking out what she wants to watch, she's picking out her own books, or if I tell her to  go get the cow book, she'll get it. The other day she walked (I say walk because she's using her new "car"/walker EI gave her to use) up to the kitchen gate and pointed to the cabinet with the cookies in it and said "Cookie!! PEEESSSS!!!". Yes, I gave her a cookie!! Sometimes I forget that she's a year and a half because she doesn't walk on her own yet. Her mind is a little ahead of her body. Ok, way ahead of her body!! :) And she's just so damn cute!!!

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