Scrapping Weekend

All of us “girls” on my side of the family had a scrapping weekend this weekend.  We all went over to my aunt’s house in Detroit Friday till Saturday.  We had gone last year too, one last hurrah (without the children) before hunting season you know.  We decided that this should definitely be an annual event.  We are talking about trying to extend it and start on Thursday next year (my strategy is to get him to agree to it mid hunting season this year while he’s basking in the glow of his hunting weekends.)  I didn’t get quite as much done as the other girls but I’m just sort of warming back up after not having done it consistently for a while.  I got one item accomplished off my loooooong list of ideas so that felt good.  We are going up to my brother’s house for a long weekend in a couple of weeks when the girls have off from school.  We had planned on going when we found out the girls would have off.  It works out really well, Brandon can hunt, I scrapbook with my sister-in-law while the children play with their cousins that they don’t get to see that often anymore and it’s my grandma’s (who lives across the road)80th birthday on Saturday.  It will be busy, but also lots of fun. 

The Saga Continues

Okay, so I get a phone call from DeVos Children’s Hospital about Erica’s Upper GI. “Upper GI? No,she had a bronchoscopy on Monday.” Well this is about her upper GI. After a “short” conversation with the girl on the phone, it turns out that Dr. Millard (pulmonologist) has ordered an Upper GI and video swallow test for Erica. When I inquired why (is this related to her bronchoscopy etc.) her response was because they noticed she hadn’t had one yet. Sorry, not good enough. I’m thinking, “I don’t just let people give my child a very unpleasant test simply because there’s not one in her collection yet!” If I’m going to make her go through this you gotta tell me why. So the girl on the phone says she’ll have the Dr’s office call me and abruptly hangs up.

Upon receiving a phone call from Tammy at Dr. Millard’s office we learn that while most of her labs are unremarkable, one came back positive for Lipid-laden Macrophages. Basically she had fat particles in her lungs which means she’s probably got reflux and possibly may have difficulty swallowing. “Okay that’s a better reason.” So we are set up for the Upper GI before her bronchoscopy follow up appointment October 2. Apparently the swallow test is a separate deal and they’re supposed to call us to set that up.

Time to hit the internet to earn another subcatagory of my MOM PhD.

Happy Birthday mom

I don’t know if you checked your voicemail on your phone but Happy Birthday!

Quotes

Lauren yesterday when told she couldn’t play with something: “I caannt play wif anyfing” (big shoulder drop)

Erica at bedtime yesterday when I asked her what she was doing: “I was checking for my pixy in Lauren’s bed because I think she thiefed it.”

Erica this morning at breakfast once again regarding her preference for peanut butter over jelly ” I used to like jelly, but I grew out of it…like I grew out of my undies.

Erica’s Uneventful Bronchoscopy

Erica’s bronchoscopy on Monday went very well.  Everyone was very impressed at what a big girl she was and kept saying how cute she was.  She decided to wear a nightgown “since she was going to be taking a nap”, she also had borrowed Sam’s striped fuzzy socks and had on her pink crocs, so she had quite the ensemble going. 

It was very interesting.  We thought we were going to be able to stay in the room with her during the procedure but apparently there was a slight miscommunication.  We were able to be with her until she went under and they brought us back in right after the procedure.  They used what they call deep sedation, which is an I.V. anesthetic that comes with several benefits, one is that they go out quickly and come back around quickly and the other is that they don’t tend to get sick to their stomach.  Brandon was not fond of watching her as she went out, he said it reminded him of when I passed out while I was in labor for Lauren.  Once she went out we were surprised at how quickly everyone got down to business.  It was clear that each person had their appointed task and they went right to it.  We were allowed to give her a quick kiss and were quickly ushered out the door.  True to what we were told ahead of time the procedure lasted no longer than 15-20 minutes.  When we went back in, Dr. Millard said that everything was basically normal and that she just has asthma with allergies.  There was one area that didn’t look as smooth as it should be but she felt it was nothing to be concerned about.  The atelectasis that were showing up on her X-rays are probably scarring from one of her bouts of pneumonia.  She then added that this was good news.  I think she was surprised at our lack of enthusiasm.  (We were kind of hoping there would be something they could fix and she could be her normal old self again.)  So basically we are back where we started with the whole thing.  I am hopeful that she will have fewer infections this year now that her pneumococcal immunity is higher (from the pneumovac vaccine).

We don’t have any results from the labs yet but we’ll keep you posted.

Big day tomorrow

Tomorrow morning is the long awaited bronchoscopy.  We have to be at the hospital at 9:15 for her procedure at 10AM (almost as bad as going to the airport).  Lauren is staying overnight at Tia Brenda’s so that Gram can watch her in the morning.  We will be going directly to the hospital after dropping Sam off to school in the morning because Erica is supposed to have an albuterol treatment about an hour before the procedure.  If we wait until it’s actually time to have her there we will be on the road at the time she’s supposed to have it.  She just had her last meal until after the big event.  The actual bronchoscopy is only supposed to last 10-15 min.  We will post any info we get online and thru the prayer chain.  My hope is that we will get to be with her through the whole thing (that’s what the pulmonolgist’s office had said) but the nurse who called from the hospital to give us info on Thursday said usually we would only get to be with her until she falls asleep. 

GeoTrax

For all our wonderful family members who have been looking out for us, I looked online today for which GeoTrax items have been recalled.  So far only one piece has been recalled and amazingly it is not one we own.  For those of you who don’t know we (Brandon and I) are somewhat addicted to Geo Trax.  It all started a couple of years ago at christmas.  Nana was looking for idea’s for the girls and Brandon had been at the store with them so he told her Erica might like the new train set from fisher price.  I actually didn’t think it would be something that would last but she still likes them and we have accumulated quite a collection.  Thankfully we don’t especially care for the new pieces so we are not off our rockers too far.  It can be quite challenging to create an interesting design that is still functional and doesn’t take up too much space.  Thankfully we have a large basement. =) this picture was before we really got into it, I’ll have to post more pictures later.

The Funnies

I know it’s been a while but we are still here.  Let’s see, to get you up to speed.  Over the holiday weekend we had a back to school backyard bonaza (a campout in the backyard) complete with smores, sparklers, campfire and tent(Brandon’s got some fun photos on his blog -bsloterbeek.wordpress.com).  Erica recovered from her flare swimmingly and has been able to attend school.  She’s lovin’ it!  Our softball team was doing well, however we lost both our games last week.  I’ve been getting some decent hits and one member of our team even went so far as to say I was showing Brandon up =) I’m still not the best player in the world but Darrell would be proud to know I threw a guy out at third this week!  Of course it’s all JUST FOR FUN (team name and motto).  We have a BYE this week but will be back in action the following week. 

This past Wednesday was our annual Johnny’s Drive-in youth group fund raiser, we also had a silent auction that night.  When I got there with the girls, I needed to bring my donations up to the tables so I told the girls to stay in the car till I got back (since we would be eating there eventually anyway) however, no sooner did I set down my donation and turn around and here come my children across the parking lot.  So, we had a little pow wow about listening and obeying and that this was not how I wanted to start the year out for our Wednesday night programs.  So back to the car we went.  After we got our orders and I finished eating I told the girls to stay put and finish thier food so I could go bid on some items.  When I finally got back to the car they had all done as they were told so I was very pleased.  At that point Erica says “may I be excused from the dinner car yet?” (at home they have to ask to be excused from the table).  The night went very well and both fund raisers were successful.

Thursday morning Lauren and Erica wanted to brush my hair.  Of course they never have to twist my arm very hard on that one (especially now that Lauren has got the hang of brushing without using the brush to exfoliate my scalp).  As they were brushing my hair Lauren says, “you look just like a girl mama”

Today in the car on the way to Nana’s for a sleepover, Sam and Erica were having another of their fabulous conversations.  Erica said something about a barn dog, then Sam said there’s no such thing as a barn dog, only barn cats.  If it’s a dog on a farm it’s a sheep dog, they sometimes can be called something else but mostly it’s sheep dogs. (once again kind of loses something without the intonations but you get the drift)

Tonight we had to set up for the ACS kids clothes and toy sale and then tomorrow we have to go work the sale so the kids are staying over at Nana’s.  Apparently she’s having all the grandchildren stay over.  We hope she’s still standing when we go to pick up the girls in the afternoon.