Update on Jonah

Today was Jonah's neurologist visit. For those who don't remember, back in February Jonah started twitching and it progressively got worse. I ended up taking him to the ER for fear of seizures and it was thought that he had Tourette's Syndrome. It took us until today to be able to be seen by a pediatric neurologist.
The doc we saw was great. He put me at ease immediately when he actually took detailed notes on what I was describing. Our own pediatrician didn't even do that. Then he told me that his oldest daughter had Tourette's as a child/preteen, and his youngest daughter had a tic disorder as well. It was so comforting to be seen by a provider who knew EXACTLY what I was going through as a parent.
He ran through a battery of neurological tests with Jo, and said that since he did so well he didn't feel the need to have an EEG or MRI done afterall. He is convinced that there is no seizures occuring and that he does in fact have a tic disorder. (It can't be classified as Tourette's until the symptoms have persisted for a year). The doc said that he did not feel the need to put Jonah on any meds, and that he didn't even need to have a follow-up appointment scheduled right now because his case is so mild. We always have the option to call them and schedule another one if the symptoms worsen but right now we just have to let it run its course.
And the best part for Jonah is that the doc said there's nothing keeping him from playing baseball, so he would send a note to our pediatrician that he was cleared for sports. So for now we just continue life as normal.
Well, as normal as life can get in a military house.

Get back on track.

Wow.
I can't believe it's been a full month since I last posted. SO MUCH has happened since I last updated. I will go more in-depth throughout the week but here's a quick recap:

Hubby came home from TDY number one. The next day we celebrated Jonah's 8th birthday with a great party at the hockey rink. Day after that we headed down to Dallas for our only family vacation this year- a tour of Cowboys Stadium and an overnight stay at Great Wolf Lodge. Expensive, but so much fun! Pictures to follow soon!

Hubby left again about a week later and was gone for 5 days. In that time we realized that Jonah's minor twitches that he'd been having were getting much more severe. I ended up taking him into the ER fearing he was having a seizure. We were given a preliminary diagnosis of Tourette's Syndrome and have an appointment in April with a pediatric neurologist.

Hubby got back about a week and a half ago from TDY number 2 and things have slowed down some. We're getting back into somewhat of a normal routine (which will fly out the window come 25 March when he leaves, yet again, for another two weeks).

Oh, and we also found out last week that four days after hubby gets back from his third TDY, we are being moved into another home on base so that our current home can get remodeled. Pain in the hiney: yes. But a very welcome one! Our current house is around 60 years old and I honestly don't know how it's survived the winds we have here in Oklahoma. We have had nothing but headaches and problems since we moved in last year. Our new house was built in '09 and has a TON more square footage than our current place. Noah is thrilled because our backyard in the new house will back up to the yard of his best friend. And we also realized that one of Sophia's buddies from school lives on the same street so she'll have a friend right away too. (I also really like his momma so I'm relieved as well, since I'm not a huge fan of most of the neighbors we have now).

So that's where we're at right now. Lots to take in and deal with, but we're doing it. I promise to come back and add recipes on Mondays (I've got a load of goodies tried out from Pinterest!), upload pics from Dallas and our upcoming trip to Nashville, and keep you up-to-date with Jonah's diagnosis once we've seen the Neuro.

Make a Wish!

He's Eight.

My little man turns eight today. I found some old picture of him last week and it made me laugh and want to cry all at the same time. I can't believe it's been EIGHT years since he came into our lives. He's a handful to be sure, but he is just so goofy that we can't stay mad at him for too long.
He got a surprise before-school phone call from Dad (who is still away for pre-deployment training) and I think that was better than any present he could open. The smile on his face when he heard his voice was the best I've seen in awhile.
I sent him off to school with some cupcakes to share and then after school and his big brother's volleyball game, we're going to come home and celebrate with pizza and ice cream cake.
We are so blessed to have this crazy, passionate, and goofy boy in our family! We love you Jonah-man!
~Love Momma, Daddy, Noah & Sophia

This makes me smile.

Wish Lists.

The other day I asked the kids to make out their Christmas lists. Normally I'm just about done shopping by this point in the year but not this time around. Life has been, well, life.
Anyway, the boys spent alot of time on their lists and when Sophia was done in the bath she got to work dictating her list to daddy.
Jonah kept asking me how to spell things and I would tell him and I wasn't really paying all that much attention. He asked me how to spell "screen" and I told him, and then thought to myself What is he wanting that has "screen" in it's name? I let it go thinking maybe it was a game I'd never heard of.
And when they were done they handed me their lists and I figured out why my crazy 7 year old asked how to spell "screen".
First thing on his list? Big Screen T.V.
Nice try, bucko!

Thankfully the kids know that they won't be getting EVERYTHING on their lists and that it's a guide we go by, so he shouldn't be all that disappointed when Christmas morning rolls around and there's no TV under the tree for him.

Back to school (a few weeks late)

Alright y'all...here are the long awaited first day of school pics! My Noah is now a 5th grader, Jonah-man is in 2nd and my baby girl started pre-k!

Miss Thang was super excited for school to start!Just a girl and her daddy (and her brothers way up ahead) walking to school.

Baseball 2011: Jonah

(He's catching in this last picture.)

Proof

Just in case you though I was exaggerating about how busy life is here:

I'm surrounded by monkeys.

Yesterday we took the kids to the Oklahoma City Zoo. The kids were out of school for President's Day and the hubby had the day off as well, so we decided it'd be a fun outing. Our apartment gets small when the 5 of us are sitting around with nothing to do. We found out from a friend that the zoo was offering free admission on Mondays in February, so that sealed the deal for me. Even with it being cold and windy. Passing up a free zoo day was NOT something that I could swallow...I do have Dutch blood running through my veins you know. We are a thrifty people.

Anyway, we didn't spend a ton of time there because of the cold...the animals weren't very active either. But I did get some great pics of the kids.

And this one is by far my favorite.

Monster Jam Time!

For the second year in a row, the little man chose a trip to see monster trucks over having a birthday party. Last year it was a boys' night out- the hubby took the two dudes along with a friend of ours and his son. But this year Sophia & I went along. You know...because we need some 'culture' in our lives.


I have to say, I had alot of fun. My kids and hubby were SO excited to see Grave Digger. But when the "halftime show" was on and I witnessed motocross bikes in action...this momma was blown away. These crazy nuts were doing backflips off a ramp that I'd be scared to walk up, let alone speed a dirtbike onto. And the quad riders were doing tricks too. But the chaos that was their finale...I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Serious. They had the bmx bikers going off their ramp while the dirtbikes and quads went off their ramp and did tricks OVER TOP OF THE BMXers!! WHAT?! As a mom I was scared to death for these boys who clearly were dropped on their heads as children. I mean, what other reason would someone willingly fling themselves upside down while riding an offroad vehicle? And if one of them fell down and landed on those poor bmx bikers? Forget it. I'd have been scarred for life, and I probably would never let my kids ride their bikes ever again. Because you know that the little man would try to do some tricks the next time he hopped on his two-wheeler. No. Thanks.


But thankfully no one got hurt and I was sold. I want to go to more motocross freestyle events! I watch X Games with my boys and can't believe the stunts those guys do, but when you see it live in person, right in front of your own face...it's amazing.


Oh yeah, and the monster trucks were pretty cool too.

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Last week I was sitting in my house shivering as I looked out the window in disgust. For the second week in a row the kids had more than one day of school cancelled due to snow (6 snow days in 2 weeks people!!) and I was at the end of my quickly fraying rope.

But this week?

This week has been lovely. Well, except for the "breezy" 30+ mph wind we have everyday. But gale force winds aside, the weather has been almost perfect. Two days this week we got up to 80. I was in heaven! Today was a little cooler, and the ever-present wind made it feel more chilly than it should have, but we decided to celebrate the sun and above-freezing temps by meeting the hubby for a picnic at the park since the boys were out of school.

Again. This time it's for teacher in-service day or something. (I'm seriously beginning to wonder if Oklahoma schools EVER have a full 5 day school week!)

The kids had a blast getting outside, and this park- despite being sandwiched between the interstate and one of the main roads outside the base-was alot of fun.

The kids said it was the best picnic they'd ever been on. Looks like we'll be frequent guests there....as long as the weather allows.

Happy Birthday Little Man!

Today you turned seven. My little man, trouble maker and youngest son. You are a bundle of energy and I don't think I've ever seen you sit still. Even in your sleep you go nonstop. I'm pretty sure that "walk" is not in your vocabulary. You are in fast forward from the time you wake up until the time you crash at the end of the day. You are so passionate about everything...sports, fun, even in your temper you are full of fire. You make me want to pull my hair out and laugh all at the same time. You push me to my limits, yet your heart is limitless. Most of the time I have no words for you...everyone who knows you understands why. You are just one of those people who can make an entire room errupt in laughter with a single sentence.

I love you to pieces and I'm so happy to have you as my little man.

Hope your snow-day, 7th birthday was the best day of your life!

Disney Pictures. Better late than never.

Here are the super late (I'm talking over a month folks) pictures from our Disney trip the day after Christmas.

More Jonah-isms!

While checking over Jonah's homework tonight I found something that made me laugh.

He has to write a sentance for every spelling word. Two of the words were "sometimes" and "take". Here's what he wrote for these two.

"Sometimes I don't want to go to school."
and
"Please don't take me to school."

I'm sure his teacher will be so happy that he's knocking his education in his homework assignments.

He is so his father!

Five weeks is an eternity to a 6 year old.

Here's the little man sportin' his super cool Camo cast. The nurse technician and the doc both commented on the fact that it was a pretty bad break. The doc is concerned that he's had so many fractures/breaks for his age and said that when he measured the bones on the xray, Jonah's bones weren't measuring where they should be for his age. Not sure the next course of action, but we'll wait and see what they say in 5 weeks when we have the cast removed.

For now, he's been cleared to play sports with his brother and his friends, and is free to play at recess and PE. But I'm still holding off on allowing skating/skateboarding/bike riding. Call me overprotective, but I prefer not to tempt fate.

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Part 2.

We were FINALLY going to be home free with Jonah having broken fingers. Yesterday was his last set of x-rays and we were scheduled to see the doc today for the results.

But apparently, 2 broken fingers since June wasn't enough. And the memory of his sister splitting her head open and having 4 staples b/c she fell jumping on the bed wasn't enough to make him refrain from the very same act. The boy fell off the bed and broke his arm yesterday evening.

I was downstairs when I heard a thump. Honestly, when you have the children I do, you hear thumps all the time. The boys are BOYS and play knee hockey in their room almost daily. So the thump wasn't anything out of the ordinary and I continued on with whatever I was doing. Until I heard the wailing, and then the shouts from my sister that Jonah broke his arm.

My whole body sagged. Didn't we just get back from x-rays where the technician cautiously informed me that this was his fourth trip to the Base Radiology department since July? Didn't we just get something out of a splint??

I headed to the stairs and they were already down...and I saw it. Jonah's arm had a dip in it between the wrist and elbow. We raced nextdoor to our EMT neighbor's house (thank Heaven she wasn't on shift last night!) and she informed me that it was indeed a Silver Fork Break and that I needed to take him to Urgent Care. (She referred to is as a silver fork b/c his arm looked like what a fork looks like when lying upside down. Aren't you glad I gave you that mental picture??)

She helped me get him into the car while I called the after-hours nurse on the base to let them know I was headed to the urgent care facility and that they needed to call in a referral. I also called the hubby (who is, of course, still in Georgia) and filled him in. We got seen, had x-rays, and were informed that he broke both the ulna and the radius and the he was being splinted and given a sling. We then had to follow up on the base and have them refer us to an Orthopedic doc for the cast.

We kept our appointment for this morning and the nurse took one look and said "Hey wait...he's more broken than the last time he was in! He's supposed to be better by now!". The doc put in our referral, so now we just wait for the notification of where we're being sent. I'm praying it's quick....I can't keep this boy immobile for long and having just a splint on is really making me wary. The boy needs an iron cast...not an ace bandaged splint.

The little man was brave yesterday and didn't hardly cry at all, but he was definitely scared. And today the pain is quite a bit worse (as expected) and Tylenol every 4 hours isn't helping. I hate when I can't make one of my babies feel better. That's my job as a mom...to take care of their hurts. And I can't do it.

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and walk away.

Note to moms: Never mix two kinds of cookies in one jar. Because if you have a son like my Jonah, you will find this after he's been trying to get the oreos from the bottom:

Those USED to be my delicious Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies. Now they're a big wad of crumbs.

*SIGH*

A Halloween Birthday Party

Last week Friday my firstborn turned nine. NINE. How is that even possible?! Anyway, he decided on a Halloween themed party and everyone came in costume. Here are my personal favorites: a shark, pirate, and bumblebee.

We had an eyeball race (think an 'egg & spoon race', only using eyeball painted ping pong balls)

...bobbed for apples And each family got to carve a pumpkin!

The hubby got home from training just in time for presents, cupcakes and the pinata.

It was definitely one of the most fun parties we've had!

Jonah-isms Part 7

It's been a long time since I've posted a Jonah-ism. These last couple of weeks have produced two great ones, so I thought I'd share.

According to the little man, the 16th President of our fine nation was none other than Mr. Abra Lincoln-ham.

Today when I had him try on his shark costume, he decided to run after his little sister yelling "Rawwwwwrrr!" I informed him that sharks don't roar and without skipping a beat he said "But I'm a tiger shark." Touche.