My big boy is 5!!

My big boy turned 5 today and started kindergarten!!  I’m so proud of him.  He did so well getting on the school bus and going to school for the first time.  He got to bring cupcakes to his class for his birthday so he was extra excited about that! 

I cannot believe that I have a kindergartener!  Time just flies by so fast.  Sniff sniff!!

On the health front, I’m feeling pretty decent the last few days.  Not too bad really.  My legs are doing fairly well but my arms are now pretty weak.  I go to see my neuro tomorrow so we’ll see what he has to say.  I have been talking with a pulmonologist that I know well and he has a whole list of tests that he wants to do for all this shortness of breath.  He gave me a script for the first set of tests and says he wants to see me within 2-3 weeks in the office.  A good start at least!!!

Really paying for the party

Today I’m really paying for having the kids’ birthday party.  Each year we do a combo party since all 3 have their b-days just 4 days apart.  And since it’s a once a year thing we just throw a big BBQ.  It always happens to fall on hubby’s first day of cross country practice too so the majority of work falls to me.  Being the good mom that I try and be I just ignored my body yesterday and forged ahead with it all.  BIG MISTAKE!!!

The party turned out great but today I’m struggling.  I was asleep on the couch by about 8:30 pm last night and was so dead asleep that hubby left me there which he usually doesn’t do!!  Then I could barely drag myself up this morning despite the fact that the kids and hubby needed me.  Usually I get up and get breakfast going etc but today I could have cared less if anyone starved.  That isn’t me AT ALL.

My body feels just miserable today.  I feel like a big bowl of jello and like none of my muscles work.  And if this stinkin elephant doesn’t get off my chest so I can breathe I’m gonna lose it.  And that’s just when I’m sitting doing nothing.  When I get up and walk around it’s quite difficult to breathe.  If this goes on much longer this might be the first day I actually consider visiting the ER for the shortness of breath.  

And to top it all off my week of vacation from work is over.  I go back tonight and start my new job.  I used to work in a cardiac ICU where if it was quiet (which was about 50/50) I could at least sit down for short periods of time.  But now I’m a resource nurse, so this means I’ll be up and walking around for the entire 12 hours of my shift from 7pm to 7am!!!  Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Hopefully a good nap this afternoon will help.

And then hopefully a visit with my neuro this Thursday will help even more……………..

My babies are 3 today!!!

My twins are 3 today!!  I still call them my babies though it’s probably time to start dropping that line huh!!

I can hardly believe they are 3.  It seems like yesterday that I was being wheeled into my room after my c-section and seeing my hubby holding them and reality that I actually had TWO babies to take home setting in.  And then it seems like the day before that I was getting my older one out of bed and some voice inside my head told me to do a pregnancy test that morning even though we had been unsuccessfully trying for about 9 months at that point and I had all but given up on getting pregnant on my own again.

My life is so blessed.  I have a wonderful hubby and 3 wonderful children.  I only wanted 2 children.  You know, the whole I have 2 hands for 2 kids etc line…….  But then God blessed me with an extra and though it gets hectic at times (well most of the time!!!) I wouldn’t change it for the world. 

We are having a big BBQ for the 3 of them today as Benjamin’s b-day is this coming Wednesday.  Quite the busy week for us!

Here are some pics down memory lane………..

Now:

Jen at birth:

Sam at birth:

Happy stinking birthday to me!!

So yesterday was my birthday.  I’m 32 now!!  A major milestone huh!!  In all seriousness it was not a great day.  It started off with me feeling blah like usual.  But I was at least in an upbeat mood.  My husband and I were on our way to lunch for me (without the kids too!!!) when the daycare calls to say that Benjamin (my oldest) had just puked all over the place!!!  Uggh….so much for lunch.

Hubby was nice enough to go and pick him up so that I could go and get all the party supplies for the kids b-day party on Sat.  Then later in the afternoon I pick up the other two and by 6 ish Samuel is puking.  Jennifer had her turn around 9:30!!!  I decided right then that I am cancelling all holidays that have anything to do personally with me as I seem to remember cleaning up puke on Mother’s Day too!!!

On the medical side of things for me, I have had tons of blood work done in the last few days.  My muscle damage tests (CPK, LDH and liver enzymes) are all normal.  Today I had a sed rate, C-reactive protein and rheumatoid factor done to check for inflammation etc.  No results on them yet though.  Hopefully on Monday I’ll hear.  

Oh and my newest symptom is muscle pain.  I played tee ball with Ben the other day and today is the first day that my triceps in my arm don’t ache like mad.  I felt for 2 solid days as if I had swam the entire English channel!!!  

To answer some of Jana and Rachel’s comments:  no tensilon test.  I don’t think it is commonly done around here in the US anymore.  But I have an appt with my regular neuro on Thurs this week so I’ll ask him then.  As to the ice test….my eyelid does get droopy but not to the degree that that test would be possible.  I think if you go to the about me page there is a pic of me that has the droopy lid in it and that is about how bad it gets….maybe a tiny worse at times.  But never to the degree you are saying.  Thanks for the insight though and keep it coming!!

8/24:  Edited to add:  I went back and looked at the picture and it isn’t reflective of what my lid looks like when it’s droopy.  I picked the best pic of course!!  I’ll have to go back and find one and post it.  But it still doesn’t get droopy enough to do the ice test and it’s very unpredictable as to when it will get droopy.

A major milestone

Potty training…………uggh!!!

Benjamin was mildly difficult to potty train.  About typical for a boy from what I understand.  Jennifer was a cinch.  Then there is Samuel.  I had really thought that it was just that he was the last one and that I was ready to be done with diapers so no matter how easy or difficult he was it would seem as if he was the hardest kid in the world.  T h e n    i t    t o o k    s o    l o n g!!!

He had #1 down pat and was in big boy undies most of the time BUT cleaning #2 out of his undies became a daily chore.  After a day where it happened 4 times I had had enough and put him back in pull ups.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Then we were back to square one.

After some changes in our routines etc we had a major breakthrough 2 days in a row.  First, at home he did #2 on the potty all by himself without being prompted!!!  We did a happy dance all over the house.  Then the next day he did it again but at daycare!!!  Another happy dance once he got home!!  My baby boy big boy is finally getting it!!  I’m so happy!  Won’t it be nice to not need pull ups anymore.  Now if we just didn’t need them at night…….