Back to School

I met with my academic advisor today. I only have 4 classes to take before I start nursing school. The only problem is I have to take one in order to take the other. I have to take Anatomy and Physiology 1(A&P), then Anatomy and Physiology 2(A&P), then Microbiology. I also have to take sociology or psychology but it doesn't require a prerequisite. I'm going back and forth between taking a class during the summer or not. If I take A&P 1 this summer I would go to school 5 days a week for 4 weeks from 7:30-11:00. It doesn't sound bad but here's the problem.
A&P 1 is only offered during the Fall semester and A&P 2 is offered in the Spring. So, if I take A&P 1 this summer I wouldn't take A&P2 until Spring 2010. All the times for the four classes I have to take just don't fit into my schedule. Next year Kaleb will be in Kindergarten but his school doesn't start until 9:00. Austin is going to preschool two days a week and his school starts at 9:30. Of coarse, the classes I need to take all start at 9:40. Why can't I be in two places at once? I'm still trying to figure it all out and only have until 4/7 which is when registration starts. Luckily, I'm a 5Th year senior so I get to register first. At least that's one little perk!

Once I get these classes done, nursing school is 5 semesters which is 2 1/2 years and I would be off during the summer. I can't wait to just get started..............

ENT visit

Today was our appointment with Dr. Naidu. I usually take both kids to the doctor at the same time but since Mom is off work, I got to take one at a time. It was so nice to actually hear what the doctor had to say.
Austin doesn't go to school on Monday's but Kaleb does. Austin had the first appointment so I took him while Mom went and checked Kaleb out of school early. Austin got 3 x-ray's done to see if he still had the infection. Of coarse, he does. Luckily, the ear infection is gone but he still had some clear fluid in his ears. The doctor wasn't too concerned about it but thinks that if the adenoids are removed, the infection will have room to drain or his adenoids are the cause of infection. He's never had strep or any tonsil problems so he's going to leave them alone.

Kaleb didn't get an x-ray because the doctor could hear that he had large adenoids. When Kaleb breathes out of his nose it's very high pitched because the opening is so small and he simply can't get enough air. His lips stay extremely chapped because he does about 80% of his breathing out of his mouth. So, his adenoids are coming out too. He said Kaleb would have more benefits from the surgery than Austin. Once we can get Austin's infection to go away he will keep monitoring him to make sure that was the problem.
It finally feels like were going in the right direction. Surgery is setup for both of them on 4/9. I don't find out what time until the day before. According to the doctor it's completely painless and the boys won't have any down time. We shall see...............

Allowance

Kaleb has decided he wants a "CDS". I'm not sure why he wants a "Nintendo DS" because he can't even get the name right. Some kids at the gym have them and he's decided he has to have one. Brian and I told him that if he would start cleaning his room, get into the bathtub when I ask, and put his dishes in the sink we would start giving him an allowance. He's very excited about it and is liking saving money. He gets $1.00 a day and so far he's doing great and is proud of himself for being such a big boy.

Family Party

Today was Kaleb's family birthday party. He decided he hadn't turned 5 yet because he hadn't had a party. Brian's parents, my parents, my sister and her husband with sweet baby Oven, and my beautiful niece's came over. The boys had a blast. Austin got as many presents as Kaleb did and was so excited! Kaleb finally decided that he was 5 years old:(

So Sick:(

I called the doctor this morning at 7:30 because I have had ENOUGH! This is just ridiculous. I was up with Austin from 11 pm till 12:15 am trying to get him to stop coughing which nothing worked. I’ve tried every home remedy and have given him his last dose of antibiotic. I’m exhausted and so is he! He has major bags under his eyes and is so whiny that I think I have a newborn in a 3 year olds body. Seriously, I think he forgot how to walk.
Yesterday, I finally got my referral to make an appointment with an ENT named Dr. Naidu for March 30 which was his earliest appointment. I wanted to see Dr. Klug who is in the same practice but the wait was just too long. I would have loved to go to the ENT today instead of the doctor but for once, it wasn’t a waste of $30.
Our regular doctor is out of town for Spring Break so I got to see someone else in the group. A girl I went to High School with answered the phone and I told her what was going on. She got me an appointment with the top doctor in the practice and we were there within 30 minutes.
Two weeks ago, which is the last time we went to the pediatrician, I thought Austin was a lot better than Kaleb and really wasn’t worried about him. We went to the hospital and according to the x-ray; he had a sinus infection so they put him on antibiotics. Well, his health has been downhill since then and it’s not pretty. Luckily, we had Spring Break this week because theirs no way I would have sent him to school. Non stop deep coughing until you gag and his attitude is terrible because he’s exhausted.
Today he got two shots, a steroid, and an antibiotic because now, has a really bad ear infection+ a sinus infection. After he got the shots he proceeded to cry for an hour and a half. He couldn’t walk or talk. The only thing he could do was cry. We headed home so he could rest but he finally decided he was okay and wanted to go see Grandma. We made it 2 miles before he passed out and took a 2 ½ hour nap. I swear it’s the best sleep he’s had in weeks. No coughing! He slept on my chest so I was able to prop him up and fluctuate his body temperature. When he would get hot, I would uncover him and when cold, I would cover him up. I haven’t held him during a nap in years and I LOVED it. I gave him so many kisses. Kaleb was sitting a chair beside me and I kept thinking about how long it’s been since I held him. He’s so big now that his legs are all over the place and it’s just not comfortable to snuggle. They’re growing up way too fast:(

Kaleb's 5, WHAT?

Many tears have fallen from my eyes today. It's both a joyous and humbling experience when your children reach these amazing milestones in their lives. I look back to the last 5 years and can think of so many fun, interesting, annoying, ready to pull my hair out moments and wouldn't change it for the world! Were so grateful for the many people who have helped us along the way and God for leading us every step in the right direction.

Kaleb is ready for Kindergarten and can't wait to start. He knows all of the upper and lower case letters and what sounds they make. He can read several of the "Step 1" books. He knows how to write and spell his first and last name. He knows his address, phone number, birth date and year, rhyme, do opposites, simple addition, and tell me all the numbers 1-20. He is such a joy to be with(sometimes) and I'm truly thankful I get to be with him all the time. I'll ask him a question sometimes and if he doesn't know the answer he'll say "I don't know, why don't we google it". I never know what's going to come out of his mouth and he absolutely cracks us up. He's very serious and is at that age where it's harder to make him laugh. He tries to please everyone and would give anyone the shirt off his back. I see so much of Brian in him that it's crazy. We can definitely tell he got a lot more of Brian's genes than mine.

For his birthday, we took one of his classmates AJ and his brother Devin to the fire museum. There were a lot of people there when we arrived but luckily they left pretty quickly. The boys had a blast. It's not one of those places we would ever go back to but it was fun to go just once.

I'm thinking AJ and Kaleb wore Austin and Devin out! What do you think?

Trying to ride a bike

Today, Kaleb told me he wanted to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels. He tried about 10 minutes then decided he was done. He was so scared he would skin his knees that he didn't enjoy it at all. I swear he's never going to learn how to ride a bike!

After Kaleb, Austin thought he would give it a shot. He does okay but all of the sudden turns the handlebars and gets out of control. Neither of the boys know how to ride a bike without training wheels but were still working on it and will be forever at this rate:(

Scoop on Poop

Oh yeah, we went! We went to the Pink Palace today and it was terrible. They really wanted to see the Scoop on Poop exhibit but it wasn't what we expected. I thought it would be interactive but I had to read everything and it was way too advanced for them. Oh well, at least it was free and they found out where there poop goes after they flush the toilet.

Spring Break! What Break?

Were swamped! I'm not seeing any break this week what so ever. I have us all booked up due to the beautiful weather and taking a chance......

Today was amazing to say the least. We went to Wal-mart(always fun) to pickup a few things then headed to the gym. While at the gym, I saw one of my friends(Lisa) who invited us to a play date/picnic at Brown Park. Lisa and I always say were going to do something together but never do. Today was different! She had plans for a play date and I had an opening:)

The boys and I had never been to Brown Park so we were all in and I LOVE to meet new Mom's. We had an absolute blast. We always play with Kaleb's friends but today was definitely Austin's day. Kaleb had 8 boys his age to play with but for some reason, decided to play by himself. He loved the new playground and all the other boys were tired of it. They were looking for 4 leaf clovers, sword fighting, and playing in the mud. Kaleb let me know that we needed to have that playground in our backyard. He LOVED it!

Lisa has two boys that are very close to the same age as mine. Her oldest son AJ is in Kaleb's class at school(where I met her) and her youngest(Devin) is in the 3 year old class. Austin's in the older 2's class but Devin and Austin are only a month apart. Austin has an October birthday so he is very old and mature for his class and Devin is very young for his class. It worked out great!!!!
Lisa and I were so happy that Austin and Devin had each other. I always feel so bad for Austin trying to fit into the big boys world when he's not ready and definitely not old enough. I really connected with her just because we had the same fears and so much in common.

I met 6 wonderful Mom's that couldn't have been nicer. They had the entire week filled with play dates and nights out and invited me to everything. I'm going to try and make it to as much as I can because Lord knows I love to stay busy and the social interaction is great for all of us.
I know God leads people into our lives for a reason and I really needed this. I have other friends with kids that we play with but all of their kids are Kaleb's age and none are Austin's. I always feel like I'm treating him like a step child, but I just don't know any children his age. Finally, it seems like things are turning around.
Oh, did I mention I got my acceptance letter from The University of Memphis today! I felt like I was 17 again and getting accepted to college for the first time. I start back May 26. Look out world, I'm gonna be a NURSE!!!!!! First thing I'm going to do is take lots of glue because Austin gets glued up all the time:)

Allergist

So off we go for another doctors visit. I didn't tell the kids what was going on because frankly, I had no idea! We arrived and got to ride the elevator which the kids loved.
We were the only people in the entire office besides the workers so it was quite......I had two kids that brought a backpack full of toys that weren't suppose to make noise but because it was so quite, everything was loud! Then the nurse brings in a toy for them that made this loud clanking noise so I was done trying to keep the kids quiet.
The doctor came in and asked me a hundred questions over the loud noises and I have no idea what I said. Then they came in with a puncture skin test. They rubbed 5 of these on each of the boys backs and left the room for 15 minutes. The boys didn't really cry when the nurses did it. It was more of a scared whine because they didn't know what to expect. Here is what their backs looked like. The first is Austin's and the second Kaleb's.

It's hard to see in these pictures but on all 5 applications, the top left prick flared up on each of the kids back in every section. All I could see was dollar signs rolling through my head. It costs me $50 a child and I was freaking out they would need allergy shots or something. After I fanned the kids for 15 minutes (because they weren't allowed to scratch) the nurse came back and checked out the whelps. The ones that were inflamed were controlled tests to see if the body had any antihistamines that would give an incorrect reading on the tests. They were suppose to flair if you weren’t using any antihistamines so we passed the test. Man was that a relief! I wish she would have told me that prior to giving it to them, but I’m sure they do this to make sure people are giving correct information prior to testing. So that’s it. We have no allergies!

Now we get to go to an ENT. According to the allergist, Kaleb’s adenoids are very large and making it hard for him to breath. He always breathes out of his mouth and has the driest lips you’ve ever seen. His breathing passages are so small in his nose that infection doesn’t have anywhere to go so it just sits there all the time. Austin does not have large adenoids but she suggested that if the infection that he has now does not go away with his prescription that he should also go, just in case. Hey, what’s another $50 a kid! So now we wait for another referral. I was a little bummed about not finding anything and wasting the money but then again, now I know. One less thing to worry about.

After the doctor we decided to head to the zoo. We only stayed an hour and half but it was nice to get outside.

Power outage

I ended up going to dinner with my parents tonight due to Austin's 45 minutes fit about not being able to blow bubbles. I'll start from the beginning.............

My parents keep the boys on Saturday nights so Brian and I can sleep in a little on Sundays. The boys still wake up between 5:50 and 6:30 everyday. It really sucks! Brian doesn't get home from work until late so we usually don't get in bed before 11:00. I require a ton of sleep and could seriously sleep the rest of my life away. This sounds terrible but it's the truth.

We spent Saturday morning with my parents then came home so we could play outside and ride our toys. Austin was riding the four-wheeler and parked it in the middle of our cove for all the cars to drive around. I asked him several times to move it but he kept telling me no. I was getting desperate so I told him that if he moved it, we could blow bubbles(which I can't stand). He was being a brat and wouldn't move it so he didn't get to blow bubbles. Kaleb and I did and I seriously thought the world was coming to an end. He screamed and cried for an hour. It was so bad that our neighbors came outside to check on us. I swear Austin should have been a girl. He can cry and pitch the craziest fits you've ever seen for as long as it takes for him to get whatever he wants. Most kids just give up but NOT him. He's so hard headed! I know I'm hard headed but oh my gosh, what is wrong with this kid? I finally got him to quit crying by telling him I would go to dinner with them at Shanti.

While at Shanti, Dad took both the kids to the bathroom. Something happened and the entire town of Collierville lost power right when Austin turned off the lights in the bathroom. He came running back to the table screaming crying that he broke all the lights in collierville and that my Dad would have to fix them. Most of the customers in the restaurant were talking to Austin and trying to peep him up. I had tears rolling down my face because he was shaking so bad and scared that he broke everything. Words can't make kids feel better in those traumatic moments so I just kept holding him. Finally, the lights came back on and his face lit up like a Christmas tree. He looked at my Dad and thanked him for fixing the lights. We tried to tell him he didn't fix them but Austin didn't get that. Dad finally had to say your welcome and go along with it.

Keep scrolling

I've added some older posts and wanted to let you know their down there.

Love,
Stacey

Honey Bear

Every weekend, someone in Kaleb’s class gets to take home Honey Bear. Well, this is our weekend. The weather was great so we decided to take him to the park. I’ve wanted to walk on a trail at Johnson Park but the kids always pitch a fit and we never get to the end. We decided to try again and they actually made it. We saw 3 deer and the kids thought that was pretty cool.



We walked back to the truck and Austin put on his binoculars so he could see the playground.
We headed over there and stayed about 30 minutes then home for dinner. We ate, then back outside to pickup gumballs. We have thousands!