Carson

I love this kid! Carson always has such an amazing smile on his face.  His expressions are priceless and magical.  Special thanks to Shaunna for getting this perfect picture at the Greenbank Loganberry Festival.

Carson Lawrence

July 20, 2012

Happy Birthday Logan!

Its so super late, but in September Logan had his 3rd birthday.  We celebrated with a day at the beach and an experiment chocolate cookie layered with ice cream cake.  It was a beautiful day and we spent time in the boat and even had an adventure when the boat ran out of gas (cell phones left on shore).

  Logan wanted a DQ ice cream cake, but I decided I could figure something out.  Its not like I remember it in Martha Stewart Living.

 Some of the toppings fell on the floor, so Carson did his job by cleaning up the mess for us! What a good boy. 

Looking back Emily was in last years birthday pictures of Logan.  Dude, I must not understand how to delegate so that I can be in these pictures. 

Logan had PE tubes replaced May 31 along with a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy which from what I understand is the next step when the first set of PE tubes fail.  Within the first 2 weeks the left ear tube fell out, but the hearing test showed that his hearing was normal in that ear.  During the summer we started to be able to understand him a little better.   Everyday it seems like he is saying something new and on Wednesday we have a follow-up appointment to see if he's done with surgeries.  It was noted that jis right side fell out a few months ago after his second ear infection after surgery.  I notice that he covers his ears which must mean he can hear something, right?  He's getting so big and independent.  At school his best friend is Tegan and it is so sweet watching them play together.  See is this petite little girl and he's this beefy kid. 

Doctors

Tomorrow is a full day of doctors appointments.  It's so funny; all growing up I always thought once you start taking one pill you will start taking more and more and more, until you have a mini pharmacy in your bathroom.  Well it's true! Tomorrow my schedule is as follows:

8:00 Echocardiogram
9:00 Appointment with Dr. Sype, my cardiologist
9:40 MRI of my Cerical Spine (my neck)
11:00 Ultrasound of my Right neck and shoulder
3:40 Appointment with Dr. Liu, my neurologist

My appointment with my PCP isn't until next Friday.  Now you maybe thinking why in the world would someone go to so many doctors, well I will tell you.  In December 2010 I found out I have Cardiomyopathy which basically translates into meaning cardio (heart) myo (muscle) pathy (disease).  The left side of my heart is thinning.  There are many factors that play into this.

A. Pregnancy: While pregnant growing a baby is the number 1 priority for your body and stresses all the functions in a woman's body particularly the heart.  The heart must now pump more blood in the same amount of time, which is a factor to high blood pressure during pregnancy. I have been pregnant 3 times int he last 5 years.
B. Mono: I had mono for the first time in February 2010 while pregnant with Carson.  I had 2 other episodes during the fall of 2010 that came on for no apparent reasons.  The thought behind this is that it could be a viral thing, which means it will get better in time with medication.
C. Unknown: In 2003 I had an echo (ultrasound that looks at the blood flow around the heart) which found that my EF (Ejection Fraction: the fraction of blood pumped out of the right and left ventricles with each heart beat) was at 63% (normal healthy adult is between 50%-70%).  After I started having near fainting spells (presyncope) my PCP decided to do a follow up echo (December 2010).  This time my EF was 35%.  It doesn't get worrisome until you get down to 20% I believe.

I have also had a lot of headaches and migraines.  The neurologist is interested in the branch of nerves in my right neck.  I occasionally have sharp pains in my right chest and then pain down my right arm and into my fingers.  Dr. Liu does acupuncture, so it maybe fun to see where that leads!

In December I also tried to upgrade my life insurance which requires a simple blood and urine testing.  When I got the results back on that last week (February 2011) it showed that my liver functions are low and after a repeat testing they have gone a little lower.  Lets just say I didn't qualify for the upgrade, instead my life insurance is still low and doubled the price.  Today during work I was imputing patients blood work into the computer and a pregnant patient with Hepatitis B had a few numbers lower then mine.  I have been tested for Hep B and C and I have neither, no worries.  And so the adventure continues...tonight I have 4 bottles of medication sitting next to my bed.  Who knows what it will look like tomorrow!

It's been a while

It has been a really long time since I have actually done anything to add to my blog and yes, I apologize for that.  I think about it often, however thinking is not enough action to put words on a page.  The last few months have been a blurr to me.  But I tend not to do too much dwelling in the past, so lets move on!

I start a new job on Monday at Island Women's Healthcare as a Medical Assistant.  It will be a change of pace from the job I just left since I will be one on one with a provider instead of the floater/support staff.  I am a little concerned that it will be too fast for what I am used to, but I usually figure out a way to accommodate to meet the needs for each situation.  The doctor seems really young so it will be fun to figure it out together.  I have really enjoyed working at South Whidbey Healthcare, but from a financial standpoint I feel like this is a great opportunity.  I am in a union now...my first time ever, so I will let you know if that is worth being excited about.  I will also be working 32 hours a week instead of 40, but with the pay increase I will be making just a little more to leave extra money for the commute I now have 4 days a week.

School will be starting soon for me as well.  I haven't worked out a plan to achieve this goal, but it is an actual goal now instead of something I should do in the future.  I have recently had the opportunity to talk to a few people that have received their education through Red Apple University (Skagit Valley College) and all have had lots of good things to say.  I thought at first I would just get my foot in the door and do my LPN, but the more people I talk to the more I think I just need to get my RN.  It isn't much more schooling and the pay is much better and because I want to be in surgery that's the route I need to go to not be scrubbing the floors to get into the room.  I looked into getting my Surgical Tech certification, but again I would be the low man on the totum pole and I gotta live, so if I have to go into debt I might as well go all out!

James will be 5 in just a few short months and is still enjoying preschool.  He seems to have fantastic days and horrible days,  good days and bad days, but I think we are more on the positive side now instead of it more of a half and half.  He surprises me with his kindness to his brothers, especially Carson.  He never seems to mind stopping whatever he is doing to help our baby out.  James will also start Gymnastics again as well as his first outdoor sport of Soccer this Spring.  We were talking about it today and he is more then a little excited.  We got to go to a few of his cousins games over the last year and although he has spent most of the time playing on the jungle gym, I think he understands there is a ball and running involved. 

Logan is 2 and more clumsy then ever.  About a month ago he got dizzy while dancing (spinning in circles) and fell and hit is head on the train table at school.  No stitches but a nice little 2 inch laceration.  Exactly 1 week later he fell off his brothers bunk bed and spit open his head and had to get stitches.  Two weeks later he fell off the bunk bed again and reopened it, but it seems to be doing better now! Since he had tubes placed he is talking much more although he would prefer not to use his new verbal skills and continue grunting to get his needs met.  He is getting taller and bigger.  Logan has been in 3T clothing since the beginning of the year and could have started wearing them long before then.  When James wrestles with him, Logan always wins and James usually ends up calling in help to split them up.  Logan is not one to back down from a situation. 

Carson is sitting with 2 teeth, which means more teeth are on the way.  He still has made no attempt to crawl and I haven't even seen him on his hands and knees yet either! Carson is an excellent eater.  He will eat an entire jar of baby food with each meal with some rice cereal on the side and a chaser of a bottle.  He sure can put it down.  He seems to have really taken well to the schedule and the lifestyle my mom lives.  She says that he just sits and listens intensely to her lessons not making a sound or moving a muscle.  She has been helping High/Middle Schoolers prepare solos for competitions and she has found he doesn't share a love of all musical instruments, but does for the most part enjoy brass.  He seems to adapt well to strangers too...unless you have facial hair, but seems to enjoy all ladies with grey hair and glasses. 

I know this was the end of November, but I just want everyone to know we are still here and kicking! 

Carson about to enjoy his Thanksgiving feast of Rice Cereal and Sweet Potatoes!

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday we made our yearly trip to the Pumpkin patch.  We went last year to Hubbard Farms and loved it.  It is in Coupeville on Whidbey Island and the boys love the tractor trailer rides and this year they made a little maze out of hay bales. 

We each got a pumpkin for carving and then a few little white ones that we painted today with glow in the dark paint.  Tomorrow I will have to see if Ace has some better glow in the dark paint however! Our little white pumpkins aren't very glowy!



Creamy Herbed Pasta

The other day I was short on time with 3 hungry boys and nothing ready for dinner! So what do you do? You open up a box of pasta and a cook book, boil some water, close your eyes and point to a recipe and make it.  And that's how I found this!

Creamy Herbed Pasta

about 4 cups Pasta

1/2 cup snipped fresh Basil or 4 T dried Basil, crushed

4 cloves of Garlic, minced

1T Olive Oil

4 oz Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Cottage Cheese

1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup snipped fresh Parsley

Cook pasta according to  package directions.  Drain, keep warm.  In a medium saucepan cook basil and garlic in hot oil about 30 seconds about 30 seconds.  Add cream cheese, cottage cheese and parmesan cheese.  Heat and stir until nearly smooth.  Stir in water and parsley.  Bring to a gentle boil; reduce heat. Cook and stir 2-3 minutes until slightly thickened.  Serve sauce over hot pasta. 

OK, so here's the thing we didn't have most of these things, but what we did have made for some good stuff!  We did the pasta, dried basil, olive oil, cream cheese, fresh shredded parmesan cheese and water.  Logan loved it and ate half of it and our neighbor came over and had a bowl too!

My craft project

A while back I saw this idea somewhere online where they framed pictures from a children's book and I loved the idea, but not so much the price.  So I got to thinking what I could do to make these still look classy without the classy price tag.  And I thought about how they put pictures on foam board and how great that looks...so I figured why not try that.  So I found myself so not so cheap (almost $6) foam board from our local craft store (first mistake), my modge podge and foam brush and got to work.  It is so quick and easy to do and although they aren't perfect, I don't think people will be putting their nose to my nursery walls!

First I put glue on the foam board and then put the page on and then glued the top making sure to get the edges really well.  I did notice that it bubbled a little with the glue, but I wonder how it would work if you used card stalk behind the picture to stiffen it.  I might have to try it later.

Next I got out my box cutter, omnigrid, my moms mat and got to cutting!

Hanging it was my only question...that and it had warped a little when it dried.  So after I cut them all I put them under my stoneware from my kitchen for a few days which worked beautifully.  After I had my flat artwork I chiseled out little slots in the back of my pictures for hanging purposes.  Now I want to put up a few vinyl quotes from the book to finish it off.  I will share when I get that done.  Won't be tomorrow!

 Oh before I forget, I used the book Where The Wild Things Are and I took it to Sound Business Center to get the binding cut off.  That's a great little tool they have! 

Logan

Today I got to spend some one on one time with Logan while James was at preschool.  Sometimes I use the time while James is at preschool to get things done, but today since my one on one time  is running out I ignored all the stuff that needs to get done and spent some time with my Logan. 

We had sandwiches for lunch and although I offered him a turkey sandwich with thinly sliced tomatoes he had something different in mind! That bagel was left over from breakfast and he took the half tomato that I had set aside and used it to make his own sandwich.  He really has a thing for tomatoes! Good thing we planted 5 plants! Now if I can remember to water...

Isn't he a cheese ball?!?

I'd like you to meet cross eyed Bob!

In middle school my favorite teacher was Ms. Campbell and she had a boyfriend that we nicknamed cross-eyed Bob.  Maybe all babies do the cross-eyed thing, but I don't think mine have, so every time I see him doing it all I can think of is her boyfriend, cross-eyed Bob.