PICS!! Our mostly completed basement, our newly 5 year old son, pics from vacation

The most beautiful rainbow I personally have ever seen - doesn't even show how it totally fills the sky.  It was amazing!

Aunt Allison reading harry potter to the kids looking into the great room - AFTER PIC.  By the way - all these pics get unwieldy - so as you read this try not to become too discombobulated in how they jump around.  Its 12:30 and I just can't fiddle around with the pics anymore to make the order make sense.  Either I can't figure out the best way to do this, or blogger is stupid!

this is a before of the great room wall looking toward the study

AFTER:  Brooke and Tyler already at home in the new playroom...how do I know?  Its a DISASTER!  Reaquainting themselves with out of reach toys that had been in hiding for months during construction

this is part of the great room - the back area for future fooze ball BEFORE

looking into hobby/kids study area from the stairway

in the great room

from the great room looking at kids study/hobby area

from great room looking toward the kids/study hobby area

the temporary home for Mark and Allisons life in boxes - this table will be where a foozeball table will be SOMEDAY

Bedroom #1 in basement - Mark and Allison's current Master Bedroom - no doors yet...we are working on that one

Bedroom #2- now currently a playroom - the kids LOVE it in there...we have some cool car rugs on the floor - no carpeting yet

Here is Brooke annoyed at my picture taking

Kylie is 2 going on 20 and insists on putting together her own very INTERESTING outfits

Although I can't figure out how to get the pics exactly how I want them in this blog - here is the storage pantry when you first come down the steps - VERY handy...especially with my crazy couponing I STILL do

A look at where the bar and bathroom are by the great room

Her is Kylie - 2 - or as we call her "Ko Ko" back from church

In Kentucky in August at Red River Gorge with a break in the rain.  These guys were GREAT hikers!

My little guy is FIVE!

This pic cracks me up - from one camping night to another - eating PLAIN oatmeal with no complaints at a gas station parking lot

Brooke is SEVEN and in 2nd grade - what a grown up!

this is a before of the library and study area when you first come down steps - a pantry is to the left

Tyler chose a SANTA birthday cake.  Since he still can't have sugar,  I used Stevia in this one.  We used creme, strawberries, and raspberry coulis for the frosting.  He had THIRDS!  I had THIRDS!

this is the CURRENT office/ hobby area for the kids - and no flooring or doors YET...or baseboards - that a 2011 project for the most part!

looking at the office/hobby area from different angle

this is the long wall of the great room - now faux painted to look like the inside of the cheesecake factory/italy

AFTER:  the bathroom all finished!

this is the wall of the library studye AFTER with the large cubby hole that was debated over and debated oer.  It will be finished with dry wall and be sort of hidden away

this is the bar area - AFTER - well mid process.  It currently has a microwave!

This is the BEFORE of  the big wall of the great room framed out

this is the AFTER of the very first framed pic - looking toward the stairs

Brooke on her first day of 2nd grade - and VERY impatient to get to the bus

Our nomadic summer of craziness

Last summer it seemed like we had all the time in the world to take it easy.  We went frisbee disc golfing 4 nights a week with the kids, we went on lots of walks, and went several nights to the library.

This summer has been a totallly different story!

NAUVOO:

Brian skipped driver's ed teaching to go to Nauvoo with the EXTENDED Wayne Family for a 3 day excursion.
Since I used to live there, it was really like going to my 2nd home.  This time the kids appreciated where I used to "Go to Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade (as well as some others, but they can appreciate those grades for now).  They also appreciated where I lived when I was "7" and "5" - how old Brooke and Ty are now.  "WOOOAHHH!"

We went on the buggy tour which has TOTALLY changed - I liked the change - even the crazy crossing the creek part, feeling like you are totally going to tip over:  THINK LEGACY.  It is the same area that THAT wagon tipped over, which was not scripted.

We even had a TORNADO WARNING, unbeknownst to us.  I used all my feminine wiles to convince Brian to stop at the top of the hill right in front of the temple to take some awesome lightening shots of the gigantic storm coming in.  I did get some cool cloud shots.  The sky exploded before we got to the hotel, and we were made to sit in the HALLWAY with a ton of EFY and YOUTH CONFERENCE kids in the hotel away from all the windows and wait out the TORNADO warning.  I actually quite enjoyed it.  But back in the Chicago burbs, our front porch got BLASTED IN...its duck taped for now...

WISCONSIN DELLS:  

This is the EXTENDED Wayne Family Excursion #2.  We left the SAME DAY Brian finished teaching Driver's Ed for the summer to go stay at a friend's vacation house up there...unfortunately filled with MICE!! Tyler erupted in an asthma outburst, and we hadn't realized why until we saw a CUTE, FURRY, ADORABLE....EEEEEEEEK!.... MOUSE SCURRYING across the kitchen floor.  Every trap we put out from there out was filled within just a couple of hours....so that was a fun activity for the kids to watch...

However, it was SO SO SO SO AWESOME to go to the Indoor/Outdoor water park of Chula Vista.  I would TOTALLY recommend that to anyone going there.  We DID go on a Tuesday, but hardy any lines - I just have gone down 60 different times ALL the various slides, except for the superhigh straight plunge yellow one - no THANKS!  Brooke and Tyler LOVED IT, and Brooke has become my new partner in waterslide/ride thrills.  We BOTH like to lose our stomachs.  Brian's stomach is probably on par with a 3 year olds...or maybe a 63 year old...more delicate.

We also went to the Army Duck boats.  I had heard they were cool and a "must" but my experience was LESS THAN STELLER!  I was in the very front seat behind the driver, and felt the direct line of heated pipe exhaust blast out at me until I felt TOTALLY nauseous and sick.  Then Kylie fell asleep on me, her bare skin totally sweaty and wet against my legs.  She was draped across me, making me even more hot and feeling trapped. We went only about 7 miles per hour in the boat in the water, and I just envied the people in the JET BOATS who were going so fast, and having a swift breeze!  

We also did mining - very timely because Brooke has been VERY into whose birthstone is whose - and each of the kids, and our, birthstones were all represented.   Brooke was SO happy to have an AMETHYST in her mining bucket.

OHIO AND KENTUCKY:

So since my sister is living in Ohio now, we thought we would visit them and make a trip out of it.  What we DIDNT realize, was that the weather was going to be in the 100s and upper 90s, with dangerous heat indexes.  So walking around Cincinatti was a scorcher, but during the baseball game we went to it TOTALLY poured and cooled off to our RELIEF.   Our attitudes improved incrementally with each degree it dropped.

We camped directly following the game, in a tiny camping spot the size of a toilet paper square, that they charged us TWENTY DOLLARS to camp at!!  It rained the whole night, and all I could think about was how hard it was raining, the lightening with all the trees around us...and waking up every 30 minutes to make sure the kids were OK.  We got 8 people into a typical  FOUR MAN tent - not bad!!

OFF TO KENUCKY - we decided on RED RIVER GORGE - reading about how its like the "ARCHES" in the midwest.  We pitched our tent and got a campfire going...with MUCH effort on my sister Tami's part.  Just when it was time to put our tinfoil dinners on, it started thundering and the OMINOUS CLOUDS blew in with threat.  We cooked away, and during the intermittant downpours we scurried to get the kids in the 4 man tent for shelter, while the rest put covers over the fire and food to make sure it could still cook.  It was after all, our meal for the next 3 meals.  The rain would stop just in time for the kids to stop killing each other for a few seconds and they could go out and feel the freedom of the outdoors for 3 whole minutes, before the next downpour would start, and we would RUSH the kids back into the tiny tent...there were 5 kids including my neices.  After the pattern continued for the next hour, we were actually able to eat with 10 good minutes of no rain.  The sun decided to stay out for the next 3 1/2 hours as we got to go on 3 cool hikes - the kids did AWESOME.  Even accident prone Tyler did well - and no WHINING!  I couldn't believe it!  Our good luck didn't TOTALLY hold out though, it rained all night long!  Isn't there some rule that says it HAS to rain while you camp in a tent?

There were signs everywhere talking about some crazed maniac bear that closed the park down for a week, just days before we got there.  They hadn't caught him yet...so of course I laid awake thinking that every noise was a bear, or a snake.  There were several poisenous snakes that just LOVED the area, and so we had to make sure on our way to the outhouse at night we had a flashlight to look for snakes.

We woke up to EXCEEDINGLY GREAT DOWNPOURS, very similar to the the rains Noah experienced while the people of the earth were drowning.  That is the weather we had to pack up the tents, sleeping bags, and kids in.  And in this totally mangled, nasty,damp, smelly, frizzy-haired condition, we decided to go...where else?  THE OUTLET MALL!!!!!!  I made the mistake of trying to do an exchange at Aeropostal and they looked at me like "What HOLE did YOU crawl out of, you nasty lady?"  Seriously, it was appalling how I looked, and it was also APPALINGLY HOT!  Not a good combo - all I could think about was 2 THINGS:  Air conditioning...and  SHOWER.

The rest of the trip was more relaxing - we went to splash pads, had game night, went to my birthday lunch at BDs Mongolian Grill -YUM, and some Key Lime Cheesecake with Almond sprinkles from CHEESECAKE FACTORY - equally YUM!

CANADA TRIP/ JACKSONVILLE:  That brings us to the present.  Brian went on a brothers/dad trip out to Canada border - probably more in Minnesota.  Haven't heard a thing from the boy...his phone is of course dead.  I am at my parents house picking out flowers, decor, and cake pans,  for my sister Susan's wedding...trying to relieve my mom's stress a little.  I had a hunch a lot of the wedding stuff would fall to me - the cool, crafty, oldest sister with good taste...at least that's how I am choosing to look at it.

TONITE?  We are watching HARRY POTTER 1 ( Brooke is JUST getting into them!) while doing Susan's wedding bouquet and the boutineers.  I can't think of a BETTER COMBINATION!!

FINISHING THE BASEMENT A BIG PAIN IN THE....STUPID CONTRACTOR!

The Saga of our basement goes something like this:

A long time ago (March) in a basement far far away, there was a contractor who seemed to shine above the rest in price and availability.  He toiled long days with his partner (who is his son) and did a good job with framing, electrical and plumbing.  We were loving working with them.

And then something TERRIBLE HAPPENED- SUMMER CAME!!

Yes our beloved contractor who swore the drywall would be in by June 21st, dissappeared on June 11th.  Without any call backs, texts, drop-bys...we thought about issuing an AMBER ALERT!  We thought that might be a bit overboard, but now that 3 weeks...3 1/2 to be specific...have gone by we really think that might be the way to go.  He must have been ABDUCTED or something.

But no...its far worse...ITS DECK SEASON!  Those decks pay far more money (apparently) than we do...thus they take precidence.  We get it.  HOWEVER, when 3 weeks goes by without ANY WORD, when 3 major items were supposed to be done MANY MANY days ago...we knew it was time to play hardball.

So we  were given a strategy.  Contact other contractors and get a quote, and come back to contractor A and say " If you don't want to have to pay us the $XXX.XX we paid you to do XY and Z to our basement, then you need to contact ASAP because otherwise we have another contractor who will do it for the same amount.

So we carried out the brilliant strategy given to us by a WELL to do HIGH PROFILE contractor himself.  he said NO CONTRACTOR wants to pay that money, so they will come back.  This high profile contractor referred contractor A to us, incidentally.

Well, I guess our contractor must REALLY be DEAD, PARALYZED, or have AMPUTATED LIMBS.  Maybe he is laying in a forest somewhere with a big tree over him, or maybe he contracted the over-hyped SWINE FLU.  Whatever it is, NO WORD!

So we have one of our previous-quote-guys from way back in March picking up the slack.  THANK GOODNESS! It JUST so happened they could start right away, because two other jobs have hard wood on back order. 

So looking down the road a week and a half, Mark and Allison can move in and actually have light switches, some outlets, even a toilet possibly.  And FOUR WALLS for privacy.  We are not guarenteeing a door yet - maybe some cool beads...but our basement is FINALLY underway.

WHAT CRAZINESS!  (PICTURES TO COME!)

Though I am terrible lately about posts, here is what is going on with us!

OK - here is our rundown.

WE ARE STILL in the middle of finishing our basement.  I did just take a bunch of pics of the framing, plumbing, and electrical for before and after pic purposes.  We are supposed to get insulation and sheetrock (drywall) this week, but our stupid contractor (I can just hear Brooke in my head saying, "mom, we don't say stupid) was MIA on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and now TODAY!  We gave him a timeline of Monday - and lets just say we are RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

WHATS THE RUSH you ask?  We are going to Nauvoo on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on a Wayne Family trip.  The day we get back (FRIDAY), Mark and Allison (Mark is Brian's brother) are

MOVING IN WITH US

until they find a house, and have everything aligned to do that.  That way they could have their own space.  So I guess until we get everything straigtened out with the drywall and all that they will live in Tyler's room.  I hope they like Lightening McQueen bedsheets!

WE ACTUALLY GOT a pet bird.  Brian and I are NOT pet people.  So of course, born to us are THREE kids that are CRAZY in love with ALL animals.  Dogs, Cats, Turtles, Hamsters, Birds, etc.  So a family in our ward - having their 6th child, was trying to give away a cockateil that sings real songs, and dances when we sing, "Scripture Power."  You can tell he came from a LDS home!

I GOT RELEASED at Primary Chorister to our 100 kids that fill the gym (130 if they all come) and am now a ward missionary.  I had no idea that the missionary program in our ward is SO rocking!!  A family of 5 is about to be baptised - they are a family referral.  How cool is that!

MY SISTER JUST GOT ENGAGED!!  Last night - I am so happy for her :)  Brian had made a prediction in JANUARY that both my remaining single sisters would be married this summer.  It looks like he is at least 50% right!!

BRIAN MADE THE CRAZY DECISION to do Driver's Ed this summer.  He who has the weakest stomach of all time, said he is "JUST FINE" to do "behind the wheel."  He kind of hates it.  Some of his kids went behind the wheel without EVER practicing with a simulator or parental guidance.  He is the sole driving guidance in their life.

I AM GETTING TO THE SATURATION POINT with personal training with Diastasis Rehab (see http://beautifulafterthebelly.blogspot.com).  It is awesome and I LOVE seeing the fantastic results.  However, I think I can not take many more new clients for a couple months or my stress level will rise too much.  I have to keep an even keel and spend enough time with the fam.  BALANCE is a tricky thing, is it not?

I WON A TRIP ON THE RADIO this past March and Brian and I got to go to ALABAMA - BIRMINGHAM of , get this, a GOLF TRIP.  Now, had I been planning and paying for everything, I can not say I would EVER pick a golf vacation.  But it was FUN, and BEAUTIFUL.  I do have some spactacular pics I will try to put up.  I have never seen such a beautiful golf course - so hilly, and just amazing!  We just had to pay for food, so we got very adventurous and tried some funky places and funky food.  As we were eating a medley of fried fish with chopsticks and dipping sauce, Brian remarked that he would NEVER try half the stuff we eat if not for me.  He also mentioned we have "slightly different taste" when it comes to food.  We went on this giant statue, we visited the Alabama TEENY temple, and saw the movies "Letters to Juliet" which I LOVED, and "Robinhood" which I liked but was historically different than the other version by FAR!

KYLIE is gaining weight FINALLY and has SPIKED in her growth.  Her story of recovering from an early version of Crohn's is still just amazing to me.  We just have to keep her away from sugar and keep on giving her the FULL SPRECTRUM probiotics and she does fantastic.  So, that means, much of it is up to me to keep it up!  But she shot up 20% on weight (to 5% - YEAH, she is ON THE CHART AGAIN! and 40% up on height (to 50%).  She also turned 2!  How did that happen???

AND BEING THE NERD I AM, I am HIGHLY anticipating Twilight ECLIPSE.  I am addicted to "www.eclipsemovie.org" to Brian's chagrin.  He calls Edward, "My Boyfriend."  But I can't take offense, he also called Mitt Romney "My boyfriend" when I was actively keeping tabs on the campaign for '08.  At any rate, I am seeing a midnight showing with ALL the SCREAMING teenage girls, and then again 2 days laters.  Both with different sets of gals -but I am looking forward to it!

Yeah, I think those are the main things:)  Now that I have all that out, and DONT feel like I have to blog about each one, I might be more regular about posting.  And I will need a couple of days of look at everyone's blog that I like to follow - I am almost overwhelmed how behind I am in that department!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I LOVE Mother's Day!  Aside from my thoughtfulness of my family and other's thoughtfulness, I also feel like I get to let some things go and NOT feel  guilty about it.

First I got served Breakfast in bed by Brian and Tyler.  I asked where Brooke was and I was told she was upset by the choice made by Brian to serve me.  He had made toast, eggs, and chocolate mint herbal tea.  Brooke had wanted something "SPECIAL" and thought they should have done eggs on TOP of the toast...with cheese on top of that.  So I didn't see her for another 30 minutes while she commisserated in her room.

Brian surprised me with a dozen red roses - I TOTALLY was not expecting that, TWO different kinds of dark chocolate (which I can have ONCE MORE and not have CRAZY issues...thanks NAET!), and he also got me a DVD "Baby Mama" which I have only seen once, but had some GREAT laughs.

At the tail end of sacrament meetings, the YM passed out chocolate bars with the "Hersheys"  bars with the cover removed and a "Happy Mother's Day" wrapper was printed out and taped on instead.  Tyler asked if he could hold it during sharing time, and Brooke asked if she could hold it during her primary class.  I conceded...but found some parts of the bar mysteriously MISSING....

During Music Time in Primary with my 100 kids - we sang lots of Mothers Day songs.  I had the Junior Primary close their eyes while they sang "Mother I Love You" and pretend that they were singing to their mothers.  So I see 60 young kids all closing their eyes an all peaking a little bit as they sang and signed the song. It was SO DANG cute!

After church I redeemed a coupon from Brooke to finish making my bed. Then I felt NOT GUILTY at all as I asked Brian to cut some broccoli and carrots for the stirfry.

Brooke made me two cute cards for me telling me she LOVES the way I color and she loves the food I pack her for her lunches (which I sometimes pack the most RANDOM things...depending on what we're out of).  Then she sent me on a scavenger hunt with riddles to come find her.  I found her in 5.2 seconds.

After Dinner and a good game of "Ticket to Ride" - along with Brian's brother Ken, we hear Kylie waking up to a HUGE EXPLOSION.  Brian dutifully dealt with it.  As I hear the bathwater starting to run, I tossed in some wipes and a diaper, and then without ANY GUILT about not taking over the situation (OK, maybe a TEENSY touch of guilt) I left Brian to finish the bath and cleaning off fecal matter to lay down on the bed and CONK OUT!  It was DELICIOUS! 

I think my last stop I will pull out will be to solicit the kids to reward me with sparkling clean rooms.  As it is now, it looks like there is a sea of clothes, with a loan bed in the room.

Now, I will go eat my chocolate, give the boys haircuts, and enjoy the rest of my Mother's Day!!  I have the sweetest husband and the sweetest kids.  Why can't EVERY Day be Mother's Day :)

Funniest Eclipse "preview" ever!!

 Here is the funniest video EVER of Eclipse - you have to watch it - even if its just to make fun of it!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHfyad6Jitk&feature=player_embedded

Hands are FULL!

I have decided I don't understand how little boys think...at ALL!!

Growing up with one brother I understood only the variety that my brother was.  But RAISING a little boy has introduced me to a TOTALLY different world.  As I type a giant green truck is racing around me and loud "BEEP BEEP"s are echoing in my ears.

Some of the choice reasons I am struggling this week with understanding little boys and their thoughts?
Where to begin?

I go into said little boy's room to find clothes on the floor were wet.  We had to leave right then for the doctor's office, but I managed to insert a little confrontation "Why are these clothes wet?" "I dont know" ..I pause to smell the evidence.  "Did you go potty on these clothes?"  And darn it, the answer was YES and we HAD to leave right then to go to the doctor's office.  In his defense I don't think it was done with malintent.  I think he was shivering without any clothes trying to decide what to wear...and the cold air just got to him.

I found our new kitchen cabinets had been indented in a massive big line down the drawer with a toy.  Thank you, my son!

Brian found a toy bin, WITH toys, that had a very unpleasant odor, and um...liquid.  Yes - the toys had been urinated on.  Brian carried the bin upstairs and outside.  After a 1 1/2 HOUR long time out (I know that may seem alarmingly long to most parents, but since we had confronted this issue months ago and it resurfaced...it was needed) we had ds go outside with a big bucket of soapy water and clean every toy and scrub it, and the bin.  He was out there 30 minutes.  I don't think *knock on wood* we will be dealing with that one again.  But if we do - he knows what he'll have to do!

There is always the milder things - like waking up his baby sister when his friends come over, and pusing sister down occasionally, and opening every tube of toothpaste we own (thanks to couponing, thats a LOT) and using every single one, getting into mom and dad's protein bars, opening up 10 and eating just bites of each one, and dropping them in toy bins - yeah there is stuff like that too.  *SIGH* - I don't know how you moms with multiple boys do it! This one keeps me on my toes!!

Brian's Jack Bauer moment

You would think that life as a high school anatomy teacher and boys bowling coach would render itself to a certain safety zone.  However, things can happen when you least expect them to...

Brian was downstate in O'Fallon Illinois at Boy Bowling STATE - yes they made it this year.  The boys and most of the parents drove down very excitedly at what could be a highlight in (many of them) their senior year.  At the hotel after the big day of the tournament - a full day of game after game after game...the unthinkable happened.

One of the fathers saw a drunk driver ram into their car in the hotel parking lot.  He had been inside with Brian and some of the other parents.  He ran outside to confront a man who was poised for a nice HIT AND RUN affair.  The father came toward the vehicle, and just as the drunk driver was in the process of turning the car to drive off, the father stuck his hand through the window and somehow grabbed the keys. 

Well, This guy was getting very riled up in his intoxicated state and tried to POUNCE on the father with a fury.  With curse works flying in this agitated state, Brian and two of the fathers pinned him up against the nearby hotel exterior wall.  Brian saw a huge knife in his jacket, and grabbed the knife from the man before it could be used against them. After they had the knife and the keys he got out of their grip, and then said to the father,

"Do you have good health insurance?"

The father looked up to see another knife he had extracted from his person, and had it hoisted above his head - ready to throw it right at the father's heart.

Luckily, the police had been called and just as the knife was about to be thrown, the policeman grabbed the knife from the man.

Brian explained what had happened with the two knives and how it was an attempted assault.  (He was actually holding the knife in his hand when the policeman drove up, which could have looked bad had there not been other witnesses)  The policeman, instead of pursuing that (even though he was now holding the drunk driver's knives in his possession) he began to perform a drunk driving test on him, having him take steps and what not. 

Brian and the other dads were incredulous that he wasn't being charged with attempted assault.  They watched for a moment, and the drunk driver looked up during his "test" to see the father was looking. He said roughly, "What are you looking at" and then DOVE at the father in the MIDDLE of the test. 

Finally, it was at THAT moment, that a 2nd and 3rd set of policeman immediately put him in one of the cars and handcuffed him.  The bowling boys, meanwhile, getting everything on camera from the balcony above on their cell phones.  This turned out to come in handy as the questioning of witnesses commenced.

So, in the words of Brian's principal - who is a huge black dude - "SO - YOU ARE A HERO."  And so he was!!

The MICE Fiasco

Yes - we have (hopefully now PAST tense) mice in our attic.  Yes, you remember correctly - our house is only 8 months old.

So one night I heard scratching and them fumbling around.  I FREAKED out.  We never had that kind of thing happen EVER since we've been married.  So I TRIED to wake the sleeping log (Brian) up.  I told him there was something in the attic.  I told him several times as the noises became more assaulting to my sanity.  It was literally 2 in the morning, and I was still curled in a fetal position, listening intently to the scratching, scurrying, and other noises I dared not envision in my mind.  Sleep fled from my mind.

My cute sleeping log, I mean husband, told me it was "JUST MY IMAGINATION"  and it was "JUST THE WIND COMING THROUGH THE VENTS- As IF!!

So, several nights later of these crazy noises, I actually was able to time waking up Brian, keeping him awake for 10 seconds, while the noise happened above our heads.

Then as I was cutting Brian's hair in our bathroom, he HEARD IT in full consciousness while I was changing settings on the razor.  AH HAH!  Now we were on the same page!

Luckily one of our friends who takes care of this stuff - pest control - came over and gave us his full expertise, to which we are eternally grateful.   He put some cool peanut butter poison that dehydrates the mouse and causes them to leave the house to look for water.  He saw evidence of mouse, tunnels in the blown insulation, droppings, and entry ways into the house. I was glad we had answers and some GREAT POISON down.

I wish that was the end of the story.  BUT ITS NOT....

So the next night, Brian was with his HS BOYS BOWLING TEAM at State Finals in St. Louis (crazy story for another post) and then ...

IT BEGAN.....

I heard the strangest animal noises of my LIFE and I began to wonder if a totally different animal was up there than I previously thought.  I heard almost human like exertion noises, sounding as if it were pushing something extrememly heavy across the attic...

followed by tapping noise...

Every once in awhile I would hear this strange whinnying noise - I FREAKED OUT!  I did not know mice made THAT noise.  I thought they only squeaked.

I began to doubt all I ever knew about mice.  Or maybe it was a opossum....or a racoon....or a squirrel...

I DIDN'T know.  It was a LONG night.  I literally prayed I would be able to sleep with freaky animal noises occurring right above my head.  I imaged with all the exertion noises I would hear, that it would chew through the ceiling or something.

The next day, I texted Brian a series of FREAKED OUT TEXTS about the horrible night it was.  And I was STILL hearing the noise.  At one point it even seemed like the noise was coming from the computer in our room..but then I looked above the computer at the ceiling and then realized it was coming from the area right ABOVE the  computer.  GREAT - it was only 5 feet away from me.  PERFECT.

I took a bath listening to the exertion noises, the tapping, and the occasional freaky whinnying.  It was a very NOT relaxing bath.  I again pictured crazy scenarios with these noises.  If that mice wouldn't eat those peanut butter things, or didn't DIE, maybe it was WAY bigger than previously thought!

Then the most EMBARRASING MOMENT OF MY LAST 12 MONTHS CAME:  I went to the computer to turn it on, and there before me was....

My daughter's BELLA SARA HORSE website was on the computer.  ONLY THE MONITOR HAD BEEN OFF AND THE VOLUME WAS UP , so I had been listening to BELLA SARA HORSE WEBSITE noises for the past 12 hours.

I was SOOOOO relieved, and also felt SO UTTERLY STUPID....but then relieved again...and the SO UTTERLY STUPID AGAIN...and then SOOOO relieved.

Happy ending - I have not heard a "mouse" since that night!  (OR A REAL MOUSE!)

UPDATE: NO CELIAC?!?!??! Pediatric Enterologist confirms....

So this debacle has taken more twists and turns than chutes and ladders!  After we thought we finally knew what was wrong with Kylie - fitting the description PERFECTLY for Celiac Disease, we got the lab results back.  NO celiac disease.

Meanwhile, we had her on the nutritional regimen - Heavy Duty Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, Vit D3 - she was doing fantastic.  I monitored her very carefully.  She was putting on weight fantastically.  She gained 1  1/2 lbs in 6 weeks -which is VERY fast for her, being as active as she is, and considering it has taken her 4 -5 months to put on EACH lb for the past year.  I began to see her cheeks getting actually CHUBBY - it felt so rewarding...

THEN, something happened.  On the same day three things occurred.  I took her in for the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella immunization), I put her on almond milk for variety, and she ran out of probiotics.  We have had on her an alternate immunization schedule, where you get the M,the other M, and the R totally separate from each other - waiting a few weeks in between.  I wasn't even thinking about that ....but....

That night and for the next 5 days were ABSOLUTEY AWFUL.  After her digestive system was performing beautifully - everything normal - she suddenly had a very adverse digestive reaction.  Everything was pure liquid.  She would wake up totally covered from head to toe - she went through 10 outfits a day - everything smelled like rotting flesh. She would have BM after BM - all pure liquid.  I was sick to my stomach.  I felt that everything she had gained was being lost.  I felt totally helpless.  Luckily after 3 days of this, one of my friends who goes to the same dr. was able to get the probiotics for me.  After one day, she became normal again.  Her appetite not quite what it was, but at least, she became normalized again.

Meanwhile we were referred to a pediatic enterologist.  I was nervous they would slap her with a steroid PX or some kind of meaningless PX - but I was wrong.  After explaining the situation, and after he looked at her, and the celiac lab results...he concluded she had a digestive bacterial infection and that the probiotics have been taking care of her.

What I DIDNT mention was that after getting treated through NAET, she can actually have wheat, dairy, yeast, gluten WITHOUT having crazy BMs.  She actually had the labwork done after being treated for those.  So, all I cared about NOW was the pediatric enterologist opinion of things as it NOW stands.

So the prognosis - she is doing fine and looks healthy.  Keep her on the probiotics, feed her a LOT (which I always have -the other day she had 4 hotdogs in 2 minutes!), give her plenty of fats - avacados, good oils (which I HAVE been),   and if she has another "episode" then I will go back, otherwards, no need.

The bad news?  She had lost 1 lb 2 ounces after the crazy post-immunization debacle.  She undid most of her gaining, so it will be an uphill battle again to pack the lbs on her.  BUT, after technically a 4th opinion on her, and with her NAET progress, I feel like we are moving forward.  She has been doing beautifully the past 2 weeks, and had been the prior 7 weeks before that.  So she had a little set back - but NOW - let the weight GAIN begin!

the MONIQUE factor...its not pretty

Yes, we are a disturbed lot.  That is what too much Christmas vacation does to someone!  The white haired lady is my mom's mom - Grandma Wright.  LOVE HER TO PIECES.  She looks so Carol Channing in this picture of her.  One of my sisters, Susan, is in one of the shots.  And Tyler and His Cousin Abby are the boy and girl in these MONIQUE FACTOR shots.  Yes, too much time, so little to do....