Update! Has it really been THAT long!?

My children are getting bigger and bigger. I guess that is what is supposed to happen to them.
Since my last update life has become even more crazy and finally settled down a little.
So hold on for a ride.

Bad Then Some Good

I posted in October. Shortly after that we ran into some health issues with J. In order to keep it from ruining calm tummies let's just say he had some bathroom troubles having to do with the digestive track. I had seen some signs of issues but it got to the point where I knew we needed help and that it wasn't just a minor thing. He was seen and sent to a specialist and they scoped him. In January we got the diagnosis of IBD. (That is Inflammatory Bowel Disease not to be confused with Irritable Bowel Syndrome) While it has similarities in how it can show symptoms it is completely different. We are still in the learning stages of this diagnosis and meet with a specialist team solely devoted to Pediatric IBD patients. We are headed back for a follow up in about a week. So now we have daily medicine that J needs to take on top of being sure to get him calorie rich foods all day and his laxative and his PediaSure. He has not gained weight since October. Also the limping he had that was mentioned in the last post is very much explained by the IBD as it can cause severe joint pain before/during a "flare up". He has had some other instances recently of pain that make me cringe since we have been told his case is still mild, I keep thinking "what if this gets worse?" and "He will have to deal with this the rest of his life." and "What happens when...?". My big one right now is "What happens when he has been on these medications since he was 3 and his liver decides it has had enough..." most 3 year olds would not be taking these strong medicines. I keep reminding myself that the benefits out-weigh the risks and my choices are either we knowingly allow the intestines to keep destroying themselves now OR we give medicines to reduce the damage while potentially causing liver damage he will have to deal with farther down the road...So we are going to try to manage and hopefully heal what intestinal damage there is and pray for remission.

Getting his scope done.

A couple GREAT things have happened. In January we moved into a house very close to my in-laws house. We were thrilled to FINALLY be in a home to ourselves after spending 6 months living with my in-laws. While we were SO grateful for a place to live, it was a gigantic answer to prayers in all of our lives to be able to find a home for us. We love each other and care about one another but being in the same trailer for too long gets old. The boys were thrilled about a new home and they adjusted fine even though they struggled at first with not having grandma and grandpa around all the time. Shortly after that we moved again. We found a safer and better suited place for us and while moving twice in such a short period of time was difficult it is better. The home is safer and has much better upkeep. I feel better letting my kids around this apartment than the other home. We have a great yard right outside our door and it is near my work.

The next thing is, just recently, S has found a place at a church as a youth pastor. The church is in the town near us and we don't have to move or leave our jobs or our family in order to minister with this church. We visited the church and have gone to several services as well as Ladies Bible study there and have found that we feel very comfortable there. We hated leaving CrossPointe family BUT it seems to be a nice family at the new church too. Our boys were able to finish the year of Awana with their friends and we are just now making the transition to our new church home.

Now on to what is up beyond that.

C

C is 5. He is looking forward to turning 6 soon enough. He has big plans for his life. He currently wants to work at a "place that has lots of toys..." McDonald's! Did you guess it? I didn't guess right the first time he said that either. I need to take him to more toy stores I guess. I think he would die if we took him into ToysRUs. Can you imagine if he thinks McDonald's has lots of toys!? C has been screened for Kindergarten and we are looking forward to that beginning. He is excited to get to go to school again. He began reading out of the blue in the winter and I cannot tell you how proud I am of him. He has since been reading to his "baby bru-der". We recently began a chore chart and he has done well to keep his jobs done so he can earn points for rewards. We have not nailed down what exactly they are earning for BUT I do know how many points they each have currently. C still calls elevators "alligators" and is my resident "know-it-all". I love him to death and even on his whine-fest days I am so thankful that God gave each of my boys their own personality and flaws because if I had any of them sharing the same issues I would probably be bald and crying in a corner somewhere. C likes to watch shows. He was into Inspector Gadget but recently found the Octonauts and has since been watching them every TV time he gets. He also watches YouTube videos. Mainly toy reviews and it begins to show when he picks up a toy and says, "Look mom! It has a cool pull-back feature. This one doesn't have the right logo on it so it is a knock-off. The real ones have dis logo here. You can get the knock-off cheap though..." He has also found a love for planets and stars since it has warmed up some and we have been watching them a little more. I introduced him to Google sky map on my phone and showed him we had something like it on the Kindle and on the old iPhones we let them play on. So he likes to open that up and look at what planets he can find and say the names of the stars. He got J into so much that they watch educational songs and planet videos on YouTube. They know more about the planets than I do. BUT I am learning. Apparently Uranus lies on its side and Jupiter spins the fastest and Venus spins opposite to earth and is the brightest (Which is why we always can pick it out in the evening as we come home from church). I LOVE his inquisitive mind and I just PRAY that God helps S and I keep on top of him so we can keep him focused and pointed towards the right things.

perfecting his "Selfie"

dishes

J

J has had a lot of stuff going on. Hospital runs and appointments. Getting him to eat when he doesn't feel like it and trying to balance his in ability to eat sometimes with C's picky eating without confusing C with why J doesn't have to clear his plate but C does... It has been interesting. It helps that J will eat fruits and veggies first and often leaves the protein, carbs, and/or dairy so we can say that J ate his veggies/fruit so he can be done and that usually satisfies C who then assumes that the reason he cannot be done is because his vegetables are still sitting on his plate. What makes that BAD though is that J should eat the carbs and protein above the fruits and veggies as he is at risk for failure to grow. Thankfully he has been very good about drinking at least 1 PediaSure a day which makes up a lot of his calories that he misses at meals. He LOVES fruit and veggies and always has. He eats frozen peas as a snack! He has recently decided that he does not like peanut butter which put a damper in the protein department as that was one protein I could usually sneak in. BUT we will figure it out.
J was screened for preschool and scored too high (it was for children with delays) so that surprised me in a good way since it showed that his language skills have developed much better than I anticipated seeing how he was doing last summer. His communication is clearer, though I still struggle at times to understand him which begins a shut down process in him that takes so long to get him out of if not stopped quick enough. He shuts down and it is as if NOTHING is getting though to him. I take shut downs over melt downs though. We have occasional melt downs where he gets in his angry zone and just cannot be reasoned with and the tantrum just has to run its course.
In normal though he communicates a LOT and it can become a jumbled mess of blabber that I have to mentally sort through to come up with comprehension. This usually works much better than saying "What? I didn't understand you." Because those words just seem to mean it is time to shut down and stare at the floor while standing like a statue because mom can't understand a word I am saying.
We are a work in progress with J. That is FOR SURE!
During this time he turned 4 and had a fun Baymax birthday. I made his cake after he picked out from some pictures so I could do one kind of like he wanted. It was fun and turned out great. It was just a small party with Momo and Pop-pop. J is currently a fan of Backyardagains still and he likes watching movies more than toy reviews or other TV shows. He will watch Octonauts or the occasional episode of Daniel Tiger. He would much rather watch a longer movie though like the Peabody movie, or Big Hero 6.

J currently wants to be a firefighter when he gets big.

being Bumblebee or a random Transformer

O

O is doing well. He turned 1 since I posted last and is now 1 and a half! I cannot believe it! He is saying some words and is leisurely potty training (as in: If-mommy-remembers-to-set-me-on-the-potty-when-I-first-wake-and-every-time-I-remotely-smile-at-the-mention-of-the-word-potty potty training.) We have had some random success but I am only counting it as getting him comfortable with the idea and I have not felt it was time to take the full plunge yet. O had a very fun party with a lot of work on my part to make it themed and fun and I probably went over the top but it is probably my last baby and it was his FIRST birthday. So I will try to hold back more next time. BUT it came out SO great and I enjoyed the pictures that it made.
O communicates with some words, with some signs, and with grunts and smiles. He can put a smile on my face with his giant mischievous smirk or his giant toothy smile that he flashes at me whenever I get home from ANYWHERE! It is incredibly warming. He is into a LOT of things but what makes him "better" than J is that he doesn't do it behind my back or in the quiet. O likes to show me what he finds and share in his curiosity. He brings me WHATEVER he has gotten into to show me, and he is pretty good about handing me whatever I ask him to give me with a little crooked smile. Maybe I have gotten much better since J was a toddler or maybe it is personality (I am leaning towards more of a personality thing).
O is a giant fan of Pop-pop. He will do anything for Pop-pop. It is very adorable to watch. O is close to C but C is in a phase where he wants little to do with O. C thinks O is always in the way or messing up stuff, which may be true. But C at least still will try to read to him and helps O pick up his toys. O and J are like oil and water lately. They love each other but they cannot seem to get a long. O hits and pinches and J doesn't seem to be able to keep his hands off of O either. It is a dance I have to monitor pretty close often. O likes watching Daniel Tiger and loves music. He does pretty good with rhythm.