Allie's Day

Tomorrow Allison and I are going to be spending the day together tomorrow. Finally we will have our follow up appointment with the cardiologist to check on the status of her heart murmur. Then in the afternoon we go to the pediatrician's office to get caught up on a vaccination. Fun times! In between appointments we have about 2 hours, so I will be looking for things to do with my little sweetie!

Of course I have to keep mind the car sickness issue. She is sure to get sick on the way to the cardiologist as she will be wide awake at 9:15. Mostly likely she will get sick on the way from the cardiologist to the pediatrician as well, but hopefully on the way home she will sleep! So I'm packing 3 changes of clothes and praying for the best!

3 Days to Go!

Okay, this momma is officially starting to flip out a bit! Three days to go and I have a lot left to do! I'm starting to feel really stressed as I try and get everything for everyone packed and accounted for.

Can you guess what is in this suitcase?

I'll tell you at the end of this post:)

Today's events kind of confirmed what I already feared. Sweet Allie has carsickness...bad! She had her 15 month appointment today, which is about a 40 minute drive away. About 20 minutes into our drive, she threw up all over. I felt terrible as I watched her become nauseous after only about 5 minutes, and then try so hard to fight it off. By the time we got to our appointment, she was her happy self again. She did a great job with the doctor! Her height and weight are in the 75th percentile and she is meeting or exceeding all of the developmental milestones. Unfortunately the doctor could hear her heart defect (VSD) again. She had thought it resolved itself since it was undetectable at her last appointment. The doctor assured me that this is a common problem, and that we are fine in waiting until our March appointment with the cardiologist. Of course the next topic of conversation was the car sickness. She didn't have many suggestions at first, but got on her laptop and found that they make SeaBands for toddlers, so I'm going to order some of those. I brought up the fact that I still have some of the very wonderful, and quite expensive medication Zofran that we gave Brady while on chemotherapy for nausea. She researched a dose that would be appropriate for Allie, and although this is not what the medicine is usually intended for, since I have it in the cabinet, she was okay with me giving it a try. Then about 10 minutes into our drive home, she threw up again.
You can imagine we are concerned about Allie on our trip. Just in the first day alone there will be a 40 minute ride in a car, 3 hour plane ride, 35 minute van ride, and then another 35 minute ride in a van. Then of course riding the monorail at Disney and all of the rides. I'm hoping with a few of these ideas to help with the nausea that poor Allie will be able to enjoy herself:(

So far I have three bags packed and a lot more stuff to find a place for! Oh yes, speaking of bags...this is what is filling one whole suitcase...

Diapers and wipes for 4 kids x 7 days=a whole suitcase full!

A Hairy Day All Around

 Wednesday is sometimes our adventure day, and today did not disappoint. Now keep in mind that what we consider an adventure would probably be a simple outing for some people. Mom and I keep our ambitions small and things usually go pretty smoothly.

Today we were headed to Ridge Road Station which is giant store selling train collectibles, toys, and holiday items. It wasn’t exactly the perfect place for a herd of 2 year olds with eager hands, but they did quite well with a few dozen reminders to “look with your eyes!” The real adventure happened on the way there…

Dear Allie hasn’t been on a long car ride since before Christmas. I had this great hope that perhaps she had outgrown the carsick thing. Just to be safe, I put the towel, washcloth, and bib on her in the car for the 35 minute ride. About 20 minutes in she started to get the all-too-familiar look on her face. She looks as though she is in a trance and has no color in her face. All of a sudden I looked  back and she was asleep. VICTORY!!!

Or so I thought…

About 3 minutes later, she woke up, started crying, and then threw up. It was the worst yet…it was everywhere. The bib system backfired, literally, and all that came out of her ended up all around her neck, the back of her head, and down her back somehow. We pulled over and I climbed in the back of the van, kneeling on the wet, slush-covered floor. I attempted to “wash” her hair with mom’s left over water in her water bottle. Now I had a stinky baby with wet stinky hair!

I got her washed up as best I could and off we went to the train store. Once we were there I took her in the bathroom and had a great idea to try and wash her up again, this time with soap! As I had her sitting there in the bathroom, her head “sudsed” up with hand soap, an employee of the store walked in. I was laughing inside, thinking that she probably thought I was probably some woman whose water had been shut off, so I decided to come and bathe my kids at the train store! Ha!

Here are the kids shaking hands with the police officer.

My little Barfing Betty!

Eli, Cara, and Brady checking out the great train sets!

 

Headed back to the van! I’m about 15 feet back trying to push the stroller through the slush! Hey Cara…whose hand are YOU holding?

After our adventure at the store, we headed to McDonald’s for lunch. Then it was home for baths, laundry, then haircuts! We are blessed to have a friend that comes to the house to cut the kids’ hair.

I’m pleased to report that Mr. Brady did not cry at all today for his haircut! This is the first time EVER that he didn’t cry throughout the process. He did keep this very concerned and skeptical about the whole thing throughout!

Cara with her hair all clipped up! She LOVES to get her haircut. She is so excited that she has a hard time sitting still!

Mr. Brave, but Skeptical! I love the way his little eyebrows scrunch up!

   

That was our day! Tomorrow is a stay-at- home-and-snuggle-up kind of day…

My Highway Adventure

Today was a definite day that reaffirmed our membership in the We are THAT Family Tree Society! As Brady, Allie, and I drove in the pouring rain to their doctor's appointment, I knew that Allie was going to throw up as we got onto the highway. And she did...everywhere...all over...everything.

So I pulled over, got out of the car, stood in the rain, and started cleaning her up. Once I realized she needed to be changed from head to toe, I decided to go back around to the other side of the van and get in so I could keep us all warm and dry. I said a quick prayer that God would protect us as we were pulled over with semis whizzing by at 70 miles an hour. I changed Allie, plunked her into another car seat, and off we went. While I was unloading the kids and getting soaked, I realized that I didn't have an extra coat for Allie. So she went without a coat and we probably looked pretty raggedy by the time we arrived.

After that fiasco, the doctor's appointment went pretty well. Allie continues to be in the 80-85th percentile for height and weight. She is meeting all of her milestones and exceeding many of them! She got two shots without even blinking a eye, no crying at all. We checked Brady's weight and according to the scale (which I'm convinced is the most inaccurate scale around) he is up almost 3 pounds. Although I don't think he has gained that much, I was satisfied that the doctor won't be quite as concerned for a while. Then the poor guy had to get a shot. I didn't tell him about this ahead of time and felt awful when he realized it was his turn. He made quite a fuss, but recovered quickly! My poor boy...he really has quite a lot of disdain for the medical community!

The weekend is here again! I was able to find outfits for the boys so we are all set for family pictures Saturday. This is an area for prayer:) Will the Williams Family be able to sit still, all 6 of them, long enough to get a decent family picture? Divine intervention needed!

1 Week to Go

Just seven more days until Brady's scans. We found out today that Brady has the first slot of the day!!! I'm SO happy about that. However it means we have to be there at 6:45am, which means leaving here by 5:45, which means I have to wake up at...ughhh! Matt has the day off so he will be with us which has become a necessity for me. I need him there to be my rock, and to keep both Brady and I calm:)
I called today to make sure that the orders had been written for his urine and bloodwork, and they have already been sent. Hooray for our new oncologist! I asked his secretary today when we could get results. She said probably by Monday, but if something was VERY wrong, Dr. Korones would call us right away. With Brady's tumor, I don't think a change in it's size would be glaringly obvious, so I think we will be waiting until at least Monday. We have an appoitnment set up for the following Thursday to discuss the results, but there is no way in the world we will wait until Thursday to call.

Allie had an off day today. She continues to be congested and just didn't want to sleep. After Matt got home from work, I went to run errands. He called me while I was out and told me that he thought Allie might have an ear infection because she was really fussy. I came home and brought her to the doctor...her ears looked fine. I think she is just sick of being sick! Our ride home included a stop on the side of the road after poor Allie threw up all over herself. This is the 3rd time she has done this, so I'm thinking she may be getting car sick. Hopefully when we can forward face her carseat next month this problem will go away.

I promise I'll get the camera out this weekend. It's been a while...

Happy Weekend to you all...