Monkeys Love Bananas!

Jonah made this from his snack. We may not be the most traditionally artistic family, but we aren't too bad in the creativity department!

Yum?

The older boys are at the table, working on math. Im at the sink, washing dishes. Where are the little two? Well I hear them chatting in the kitchen with us. I turn around, they're on the counter, shoving handfuls of powdered sugar in their mouths. At least it's doubtful Micah's allergic to sugar?

Micah's Scope

6:04am: Already checked in, waiting to go upstairs to the surgical ward. There's a baby screaming over there. He's starting to make me nervous!

6:25 am: Waiting upstairs now, and I'm not liking the bracelet!

6:47am: I'm bored, I think I will use the chair as a slide.

6:47am: And a pillow.

6:47am: I'm still not liking the bracelet.

6:48am: Now I'm playing duck-duck-goose with the chairs.

7:03am: I'm finally dressed for surgery. And still not liking the bracelet. And now there are two! The red signifying I have an allergy.

7:04am: I'm tired and tired of waiting. Curious George is on TV, but I usually watch him with Selah. I miss Selah!

7:25am: Mommy can come back until I fall asleep but she has to wear funny clothes! I'm looking forward to this nap I'm about to get. See how tired I am?

7:47am: What Mommy got to stare at. I'm the last one on the board, it's in red in the picture. First it said "OR in," then "Surgery Start," then "PACU" for Post-Anethesia Care Unit.

8:09am: The doctor came out as soon as the surgery was done to show Mommy my pictures. The first is my lower esophagus. The second is the opening from my stomach into my small intestine. The third is my stomach. The fourth is my small intestine. And the fifth is my upper esophagus. Pictures 2-5 look like they should. Picture one, the lower esophagus, is where the doctor found inflammation and a white coating. If you can see in picture 5, there are blood vessels visible. In picture 1, there aren't because of the inflammation and the coating. The doctor took biopsies from my esophagus, stomach, and small intestine and they will test it to see if they can determine the cause of the inflammation and to make sure there isn't anything else that isn't visible that is wrong.

8:28am: I started to wake-up, so they brought me to my mommy. I was happy to see her, but still pretty confused and tired.

8:35am: They gave me a cup of apple juice. With no water in it! It was SO good! Especially because they gave me a straw and I love straws!

8:36am: I ran out of apple juice!

8:37am: Well compared to this, that bracelet isn't bad at all! Can someone take this out, please!

9:02am: Headed home to see my dad and my siblings. And I found a bag of marshmallows as I got in the car! Score! I ate 11 on the way home, Mom was afraid it was going to make me sick! But I was fine!

Micah did great with the surgery. He was pretty tired of waiting, but what 2 year old wouldn't be? I was pretty tired of waiting, too! When we were parking in the parking garage at the hospital, he asked, "Where's Daddy at?" And then asked where Selah, Jonah, and Noah were at various points through the morning. I guess when you are #4, you don't spend much time without your siblings, do you? Especially in a homeschooling family! I think he was feeling a little lonely! Thankfully they allowed me to come back while they gave him gas to fall asleep. In the 2 minutes it took I think every person in the room commented on how well he did. I promise if you had taken him away from me to do that it wouldn't have gone well, seeing as how he is really in the strangers-are-scary stage. He did awesome, though. Laid on the table, let them strap him in and didn't fight the mask on his face. He just held my hand and stared at me the whole time, it was so sweet. And, they flavor the gas so the kids fight it less. Well, they must flavor it well, or he was really just really hunger since he wasn't allowed to eat, because he laid there licking the air in the mask. It was one of the cutest things ever. I wanted to take a picture but didn't know if they would like that. He was like a little lizard, his little tongue kept coming out  and moving around in the air. 

Once he was out, they lead me back to the waiting room while they did the IV and all. I was so grateful they put him out before the IV and that they let me back for the gas. Most hospitals do the IV first, and they also don't let parents back at all. When Noah was scoped at a few weeks old, they didn't allow me to come for any of it and he was awake and SCREAMING  when they finally brought me back afterward. It was traumatic for me, if not for him!

Overall, everything went very well. Micah was grumpy Friday but went back on his reflux meds Friday night and has slept through the night EVERY SINGLE NIGHT SINCE!! AND he hasn't been getting up until 7am or later! So I thought for sure we were just dealing with reflux.

And then the doctor's office called with the biopsy results yesterday.

I was thrilled at first, they said it could take until the end of the week to get them. 

I should have known better, it was Monday, after all.

Now let me be clear, it isn't THAT bad. 

It isn't cancer. 

It isn't an untreatable condition.

It's Eosinophilic Esophagitis. 

Of course, what I HEARD, was Esoph and itis. And I THOUGHT she said a fancy word for GERD. Except GERD (or GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease) IS the fancy word for reflux. But I was in the classroom with the kids, Noah was on my lap doing math, the little two were squealing as they colored each other with markers and Jonah was banging his head on the desk in protest of doing his schoolwork. I was a wee bit distracted. 

So I say, " OH GOOD! So we just keep him on his meds and we should see an improvement!"

Nurse Emily: "Well, no. We're going to have to treat this and find the cause. Reflux meds won't help."

Me: "I'm sorry, I must have misunderstood. What did you say he had, again?" As I dump Noah off my lap and walk out of the classroom.

Nurse Emily: "Eosinophilic Esophagitis. We call it EE for short. It means there's an allergic reaction causing the inflammation in his esophagus.And his number was 65 eosinophils per high powered field. That's pretty high. This poor child has probably been quite miserable, it's a painful condition."

Now I'm going to be honest. I heard one word there. ALLERGIC. 

Me: "No, no, no! That is exactly what I was hoping it wasn't! He's already on a gluten and dairy free diet. So it's something else...."

Nurse Emily: "Yes, there's something else, and next step is figuring out what is causing a reaction."

I'm seriously on the verge of tears here. This isn't a simple fix. This is a real problem. It is not curable. But is is treatable. And, we will FINALLY get to see an allergist, which I have been asking for since he was 8 months old. Every visit. The last time was in December, and the pediatrician said to wait, do the scope, and if nothing comes up on that, we will refer to an allergist. 

So, yay, now we get to see an allergist. 

We go tomorrow to the allergist. I'm a bit nervous, as it isn't a pediatric allergist. And the doctor's actually on vacation, so it is the nurse practitioner we will see. But it's a 4-6week wait for a pediatric allergist. And the kid is eating something he's allergic to and there is NOTHING we can do until we figure out what it is. So I'm praying that this person has at least HEARD of this condition. It's a fairly newly discovered condition, so it's not well known yet. Hoping something comes up on the testing to give us an accurate idea of what to eliminate. Most children with EE suffer from multiple food allergies. And if the cause isn't wheat or dairy, the most common other foods would be egg, soy, peanut, tree nut, or fish. He doesn't like fish or peanuts. He rarely gets soy because it not only makes me sick, but the estrogen in it is not good, especially for little boys. So the most common cause would be egg or tree nuts. At first I ruled out tree nuts, too- but then realized he drinks almond milk!! Don't worry, he's drinking rice milk now until we test him! There's an almost unlimited list of things he could be allergic to, and so we will just have to wait and see. 

There is some information available on this diagnosis, though a lot of it is still unknown. For now, they have prescribed an asthma med for him to swallow- rather than inhale- and it will help to coat the esophagus and allow it to heal. Assuming we get answers tomorrow about what he is allergic to (a very small percentage of people with EE have no food or environmental allergies as a cause- praying he does! There's not much they can do if he doesn't!) we will then alter his diet and in 6 months or so rescope him to make sure the esophagus has healed and there are no longer a high number of eosinophils present. 

He may or may not also have GERD. EE is usually misdiagnosed as GERD as it presents basically the same symptoms and cannot be diagnosed without a scope and biopsy. GERD meds usually do not help with the EE. So most people with EE finally find out because they are still having problems even on GERD meds. Which is exaclty what happened with Micah. However, we notice a dramatic improvement while he is on the GERD meds. This could mean he has GERD or it could mean the allergic reaction is causing the heartburn. So we will leave him on the GERD meds for now and try to remove them once the rest is under control. 

Prayers appreciated for us to get poor Micah properly diagnosed and help him to feel better! I will keep you updated with what the allergist finds tomorrow. I'm sure it will be a horrible day for him, but it can't be worse than living every day in pain!!!

The Black Warrior

Jonah was waiting for his friends to come over for Bible study on Friday- as the Black Warrior.
Also of note for the night was Selah bashing a child in the back of the head with a pvc pipe and splitting his head. She probably lost a friend. Thankfully, being the back of his head, no stitches were necessary.
And the much funnier thing that happened was a cousin tagged along with one of the families. I'm not sure exactly what Bryan was doing at this point, other than getting some food for some of the kids. (Maybe throwing rolls?) The cousin who came along-who never met us as the kids just walk in and disperse- says about Bryan, "He would make a really cool dad!" I'm still laughing about that. Perhaps he thought he was the older brother? He does look young, and acts even younger. I'm not sure that our kids have any clue how cool their dad is, but most of their friends do.

If I can't see you...

Then you surely can't see me.

They (Selah and Micah) had the cup of toothbrushes that I keep downstairs (so that I actually brush the kids teeth daily) as well as a tube of toothpaste. Between the giggling and the feet, they weren't too difficult to find.

A clue?

Perhaps this picture from Thursday shows that I should have been a bit more aware of how the little guy was feeling. Micah and I had ourselves a trip to urgent care today...he, too, has a double ear infection. Jonah and Noah each had one or two- their whole lives! And I know that one of Noah's was actually an outer ear infection due to sand scratching the ear drum. But Selah and Micah have had tons. At least 3 or 4 a winter, each. Enough to be annoying but not enough for tubes, in my opinion. I do have an otoscope, though- thanks to Selah's uncanny ability to lodge items in various orfices- so at least I can usually tell it is indeed an ear infection before wasting time and money taking them in for nothing! Hopefully now that he's on antibiotics for his ears and he's back on medication for his reflux, he'll be sleeping, eating, and playing better. As in, not needing to be laying on Mommy for any/all of the above.
I might miss the snuggling a little, but my house will be happy for some more attention as will the other kids.

Hmmm...

Micah's having an upper GI scope this morning, and he's not too sure what's going on. As we parked the car, he asked, "where Daddy at?" And then he got really excited when I got him out of the car. Nothing like darkness, snow, and 30* at 6 am to excite a kid. He was doing okay without having eaten until we were doing the admitting paperwork, then he started asking for milk. I don't know if he saw the cup or just decided he was hungry. I feel bad for him but he wasn't too upset. Lots of distraction. And in the picture a baby started screaming and he wasn't sure if he was going to come hide on his mommy or it was safe to keep playing.

Wow.

Apparently he didn't notice that his pants were a wee bit short. As in they are Micah's pants! I find it slightly worrisome that my 6 year old can fit into my 2 year old's pants. And they may even fit better around the waist on Noah than on Micah.

I'm all packed up!

I've got bullets- for Jonah. And a party dress- for Halloween. You can't see in there, though. One time, you could. But this time, you can't.

Another Trip to the Urgent Care

Poor Selah has double ear infections, again. This was the worst I've seen her. She came to me about 3:30 yesterday crying, "MOMMMMYYYY! My ear hurts! There's something in it!" Always a bit concerning considering the source. But since she has a cold, I was hoping it was "just" an ear infection. She then screamed for almost the next hour-it only took the first 5 minutes for Bryan and I to decide to take her in now. Who wants to listen to a 3 year old scream? She screamed the whole way there (about 15minutes), the whole time we filled out paperwork, the whole time in the waiting room, the whole time they did her vitals, and even after they put us in a room. That's not normal for Selah! (Drama queen that she can be!) They did give her some motrin and then I figured out Netflix has an app for my phone so I was able to turn on Dragon Tales for her to watch. And then she finally calmed down. Thankfully, there were no foreign objects in either ear, and a round of antibiotics should clear it up quickly. She's been fine ever since we left the urgent care last night.
Now Micah's the miserable one. Viruses and a bigger family with littler kids are always fun!

More Red Sauce, Please!

Now that Jonah's figured out that he likes red sauce, he asks for it daily. And is very excited when we are having pasta for dinner. That's his third bowl- and they weren't small bowls of pasta! He's easily eaten 3 times what I've eaten. Of course, I do have a precious Micah who has a cold and fell asleep on me. I probably ate a bit light as it is difficult to eat while holding a 35 pound sleeping 2 year old. He sure is sweet though!

Wait! Wait! Don't come in here!!

I do love that girl. But she sure does make a lot of extra work and waste a lot of money!

The Child Who is Afraid of Everything.

We have a scaredy-cat 3 year old around here. She is afraid of everything (except things she SHOULD be afraid of like heights, chemicals, and mvoing vehicles) and often wakes up in the middle of the night screaming about something scary- such as her piggy banks, stuffed animals, or pillows. And so, we often have to go in her room and remove the "scary" object(s). But about half the time she's kind enough to do it herself, and we will just find a pile of "scary" objects outside her door. Last night, she tossed out the animal rugs and her Lego box, along with a doll.
Now mind you, these are the rugs that she brought IN her room two nights before and they are on the floor at the foot of her bed, so she shouldn't even be able to see them, much less be scared by them! But apparently she was afraid, and we were thankful that she removed them herself before she went to bed, rather than waking us in the middle of the night. It's always amuzing as to what we will find kicked out. And soon, there will be nothing left in her room. We've already had to remove the stuffed animals, piggy banks, and rocking horse, just to name a few. I have no idea what is scary about a Lego box and a little plastic doll. But then, I'm not 3.
The best, though, was when I heard her door open a couple of months ago and went to peek at what she was doing. All I saw was this little arm reach out, holding a puppy dog by his neck, and then drop him and quickly shut the door. It was like an episode of Tom&Jerry or something from long ago. I wish I had that on video.
Here's hoping this is just a phase!

If You Tell Selah No...

She will likely just do it behind your back. It's good we are learning this now, before she's a teen and can really get into trouble. I said no to the applesauce, since she had just eaten a banana. Then we realized we had no idea where she was. Oh that's because she's sitting on the stairs eating applesauce that she'd opened with a knife- all by herself. Isn't she resourceful? Even better, Bryan had cleaned the carpet on the stairs the same day. Only a minor spill, easily cleaned having been found fresh, thankfully.

Intelligender Results

In other news, today we are happy to report that Intelligender is responsible for a tremendous amount of relief in the Wilhelm household. This morning's result says we're having another boy! Now, Selah is cute and sweet and all...but she's enough for right now! Bryan is the only one who was hoping for a girl. Everyone else wanted a boy. (Selah will likely not like reading this in the future. We really do love you, Selah. It's just that your curiosity is more than enough for our family to adventure through for now!)
The test claims a 90% accuracy rate, so fingers crossed it's right! We'll have a better idea after the next ultrasound.

Finally Red!

After just over a year, we managed to finally paint the living room and entryway. Originally, we didn't think we could do it and that we would have to hire someone. But, we eventually decided to give it a go before declaring defeat. And we are glad we did. It was quite a project-cost over $400 in supplies, 50 "oops" spots on the carpet (need new carpet anyway), 20 hours of labor (by two people), 2 little Micah handprints, 2 ugly ladder marks, and NO incredible adventures by Selah. At least none that we've become aware of yet. We don't want to do it again, but it's nice to have accomplished a huge project!

Oh the joy!

All it takes to thrill a 3 year old girl is some new underwear! It's ridiculous, but adorable.

Kids

This child has professed a giant hatred of spaghetti sauce. Now, if you are talking about the stuff in a can or jar at the grocery store, I can understand. But homemade sauce? From fresh tomatoes? What's not to like?? Well, he has claimed to try it and still not like it, so I'm fine with that. But last night he asked to try a couple bites again. And loved it. Apparently he loved it so much he felt the need to drink the leftover sauce out of the bag today, straight from the fridge. I can't blame him, Bryan and I have both been known to do such things. But it is still funny.

One tired two year old!

Mr Micah is back to rising long before the sun- this morning it was about 4:45. Ouch. So, he got no nap, in hopes of eliminating a repeat! And, by 4:30 he was falling asleep in his dinner. Well kid, don't get up so early! Your mama is tired!

The Neverending Story!

Bryan just finished reading The Neverending Story with the boys- which called for movie night! It's a bit intense for the little two, can you tell?

Another bonus...

When one finishes their schoolwork before 10am, there are many benefits. Not only do they get to spend hours filling the garage with BBs, but they also get to do science experiments. Messy ones. Noahs still finishing up his math, but Jonah is shooting rockets- and using vinegar and baking soda as rocket fuel. It's hard to tell, but in the last photo they're laughing at the "fuel" covering the sliding door. That one exploded quite well. Oops, they're out of order. Well you can figure it out, I'm sure!

Hopefully they get this all cleaned up before their dad gets home. Not because he'll yell about the mess, but because he'll likely join the fun and then we'll REALLY have a mess!

Jonah's New Toy

Jonah went to a friend's house last Friday, and got to play with his airsoft guns. Well you know what that meant. Nerf is cool and all, but is nothing like airsoft! Since he could not stop talking about saving up for a gun, and asking what he could do to earn money, Bryan finally told him that if he helped him clean and organize the basement, he'd buy him one. And boy did he help! He spent all of Saturday and all of Sunday working with Bryan. He even got up at 5 am on Sunday and went down to work on it! By Sunday night they had finished, and so he was desperate for his gun! Our first few attempts to order one failed, as Amazon doesn't ship airsoft guns to MI! But after talking to others who had experienced the same problem, we found a company in Ohio that does ship here. Of course his top two choices, both Sig Sauers like Bryan's, we out of stock until the end of the month. As you can imagine, he wasn't waiting that long! So he got a Heckler & Koch USP. It came yesterday but we had gymnastics so he didn't get a chance to play with it. So today, his schoolwork was done before 10 am, and he's now out there filling my garage with little BBs. (Which he has been informed it will be his job to sweep the garage regularly! And the BBs are biodegradeable so thankfully they won't be around forever in my yard -in theory.)
The new goal is keeping Selah from eating the BBs or putting them places that require the ER to remove.

Rule Breaker!

Not only did he steal my juice, he took it in the living room! And cried when I told him it has to stay in the kitchen. Poor child never gets to do anything fun.

Peace?

The TV hasn't been on since Saturday. Being that it's now Thursday, I guess they're all excited. I lost my blind installation helper, but I think I can probably manage alone.

Mommy's Little Helper

Hanging up some blinds this morning and Micah's all ready to help! Good thing I have such good helpers, otherwise I may never accomplish anything!

Figures

This morning went slightly better, Mr Micah was up at 12:45, looking for his book- which was under his pillow. And then up for the day at 5:45. Not 7, but not 4, so I guess we'll take it. Of course, we took Daddy to work this morning and he fell asleep on the way home. Must be nice to be 2! And, unfortunately, I was trying to save gas by not leaving the car run whil he napped and I tried to transfer him to his bed. Guess I should have known better at 8:30 am. Thankfully, I was able to pawn him off on Noah and the giant train track and save my hip the workout.

Little Buckeye Fan

Quite a track!

It's Noah's date night, and he wanted to build a new GeoTrax track. It's nice to have all this space to build giant train tracks. In all our previous houses, to build GeoTrax we've had to clear out a room! We had to stop collecting new pieces as we couldn't fit them all together but now I think we may be able to add a few extra pieces. The kids will have great fun with this tomorrow until someone (likely Selah) decides to destroy it! Hopefully it lasts a while to give me some peace!
And for the record, I supervised while the experts (Bryan and Noah) did the hard work.