yet another one liner!

While watching the Olympics...he asked to watch the Chinese...don't know why...

"That's not a China guy, that's a normal guy!"

Andrew's newest one liner!

"Matt, I'm not a kid anymore!"

So Strong!

We carry a diaper bag with all of Matt's meds that he may possibly need at any time. It is where I keep the tylenol there and needed to give some to Matt tonight as he was complaining of a sore throat.

I asked Matt if he wanted to go get the diaper bag and he did. So he went over to get it and it was heavy...of course, it carries a nebulizer...anyway, he called for help. Instead he dropped it to the floor and dragged it.

I said, "Wow, you got it!"

Matt replied, "I strong!" Then proceeded to go over to Drew and show off his muscles.

Then later Matt had water and Drew wanted a drink. Matt rolls it on the floor and in Matt language basically said...go get it dog! he was treating Drew like a dog! I laughed...

The most terrifying experience of my life!

Wow, I didn't realize it had been almost 2 months since I last blogged. Things have been completely crazy around here.

We finally got to the point with Matthew that they were going to put tubes in his ears and take out his adenoids. Dr. Denman was in Omaha and is amazing! Yes, he looks 12, but he's awesome. He has that...I'm a parent too...feel to him and I have no clue if he has children or not.

So yesterday we were off to Omaha. Matt had to be at Dr. Kronberg's to have a pre-op physical done. He checked out perfect of course. I asked Dr. Kronberg however, about this leg pain that Matthew continues to have. He'll limp some days or he wake up in the middle of the night screaming that his legs hurt. Some nights we are doing this like 3 or 4 times. They Motrin or Tylenol will no more wear off and he'll be screaming again.

I asked Dr. Kronberg about this and he got serious really quick. He looked over Matt's legs and moved them and poked them and manipulated them and then said...

"Guys, I'm not trying to scare you, but we have to rule out BONE CANCER!"

At the first I was like...okay, no biggy and we finished with the physical and received instructions to head to Children's Hospital where they would draw a CBC, CRP and sed rate. Dr. Kronberg also wanted to do a hip xray.

We stopped to have lunch at Red Robin...Awesome if you din't know that...and then we headed to the hospital.

I opted for the xray first and then the lab work. That's what you learn in school right, least invasive first. Then after all that we headed to find baby gifts.

I slowly began to think about things. Over and over in my head, all I could hear was BONE CANCER, BONE CANCER, BONE CANCER! He couldn't have cancer, no way, he just had ear infections, not cancer.

I found myself playng out every scenario in my head that afternoon. I'd after postpone boards....he'd have to have chemo at Children's...I wouldn't be able to work...and last but not least. BONE CANCER! When you are diagnosed with bone cancer...that's pretty much it.

I was fine until about 5 p.m. I'd been waiting to hear from Dr. Kronberg and he wasn't calling. I knew the clinic was closed and I hadn't heard anything. At this point my thought process was, it's bad and he won't tell me bad news over the phone so maybe he'll be meeting us at the hospital tomorrow. I wasn't sure. I had made it through the previous five hours without crying....until now.

I lost it, I just cried and cried and cried. I didn't know what to think or what to do! Jason was so calm. He wasn't doubting that Matthew was sick. I couldn't imagine not having my big brown eyed boy. The little boy that could make me laugh with just a smile.

When we got to Cindy's house, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I saw a note on her buffet though that said..."Blood work normal, no xray." I immediately asked... "Is that Matt's?"

I could breath again! I was so excited. Granted the xray wasn't back yet, but it didn't matter. The blood work would have to be indicative too for a cancer diagnosis. I could deal with a malformation or disformity.

So we went to the hospital this a.m. and had our tubes put in and our adenoids out. It all went off without a hitch and the x-ray came back clear. It was a great day!

I told my friend Kim that through all of this another thought of mine was...I hope there isn't an increase WBC. Then they will call off the surgery and I don't want that to happen.

Kim agreed that only a nurse would think like that!

Delivery or Di'Giorno

Jason asked Andrew what he wanted to eat tomorrow while I'm at work. So I was rattling off the list of stuff that I got at the grocery store today for the boys to make. After the fettucini alfredo, spaghetti, chicken, hamburgers and green bean casserole, Andrew decides on macaroni and cheese and pizza. So after all that, then he asks:

"Mom, is the pizza, Pizza Hut or Caseys?"

I said, "Excuse me?"

So he asks again if it is Pizza Hut or Caseys and i tell him it is frozen and he goes...

"Oh, grocery store!"

Sentimental memories

Yesterday we were on the interstate driving to Kearney for my sister's induction in to Sigma Theta Tau. Anyway, we were almost to Kearney and out of no where Andrew asks:

"Mom, How do you send cards to heaven?"

First, I asked him to repeat it, then I asked him why he wanted to know that:

"Mom, I want to send Great Grandma that lived at the nursing home a card cuz I miss her."

I started crying. You never quite realize how much a four year old understands until moments like this. It's been almost 2 months.

Big Brother's Fault!

Andrew and Matthew were playing outside today and Matthew came in and I could smell something. When I asked him if he dirtied his pants he goes..."No, Drew!"



Already knows to blame big brother!

Just because he's cute.

Isn't he so damn cute?

More allergies!

Andrew was in the hospital last weekend for just a few hours while they dumped some fluid into him.

Anyway, the rest of the week, we've been battling the tape thing on the arm ya know? So the other night I get out some alcohol wipes out of my stash from work and clinicals and was rubbing at it. This is the conversation that came as i rubbed...

Andrew: "Mom, what is this?"
Mom: "Alcohol"
Andrew: "Mom, I'm allergic to this!"
Mom: "How do you know that?"
Andrew: "Mom, can't you see my eyes burning?"

I just laughed and and replied...whatever kid!!

Never Close Your Eyes Around A 2 Year Old

I've been overly tired lately and today I got up and fed the boys and fell back to sleep on the couch...not meaning to. I woke up to Matthew smelling like sweet pea fragrance and attempting to put mascara on me!



When I told him to put it away and that he was NOT to touch it...he pointed to my eye and said..eye...pretty!



All I could say was...GRRRR LITTLE BOY!

Happy Easter

So, the other day i was talking to Andrew about Easter and I asked him what it was all about. Of course he said the Easter bunny, but then he said...The rebirth of Jesus! I was floored and started laughing because I wasn't expecting it at all!

Then today, I thought I would ask him again what Easter is all about! This time he said...it is when jesus comes back life!

I was so amazed at how much a four year old knew! I don't know where he picked it up, but I know that if his Great-Grandpa Shoemaker heard it...he'd be crying!

Speech Eval

So...Matthew finally had his Speech eval. Mary Jo came to the house to eval him and he did okay. He took a few minutes to warm up to her, but then once he did he did very well! He passed the comprehension part with flying colors and is slightly ahead of where he should be at! However, he is way behind on his speech and Mary Jo said that she could see that while we did the study. I was surprised that he knew more than I THOUGHT he did.

In the end he didn't qualify for services becuase his comprehension was too high and it off sets the vocabulary! It seems like he's been talking more now that we had him evaluated. We will re-evaluate in August if we can because they can do more on his articulation at that time!

He just came up to me and puts his hand up and goes...up then he puts it down and goes...down! I didn't know he could do that! He's leaping and bounding! I LOVE IT!

Toot Toot!

For just this once, I have to toot my own horn.

Saturday, Feb. 16 was the Nebraska State Student Nurse Convention which was held at NECC. Our SNA had put a bug in my ear that they had nominated me for a Community Service award. I had kind of forgotten about it until yesterday at convention when someone asked me how I pronounced my name.

Needless to say, I was awarded the Individual Community Service award for the mentoring program I put together for our program at NECC. The program isn't the greastest yet, but we are working the bugs out of it.

I just wanted to share.

Valentine's Day

I haven't made a Valentine's day box in a long time...roughly about 15 years. However, my parents helped us make some REALLY cool Valentine's boxes.

This year, we got to help make Andrew's. Man how things have changed. I never remember boxes being this cool! Although my dad did make an awesome one, one time. Here is what Andrew's looks like this year. Jason is so creative!

FINALLY!

So...3 months later i am finally getting to blog again. I have wanted something so many times to just be able to write little tidbits here or there about quirky things the boys said or were doing, but my desktop has been acting weird so I haven't had to been able to do it a lot. However, I invested into a laptop and hopefully that will change!

So bare with me and keep checking in!

The results are in!

I received Matt's test results in the mail today from Dr. Murphy along with the lab. His egg yolk allergy is completely gone...however...his egg white still exists. However, it has decreased by almost half since last January. It wasn't the result I was hoping for, but I still did the happy dance. His peanut allergy is on the rise however so we have to get a script for an epi-pen to carry with us at all times. I kind of fail at the "at all times" part of it. One time my aunt suggested to tape it to his back and I'm thinking that it was a good idea now. So on Dec. 14 we go in for what the call an open egg challenge. They will give him eggs in little increments to see if he breaks out or not. It will be interesting!

On another note, Andrew comes up to me tonight asking me if he can eat a green onion and I was like...What? He pulled his hand around showed me a green pepper. The kid ate them raw like they were candy. He is so not my child!

A Month Later

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that it has been a month since I lost wrote anything. SOOO much has happened since then, but I will keep to the simple thing since it is 11:30 and I have to be up in like 7 hours to drive to Norfolk for class.

Well, Matt went to see Dr. Murphy for his flu shot testing on the 16th. Much to both of our amazment, after 5 pokes he was able to get the entire flu shot! This gave us hope that he has grown out of the egg allergy and the following Monday we did blood work to see if he is or not. I don't have the results back yet, but I can share with you for sure that I am not volunteering to draw blood out of a baby any time soon! Dr. Murphy was elated though and prescribed him singulair for his "asthma" like symptoms. He's hoping that after this winter we can d/c the singulair and let him be a healthy and happy 2 1/2 year old.

One draw back however is that he woke up this a.m. in a horrible, terrible break out and I have no idea why. I am hoping for his sake that he is just getting a cold or something simple which now that i think about it, it won't be simple for him. Dr. K had told us that when he has an unnanounced break out like that, more than likely ther is an infection in his system. However, more than likely it is Matthew curled up in the corner eating something he shouldn't be!

Andrew is doing good too by the way. He's been kind of a little bully lately, but I have not be around much between school, work and family happenings with the parents and my little bro. He's good though. I was laughing on our way home from Iowa tonight because more than once I said..."Andrew, seriously! Be quiet for 5 min!" Then I had to laugh because I remember my dad saying when I was little..."Jennifer Marie, we don't need to be singing all the time!" Andrew has picked up on singing lots of different songs. The other day it was "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and he just sang it over and over and I finally had to get him to "And a happy New Year" after hearing the first part like 5,000 times!

OH Lord, please help me find my sanity!

Long Road Ahead

When we started all of this allergy stuff the doctors had told us that eczema, allergies and asthma go hand in hand. We have had the eczema covered for almost 2 years now...allergies will be 1 year in December (diagnosis) and now...I'm afraid the third part might be here.

Last night Matt woke up from his nap crying and Jason went into the room and got him. He came out and sat on the couch with him and he was just listless and you could hear him wheeze from across the room. I took a quick listen to his lung sounds then called the doctor immediately. So at 5 p.m. we ran to the doctor where he agreed his lungs sounded HORRIBLE. They gave him a breathing treatment and he perked up. However, his lung sounds still weren't the greatest.

We came home with 3 new meds, but our albuterol neb treatments. We go see Dr. Murphy on Nov. 16 in Omaha, he's the allergy/asthma guy so we will see what he says.

I don't think it has set in what this could all mean for him. I just keep thinking...what if...what if...what if...it breaks my heart. I know we'll get through it though and all will be good!

Scary noises

Last week there was this creepy man that had escaped from the Neligh jail. Whoop whoop, yes I know, but to a mother of 2 this can be a very scary ordeal.

Anyway I was in the living room studying when all of a sudden I heard a weird noise and I was too chicken to go investigate it. It didn't happen again so I didn't worry about it!

However, this is what I found in my room when I turned the light on when I attempted to go to bed 3 hours later!

Andrew had crawled into my bed at some point and had then fallen off, taking the whole top blanket with him. I got a good chuckle out of it!

Secret Covert Operation

As if I have to explain this picture yet again, but here is Matthew in another one of his funny moods. He looks like he's attempting to work for a secret group overseas.

Please excuse the picture quality...it's off my phone.