A Scope and A Birthday

We were up by 5 this morning. That wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact our bodies thought it was 4! Abigail was such a big girl. We had explained to her before she went to bed that she needed to drink one more "milky cup" because she would not be able to drink until she was all done at the doctor's. I was quite amazed because she did not ask for one drink until she was done. She is such a smart little girl. When they were getting her prepped she was so sleepy that she was fighting to keep her eyes open; so I told her that if she wanted to close her eyes and go to sleep that I would wake her before they took her back. She laid her head in my lap and did just that, sleeping through her temperature check, pulse check, and placing of the lovely hospital bracelets...she always has three or four because of all of her allergies. I woke her to give her the Versiad or " goofy juice" as we call it. That stuff literally hits her in a matter of a few short minutes. You can always tell because her body goes limp and she laughs at the funniest things. This time she cracked up when daddy inadvertently raised his eye brow while talking. Once the medicine kicks in good we carry her back to the OR where I have the luxury of holding her while they put her to sleep. She fought drifting off to sleep a little more this time; I am assuming because she is older. I say fought, but it wasn't bad at all it just took a little longer then it has in the past. Less than 15 minutes later we got the report from Dr. Putnum that she did great and that by appearance everything looked good. We will have to wait for the biopsy results to come back to know for sure. We were allowed to see her in recovery about 25 minutes after the procedure started which is about normal. They used a different anesthesia for the previous scope and it took her a very long time to wake up so they opted to go back to what they had always used prior to that scope. I am glad they listened to my concerns and adjusted appropriately because she did great with the anesthesia this time. She was still a little groggy when we left the hospital so we took her to the room and let her sleep while Blair took the big girls swimming.
After a short swim I took Blair to eat lunch for her 18th birthday. Happy Birthday Auntie Blair!! Murders (Blair's boyfriend) surprised her with another present...an Ariel (you know The Little Mermaid) crown that I promised I would make her wear all day. Which I did, and I have pictures to prove it. Ok back to the day. She wanted to eat at the Cheesecake Factory so we shared an appetizer and then each got a slice of cheesecake. YUM! It was a fun sister's lunch. Then we picked up the rest of the family took a little drive looking around and went in a few stores. Okay, now it's time to end our day with a birthday dinner. Blair wanted Italian for her so where to we go? Yep, Maggiano's it is. So for the real reason we love it so much...Chef Karl. You heard me. Chef Karl. If you have allergies the chef comes to the table to discuss them and tell you what he can do for you. He has done this from the beginning and always remembers us. He may not always remember our names but he knows exactly where we sat the very first time we ate there. They prepare Ross' Fettuccine Alfredo from scratch to ensure nothing in it would make him sick, and Hannah was able to eat pasta with rice noodles so she was happy as a clam. For dessert Chef Karl sent a free Creme Brûlée and a plate of Lemon cookies to the table for Blair. After all it was her 18th birthday. Thanks Chef Karl, you made our day!

Sunday- Movie, Friends, & Food

Today was another day of fun. We started the day with Belgian waffles from the continental breakfast...yum...a great way to start the day. After breakfast we drove over the bridge into Kentucky to watch a movie. We all enjoyed watching Toy Story 3; poor Blair had already seen like 4 times, but it worked to our advantage when Abbz had to potty half way through. Ross nor I had to miss anything for a change ;). After the movie we grabbed a snack and headed to Mike and Ramona's. They were sweet to allow our whole family to infiltrate their home. Connor and Abigail always play well together, but this time was especially fun because they are both older and at the age where they can interact more. Plus with that many kids there couldn't possibly be a dull moment! Honestly they all played with one another better then I have seen four children play together. While we were there Mike made a bracelet for Ross' Medic Alert charm. It's more rugged then his last bracelet and more work appropriate. Plus, if we are in a pinch we have 12 feet of rope as long as Ross is wearing that bracelet! Thanks Mike, Ross really does like it a lot, and thank Mike and Mona for opening your home to us. We miss you guys already! We said our good byes and went back to the hotel to clean up a little before heading to Maggiano's for dinner. Maggiano's is our favorite restaurant in Cincinnati. Besides the fact that the food is delicious they are extremely conscientious about food allergies and more than willing to prepare something safe for you to eat. It doesn't get much better than ending the day with a little Italian food!

Saturday

Today was a relaxing day to recover. The kids slept in this morning which was a welcomed surprise. We got up around 10:30, got ready and headed to the hospital to show Mary Grace and Hannah where their little sister has all of her procedures. Abigail was so cute showing the girls around. Hannah told her to get off the stairs and she turned around and said, "This is my hospital." Then she started to cry because she wanted to in her words, "show them my room." Once we left the hospital we ate lunch at the mall where Blair had the privilege of trying Cincinnti chili from our chain of choice, Gold Star Chili.
We were planning on eating dinner at The Cheesecake Factory but the wait was going to be over an hour so we decided to take it back to the hotel. This turned out to be a great idea. We had a make-shift picnic, and when we were done Ross took the girls swimming while Blair and I fed Jonathan and got him ready for bed. Once the kids were in bed, Ross, Blair and I piled up in bed, ate cheesecake and chatted for a while until we all got tired. And so ends another day.

Trip to Cincy

Oh my! That's what I have to say about Friday. We left the house about 4:20 am and about 5 minutes outside of Siloam we heard a terrible noise coming from the front passenger side of the car, towards the wheel. The noise sound much like when you hit the ripple strip (you know the strip that tells you to wake up, you're running off the road), only the sound wasn't quit that loud. Ross pulled over and checked all of the tires but there didn't seem to be a problem so we started driving again. Everything seemed fine until we reached 65 mph. For some reason this was the magic speed for instigating the noise. Strangely if we slowed to 60 or sped up to 70 mph the noise went away. We pulled over for the second time at Wal Mart in Lowell (off the Pleasant Grove exit). We called my parents to see if Daddy had any ideas of what could be causing such a noise, and in his wisdom he suggested it could be weight. Of coarse none of believed that the van was overloaded with weight, but decided it could be the way it was distributed so there we were at 5:30 in the morning unpacking and rearranging the luggage in hopes that it would help. The one good thing about having to stop there is that by the time we were done Starbucks was open! It was really quite the sight. The "trunk" was pretty well loaded to the top of the backseat, two suitcases were shoved between Jonathan's seat and the door; you know the place where you step into the car to get to your seat. Needless to say every time we stopped we had to move the big suitcase to let the girls in and out of the backseats. It was a hassle but worth it because the redistribution of weight made the noise cease. The best part of the arrangement was what we lovingly referred to as the "Redneck Airbag," which was the foam mattress that fits in the bottom of the playpen. It was crammed between Blair's seat and the door. It really was quite a sight! After everything was re-situated we were on our way.
St. Louis is our halfway point so we stopped at the mall for lunch and headed to the Gateway Arch when we were done eating. You can see the Arch for miles before you actually get to it so I asked the girls if they wanted to get out and look at it up close and touch it. Hannah had the best response ever! She said (in her giggly voice), "No. I want to slide down it!" Only my Hannah girl. ;)
After spending a couple of hours eating, stretching, and sight seeing we were on our way...again. Other than having to make a few stops everything went well. We could not have asked for the kids to be any better. Especially considering it took 16 hours to get there. Normally it only takes about 12 hours but our difficult start and extended stop in St. Louis made it longer than normal.

Butter!!

I told you in a recent post that I have started buying raw milk from a local dairy. There are many products that can be rendered from raw milk, and butter is one of them. So today I thought I would be adventurous and attempt to make butter from the cream that I had previously skimmed from the top of the milk. My attempt ends in success. We have butter! Interested in making your own raw butter and learning more about raw milk? Click here.

A Blog Book?

Really? Did you know that you can print your blog in book form? I know it may be cheesy of me to say this, but I think that is great. All of those memories and pictures captured in a book. What a wonderful thing for a parent to have. Some of us would grab hold of that book and cherish those memories forever while others of us can pass them down to our children. I'm thinking at some point I am going to have to do it. Get a blog book. Am I the only nerd in the bunch or do others of you think that is a wonderful thing? Ok, maybe I don't need you to answer...I already know I'm a nerd, I don't need you all to confirm it. Ha! :) Oh, and if you don't believe me, just google it. The response is overwhelming. Have a GREAT day!

Hippie Lady

Yes, I am sure that I am soon to be called, "The Hippie Lady," or hey that's my "Hippie Friend", but that's okay with me! We are picking up our grass-fed beef this afternoon from Greener Pastures Farms, and I can't wait until Ross can eat it! We have also started buying organic produce from Old Soul Organics ; which is a home delivery service for the Northwest Arkansas area. We go one step further by buying fresh, unpasteurized unhomogenized milk from Rusk Farms just past the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. Being that we are small business owners, I'm all about supporting local business owners; and with our special food needs those small business tend to work out the best for us.

I am in the process of transitioning our family's diet from conventional foods to organic foods; or all natural at the least. We are eating very little foods from a box anymore. No more heavily processed foods, no additives, no artificial colorings or flavorings, no more high fructose corn syrup...people, we are going back to the basics. With the exception of Smarties of coarse!! :) My new philosophy is if they didn't eat it 100 years ago, we probably shouldn't be eating it today. Why are we doing this? First and foremost, because we have been told that EE patients tend to have a better chance of passing a food trial with food that has not been sprayed repeatedly with pesticides and herbicides or processed so much that there is virtually no nutritional value left. Secondly, plain and simple. It has to be better for us. Lastly, I am actually saving money. That's right. Saving money. I'm not buying junk food or many prepacked items anymore; which has helped my budget tremendously. Now, I'm certainly NOT saying we don't indulge once in a while. If we want ice cream, we get ice cream. And chocolate....is a must! Of coarse there will still be those days we swing by a fast food restaurant for a quick meal, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. I see more "hippie moments" for me in the future...butter, yogurt and heavy whipping cream from my fresh milk, homemade organic breads...the possibilities are endless!

Recycling. Yep. We are doing that too. Now, I decided we should do our part and we are starting out very small and simple. I have 4 recycling bins labeled, "Cans, Plastic, Paper, and Cardboard." I figure doing our part should be fairly easy since Abigail and Ross both have a tone of cans that their formula comes in and just as many cardboard boxes that hold those formula cans. Plastic was a no brainer for us too because we go through bottled water like crazy...again for making formula. Paper is pretty much filled with the girls school work and doodle sheets from them coloring at home. There you have it.

Now for those of you who can't or don't want to go organic or green, that is perfectly fine with me. We still love you! This is just what is working best for our family at the moment.