A Day at the Air Force Museum

As the summer is winding down, we decided to take the kids out to the Hill Air Force Base Museum. I have taken Jordan there, but Trevor has not ever been. So we met my dad and sister, Chantel there and had a little family day. It was nice to get out and it was great to be indoors where there is AC!

This is the kids in a flight simulator of a T-38. They loved it and spent alot of time in it.

Jordan standing by an airplane tire. He was pretty amazed that is was bigger than him!

At least Trevor seemed to be enjoying this picture. He was not having a good day.

Here is a snapshot that about sums it all up for Trevor. He didn't do so well here, and we thought he would really like it. He did like the learning center where he could play with stuff though.

And Jordan again. He loves airplanes (wonder where he got that from.... can't be his grandpa, can it??) and he really loves to go to the museum. He had a fun time, and already has asked to go back again.

And of course little Josh. He was so good, even though he was tired. He just kicked back and enjoyed the stroller ride. What a sweet boy!

And of course he smiles for Grandpa! He is such a Grandpa's boy! He gets so excited when he sees my dad, and always makes a beeline for him. It's so cute! It was a wonderful day, and so much fun to spend time with family!

Josh's Swallow Study Results

I really wish I could say that we had success today... but I can't! I was told kind of what to expect and how this whole test would work. Um... it did NOT happen like I was told. They took us back to the x-ray room to take his medical history, then told me to go back to waiting room while they did the test. I told them I was under the impression I was going to be able to be there to help feed him his bottle and stuff. He won't take a bottle from anyone but me now. So.. to make a long story short.... they sent me out to the waiting room, I waited for a good 25 minutes, and then a Radiologist came out to talk to me. Low and behold Josh did not cooperate and the test was inconclusive. He only swallowed two times, and it was several minutes apart. So the only thing he could tell was that there wasn't an obstruction. Well duh! We never suspected that. So he told me he would tell our Ped. in his report that if the symptoms don't improve over the next 4-6 weeks, he needs to go down to Primary Children's to have them do the test. I regret now not just doing that in the first place. But I really thought we would be able to get enough results here at our hospital and I could avoid another Primary Children's visit. Oh well.... at least now I know. So we are basically right where we started. I called his therapist with the results and she told me she would confer with some other OT's and maybe we can get a new game plan. So we'll see. Thanks for all the love and concern for our little Josh. He is such a trooper!

A Family day at Bear Lake!!!

Well we finally got to go do something fun! We went to Bear Lake today with Scott's side of the family. It was alot of fun, and so wonderful to get away and do something out of the ordinary. I caught a cold this week, so I wasn't feeling the greatest, but I am still glad we went. Here are some pictures of our day.

Here is Trevor striking a pose for the camera.... we aren't sure why he does this!

Jordan spent a lot of the day burying seashells. He seemed to enjoy it immensly.

Here is my nephew Jarron. He had a blast with the sand toys. He even started a water fight with all the adults... it got really crazy!

Here is Trevor enjoying the sand, although he did spend most of the time in the water.

Right after we got there, and the jet skis were unloaded, both Trevor and Jordan jumped right on thinking they were the coolest thing ever. Both of them went out with Scott a few times and seemed to like it, although towards the afternoon the water was really choppy and they didn't want to go out anymore.

Here is Trevor driving Jarron's 4-wheeler. We were suprised he was interested in it, and even more surprised that he was so willing to get on and go. He usually is hesitant to try new things. But I was proud of him today! Lot's of new things for him to do and he did so well!

Here is little Aliyah! She was so dang cute! She didn't like the water so much so she spent most of the day under the gazibo standing on a lawn chair. She was so darling, we love her to peices!

And finally our little Josh. He was such a trooper! I was worried about how he would do with this whole trip. He can't wear sunscreen so he had to stay in the playpen all day under the gazibo. But he was wonderful as usual and seemed to like that he was outside and we were so close to the water, he was right in the middle of it all. He is such a good boy!

So that was our fun family day. We really enjoyed spending the day with our extended family and it was a much needed break for Scott and I. Now we have to get back to our everyday lives. sigh.... it was fun though!

On a side note, Josh is having a Swallow Study done at Ogden Regional Medical Center on monday morning. I will keep you posted on how that goes. Thanks for all the love and concern for our family!

A Temporary Solution

You are probably wondering if this blog is all about Josh and nobody else, huh? I seem to post mostly about him, but that is the big part of our lives right now. Trevor and Jordan aren't in school and so they haven't had alot of 'big' things going on. But they are both doing good. Both are getting over a cold, so things are better. Trevor is struggling with summer, but we knew that was going to happen. He starts school in like 5 weeks, so the end is in sight!

I know I posted pictures of Josh sleeping in a swing. We finally got an appt with the GI doctor and it is not until October 21st! So I realized after finding that out, that him sleeping in the swing for another 3 months is not feasible. So after some advice from his Ped and therapist, I came up with this idea. I hate that we have to use the playpen when we have a crib, but I couldn't make the area for him to sleep in small enough with the crib. So here is some pictures of what I have done to the playpen so he doesn't lay flat.

You can't really tell, but there is only enough room for him to lay down and move a little from side to side. It's angled down at the end with the dark blue pillow.
Again, you can't really tell how much I have it angled, but there is many blankets under his head end, and then the blocks of wood the playpen is up on. It seems to be working fine, although he does slide down a little by morning.

And alas... his crib that is now collecting dust. I had to get a picture, cuz I can't believe I have a crib and have to use the playpen anyway. Oh well... this too shall pass, right?

And another update on Josh: he is currently doing OK. His ears are clear for the moment, and we hope to keep them that way for as long as possible. The ENT did give us prescriptions for antibiotics so we don't have to take him in next time the ears flare up. I guess that is a bit of good news... one less co-payment! He is going to have a Swallow Study done on him down at Primary Childrens in the coming weeks. His therapist has said if they can pinpoint where the problem is... she may be able to do more for the eating now, instead of waiting for a GI appt in 3 months. So we'll see what happens from here. Thanks for all the prayers and concern!

It never ends for Josh......

It really doesn't seem to ever end for Josh. I took him into his Pediatrician yesterday for several reasons. First of all, his ears are clearing up again, so it seems like for this second, we are good to go there. Then we went over the problems he is having that seem to be making life so miserable for him. His reflux seems to be getting worse, and he is medicated the max amount. He seems to have stuff coming up all day long, and some times he spits up, sometimes he can swallow it back down. But he seems to have some difficulty swallowing, and it hurts him at times. So the Ped is making an appt with a Pediatric GI doctor down at Primary's for us. (For those of you out of state, Primary Children's Medical Center is a children's hospital that has many specialties and is one of the top hospitals in the country.) Also we will maybe finally get some answers and a treatment plan for his constipation issues he has had his whole life. The Ped seems to think that the GI problems are compounding the ear problems, and once we get them under control we hopefully will see a decrease in ear infections. We can only hope, right?? Josh has also lost weight. Over the last 4 weeks he has lost 1lb 3oz total. He used to be at the 25th percentile for weight, and now is on the bottom line of the chart. So between that, and his constant fussiness and being miserable, we need to do something now. But the GI doctors are always booked out a couple months, so we may be in limbo until then. The Ped is going to personally call to make his appt to see if he can expedite the appt, but he didn't know if it would work. So until then, we will just take one day at a time, hope for the best, and keep chuggin' along.

Just Chillin' in the Swing

Here are some pictures of Josh chillin' in the swing. He really loves it and sleeps better now that he is not laying flat. I didn't wake up once to him gagging or coughing last night. He still got up... but his ears aren't better yet. But at least he isn't gagging anymore!

The Grandkids!

I don't have a lot of time tonight, but I wanted to post these pictures that were taken at Layton Park a couple weeks ago before Amy moved to PA. It was not easy to get a pictures of 6 kids, 6 and younger, so it takes several shots to have one with every kid looking at the camera. You know how it goes. I will post more pictures when I have a little bit of time.

And at least Jordan looks a little happier in this one, and Parker is looking at the camera!

Also on a side note... Josh is struggling with his ears again. I was back in the doctor last night with another ear infection. I tried to call the ENT first, but they were out of the office until monday. So I took him back to our ped office. He has been pretty miserable this time, and crying alot. He is having some stressful reflux and swallowing problems too. We aren't sure if the reflux is causing the problems, or ear infections, but gut feeling is that we do need to go see a pediatric GI doctor now. If we lay him flat, stuff comes up and he screams. After his appt last night, the Dr told us basically to not lay him flat until we get into a Dr. So he is now sleeping in a swing. He loves it too, which is funny. My friend Lorina (Thanks again!) let us borrow her swing since we don't even have one. It's a nice one and is bigger and holds kids to 30lb. Sadly enough at 13 months, he looks kinda small in it. So there aren't any worries now about his aspirating at night. I will keep you posted on what goes on. We have an appt on monday with both the ENT, and his ped. So we should get the ball rolling on this finally. Poor baby!

A Bitter/Sweet Day

Today was one of those bitter/sweet days. My sister Amy left today to move to PA. Her husband, Luke, was accepted into Med school at Temple University in Philly. We don't know when we will see her family again, since they will be poor med school students, so that is the sad part. I am so happy that he was accepted to a great school and everything is working out. We have done everything possible to stay in contact on a regular basis, since my neice and nephew will grow up not knowing us well. Kyrie is almost 2 1/2 so she may or may not remember us. But Ryan is not quite 3 months old, so he won't remember us. That makes me sad! But we hope to see them next summer, so we'll see how it goes. Just part of life! But they will be close to some family in PA and MD, so we are glad they will have someone that they can spend some holidays with. We will miss you Amy!

The Diagnosis is.....

I thought I would pass along the info I found out at the Ear, nose and Throat doctor this past wednesday.

First of all, he was surprised to see us back again. He said that almost 100% of the time they put tubes in, it solves the problem. On occasion very few kids will get ear infections after, and usually only one or two. Not four in three months. His left ear tube was blocked still, which isn't a good sign. So we are going to continue the steriod drops in his ears and do a home recipe ear flush to clean out all the 'gunk'. We will see how that goes and try to keep it under control. We were given the all clear to not use ear plugs while bathing in April, but in his case we are going to have to use them always. So the next step if we continue to have problems is to have his adnoids taken out. They usually don't like to do it before 2, and 18 months is the youngest they ever do that. But they also don't want him miserable for the next 5 months either. So we may have to do it sooner, and then maybe it will solve the problem. So it wasn't the best of news.. since really the only solution is surgery, but at the same time, at least I know we did everything possible and didn't make it worse. He is concerned about more food allergies than we already have.... a possible wheat allergy. So we are going to give him another week on the meds and drops and then take away wheat and see if the runny nose doesn't get better. I hope it isn't another allergy. I already don't know what I am going to feed this kid!

So that is where we are at with him. It is always something, huh?