Something is up:-(

I worked last night so I didn't spend a ton of time with Sam today, but apparently he is complaining that his stomach is hurting again. His stools today looked suspicously bloody too:-( Matt said he was like kneading his stomach and saying "Belly hurt." Sometimes I am just so frustrated. He deserves to feel good and happy and have no pain. Poor little guy. He had the hiccups today, which neither of us really remember him having a lot before. I wonder if that could be causing the pain, but that doesn't explain the blood. Please pray for him

Boston Children's

My Big boy taking his IV pump and going where he wants to go. It is cute, but heartbreaking for me to realize that this is such a "normal" part of his life.

I know just what to do to make you all better Baby

Sam: "Yeah mom I know we are cute." Sophia: "Yeah we are cute, but you are going to have to work a lot harder than that mom if you want me to smile."

"Nope your not working hard enough to make me smile, so I am not going to do it"

Everything went very well yesterday at Children's. Sam started crying before they did anything to him which is so hard to deal with. As he is getting older he is realizing what is coming and that is very difficult. He is still such a trouper though, once they had actually stuck the needle in he immediately said "Feel better mommy feel better" I always tell him that they are doing it to help him feel better. He is so smart and so good with all that he has to go through. There is a medical cart there and he was "make baby all better mommy" He is talking so much now. Mom thinks he can be a speed reader when he grows up.
Sophia has been quite fussy today. I am hoping that it is teeth and that she isn't getting sick or something. Can;t believe she is almost eight months old! It doesn't seem possible. She is really rolling well and sitting unassisted quite nicely now. It seems like it happened overnight. STill struggling intermittently with the eating, but some days she eats quite nicely.

Sunday

Just pics of the kids in their sunday best. My cousin Kerry sent this beautiful dress to Sophia. I just can't get over how beautiful it is. And Matt took SAm to get a big boy haircut yesterday. Can you believe how grown up he looks? Today was my birthday and I got to go out to lunch and dinner with my Chantal. THANKS Chantal, it was so much fun!!!

Denise's Baby Shower

The Cake (Isn't it so cute? AND IT WAS SOOO GOOD!!!)

Mom, Doreen and I: the party planners (Deanna had to work:-()

My beautiful pregnant sister, isn't she glowing? 36wks and counting, farther than I ever made it.


I love this cake
















Dasanee and Sophia testing out the new Sit and Stand Stroller and Carseat



Oh my goodness what a day. Today we celebrated the upcoming arrival of my new nephew R.J (Ronald JR after his daddy). We had lots of people come and love on my sister and this new little miracle. The food was good the company was good, and she was truly blessed by peoples generosity. Mom, Doreen and I worked really hard to get things together and it came out really great. But I sure am glad the planning and preparing is behind us:-)

Thankful Thursday

Wow! This week has been a hard week on many fronts, and on weeks like this I am really reminded to be thankful that GOD IS IN CONTROL! With the election turnout, and the disappointment of not finding out what is going on with Sam, I am thanking God that He is truly in control of all we are going through. That He holds each of us in the palm of His hand, and that whether the turnout is good or bad, whether we win or lose, whether we get an answer to our problem or not God is still ruling and reigning. God is in charge and in Him we will be ok. I can't tell you that I don't get frustrated and worry for poor Sammy. I can't tell you that I am pleased with the turnout of the election, but I can tell you that God is still on His throne, and He still reigns over this earth. Trusting in Him will get us through.
In other news, Sam spiked a temp to 104.3 today! Not sure why, no other symptom and it came on really quickly. I put him in the tub after giving him some motrin and the temp quickly came down to 102.7, and as of right now he doesn't seem to be warm at all. Please pray for him. Please also pray for our cousin Nicholas who is 6 who is currently in the hospital. They are trying to determine what is wrong with him, they were thinking that he had appendicitis but now aren't so sure.

Little Miss Independant

Ah hah!!! I have finally figured out our whole problem with eating. SHE IS STUBBORN AND WANTS TO DO IT HERSELF!!!! So I gave her the Lil Dipper that I always used with Sam, don't have the faintest idea why I hadn't tried it sooner with her. I gave it to her and kept dipping it in food, as you can see we wore it but she was happy and not screaming. And BONUS I snuck a few bites in here and there with the spoon without her crying too!!!
Sam is doing well. He had some swelling to one of his eyes so I was wondering if there was an infection or something but it hasn't gotten worse so we shall see. He was thoroughly enjoying watching someone else be so messy at the table tonight. I just love seeing them together and watching them interact.

Meckel Scan

Well we had the Meckel scan today. Sammy was amazing as always. They put an IV in and then the dye stuff. They papoose rapped him in a sheet and then taped him down too. They whole time he jsut layed there still as a board. Then they bring this huge ominous looking metal contraption down to within a few inches of his abdomen. He got nervous with that but again didn't cry. The girl was quite impressed and said that he was the best paitent ever. I of course agree with her.
Unfortunately all we learned from todays visit: WE know he is bleeding, but we don't know why or where. So our remaining options to determine what all of this is, become siginificantly more invasive. So as of now we are just going to watch his blood levels and see if at some point he either stops bleeding, or that he becomes anemic. Other things they menitoned that htis could be was a malformation of a blood vessle, an allergy (although praise GOd he doesn't think it is milk, so now we can give him milk again, some kind of irritaion from strongly acidic stool etc.
So the plan is basically we are just watching his blood work, his weight gain, and symptoms. The doctor doesn't like that he is bleeding, but at this point since hie is stable they wait until something changes. And we are praying that instead he will be healed.

Our first sleepover

I am so thankful for my best friend Chantal and Andy. They allowed the kids and I to stay with them on wednesday night before the appt so that I wouldn't have to drive into Boston for an 8am appt in rush hour traffic by myself. They went above and beyond to take care of us and have food in their house that Sam could eat. Thanks guys! The kids did well. They actually both woke up a few times, Sam kept saying that he wanted to go home, and was happy to leave in the morning, although the whole way to Children's he kept saying that he wanted to go home, and when we pulled up to Children's he cried. He kept asking for Matt and wanted to "see daddy." He had fun and I am glad we stayed over, but I wonder if he doesn't feel secure at other peoples homes with all he has been through. Even when we have been at my mom's if it is getting dark or later in the evening he asks to go home. I can't say that I mind him wanting to be at home with us all the time:-) I know one day he will grow up and that will all change.
I couldn't fit the crazy pack n play in my trunk with the stroller so we made Sophia a little nest, although ultimately they both ended up snugglng with their mommma:-)

Sammy update

Well we went to Children's today for the new specialist. We didn't see the one we were supposed to see, the one that came highly recommended. So at first I was annoyed, but then met the new doctor who seems to know his stuff. He was EXTREMELY thorough, so I believe that God had this planned for us. He knew we had to see this guy instead of the origional one. So after spending quite a while asking me questions from my pregnancy through the present, he explained so much to me and answered all my questions. So he is wondering if Sam has meckel's diverticulum. Which if that is the case, it means a surgery but it is a laparascopic surgery and essentially an easy fix. So we go back monday for a nuclear scan, which aparently they put in some dye with a special marker that will highlight the messed up part. So they would know exactly where it is. All in all a good visit. I will update more later, but for now I am off to work. Thanks for your continued prayers for my little guy.

Wordless Wednesday

Crazy

Wow I can't believe it is almost november. Tonight I was driving home and it was SNOWING!!!! Not quite ready for winter but it is coming anyways. We have had a busy few days. Sam spiked a temp yesterday to 102.9, with no other symptoms except complaining that he was sick, and being very irritable. Of course I would be to. I just pray that they can find out what is going on with him, and that he doesn't have to live his life like this. Poor kid. We see the new specialist on thursday so I am praying that God gives him wisdom and guides him in caring for Sam.
We are doing well. Sophia actually took like four bites of green beans the other day before she started crying about it. So I think we are slowly starting to make progress.
I worked in the ER last night and am reminded of how fragile life is. Reminded that we are not promised a tomorrow. Not promised LATER. So in an effort to take something from the young life lost last night I urge you to tell your family you love them, to make the most of each moment. To live life to its fullest. To pray without ceasing, to love unconditionally. To give like you have the world in your hands. Love, love love and take a moment to enjoy this life. God has blessed us so completely and totally, and in the craziness of the world we live in, we forget to look at the beauty around us, to love those around us, and to be thankful for the situations we are in. I am thanking God for my friends and family. For his unbelievable generosity and forgiveness, and for all the tomorrows I do have

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for "MR CLEAN MAGIC ERASERS" If you have a child you should invest in these amazingly cheap and wonderful creations. So far in my house they have cleaned the normal typical things, but then they have cleaned the toddler things: pen on the wall and tub, crayons on the fridge, and now today A SHARPIE PERMANENT MARKER all over my hardwood floors. I tried other things to get it off first and then MAtt suggested the mister clean, and it came up. FANTASTIC! He would have been livid if I didn't get it clean. Anyways if you haven't tried them you should. They clean mold, mildew, cars, walls, floors, tiles, etc etc etc. And did I mention they are cheap? Yup, I'm sold and you should be too:-)

Clean up

WE went to Auntie Terri's yesterday. She gave Sam a bowl of cereal (dry) he proceeded to go into the livingroom and quickly flung it all over the floor, and said "Big mess, clean it up." He then went over to the central vac, turned it on and cleaned up the mess he made. Crazy kid!!!

Sam I am

Hard to believe but my Sammy is really two! Each day I am amazed by his creativity, stubbornness, curiosity and strength. He teaches me so much about life, and about loving unconditionally. He teaches me to keep on going when the going gets tough. We have had so many health issues with this beautiful little boy, and he just continues to smile and grow and learn. He is just amazing. I thank God for him and for all he is teaching me.
Yesterday was a terrible day for him, he spent hours crying and telling me that his belly was poking him. His belly was not hard or swollen, but was obviously very uncomfortable. I called his GI who had said to call them if anything had changed, you know what they said to me!?!?!? Maybe he has a stomach bug!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? This little guy has been pooping blood since june, and last week had significantly more blood than he had had previously, and then spent hours crying in pain and he has a stomach bug!!?!?!? What the heck? I thought Boston Children's was supposed to be the best. Sorry I am going on a tirade here. I am just so tired of him hurting and no one fixing it. I know God can and I am praying for that.
This is his first family portrait. As he drew each person/animal he told me who it was and I labeled it. How cute is that? He even thought of the cats.
And because I am so silly sometimes, matching jammies. I LOVE IT!!!